Tag Archive for: Jesus Earthly Ministry

Add to that the huge influence that the cults and “isms” have on the world and there’s a good chance a lot of very important passages of scripture will be misunderstood, misused, and abused.

But thankfully there’s a sure and certain remedy!

It’s in 2 Timothy 2:15,

Be diligent (and the wider meaning of the word in the bible is, study, make effort, be prompt or earnest: – do (give) diligence, be diligent (forward), endeavour, labour), Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 

It’s our hope that by giving place to God’s Word in your life that the resulting understanding and revelation will strengthen and fully equip you to live in this insane world without being conformed or absorbed into it.

 

Today we’re going to see that for the first time the Lord Jesus announces His death and resurrection to His disciples.

It was approximately six months before He was actually crucified. Why did He wait so long to make such an important announcement?

Obviously, His disciples weren’t prepared for it, even at this time, judging from their reaction.

He repeated this fact that He was going to Jerusalem to die five times in the next passages in Matthew 17:12,22,23; Matthew 20:18-19,28.

In spite of this, the disciples didn’t grasp the huge importance of it all until after His resurrection.

We set off today in Matthew 16:21,

From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. 

 

He knows that this now lies before Him.

If the church is ever going to become a reality, He must first complete the work of redemption on the cross and also endure all the suffering that’ll be inflicted upon Him in connection with it.

To undergo all this, he has to go to Jerusalem, but not to take the throne as most of His followers, including the apostles, thought.

He tells the disciples of this suffering and death but that He’ll be raised on the third day. His death is not the end. He wants His disciples to know that.

This is what the Lord Jesus did for you and me.

This is the gospel: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried and was raised again according to scripture.

 

We must know Who He is, and we must know what He did for us.

If we know these two things, and by faith believe, receive them as being truth, we’re saved.

 

This hadn’t ever been revealed before except to Nicodemus at the beginning of our Lord’s ministry in John 3:1-16.

 

Verse 22

Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” 

 

But old Peter doesn’t want any part of that.

He’s not about to accept any talk about a suffering Messiah.

To Peter this just can’t be true and there’s no way it’s going to happen! He even rebukes the Lord for talking about it.

What Peter’s saying is, “You are the Messiah; You are the Son of God. You must not, You cannot go to the cross!” The cross was not in the thinking of the apostles at all, as we can see.

In Peter’s mind it’s still all about the establishment of the kingdom right here and right now. In doing this of course, he ignores the problem of sin. He just doesn’t see the big picture that the sin of mankind must be dealt with.

However blessed and honoured Peter was by God the Father’s revelation and the authority granted to him, his hearts still firmly implanted at the human level and as yet he can only see the glory of the physical Messiah ruling over Israel and somehow ousting the Romans from Judea.

 

To verse 23

But He (Jesus) turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” 

 

It’s satanic for anyone to deny the facts of the gospel which are that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and rose again from the dead. It is satanic when a man in the pulpit will deny these truths.

 

Our Lord said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan!” Imagine it. Here’s Peter who one moment could say that Jesus was the Son of God, and yet in the next moment let Satan deceive him!

 

The Lord recognises where Peter’s thoughts are coming from that cause him to speak and heartily disagree with the Messiah, God in the flesh, who, as we’ve seen, he already recognised.

Peters used by Satan, who wants to turn him away from the path of obedience and truth. It was possible for Satan to use him for this because Peter’s not thinking of the things of God, but of the things of man. Everything in his mind is this world related and he can’t see outside of that.

How much like us today is this?

The death of Christ in our place is the only thing that can save us, friends.

Later on, Peter wrote this in his epistle, 1 Peter 2 verse 24,

…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed (healed of sin).

See what a huge transformation had taken place in Peter’s mind by then!

 

Verse 24

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 

 

Jesus is still speaking about a time that’s as yet future for His listeners on that day that He spoke. You see He hadn’t gone to the cross yet, but He soon would. It’s after that when this command comes into effect.

Many people interpret this verse as, “Let him deny himself some sort of luxury down here on earth and continue denying it over and over again.”

But what this verse says is “Let him deny himself!”

We already know that the hardest person in the world to deny is yourself.

 

When Jesus called us to deny ourselves and take up our cross he was talking about a one-time act of believing. This wasn’t an ongoing religious behaviour improvement command.

How many times did Jesus only Take up His cross? One time.

How many times did Jesus deny himself? One time. It wasn’t an ongoing activity.

Where did Jesus take up His cross?

When He went to Calvary and died for our sins. The Scriptures tell us that just as Jesus died, we too died with him. The old us was buried with Christ. We were crucified with Him. And we’re now a new creation.

 

So, Jesus is saying that after His death, burial, and resurrection we’re to be saved by denying our self, that old identity, that old self that’s in Adam with the sin nature that was passed to us from Adam.

How do we do that?

Well, taking up our cross is symbolic of us putting our faith in Jesus and symbolically being crucified with him.

After we’ve believed we’re saved and then we can celebrate baptism where we’re dunked in water as an outward picture of what’s happened inwardly, we’ve been crucified with Christ. Our old self has died and been buried, which going down under the water symbolises. Then, we’re lifted out of the water, as a symbol of us being risen with Christ to new life.

 

So, when Jesus talks about us taking up our cross, he’s talking symbolically about following him to be crucified, then buried with him and raised again. This is a one-time action for Christians, for believers. It’s a call for faith.

 

Now to verses 25 to 27,

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 

For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 

 

Whoever wants to hold on to this current life and just follow after what feels good, just be part of this world and its system and enjoy it to the max and rejects Christ and what He’s done to redeem us to eternal life, will lose that life.

But whoever is willing to reject this life and all its pleasures and comforts but reaches out to Christ for that which is far above these temporary things of the world, that person will find and enjoy an immortal and eternal life, free from all sorrow and affliction, and instead is full of endless joys and pleasures.

At Christ’s second coming all accounts will be settled and everyone will receive his proper rewards and it’ll be a wonderful day for those who’s faith in Christ and His finished work have made them righteous and clean, but it’ll be a truly terrible day for those who’ve rejected that righteousness.

 

Verse 28

Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

 

Assuredly I say to you! This is a strong declaration by the Lord and He declares it to be a certain truth, which we can rely on fully.

Some standing here means his disciples and some of the audience before Him, would not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.

Notice that they will still taste death, just not till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. So, we know this is only a short time off and not His coming in the last day to set up His earthly physical Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven.

At this point there is a division between many bible scholars. Many think this is referring to the transfiguration of Christ which immediately follows this verse while many others think Jesus is referring to the appearance of the spiritual aspect of His Kingdom that will be a reality after his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension to heaven and when the Holy Spirit is poured down and the Gospel’s preached all over the world.

To me, either or both seem to fit.

