August 9th.

The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, "they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!"

He did not say anything to them without using a parable (on purpose, so they wouldn't understand). But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

The secret was being revealed to those whom the Father had chosen, not to the crowds to whom he was speaking. He referred to them as "those on the outside." They were outside of the family of sons of God because of God's decision to *not* give them eyes to see all that was actually true in the secret, hidden, spiritual world where God lives, and where His intention (the Word) is realized. The crowds represent the vast majority of humans who are intended to remain human—that is, wild animals with that nature. Those who were chosen to be on the inside represent the miniscule sliver of a fraction of the population of the humans whom God wants to be in His family of sons.

If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.

That is, special ears that could hear things the others couldn't hear. Not just the words, but the secret meaning and the hidden importance—that what was coming out of his mouth was not ordinary, nor was he an ordinary human. Those who had been given ears to hear seem to have had little resistance following him, because they had been made ready for him to come along—they seemed to have been waiting for him because they were being prepared by John, who told them he was coming. Neither did the Son have a problem knowing who those were, since the voice of the Father told him who they were. It was not a random deal. John was also clear to tell 2 particular disciples, "there he is, there is the Lamb of God I was telling you about. He is the one you need to follow, not me."

The crowds were there because Jesus was genuinely from God, and they truly comprehended that on the natural level where they existed as animals with animal ears who couldn't hear anything except what they could find an agreement with—what would fit in to what they wanted or were willing to accept. They understood he did things no other man could do, and spoke with an authority they didn't find in any of the humans who presumed to be leaders of God's people. But they only saw the things he did on the outside, because they were on the outside. They hadn't been given eyes to see the secret revealing of the Father as those who were chosen had. They only saw in human terms, so even if they believed he was from God because he could do miracles, what was in them to be able to accept was more powerful than was their ability to believe. They were generally unable because they were covered with that ubiquitous wild animal nature that completely covers all of the humans, as per God's design and desire, to keep them away from Him. Without the direct and specific intervention of God, according to His choice, the humans just remain an integral part of the temporary natural creation with its never ending cycles of death.

Their leader will be one of their own; their ruler will arise from among them.

The story of the Son and the particular disciples illustrates the deliberate choice God makes when choosing certain specific humans to become sons and not others—some are clearly given eyes to see what the others cannot. This secret selection process of God is the first part of the new covenant, how it is initiated by God and extended to the intended recipient. It is the process by which He chooses His family of sons from the pool of humans who are living on the earth.

The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers.

"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people."

However, that's not where the illustration ends, because that's only the first part of it. Just as important is the choice which is at that point extended to its recipients. It isn't any kind of automatic deal, but an agreement by both sides, which is how God has worked from the beginning, which is where this discussion now goes for illustration purposes about what God wants, which is a mystery on purpose, yet the details are all laid out in the preserved words for any and all to be able to read. However it can only be understood by those who have ears to hear.

The most basic intention of God is laid out in the first few chapters of Genesis. He wanted a family, but He didn't want to just create them and all of a sudden viola there was His ready made family. So He made an entire creation of worlds, plants and birds and then He made those whom He wanted to be His sons—they were made like Him, with the capacity to respond and choose, different than all the other things. This thing called choice is perhaps the most important presence of this story, because it shows what God wants—not a family of sons who are forced to be sons, that is to love and accept Him and respect Him as their Father. Having no choice means they didn't have to choose, otherwise that love, respect and acceptance wouldn't be because they chose to do/give it, but because there was no alternative.

So He made an alternative, which is the enduring adversary of the sons so that whether or not the events happened just as recorded and preserved is not the question, answer or even close to being the issue. The issue is what God wants—a family of sons who actively and in the light of serious consequence and repercussion, choose Him anyway, despite everything else they may be drawn to want to be/do/choose, which is just the alternative. That's all the devil, satan, the serpent was ever meant to be/represent—a super alluring and powerful force that provides for a most genuine alternative to choosing to be a son of the Father, if that choice is presented. A deceiver and adversary who tries to trick the sons by proposing lies, so it's not just a simple situation of choosing once and then it's all over. The choice has to be fought and struggled for, and making it is cause for all kind of suffering which the son would rather avoid than have to endure. Enduring, though, is the way the choice is made, not just by wagging the tongue about how he is devoted to the Father, but by the thing which declares his devotion on a level that is more true than what the mouth can say with words.

I will bring him near and he will come close to me,
for who is he who will devote himself to be close to me?' declares the LORD.

