Matthew 9:14-10:8

The disciples of John the Baptist had been observing the Lord Jesus.

More than likely these disciples of John the Baptist heard of the great entertainment made at Matthew’s house for Christ. We mentioned this in the study of the last chapter.

They were either offended themselves or were influenced by the Pharisees, who also were offended at this celebration, so they came to Christ and put this question to him about why they weren’t fasting but instead were in a celebration where many hated tax collectors and publicans were having a big dinner.

It wasn’t so much that they wanted to know the reason why they and the Pharisees fasted, but Christ’s disciples didn’t. It was more of a criticism, and they felt that Christ’s disciples ought to fast like they did and not eat, and drink, and feast in the manner they were.

The Pharisees were always fasting often twice a week and sometimes more.

So, they came to Christ where he was, and put this question to him.

 

Now, John the Baptist, as we’ve previously seen, was an Old Testament prophet.

He walked out of the Old Testament into the New Testament to make the announcement that the Messiah had come.

The prophet Malachi in Malachi 3:1 had predicted that a messenger would come to prepare the way for the Lord Jesus Christ. John said, “All I’m doing is getting the road ready for the Lord. He’ll be here shortly.” And He did come as John had said.

Now our Lord is going to outline a great principle and reveal the fact that the dispensation is going to be changed. The Old testament is about to wind up and be replaced by the New Testament. Something big and brand new is about to happen.

 

Now to verse 15,

And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. 

 

Jesus is directing His answer to John’s disciples, but the Pharisees are also straining their necks to look in, so His answer is to both groups.

By the “bridegroom” Christ means himself. The children of the bride chamber are the disciples who were the friends of the bridegroom.

Jesus here is likening Himself and the events that are coming soon to a Jewish wedding. It was a time of joy and feasting, not of sorrow and fasting where both the bride and the bridegroom have their friends, who are known as “the children of the bride chamber”, attending them.

John, (that’s the apostle John not John the Baptist) describes himself as one of the friends of the Bridegroom in John 3:29,

He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is fulfilled.

 

This time when Christ is with his disciples, between the beginning of His public ministry, and his death, is the time all this is taking place. Jesus’s disciples had very little care and trouble and this was their rejoicing time, where they had no reason to fast and mourn. The seed of the Church, the Bride of Christ is being sown here.

But the time will come when the bridegroom will be forcefully taken away from them and put to death and then they’ll fast and mourn, and be in great distress, as John the Baptist’s disciples were now, seeing that their master’s in prison.

 

Verse 16 now,

No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. 

Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” 

 

Jesus is saying that the old covenant, the old dispensation of law, was ending. He’d not come to improve or patch up the old system so as to continue that dispensation.

The reference to the unshrunk cloth means that if a person had a tear in a garment of clothing they wouldn’t try and patch it with a brand new piece of material that had never been washed and never had shrunk. If they did the new piece would soon shrink and rip a bigger tear in the garment than before it was patched.

Jesus had come to provide a brand new garment a robe of righteousness which He gives to those who do nothing more than to trust Him.

That’s the new dispensation of Grace and trying to patch that new dispensation over the old one of the law would simply worsen that state of the law. In other words, the new dispensation of Grace cannot be mixed with the old dispensation of the law.

That’s now about to be discarded completely once Christ has fulfilled it to the letter. Once that happens all humans, Gentile, and Jew alike, can only be saved by Grace. Works of the law can no longer save them.

The example of the wineskins has the exact same meaning.

The wineskins were bottles or jars of that day for storing wine. They were made of animal skin.

When new wine was put into a new wineskin, it would expand and easily cope with the wine inside it. But an old wineskin had reached its maximum ability to expand so if these old skins were filled with new wine, they would naturally burst open and the wine would be lost.

The Lord is saying the same thing, “I haven’t come to sew patches on an old garment or fill up an old animal skin with beautiful new wine and watch it burst and the wine disappear into the ground.

I’ve come to present a new garment, a new wineskin, something that’s completely new.

This was very radical.

John summed it up in his Gospel in John 1:17 when he said, “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

We come to the eighth and ninth miracles which are sort of linked together. Both are miracles of healing, and it’s an amazing scene.

 

Matthew 9 verse 18,

While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.” 

 

Luke in his Gospel in Luke 8:41-42 tells us that when this ruler first came to Jesus it was to ask Him to heal his daughter. Let’s read it.

And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged Him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him. 

 

This little girl was so sick she was near to death. While her father waited to talk with Jesus, a servant came and told him that the little girl had died. Notice again the large crowd gathered around Him.