Some would live to see mighty signs and wonders beyond anything possible that comes from our material world.

 

We’re now moving to the 17^th chapter of Matthew where we’ll see the Transfiguration; the demon–possessed boy and the faithless disciples and Jesus paying the temple taxes by performing a miracle.

 

Now before we look at this amazing event, The Transfiguration of Jesus, we should again say that for those who reject God, who don’t believe He even exists, let alone His power and majesty, this passage of scripture will appear as nothing but fantasy.

1 Corinthians 2:14 explains the impossibility of natural man to know or understand the things of God.

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

For the world, “seeing is believing”. “I’ll believe it when I see it. But for the Christian, “believing is seeing”, I see it because I believe it.” That’s what faith is. The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

 

Matthew 17:1-2

Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. 

 

Jesus didn’t invite all the disciples, only these three. Maybe Jesus did this to prevent the account of this amazing miracle being told of before the time was right. As verse 9 puts it,

…Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.”

In both Matthew and Mark this event happened 6 days after Matthew 16 verse 28, but Luke counts the day that Jesus preached as well as also the day the transfiguration took place, making 8 days.

No one knows which mountain it was because it’s not told to us. Some say Mt tabor, some, Mt Hermon, and others Mt Miron.

 

The word transfigured means a change in form but not just a change in outward appearance. Jesus was still fully recognisable. He became so bright in appearance that He was difficult to look at, like looking at the sun.

It was more of an inner change which was outwardly visible.

The light from within Him shone out from Him and through His clothes, turning them white as the intense light shone through the material.

 

This transfiguration wasn’t really the miracle. It was more the temporary stopping of another one. The real miracle was that Jesus, most of the time, could keep from displaying this glory.

The great Charles Spurgeon wrote,

“For Christ to be glorious was almost a less matter than for him to restrain or hide his glory. It is forever his glory that he concealed his glory; and that, though he was rich, for our sakes he became poor.”

It was His face that shone as the sun.

He wasn’t transformed into another being with another body; it was His own face that shone.

Charles Spurgeon hit the nail on the head again when he described it like this,

“Another thing which we may learn from our Lord Jesus Christ having shown himself to his apostles thus robed in brightness is, that we are scarcely aware of the glory of which the human body is capable.”

 

Now to Matthew 17-3

And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 

 

Moses was the representative of the Law, and Elijah was the representative of the prophets.

Moses had died, and Elijah had departed from this world in a chariot of fire. Luke tells us they were discussing Jesus’ coming death in Jerusalem.

Luk 9:30-31,

And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 

The Law and the prophets bore testimony to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

These two Old Testament fellows appeared and spoke with the transfigured Jesus.

Moses lived about 1400 years before and Elijah about 900 years before; yet here they were alive and in some sort of resurrected, glorified state.

They appeared because they represent the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah). In other words, the sum of what was revealed in the Old Testament came to meet with Jesus at the Mount of Transfiguration. This whole event is as rich in symbolism as it is in its physical nature.

The Transfiguration doesn’t prove, or try to prove, the deity of Christ. Instead, it displays the humanity of Christ. The Gospel of John doesn’t include the Transfiguration like the other three Gospels because that Gospel displays the deity of Christ.

The transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ not only shows the proof of His humanity but the hope of humanity.

The Man who we see glorified here, or transfigured, is the kind of person that you and I’ll be someday if we’re a child of God.

We see that in 1 John 3:2,

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

 

Now to Matthew 17:4

Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 

 

Simon Peter was always there ready to stand up and say out loud what was on his mind.

He generally got up to say something, and usually it was the wrong thing. Until the Day of Pentecost that is.

Here though, it’s the wrong this again.

He was attempting to place Moses and Elijah on the same plane with the Lord Jesus.

Luke’s account explains it by stating, “… not knowing what he said.” That’s Luke 9:33.

Peter’s thinking is still implanted in the idea that Jesus was coming to set up His Kingdom now at this moment.

God Himself interrupts him, as we’ll see.

 

To verse 5

While he (Peter) was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” 

 

This is God the Father’s testimony to Jesus, the Son.

in matters of revelation. What Moses, Elijah and the prophets had to say was wonderful. The writer to the Hebrews says this in Hebrews 1 verses 1 and 2,

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds. 

See, Jesus is the final authority.

The Son is the One who came to earth as the final revelation of God to man.

God the Father speaks.

This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him! 

Even these words come from Prophecy of old. In Psalm 2:7, the Father says to the Son: “You are my Son” and in Isaiah 42:1 the Father says to the Son that He is One in whom My soul delights.

 

The Lord Jesus is the only One who’s ever been well pleasing to God. And you and I’ll never get into God’s presence until we’re IN Christ by faith.

When we believe and trust in Christ as our Savior, then we’re placed in the body of believers. Christ is the only One in whom God’s been pleased, and we’re accepted when we’re IN Him, in the Beloved.

 

Verses 6 to 8 now

And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. 

But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” 

When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. 

 

They didn’t fall on their faces when they saw Jesus transfigured, or when His face shone like the sun and His clothes became as white as the light, nor when Moses and Elijah appeared with Him spoke with Jesus. It wasn’t even when the cloud of glory appeared and overshadowed them. They fell on their faces and were greatly afraid when they heard the voice from heaven.

 

Notice the context. Jesus just revealed His coming humiliation and sufferings to these men.

It makes perfect sense that they receive another divine testimony to Jesus’ status as the Son of God at this time and this testimony will stay with them for the time they’re on earth.

 

When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

How important it is that their entire focus was forced on Jesus again. The cloud was gone; Moses and Elijah had disappeared, but Jesus is still there urging them, as usual, not to be afraid.

 

Verse 9

Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.”

 

Why wait until the Resurrection to tell it, and why shouldn’t all these things be told at that time?

Because it’s part of the gospel story and the story’s not yet complete as it soon would be.

This event further shows who Jesus is. He’s the perfect Lamb of God. He’s been tested for three years, by this time and now He’s on the way to the Cross to die for the sins of the world.

You see, God required a sacrificial lamb without spot or blemish, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the only One who qualified and as such was the only One Who could die a substitutionary death for mankind. He was sinless, without spot or blemish. In His perfect humanity He was transfigured. He’s the hope of mankind.

The hope of mankind is not in science or education or politics. They’re all letting us down badly today because they simply can’t solve the problem of sin. Friends, the hope of the world is only in Jesus Christ. Be sure you know Him; He’s our only hope.

 

Verse 10 now

And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” 

 

Their question is something like this, “Jesus, we know that Elijah comes first before the Messiah. We know You are the Messiah, yet we just saw Elijah, and so it seems that he came after You.”

Now look at The Lord’s remarkable answer in verse 11

Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. 

 

Jesus reassured the disciples that yes, Elijah would come first. But the first coming of Jesus did not bring the great and dreadful day of the LORD. That’s now future, after the day of the Gentiles, The Age of grace.

