Tag: Matthew

Seeking a Sign or a Savior?

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

Seeking a Sign or a Savior?

Matthew 12:38-45

In Matthew 12, we are in a narrative section of Matthew that focuses on mission and conflict.[1] As Jesus and His disciples go about the mission of preaching the kingdom of God, conflict arises and intensifies with the religious leaders of the Pharisees and scribes. At the beginning of Matthew 12, the Pharisees were provoked because Jesus and His disciples did not follow their Sabbath traditions. When Jesus healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath in their Synagogue, the Pharisees were so enraged that they began to plot with their rivals, the Herodians, to murder Jesus (Matt. 12:14).

Then, when Jesus healed a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute so that the man could speak and see, the Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, responded by disproving their ridiculous and blasphemous accusation, and by warning them that they were demonstrating themselves to be evil men who speak from evil hearts. Jesus warned them against blaspheming the Holy Spirit and committing the unpardonable sin. This warning troubled them, but they were still not convinced that He was the Messiah—far from it. So, in this next section, they demanded a sign from Jesus. In return, Jesus rebukes them for asking for a sign instead of believing, assesses their spiritual condition, and warns them of judgment.

Have you ever asked God for a sign? If you have, you’re not alone. In the Bible, God sometimes gave signs to both believers and unbelievers. To Noah, God said, “I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.” (Gen. 9:13). At the burning bush, God said to Moses, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” (Exo. 3:12). Gideon asked for a sign that God would use him to save Israel by laying out a fleece of wool and asking that it be wet or dry. And God graciously gave him what he asked (Judges 6:36-40).

God actually told unbelieving King Ahaz, “Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.” (Isa 7:11). When he refused, God Himself gave the sign of Immanuel in the virgin’s birth (Isa. 7:14).

And of course, Jesus did work signs. His miracles were signs of who He is. Peter, preaching on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, says, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know.” Even His enemies could not deny that Jesus did miraculous signs. In John’s Gospel, after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs.” (John 11:47). In the next chapter John writes, “But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him,” (John 12:37).

We see from the scriptures that signs from God can be good things. But they are no guarantee of faith. Faith is believing what God has said not seeing what God has done. The person who believes what God says is one who trusts the very nature and ability of God. The skeptic is uncertain whether God will or God can do something—and so he asks for a sign. In the case of the scribes and Pharisees, they asked for a sign, not because they wanted to believe in Jesus, but because they were determined to disprove and reject Jesus.

First, we see that…

1. They ask a sign from Jesus (Matt. 12:38)

“Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” (Matt. 12:38).

Think about when they said this. Jesus had just cast a demon out of a man who was blind and mute, so the man could see and speak. And they ask Jesus for a miraculous sign? Since no previous signs had been enough to convince them, they are apparently asking for something more spectacular than what they had seen.[2] So they ask to see a sign, presumably a miracle performed just for them, something that would amaze them while presenting irrefutable evidence that His claims were true (cf. John 6:30). In Luke’s parallel account, he writes, “Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven.” (Luke 11:16). They demanded something that required no faith but just sight. What did they want? – “that the heavens be moved, the clouds made to gyrate, sun, moon, and stars to perform antics, visions to be painted in the sky with unearthly colors, angel hosts to parade down the milky way?”[3]

Doesn’t their attitude sound a lot like what the devil said when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness in Matthew 4? Satan said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread,” (Matt. 4:3). And again, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” (Matt. 4:6). The scribes and Pharisees were also daring Jesus to do a sign on demand for them. But they had no more intention of believing in Jesus than the devil did. It would do no good to give such a sign. Lenski writes, “Suppose for a moment that Jesus had met this demand…” Such a sign would “… meet no spiritual need, point to no deliverance from sin, have no affinity with saving faith…”[4] Even if Jesus did some sign in the heavens, they would soon be asking for more. It would only further fuel their unbelief and rejection of Jesus because their attitude came from an evil heart.

Look at how Jesus answers their request.

2. He announces the sign of Jonah (Matt. 12:39-40)

Matthew 12:39 says, “But He answered and said to them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.’” Jesus exposed the evil hearts of these scribes and Pharisees. Their craving for a sign only indicated that they did not trust God as they claimed.

They were “an evil and adulterous generation.” Earlier generations of the children of Israel had been declared adulterous because of their worship of the false gods of Baal, Molech, and Asherah. They had been unfaithful to God. Although this generation had abandoned the Canaanite gods, they were still unfaithful. Instead of following God, they placed their hope and trust in the idol of man-made religious tradition. They were spiritual adulterers.

So, Jesus refuses to give them the sign they are demanding. Jesus did not perform signs like magic tricks just to entertain the stubborn-hearted. He said, “no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” They would not get the convincing sign they demanded, but God would give a confirming sign. Jesus was telling them that they would have one more opportunity to believe—the sign of His resurrection would prove who He is and what His life and death were all about. They had rejected every other sign that Jesus had given them, so there was one more, but they would have to wait for it.

Jesus calls it “the sign of the prophet Jonah.” If you remember, Jonah was a prophet of Israel who was appointed by God to go to Nineveh, the capital of Israel’s enemies, the Assyrians, and warn them of God’s coming judgment. Jonah did not want to go. The Assyrians were a wicked and violent nation, and nothing would have pleased Jonah more than to have God destroy them. So, Jonah got on a ship heading in the opposite direction. God caused a severe storm to arise and eventually, Jonah is tossed overboard. God saves Jonah from drowning by preparing a great fish to swallow the prophet. After three days and nights in the belly of this sea monster, it spits him out on the land. Jonah then goes to Nineveh and completes what God told him to do in the first place.

In Matthew 12:40, Jesus explains what He means by “the sign of Jonah”, saying, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” This was a prediction of Jesus’ coming death, burial, and resurrection. That would be the sign God would give.

No miracle Jesus worked proved Him to be the Messiah more than His resurrection from the grave. Paul writes in Romans 1:4 that Jesus was, “declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” The resurrection proved Jesus is the Son of God.

Would they look for it and heed it? Sadly, No. Jesus said in His story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:31, that “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.” God’s word is sufficient. God’s word is enough. If you don’t believe God’s word, then even if someone rises from the dead, you’re not going to believe. And looking at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, that is exactly what happened. When the guards came and reported the empty tomb, the angels, and all that happened, the religious leaders paid them to spread a lie that the disciples had stolen Jesus’ body while the guards slept. Even the resurrection wouldn’t work to prove who Jesus was to them. It would only confirm them in their evil unbelief.

Jesus’ own resurrection from the dead would be the sign given to them – but they would reject that too and it would be part of the judgment against them. Jesus now explains how certain their judgment would be because of their hardness of heart to see and respond to what has already been given to them.

3. He assures them of judgment (Matt. 12:41-42)

Jesus says, “The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.” (Matt. 12:41-42).

Jesus has just spoken about the sign of Jonah, and now he draws another lesson from Jonah’s life. The people of Nineveh repented at Jonah’s preaching. We read about this incident in Jonah 3. The Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Jonah obeyed God and went to Nineveh to proclaim the word of the Lord. Jonah 3:4 says, “And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’” Jonah just preached God’s judgment. He didn’t tell them why they would be destroyed or even call them to repent. And Jonah certainly did not prove his prophecy with signs and wonders. Yet, Nineveh repented. The Gentile, pagan people of Nineveh repented at the reluctant preaching of Jonah.

Now, this generation has the Messiah in their midst–“a greater than Jonah is here.” Infinitely greater! The Son of God has preached the gospel of the kingdom, taught the word of God, and demonstrated His authority by signs and wonders. He has called them to repent. But unlike Nineveh, they would not repent.

 The Queen of the South is the Queen of Sheba mentioned in 1 Kings 10:1-13 and 2 Chronicles 9:1-9. She was from the country of the Sabeans located in lower Arabia some 1,200 miles southeast of Israel. At that time considered the “ends of the earth.” She, like the Ninevites, responded to what little she heard. She heard reports of the fame of King Solomon concerning the name of the LORD (1 Kings 10:1). She had no invitation, but she wanted to hear His wisdom. So, she made a long journey carrying gold, jewels, and spices as gifts for Solomon. All she had was a second-hand report. And the report didn’t even do justice to the truth, but she came.

The Queen of Sheba’s lavish respect for Solomon stood in stark contrast to Israel’s flat-out rejection of Christ. Yet Christ is greater than Solomon (Matthew 12:42). Solomon was a son of David, but Jesus is the Son of David who is also the Son of God. Solomon was rich, but Jesus is the Creator of all riches. Solomon possessed the gift of wisdom, but Jesus is “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (Col. 1:24). Solomon built a temple for God, but Jesus is the temple of God (John 2:21).

Jesus warns the Pharisees that the people of Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba will both condemn them at the day of judgment. Why? Because Jesus is greater than either Jonah or Solomon. Nineveh repented, the Queen heard, came, and praised God. This evil and adulterous generation would do neither.

Finally, In Matthew 12:43-45 Jesus describes the judgment that would come upon them because of their neglect to repent and believe.

4. He alerts them to the danger of empty religion (Matt. 12:43-45)

Jesus illustrates His warning to the scribes and Pharisees for their refusal to repent and believe in Him. He uses a rather disturbing illustration of an evil spirit who returns and finds his former home empty. Listen to it:

43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.” (Matt. 12:43-45)

First, let me say that Jesus is not teaching a course on demonology in this passage.[5] Jesus is not giving any teaching about demons here other than that they can inhabit a man, go out of the man, and then return later with more demons. He does not tell us why the demon left. Nothing explains what the “dry places” are or why the demon is wandering around in them. We can discern that it is not the kind of place the demon wants to be because the demon wants to go back to the man he had inhabited before. Let’s not get lost in trying to figure out the demon. Remember the context. Why did Jesus tell this story? His conclusion is, “So shall it also be with this wicked generation.” Jesus’ purpose in telling this illustration is to point out the judgment that would come upon that generation. They would end up in a worse condition than what they had started out in.

Remember the history of the Jewish people. In the centuries that preceded Jesus’ coming, the Jewish people had fallen into the sin of idolatry. They worshiped the false gods of the pagan nations around them. As a result, just as He had warned through the prophets, God cast His people out of their land and sent them into exile in Babylon for seventy years.

After the exile, again, just as God promised, God restored them to their own land. Historically, they never again fell into the sin of idolatry as they had before the exile. They had, you might say, “cleaned up their act” they “swept” and “put it order” their lives and their nation. They reformed.

But by the time of our Lord’s earthly ministry, their religion had all become a merely external ‘moral reform’. They had developed, and had carefully articulated, all the “do’s” and “don’t’s” of the law. They built up traditions that took the place of the word of God. They prided themselves on their strict obedience to their traditions. But it was not a matter of the heart. It was not a matter of “relationship” with the living God. They had drawn near with their mouths, and honored God with their lips; but their hearts were far from Him (Matthew 15:8). They were “empty, swept, and put in order,” but far from God.

Think about the remarkable times in which these Jewish people lived! They heard the preaching of John the Baptist as he pointed to Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The Son of God walked among them. They beheld His miracles and heard His teaching. And yet, they rejected Him. They saw Him work miracles in the power of the Holy Spirit, and yet they dared to accuse Him of working in the power of the devil.

They were morally upright but spiritually empty. You see, it’s not enough to be empty. You need to be filled. It’s not enough to be empty of evil or wickedness. You need to be filled with Christ’s righteousness. It’s not enough to hear the gospel. You need to respond to the gospel. What good does it do you to get your life together, if you don’t give your life to Christ?

Those who hear the gospel and reject Christ are worse off than they were before. The apostle Peter describes such people in this way:

For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire” (2 Peter 2:20-22).

You need to respond to the gospel. It’s not enough to be empty; you need to be filled. Just like the man with the evil spirit, those who hear the gospel and reject Christ are worse off than they were before. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:31).

It should also serve as a warning to us in our daily duty of presenting Christ to the lost people of this world—to our family members, our friends, our workmates, and our neighbors. Our goal is not to simply help the people around us to live “better lives”. That’s certainly a good thing in the right context; but if that alone is all that happens, then it’s a dreadfully bad thing! If that’s all we do—if all that we do is help them live moral lives, but do not help them trust in Jesus Christ as Lord in their hearts—then all we’ve done is, as our Savior has put it, made them “empty, swept, and put in order” . . . and also dangerously open and vulnerable to even worse evil.

If you have never responded to the gospel, what are you waiting for? Are you waiting for a sign? God already gave you the best sign he could ever give. Two thousand years ago Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Jesus died on the cross for your sins, and he rose again on the third day, triumphant over sin and death and the grave. He offers you new life through the Spirit, forgiveness of sins in the present, and eternal life with him when you die.

Are you seeking signs from Christ? Or are you seeking Jesus Himself? Don’t leave today, whether believer or non-believer, until you can leave knowing that your life is right with God.

——————————————————————

[1] Ray Fowler, The Sign of Jonah, https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/the-sign-of-jonah/

[2] Hal M. Haller Jr., “The Gospel according to Matthew,” in The Grace New Testament Commentary, ed. Robert N. Wilkin (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2010), 59.

[3] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 490.

[4] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 490.

[5] Greg Allen, The Unoccupied Heart, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2006/082706.htm accessed 04-21-2024.

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Fruit, Words, and Hearts

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

Fruit, Words, and Hearts

Matthew 12:33-37

The Bible has much to say about our words. The book of Proverbs repeatedly warns us about the dangers of our tongues. For instance, “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise.” (Pro. 10:19). One man said, “As you go through life you are going to have many opportunities to keep your mouth shut. Take advantage of all of them.”[1] Proverbs  12:19 says, “The truthful lip shall be established forever, But a lying tongue is but for a moment.” Proverbs 21:23 says, “Whoever guards his mouth and tongue Keeps his soul from troubles.” And Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”

In the New Testament, James also warns of the destructive power of the tongue, calling it “a fire, a world of iniquity” (James 3:6). He says, “… no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:8).

Yet, the real problem lies not in our words or the tongue that speaks them. The real problem is the evil heart that lies beneath the evil words because everything that springs forth from our mouths comes from what is in our hearts. Our words indicate the condition of our hearts. Jesus will teach His disciples in Matthew 15,

18 “… those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man …” (Mat 15:18-20 NKJV)

If you want to check the oil in your car, you pull the dip-stick, because that is the gauge that reveals how much oil your engine has. If you want to check the spiritual condition of your heart, where do you look? Your mouth. When a man opens his mouth and sinful things come out, this reveals him to be a sinner from the heart.

James writes, “11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? 12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.” (James 3:11-12). The mouth is the bucket that draws from the well of the heart. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it springs the issues of life.”

The context of Matthew 12 demonstrates this principle for us today. The Pharisees had just thrown a blasphemous accusation at Jesus. The Lord had mercifully cast a demon out of a blind and mute man so that he was healed and could now see and speak (Matt. 12:22). Those who saw it were astonished; and asked, “Could this be the Son of David?” (Matt. 12:23). But the Pharisees said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons” (Matt. 12:24). In other words, they saw the power of the Holy Spirit demonstrated through Jesus doing the works of the Messiah. And yet, their hearts were so hardened against Him that they attributed His power to cast out demons to the devil himself.

As we saw last time, it wasn’t that the Pharisees merely misunderstood Him. It was because they hated Him and resisted the testimony of the Holy Spirit concerning Him. When they made this blasphemous accusation against Him, they revealed the profoundly hardened, evil condition of their hearts. Jesus warned them that they were in danger of committing an unpardonable sin—blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Words matter because they have a source. The source is the heart.

That brings us to our text today in Matthew 12:33-37 where we see a threefold progression: 1) Your fruit displays the character of your life (Matt. 12:33); 2) Your words display the condition of your heart (Matt. 12:34-35); and 3) Your heart determines the verdict of your soul (Matt. 12:36-37).

First, Jesus teaches …

1. Your fruit displays the character of your life (Matt. 12:33)

In Matthew 12:33, Jesus says, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.” Jesus used this same metaphor of a tree and its fruit in Matthew 7 to refer to the works of false prophets who were wolves in sheep’s clothing. Now Jesus applies this principle in proverbial style to words. This brief parable has a very simple message. If a tree is good, the fruit is good. If a tree is bad, the fruit is bad.

How does this principle apply in the context of Matthew 12? First, it applies to what the Pharisees were saying about Jesus. Everyone, including the Pharisees, saw Jesus do good. He healed the sick, raised the dead, gave sight to the blind, set demoniacs free, and preached righteousness. No one would say that fruit was evil. Not even the Pharisees could deny the good works and words of Jesus.