 

Mat 9:19-20,

So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples. 

And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. 

 

Matthew 9:21

For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” 

But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour. 

 

Notice what the woman did. Jesus didn’t touch her, as He did in many other miracles, but she touched Him.

There was nothing particularly holy or special about this part of Christ’s garment.

There was no promise or ritual relating to touching Jesus’s garment to bring healing.

Probably this woman believed in a sort of superstitious way. But even though her faith had bits of error and superstition, she believed in the healing power of Jesus and His garment served as a point of contact for that faith.

I suppose there’re many things we could find wrong with this woman’s faith. But it was firmly founded on Jesus and that’s much more important than the quality or even quantity of faith.

It wasn’t the method that brought about her healing; it was her faith.

This incident gives us another interesting insight though.

The New King James version leaves out a word in this verse that’s included in the Greek texts and in most other bible translations.

That word is kraspedon. Some other translations render the word as hem while others render it fringe. Fringe is the more correct form.

We see in Numbers 15:38 The Jews were commanded to wear these fringes on the borders or hems of their garments. Let’s read that and we’ll read it from the King Jimmy translation.

Speak unto the children of Israel and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue. 

The Jews were commanded to wear these fringes on the borders or hems of their garments, and they placed great importance on the wearing and use of these fringes. The Pharisees, who we know loved to pretend to be more holy than everyone else, made them much bigger than they should be but the point is this was the law. It would have also been common everyday knowledge at this time.

What’s the point? Well, here we see Jesus fulfilling the law to the letter even the ceremonial law in apparel, as well as in all other things.

 

Dr. Luke gives us much more detail about this miracle, recording our Lord’s reaction to this woman’s touch and her response. Jesus then moves from this woman and continues toward the house of Jairus.

 

Now we come to verses 23 and 24,

When Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, 

He said to them, “Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him. 

 

When Jesus arrived at the home, people were already mourning for the child.

These were probably paid mourners, who in the custom of that day offered mourning for a price. It wasn’t out of sincere sorrow.

Professional mourners were hired even by poor families and like everything else, it had all been reduced to a meaningless system.

 

Jesus told them the little girl was only sleeping and not dead, and they laughed at Him and ridiculed him.

When we notice how quickly they moved from wailing to ridiculing Jesus, it showed their complete lack of sincerity.

Noone in the house believed Jesus could raise the dead, but He kept moving toward the child.

 

Verse 25,

But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. 

 

He went in with his three disciples, Peter, James, and John, who were taken in to be witnesses and the parents of the child.

 

He took her by the hand; just as if He were waking her from sleeping. This wasn’t all He did. We see in the account recorded in Mark’s gospel in Mark 5 verse 41 that he said to her, “Talitha cumi”, which means, “maiden, arise” and immediately the little girl arose just as if she was waking up from sleep.

 

Verse 26 now,

And the report of this went out into all that land. 

 

It just wasn’t possible for this to be hidden. So many people were involved, not only relatives, but neighbours and mourners etc., who knew full well that the girl was dead.

When they saw her alive, walking about, eating, and drinking, and talking with them , as Mark’s account records, they knew they’d been involved in a truly fantastic miracle.

How could they not relate it wherever they went? So that the fame of it spread all over the country.

 

Now to the tenth recorded miracle in Mattew 9:27,

When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us!” 

 

Note that the two blind men addressed Him as the “Son of David.” This is an easily glossed over statement but it’s an important one because this whole Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus as the King.

And what’s the very first verse of this gospel, Matthew 1:1?

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Notice Jesus with His title, Christ. Christ, Christos in Greek, The Anointed One, The Messiah. He was the son of God, and He took on humanity through Abraham and through David as the son of David. His genealogy is exactly as prophesied in the book of Isaiah in chapter 9 verses 6-7 that,

unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Just as Genesis 5 was the book of the generation of the first Adam, Matthew is the book of the generation of the second Adam.

 

Now to verse 28 to 30,

And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” 

Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” 

And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, “See that no one knows it.”

 

This is another remarkable case where the Lord charges these men not to tell anyone about what happened to them.

He’s very strict with this instruction, because he’d already given commands like this before, and they’d not been obeyed.

The reason why Jesus wanted this miracle kept quiet are not very obvious, but it could simply have been that the more the news of the miracles was spread the more the crowds pressed in on Him and actually hindered Him at His work.

It may have been that He knew that hostility and resentment would quickly rise against Him, especially from the Jewish rulers.