Verse 12

But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise, the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.” 

 

This is the second time the Lord Jesus mentions His approaching crucifixion.

The disciples had just seen a preview of Christ’s coming in power and glory, but His forerunner had not appeared.

Malachi had prophesied that Elijah must come prior to Messiah’s coming.

Malachi 4:5

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 

The disciples asked Jesus about this.

See, they obviously knew the prophesy and didn’t doubt the truth of it.

Jesus agreed with them that yes, for sure, Elijah had to come first, but He explained to them that Elijah had already come.

Obviously He was referring to John the Baptist. Now, John was not Elijah. We see this in John 1 verse 21,

And they asked him (John the Baptist), “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

But John the Baptist had come “in the spirit and power of Elijah”. We see this in Luke 1 verse 17 as the angel speaks to Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth, the soon to be parents of John the Baptist.

He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS TO THE CHILDREN,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

 

Here’s the thing, and again, we as humans must accept that we simply cannot know the wonders of God’s ability.

Had Israel accepted John and his message, he would’ve fulfilled the role prophesied of Elijah. He would have been Elijah!

John the Baptist fulfilled the prediction of the messenger to come, as recorded in Malachi 3:1, but the question is, “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 answer is yes. How can that possibly be?

We don’t know.

But the nation did not recognise John’s critical mission, and treated him badly, eventually murdering him. John’s death was a preview of what they’d do to Jesus.

They rejected the forerunner, and they’d also reject the King.

 

When Jesus explained this, the disciples realised He was referring to John the Baptist as verse 13 tells us,

Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.

 

There’s every reason to believe that before Christ’s Second coming, a prophet will arise to prepare Israel for the coming King. Whether it’ll be Elijah personally or someone with a similar ministry to John the Baptist it’s almost impossible to say.

 

Now to Matthew 17:14-16. Here we have a Kingdom–of–Heaven situation, as it is in today’s world.

Where does the church fit into it?

We’re at the foot of the mountain where the other disciples, the ones who were not with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, are in trouble and we read,

And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 

“Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 

So, I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 

 

This could be the worst case which had been brought to Jesus. The disciples had tried to help but couldn’t.

 

Verse 17,

Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 

Jesus is the Great Physician. We take our case directly to Him, my friends.

Verse18 and 21,

And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” Mat

So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 

 

These disciples privately ask the Lord for an explanation as to why they couldn’t cast this thing out.

His answer was straightforward: unbelief. “Nothing will be impossible for you”. That is, nothing that’s according to the will of God for you. It was God’s will that this boy be delivered from demon possession. Why couldn’t the disciples deliver him? Because they didn’t have the faith.

Verse 21,

However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” This verse is not in the better manuscripts, but it fits the context of an especially difficult problem.

 

Now in verses 22 to 23, the Lord reminds His disciples for the third time that He would die and be raised again from the dead,

Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful. 

 

The first time Jesus mentioned His coming death was when they were in Caesarea Philippi. Now He’s in Galilee, on His way to Jerusalem, and He mentions it again.

All the disciples can do is to feel sorry.

Until next time my friends when we’ll finish up Matthew chapter 17 with the incident of the payment of the temple tax and another miracle, may God richly bless you and keep you focused on His grace.

Simon Peter answers, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

In those words, he was saying Jesus was the Messiah, the Anointed One, the One who was predicted throughout the Old Testament, and the One Who would fulfill the Law on every point. Some say that Peter was the spokesman for all the disciples here, but I doubt that as we’ll see soon.

Then we got to the point in verse 17 where Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

In other words, Jesus said, “You didn’t learn it by just being with Me. God Himself has revealed this to you.”

Only God the Holy Spirit can make Christ known to a person. No one can call Jesus “Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

Let’s begin today at Matthew 16:17 again and move into verse 18,

Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 

 

We should look at this key verse carefully.

On what rock did Jesus build His church? There are those who say that it was built on Simon Peter, like the Roman Catholic church, for example.

Well, obviously it wasn’t because there’s a play upon words here.

In the original Greek it is, “you are Peter, (and the word is Petros, meaning a little piece of rock), and on this rock, (and the word here is Petra, meaning bedrock), I will build My church.

 

Many others believe that Christ is building His church on the confession that Simon Peter made.

I know this may rock a lot of boats, but this isn’t the case either.

Who is the Rock? The Rock is Christ. The church is built upon Christ. He’s the rock, the cornerstone.

All through scripture from right back to the prophet Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s vision, back to Moses striking the rock in the wilderness we see Who the rock refers to, Christ.

Simon Peter himself explains this. In 1 Peter 2:4, referring to Christ, he writes,

“…Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious,”

And, in 1 Peter 2:6 he remembers and refers to Isaiah 28:16,

“Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHIEF CORNERSTONE, ELECT, PRECIOUS, AND HE WHO BELIEVES ON HIM WILL BY NO MEANS BE PUT TO SHAME.”

 

The church’s built upon Christ; He’s the foundation. 1 Corinthians 3:11 says,

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 

Christ is the stone; the foundation stone and He says on this rock He’ll build His church.

The church was still in the future when the Lord made this statement. There was no church, no Body of Christ, in the Old Testament. Couldn’t have been because the church didn’t come into existence until after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and the sending of the Holy Spirit.

There couldn’t have been a church until all these things had taken place.

“I will build my church”, Notice I will! Not I have! This is in the future at this time.

 

The “gates of hades or hell” refers to death.

The Greek word hades, the “Sheol” of the Old Testament, refers to the unseen world and means “death.” The gates of death shall not prevail against Christ’s church.

One of these days the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout. That shout will be like the voice of an archangel and like a trumpet because the dead in Christ are to be raised. The gates of death will not prevail against His church.

 

Verse 19 and 20

And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 

Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. 

What are the keys of the kingdom of heaven and what did Jesus mean by, “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven?”

Oh, how badly misunderstood this passage is. I must say I’ve seen some dreadful actions by people who thought this verse gave them, the entire Body of Christ, the power to bind Satan and his demons and to loose the Holy Spirit.

 

To get to the bottom of this takes some thinking and some study and we must use that formula that we’ve talked about so often, Who is this being written to and what’s the context.

So, before moving on let’s look at the context first.

 

Jesus has just come into the region of Caesarea Philippi and He’s with the disciples. He asks who do men say that I, The Son of man, am.

There’s no church as yet because Jesus is still alive. He’s not been crucified, buried, and risen from the dead as yet so the Church age has not begun.

All this is still taking place under the law, the Old testament, and all those present are Jews. The Gospels and the epistles simply are not available. They’ve not even been written yet.

Because of this many of the things that are said are very familiar to Jewish ears but not familiar to our Gentile ears.

