Shincheonji lesson 14: parables, the secrets of the kingdom of heaven
Lesson 14 · Introductory
Main verses used
Links open the NET Bible.
What SCJ teaches
This section comes from class notes that an attendee wrote down during SCJ’s 9-month Bible study seminar, posted with the full Closer Look study. They are not SCJ’s printed curriculum, so the wording is the note-taker’s.
Understanding is granted
The stated hope is “To understand the parables of the Bible by knowing the open word that was once sealed!” From Deuteronomy 29:1-4, “A vital point – this class does not center on intelligence. For understanding is not self-generated, but granted by God according to the readiness within one’s heart.” Students are told, “When preparing for class, petition God to ready your heart for receiving His word,” and, if struggling, to “plead for aid until the meaning grows clear.”
Meaning and reality
Every prophetic parable has a meaning and a reality, its fulfillment in real events. From Matthew 13:10-11, “There are aspects of Jesus’ teaching that are difficult to grasp by design, as intended by God.” Revelation 13’s beast is the example. Revelation is the target of the course: it “represents the culmination – the ultimate goal we aim to comprehend today.”
Two reasons we don’t understand
First, prophecies are written in parables, and “Parables = Characteristics comparison,” like “as strong as an ox.” Second, from Habakkuk 2:2-3, the reality has not yet appeared: “So God keeps the full meaning of some parables sealed for now.” Prophecy should not be read literally: “Do not think a literal monster with seven heads and ten horns will appear from Revelation 13.” The teacher limits this to prophecy, adding that “Things in the Bible literally happened.” A parable such as the persistent widow is moral teaching: “The lesson here is to be diligent in prayer, not to seek hidden meanings.” But “parables within prophecies serve to conceal their meanings until their fulfillment.”
Why Jesus spoke in parables
From Psalm 78:1-2 and Matthew 13:34-35, “The first reason Jesus spoke in parables was to fulfill the words of the Old Testament prophets.” The second is that God and Jesus “are engaged in a spiritual war and must protect holy truths from enemy forces.” The notes go further: “Even Jesus had to be careful with his words, ensuring that his teachings were shared only with those who were truly deserving and ready to receive them.” An analogy follows: “God’s secrets are like valuable information, such as a social security number.” The board sums it up: “True meaning given only to those trusted.”
Reality and results
From John 1:14, the Word became flesh, so today “we should also be on the lookout for a reality—a flesh—that has manifested according to these prophecies.” From Mark 4:10-12: “Understanding these deeper teachings leads to forgiveness and salvation.” And: “The consequences are severe if we don’t.”
OPAGH
The acronym gives five kinds of parable: objects (Isaiah’s stone is Jesus, 1 Peter 2:4-6), people (Isaiah speaking as “me,” fulfilled in Jesus in Luke 4), animals (the ox of Deuteronomy 25:4, where “the ox represents laborers working to establish God’s church”), geographic locations (Revelation 11:8’s Sodom and Egypt) and historical events (from Hebrews 9:9, “The tabernacle was a metaphor pointing ahead to future fulfillment”). The summary adds that parables protect the secrets “from enemies until it’s too late for them to intervene.” The memory verse is Matthew 13:10-11.
In SCJ’s own books
Each passage was checked against the scanned page image; page numbers are as printed.
The Explanation of Parables (Shincheonji), page 4:
“The reason for using parables to record the prophecies was to prevent the enemies, who do not belong to God, from knowing the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.”
“We — the believers of today — no longer live in the era of prophecies or parables; we live in the era of fulfillment in which the prophecies described in parables have come true.”
The same book, page 6, Table 2 (as printed): Animal, “Dt 25:4 Ox,” fulfilled as “1 Cor 9:9-10 Shepherd”; Historical event, “Gal 4:21-23 Abraham’s two women,” fulfilled as “Gal 4:24 two covenants.”