It may have been that He foresaw the population believing He was setting up His earthly Kingdom now, seeing He was David’s son, and that He would overthrow the Roman rule over Judea. The throngs of people and the demands for healing may have stifled the real message of what Jesus was doing there at this time.

 

To Verse 31,

But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country. 

 

Whatever the reason Jesus had for requiring these blokes to keep quiet, they just couldn’t contain their joy and they spread the news everywhere.

 

We come now to the eleventh miracle where another demon–possessed man is healed. This is the third incident of demon possession recorded in these chapters of Matthew. We’re now looking at verses 32 and 33,

As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon possessed. 

And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marvelled, saying, “It was never seen like this in Israel!” 

 

Notice the reaction of the Pharisees in verse 34,

But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.” 

 

They didn’t deny that Jesus had caused the mute to speak, the blind to see and the crippled to walk. What they accused Him of was that He did these things by the power of Satan.

 

Verse 35,

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 

 

“The gospel of the kingdom” is not the gospel of the grace of God.

This in no way says that there’re two gospels. There’s only one gospel, but there’re many facets to it. The gospel of the Kingdom was the announcement that the Kingdom of the heavens was at hand.

It meant to get ready for the King. It required a heart condition that would accept and follow the King who was soon to go to the cross.

 

“And healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” We see again and again that Matthew shows us that there were thousands of folk who were healed in that day.

This is the reason the enemy never questioned the fact that He performed miracles. It was too obvious.

Again, we look to today and see the huge numbers of people who accept the claims of those who say they have a gift of healing.

A simple and quick search through YouTube can quickly expose many of these people as simply deceivers.

In contrast to this, there were thousands of folk who had been healed by our Lord when He was here and yet even the people who are most devoted to healing ministries today would have to admit that we just don’t see this today.

The Bible teaches that God is the one who heals, and He can use various means to bring about healing including doctors and nurses. While there’re many instances of miraculous healings in the Bible, it’s important to remember that not everyone was healed in the same way or at the same time.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Great Physician and He can heal today as well as He did yesterday, and we should have confidence in Him. But we should also look for the best medical help available to us while understanding that although medical knowledge has increased dramatically over the years, doctors are still very limited in their knowledge of the human body.

In my own encounter with cancer, I was blessed to have who I regard as the best of the best specialist but even he would, and still does, say he just doesn’t know how and why a thing happens.

There’s only so much they can do. However, the Lord Jesus is not limited but we must always be aware that He’ll deal with us according to His perfect will, and we need to give Him the credit for whatever happens.

 

Verse 36,

But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 

This note of compassion is wonderful, isn’t it?

We see here in Jesus, the embodiment of God, the only way by which we can see God and what do we see?

Compassion!

This’s just a small insight into the compassion that drove our Lord to the cross at calvary where He would offer His life for the salvation of every person who does nothing more than believes.

 

He references shepherds here. God’s ideal kings and rulers have all been shepherds. Both Moses and David were shepherds before they led God’s people. Abraham, Issac, and Jacob were shepherds and the Lord Himself is called the Good Shepherd.

I pray that the Lord will give us the heart of a shepherd and a heart of compassion for the lost.

 

Verses 37 and 38,

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few. 

Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.” 

 

As His heart is filled with pity toward these people and the sad condition they were in, He turns to his disciples.

He’s about to send them out in a more public way to preach the Gospel.

“The harvest is truly plentiful”, He says.

He’s referring to the large number of God’s elect, which were in these cities, towns, and villages, and in other places who needed to hear of the grace of God and that the spiritual part of the kingdom of heaven had arrived in Him.

He called this a harvest. The appointed weeks of the harvest, or the set time for the harvest to be gathered in, had come for those in Galilee, and other parts.

 

However, the labourers are few, He said. This is true right down through the ages. There’s not many who’re willing to dedicate their life for Christ and the true Gospel of salvation.

 

When our Lord asked the disciples to pray for labourers, He sent these very same men whom He asked to pray about it. This’s very interesting and indicates to us that we shouldn’t pray about something unless we’re also willing to follow up ourselves.

 

We’ve now come to Matthew chapter 10 and this chapter continues the flow we have seen all through the Gospel of Matthew.

Now He commissions the twelve apostles to go to the nation Israel and preach the gospel of the Kingdom.

These men don’t go as forerunners like John the Baptist did but as witnesses to the King’s arrival.

Our Lord gave them power to perform miracles, and this was their credentials.

We should notice a couple of things here.

