Matthew 10:9-11:19

It’s still an extension of God dealing with Israel, based on all the Old Testament covenants and promises. Christ is going to come on the scene but His message at this point, and we need to clearly hear this, His message is not that He’s going to the Cross to die for the sins of the world, although that’s absolutely, certainly what’ll take place. But His message in the Gospels is that He’s going to come first to fulfill the promises made to the Nation of Israel. And He’s going to fulfill the law, every Jot and title of it. Every crossing of the T and every dotting of the I.

He must do that because no one else could!

No man ever born of Adam could fulfill it, and Jesus makes that abundantly clear in the Sermon on the Mount. Neither could any other created being fulfill it. It had to be a man. But only God Himself was both sinless and had the free will that allowed Him to either sin or not sin.

God solves His own dilemma of how to fully pay the price of breaking the law, sin, by taking on humanity Himself. He comes as fully man and at the same time fully God. Through the womb of a virgin, He breaks the line of sin passed down from Adam. You see He’s bypassed the seed of a male that carried that sin line.

So, He’s the only full man ever to be born sinless since Adam but still with the free choice of Adam to sin or not. So, with this free choice, He’s tempted just the same as any man, but He doesn’t break. He fulfills the Jewish, Mosaic law completely in His earthly ministry not breaking a single word of it. This is why death couldn’t hold Him. He simply had to be resurrected because death had no rights over Him. Thank God that we who are IN Him are partakers of His holiness and righteousness.

 

So, with a few exceptions, the Gospel of Matthew is a Jewish message.

We need to recognise that all that takes place in Matthew is all still under the Law. It’s pre the cross of Calvary. It’s before the New Covenant was ratified with the spilled blood of Christ. The Church is not yet a reality. It’s a mystery that won’t be revealed until Jesus is resurrected, ascends back to heaven and the Holy Spirit takes His place of ministry on earth.

At the time of the Gospel of Matthew the Temple is still operating and sacrifices are still being offered. The diaspora or the spreading of the Jewish people all over the world hadn’t occurred yet and the Nation Israel were still largely in their homeland. This wouldn’t happen until after the sacking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple by Rome in 70 AD, something Jesus predicted by the way.

 

Even the Jewish people who become believers and followers of Christ during this period don’t shed their Judaism at this time. They still maintain everything that’s associated with the Law including temple worship and attendance at the synagogue. And Christ doesn’t rebuke them for it. In fact, as we saw in the case of the leper’s healing, Christ even demands it by commanding the leper to go to the priest and make the required offering that Moses commanded.

No one’s told these people that they’re not under Law, and this won’t happen until a lot further down the road with Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. The Bible’s revelation is a process, a progression. God doesn’t just suddenly tell the Old Testament people everything that’s coming.

Of course, Old Testament prophecy reveals a great deal of what’s about to happen over the coming years after Christ death, burial, and resurrection, but we must remember that God hid some things until He saw fit to reveal them.

Let’s allow the book to say what it wants to say without our preconceived theories. Let’s look at what it really says and not what we think it says.  And let’s also remember that 5 6ths of the bible is about Israel.

 

So, let’s continue in the Gospel of Matthew where today we’re up to chapter 10. We finished off at verse 8 last time but, as usual, we need to keep firmly in mind the context of what we’re reading. Who’s being spoken to? What’s the timeline that the passage or verse relates to? Is there a specific culture that the verse or passage relates to and so on?

This entire chapter relates to Jesus sending out the 12 disciples who He now calls apostles and as we saw in the last chapter this calling is different to the one he calls them to later in Acts 1:8 after His Death, burial, and resurrection.

Here Jesus specifically commands them not to go to the Gentiles or to the Samaritans but to preach only to the quote, “Lost sheep of Israel”, whereas in Acts chapter 1:8 He specifically commands them to go to Judea, Samaria, and the whole world, both Jew and Gentile.

They’re even commanded here not to carry any money, provisions or even a change of clothes. Again, this is quite different to what they’re told in Acts 1.

Why?

Well, the dispensation at this time is still the Old Testament and the law. Jesus’s ministry is to Israel. He’s telling Israel by His words and showing Israel by His signs and miracles that He is the promised Messiah. He’s the promised King Who’ll rule on the throne of David.

It won’t be till after His death, burial, and resurrection and after the nation has rejected Him that the apostles are commanded to go to the very places they’re commanded not to go to here.

 

So, in this chapter we’re seeing Jesus give the twelve the first commandment to go to the lost sheep of Israel.

He’s going to tell them three basic things.