The Pharisees were saying that Jesus’ fruit was good but the tree is bad. They were making Jesus out to be evil at the root, but good in the fruit. They knew sickness, disease, demonic possession, and sin came from Satan. They knew healing, casting out demons, and forgiveness came from God. So, if good trees produce good fruit, and bad trees produce bad fruit, then how can you conclude that Jesus is an emissary of Satan?

So Jesus tells them to drop the double standard. If they make the tree out to be bad, then they would have to say the fruit is bad also. If they look at the fruit and say it’s good, then they have to admit that the tree is good also.

Jesus is calling them to a decision. “Either say that, in casting out demons, I do evil and am evil at the root; or say that, in casting out demons, I do the work of God through the power of the Holy Spirit, and I am of God!”

Jesus is calling all of us to make a decision about Him as well. Will we receive Jesus for who the Spirit shows Him to be? Or will we try to ride the fence and say that Jesus did good, but He was not who the Spirit was showing Him to be. If Jesus’ fruit is good, He must be good. He must be the Christ, the Son of God.

A second application of this verse is that it our fruit also reveals the good or evil in our hearts. Jesus goes on to reveal what sort of tree the Pharisees were proving themselves to be by their words.

So we see first, your fruit displays the character of your life and …

2. Your words display the condition of your heart (Matt. 12:34-35)

The Pharisees were making an evaluation. They were seeing the good things that our Lord did, and they were saying something evil about it. They refused to say that Jesus was the Christ from God. Even though it was obvious, they still wouldn’t admit it. So in Matthew 12:34 Jesus reveals why. They have an evil heart. He says, “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matt. 12:34).

He calls them “Brood of vipers!” or, “O generation of vipers . . .” (KJV). A viper is a particularly deadly and venomous snake. When Jesus calls them “vipers”, He highlights their deadly and dangerous character.

Think about the dangerous words that came out of their mouths at that time. Jesus performed good works—miracles done in the power of the Holy Spirit—and many of the people were beginning to believe on Him. But the Pharisees—who were jealous of Him and had already committed themselves to killing Him (Matt. 12:14)—they dared to attribute His miracles to the devil in an effort to dissuade people from believing on Jesus. The Pharisees had the outward appearance of being holy and pious, like poisonous snakes that look beautiful to the eye, but are deceivingly deadly.

The word translated as “brood” or “generation” means “offspring”, speaking both of their evil character and their evil source. They are “offspring of vipers”—vipers who come from a family of vipers! It’s the same description that John the Baptist used, saying, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Matt. 3:7). Jesus would later say to them in Matthew 23,

“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” (Matt. 23:29-32).

They were the sons of those who killed the prophets. And now they were plotting to kill the One those prophets prophesied about! They truly were a “brood of vipers”. The Pharisees wouldn’t confess Christ because they had a wicked carnal heart that was not capable of doing so.

The Pharisees said what they said about Jesus because they were evil at heart. What came out of their mouths was simply drawn up from the well sin that was in them. Thus, Jesus says, “How can you, being evil, speak good things?” (Matt. 12:34). They could not speak anything else but evil. It was impossible for them to do otherwise, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” The mouth overflows with what is in the heart.

Jesus then illustrates this principle in Matthew 12:35, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.” A mouth that speaks cursing and bitterness is from a heart that is bitter and full of cursing. A mouth that speaks hatred or gossip is from a heart that is full of hatred and gossip. A lying tongue is from a deceptive heart. If your mind and heart are full of murder, sooner or later, that will come out of your mouth in hateful murderous words.

But words that bless and love and encourage come from a loving heart. Hopeful words come from a hopeful heart. Kind words come from a kind heart. If your mind and heart are full of grace, sooner or later, gracious words will come from your mouth.

It’s wise to ask yourself; “When I get rattled and shaken deep within, what is it that comes spilling out? When I’m in a time of trial and testing and pressure deep in my inner being, what comes out of my mouth? When good things happen to others instead of me, what do I say?” If someone walked along behind you and listened to your words, what kind of tree would you prove to be? What kind of heart does your mouth reveal to be within you? What kind of treasure is deep within?

This is why the Pharisees said what they did. They had a heart problem. And this is still the main problem of humanity. Man’s problem is not bad influences, bad parents, or ignorance. Man’s problem is an evil heart. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

The only possible way for anyone to confess Christ is to have his or her heart redeemed. If the heart isn’t right, the confession won’t be either. Listen to what Paul writes about salvation:

9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Rom. 10:9-10).

 A person first believes in their heart, and then the confession comes out of their mouth. The point is that the heart must change. And only God can do that. It is a work of His Holy Spirit when He convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). It is the work of the Holy Spirit causing you to repent of sin and turn to the Savior. It is the work of Father drawing you to Christ when you hear the gospel that Jesus died for your sins and was raised for your justification.

The Pharisees needed to acknowledge that their hearts were sinful and to turn in repentance and faith to the Savior, Jesus Christ. They needed a new heart.

And that is important for us today because …

3. Your heart determines the verdict of your soul (Matt. 12:36-37)

Jesus says, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matt. 12:36-37).

The word translated “idle” means “lazy, useless, or unprofitable”. Some translations (NASB and ESV for example) translate it “every careless word”. This is a careless or thoughtless utterance that we might excuse by saying, “Oh; I didn’t mean what I said. I was just kidding anyway. Don’t take things so seriously.”

Jesus warns us that He takes such “careless” or “idle” words very seriously. And there’s a good reason why. Such words tend to indicate what’s in our hearts more truthfully than a carefully thought-out and prepared set of words ever could.

You see, we can control our mouths at least part of the time, but eventually what is in the heart will come out of the mouth. And when it does, we can’t claim that it was just “careless” words, just idle talk. For even the careless words have weight and will be judged. If even careless words will be brought forward for judgment, how much more the deliberate, wrongful, hurtful words we have spoken.

Our words prove what is in our hearts. Based upon that truth, the Pharisees stood condemned. Their words were wicked because their heart was wicked. And Jesus lets them know that based upon their words, their judgment is both certain and just.

This is why Jesus then says, “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned”. He who will judge our words will also prove to be the One who knows the true condition of our hearts. And it will be our words that will, on judgment day, stand as the evidence of the true nature of our hearts.

Let’s be brutally honest with ourselves and with God about this. If the pattern my speech is evil, then it reveals an evil heart. The mouth pulls up nothing from the well except what’s truly there.

So first, let’s be very sure we have trusted Jesus as our Savior and have been washed of our sins. The point of this passage is not merely that we try to clean up our dirty mouths. That should happen, but that’s not what needs to happen first. If the well itself is dirty, it doesn’t do any good to clean the bucket that draws out the water. And if the heart itself is still evil, it doesn’t do any good to try to merely clean up the mouth.

If we come to Christ—confessing that we are sinners who need to be saved, repenting, and placing our trust in the cleansing power of His blood—then He is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Let’s be sure that we have first trusted in Him; and then, our heart—the wellspring of our words—will be clean.

This is where it starts, with God giving us a new heart. Even with a renewed heart, we can, at times, sin with our words. We have habits of the flesh, the allurement of the world, and the temptations of the devil to contend with. We constantly need the Holy Spirit to be producing in us the fruit of righteousness in our lives. He does this as we yield in submission to His will. And we know and love His will by the renewing of our minds with the word of God. The more of the truth of God’s holy word we put into our minds and obey in our hearts, the more our words will reflect the character of our Lord Jesus Christ. We will begin to sound more like Jesus. Give yourself to Jesus Christ. Present your whole body as a living sacrifice to Him. Dedicate all that you are—including your lips—to His service.

Your fruit displays the character of your life. Your words display the condition of your heart. And your heart determines the verdict of your soul. By the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in Christ, may we prove that He has placed a good treasure in our hearts by bringing forth what is good from our lips.

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[1] Steven Cole, https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-12-taming-terrible-tongue-james-31-12 accessed 4/13/2024. (Cole’s source is quoted by James Dent, Reader’s Digest [12/82]).

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The Unforgivable Sin

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

The Unforgivable Sin

Matthew 12:22-32

Our God is a forgiving God. When the Lord God proclaimed the glory of His name to Moses, He said, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…” (Exo. 34:6-7). Psalm 86:5 declares, “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.” And Psalm 130:4 says, “But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared.” Speaking about the new covenant, the Lord says in Jeremiah 31:34, “…For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Micah 7:18-19 says, “Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy. 19 He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.” And Isaiah 55:7, “Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.”

And the New Testament declares that forgiveness is found in our Lord Jesus Christ. At the very beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, the angel told Joseph to name Mary’s child “JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). In Matthew 9, Jesus forgave a paralytic and healed him to prove “that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” (Matt. 9:6). Instituting the Lord’s Supper, Jesus said, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” In Acts, Peter preached, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38) and “Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31). Paul declares in Ephesians 1:7 that in Christ “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”

Mercy, compassion, forgiveness, pardon, remission of sins—those words characterize our God and Savior Jesus Christ. And yet, as we just read in Matthew 12:32, Jesus Christ tells us that there is a particular sin that will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. What are we to think about this?

The setting of this passage is very important to notice. Over the last few chapters in Matthew, opposition to Jesus from the religious leaders has been growing. In Matthew 12, Jesus declared to the Pharisees that He was Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8) and proved it by healing a man on the Sabbath day in their synagogue. Being proved wrong by Jesus was more than the Pharisees could handle. They “went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him” (Matt. 12:14). By His words and His works, Jesus proved Himself to be the Son of God, the Messiah, the King. But the scribes and Pharisees would not believe in Him and instead sought to kill Him.

Here, again, in Matthew 12, there is a conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees. Let’s look at the details of it. First,

1. Jesus heals (Matt. 12:22)

Matthew 12:22 says, “Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.” As we see later, the Lord healed this man by casting out the demon. This was not unusual for Jesus. We have already seen Jesus heal many people and cast out demons from people in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus clearly has power to heal and total authority to cast out demons.

As we have noted before, Jesus did not do miracles just to draw a crowd or thrill audiences. He healed and cast out demons because He had compassion on hurting people; and because every miracle, whether healing, raising the dead, delivering the demonized, or feeding multitudes, announced that the kingdom of God had come, and that the Messiah was among them (Matt. 11:3-5).

How did the people react to this miracle?

2. The people react (Matt. 12:23)

Matthew 12:23 says, “And all the multitudes were amazed …” This is the only time that the word translated “amazed” is used in Matthew’s Gospel. It literally means “thrown out of place”, so the idea is that they were beside themselves and utterly astounded. This led some of them to begin to ask, “Could this be the Son of David?” (Matt. 12:23). As we have noted before, the term, “Son of David,” is a messianic title (2 Samuel 7:12-16; Psalm 89:3; Isaiah 9:6-7). This is the title the crowds later used of Jesus when He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and they hailed Him as Messiah and King.

This was not so much a confession by the multitude but a confusion about whether the Messiah had indeed come. They recognized that Jesus was performing the signs of the Messiah. They were amazed at His power and authority, but they were also confused because they knew the Pharisees were against Jesus. Jesus’ works proclaimed He was the Son of David, but the experts said He was not. So literally they asked, “This one cannot be the Son of David, can he?”

And it was right then that the Pharisees jumped into the picture. If people were beginning to believe in Jesus, they had to put a stop to it.

3. The Pharisees accuse (Matt. 12:24)

Matthew 12:24 says, “Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.””

Notice what their statement implies. The Pharisees do not deny the miracle. They couldn’t. Jesus’ healings and exorcisms were so miraculous and complete, no one could deny them. So, because they could not deny Jesus’ supernatural power, they questioned its source. To them, it could not be that Jesus cast our demons by the power of God. The only other supernatural power with power over demons was Satan.

To say that Jesus operated in the power of Beelzebub was an extremely vulgar blasphemy. This was a play on the name of a false god that the Jewish people altered to mean, “lord of the flies” or “lord of dung”. The Jews used it to refer to Satan.

And this wasn’t the first time that the Pharisees accused Jesus of being in league with the devil. In Matthew 9:34, when He cast a demon out of a different man and healed him of his inability to speak, they said, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons”. Jesus warned His disciples in Matthew 10, “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household?” (Matthew 10:25). So, this wasn’t a spontaneous reaction by the Pharisees. It was the settled expression of a heart that was progressively hardening against the Savior.

These Pharisees were trying to prevent people from seeing Lord Jesus operating in the power of the Holy Spirit, and from coming to the conclusion that He was the promised Messiah sent from God. Later in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus condemned them for this, saying, “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.” (Matt. 23:13).

Matthew tells us that none of this was hidden from the Lord. Matthew writes, “But Jesus knew their thoughts . . .”(Matt. 12:25). This leads us, then, to next consider how. . .

4. Jesus answers (Matt. 12:25-29)

First, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand” (Matt. 10:25). This is just a matter of common sense. No organization, no institution, no corporation, no family can stand if it is in disunity with itself. If it fights against itself, and actively seeks to undo its own interests, it is doomed.

Jesus applies this principle to the accusation of the Pharisees that He cast out demons by the devil. In Matthew 10:26, Jesus asks, “If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?” Satan isn’t stupid. He spreads his own evil kingdom by destroying men. And if Satan were in the habit of casting out his own demons, then he would be undoing his own kingdom. Why would Satan do such a thing? Why would he willingly give up ground he has already taken? In casting out demons, Jesus was undoing the kingdom of Satan. It is absurd to say that Jesus was operating in the power of Satan. It was inconceivable.

Jesus next shows that the Pharisees were inconsistent. That first argument demonstrated that the Pharisees were mistaken about Jesus; and this second argument demonstrates the hardness of their heart toward Him. Jesus said in Matthew 12:27, “And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?”

The ”sons of the Pharisees” were their apprentices, their disciples. Apparently, some of the Pharisees followers claimed to cast out demons also. We see an example of this in Acts 19 when some Jewish exorcists attempted to cast out demons like Paul did—in the name of Jesus. But the name of Jesus is not some magic formula and that episode did not end well for those would-be exorcists.

Jesus’ argument is this—You are being inconsistent. The Pharisees endorsed their sons as being from God when they cast out demons. They claimed that their follower’s power came from God. Jesus is contending, “If you say their power comes from God, then Mine does also and you have lied about Me. And if you say My power comes from Satan, then theirs does also, and you have been endorsing Satan. So which is it?

Jesus says, “Therefore they shall be your judges” (Matt. 12:27). The evidence Jesus just gave in regard their sons will be enough evidence to condemn them on the Day of Judgment. He says that your endorsement of them proves you recognize God’s power, so during the judgment you will not be able to plead ignorance.

Their claim is inconsistent. So Jesus concludes in Matthew 12:28, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.” In other words, it’s not Satan’s kingdom attacking Satan. It’s God’s kingdom attacking Satan! And that makes a whole lot more sense. The kingdom of God has arrived in the person of Jesus, and the proof is in the miracles themselves. Jesus is driving out demons by the Spirit of God. Jesus is demonstrating his power over Satan and Satan’s kingdom.

Jesus illustrates this in Matthew 12:29, “Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.” In this illustration, Satan is the strong man, and the souls of men and women are the plunder. Jesus is plundering Satan’s domain—He could not do that without overpowering and binding Satan.

Now, all of this is meant to do two things. First, it was meant to remove from the Pharisees the ability to argue that Jesus operated in the power of the devil. And second, it was meant to force them to the inescapable conclusion that the kingdom of God had truly come upon them in the person of the King Himself. Jesus is obviously the Messiah. And that means the kingdom of God is here. But the Pharisees refused to accept Jesus or even recognize that He did the works of God. They are opposed to the kingdom of God.

So Jesus warns them.

5. Jesus warns (Matt. 12:30-32)

“He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad” (Matt. 12:30).

Jesus warned them that there is no neutrality with Him. Jesus spoke of only two kingdoms—the kingdom of God (of which He was King), or the kingdom of the devil (of which He was the enemy). There are no other alternatives. There is no middle-ground. The Pharisees were either of one kingdom or the other.

Rejecting Christ makes you God’s enemy. Doing nothing with Jesus is as good as rejecting Him. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “To be almost persuaded is to be certainly damned.” How much worse for the Pharisees who openly rejected Him. Even today, people think that they can be neutral toward Jesus. But He has put everyone at the fork of a decision. In Matthew 10:32-33, Jesus said, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” To not be “with” Jesus is to set yourself “against” Him. To not “gather” with Him is to “scatter” in opposition to Him.