John the Baptist never performed a miracle. Also, we notice that the title of these disciples is changed from disciple (meaning learner or a student) to apostle (meaning a delegate or a commissioner of Christ with miraculous powers).

Many cults use this chapter as their authority for some peculiar ministry or conduct. However, the instructions for Christians simply are not found in this chapter.

We need to see these instructions in the light of the circumstances, the conditions, and the context that they’re given in. Only then can interpret them accurately.

An apostle was very strictly defined in the New Testament, and the office as relates to the 12 apostles no longer exists today despite the many who claim that title.

These three conditions had to be met.

1. The person had to have been an eyewitness to Jesus either before or after his resurrection. We see that in 1 Corinthians 9:1.
2. They had to have been chosen by God through the Holy Spirit directly. Thats in Acts 9:15.
3. They must minister with miraculous signs and wonders. We see that in Acts 2:43 and 2 Corinthians 12:12.

 

Mat 10:1-2

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. 

 

Jesus gave power to these men who accepted this office, and these miraculous powers were their credentials as they went to the nation Israel. The prophets of the Old Testament had said that this would be the credentials of the Messiah.

Having given them this power, they’re no longer disciples but apostles.

These men had sat at Jesus’s feet, and received his words, heard his doctrines and had seen his miracles.

They’d been trained up for public ministry and now they’re going to enter that service.

Jesus had called these twelve together privately and He gave them a commission to preach the Gospel, ordained them ministers of the word, and installed them into the office of apostleship.

 

The number “twelve” is a very important number in the Word of God and appears many times.

It’s often associated with God’s power and authority, as well as serving as a perfect foundation for government.

We haven’t got the time here to examine it properly but here’s a few examples.

There were 12 tribes of Israel, one of which is the tribe of Judah, which Jesus descended from.

Jesus had 12 recorded disciples, although Judas betrayed Jesus and was taken out of the twelve. Many believe Matthias replaced Judas but it’s more probably it was the apostle Paul.

In the Book of Revelation, there are 12 gates with 12 different jewels on the gates.

Twelve spies were sent by Moses into the land of Canaan. There’re twelve stones in Aaron’s breast plate, twelve fountains the Israelites found in the wilderness, twelve oxen on which the molten sea stood in Solomon’s temple, twelve gates in Ezekiel’s temple and the list goes on.

So, it fell on these 12 apostles to spread the Gospel to the Jewish nation.

Mat 10:5,

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. 

 

Now if anyone’s going to take their instructions from this chapter for their personal ministry, they’ll have to limit themselves to the nation Israel. They’re instructed by Jesus to go to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  and were specifically told not to go to the gentiles.

So, obviously, these verses don’t relate to our commission.

We don’t see our commission until much later in Acts 1:8 where we read,

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…

It’s critical to note that this is after Our Lord died on the cross and was buried and after His resurrection and just prior to His ascension into heaven.

Jesus was about to leave this earthly realm but the Holy Spirit would replace His presence on earth. They just need to wait until He came. As the rest of the verse in Acts 1:8 says,

and you (meaning and then) you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

 

Notice that we’re to include Judea, Samaria and the end of the earth or the uttermost part of the earth in that day which hasn’t arrived at the time this commission is given and recorded in this chapter 10 of Matthew.

So, again, Jesus specifically instructed the twelve in this chapter to stay out of Samaria and not to go into the way of the Gentiles but only to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

And the message of the twelve was to be this in chapter 10 verse 7,

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

 

How could the kingdom be “at hand”?

It was at hand in the person of the King. He’s in their midst.

many churches throughout history have misinterpreted their task as “building the Kingdom of Heaven” here on this earth and it hasn’t changed today.

Each group thought that they had a special contract from God to accomplish this setting up of the earthly Kingdom.

Of course, the church was never called to build the Kingdom. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself will establish the Kingdom when He returns to the earth.

The church is a called–out body from the world to show Christ and to preach His gospel throughout the world. Kingdom business is none of our business.

The Kingdom of Heaven is within us when we receive Christ, we, the Church, won’t be setting up the earthly Kingdom.

Now notice that our Lord sends out the twelve apostles to the nation Israel with the same credentials that He Himself has.

Verse 8,

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

 

So if our thought is that this is our commission today we should be able to do all four of these things and raising the dead is included! No, this was applicable to the time and circumstances under which it was given.

It’s interesting that folk today who use Matthew 10:8 as their commission ignore the next verse Matthew 10:9,

Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts.

Until next time friends may God bless you and keep you.