What they’re to do, what they can expect or how they can expect to be treated, and the level of commitment they must have, which incidentally is huge.

Now although Jesus is telling this to the apostles directly and He’s not speaking to the crowds in general or to born again believers, the Church, today, there is a lot that we can relate to today’s world.

Because this whole chapter is to the 12 apostles, and because we know Jesus didn’t speak to them in separated verses, as we have in our bible today, we need to read this whole chapter as one speech telling them of their mission.

It’s so easy for us today as the modern day church to take a verse here and a verse there and then try and apply it to our own lives, and this is where we often get horribly confused.

 

So, to get the whole commission in its right perspective we’ll start at the beginning in verse1 with the hope that we’ll all see the chapter in its correct context and not so much as a collection of different commands to the modern day church,

And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. 

Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 

Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. 

But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 

And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 

Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 

Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food. 

“Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out. 

And when you go into a household, greet it. 

If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 

And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. 

Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city! 

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. 

You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 

But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. 

“Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. 

When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. 

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 

It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! 

Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. 

“Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. 

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 

Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 

Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 

“Therefore, whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 

But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. 

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 

For I have come to ‘SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW’; and ‘A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THOSE OF HIS OWN HOUSEHOLD.’ 

He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 

And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 

He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. 

“He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 

He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 

And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.” 

 

So, there we go!

Jesus commanding the 12 apostles to go out to the lost sheep of Israel and tell them about Him, The Messiah, and how He’s now arrived.

I hope you can see how we get a different perspective from the whole passage than when we slice and dice it into mini doctrines and try to apply them to our own lives.

Yes, of course, some things naturally fit into our lives today, but Jesus is commanding the 12 apostles here and telling them what they’re to do, what reaction they can expect, and the level of commitment they must have.

In addition, Jesus is also telling the disciples what’ll happen to those who hear and accept their message and what’ll happen to those who don’t.

 

This brings us now to Matthew chapter 11 where Jesus continues His ministry.

The flow continues in this chapter. The Lord Jesus has stated the morals and the values of the coming Kingdom and He’s performed many miracles to prove He’s of God, The Promised Messiah and King of the Jews, and He’s sent His disciples out to present His claims to Israel. Now what’s the reception? What’s the reaction to His Messianic claim? Well, one word, rejection!

But we’re a little ahead of ourselves. We’ll be going down to Matthew 11:19 today.

 

verse 1,

Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities. 

 

So, you see here that this chapter is still connected to chapter 10 and Jesus has finished His chat with the twelve disciples and He leaves that place to continue on to the other cities of Israel. We assume here that after His command, the twelve had already departed on their mission. Perhaps they went to these cities before Jesus got there. Either way Jesus doesn’t stop going to the people.

 

Chapter 11 verse 2 and 3,

And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples  and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” 

 

Back in Matthew 4:12 we saw that John the Baptist was put in prison.

So, he’s been imprisoned for a while now, but he’s been kept informed about the movements of the Lord Jesus. John’s disciples have been watching Jesus and reporting to John.

John’s expecting the door of his prison to be opened, because he believes that Jesus is coming immediately to the throne to establish His Kingdom, something that many of the Jews who did believe Jesus was the Messiah also believed.

John’s question is logical. He has every reason to believe that the King would have assumed power by this time. He’s puzzled that the Lord is moving so slowly toward the throne.

 

Verses 4 to 6 tell us Jesus’s answer to John’s question

Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 

The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 

And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” 

 

The answer of Jesus is remarkable and can be understood only in light of the credentials which the Old Testament said the Messiah would have.

Of course, true to form, Matthew tells us this.

Jesus’s answer is a direct reference to Isaiah 35:4-6. John, just like any Jew, would have been aware of this prophecy.

Here it is,

Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, With the recompense of God; He will come and save you.” 

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 

Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert.”

Now we don’t see waters breaking out in the wilderness or streams in the desert at this time when Jesus came do we. Why? Because He didn’t establish the physical Kingdom when He came the first time. But He was still the King, and He had the credentials of the Messiah. We notice that He purposefully didn’t include the last part of that prophecy in His answer.

John would have recognised those credentials and understood what it all meant.

In the following verses the Lord Jesus defends John in case anyone wanted to criticise him.

 

Verse 7,

As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 

 

This refers to Matthew 3:5 where we saw that great numbers from Jerusalem, Judea, and the country round about Jordan, went out into the wilderness of Judea, where John was preaching, to hear him, and be baptised by him.

Now The Lord asks, what was it that led them into the wilderness? Did they take John to be an unstable, man tossed like a reed shaken with every wind!

