Tag Archive for: Matthew

We saw last time how this period we call the Mystery came. It came by revelation of Christ through the Apostle Paul.

We also saw why it came. God was doing something in the past when He gave the law, the covenant promises, to Israel and promised that they would be a great nation if they kept those laws. They didn’t.

Then He prophesied to Israel that He would give them a new covenant where His laws would be written on their hearts and in their minds and He would send a Messiah, a King to set up a kingdom on earth, a King who would be sacrificed for sin. Israel rejected the Christ, The Messiah. They rejected what He did, and they rejected the Holy Spirit.

Israel fell as a result.

What should have happened was the coming of the Messiah, who Israel would accept, believe, and follow, Judgment of the world, then the Kingdom with the Messiah as it’s King, ruling from mount Zion on David’s throne.

None of that happened and instead this mystery period is revealed, the dispensation of grace.

Why? Because Israel rejected the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Of course, God foreknew this, and His eternal plan factored it in, but He didn’t reveal it through prophecy.

So, we see why and how this mystery was given and we saw that it was given to the Gentiles, along with individual Jews who would believe, but we didn’t see what it actually is.

Now, there’s a huge amount of doctrine in Paul’s epistles that tells us what the mystery is but we’re going to simplify it for the sake of this study.

A common viewpoint, largely because of the similarities that we saw last time between the New Covenant and the mystery, is that the mystery IS the New Covenant. But to accept that is to look only at these similarities and fail to look at what makes them completely distinct.

It’s like saying that all cars are the same because they have wheels and an engine. Well, a Ford has wheels and an engine, so does a Toyota, but they’re not the same. It’s what’s distinct about them that identifies them.

The new covenant required Christ and His shed blood and a belief in Who He was and what He did.

It required the Holy Spirit to come, and it required Grace and Faith and as a result of those things salvation would come. All the same things in both the New Covenant and this period we call the mystery.

But what is it that makes this mystery period different?

What is the Fellowship of the Mystery and the unsearchable riches of Christ that Paul says he’s to make all men see according to Ephesians 3:8-9,

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; 

The word Fellowship can be defined as a partnership, a joint interest or to jointly participate in something. It’s a connection, a communion or a group knitted together.

Paul explains this in Ephesians 2-13. In chapter 3 of Ephesians, Paul refers to, quote, “that which I spoke to you in a few words”. Well, he wrote two whole chapters to help us with that.

Before verse 13, in Ephesians 2:11-12, Paul describes the old relationship between Jew and Gentile.

He says, “In time past we were Gentiles in the flesh, who were called uncircumcision by the circumcision.” The circumcision is the Jews. He says, “at that time we were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,” notice covenants plural, all the covenants God made with Israel, “and having no hope and without God in the world.”

But then verse 13 says,

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 

See the word “in”? It’s vital. In Christ Jesus! This is the fellowship we have. We are made close. Made close to Who? To God!

In times past Israel had a special place with God. They had access. They were close to Him through the promises, the covenants. The Gentiles were much further away. If a Gentile wished to relate to God, they did it through Israel as we see in King Solomons day when nations came to Jerusalem to learn of God.

Same in Exodus in Egypt when Israel painted the blood of the innocent lamb on their door lentils to protect them against the death angel, any Egyptian could be saved by going into a believing Jewish house.

Then in Ephesians 2:14,

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation.

This is the separating wall between the Gentile and Israel that was actually a wall between the Gentiles and God. See, it was God that Israel represented. Nobody went to the temple because Israel had a great religion, they went because God was there, in the Holy of Holies.

Today, It’s just as if God took Himself out of the temple and said, “You don’t need that anymore, all can come to me direct.” And, of course that’s precisely what He did.

We go on in verse 15,

having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two,

One new man!

He didn’t say one new covenant or one new testament. That was delivered to Israel before He died. This One New Man is a consequence, a result of His death.

We read on again in verse 16,

thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 

Notice here, by the way it was through the cross, not at the cross. See AT the cross, nobody new this. It was through, or by the cross that this was made possible to all men.

So, now we’re getting somewhere. The fellowship is the Body, the Body of Christ.

Now, some people say, “Well, people were in Christ before Paul?”

Romans 16:7, Paul speaking,

Greet Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.

Then in John 15:5 Jesus’ speaking,

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

A number of verses In Isaiah speak of Israel being in the Lord such as Isaiah 45:24,

…Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength. 

And Isaiah 45:25,

In the LORD all the descendants of Israel Shall be justified, and shall glory.

So, being quote “in Christ” is not a mystery. In fact, it’s necessary for all salvation.

Well, how then are we in Christ in this mystery that’s different from prophecy?

What defines this relationship with Christ, this fellowship with Him?

Is it by saying, “I just love Jesus so much?” No, we’re a new creation, we’re members of the Body of Christ.

Ephesians 4:14-15,

but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. 

See, today God’s preparing a body!

The Fellowship of the Mystery is our relationship with Christ in His Body.

This was never given in prophecy! Nowhere else in the Bible is this Fellowship described.

There’s covenants, there’s kingdoms, there’s grace and faith and salvation, but not this!

Gods making a spiritual fellowship today called the body of Christ. He already came in His own body and sacrificed it unto death. But now, this is a new man, a new creature, a spiritual Body of which Christ Himself is the Head and we, each one of us that’s saved, are all members, AND, that body is made up of Jew and Gentile, male and female, ALL who will believe in the Gospel of Grace which is 1 Corinthians 15:1-4,

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: 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, 

We not only have relationship with God through our membership of the Body of Christ but with every other member, each other!

Ephesians 4:25,

Therefore, putting away lying, “LET EACH ONE OF YOU SPEAK TRUTH WITH HIS NEIGHBOR,” for we are members of one another.

Putting away lying is not the law! We put a way lying because we’re members of one another.

Romans 12:4-5,

For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

The benefits of the membership of the Fellowship is a much longer list than we can delve into here, but it’s important to know that the benefits are not just good things for us to have, they’re totally necessary for salvation and eternal life. There’s no other way!

It’s not that we’re just partakers in the things that were promised to Israel.

See Christ was covenanted and promised to Israel, so was the Holy Spirit. So was Grace, Faith, and Salvation. Jesus said in John 4:22 that Salvation is of the Jews.

Do we have forgiveness of sins, which was promised to Israel? Yes of course!

All these things were promised to Israel.

Do we have them today under this dispensation? Yes. We’re partakers of Israel’s promises and thank God for that. If Israel as a nation had been able to keep the old covenant there’d have been no need for a New Covenant and no need of the Mystery age of grace.

Gentiles would come to know God through Israel, the nation of priests.

But God new they couldn’t keep the Old Covenant.

He knew that the only way He could bring individuals to Himself, which was His great desire, was through this body, this fellowship of the Body of Christ.

The national Israel today is still waiting for the promises of the new Covenant which are yet future whereas we have them right now, in Christ. The Holy Spirit and Salvation are ours now.

In Romans 5:11, Pauls says,

And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation (or the atonement, as the King James says). 

Atonement is for us in the Body of Christ is NOW!

We’re not waiting for the future day of atonement when Christ will return and bring remission of sins and redemption and reconciliation to the earth and to the nation of Israel as all the prophets said and as Jesus taught during His ministry on earth. We have it now! In fact, in Romans 5 the phrase “much more” is used to explain what we have. It’s much more. We have things that were never given to Israel.

The New Covenant is how national Israel will be saved in the future and it won’t fail.

Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 1:18,

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

We need to be aware that this verse in the New King James version, that we’re reading from here, has been changed from the original translation in the King James.

The New King James has “being” saved, but the King James has “saved” and there’s a difference.

Being saved infers an ongoing process, just like the new covenant where they’re waiting for salvation to come, but saved, as it’s meant to be, means we were saved totally and fully. It was completed with Jesus’ death on the cross.

We see in this verse that the preaching of the cross is the power of God to salvation, the gospel of the grace of God.

The benefits are that we get salvation now, we get forgiveness now, we get redemption now, we get reconciled in the Body of Christ now with God and with each other. We have a communion with God that goes right down to the spirit, the heart, we know how to deal with each other’s sins.

See one way to handle sin is to create a nation of priests that just don’t do sin. That’s Israel in the future, but how do you get salvation, forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation, and communion with each other while we were yet sinners?

Romans 5:8,

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

That’s part of the riches that we have because of what Christ did.

Colossians 2:10 shows another of these riches we have,

and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. 

This is big because it flies in the face of religion, and even Christian religion that tries to make us move toward a state of we might say, a better person, based on our feelings of incompleteness and unworthiness.

It’s a sort of pseudo works doctrine. Pray more, give more, study more, go to church more, all good things, but if used to try and become more complete, useless! We don’t need outward signs to prove we’re complete in Him. There’s a misunderstanding of the completed work of Christ and how, if we’re in His body, we’re already complete in Him.

We don’t do these things to become more complete we do them because we are complete and they’re a natural desire.

So, completeness is a benefit, one of the riches we have in Him, in His Body. There’s nothing we need to have done, nothing more we need to do!

Now this is dependent on two things. First look at the previous verse, Colossians 2 verse 9,

For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 

It’s dependant on Who Christ is. If He’s not the fulness of the Godhead bodily we cannot be complete in Him. We can only be complete in God through Christ.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John show us that without a doubt that Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Next, we must be “In Him”.

