Matthew 23:8-39

Surely this is one of the greatest displays of human stubbornness where a person who is clearly wrong refuses to admit it because something inside, in the heart, just won’t allow them to be seen to be wrong.

We open today where we left off last time in Matthew 23 verse 6 to recap,

They (the religious elite) love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.

As we said last time, these men loved to have titles. They loved to be recognised. They liked to wear certain religious garments and certain adornments such as Phylacteries, which set them apart from other people and drew attention to their high position.

Phylacteries are small leather boxes containing biblical verses that were worn during morning prayers.

These boxes are strapped to the forehead and the left arm and contained verses of scripture, mostly from the commandments.

Jesus is condemning all of this.

 

Matthew 23:8,

But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 

 

Rabbi means teacher.

The teacher, both then and now, is just one of your brothers and is no more special than anybody else.

Jesus warned His listeners, and us by extension, against giving anyone undeserved honour. We have teachers in a normal human sense, but we shouldn’t ever regard them in a sense that gives them undue spiritual honour or authority.

 

Matthew 23:9-10,

Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 

And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 

 

A “father” is a life–giver. To call a man a “father” in spiritual matters is to put him in the place of God as the one who gives spiritual life.

This is blasphemous. Only God the Father gives life. A “master” is one in a position of authority. Christ is the One in the position of authority as the head of the church, the Body of Christ, today.

 

 

Verse 11 and 12,

But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 

And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. 

 

Simple, if you want to be the greatest, then become the servant of all.

Here we see the gentle Jesus, that’s so often how He’s portrayed in the Church today, using the harshest language that’s in the entire Word of God.

Many Christians don’t even know this is in the Bible, because they’ve never read it!

In our day there is a misunderstanding of who the Lord Jesus really is. The “all is love, gentleness and tolerance” attitude of today gives the impression that all Jesus ever talked about was love.

The church in general is giving the wrong impression, and a misunderstanding of who Jesus is. He’s not the “lovechild” that the politically correct and the woke population thinks He is.

It’s absolutely true that He loves sinners and died for sinners, but also, He’s going to judge sinners and He’s going to bring down the greatest display of wrath in the history of the world one day.

We need to have a correct perspective of Him. Therefore, He’s so misunderstood in so many areas in our day.

The average viewpoint of the Lord Jesus is not even biblical. For example, ask people this question, “Was the Jesus in whom you believe virgin born?”

Most will scoff and say, “No.”

“Did He die on the cross for the sins of the world?”

“No.”

“Did He rise bodily from the grave?”

“No!”

Well, where did that Jesus come from?

There are no documents which give any information about that Jesus ever having existed. The only documents we have tell of One who was virgin born, who performed miracles, who died for the sins of the world, who rose from the dead, who ascended into heaven, and who is returning to this earth as the Judge.”

My friend, this Jesus is not generally known today, and yet He is the only Jesus Christ who has ever lived. All the others that are around are figments of the imagination.

Listen to Him now as He pronounces woes upon the scribes and Pharisees. This is strong language.

 

Verse 13,

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 

 

The Lord’s going to this term “woe” eight times in this section and He calls scribes and Pharisees hypocrites seven times. He accuses them of blocking the way to the Kingdom of Heaven by their false leadership. Although this is not written directly to us today the same principle applies very much so today. Wrong teaching and wrong belief that are spruked by many today can and will keep a person from eternal life. This is so important to realise.

 

Verse 14,

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

 

In other words, these men made long prayers, but they were heartless and crooked in their business dealings. Their prayers were for their own self-interest, the love of the applause, the recognition and often the material gain that came from their position of influence and importance.

 

The greatness of their sin demanded a greater condemnation and here is an indication, a hint, that there are degrees of condemnation. All unbelievers will be judged and condemned by the Righteous Judge, but ‘the greater condemnation’ will be reserved for these hypocrites.

 

 

Verse 15,

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. 

 

This crew was great at going out and getting converts (proselytes) but because of their self-interest and their lack of understanding of the very scriptures they knew by word so well, they were not bringing anyone to God. They were making these converts to Judaism just as bad as themselves.

 

Verse 16 to 22 now,

“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ 

Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 

And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ 

Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 

Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 

He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. 

And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it. 

