THE GOOD NEWS ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

An Exposition

Introduction

One of the interesting facts about the Good News according to Matthew is its author.
When the Lord Jesus came he was rejected by the religious Jews, but received by many tax
collectors and sinners who were despised by those who considered themselves righteous.
Matthew is one of those tax collectors who received the Lord, and in this book presents the
good news to his unbelieving Jewish brothers, as well as to all who would read his work.
When we say that Matthew wrote to his Jewish brothers, we do not mean, as some
have, that Matthew was written only for the Jews. Some take the extreme position that the
book has no message for Christians, but is addressed only to Jews. Matthew himself was a
Jew, and almost all the first Christians were Jews. Indeed, it seems that at first Christianity
was considered a Jewish sect. Only gradually was it totally rejected by a majority of the Jews
so that it became primarily a Gentile faith, so it is only natural that Matthew would have
written with Jews in mind, but his message is for everyone, for as we will see a bit later, all
come to God on the same basis, Jews and Gentiles.
Each of our four versions of the good news presents the Lord Jesus from a different
standpoint. Mark sees him as the Servant, Luke, as a man as God intended man to be, and
John, as the divine Son of God. Matthew sees him primarily as the King, and thus his version
might be called the Good News of the King or of the Kingdom.
The first fact about Matthew that calls our attention to his emphasis on the kingship of
the Lord Jesus is his repeated statements about the fulfillment of prophecy. Over and over he
writes that something took place to fulfill what was prophesied in the Old Testament. The
primary burden of Old Testament prophecy is the coming of a King who would establish a
kingdom of righteousness, so that Matthew’s continual assertion that the Lord fulfilled
prophecy amounts to a claim that he is the King prophesied.
The second fact that reveals that Matthew is the good news of the kingdom is its use of
the word “kingdom” itself. Matthew uses the word approximately fifty-six times. Mark uses it
about eighteen times. Mark is about two-thirds as long as Matthew, but uses the word
“kingdom” fewer than one-third as many times. Luke uses it about forty-five times. Luke is
the longest of all the gospels, being slightly longer than Matthew, but does not use the word
as many times. John employs the word “kingdom” only four times. All the rest of the New
Testament books together use “kingdom” about thirty-six times. These simple statistics reveal
much about the emphasis of this book.
What is meant by the term “kingdom”? Perhaps the best translation would be
“sovereignty.” When we think of a kingdom we usually think of a land area or a body of
people ruled by a king. While these are included in the idea, the basic meaning is not the land
or the people ruled, but the fact of the rule itself, the sovereignty. Sovereignty is supreme
authority. Matthew, of course, deals with the kingdom of God, and supreme authority,
sovereignty, is what God possesses.

In order to understand the idea of the kingdom as presented in Matthew, we have to
look at it in two ways. In the first place, the kingdom of God is his overall sovereignty.
Though many things take place that are not the will of God, nothing occurs outside his
control. He does not cause all things, but he permits all things. God is not willing that any
should perish, Peter tells us, yet many do perish. That is not God’s will, but it does come
about under his supreme authority. That is the first aspect of God’s kingdom.
The second meaning of the kingdom is the expression of God’s sovereignty in the
doing of his will. While many things occur that are not God’s will, when something occurs
that is his will, that is an expression of his kingdom.
Just as we must look at the kingdom in two ways, so we must look at this doing of the
will of God in two ways. God’s sovereignty is expressed now through people who yield to
his will. We live in an evil age and an evil world (Gal. 1.4, 1 Jn. 5.19). The Bible teaches that
under the overall sovereignty of God, Satan is the ruler of this world (Jn. 12.31) and the god
of this age (2 Cor. 4.4). There is an evil kingdom within the righteous kingdom. God’s plan is
to take back the world and restore it to its rightful ruler, himself, through Jesus Christ. When
the will of God is done, that is an inbreak of the kingdom of God in this present evil
kingdom.
We see examples of this doing or not doing of the will of God by individuals now in
Mt. 7.21-23 and 12.49-50. In 7.21-23, the Lord Jesus says that it is not those who do good
works in his name who will enter the kingdom, but those who do the will of God. Simply
doing something good because it seems a good thing to do is not an expression of the
kingdom of God if it is not doing the will of God. The question is not what seems good to a
person, but what God wants him to do.
In 12.49-50, when told that his mothers and brothers were waiting outside to see him,
the Lord said, “Look at my mother and my brothers, for whoever does the will of my Father
who is in the heavens, this one is my brother and sister and mother.” The kingdom of God is
expressed through those who do the will of God now in this present evil age,
But there is coming an age when the will of God will be done throughout the earth,
and that is the second aspect of the doing of the will of God that explains this term
“kingdom.” That age is the millennium (one thousand years, the meaning of the word
“millennium”), the age when the kingdom of God is fully and visibly expressed on the earth.
God’s kingdom is hidden in this age: it appears that evil is in control. But in that age, Satan
will be bound in the abyss, hades (Rev. 20.1-3), and righteousness will fill the earth. The will
of God will be fully expressed. That will be the fulfillment of the petition of the Lord’s Prayer
that says, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, as in Heaven, so on earth” (Mt. 6.10).
So we see that the kingdom of God is the overall sovereignty of God, but it is also the
expression of his authority through people who do his will now in an evil age, and it will
culminate in an age of righteous rule of the earth, to continue into eternity.
But there is an additional matter that we must consider to gain a full understanding of
the kingdom in Matthew. This gospel uses a term for the kingdom that is not used anywhere
else in the Bible. Matthew usually calls the kingdom “the kingdom of the heavens.” Most
translations say, “the kingdom of heaven,” but the Greek word is plural in every case. It is the
kingdom of the heavens. Why does Matthew use this phrase?

Many have said that the kingdom of the heavens is different from the kingdom of
God, or else the Holy Spirit would not have inspired Matthew to use a different term.
However, it is difficult to see how the two terms could refer to different realities when Mark
and Luke use “the kingdom of God” in passages parallel to those in which Matthew uses “the
kingdom of the heavens.” The two phrases refer to the same thing, but there is a reason for
Matthew’s use of his particular term.
Matthew is the gospel which presents the Lord Jesus as the King. Every Jew was
looking for a king, the Messiah, but the Jews were looking for a king who would liberate
them from their Roman oppressors and restore Israel to earthly glory. They looked for an
earthly kingdom. This is the reason that Matthew employs his term for the kingdom. By the
kingdom of the heavens he means the spiritual kingdom. There will be an earthly kingdom,
no doubt, but the special message of Matthew is that the earthly kingdom will not come until
the spiritual rule of God is first accepted in the hearts of his people.
The Greek word for “heavens” is also used about twenty-three times in the singular in
Matthew, but never in the phrase “the kingdom of the heavens,” that being always plural.
This word can mean both the sky and Heaven, the special dwelling-place of God, though he
is everywhere. We use the word in English in the same way. We speak of the heavenly
bodies, meaning the stars and so forth in the sky. In every case, when the Greek word is used
in the singular in Matthew, it refers to either Heaven, where God dwells, or the sky. But
when the plural “heavens” is used, it refers to something else. It refers to the spiritual world
in general, including Heaven, hades, what the Bible calls the air where Satan now rules and
operates (Eph. 2.2). It is what Paul calls “the heavenlies” in Ephesians. In Eph. 1.3 and 20 and
2.6, we learn that Christ is seated in the heavenlies and that we are seated there with him. We
might take this to mean Heaven, but it does not, for 3.10 shows that there are rulers and
authorities in the heavenlies. These are the good and evil spirits who rule over the spiritual
world for God and Satan, who have chains of command in the spiritual world. Eph. 6.12
makes it certain that “the heavenlies” does not mean Heaven, for it speaks of “the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenlies.” There are no spiritual forces of evil in Heaven. Thus “the
heavenlies” does not mean Heaven, but the spiritual realm in general.
That is what Matthew means by “the heavens.” In calling the kingdom of God the
kingdom of the heavens, he is stressing that the rule of God is first of all spiritual. Dan. 4.26
tells us that the heavens rule. That is, the material world is governed by spiritual realities,
both good and evil. The heavens will ultimately rule the earth under the kingship of the Lord
Jesus. If one would enter into the earthly, millennial kingdom that is coming, he must first
submit to the rule of God in his spirit.
When the Lord Jesus came to the Jews to present this requirement of God, he was
rejected by them. They wanted the earthly kingdom immediately and were unwilling to
accept an unseen spiritual kingdom that left the Romans in control of the earth. Their
rejection of the Lord Jesus leads to a second major theme of Matthew. The Jews of the Old
Testament from the time of Sinai were under the law. They were given the law and told to
keep it. They agreed to do so. Their blessing (not salvation, which has always been by grace
through faith) from God was based on their obedience to the law. But this was precisely the
problem in the Old Testament. The Jews had to keep their law in order to receive God’s

blessing, but they could not because the law only makes the demand, but gives no power.
The keeping of it depended on the strength of the flesh.
When the Jews rejected the Lord Jesus, God rejected the Jews. (In Rom. 11.2 Paul
writes that God has not rejected the Jews, then in v. 15 he says that he has. There are two
different Greek words for “rejection” in these two verses, but they mean virtually the same
thing. Probably Paul’s position would be that God has rejected the Jews for a time, but not
forever. The time will come when he will again accept them.) They have been under rejection
and the consequences of choosing “no king but Caesar” ever since. This is the times of the
Gentiles (Lk. 21.24). How they have suffered under that kingship! When God rejected the
Jews, he made the offer of the kingdom “to a nation bearing the fruits of it” (Mt. 21.43), and
that offer carried with it a change. Whereas in the Old Testament God’s blessing was a result
of the keeping of the law, in the New Testament all is of grace. One is saved by grace through
faith, just as in the Old Testament, but he then relates to God on the basis of the Holy Spirit
indwelling him and empowering him to do the will of God. It does not depend on the flesh
trying to keep the law, but on the Holy Spirit within and one’s submission to him. The
present offer of the spiritual kingdom, the acceptance of which leads to a part in the
millennial kingdom, is made on the basis of grace. That is, it is a free gift. There is work to be
done in obedience to God and to gain a place in the millennial kingdom, but the power to do
that work does not depend on the power of the Christian, but on the indwelling Spirit.
That is the difference. Under the law the person was required to obey, but given no
power to obey. Under grace, the person is still required to obey, but the power to obey is
placed within him in the person of the Holy Spirit. Even so, God knows we will have our
failures, so total obedience is not the point under grace, but surrender to and trust in God to
mature us by using our failures as well as our hardships, and we have God’s promise in Phil.
1.6 that “the one who began a good work in you will be perfecting it until the day of Christ.”
Since it was the Jews to whom the kingdom was first presented and their rejection of
it, the presenting of it to others meant that the Gentiles were included. The Jew no longer has
standing with God because he is a Jew. Jews and Gentiles are now treated alike as to their
coming to the Lord. Both must come on the basis of repentance and faith and receive the free
offer of salvation that comes from the finished work of Christ on the cross, confirmed by his
resurrection. The inclusion of the Gentile nations and the treating of the Jews as another
nation like the others is characteristic of this age of grace. Thus we see throughout Matthew
references to the Jews, the Gentiles, and the church, a kind of “third race” made up of both
Jews and Gentiles, who are no longer Jews or Gentiles, but “in Christ” (see 1 Cor. 10.32).
In the end God will begin to deal again with the Jews as Jews. They will come back to
the Lord Jesus as Jews. They will own him as the Jewish Messiah. Then their rejection will
end and they will receive the earthly kingdom they so wanted at the first coming of their
Messiah, but which they could not receive because they would not accept the rule of God in
their hearts first.
Thus we see that Matthew is the good news of the King and of the kingdom and that
the coming of the King involves the creation of a new, spiritual people of God.
At this point let me say just a word about the term “the Jews.” Because of the long
history of anti-Semitism, culminating with Hitler and the holocaust, and continuing up to
this day, and with the current state of affairs in the Middle East with Israel and her

neighbors, there is much sensitivity among Jews of our days to any statement made about
“the Jews.” This applies to the New Testament as well as to history and current events. Let us
just say here that when the gospels use the term “the Jews,” it does not mean every Jew who
lived, but those religious leaders of the Jewish people who so opposed Jesus, even when he
did good works, such as his healings. They were outraged when he healed on the Sabbath,
thinking that such a good work should have waited for another day, putting legal
requirements ahead of people, for whose good the Law was given to begin with (“the
Sabbath was made for man”). No, not every Jew was a bad person, but there were bad Jews
then as there are now, and there were bad people of every race then, as there are now. We
condemn no such group of people as a whole, nor any individual simply because he is in that
group. Indeed, we condemn not at all. That is God’s prerogative. But we can recognize evil
deeds, and it cannot be denied, if the New Testament is true, that there were Jewish leaders
who condemned Jesus and brought about his death, the unjust death of an innocent man. But
we must remember a couple of facts. One is that the first Christians were all Jews, and all the
writers of the New Testament were Jews, with the probable exception of Luke and perhaps of
the writer of Hebrews, who is unknown. This includes Matthew, the writer of this version of
the good news. The second is that ultimately it was not the Jews, but our sins, that took Jesus
to death. If I want to know why Jesus died, all I have to do is look into the mirror. So when
the Scriptures, and we, say “the Jews,” we are not condemning the race or saying that all the
Jews in the New Testament were evil. Let each one’s fruit speak for itself. And remember a
third fact: the best friends Israel has in the world today are conservative, Bible-believing
Christians who know what the prophetic Scriptures say about the Jews: they are still the
people of God who will yet turn back to him and see their nation restored to eternal peace
and security, and to being the head and not the tail (Dt. 28.13).
Let us now turn to a few housekeeping matters. Matter inside brackets [ ], when
occurring in Scripture quotations in bold type, are not part of Scripture, but are explanatory.
The meaning of some matter will be obvious. Other matter will be explained in the
exposition.
The Greek word usually translated “gospel” literally means “good news,” so I have
translated it “good news” many times. “Gospel” also means “good news,” but it comes from
old English words that no one knows these days, so I have chosen “good news.”
Bible verses that do not occur in some of the ancient manuscripts of the Bible and,
where it apparently should not be considered part of Scripture, are in braces: { }. It is not up
to me to say that a verse should be excluded from Scripture, so I have included these, with
the braces so you will know.
You will encounter the letters LXX several times. LXX stands for the Septuagint, the
Greek translation of the Old Testament made in about the last two hundred years before
Christ for the use of Jews who did not live in Israel and could not read Hebrew. LXX is the
Roman numeral for seventy. It comes from the belief that seventy or seventy-two men
translated the LXX from Hebrew. Some of the of the New Testament quotations of the Old
Testament come from the LXX and do not agree with the Hebrew. The LXX was the Old
Testament of early Christians who did not know Hebrew. I have marked these verses with
LXX so you will know why some English quotations of the Old Testament in our English

New Testaments do not agree with your Old Testament that was translated from the
Hebrew. They came from the LXX. Perfectly clear? Great!
I have debated with myself for years about what name to use for God in the Old
Testament. The Hebrew word for his name is I AM in English. This come from Ex. 3.14. The
Jews of that time were unwilling to say the name of God out of reverence. When the Hebrew
of God’s name occurred in Scripture they were reading, the would use the word Adonai, my
Lord, instead of the actual name. This practice continues to this day in our English Bibles.
When you come to the name of God, it is translated LORD. This is acceptable, but God was
often called “Lord” (Adonai) in the Old Testament. When we have “Lord LORD,” instead of
using “Lord LORD,” our Bibles have “Lord GOD, but God’s name is not GOD. It can get very
confusing.
One solution was the creation of the name Jehovah. Hebrew does not have written
vowels, so one has to know what the vowels are. Since the name of God was not spoken for
many centuries, no one knew how to pronounce God’s name. His name in English form is
YHWH, and in German is JHVH. In the fifteenth century A.D. someone in Europe came up
with the idea of taking the Hebrew consonants, JHVH, and inserting the vowels for Adonai,
Hebrew for “Lord,” thus creating “Jehovah.” The word caught on and is still used today in
some circles, including Jehovah’s Witnesses.
So – I don’t like to use “Jehovah” because it is not a real word. Many take the English
vowels YHWH and insert the vowels a and e and have “Yahweh.” This does have some use,
but no one knows if this is the correct pronunciation of the ancient Hebrew for God’s name. I
have tried using Adonai, the word for “lord” that is used in place of YHWH, but God is often
called Lord YHWH in the Old Testament, which is the form “Lord LORD .” I tried using “Ha
Shem,” Hebrew for “The Name,” used by some. I tried using Yahweh. In the end I don’t like
any of these alternatives. Finally I decided that since I speak English, I would use the English
translation of the Old Testament name of God from Ex. 3.14, I AM. You will see “I AM” a
number of times in this work. I hope this explains why I use it. About as confusing as LXX,
isn’t it!
The translation of Matthew in this work is my own. When I am translating for study or
teaching I translate very literally to be as close as possible to the original. Therefore you will
not see perfect English and some translations may be a bit awkward. Don’t let that bother
you: it is as close to the original as I can get it without making it unreadable. You sometimes
would not believe Greek word order!
Authors usually list other writers that they are indebted to for material in the book. I
am sure I am indebted to many, but most of what I have set forth in this work has come to
me over a period of years and I cannot say just where each item came from. I have used
Watchman Nee’s two books on Matthew with great benefit. I first heard my approach to the
parables in chapter 13 in the oral teaching of Stephen Kaung. I think I may have gotten a bit
from Robert Govett and William Kelly. Beyond these I cannot give specific credit. I am very
grateful to all who have contributed to my understanding through the years, and to our Lord
for bringing me into such contact.
Finally, let me say that this work is not intended to be a commentrary, which I am not
qulaified to do. It is an exposition, the effort to bring out the spiritual meaning of the biblical
text. It is intended to bring readers not just to head knowledge, but to heart knowledge,

knowing the Lord and knowing his truth spiritually. If readers are helped in this regard I will
be more than rewarded and fully grateful to our Lord. May he use this work for his glory.

The Genealogy and Birth of the King
Matthew 1.1-2.23

1The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham: 2Abraham
fathered Isaac. Isaac fathered Jacob. Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers. 3

Judah fathered
Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez fathered Hezron. Hezron fathered Aram. 4Aram fathered
Aminadab. Aminadab fathered Nahshon. Nahshon fathered Salmon. 5Salmon fathered
Boaz by Rahab. Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth. Obed fathered Jesse. 6

Jesse fathered David

the king.
David fathered Solomon by the wife of Uriah. 7Solomon fathered Rehoboam.
Rehoboam fathered Abijah. Abijah fathered Asaph. 8Asaph fathered Jehoshaphat.
Jehoshaphat fathered Joram. Joram fathered Uzziah. 9Uzziah fathered Jotham. Jotham
fathered Ahaz. Ahaz fathered Hezekiah. 10Hezekiah fathered Manasseh. Manasseh
fathered Amon. Amon fathered Josiah. 11Josiah fathered Jeconiah and his brothers at the
time of the deportation to Babylon.
12After the deportation to Babylon Jeconiah fathered Shealtiel. Shealtiel fathered
Zerubbabel. 13Zerubbabel fathered Abiud. Abiud fathered Eliakim. Eliakim fathered Azor.
14Azor fathered Zadok. Zadok fathered Achim. Achim fathered Eliud. 15Eliud fathered
Eleazar. Eleazar fathered Matthan. Matthan fathered Jacob. 16Jacob fathered Joseph, the
husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, the one called Christ.
17Therefore all the generations from Abraham to David, fourteen generations, and
from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations, and from the deportation
to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations.

Matthew begins with the genealogy of the Lord Jesus, and this is very necessary. Since
it is the claim of Matthew that the Lord Jesus is the King of the Jews, he must prove that he
has a legal claim to the throne. Not just anyone could be king in Israel. A king must first be
born into the tribe of Judah, and then more specifically, be descended from David through
Solomon. It is the purpose of this genealogy to show that the Lord has such a legal claim to
the throne.
This genealogy is in fact a legal genealogy, for it traces the descent of the Lord Jesus
through Joseph. Joseph was not his father, but the Lord was the legal heir of Joseph, and that
is the important point in establishing the right to the throne. The claim of the throne goes
through the male side of the family, not the female.
Matthew begins with the name “Jesus Christ.” We will learn more of the name “Jesus”
in v. 21. The name “Christ” is simply the Greek translation of the Hebrew word for “Messiah.”

Thus Matthew starts off by calling him the Messiah, and then proceeds immediately to
establish his right to do so. By calling the Lord “Messiah” Matthew is also calling him King,
for the word “Messiah” means “anointed” and refers to the king, who was anointed such.
Matthew next writes that Jesus Christ is Son of David, Son of Abraham Isaac. We have
already noted that any claimant to the throne must be descended from David, and that is
exactly what Matthew says is the fact about the Lord Jesus. In 2 Sam. 7.12-16, God had
promised David that his house would rule Israel forever. Thus every king of Israel after
David must descend from David. Jesus did so, and thus he meets that requirement to be king.
In addition he is Son of Abraham. The genealogy in the good news according to Luke
traces Jesus back to Adam, but Matthew starts with Abraham. Luke had a different purpose,
to show the identification of the Lord Jesus with men, who are sons of Adam, whereas
Matthew starts with the founder of the Jewish race because his intent is to show that Jesus is
the Messiah, the King of the Jews. (It is of interest that Mark has no genealogy because that
gospel pictures the Lord Jesus as the Servant of God, and a servant needs no genealogy, and
that John has no genealogy because he shows Jesus as the divine Son of God, and God has no
genealogy! He is eternal.) Jesus is a Jew, descended from Abraham, and thus qualifies to be
king as far as that fact goes.
There is more to Matthew’s claim that our Lord is the Son of David and of Abraham
than the purpose of establishing his credentials to be king. Who was the son of David?
Solomon. Who was Solomon? He was the king of God’s choice who ruled in Israel’s golden
age, and thus is a type of the Lord Jesus as the millennial King of God’s choice. Solomon was
not the firstborn of David, or even the second or third. Yet he was God’s choice, and when he
ruled, Israel knew the greatest days of peace and prosperity it has ever experienced down to
this day. Solomon’s brother, the firstborn of David, tried to make himself king, but he was not
God’s choice and the Lord saw to it that his choice, Solomon, became king. The Lord Jesus is
the Son of David, Solomon, the King of God’s choice. Not so incidentally, the name
“Solomon” is a form of the Hebrew shalom, peace. The Lord Jesus is the Prince of Peace.
There is more. In Ps. 16 David writes, “For you will not leave my soul to Sheol.
Neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.” In Acts 2.25 and 13.35 Luke tells us
that David was speaking of the Lord Jesus in resurrection when he wrote these words. Sheol
is the Old Testament Hebrew word for death or the grave or the prison house of the lost dead
who are awaiting final judgment, and corresponds with the New Testament Greek word
“hades.” As Son of David, the Lord Jesus is not just the king descended from David, but he is
also the one who would be raised from the dead in resurrection life.
Who was the son of Abraham? Isaac. Who was Isaac? He was the son of promise, the
one God promised to Abraham when both he and his barren wife were too old to have a
child. The Lord Jesus is the Son of promise. God had said to Abraham, “And in your seed will
all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 22.18). Paul tells us in Gal. 3.16 that the promise
was made not to seeds, as to many, but to Abraham’s seed, to one, that is, Christ. Thus Jesus
Christ is not only King of the Jews, the rightful heir to their throne, but he is also the one who
will include the Gentiles, as promised to Abraham. The name “Isaac” means “laughter.” The
Lord Jesus is God’s last laugh on man’s unbelief and the source of joy and laughter for his
people. He is the Son of Abraham.