The next verse Colossians 2:11 says,

In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

Verse 12, we’re buried with Him.

Verse 13, we’re made alive, quickened, in Him.

Verse 14, the charges against us were cancelled, nailed to the cross with Him.

Romans 5:1, we have peace with God through this fellowship.

Ephesians 1:3 we’re blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

The benefits go on and on.

See it’s through our connection with Him in this Fellowship of being in the Body that we reap these benefits. We’re not in the body, no benefits, no riches.

Romans 6:3 says,

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized (or immersed) into Christ Jesus were baptized (again immersed) into His death? 

We’re immersed into His death. Is that a benefit? Yes, if we have the promise of resurrection.

Everyone will die but only those in the Body of Christ will be resurrected. And if we’re baptised into His death, it means we’re no longer accountable for sin to God because He died for those sins, paying the wages for those sins, which is death and we died with Him.

He was raised from the dead and like Him, we Have eternal life.

In all this our fellowship, our connection with God is complete because of what He did and not anything we did or could possibly do.

Now let’s go to Romans 5:1-2,

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 

Justified by faith? Faith alone? Yes!

We don’t work the works of the law or go through elaborate rituals or traditions.

Justification by faith! Justification means to render righteous, to show, exhibit, one to be righteous. To declare, pronounce, one to be just, righteous.

It’s not an act of our will, where we’re trying to convince ourselves, “I believe” such as “I believe I can fly”.

No, it’s faith that comes from hearing God’s Word, God’s Word about how Jesus, The Word of God, took on flesh and lived among us and died according to the scriptures, was buried, and rose again the third day according to scripture.

The sacrifice of a perfectly righteous, perfectly innocent man sent specifically for this purpose, to save. To give eternal life to all who’ll receive it.

How could it ever be possible for any to be righteous any other way other than believing in the completed work on the cross? Answer, it’s not!

When we’re in His body, His righteousness is now ours! His death was our death. His burial our burial, and His resurrection from the dead is our resurrection from the dead. Outside this fellowship nothing of this is possible.

Really, this fellowship of us in His Body is too fantastic for words!

We should be able to see by all this that if we have all these things now why do we need a covenant?

Well, we don’t!

The covenants are for a different group of people in a different time, not in this mystery period, the dispensation of grace.

All we wait for is when we cast off this mortal body, when we drop dead. And then we’ll redeem that which we’ve already been given, a glorified or a quickened, made alive with Him, body in heavenly places.

Ephesians 2:4-7,

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 

We’ll be changed in the twinkling of an eye, a speed too fast to explain in natural terms,

1 Corinthians 15:51-54,

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 

So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written (quoting from Isaiah 25:8: “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY.” 

This is that event we know of as the catching up of the church. The Rapture.

What will we be changed to?

The Bible doesn’t give specific details, probably because it’s something far beyond our current natural ability to understand. We only know that this body will be quickened, or made alive with Him, and corruption will put on incorruption. The mortal will put on immortality and frankly that’s more than enough to look forward to for me.

So now, hopefully by defining these divisions in the Bible, especially the division between prophecy, that was made known to all men and this mystery of the dispensation of Grace that was kept secret but is now revealed we can look more clearly at the bible and see who is being referred to and when.

Now we can come to this prophetic time in history, the end times, and we can separate where exactly in these end times does this mystery period, this dispensation of Grace fit in.

Let’s change direction now to the end times themselves.

We’ll start in Acts 2:16-17 where the apostle Peter stands up and speaks after the Holy Spirit had come on the day of Pentecost after the Lord Jesus had had died, been resurrected, and ascended into heaven. Let’s read,

But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE LAST DAYS, SAYS GOD, THAT I WILL POUR OUT OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL FLESH; YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS.

I WILL SHOW WONDERS IN HEAVEN ABOVE AND SIGNS IN THE EARTH BENEATH: BLOOD AND FIRE AND VAPOR OF SMOKE.

THE SUN SHALL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS, AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, BEFORE THE COMING OF THE GREAT AND AWESOME DAY OF THE LORD.

Many people see blood moons and eclipses as being signs of the end.

The problem is there’s been hundreds of lunar eclipses or blood moons since Acts 2. As I write this there’s an eclipse in America and the stuff related to it on the internet that try and couple it to some kind of end time sign is beyond ridiculous.

So, what did Peter preach on the day of Pentecost?

That these days, the days they were in at that time, were the last days!

Peter’s quoting from the prophet Joel 2:1 of this prophecy we see what Joel’s prophesying about. We read,

Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand:

You see Peter was preaching that the Day of the Lord had come. He’s preaching a quote, “Last Days” prophecy. The day of the Lord is the day on which Christ returns at His second coming to wipe out Israel’s enemies and finally set up the Kingdom of Heaven over which He, Christ, will reign.

According to prophecy this was the correct thing to preach.

After the Messiah had been cut off as we see in Daniel chapter 9 in what we know as the seventy weeks prophecy there would be a week, seven years of wrath and judgement on the earth after which God would set up an earthly Kingdom, ruled by the resurrected Messiah, The King.

People have been studying end times over the last 2000 years, ever since Acts 2.

So, what Gospel was Peter preaching in Acts 2? The Gospel of the Kingdom. In Mark 1:14-15 we read,

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

John the Baptist preached this Gospel as well.

And Peter is also preaching this Gospel here on the day of Pentecost according to prophecy.

Let’s look at Daniel 2 verse 44. This is where Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that Daniel interprets and in that dream The Lord reveals the empires that would rule after Nebuchadnezzar by using a statue with a head of gold, a chest of silver a belly of bronze legs of iron and feet of a mixture of clay and iron.

As a sidebar this of course further shows the geniuses of the Word of God because no man could ever make a prediction of successive world empires like these hundreds of years in advance.

Verse 44 says,

And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

So, after all these kingdoms have come God, Himself will set up a Kingdom that will last forever. He’ll set it here, on earth.

Now let’s see how Joel continues in Joel 3:9-16,

Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, Let all the men of war draw near, Let them come up.

Beat your ploughshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ ”

Assemble and come, all you nations (that’s gentile nations), And gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O LORD.

“Let the nations be wakened and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. (The Lord’s inviting all these nations to come. He’s going to destroy them!)

Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; For the winepress is full, The vats overflow—For their wickedness is great.”

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness.

(Now just in case you’re thinking that a blood moon is a sign of the end just pop outside during one and look up. If the stars are still shining, it’s not the time of the end. We read on,)

The LORD also will roar from Zion And utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the LORD will be a shelter for His people, And the strength of the children of Israel.

This is pretty graphic stuff. This is the last day events.

Let’s look at Micah 4:1-4,

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains And shall be exalted above the hills; And peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go forth, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between many peoples, And rebuke strong nations afar off; They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore.

So, what we have here is the same thing Joel said, but in reverse! Joel say’s beat your ploughshares into swords, Micah says beat your swords into ploughshares! Then in verse 4,

But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, And no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.

So, in Micah we have peace on earth.

Joel’s talking about last days and going to war, while Micah’s talking about last days with peace in the nations.

How do we make sense of this?

Firstly, let’s ask ourselves this.

In these prophecies and passages, from Acts chapter 2 to Daniel chapter 2 to Joel chapter 3 to Micah chapter 4, do we hear anything in any of these passages relating to the last days about the Church, The Body of Christ?

Do we see anything about the Church going to heavenly places and being complete in the Lord through His death, burial, and resurrection?

No, we just don’t! Why?

Because this mystery of the church, the Body of Christ which we are all members of if we’ve believed in salvation through Christ, is not found in prophecy!

Acts is not a prescription for the church today as many think it is.

Peter is speaking to Israel as we clearly see and although the nation has just rejected and crucified the Messiah, they would get another chance to repent and turn to the now dead and resurrected Messiah.

This address by Peter in Acts chapter 2 is before that final rejection and Peter is referring to the end time prophecy of Joel chapter 3 to show all that were listening that this was this long-prophesised day of Christ. It had finally arrived. This is what would have happened if Israel had repented and turned to the Lord. Sadly, it did not.

As a result of Israel’s continued rejection of the Messiah, God puts a hold on the entire prophetic program of the nation Israel, actually the entire world.

He brings a blindness to the nation and changes His timeline by inserting another age into it. In this age salvation will no longer be available through the nation of God’s priests, Israel.

The book of Acts is a transitional book that describes the changes from what actually happened on the day of Pentecost, to Israel’s final rejection through the stoning of Stephen and on through to the change to this new dispensation revealed to Paul.

Incidentally, Paul was not the only one to receive this mystery of this new dispensation but it’s him through who Christ works to bring us these incredible 13 epistles he wrote that explain this dispensation in a way unmatched in human history.

God, of course, knew with His perfect foreknowledge that Israel would reject Him. He wasn’t caught napping!

However, His foreknowledge didn’t stop the chances Israel had to fulfill prophecy and be the nation it was always intended to be and will be some day.

Salvation now is offered directly to the Gentiles another way from what was prophesied, through Israel.

That way is this dispensation of grace that we’re talking about, this period of time that was never prophesied but was kept a mystery since the world began but is now revealed by Christ through the apostle Paul.