The basis for the first part of the new covenant—God's choice about who is given a choice—seems to be a logical one, based simply on whether one actually wants God enough to search for Him since He's obviously hidden. Searching for the God who is hidden is the most important thing any human can ever do, even if because everything else that can be attained to by searching in order to find is worthless by definition, since it's all only ever temporary, just another part of this dying natural creation that poses as something worthwhile but isn't, and can't be if it's integrally bound to what goes away by being one with it. Simply put, whatever you want you get.

I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness;
I have not said to Jacob's descendants, `Seek me in vain.'
I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right.

Since animals are unclean because now they have the seed of death in them (no access to the tree of life), they cannot come near to God or be in His presence. Because of the conspiracy of the man, woman and serpent against Him, a drastic change happened with regards to their relationship with Him and each other, the place where they existed, and their condition now. Now, all humans are animals, with that nature, and so are unable to come near to Him or ever know Him or be known by Him.

In order for any of the humans to come close to Him, to know Him or be known by Him, He must initiate that relationship by breaking into the particular human's natural existence, and revealing Himself to them. Then they must choose Him back in order to be right with Him, allowed to come close to Him, to know Him and be known by Him. The accounts of Abraham, Noah, Abel, the nation of Israel, the OT prophets, Jesus, the 12 disciples—all of God's sons—show that He chooses those He wishes to reveal Himself to. They are compelled to choose Him back, saying "Yes, I believe and want you more than all else," or choose their own way, what seems best to them.

If anyone loves (chooses to remain loyal to) me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

This is the fulfillment of the Jeremiah prophesy about particular ones having God's law living in them, because His life in them is what fulfills that law since it is what transforms them from their condition as animal to their condition as son of God—not metaphorically or theoretically, but actually because they become born of God so they have His spiritual DNA in them. They are His, and He lives in their heart, as an actual yet unseen spiritual, supernatural force which leads them and does the transformation.

This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.

Once God decides then He moves and works, and the only thing that can stop it is the human saying no to the process of being transformed (the example is Judas). Otherwise what God desires to have He will have, ultimately being the family of sons who have all been chosen by Him, who have also been miraculously and supernaturally transformed from unclean animal to clean son of God who can come close to Him, know Him, and be known by Him. They also have access to the tree of life and will be redeemed from the earth that was cursed in the beginning—transformed from alive to dead. But it starts and has its particular substance in them wanting Him enough to search for Him and then enduring in that search by continuing to choose Him and His way over everything else they might have or be able to attain to.

I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.

The discipline the sons receive is the justice according to the law of God that no unclean animal (what they are unless they're transformed into a son) can come close to Him, therefore the sons' wild animal nature will have to be purged out of them so His nature, one that lives in His spiritual offspring, can be put in its place which is what the transformation basically is. It is definitely suffering to go through that process, because as animals the last thing we want to do is let go of it and what it taught us to love and hang on to. Since undisciplined wild animals are of no use to their owner, this process is inevitable and mandatory for the sons of God, and it makes sense even as it is represented in the natural creation. In the same way a wild vine that just grows wherever it wants and bears no fruit is totally useless to the owner of the vineyard. Disciplining is pruning back what is useless so that the vine can bear fruit and be useful to the gardner. Pruning us is the metaphor of cutting out of us what makes us useless to God, which is the wild animal nature which makes us unclean, unable to come close to God, and most importantly unable to love.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

In John 15 Jesus sets up the antithesis of being a wild, useless vine with them being able and willing to love each other and love their Father by adhering to the teaching he had been giving to them, which had already started the process of them becoming clean. A wild animal can't be loved or even useful to its owner. All it ever wants to do is instinctively run away.

You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

Jesus was of the condition of God living in him, who made him clean, the most thoroughly clean of all the humans because he never went through the process of transformation of little child to dead, mature animal. He was the One about whom the OT prophets spoke:

Their leader will be one of their own; their ruler will arise from among them. I will bring him near and he will come close to me, for who is he who will devote himself to be close to me?

He was closer to God because of that condition than any human ever was, because God chose him to be who he was. The temptation record reflects the second part of the covenant, that he despite the suffering, chose the Father. Because he was that close to God he was clean, spotless and perfect enough to be offered as the sacrifice that would undo in God's sons what had been done to them because of the conspiracy of the human, the woman, and the beast.

So you will be my people, and I will be your God.

The nation of Israel, chosen before all the other nations of humans to be God's people, is only a copy of the better thing. The will of God regarding the present creation is that out of it He will gather up His family who have all been transformed from wild dying animals to His sons, every one of them having gone through this process of being under a true covenant, and having exercised their true choice for Him. They are the ones who live with Him in His house forever.

One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.