Several points about Matthew’s genealogy should be noted. In v. 2, he mentions Judah
and his brothers. It was through Judah only, of course, and not through his brothers, that the
Lord Jesus was descended, but all the sons of Jacob are mentioned because they made up the
nation of Israel and Jesus is the King of all the Jews. Judah is the royal tribe, but all Israel is
included under the kingship of Judah.
As noted above, the claim of Jesus to the throne is based on descent through the male
side of the family from David on down, and it is the men who are listed in Matthew, but four
women are also noticed. The four who are selected for mention are of great interest, for all
four had marks against their names. Matthew does not list any women that we would expect,
such as Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel, but four that had very questionable qualifications. These
four are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba.
We learn in Gen. 38 that Tamar was a Gentile and the daughter-in-law of Judah. Her
first husband, Judah’s firstborn, died childless, so she was given to Judah’s second son,
according to the Jewish custom of a man raising up an heir for his childless deceased brother.
But the second son also died childless, and the third was too young to marry. So Judah told
Tamar to return to her father and wait for the youngest son to grow up, which she did. But
Judah did not keep his promise. Thus Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and sold herself
to her father-in-law Judah without his knowing who she was because of her veils. She
became pregnant by him and her son Perez is the one listed in the genealogy of the Lord
Jesus. Thus we find that an ancestor of the Messiah was born to an incestuous relationship.
What a sordid story!
Rahab was also a Gentile and a prostitute. She was the woman of Jericho who hid the
spies and helped them escape. Another woman of questionable character finds her way into
the ancestry of the Lord.
Ruth was a woman greatly to be admired in the Bible. Her story is one of the most
beautiful in Scripture and teaches great spiritual lessons about the kinsman redeemer and
about the inheritance. But she had a serious disqualification. Dt. 23.3-6 tells us that because
the Moabites refused to aid Israel in their march to the land of promise and because their
king, Balak, hired Balaam to curse them, no Moabite was allowed to enter the assembly of the
Lord even to the tenth generation. In addition, Moab, the founder of the Moabites, was the
son of Lot’s incestuous relationship with his daughter (Gen 19.30-38). Ruth was a Moabitess.
The ancestry includes a woman who was forbidden by law from entering the assembly of the
Lord.
Bathsheba, of course, was the woman with whom David committed adultery, but it
was her son Solomon whom God himself chose to succeed David, and through him the royal
line is traced.
So we find incest, prostitution, racial exclusion, and adultery all in the lineage of the
Lord. How are we to understand not just the inclusion of these women in Matthew’s list, but
their presence in the Lord’s line? The answer seems simply to be grace. If man were drawing
up a list of ancestors for the Lord, he would certainly not include such people as these, but
that is man’s wisdom. Jesus came to be a man like other men, except for sin, and to seek and
die for sinners. That is grace. Thus God does not exclude sinners from his ancestry. How
could he, for we are all sinners? The fact that there are incest, prostitution, mistreatment of
the people of God, and adultery is exactly why the Lord Jesus came. Without these and other

sins, he would not have needed to come. His coming is all of grace, and the Lord both
includes great sinners in his line and allows Matthew to reveal it to show his grace.
The same fact may be seen by studying the list of kings from David on down through
Jeconiah. If we read the accounts in the books of Kings and Chronicles, we find that there
were as many evil as good kings, and yet God does not hesitate to let Matthew list the bad
ones as in the ancestry of his Son. Our God is a God of grace.
There are some exclusions that are of interest. V. 8 goes from Joram to Uzziah, but
Uzziah was not the son of Joram. Between them were three kings of Judah, Ahaziah, Joash,
and Amaziah. Why were these three left out? Apparently they were excluded because they
were the descendants of Athaliah. After the death of Solomon, the kingdom was divided into
two, with the descendants of David and Solomon ruling in Judah, but with others ruling in
Israel, the northern kingdom. These rulers of Israel were evil without exception. They set up
idolatrous worship to protect their throne by keeping their subjects from going to Jerusalem
to worship as God had commanded. Their abandonment of God went so far that Ahab
married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Sidon and a worshipper of Baal. God had
expressly forbidden the Jews to marry foreign women lest they bring idolatry into Israel, and
that is exactly what took place. Jezebel helped to establish the worship of Baal in Israel.
Athaliah was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and it was she who married the King Joram
listed in Mt. 1.8.
Apparently God was willing to accept incest, prostitution, opposition to his people,
and adultery, but he excluded idolaters. Those kings descended from the wicked Jezebel are
simply excluded from the genealogy. They have no rightful place in the descent to the
Messiah, even though they passed the line on biologically.
Another exclusion occurs between Josiah and Jeconiah in v. 12. Again, Jeconiah was
not the son of Josiah. Josiah’s two sons, Jehoahaz and Eliakim/Jehoiakim, both ruled, but both
were brought to the throne through the workings of Egypt’s Pharaoh. Egypt in the Bible is a
type of the world, thelost condition, being in bondage to sin and the world, and it seems that
God will not allow the world to dictate who will rule his people. Thus these two are also
excluded, even though they, too, ruled and passed on the line biologically.
Jeconiah himself is of interest. In Jer. 22.30, the Lord says that he is to be considered
childless and will never have a descendant on the throne of David. This evil man was indeed
the last king in his line. His successor, Mattaniah/Zedekiah, was his uncle, not his
descendant, and was the last king of Judah. He was carried into Babylonian exile, and there
has not been a king of Judah since. Matthew lists Shealtiel as his son, as does 1 Chron. 3.17, so
apparently he was not actually childless, but God considered him so and prevented his
descendants from ruling, much as Ishmael was not considered by God to be Abraham’s son .
The Lord Jesus, of course, is not biologically descended from Jeconiah, so is able to rule as
King without violating God’s prohibition in Jer. 22.30.
The final matter that we should note in Matthew’s genealogy is his statement in v. 16
that the Lord Jesus was born of Mary. He specifically does not say that he was born of Joseph,
as all the others in this line had been born to the fathers, for Joseph was not the father of the
Lord Jesus, but only the husband of Mary his mother. Thus, though Matthew does not
mention it, the first prophecy in the Bible is fulfilled. In Gen. 3.15, God had said to the snake,
after he had deceived Eve into disobeying God, that he would put enmity between his seed

and the seed of the woman, and that the snake would bruise his heel, but he would crush the
snake’s head. Now there is not such thing as “the seed of the woman.” Women produce eggs.
Men produce seed. So what did this prophecy mean? It meant that there would come one
who was indeed the seed of the woman, one who had no biological father, who would crush
the head of the snake. The Lord Jesus is the fulfillment of that ancient prophecy of one who
would overcome Satan, destroy his works, and do away with the snake himself. He is the
legal heir of Joseph, and is thus entitled to the throne in Jerusalem, but he is not the son of
Joseph. He is the seed of the woman. He is the Messiah, the King of the Jews, but he is also
the crusher of the snake’s head.
Often the genealogies of the Bible are considered to be boring, meaningless lists of
unpronounceable names, but nothing in the word of God is there for no good reason. There is
much of spiritual value to be learned from a careful consideration of the biblical genealogies.
May God open our eyes to the wonders of his word.
Just as the genealogy of the Lord Jesus is designed to prove his claim to be King of the
Jews, so are the stories surrounding his birth. Matthew begins his account of the birth of Jesus
by telling us that Mary, before her marriage to Joseph, was with child by the Holy Spirit. We
call this truth the doctrine of the virgin birth. Many who do not believe in the supernatural
deny the virgin birth as a myth, but it is a truth fundamental to the Christian faith, for it is
necessary for the redemptive work of our Lord.
In 1 Cor. 15.45, the Lord Jesus is called the last Adam. That is, both the first Adam and
the last were representative men. We are all included in Adam. That means that we inherited
a fallen nature from Adam, what the theologians call original sin. We are all conceived and
born in sin. While we all do choose to sin, it is also true that we cannot help sinning because
of our inherited fallen nature. Some might say that if this is the case, then God is responsible
for our sin and we cannot be held accountable. But God has made a way for us to overcome
sin, and if we reject that way, along with the fact that we have all sinned willingly, we are
accountable. A man may have been thrown overboard from a ship through no fault of his
own. He will not be held accountable for having fallen into the sea, but if he refuses rescue,
his drowning is his own fault. That is the situation we are all in: all of us are or were
drowning in a sea of sin and we cannot help it. But God has offered a rescue and we are
responsible if we refuse the rescue.
Now if the Lord Jesus had descended from Adam through a biological father, he
would have inherited Adam’s fallen nature and would have been unable to keep from
sinning. In fact, he would have been a sinner by birth, just as we are. But he did not have a
human father. He is the seed of the woman, with no human father. Thus he has the same
choice that Adam originally had, to sin or not to sin. He could have sinned, for he was
tempted in every way that we are, but he had the choice of refusing to sin. Since he made that
choice, he was able to be an unblemished Lamb, a sin-bearer for the world, the sin-bearer.
That is why the doctrine of the virgin birth is important and should not be tampered
with or compromised on. If we do away with it, we undermine the very basis of our
forgiveness and salvation.
18Now the birth of Jesus Christ was thus: Mary his mother having been betrothed to
Joseph, before they came together she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

19Now Joseph her husband, being just [or righteous] and not willing to make an example of
her, decided to divorce her secretly. 20When he had thought about these things, look! an
angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, “Joseph son of David, don’t be afraid
to take Mary your wife, for the Child begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a
Son and you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22Now all
this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled,
saying, 23″Look! The virgin is pregnant and will bear a Son and they will call his name
Emmanuel,” which is, being interpreted, “God with us.” [Is. 7.14, see 8.8, 10] 24When Joseph
had gotten up from his sleep he did as the angel of the Lord instructed him and took his
wife. 25And he did not know her until she bore a Son. And he called his name Jesus.
V. 18 tells us that Mary was betrothed to Joseph, and v. 19 calls him her husband, even
though they had not yet married, and says that Joseph decided to divorce her privately. We
might wonder why he was called her husband and how he could divorce her when they
were not yet married. The marriage customs of that society were different from ours. A
betrothal was not like our engagement. It is relatively easy to break an engagement today and
that is the end of the matter, but in the times of the New Testament a betrothal was binding.
Even though the couple had not been married and consummated the marriage sexually, they
were pledged to each other and a separation was called a divorce.
The penalty for such immorality as Mary appeared to be guilty of was death by
stoning (Dt. 22.13-21). Joseph, a righteous man, could not marry such a girl because he was
righteous, but did not want to make a public issue of the matter, so he decided to divorce her
privately.
When he had made this decision, because it was made in all good faith by a man
trying to do the right thing, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him
not to fear to take Mary as his wife, for her child was of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph was told
to name the child Jesus, for he would save his people from their sins. The Old Testament
Hebrew name of God is I AM in English (the I AM of Ex. 3.14), and “Jesus” is the Greek form
of the name “I AM” and means “I AM saves.” The angel called Joseph son of David,
emphasizing again the right of the Lord Jesus to the throne, and now he reveals that this King
will also be a Savior. We saw that the Jews wanted an earthly kingdom and that Jesus came
to teach them that the spiritual kingdom must be accepted first. This fact of his being a Savior
from sins gets to the heart of the matter. It was the sin of Israel that had caused their fall from
first place among the nations and recipient of the blessings of God. That was why they were
in bondage to Rome: it was God’s judgment on sin. Until they accepted this verdict, repented,
and had the sin problem dealt with, that is, until they accepted the spiritual kingdom of God
in their own hearts, they would not see the earthly kingdom. That is still the case today.
One of the methods by which Matthew substantiates his claim that Jesus is the King of
the Jew is his continual citation of Old Testament prophecies fulfilled by various events in the
life of the Lord Jesus. The primary burden of Old Testament prophecy is the Messiah and his
kingdom, though there are many other details. If the Lord Jesus is the fulfiller of prophecy
then he must be the Messiah, the King the Old Testament prophesies. Matthew now adds to
his account of Mary’s miraculous conception and the angel’s appearance to Joseph in a dream
that all this was done to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, and he

cites Is. 7.14, “Behold, a virgin will conceive and bear a son, and will call his name
Immanuel,” which being interpreted is ‘God with us.’” This child is the King, but he is more:
he is God with us.
We saw in v. 19 that Joseph was a righteous man, that is, one obedient to the law, and
now we see in vs. 24-25 that his obedience to the angel is immediate. How God hates
rebellion, and what a wonderful thing obedience to him is. Joseph took Mary as his wife,
despite appearances, for he had the word of God to go on, and he kept her a virgin until she
bore a Son. And he gave him the symbolic name he was commanded to give him: Jesus, I AM
SAVES
2.
1Now when Jesus had been born in Bethlehem [house of bread] of Judea [praise] in the
days of Herod the king, look! magi from the rising of the sun arrived in Jerusalem 2saying,
“Where is the one born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east [the rising of
the sun] and have come to worship him.” 3But when he heard King Herod was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him. 4And calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the
people he inquired of them where the Christ would be born. 5They said to him, “In
Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet,
6
‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
By no means least among the rulers of Judah,
For from you will go forth one who will rule,
Who will shepherd my people Israel.'” [Mic. 5.2, 2 Sam. 5.2, 1 Chron. 11.2]
7Then Herod, having secretly called the magi, ascertained from them the time when the
star appeared. 8And as he sent them to Bethlehem said, “When you have gone search
carefully for the Child, and when you have found him tell me so that I also, having gone,
may worship him.” 9When they had heard the king they went, and look! the star which
they had seen in the east [the rising of the sun] went before them until, having come, it
stood over the place where the Child was. 10Now having seen the star they rejoiced with
very great rejoicing. 11And when they had come into the house, they saw the Child with
Mary his mother, and falling down they worshipped him. And when they had opened
their treasures they brought gifts to him, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12And having
been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went to their country by another way.
.
After the birth of the Lord Jesus, there appeared one day in Jerusalem wise men from
the east, and they asked where he was who had been born King of the Jews, saying that they
had seen his star in the east and had come to worship him. We are told nothing more about
these wise men. Their exact home we do not know, only that they came from the east. It is
tempting to think that they came from Babylon, the home of astrology and astronomy, since
they had seen a star which they took to have supernatural meaning, but we do not know. We
are not told how they knew that the star was significant or what it meant, how they knew
about the King of the Jews, or how they knew he was worthy of worship and not just the
homage normally given a king. All we know is that they came. But their coming is of great
significance, as we will see momentarily.

Herod the Great was king in Jerusalem at this time. He had ruled since 40 B.C. under
the authority of Rome, the hated overlords of the Jews. Herod was not a Jew, but an
Idumean, a descendant from Esau (Edom), the brother of Jacob. It is not surprising that Mt.
2.3 says that Herod was troubled on hearing of this King, for he would not welcome any
perceived challenge to his throne. But we are told that all Jerusalem, the Jews who hated their
Gentile rulers in Rome and their Gentile king Herod and dreamed only of the Messiah who
would deliver them, were also troubled at this news. Why we do not know. It appears that
they mouthed their complaint against foreign domination, but, like most men, feared change.
They loved to complain, but their hearts were not with God and his King. In Jn. 11.47-48, the
Jews expressed their fear of letting Jesus go on, even though they admitted that he had raised
Lazarus from the dead, saying that the Romans would come and take away their place and
their nation. As bad as Roman domination was, the Jews had a measure of freedom and
prosperity. A usurping king might bring a revolt that Rome would put down with cruelty,
bringing a worse situation. Such seems to be the basis of their troubled minds.
But there is a spiritual lesson in these facts. We saw in our introduction that Matthew
emphasizes the rejection of their King by the Jews and the subsequent offer of the kingdom to
those who would receive him by grace through faith, thus opening the door to the Gentiles.
Now in Mt. 2.1-12, we see the first glimmer of Jewish rejection of their Messiah and Gentile
acceptance of him. The Jews were troubled. The Gentile wise men worshipped. No Jews went
with them to worship.
The wise men had supposed that the Lord Jesus would be in Jerusalem since he was
the King of the Jews and Jerusalem was their capital. But Herod, perhaps knowing more
about the Jews, inquired where the Messiah was to be born. The Jews, troubled as they were,
did not have to look it up. They answered him at once: in Bethlehem, and they quoted Mic.
5.2 in support. In recording this, Matthew adds another fulfillment of prophecy to his list.
The Lord Jesus meets another requirement to be the messianic King of the Jews: he was born
in Bethlehem. And we learn that the King will be not just King, not just Savior, but Shepherd.
V. 7 tells us that he met privately with the wise men and determined when the star
had appeared. When we consider this fact and the statement in v. 16 that he killed all the
boys two years old and under, we are led to the conclusion that the wise men were not
present at the birth of Jesus, but arrived some time later, as much as two years later. Herod
told the wise men that he wanted to go and worship the child when they found him, but his
motives were evil, as we will see.
The wise men set out for Bethlehem and the star led them to where the child was. We
get the impression from this information that the star had not led the wise men from the east
to Jerusalem, but that they had seen the star in the east and assumed that the King would be
in the capital city. Nor did the star lead them to Bethlehem, for they had learned from the
Jews in Jerusalem to go there, but the star took them to the house where he was. V. 10 adds
that they rejoiced when they saw the star, further indicating that they had not seen it since
they left the east.
Coupling the fact that in this passage the Lord Jesus is called a child, not a baby, with
his being in a house, not a stable, we see further evidence for the belief that the wise men
came some time after his birth.

When the wise men saw the Lord Jesus with his mother, they fell down and
worshipped him, and they gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The three gifts
have given rise to the speculation that there were three wise men, but in fact we do not know
how many there were, except that there were at least two.
These gifts have symbolic meaning, though that is not emphasized by Matthew. Gold
typifies divinity and royalty in the Bible, frankincense, a life lived as a sweet smell to God,
and myrrh, the bitterness of suffering and death. In addition, myrrh was used by the Jews as
a burial spice. Thus the wise men, without realizing it, prophesied the life of this divine King
who would live a life pleasing to his heavenly Father and lay down that life for his people.
After their worship, the wise men were warned by God in a dream not to return to
Herod, so they went home a different way. They were indeed wise in their desire to worship
the King and obey his Father.
13Now when they had gone, look! an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph
saying, “Get up! Take the Child and his mother and flee to Egypt and stay there until I tell
you, for Herod is about to seek the Child to kill [a;povllumi] him.” 14Now when he had
gotten up he took the Child and his mother by night and went to Egypt. 15And he was
there until the death [teleuthv] of Herod, that what was spoken by the Lord through the
prophet might be fulfilled, saying, “Out of Egypt I called my Son.” [Hos. 11.1]
At the same time an angel appeared yet again to Joseph in a dream and told him to
take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, for Herod would try to kill this pretender to
his throne. Ever obedient, Joseph arose and took Mary and the Lord Jesus to Egypt. Thus,
says Matthew, another prophecy was fulfilled: “Out of Egypt I called my Son.” This statement
comes from Hos. 11.1. When we read it there we find that it refers not to the expected
Messiah, but to Israel. How, then, are we to understand it? The simple explanation seems to
be that the Lord Jesus was all that Israel should have been, but was not. Israel was not an
obedient son who honored the Father. Israel committed idolatry, immorality, and injustice
and brought shame to the name of God. They were called out of Egypt miraculously to be a
testimony to their God, but they failed. The Lord Jesus did what they did not do. He was
called out of Egypt, and brought great honor to the name of God.
16Then Herod, seeing that he had been deceived by the magi, was very furious, and he sent
and killed [a;nairevw] all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its vicinity
from two years old and under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the
magi. 17Then was fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying,
18″A voice was heard in Ramah,
Weeping and much mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
And she did not want to be comforted, for they are not.” [Jer. 31.15]

When Herod realized that the wise men were not returning to him, he became very
angry and resorted to a terrible expedient to insure the death of the rival for his throne: he
ordered the killing of all the baby boys two years old and under in the area of Bethlehem.
Thus was yet another prophecy fulfilled. Like the citation of Hos. 11.1, we find that in its Old
Testament context it does not apply to the Messiah or to his birth and childhood. Instead, in
Jer. 31 it refers to the losing of the northern tribes of Israel in captivity. The Jews divided into
two nations after the reign of Solomon. The northern nation, Israel, consisted of nine tribes.
Israel proved to be very wicked, and finally God visited judgment on the nation in the person
of the Assyrians in 722 B.C. The Jews of these tribes were carried off into captivity. Gentiles
were settled in their land (that is why Galilee is called Galilee of the Gentiles later in
Matthew), and the identity of the northern tribes was lost. Thus, says Jeremiah, Rachel, the
mother of Joseph, and thus of Ephraim, the main tribe of the northern group, weeps for her
children, the unidentifiable tribes of Israel.
Matthew says that this prophecy finds further fulfillment in the death of the babies of
Bethlehem, for Rachel was buried nearby. Just as one might have figuratively heard weeping
from the tomb of Rachel on the day of judgment on her descendants in the Old Testament, so
he might have heard it in Bethlehem when Herod killed the babies.
But there is more to this passage. It is not only fulfilled in the killing of the babies by
Herod, but it also becomes prophecy again, prophecy of a future judgment. We have seen
that in this early chapter in the life of the Lord Jesus, he is already being rejected by Jews and
accepted by Gentiles. The result of the rejection of their King by the Jews will be God’s
rejection of them for a time, until the full number of the Gentiles be brought in, and their
terrible suffering under Caesar, the king of their choice. Rachel will again weep for her
children during the long centuries of their suffering. Praise God that they will finally be
brought back and own their King. Then will come the earthly kingdom for which they long.
19Now when Herod died [teleutavw], look! an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to
Joseph in Egypt, 20saying, “When you have gotten up, take the Child and his mother and go
to the land of Israel, for those seeking the life [yuchv] of the Child have died.” 21When he
had gotten up he took the child and his mother and went into the land of Israel. 22But
when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judah in place of his father Herod, he
was afraid to go there, but being warned in a dream he went to the region of Galilee, 23and
when he had come he dwelled in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken through the
prophets might be fulfilled, He will be called a Nazarene.
Joseph had two more dreams in which an angel appeared to him. This time the angel
told him that it was safe to return to Israel, for Herod was dead. Again Joseph was obedient,
but when he arrived in Judah he found that Herod’s son ruled in his place, so he was afraid
to settle there. Being warned in a dream he went to Galilee and resided in Nazareth. This,
says Matthew, is the final fulfillment of prophecy in these stories of the early days of the Lord
Jesus: “He will be called a Nazarene.”
There is a difficulty with this citation, and that is that it is not to be found in the Old
Testament. Some have supposed that it refers to the Nazarite vow (Samson is the most
famous Nazarite), but our Lord was not a Nazarite. The explanation seems to be found in the

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fact that Nazareth was a despised city. One of Jesus’ own disciples, before he took that place,
said, “Can anything good be out of Nazareth?” The fact that the Lord dwelt in such a
despised city and bore its reproach seems to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies that he
would be a humble, suffering figure. Is. 53.3 is perhaps the best example: “He was despised
and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom
men hide their face he was despised, and we did not esteem him.”
From the stories in Mt. 1-2 we may draw several conclusions. First, the number of
times that God speaks through an angel in a dream is striking. Five times in this short
passage we meet with this phenomenon. The point is that God is acting in these events.
Things are not just happening, but God is in control and is doing his work. He is directing the
actors in these stories.
Then we see again what we have already emphasized, that Matthew’s purpose is to
show that the Lord Jesus is the King of the Jews. Just as the genealogy showed this fact by
demonstrating that he is the rightful heir to the throne, so the birth stories show that he was
the fulfiller of Old Testament prophecies, the primary subject of which was the coming King.
He was born of a virgin, born in Bethlehem, called out of Egypt, the King whose rejection
would bring great suffering on the Jews, and the lowly Nazarene. In addition, Herod regards
him as a rival for the throne, and the Gentiles came, not just to acknowledge his kingship, but
to worship him.
Finally, we see a foreshadowing of a truth that will be developed throughout the
gospel of Matthew. We have already seen it in our understanding of the application of the
name Nazarene to the Lord Jesus, but we need to develop the implications of it a bit more
fully. Matthew presents the Lord Jesus as the King, but he shows that he will not come to the
throne as one might expect, but through laying down his life. Matthew wrote first of all for
Jews, those who had looked for a deliverer from Rome who would establish an earthly
kingdom and return Israel to glory. Instead this one who claimed to be their King was put to
death by Rome and never heard from again. How could such a one claim to be the Messiah,
the King of the Jews?
Matthew tries to answer this question by showing, in addition to his emphasis on the
spiritual kingdom before the earthly, how the Lord Jesus himself accepted the spiritual
sovereignty of God. He did so by coming incognito, claiming to be the King, but not proving
it and calling for faith on the part of men. He was the fully human man of Luke and the
servant of Mark, the one who took man’s abuse and even went to the cross. He was the one
who went to the throne, not in man’s way by hating and destroying his enemies, but in God’s
way, by being the true servant of his people, as a king should be, dying even for his enemies.
He went to the throne by way of the cross.
This route to the throne was the only safe one. Herod tried to protect his throne by
killing all the baby boys of Bethlehem, yet where is Herod’s throne today? No throne of this
world will last, for they are all founded on the power of man, even though it is God who
ordains authority. But the throne of the Lord Jesus is based on life out of death, life that can
never again be destroyed. Every earthly ruler lives with the possibility of assassination. King
Jesus does not, for his throne is based on resurrection. Death never had any claim on him and
cannot touch him now. He came to the throne in God’s way, by way of the cross, and his

kingdom is thus an everlasting kingdom. This is only foreshadowed, but it is foreshadowed,
in these early stories of the life of the Lord.
Thus Matthew sets the stage for one final proof that this one is the coming King, the
coming of the forerunner prophesied in the Old Testament.
Preparation for the Ministry of the Lord Jesus

