The kingdom of God is a mystery to those who are not in it
Consider Jn 3:3.
Jn 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."
To see the kingdom of God refers to understanding what it is all about – its value, its goals, and its methods.
Unless one is born again one cannot understand the kingdom of God. Nicodemus could not understand Jesus because he was not born again.
The disciples were also not born again, and that is why they couldn’t understand things about the kingdom of God either. But Jesus knew that after they were born again they would understand. That is why He told them that they would know the mysteries of the kingdom.
Mt 13:11 Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted."
Mk 4:11 And He was saying to them, "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables,"
Lk 8:10 And He said, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that SEEING THEY MAY NOT SEE, AND HEARING THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND."
The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are made known only to those who are a part of it. Those who are not in it are deliberately allowed to be confounded. If you consider yourself to be in the kingdom of heaven and the Bible is still a mystery to you then something is wrong, and you are not making the most of the resources available to you.
It is pointless trying to debate with non-Christians on what is right and what is wrong. They will not understand. It is also pointless trying to get them to live up to a Christian’s standard of right and wrong – because the kingdom of God is a mystery to them.
When we live according to the kingdom of heaven, people who are not in the kingdom of heaven should not be able to understand our lives. They should not be able to understand why we don’t run after money, and why we don’t cheat the government, and why we don’t speak evil of anyone behind their backs, and why nothing depresses us, and why we are not afraid of death, and so on.
Just like how a star’s gravity causes the planets to have circular (or elliptical) orbits, so also the life of those who are in the kingdom of heaven begin to circle around God.
Now, if someone were not able to detect the star they would find it hard to explain why the planets are moving in circular (or elliptical) orbits. In the same way, those who do not have God in their lives should not be able to explain the behavior of those whose lives do. If they can then something is wrong!
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