Then Jesus takes warns about the unforgiveable sin. In the case of the Pharisees, they saw the truth about Jesus. The Holy Spirit demonstrated before their very eyes who Jesus is. Instead of believing, they dared to blaspheme the work of the Holy Spirit for having revealed the truth. Their blasphemy revealed a hardened, unrepentant heart. Jesus told the Pharisees, “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” (Matt. 12:31-32).

I want you to notice the first part of that statement from Jesus: “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men…” Here is the good news. God can anyone for any sin. God has forgiven murderers, drunkards, thieves, homosexuals, blasphemers, and even politicians. Jesus even says “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him.” There is no amount of sin that is beyond God’s forgiving love. He will forgive anyone of anything, anywhere, anytime, if they will turn to Him and seek forgiveness. Praying for those who condemned Him and crucified Him Jesus said from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).

The volume of sin does not end the possibility of God’s merciful forgiveness. An old man who has lived a life of wickedness all his life is just as forgivable as a child who has done nothing more than the characteristic foolishness that children have.

Paul killed Christians, but was forgiven. In 1 Timothy 1:12-13 he writes, “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, 13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.”

That means that you can even temporarily reject Christ; you can even have been a blasphemer; you can even have opposed and persecuted Christians—And you can still be forgiven.

The Pharisees had said some evil, blasphemous things about Jesus. They were plotting to destroy Him. But they could be forgiven for those things. You can be forgiven for blaspheming Jesus and even killing Him. Jesus says however there is one sin that cannot be forgiven. He says, “the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men” and “whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.”

What does that mean?

Blasphemy as used here means “defiant irreverence.” It is speaking against what the Holy Spirit has done, which is exactly what the Scribes and Pharisees had done in accusing Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebub. They attributed to Satan the work the Holy Spirit did through Jesus.

Many people have become distraught and fearful over this matter, worrying about whether or not they have said words that constituted “blasphemy against the Spirit”. But the issue is not the saying of a set of words. The issue is that of a persistent, unrepentant attitude of heart toward the divine revelation of Christ. It was, strictly speaking, a sin that was committed when Jewish religious leaders continually witnessed the actual work of Jesus Christ in performing miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit in an undeniable way over and over again—and yet, out of hatred for Him, they persistently attributed those miracles to the power and working of the devil.

Why was this sin unforgivable?

Well, what does the scripture teach that the Holy Spirit does?

Look at what Jesus says about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in John 16:

7 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” (John 16:7-11).

He will convict the world of sin because they need to know they have not believed Jesus. He will convict the world of righteousness because the Jesus, the righteous One in heaven exalted at God’s right hand. He will convict the world concerning judgment because judgment is imminent now that the ruler of the world is defeated. And Jesus is the judge. So the Holy Spirit testifies towards sin, righteousness, and judgment.

So the Holy Spirit comes to show sinners the truth about their sin, the truth about the Savior Jesus, and the reality of judgment. The Holy Spirit’s renders people without excuse. So if a person has the witness of the Holy Spirit and truly understands the message about Christ, and rejects it, how can they be forgiven?

The ministry of the Holy Spirit, you see, is that of ‘shining the light’ on Christ (John 16:14). The Pharisees were willingly blind to the light, and then went so far as to curse and blaspheme the Holy Spirit Himself for seeking to remove their blindness. They had witnessed the good work of Jesus Christ in performing a miracle through the power of the Holy Spirit in an undeniable way and in His bodily presence. And yet, they were so persistently hardened in their hearts against Jesus that they dared to call the Holy Spirit the devil. That was a sin that the Pharisees committed with full knowledge and awareness of what they were doing. It was an act of profound hardness of heart. It was a sin that left no room for the grace of God. What hope is there for someone who would do that?

The Holy Spirit had done everything possible to bring them to repentance and they rejected His witness to them. They Such was the case with all that Jesus had done before these Scribes and Pharisees. What more could be done than He had done?

Their sin was not done accidentally or unintentionally. It was willful and deliberate. It reflected a heart that was hardened in sin so much that the Pharisees were plotting to murder Jesus. The sin becomes unpardonable, because the person committing it is unwilling yield to the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit as He reveals Jesus.

It’s not that God won’t forgive them. They have chosen not to accept God’s forgiveness. To blaspheme against the Holy Spirit is to understand the truth, feel the conviction, and then say consistently and permanently say no. There is nothing you can do for that person. You can’t save a person who won’t accept the Savior.

When you really think about it, people who are fearful that they may have committed this sin, and worry that they will now never be forgiven, actually prove that they haven’t committed it at all! A man or woman who has such a fear about that sin–or any other sin, for that matter–is experiencing the gracious work of God the Holy Spirit; because apart from the grace of the Holy Spirit, we wouldn’t even feel the conviction of sin at all (John 16:8). This, it seems to me, proves that their heart is not hardened against God, and that they are open to the Spirit’s revelation of Christ.

Maybe today the Holy Spirit is convicting you of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He has shown you your sin, the Savior who died for your sin, and the judgment that awaits if you continue to reject Christ. You cannot be saved while rejecting Christ. And to remain neutral about Christ is to reject Him. Therefore, the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts…” (Heb. 3:7-8).

Come to Jesus today. He will forgive your sins. He will give you a new life. He will indwell you with His Holy Spirit. He will take you to glory. The Holy Spirit is speaking. Listen. There is no better time than today.

 

 

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God’s Perfect Servant

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

God’s Perfect Servant

Matthew 12:14-21

In our study of the Gospel of Matthew, we have seen that Matthew presents Jesus as the Messiah-King. But Jesus was not the Messiah or the King that many of the Jews expected or wanted. Many expected a King who would deliver them from their Roman overlords. Instead, they met a preacher who said to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you—who seemed more interested in correcting the Jewish leaders than Roman authorities. Many expected a Messiah who would vindicate their religious traditions. Instead, they met a teacher who challenged their legalism and condemned their hypocrisy. They expected a King who would reward the influential and powerful religious leaders. Instead, they met a man who chose fishermen and tax-collectors as disciples and welcomed sinners and ate with them.[1]

Yet, they also could not easily dismiss Jesus as an imposter. No one ever spoke like Jesus, and no one ever did the miraculous works that He did. He could not teach what He taught or do the miracles He did if God were not with Him (John 3:2). Still, the question remains. If Jesus is the Messiah-King, why does His life and ministry look so different from what people expected? If He is the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Sovereign King, why is He behaving as a gentle servant?

Setting: Matthew 12:14-16

Today’s passage is wedged between two narratives where Jesus is in conflict with the Pharisees. Opposition to our Savior’s message and ministry was mounting. Jesus had just healed a man on the Sabbath in their synagogue (Matt. 12:9-13). Before that, the Pharisees accused Jesus’ disciples of breaking the Sabbath because they had walked through a grain field, rubbed heads of grain together in their hands, and ate. Taking them to the scriptures, Jesus challenged their legalistic Sabbath rules and declared that He Himself was the Lord of the Sabbath. He presented Himself as the one who had authority even over the Sabbath day. And now, He has proven His authority by the fact that He healed a man on the Sabbath in the very synagogue of the Pharisees. Jesus proclaimed Himself Lord of the Sabbath which equated Himself with God and the Pharisees knew it.

How did they react to this? Matthew 12:14, “Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.” Their opposition to Jesus takes a deadly turn as they set in motion plans to destroy Him—plans that would eventually lead to His crucifixion.

Someone who was seeking after worldly power would likely have used the advantage just won in the rebuke of the Pharisees to rally the support of the people and put an end to their power. But instead of taking up arms to protect Himself and establish His kingdom by force, Jesus quietly withdraws. Matthew 12:15 says, “But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there.” It’s what you might call a tactical retreat until the proper time.

But Jesus’ withdrawal was not an effort to run and hide in fear of persecution. We know that isn’t the case, because even in retreat He continues to heal the sick, “And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all” (Matt. 12:15). Jesus was modeling what He told His disciples to do when He sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God, “And whoever will not receive nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet” (Matt. 10:14). Or again, He instructed them, “When they persecute you in this city, flee to another” (Matt. 10:23).

Jesus didn’t stay to fight with those who opposed Him. No—He peacefully, calmly left the place where He was not welcomed. Jesus was not afraid to speak the truth to those who rejected Him. In Matthew 11, He told those in Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum who rejected His message, “Woe to you . . .” and warned them of God’s judgment (Matthew 11:21-24). Jesus will have even more woes to pronounce on the religious leaders in Jerusalem in Matthew 23. Still, Jesus did not pick up arms to battle those who opposed Him. He simply left.

But just like Jesus avoided violence with the Pharisees, He also tried to avoid celebrity and stardom with the people. Matthew 12:16 says about those He healed, “Yet He warned them not to make Him known.” He refused violence and He refused ostentation, as He quietly goes about His works of mercy.

There were probably several reasons for Jesus not wanting the people to make Him known. For one, acclaim as a healer would have distorted why Jesus was here. Jesus came to save souls, not just to dispense physical healing. Jesus healed as a natural expression of His compassion and as a supernatural attestation of His Messiahship. For another, if the people made Him known it could have inflamed overzealous enthusiasm. In John 6:15, the people were so enthused after Jesus fed the 5000 that they wanted to come and take Him by force and make Him king. But Jesus did not come in His first advent to be the conquering king, but the suffering servant that would take away our sins (Isaiah 53).[2]

Scriptural Fulfillment: Matthew 12:18-21

This setting is what prompts Matthew to take Isaiah’s ancient prophecy of the Messiah and put it on display here in verses Matthew 12:18–21. Matthew writes that the reason Jesus withdrew from violent conflict and popular stardom was, “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet…” (Matt. 12:17). Think about this. The LORD prophesied about the nature and ministry of the Messiah some 700 years before Jesus was born. What does this indicate? It was the Father’s plan. God told the people of Israel what kind of a Messiah He would be. And here, Matthew gives proof that Jesus came and fulfilled the kind of ministry that God said He would—and did so in the very manner that the Scriptures promised. Matthew—who wrote His Gospel primarily to Jewish readers—was proving that even though the Jewish people rejected Jesus, He truly was the Messiah that the Scriptures promised He would be.

This passage tells us the character of our Savior’s ministry.[3]

It helps us understand why Jesus, for much of His earthly ministry, kept distant from the Jewish leaders who opposed Him. In Matthew’s Gospel, the first time we see Jesus go to Jerusalem is Matthew 21—Palm Sunday! And why did He go then? To submit Himself to death on the cross. Even though great multitudes of people followed Jesus, He didn’t come to overthrow those who opposed Him. Instead, He came to teach the truths about His Father’s kingdom to those who would hear Him, and then die on the cross so that sinners may become citizens of that kingdom. He came as God’s humble, gentle servant who gave Himself up to death to save sinners.

In Matthew 12:18-21, Matthew quotes from Isaiah 42:1-4. This, by the way, is the longest quote from a single Old Testament passage in all of the Gospel of Matthew. The Holy Spirit inspired Matthew to give it to us here in the heart of His Gospel to show who Jesus is and why He came to cause us to place our hope in Jesus Christ.[4]

First we see…

1. The Person of Christ – Chosen and Beloved (Matt. 12:18)

Matthew 12:18 says, “Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased!” The Lord God says through the prophet Isaiah, “Behold! My Servant…” He wants us to “Behold!”, to look carefully and consider the person of Christ. Each one of us—stop, look, listen. God Himself is describing His Messiah.

First, God says He is “My Servant”. That’s the prophetic name that God gave to the Messiah in the book of Isaiah—“My Servant”. The word “Servant” here is unusual. It is the Greek word “pais”. It can refer to a king’s closest and most trusted attendant or minister. It can also refer to a child or son. It is used in the Greek version of the Old Testament, in Genesis 24, to speak of Abraham’s chief servant. It is used to speak of a royal servants. And it is used in Job 4 to speak of God’s angelic servants. Jesus is God’s Son-Servant, the intimate, trusted, chief, royal servant.[5]

This particular quotation is from the first of what we call the four Servant Songs in Isaiah. Each of these songs reveals aspects of God’s Servant who would come to redeem His people. And each of these songs find their fulfillment in Jesus in the New Testament.

In the first song, He is the gentle servant who brings justice to the nations. (Isaiah 42:1-4). This song focuses on Jesus’ ministry. In the second song (Isaiah 49:1-6), He is the prepared servant who brings God’s salvation to the ends of the earth. This song focuses on Jesus’ incarnation. In the third song (Isaiah 50:4-9), He is the obedient servant who trusts God to help Him face His accusers. This song focuses on Jesus’ obedience in the face of opposition. In the final song (Isaiah 52:13—53:12), He is the suffering servant who dies for our sins and rises again triumphant over sin and death.[6]

Isaiah 53 is the most well-known of all the Servant Songs, because it focuses on the Servant’s suffering and death. We will look at this passage in our Good Friday service this week. Jesus is the fulfillment of all four Servant Songs in Isaiah. Jesus will say in Matthew 20:28, “. . . the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Now look back to Matthew 12:18. God says, “Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen…” Yes, Jesus came to serve us and to give His life as a ransom for many, but Jesus was primarily God’s servant. He came in obedience to God the Father. He said what the Father told Him to say. He did what the Father told Him to do. He perfectly fulfilled His Father’s will.

Jesus was the Chosen One. Some of you have watched the series “The Chosen” which portrays Jesus with His chosen disciples. But Jesus is truly “The Chosen” of God. Peter wrote that we come to Him “as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious . . .” (1 Peter 2:4). Even Jesus’ enemies recognized this about Him. At the cross, the rulers mocked Him and said, “He saved others, let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God” (Luke 23:35). Jesus alone is the one whom God has “chosen”. How important, then, that we “behold” Him!

God also calls Jesus, “My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased” (Matt. 12:18).  At His baptism, the Father declared, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17; cf. 2 Peter 1:17). Jesus was the object of divine choice, divine love, and divine pleasure. God the Father will repeat these words at Jesus’ transfiguration in Matthew 17:5, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” What we must see is that the Father does not love the Son because of His obedience in coming to suffer for sinners. No—God sent His Son into the world to suffer for sinners because the Son is His beloved (John 10:17). The Father has always loved the Son from eternity past (John 17:24). We might love someone because of what they have done for us, or the potential they have to do things for us. But the Father loves the Son with an inexhaustible, selfless, joyous, all-satisfying love! John 3:35 says, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.” Paul spoke of the Father’s delight in the Son when he called Jesus, “the Son of His love” (Col. 1:13) and “the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6).

So we see the person of Jesus Christ. He is God’s chosen and beloved servant. From that eternal, divine, love relationship flows everything that Jesus is and does.

Second we see …

2. The Spirit of Christ – Humble and Gentle (Matt. 12:18-20).

The quote from God in Isaiah 42 continues in Matthew 12:18, “I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He will declare justice to the Gentiles.” In Isaiah 11:1-2, we’re given this promise about the Lord Jesus Christ: “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD” (Isaiah 11:1-2). The Father made this clear to those who witnessed Jesus’ baptism. John the Baptist bore witness, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God” (John 1:32-34).

How did the Holy Spirit manifest Himself in Jesus’ ministry? First, in humility. The end of Matthew 12:18 quotes, “And He will declare justice to the Gentiles.” Jesus will proclaim righteousness to the peoples of the world. He will not be like other earthly kings—who rule in accordance with their own will for their own ends, and thus oppressed the people under them. Isaiah tells us when the Lord comes, “He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4).

And what a humble and righteous ruler He will be! Again Isaiah 11 says,

His delight is in the fear of the LORD,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist (Isaiah 11:3-5).

Notice in Matthew 12:18, how He would bring this about. We’re told that, when this promised one comes, He will declare justice with great patience and modesty.

Isaiah prophesied, “He will not quarrel nor cry out, Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.” (Matt. 12:19). Remember, Matthew is quoting this Servant Song from Isaiah to show how Jesus fulfilled this prophecy in His response to the Pharisees who were plotting to kill Him. Jesus did not quarrel or cry out in arguing with His enemies. To do so would have drawn undue attention to Himself, something which we have already seen Jesus did not do. Yes, Jesus spoke out against evil. But He avoided conflict for as long as possible. He did not argue with others to justify Himself or in order to make others look bad. No—He spoke the truth of God with all the humility of one who serves God and others rather than Himself.

He will also bring righteousness for the nations with gentleness. MAtthew 12:20 says, “A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, Till He sends forth justice to victory.” And Jesus is the gentle servant who cares for the helpless and hopeless.

Reeds were used for a variety of purposes in Biblical times. They were cheap and plentiful, and so if you had a bad one or a bruised one, no worry, you just threw it out. You could always get another one. But Jesus doesn’t do that with us. Jesus cares for the helpless. Jesus cares for those the world can’t be bothered with or troubled over, those the world doesn’t pay any attention to. Jesus cares about all the hurting, all the failures, all the rejects, all the drop-outs, all the little people, all the weak links in the chain that everyone else sets side.