Matthew 3.1-4.11

Now in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2saying,
“Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has come near.” 3For this is he who was spoken of
through Isaiah the prophet, saying,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way of I AM;
Make straight his paths.'” [Is. 40.3]
Repentance is the first step into the kingdom of the heavens. Matthew skips over all
the childhood of the Lord Jesus and records, after his settling in Nazareth as a young child,
the beginnings of his ministry. John the Baptist was the beginning, and his message was,
“Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has come near.” The kingdom includes the doing of
the will of God, and where the will of God has not been done, there must be repentance. If
one has not been in the kingdom, then he has not been doing the will of God and must
repent. That is how John starts. Something is about to take place: the kingdom is about to
come. The way to get ready is to repent.
We stressed in our introduction that the kingdom is first spiritual, before the earthly
glory comes. This need for repentance emphasizes that fact. Repentance is first of all a
spiritual matter, a dealing between God and the individual. The basic idea of repentance, and
the root meaning of the Greek word, is a change of mind. A change of behavior is certainly
involved, but that change of behavior is based on a change of mind. One realizes that he has
been wrong and has been thinking wrongly, in effect apologizes to God, and decides to think
and live a different way. Then he does so. That is repentance. If one would come under the
control of God in his life, that is the first step. If he will take that step and live on the basis of
it, he will then be ready when the earthly kingdom appears.
The kingdom of the heavens is the main sub-theme of the gospel of Matthew under
the presentation of the King himself, and John’s proclamation is the first mention of it. The
first thing we learn about the kingdom in his preaching is that it has come near, and we may
ask in what sense it has done so.
First, it has come near in the person of Christ, himself both the King and one fully
ruled by God. The will of God was perfectly done in Christ, as he himself repeatedly said in
the good news of John, and thus he himself was a manifestation of the kingdom. When he
was near, the kingdom was near.
But the kingdom in the particular sense in which Matthew presents it, as the spiritual
kingdom first, had also come near in time. The problem in the Old Testament was that the
law told people what to do, but gave no power to do it, and thus the will of God was not and

could not be done fully. What was needed was for the Holy Spirit to indwell people and
change them from within, enabling them to obey God by his power. But the Holy Spirit could
not indwell people because they were sinners. Their exposure to him would have killed
them. Sin first had to be dealt with.
At the time when John made his declaration about the nearness of the kingdom, the
death of the Lord Jesus on the cross, which did deal with sin effectively, was only about three
years off. The spiritual kingdom, with the indwelling Holy Spirit that enabled people to
please God, would be poured out in only three years. The kingdom, in a spiritual sense, had
come near in time.
There is a third way in which the kingdom had come near. We might call it the
prophetic way, and it deals with the visible, earthly kingdom of glory. Dan. 9 indicates that
from the time when a decree was given to rebuild Jerusalem after the exile, there would be
seventy more sevens of Jewish history before the end. These sevens are sevens of years,
totaling 490 years. Daniel indicates that after sixty-nine sevens (483 years), Messiah would be
cut off. At that point there would be only seven more years of Jewish history.
If we calculate the time of Daniel’s prophecies, we find that the 483 years end at the
time of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, and thus we would expect history to end seven years
after his death. But, of course, it has been almost two thousand years. How are we to explain
this apparent miscalculation in Scripture? The answer is simply that the seventy sevens have
to do with God’s dealings with the Jews as Jews while they are in their land. When the Jews
rejected their King, God rejected them and ceased to deal with them as Jews. If a Jew would
come to God now, he must come in the same way as a Gentile, through faith in the Lord
Jesus, becoming a Christian. Thus we see that there is a gap between Daniel’s sixty-ninth and
seventieth sevens. We do not know how long the gap lasts, but it has already lasted nearly
two thousand years. (Sir Robert Anderson, The Coming Prince, pgs. x-xvii, and throughout the
book.)
At some point though, the Bible says, God will again take up the Jews and begin to
deal with them as Jews, and in their land. Then begins the seventieth seven, the last seven
years of history as we know it, leading up to the visible return of Christ and his acceptance
by the Jews as their Messiah. How exciting is the fact that the Jews are now back in their land!
If we look at this prophetic scheme, rather than considering time as we normally do,
we see that when John preached, the visible kingdom was near prophetically: it was only
three years from then until Messiah would be cut off, and then only seven more years until
the end. The gap does not count as God’s dealings with the Jews as Jews in their land. When
John made his declaration, not only had the spiritual kingdom, the pouring out of the Holy
Spirit, come near, but so had the visible kingdom. It was only ten prophetic years away, we
might say.
We have seen that one of Matthew’s means of proving that the Lord Jesus is the King
is the quotation of Old Testament passages. He again resorts to this method in the case of
John. Isaiah had prophesied the coming of one before the King to prepare his way. John, says
Matthew, fulfilled this prophecy. If he was the forerunner, then the one who came after him
must be the King. It is very interesting that the Old Testament verse quoted, Is. 40.3, says that
the forerunner is to make ready the way of I AM, the Old Testament name of God. This

prophecy is applied to the Lord Jesus, thus indicating that he is I AM in the flesh, and we
have seen that the name “Jesus” means “I AM SAVES.”
If we read the context of Is. 40.3, we find that it deals not with the first coming of the
Lord, but with his second coming to establish his millennial reign. Yet Matthew applies it to
his first coming. The answer seems to be simply that the primary event of the first coming,
the crucifixion, was necessary for the events of the second coming to take place. If the Lord
Jesus had not died for our sins, there would be no kingdom on earth for us to share in. Thus
John did prepare the way of the Lord for both his comings.
4Now John himself had his clothing from camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist,
and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Mt. 3.4 tells us something about John and shows his similarity to Elijah. We learn in 2
Kings 1.8 that Elijah wore a leather belt as John did. John dressed in camel’s hair and ate
locusts (the grasshopper variety) and wild honey. We would call him something of a
character, an eccentric, much as Elijah was. In Mt. 17.13, the Lord Jesus said that John was
Elijah, a theme we will deal with at that point.
5Then Jerusalem and all Judea went out to him, and all the region around the Jordan, 6and
they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
We learn in vs. 5-6 that John was a baptizer, and that is how he gets his name. Many
Jews were going out to him to be baptized in the Jordan River. Baptism is a symbolic act, a
picture of dying to one thing and rising to another. The Jews were confessing their sins,
symbolically dying to them and rising to the Coming One John was preaching.
7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism he said to
them, “Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8So bear fruit
worthy of repentance. 9And don’t think to say in yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as father,’
for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
10Already the axe is laid at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore not bearing good fruit
is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11I baptize you in water to repentance, but the one
who comes after me is stronger than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will
baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire, 12whose winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will
clean his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn
with unquenchable fire.”
While they were coming to John to be baptized, some of the Pharisees and Sadducees
came, too. These were the leaders of the Jewish people. Was John happy to see these
important people coming for his baptism? No, he was not interested in building a following
and saw through their hypocrisy. They were not repenting, but only getting in on a popular
movement. They were getting on the bandwagon. John’s response was to call them a brood of
snakes! And he challenged them to bring forth fruit demonstrating repentance. The point is
that baptism is a symbolic act, and the outward act without the inward reality that it

symbolizes is meaningless, and fruit is the evidence of a changed heart. Man cannot judge,
for he cannot see the heart, but he can see the fruit and determine whether or not a person is
living in keeping with a profession of repentance. John says to let the outward act be the
symbol of an inward reality, not an act of hypocrisy.
Then he goes on to show that physical descent from Abraham is no guarantee of
standing with God. That was one of the problems with many of the Jews. They knew they
had been chosen by God, but instead of letting that fact humble them and make them his
lights to the nations (Is. 42.6, 49.6), they let it feed their pride and finally came to assume that
because they were born as Jews, they were automatically in God’s favor. But John’s response
to this attitude is along the same lines as with the outward act of baptism: being a Jew
physically without taking advantage of the spiritual opportunities that afforded was no
different from being baptized physically without having a change of heart. It was indeed an
advantage to be a Jew, as Paul points out in Rom. 3.1-2 and 9.4-5, but if one did not act on the
advantage, it was of no use. Outward show without inward reality is nothing more than
hypocrisy and will gain nothing but judgment.
Vs. 10-11 show us that the kingdom brings judgment as well as blessing. In Mal. 3.2
we read the question, “But who can endure the day of his coming?” We will see in chapter 13
that the first coming of the Lord Jesus brought judgment, though not in so evident a way, but
here in chapter 3, John apparently telescopes the two comings of the Lord. He, like the Old
Testament prophets and the Jews of his day, was not aware of the two comings. The
illustration has often been used that prophecy is like mountain peaks with valleys between.
One looking from a distance sees only the peaks. There may be broad valleys between two
ranges of peaks, but from the distance, they appear to be one range. So the prophets saw the
coming of the Lord Jesus, seeing both comings as one. That is why many Old Testament
verses refer to both comings in one sentence.
John knew about the fiery judgment that the Lord Jesus would bring, but probably did
not realize that it would not come until his second coming. When he said that the axe is laid
at the root of the trees, he may have thought that this was referring to the first coming. In
fact, in light of the seventy sevens, it was near. He has just told the Jewish leaders to bring
forth the fruits of repentance. Now he continues the metaphor by saying that a tree that does
not being forth the fruits of repentance will be cut down and thrown into the fire. For those
who have truly repented and are ready for the Lord’s coming, it will be a day of great
blessing, but for those who are not ready, who can endure the day of his coming (Mal. 3.2)? It
will be a day of judgment.
John’s baptism was a baptism of preparation for the one who was coming so it was
symbolic, in water. The baptism of the Coming One would be the real thing. Water in the
Bible is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. When the Coming One arrives, says John, he will baptize
not in a symbol, but in the Holy Spirit. We could perhaps more accurately call the Lord Jesus
“the Baptist.” John the Baptist baptized only in a symbol. Jesus the Baptist baptizes in the
Reality.
It is one of the more remarkable statements of Scripture when John says that the Lord
Jesus will baptize in the Holy Spirit. Every Jew knew that the Holy Spirit had ceased to
operate openly in Israel with the last prophet, Malachi. The prophets were inspired by the
Spirit. There had been no prophet for four hundred years, and thus there had been no

manifestation of the Spirit. To say that one was coming who would baptize in the Spirit was
to herald the changing of the age. This proclamation of his may not seem startling to us, for
we are accustomed to reading and hearing of the Spirit, and to experience of him, but in
John’s day it was epoch-making.
But John did not say that Jesus would baptize simply in the Holy Spirit, but in the
Holy Spirit and fire. This statement continues the theme of judgment begun in v. 10. In fact,
the terms “Holy Spirit” and “fire” are synonymous in this verse. We have just been seeing that
the coming of the Lord will be a day of both blessing and judgment. For those ready, his
coming will be a day of blessing, a baptism in the Spirit. For them, the baptism in the Spirit as
fire would have already taken place during their lives as the Spirit burned in them to
consume the dross and purify the gold (1 Pt. 1.7). For those not ready, it will be a day of
judgment, of baptism in the same Spirit, but manifested as fire. In Is. 4.4 we read of the Spirit
of judgment and the Spirit of burning. The Spirit of God is a fire that purifies what is of God
and consumes what is not.
John said that the Coming One had his winnowing fork in his hand. The winnowing
fork was a tool used to toss just-harvested and threshed wheat into the air. The wind would
blow the light chaff a short distance and the heavier grains would fall back to the threshing
floor, where the grains were beaten out of the husks. Then the chaff could be burned and the
wheat gathered into the barn. Thus this threshing and winnowing process is an apt picture of
judgment.
Now John said that the Lord Jesus would clean his threshing floor. We need to look at
2 Sam. 24 to gain an understanding of this statement. In that chapter we learn that David took
a census of Israel in violation of the will of God, and thus God sent a plague on Israel so that
seventy thousand men died. The way to stop the plague was for David to build an altar on
the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite and make a sacrifice to God there. David bought
the threshing floor, built the altar, and made the sacrifice. Then the plague was stopped.
Now the point is that that threshing floor was the spot on which the temple was built.
When John says that the Lord Jesus will thoroughly clean his threshing floor, he means more
than simply giving an illustration of judgment. He is saying that God will clean his temple of
the defilement that the Jews have brought into it by their hypocritical worship. In other
words, he will judge his people. Further, the temple of God in this age of the church is
spiritual, made up of his people. Peter tells us that it is time for judgment to begin from the
house of God. Judgment is coming on the wicked, but the Lord will first clean his threshing
floor. He will remove defilement from his own people, Jews and Christians. Let us see to it
that we are open to God’s judgment in our lives now that we may escape judgment in the end
(we speak here of the judgment of God’s people not with regard to sin and salvation, a settled
issue, but to reward). The Lord will thoroughly clean his threshing floor.
13Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan to John to be baptized by him, 14but John
tried to prevent him saying, “I have need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?”
15But answering Jesus said to him, “Permit it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all
righteousness.” Then he permitted him. 16When Jesus had been baptized, immediately he
came up from the water and look! the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God

descending as a dove and coming to him. 17And look! a voice from the heavens saying,
“This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew now turns to the baptism of the Lord Jesus. The Lord came to John to submit
to the baptism he was preaching. Naturally John resisted, protesting that he needed to be
baptized by the Lord, an obvious fact! But Jesus said, “Permit it now, for it is fitting for us to
fulfill all righteousness.” Then John baptized him, and as the Lord Jesus came up from the
waters, the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended to him as a dove and a voice
from the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
The Lord was baptized for two reasons. One was to validate the message of John. By
submitting to the baptism that John preached, he was putting his stamp of approval on what
John preached. The kingdom was indeed near. Repentance was indeed necessary. The Holy
Spirit would indeed be the medium of baptism, both as blessing and as judgment. And if all
this was true, then the Lord Jesus was the Coming One, the King.
The second reason for his baptism was to fulfill all righteousness. What is meant by
this strange statement? God is a righteous God. We normally think of righteousness as
goodness and have a positive assessment of it. But “righteous” actually means “just” and
refers to the keeping of the law. God is a God of law and requires that the law be kept or that
the penalty be paid for breaking it. He is righteous. Now we are all unrighteous. We have all
broken the law. Thus we are all under the penalty of death and eternal judgment.
But the death of the Lord Jesus fulfills the righteous requirement of God that the
penalty for sin be paid. Baptism, as we noted above, is a picture of death and resurrection,
the going into the waters being death, and coming up, resurrection. By submitting to
baptism, the Lord Jesus was painting a prophetic picture of the way he, the King, would
come to the throne. He would do so by laying down his life in death and allowing God to
raise him to life and to the throne, rather than by trying to take the throne for himself. Since
he was sinless, his death was an effective offering for sin: he was an unblemished Lamb. Thus
it fulfilled the righteous requirement of God. Also, since he was sinless, death could not hold
him. Death is the wages of sin (Rom. 6.23), but since the Lord had no sin, death had no claim
on him. Thus he rose from the dead, just as he rose from the waters of baptism, and God
exalted the obedient King to his throne.
Just as the Lord Jesus validated the message of John by submitting to his baptism, so
God validated the action of his Son in submitting to it. By being baptized, the Lord Jesus said
that John’s message was true. By appearing to him and speaking to him from the heavens,
God said that what his Son said was true and what he did was his will. He put his stamp of
approval on the Lord’s prophetic submission to death in baptism. He did so by baptizing the
man Jesus in the Holy Spirit and by speaking to him in the words of Scripture, applying Old
Testament prophecies of the Messiah to him. “This is my beloved Son” comes from Ps. 2, a
messianic psalm which plainly states that its subject is the King of God’s choosing. “In whom
I am well pleased” comes from Is. 42.1, one of the Servant songs of Isaiah that prophesy a
Coming One who would have the Spirit of God on him and who would bring God’s kingdom
to the earth. Matthew, who loves to apply prophecy to the Lord Jesus, records this use of
prophetic Scripture by God himself to show that Jesus is the King.

Then Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil.
We would think that one who had just been baptized in the Holy Spirit would move
on from glory to glory, but the very next episode in the life of our Lord was temptation. In
the context of Matthew, it is best to understand this temptation as the testing and proving of
the King. The words “tempt” and “test” are the same in Greek. It depends on the viewpoint.
From Satan’s standpoint it is temptation to evil with destruction the goal, but God uses the
same situation to test and strengthen and prove his people. Such was the case with the Lord
Jesus. God had just revealed at his baptism that this was the one he had chosen to be King.
Now he puts him into a situation that will prove his fitness to be the King.
Matthew says that the Spirit led the Lord into the desert to be tempted. Further, he
says that he was there forty days and forty nights. In the Bible, the desert is a place of testing
and forty is often a number of testing, as when Israel was tested for forty years in the desert,
an example using both symbols. Thus the thought of the testing of the King is reinforced.
The Lord Jesus himself told us to pray not to be led into temptation, yet, he was led
into the place of temptation by the Spirit in whom he had just been baptized. How are we to
explain this fact? Later passages in Matthew (11.12, 12.22-29) will demonstrate what we only
state at this point, that the going of the Lord Jesus to be tempted by Satan was actually an
invasion of Satan’s territory by the Lord. Jesus was under temptation, but Satan was under
assault. His rule of this world was being challenged.
3And when the tempter had come he said to him, “If you are God’s Son, say that these
stones should become loaves.” 4But answering he said, “It is written, ‘Not by bread alone
will the man live, but by every speaking coming out of the mouth of God.'” [Dt. 8.3]
Satan’s first words to the Lord were, “If you are God’s Son….” They remind us of his
first words recorded in the Bible. When he first approached Eve he asked, “Has God said…?”
Satan’s method is always to call God’s truthfulness into question, to get people to doubt God.
God calls for faith. Satan calls for unbelief. God had just testified from the heavens that our
Lord was his beloved Son. Now Satan almost sneers, “If you are God’s Son….”
This was not so much a temptation to the Lord Jesus to doubt that he was God’s Son,
for he knew who he was, but to prove who he was in a way that was out of keeping with the
will of God. The Lord did not live on the earth as God, but as man, subject to the same
limitations that we have. If he had not taken this course, he would be no example for us.
Though God, he was a man who lived by faith and obedience. Because he fully believed and
obeyed God, he was able to exercise great power, not as his own divine power, but as a man
drawing on the power of God by faith. When he healed he was not acting as God with divine
power; he was obeying God in speaking a word of faith as a man. The reason God was able
to give this man such power was that he could trust him with it. If any of us had such access
to power, we would probably misuse it to build an empire for ourselves, and that is probably
one reason we have no more power than we do. But the Lord Jesus could be trusted to use
power only in obedience to the will of God, and never for himself or without direction.

Satan’s temptation to turn the stones into bread was such a temptation, to use power
without the direction of God. What he was tempted to do was not wrong in itself. Indeed, he
later fed five thousand men, plus women and children, with five loaves and two fish, much
the same thing as Satan was tempting him with. The problem was that God had not told him
to do it. If he had submitted to that temptation, then he could not have been trusted with
power, and he would have been unworthy to be the King.
There is another half to this temptation, and we have already hinted at it. Satan knew
that the Lord was the King of God’s choice, and he knew that God had a way for him to gain
the throne. (Whether or not Satan knew what that way was is another question.) Inherent in
this temptation was the implication that if the Lord would turn stones into bread and feed
people, they would follow him and he could gain the throne easily, with no price to be paid
for it. That is just what took place when he fed the five thousand with the five loaves and two
fish. John 6.15 tells us that after this incident, they tried to take the Lord by force and make
him king.
The reply of the Lord Jesus to Satan is of great meaning for us. In the first place, he
quotes a verse from the Old Testament that begins with, “Man.” If he were operating as God,
why would be begin his defense against Satan by saying, “Man will not live by bread alone”?
No, here was a man living by faith as he encountered temptation. He is our example. Just as
he resisted temptation by falling back on the word of God, so can we.
But, of course, this implies commitment to God. The words of God are not magic
formulas that a person in trouble can mouth to dispel the trouble. Only one who knows the
Lord and is committed to him, and who knows the word, can use the word against Satan.
Otherwise Satan will laugh at him and overpower him. Acts 19.11-16 provides a good
example. This truth is especially brought out by a study of the Greek text. In Eph. 6.17, Paul
says that the sword of the Spirit is the word of God, and the Greek word for “word” that he
uses is rema, what God has spoken to a person as opposed to logos, the written word. The
written word is God’s word and is true, whether anyone reads it and believes it or not, and in
the end we will be judged by it. But the rema is what has come alive to a person through his
study of the written word, what God has spoken personally to him.
It is this same word, rema, that the Lord Jesus uses in Mt. 4.4: “Not by bread alone will
man live, but by every rema that goes out of the mouth of God.” It is by what God has made
alive to a person that he will live. If one has not yet come to know the Lord and spent time in
his word, his logos, he will not have any rema to live by. The Lord Jesus knew the word, not
just because he inspired it of old, but because as a man he studied it and heard from God
through it. As a human being on this earth, he had rema from the logos. So may we, and so
may we counter Satan.
The context of this quotation of Scripture by the Lord Jesus is very instructive. It
comes from Dt. 8.3. In Dt. 8.2, we are told that Israel was being tested in the wilderness for
forty years, the same situation that the Lord was in for forty days. Then in v. 3 we find that
God let Israel be hungry, and then he fed them with manna which they did not know. That is
a description of the Lord Jesus! God let him be hungry in the desert, but he had food to eat
that others did not know of, as he himself said in Jn. 4.32-34. His food was to do the will of
God and to finish his work. This temptation in the desert and his resistance to it was the will
of God for him at this moment, and he fed on that doing of the will of God.

Dt. 8.5 says that God was disciplining Israel in the desert. By discipline the Bible does
not mean punishment, but child-training. The discipline of Israel in the desert was to train
them to dwell in their land as the people of God. It was the same with the Lord Jesus. Heb.
5.8 tells us that he learned obedience from the things he suffered. How could he “learn”
obedience. Was he not always perfectly obedient? Yes, he was, but he nevertheless learned
obedience. We must remember that he lived as a man. A man has to learn obedience by the
things he suffers. How does a child learn not to put his hand on a hot stove? By listening to
his mother? No, we are too stubborn for that! If Mother says not to put a hand on a hot stove,
we must do it to see for ourselves! We insist on learning the hard way. We learn obedience
through the things we suffer. Of course, this applies also to a parent disciplining a
disobedient child.
It was the same with the Lord Jesus, with this difference: he listened to his Father. He
obeyed God and found that it worked. He got into situations where he suffered, such as this
temptation. When he did so, he listened to God and obeyed him. When he did this, he
learned that God’s way worked, and he continued to follow it. He did not, like us, insist on
learning the hard way.
What a marvelous Lord we have, one who submitted himself to all the hardship we
have to endure, and did it without sin, thus becoming our Savior, our Example, our
sympathetic High Priest. How we need to learn of him!
5Then the devil took him into the holy city and had him stand on the pinnacle of the
temple 6and said to him, “If you are God’s Son, throw yourself down, for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you
And they will take you up by their hands
So that you will not strike you foot against a stone.'” [Ps. 91.11-12]
7
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not tempt I AM your God.'” [Dt. 6.16]
But how clever Satan is! He failed in his first temptation, but he learned from the Lord
in it. He was refuted and defeated by the citation of the word of God, so in his second
attempt he himself quoted Scripture in an effort to give plausibility to his argument. Taking
the Lord to the pinnacle of the temple, he again made the sneering remark, “If you are God’s
Son,” and told him to throw himself down, thus proving himself to be God’s Son, and then
Satan quoted Ps. 91.11-12: “For he will give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your
ways. They will bear you up in their hands so that you will not dash your foot against a
stone.”
Thus we learn that Satan can also quote Scripture, and thereby we learn how
important it is that we know the word of God. Satan does indeed know the Bible. He twists it
to his own purposes. He quotes statements out of context or leaves out a vital part. In this
case, the clear implication from the psalm is that the one under God’s protection is acting in
obedience to God, but Satan leaves out that part. He tells the Lord Jesus to act, not at God’s
command, but without God’s command to see what God would do.

The Lord again replies with Scripture, showing the necessity of being able to relate
Scripture to Scripture and thus rightly to understand it. He says, from Dt. 6.16, “You shall not
tempt I AM, your God.” There are right and wrong ways to test God. Mal. 3.10 gives an
example of the right way:
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house, and
prove me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open to you the windows
of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be room enough to receive
it.”
The right way to test God is to act in obedience to him, not with the intention of testing him,
but simply to obey him. Such obedience has the effect of testing and proving God, for he will
do as he says in response to obedience.
But Satan was not urging the Lord Jesus to act in obedience to God and thus to show
that God was honest. He was tempting him to do something that God had not commanded
and thus to dare God to let him get hurt. That is not testing God, but tempting him, and he
might just take the dare and let him get hurt! God did not promise to have angels to bear his
Son in any and all circumstances, but when he was acting on his instructions. This is what we
repeatedly find the Lord Jesus saying in the gospel of John: he does only what the Father tells
him to do and says only what he hears from the Father. It is right for us to test God. It is
wrong for us to tempt him. A right knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures will
reveal the difference.
Just as the temptation to turn stones into bread was a suggestion by Satan that the
Lord Jesus gain the throne by means other than God’s, so was this effort on his part. If he
would jump off the temple and be borne up by angels, everyone would immediately
acknowledge him and make him King. He could have the throne the easy way without
paying a price for it.
8Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of
the world and their glory, 9and said to him, “All these things I will give to you if falling
down you worship me.” 10Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan, for it is written, ‘You shall
worship [kiss] I AM your God, and him alone shall you serve [worship, latreuvw].'” [Dt.
6.13, see Ps. 2.12] 11Then the devil left him and look! angels came and ministered to him.
Up to this point, Satan has tried to be subtle, beginning with the implied question, “If
you are God’s Son,” using that basis to suggest that the Lord prove that he was indeed God’s
Son, but having failed in two attempts at this approach, he now makes a bold grasp for what
he really wants. Instead of trying to trick the Lord into proving his kingship, he now plainly
offers him the rulership of all the kingdoms of the world on one condition, that the Lord
Jesus fall down and worship him.
This matter of worship is central to the conflict going on in the universe. God is the
only one worthy of worship, but there is nothing that Satan craves more than worship. His
greatest desire is to displace God and receive the worship of the universe. We see this fact in
Is. 14 and Ezek. 28 in passages that clearly show Satan behind human kings. In Is. 14.13-14 we

find Satan saying, “I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God,
and I will sit on the mount of congregation in the uttermost parts of the north. I will ascend
above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.” Notice all the “I’s.” In
Ezek. 28 we have God saying to Satan, “Will you still say, ‘I am God,’?”
Satan is contesting God for worship. He knows that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God, is
indeed God in the flesh. He knows that he is God’s choice to be King. He is in a position to
offer the Lord Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, for they are indeed his. So he makes the
bold play: he asks outright for worship with an offer hard to refuse. Again the Lord Jesus can
gain the throne without paying God’s cost.
Yet once again the Lord Jesus turns to the word of God. He was a man who lived by
that word, not by his own desires, and that word said, as he spoke in referring to Dt. 6.13,
“Worship I AM, your God, and serve only him.” But not only did he quote Scripture. This
time Satan had not just tried to trick the Lord. He had also challenged the rights of God, who
alone deserves worship. So the Lord does not just make the Scriptural reply, but also
commands Satan, “Go!” Satan had gone too far and the Lord Jesus, the King, not only
overcame his temptations, but dismissed him. This occasion was an attack on Satan by the
Lord Jesus, and the attack was over. The Lord was through, so he dismissed the tempter. The
King was reigning!
All of these temptations were messianic in nature. The Lord Jesus is God’s chosen
King. All these temptations were designed to undermine that kingship, to allure the Lord to
gain the throne an easy way, thus avoiding suffering for it: feed the people and they will
follow you; prove yourself miraculously and they will follow you; worship me and I will give
it to you.
In this situation of the testing of the King to prove his worthiness for the throne, in
every case the he quoted from the book of Deuteronomy to overcome the temptations. There
is a reason for his use of this book. Deuteronomy is the summation of the law and the stating
of its ultimate point. Deuteronomy sets forth obedience and blessing, disobedience and curse,
and its challenge rings out, “Choose life!” The Lord Jesus had chosen to be an obedient Son,
so when the temptation to disobey came, he resorted to the book that above all stresses
obedience, Deuteronomy. He was obedient, even to death. And what was the result?
Deuteronomy says to choose life. The Lord Jesus chose death because it was God’s way, and
the result was life, eternal life. God raised him from the dead and exalted him to the throne of
the universe.
The first Adam was placed in a paradise and given every advantage, but when the test
came, he failed. The last Adam was placed in a desert with every disadvantage, but when the
test came, he prevailed. He had invaded the territory of Satan, and v. 11 gives us the result of
the invasion: Satan was defeated and had to leave, while angels came and ministered to the
Lord Jesus. The King had stood the test and was proven worthy of the throne.
The Beginning of the Ministry of the Lord Jesus

Matthew 4.12-25

12Now hearing that John had been arrested he withdrew into Galilee.