The same book, page 8:
“Accordingly, those who understand the parables become forgiven, thus being saved and going to heaven. On the other hand, those who do not understand the parables are not forgiven; thus, they end up in hell since they are not saved.”
How the lesson notes compare with the books
- Why parables. Same two reasons: to fulfil prophecy and to hide the secrets from enemies (p. 4, 7).
- Has the time come? Difference. The notes say God keeps some parables “sealed for now” and ask whether the time of understanding has arrived. The book answers: believers today “live in the era of fulfillment” (p. 4).
- The stakes. Difference. The notes say the consequences are “severe.” The book names them: those who do not understand the parables “end up in hell” (p. 8).
- Examples. Difference in detail. The notes make the ox God’s “laborers” and use the tabernacle for historical events. The book’s table makes the ox a “Shepherd” and uses Abraham’s two women (p. 6).
Closer Look response: The trouble with parables
What the Bible says
- Mark says Jesus spoke the word to the crowds in parables “as they were able to hear,” and explained everything to his disciples. So with many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear. He did not speak to them without a parable. But privately he explained everything to his own disciples. (Mark 4:33-34, NET)
- In the same chapter, Jesus asks whether his disciples have understood, and they say yes. “Have you understood all these things?” They replied, “Yes.” (Matthew 13:51, NET)
- Right after the passage on parables, Jesus says what is hidden is meant to come to light. He also said to them, “A lamp isn’t brought to be put under a basket or under a bed, is it? Isn’t it to be placed on a lampstand? For nothing is hidden except to be revealed, and nothing concealed except to be brought to light. (Mark 4:21-22, NET)
- Peter says the prophets point to Jesus, and forgiveness comes to everyone who believes in him. About him all the prophets testify, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:43, NET)
- Hebrews names the reality behind the tabernacle: Christ, who entered the Most Holy Place once for all. But now Christ has come as the high priest of the good things to come. He passed through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, and he entered once for all into the Most Holy Place not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, and so he himself secured eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:11-12, NET)
- Paul’s own reading of Abraham’s two women is that they represent two covenants. These things may be treated as an allegory, for these women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai bearing children for slavery; this is Hagar. (Galatians 4:24, NET)
- What God has revealed belongs to his people, to be obeyed, not kept for the trusted few. The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants forever, so that we might obey all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29, NET)
Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible
This lesson lays out SCJ’s theory of parables. Every prophetic parable has a “meaning” and a “reality,” a fulfillment in real events and even real “flesh.” Jesus spoke in parables because God is at war and must protect truth from enemies, sharing it “only with those who were truly deserving,” like a social security number. Understanding these parables leads to forgiveness and salvation, the lesson says, and SCJ’s The Explanation of Parables (p. 8) says those who don’t understand them “end up in hell.” Some of this is reasonable: prophecy does use symbols, and not every parable is prophecy. But the reasons and stakes the lesson attaches to parables come from SCJ, not from Jesus. And every example the lesson uses where Scripture explains its own figure points to Christ.
1. Deuteronomy 29: Understanding is God’s gift, and what he reveals is for everyone
The lesson says understanding “is not self-generated, but granted by God according to the readiness within one’s heart.”
- It is true that understanding comes from God. Jesus “opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:45).
- But the same chapter ends: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants forever, so that we might obey all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29). What God reveals is for all his people, not for a trusted few.
- The lesson’s application is that a student who struggles should pray “until the meaning grows clear.” That turns disagreement with the class’s explanation into a heart problem, instead of a reason to test the explanation.
2. Why Jesus spoke in parables: Jesus’ own answer
The lesson says God and Jesus “are engaged in a spiritual war and must protect holy truths from enemy forces.” The Explanation of Parables (p. 4) says parables were used to keep enemies “who do not belong to God” from knowing the secrets.
Jesus gives his reason in the lesson’s own passage:
- “Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand” (Matthew 13:13).
- He quotes Isaiah 6: “the heart of this people has become dull … and they have shut their eyes” (13:15).
