Jesus explained to the disciples that the truth of God was often given in parables so that those who did not truly want to follow God would not understand them. Jesus quoted Isaiah. “Hearing you will hear and not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and urn, so that I should heal them” (Mathew 13:14-15).
This sounds cruel, to blind people so they cannot see the truth, until you remember the history of these people. God had given them the truth many times before, but hating the truth, they killed the prophets whom they knew spoke God’s message. They had rejected the truth time and again, so that when Truth came (Jesus, the Son of God) God blinded their eyes so they would not recognize him for who he was.
“He, that is often reproved and hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Proverbs 29:1).