Up to this point, Matthew has been setting the stage for the ministry of the Lord Jesus,
demonstrating who he is, the King, through his genealogy, his fulfillment of prophecy, his
obedience to God, and his fitness to reign. Now he brings the Lord onto the scene in public
ministry.
First he tell us that the Lord withdrew into Galilee on the arrest of John the Baptist. It
is a remarkable fact in itself that he went to Galilee to make his first public appearance. He
was the King. What was the capital city of the Jews? Jerusalem. Would the King not make his
appearance in the capital? The Lord Jesus did not, but came into Galilee, and he did so for a
reason.
Ps. 138.6, Prov. 3.34, Ja. 4.6, and 1 Pt. 5.5 all say that God opposes the proud, but gives
grace to the humble. One of the great problems with the Jews was that they took their
election by God not as a humbling matter, one that caused them to bow in awareness of their
unworthiness before a gracious God, but as a reason for pride. They saw themselves as better
than other peoples, as more righteous. They came to believe that they had standing with God
because they were Jews, not because of his grace or their attitude of heart. This was the
thinking that John the Baptist condemned in 3.7-9 when he told the Pharisees and Sadducees
to bring forth the fruits worthy of repentance and not to think that their descent from
Abraham guaranteed their standing before God. Instead of taking their calling as motivation
to be a light to the nations, the Jews used it to exclude other nations.
Jerusalem was the capital of the people who thought this way, of a people proud of
their supposed righteousness. And God opposes the proud.
Galilee was part of the northern kingdom of Israel after its split with the house of
David and Solomon. Its capital was Samaria. In 722 B.C., the Assyrians conquered Israel and
deported most of the population while bringing in foreign peoples to live in Israel. Because of
this large Gentile population, the area of Galilee was of mixed blood. There were what would
be disparagingly called “half breeds,” people of mixed Jewish and Gentile blood, as well as
pure Gentiles. Even the Jews there would constantly have rubbed shoulders with Gentiles
and these half breeds, an act defiling in itself (Mk. 7.4).
Since Galilee was so impure, it was looked down on by the pure Jews of Judea. Galilee
was a humble place, a place of sinners and outcasts. And God gives grace to the humble.
Thus our Lord made his appearance in Galilee, bringing the grace of God to those who
knew their need of it. Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick. He
did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
13And having left Nazareth, when he came he dwelt in Capernaum [village of comfort],
which is by the sea, in the territories of Zebulun [dwelling] and Naphtali [my wrestling, see
Gen. 30.8],
14that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying,
15″Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
Way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
16The people who were sitting in darkness
Saw a great light,
And those who were sitting in the region and shadow of death,

30
Light dawned on them.” [Is. 9.1-2]
17From then Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has
come near.”
In addition, this coming of the Lord Jesus to Galilee was a fulfillment of prophecy. We
have just seen the condition of Galilee because of the conquest by the Assyrians. Is. 9.1 calls it
“Galilee of the Gentiles,” and goes on to say that these people who walk in darkness will see a
great light. The coming of the Lord into Galilee, says Matthew, is the fulfillment of this
prophecy. Thus another Old Testament prophecy is fulfilled by the Lord Jesus, adding to the
evidence that he is the coming King prophesied by the Scriptures.
If we study Is. 9.1-2, quoted in Mt. 4.15-16, we find that it refers primarily not to the
first, but to the second, coming of the Lord. It is full of references to the millennial kingdom:
no gloom; glorious; the rod of the oppressor broken; no more war; the government resting on
the shoulders of the Messiah, who would sit on the throne of David forever. These things did
not take place at the first coming of the Lord, but will at his second. Thus we see again the
telescoping of the two comings in Old Testament prophecy, and again we note the lesson that
the events of the first coming are what make possible the second. The Lord Jesus will indeed
claim the throne and rule in righteousness, but if he had not died for our sins in obedience to
God and been raised from the dead, he could not do so. At his first coming, he won the
throne; at his second, he will claim it.
In v. 17 we read the message that the Lord preached when he began his ministry, and
we find that it was the same as John’s: “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has come
near.” The Lord Jesus had validated the ministry of John by submitting to his baptism, and
now he does so by preaching the same message. We need not go into detailed analysis of this
message at this point, having already done so in connection with Mt. 3.2.
18As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon who was called
Peter, and Andrew his brother casting a net into he sea, for they were fishermen. 19And he
said to them, “Come after me and I will make you fishers of men.” 20Now immediately
leaving the nets they followed him. 21And going on from there he saw another two
brothers, Jacob the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their
father, mending their nets. And he called them. 22Now immediately leaving the boat and
their father they followed him.
After giving this summary of the preaching of the Lord, Matthew next gives a brief
description of the calling of the first disciples. All of this is still, to some degree, setting the
stage. We are learning about the nature of the earthly ministry of the Lord. He was a
preacher. He had disciples. In the next paragraph we will find that he is a healer.
This matter of having disciples was very common in Israel. The rabbis would have a
group of disciples (“learners” is what the Greek word means, and Jn. 1.38 says that “rabbi”
means “teacher”) to whom they would pass on the law and the tradition built up around it.
But as we study the relationship between the Lord Jesus and his disciples, we discover a vital
difference. When the Lord called these men, Simon, Andrew, James, and John, he said,

“Follow me.” Now a Jewish rabbi would never have made such a call. His services would
have been available to an aspiring young man who wished to learn the law of God and
uphold it, but he would not have called one to follow him. That call of two words is full of
meaning.
“Follow” indicates faith. If one is following, he does not necessarily know where he is
going. He must trust the leader not to take him into harm. The relationship that the Lord
called his disciples into is one of faith. The purpose of the relationship between the rabbis
and their students was that the latter learn a body of knowledge, the law and the tradition,
with the purpose of its being preserved. It was not a matter of faith in the rabbi, but of
diligent attention and study. But the Lord Jesus called his disciples to faith in him, to follow
him in faith that he would not lead them astray. Thus we learn that the first mark of Christian
discipleship is faith.
The word “me” reveals the personal relationship involved. Again, the Jewish
rabbinical system did not call for personal relationship as an inherent part of the process.
What was important was not that the rabbi and the student have a deep relationship, but that
the student learn the material so that he could preserve it and pass it on to the next
generation. But with the Lord Jesus the important matter was not the material that was
learned, though that had its place, but the personal relationship. What really matters in
discipleship is that one know the Lord. It is possible to know all the Christian doctrines and
be able to teach them and still be lost. It is possible to know them and be saved, but unloving,
and thus unlike the Lord. Sound doctrine is important, but without a personal knowledge of
the Lord, it is dead. Discipleship is knowing Jesus Christ personally. More than anything else
God wants us to know him (Jer. 9.223-24).
It is of great interest that the response of these men was immediate. They left their
work and their families and followed this man. There was something about this man Jesus
that caused him to have power over men with just his word, but he is the only man who ever
lived who used that power solely for the glory of God and the good of men, with never a
thought of abusing it for self-advantage. A man like Hitler had the same kind of power of
personality, but it was controlled by an evil spirit or spirits and did immeasurable harm to
mankind. All who have had such influence over others have used it selfishly to some degree,
with one exception. No one was ever hurt by following the Lord Jesus, even if it cost him his
life. That only put him into the visible presence of God.
We learn something else about the nature of Christian ministry from this short
paragraph. Simon and Andrew were fishing when the Lord Jesus called them, and his words
were, “Come after me and I will make you fishers of men.” James and John were mending
their nets when they heard the summons from the Lord. Thus we see two aspects of ministry
in the body of Christ. Some are called to evangelism, to cast their nets for men and draw
them into the church. Others are called to the ministry of mending, of putting things right
when they go wrong, restoring wayward believers and healing relationships. We read in Gal.
6.1 that when a brother sins, those who are spiritual are to restore him. The Greek word for
“restore” in Gal. 6.1 is the same as the word for “mend” in Mt. 4.21. A sinning brother needs
to be mended spiritually, and there are those in the body who have that calling.

23And he was going around in all of Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching
the good news of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every malady among the
people. 24And the report of him went out into all of Syria, and they brought to him all
those having it badly [literal Greek] with various sicknesses and torments, those hemmed
in by sickness, demoniacs, epileptics [moon-struck], and paralytics, and he healed them.
25And many crowds followed him from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea
and beyond the Jordan.
Matthew closes his statements on the beginnings of the public ministry of our Lord
with the notice that he was going about in all Galilee teaching, preaching, and healing. He
taught in the synagogues. The temple in Jerusalem was the center of Jewish worship, and the
only place provided for in the Old Testament as a place of worship once the people had
settled into the land and established Jerusalem as the capital. The sacrificial system was the
means of expression of worship. When Babylon conquered Judah, destroyed the temple, and
carried the people off into captivity, there was no more temple worship. In order to preserve
their national and religious identity in a foreign land, the Jews developed the synagogue. The
word “synagogue” means “coming or led together.” There the law was taught and passed on
from generation to generation.
When the Jews returned to their land and rebuilt their temple, they did not
discontinue meeting in synagogues, but kept up the practice. Thus the synagogue became the
center of Jewish religious life on a local and daily basis, with journeys to the temple occurring
only occasionally, as would necessarily be the case. An institution never commanded by God,
but created by man to preserve his traditions in a bad situation, gained great importance in
the daily life of the Jew.
The Lord Jesus did not condemn this system, but went where the people were,
teaching them within their system. He did not need to condemn the system, for it cast him
out (Lk. 4. 28-29, Jn. 8.59, 9.22, 10.31). The system that was supposed to preserve what God
had done would not tolerate the teaching of God’s anointed. So it ever is with man’s systems,
even those called Christian, and many that were raised up by God in their beginning, but
have declined over the years.
The Lord Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom. The Greek word for “gospel”
simply means “good news.” The word is euaggelion (pronounced ev-an-GEL-ion – hard G as
in go), from which we get “evangel,” “evangelism,” and so forth. Eu in Greek means “well”
or “good,” and aggelion (pronounced ang-GEL-ion, with a hard G) means “news.” The gospel
is good news. “Gospel” also means “good news,” but it is an Old English, rather than Greek,
word and has a bit of a complicated etymology, so I prefer to use “good news” rather than
gospel and do so most of the time. These are passages where “good newws” does not sound
right, and I use “gospel” there.
The message of the kingdom is good news. Some have said that there is a difference
between the gospel of grace and the gospel of the kingdom, that the gospel of grace is God’s
free offer of salvation now in this age of grace, but that the law will again prevail during the
tribulations at the close of the age, with the gospel of the kingdom being based on obedience.
There is only one gospel, and it is grace. The gospel of the kingdom is grace. It is simply the
wonderful message that there is coming a kingdom, millennial in scope, that will be all good

news, at least until the very end (Rev. 20.7-10). The healings that characterized the ministry of
the Lord Jesus will be universal in that kingdom. That is good news.
We could multiply examples, but let us cite only one Old Testament passage as
evidence that the kingdom is good news. In Is. 35.5-10 we read of the millennial kingdom.
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
Then will the lame man leap as a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will sing, for
waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. And the glowing
sand will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water. In the habitation of
jackals, where they lay, will be grass with reeds and rushes. And a highway will be
there, and a way, and it will be called the way of holiness. The unclean will not pass
over it, but it will be for the one walking that way, and wicked fools will not err into it.
No lion will be there, nor will any ravenous beast go up onto it. They will not be found
there, but the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of I AM will return and
come with singing to Zion, and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain
gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
That is the kingdom. Is that not good news?

We see, too, that the Lord Jesus healed every kind of disease, including
demonic possession, epilepsy, and paralysis. Nothing was beyond his healing touch. We
learn from this fact that the Lord Jesus did not just talk, but had access to power to back up
his words. Anyone can talk, but not everyone can substantiate his claims. The Lord Jesus
could, for he spoke only the words of his Father, and his Father backed him up with power.
This is the King speaking, and acting in demonstration of the truth of his words.
The news of this healing went all through Syria. This Syria is not just the nation that
we call by that name today, but the Roman province that included that area as well as
Galilee, Samaria, and Judea. From this news, multitudes flocked to the Lord Jesus from the
entire region. But as we will see as we proceed through Matthew, there was a great difference
between those who followed him and those of vs. 17-22. The disciples were following Jesus,
personally committed to him wherever he went. He went to a cross. The crowds followed
him for the benefits he was dispensing. When the benefits stopped and the cross loomed, the
crowds disappeared. But this is getting ahead of our story.
The King has come onto the scene and shown by the location and manner of his work
that he is no ordinary king, one who would take power by force. He will preach, teach, heal,
and yes, die, his way to the throne. The stage is now set for the King to begin teaching about
the kingdom.

The Sermon on the Mount
Part I, the Beatitudes
Matthew 5.1-12

Matthew chapters 5-7 are commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount and present
a large body of the teaching of the Lord Jesus. Before we go into the Scriptures themselves, it
may be helpful for us to consider the material as a whole. There have been many varying

interpretations of these words of our Lord, many of which are in error, so perhaps it would
be best to begin with what the Sermon is not.
The Sermon on the Mount does not deal with the way to salvation. It is addressed to
disciples, people who have already come to the Lord. It has to do with right conduct after
salvation. To take the Sermon as the way to salvation is to say that salvation is by works,
when it is abundantly clear from passage after passage of God’s word that salvation is by
grace through faith alone. It is the gift of God, and there is nothing man can do to earn it. The
Sermon on the Mount deals with right conduct for the Lord’s people.
Some have said that since the words have a kind of legalistic character, they could not
be addressed to Christians, but were intended for Jews. But they were spoken to his disciples,
who would eventually follow him out of Judaism. The disciples are Christians. Furthermore,
the Sermon is not legalistic, as we will presently see.
Others have said that because this teaching is impossible to keep, it could not apply to
this age, but must be a description of how things will be during the millennial reign of Christ.
But its many references to the kingdom itself as a reward for the behavior described
precludes this thought. A person is not rewarded with something he already has.
Finally, the Sermon on the Mount is not a kind of ethical program that people in
general should follow in order to bring about a better world. We often hear the notion that
the Lord Jesus was the greatest of teachers, and that everyone should live by his teachings.
While it is true that everyone should, and that the world would indeed be a far better place if
everyone would, this is not a Scriptural thought. The Bible’s position is that a better world
will not be brought about by all people ultimately following good ethics, but by the
intervention of the Lord himself to destroy evil and establish a kingdom of righteousness.
Whether or not people should follow the teachings of Jesus, they will not, and they cannot
without the new birth and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, parts of the teaching of
Jesus always left out in this ethical approach.
What then is the Sermon on the Mount? Matthew is the gospel of the kingdom of God,
first as the spiritual kingdom of the heavens, and finally as the visible reign of Christ on the
earth. Its primary thoughts are that Jesus Christ is the King of God’s choice who will come to
the throne, but who will first go through a period of humiliation and even death while on the
earth, and even then will remain hidden from the world in Heaven until God’s time for him
to take the throne gained while he was on earth. Those who follow the Lord now in the days
of his humiliation and hiddenness will have a part with him in his visible kingdom when he
comes to rule.
Thus we find that beyond the need of salvation, of new birth from spiritual death to
life, there is also the reality of reward based on the life lived. The new birth is an entirely free
gift of God with no cost whatever. (Actually, there is a cost. It was paid by the Lord Jesus at
the cross.) But God does desire those whom he saves to live a life of obedience to him. The
Scriptures are quite plain that Christians will be judged, not with regard to sin for salvation,
for the Lord Jesus has already borne that judgment, but with regard to works for reward (1
Cor. 3.12-15, 2 Cor. 5.10). The Sermon on the Mount sets forth the kind of life a Christian
should live, with a place in the visible kingdom of God for a life so lived.
In this sense, we might call the Sermon on the Mount the law of the kingdom, but it is
a law different from that of the Old Testament. The problem with the Old Testament law was

that it told people what they should do, but gave no power to do it. Thus no one could gain
God’s favor by keeping the law. God knew this to start with, of course, and indeed the
purpose of the law was not that it be kept anyway, but that it might show man his sinfulness
and his need of a power outside himself to enable him to please God (Rom. 3.20, 7.14-18, Gal.
3.19, 23-24). That power is God himself, dwelling in people through the Holy Spirit, but the
Spirit could not dwell in people under the law because sin had not been dealt with. A part of
the good news is that sin has been dealt with and thus the Spirit can indwell people, giving
them the power within to please God.
This new law of the kingdom is thus different from the Old Testament law, for it
proclaims that God has not just told people what they should do, but has provided the power
to do it. It is not spelled out in the Sermon itself, but we know from the study of the New
Testament as a whole that the difference between the old covenant and the new is that under
the new, sin has been effectively dealt with and so God indwells people, empowering them
to obey God. This is the teaching of Jer. 31 and Heb. 8 about the new covenant: it has been
put inside people. The Old Testament law is external, only telling people what to do. The
New Testament “law” is internal. It is in fact God himself living within. It provides the power
to do what it requires.
If indeed this New Testament “law” were only that, a law like that of the Old
Testament, we as Christians would be no better off than the Jews. We cannot keep the
teaching of the Sermon on the Mount in our own strength any more than the Jews could keep
the law. As a matter of fact, we would be worse off, for the Sermon is more difficult to keep
than the law. The law said not to murder, but the Sermon says not to hate. Most people are
able to restrain themselves from murder even when they are angry enough to do it, but how
many can truthfully say the thought has never entered their minds? The law was concerned
with outward behavior, but the Sermon, with the heart. One can do a fairly good job of
keeping the law, though no one does so perfectly, but no one can reach the standard of the
Sermon. After all, it does say in Mt. 5.48 that we should be perfect as God is perfect. Who can
claim to measure up to that requirement? Thus though we call it the law of the kingdom for
purposes of comparison with the Old Testament law, it is really not a law at all, but a
description of the life that the indwelling Holy Spirit will produce in one submitted to him.
And the result of living under the rule of God in this spiritual way will be a place in the
visible kingdom when the Lord returns to claim his throne.
Actually there is a sense in which the Sermon is the law for Christians, with the same
purpose as the Old Testament law for the Jews. The law was given not to be kept, but to
reveal sin and to show that it could not be kept. The Sermon on the Mount shows that it is no
easier for the Christian to live pleasingly to God than it was for an Old Testament Jew. The
Christian cannot do what he should do any more than the Jew can. Indeed, it is harder for
him than for the Jew, as we have just seen. The Old Testament law shows the Jew that he
needs something else to please God. The Sermon on the Mount shows the Christian that he
needs something else to please God. God never intended for the Christian to live by the
Sermon on the Mount in his own strength. He intended for the Christian to look at the
Sermon, and say, “Lord, I cannot do this. I need Christ living in me to do it.”
None of us will ever live perfectly in this way in this life, just as no Jew ever kept the
Old Testament law perfectly. The key is not that we achieve perfection, nor is that God’s

requirement, but that we set our hearts on going this way of obedience to God, that we yield
ourselves to the Spirit within. No Jew kept the law perfectly, yet there were Jews who
pleased God. David committed two of the worst sins recorded in the Bible, adultery and
murder. The law’s penalty for both these sins was death. Yet God forgave David. Why?
How? Because David’s heart was truly God’s, despite his momentary lapse. He was
genuinely sorry and repentant for his sin (read Ps. 51, written as a result of this sordid
chapter in David’s life). He was pleasing to God, and God forgave him. If we, like David, will
set our hearts on God, we will find that the Holy Spirit will work within us to conform us
more and more to the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, not by our power, but by his. It
is the heart that is important. Out of it are the issues of life (Prov. 4.23). If our hearts are truly
God’s, our conduct will follow.
The Spirit will also use the requirements of the Sermon as a training tool in preparing
us to reign with Christ in his kingdom. It is one of the glories of the good news that sinners
like us will be forgiven and will reign with Christ forever! But not all Christians will reign
with him during the millennium. It is those who have been trained for the throne who will
reign, and we are trained through the circumstances and trials of life. As we learn to reign
over our circumstances, we are being prepared by the Lord to reign with him. Do not take
even your minor trials lightly, or resent your bitter ones. They are God’s method of training
you for the throne. If you yield to him in them, you will be prepared. If not, you will not be
trained for the throne when the kingdom comes. If you cannot reign over a circumstance in
your life, how can you reign over a city?
Entrance into the kingdom in manifestation is different from salvation by grace. It is
not a gift, but a reward. All who trust Christ will be finally and eternally saved, but only
those whose works are worthy of it will gain a place in the kingdom. But always bear in mind
that the works of the Christian are not just what seem good to him, but the will of God, and
that they are not done in the strength of the Christian, but in the power of the Holy Spirit.
And keep in mind also that the fact that we earn a reward is in itself grace. Why do we work
for the Lord? Grace. We will see this truth developed in Mt. 20.
With these thoughts about the Sermon on the Mount, we turn now to the Scriptures
themselves.

Now when he saw the crowds he went up into the mountain, and when he sat down his
disciples came to him, 2and opening his mouth he was teaching them saying, 3

“Blessed are
the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. 4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted. 5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. 7Blessed are
the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see
God. 9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called God’s sons. 10Blessed are those
who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of the
heavens. 11Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and falsely speak every evil
against you for my sake. 12Rejoice and be glad, for much is your reward in the heavens. For
so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

In Mt. 5.1, we learn that the Lord Jesus, when he had seen the multitudes of 4.25 who
flocked to him for healing, went up into a mountain, where his disciples came to him, and he
taught them, the disciples. No doubt the crowds came and heard his teaching, too, as 7.28
indicates, but the words were addressed to the disciples. This fact confirms our belief that the
Sermon was addressed to Christians, not to people in general. Further, it shows us the nature
of the ministry of the Lord Jesus. The crowds were interested in healings. Jesus was
interested in the word of God for people. It is not that he cared nothing for the healings, for it
was he doing them, but he knew that they were temporary: all those people he healed
eventually died, even the ones he raised from the dead. Of far greater importance is spiritual
health, for it is eternal, and it comes from the word of God.
It is a remarkable thing for a preacher to leave a crowd! A crowd is one thing a
preacher lives for! Yet the Lord Jesus left his crowd and began teaching twelve men. What a
comprehension of the ways of God he had, and of God’s specific will for him while he was on
earth.
The teachings of the Sermon on the Mount begin with words about the kind of people
who live under the spiritual rule of God now, and who will have a place in the visible
kingdom. The first twelve verses comprise what we know as the Beatitudes, or blessings. The
first statement is perhaps the foundation of all: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of the heavens.” The truth is that we are all poor in spirit. The Bible teaches
that man consists of body, the physical, soul, the psychological (from the Greek word for
“soul,” psyche), and spirit, the immaterial aspect that is able to know God. It is God’s
intention that people be ruled by their spirits under the rule of the Holy Spirit, but the
problem is that peoples’ spirits are dead toward God because of sin (Eph. 2.1: that is why
new birth is necessary, the bringing to life of our spirits by the entrance of the Holy Spirit),
with the result that people are ruled by some aspect of their souls, either the intellect or the
emotions or the will power. Most are ruled by some combination of their minds and
emotions, with a little will thrown in. They do things their minds know they have to do, such
as making a living, but their responses to life are largely feeling-based and their happiness or
lack of it, their psychological condition, is mostly a matter of feelings. If people feel down,
they tend to accept the feeling and let it control them, not realizing that they have a choice
not to be ruled by emotions. In this condition of spirits dead toward God and dominated by
the soul, rather than ruling as God intended, all of us are poor in the spirit. We have nothing
to commend us to God.
The problem is that many, probably most, do not recognize this fact of no standing
before God. While almost everyone would admit that he has committed sins, not many
would admit that their sins are bad enough to be deserving of hell. The average person
believes in God and Heaven, and believes that he will go to Heaven because he has not been
a bad person or because his good outweighs his bad. It is salvation by works, completely
opposite to the Bible’s teaching of salvation by grace through faith. Instead of admitting
complete poverty of spirit, most would maintain some standing before God on the basis of
personal merit. Others go to extremes of self-righteousness.
Perhaps the best commentary on this matter of poverty of spirit is found in Lk. 18.9-14,
the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector who went to the temple to pray at the same
time. The Pharisee was thanking God that he was not like other men, stating his virtues,

naming some of their sins, and pointing out the tax collector to God. The tax collector would
not even look up toward Heaven, but smote his breast and cried out, “God, be merciful to me
the sinner!” The Lord Jesus said that the tax collector, not the Pharisee, went home justified.
Both were poor in spirit, but the tax collector knew and admitted it, while the Pharisee
maintained that he deserved standing before God.
This awareness of poverty of spirit is foundational because it corresponds with the
message of John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus, “Repent.” We saw that repentance is the first
step into the kingdom. An awareness and admission of poorness of spirit is the first step into
repentance.
This word was spoken to the Jews, whose background was all law. Law must
ultimately lead to one of three destinations, self-righteousness, despair, or apathy. Those who
think they have kept the law will be proud of themselves for having done so and will think
God owes them. Those who do not will despair of gaining the favor of God. Many who know
they have not will give up trying and just go on with life. The message of the Lord Jesus is
that those who recognize their failure to keep the law as poverty of spirit and admit it will
find his favor. For that matter, the self-righteous and the apathetic can recognize their error
and repent, too.
What will be the result of admitting poverty of the spirit? “Their is the kingdom of the
heavens.” Those who truly make this confession will know the rule of God in their lives
spiritually now, and they will be prepared for a place in the visible kingdom of Christ on
earth.
The next statement is, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
Everyone mourns, for everyone knows loss in this life. Thus the mourning that the Lord
speaks of is not the mourning common to all people. It is a direct result of the awareness of
poverty of spirit. The one who truly knows his emptiness of anything acceptable to God, and
his having hurt by his sins the God who loves him and gave his Son to die for him, will
mourn this condition. Further, he will mourn the condition of the world as a result of what
man has done with it. God made man to have dominion for him, but man chose a new god
and has ruled the earth under the direction of this new god. And look at what he has done to
God’s creation! We would be hard-pressed to list all the staggering problems that face man
today. Pollution of the physical earth may threaten the health of all. Untold suffering has
been inflicted on millions by the cruelty of tyrants, and goes on at this hour. Governments
cannot come up with enough money to meet the demands of their citizens for something for
nothing. Drugs are poisoning a generation and fueling the crime which is largely out of
control. Material poverty afflicts the majority of mankind. On and on we could go. The world
is desperate and looks for answers everywhere except where they can be found. This
situation will probably have to do with the rise of Antichrist, who will apparently promise
answers and be able to deliver to some extent, until he reveals his true colors. The one who
knows the Lord can only mourn over this condition into which people have brought God’s
creation.
More than anything else, he will mourn over the dishonoring of God that his own sin
and that of the world perpetuate. This is God’s world. He made it. Yet God is a joke to his
own world and his holy name is a curse word. How can a child of God help but mourn at
such a fact? O that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord would fill the earth and that the

name of God would enjoy the honor it is due! The post-exilic Jew, however little he may have
known of spiritual things, would not even speak the name of God out of reverence. We could
learn from such an attitude.
The result of such mourning over poverty of spirit, both personal and social, is
comfort. The Greek verb for “comfort” is parakaleo, the noun form of which is parakletos, used
by the Lord Jesus of the Holy Spirit and translated by various versions as Comforter,
Counselor, Helper, Exhorter, Encourager, Advocate. The one who knows mourning for his
own poverty of spirit and that of the world will know the comfort of the Holy Spirit in his
heart now, and will ultimately know the comfort of deliverance from such conditions in the
earthly kingdom of God.
“Blessed are the humble,” we read, “for they will inherit the earth.” Who controls
the earth now? The proud, the strong, the grasping. The humble who do not assert
themselves usually have little of this world’s goods. It is true that God does give some of his
people the ability to make money, and they should realize that this is a ministry to him, to be

used to support his work, not for selfish indulgence. But the general rule is that it is the self-
asserting who gain the earth and its wealth.