The “smoking flax” represents those whose hope is flickering, those who know they don’t have much to offer, those who don’t know if they can keep going, those who don’t know if they will make it another day. Those whose spiritual light was so small it was about to go out, Jesus would not quench. Far from it! Rather, He would blow upon them and cause them to burn even brighter in Himself.

A few weeks ago we looked at Jesus’ words in Matthew 11 where Jesus said: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matt. 11:28-29). Jesus is gentle and humble in heart. He is the lowly, gentle servant gives the righteousness of God by faith to those who are unrighteous through His death and resurrection.

We have seen the Person of Christ, the Spirit of Christ and finally we see…

3. The Victory of Christ – Justice and Hope (Matt. 12:20-21)

The last two lines in Matthew’s quote from Isaiah are: “Till He sends forth justice to victory; And in His name Gentiles will trust.” (Matt. 12:20-21). Jesus, God’s Chosen and Beloved Servant, the Spirit-empowered Servant who is humble and gentle, will also be victorious. This is the same picture that Zechariah 9 gives us in prophesying about our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday:

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.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
And the horse from Jerusalem;
The battle bow shall be cut off.
He shall speak peace to the nations;
His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth. (Zechariah 9:9-10).

The mighty King who brings righteousness and salvation comes lowly and riding on a donkey. He comes to bring peace—peace with God through His sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.

And what will be the result? “And in His name Gentiles will trust” (Matt. 12:21). That would have been the furthest thing from the mind of any Jewish person who was looking for a conquering Messiah. But that’s the plan of God through Christ.

This is the marvel of the plan of God! It required that the promised Messiah come to His people; but that His own people reject Him. The reason the Jews continually rejected Jesus is because He didn’t look like what they were expecting. But their expectation was wrong, for all they had ever seen was the legalistic dominating religion of the Pharisees and the worldly, corrupt religion of the Chief Priests.

But Jesus didn’t come like them. They came in arrogance, He came in humility. They came in power, He came in meekness. They came dominating people, He came serving people. They trampled on the weak, He picked them up. They offered threats, He offered hope. They brought a burden, He brought rest.

Jesus was the Messiah-King God had promised. The good news is that Jesus, having been rejected and crucified, was raised from the dead in power and glory, so that, now, bruised reeds from all nations may find salvation by trusting in Him! By His patience and endurance, He has opened the way for all peoples—Jews and Gentiles—to come to God.

What is the message for us? Trust in Jesus. Put your hope in Him. Righteousness is only found in Jesus. Justice is only accomplished in Jesus. Any attempt to find these things for which we hope in any other will ultimately disappoint and condemn you. The only hope we have is Jesus.

————————————————————————

[1] Richard Caldwell, Sovereign Servant, Sermon on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xWkIdZtS1o

[2] Ray Fowler, God’s Gentle Servant, https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/gods-gentle-servant/

[3] Greg Allen, The Unquarrelling Conqueror, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2006/062506.htm . I drew from several points that Allen made in his sermon.

[4] John Piper, The Spirit Is Upon Him Gentle for Now, https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-spirit-is-upon-him-gentle-for-now . I adapted Piper’s outline with help from Phil Newton, GOD’S SERVANT, https://web.archive.org/web/20220616062146/http://archive.southwoodsbc.org/sermons/matthew_12.15-21.php  

[5] John MacArthur, God’s Beloved Servant, https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/2291/gods-beloved-servant  

[6] Fowler, ibid.

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Lord of the Sabbath Part 2

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

Lord of the Sabbath Part 2

Matthew 12:9-14

As you can tell from the title in the bulletin, today’s sermon is part 2, continuing the topic that we looked at last week, that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. As I said last time, the Sabbath day was a big deal to the Jews in Jesus’ day and especially to the legalistic Pharisees. In Matthew 12:1-8, a group of Pharisees started a conflict with Jesus over the Sabbath when Jesus and His disciples were passing through a grainfield on the Sabbath (Matt. 12:1). When the Pharisees saw the disciples plucking and eating some of the grain, they denounced them to Jesus saying, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” (Matt. 12:2).

According to the fourth commandment, the Sabbath was to be a day of rest (Exo. 20:8-11). And according to the legalistic interpretation of the Pharisees, the disciples were breaking the Sabbath by harvesting and preparing a meal on the Sabbath day. In answering their accusation by the scriptures, showing that God’s laws are made for our good. Quoting Hosea 6:6, Jesus said, “But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.” (Matt. 12:7). What’s important to God is not outward religious rituals but a heart that puts mercy toward people first. What’s important to Him is that the spirit of genuine grace and mercy—which is always a part of the true worship of the Lord Jesus Christ—takes precedence over mere outward rituals and religious observances.[1]

Then, Jesus turned their attention to the truly decisive issue—Jesus Himself, declaring, “For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Matt. 12:8). Jesus said that He was the key to understanding the Sabbath day. Speaking about Himself, Jesus said, “Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.” (Matt. 12:6). Jesus is telling them directly that He is greater than God’s temple and greater than God’s Sabbath, and if there were any two things that the Pharisees held sacred, it was those two things. To them, only a person who actually believed he was God could have made such a statement.

That is exactly what Jesus was telling them. Jesus was saying that He is the One that the temple served. He is the One to Whom the Sabbath law pointed. The commanded “rest” of God had its ultimate fulfillment in Him. Remember how Jesus just gave His gracious invitation at the end of Matthew 11, saying, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” As Hebrews 4 says, those who believe on Jesus “do enter that rest” (Hebrews 4:3, 10). By believing in Jesus, we cease from the labor of trying to keep God’s law by our good works and lay down the heavy burden of the guilt of our sins. It is all about Jesus. All the work has been done by Him. Rest is found only in Him. He is Lord of the Sabbath.

Now, in Matthew 12:9-14, Matthew immediately follows up that first Sabbath story with a second one. In Matthew 12:1-8, the Pharisees accused Jesus’ disciples of sin by violating the Sabbath; in Matthew 12:9-14, they try to trap Jesus into breaking the Sabbath so they can accuse Him of sin. In the first story, Jesus gave scriptural examples and asserted that He is Lord of the Sabbath; in this story, Jesus proves it by demonstrating His divine power on the Sabbath. And while the first story must have left the Pharisees frustrated at Jesus’ implicit rebuke; this second story ends with the Pharisees plotting to destroy Jesus.

Look with me at what this story tells us. First …

1. The Pharisees desire to accuse Jesus (Matt. 12:9-10)

The Gospel of Luke tells us that this event happened on another Sabbath day (Luke 6:6), but Matthew puts these two Sabbath stories back to back because the second is a powerful illustration of the truth we heard in the first, Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.

Matthew 12:9 says, “Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue.” Notice it was “their” synagogue—the Pharisees who had just confronted Jesus in the grainfield. This synagogue, which should have been a place of mercy and truth, instead was a place of criticism and hatred. Their synagogue, instead of being a place of worship was a place of wickedness. How sad! When a place of worship becomes a critical, legalistic, display of enmity to the merciful and forgiving heart of God.  

Notice the critical and hateful attitude of the Pharisees in Matthew 12:10, “And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”–that they might accuse Him.” This scene is just wrong on so many levels. First, when you go to synagogue, you should be wanting to be instructed in God’s word, but the Pharisees are there trying to trap Jesus instead. And second, they don’t really care about the man with the withered hand. They are just looking for a reason to accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath.[2]

The man’s hand was “withered” (ξηράν; xēran), a word used elsewhere to describe something that is dried out, and therefore dead and unfruitful (Luke 23:31). It was crippled and deformed in some way—perhaps by birth, an accident, or an illness. Luke tells us that it was his “right hand” (Luke 6:6)—a very important and needful hand.

Rather than being concerned about this poor man’s condition, the Pharisees were concerned about nit-picking the Sabbath law. They wanted to use this man as an opportunity to trap Jesus and accuse Him of breaking the Sabbath. And think of their question: “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” If Jesus had simply said “yes”, then He would have positioned Himself to be against rabbinical law in the eyes of the people. But if He simply said “no”, then he would have appeared unmerciful and uncaring. And all of this simply underscores the deep-seated cruelty of the Pharisees with respect to this poor, crippled man. Their concern was not for him. They weren’t interested in showing mercy to him at all. Their only concern was how they could use this poor man’s disability to trap Jesus and gain the advantage over Him.

But notice what their question implies they knew about Jesus. They knew that Jesus was a man of compassion and mercy—that He would care about this man. They assumed Jesus would want to heal the man. They also knew that Jesus had the power to heal. They believed Jesus’ healing power was real! And they knew that Jesus could heal at will. If Jesus wants to heal, He will. So when they seek to accuse Jesus by asking Him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” They believe Jesus has the power to heal, that He can heal on demand, and that this is just the kind of situation where Jesus will show compassion to a hurting person. They knew Jesus’ loving character and His divine power. What a wonderful testimony they gave about our Lord, in spite of themselves!

They also knew that Jesus’ attitude toward the Sabbath was not the same as theirs. They already knew that Jesus did and allowed things on the Sabbath that went against their traditions. So, they are not asking the question because they want to learn what Jesus believes—they already know that! They are asking to accuse Him, to build their case against Him. In reality, what ends up happening is that they build a case against themselves. They condemn themselves before God. They see the power of God clearly at work in Jesus, doing what only God can do, bringing healing and wholeness to broken people. They see the loving character of Jesus, having compassion and mercy on people. And they call the goodness of Jesus evil. Later in Matthew 12, this attitude will lead them to blaspheme by accusing Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan.

How does Jesus respond to this accusing question?

2. Jesus delivers an answer to the Pharisees (Matt. 12:11-12).

Jesus answers their question with a question of His own. Matthew 12:11 says, “Then He said to them, ‘What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?’” Jesus proposes a situation in which a man has one sheep. Perhaps it is his only sheep—a very valuable piece of property. And it fell into a pit. It cannot get out by itself. Even if the owner wouldn’t be motivated by mercy on the animal, he’d certainly be motivated by the desire to protect his property. And so, such a man wouldn’t even think twice. He’d get a rope, lower himself down, lay hold of the sheep, and lift it out of the pit on the Sabbath. Then he, and the sheep, would have a true day of rest! Greg Allen comments that Jesus answered the question like a farmer—not like a theologian. “Sometimes a farmer can make better sense of the fine points of practical theology than a theologian.”[3]

Jesus knew that every one of those Pharisees who were trying to trap Him would have done the same. Mercy, to say nothing of common sense, would demand it. They knew the answer to Jesus’ first question, and it rebuked their hypocrisy. And so, Jesus followed it up with another question—one that argues from the lessor to the greater: “Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matt. 12:12). Jesus used this logic several times in combatting the hard-hearted legalism of the Pharisees. Luke 13 tells us,

Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.” The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him (Luke 13:10-17).

And again in Luke 14 we have a similar story to the one we see here in Matthew 12. Luke writes,

Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go. Then He answered them, saying, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” And they could not answer Him regarding these things (Luke 14:1-6).

Jesus dealt with this kind of hypocrisy over and over again. They would care for their animals, but they did not care for this injured man. Jesus says that men are more valuable than animals. Then Jesus gives the principle, “Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” (Matt. 12:12). There was no breaking of the Sabbath in acting in mercy toward the poor man. It was, in fact, in perfect keeping with the intention of the Sabbath day. As opposed to the detailed laws and codes of the Pharisees as to what was lawful or not, Jesus had one simple rule: it is always lawful to do good. In fact, the Bible says it is wrong not to do good. James 4:17 says, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” We do not honor God by withholding good but by doing good. It is always lawful to do good.

The Sabbath was not meant to be a burdensome thing. It was meant to be a blessing—for the good of people and for the creatures that serve them. God Himself, through the prophet Isaiah, spoke authoritatively about His true intention for His Sabbath, writing,

If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,
From doing your pleasure on My holy day,
And call the Sabbath a delight,
The holy day of the LORD honorable,
And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,
Nor finding your own pleasure,
Nor speaking your own words,
Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD;
And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,
And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
The mouth of the LORD has spoken (Isaiah 58:13-14).

And so, showing mercy and doing good works were absolutely in keeping with the observance of the Sabbath. God places mercy over ceremony. He places people over programs. He places the doing of good over the protection of ritual.[4]

That leads us to see how …

3. Jesus demonstrates His authority over the Sabbath (Matt. 12:13).

Jesus asserted that He was the Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8). Now He proves it publicly. In the other Gospels, Jesus actually called the man forward (Mark 3:3) and made him stand before all (Luke 6:9). And we see in Matthew 12:13, “Then He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.”

Jesus chose to do good on the Sabbath. He healed the man on the Sabbath in front of everyone. And in so doing, Jesus demonstrated His authority. Jesus really was the Lord of the Sabbath! And He proved His point: it is always lawful to do good (Matt. 12:12).

When Jesus healed the man’s hand, it not only showed His own authority but also undercut the authority of the Pharisees. It not only demonstrated His kindness, but it exposed their cruelty. It not only showed His goodness but rebuked their wickedness.  

And so, finally, we see . . .

4. The Pharisees conspire to destroy Jesus (Matt. 12:14).

Matthew 12:14 says, “Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.” The hostility of the Pharisees towards Jesus has been building up over the last few chapters, and now it finally comes to a head. The Pharisees are ready to kill Jesus because of His actions and His teachings. Luke’s account of this story tells us that they were “filled with rage” (Luke 6:11). Imagine that! Jesus healed this man before their very eyes, and yet, these Pharisees were furious at Jesus for doing a miracle of God!

Mark 3:6 tells us the extent of the plot. He writes that after this healing, “… the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.” The Herodians were a political group that stood behind the reign of King Herod Agrippa. They were more secular than the Pharisees and were more friendly toward Rome. The Pharisees and the Herodians usually hated each other. But they joined together in their hatred for Jesus.

How blind they were! Jesus had performed a great miracle, but to preserve their legalistic control and hypocritical religion, they responded by seeking to kill Jesus. The Lord came into their synagogue and did what was good and they left the synagogue to do evil.

Religion always runs the danger of legalism. Legalism is what happens when you separate the law of God from the love of God. As a church, we must always reject legalism and choose grace. You can’t have both. One is the enemy of the other. Love is not the enemy of the law, it is the fulfillment of the law (Matt. 22:37-40). Love acts in grace and mercy.

Let’s remember to be people of grace—not legalism. How? Love God; love your family; love your neighbor; “contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality” (Romans 12:13 NASB); “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18); “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32); and “above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:14). God is a God of grace. Let us be people of grace.

Listen—God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16). Jesus came from the Father full of grace and truth (John 1:14), and the Pharisees hated him for it. You see, legalism is the enemy of grace. Legalism wants to dictate and control. God is not like that. God gives His commandments for your good. God’s good law condemns us as sinners because we all break His good commandments. But God has provided forgiveness for your sins through His Son, Jesus Christ. God offers you freedom and grace. And He offers you the grace to live a life of loving God and loving your neighbor through the power of the Holy Spirit. He offers you rest for your soul because Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.

——————————————————————————————–

 

[1] Greg Allen, It Is Lawful To Do Good, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2006/060406.htm  

[2] Ray Fowler, Lord of the Sabbath, https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/lord-of-the-sabbath/

[3] Allen, ibid.

[4] Allen, ibid.

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Lord of the Sabbath

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

Lord of the Sabbath

Matthew 12: 1-8

Last time, in Matthew 11:25-30, the Lord Jesus Christ gave His gracious invitation to all who labor and are heavy-laden to come to Him and He would give them rest. And what a wonderful rest it is! No more bearing the burden of guilt for our sins for the Lord Jesus Christ humbled Himself to bear our sins and guilt on the cross. No more labor in trying to attain salvation, for Jesus gives rest for our souls. Salvation is not in observing burdensome rules and rituals. Salvation is in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

But sadly, not everyone who claims to know God has received the rest that Jesus offers. Many in Jesus’ day and many today are still heavy-laden, carrying around their heavy burdens and calling those very burdens righteousness. They are still trying to earn favor with God by their own righteousness rather than resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ. These are the legalists who take the Scriptures, interpret them by their own standards, and make out of them a detailed system of rules to obey, insisting that those who follow their rules are righteous, and those who do not are unrighteous.