He say if you did, you were mistaken; he was firm and stable in his beliefs and his ministry, his preaching was firm and strong. He said he wasn’t the Messiah, but the Messiah’s forerunner. His testimony was always consistent and he’s the same man now he always was.

Jesus is not saying here that John was the reed shaken with the wind; but that he was the wind shaking the reeds!

Today’s preaching is often weak especially when it’s subject to political correctness and tailored to not hurt people’s tender feelings and emotions rather than project the truth.

The lifestyle message, the “live your best life now” message has invaded a great deal of preaching today.

Too often the pulpit is a reed shaken in the wind. Thank God for John the Baptist, who was a wind shaking the reeds!

Our Lord continues His commendation of John the Baptist in Verse 8,

But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 

 

John the Baptist was a tough, rugged individual far from the prettily clothed pansies in the houses and palaces of kings.

Verse 9,

But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.

He was a prophet, but he was more than a prophet.

 

Verse 10,

For this is he of whom it is written: ‘BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER BEFORE YOUR FACE, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.’ 

The Lord declares clearly that John is the fulfillment of Malachi 3:1, which states.

“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the LORD of hosts. 

We also see Isaiah 40:3,

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.

John was that messenger. John was specially chosen to introduce the Messiah to Israel.

 

Now to Matthew 11:11,

“Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 

People liked to debate the question of who was greater: Abraham, Moses, or David. Jesus declares that John is greater than anyone in the past. No one topped John the Baptist.

So then, what did Jesus mean when He said, “but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he?”

Well, there’s a time coming, not too far off that particular moment, When The Lord Jesus will begin calling out a group of people who are even greater than John the Baptist. How can they be greater? Because they’re in Christ and clothed with His righteousness!

 

Verse 12,

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. 

 

This is a difficult verse to interpret because the “force” mentioned can be either internal or external.  This verse is debated a lot and there seems to a wide range of ideas as to what it means. It’s also apparently made a lot more complicated by some very complex grammar so we’re going to let this verse pass.

 

Verses 13 to 15 now,

For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 

And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. 

He who has ears to hear, let him hear! 

 

John the Baptist fulfilled the prophecy of the messenger to come in Malachi 3:1 as we saw.

Now many people ask, “If Israel had accepted Christ at His first coming, would He have established the kingdom immediately, and would John the Baptist have been Elijah?”

The argument goes something like this, “Well, if Christ intended to go to the cross and die, His offer of Himself as King was not a sincere offer. And what if Israel had accepted Jesus as their King?”

Well, the point is that they didn’t and these “if” questions are pretty futile and they’re usually put forward by those who’ll do anything to discredit God and His Word.

The plain fact is that the Jews rejected the Lord.

 

The next two verses are one of the Lord’s parables and it comes with some sarcasm. The Lord didn’t give this story to hurt or to harm but to illustrate a great truth.

And we’ll read,

“But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying: ‘We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not lament.’ 

So, this is a picture of a group of children out playing in the streets. One group says, “Let’s play funerals.” They play funerals for a while, and then soon get sick of it and then say, “Let’s play weddings.” Soon they get sick of playing weddings as well. They go from one extreme to another. Jesus is picturing spoiled children here, bored, and pouty. He’s contrasting the people to the tough unbending John the Baptist.

The generation Jesus was speaking to was like that, and our generation is also for that matter.

Verse 18,

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 

John was both minimalistic and severe and they didn’t feel comfortable with him. You see, he broke their script of the way people were supposed to be.

 

Verse 19,

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.” 

 

Jesus was friendly.  He ate and drank as men usually do, lived in the common way of life, was free and sociable, went to feasts, entertainments, and weddings, when he was invited; and was approachable, courteous, sociable, and friendly to all men.

But what did many, especially the Jewish elite, say about him?

They said He was a boozer, a common drunkard. One that likes his wine and can’t get enough of it.

They called him a friend of publicans and sinners describing the notoriously bad lot He associated with.

They said He loved the company of those sorts, because he loved drinking with them and encouraged them in their revelling and drunkenness. Pretty heavy stuff!

But wisdom is justified of her children.

This means that wisdom is demonstrated by the lives of those who follow it. In other words, the wisdom of a person or an idea is proven by the outcomes that result from it.

There’s always going to be people you simply can’t please, and that was true in our Lord’s day as well. It’s better forgetting about them.

So, until the next episode my friends may the Lord enlighten you to His Word and may you grow in grace and knowledge of Him.