All the humble of the world lose out, but the Lord is not talking about all the humble
in this general way, for he holds out the promise of reward for this humility. It is possible to
be humble in this world in the sense of poor and nonassertive, and to be just as money-loving
as a rich man, and just as proud in heart, though not all the rich are money-loving and proud,
some being yielded to the Lord. NO, the Lord Jesus is dealing with humility toward God.
Again, it grows out of awareness of poverty of spirit. The self-righteous maintain their rights
before God. The humble acknowledge that they have none. And the Bible says that God
opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (Ps. 138.6, Prov. 3.34, Ja. 4.6, 1 Pt. 5.5).
Those who admit their emptiness before God and submit themselves to his rule, and
who thus withdraw from the world’s mad rush for wealth, will not inherit the earth
physically in this life, but they will inherit it spiritually and eeternally. In the Old Testament,
all the promises of God to the Jews were bound up with the promised land. They had to be in
that land to enjoy the promises of God. In our age, Christians have no such physical
promises. God does not promise us physical peace, prosperity, and health, as he did the Jews.
But all the physical promises to the Jews are true spiritually for Christians. Those who walk
with the Lord now have spiritual peace, prosperity, and health regardless of physical
conditions. They inherit the land spiritually now.
And they will inherit it in the visible kingdom, too. We would not say that they inherit
it physically, for there is a difference. The Jews who are faithful to God will inherit the
physical promised land in the kingdom of God and will be the leading nation of the world.
But just as the material is ruled by spiritual forces now, (Dan. 4.26, Eph. 3.10, 6.12, Col. 1.16),
so will it be in the millennium. It is the Christians who are obedient to the Lord now and who
are trained by their circumstances and trials to reign with the Lord who will exercise the
spiritual oversight of the physical world. In that sense, those who are humble before the Lord
will now inherit the earth. It is spiritual now, entirely internal in nature, in knowing the
spiritual blessings of God in this life, even in the midst of outward difficulty, and it will be
spiritual, but external, ruling over the physical earth from the heavens, in the millennial

kingdom. Those who grasp for the earth now will control it for a while, but will ultimately
lose it. Those who are humble before God now will inherit it then.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be
satisfied.” This is another of those verses in the Sermon on the Mount that is used as a kind
of general ethical command for the world at large. The thought is that people should work
for social justice. While it is true that social justice is desirable and will characterize the
actions of God’s people now and in his earthly kingdom, that is not the basic or primary
meaning of this statement. Social justice must be based on something, and that is the first
meaning of the blessing by the Lord Jesus. Let us begin with it.
The word “righteousness” is first a legal term. It does not just mean the doing of good,
but the keeping of the law. When he Bible says that God is righteous, it means that he gives
the law and requires people to keep it. The word “justification” is the same word in Greek. It
means that one is not guilty before the law: he has kept the law. He is righteous or just.
No one has kept the law perfectly, so no one is justified or righteous before God.
Therefore all are lost and there is no hope for man within himself. When a person realizes his
lost and hopeless condition before God, he has a hunger and a thirst for righteousness, for
justification, for acquittal, that he cannot attain. But, the Lord Jesus says, there is an answer
for the one who so desires to be righteous, to be justified, before God. God himself, the
offended one, made provision for people, the offenders. He sent Jesus Christ into the world
to live a sinless life, and thus be qualified to die a sacrificial death as an unblemished Lamb.
As a result, our sins can be forgiven and we can be righteous in Christ. He himself is our
righteousness. Paul says as much in 1 Cor. 1.30 and 2 Cor. 5.21. Christ our righteousness is
salvation and eternal life. This is available to all by grace through faith as the free gift of God.
The one who hungers and thirsts for this righteousness is satisfied through faith now in the
knowledge of salvation.
But there is a second aspect of righteousness. After one has found Christ as
righteousness for salvation, he begins to desire to live a life of obedience pleasing to God.
This is the righteousness of good works, which Paul, again, points out in Eph. 2.10. The Bible
makes a very clear distinction between the free gift of salvation and the reward for obedience
to God. We will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, not to be saved or condemned,
but as his saved ones to be rewarded, or to suffer loss, for our deeds as Christians (Rom.
14.10, 1 Cor. 3.12-15, 2 Cor. 5.10).
The Apostle John says that our righteous deeds constitute a garment of linen that we
will wear as the bride of Christ (Rev. 19.8). But not every Christian will have a wedding
garment, and thus not every Christian will be a part of the bride of Christ. Mt. 22.1-14 tells
the parable of the wedding feast, and we learn in vs. 11-13 that one was present who did not
have a wedding garment, the linen garment of righteous deeds of Rev. 19.8. Thus he was
thrown out. We must take it that this one who was thrown out was a Christian, or he could
not have gotten into the wedding hall in the first place. But he had not lived a life of
obedience to the Lord, and thus had not used his life to weave a wedding garment of
righteous deeds.
This is the second aspect of righteousness, and the Christian who loves God and wants
to serve him has a hunger and thirst for this righteousness. He wants to please the Lord, and

he wants to help make up the bride that Christ longs to claim for his own. He wants to have a
garment of linen, of righteous deeds, to wear to the wedding feast of the Lamb.
The Lord Jesus says that the one who has this hunger and thirst will be satisfied. He
will know the joy of obeying the Lord and being used by him now, in part, and he will know
it fully in the visible kingdom at the return of Christ.
These two aspects of righteousness, Christ our righteousness for salvation and our
righteous deeds in him, are the basis of social justice. We do not mean to say that Christians
who feel called by God to engage in social action should not do so, but it should be clearly
understood by the Lord’s people that justice will not rule the earth until Christ returns. All
Christians should treat others justly, and those who are called to do so should engage in
social ministries, but the basic problem with the world is that it is governed by the wrong
ruler, Satan, and it will not change until he is deposed and the right King, the Lord Jesus
Christ, takes the throne of this world. Then, in the cry of Amos, will “justice roll down as
waters, and righteousness as an ever-flowing stream” (5.24).
Those who hunger and thirst for the injustice of this world to be ended and for
righteousness to reign will be satisfied, perhaps in small measure now, but primarily when
Christ returns and establishes his kingdom on earth. Peter tells us in 2 Pt. 3.13 that in the new
heavens and new earth righteousness will dwell. There will not be any injustice. Those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied.
So we see three aspects of righteousness, Christ our righteousness for salvation, our
righteous deeds in obedience to God, and justice in the world under its righteous King, Jesus
Christ.
Mercy is the next matter brought up for consideration by the Lord Jesus in these
sayings: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” Mercy and grace are very
similar, but there is a difference. Both have to do with undeserved love, though there is much
more to them than that. Grace comes out of the nature of God and is not a response to
anything in its recipient, but is an expression of God himself. The recipient cannot cause or
stop the grace of God by anything he is or does. Mercy, on the other hand, is God’s response
to the misery of the sufferer, whatever the suffering may be. The Lord Jesus healed the sick,
cast out demons, even raised the dead in response to the needs of people.
Most of all, God’s mercy toward us is his response to our misery in sin, providing a
remedy and not holding us accountable if we turn to him in faith. All of us are sinners and all
stand in need of the mercy of God. How, then, can we demand that others be required to pay
for their sins when we desire mercy for ourselves? It is so easy for us to condemn the other
person while finding good reasons for our doing the same thing. Ja. 2.13 tells us that
judgment will be merciless to the one who has shown no mercy, but that the mercy of one
who is merciful will boast over the judgment he would otherwise have received.
We need to understand again that these sayings of the Lord have to do with the
kingdom. He is not saying that a person receives mercy in the sense of being saved by being
merciful. That would be salvation by works. He is dealing with Christian behavior. The
Christian who is hard and demanding on other Christians, not allowing for their weakness as
he does for his own, will not receive mercy from the Lord in the matter of rewards. He will be
held to strict account for his failures. The Christian who is merciful toward other Christians,
sympathizing with the weakness of the flesh because he knows his own, will receive mercy

from the Lord in the kingdom. His reward will be a merciful overlooking by the Lord of his
failures. Mt. 18.21-35 is a parable that illustrates this truth, which we will consider when we
come to it.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” What does it mean to be pure
in heart? It means to have only one God and to be wholly devoted to him. None of us as
Christians would bow down to an idol, and none of us would say that there are other gods
besides God. Yet we all have other gods to some extent. When we put something ahead of
God, we are making that thing our God, worshipping it, serving it. That is impurity of heart.
Most Christians would not put evil things in the place of God, such as an open love of
money or the pursuit of bodily pleasure. Yet probably all of us have to admit a problem with
money and with our bodily appetites, and we may put things that are good in themselves
before the Lord. The Lord Jesus said, “If anyone comes to me an does not hate his father and
mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and even his own soul, he cannot be
my disciple” (Lk. 14.26). Our families are good things, blessings of the Lord, but they must be
surrendered to him. He must be our only God. That is purity of heart. Abraham is an
example. Isaac was his only son and he loved him, and he, Isaac, was a good thing, the
miraculous gift of God. But when God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, he did not
hesitate. He was pure in heart. God was his only God and Abraham was wholly his. He gave
up his dearest earthly treasure to his God.
Just as Mt. 5.8 says that we must be pure in heart to see God, Heb. 12.14 says that we
must have holiness to see the Lord. Becoming holy is the process of becoming pure in heart.
None of us is pure in heart, but the one who desires to be and gives himself to the Lord will
find the Holy Spirit working in him to purify him. More and more he will be drawn away
from this world and the things in the world, even the good things, and more and more he
will enthrone God in his life. Those impurities, those false gods, will be done away with
through the dealings of the Lord.
The result will be that we will see the Lord. Imagine that first glimpse of the face of the
Lord Jesus, the one who died for us! We do not know what it will be like to see God the
Father. Revelation describes the glory of his presence as the light that illumines the new
Jerusalem. The Bible says that no man can see God, but Mt. 5.8 says that the pure in heart will
see him. We will have to wait to see what that means, but it will be worth the wait! In the
kingdom, the Lord Jesus will be the visibly reigning King. We will be like him for we will see
him as he is (1 Jn. 3.2). This vision of the Lord is a reward for purity of heart.
“Blessed are those who make peace, for they will be called sons of God,” has often
been taken to mean that Christians should work for the elimination of war, and indeed, many
peace movements use this verse. While it is true that war is not a part of God’s plan for his
world and that Christians should do whatever they can to avoid war, when one considers
this verse in connection with other Scriptures, he will see that this cannot be the meaning.
The Lord Jesus himself said that there would be wars and rumors of wars right up to the end,
and that indeed, the final episode of history will be the great war against Israel and Jerusalem
and then Armageddon. We need not expect that wars will cease so long as the “god of
fortresses” (Dan. 11.38), the one who “was a murderer from the beginning” (Jn. 8.44), rules
this world. Only the Prince of Peace will bring peace. Christians may help to avert a given
conflict, but they will not bring wars to an end.

What then does the Lord mean when he refers to those who make peace? His basic
and primary meaning is peace between God and men. First there is peace with God. Paul
writes in Rom. 5.1 that we who have been justified have peace with God. Then he says in
Rom. 5.10 that we were all enemies of God, but then he refers in Eph. 6.15 to those who have
their feet shod with the “readiness of the gospel of peace.” Those former enemies of God who
have come to reconciliation with him have the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5.18). This is
the evangelistic ministry of the church. It is the task of those who have come to peace with
God trying to bring others to that same peace. Thus they are those who make peace.
Then there is the peace of God. Peace with God is a legal matter. Christ died for our
sins to provide forgiveness and acceptance by God. All who accept his free offer by faith have
peace with God. But the peace of God is not a judicial standing of acquittal before him, but
the assurance within the heart of his love and care. Negatively it is the absence of worry.
Positively it is rest because of trust in God. Many Christians, trusting God for eternal life, do
not trust him for daily life. They think God can save them forever, but they do not think he
can take care of the matter before them. Or perhaps they think he can, but do not think he
will. It is God’s desire for his children to come to a place of such trust in him that they do not
worry, but know his peace in their hearts. That is the peace of God. Those who have found
such peace are to lead other Christians into the same experience. By so doing, they are those
who make peace.
We noted above that this matter of peace between God and men is the basic meaning
of the Lord in this statement. It is true that a part of the peacemaking ministry of Christians is
to promote peace between and among men, especially within the body of Christ. It is not the
will of God for there to be disunion in the church. Our unity is a testimony to the world of
the truth of the good news (Jn. 17.21). Where there is disharmony among brothers, those who
know God’s peace are to work to resolve the difficulty, not just bringing about a cessation of
hostilities, but peace, real peace, between the parties involved. Peace in the Bible is not just
the absence of conflict, but well-being. To make peace among fellow believers is to bring real
love and harmony among them. We may not agree on every matter of doctrine and practice,
but that is no reason not to love one another or to have division. Only the Lord knows all the
truth: none of us do. Where we disagree on some matter that cannot be decided with finality
in this life, let us give it to the Lord and go on loving one another and fellowshipping with
one another. Those who promote this approach are those who make peace.
These, the Lord says, will be called sons of God. The idea of sons in the New
Testament has to do with maturity. Children are new believers or those who have not grown
in the faith. Sons are maturing Christians, not perfect, by any means, but maturing. It takes a
measure of maturity to being peace with God, the peace of God, and peace among people.
Furthermore, it is sons who inherit. This matter of inheritance is of great importance in
the Bible. In the Old Testament, it has to do with the Jews inheriting their land, the promised
land of blessing. In the New Testament, it has to do with being fellow heirs with Christ (Rom.
8.17, 2 Tim. 2.12), whom God has made his Heir (Heb. 1.2) and to whom he intends to give
everything. All Christians will be eternally saved, but not all Christians will inherit in the
kingdom when the Lord returns. And we have seen that Matthew is the gospel of the
kingdom. Those making peace in this life, who bring the lost to peace with God and
Christians into a deeper trust in God and who bring peace among men, will be called sons,

mature, or at least maturing, able to inherit, when the kingdom comes. Rev. 21.7 says that the
one who overcomes, not just the one who accepts the free offer of salvation, but the one who
gives himself to the Lord and is victorious in the Lord in the battle with the enemy, will
inherit and will be God’s son. How vital it is that we be sons, believers maturing in the Lord,
and that involves making peace, peace with God, the peace of God, peace among brothers
and sisters in the Lord.

Take note, too, that Rom. 8.17 and 2 Tim. 2.12 both say, “if we suffer with him.” Peace-
making can be a battle, for there are those who oppose it, and certainly the devil does.

Anyone who has come out for the Lord and desires to be holy knows that there is a measure
of suffering in the Chrisgian walk. Heb. 2.10 and 5.8 tell us that the Lord Jesus himself was
matured and learned obedience from the things that he suffered. If we would inherit our
place in the kingdom, we will know suffering.
Vs. 10-12 speak of the blessedness of those who are persecuted for the sake of
righteousness and because they belong to Christ. Again we need to understand that the
Sermon on the Mount has to do with the kingdom, with the way those should live who want
to gain a place in the earthly kingdom when Christ appears in his glory. There is a great
conflict going on in this world. Satan is presently the ruler of this world (Jn. 12.31). When
Christ came the first time, he launched an invasion into enemy territory designed to dislodge
its ruler and replace him with the world’s rightful Ruler. He won the battle finally on the
cross, but he has chosen to allow Satan to continue operating and to leave us in this world for
a time, to bring others to him and to train us to reign with him in his kingdom. Thus we are
engaged in the same war, the fight to remove Satan from the throne of this world and to
replace him with Jesus Christ. Since we are invaders in enemy territory, whose goal is the
overthrow of the government of this world and the establishment of a new government, we
can expect nothing less than persecution from its ruler. We are a threat to his position. The
Lord will use us to drive him out, and Satan knows that and responds accordingly.
That is why Paul says in Rom. 8.17 that if we suffer with Christ we will be glorified
with him, and in 2 Tim. 2.12 that we would reign with him if we suffer with him. He went
through suffering to glory because Satan opposed him. (It was the will of God for his Son to
suffer, and not something that Satan was able to do apart from God, but the opposition of
Satan to God and his purpose in Christ is the underlying reason for the suffering of the Lord.
God willed for him to suffer for our redemption and Satan opposed that.) If he went through
suffering to glory, that is the only way for us. Again, salvation is a free gift, but we are not
dealing with salvation, but with a place in the kingdom. It is those who walk the path of
Christ who will have that place, and his path led to the cross. The way to glory goes through
suffering.
That is why Paul says in Acts 14.22 that “through many tribulations we must enter
into the kingdom of God.” We enter salvation freely, but we must fight our way and endure
our way into the kingdom. The kingdom is first God’s rule in our lives now and ultimately
his visible rule on the earth. Satan does not want us saved to begin with, but if we are saved,
he does not want us to be ruled by God, for then we will be used by God in his dislodging of
Satan. We will be opposed every step of the way. But if we endure the tribulations faithful to
God, we will indeed enter the kingdom, both spiritually now and visibly in the end.

That is the reason Paul writes in 2 Tim. 3.12, “And indeed all who wish to live godly in
Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Satan, like any ruler, will not stand idly by while his throne
is threatened. He will go on the attack against those who are trying to remove him.
But, says the Lord, those who experience such attacks are blessed! This seems a
strange blessing! Why are they blessed? Because they have something of eternal value. The
lost who escape persecution by going along with Satan and the world will lose all they have.
Christians who do so will know eternal life, but they will lose reward (1 Cor. 3.12-15). They
will have nothing of eternal value other than life itself (a gift certainly not to be minimized),
but those who accept persecution for the Lord’s sake will be storing up treasure in Heaven.
They will be glorified with the Lord in his kingdom.
In closing our thoughts on this section of the Sermon on the Mount, let us note that the
word translated “blessed” has the fundamental meaning of “happy.” The world says that
happiness is found in money and pleasure and such things, all of which come down to living
for self. The condition of the world is ample testimony to the accuracy of such a claim. The
Lord Jesus says that happiness is the result of awareness of poverty of spirit and of mourning
over it, of humility, of hungering and thirsting for righteousness, of mercy, of purity of heart,
of making peace, and yes, of being persecuted for the Lord. For those who walk this way,
that first vision of the Lord of glory on his throne in his kingdom will prove the truth of this
claim. We have foretastes of that happiness now as we experience the Lord here, but we will
not know what happiness really is until that moment. It will surpass our greatest dreams.
May the Lord hasten its arrival.

The Sermon on the Mount
Part II, Salt and Light
Matthew 5.13-16

13″You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt become tasteless, with what will it be made
salty? It is no longer capable of anything but to be thrown out to be trampled by men.
14You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. 15Neither do
they light a lamp and put it under the basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all
who are in the house. 16Let you light so shine before men that they may see your good
works and give glory to your Father who is in the heavens.
The first twelve verses of Mt. 5, known as the Beatitudes, deal with the kind of people
the Lord wants his people to be. They set forth character traits he wants them to possess. Vs.
13-16 deal with a second matter. They start with the words of the Lord, “You are the salt of
the earth.” The key to understanding this passage is a knowledge of the meaning of salt in it.
In the Old Testament, salt is used in four ways. In Lev. 2.13, we learn that the offerings
were to be seasoned with salt and read of the salt of the covenant. Num. 18.19 and 2 Chron.
13.5 mention a covenant of salt. What is pictured by salt in these verses?
One of the primary uses of salt is as a preservative. It keeps meats and other food
products from rotting. When we read in Heb. 13.20 about the eternal covenant in connection
with the idea of a covenant of salt or the salt of the covenant of Lev. 2.13, we see that salt as a
preservative in this usage pictures eternity. God’s covenant is eternal. What is symbolized by

the sacrificial system is eternal, though the system itself is not. So the first picture painted by
salt in the Old Testament is preservation.
Dt. 29.23 connects salt with a desert land, and thus shows it as preventing growth. Jud.
9.45 and Zech. 2.9 have the same thought. This is the second use of salt, a symbol of
desolation.
In 2 Kings 2.19-22 we read of Elisha casting salt into bad water to purify it. The
Hebrew actually says the salt healed the water. Thus the thought of purification is the third
way in which salt is used.
The most obvious use of salt comes in Job 6.6, where Job asks the question, “Can that
which has no flavor be eaten without salt…?” This is not really a picture, but the common use
of salt. It is to provide flavor.
Which of these meanings does salt have in Mt. 5.13? In vs. 13-16, the Lord Jesus uses
both salt and light to illustrate the same point. He says that Christians are the salt of the earth
and the light of the world. Thus salt and light must have something in common. If we take
salt as meaning, in this passage, a preservative, desolation, or purification, it is difficult to see
how light could have anything in common with it. Light is not a preservative, and indeed can
hasten destruction. It can make desolate if there is too much of it, but how would that apply
to Christians? And light is necessary for life and growth. Light does not purify.
That leaves taste, and that seems to be the meaning employed in this statement of the
Lord. Indeed, the saying itself asks what is to be done with salt that has become tasteless. The
objection might be raised that light does not have a taste. That is true, but salt as a flavoring
and light do have something in common. That is that neither can or should be hidden. They
are to be noticed. Salt is added to be tasted. Light is given to be seen.
The point is that the people who have the character traits of vs. 1-12 are also to do
something, and that is that they are to bear their testimony as Christians. They are not to lose
their flavor or hide their light, but to let it be noticed. This does not mean that they are to
parade it, but it does mean that they are to seek opportunities to share the good news, and
they are not to hide the fact that they are believers. It is hypocritical to pretend to be a
Christian when one is not, or to be “a better Christian” than one is, but it is also hypocritical
to pretend not to be a Christian when one is. It is vital that the Lord’s people bear his
testimony. Christians who do not bear testimony are of no more use to the Lord than salt that
has lost its taste or light that is hidden under a measuring pot.
Paul says in Rom. 10.9-10 that confession of the Lord Jesus with the mouth is necessary
for salvation, and the beloved apostle tells us in Jn. 12.42-43 that many of the rulers of the
Jews believed in him, but were afraid to admit it openly for fear of being put out of the
synagogue, loving the glory of men more than the glory of God. The implication is that,
though they believed, they were not saved. Public confession is an essential ingredient. The
Lord’s people must bear his testimony.
It is the beloved apostle again who tells us of the Lord with eyes like a flame of fire
among the lampstands in Rev. 1. What is he looking for with those fiery, penetrating eyes?
He is among the lampstands, the churches, and lampstands are for giving light, then the
same truth we are considering in Mt. 5.13-16 applies. That is, the churches are to bear the
testimony of Jesus, and that is what he is looking for. And it is a very serious matter. He says
in Rev. 2.5 that a lampstand can be removed if it does not bear the testimony. So that we do

not doubt the importance of the idea of the testimony in the book of Revelation, let us note
that the word occurs some nine times, in 1.2, 9, 6.9, 11.7, 12.11, 17, 19.10, and 20.4. These
verses should be read in this connection.
The point of Mt. 5.13-16 is that the Lord’s people are to bear his testimony, to be salt
and light, to be noticed. No one can mistake when salt is present or when light is present.
They are meant to be noticed. Of course, they are to be noticed in such a way that the Lord
gets the glory: “So let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and
glorify your Father who is in the heavens.” We are not to glorify ourselves by our good
works, but the Lord who is really the one doing them in us.
There is a secondary truth about salt that comes from its use as a flavoring, one that
also draws on its use as a preservative. We have taken its primary meaning to be that the
world is to notice the Lord’s testimony in his people. The world is to taste the salt. But the
Lord is also to taste the salt. Salt as a preservative does not keep something alive, but keeps
something dead from rotting. As such it also imparts its taste, so that salt-preserved meant,
for example, tastes salty. The world is dead, and thus would have a rotten taste to God if it
were not for the salt that preserves it, and God would vomit it out in judgment, just as he will
vomit out the lukewarm Laodicean church of Rev. 3. But because Christians are in the world,
it has an acceptable taste to the Lord and judgment is delayed. But there is coming a day
when the salt will be removed from the world, when the Lord’s people are caught up to be
with him. Then the rotting of the world will proceed apace, and it will not be long until God,
with the unbearable taste in his mouth, lets judgment fall. This is the meaning of such
passages as 1 Tim. 4.1-3 and 2 Tim. 3.1-9 that deal with the intensification of evil in the last
days, a process we can already see going on. How rapidly the world will decay when there is
no salt to preserve it! At the same time, it will lose all palatability to God, and he will judge it.
Might this have to do with the meaning of what and who restrains in 2 Thess. 2.5-6?
Christians are to be a taste to the world, bearing the testimony of Jesus, but they are
also to be a taste to God, preserving the world from judgment until God’s time comes.