In the New Testament, the most prominent legalists were the Pharisees. Already in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus has encountered opposition from the Pharisees. In Matthew 9, they complained to Jesus’ disciples that He ate with tax collectors and sinners (Matt. 9:11). Jesus didn’t comply with the outwardly strict religious rules of the Pharisees. They even accused Jesus of operating under the power of the devil, saying, “He casts out demons by the ruler of demons” (Matt. 9:33-34). In Matthew 11, we saw that they falsely accused John the Baptist of being demonized (Matt. 11:18) and Jesus of being a glutton, a drunkard, and a friend of sinners because Jesus associated with the common people and those in the most desperate need to hear His message of hope (Matt. 11:19).

Now, in Matthew 12, this growing opposition toward Jesus really begins to intensify. It reveals itself in this chapter in three ways, First, the Pharisees oppose Him because He did not follow their Sabbath rules (Matt. 12:1-21). Then, they opposed Him because of how He worked by the Holy Spirit accusing Him of casting out demons by the power of the devil (Matt. 12:22-37). Finally, they opposed Him because He would not satisfy their sinful craving for a miraculous sign (Matt. 12:38-45).

In Matthew 12, the antagonism of the Pharisees to Jesus reaches the point of blasphemy as the Pharisees try to get Jesus to conform to their legalism and Jesus corrects them. The presenting issue in Matthew 12:1-14 is the Sabbath rest and these stories demonstrate the contrast between the harsh, burdensome yoke of the Pharisees, and the wonderfully light yoke of Jesus.

1. The Pharisees’ Accusation (Matt. 12-1-2)

Matthew 12:1 says, “At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.”  Jesus and His disciples were walking along and they happened to pass through a grainfield. And since His disciples were hungry, they began to pluck the heads of grain, rub them in their hands (Luke 6:1), and munch on the grain.

This gets an immediate reaction from the Pharisees. Why are these guys always there? These Pharisees seem to pop up everywhere! You get the impression that they constantly hounded Jesus, looking for reasons to accuse Him. Matthew 12:2 says, “And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, ‘Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!’”

The Pharisees were not accusing the disciples of stealing. What they were doing was perfectly permissible in the law of Moses. Deuteronomy 23:25 says, “When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.” There were no McDonalds, Burger Kings, or KFCs around to get something to eat, so this was a provision for travelers. If you were hungry, it was okay to grab a few grapes for the road or to eat some kernels of grain along the way.

The problem that the Pharisees had was not just that the disciples plucked and ate the grain, the problem was when they did it. They did it on the Sabbath. Observing the Sabbath was extremely important to the Jews of Jesus’ time, and it was especially important to the Pharisees, who prided themselves on keeping the law right down to the last detail.

Sabbath observance was commanded in the law. The fourth commandment says:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8-11).

Keeping the Sabbath was God’s idea. It was His provision of rest. One day a week you could stop your regular work and rest. Exodus 34:21 says, “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.” So, it would have been against the Sabbath commandment for a farmer to go out on the Sabbath day and harvest his crops as if it were any other day of the week. Sabbath observance was meant to be a simple and gracious commandment. Exodus 23:12 says, “Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.” The Sabbath was meant to provide rest so that people and even their working animals could be refreshed.

But the Pharisees, in their self-righteous zeal for God’s law, had expanded the meaning of what constituted “work” to a ridiculous extent. The scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ time had added all sorts of rules and regulations to those found in the Old Testament. They bound heavy burdens, hard to bear (Matt. 23:4) on the people. They listed out 39 main types of work that were forbidden on the Sabbath, and they organized those into six sub-categories. They had hundreds of rules about these categories of work that could not be done on the Sabbath. Instead of a day of rest, the Sabbath became a heavy burden of trying to meticulously keep all their ridiculous rules.

Their rules were everything to them. And the disciples of Jesus were breaking their rules. The Pharisees considered that picking heads of grain with one’s hand was the work of “reaping”; that rubbing the kernels of grain in the hand was the work of “threshing”; that blowing the chaff away from the hand was the work of “winnowing”; and altogether, it was all the work of “preparing a meal”. Pharisaical legalism had turned what was fitting and proper under the Mosaic Law into an unlawful act. The law of God was exchanged for the rules of men. The traditions of men superseded the Word of God.

The truth is that it was quite a stretch to call what the disciples were doing “reaping” or any other type of work. They were hungry. They were eating. It was that simple. They didn’t break God’s law. They just broke the Pharisees’ extra rules and traditions.

So, we see the Pharisees’ accusation. Next, we see …

2. The Lord’ Answer (Matt. 12:3-7)

How did Jesus answer this accusation by the Pharisees? Not by debating their added rules and traditions but by taking them back to the scriptures. Notice, in Matthew 12:3 and again in Matthew 12:5, Jesus said, “Have you not read . . .?” And then in Matthew 12:7 He said, “But if you had known what this means . . .” and then quoted the prophet Hosea. Jesus never based His reasons on man-made rules or traditions. His authority was always the written word of God. Anytime we place our traditions, rules, or rituals above the written word of God we are in a dangerous place. Legalism places tradition above truth, ritual above relationship, and regulations above the written word of God. Jesus takes them back to the Bible.

Jesus then gives three scriptures that demonstrate God’s truth about the Sabbath. He appeals to all three major divisions of the Old Testament, the law, the prophets, and the writings of history. First, Jesus gives an example from Israel’s history from a story about King David in 1 Samuel 21.

a. David and the bread (1 Sam. 21:1-6)

Even though David had been anointed king by the prophet Samuel, Saul was still ruling as king of Israel. In his jealousy and rage, Saul was seeking to kill David. So, David was on the run.   David and his men were hungry, so David went to the Tabernacle and requested bread for him and his men. Unfortunately, there was no ordinary bread left but only the consecrated bread.

This was known as the “showbread” (Exodus 25:30) or “bread of the Presence” (NASB). Every Sabbath Day the priest baked twelve loaves of bread and laid them out in two rows of six on the table of pure gold before the Lord in the sanctuary (Lev. 24:5-6). At the end of each week, the bread was removed and replaced with twelve new loaves. The loaves that were removed were to be eaten only by the priest and his sons in a holy place (Lev. 24:9). No outsiders were allowed to eat them (Exo. 29:32-33; Lev. 22:10-16).

But when Ahimelech the priest saw that David and his men were truly hungry, that they were holy men, not ceremonially unclean, and that fresh bread was about to take its place—mercy took precedence over the letter of the law, and he gave the bread to David and his men (1 Samuel 21:16).

Jesus pointed to this story and said to the Pharisees, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?” (Matt. 12:3-4).

Jesus’ point is that it is always lawful to do good on the Sabbath (Mark 3:4). So, although it was not technically lawful for David and his friends to eat the consecrated bread because they were hungry and in need, Jesus says it was okay. You see, God’s laws are meant for your good. So, even if what the disciples were doing was breaking the Sabbath—and it wasn’t—Jesus was saying that human need still trumps ceremonial law. Why? Because God’s laws are made for your good. God doesn’t give us His laws to make us miserable or to take away our enjoyment of life. God’s laws are designed for your good. And what’s more, if this was permitted in the case of David, how much more appropriate it is when Someone is present who was greater than David—Jesus Christ, the Son of God!

b. The priests on the Sabbath (Num. 28:6)

Second, Jesus goes to the Torah, the section of the Old Testament that details God’s law. He says in Matthew 12:5, “Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?“

Here, He was pointing to the fact that, in the temple, priests were required to violate the Sabbath every week as they prepared and offered the burnt offering. Numbers 28:9-10 says, “And on the Sabbath day two lambs in their first year, without blemish, and two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, with its drink offering—this is the burnt offering for every Sabbath, besides the regular burnt offering with its drink offering.” And even the showbread Jesus just talked about had to be prepared on the Sabbath. Leviticus 24:8 says, “Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant.“

The commandment of the law said they were not to do any work on the Sabbath. And yet the law also told the priests they had to do work on the Sabbath. In fact, the priests had a double load of work on the Sabbath! They made twice the number of sacrifices on the Sabbath day. (Num. 28:9). Can you imagine how much work all that took? And yet, the priests were required to do it every Sabbath. In this sense, the priests, in their work of temple service, “profaned” the Sabbath, and yet, they were “blameless” (Matt. 12:5). Why was it okay for the priests to work on the Sabbath? Because they were working in the temple in worship to God. And the worship of God in the temple was greater than the Sabbath. Once again, God’s laws are made for our good.

Then, Jesus makes a remarkable statement in application of this fact: “Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple” (Matt. 12:6). He speaks of Himself. Jesus claims superiority over both the temple and the Sabbath law. If the Sabbath law can be “broken” without guilt in order to fulfill the needs of worship in the temple, then it follows that it can be “broken” without sin to meet the needs of “One greater than the temple.” If the temple was greater than the Sabbath, then certainly the One the temple pointed forward to is greater than the Sabbath also. Jesus is greater than the temple, and any work done by His servants, including feeding themselves, was permitted on the Sabbath just as the priest’s temple service was permitted.

c. Mercy not sacrifice (Hosea 6:6)

Finally, Jesus gives the overriding principle from the prophets. Quoting from Hosea 6:6, Jesus says, “But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless” (Matt. 12:7). Jesus quoted from this same verse to the Pharisees back in Matthew 9:13 when they complained about Him eating with tax collectors and sinners.

The principle is that God is not interested in “sacrifices” just for sacrifices’ sake. A sacrifice offered will not satisfy God when the heart that gives it is wrong. In 1 Samuel 15:22, the prophet Samuel says to the disobedient King Saul, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22).

The prophet Micah 6:6-8, also emphasized this principle, writing,

With what shall I come before the LORD,
And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
Ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly, To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:6-8).

What God desires every day, and even on the Sabbath, is obedience in showing mercy, not empty ritual and rule-keeping. Those only place rigid, strict, inhumane “burdens” on people’s backs. If the Pharisees had understood the scriptures and the heart of God, they “would not have condemned the guiltless” (Matt. 12:7). The Pharisees went around promoting their religion like they really cared so much about God. Yet in the exercise of their religion, they had failed to do what mattered most to God.

So we have seen the Pharisees’ accusation, Jesus’ answer, and finally we see …

3. The Lord’s Assertion (Matt. 12:8)

Jesus seals His arguments with His declaration, “For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Matt. 12:8). Notice what Jesus calls Himself: “the Son of Man.” To call Himself “the Son of Man” was to call Himself the Messiah. The Pharisees likely would have recognized this as a reference to the Messiah as He is described in Daniel 7:13-14;

“I was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.
Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14).

So Jesus makes the bold assertion “For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Matt. 12:8). Jesus wasn’t saying he could break the Sabbath because He is Lord of the Sabbath. No, Jesus is saying that because He is Lord of the Sabbath, therefore He can tell us what the Sabbath really means and how we may observe it properly. He has the authority to dictate what happens on the Sabbath because He is the Lord of the Sabbath. He is the One in whom true rest is to be found (Matt. 11:28-30). He is the One to Whom the commanded rest of the Sabbath law pointed.

In Hebrews 4, the author of that epistle shows that the Sabbath rest into which God enters at the end of creation, the rest that the people enter when they go into the land of Canaan, and the Sabbath rest one day a week all point, finally, pervasively, deeply, to the rest God’s people enter when they put aside their works, when they put aside their self-confidence, when they put aside their self-conceit and find their rest in God alone.[i] Hebrews 4:3 says, “For we who have believed do enter that rest . . .” It’s a picture of the salvation we have in Christ through His finished work. Again Hebrews 4:10 says, “For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.” We enter that rest by coming to Jesus. He is our Sabbath rest.

The apostle Paul urged the Colossian church to rest completely on the sufficiency of Jesus Christ, writing, “So let no one judge you in food or drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (Col. 2:16). The Pharisees were insisted that the Old Testament “shadows” be kept so strictly, but they opposed and hated the Lord Who was “substance” of it all.

Jesus is the Son of Man. He is Lord of all, and He is Lord of the Sabbath. He is the one who gave us the Sabbath command to begin with. And as with all His laws, God gave us the Sabbath for our benefit and to point us to Christ. J.C. Ryle wrote,

The plain truth is, that our Lord did not abolish the law of the weekly Sabbath. He only freed it from incorrect interpretations, and purified it from man-made additions. He did not tear out of the decalogue the fourth commandment. He only stripped off the miserable traditions with which the Pharisees had incrusted the day, and by which they had made it, not a blessing, but a burden.[ii]

Never substitute outward religious rules and traditions for a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. Never make your Christianity just a legalistic religion of rule-keeping. It is all about Jesus. All the work has been done by Him. Rest is found only in Him.

One preacher commented on this topic, “At their core all other religions call us to follow religious rules and regulations. And if we’re not careful, this kind of thinking becomes the foundation for how we live as Christians; we begin to think that if we pray enough, if we study the Bible enough, if we avoid certain sins, if we come to worship, if we help other people, if we go overseas in missions, if we do any number of things, we will become more acceptable to God.”[iii]

Jesus came so you wouldn’t have to work for your religion, He came because you couldn’t work enough to earn favor with God. We must not pervert the grace of Jesus Christ by trying to work our way to God. We must not sabotage the faith of others by requiring them to work for their faith.

The Bible declares that the Savior is greater than the Sabbath. Jesus is greater than any religious rule, regulation, devotion, sacrifice, anything! Jesus is greater! Jesus is greater than David and his men, Jesus is greater than the priests of the temple, He’s greater than the temple itself, and He’s greater than the Sabbath. He is the Lord of the Sabbath, and He is Lord of all. He deserves all of our devotion, all our worship, all our sacrifice, and all our hearts.

———————————————————————

[i] Don Carson, Lord of the Sabbath, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/sermon/lord-of-the-sabbath-matthew-12-1-14/

[ii] J.C. Ryle,  Comments on Matthew 12, https://gracegems.org/Ryle/m12.htm  

[iii] David Platt, quoted by Matthew McCraw, The Goodness of the Great One (Matthew 12:1-14), https://fbcbartow.org/sermons/goodness-great-one-matthew-121-14/   

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Jesus’ Gracious Invitation

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

Jesus’ Gracious Invitation

Matthew 11:28

In John Bunyan’s classic analogy of the Christian life, Pilgrim’s Progress, the story opens with the character Pilgrim having a large and heavy burden upon his back. It weighs him down and makes everything that he does difficult. The first part of the story centers on Pilgrim’s efforts to find a way to get rid of the burden. It is not until Pilgrim comes to the cross of Jesus that he is set free from his burden. The rest of the story describes Pilgrim’s progress in the Christian life after he is freed of his burden.[1]

The analogy of a heavy burden on our back is a good description of what life is like apart from Christ. Even for the Christian, when we are not walking with the Lord in the power of His Spirit, striving to do things in our own power, it can feel like the weight of the world is on our shoulders.

Jesus invites the weary and burdened to come to Him for rest—not just physical rest or mental rest but rest for your soul. We are a restless people. Our lives are often filled with burdens, regrets, and guilt. People seek rest in activities, relationships, religion, entertainment, and other distractions but none of that cures the restlessness in our souls.

Augustine writes in his Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”[2] In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Do you want rest for your soul? If your soul is weary and burdened, if your soul is restless this morning, then this invitation is for you.

Remember the context in Matthew 11. Jesus has answered those who were critical of both Him and His forerunner, John the Baptist (Matt. 11:16-19) and He strongly rebuked the cities in which He did many miracles because they did not repent and believe in Him. Then He prayed a prayer in Matthew 11:25 where He praises His Father for hiding the truth about Jesus and His kingdom from the wise and prudent and revealing it to babes. Those who think they are wise and righteous do not receive the kingdom, only those who know they are humble and dependent. And He states clearly that the only way to know God the Father, the only way to salvation, is through Him, the Son—the Son that most of them thus far have rejected.

The context, then, highlights the wonderful grace of our Savior. For the most part, His own people are rejecting Him, and yet Jesus gives them this gracious invitation.

I want you to see three things in these words of Jesus: (1) The Lord’s saving invitation, (2) The Lord’s sanctifying instruction, and (3) The Lord’s satisfying assertion.[3]

1. The Lord’s Saving Invitation (Matt. 11:28)

Our Lord says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Jesus’ invitation is “Come to Me.” It is an urgent invitation. The word “Come” is an adverb or interjection used as a command. It literally means, “Come here” and has the intensity of “Come here now!” And it is a personal invitation. His invitation is to come “to Me.”—meaning “to Me and Me alone” not any another. In fact, notice Jesus stresses Himself using the first person pronoun repeatedly in these three verses: “to Me”; “I will give”; “My yoke”; “learn from Me”; “I am gentle”; “My yoke”; “My burden.” Rest for your soul, relief from your burden, and salvation from sin, is in the person of Jesus Christ alone.

