[Mat 13:10-13 ESV] 10 Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" 11 And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand…”
It is especially important to note that understanding the things of God come from the revelation work of the Holy Spirit. Even what is recorded in the scriptures is not understood apart from this work of the Holy Spirit. Now, this does not happen apart from brain activity… but the point is that we can not gain proper understanding without the revelation given by Holy Spirit. There is an eureka to this. In other words when the revelation comes then comes understanding… it is a discovery of something that had been hidden. God wants us to use our brains to discover things, but when it comes to the things of God it takes revelation by Holy Spirit.
“To you it has been given… but to them I has not been given.” The secrets or mysteries of the Kingdom is not something easily attained, let alone figured out. While in seminary I read both the scriptures that talked about the kingdom of God and New Testament biblical theology books that wrote about the kingdom… and though I understood some things about the Kingdom of God by reading those items, there was much still I did not know.
Something happened when I heard an apostle speak about the Kingdom, and then heard another apostle speak about the kingdom. Revelation about the Kingdom for which I previously did not understand, came to me. I gained greater understanding about The Kingdom and The King! A true apostle is one who has the revelation of Messiah’s Kingdom; and when he speaks the Gospel of the Kingdom, things happen: Revelation comes, healing is initiated, deliverance becomes evident, and people truly get saved to the uttermost. This is how God reveals… through the foolishness of preaching… and this is what the Chief Apostle Jesus did with his first disciples among those in the crowd.
So, if you are working to simply get a crowd… you could be missing the point. Jesus could get a crowd, but a crowd was not what he was working for as seen in Matthew 13 verses quoted above. He was working for disciples, particularly to his 12 disciples. To them he revealed the mysteries of His Kingdom. “If any would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me” (Matt 16:24). Jesus wants to reveal the mysteries of the Kingdom to his true disciples. He will do so to those who earnestly come to Him, and are open to the ways His Spirit unveils the truth about Him and The Kingdom.