He Who Has Ears, Let Him Hear

Understanding what God requires.

The phrase appears 7 times in the gospels; 8 if you count Mark 4:23. (Most modern translations omit that one.) Two are duplicates of Matt 13:9 having to do with the Sower and the seed. A variation, “he who has AN ear” appears 7 times in Rev 2-3, and another version, “let the reader understand” appears in Matt 24:15. These words, only used by the Lord, seem to underscore something important. It’s as if He’s saying, “Pay attention now. This part is not optional.” So you have 8 minus 2 plus 7 plus 1. 14 passages that are required understanding for the believer.

Let’s take a look at what they say

In Matt 11:14-15, the Lord informs Israel that if they choose to accept John the Baptist as “the Elijah who was to come” then he will be. The consequence of their choice was staggering, requiring that Jesus be accepted as their Messiah as well, since the mission of Elijah was to herald the coming Messiah. Had this happened, all the Kingdom promises would have begun to come true. Israel’s leaders rejected both John and Jesus, and the result was a 2000 year pause (so far) in the fulfillment of Israel’s destiny.

In Matt 13:9, Mark 4:9, and Luke 8:8 the subject is the Sower and the four soils, which the Lord identifies as a parable about His Word in the church age and the opposition it will encounter. The opposition includes Satan obviously, but also some ordinary people who refuse to become knowledgeable about His word, being too preoccupied with various earthly circumstances. Having chosen to place their emphasis on the things of this world, He proclaims, they will miss out on the next one.

More Cause and Effect

In Mark 4:23 it”s the revelation of things hidden, and the relationship between considering and understanding. There’s a connection here with the passage above because the Lord clearly identifies the cause and effect relationship between the effort we put forth in study and the depth of understanding we’ll attain. Every detail of God’s plan will be revealed, but only the diligent student will comprehend. Mark 4:24-25; “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you–and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” With the measure you use (time and effort in study) it will be measured to you (level of comprehension).

Mark 7:16, where the phrase is omitted in modern translations, has to do with clean and unclean foods. The Lord clearly declares all foods clean and the heart of man incurably unclean, and warns us again that spiritual cleanliness is a matter of the heart, not of behavior. It’s another application of a principle I’ve discovered. That which is physical and external in the old becomes spiritual and internal in the new.

And Still More

Luke 14:35 is a parable about salt and saltiness. Salt was a preservative; retarding the effect of spoilage in the age before refrigeration. In the parable it’s a model of the church. If salt loses its saltiness it’s useless. It has no other purpose. If the church loses its preservative nature, no longer retarding the spoiling effect of sin in the world, it too becomes useless. As He predicted, becoming too immersed in the things of this world has rendered the church all but ineffective in retarding the spoilage of sin.

Church History According to Jesus

The 7 references in Revelation 2-3 also describe the church age. Each follows an admonition to a group claiming to be part of the church. To those caught up in organized religion, He warns, “Come back to your first love.” To those suffering persecution, He admonishes, “Be faithful.” To those practicing idolatry, He commands, “Repent.” To those wrapped up in cult- like systems, He threatens repayment according to their deeds. He accuses main line denominations of being spiritually dead, comforts evangelicals with the promise of His return, and condemns new age liberals to eternal loss. For each group a clear choice is given.

The Times of the End

“Let the reader understand,” in Matt 24:15 concerns events that signal the end of the age. Here the Lord clearly commands us to understand eschatology; the study of the end times. The sad fact that so-called theologians have made this a controversial issue is no excuse. He wouldn’t require you to understand with out giving you the capacity to do so (review Mark 4:23-25). Failure to do so, He implies, will result in us being mistaken about the purpose of those events, and woefully unprepared for His return. And so we are.

Truth or Consequences

In each case, those being addressed are given a clear choice, consequences are foretold, and a commandment to understand is given. It is as clear a model as you’ll find anywhere in Scripture of the basis on which the Lord has determined to relate to His creation. Whether we’re a part of Israel, the Church, or the World, the underlying principle is choice. The consequences of our choices can be staggering. Ultimately we will either say to Him, “Lord, Thy Will be done” or He will say to us, “mankind, thy will be done.”