 

The Pharisees were teaching that if you swore by the temple or the altar, you were not bound to keep your oath. But if you swore by the gold of the temple or by the gift on the altar, the oath was binding. You see they’re splitting hairs, and they’re placing the emphasis on material things rather than on the spiritual purpose for which they were to be used.

 

Stepping back from these passages should once again show us that Jesus was speaking to and dealing with Israel to whom all this stuff was well known and was part of their education from children. They knew exactly what was going down here whereas you and I as modern-day gentiles wouldn’t have a clue.

Jesus is doing just what He came to do, minister to the nation, Israel. His words just aren’t the instruction for the Church today as unpopular as that statement is.

If we as the Body of Christ today try to live by Jesus Words by confusing who He’s talking to and thinking that these words are intended for us to today to do, we’ll just end up shaking our heads in confusion.

Having said this, we also remember Paul in 2nd Timothy 3:16,

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

 

Now listen to our Lord’s strong denunciation of these people in verse 23,

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 

 

This lot were very meticulous in tithing their little plants which produce condiments like mint, anise, and cummin.

Kerrie and I will often grow little pots of parley, mint, and thyme to flavour food.

Can you imagine one of these religious rulers breaking of a stem or two from these pots and taking a tenth of it to give to the Lord?

They were so strict about those little matters! But Jesus tells them, “You’ve forgotten about the weightier matters of the law. You’re meticulous in little things that matter very little and neglected those weightier matters.” The quote, “weightier matters would, of course, have brought these men to the person of Christ.

 

Verse 24,

Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! 

 

This verse sound humorous and I think that’s the way the Lord intended it. It was funny unless, of course, you’d been a Pharisee or a scribe.

The Lord said this in a serious vein, but I am sure many in the crowd laughed, especially those who knew these old religious scoundrels.

People love to make much out of little things.

They’ll labour heavily and be so devout about tiny things that don’t matter overall and yet they’ll readily use profanity, or steal that little item from work, or gossip about a colleague, or a host of other things that really affect their everyday life.

We’ve all met the person who labours over a snippet of news, making a huge conspiracy out of it, while at the same time having a hopelessly distorted and inadequate view of the big picture behind that news snippet.

It is amazing how people can strain at a gnat and swallow a camel!

 

Verse 25,

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 

Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

 

This fifth woe pictures the Pharisees with their emphasis on external things.

We find it even today in the Body of Christ. People get so busy making the outside of the cup and platter clean. They go through all the ceremonies. They want to have the best equipment. They talk so nice and piously on the outside, but inside they don’t deal with sin. In most cases, they don’t even like the word sin. But all the external ceremonies in the world can’t clean up inner corruption. The Pharisees substituted ritual for reality and formality for faith.

Now, we shouldn’t misunderstand Jesus and throw the baby out with bathwater.

He’s not saying that the outside shouldn’t be clean. But you give a wrong impression when the inside is dirty, and the outside isn’t. It’s the inside that needs the regeneration that only The Holy Spirit can bring.

 

We’re till in Matthew at Matthew 23:27-28

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 

 

Jesus’s words here are pointed directly at the Jewish leadership and they’re harsh, tough words spoken by a rugged, powerful individual who walks and talks with great authority clothed in humility.

Nowhere in this Gospel of Matthew do we see the gentle Jesus meek and mild that’s the popular portrayal of Him today.

We see a fearless, tough individual that’s not moved by public opinion and who has no hesitation in calling out the true nature of a person.

The soft, delicate, smiling, almost effeminate pictures that try to portray Him are a far and away removed from the real Jesus we see here.

 

There’s no more evidence of the word picture Jesus is painting here than what’s known today as virtue signalling.

This is the act of openly displaying one’s awareness of and diligence to political issues, matters of social and racial justice, and other perceived moral viewpoints.

It often occurs on social media platforms, where individuals express opinions that align with what they believe will be acceptable to others. It’s a way of signalling one’s supposed virtue.

It involves making public statements or gestures to demonstrate a person’s goodness or moral character, in a way that they think makes them appear outwardly good and righteous, even when those expressions lack genuineness.

These people pretend tolerance right up until the moment you disagree with them and then they change into the most intolerant of all people.

It’s all an outward show to pander to their desire to be seen as good by others even though on the inside they’re full of dead man’s bones and all uncleanliness.