“Come to Me”, Jesus says. Don’t come to the law. Don’t come to “religion”. Come to the Savior! Come to Jesus. Come to the Son of God Who has said (Matt. 11:27), “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” Come to Him directly and personally. He invites you. He welcomes you.

Notice those to whom Jesus gives this invitation. It’s for all those who “labor and are heavy laden”. Another translation says, “weary and burdened” (CSB). “Labor” comes from a verb meaning “to toil, expend great effort in hard and disagreeable work” making one “weary or tired to the point of exhaustion.”[4] “Heavy-laden” comes from a verb meaning “to place a burden upon; to load”[5] as when placing a load on a pack animal. Metaphorically, it came to mean “to oppress by legal burdens.”

I believe Jesus refers here first to those who labor and are heavy-laden under the horrible burden of trying to earn God’s righteousness by works of the law. In Matthew 19, we meet a man who came to Jesus under such a burden. We have labeled him the “rich, young ruler”. He was, outwardly, a righteous man who lived in strict conformity to the law of Moses. But he had no rest for his soul. He came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” (Matt. 19:16). Jesus told the man, “. . . if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” And when the man asked, “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’” (Matt. 19:18-19). Jesus told him what he already believed—that if he kept the commandments of God, he would have eternal life. And yet, the man knew that he did not have it. He had no rest for his soul. He told Jesus—in desperation, I believe—“All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” (Matt. 19:20). Oh, how weary of labor and heavy-laden any poor soul is who tries to make themselves perfect before God through keeping the law!

What’s fascinating is that Jesus then adds to his labor and burden even further. “If you want to be perfect,” He said, “go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (Matt. 19:21) And with that, the young man went away sorrowful, “for He had great possessions” (Matt. 19:22). This man wanted to know what “good thing” he must do that he may have eternal life. Jesus wanted him to realize what an impossibly wearisome and heavy burden it was that he was trying to bear.

The scribes and Pharisees taught a righteousness before God on the basis of outward obedience and conformity to the law of Moses. Jesus said, “they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders” (Matt. 23:4). It was an impossible burden to bear; because, as the Bible tells us, “by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified” (Gal. 2:16). Israel’s entire history is nothing but “labor and heavy laden”. Over and over, God had promised rest for His people (Deut. 12:8-10; 25:19; 1 Kings 8:56; 1 Chron. 23:25; Mic. 2:10; Heb. 4:8,9; 1 Pet. 1:3,4). But because of their sin, idolatry, and rebellion the Jews never truly received the rest God intended.

The heavy load of the law which they could not keep caused them to be weary with guilt over their sin. King David spoke of this in Psalm 38. He said, “There is no soundness in my flesh Because of Your anger, Nor any health in my bones Because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head; Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me” (Psalm 38:3-4). Have you felt the heavy burden of the guilt of your sin and the weight of the condemnation of God’s judgment on you?

To all these Jews who were laboring under the heavy load of the law, and the guilt of their sin, Jesus says: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” “For”, as Paul writes, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4). This is Jesus’ wonderful invitation to all men and women who labor under the impossible task of trying to earn God’s favor, and earn eternal life for themselves through their obedience to the works of the law, through trying to be a good person. Jesus invites them to come to Him and find rest! For those who take Him up on His offer, the work is already done; “knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16).

Jesus Himself bore the weight of keeping the law of God perfectly. And Jesus Himself bore the guilt of our sin on the cross having been made a sin offering for us. And now, the promise of God is, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).

And so, for every man or woman who has ever felt the unbearable guilt of sin—guilt that no amount of good deeds could ever undo or erase—Jesus gives this invitation: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Notice the promise is to “all” who labor and are heavy-laden. It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter if you are Jew or Gentile. It doesn’t matter if you are the world’s most outwardly moral Pharisee or the world’s most depraved sinner. Jesus extends this invitation to “all”.

Can you think of a more wonderful, more satisfying invitation than this? Have you come to Jesus for rest?

Next, please notice that the Lord not only gives a ‘saving invitation’ but we also see . . .

2. The Lord’s Sanctifying Instruction (Matt. 29a).

Jesus says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me . . .”. In the original language, those words are spoken in the imperative, a command to be obeyed, an instruction to follow. And it’s a “sanctifying” instruction because it’s how we grow closer to Jesus and He makes us more like Him as we follow it.

First, Jesus commands those who come to Him to take up His “yoke”. A yoke was a large wooden crossbar that was carefully carved to fit over the necks of beasts of burden, like oxen. Yokes were usually to hold two animals together, bound by leather straps, so that the animals could be made to carry a burden together or pull together. It was an instrument that curbed the will of the animal and bought it under the master’s control.

And there are a couple of interesting things to notice about this. The word “yoke” was sometimes used in Jesus’ day as a figure of speech. Sometimes, the word was used to symbolize a heavy burden. The Bible uses it as a figure of speech for the heavy burden of the law of Moses. In Acts 15:10 Peter used it as a figure of speech for the heavy burden of the law. He said to those who sought to put new Gentile believers under the law of Moses, “Why do you test the God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” Paul also wrote about this yoke to the Galatian believers who were trying to keep the law of Moses as a means of making themselves more righteous in the sight of God, saying, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Gal. 5:1).

Sometimes, the word “yoke” was used as a symbol of being under submission to someone else or of being a disciple under the authority of a master. The ancient Jewish advice to students was, “Put your neck under the yoke and let your soul receive instruction.”[6] The yoke here symbolizes obedience to Jesus which includes learning His ways and following them. The word “learn” in Matthew 11:29 means to receive instruction and is related to the word for “disciple”.

Jesus here says that we are not only to take up His yoke, but also “and learn from Me . . .” The Greek word that is used (apo) can either mean to learn “from” Him, in the sense that He is our divine Teacher, or to learn “of” Him, in the sense that He is the divine subject. I believe both are true. When we come to Him, we learn from Him and of Him. He is both the reason we learn and the lesson we are taught.

When Jesus tells you to take His yoke upon you, He is asking you to become His disciple. He invites you to follow Him and to serve Him as your Master. Jesus is inviting those who are weary and heavy-laden under the unbearable burden of the law to come out from under the burden of trying to find righteousness before God on the basis of their performance in the law, and to take up another yoke which is easier and a burden which is lighter. The law is a heavy taskmaster. But not Jesus. Jesus is gentle and humble in heart. And when you follow him, you will find rest for your soul.

When we take up Jesus’ yoke, we are trading away an old burden-that is, the burden of the law-that meant our death before God. We could never keep it or find favor with God through it. It would only condemn us and bring us under a curse—”Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them” (Gal. 3:10). Instead, when we come to Jesus, we take up a burden that gives us life. We enter into a relationship with One who kept the law perfectly on our behalf; and now, we walk in life when we walk in union with Him through the Holy Spirit. Paul writes in Romans 8,

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has made us free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:2-3).

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; when we accept Jesus’ wonderful invitation, we come to obey a command. We come to put on a yoke. But what a blessed yoke it is! It’s a yoke that is nothing less than a relationship with the wonderful Savior Himself.

He puts us to work as His followers, but it’s a work that is a delight to do because of what a wonderful Savior He is. He has done all that is necessary for us to be in the favor of His Father. He has purchased our pardon at His cross, and earned our righteousness by His own obedience. There is no more satisfying and fulfilling place to be than under His yoke.

Have you truly come to Him in that sense? In coming to Him, have you truly taken up His yoke and learned of Him? If so, then finally we see . . .

3. The Lord’s Satisfying Assertion (Matt. 11:29b-30).

He says to take up His yoke and learn from Him; “for I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

First, Jesus gives an assertion or promise about Himself. Jesus lets us know that He is “gentle” or “meek”. He is not harsh or rough on those who come under His yoke. He doesn’t beat His servants. He loves them, and is good to them, and is kind to them. This speaks of His manner toward us.

And He also lets us know that He is “lowly” or “humble” of heart. Now, understand: He Himself is never “lowly” or “humble” in His being. Far from it! He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, awesome in His majesty and fearful in His wrath! But to those who come to Him weary and heavy laden, He is “lowly of heart”. This speaks of His approachability. He humbles Himself to reach down to those who are poor and lowly, weary and burdened by sin and guilt.

What a wonderful Master and Teacher He is. We need never fear to take Him up on His great invitation. He will always welcome us and love us. He will never give us more than we can bear but will always strengthen us and enable us to bear the burden He places upon us.

That’s the satisfying assertion He says about Himself. And then, notice the satisfying assertion or promise He gives us concerning His command. He tells us that, in taking His yoke, we will find “rest for our souls”. Here, Jesus quotes from Jeremiah 6. In Jeremiah’s day, God offered this rest, but Israel refused it. Jeremiah 6:16 16 “Thus says the LORD: ‘Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls.’ But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’”

Now God has sent His only begotten Son with the offer of rest for your souls. It is rest for the soul because the nature of the yoke or burden He places upon us is “easy”; and that means “well-fitted” or “agreeable” to us.

The Bible commentator William Barclay writes that when an ox was brought to a craftsman, it was first measured for the yoke. And then, the yoke was roughed out and the ox brought back to try it on. Then, the yoke was adjusted and shaped again, so that it would fit “easily” or “agreeably” to that animal-so that it wouldn’t hurt the animal to wear it.[7] And Jesus does the same for us. He knows us well; and will not place a yoke of service upon us that is not “easy” or “agreeable” to the way He has made us. He tailor-makes His yoke for those who come to Him.

And second, note that His burden is “light”. It is not something that we cannot carry. It’s not something that will crush us or destroy us. It’s something that He Himself gives us the strength to bear.

We cannot bear it in our own power. But we are not meant to bear it in our own power. Paul writes, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:13) His burden is light because it is Christ who gives it to us, and He who indwells us and empowers us to bear it.

Jesus has given His gracious invitation. But now there is a decision that you must make. Jesus is calling to you, “Come to Me.” Will you? Will you turn your eyes away from the sinful enticements of this world and look to Jesus? Will you lay down the burden of your sin and self-righteousness at the foot of the cross? Will you come to Him who can take your burden and give you rest for your soul? Will you take His yoke and be His disciple? Jesus is calling. Will you heed His call and come?

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[1] Scott Harris, Jesus’ Offer of Rest – Matthew 11:25-30, https://gracebibleny.org/jesus_offer_of_rest_matthew_11_25_30

[2] Augustine of Hippo, NPNF1: Vol. I, The Confessions of St. Augustine, Book I, Chapter 1, §1.

[3] Greg Allen, The Great Invitation, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2006/050706.htm, I adapted Allen’s outline and was helped by some of his points in this sermon.

[4] Larry Pierce, Outline of Biblical Usage, https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2872/nkjv/tr/0-1/

[5] Larry Pierce, Outline of Biblical Usage, https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g5412/nkjv/tr/0-1/

[6] Ecclesiasticus 51:26, https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Ecclesiasticus-51-26/

[7] William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2, p. 17.

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God’s Gracious Revelation

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

God’s Gracious Revelation

Matthew 11:25-27

The end of Matthew 11 contains one of the most beautiful and gracious invitations from Jesus in the whole Bible. Probably most of you are familiar with Matthew 11:28-30 and Jesus’ offer of rest for your soul. There Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28). We will examine that great invitation in detail next time. But before we can understand the offer of rest, we must understand the setting of the offer.

Matthew has made it clear that Jesus was the long-awaited King and Messiah. Through his genealogy and birth narratives, Matthew showed that Jesus is the promised King and that the prophecies of scripture are fulfilled in Him. And as Jesus grew into adulthood, and when the time was right, God sent John the Baptist to announce Him to the Jewish people. John proclaimed the message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). Everyone in Jerusalem, and the surrounding areas of Judea, and in the regions all around the Jordan River, came and heard John’s message. And when Jesus Himself came to be publicly baptized by John in the Jordan, even God the Father Himself confirmed His identity. He opened up the heavens, sent the Holy Spirit to descend upon Him in the sight of all, and announced, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 4:16-17).

What’s more, Jesus began to show Himself to them unmistakably as their King. He Himself took up the message of the gospel, preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). He taught the principles of His Kingdom in the Sermon on The Mount (Matthew 5-7). It was a very public event, and we’re told that “the people were astonished at His teaching” (Matthew 7:28). And then, as if that wasn’t enough, He then publicly authenticated His message by performing one miracle after another demonstrating His power and authority.

Matthew indicates that people were aware enough of Jesus’ words and works to respond rightly to His call. We’re told such things as, “the multitudes . . . marveled and glorified God who had given such power to men” (Matt. 9:8), that “the report of this went out into all that land” (Matt. 9:26), that “they spread the news about Him in all that country” (Matt. 9:31), and that they said, “It was never seen like this in Israel!” (Matt. 9:33).

Jesus then gave power to His twelve disciples to “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead,” and “cast out demons” (Matt. 10:8) and sent them throughout the land to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to proclaim, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 10:6-7).

Matthew makes it abundantly clear in his Gospel that Jesus had been presented as the promised King of the Jews; and God the Father in Heaven had sufficiently authenticated Him to the Jewish people. Clearly, the promised kingdom was at hand, and the King had come. There was no excuse for not knowing this. The called-for response was to repent and believe on Him.

And yet, the Jewish rulers, the religious leaders, and many people did not receive Him. They would not repent. They would not believe. Instead, they accused God’s prophet, John the Baptist, of having a demon and Jesus of being a glutton and a drunk who cavorted with tax-collectors and sinners (Matt. 11:18-19). This prompted Jesus to denounce the cities in which He had done most of His miracles for their unrepentance and unbelief. Listen to it again from Matthew 11:20-24,

20 Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.” (Matt. 11:20-24).

So, when we come to Matthew 11:25-30, we must remember that the Lord Jesus spoke these words in the hearing of the proud, self-righteous Jewish people of His day. He had lived among them and performed many miracles in their midst, and yet, in spite of all that they saw, He found it necessary to rebuke them because they did not repent and believe in Him.

Matthew 11:25 begins, “At that time Jesus answered and said…” What question was He answering? I believe that Jesus was answering a question that arose, not so much from their mouths, as from the hearts and thoughts of those who heard Him. You can imagine the Jews who heard Jesus rebuke them thinking, “But how can it be that we would be judged more severely than the wicked cities of Tyre and Sidon and, of all places, Sodom? We are God’s chosen people! We have Moses! We have God’s law! We are righteous before God! How could it be that WE would be judged more severely than those wicked pagans?”

In response to their stubborn, unrepentant hearts, Jesus answered with a prayer to His Father: “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.” (Matt. 11:25-26). It was a prayer that Jesus said out loud so that others could hear and learn from it. Much like what Jesus did in John 11 before He called Lazarus from the tomb, He lifted up His eyes and said,  “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me” (John 11:41-42). Jesus prayed these prayers, in part, so that men would understand divine truth of a profound nature as He communed with the Father.

What do we learn from Jesus’ words to the Father?[i]

1. God is Lord of heaven and earth.

Notice three things about how Jesus begins His prayer. First, He begins with praise, saying, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth…” The word translated “thank” or “praise” in some translations, means to “agree with,” “confess,” or “say the same thing.” Jesus is in full agreement with what His Father has done, and in that sense, He is thanking the Father for doing it. Second, Jesus addresses God as Father. This indicates the special relationship He has with God. God is uniquely the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. Jesus has this unique relationship with the Father because He is God in human flesh. So, it is no wonder that we find God the Son giving praise from a basis of unanimity to God the Father. Third, Jesus addresses God as “Lord of heaven and earth.” This reminds that God is sovereign over all things. There is nothing in heaven or earth that lies outside His gracious power. He is in control of the whole universe. God is the creator of heaven and earth and He is worthy of praise.

For what does Jesus thank the Father?

2. God has hidden these things from the wise and learned.

I take the “these things” to be the truths revealed in the powerful words and works of Jesus that lead a person to repentance and to salvation. They are all the things that Matthew has been presenting in the previous chapters concerning the kingdom of God. Some could hear Jesus’ words and see His works, and be impressed by them, but not be led to repentance by them. Others could hear and see, have their minds and hearts opened up to the truth of Christ, and believe unto repentance and salvation. To some, the saving potential of these things are “hidden“; and to others, the saving potential of these things is “revealed“.

Jesus says to the Father, “You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent” (Matt. 11:25). We may wonder why Jesus is glad that the things of the kingdom were hidden from the wise and the intelligent. Does that mean the kingdom is only for the foolish and the unintelligent? The terms wise and prudent here are used in the same way that Paul uses them in 1 Corinthians 1, where he writes,

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. 19 For it is written: ​​“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, ​​And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” … 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

The wise and prudent are those who think they can do it their own way. They do not think they need a Savior because they think they are already righteous. They think know it all and can do it all on their own. It is a reference to the foolish pride of man which schemes, plots, and develops his own religion so that he does not have to repent from sin to trust in God and His mercy and grace alone. This was exactly what the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ time had done. They modified God’s Law to the point that they actually thought they were keeping it, and therefore were pleasing God and were deserving of His kingdom.

