Our Lord taught many things when He was on the earth, and many heard Him. In John 8 the Lord Jesus said many things. He spoke of an adulterous woman being forgiven. Later He told the Jews that the truth would set them free and that they did not have to remain slaves but could be free instead. The Jews responded by saying that they were the descendants of Abraham and were not slaves. But the Lord replied that everyone who sins is a slave of sin (vv. 32-34). The Jews might or might not have understood this word. Yet they certainly could not say that they had not heard it. Their ears were not heavy, and they were not deaf. Yet the Lord Jesus said something very peculiar: “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God” (v. 47). Hearing something involves more than just hearing the voice. Some people hear the voice and have God’s speaking. Others hear the voice but do not have God’s speaking. These are two different realms. If we were to ask the Jews whether or not they had heard the Lord’s words, they would have said yes. Yet the Lord said that they had not heard anything, because they were not of God.
This is a very sobering matter. One does not hear God’s speaking simply by being at the place where He is speaking. A man may be present at the site of the speaking and yet hear nothing at all. He may hear all the sounds and all the words, but the Lord Jesus may say that he has not heard anything. The hearing referred to by the Lord Jesus is something totally different. There are two kinds of hearing, and they belong to two different realms. One can hear things of one realm but may not hear things of the other realm. This is a basic problem with many people. They hear the words of the Scripture, but they do not hear God’s speaking. The Lord was speaking to these people. We cannot say that they were all fools. We cannot say that they were all sick in their mind or heavy in their ears. They all knew what the Lord was saying. Otherwise, how could they have rebuffed the Lord Jesus? They rebuffed Him because they had all heard His word. Nevertheless, the Lord Jesus said that those who are of God hear God’s words but that the others did not hear because they were not of God. This is where the fundamental problem lies. Many people only hear voices from one realm; they do not hear any voice from the other realm. They only understand words from one realm; they do not understand any word from the other realm. They do not hear because they are not of God. The Lord Jesus was saying that some do not understand His word because they are wrong in their person. In verse 43 the Lord Jesus said, “Why do you not understand My speaking? It is because you cannot hear My word.” Fleshly ears can only hear words of flesh; they can only hear words from one realm. Words from the other realm can only be heard with a different kind of ear. Only those who are of God can hear; those who are not of God cannot hear.
When many people come to the Bible, they only hear the outward shell of the Lord’s word. They only grasp the appearance of His word. But God’s word is in an entirely different realm. We must deal with this matter. If we cannot hear His word, we cannot be ministers of His word. What do we mean when we say that a man does not hear God’s word? It is possible for the Lord Jesus to stand in front of you and speak for two hours, yet you hear nothing. This means that you have not heard God’s word. You may hear everything that the Lord says and write it all down. When you go home, you may memorize it all, yet you still have not heard anything. In other words, you have heard nothing of God’s speaking; you have only touched the outward shell of the word. You have heard it, yet you still do not understand it, and it has not entered into you. Some people are all the time touching the outward shell of the Bible; they think that they are ministers of God’s word. But we must emphasize that this is not what is required at all. Today inspiration must be complemented by revelation before it can become God’s speaking; inspiration alone is not enough. The Bible is God’s inspiration, but it must be complemented by revelation before it can be called God’s speaking. If all we have is inspiration, we do not have God’s speaking; instead, we only have the outward shell of the word. We may boast that we have read the Bible a great deal, but I do not know if we have heard God’s speaking. We cannot deny that those in John 8 heard the Lord’s word. Yet the Lord said that they had not heard it.
We must understand what God’s word is. God’s word is the word behind the word, the voice behind the voice, and the language behind the language. What makes God’s word so special is that the natural ear, the ear of flesh, can hear His word and yet this hearing does not count. A man may be very intelligent in his natural makeup. He may be very capable, possessing very quick thoughts and a very good mind. Do you think that such a person can hear the Lord’s word? Please remember that his hearing may only touch the outward shell of the Lord’s word; it may only touch the things related to the physical side of the Bible. This hearing only brings a person into contact with the physical realm; it does not bring him into contact with the spiritual realm of God’s word. God’s word belongs to another realm. It is wrong to presume that anyone can hear God’s word. No, only those who belong to God can hear this word. Whether or not there is the capacity to hear depends on the very person himself. If my physical ears have a problem, I cannot hear the Lord Jesus’ word in one realm. If my spiritual ears have a problem, I cannot hear the Lord Jesus’ word in another realm. I can be in two realms, and His word can be in two realms as well. One of these realms is physical, and the other is spiritual. If I remain in the physical realm, the most I can hear is the physical side of the Lord’s word. I can hear and understand it, but the Lord will still say that I have not heard it. He does not want me to hear those kinds of words. He wants me to hear words of another realm. There may be thousands and millions of men who have heard one kind of words, but there may be only eight or ten people who have heard the other kind of words. This is the problem with many people when they come to the Bible. They only touch the outward façade of the Bible without touching the Christ who is within the Bible. This is like a man touching Jesus without touching the Son of God. It is useless to just see the Bible, the book, without touching God’s word or His Christ.