Individual Jews will be included but not the nation. It will now go into a long period of this blindness, and it’ll be troubled on every side until one day in the future, in this period of tribulation that Matthew 24 tells us about, a remnant of its survivors will finally turn to the Messiah and realise that Jesus was Him all along and that they crucified Him.

At the time period that we’re in with our study of Matthew 24, none of this has happened yet.

The Messiah, Jesus, is still alive and in His earthly ministry. He’s already attracted rejection and criticism from the Jewish leadership, but it hasn’t yet reached the crescendo it soon will.

The events of Matthew 24 are revealed to us through the questions the disciples asked of Jesus in Matthew 24:3 and we read,

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” 

We’ll leave off until next time. Until then may God give you the patience and will to seek out these things to confirm them for yourselves.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jesus is condemning all of this.

Matthew 23:8,

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

Rabbi means teacher.

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

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

Matthew 23:9-10,

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

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

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

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

Verse 11 and 12,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Most will scoff and say, “No.”

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

“No.”

“Did He rise bodily from the grave?”

“No!”

Well, where did that Jesus come from?

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

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

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

Verse 13,

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

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

Verse 14,

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

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

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

Verse 15,

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

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

Verse 16 to 22 now,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Verse 24,

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

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

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

People love to make much out of little things.

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

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

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

Verse 25,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Verses 29 to 32,

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

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

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

Are we are doing the same thing today?

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

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

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

Verse 33,

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

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

Can you imagine the emotion charged atmosphere?

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

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

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

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

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

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

John 1:12,

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

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

Verses 34 and 35, still in Matthew 23,

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

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

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

Verse 36,

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

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

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

Verses 37 and 38,

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

See! Your house is left to you desolate. 

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

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

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

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

Verse 39,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who is speaking?

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

What was the purpose?

Why? Why are the words being recorded?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jesus explains that she didn’t know what she was asking, and He foretold that they would share in His cup that He must drink. That was a cup of suffering, torture, and death. It was probably just as well that the disciples had no clue of the horrors that were behind the drinking of that cup.

So, we begin today in Matthew 20:29-31,

Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him.

And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!” 

Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!” 

The Lord is going from Jericho up to Jerusalem to die.

As we’ll soon see, He didn’t defend Himself when He was handed over and condemned to death. That’s because this is the reason He came. The plan of the ages is quickly coming together. He was taking my place, and I’m guilty. There simply was no defence! That’s the reason He didn’t open His mouth at that time because He was bearing my sin, and He was bearing your sin at that time.

Notice how these two blind men addressed Jesus. ” O Lord, Son of David!”

They acknowledged His kingship. The recognise Him as Lord. They recognise Him as the long-prophesied Messiah. When we see someone in the Bible call Jesus “Lord” it doesn’t impact us here today so much but to a Jew who grew up with the law and the prophets this was a huge acknowledgment because it’s a recognition of God of diety.

Remember the gentile Syrophoenician woman back in chapter 15 verses 21 to 28? She was the first to call Him the son of David, but the Lord reminded her that she had no claim on Him in this way. She was a gentile. However, these men were Jews, and they did have a claim on Him, and they exercised their claim!

To verses 32 and 33,

So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” 

They said to Him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.

The problem of these men seemed so obvious. Why did the Lord ask what He could do for them? When we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, we must tell Him our need.

If we’re coming to Him for salvation, we tell Him that we’re a sinner and need His salvation.

If we don’t, we won’t be saved. That’s the offense of the Cross. It offends the majority who don’t see themselves as sinners at all.

Everybody would come to the Cross if they could bring their self–righteousness and their self-perceived good deeds.

But, my friends, you and I haven’t got any goodness at all, none whatsoever, to present to God.

We can no more sweeten our human character with training and psychology and education than we can sweeten a pile of manure in a cow paddock with a bottle of the most expensive scent.

We must come to Him as sinners and trust Him as our Saviour.

These blind men came to the Lord Jesus with their need, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened”!

Verse 34

So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him. 

Our Lord healed them, and they followed Him. Remember where He’s going. He’s on His way to the Cross.

What an incredible contrast between these two humble blokes and the rich young ruler we’ve just spent the last couple of episodes looking at. Without any coaxing they recognise Jesus as the Messiah, as Lord, and then they just follow Him as if it was the most natural thing to do. Wonderful!

Some people just “get” simple truth and immediately follow it while others need to be convinced, cajoled, and coaxed their whole lives and still never see and accept truth.

Now we come to Matthew chapter 21 and here we’ll see Jesus entering Jerusalem officially, cleansing the temple and cursing the fig tree.

When He’s challenged by the chief priests and elders, He condemns them by using more parables. The parables of the two sons and the householder whose servants slew his son.

The Gospel of Matthew’s movement comes back into sharp focus in this chapter. Jesus comes to Jerusalem in a new role. Before now He’d entered the city quietly and humbly.

Now He presses His claims as King on the city of the King.

How could anything be more forward or daring. He cleanses the temple for the second time. This is a huge presumption if He’s not the One who He claims to be.

He curses the fig tree, which is a symbolic action as we’ll see, and He meets the challenge of the religious rulers and, with the use of another parable, He accuses them of plotting His death.

We notice how clear and deliberate Jesus is here. He’s the One forcing the issue, He’s the One running the agenda. Everyone else is a player in His game.

He’ll force them to act when and how He chooses. He’s in full control of the entire situation. He’s remarkable in His authority and the Monarch is obvious in Him as He approaches the Cross.

Matthew 21:1-3,

Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. 

And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

Many people read a miracle in this incident but probably there isn’t.

Possibly, when our Lord was in Jerusalem the last time, He made arrangements with some friends to use these animals the next time He came to the city.

He may have even revealed to them what He intended to do, and they agreed to have them ready for Him at the Passover Feast. Possibly, He told them that He would send a couple of His disciples to get them and that He’d tell them what to say, “The Lord has need of them.”

Jesus, without laying aside his sovereignty, had taken on a nature that has needs but, even in that need, he was still the Lord and was still in command.

Now to verses 4 and 5,

All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: 

“TELL THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, ‘BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU, LOWLY, AND SITTING ON A DONKEY, A COLT, THE FOAL OF A DONKEY.’ “

Here’s Matthew again showing fulfillment of prophecy.

This is a quotation from Zechariah 9:9 which reads,

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey. 

Now, notice that in this quotation of the prophecy in Matthew there’re certain important things that aren’t there. We need to look carefully to see them.

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion” isn’t there.

Why? Because our Lord’s not coming into Jerusalem for that time of rejoicing. That’ll take place at His second coming.

Also omitted is, “He is just and having salvation”. The word salvation has the thought of victory, which will be fulfilled for the nation of Israel at His second coming. At His second coming there will be a true triumphal entry.

The donkey was the animal of peace while the horse was the animal of war. When Jesus came into Jerusalem riding on this little animal of peace, He was offering Himself as King. In spite of the fact that He was doing that, the prophet says that He was humble. That’s very important to see.

Now to verses 6 to 9 and we’re in Matthew 21,

So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. 

They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. 

And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 

Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!” 

Jesus rides into Jerusalem as a King, and those who’re with Him recognise Him as a King. It’s their opportunity to accept Him or reject Him.

The spreading out the clothes was a symbol of their recognition of the King, and their support and loyalty. We see this in 2nd Kings 9:13.

The branches were a symbol of victory and success as in Revelation 7:9.

To the believers that had accepted Jesus as the Christ, The Messiah this was a glorious moment.

However, to the unbelieving world like the Romans and the other gentiles this crowd was ridiculous just singing religious songs with some religious verses taken out of the Psalms.

The people shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David” was openly giving Jesus the titles for the Messiah, Who they look to for salvation. Hosanna means “save now!” They (Son of David… He who comes in the name of the LORD).

Jesus both received and encouraged this worship. This was because this is the day that the LORD has made from Psalm 118:24, we will rejoice and be glad in it. It’s the day when the Messiah came as Saviour to Jerusalem in fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy.

To verses 10 and 11,

And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?” 

So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.” 

The multitudes that had been following and listening to Jesus are surrounding Him in His entry into Jerusalem and the people of the city question what’s happening, who is this person that’s causing such a ruckus?

Interestingly, the reply to that question is that He’s the prophet from Nazareth, the one everyone’s heard about but who these residents of Jerusalem hadn’t yet seen. They didn’t announce Him as the King of the Jews, The Messiah, Lord, as the two blind men did. Of course there are people in the crowd who knew this, like the blind men who were most probably there, but the majority, the main voice of those that came in with Him announced Him as a prophet.

Verses 12 and 13,

Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 

And He said to them, “It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER,’ but you have made it a ‘DEN OF THIEVES.'” 

Again, the focus here in Matthew is Jesus fulfilling prophecy.

First Isaiah 56:7,

Even them (“Them” is the foreigner who joins themselves to the Lord to serve and to love Him), Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” 

And then Jeremaiah 7:11,

Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the LORD.

Once again, it’s easy to just bypass this with a bit of “Ho hum”, but we should really get the impact of this incredible, constant fulfillment of prophecy.

God and God alone knows the beginning from the end as we read in Isaiah 46:10,

Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,

Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,‘

This verse beautifully captures God’s ability to see beyond time and comprehend the entire scope of existence—from the very beginning to the ultimate conclusion. His purpose is unshakable, and His wisdom surpasses all understanding.

