And His disciples asked Him, saying, What might this parable be? Luke 8:9
The physics teacher sprang the bad news on us at the end of the class: there was to be a test the next day. And the test would be on the difficult material that he had just spend the past hour presenting to us. As we prepared to move on to the next class, I stopped to chat with two other students with a worried look on their faces. Both of them declared that they did not understand anything of what the teacher had presented. They saw no possibility of passing the test. ‘Let’s go talk to the teacher,’ I suggested. So we went to find him, and he appeared to be expecting us. In a few minutes, he pointed out a few things that made his presentation clear to us, to our great relief. We were the only students to pass the test the next day. The others had not understood the presentation either, but had not made the effort to get help from the teacher. My friends and I were like the disciples in our text, who recognized their need to have the parable explained.
Only a few of Jesus’ many parables are provided with an explanation, although it is highly likely that the disciples received many more explanations that are not recorded in the Gospels. The explanation that the Lord Jesus gave for the parable of the sower provides valuable insight into the Teacher’s message, and important guidance for understanding other parables. It must have pleased the Lord Jesus that His disciples would be interested in understanding the parable. In the next verse, He explained that they were privileged to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, mysteries that were hidden to most of His audience. In the same way, you and I are privileged to know much of the Scriptures that are closed to those who are not saved. The Holy Spirit unfolds the truths of the Word of God to those whom He indwells. But He cannot unfold them to us unless we are reading the Word, and unless we seek understanding.
It is no mystery to us why the unsaved fail to grasp even the simplest truths of the Scriptures. They have no Guide to instruct them. But some Christians also display a poor grasp of the truths of Scripture, and some of them distort the truths into misrepresentations as they wander off into false doctrine and error. Some of them will bring their own ideas to the Scriptures and grasp at texts that they claim support their ideas. Such an approach never produces anything but error. We need to take our ideas from the Word of God, not to the Word of God. And we need to seek guidance from the Holy Spirit as we study the Scriptures.
If we want to understand the Scriptures, we must read them with a desire to let the Lord teach us His truth. – Jim MacIntosh