God has always resisted the proud and gave grace to the humble (Psalms 138:6; Isaiah 2:11, 12; Matthew 23:12; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). The people who think themselves wise and refuses to repent and believe will find the truth about Jesus Christ and salvation hidden from them. Those who remained arrogant and wise in their own estimation were not granted access into the kingdom. God would not allow them to get it. God reserved the precious truth of the kingdom for the humble, and the frail, and helpless, for the “babes”.

3. God has revealed these things to little children.

What does Jesus mean when He says that God has revealed these things to “babes” or “little children”? Jesus is speaking here of the childlike qualities of humility and trust. God has hidden these things from the people who think they know it all, but he has revealed them to those who humbly trust God and His word rather than their own wisdom or strength. It is similar to what Jesus said in Matthew 18: “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 18:3-4).

Why did God choose to reveal these things to the humble and trusting rather than the proud and self-reliant? Jesus finishes off His prayer in Matthew 11:26 by saying, “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.” In other words, it is God’s choice. He is Lord of heaven and earth, and He gets to choose to whom He will reveal spiritual truth. And He reveals it to those who are humble and trusting.

We may struggle with the idea of God’s choice being strictly on the basis of His own good will. But in the end, we must also be humbled by it, and take notice of the fact that our Lord Jesus didn’t struggle with it at all. He set the example for us when He thanked and praised the Father for it.

Whenever we encounter this doctrine in the Scriptures, I’m always fearful that someone may misinterpret it. They may come away thinking that there’s no way to know for sure that they are among those that God has chosen to reveal kingdom truth to in a saving way. They may come away with fears and doubts and uncertainties. That’s why I am so grateful for what the Lord said next.

In Matthew 11:27, Jesus – it seemed to me – ceases to pray and then makes a set of affirmations before all that heard Him. And these affirmations show us that the Father sovereignly reveals kingdom truth in the person of His Son Jesus Christ.

4. God reveals Himself in Jesus Christ.

Here, God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility meet in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus makes four affirmations in this verse.

A. All things are delivered to Jesus by the Father

Jesus says, “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father . . .” (Matt. 11:27). What a remarkable affirmation that is! Jesus is saying that God the Father, the Lord of heaven and earth, has put all things under Jesus’ power and authority. Basically, Jesus is saying, “God has given Me charge of the whole universe.” And so, all those things that God is pleased to reveal come through Jesus.

In Psalm 2, speaks of the Father entrusting all things to the Son,

“I will declare the decree:
The LORD has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession’” (Psalm 2:7-9).

After Jesus death and resurrection, before He ascended to the Father, our Lord told His disciples, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18). So, just as the Father is “Lord of heaven and earth“, He has entrusted that lordship to His Son. He affirms that He is the final authority in all things, including the salvation of men.

B. No one knows the Son except the Father.

A second affirmation He makes is, “. . . and no one knows the Son except the Father.” Here, Jesus speaks of His deity. Only God the Father truly knows Jesus the Son. Jesus is the infinite, majestic, eternal Son of God. He was with God in the beginning, and He was God. All things were made through him; without Him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1-3).

But no one looking at Jesus 2000 years ago could have known that. He looked just like an ordinary man. Even John the Baptist, who was sent to prepare the way for Jesus, did not recognize Him on his own. God had to reveal it to him. At Jesus baptism, we’re told that the heavens opened up, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove. And then, we’re told that the voice of the Father spoke down from heaven upon the earth; and He said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).

Later in the Gospel of Matthew, Peter will make the confession about Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). Do you remember what Jesus said in response? “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 16:17). Jesus is the Son of God, and He is not known apart from the Father’s gracious act of disclosing Him to the world.

C. No one knows the Father except the Son.

But a third affirmation shows us that there is such a relationship of loving mutuality between the Father and the Son that, just as the Son cannot be known without the Father, neither can the Father be known without the Son. Jesus says, “Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son . . .” This highlights Jesus as the Mediator between His Father and us.

John, in His Gospel, tells us that “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18). There is no relationship with the Father apart from the Son. And as Jesus once said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father . . .” (John 14:9).

What a wonder of God’s grace it is, then, that the Father sent His Son to became a Man and walk among men; so that now, men can know the Father through the Son!

D. The Son reveals the Father to people.

And this leads us to a final affirmation; “. . . and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” This highlights our Savior’s role as the mediator between God and men. There is such a mutuality between the Father and the Son, in fact, that the Bible can tell us, “There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus who gave Himself a ransom for all . . .” (1 Tim. 2:5-6a).

Only Jesus can reveal the Father. And to whom does Jesus choose to reveal God? To those who are humble and trusting, to the little children rather than the wise and the learned.

And isn’t it good news that at this point, knowing the sovereignty of God in hiding and revealing salvation in His Son Jesus Christ, that Jesus then goes on to say, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

That’s a genuine invitation. He who has all authority given to Him by the Father, and who is Himself known of the Father, and who Himself reveals the Father to whomever He chooses, and who possesses the exclusive role of Mediator between God and Man, says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden . . .”

The invitation is open to all who will humble themselves before God and come trusting in His Son. And if you take Jesus up on His offer, and sincerely come, He will give you rest for your soul, forgiveness of sins, a relationship with the Father, and eternal life.

Take His invitation; and thank Him!

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[i] Ray Fowler, Rest for the Weary, https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/rest-for-the-weary/. I adapted Fowler’s outline for some points.

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The Peril of Indifference

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

The Peril of Indifference

Matthew 11:16-24

One of the most joyful occasions you can experience as a follower of Christ is when you share the gospel with someone, and they believe. One of the saddest occasions you can experience as a follower of Christ is when you share the gospel with someone, and they do not believe but reject the salvation offered to them in Christ.

In Matthew’s Gospel, we have seen that both John the Baptist and Jesus preached the same message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 3:2; 4:17). Jesus showed that John was the promised Elijah who prepare and announce the coming of the Messiah. If John is the promised messenger, then Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus affirmed that John’s message was true and that they should take heed. They should, “Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). But not everyone accepted John’s message (Matt. 11:14). Jesus warned them in Matthew 11:15, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” In Matthew 11:16-24 Jesus described some of those who would not listen or take heed to John’s message or Jesus’ message. Two major groups who would not repent and believe were those who were critical and those who were unrepentant. Both attitudes display the peril of indifference to Jesus and His kingdom.[1]

1. The Critics (Matt. 11:16-19)

Jesus says in Matthew 11:16, “But to what shall I liken this generation? …” How can he describe the nature of this generation that has been privileged to see and hear both John the Baptist and Jesus, and yet still reject them and their message? In what way can Jesus describe their behavior? Jesus chooses a comparison that demonstrates their childishness: “… It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions and saying: ‘We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not lament.’” (Matt. 11:16-17).

Children like to play games and what Jesus described here are two games that were often played by the children who gathered in the marketplace while their parents transacted the business of buying and selling and such. If you have watched a group of children for any length of time, you have witnessed the kind of scene that Jesus described here. Some children want to play one game and others don’t want to play that game so they criticize the first game. Then other children think of another game and some of the children don’t want to play that other game so they criticize it.

The two games here are “Wedding” and “Funeral.” The reference to the playing of the flute and the dancing describes a wedding, while the singing of the dirge and the mourning refer to a funeral. Weddings and funerals were the big social events of the time. Each lasted several days, and each involved large numbers of people. Funerals and weddings were about the most excitement that children saw on a regular basis.

I think we can easily imagine the scene that Jesus is painting for us. A group of children saying, “Let’s play wedding.” So, they pick a boy to play the groom and a girl to play the bride, others to play the attendants, friends, family members, and musicians. They say, “Play the music, let’s dance!” But some of the kids (probably nine and ten year old boys) don’t want to play wedding—maybe they think only girls want to play that. So they say, “Let’s play funeral.” So, they pick someone to play the corpse, others get chosen to be pall bearers, musicians, and mourners. They say, “Play the sad music, let’s all mourn.” But the other children say, “We don’t want to play funeral, that’s sick!” So back and forth the arguments go.

And any adult watching those kids understands some of these children are just being selfish. And Jesus says, “That is what you are like”. You are like a bunch of spoiled children who are only interested in doing what you want and you are unwilling to change your mind. Jesus says they are like a bunch of spoiled, selfish kids who are unwilling to change to enter the kingdom.

Obviously, that is a harsh rebuke. They are being childish, selfish, and unbending. Is that true of their generation? Jesus shows it is by following up His comparison with the evidence. In Matthew 11:18-19 Jesus applied the analogy to the way they criticized the ministries of both John the Baptist and Jesus: “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” John came with a very serious message of repentance while living an austere life as a Nazirite. He didn’t eat or drink the pleasant common foods, but instead ate locust and wild honey. John came abstaining from all worldly desires and commanding them to repent. How did they respond to John? They wrote him off as demon-possessed and rejected his message.

By contrast, Jesus came as the opposite. If John was the funeral, then Jesus was the wedding. Jesus was a man among men. He lived in the city; and ate and drank and feasted. He enjoyed people. He even reached out to the outcasts of society—tax collectors and sinners—with His message of grace and mercy. He loved people and called them to repent. How did they respond? They said that Jesus could not be a holy man from God since He ate and drank with the wrong kind of people. They called Him a glutton and a drunkard.

The point, of course, was that there was no way to please these critics. They were acting like spoiled, selfish children who were never satisfied. Jesus’ critics were not interested in the truth. They were childish people criticizing the men whom God had sent to bring the kingdom of God. Jesus and John both preached about repentance and entering the kingdom and they rejected the message by criticizing the messenger.

But look at Jesus’ closing words to them. He said, “But wisdom is justified by her children” (Matt. 11:19) or, as some of your translations may have it, “by her works”. As the NASB translates it, “Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” Jesus says it is your deeds that show your wisdom. They may say and claim whatever they want, but the truth shows up in their actions.

Jesus says that generation was filled with people who refused to repent and accept the kingdom. They refused to change because they thought they were righteous. They were sure that they were right and could not possibly be wrong and therefore they were unwilling to listen, repent, or believe. Because they thought they were wise, many Jews refused to listen to John the Baptist or even the Son of God Himself. They thought they were wise.

But Jesus says, “No! wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” When you do what is wise then you can be called wise. James echoes that thought in his epistle writing,

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:13-18).

True wisdom is shown through its “good behavior” and its “deeds”. Claiming to be wise means nothing if you do not do what is wise.

What could these people have done that would have demonstrated wisdom? They could have listened to John the Baptist and repented. They could have listened to Jesus and followed Him. But they didn’t do that. They called John a demoniac and Jesus a drunk. Was that wise? It is not wise to cling to the sin God commands you to let go. It is not wise to reject the only Savior this world will ever have. These people weren’t wise. They were selfish, naïve, foolish children. And they proved it by their rejection of both John and Jesus.

But the critics were not the only people who rejected Jesus. Next Jesus condemns …

2. The Unrepentant (Matt. 11:20-24)

Matthew 11:20 says, “Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.”

Notice Jesus denounces them not because they had sinned, but because they did not repent. We all sin, and if sin was an unrepairable breach between us and God, we would all be lost. But fortunately, sin is repairable. Jesus came into the world to die for sin so that we could be forgiven. Jesus doesn’t denounce those who sin. He denounces those who do not repent.[2]

Jesus particularly singles out the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed – Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. These three cities had greater privilege and opportunity than many other cities where Jesus had performed less miracles or no miracles at all. We know from the gospels that crowds of people followed Jesus, fascinated by His miracles. But Jesus was not looking for people to be amazed—He was looking for people to repent.

I’d like to take just a moment to explain that word “repent”. The word “repent”, in the original language, combines the prefix “meta”  which means “with or after” and “nous”  which means “the understanding”, or “the mind”. The combination of those two words gives the idea of “understand after” or “with”, and thus, the word metanoeõ came to mean “to change one’s mind” or “understanding”. It usually involved the idea of “remorse” or “regret” for having had the wrong thinking in the first place.[3]

“Repentance”, then, first of all, involves a change of mind or attitude—a change on the inside. It’s a change of heart and mind that results in a change in behavior. An inner change that produces an outer change.

In short, “to repent” would mean that you change your mind toward Jesus. It means that, from the heart, you have seen who Jesus is and what He is like. You have come to understand that by His glorious works, He has proven Himself to be the Son of God and the Savior of the world. And now, understanding that truth, you yield to His rightful lordship over you. Obviously, this will involve a change of action. You will, by necessity, turn away from sin. Your behavior will change. But it is, first and foremost, a change of mind – a change of attitude.

Here is the problem with the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum.  Remember that a large portion of Jesus’ ministry was done in Galilee where all three of these cities were located. Capernaum was located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. Capernaum was the town that Jesus had chosen to be His home during the period of His Galilean ministry (Matt. 4:13). Chorazin was a small village nestled in the hills about 2 1/2 miles north of Capernaum. It may be near where Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount. Bethsaida was located farther north and to the west in the plains of Gennesaret and was the original hometown of Philip, Andrew, and Peter (John 1:44).

Not only had Jesus been to each of these towns teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness (Matthew 10:35), but Capernaum was the site of many of the Lord’s miracles including the healing of the Centurion’s servant (Matthew 8:5-13), the healing of the nobleman’s son (John 4:26-54), the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law (Matthew 8:14, 15) and the healing of the paralytic (Matthew 9:2-8). Matthew 8:16 records that it was in Capernaum that ” they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick.” It was also probably in Capernaum that Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead (Matt. 9:18-26).

Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida would have no excuse for not responding to the Lord. They had heard His message with their own ears and seen His miracles with their own eyes. Yet their response was largely indifference. Oh, they rejoiced when they were physically healed, and they were amazed by all that Jesus did, but there was little to no personal commitment to Jesus. They were fickle like the crowds that followed Jesus after He had fed the five thousand. They liked the miracles, they ate the food, and enjoyed the show, but when the call to follow in Jesus’ footsteps was made, they were quick to retreat (John 6:66). There was no true belief on their part, only a passing interest in Jesus. Life went on and they quickly returned to their daily activities with no further thought of Jesus.

Jesus’ condemnation of them is strong. Listen to Matthew 11:21-22: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.“

Consider that Tyre and Sidon were two gentile cities inhabited by the Phoenicians. These two cities epitomized pagan gentile corruption and worthlessness. They were centers of Baal worship and were noted for their immorality and godlessness even by pagan standards. In the past, they had sold Jews into slavery (Amos 1:9) and one king was so wicked that he was used by the prophet Ezekiel as an illustration of Satan (Ezekiel 28:11-15). God destroyed Tyre according to the word of the prophets (Ezekiel 28:16-19, cf. Jeremiah 25:22; 47:4). Yet we find here that Jesus says that these cities would have responded better than Chorazin and Bethsaida to the Lord’s ministry. Therefore, it would be more tolerable for them in the day of judgment than for the cities that were indifferent to Jesus.

In the same manner, Jesus denounces Capernaum in Matthew 11:23-24, “And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.”

The people of Capernaum were proud and thought themselves worthy of being exalted to heaven. Jesus says that instead, they would descend to Hades, here a reference for eternal hell. It would be better for Sodom in the day of judgment than for Capernaum. Sodom was and is the prime illustration of moral depravity. Its name came to describe the most extreme forms of homosexuality and sexual depravity. Genesis 19 describes them being so utterly corrupt that even after they were supernaturally blinded by angels, they were so enslaved to their immorality that they ” became weary trying to find the door” in order to satisfy their perverted lusts. God totally destroyed Sodom and its sister city of Gomorrah through a rain of fire and brimstone which came out of heaven (Genesis 19:24).

Sodom was immoral, but Israel was indifferent, and so Israel’s judgment will be worse. The immoral are judged but a more severe judgment is for the indifferent. These cities thought that they were elevated to the heavens because of what they were privileged to see, but Jesus lets them know that they stand condemned, not because of what they saw, but because of what they did not do BECAUSE of what they saw.

Later, in Matthew 12, Jesus will say;

The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. (Matt. 12:41-42).

These never saw Jesus’ mighty works. They saw lesser works of God through Jonah and Solomon. And yet, they responded with repentance and a seeking after God because of what they saw. Their response to what they saw revealed the character of what was truly in their hearts. And yet, those of Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum who had a clearer blessing from God—the blessing of seeing the mighty works of Jesus firsthand—did not respond with genuine repentance. Their response of indifference revealed the sinful unbelief in their hearts.