Truly, God alone knows the intricate tapestry of creation, weaving together every thread of our lives. Never forget that the Person we’re reading and writing about here IS God!

He’s using very strong language and very severe actions here wouldn’t you say?

Let’s look at a few facts regarding this so–called triumphal entry.

Firstly, is it really a “triumphal” entry?

As we’ve seen, only certain portions of Zechariah’s prophecy were fulfilled. Our Lord came into the city of Jerusalem in order that He might be the Savior. He was making the final public presentation of Himself to the people.

When we look at the four Gospel records together, they present a blended, complex picture. Jesus didn’t enter the city on only one day but on three separate days.

The first time was on Saturday, the Sabbath Day. There were no money changers on that day, and He looked around and left, as we see in Mark 11:11,

And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve. 

On that, He entered as Priest.

The second day He entered Jerusalem was on Sunday, the first day of the week. The money changers were there, and He cleansed the temple as per the verse we’re up to. On this day He entered as King.

The third day He entered Jerusalem was on Monday, the second day of the week. At that time, He wept over Jerusalem, and then entered the temple and taught and healed as we see in Luke 19:41-44 and Luke 19:47-48.

He entered as a Prophet that day.

It’s obvious that these records here in Matthew, then in Mark and Luke, record three different entries. The Lord entered Jerusalem on three consecutive days and in three consecutive roles, as Priest, as King, as Prophet. After each day He left to spend the night in Bethany.

Apparently, He didn’t spend a night in the city until He was arrested.

Now, let’s remember that the so–called triumphal entry ended at the cross in torture and death, completely opposite to the expectations of those that recognised Him as the Messiah, the One who would set up the Kingdom and restore Israel to its position of authority and influence as per the centuries of prophecy.

They had no understanding of why the Lord, The Messiah had to die. They didn’t see that only by His death could sin be paid for and only by His death, burial resurrection could the power of sin that had held the world captive since Adam be broken.

What the people, including Jesus’s closet disciples, saw was that the time that the Kingdom would be set up and the nations that currently rule over Israel overthrown had arrived.

This was it! This was the day!

When we get this, we can understand the rejoicing. The roman rule would soon be ended, and Israel again would be restored to the heady days of Solomon and David.

What joy there must have been. It must have been like the joy the nation felt on the day they walked out of the bondage of Egypt with Moses.

Only Jesus Himself knew that that day was going to be some 2000 years into the future.

Only Jesus knew that before that would take place a new creation would arise, a creation that had never existed before. A creation made of people! Individual people, not nations, and those people would be a mix of jew and gentile.

The great timeline of prophecy would be interrupted while a great mystery, kept secret from the foundation of the world, would come to reality. The Church, the Body of Christ. The collection of countless millions who would be made righteous and acceptable to God, not by there own actions but by the blood of the Son of God that’s now very soon going to be spilled.

So, it was not outwardly a triumphal entry even though it certainly was from the aspect of God’s eternal plan being fulfilled.

But Jesus will come a second time and it will be outwardly obvious that it’s in triumph.

Hebrews 9:28 says it all,

…so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. 

We’re told in Zechariah 14:4 that when He comes the next time to this earth, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives and THEN when He enters the city of Jerusalem, that’ll really be the triumphal entry!

After the Lord cleansed the temple, many came to Him for help, verse 14,

Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 

Matthew never let’s up emphasising the huge numbers that were healed!

Now to Matthew 21:15-17,

But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘OUT OF THE MOUTH OF BABES AND NURSING INFANTS YOU HAVE PERFECTED PRAISE’?” 

Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

Prophecy fulfilled again and again!

This time it’s Psalm 8:2:

Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

This beautiful verse highlights how even the simplest and most innocent voices, those of children and infants, can offer perfect praise to God.

The chief priests and the scribes!

We should all see clearly now that the people here are born and bred Jews and unlike us gentiles were very aware of prophecy and scripture.

Of all those people the ones that should have been the most accepting of Jesus as the Messiah were the chief priests and scribes.

They lived in these prophecies. Scripture was, or should have been, second nature to them.

These blokes should have been like the prophet Daniel.

In Daniel chapter 9, the prophet Daniel begins by calculating how long his people, the Israelites, are supposed to be in exile. He bases this calculation on the prophecy of Jeremiah. He realises this time is coming to an end and begins to pray for the nation. While praying God sends him what must be one of the greatest of all prophecies, especially for us living today, the Prophecy of the seventy weeks.

Had these scribes and religious leaders been diligent in their understanding of scripture as they should have been, they would have, and should have, known that the time had arrived according to Daniels 70 weeks. It was just a simple calculation for them to see they were in the 69^th week of that prophecy and they should have known the signs of many other prophecies.

Jesus expected them to know as we saw in Matthew 16 verses 1 to 4,

Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. 

He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. 

A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed. 

See, Jesus held them accountable. They should have know the time was now for the coming Messiah, but they did not know, or if they did, they outwardly rejected God’s Word.

Nations, including Israel, were judged on their leadership. Even today each individual citizen of a nation has very limited resources to change anything he may disagree with that their government does. But their nation will be seen by others in light of the quality of the leadership.

“And he left them” displays Jesus’s rejection of the religious leaders.

“And went out of the city into Bethany.” Again, our Lord didn’t spend the night in Jerusalem until the night of His arrest. But we find Him coming back into the city the next day.

Now we come to verses 18 and 19,

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. 

And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away. 

There’s been so much confusion and so many theories around this the fig tree incident.

However, it’s not that difficult to work out.

It’s symbolic of Israel as we’ll see it soon in Matthew chapter 24.

As we see the Lord’s dealings with the nation of Israel, particularly the leadership, we see a lack of fruit, a lack of anything real. There were plenty of pretty leaves that looked good and promised a lot, but we see a ritualistic, lifeless religion.

The Lord condemned this.

The nation had a religious covering, but no reality, no power.

They’d turned what God had given them into a dead, lifeless ritual that was no longer was accomplishing God’s purpose for them.

We see later that Jesus openly accuses the leadership of this when He says in Matthew 23: 25-28,

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

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

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

Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Wow! No wonder the plot to kill Jesus thickened very quickly.

Certainly, He condemned the nation of Israel, and the nation suffered devastating judgment in A.D. 70.

Mattew 21 verse 20,

And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?” 

This was an amazing thing to the disciples as it would have been for any of us today.

Verses 21 and 22,

So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. 

And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” 

Question! Have you ever been to a Christian gathering where a leader prayed, and a mountain got up and moved to the sea?

Removing mountains, and rooting up of mountains, are phrases used to signify the removing of or the conquering of great difficulties. Many rabbis were, and are, termed rooters up of mountains, because they helped remove difficulties, and solved cases where there was personal difficulty.

He that has faith will get through every difficulty and perplexity of life and the mountains that challenge a person will become molehills or flat plains through that faith coupled with prayer. The saying shouldn’t be misunderstood and shouldn’t be a puzzle.

Again, Jesus is challenged by the religious authorities in verse 23,

Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?” 

The religious rulers are getting ugly and very hateful now. They’re a simmering hotbed of loathing and scorn.

They don’t question what the Lord’s doing. Do you notice that? They simply can’t deny the miraculous things He does; they can only question His authority.

Verses 24 to 26,

But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: 

The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?” And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 

But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.” 

You see, these religious rulers were attempting to trap Him by putting to Him what they thought was an impossible dilemma, but He immediately turned the spotlight back on them. He said, “I’ll tell you by what authority I work if you will tell Me by what authority John the Baptist did his work. Was it from heaven or was it of men?”

Of course, if they had said it was of heaven, our Lord would have said, “I move by the same authority.” So, they wouldn’t answer Him. They wouldn’t accept that John’s authority was from heaven; so, of course, they wouldn’t accept Jesus’ authority either.

To verse 27,

So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

We can sense the tension developing in this situation. The Lord is about to deliver a scathing verbal assault on the religious rulers. He’ll give a parable that places publicans and harlots above them, and the charge that Jesus makes can’t be ignored.

Jesus continues speaking to these rulers in verses 28 to 31,

“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ 

He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. 

Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. 

Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to Him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. 

This parable was a terrible insult to the religious rulers.

Jesus likens them to the second son who said he would work for his father but did not.

The Lord places publicans and harlots on a higher plane than these religious leaders.

The publicans and harlots recognised their sinfulness and how hopeless their own works were in working to please God. They came to Christ for salvation in the humility that comes from realising just who they really are.

Even though they came late because they’d said no to God at first, they did eventually come to Him, and He received them.

Verse 32,

For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him. 

The religious rulers had a religion of exterior prettiness but with nothing real inside.

Now our Lord gives them another parable before they can get out of earshot, but we’ll wait until next time to look at it.

In the meantime, friends may God fill you with His grace and may He let you know that He’s with you always and that He’ll never forsake you.

We saw last time how the divisions of the bible into the Old and New Testaments are not inspired by God, even though they’re helpful for us as we study.

Then we saw how that no one knew all the revealed knowledge of God. We don’t know it all today either. There’s still more that God will progressively reveal, but we do have the complete story in one book from the creation of the world to the end of the world. No other additions will ever be made to this book, the Bible, and before the dispensation, or age, that we’re living in today, mankind simply did not have this book in the form we do.