We must also keep in mind that God does nothing willy nilly. Everything follows a set plan and every “I” is dotted, and every “T” crossed perfectly.

 

Now, let’s look at who exactly Jesus was speaking to?

Well, it was Simon Peter.

This’s where so many in the church get off track. They honestly believe everything in scripture is written for them, that it’s something they must or can personally do. This is clearly not the case and it’s not the case here in these verses either.

 

Either some or all of the other disciple were present, as we see in verse 20 when Jesus, “commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ”. However, Jesus is talking directly to Simon Peter.

The words “them” and “him” make it easy for us to know who’s being spoken to.

For example, we’ve just seen this in action as we looked at Matthew 15 verses 33 and 34 in the feeding of the four thousand.

Then His disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?”

A question! Did they all say this together, word perfect, like some sort of rehearsed choir? I doubt it. More than likely one of them asked the question speaking for all of them.

Bear with me here because this is very important.

Verse 34 says, Jesus said to them (notice Jesus said to them all, even though they didn’t all physically speak), Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few little fish.” See the words? They said! Again, we ask did they all parrot these words together in a sort of practiced speech even though the term used was “They said”?

Common sense and logic would force us to say no. It was probably one person speaking for the group who actually spoke, yet Jesus answer is very clearly directed at the whole group.

This is exactly the way the communication takes place in verses 13, 14 and 15 in this passage we’re studying.

He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” See, He asked them all as a group.

So, they said (see again, this is the group talking but obviously through one man or possible bits of the answer were spoken by different ones). “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

Then, He (Jesus) said to THEM (the group), “But who do you say that I am?” He’s speaking here not only to the group but to the individuals within the group.

 

Now, from here there’s a big change from the group to the single person, Peter.

How do we know? Common sense and logic because Peter answered. Not “them” as we’ve just seen, not the group, Peter!

Can we see that? Verse 13, Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

See, Simon Peter answered, not “they answered”. This wasn’t the group speaking.

 

Let’s see the verses again in slow motion so we don’t miss anything.

Jesus answered and said to HIM (who? Simon Peter.), “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you (Simon Peter), but My Father who is in heaven.

And I also say to you that you are Peter (Who? Peter! His name is used. It’s to Peter Jesus is talking!), and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

And I will give you (Who? Peter!) the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you (Peter) bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you (Peter) loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Jesus is clearly talking to Peter and only Peter.

 

It’s a huge stretch to say that because this incident is written in the Gospel it’s something that every member of the Body of Christ must do. No, this is something that concerned only Peter and, as we’ve said, it was for the time they were currently in, pre cross, pre resurrection, pre church, and pre any New Testament writings.

 

There’s a very good reason why we should be aware of all this, apart from the fact that we should train ourselves to understand context in our bible study.

Individuals in that day were given special duties, revelation etc that not all were given and certainly individuals are not given today. Why?

Because this new move of God, this change in dispensation that’s coming, the change from the law to grace has only been written about in Old testament prophecy so far. As we’ve said there’s no New Testament writings as yet, there’s no organised body of believers. No authority has been given as yet to any individual to carry the message of salvation to the world, especially to the Gentiles, something the Jews regarded as completely impossible.

In fact, the cross, Christ’s burial and resurrection are simply impossibilities in the minds of these disciples at this time, let alone the evangelising of the Gentiles, and we’ll see that soon.

 

At this time, before these people have the New Testament in a book and more importantly, before the arrival of the Holy Spirit Who would guide them in all things, they had MEN. Faithful men (and women) who were given responsibility by God to teach and to change events.

Peter’s one of these people.

Now Peter probably didn’t know exactly what was being given to him at this time.

The keys of the kingdom of heaven?  Whatever he binds on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever he looses on earth will be loosed in heaven? The Kingdom of Heaven is not even a reality yet. The King is here but not the Kingdom.

Peter really had little idea of these things at the time, and he wouldn’t until after the full knowledge of all that Jesus had spoken about had hit him, and this wouldn’t happen until after Jesus had gone to the cross and died, was buried and risen from the dead three days later.

In fact, these keys wouldn’t come into effect until the church becomes a reality in the book of Acts.

We know these things didn’t come into effect right then because Jesus said to Peter, “I WILL give you,” not “I HAVE given you.”

We can also see that because in the next few months Peter would go through the most terrible times, times of guilt, shame, and self-hatred such as very few humans have ever suffered. He would reject His beloved Lord at the very worst time that His Lord suffering. On that cross!

No, these keys were for a time that was future to the time they were told to Peter.

Now, as we discussed in our seven part series on Defining the Kingdom, who is going to be a part of that Kingdom? Believers! And it’ll be believers only. No unbeliever will ever be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven.

We saw already when we were in Matthew 7:21

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 

Then in 2 Peter 1:11 Peter himself writes,

for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Who is Peter talking to?

We know that from the opening verse of this chapter 2 Peter 1:1,

Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To (and these are who he’s speaking to) To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

The New Living Translation brings this out quite well in today’s language,

This letter is from Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to you who share the same precious faith we have. This faith was given to you because of the justice and fairness of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior.

For these people they are assured of entry into the Kingdom, by what?

So, what is the will of the Father that gets us into the Kingdom?

That we believe. That we have faith obtained by the righteousness of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. No one will ever enter the Kingdom without this faith.

 

But how is this faith to be confirmed?

What’s the process that a person must go through to be a part of this state of belief?

Well, there is no process, no method as yet.

We need to go to the book of Acts. Here we see three methods used by which a person can be saved, and Simon Peter is involved in all three.

Before we go to the book of Acts, we need to understand three words.

Normative, Prescriptive and Descriptive and they’re very important.

Normative is relating to or determining norms or standards. What’s the normal way, the normal standard that’s used.

Prescriptive is that which is prescribed, something that a person is to do because it’s been prescribed.

Descriptive means describing something that actually happened but not necessarily the prescribed thing. It’s not describing something that a person MUST do but what they DID do.

 

Whenever we go into the book of Acts we should be aware that this book is Descriptive, Not Prescriptive.

In other words, it shows us things that actually happened but not necessarily the prescribed thing. It’s not describing something that MUST happen but what DID happen.

 

Into the bargain many of the things that happened as recorded in the book of Acts were not normative. That’s to say that just because something happened in the book of Acts doesn’t mean it’s the normal standard or the normal way of doing things. Acts is descriptive. It doesn’t prescribe anything; it simply tells what happened.

It’s the epistles that set doctrine for the body of Christ and explain what’s normative for this dispensation od grace.

Knowing these things will help us in our search.

 

 

Now to understand these keys and the binding and loosing we need to understand that there were three different methods recorded in Acts for three different groups of people, Jew, Samaritan, and Gentile and Peter was there for each one.

They were the salvation of Cornelius, the Gentile, and his household in Acts chapter 10.