The Sermon on the Mount
Part III, The Law
Matthew 5.17-48

17″Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets, for I did not come to destroy,
but to fulfill. 18For amen I say to you, until the sky and the earth pass away, one iota or one
serif may not pass away from the law until all things take place. 19Whoever therefore sets
aside one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches men, will be called least in
the kingdom of the heavens, but he who does and teaches them, this one will be called
great in the kingdom of the heavens. 20For I say to you that unless your righteousness
abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom
of the heavens.
Vs. 17-20 of Mt. 5 constitute a transition between vs. 1-16 and 21-48. In vs. 1-16, the
Lord Jesus is dealing with the way into the kingdom, but he does not set forth the law as the
way in. He says that the way into the kingdom begins with certain character traits and goes

on to the bearing of the Lord’s testimony. Thus the charge might be leveled that he came to
abolish the law. We will see that what the Lord says in vs. 21-48 might open him to the same
charge. There he goes beyond the law. The rabbis taught the law, but the Lord did not. Thus
he was accused of coming to abolish the law, the very heart of Judaism.
But, says the Lord Jesus, that is not true. He did not come to abolish the law, but to
fulfill it. There are three ways in which he came to fulfill the law. First, he fulfilled it himself.
That is, he kept it perfectly. He is the only sinless person who has ever lived. He is the only
one who can appear before God and claim access based on his own merits. God can find no
fault in him. He cannot point to the smallest iota (the smallest Greek letter) or the smallest
serif (the smallest part of a letter) as having been violated by his Son.
Second, the Lord came to fulfill the law by showing us how to keep it. It is not kept by

self-effort, as the Jews taught. We have already seen that that approach leads to self-
righteousness or despair or apathy. No one is able to keep the law perfectly. The way to keep

the law is to be changed within, by developing the character qualities set forth in the
Beatitudes, starting with poverty of spirit. The person who has these traits will please the
Lord, not perfectly, of course, any more than any Jew kept the law perfectly, but God will see
him in Christ, and all that God can see in Christ is perfection. The person who comes to God
on his own merits will be seen by God to be full of faults. The one who comes in Christ will
be seen to be full of Christ, and there is only perfection in him. Of course, God knows our
flesh and our sins. He is not playing a game or trying to fool himself. But he chooses to see us
in Christ in the light of what he has done for us. We are new men and women in him. And
God is seeing us as we will be in the kingdom, when we have been completely removed from
the penalty, the power, and the very presence of sin.
And let us say, too, that the law we are writing about does not include the ceremonial
Jewish laws. These were all types of the person and work of the Lord Jesus. We now have the
finished reality and no longer need the types. It is those parts of the law that have to do with
how we treat God and other people, the ten commandments, and so forth. Love will keep all
those without giving it a thought.
In saying that we need to keep the law and teach others to do so, we need also to state
a very important fact. That is that we are under grace, not law (Rom. 6.14-15). A number of
Scriptures underline the implications of this truth. In Rom. 13.8 and 10 Paul says that the one
who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. In Gal. 5.14 he writes that the whole law is
fulfilled in the practicing one verse of Scripture: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”
(Lev. 19.18). Ja. 2.8 seconds this statement. And the Lord Jesus himself said in Mt. 22.37-40
that the whole law hangs on two commandments: Love God and love your neighbor. Love
God and love your neighbor and you will keep the law without knowing it. Mk. 12.33 tells us
of a scribe who said to the Lord that loving God and one’s neighbor “is more than all burnt
offerings and sacrifices,” and the Lord approved of that statement, commending the scribe.
Those burnt offerings and sacrifices were part of the law. In Jn. 13.34-35 the Lord gave a new
commandment, or we might say a new law, that we ”…love one another.” It is not a legalistic
matter, but a heart matter. If you love, you will not do wrong. You keep the law without
knowing it or thinking about it.
Another way of keeping the law is by bearing the testimony of Jesus. The one who is
concerned to bear his testimony is also going to be concerned to please the Lord. One would

not, or should not, want to give testimony that he is a Christian and then do things that make
God a reproach in the world (Rom. 2.24). The bearing of the testimony helps to keep us on
track in our behavior. But again, it is an inward matter. If a person has been changed within
so that his concern is to glorify the Lord, he will also want to please the Lord, and that is
what keeping the law is all about. We do not try to keep the law. We do what comes
naturally when we have been changed, and the law is kept!
The third way in which the Lord came to fulfill the law was by establishing his
kingdom on earth. We have not yet seen that fulfillment, of course, but when he returns, not
in hiddenness and humility, but in openness and glory, and takes the throne of the world, the
law of God will be the law of all the world and will be enforced. The law of God will literally
be kept in all the world. But again, it is not a matter of all of us concentrating on keeping the
law. We concentrate on our Lord and he lives in us by his Spirit, doing only what is right.
Paul tells us in 1 Tim. 1.9 that the law is for those who don’t keep it. For us who are
committed to the Lord, the law is virtually irrelevant. The one who loves his neighbor has
fulfilled the law. Don’t keep your mind on the law. Forget about it, except in preaching the
good news to the lost, and keep your mind on the Lord.
In v. 18, the Lord uses a bit of hyperbole. Hyperbole is the device of using
exaggeration to emphasize something or to make a point. He says that until the sky and earth
pass away, not one iota or one serif of the law will pass away. Of course, sky and earth will
never pass away. The sky and the earth will be purged by fire, but they will never pass away.
Therefore the law will not pass away.
The scribes and Pharisees felt that they deserved greatness in the kingdom of God
because they kept the law. But greatness does not come by the way they handled the law. We
will not go into it until Mt. 15, but the scribes and Pharisees set aside the law by their
additions to it and interpretations of it. Greatness in the kingdom is the result of actually
keeping the law and of teaching others to do so, and that, as we have tried to stress, does not
come by self-effort, but by being changed within by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Other than
the Lord Jesus as a man, no one is able to keep the law. We must have him inside us. And the
beginning point of that is Mt. 5.3, poverty of spirit, something the scribes and Pharisees knew
nothing about. They thought they kept the law and were proud of it. They were seemingly
rich in spirit. Such an attitude gets nowhere with God. So the Lord said, in effect, Forget
about greatness in the kingdom. “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and
Pharisees, you will not [even] enter into the kingdom of the heavens,” much less attain
greatness in it. Their righteousness is self-righteousness. The righteousness that enters and
attains greatness in the kingdom is that of Mt. 5.6, the recognition that one is poor in spirit
and has no claim on God whatever, yet hungers and thirsts for justification before God, a life
pleasing to God, and the reign of the Lord Jesus in righteousness on the earth.
It is interesting and instructive, is it not, how we keep coming back to Mt. 5.3? We
need to have the character traits of the Beatitudes. We need to bear the testimony of Jesus. We
need to keep the law and teach others to do so. But it all begins with poverty of spirit. How
we long to find something in ourselves that will commend us to God. We try so hard to
justify ourselves, if only in some small way. But there is nothing! We are utterly destitute
before God. We deserve nothing from him but judgment. All our righteous deeds are like
filthy garments (Is. 64.6). We are poor in spirit. When we understand that fact and admit it,

God has something to work with. Then he can begin to form Christ in us (Gal. 4.19), and he is
altogether lovely. He is rich. He is pleasing to his Father. He is our righteousness. The Lord
be praised!
Having declared that he came to fulfill the law and that righteousness that gains the
kingdom surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, in v. 21 the Lord deals with the law
itself. He brings up five areas of the law and shows what he means by fulfilling it, and how
the righteousness of his followers is to surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees. Several
truths emerge as we go through these examples. The first is that we see the Lord teaching
with authority. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, in 7.28-29, we read that the crowds
were amazed at the teaching of the Lord Jesus, for he taught them as one who had authority
and not as their scribes did. They said, “It is written,” but he said, “I say to you.” That is
exactly what we see in Mt. 5.21-22, 27-28, 33-34, 38-39, 43-44. The Lord did not draw authority
for what he said from what the scribes and Pharisees said, but from within himself, for he
spoke in the name of his Father and from his knowledgs of the Scriptures.
The next matter we notice is that in each of these five examples, the Lord goes beyond
outward behavior to the heart. That is God’s real concern. He knows that the heart governs
behavior, and that if only a person’s heart can be made right, he will do what is right. The
problem with the Old Testament law is that it tells what to do, but gives no power to do it.
The good news changes the heart, putting within it the power to please God.
Third, we see that grace requires more than the law. We do not relate to God on the
basis of the law, trying to gain his favor by our good works. Instead we do good works
because we have gained his favor by his own grace. But the good works that we do because
of grace are more than the law requires.
A final truth is that this passage, as we have stressed all through Matthew, deals not
with salvation, but with gaining the kingdom. One can be saved without doing what is set
forth in Mt. 5, but one cannot be rewarded with a place in the kingdom without it. With these
thoughts in mind, let us turn now to the words of the Lord.
21″You have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘You shall not murder’ [Ex. 20.13, Dt.
5.17], but he who murders will be liable to the court, 22but I [emphasized] say to you that
everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to the court, and he who says to his
brother, ‘Raka,’ will be liable to the Sanhedrin, and he who says, ‘Fool,’ will be liable to
the hell of fire. 23If therefore you are bringing your gift to the altar and there remember
that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there before the altar and go;
first be reconciled to your brother, and then having come bring your gift. 25Be agreeing
with your opponent quickly while you are with him in the way so that the opponent does
not deliver you to the judge, and the judge to the helper, and you be thrown into prison.
26Amen I say to you, you will not come out from there until you have paid the last
quadrans.
“You have heard that it was said to them of old, ‘Do not commit murder,’ but whoever
commits murder will be liable to judgment. But I say to you: notice that the word “I” is
emphasized. They said, but I say. I say that everyone who is angry with his brother will be
liable to judgment.” Immediately we see the authority of the Lord in opposing what he says
to what the law says. When we understand the high place the law held in the minds of the

Jews, we see the startling nature of such a statement. The law was everything, and indeed,
along with the tradition built up around it, had replaced God himself in Judaism.
The law deals with outward behavior and prohibits murder. We would all agree with
the law on this point. But the Lord Jesus says that we should not just avoid murder, but
should also develop the kind of heart that will not harbor murder. Murder is an outward
behavior, a symptom. The Lord says to deal with the cause and the behavior will take care of
itself. What are the causes of murder? One is anger. Anger is probably the major cause of
murder historically. Indeed, outside drug-related murders, statistics show that most murders
are committed within families and among friends because of fits of rage. Someone gets
“uncontrollably” angry and kills someone he may even care about.
One way to avoid murder is to try very hard in this condition of anger not to lose
control. A much better way is to have a heart that is not full of anger. A heart at peace that
loves and forgives people, that does not seek its own way, will not be filled with violent
anger, but with soft answers. “A soft answer turns away wrath” (Prov. 15.1).
Abusive speech is an extension of anger that is another cause of murder. People say
things they should not say and argument and retaliation result. Often the result is murder.
The word “Raca” means “empty head.” It and “fool” are terms of abuse that come from an
angry heart and can lead to murder. Have a heart, says the Lord, that does not harbor such
thoughts toward people, but that thinks well of them and prays for the best for them, and
murder will be avoided.
Letting a condition fester in which one person has done something against another can
lead to murder. Perhaps one has been angry with his brother or called him an abusive name.
The hurt feelings resulting from such a situation can fester until they erupt in murder.
Furthermore, the Lord says, one’s worship is not acceptable to God if he knowingly allows
such a condition to continue unresolved. He must leave his gift at the altar and first be
reconciled with his brother before God will take his worship. He must have a heart that puts
his relationship with God above all thought of pride or rights.
Another cause of murder is opposition at law. When people are fighting over matters
that cause them to go to court against each other, the bitterness can lead to murder. Paul
comments on this same matter in 1 Cor. 6, where he says that it is better to be defrauded than
to fight with a brother in court. This takes a heart that has been filled with the desire for the
Lord and his kingdom beyond all desire for worldly goods or position.
It is instructive that the Lord keeps referring to brothers in this passage. He indicates
that it is not just the lost who get angry with one another, call each other names, offend each
other without making it right, and go to court. What a shame to the Lord’s testimony it is
when his people engage in such practice, but they do so just the same. How we need the kind
of heart that would rather suffer the loss of all things than to shame the Lord.
It is also of great interest that the Lord Jesus says that Christians who call their
brothers abusive names are guilty enough to go to hell. He does not say that they will go to
hell, but that they are guilty enough to. He shows the seriousness of the matters he is dealing
with. They can lead to murder. But if the heart is dealt with, if the causes of murder which
spring from the heart are dealt with, there will be no murder.
Thus we see that the Lord goes beyond the legal requirement of avoiding murder to
the heart of man, from which murder comes. He also shows that grace requires more than the

law. The one under the law has only to avoid murder. The one under grace must have
murder removed from his heart by the dealings of the Lord. Not only must he not murder,
but he also must not want to. How much greater the requirement of grace than that of the
law! And only grace can provide the power to keep such a demand.
One can be saved and not meet this requirement. He can abstain from murder while
thinking on it and letting bitterness against a brother grow in his heart. The Lord will not
condemn him, but the Lord looks on the heart, not just the outward behavior, and he will not
reward such a heart in the kingdom. How does one enter the kingdom and have a place in it
when the Lord returns? Not by avoiding murder, but by having a heart with no murder in it.
This does not abolish the law, but fulfills it.
27″You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ [Ex. 20.14, Dt. 5.18], 28but
I [emphasized] say to you that everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already
committed adultery with her in his heart. 29But if your right eye causes you to stumble,
pull it out and throw it from you, for it is better for you that one of your members be lost
and your whole body not be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to
stumble, cut it off and throw it from you, for it is better for you that one of your members
be lost and your whole body not go into hell.
The second example of the Lord’s approach to the law has to do with adultery. The
law says not to commit adultery. Again the Lord Jesus goes to the heart, dealing with the
causes of adultery. The first is lust. Again the Lord looks on the heart, not on the outward
behavior. One can abstain from adultery and have a heart filled with lust. That desire may
lead to adultery, and even if it does not, its presence in the thoughts will crowd out the
relationship with God. Adultery is one of the hardest of all sins to resist if one gets into a
situation where the temptation is strong, a situation of burning lust. How much better it is to
deal with the cause, to have a heart that honors God’s estimation of marriage and wants
every marriage to be a picture of Christ and the church (Eph. 5.32), than to try to overcome a
virtually irresistible temptation. Have a heart that is pure in this matter and faithfulness, not
adultery, will result.
One of the greatest impulses toward adultery, of course, is the eye. A normal man
cannot help noticing a woman who appeals to him. Someone said something to the effect that
if a man looks at a woman once he can’t help it, but if he looks twice he may be taking a step
toward adultery. There is a children’s song that says, “Be careful little eyes what you see.”
That applies to grown-ups, too. The way the Lord Jesus puts it is, “… if your right eye causes
you to stumble, pull it out and throw it from you, for it is better for you that one of your
members be lost and your whole body not be thrown into hell.” He extends this to the hand.
Be careful what you touch. An illicit touch can lead to adultery. How much we must be on
guard against temptation!
31It was said, “Whoever might divorce his wife, let him give her a bill of divorce,” 32but I
say to you that everyone divorcing his wife, except by reason of immorality, makes her
commit adultery, and whoever may marry a woman having been divorced commits
adultery.

Then the Lord turns to the matter of divorce. The law says that if a man divorces his
wife he must give her a bill of divorce. This law was originally given to protect women who
were just left by their husbands, with nowhere to turn. The writing of divorce shows their
status and gave them some means of dealing with the situation. But that was only because of
the hardness of men’s hearts, their determination to divorce despite God’s will. It was not
and is not God’s plan for marriage. His desire is that people understand what marriage is, a
picture of Christ and the church and thus a part of the testimony of Jesus, and treat it as such.
It is not a private matter, but one of utmost importance to the Lord and his testimony in the
world. Unless there has been adultery on the part of the partner, there is no acceptable cause
for divorce in God’s sight, says the Lord Jesus. If there is divorce anyway, remarriage
amounts to adultery for the one who initiated the divorce, for in God’s eyes, the first couple
are still married to each other and the second union is adulterous. The Lord does say that if
one divorces his or her partner, the one who is divorced is free to remarry, but the one who
initiated the divorce commits adultery if he or she remarries.
Divorce can lead to adultery by leaving the person in the position of having no legal
and holy means of dealing with the natural desire of the body, and thus of subjecting him or
her to temptation. Paul said that it is better to marry than to burn (1 Cor. 7.9), and the person
who leaves his or her marriage partner leaves himself or herself in that situation of burning.
The temptation to adultery may be almost overwhelming. How much better to obey the Lord
in the matter of marriage and avoid divorce.
Again, this is a matter of the heart. The natural attitude is to want one’s own way and
to see marriage as designed to make one happy. If the partner is no longer pleasing, the thing
to do is to get another partner. How selfish that approach is. At the very least, one should see
marriage as a means of making his partner, not himself, happy. That is love, is it not? But
with Christians it goes far beyond making each other happy. Christian marriage, as we have
noted, is a picture of Christ and the church. It is a testimony. It takes a changed heart to see a
personal relationship as a testimony instead of as a means of gaining happiness. How we
need our hearts dealt with!
The law requires the avoidance of adultery. The Lord says to deal with the causes of
adultery, to have a pure heart.
Again we see that grace demands more than the law. The law requires only that one
not commit adultery. Grace says not to want to. How much harder that is! We must have
grace to do what grace requires.
And again we emphasize that we are dealing with entrance into the kingdom. One can
be saved and be full of lust, but he cannot give into lust and gain a place in the kingdom. The
Lord looks on the heart. A heart full of lust has already committed adultery in his eyes, and it
will not gain his reward.
33″Again you have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but
you shall render to the Lord your oaths,’ [Lev. 19.12, Num.30.2, Dt. 23.21] 34but I
[emphasized] say to you not to swear at all, neither by Heaven, for it is God’s throne, 35nor
by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet, nor toward Jerusalem, for it is the city of the
great King. 36Nor shall you swear by your head, for you are not able to make one hair

white or black. 37But let your word be yes, yes, no, no. Now what is beyond these is out
from the evil one.
The next matter taken up by the Lord is that of oaths. The law says not to make false
vows, but to keep them. That is good and right as far as it goes. It is true that if a person
makes a vow, he should do what he says. That is only honest.
But as always the Lord goes beyond the outward behavior required by the law to the
heart of man. What kind of heart would have to take an oath anyway? A dishonest one. If a
person must take an oath to be believed, that means he cannot be believed when he has not
taken an oath, and probably when he has as well. He is not honest. Entrance into the
kingdom, says the Lord Jesus, is gained not by keeping oaths, but by being the kind of person
who does not have to take an oath to be believed. He must be one whose yes means yes and
whose no means no. It is not, Do you keep the oaths you make? but, Do you have an honest
heart? God looks on the heart.
As in the other cases, grace requires more than the law. The law requires that one keep
his oaths. Grace requires that one always be honest, whether he has made an oath or not, and
then oaths will be unnecessary.
One can be saved and make oaths and break them. He will not lose eternal life for so
doing. But he will not gain entrance into the kingdom, either now spiritually, or in the
millennial reign of Christ.
38″You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ [Ex. 21.24,
Lev. 24.20, Dt. 19.21] 39but I [emphasized] say to you not to resist evil, but whoever strikes
you on your right cheek, turn to him also the other. 40And to the one wanting to sue you
and take your tunic, leave to him also your cloak. 41And whoever forces you one mile, go
with him two. 42To the one asking you give, and don’t turn away from the one wanting to
borrow from you.
Vs. 38-42 deal with retaliation. The law says, “Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.” There
are two reasons for this law. One is that it is a deterrent to wrongdoing. If one knows that he
will lose an eye for taking one, he will be less likely to take one! The other reason is to
prevent retaliation from going beyond the original crime. One should not have both eyes
destroyed for destroying one eye, but only one. Thus the law protects both the victim and the
offender, the one from offense, and the other, from law is good and right in principle, though
we might balk at actually destroying an eye.
But once again the Lord Jesus does not stop with what is right and good outwardly.
He raises the question of the heart. A vengeful person will demand the eye for the eye, but
the Lord says to have a forgiving heart, not a vengeful one. Instead of demanding that the
one who slaps his cheek be slapped back, he is to offer the other cheek. Instead of filing a
counter suit, he is to give more than he is sued for. Instead of going one mile under
compulsion, he is to go two.
This passage is one of the more difficult in Scripture to apply, for it must be studied in
the light of other passages. Does it mean, for example, that a Christian, who is told not to
resist him who is evil, should allow dangerous criminals to go free, when they might harm

someone else? Rom. 13 says that are to obey human authority, for it is established by God
and does not bear the sword in vain. Does it mean that he should give what he has to anyone
who tries to take it? We are told in 1 Tim. 5.8 that one who does not provide for his own is
worse than an unbeliever. If we let those who would take advantage of us, and there are
many, have all our goods, how would we provide for our families?
The point that the Lord is getting at is not that this is a new, more difficult law that
Christians are required to keep, but that they need to have a forgiving heart, one that is not
vengeful. If one will see to it that he has the right kind of heart, that his hand does not grasp
his worldly goods, but holds them loosely and before the Lord, he will be able to make the
right judgments in the situations raised by this passage. It is the heart that matters, for out of
it come the actions.
V. 42 reveals this fact most plainly. Vs. 39-41 deal with giving to those who can compel
the giving by force or by law, but v. 42 says to give to those who cannot compel, but can only
ask. That is the kind of heart we are to have, one that is generous and sharing, not one that
demands its own rights and sees its possessions as its own rather than as a stewardship from
God. One should be before the Lord about this passage, about his heart condition and how to
apply the words of the Lord in these verses. But he should be very open to the Lord. If he
simply uses the need to seek him as a rationalization for getting out of obeying the Scriptures,
he will have difficulty with the Lord about it.
We have been stressing that grace requires more than the law. In this passage, it
requires double. The law says one eye for one eye and one tooth for one tooth. The Lord says
to take two slaps instead of one, to give two garments when one is demanded, and to go two
miles when one is compelled. Entrance into the kingdom is based on grace, not law, and
grace, while bestowing salvation as a free gift, is more costly than the law in what it requires
of the Lord’s people.
43″You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ [Lev. 19.18] and hate your enemy,
44but I [emphasized] say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you
45so that you may become sons of your Father who is in the heavens, for he causes the sun
to rise on evil and good and it rains on righteous and unrighteous. 46For if you love those
who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47And
if you greet your brothers only, what more are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles do the
same? 48You therefore will be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.
The final example from the law used by the Lord perhaps reveals most clearly the
perverse use made of the law by the scribes and Pharisees. The law says to love the neighbor
and stops there. The quotation made by the Lord Jesus says, “Love your neighbor and hate
your enemy.” The point is that the Jews added to the law. The law says only to love the
neighbor. The Jews took it as a logical and proper inference from that requirement that they
were to hate their enemy. The Lord was quoting half Scripture and half addition to it. He
upholds the former while showing the perversity of the latter.
We have been seeing that he always goes beyond the legal requirement to the heart.
What kind of heart would infer from the command to love the neighbor that he should hate
his enemy? An evil one! The law says nothing about hating enemies, but only about loving

neighbors. The Lord says to have the kind of heart in this matter that God has. What kind of
heart does God have? Does he hate his enemies? “‘As I live,’ says the Lord I AM, ‘I have no
pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live’” (Ezek.
33.11). “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his
Son….” (Rom. 5.10) We were all God’s enemies. What was his response to that enmity?
Judgment? No, not on us at least, but he himself, the offended one, made provision for our
reconciliation. God loves his enemies. That is the Christian’s standard. If God hated us, his
enemies, then we are free to hate our enemies, but he did not. He loved us and loves us still.
Further demonstration of this fact are the sun and the rain. Both are needed to sustain
life. They both come to both the righteous and sinners. God does not send sunshine and rain
to his own and withhold it from sinners. His enemies as well as his own are blessed. And
God’s kindness is meant to bring us to repentance (Rom. 2.4).
This love for enemies is demonstrated by praying for them, in accord with the Lord’s
will expressed in Ezek. 33.11, quoted above, and 2 Pt. 3.9. The result is sonship, maturing, as
we saw in connection with Mt. 5.9. It takes a measure of maturity to love an enemy and to
pray for one who is persecuting. And it is mature sons who inherit, who will have a place in
the kingdom.
Grace requires more than the law does. The law says to love your neighbor. Tax
collectors and Gentiles do that. What reward is there in doing what even sinners do? No, the
one who desires to live under grace must love those who do not love him, who are his
enemies, who persecute him. Our standard is not the behavior of others. How often we
justify our own misdeeds by pointing to those of others. When we stand before the judgment
seat of Christ, we will not be compared to someone else and dealt with harshly or favorably
based on how we compare. The standard will be that of Mt. 5.48, “You therefore will be
perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” This verse is usually translated as a command,
“Be perfect.” But the Greek verb is not imperative, but future indicative. That is, it is not a
command, but a simple statement that we will be perfect. If we have the kind of heart that
asks not how little it can do and get by, but how much more it can do than is required, then
the Holy Spirit will work in that heart to produce the perfection of God himself. This is not a
teaching of sinless perfection. It is beyond us, our ability and even our understanding. It is all
of grace. God calls us, sinners, to be like him, and he will make us like him. But it takes a
yielded heart for him to do so and is a lifelong process.
One can be saved and not love his enemies and pray for them, but we are not dealing
with salvation. We are dealing with reward in the kingdom, and one cannot gain such
reward unless he goes beyond the legal requirement to the right kind of heart, on which God
looks, and to the excess that grace requires. The law requires only love for neighbors. Grace
requires love for enemies. That is the way God is. Growth in grace moves us toward the
standard of perfection that God is. That is the way into the kingdom. It is not law, but grace.
In Mt. 5.21-48, the Lord shows how the righteousness of his followers is to surpass that
of the scribes and Pharisees in regard to the law. The righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees keeps the legal requirement to the letter, or tries to. The righteousness that would
gain the kingdom must go beyond that, coming from a heart that desires to do more than the
law requires, that desires, indeed, to be like God.

