Ears to Hear

I was listening to an audio version of Leviticus 14 today and was struck by verse 17:

 And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering.

Leviticus is rich with symbolism and this passage made me wonder about the symbolism of the ear.  Walter W. Wilson writes that the ear is a type concerning the consecrated hearing of the believer.  An ear that is touched by oil now only hears God’s Word and is to refuse the call of all other leaders.  In his commentary, David Guzik states that the right ear was chosen because that side was considered to be superior and have more strength and skill.  Most people were right-handed and God wanted their best to be dedicated to him.

I believe it is Pastor Royce Powell who says that whenever Scripture uses the phrase “ears to hear” we need to listen carefully.  The first use of this expression is in Deuteronomy 29:1-4 (emphasis is mine).

 ¹These are the words of the covenant, which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.  ²And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;  ³The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:  ⁴Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. 

Jesus uses a phrase similar to “he who hath ears to hear, let him hear” three times in Matthew, three times in Mark, and twice in Luke.  Most of the time, He is speaking in parables.  When the disciples asked Him why He spoke in parables, He replied:

Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.  ¹²For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.  ¹³Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.  ¹⁴And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:  ¹⁵For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.  ¹⁶But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. (Matthew 13:11-16)

When Jesus first came to offer His Kingdom, Israel shut up their ears, which is prophesied in Ezekiel 12:1-2:

 

 ¹The word of the LORD also came unto me, saying,  ²Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house. 

Unless believers have eyes to see and ears to hear, I fear that history will repeat itself when Jesus appears a second time.

Quoteworthy: Kingdom Types

"As the first Adam partook of sin in connection with a blood sacrifice to effect Eve's redemption (Gen. 3:6, 7, 21), so the last Adam was made sin and was Himself the Blood Sacrifice to effect our redemption (II Cor. 5:21. And, as the first Adam was created to hold the earth's sceptre (but was disqualified through sin), so the last Adam (showing Himself fully qualified [Matt. 4:1-11] and paying redemption's price for man's sin) will one day take the sceptre and rule the earth.

But, within God's plans and purposes, 2,000 years lie between the time Christ paid redemption's price and the time He will hold the sceptre.  And this period is also for a revealed purpose. This is a time of revealed length which God is taking to call out a bride to reign as consort queen with His Son (in the antitype of Eve, who was to reign as consort queen with the first Adam; or, viewing another facet of the matter, in the antitype of Isaac's bride being obtained in the far country in Gen. 24).  

And to fulfill His plans and purposes in this respect, God has created one new man “in Christ” (Eph. 2:13-15), who is “neither Jew nor Greek [instead, an entirely new creation]” (II Cor. 5:17; Gal. 3:28). And this new creation, being “Abraham's seed” (through a po-sitional standing “in Christ,” Who is Abraham's Seed), can have a part in the inheritance promised to Abraham; for those comprising this new creation are reckoned to be “heirs according to the promise [though heavenly, not earthly]” (Matt. 21:43; Gal. 3:16, 26-29; Heb. 3:1; I Peter 2:9, 10).

And from this new creation “in Christ,” God is taking 2,000 years to call out a bride to reign as co-regent with His Son during the coming day of His power. This period during which God is calling out a bride for His Son had a beginning at a predetermined point in time, and it will, after the same fashion, have an end at a predetermined point in time."

From Redeemed for a Purpose by Arlen Chitwood

Many Are Called but Few Are Chosen

¹¹And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:  ¹²And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
 ¹³Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
 ¹⁴For many are called, but few are chosen.  (Matthew 22:11-14)

These are puzzling Scripture verses.  In particular, the word “chosen” gives me pause.  Many commentators write that this parable refers to unbelievers.  But is Jesus calling upon many, but only choosing a few to believe in Him?

In reading the entire parable (Matthew 22:1-14), we know that Jesus first presented the offer of His kingdom to the Jews, but they refused (Matthew 22:3).  The king was angry, and sent his armies to destroy them and burn the city.  Here Jesus was prophesying about the city of Jerusalem, which was burned and destroyed by Titus in 70 A.D. (Smith). 

The king then his instructs the servants to go “into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.” (Matthew 22:10) 

In Jesus’ day, wedding garments were customarily offered to those who attended the wedding feast.  Interestingly, the man was not discovered to be without a wedding garment until the king himself came in to see the guests (Henry).  It also appears that the other guests were not aware that this guest was not properly clothed.  Once discovered, the man is speechless.  Does this mean that he also had no idea that he was not properly prepared?

We know from Matthew 21 that Jesus is addressing the chief priests and Pharisees in the temple in Jerusalem — who were unbelievers.  So it is probably safe to assume that he is still speaking to them.  But Revelation 19:8 tells us:

Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. 

Would an unbeliever be invited to this sacred wedding feast? 

The parable closes with the king calling upon his servants to “bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  If you read my earlier post about the outer darkness, you will see why this is not hell, as it is commonly assumed. Hell is reserved for unbelievers.  This is something different.

Matthew 24:14 only begins to makes sense to me when I associate “chosen” with the judgment seat of Christ, salvation of the soul, the bride of Christ, and the Millennial Kingdom.  

Because, once again, it does not fit that Jesus would call upon many, but only choose a few to believe in Him.  But it does make sense — and the types and parables in Scripture show us — that Christ Jesus will choose a few of the many who have been called out to rule and reign with Him in His Millennial Kingdom (Matthew 25:21;23, Romans 8:17, 1 Thessalonians 2:12, James 2:5, Revelation 20:4).