You and I have the testimony of Jesus in an even clearer way than they did. What does our response reveal to be the condition of our hearts?

We live in a privileged time and place. We have access to the gospel.  There are churches scattered throughout this land. There are numerous Christian radio stations and Christian television programs. Bookstores are filled with Christian books. Most of us have several copies of God’s word. We have access to more good Bible teaching and tools than any generation that preceded us. But most in our society have grown indifferent to that truth. And indifference is far more dangerous than ignorance.

The same is true for immorality. We imagine that God will judge abortion doctors, homosexuals, greedy lawyers, and corrupt politicians. And certainly, God judges those things. But there is a more severe judgment for those who had the privilege of hearing the Word of God and seeing the works of God and who then ignore it.

All of us are sinners, and so all of us need to repent of our sins. What will happen to those who do not repent? They will be punished, severely. If you do not repent of your sins, then you must pay the full penalty for your sins. Those who hear the gospel and reject Christ will receive the most severe punishment of all.

If you are not a Christian, this means that today is the day to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Confess your sin to Him, believe that He died for your sin and was raised for your justification.

If you think you are a Christian, it means that obedience to Jesus’ commands is important. We cannot take from Him what we want and ignore what we don’t like. Being a Christian means to be like Christ and that comes through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. You yield yourself to the Lord by submitting to His Spirit and doing His word.

Jesus’ invitation to sinners comes at the end of Matthew 11. “Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30). To obey those words from the heart–that’s a true response of repentance and faith.

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[1] Scott Harris, The Critical & The Apathetic – Matthew 11:16-24, https://www.gracebibleny.org/the_critical_the_apathetic_matthew_11_16_24. I adapted Harris’ outline and drew from some of his points in this sermon.  

[2] Ray Fowler, Those Who Do Not Repent, https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/those-who-do-not-repent/

[3] Greg Allen, What Have You Done with Jesus’ Great Works?, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2006/042306.htm#f1

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The Truth About John the Baptist

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

The Truth About John the Baptist

Matthew 11:7-15

When we began our study of Matthew’s gospel, I told you that Matthew’s purpose was clear. Matthew wrote to show Jesus is the promised Messiah-King. Matthew has shown this in Jesus’ royal lineage, His virgin birth, His fulfillment of scripture, His forerunner, His coronation at His baptism, His victory over the devil, His kingdom preaching, His authoritative teaching, His unparalleled miracles, and His power over sickness, evil spirits, nature, sin, and death.

One preacher put it this way: “Matthew has been jumping up and down, waving his arms, and shooting off flare guns declaring that Jesus is the King.”[1] The response to Jesus was mostly positive so far, although there have been incidents of opposition and rejection already. Still, multitudes were following Jesus as disciples. From these, Jesus had chosen twelve and sent them out with His authority to declare the kingdom of God.

But in Matthew 11, something had just happened that, I believe, left the people who saw it in a bit of shock. John the Baptist, the mighty prophet, had expressed disappointment and doubt about Jesus. God had made it clear to John at Jesus’ baptism that He was the Messiah, the Christ. But Jesus was not proving to be the kind of Messiah John expected Him to be. John had been expecting Jesus to bring judgment on Israel’s enemies and rule on the throne of King David. Instead, Jesus was going about teaching and healing people and John was wasting away in prison for standing against immoral rulers. Was Jesus the Messiah that John had been proclaiming Him to be, or was John mistaken and should he look for someone else?

Jesus assured John that He was the Messiah because He was doing the work of the Messiah in fulfillment of scripture. He told John’s disciples to go and tell him what they see and hear: “The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” (Matt. 11:5-6).

If John had some doubts about Jesus, Jesus had no doubts about John! The crowd must have overheard the question John’s disciples put to Jesus and our Lord’s response. As John’s disciples depart to report back to John what Jesus said and did, Jesus uses this occasion to address the crowd concerning John the Baptist. And what I want you to understand in this passage is that as Jesus speaks about John, He is revealing Himself as the king and the nature of His kingdom. Matthew records Jesus’ tribute to John the Baptist because it shows the majesty of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So first, we see that Jesus testified of John as[2] …

1. The herald of the King (Matt. 11:7-10)

Matthew 11:7 says, “As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?””

Jesus asks the listening crowd a series of questions about their expectations of John the Baptist and what they went out into the wilderness to see. Back in Matthew 3, we were told that “John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea …” (Matt. 3:1) and “… Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him” (Matt. 3:5). John didn’t travel from city to city preaching his message. He preached in the wilderness. Yet, the people made a great effort to go out to him.

So, Jesus asks “Why”? When went out all that way to the wilderness to hear John, what were they expecting to see? “A reed shaken by the wind?” A swaying reed pictures someone who is timid or fearful or swayed by pressure. If that’s what they went out to see, that’s certainly not what they got because John was no wimpy little reed that got blown around. He wasn’t simply preaching what people wanted him to say. He wasn’t an ear-tickling, people-pleasing preacher. John was a man of godly conviction and courage. He said things like this:

“Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matt. 3:7-10).

J. Vernon McGee commented that John was no ‘reed shaking in the wind’! He was a mighty wind, shaking the reeds! There was no preacher like John! He did not bend to the crowds or try to gain the favor of the elites. He called people to repent and bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance. He rebuked the Scribes and Pharisees for their religious hypocrisy and called on them to repent as well. He even spoke against King Herod’s immorality. In fact, Matthew 14 tells us that is why he was in prison.

Next, in Matthew 11:8, Jesus asks, “But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments?” and He answers, “Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.” Matthew tells us that “John himself was in clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey” (Matthew 3:4). John lived the rugged life of a prophet who had a word from God burning within him. He dressed as a prophet from God would dress (Zech. 13:4), and there was no pretense about him. He didn’t dine at a fancy table and didn’t live in a fancy house. He lived as an out-of-this-world kind of man with a not-from-this-world kind of message, and the only thing that mattered to him was to proclaim it! Anyone who went out to hear a nice, pretty-faced pulpiteer in a shiny, sequined chapel—some sissy sermonizer in a silk suit—certainly didn’t find that with John. John did not compromise with wealth or power. He was no prosperity preacher telling people how to get rich like him. John the Baptist willingly sacrificed and denied himself in order to set himself apart, both physically and symbolically, from the corrupt religious and political system of his day.

And so, in Matthew 11:9, Jesus goes on to ask, “But what did you go out to see? A prophet?” Which, of course, was the right answer. But there was more. Jesus says, “A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.” John was a prophet in every sense of the word. He was more than a prophet because he not only spoke a message from God, as all true prophets did; he not only prophesied the coming of the Messiah, as many other prophets did; but he was himself the fulfillment of prophecy. He was a “prophesied prophet!” His role as a prophet was unique because God promised his ministry in the Scriptures nearly five hundred years before it began!

In Matthew 11:10, Jesus quoted from the last prophet of the Old Testament, Malachi, and said, “For this is he of whom it was written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You!’”  To get the full impact of this quote from Malachi, we need to go back and look at the context of Malachi 3. Translated from the Hebrew, Malachi 3:1 reads, “”Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the LORD of hosts.”

I want you to notice some things here that inform the New Testament use of the passage.[3] First, Jesus changed the pronoun from “Me” to “You.” The speaker in Malachi is the Lord, Yahweh, God Himself. God is sending the messenger before Himself because according to Malachi 3:5, He will come in judgment. The great event was the coming of Yahweh, and the announcement of it would be through His messenger. By changing the pronoun in His use of the verse, Jesus makes the prophecy about Himself. He affirms that if John the Baptist was the messenger preparing the way for the Lord Yahweh, then He, Jesus, is the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel who was coming into the world.

The second thing to observe is that, in Malachi, the “Messenger of the covenant”—the one that the messenger, John, announced, Jesus the Lord—will come to “His temple.” Here too we have a subtle indication of the deity of Christ. All through the Old Testament the temple is called “the house of Yahweh” (the house of the LORD). Malachi prophesied that “the Messenger of the covenant” would come to “His temple”—He is the Yahweh, the LORD God.

John was a prophesied prophet, who proclaimed a message unlike any other message, in an outstandingly unique way. He was a man set apart by God to point to another Man, and declare that Man to be the Lord who “… will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” and who is “… the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). John lived like a man gripped by his own message.

So Jesus upholds John as the herald of the king. Second, we see that Jesus testified about …

2. The greatness of the Kingdom (Matt. 11:11-15)

Notice how Jesus begins and ends this section. “Assuredly, I say to you . . .” (Matt. 11:11), and He ends with the words, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matt. 11:15). These, then, are words of great importance which can only be heard and understood by God’s grace. (Matthew 13:10-17). We should give careful attention to them and humbly seek before God to understand them.

In Matthew 11:11 Jesus says, “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist…” Jesus says that out of all people who had been born, none were greater than John. He stood out head and shoulders above the rest of humanity. John was the last and greatest of all the prophets of the Old Testament era. Matthew 11:13 says, “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.” All other prophets before John prophesied about Jesus long before He came. They spoke of the glories of the kingdom from afar. But God gave John the great privilege of being the ‘prophesied prophet’ who pointed bodily prepared the way before Him who is greater.

John said of Jesus, “After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before Me” (John 1:30). He said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). No other prophet was so great a prophet as John! And his greatness was in the privilege he had of pointing immediately to the only one who was greater: the Lord Jesus Christ! He was the herald of the King!

But all that Jesus tells us about John’s greatness was simply to make an even more remarkable point. Jesus says, “. . . among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matt. 11:11). John was a great prophet, but being a disciple of John was not to be the goal. Entering the kingdom is the goal. Men didn’t just need to go out and listen to John, they needed to enter the kingdom, to believe in the One Who is the King and Messiah.

The “kingdom of heaven” is God’s kingdom which John proclaimed when he announced, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 3:2). It is the rule of God over men and women through His King Jesus Christ; the kingdom which commenced when the Son of God came into this world as a Man to die for men, and that will finally be consummated at His return to this earth to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords with those He has redeemed. It’s a kingdom that we enter into by faith in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and that we experience today through fellowship with Him and obedience to His commands. It’s the kingdom we will one day enjoy fully in heavenly glory. And Jesus is letting us know that, as great a man as John the Baptist was in the program of God, he was just the herald of a kingdom to come. The man or woman who is “least” in the kingdom of heaven is greater than even John!

John was great because he could point unambiguously to Jesus as the Messiah. But now that the kingdom has been inaugurated in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, the least in the kingdom has a greater witness than John. The most humble New Covenant Christian has greater knowledge and greater opportunity than even John the Baptist had. What a privilege is ours today! What a wonderful blessing it is to be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven through Jesus Christ! What an honor it is to be a witness of Christ!

In Matthew 11:12, Jesus says, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” What does Jesus mean by that?

There are two main ways to interpret this verse. And it depends on how you look at the Greek verb that is here translated “suffers violence” (biazeõ). It’s a rare word in the New Testament, used only here and in the parallel passage in Luke 16:16. The form of the verb can either be understood to be in the passive voice or the middle voice. The New King James Version translates it “the kingdom of heaven suffers violence” which is the passive voice—that is, it’s describing something that is being done to the kingdom of heaven from outside.

If this is the correct way to interpret these words, then this might mean that the kingdom of heaven is being violently attacked in an effort to keep it from spreading—and, of course, that is true. Jesus speaks these words in Matthew 11 in the context of opposition and rejection. John is suffering in prison for preaching the gospel. The Lord Jesus said that whenever the “seed” of the gospel is sown in someone’s heart, the devil often comes and “snatches away what was sown” (Matthew 13:19), using the same word for “take it by force”. Jesus once rebuked the scribes and Pharisees, saying, “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” (Matt. 23:13). Understood this way, when Jesus says, that “the violent take” this kingdom “by force“, it could be a way of expressing how it suffers attack from its enemies or from those who would seize ahold of it for their own evil ends. As the kingdom is preached, the attacks on it by violent men increase. This explains why John is in prison and wondering about Jesus.

A second way of interpreting this verse, though, interprets that verb in ‘the middle voice’, meaning an action that the subject of the verb performs on itself. This is the interpretation taken by the New International Version (1984) which reads, “the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.” It would be very much like what Jesus said, in a different context, in Luke 16:16; “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.” There, in the place of the kingdom “suffering violence” or “forcefully advancing”, the kingdom of God is preached. That would make this a call for people who hear the gospel preached to be aggressive in seizing ahold of the kingdom. The prophets and the law had preached until John; and during that time, the time of urgency had not arrived. But now, the “end of the ages” has arrived; and the kingdom must be eagerly sought and eagerly seized upon. A man or woman of God must be earnest, zealous, and eager. He or she must deny themselves, set all worldly pursuits into second place, and aggressively “seize the kingdom”.

Either way, doesn’t change the point of the whole passage which is to be among those who enter the kingdom. The kingdom has been offered to the Jewish people and their King is presenting Himself to them. And yet, many are not entering the kingdom. Jesus said, “For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John” (Matt. 11:13). But now, the kingdom has arrived. There was no longer need for prophecy about His coming. Now there was a need for a decision. Now the kingdom was here, and they must choose whether or not they would enter. The Jews were enamored with John and were certain he was a prophet, but were they doing what John said?

In Acts 19:4, Paul preached to the disciples of John the Baptist saying, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”

Jesus is saying that if they understood who John is, then it would be obvious who He is. That is why Jesus says about John what He does next, “And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come” (Matt. 11:14).

Jesus was not saying that John was “Elijah reincarnated” although that’s what some thought. Elijah, you might remember, was a prophet who was taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2:11). John was Elijah-like in many ways.[4] John dressed like Elijah (Matt. 3:4; 2 Kings 1:8). Both John and Elijah spent time living in remote places, eating food that was different from typical folks. Both John and Elijah were, in a sense, “inferior” to their successors. John made it clear that Jesus was far greater than he (Matt. 3:11). Elisha had a two-fold portion of Elijah’s spirit (2 Kings 2:7-14). Elijah was more a man of violence; Elisha was more a man of peace. Elijah had his doubts and had the false perception that “he alone was left” (1 Kings 19:10, 14). Elijah hoped to bring about a national revival, but it didn’t work. It was through others, whom he was to designate, that God would bring about significant changes in the nation (1 Kings 19:11-18). John truly came “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17) as Gabriel had announced to his father Zachariah.

Probably because John was so much like Elijah, people came to him and asked, “Are you Elijah?“; but John answered, “I am not” (John 1:21). Yet, though John was not literally “Elijah”, Jesus says that John was the fulfillment of the last great prophecy of the Old Testament. In Malachi 4:5-6, it says,

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
And he will turn
The hearts of the fathers to the children,
And the hearts of the children to their fathers,
Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse” (Mal. 4:5-6).

The promise was kept, and “Elijah” came in the person of John. The “end of the ages” had come upon them. But the people to whom this promised “Elijah” came rejected the kingdom offer that was being made. Jesus will later say in Matthew 17:12, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished” (Matthew 17:11-12). Matthew then comments, “Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist” (Matt. 17:13).

The point is, if that promise was kept—if John is the fulfillment of the coming of Elijah—then who does that make Jesus? He is the Lord Yahweh who promised to come. The question is, Are you willing to accept it? Are you willing to accept that Jesus is King? Are you willing to accept that He is the only Savior? Are you willing to accept that His truth is truth? Will you repent and believe in Him? Will you take up your cross and follow Him? Will you confess Him before men? Are you willing to accept Jesus as Lord? That is the decision we are each faced with. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

That is the truth about John the Baptist. He was a great man, you could follow no better. But if you haven’t trusted in the One John pointed to, then he is nothing more than the prophet you have yet to obey.

Don’t just recognize who John is, do what He said. In John 3:36 he said, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Will you accept it?

 

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[1] Rory Mosley, Accepting The Truth About John The Baptist (Matthew 11:7-15), https://fbcspur.org/accepting-truth-john-baptist-matthew-117-15/.   

[2] Greg Allen, Seizing the Kingdom, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2006/031906.htm#f1. I adapted the first part of Allen’s outline and drew from some of his points in this sermon.

[3] Allen P. Ross, The Question Of John The Baptist (Matthew 11:1-19), https://bible.org/seriespage/15-question-john-baptist-matthew-111-19. Ross was helpful in the information that follows.

[4] Bob Deffinbaugh, Jesus, John the Baptist, and the Jews (Matthew 11:1-30), https://bible.org/seriespage/22-jesus-john-baptist-and-jews-matthew-111-30#P63_23625  

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