When Christ taught, many did not believe Him. In fact, He was not worthy of their notice. The people were devoted to the Sanhedrin, the Chief Priests, Rabbis, the Pharisee and Sadducee leaders. The only notice most of the religious people took of Christ was to regard Him as a troublemaker.
Christ did not make the effort to be understood by the leading religious figures. Instead, He obscured His teachings, which prevented the leaders from awakening to His message. This caused the disciples to inquire why He did not make it easier for them to recognize and accept Him as the Messiah.
NC Matt. 7:2-3: “Then the disciples came and said unto him, Why do you speak unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not given; for whoever receives, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance. But whoever continues not to receive, from him shall be taken away even that he has. Therefore, I speak to them in parables because they seeing, see not, and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah concerning them, which says, By hearing you shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive; for 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 hearts, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. And blessed are you because these things have come unto you that you might understand them. And truly I say unto you, many righteous prophets have desired to see these days which you see, and have not seen them, and to hear that which you hear, and have not heard.”
When the Lord begins a new dispensation, anyone can recognize Christ’s “strange act,” and only a few ever do. Why doesn’t Christ make the effort to assure that everyone “sees” and “hears?” Why does Christ accept the reality that only a few will ever “understand?” If you want to be “healed,” what obligation does that impose on you?
The greatest irony of all is that “many righteous prophets have desired to see” the historic moments when the Lord’s great work takes place, but the religious people who live in those moments ignore it. They lack eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand.
This never changes. The test is underway, and it is no different than the test the Lord always requires mankind to take. Few there be who pass it.