- The issue was hardened hearts that had already rejected him. Parables were a judgment on that rejection, not a security code against a spiritual enemy. War and enemy forces aren’t in the passage.
3. Psalm 78: The wisdom was to be told to the next generation
The lesson correctly notes that Matthew 13:35 quotes Psalm 78:2: “I will open my mouth in parables.” (The NET renders the psalm itself as “I will sing a song that imparts wisdom.”) Keep reading the psalm:
- “What we have heard and learned—that which our ancestors have told us—we will not hide from their descendants. We will tell the next generation about the Lord’s praiseworthy acts” (Psalm 78:3-4).
- Then the psalmist recounts Israel’s history plainly for the rest of the psalm.
- What Matthew calls parables in Psalm 78 was meant to be passed on openly, not reserved for the trusted.
4. Only for those who were truly deserving?
The lesson says Jesus’ teachings were shared “only with those who were truly deserving and ready to receive them,” and compares God’s secrets to “a social security number.” The board says: “True meaning given only to those trusted.”
Jesus says the opposite:
- “I have spoken publicly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues and in the temple courts … I have said nothing in secret” (John 18:20).
- “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light, and what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops” (Matthew 10:27).
- Right after the parables passage in Mark: “A lamp isn’t brought to be put under a basket … For nothing is hidden except to be revealed, and nothing concealed except to be brought to light” (Mark 4:21-22).
- Jesus “explained everything to his own disciples” (Mark 4:34) and then sent them to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20).
Presenting Jesus as a model for withholding the true meaning until people are “trusted” is how a course justifies keeping its conclusions, and its identity, from students until later.
5. Forgiveness does not depend on understanding parables
The lesson uses Mark 4:10-12 to teach: “Understanding these deeper teachings leads to forgiveness and salvation.” The Explanation of Parables (p. 8) says those who don’t understand the parables are not forgiven and “end up in hell.”
- Mark 4:12 describes outsiders who would not “repent and be forgiven.” The issue is turning to Jesus, not decoding parables.
- “About him all the prophets testify, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:43).
- The thief on the cross understood no parables. He asked Jesus to remember him, and Jesus said, “today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42-43).
- By SCJ’s book, nearly every Christian in history would be in hell, along with the thief Jesus promised paradise to.
6. John 1:14: The Word becoming flesh is about Jesus alone
The lesson uses John 1:14 to say that today “we should also be on the lookout for a reality—a flesh—that has manifested according to these prophecies.”
- John 1:14 describes the incarnation: the eternal Word, who was fully God (1:1), became a human being. It is unique to Jesus: “the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.”
- Using this verse as a pattern for looking for another “flesh” that fulfills prophecy today points students toward a modern person as the fulfillment.
- John’s test is the confession of “Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh” (1 John 4:2). The fulfillment in flesh is Jesus.
7. Every example Scripture explains points to Christ
The lesson’s OPAGH categories (objects, people, animals, geography and history) use examples. Look at how Scripture itself explains each one:
- Object: Isaiah’s stone in Zion is Jesus, as Peter explains (1 Peter 2:4-6).
- People: the “me” of Isaiah 61 is Jesus, who said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled” (Luke 4:21).
- Geography: Revelation 11:8 explains its own figure. The city “symbolically called Sodom and Egypt” is the one “where their Lord was also crucified.”
- History: the tabernacle was “a symbol for the time then present” (Hebrews 9:9), and Hebrews names the reality immediately: Christ came as high priest and “entered once for all into the Most Holy Place … by his own blood, and so he himself secured eternal redemption” (9:11-12; see also 9:24).
- History (book’s example): Abraham’s two women, which Paul himself explains as two covenants (Galatians 4:24).
In every case, the reality is Christ and his work, explained in the New Testament itself. None needs a modern fulfillment or a modern explainer. SCJ later makes the tabernacle point to a church in Korea and its own organization, but Hebrews has already said what it points to.