Let us read 1 John 4:6: “We are of God; he who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. From this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.” John was not at all apologetic. He said that we should have the confidence that we are of God and of the truth. Those who know God will hear us, and those who do not know God will not hear us. This is what John meant. This shows us that the apostles felt that it was not just a matter of whether or not one heard the sound, the physical voice. At that time John was very old. Those who listened to him might have been very familiar with his voice. They could not have missed the voice of John. Yet the strange thing is that John said only those who knew God would hear him; those who were not of God could not hear him. This shows us clearly that it is not a matter of having or not having a voice or having or not having ears. There is no problem with the ears; they can hear very well. Yet John said that those who are not of God could not hear. God’s word is in another realm, another world. Not everyone who knows the Bible knows God’s word. Not everyone who can speak about the Bible can speak God’s word. Not everyone who receives the Bible can receive God’s word. A man has to build up a certain relationship with God before he can hear God’s word.
Three verses in the Gospel of John can be put together and considered in parallel. John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.” John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 6:63 says, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” These three references to the word spirit are very significant. God is Spirit, the Lord’s word is spirit, and the Spirit begets spirit. The Lord’s word is spirit. Therefore, only a man of spirit can understand it. Only things of the same nature can understand each other. The word which is outside is merely a voice. A man can read the words of the Bible, study them, hear them, and know what they say. But within this word is something called spirit. It is something that the ears cannot hear and the mind cannot understand. The word of the Lord is spirit. Hence, it is impossible for the mind, the intellect, or any amount of human wisdom to understand this word. It is likewise impossible for the mind, the intellect, or any amount of human wisdom to convey this word. The Lord’s word is spirit. Therefore, only those who are born of the Spirit will hear it. Those who are born of the Spirit are men of spirit. They have something within them. With regard to God’s word, a man must be retrained and reconditioned before he can hear God’s speaking. This is something that belongs to another realm. It is not something that belongs to the ordinary realm.
By now, brothers, do we see this? Why must the outer man be broken? Because without such breaking, a man can never be a minister of God’s word. The outer man has nothing to do with God’s word. Our wisdom, emotions, feelings, thoughts, and understanding are useless. (Shortly, we will see that they do have some use. What we are saying here is that they are useless as fundamental organs for receiving spiritual things.) God’s word is spirit, and only those who exercise their spirit will hear it. We must be very clear about this principle: God is Spirit and those who worship Him must do so with their spirit. God is Spirit, and those who receive His word must receive it with their spirit. We cannot receive spirit with the mind. Only things of like nature can receive each other. Nothing else will work.
Matthew 13:10-15 says, “And the disciples came and said to Him, Why do You speak in parables to them? And He answered and said to them, Because to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, it shall be given to him, and he will abound; but whoever does not have, even that which he has shall be taken away from him. For this reason I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘In hearing you shall hear and by no means understand, and seeing you shall see and by no means perceive. For the heart of this people has become fat, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and their eyes they have closed, lest they perceive with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart, and they turn around, and I will heal them.’” The disciples asked why the Lord would speak in parables. He answered, “Because to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to them it has not been given” (v. 11).
What is the reason for this? Something happened in Matthew 12. Certain ones blasphemed the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus cast out demons by the power of the Holy Spirit, yet these ones hated the Lord so much that they insisted the Lord’s casting out of demons was by Beelzebul (vv. 28, 24). They knew very well that it was a work of the Holy Spirit, but they insisted that it was a work of Beelzebul. They knew that the Holy Spirit was the One who had done this, but they insisted that Satan, “the lord of the dunghill,” was the one who had done this. To call the Holy Spirit Beelzebul, “the lord of the dunghill,” was a blasphemy to Him. Therefore, in chapter thirteen, the Lord spoke in parables. In other words, from that time forward, these people would see but not understand what they saw. They would hear that a man went out to sow, but they would not know what this meant. They would hear that an enemy came in to sow tares while the man slept, but they would not know what the tares meant. They would hear that a net was cast into the sea but would not know what the casting of the net meant. They would hear that a woman took leaven and hid it in three measures of flour but would not know what the leaven meant. They would hear everything but not understand it.
From the time the Jews blasphemed the Holy Spirit, they no longer heard anything but parables. Today we speak in parables in order to make people understand. But when the Lord Jesus spoke to these people in parables, His intention was that they would not understand. The Lord intentionally used the parables to keep them in the outward realm without understanding what the words really meant. They only heard the outward letter of things, such as the sowing, the wheat, the tares, the net, and the leaven; they did not know what they meant. Many people today read the Bible in the same way that the Jews listened to the parables; they only know that the sower went out to sow. They only know about the good ground, the thorny ground, the shallow and stony ground, and the thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and hundredfold return. They do not know anything more than this. They hear the words, yet they know nothing. This is the way many people read their Bible. They only see the outward things, not the inward things. It is interesting that the Lord Jesus purposely spoke in parables to keep them from understanding anything. The Jews thought that they knew everything. Actually, they knew nothing.