We finished off last time looking at the fact that at the time of Jesus’s ministry He was operating under the dispensation of the law, the Old Covenant, or the Old Testament. He was born, grew up, ministered in His earthly ministry, and died in that dispensation of the law. We saw that it was impossible for the New Covenant or the New Testament, or for the Church, The Body of Christ, to even come into being until He shed his blood.

We also saw how no one, apart from Jesus Himself, knew about the cross and the resurrection from the dead, even Jesus’s closest disciples to who he explained the hidden meanings of the parables.

So, today we’re going to take up this issue of rightly dividing the Word again and we’ll see more critical examples of why there’re differences in the Bible and how we navigate through those differences.

In the example we gave of the fact that all the way through to half the Gospel of Mark, the disciples had no clue about the resurrection of the Lord, which is the most fundamental and singular most important event in Christianity yet these disciples didn’t know a thing about it!

They went out two by two preaching repentance knowing nothing about the resurrection.

In Mark 9:9-10 we saw plainly that they didn’t know of the resurrection.

Then in Mark 9:30-32 we read,

Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He (Jesus) did not want anyone to know it. 

For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.” 

But they (the disciples) did not understand this saying and were afraid to ask Him.

Jesus tells them again here that He’s going to be killed and he’ll rise the third day. Notice Jesus doesn’t tell them what this would accomplish. They didn’t know what this meant and they’re afraid to ask Him.

You see they were ignorant of the cross that we now know about and that’s so dear to every Christian.

In John 16:12-13 Jesus tells His disciples this,

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 

However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 

Well, the Holy Spirit has come now. He dwells in all of us that believe the gospel. We have the scripture inspired by the Holy Spirit so that’s happened.

However, when we read John 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 8, 9, right up to up to 16 there are things the disciples did not know that we can know now, today.

So, we might ask, “Well, what’s the good of the Gospel of John then?”

It tells us a lot about Jesus being the Son of God. It points us to His deity. If it weren’t for the foundations of the Gospel of John we’d know nothing of Who the Lord is.

Same with the other Gospels. If it weren’t for the genealogy beginning in Matthew 1:1 there’d be no proof of His royal line, no proof of His virgin birth, no illustrations of the miracles which proved His Deity.

The Gospels are vital to us today because they tell us Who Jesus was, but they don’t give us the doctrines under which we operate today as the Body of Christ, where there’s no separation between Jew and Gentile.

If we try and lead our lives under the dispensation of the law, in which the Gospels were set, we’re going to fail miserably on many points. If we use the four Gospels as our doctrine today, we’re using a set of instruction that were incomplete, by Jesus own words,

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 

However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 

Now let’s go to Acts chapter one, Jesus had died he’d risen from the dead and he’s about to ascend to heaven and Peter asks him in

verse 6,

Therefore, when they (the disciples) had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 

Then in verse 7 Jesus replies,

And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 

See, there’s still things they don’t know in Acts and that’s after they know of the resurrection!

There are things that we don’t know now! We can only know what God’s revealed progressively to mankind and we need to understand when God said what he did and who it was meant for. Who was the audience?

Why?

Because even though we have all of God’s revelation today, in the form of the Bible, if we don’t discern it correctly, we’ll think that our instructions are found in a place where they’re not!

We’ll think God’s doing the same thing throughout the entire scripture which He’s not!

We’ll think that the whole Bible teaches the same thing throughout, which it does not!

This shows us that we need to read the Bible understanding the dispensations, the ages in each section that we read. If we don’t we’ll never make sense of the differences in the Bible.

It’s not some sort of man invented system it’s a vitally important way to read the scripture in context. It’s called rightly dividing as 2^nd Timothy 2:16 tells us.

Let’s see some examples of this.

The Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 1:9 that God,

having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself…

See there were things Pauls writing about that were not known before. The great apostles Peter James and John weren’t even aware of them before they were revealed by Jeus Himself to Paul.

Again, not everyone knew everything that got revealed.

So, God spoke in different times in different manners to different people as we saw last time. That’s what Hebrews 1 verses 1 and 2 teach us as we’ve already pointed out.

So, let’s see a few of those differences and also what’s common to all scripture.

To start with, every time God spoke, just the fact that it’s Him speaking means we should listen!

That’s what’s common to all scripture.

2 Timothy 3:16,

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

So, when God speaks it’s something we should listen to, but it doesn’t mean that he’s speaking all things to the same people at the same time in the same way.

For example, we see in Psalm 2:5,

Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure.

God speaks in his wrath! These days people don’t even like to think about God being angry or they’ll say, “Well that’s the Old Testament”, but they forget about Jesus whipping the blokes out of the temple or Revelation 19 when He’s coming back in flaming fire and vengeance, but that’s not what He’s doing today, right now!

It’s one way God spoke in time past, through the prophets, in his wrath.

Now if we just plucked this verse out of the chapter without understanding the context we could say that’s why I pranged my car on the way to work this morning, God was angry. Or God was angry and displeased so He caused the government to bring down some new law or new tax on us or caused me to get cancer.

But, in the correct context we see that he’s talking about Christ’s coming Kingdom where He’ll judge the Nations and He’ll speak to them in his wrath before he sets up the Kingdom.

In contrast to God speaking in His wrath we have Hosea 2:14 God speaking comfortably,

Therefore, behold, I (God) will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her. 

In Psalm 86, God says He’ll speak peace to them. He’ll speak peaceably.

Speaking in his wrath, speaking comfortably, and speaking peaceably are different ways God ‘s spoken.

You and I need to know who it is He’s speaking to and when He’s speaking this way and is it to me and you today?

How do I expect God to speak to me? In his wrath or in his peace or is it based on the day? Is it one day He’s angry and the next day He’s happy and peaceable?

We need to read the Bible in view of the context, the dispensation.

It’s just not true that God’s doing the same thing all the time. He can’t speak wrath and peace at the same time, so we’ve got to rightly divide and put what He says in context.

Micah 4:3 is a doozy,

He shall judge between many peoples, And rebuke strong nations afar off; They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore. 

The United Nations has a sculpture in the front of the United Nations headquarters in New York that portrays a man beating a sword into a ploughshare.

So, we’re anti-war, because God doesn’t want us to learn War anymore. Beat your swords into ploughshares and your guns into Forks and spoons.

But in Joel chapter 3:9-10, which is in the same section of the bible, the so called “minor prophets”, we see,

Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, Let all the men of war draw near, Let them come up. 

Beat your ploughshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ “

There’s no statue anywhere near the UN that depicts that!

This is the exact reverse of what God said in Micah 4!

So, the person who comes to us and says they do everything God says in the Bible has got a real problem. They’re missing something because God says things that are exactly opposite! They contradict!

Why? God’s speaking to different people at different times and for different purposes.

Context is vital.

See, if you just plucked either of these verse out and used them as some sort of life application you’d have all sorts of problems. Can’t do that!

The same with salvation. Over here He’s offering it this way but over there He’s not, he’s offering it this way. You see what we’re driving at?

If we keep in mind Hebrews 1:1,

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,

We can understand why God does things in different ways. We see that’s the way it had to be for that particular time and for that particular situation.

In Luke 2:13 God speaks through Angels. What do they say?

In verse 14,

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” 

That’s what God sent Jesus to do, to bring peace on Earth right?

But a few chapters later in Luke 12:51 Jesus says,

Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. 

For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. 

Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” 

Wasn’t that one of the things that God hates in Proverbs 6:19,

A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.

But you see Jesus is not creating discord among the Brethren he’s separating the Brethren from the non- Brethren.

If we don’t make the right division here, rightly divide, times, places, and people, we’re opening ourselves up to confusion and then we’ll never understand the Bible properly as it was supposed to be understood.

So, will Jesus bring peace to the earth? Not according to Luke 12! Will He ever bring peace on the earth? Yes, He will in Micah chapter 4 and in Revelation 20:22, but not here in Luke.

What about going to Church on the Sabbath day?

I’m sure most of us realise that Sunday’s not the Sabbath. So, it would be reasonable to question why we don’t go to church on Saturday, the Sabbath Day.

In Exodus 20:8 we read,

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 

That’s one of the big ten. The seventh Day Adventists take that literally. So did Israel. So did Jesus and so did Paul!

Keeping the Sabbath day, the seventh day, holy means no work, respecting rest that’s what it meant in Exodus 31 verse 14. Was that verse just a suggestion for good living?

Let’s see, Exodus 31:15,

Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

That’s the law!

That makes you really want to keep the Sabbath if anything would!

That’s unless you read Colossians 2:16,

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths…

Then, in Galatians 4: 9 to 10 Paul says to these Galatian Christians,

But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? 

You observe days and months and seasons and years. 

I am afraid for you, lest I have laboured for you in vain. 

By that he means the law he means Exodus 31. They’re going back to law keeping!

Paul sees their keeping of special days holy as sign that they’ve misunderstood what Christ is doing in that time that Paul’s teaching them.

So, you and I have a problem.

On the one hand we have Moses and on the other hand we have Paul and they’re both inspired of God. They’re both in the Bible and the Bible’s God’s love letter to us and one says you’ll die if you don’t keep the Sabbath the other says don’t let any man judge you regarding it.

What do we do? Flip a coin? No! We need to understand God’s revelation in the dispensation, the time, the context in which He’s talking.

