Charles Spurgeon Commentary Mark 4:10-12

"And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parables. And he said unto them, Unto you is given the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all things are done in parables: that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest haply they should turn again, and it should be forgiven them." — Mark 4:10-12 (ASV)

This judicial blindness had happened to the Jews; they had so long closed their eyes to the light that, at last, God closed them, and they were blinded. They had refused to heed so many messages sent to them from the great God that, at last, this sentence was pronounced as the punishment of their sin—that they should die in their sins, and that even the preaching of the Word by the mouth of the Lord Jesus himself, should be of no use to them.

That is one of the most awful judgments that can ever happen to anyone, when God puts a curse even on a man's blessings, and when the gospel, which should be a savor of life unto life, becomes a savor of death unto death.