The salvation of the Samaritans in Acts chapter 8 and the Jews in Acts 2 The day of Pentecost.

 

Starting with the Jewish method we go to Acts 2:37-38 and Peter had given a long speech about what had happened and particularly how these Jews had crucified The Christ (that’s Acts 2:23),

Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

Acts 2:38  Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

So we see that the method given to these Jews by which they could be saved was Repent, Be Baptized, Recieve the Holy Spirit.

Peter was speaking to Israel who had just crucified their Messiah.

He held the “keys” to heaven in regard to what they must do in order to be granted remission and given access to God’s paradise.

 

 

Then we go to the Samaritans in Chapter 8.

Philip had gone down to Samaria and had preached Christ to them and multitudes heeded the preaching and there was great joy there. (Acts 8:5-6)

When they heard about all this in Jerusalem they sent Peter an John down there and let’s see what happened.

Act 8:14-17, Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Until Peter came, the confirmation – meaning the coming of the Spirit – was not given. Peter had the “keys” to heaven, meaning the validation that these believers had been received.

 

Now we come to the gentiles.

In Acts 10, the process is repeated. Remember that the Ethiopian eunuch had already received Jesus. He was saved based on that faith, but Peter was not present. Therefore, a demonstration of Gentile salvation was still required for Peter who held the “keys” to heaven. That demonstration now happens with the saving of Cornelius, The Gentile, and his household.

You recall in the early section of Acts 10, that Peter is shown by God in a very graphic way that he could and should enter the home of these gentile and eat with them, something he would never have done normally as a Jew.

Peter begins to preach to these gentiles but before he could even get to the point he was coming to look what happens in Acts 10:44,

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.

The Holy Spirit came upon these Gentiles with nothing but the preaching of the Word of God.

Peter completed his words to Cornelius in the last verse with the words, “To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”

The words were direct, and they included nothing else.

It wasn’t a belief that required any outward validation or sign, such as them saying, “Yes, I believe.”

It was an inward belief alone.

By simply hearing Peter’s words and then by believing in their hearts (the heart in the Bible is the center of our moral being and the place where our volitional choices are made), it says that “the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.”

They heard the word as spoken by Peter. They had faith in what that word said. They then received the Holy Spirit. This is the process Paul states in Romans 10:17,

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

From there, the process continues in Ephesians 1:13-14,

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

The process, then, is – hear the word of God, have faith in the word which brings trust to the heart, and at that moment, the sealing of the Holy Spirit is accomplished.

 

Peter has now validated that all people – Jew, Samaritan, and Gentile – have been saved by faith and faith alone in the work of Jesus Christ.

Peter was the apostle selected by Jesus to confirm that access to heaven is granted to the various people groups that we’ve mentioned, Jews (Acts 2), Samaritans (Acts 8), and Gentiles (Acts 10).

He’s the only one recorded as being present at all three instances where the Holy Spirit came upon the believers.

Therefore, it’s Peter who was given as the witness to confirm the events.

And so, now we ask, which of these three accounts is normative, or the normal standard for receiving salvation?

Which one is to be expected in the future? The answer is, “None of the three accounts is normative.”

Peters now validated that all – Jew, Samaritan, and Gentile – have been saved by faith and faith alone in the work of Jesus Christ.

He’d also told those of Israel who had rejected Jesus that they had to repent (change their minds) about their rejection, to openly acknowledge this, and they too would receive the Spirit.

That’s never needed again, except by those who first reject Jesus, because of these three groups only Israel had rejected their Messiah.

Now, when a person rejects Jesus and he later changes his mind (repents), he receives the Spirit when he believes.

For those who’ve never rejected Jesus, the method we just noted in the epistles is what’s normative and what now occurs.

Romans 10:17,

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

From there, the process continues in Ephesians 1:13-14,

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Of course many other passages in the epistles confirm that this is now the normative, the normal standard the correct process.

 

No outward display of the Spirit is necessary, nor is it to be expected, because the proof has been provided to Peter, it was witnessed as required by Scripture, and it’s now documented in Scripture and substantiated as normative, or the normal standard of procedure. Hence, these examples are the recorded proofs necessary for those who believe the gospel to know that they too are saved upon faith alone in the work of Jesus Christ.

 

What’s been presented in Acts concerning salvation clearly demonstrates that there is one (and only one gospel). It also clearly demonstrates that this gospel is open to all, Jew, and Gentile, through faith alone.

It’s faith plus nothing. Anything else added to that process sneaks into the faith plus works area where faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ is not enough, we need to add something.  This is to deny that Christ’s shed blood and His sacrifice on the cross was incomplete or substandard and we need to add something to it other than simple belief. Could there be a greater heresy?

 

Now, there are actions that can take place after the step of accepting and believing Who Jesus is and what He did to redeem us. We can be baptised in water as an outward symbol of an inward change, we can attend church, pray to and worship God and even undertake a study of the bible, but these are never ever things we do to be saved. We do these things because we’re saved not to be saved and that’s vitally important to know.

 

Now, today, our doctrine comes from the epistles.

The epistles, for those who don’t know, are the letters written to the Body of Christ primarily by the apostle Paul but also the other apostles.

Paul’s epistles are known as the Pauline epistles. They are.

Romans

1 Corinthians

2 Corinthians

Galatians

Ephesians

Philippians

Colossians

1 Thessalonians

2 Thessalonians

1 Timothy

2 Timothy

Titus

Philemon

 

There’re eight other epistles written by the other apostles. These are also known as the General Epistles because they’re not addressed to specific churches or individuals, like Paul’s epistles.  These are the other epistles:

James

1 Peter

2 Peter

1 John

2 John

3 John

Jude

Hebrews (Hebrews is also believed by many, if not most, scholars to have been written by Paul.)

 

The varied descriptive accounts in Acts, remember what descriptive means, are intended to lead us to instructions and processes found in the epistles that are now stabilised and established.

The words of Jesus in Acts 1:8 are now becoming a reality,

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

 

The word went first to Jerusalem, then to Judea and Samaria. Now, it begins to go “to the end of the earth” with the inclusion of these Gentiles in the presence of Peter.

With this formula established, the Word will continue to go out, but without the necessity of Peter verifying what’s occurred.

The “keys” to heaven have been used for the Jew, for the Samaritan, and for the Gentile.

 

Then we come to the binding and loosing aspect.

, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 

Notice Jesus does not say “whoever,” but “whatever.”

The saying refers to points of doctrine or practice which might come into dispute.

Jewish Rabbis used the terms “bind” and “loose” in regard to religious law. The power of binding and loosing was always claimed by the Pharisees.

This didn’t just mean that they simply decided what, according to the Law, was forbidden or allowed, but that they also possessed the power of tying or untying a thing by their authority.

They could, by the power they had, make a person an abomination or an enemy who practiced anything other than what they interpreted as the process of the law.