God spoke differently about diets in the Bible.

One thing that’s common throughout the Bible in all dispensations relating to food is that if you don’t work you don’t eat.

In Genesis 1 it says God gave man every herb bearing or yielding seed to eat and the fruit of the trees to eat, so for sure they’re not eating animals which he gave to man to care for.

This instruction is given when man is still in the Garden of Eden in what we call the dispensation of innocence, before the fall of man where man sinned in disobeying God.

Then 1600 Years later, after the flood of Noah, where just eight people remain from the population of the earth, we’re in a different dispensation, a different age. And in Genesis 9:3-4 God says,

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.

But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

Make sure it’s dead before eating it in other words.

So, after the flood things change again and there’s another age, a new dispensation, and in Genesis 9 God puts the fear of man into the animals which causes them to scatter.

Just don’t eat the blood of these animals just the meat, He commands.

The idea that God forbids the eating of animals just isn’t there.

Then, somewhere between 8 and 900 years after that, we’re in the dispensation of the Law and in Leviticus 11:1-2 we have this.

Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, 

“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘These are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. 

Then in the entire rest of the chapter He gives highly detailed highly complex instructions about which animals they can and can’t eat, totally different from Genesis 9 where it was every moving thing.

For example, Leviticus 11:13-23,

‘And these you shall regard as an abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, the kite, and the falcon after its kind; every raven after its kind, the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after its kind; the little owl, the fisher owl, and the screech owl; the white owl, the jackdaw, and the carrion vulture; the stork, the heron after its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat. 

‘All flying insects that creep on all fours shall be an abomination to you. 

Yet these you may eat of every flying insect that creeps on all fours: those which have jointed legs above their feet with which to leap on the earth. 

These you may eat: the locust after its kind, the destroying locust after its kind, the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. Reminds us of John the Baptist, doesn’t it?

But all other flying insects which have four feet shall be an abomination to you. 

You want to follow a Biblical diet now?

See, God has a revelation that He’s giving progressively, and He has a purpose that He’s unfolding over time and when God gives new revelation it supersedes the old Revelation just as each age supersedes the previous one.

In Leviticus 11, who’s God speaking to in Leviticus 11?

The children of Israel! Leviticus 11:1-2 specifically tells us that.

These laws are not for Gentiles they’re for Israel. In Genesis 9 where all moving things can be eaten there was no Israel in the Garden of Eden there was definitely no Israel but buy the time we’re in Leviticus there is a nation of Israel.

Then in 1 Timothy 4:1, Paul comes in with this,

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 

For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. 

See, certain people were trying to get believers back under the law of Leviticus 11 and Paul calls it a doctrine of demons!

What’s with all these differences and contradictions, what is the truth?

We’ll all of them are the truth in their correct context!

Paul was given a revelation from Jesus Christ Himself that wasn’t about Israel alone. It’s not under the law and it’s not about the Kingdom of Heaven.

It was to the body of Christ in which there’s no difference between Jew and Gentile and there’s no command about what that church puts into their mouth.

Every creature of God is good and nothing’s to be refused and is to be received with Thanksgiving. It’s Sanctified by the word of God in Prayer. There is a sidebar to that. We should demonstrate wisdom and restraint when we’re with a brother who still does regard food.

God spoke differently about the law in the Bible and what’s common all the way through, from Genesis Revelation, is that the law is good. The law is righteous.

God’s not giving laws that are bad, His law is righteous and holy and good and there’s right and wrong on every page of scripture. What is it that’s wrong? Sin, which is always wrong and Holiness which is always right.

So, under the law or under Jesus or under Paul or anywhere that says this’s a sin according to God’s holy standard, that’s wrong.

So, we ask, “Is it wrong just for that person or for everybody at that time?”

In Deuteronomy 6:24-25 we see this,

And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. 

Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.’ 

Now, could they do all the Commandments? No! They could offer sacrifices when they didn’t but there’s none righteous. We now know this from Romans 3:10,

As it is written: “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NO, NOT ONE;

Quoting from Psalm 14 verse 1, and there’s many other places that show us this.

But yet, it (the Law) will be righteousness to us, as we’ve just seen.

Then we have Jesus arriving.

The general idea we have today, after His coming, is that the Old Testament was Israel’s law, and the New Testament is NOT Israel’s law.

The thinking is that Jesus came and changed all that.

But in Matthew 5:17 Jesus says,

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 

In our culture we forget that verse.

Then in the next verse, verse 18,

For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 

Then, in Matthew 23:1 at the end of his ministry he actually tells his disciples this,

Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 

Therefore whatever they (The scribes and Pharisees) tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.

What’s Jesus teaching here?

Say and do the law! Don’t be a hypocrite. Yet in the Church today we still mostly see Jesus’s sayings as our doctrine, even though we don’t and never could keep His sayings. In most cases we’re ignorant of just what it is He did say because He’s speaking the Law, and He’s speaking it to Israel to who it was given.

Jesus didn’t come to destroy the law, He’s teaching the Law and obedience to it right through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

That’s what He tells our rich young ruler from the passage were up to in our Matthew study in Matthew 19.

He’s telling to Keep the commandments, the law, and He’s also trying to encourage the young man to see Who He really was, The Messiah, The Son of God, God incarnate.

In Acts 2 we see the disciples after the Holy Spirit had been poured out from Heaven saying the things the Holy Spirit wanted them to say and doing the things the Holy Spirit wanted them to do.

In Acts 2:45 they sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.

Then in verse 46 we see this,

So continuing daily with one accord…

Where? In the local church? No! In the temple!

This is the temple that the Jews built in accordance to the law.

Why were they in the temple using the temple for their religious worship?

In Acts 3:1,

Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 

Hours of prayer. Do we have that in the Body of Christ?

That came from Israel. Israel had hours of prayer.

They would pray certain hours of the day and they prayed toward the temple or in the temple or at the temple and here’s Peter and John, filled with the Holy Spirit going up together into the temple to pray. Why are they going up to the temple?

Because the temple mattered to Israel.

These aren’t people trying to learn the new doctrines of Christianity! The Holy Spirit’s filled them to communicate what He wants them to say, but they’re in the temple to pray at the Jewish hour of prayer.

Hebrews 7:12 we read,

For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law.

See, there’s been a change in the priesthood and a change in the law.

Is the priesthood removed? No!

Is the Law removed? No! But they have changed.

Something more has been revealed and it’s revealed by the son.

We started by looking at Hebrews 1:1,

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 

Then verse 2,

..has in these last days spoken to us BY HIS SON…

He’s both the high priest and the reason for the change of the law, and, Oh how much we could talk about relating to Jesus as the High Priest, but we’ve got to stick with the program.

Hebrews 8:8 explains how the prophets of old spoke about this new covenant.

We read,

Because finding fault with them, (that’s the covenants), He says: “BEHOLD, THE DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH!

Again, God spoke to different people at different times in different ways.

Who’s God speaking to here in Hebrews 8, which is quoted from Jeremiah 31 from verse 31?

Israel and Judah!

Hebrews 8:9,

NOT ACCORDING TO THE COVENANT THAT I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS IN THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; BECAUSE THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DISREGARDED THEM, SAYS THE LORD. 

See different time, different way.

Then verse 10,

FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD:

After those days. Different time. When will the New Covenant be made? It’ll be made when it’s ratified in the spilled blood of Jesus Christ!

See, this New Covenant, this New Testament didn’t start with Jesus in the manger!

Verse 10 continues,

I WILL PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR (Israel’s) MIND AND WRITE THEM ON THEIR (Israel’s) HEARTS; AND I WILL BE THEIR (Israel’s) GOD, AND THEY (Israel) SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. 

Well, is that the case today? Most definitely not! This is the promise associated with that New Covenant. When will that happen? In the Kingdom which will come but is not here now.

We change all that in today’s church. We say. “Well, the New Covenant’s not really to Israel it’s to the church and it’s not meaning the Mosaic law, it just means the words of God.”

But the Bible’s very clear here as to who’s being spoken to, and we need to smash the meaning around terribly badly in order to make it say something else.

God didn’t always speak about the Law!

We saw in Genesis 9 there was no Mosaic law. In Genesis 1:1 there was just one single Law, “Don’t eat of the fruit of THAT tree!” That was it!

Now, we have this verse in Hebrews saying that God’s going to put His laws in Israel’s hearts and minds.

Hebrews 8:11,

NONE OF THEM (Israel) SHALL TEACH HIS NEIGHBOR, AND NONE HIS BROTHER,

So, no more teachers! They’re all going to know Me; God says, and that’s definitely not the case today is it?

Different people, different places, different times.

In the old days, before the invention of echo sounding technology, to know the depth under the ship’s keel, a seaman would need to use a lead line. He’d cast the line with a large lead dropper out in the direction the ship was heading, and it would be straight up and down as the ship rode directly over it. Through a series of marks, the leadsman would call the depth out to the skipper.

Nowadays a ship’s technology can pretty much see a beer can on the seabed.

How stupid would it be to see a container ship or a warship, bristling with technology, with a sailor hanging over the side with a rope calling out the depth? But at the time it was totally necessary for the survival of the ship.

We still have the knowledge of how it used to be done but we no longer use that method.

See? Different times, require different methods.

It’s same throughout the whole of life and it’s the same in the bible and we need to recognise what God ordained then and what He ordains now.