57
The Sermon on the Mount
Part IV, Righteous Deeds
Matthew 6.1-18

“Be careful not to do your righteousness before men, to be seen by them [the Greek word
for “see” here is the word from which we get “theater,” an apt description of what those are
doing who do their righteousness to be seen by men – putting on a show]. Otherwise you
don’t have a reward with your Father who is in the heavens.
2
“When therefore you do alms, don’t blow a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do
in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be glorified by men. Amen I say to you,
they have their reward. 3But when you do alms, do not let your left hand know what your
right hand is doing 4so that your alms may be in the secret place, and your Father who sees
in the secret place will reward you.
5
“And when you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites, for they love [the Greek is phileo,
tender affection, W.E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words; also love of
close friends] to pray standing on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men
[this word for “see” has the idea of making an appearance]. Amen I say to you, they have
their reward.
We have just seen that in Mt. 5.21-48 the Lord Jesus shows that the righteousness of his
followers is to surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees in relation to the law. Now, in 6.1-18,
he shows that it is to surpass in what would commonly be called our Christian duties. The
primary way in which it surpasses is that it is not done to be seen by men, but comes from a
heart toward God. The Lord begins by saying, “Be careful not to do your righteous deeds
before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in
the heavens.”
The righteous deeds referred to are, as we have seen in the context of Matthew’s
emphasis on the kingdom, not designed to gain salvation, which would be salvation by
works, but are done for the Lord, out of love for him, and this gains one a place in the
kingdom. They are done to please the Lord now by being under his rule, and to be prepared
for a place in the kingdom when the Lord returns.
The things he talks about would be seen as religious duties by the average person, but
such a designation of these deeds reveals a complete misunderstanding of the things of God.
The world would say that a person does these things to keep God from being angry with him
or to gain points toward salvation. There is no joy in them, but only the exercise of a duty
required by a God whose primary purpose seems to be to make people miserable.
But these are not religious duties, though they are things that ought to be done. The
difference is that when one knows and loves the Lord, the “ought” does not come into the
picture. He does not do these things because he ought to, but because something within him
causes him to want to. He takes delight in them because they please the Lord, and because
the Lord makes them enjoyable. That something within is the Spirit of God, transforming one
from a sinner or one who is trying to work for God’s favor, to one who has been changed

from within to a person who desires what God desires. That is exactly what we have been
saying as the way to keep the law: it is not by self-effort, but by being given a new heart.
The Lord Jesus says not to do righteous deeds to be seen by men. The reason for this
instruction is that God is the only one worthy of glory and praise. When we do good deeds to
be seen by men, we are trying to get glory and praise for ourselves. That is exactly what
Satan did in his original rebellion against God. We read the words of Satan in Is. 14.13-14, “I
will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the
mount of congregation in the uttermost parts of the north. I will ascend above the heights of
the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.” The heart of Satan, filled with pride,
desired the glory due only to God and fell into rebellion against him. Thus began the long,
dreary course of sin that our world is cursed with to this day. That is the step we take when
we do good to be seen by men. We join Satan’s rebellion.
How spiritually deadly pride is. The Bible says that God opposes the proud, but gives
grace to the humble (Ps. 138.6, Prov. 3.34, Ja. 4.6, 1 Pt. 5.5). The one who, in pride, does his
righteous deeds to be seen by men cuts himself off from God. He has, the Lord says, no
reward with his Father who is in the heavens. What is better, the temporary and fickle praise
of men or the eternal reward of God?
This command by the Lord does not mean that we will never do anything righteous in
public. He himself said in Mt. 5.16 that we should do good works before men so that they
would glorify God. When we attend public worship, that is a righteous deed that people see.
Indeed, we want to bear public testimony to God and our behavior is a part of that
testimony. We want to be seen doing the right things, not the wrong things. The point is not
that no one should ever know that we do anything righteous, but why we do it. It is still the
heart. That is what matters to God. Are we doing it to be seen by men and to be glorified by
them, or out of love for God and a desire to see him glorified? Motivation is the key. The way
of the heart that is fixed on God is to do righteous deeds unseen if possible, and if not, such
as in the case of public worship, to do them as unobtrusively as possible, so as to glorify God
and not self.
Let us look at the three examples of righteous deeds that the Lord uses in this passage.
The first is alms, giving to charity or doing something to help the needy. Man’s way would
be to sound a trumpet before he did his act so that others would see it and give him the credit
due him. The Lord says that those who act in this way have their reward. That is, they
wanted praise from men and they got what they wanted, but that is all they will get. They
will receive nothing from God, for they have taken his glory for themselves.
We have seen several examples of the use of hyperbole, exaggeration to make a point,
in the Sermon on the Mount, and v. 3 contains another. It says that when we give alms, we
should not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing. Now that is an impossibility.
Both hands are connected to the same brain. The whole body knows whatever is done
consciously by any other part. The point is that we should take extreme measures to see to it
that know one knows when we do something for someone. We should do it in secret so that
no one gives us any glory for it, thus giving us what is due to God only, and tempting us to
accept God’s glory. How easy it is to feed our pride, with its voracious appetite! A little taste
of glory is intoxicating. Better never to taste it and to let God have it all. He is able to handle it
properly.

If we take this approach we will be rewarded by God. We will know his rule in our
lives now, a rule which produces only blessing, even in trial, and we will find that when his
millennial kingdom comes, he will pay us rich interest on all we have done in secret for him.
Almsgiving is not a religious duty and has no real value if done on that basis. It
overflows from a full heart, a heart full of the generosity of the Lord, who gave and gives all.
Prayer is the next example. The lesson of v. 5 is the same as that of v. 2: if we pray to
be seen by people, we have our reward, having been seen by people. There will be nothing
from God. This does not mean that we will never pray aloud in public. There are biblical
examples of such prayers. Once again the question is the motivation of the heart. Do we want
people to think we are righteous because we pray or admire how well we pray, or do we
want to touch the Lord and secure his will on earth?
In v. 6, the Lord says that we are to go into an inner room and pray in secret. This
means that whatever we do in public of service to the Lord must be based on a private
relationship with him. If we do not know the Lord personally, we will not be of use to him.
The inner room is the foundation of the public ministry. It is the one who has been dealt with
by the Lord in secret who is able to serve publicly without taking the Lord’s glory for himself.
He knows that any effectiveness he may have comes only from the life of the Lord in him and
he fears touching the Lord’s glory, so that the life will not be taken from him (not salvation,
but life for service). How vital is the inner room, the secret place!
The statement that we are to go into an inner room is an allusion to Is. 26.20. That
chapter has to do with the promise of millennial glory. V. 20 says that until that day comes,
the Lord’s people are to go into their inner rooms and hide until the judgments that precede
millennial glory have run their course. Now in Mt. 6.6, the Lord Jesus finishes the prophecy,
telling his people what they are to do while in those inner rooms: they are to pray! And he
tells us how to pray.
We are not to pray as the Gentiles do, those who are neither Jew nor Christian and
know nothing of the Lord, using meaningless repetitions and many words, as though prayer
were nothing more than magic words designed to coerce an unwilling god or evil spirit. That
is how most of the religious world sees God and prayer: God is to be feared, for he can harm,
and to be placated, even by human sacrifice. Perhaps he will not harm if he is pleased with
the offering. Perhaps he will even bless. Perhaps the repetition of words thought to be
pleasing to him or have power over him will secure his good favor or at least cause him to
leave people alone. What a blessing we have to know that God loves us and wants our best!
We do not pray to tell God what we need, though we do tell him, for he already knows. That
is not what prayer is. Prayer is basically just being with the Lord, whether anything is said or
not, just as one wants to be with someone he loves. Some of the most wonderful times that
lovers spend together involve few or no words, but consist simply of the bliss of being
together. That is what prayer is, or ought to be.
How do we pray, then, while in the inner room waiting for the millennium? We pray
for the millennium to come! That is really what the Lord’s Prayer, as we call it, is. It is more
than anything else a prayer for the return of the Lord Jesus.
The first thing we should notice about this prayer is its first word, Father (the first
word in Greek). We have just seen the basis on which the Gentiles come to God, fear, even
terror. How do we come to God? As to a father. Human fathers are not perfect and many do

not serve as good examples, but we all know what a father should be, and that is what God is
in perfection. He loves us. He provides for us. He teaches and corrects us. He spends time
with us. We do not come to God hoping we can assuage his wrath. That was done by the
Lord Jesus at the cross. We come to him knowing that he is a Father, and a perfect one, and
that our best is his delight.
The second thing we notice about this prayer is that it puts God first. Most of our
spoken prayers probably consist of a long list of wants, and perhaps as an afterthought we
ask for God’s will to be done. Maybe we even remember to thank him for something he has
done for us. But the Lord’s prayer puts God’s interests and purposes first: “Your name be
treated as holy, your kingdom come, your will be done, as in Heaven, also on earth.” The
Israelites in Is. 26 were told to go into the inner room and hide until the millennium. The
Lord Jesus says to pray while in there, and what are we to pray for? The Lord’s kingdom to
come.
God’s name is treated as anything but holy in our age. It is a curse word, or an oath
designed to prove honesty in the midst of dishonesty, as we saw in considering Mt. 5.33-37,
or just a slang expression. The idea of God is a joke to many. How this hurts the one who
knows the Lord and loves him. How we long for God’s name to be treated with respect as
something holy, and to be used carefully and reverently. How we long for honor to be
intended when that name is used. Yet the truth is that that will not happen until Christ
returns. As long as Satan is the ruler of this world, God’s name will go on being a curse word
and an oath. That is one of Satan’s tools, and how he must glory in the profaning of that
wonderful name. Since God’s name will not be treated as holy until the Lord’s return, the
prayer for it to be so treated is a prayer for his return.
“Your kingdom come” is the same, a plain statement of the desire for the reign of
Christ on this earth. God’s kingdom does come now in the lives of those who submit to him,
but the world is ruled by Satan and most people are in the world. God’s kingdom will not
come visibly until Christ breaks through the clouds and claims the throne in Jerusalem. The
Lord’s Prayer is a prayer for that day.
The doing of God’s will is the expression of his kingdom. It will not be done on earth
as it is in Heaven until the Lord Jesus rules the earth. Satan’s will is done on earth at this
time. When he is replaced with the right Ruler, God’s will, which is done perfectly in Heaven
now, will also be done on earth. The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer for that reality, and thus is a
prayer for the Lord’s return.
The third fact about the Lord’s Prayer is that it puts our interests after God’s. We are
praying for the Lord’s return so that what God wants will occur. While we are waiting for
that day, we want God to provide for our needs, to forgive us when we sin and fail him as
Christians, and to deliver us from temptation and evil, or the evil one. We look to him to
meet our physical and spiritual needs while we are in this world awaiting his return.
The Lord adds the note that if we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us. This
statement seems difficult at first, for it seems to teach salvation by works, but when we
consider the context and the purpose of the good news of Matthew, the difficulty clears up.
The Lord is not speaking to the lost to tell them how to be saved. He is speaking to Christians
to tell them how to gain the kingdom. The forgiveness here is not that of the lost for
salvation, but of Christians. It is the same as the washing of the feet of Jn. 13. The lost person

who truly calls on the Lord is forgiven and saved, though he may never forgive those who
offend him and may hold grudges until his dying day. But the Christian who does not
forgive, while forgiven for salvation, will find his failures as a Christian not forgiven him
when the kingdom comes. They will rise up and judge him before the Lord and will cost him
something in the kingdom, perhaps even his place in the kingdom.
Having given these instructions on prayer, the Lord now turns to the third righteous
deed, fasting, doing without food for a spiritual purpose. V. 16 is the same as vs. 2 and 5: the
one who fasts to be seen by men has his reward: he is seen by men. There will be nothing for
him from God. Vs. 17-18 repeat vs. 4 and 6: what is done is secret from the heart for God will
be revealed by God, for it does not seek the glory due only to him. Thus we are to take care to
maintain our usual appearance when we fast and not contrive to appear to be suffering for
the Lord so as to be thought especially righteous.
As with alms and prayer, the essential point in fasting, or in any other righteous deed,
is the heart. Why is the person doing it? If it is in obedience to God and for the glory of God,
it is right and will be rewarded. If it is for self-glory, it is worse than useless. It is spiritually
harmful to the one doing it. How important it is that in all our righteous deeds we see to our
hearts. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.

The Sermon on the Mount
Part V, Material Things
Matthew 6.19-34

In dealing with the kingdom, the Lord, having dealt with character traits, maintaining
the testimony, going beyond legal requirements, and righteous deeds, now turns to what is
perhaps the most difficult practical problem of all: the relation of the one desiring the
kingdom to material things. Money and the things it can buy are Satan’s greatest and most
universal deception. Almost everyone in the world desires wealth as the means to happiness,
and hardly a Christian does not have the feeling within himself that if he only had enough
money he would be happy or all his problems would be solved. Even though he would say
that it is not true, he still feels it, so persuasive is Satan’s lie. If Satan is the god of this age (2
Cor. 4.4), money is his primary idol. How then is the Christian who desires to live under
God’s rule now in this evil age and to gain a place in the millennial kingdom to relate to
material things?
19″Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on the earth where moth and rust ruin and where
thieves break in and steal, 20but store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither
moth nor rust ruins and where thieves don’t break in or steal. 21For where your treasure is,
there will your heart be also.
The Lord first tells us in vs. 19-21 not to lay up treasures on earth, but to lay them up
in Heaven. There are two reasons for this. The first is what Paul calls in 1 Tim. 6.17-19 “the
uncertainty of wealth.” Wealth can disappear overnight, and even if it lasts a lifetime, the
cliché is true that one cannot take it with him. The one who puts his hope in wealth has an
uncertain hope. Actually it is a certain hope: it is certain to fail! Material wealth cannot

supply the inner satisfaction a person needs in this life, and it cannot see him through death
or judgment. God cannot be bribed.
The second reason one should not lay up treasures on earth but in Heaven is what we
have been seeing all through the Sermon on the Mount. What really matters is the heart, and
the one whose heart is set on wealth will not have his heart set on God.
Does this command not to lay up treasure on earth mean that no Christian should save
any money? Should he give away every penny beyond his family’s needs? It may be that the
Lord will call some to live that way. That is how he told the rich young ruler to begin. But
there are other passages in the Bible, such as 1 Tim. 6.17-19 cited above, that say nothing to
the wealthy about giving away their riches. What we need to understand is that Christianity
is not a system of rules that we live by, but a relationship with a Person. We cannot say that
every Christian should give away all he has. What we can say is that wealth is perhaps the
most dangerous threat of all to spiritual life, or maybe number two after pride, and that each
Christian needs to be in close fellowship with the Lord on this matter.
The ability to make money is a gift from God, just as musical ability or capability in
teaching the word is. Like those gifts, the ability to make money should be used in
submission to the Lord and for his purposes. The one capable of acquiring wealth is a
steward of it before God, not the possessor of it.
The key, as always, is where the heart is. Is the heart in the money or in the Lord? The
poor man can be just as money-mad as the rich man. His desire to lay up treasure on earth,
even though he is not doing it, is the same as doing it in God’s eyes. So the Lord’s first word
on this matter of material goods is to see to the heart. Make sure your treasure is in Heaven,
not in anything on this earth, material or otherwise, we might add.
22″The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye be sound [generous], your whole
body will be full of light, 23but if your eye be evil [stingy, see 20.15], your whole body will
be full of darkness. If therefore the light which is in you is darkness, how great is the
darkness.
24″No one is able to serve two lords, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he
will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
In vs. 22-24, the Lord turns from the uncertainty of wealth to the deceitfulness of
wealth. Wealth makes the promise of happiness, but it cannot deliver. The one who follows
after its promise will end his days in regret, not to mention eternal regret. In the parable of
the sower in Mt. 13, the Lord talks of those who are like thorny ground: when the seeds fall
into their hearts, they take root and spring up. They believe and receive the Lord. But the
plants never produce fruit because they are choked by the thorns, the worry of the age and
the deceitfulness of wealth. These people trust the Lord for eternal salvation, but not for daily
supply. They are anxious about having enough material wealth to be happy, and so they are
deceived into unfruitfulness. They are not lost. They have eternal salvation. But they are of
no use to God and gain no place in his kingdom. Wealth is Satan’s greatest lie.
What happens when one is deceived by wealth? The Lord uses a most curious
expression in answering this question. He says that if one’s eye is single, his body will be full

of light. Why would he say an eye should be single? Should not an eye be clear or healthy?
No, it should be single.
Other places in the word of God use this thought of being single, but they do it by
contrast. In 1 Tim. 3.8, Paul writes that deacons must not be, literally, “double-worded.” That
is, they must tell the truth, say what they mean and mean what they say, not say one thing
one time and another thing another time. Paul states the matter negatively. The positive
statement would be that deacons should be “single-worded.” In Ja. 1.6-8, we read that the
one who doubts the Lord is “double-minded” (literally “double-souled” in Greek). On the
one hand, or foot, we might say, he trusts the Lord. On the other, he does not. He is
unbalanced and will fall. He needs to make up his mind: does he trust the Lord or not? He
needs to be “single-minded.”
In the same way we need to be “single-eyed.” That is, we do not need to look to the
Lord and to money. That is double vision. We will not see clearly and will be deceived. If we
try to trust both God and money, money will prevail and we will fall.
The Lord says that the one who has such double vision will be full of darkness. That is,
the “truth” he is admitting to his heart, that money will satisfy, is actually a lie. If one’s truth
is a lie, his light is darkness. But if the eye is letting in the truth, that only God can satisfy,
that only God is what life is all about, that only God is worthy, then the deceitfulness of
wealth will be exposed by the light that will flood the heart.
The Lord puts it another way in v. 24: looking to both God and money is trying to
serve two masters. It will not work. Sooner or later one will have to choose between the two.
If the Lord gives the gift of money and one accepts it as a stewardship to be used under the
Lord’s direction, then money is a useful servant. But if money becomes the master, it is a
cruel tyrant that will drive one to despair. Only God is worthy to rule. Do not try to serve
God while making the acquiring of wealth your aim in life. You cannot do both. If God wills
for you to acquire wealth under his lordship, so be it. If he does not, do not try to accumulate
it. Be content with food and clothing, as Paul puts it in 1 Tim. 6.8, and accept whatever else
the Lord may give as his steward. But always handle money with a trembling hand, in the
fear of God, for when you hold money in your hand, you are holding Satan’s most deceptive
idol. Fear so that it will not capture you.
25″Because of this I say to you, don’t be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what
you will drink, nor about your body, what you will wear. Is the life not more than food
and the body than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the sky, that they do not sow nor reap
nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than
they? 27But who of you by being anxious is able to add to his height one cubit? 28And why
are you worried about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t
work or spin, 29but I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed as one of
these. 30But if the grass of the field, being today and tomorrow being cast into an oven,
God so clothes, how much more you, you of little faith? 31Therefore don’t be anxious,
saying, ‘What will we eat,’ or, “What will we drink,’ or, ‘What will we put on?’ 32For the
gentiles are seeking for all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all

these things. 33But be seeking first his kingdom and righteousness and all these things will
be added to you.
After pointing out the uncertainty and the deceitfulness of material wealth, the Lord
turns in vs. 25-33 to true wealth. What is true wealth? It is the kingdom of God, both now and
in the millennium, and the peace that comes as a result of seeking it. If one is seeking material
things, whether it be simply enough or wealth, he is bound to be anxious, for he can never be
certain he will have enough or all he wants. He can never be sure he will retain what he does
acquire. Worry is a result of seeking after material things.
But can a Christian not trust God to provide his material needs? The Lord told us in
the Lord’s Prayer to pray for our daily bread. He tells us again in the present passage that
God provides food for the birds and beautiful attire for the flowers. Will he not much more
provide for those for whom he gave his only Son? This does not mean that we do not have to
work, that we can lie on beds of ease and wait for God to send in supplies. It does mean that
we can work without worry, knowing that God will use our work to take care of us, whether
it be what we call a secular job or Christian ministry. It is God who provides anyway, even
when we work. Who gave us the health and the physical and mental ability to work? Who
gave the economy that provides jobs? Who made the material things that are the source of
wealth in the world? Anyone who thinks that he earns his own living needs to rethink the
matter. No matter how hard anyone, lost or saved, works, he does not earn a penny. It is all
the gift of God, including the ability and opportunity to work.
If all this be true, can we not cast aside anxious thoughts about our material provisions
and trust God? Indeed, more than that, can we not forget about material needs altogether and
seek the kingdom? That is what the Lord says in v. 33. Instead of trying to get things, if we
will make it our business to seek what God wants, he will add to us the things we need. The
way to get things is not to seek them, but to seek God’s rule. If we do that, he will provide the
needed things.
All of this amounts to practical faith. We say we trust God, but then we worry about
having enough food and clothing. We cannot trust and worry at the same time. Either we are
trusting God and not worrying or we are worrying and not trusting God. The two are
mutually exclusive. If you are determined to worry, you will have to give up trusting God. If
you are determined to trust God, you will have to give up worry. We are getting back to v.
22, double-mindedness and doubled-eyedness: make up your mind. Do you trust God or
not? If you trust him, do not, indeed you cannot, worry. This is a battle. We tend to go back
and forth between worry and faith. Keep fighting and do not give in to worry.
In all of this, remember that the Lord is teaching Christians how to live under the rule
of God now and how to be ready for the millennium when he returns. The way into the
kingdom is to seek it and not earthly things. “He who seeks finds.” If we are really seeking
the kingdom, we will not be anxious about earthly things. If we are anxious about earthly
things, perhaps that reveals that we are not really seeking the kingdom or that we are seeking
both the kingdom and material things. If so, our eye is not single and we are trying to serve
two masters. That will not work. We must decide. Seek God’s kingdom and righteousness
and you will have both it and your material needs. Seek the latter and you may have neither,

or you may gain things that perish with the using and lose the kingdom, too. The kingdom is
worth far more than all the wealth in the world. Seek the kingdom.
So what does the Lord tell us about the attitude toward wealth of the Christian who
desires the kingdom? Do not trust in its uncertainly. Do not be deceived by its promise of
happiness. Do not be anxious about it, but seek the true wealth, the kingdom of God. And
underlying all this is the heart. The kingdom is God’s rule, God’s will being done. Have a
heart that desires above all that God have what he wants. If one truly has that kind of heart,
he will be able to relate rightly to material goods, whether he has much or little or just
enough, and the Lord will be able to reward him with his rule in this life now and with a
place in the millennial reign of Christ. That is true wealth.
34Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
Sufficient for the day is its evil.
The Lord has been teaching that we are not to worry about food and clothing, and this
worry would be about tomorrow as well as today. We need food and clothing every day. So
he adds at the end of this section of his teaching that we should not only seek God’s kingdom
and righteousness, but we should give up anxiety about tomorrow. We do not have a
tomorrow, or even the next second. We have only the present moment. When tomorrow does
come, if it does, it will worry about itself. The evil we deal with today is enough for today
without adding to it the worry of tomorrow. Seek the kingdom and righteousness today and
tomorrow.