We saw this exact situation in Matthew 12:10 when Jesus healed the man with the withered hand on the sabbath,

And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they (the religious rulers) asked Him (Jesus), saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him. 

So, this power “to bind and to loose” was to forbid and to permit.

 

So, we can understand that Peter was given the authority to dictate what things were and were not considered to be the correct procedure.

The power to bind and loose was just the process of directing the formula or the practice, of the new-born, inexperienced church, and finalising a uniform process by which a person’s saved.

In this, there’s a very special assignment of the keys of the Kingdom to Simon Peter along with the assignment of binding the processes that were wrong and loosing the processes that were right.

 

Why do people so easily gravitate to the paranormal, the spooky or the wooey hooey instead of studying something out?

Pride!

They want to be noticed, to be seen as someone who’s quote, “In the Know” more than anyone else. Quite often this desire leads not only to that person’s awful error, but it affects all those that’re at the receiving end of this person’s error.

This just isn’t God’s way, friends.

 

To Mattew 16:20 now,

Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. 

 

The time for that has passed. The people have rejected Him.

Because of Israel’s unbelief, no good could come from announcing that Jesus is the Christ.

In fact, any attempt to crown Him King would’ve been ruthlessly crushed by the Romans.

Here’s the turning point of Jesus’ ministry. From this point on there’s another direction.

His course was now set to Calvary and His work on the cross.

 

You see, the mere knowledge of who He is won’t save a person.

To find salvation we must know who He is of course. He’s the Christ, the God/man, fully God and fully man.

But we also must know what He did.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4,

…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures… 

He died to redeem us from our sin, and we must accept Him and what He did by faith.

Ephesians 2:8,

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

 

Next time my friends we’ll see that after Jesus has given the revelation of His building of the church, He speaks for the first time about His soon to come suffering, His death and resurrection. He knows that this’s what now lies before Him.

Until then may you make your eternal salvation a priority today if you haven’t already. Nothing else, not the things of this world, or life or death is more important to you.

Today we’re with Jesus as He makes His way back to His hometown after teaching the Kingdom parables, only to be rejected there and we begin at Matthew 13:53-54,

Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there. 

When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works?

 

From this verse we see that here again mighty works, miracles, were performed, but as we’ll see in moment, not many.

But we should notice the fact that the people never questioned whether or not He could perform miracles. Their question was, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works?”

Verse 55,

Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?

 

They ask among themselves, “Is this not the carpenter’s son?” You see it confused them. They didn’t recognise who He really was. To them He was just the carpenter’s son. And that’s all He is to some, probably most, folk in our day.

Many think He was a great teacher, a great man, a wonderful person, with some good life lessons, and to these people in Nazareth He was just the carpenter’s son.

 

Verse 56,

And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?

 

It’s obvious that the Lord Jesus had brothers and sisters. Of course, they were half-brothers and half-sisters because they were born of Mary by the seed of Joseph. Jesus was not. He was born through the womb of Mary but by the seed of God.

They were younger than He was. These brothers and sisters were younger than Him, and, along with all the townspeople, they didn’t understand anything about Him. After His resurrection they saw that He was truly the Son of God.

 

Now verse 57,

So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honour except in his own country and in his own house.”

 

You see, His hometown folk were so familiar with Him and with His family that they were “offended at him.”

That is, they took offense at Him. I suppose they said, “We know His family. He grew up among us. Where does He get the things He teaches?”

 

And verse 58,

Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

 

This is a tremendous revelation. Look what it was that limited the power of God when He was here.

It was unbelief! “He didn’t do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” It wasn’t that He was unable to do them but their unbelief, prevented them from seeing Him as anything more than an ordinary man. So, He did few miracles there.

We need the kind of faith that believes Christ is Who He said He was and that He can save the lost. He’s limited today in our own community, in our churches, in our families, and in our own lives by unbelief.

Our Lord states a great truth here.

Now we move on to Chapter 14 of Matthew’s Gospel where the forerunner, John the Baptist, is beheaded; Jesus withdraws but is followed by the multitude; He feeds the five thousand and sends His disciples over the sea into a storm, then walks to them on the water.

The movement in Matthew of the rejection of Jesus as King and His conflict with the religious rulers continues.

This chapter reveals that events are moving to a crisis. John the Baptist is slain on the pretext that Herod must keep his oath.

Jesus withdraws in order not to force the wicked hand of Herod, for His hour hasn’t yet come.

If we were to judge the importance of Jesus’ miracles by the attention given to them by the Gospel writers, the feeding of the five thousand would certainly be the most important. It’s the only miracle recorded by all the Gospel writers.

 

Matthew 14:1-2,

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.” 

 

Tetrarch means “ruler of a fourth part” and refers to a ruler who governs a quarter of a larger territory or province. Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, was appointed the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea by the Roman Empire and he ruled over a fourth part of the Roman province of Syria.

 

If this verse sounds superstitious you’re right, it is. It’s the superstition of old Herod and also of other ignorant people of that day. In today’s world, of course, we like to believe we’re not superstitious like that. Really!

Many millions today are following the horoscope and astrology charts, many people, especially woman think it’s a wonderful little experience hopping off to the fortune teller.

Oriental religions are having a tremendous influence in our modern culture.

The human race is basically still superstitious, and the minute we get away from the Word of God, we become very superstitious.

Even those who call themselves atheists are turning to cults and “isms” and pagan religions, and many of them are so far off we wonder how intelligent people could become involved in them.

I’ve told the story before, but I know this firsthand because before I trusted in the Lord 43 years ago I was a member of a cult. It was called Zenith Applied Philosophy, ZAP for short, and was an offshoot of Scientology. Scientology’s founder was L Ron Hubbard who was a highly successful science fiction and fantasy author before founding the Church of Scientology.

When looking back it’s truly amazing that anyone could fall for the tripe that the organisation was founded on, but I was sold on it for about 2 years, and it was hard facing up the fact that I’d allowed myself to be lured into something that was blatantly foolish.

But like we’ve just seen in the parables, especially the parable of the tares, there was just enough fact to be able to sell the fantasy.

Yes, it’s easy to be superstitious and consciously or unconsciously believe garbage.

G.K. Chesterton, the great preacher, teacher, and Christian writer once said, “When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything”.

 

The Person and the ministry of Jesus couldn’t escape the notice of Herod. He was a member of a family that was as a bunch of rascals of the very darkest kind.

They were the Mafia of the first century, and the Herod of this chapter was no exception.

The first several verses of this chapter are a flashback of what’d already taken place. When Herod heard about the preaching of Jesus, he was immediately filled with fear and superstition.

Herod had put John the Baptist to death, and he associated John with the Lord Jesus. Herod believed John had risen from the dead, and his fear changed to frenzy because he wanted to eliminate John altogether.