Everything in the bible is not relating to us today just as everything Jesus said is not relating to us today, even though everything is absolutely for us today.

It’s for our learning as per 2 Timothy 3:16,

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

It’s critical for us to discern who’s being spoken to and in what dispensation or age it’s referring to if we’re ever going to understand God’s Word. What’s the context?

My hope is that we’ll finish up where we left off with the rich young ruler with a more complete view of just what’s being said and why.

Until then my friends may God open His Word to your hearts and open you to His Word.

Beginning at Matthew 19:1

Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.

What sayings had Jesus finished? The ones we’ve seen in chapters 16–18.

He’s now finished saying what He wanted to say in Galilee, and He’s moved south into the borders of Judea, beyond Jordan, meaning the east bank of the Jordan River.

You can see this journey on one of our many maps on our website. Just go to “Resources” on the main menu of the website, then open “Bible Maps”. Look for the map called Jesus’ Final Journey to Jerusalem”.

The movement through Matthew now shows us the physical road He’s taking to His ultimate purpose, the payment for man’s sin on the cross.

When He was in Caesarea Philippi He announced to the disciples that He was going to Jerusalem to die. The we saw that He moved down into Galilee, and He spent time in that area around the Sea of Galilee.

Capernaum was His headquarters, and He even crossed over into Gadara but now He’s on the border of Judea.

Verse 2

And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.

Here again we see that there were multitudes healed. Not just the odd person here and there while the majority went away as sick as when they’d come, multitudes were healed. This is so far removed from the so called healing ministries of today. Anyone who wanted healing was healed. He’s the one we go to today and when we do we go on the basis of His will and His will alone.

Now we see in verse 3 that the religious rulers came to Jesus with a question regarding divorce., but as we’ll see it’s not from a genuine desire to learn something that they came with the question, it’s to try and trap Him and condemn Him.

The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?” 

See, the Pharisees came to tempt or to test Him.

They were after Him, trying to put Him in opposition to the Mosaic system.

They brought a problem which is just as difficult today as it was then.

It could’ve been the multitudes that followed Jesus for healing that alerted the Pharisees to His whereabouts, and like a pack of wild dogs, they began to close in, hoping to trap Him by His words.

They asked if divorce was legal on any and every ground. No matter how He answered, He’d infuriate some of those Jewish leaders because there were two main schools of thought relating to divorce.

The first was centred around a Rabbi by the name of Rabbi Shammai who taught a very strict and unpopular view.

The second was the school centred around another Rabbi, Rabbi Hillel which was less strict and was a more popular view. So, one school took a very liberal attitude toward divorce; another was extremely strict.

To the Jews of that day, marriage was a sacred duty. If a man was unmarried after the age of 20 – except to concentrate on the study of the law – he was guilty of breaking God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply.”

It’s said that they believed that by not having children a man killed his own descendants and had lessened the glory of God on earth.

However, even though the Jews of that day had a high ideal of marriage, they had a pretty low view of women, which meant that this high ideal of marriage was constantly being set aside.

Rabbi Hillel put into law, human law not God’s law, such things as a man could divorce his wife if she spoiled his dinner, if she spun, or went with unbound hair, or spoke to men in the streets.

If she spoke disrespectfully of his parents in his presence, or if she was a woman whose voice could be heard in the next house.

One Rabbi, Rabbi Akiba even said that a man could divorce his wife if he found a woman he liked better and considered prettier.

It may also be that these Pharisees hoped Jesus would say something that’d tie him up in the King Herod-Herodias affair where Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, married his half-brother’s wife, Herodias, while his half-brother was still alive. This was considered a violation of Jewish law and was widely criticized, so if Jesus was forced to condemn Herod he might be jailed and beheaded like John the Baptist.

The Pharisees words “For just any reason” were at the center of the question.

Each school of thought understood that the Mosaic law gave permission for divorce in Deuteronomy 24:1. Let’s read that,

When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favour in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house… 

Each side knew and believed this verse in Deuteronomy, but the question was, “What’s the meaning of uncleanness?”

The school of Rabbi Shammai understood that uncleanness meant sexual immorality and said this was the only valid reason for divorce. The school of Rabbi Hillel understood uncleanness to mean any sort of indiscretion; even to the point where for some rabbis, burning a husband’s breakfast was considered valid grounds for divorce.

The Rabbis had many sayings about bad marriages and the bad wife. They said that the man with a bad wife would never face hell, because he has paid for his sins on earth.

They said that the man who is ruled by his wife has a life that’s not life or that a bad wife is like leprosy to her husband, and the only way he could be cured is by divorce.

They even said that if a man has a bad wife, it’s a religious duty to divorce her.

The Book of Proverbs even says a lot along those lines like Proverbs 21:19,

Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and nagging wife.

Proverbs 27:15-16,

A quarrelsome wife is as annoying as constant dripping on a rainy day. 

Stopping her complaints is like trying to stop the wind or trying to hold something with greased hands. 

So, you see in asking this question, the Pharisees had rather cleverly tried to get Jesus to side with one teaching or the other. If He agreed with the less strict and more popular view of Rabbi Hillel, it was clear that Jesus didn’t take the Law of Moses seriously.

If He agreed with the strict school of Rabbi Shammai, then Jesus would become unpopular with the multitude, who generally liked the easy divorce way, especially King Herod.

The religious leaders really thought they’d caught Jesus because both options had negative consequences, and it was going to be difficult to decide which one to choose.

See how deeply these blokes must’ve conspired between themselves to trap Jesus. They must’ve patted each other on the back and celebrated when they came up with that idea.

Verse 4 to 6,

And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE,’ and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’? 

So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate.” 

The Lord Jesus’ reply is remarkable, not only for the wisdom and courage with which He met their attack but how He took them back to the very beginning, back to God’s ideal of marriage.

The Mosaic Law had permitted divorce on a broad basis as we just saw in Deuteronomy 24 verse 1.

As far as the Mosaic Law was concerned, a divorce was not as bad as was marriage to a stranger, a stranger being a foreigner, non-Jewish.

For instance, if the priest’s daughter married a stranger (foreigner), she was shut out from the nation Israel.

As time went on, the Mosaic Law was made meaningless, and the granting of divorce was done on the flimsiest basis and as a result, there was a heap of discussion relative to divorce at this time.

Our Lord took them back to the original plan of God for man and woman before sin entered the human family. Divorce was not in God’s original plan. Why? Because sin was not in God’s original plan, and divorce is always a result of sin. It’s there somewhere in the relationship, sometimes hidden away and sometimes very obvious.

Verse 7

They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”

Well, Moses didn’t command it, he permitted it and made away to formalise it.

Verse 8

He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 

Why did Moses permit it?

Because of the hardness of their hearts. You see, marriage was given to mankind to be the tenderest and the sweetest of human relationships.

Also, the marriage was to represent the future relationship between Christ and the church.

When bitterness and hardness of heart enter in, then that marriage becomes a hollow shell of what it was intended to be and it’s no different for Christians.

Because of the hardness of the human heart, God permitted divorce. God’s merciful to us, but His ideal is never divorce.

The background of divorce is always sin and all of us are sinners. Since God can forgive murderers, He can also forgive divorce, but we need to be honest about the root cause, especially in ourselves. It’s sin.

Verse 9

And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.” 

And I say to you!

This takes us back to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5 where in Matthew 25:27-28 Jesus says,

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.’ 

But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 

Remember back there how we saw that Jesus is speaking to Jews who are still under the dispensation of the Law and Jesus has taken that law regarding adultery to the very highest degree? So much so that no human being listening to those words could say he was innocent. Everyone was guilty.

This is the exact reason He’s giving these passages, to make all mankind aware of the impossibility of ever trying to work their way into God’s acceptance by their good works. It is, in fact, the entire point of why Christ had to come and why He had to be the one and only being that could fulfill the Law and make it complete for ever so that man wouldn’t need to be condemned by breaking it.

Then, two verses down from that teaching on adultery, he does exactly the same thing with divorce.

In Mattew 5:31 He says,

Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ (that’s the law as Deuteronomy 24:1 has it.)

But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.

See, again He takes that law in the supernova level and it’s identical to what we’ve just seen Him say here in chapter 19 verse 9.

He’s still teaching what the law states and then taking to the highest degree, and He’s still talking to Israel.

The Gentile nations knew nothing about the Mosaic law. It wasn’t given to them, stroke, us.

It’s interesting to note how closely these two laws, the law on adultery where every person has obviously broken it, and the law relating to divorce are placed. Almost next to each other. It forces the question, “If every person has committed adultery by looking with lust at another person, and they have, then every marriage under the dispensation of the law must have adultery in it!”

Now, we note that Jesus puts forward here only one ground for divorce, sexual immorality.

The Greek word here is word porneia (por-ni’-ah) from where we get the English word pornography and when you look up this word in a concordance, especially Thayer’s concordance, I warn you it’s a real head turner.

When we look at this definition we realise that under the Mosaic Law, divorce was, and the word notice the “was”, only permitted in the most extreme case of female sexual immorality, which you would have to think would be virtually non-existent. It’s interesting that the Mosaic law made no provision for a wife to divorce her husband, even in the same extreme conditions.

Again, this is the lifting of the Mosaic law to the highest possible standard, one that’s unable to be met while sin remains in the heart of man.