 

Verses 29 to 32,

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ 

“Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 

Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 

 

Are we are doing the same thing today?

Great men of God, preachers, evangelists, missionaries, were denounced and ridiculed by their generations, but they’re honoured today.

Our Lord really did know human nature, and it hasn’t changed. “You build the tombs to commemorate the prophets after they are gone, and you decorate the monuments, or the graves, of the righteous!”

“Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt”. Jesus prophesied about how these leaders would complete the rejection of the prophets their fathers began by persecuting His disciples, who He’d send to them. And, these same religious leaders, who were honouring the prophets of the past, would soon force Rome to crucify the Son of God who was speaking to them right now.

 

Verse 33,

Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 

 

Here we see this strong and passionate language as Jesus continues to pull apart the religious elite.

Can you imagine the emotion charged atmosphere?

What does He mean by calling this lot a generation of vipers? He means that they’re the offspring of snakes! This phrase also has the idea of “family of the devil.”

These religious leaders took great pride in their heritage, thinking they were spiritual sons of Abraham. Instead, they were more like sons of the devil.

We should see that Jesus spoke so strongly about these religious leaders for two reasons.

First, He didn’t want others to be deceived by them. Second, He loved these men. Yes, He did! He loved them.

These men were as far away from God as it was possible to be, and they needed to be warned of coming judgment. What Jesus really wanted was their repentance, not their judgment.

God can’t claim a person who has rejected Jesus Christ. The only way to become a child of God is to believe that Jesus was the Christ.

John 1:12,

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 

The Lord’s speaking in harsh terms in these verses in Matthew and it’s a bit too strong for many in today’s church. Jesus Christ was no love child. He came to earth to die for your sins because He loved you, but if you reject Him, He becomes your Judge.

 

Verses 34 and 35, still in Matthew 23,

Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 

 

Jesus speaks here of all the righteous martyrs of the Old Testament. Abel was clearly the first, and Zechariah was the last. Zechariah’s murder is in 2nd Chronicles 24 and 2nd Chronicles is the last book in the Hebrew Bible, the one Jesus would have been quoting from.

He makes it very clear that God will judge Israel for destroying the righteous. He’s certainly at odds with the belief that everyone will ultimately be saved. He says that they’ll not be saved.

 

Verse 36,

Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

He’s predicting the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

What does He do next? The One who made this strong condemnation will now weep over Jerusalem.

 

Verses 37 and 38,

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 

See! Your house is left to you desolate. 

Jerusalem rejected Him in His so–called triumphal entry, and now He’s rejected Jerusalem, but He weeps over this city. Yes, He denounced them, but He loves them. And knowing the judgment which must come, He weeps.

What a display of the depths of His love for His nation.

Jesus pronounced these woes with a heart that was breaking. You remember that some of the people thought he was Jeremiah because, although Jeremiah gave the strongest condemnation in the Old Testament, he wept over it.

We get the idea that there’s no going back for Israel.

 

Verse 39,

for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘BLESSED is HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ “

 

We finish off chapter 23 with yet another reference to prophecy.

We find this prophecy in the book of Psalms, in Psalm 118:26.

Not only were the religious rulers in shock, at this statement but Jesus’s apostles were in shock, also.

This seemed to them a strange turn of events. They expected Him to establish the Kingdom, with Jerusalem as the capital and Himself as King. But now He says that their house is to be left desolate and that they’ll not see Him again until they say, “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.”

You see, although He’s on His way to the Cross at this time, He gives them the assurance that He will return, and that return will be His triumphal entry!

For now, the setting up of the Kingdom’s going to be postponed.

There’re many who object to that teaching, but to do that, they’ve got to object to the words of our Lord.

He tells His disciples that He’ll not establish the kingdom on earth at this time but that He’ll come again to establish it at a time in the future. All these expectations are now ended.

Why is this? Simply because the condition of this New Covenant with Israel and the setting up of the Kingdom on earth, relied on Israel accepting their Messiah. They did not. They rejected Him.

That means that the Kingdom is postponed until that time in the future near the end of what’s known as the Great Tribulation, where the remnant of survivors of the incredible holocaust that will be released against Israel and the world finally turn and recognise Jesus as their Messiah.

The apostles were surprised and disappointed at the idea of a postponement; so, they come to Him with three questions, which we will see in the following chapter.