Herod was a drunken, depraved, debased, weak man, and he was a killer. He’d already murdered John, the forerunner of Christ, and he was prepared to murder the Lord Jesus Himself.

The following verses are part of the flashback describing the circumstances surrounding the death of John the Baptist.

 

Matthew 14:3,

For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. 

 

Notice that it says that Herod had laid hold on John.

It was a past action. Herod had imprisoned John “for Herodias’ sake.”

Herod was strongly influenced by others, you see.

Here, he’s influenced by Herodias, and later on it’ll be by others. He was a dyed in the wool politician and everything he did was to get the approval of others.

 

Verse 4,

Because John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 

 

You see, John the Baptist had spoken out against Herod’s immorality in sleeping with his sister in law, his brother’s wife.

John certainly wasn’t a politician!

 

Verse 5,

And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.

 

Here we see that Herod was afraid of the crowd.

 

To verse 6,

But when Herod’s birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod. 

 

Herod was a lecherous, lustful, dirty old man, who’s living with his brother’s wife at the time, as we’ve just seen, and John the Baptist had condemned him.

 

Matthew 14:7,

Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.

 

He expected her to ask for some material thing, something within reason.

 

Verse 8,

So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, “Give me John the Baptist’s head here on a platter.”

 

The mother, Herodias, lived up to the Herod name. It was a cruel, sadistic request, bought on by a brutal desire for revenge because of John’s condemnation of her.

 

Verse 9,

And the king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her.

 

The man was motivated by fear of what his guests might think of him for having made a promise and not making it good. He was sorry and regretted what he’d said, more than likely because he’s now in a no win situation. Herod had no qualms about killing John, in fact he wanted to kill him, but he was afraid of a riot, because all the people believed John was a prophet but on the other hand he feared for his reputation if he didn’t honour his word to Herodias’s daughter.

 

Now verses 10 and 11,

So he sent and had John beheaded in prison. 

And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 

 

The sadistic, sad, and sordid account of what took place shows us the type of society it was.

John the Baptist was beheaded, and his head was given to the dancing girl on a platter! How many great and wonderful individuals through history have suffered degrading torture and murder for doing nothing but good.

Human nature hasn’t changed much. Lust and murder are just as much a part of society today.

 

Verse 12,

Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

John’s disciples claimed his body and tenderly and lovingly buried it.

They then went and told Jesus what had happened to John.

The Lord withdrew because He knew that Herod’s fear would break out into a frenzy and cause him to do something rash.

Jesus knew this man’s capabilities and He wanted to avoid an incident because His hour had not yet come.

 

Now to  Matthew 14:13,

When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. 

 

The Lord went by boat across the Sea of Galilee, but the crowd that had followed Him on foot out of the cities didn’t want Him to leave. They walked right around the shore of Galilee and met Him on the other side. This reveals how popular He was with the crowds.

 

Verse 14,

And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. 

 

Notice again that they brought their sick out to Him. He healed literally thousands of people in that day. To compare what He did then to the so called healing ministries of today is scandalous and it degrades Jesus, because what He did was plainly evident to everybody. Even those who hated Him couldn’t deny his miracles because there were many thousands of them walking around healed.

 

Now to verse 15,

When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.” 

 

Notice that the disciples are attempting to advise Jesus what to do. Their advice was to send the people into the villages to get food the best they could.

 

Verse 16,

But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” 

 

The feeding of the five thousand is the one miracle that’s recorded in all four Gospels which makes it a very important miracle.

After all these disciples had seen Jesus do and after all that they’d heard they still thought they had to tell Him what to do as if He needed their advice so badly!

But He said to them, “They don’t need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

What would these disciples have thought at this command? What would you think? In their minds this was an impossible command.

 

Verse 17,

And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” 

 

“We have here only five loaves and two fish!”

Even after all they’d seen, lepers healed, ones born blind made to see, the dead raised, and still they see Jesus as having only the same ability as themselves.

To them it was impossible to feed the crowd with so little, so that must be the same for the Lord.

You see they did what we all do, we’re always seeing God through our own human ability.

It’s as if God is just like us, but he’s not! He’s infinitely more powerful than us.

Ephesians 3:20 says,

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

Luke 18:27 says,

And He (Jesus) said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God. 

We see His power to create the universe and everything in it.

We trust Him for our eternal salvation. We know that by His power He came to live on earth in the flesh of man through a virgin birth.

We trust and believe Him for the big things, but we see the smaller everyday situations as beyond His ability.

 

Psalm 32:8 says,

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.”

This verse tells us that God guides us with his eye upon us. Do we really believe that?

Jeremiah 29:11 says,

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

If we do believe that how do we react when trials and temptations hit us?

Are we any different from those disciples?

The thing that’s lacking in their, and our, thinking is the trust, the belief in the power of the Lord Jesus.

 

Verse 18,

He said, “Bring them here to Me.”

 

What a response!

What could these disciples have possibly thought at this command?

He’s the Lord, and He says to us, to you and me, “Bring what you have to Me.”

It is not what we have that counts it’s what the Lord’s able to do with it.

The One who created the earth and everything in it by the power of His Word and then made man from the dust, the compounds of that earth that He created, can surely do something bigger with what you and I have than what we could ourselves.

 

Now to verse 19,

Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes.

 

 

“He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass.”

In Mark’s account of this miracle, we’re told that He made them sit down by companies or ranks, by hundreds and by fifties.

The Lord had them sit in order; He always does things in an orderly fashion.

“And looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes.”

These fellows who had deemed themselves expert enough to tell the Lord Jesus what to do now find themselves as waiters, serving the crowd.

No one knew where this bread actually came from.

Jesus showed us that God can provide out of resources that we can’t see or even imagine exist.

We often think we know how God will provide for us and we’re also quick to tell Him how we think He should go about it, but God often provides in unexpected and undiscoverable ways.

 

Verse 20,

So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. 

 

They all ate and were filled. There’s more said about God’s provision here than first meets the eye.

God provides abundantly. Everything we need is there in plenty. Notice, everything we need. Not every material and physical whim and fancy our little heart’s desire. See also how God’s provision also includes managing waste?

What was left over didn’t just get chucked, it was preserved. Just because this food was provided supernaturally didn’t mean it should be wasted. This was another teaching by default, I think.

We’re to be good stewards of His provision.

 

To verse 21,

Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children. 

 

There were five thousand men plus women and children. If we add one woman and one child to each man, the Lord actually fed closer to fifteen thousand than five thousand people that day.

 

As soon as the multitude was fed, Jesus sent his disciples to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, and He went to pray.

 

Now to Matthew 14:22,

Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 

 

See the word “imediatley” here?

There was an urgency about this verse.

Matthew’s record here notes the urgency Jesus used to dismiss the multitudes and how quickly He sent His disciples over the sea in the boat but he, Matthew, doesn’t offer an explanation.