In the relationship between Israel and God this word, porneia (por-ni’-ah), means the worship of idols or being defiled through idolatry by eating the sacrifices offered to idols.

We need to keep on coming back to the fact that between Matthew 5 and Mathew 19, where we are at the moment, nothing’s changed about who The Lord’s speaking to and the dispensation He’s speaking in. It’s to Israel He’s speaking and He’s speaking in the dispensation of the law.

We must be careful not to lay the Mosaic law on the Body of Christ. The most so-called holiest of the Jewish religious leaders couldn’t keep the law and the Jewish nation was who the law was directly given to, so how could it ever be possible that the Gentile nations who were not under the law anyway, be expected to fulfil the level of perfection it portrays.

We must always keep in mind what the law’s intention was, why it was given in the first place; to reveal how far away from God’s righteousness man was and is. It’s God’s standard of righteousness and the standard we’d need to keep, without breaking it a single time, in order to be righteous by our works. Clearly impossible. Why is it that churches teach us that we’re free from the law of sin and death, which we are, then teach that we need to keep the law in our daily lives. We get this sort of mixing of law and grace. No wonder there’s confusion amongst many Christians where the law’s concerned.

There’s a whole new doctrine relating to marriage as it relates to the Body of Christ and it can be found in the Pauline, Paul’s, epistles. These are the doctrine for the Church, The Body of Christ today.

Here’re just some examples, 1 Corinthians 7:1-40, Ephesians 5:22-33, Colossians 3:18-19, 1 Timothy 3:2, Titus 1:6.

What we see in these passages is that God’s Heart, His will, is NOT that we get divorced.

However, in reading Paul’s letters closely and in context, do we see a threat of punishment, or do we see wise and wonderful council as to how believers should behave? What we see is a standard of works that occurs because we’re free of the law of sin and death not to make us free. We now want to do what pleases God to the best of our ability, and there’s a universe of difference.

We’ll see that when we get to those epistles.

Verse 10

His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 

The wide popularity of the free and easy views on this whole subject is obvious from the reaction by the disciples.

They weren’t prepared for this level of strictness, and they suggest that if that was the true standard under the law, better not to marry at all.

Verse 11

But He (Jesus) said to them (the disciples), “All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: 

This is very important, especially in our day. In the verse that follows, our Lord puts down a great principle that even today the Roman Catholic church is wrestling with.

Verse 12

For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”

A eunuch is an impotent man either from being intentionally made impotent by castration, or by natural means, he just can’t reproduce or have intercourse, or by choice.

There are some men and some women who do not need to marry. They get along very well by themselves, but that’s not for everybody, in fact it’s not for the vast majority.

Some churches make a rule that people who hold certain positions are not to marry but they have no right to do that.

Should a preacher get married, or should a Catholic priest be unmarried? Here’s where God puts down a principle. He says that it’s up to the individual. We have to make that decision for ourselves.

Now to Matthew 19:13-15

Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. 

But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” 

And He laid His hands on them and departed from there. 

The Lord delights in children!

It’s interesting that children are introduced shortly after the discourse on divorce. They’re the ones who suffer most severely from broken marriages.

Parents brought their little children to Jesus to be blessed by the Teacher-Shepherd.

It was a Jewish custom to bring a child to the elders on the evening of the Day of Atonement ‘to bless them and pray for them’.

The disciples were annoyed at this, and rebuked the parents, but Jesus cut them short with words that have made Him admired and loved by children of every age. “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

There’s some important lessons in those words.

It’s important to reach children with the Word of God when their minds are most open.

Children who wish to come to know the Lord Jesus should be encouraged, not held back.

At the same time, they should never be pressured into making a false choice. They’re as open to influences to know the Lord just as much as they’re open to rejecting Him.

The goal of teaching children is to get them to think as adults. That’s our responsibility as parents.

When they don’t think like adults we understand why, it’s because they’re children. But we show them where they’re wrong and press on toward the goal of producing mature persons.

From the way many children are taught today, you’d think that some parents want them to stay children forever!

These children never grow up as they get older. Children don’t magically like to study when they get older either.

Children don’t have to become adults to be saved, but adults have to have the humility and teachability of children as we saw in Matthew 18:3-4.

Many scholars and Bible teachers believe that these words of our Lord, particularly, “of such is the kingdom of heaven”, answer the question of what happens to children who die before they reach the age of accountability, that’s the age at which they’re capable of making their own spiritual decisions. They believe that the passage shows that the children were already possessors of the kingdom. This passage has been a great comfort to many who have lost little children.

Sometimes this passage is used to support the baptism of young children in order to make them members of the Body of Christ and inheritors of the kingdom. However, the parents didn’t bring the children to Jesus for child baptism and there’s not a hint of that in the passage. It would need to be severely twisted out of all reality to make it mean this. Jesus did not baptise them, He blessed them.

Some denominations teach the baptism of infants because it puts them under the protection of the church or because you yourself are part of that particular religious tradition, and you’re under the priests of the pastor or some other supposed spiritual benefit.

Thinking we’re a Christian, that an individual is saved because of a tradition or by our upbringing is to reject the gospel of grace for wrong and false gospel.

To Matthew 19:16-17,

Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” 

So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 

We’ve just seen that the kingdom of heaven belongs to little children, now we see how difficult it is for adults to enter.

Notice how this young fellow approaches the Lord Jesus. He addresses Him as Good Master. He’s willing to concede that He’s good, something that Jesus enemies wouldn’t have done.

In answering, “Why do you call Me good? There is no one good but One, that is, God,” Jesus was not denying His own deity, but was providing the man with an opportunity to say, “That’s why I call You good. You are the promised Messiah, God.”

Then Jesus said to him, “But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Our Savior wasn’t implying that the man, any man, can be saved by keeping the commandments.

He was using the law to produce conviction of sin in the young man’s heart. As we’ll now see, the young man was still under the delusion that he could inherit the kingdom on the principle of doing.

Verse 18 to 21,

He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, ” ‘YOU SHALL NOT MURDER,’ ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,’ ‘YOU SHALL NOT STEAL,’ ‘YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS,’ 

‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER,’ and ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ ” 

The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” 

Here we see in this young bloke’s response both the problem and the reason he still feels inadequate to inherit the Kingdom. It’s no different than the problem of humanity today.

It’s a belief in his own self-righteousness. He believes he’s a quote, “good person”. He’s blind to who and what he really is by his own sense of self-righteousness. It’s like asking a random person on the street today are you going to heaven when you die?

They answer, yes. You ask them why and mostly they’ll say because they’re a good person. When you ask what makes them good they’ll say things like well I’m not as bad as so and so or I haven’t done bad things, or I go to church occasionally.

However, if you ask them if they’ve ever lied, they must answer yes. Have they ever stolen anything, even a pencil from work, they’ll answer yes. If you asked them if they’d ever looked at the opposite sex with lust, they’ll say yes and if they don’t they’re a liar anyway.

Then if you were to point out that even if they broke just one of God’s commandments just one time they’re guilty of breaking them all.

Leviticus 19:37, Deuteronomy 27:26 and James 2:10 tell us that to break one part of the law is to be guilty of all.

The law’s like a chain of links. Break one link and the whole chain’s broken. God doesn’t allow us to keep the laws we like, and break others.

That random person would then have to admit that they’d broken God’s commandments and were under punishment or cursed.

You see we can’t compare ourselves to some of the evil people that we share this world with, it’s a false comparison, we compare our selves to God’s standard and when we do we see how far short of true righteousness we really are and that we desperately need a Saviour.

In this young man’s boasting that he’d always kept these commandments he was claiming he’d fulfilled the law, clearly a ridiculous idea and yet inside himself he knew something was terribly wrong!

Verses 21 and 22,

Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 

But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 

Our Lord then exposed the man’s failure keep the law to love his neighbour as himself by telling him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor. Then he should come to Jesus and follow Him.

The Lord didn’t mean that this young fellow could be saved by selling his possessions and giving them to charity. There’s only one way of salvation and that’s through faith in who Jesus is, The Lord.

But in order to be saved, a person must acknowledge that they’ve sinned and fallen short of God’s holy requirements. They must have a grasp on who and what they really are.

This fellow shows that that’s not his thinking at all.  His unwillingness to share his possessions showed exactly where his heart really was. Possessions or salvation, this world’s temporary blessings or eternal life, follow the God of creation or the god of this world.

The challenge is no different for this young man than for any one of us.

If this young ruler was really concerned for his eternal security he would have responded to the Savior’s instruction and he would have been given the way of salvation.

What was the motivation behind the original question this fellow asked? Was it to strut his stuff, his own righteousness before this quote “good Teacher”? Did he really want to know what he lacked for salvation? Did he see eternal life as the most important issue that confronted him? We know the answer because this young man did what most of the world does, he turned his back on the only One Who could redeem him from the curse of the law and give him eternal life, salvation.

Instead, he went away sorrowful yet still loving his thing collection, his possessions, his temporary stuff more than eternal life.

There’s no better illustration of this than Luke 12:16-21,

Then He (Jesus) spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 

And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 

So, he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 

And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ‘ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you (in other words, tonight you’re going to die); then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ 

“So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Until next time my friends when we finish Matthew chapter 19 may God open His Word to you and you to His Word.