 

Now we’ve reached a section of scripture that’s massively misunderstood.

Matthew 24 and 25, are known as the Olivet Discourse, and they comprise the last of three major discourses in this Gospel. They’re called major discourses because of the extent, the content, and the intent of them.

Jesus has now denounced the religious rulers. He’s turned His back on Jerusalem and has told them that their house (the temple) is left desolate.

 

Before going any further in Matthew 24 we need to go back to asking the Who, What, Why and When questions.

Who is speaking?

Who is being speaking to or who was it written to?

What was the purpose?

Why? Why are the words being recorded?

When? When were these things written and when or what is the period in time that these things are written for?

 

Matthew 24 was spoken by the Lord Himself to the 12 as representatives of Israel. As a result, Matthew 24 is all tribulation.

Now that the Jews are coming back into the land, we can see everything being prepared for the final seven years of Daniel’s prophecy in Daniel 9:27.

 

As we’ll see, in Matthew 24:3, when the disciples asked about the signs of the end. Jesus’ direct answer was, let no man deceive you. One of the signs is deception or confusion.

Matthew 24 is totally tribulation ground, and the world is moving to that event. So, even though we’re not seeing the super-natural events of the tribulation which are prophesied, common sense tells us the world is devolving as a society, toward that event.

We’re now witnessing this lead up to that period and because of the immense significance of this period, deceivers will be everywhere. More and more we’ll see that happen before the tribulation begins.

One of the many deceptions running through the Christian community like a flood, is the claim that the Body of Christ will go into or even through this Great tribulation that we’re about to see in Matthew 24 and 25.

 

It’s important to see that the one cord that binds all these deceivers and deceptions together is the rejection of Paul’s Apostleship and it’s easy to see why.

Paul alone reveals the Doctrines, Practices, and the end of the Body of Christ on earth. For example, Paul alone reveals a salvation based on faith and faith alone in the finished work of the Cross. We just don’t see this in the Gospels, how that Christ died for the sins of the whole world. How that His shed Blood and our faith in it brings justification. How the Power of His resurrection is imparted to us when we believe. Paul alone gives instruction for the Communion service; Paul alone gives instructions concerning Deacons (no one else uses the term) and he alone gave instructions for the local church.

Paul alone teaches us the end of the Body of Christ on earth and only in his writings do we even learn anything about the Body the Christ. In fact, that term the Body of Christ, is used nowhere in the Bible outside of Pauls letters. Not in the Gospels, not in the Jewish epistles of Hebrews, James, 1^st and 2^nd Peter, 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd John, Jude or even the book of Revelation. It is inferred in prophecy but not described. Consequently, Paul alone gives us the Scriptures concerning what many now ridicule – the rapture or the catching up of the Church, which is His Body, The Body of Christ.

The language used in 1 Corinthians 15:51-54, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 can’t be found anywhere else in our Bible.

If we try and fit The Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and to a lesser extent John, into the Church we fall into confusion. We have this mish mash, this mixing of Israels’ destiny with the church and we just can’t do this and make sense out of it. All we’ll have are unanswerable questions.

While the church is made up of individuals, both Jew and Gentile, the nation of Israel has a destiny all of its own that’s not the same destiny as the church.

If we mix Paul’s doctrine concerning the Church with the Second Coming, then we live in a mix of law and Grace which, if you think about it for just a few minutes, is impossible. We’re either living according to the law (and failing on every single point, condemning ourselves for eternity), or we’re living by nothing but God’s grace accepted through faith in His Word. His Word about Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, His blood shed for the redemption from sin in which we’re made righteous totally apart from our works, and nothing else.

Someone once said, “When we mix law and Grace, Satan smiles and God is grieved”.

 

In 2 Timothy, Paul paints a vivid picture of the world today. But, in Titus 2:13, he gives us the Blessed Hope of the believer – the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.

 

In order to clarify and set the stage for this vitally important chapter of Matthew 24 we’re going to do an introduction in a few parts so we can set the stage so to speak, to make the verse by verse study more meaningful.

We could easily call this introduction something like, “What Will Happen In The Last days” because it’ll take a birds eye view of the last days which, as we’ve said, is what this coming chapter of Matthew depicts from the Words of Jesus Himself.