John, in his record of this miracle, does gives us the reason.

John 6:15, and we read,

Therefore, when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

See, Matthew is presenting this part of Jesus’s ministry which has to do with His kingship, and so it may appear strange at first glance that he would ignore this attempt to make Jesus’ king.

However, this is more evidence of the incredible claim of Jesus to be King.

He’s King by right and by title. He won’t become King by any sort of election or democratic process.

He’s not “elected” King by the will of the people. He’s King by the will of God.

He’ll finally become King by force at just the right time in God’s plan, as Psalm 2:8-9 says and again we read that,

Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. 

You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.

 

We move now to Matthew 14:23-4,

And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 

But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 

 

The Lord is in the mountains, in the place of prayer. The disciples are down on the Sea of Galilee in a storm and in darkness and they’re in peril.

What a picture this paints of today. Jesus has gone on to the Father and is seated at the Father’s right hand. We today are down here on a storm–tossed sea in the place of peril.

 

Verse 25,

Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.

 

The fourth watch is from three in the morning until daylight.

This is the time of the day that the Lord walked on the sea, going to His disciples and it may well be that it’ll be the watch in which He’ll come for us at the Rapture.

Christ is the bright and morning star for the church, and He’ll take the church out of the world.

 

Now in regard to this miracle, and the last one, the feeding of the five thousand, in fact in regard to every miracle Christ performed, we’ll never see them as anything more than fantasy and fable if we don’t “get” the awesome power of Almighty God and His command over the material and all the dimensions of the universe.

 

If we’re among that majority of people who will not or can not believe that God is all powerful, all knowing and almighty and therefore we explain the existence of all things by believing that in the beginning there was absolutely nothing.

Then that absolutely nothing exploded caused by absolutely nothing, and then the absolutely nothing that resulted in that explosion of nothing caused the nothing to form all the impossibly complex universe, the heavens, the earth, and everything contained in them, again from absolutely nothing.

And then all the resulting molecules, gasses, and every other “thing”, completely by themselves, attached to each other in some sort of a cosmic mass meeting and formed the unimaginably complex interactions with every other particle in the universe to create life as we know it. All random, all from absolutely nothing.

If we belong to that camp we’ll never ever be able to believe in Christ’s miracles or, for that matter, in Christ Himself.

If we do believe that there’s an Almighty God, Creator of all things, these miracles are almost everyday things and are not only believable but fully expected.

On to verse 26,

And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.

 

This is the picture. The Lord Jesus is up there on the mountain, and He sees the disciples in the storm, straining and rowing, as Mark’s Gospel records it. Then He comes to them between 3 am and sunrise walking on the sea. When they see Him, they say, “It is a ghost; and they cried out for fear.” Were they superstitious.” Yes, there may have been a certain amount of superstition in them.

They’d never seen a ghost before, but they think they’re seeing one now!

 

Verse 27,

But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” 

 

Immediately He reassured them that He was no ghost!

 

Verse 28,

And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 

 

Peter’s been criticised down through the ages for this. They say that he shouldn’t have asked to walk on water.

However, I think he’s to be admired. Most of us are satisfied with little things from God Not old Peter!

Notice in verse 29 that Jesus didn’t rebuke Peter for asking,

So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 

 

People say that Peter failed to walk on the water, but that’s not the way the Bible has it.

The Bible says that Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus. This isn’t failure! Peter asked a huge thing of God. No wonder God used him in such a wonderful way during the days that followed.

No wonder he was chosen to preach the sermon on the Day of Pentecost.

 

Verse 30 now,

But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” 

 

Peter took his eyes off the Lord Jesus while he was walking on the water. When he began to sink, he prayed the shortest prayer in the Bible, “Lord, save me”! If Simon Peter had prayed this prayer like some of us in the church pray, “Lord, Thou who are omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, helpest me this day as I sinketh beneath these waters…” Peter would’ve been bouncing on the seabed before he got his request out. Peter got right down to the nitty gritty, and we need to pray like that.

 

Verse 31,

And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 

 

I don’t know about you, but I detect a slight amusement from The Lord in His response.

Peter’s problem was that he took his eyes off Jesus and looked at the circumstances, in this case the waves and the stormy sea.

You and I are in a world today where we see the storms and the waves crashing around us, and this is the time when we need to keep our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 14:32-33,

And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 

Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.” 

 

The Lord performed this miracle for His own, so that they’d be brought into the place of faith.

Even Simon Peter, who was bold enough to say, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water,” turned his eyes off Jesus even though he actually walked on the water.

The incident should have strengthened his faith, but it didn’t.

None of us can criticise Peter because we’re all the same.

For many of us our faith becomes weak when our eyes are taken off Him. In the time and place we’re living in today the things of God, His Word, eternity, His Salvation all seem like the least of all things when in reality they’re the only things that’re important. Thank God it won’t always be like that.

These things were done so that these disciples would know that He was the Son of God and worship Him.

 

To verses 34 to 36,

When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. 

And when the men of that place recognised Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well. 

 

John’s account of this incident in John 6:21 says that immediately (that’s after Jesus got into the boat) the boat was at the land where they were going.

Both space and time are in the control of this One who was the fullness of divine power. They landed in the district of Gennesaret, Jesus was recognised. His fame and reputation had gone throughout the country.

The residents spread the news in all directions, and crowds came and brought Him sick people with every kind of disease.

They were fully convinced of His power to work miracles that they begged just to touch the hem, or fringe, of His garment, the same as the woman with the issue of blood in chapter 9:20.

He continued to minister to the needs of the people and again, we see multitudes healed. Thousands were made whole by the Lord.

 

More and more the people see Jesus as the miracle worker. They know He must be from God but they’re still blind to His real purpose and Who He really is.

We might think today that if only Jesus was here in person like He was then I wouldn’t need to suffer as I do, but you see, He IS here today. He’s alive and well and we have a more sure word of prophecy even than His physical presence.

In 2 Peter 1:19 the apostle Peter tells us,

And so, we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

 

When Peter uses the word prophecy he doesn’t just mean prediction of the future, although that’s includes.

He means the entire Word of God because he speaks of the Scriptures as having been spoken by God and the prophets being more than just secretaries who took dictation from God. They expressed their own feelings and thoughts, but God was able to transmit His complete will and word through those writers.

This Bible, The Word of God, is a miraculous Book. It isn’t only divine, it’s human as well.

It’s exactly like the Lord Jesus Himself who was both God and man. The Bible is a God–book and a man–book. It deals with human life, right down here where we live and move and have our being, yet it’s God speaking to man, to you and me, in a language that we can understand.

Yes, we have the Lord with us today just as those people did back then.

Until next time friends when we start in Matthew chapter 15, may God reveal Himself to you more each day.