8. The ox: The lesson and the book don’t agree, and neither matches Paul
The lesson says the ox of Deuteronomy 25:4 represents “laborers working to establish God’s church.” The Explanation of Parables (p. 6) says it is fulfilled as a “Shepherd.”
- Paul says the law about the ox “was written for us, because the one plowing and threshing ought to work in hope of enjoying the harvest” (1 Corinthians 9:10).
- Paul’s point is specific: those who preach the gospel have a right to be supported by it (9:11-14). He is arguing from the lesser to the greater, not decoding the ox as a symbol.
- A shepherd is not in the passage. SCJ’s own sources give two different meanings for the same figure.
9. Which parables are prophecy? The interpreter decides
The lesson admits that many parables are moral teaching: the persistent widow is about praying, “not to seek hidden meanings.” That is right, and should be acknowledged.
- But the lesson doesn’t give a rule from Scripture for which parables are moral and which hide prophecy. That choice rests with the teacher.
- Jesus’ own explanations of his parables (the sower, the weeds and the net) give their meaning in his ministry and the end of the age (Matthew 13:18-23, 36-43, 49-50). He doesn’t say they are coded prophecies awaiting a fulfillment centuries later.
10. Revelation’s symbols are often explained in the book
The lesson says the beast of Revelation 13 is not a literal monster. That’s fair; Revelation uses symbols.
- Revelation often explains its own symbols: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the lampstands are the churches (1:20); the seven heads are seven mountains and seven kings (17:9-10); the woman is “the great city” (17:18).
- It was written to be read aloud to real first-century churches (1:3-4, 11). Its first readers were expected to understand it.
11. SCJ’s “era of fulfillment”
The Explanation of Parables (p. 4) says believers today “no longer live in the era of prophecies or parables; we live in the era of fulfillment.”
- In a sense, the New Testament agrees: the era of fulfillment began with Christ. “For every one of God’s promises are ‘Yes’ in him” (2 Corinthians 1:20), and “in these last days he has spoken to us in a son” (Hebrews 1:2).
- But SCJ means a new fulfillment in its own time and organization. The New Testament places the fulfillment in Jesus.
What the lesson is really for
This lesson sets the rules for reading every parable that follows:
- Every prophetic parable has a hidden “reality,” including a “flesh” to look for today.
- Jesus hid truth from enemies and shared it only with the trusted, so withholding is presented as godly.
- Difficulty understanding the class means your heart isn’t ready.
- Forgiveness depends on understanding the parables, and SCJ’s book says those who don’t “end up in hell.”
The biblical answer: Jesus spoke in parables because hearts were hardened against him (Matthew 13:13-15), he taught openly and said nothing in secret (John 18:20), what God reveals belongs to all his people (Deuteronomy 29:29), every figure Scripture explains points to Christ (1 Peter 2:6; Hebrews 9:11-12) and forgiveness comes to “everyone who believes in him” (Acts 10:43).
What’s happening behind the lesson
These notes are our reading of the lesson text, using Steven Hassan’s BITE model (behavior, information, thought and emotional control). They describe what the text does, not the teacher’s intent. Hassan notes that not every group uses every item. Source: Steven Hassan, BITE Model, Freedom of Mind.
- Information: can reserve truth for insiders (our reading). “True meaning given only to those trusted,” compared to “a social security number.” The lesson presents Jesus as sharing teaching “only with those who were truly deserving.” In our reading, withholding information from outsiders is presented as following Jesus’ example.
- Emotional: can tie salvation to understanding. “Understanding these deeper teachings leads to forgiveness and salvation,” and “The consequences are severe if we don’t.” Grasping the class’s explanation can be linked to forgiveness itself.
- Thought: can treat difficulty as a heart problem. Understanding is “granted by God according to the readiness within one’s heart.” A student who finds the explanation unconvincing may be directed to pray and prepare their heart, not to weigh the explanation.