The Sermon on the Mount
Part VI, Judging and Good Judgment
Matthew 7.1-29

“Don’t judge so you will not be judged. 2For with the judgment with which you judge
you will be judged, and with the measure with which you measure it will be measured to
you.
The Lord now turns to the matter of judging others. It is of interest that he says in 7.1
not to judge, then makes statements in vs. 6 and 16 that require that we make judgments.
How are we to understand this apparent inconsistency? In the first place, we need to see that
judging has to do with another’s heart and motivation and no one but God can see those
things. We can see another’s behavior and make a judgment that the behavior is right or
wrong, but we cannot see the heart of the other person, so we cannot judge him. We do not
know why he behaves as he does. How easy it always is for us to make allowances for
ourselves while demanding perfection of others. There is always a good reason why we fail
to do as we should, but the other person should be held strictly accountable. That is not the
right approach. We cannot condemn another person, but must leave that to God.
In the second place, we must keep in mind what we have seen all through the
Sermon, that it sets forth the character and behavior of those who would live under the rule

of the King now and who would be prepared for a place in his visible kingdom when he
returns. If we take a judgmental spirit toward others and demand that they be held to strict
account for their failures, we will find that when we stand before the Lord for judgment with
regard to our place in the kingdom, the same measure with which we measured others will
be used to measure us.
3But why are you looking at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but you don’t notice the
log in your eye? 4Or how will you say to your brother, ‘Let me cast the speck out of your
eye,’ and look! the log is in your eye? 5Hypocrite, first cast the log out of your eye, and then
you will see clearly to cast the speck from your brother’s eye.
Vs. 3-5 draw out another aspect of this matter, and that is the critical spirit. One of the
most damaging of all sins in the body of Christ is a critical spirit. The person who is always
trying to set everyone else straight does not see that his critical spirit is the log in his own eye.
Proper judgment is not based on a judgmental spirit, but on a spirit that has been judged by
God and knows brokenness. One who is judgmental is not fit to judge. One who is humble
before God and his fellow believers, knowing his own weakness, is fit to judge, for he will
not condemn, but only seek to correct and restore (see Gal. 6.1). The Christian who desires to
be ruled by the Lord and to be worthy of a place in the kingdom will be more concerned with
self-judgment than with judging others.
6Don’t give the holy to the dogs, nor throw your pearls before the swine, so that they will
not trample them under their feet and turning tear you to pieces.
In v. 6, the Lord Jesus makes one of those statements that require judgment on our
part. He says that we are not give what is holy to dogs or throw pearls to pigs. If we are to
obey, we must decide who are dogs and pigs and who are not, and that sounds like judging!
Actually, this requirement by the Lord is a good corrective to the possible misunderstanding
of the words he has just uttered about judging. One might be so concerned not to judge that
he exercises no discretion or discernment. But the Lord did not to say not to use good
judgment, but not to condemn others.
The words “what is holy” refer to meat sacrificed to God. A portion was burned on the
altar, and the rest of the meat was eaten by the priests. That was their means of living. If meat
so offered was given to dogs, they would eat it, but they would have no appreciation of its
real worth. Pearls might resemble something pigs might eat. They would then hasten to the
pearls expecting to find something to eat, but in their anger and disappointment trample the
pearls and turn on their giver.
The point is that one should not give spiritual treasures to those who have no means
of appreciating them. For example, one might tell a lost person who drinks to excess that he
should not drink. Why should he not drink? He does not have the Lord. Perhaps alcohol is all
he has. This is not written to say that he should drink, but to show his perspective. Of course
he should not drink, but he does not see that because that is all he has. Or he may know he
should not, but is too addicted to stop. Or we might say to a lost person who does not meet
with the Lord’s people that he ought to do so. Why should he? He does not know the Lord.

Obeying the Lord on the matter of drinking to excess and meeting with the Lord’s people are
treasures to those who know him, but not to those who do not. They will not appreciate these
treasures. They will see giving up alcohol as giving up all the fun in life, or their escape from
the harsh realities of life, as the case may be. They will see meeting with the Lord’s people as
a boring religious exercise. No, what the lost person needs is not the treasures of a person
who has walked with the Lord, but the good news of salvation.
The dogs and the pigs refer to the lost, not in a deprecatory manner. These terms were
used in such a way by the Jews of Gentiles, but the Lord uses the words not to deprecate, but
to use language that would be understood by Jews. Every Jew would know that he meant the
lost. The Lord is saying not to give spiritual treasure to the lost, but to save that to share with
other believers while sharing the good news with the lost. That is not judging, but it is using
good judgment.
7
“Be asking and it will be given to you; be seeking and you will find; be knocking and it
will be opened to you. 8For everyone who is asking receives, and the one who is seeking
will find, and to the one who is knocking it will be opened. 9Or what man is there of you
whom his son will ask for bread, will he give him a stone? [No. There is a Greek
constructon with questions in which the asker uses a negative in the question and that
negative expects the answer no. This is the first occurrence of it in Matthew. I put the word
“no” after the question to show that the answer is no.This occurs many times in the New
Testament] 10Or he will also ask for a fish, will he give him a snake? [No] 11If therefore you
being evil know to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who
is in the heavens give good things to those who ask him? 12All things, whatever you would
that men should do to you, so also you do to them, for this is the law and the prophets.
We saw in Mt. 6.19-34 that the way to get the material things we need is not to seek
them, but to seek the kingdom and righteousness of God. Now the Lord expands on this
thought in 7.7-12. What is the proper way to get? Not to grasp, but to ask. The world’s way,
and that, sadly, of too many Christians, is to fight for all they can get for themselves. The
Lord Jesus says to get by asking God. That does not mean that we do not work, but that we
work with trust in God to provide for us rather than in worry that our jobs will not provide
enough.
This truth applies to spiritual things as well. How do we get to know God and to
understand spiritual things? By asking, seeking knocking. Asking is a passive approach,
expecting the one asked to do everything needed to give what is asked. Seeking is active. The
one who passively asked for what he wanted begins to take an active role in trying to find
what he asked for. But seeking indicates that one does not know where to look. Knocking
says that one has found where what he needs is.
We see in this approach a description of the way the Lord works. He wants us to begin
with trust in him, asking him for our needs, material and spiritual. But when we ask, he will
tell us to seek. We have all heard the old expression about putting feet to our prayers. That is
usually applied to helping someone we have prayed for, but it applies to our own needs as
well. It is true we must ask God and trust him to provide, but if we expect everything just to

fall into our laps, we will not receive. We must seek what we ask for, cooperating with God
in gaining it.
If we do ask and then seek, we will find the door where the supply of our need is, and
then we must only knock. It is still God who provides all, but he has used the process to
strengthen our faith and to cause us to grow. We do not gain our objective by the work of
seeking: God gives it. But we grow in the process.
As an illustration of what he has just said, the Lord uses the fathers among those he is
addressing as the example. If a son asks for a loaf or a fish, which father would give him a
stone or a snake? None of them, of course. If a human father would want only good things
for his son, how much more God, the heavenly Father. It is vital that we as Christians learn
that God gives only good things to us. That sustains us in the difficult times when it appears
that he is giving bad things to us. It is true that many things we experience are evil in
themselves, but God uses even them for good in the lives of his own, using them to deal with
self and bring growth in him, and to conform us to the image of his Son (Rom.8.29). The
person who turns to the Lord in his sufferings will find a deeper relationship with him as a
result. The loaf gained will be worth the price paid, many times over.
The little word “therefore” occurs over and over in the Bible, and it always means that
what is about to be said is based on what has just been said. “Therefore,” says the Lord, “all
things whatever you would that men do to you, so also you do to them, for this is the law
and the prophets.” We call this statement the golden rule, and usually take it by itself
without reference to what goes before, but the Lord Jesus joins it to the previous words with
“therefore.” The point is that we should treat men the way God treats us, which is the way
we would want to be treated anyway. How does God treat us? By giving us only good
things. If we ask, he leads us to seek. If we seek, he leads us to find. When we find and knock,
he opens the door. And he gives us bread and fish, not stones and snakes. All we ever receive
from God is good. Since we are his, therefore we should treat others the same way.
This is such a simple rule of life. We try to make matters so complicated with all of our
psychological and sociological analysis, but it is absolutely true that if all would live by this
statement of the Lord that most of our problems would disappear. But the heart of man is
such that he will not walk this way, and so the problems of the world not only go on, but
grow worse. Nonetheless, the Christian who desires to be ruled by the King both now and in
the millennium will walk this way.
13″Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads into
destruction and there are many who enter through it. 14For narrow is the gate and confined
is the way that leads into life, and there are few who find it.
The Lord next says that such people must enter by the narrow gate and walk a
confined way. There is a constraint to life under the rule of the Lord. One cannot do things
that are wrong, but he also cannot do some things that are not wrong, simply as a matter of
the Lord’s will. We do not mean that there is a list of things that a Christian should not do.
That is legalism. It is an individual matter. The Lord may allow one of his disciples to do a
thing and not allow another to do it. We do not know why, except that that is the way the
Lord chooses for each one.

The world walks a broad way, doing anything it pleases. Little or nothing is right or
wrong. Many Christians also walk this way. They are saved people, but they are not being
ruled by the King and they are careless in how they live. That is not the way for one who
wishes to be ready for a place in the kingdom when the King comes. He must accept the
confinement of the narrow way.
The Bible presents a very radical truth, one that many are afraid to accept. It is that the
Christian is free to do anything he pleases, anything. His sins have been forgiven, all of them,
and there is no condemnation. Thus he can do anything. Paul says in 1 Cor. 10.23 that all
things are lawful for the Christian. If that is true, then it seems that Christians would be the
greatest sinners! What is there to keep a Christian from using this freedom in the wrong way?
Nothing but a desire to please the Lord. It is all inward. When a person is saved, the Holy
Spirit dwells within, and if the person listens to the small whisper of the Spirit’s voice, he will
find that there is something inside him that shows what is pleasing to God. In addition, the
Spirit will call attention to the Scriptures that set forth the will of God, and the Christian
needs both, the Spirit and the Scriptures, for Satan can use the Scriptures to bring about
legalism and he can counterfeit the voice of God. If one responds to the voice of the Holy
Spirit within, in the light of Scripture, he will find growing within himself a desire to please
God.
It is this desire to please God, to be ruled by the Lord, and to be prepared to for the
millennium, that keeps a Christian from misusing his freedom. Paul says in Gal. 5.13 not to
use freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. You may. You are free. But do not do it. Why?
Because, as Paul says in 1 Cor. 10.23 already referred to, not all things are profitable and
edifying, even though they are lawful. And most of all, because they are not pleasing to the
Lord.
Yes, the way of the kingdom is a narrow, confined way. Indeed, the Greek word for
“confined” in “confined is the way” is the same as the word for “tribulation.” If we translated
very literally, and if there were such a word in English, we could say, “Tribulated is the
way….” In fact, Paul said in Acts 14.22, “Through many tribulations we must enter into the
kingdom of God.” That is exactly what the Lord Jesus is saying in our passage in Matthew.
He is dealing with the kingdom, not with salvation. The broad way leads to destruction, and
the confined way to life. The broad way will lead to eternal destruction for the lost, but for
the Christian who walks that way, there will be the destruction of his life’s work, though he
himself will be saved (see 1 Cor. 3.12-15). The one who walks the confined way of tribulation
in obedience to the King will find life for himself and his works, and a place in the millennial
kingdom.
15″Be on guard against the false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but
inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16From their fruits you will know them. Do they gather
grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? [No] 17So every good tree produces good
fruit, but the bad tree produces evil fruit.

18A good tree is not able to produce evil fruit, nor
a bad tree to produce good fruit. 19Every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and
thrown into a fire. 20So from their fruits you will know them.

After all the teaching that the Lord has given regarding living under the rule of the
King and preparing for the coming kingdom, he begins to conclude his teaching with a
warning. The warning first is that false prophets will come in among the Lord’s people. They
will be wolves in sheep’s clothing, pretending to be part of the flock, but in fact intending to
devour the flock. Thus those who follow the Lord are to test those who aspire to leadership in
the church. The test is fruit.
No one can look into another person’s heart and tell whether or not he is saved or
what his motives are. This is the point that we stressed in dealing with vs. 1-2 of this chapter.
But one can see the fruit produced by another. If his fruit is evil, his prophecy is false. What
fruit is the Lord referring to? How does one test another by his fruit?
One area of fruit is the matter of doctrine. Is the person who claims to lead for God
teaching the truth? This test requires the Lord’s people to know the word of God, or they will
not know if what they hear is true or false. There are many doctrinal issues on which there is
room for disagreement, but there are certain matters, such as the full humanity and divinity
of the Lord, his death for our sins, and his bodily resurrection, that are clear in the Scriptures
and are essential to the faith. If anyone teaches contrary to these matters, it is evident that he
is a false prophet. In our own day, many matters of morality that are plainly dealt with in the
Bible are being obscured by those who claim to speak for God. Apparent preachers of the
word of God are taking the world’s view that morality is relative and that there really are no
such things as right and wrong. Right and wrong are social, not individual. These preachers
are clearly going against the word of God. They are false prophets.
Another way to test leadership in the church is to see whether leaders promote unity
or division in the church. The New Testament makes it abundantly clear that there is only
one church, that the church is a body and a body cannot be divided without death to at least
some of the parts. Anyone who sets himself forth as a leader among the Lord’s people, but
who promotes division among them, is a false prophet.
We have already mentioned the matter of what is taught about morality. The personal
morality of the leader is also important. If one tries to lead in the church, but is not personally
moral, he is a false prophet. The Lord governs life as well as beliefs and words. If one’s beliefs
about spiritual matters have no effect on the way he lives, there is something very wrong.
How easy it is for a popular preacher to fall prey to the temptations of Satan in the area of
morality. The praise of men feeds pride and popularity gives opportunities for immorality.
How careful even the true prophet must be! This is a test of false prophecy. Words not
backed up by life, even though they are true themselves, indicate a false prophet.
Personal characteristics are also a test of the genuineness of a prophet. We have
already considered the traits set forth in Mt. 5.3-12 in detail, and Paul lists some of the fruits
of the Spirit in Gal. 5.22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, humility,

self-control. Do these fruits characterize one who claims to be a prophet, or is he proud, self-
centered, materialistic, demanding?

We cannot say what is in a person’s heart, but we can know his fruit and follow or not
follow him on that basis. How vital it is that we take this course, for the false prophets will
devour the sheep, and how much of that has already been done in the last two thousand
years!

21″Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of the heavens,
but the one who does the will of my Father who is in the heavens. 22Many will say to me
on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out
demons and in your name do many powerful works?’ 23And then I will confess to them, ‘I
never knew you. “Depart from me, you who work lawlessness.”‘ [Ps. 6.8]
The Lord continues this matter of warning by making it a bit more personal. Not only
are we to examine the fruit of others who claim to be prophets, but we are to look at
ourselves as well. The test of another is good or bad fruit. The test of ourselves is whether we
are doing the will of God or just what seems good to us. Not everyone who says to Jesus,
“Lord,” will enter the kingdom, but those who do his will. That is, it is possible to do things
for the Lord that are not what he wants done, and they will count for nothing when the
kingdom comes. The Lord is not dealing here with lost people, but with Christians who try to
work for the Lord without submitting to his will. Many are determined to do what they want
to do for God, even if it is not what God wants. The Lord Jesus calls this lawlessness.
Lawlessness is rebellion, and is regarded by God as one of the worst of sins, if sins can
be ranked. This is true because authority is the very nature of God and is at the heart of his
purpose for the universe. He is almighty and he made man to have dominion. Thus rebellion
is going against the nature and purpose of God. Saul was rejected from being king of Israel
because he was rebellious. What he did was not wrong in itself, but it was done in direct
disobedience to the expressed will of God. Thus Samuel said to him, “For rebellion is as the
sin of divination, and resistance is as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Sam. 15.23). To rebel, to be
lawless, is as bad as to practice witchcraft and to worship idols, and the Lord Jesus says that
to do works for God that are not his will is lawlessness. How important that we learn
submission to authority, and that we learn to know and do the will of God.
The extreme nature of this sin of lawlessness is seen further in the fact that the Lord
quotes from Ps. 6.8 in calling it lawlessness. In that psalm, David is imploring the Lord to
deal with his enemies who torment him in a time of trouble. In the course of his cries to God,
he bursts out to his enemies, “Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.” The Lord takes
this statement made of enemies of God and applies it to Christians who do good works that
are not the will of God. They act as God’s enemies.
How do we test ourselves to make sure that we are doing the will of God and not just
good works that are not his will? The first way is to be aware of the possibility of missing
God’s will and to be truly desirous of obedience. If our hearts are really God’s, he will lead us
in the right way. If we are proud and rely on our own fleshly strength to serve God, we are in
trouble already, but if we are humble, knowing our weakness and casting ourselves on God’s
grace, he will protect us. It is remarkable how easy it is to want to serve God, and yet to want
to do it oneself, according to one’s own wisdom and strength, rather than yielding to the will,
wisdom, and strength of God.
This matter of true submission, the first aspect of insuring service in the will of God,
involves brokenness. If one submits to God, then God will deal with his flesh. We all have a

flesh problem, a self problem. We want to live for self, or we want to live for God in self-
strength. God will deal with that, for the flesh is of no use to him. He will lead us into

circumstances in life that will apply the cross to the flesh, putting it to death that his life may

replace it. The one who is truly submitted to God will know brokenness, for God will deal
with him. If you are concerned about whether or not your service to God is really his will, ask
yourself about this matter of brokenness. Do you know what it is to have the cross applied to
your flesh? Do you know what it is to yield to God in trial and let him accomplish his
purpose in it, rather than demanding that he get you out of it or becoming bitter toward him
because of it? If you know what brokenness is, you are on the right track with God. If you do
not, you need to seek the Lord about it. Brokenness is a sure sign that one is walking with
God, and lack of it is a sure sign that one is not.
A second way to guard against working for God without doing his will is to be
submitted to the body of Christ. Submission to the body means that one will not act
independently, but will seek the prayer and counsel of the church before he acts. If one is
among a group of spiritual believers, they can help him sense whether he is going the right or
the wrong way. The guidance of more mature believers is one of our greatest safeguards.
This does not mean that we have to ask the permission of the church, or that we are not
responsible for our own decisions. There may be times when we are so sure we have heard
from God that we have to proceed against the counsel of the church, but that counsel is
nevertheless a valuable way for us to test our leadings.
There are also people who believe that God does not guide people directly, but that he
equips them with some ability and it is up to them to do their best for the Lord with what he
gave them. But God does guide his people (Ps. 32.8, 73.24, Is. 30.21, 58.11, Jn. 16.13), and he
does have a specific will for them (Eph. 5.17). He does not want our best. Our best is not
nearly good enough for God, for our best is still flesh. He wants to take our best, indeed all of
our flesh, to the cross and form Christ in us in its place. That is how we come into the will of
God.
If we walk in true submission to God and the body of Christ, we will not hear those
dreaded words, “Depart from me,” but will hear instead, “Well done, good and faithful
slave. Enter into the joy of your Lord” (Mt. 25.21). The Lord is not dealing in Mt. 7.21-23 with
lost people who will depart into hell, but with Christians who will depart from a place in the
kingdom because they insisted on their own good works rather than the will of God. Find
and do the will of God.
24″Everyone therefore who hears these my words and does them will be likened to a
prudent man who built his house on the rock. 25And the rain fell and the rivers came and
the winds blew and fell against that house, and it did not fall because it was founded on
the rock. 26And everyone who hears these my words and does not do them will be likened
to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27And the rain fell and the rivers came
and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and its fall was great.
Having given these warnings to watch out for false prophets and to test oneself, the
Lord now concludes the Sermon on the Mount with a general warning that applies to all he
has said in chapters 5-7. It is very simple. It is not enough just to hear all these wonderful
teachings. One must do them. He must start with poverty of spirit so that God can develop in
him the character traits of the Beatitudes. He must in fact bear the testimony of Jesus. He
must seek to go beyond the law and not just try to get by with minimal requirements. He

must do his service as to the Lord and not to be seen by men. He must seek God’s kingdom,
not material wealth. And he must follow the teachings of chapter 7 that we have just been
through. If he does these things, he will be like one who built his house on a rock. The storms
will not knock it down, for it has a proper foundation, obedience, or rather, the Lord Jesus
who is being obeyed. Christ himself and true teaching are the foundation of the church, of
our salvation, but Christ obeyed is the foundation of our service as Christians.
The Christian who tries to build a house on his own ideas is like a man who built on
sand. The storms knocked his house down easily because it has the wrong foundation,
insistence on one’s own way rather than obedience.
So, as James puts it, don’t be a hearer of the word only, but be a doer of it. Build on the
Rock. Build a life that will stand the storms of life and the judgment seat of Christ. Obey!
28And it became when Jesus finished these words, the crowds were amazed at his
teaching, 29for he was teaching them as one having authority and not as their scribes.
Matthew tells us in 7.28-29 that the crowds were amazed at the teaching of the Lord
Jesus. He was addressing his disciples, telling them how to live under the rule of the King
and to prepare for the kingdom, as we saw in 5.1, but the crowds followed and overheard.
Why were they amazed? Because he did not teach as their scribes, only quoting other
authorities, the Scriptures and other rabbis. He taught as though he himself had authority. “I
say to you….” And indeed he did have authority. Because of that authority, it is imperative
that we obey, building our lives on rock, on the Rock.
The Works of the King
Part I
Matthew 8.1-17

Now when he came down from the mountain many crowds followed him.
A new section of Matthew begins with chapter 8. Chapters 1-4 are introductory,
setting the stage for the ministry of the Lord Jesus and for the way Matthew presents him.
Chapters 5-7 set forth the teaching of the King about the kingdom. Now we find in chapters 8
and 9 a number of miracles, showing that the words of the Lord of 5-7 are backed up by his
deeds. It is true that talk is cheap. Anyone can say anything. But backing up one’s words is
another matter. Matthew shows us that the Lord was not just a talker, but could do works
that showed the validity of his words. He did not just talk as a King: he acted as one, and
more then a King.
In addition to the displays of power in chapters 8 and 9, we find many other lessons in
the miracles as well. While miracles are important in themselves, the Lord is concerned not
nearly so much with outward displays, or even with what they accomplish physically, as
with the spiritual truth they convey and the spiritual results they have in people’s hearts.
Matthew tells us in 8.1 that the Lord had come down from the mountain. In the
Scriptures, a mountain often represents a kingdom or a place of authority. We see this fact in

the receiving by Moses of the law on Mt. Sinai, the place where the ultimate authority of God
is revealed, and in Nebuchadnezzar’s vision in Daniel of the four world empires being
destroyed by a stone that becomes a great mountain that fills the whole earth. That mountain
is the kingdom of God ruled over by King Jesus. In Mt. 5-7, the Lord spoke on a mountain,
symbolically taking the place of a king and speaking kingly words. But now he has come
down from the mountain, and immediately he meets with challenges to his words. Can this
one who can say such wonderful things do what he talks about, or will he turn out to be just
another maker of grandiose claims that cannot be substantiated?
2And look! a leper having come bowed before him saying, “Lord, if you will you can make
me clean.” 3And having stretched out the hand he touched him saying, “I will. Be
cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4And Jesus said to him, “See that
you tell no one, but go show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses
commanded for a testimony to them.”
As great crowds followed him, one man in particular got his attention. A leper came to
him and expressed his belief in the Lord’s ability: “Lord, if you are willing you can make me
clean.” This fact is remarkable enough in itself, for lepers were required to live apart in
ancient Israel, yet this man came to the Lord asking for help. Did the Lord Jesus order him in
indignation to go back to his place of separation? No indeed! Instead he touched him, a
forbidden thing that made the clean person unclean. But instead of the uncleanness of the
leper being transmitted to the Lord, the cleanness of the Lord was transmitted to the leper.
The Lord said, “I am willing. Be cleansed.” And immediately he was cleansed.
Then the Lord Jesus told the man to tell no one, but to show himself to the priest and
to make the offering that Moses had commanded in the case of the cleansing of a leper. In
Israel it was the priest who declared one a leper, and the priest who declared one recovered
from leprosy. Thus the Lord in effect had the priest of Israel bear testimony to his healing
power. Take note also of the fact that the Lord told the man to tell no one. This command to
silence occurs several times in Matthew, and will be explained by him in chapter 12.
There is great symbolic and spiritual significance in this miracle, but for the moment
we will go on to the next few paragraphs, and then return to these meanings in this and the
other stories.
5Now when he had entered into Capernaum a centurion came to him pleading with him
6and saying, “Lord, My servant [or “boy”] is lying [literally “thrown down”] in the house
paralyzed, terribly tormented.” 7And he said to him, “I having come will heal him.” 8And
answering the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof,
but only say a word and my servant will be healed. 9For I [emphasized] also am a man
under authority having under me soldiers, and I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to
another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10Now when
Jesus heard he marveled and said to those following, “Amen I say to you, with no one in
Israel have I found such great faith. 11But I say to you that many from east [rising of the
sun] and west will come and recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of
the heavens, 12but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness.

There will there be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go,
as you have had faith be it done to you.” And the servant was healed at that hour.
After the cleansing of the leper the Lord entered Capernaum. There a Roman
centurion met him and said that his servant was at home suffering greatly under paralysis.
The Lord said that he would come and heal him. Then the centurion said a remarkable thing.
He said that he was not worthy for the Lord to enter his house, but that only a word from the
Lord would heal his servant. He indicated that he understood these things because he, too,
was under authority, with others under his authority. Because of his experience, he knew
how authority worked, and he knew that the Lord had authority to speak a word of healing
and that what he said would take place.
The Lord Jesus marveled at this man’s words, for they expressed a faith, and an
understanding of faith, that he had not found even in Israel. Keep in mind that the centurion
was a Roman, a Gentile. Then he added that many Gentiles would recline at the banquet
table in the kingdom with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob while the sons of the kingdom, the
Jews, were cast out into outer darkness. Finally, he spoke the healing word that the centurion
was looking for, and the servant was healed at a distance that very hour.
Thus we again see the expression of power that validated the words of the King, this
time reaching outside Judaism to a Gentile, showing that this King is not only the King of the
Jews, but is King of kings and Lord of lords. Furthermore, we learn something about faith
and authority. Faith consists of believing what God says and acting on the belief. If God does
not speak, there can be no faith, for the believing half of faith is not just believing; it is
believing something, and that something is what God says. As Paul puts it in Rom. 10.17,
‘Now faith comes from hearing, but hearing through the speaking of Christ.” One cannot
have faith unless he has heard God speak (not audibly, of course, but in his heart, though
God certainly could speak audibly if he chose to).
But why would one believe God? Because he believes that God has authority, indeed,
that he is the ultimate authority. One believes that God can do what he says because he is
sovereign (possessing supreme authority). Thus we see that faith is ultimately based on
authority, the authority of God, and intermediately based on what God says. The centurion
understood faith because he understood authority. Because of his own experience of giving
orders and having them carried out at his word, he knew that a word has power if the speaker
has authority. How much we Christians can learn from this Gentile! Do we really believe, as
he did, that the Lord Jesus has authority? If so, do we really believe what he says? That is the
first half of faith, believing what the Lord says because of who he is (the second half is acting
on the belief).
We also learn of authority. Authority is one of the most vital matters in the universe.
We have already seen that authority is of the very nature of God. He told man in the garden
to exercise dominion because it revealed the nature of God, the fact that God is almighty and
that even within God, a Trinity, there is authority, the Son being eternally submissive to the
Father. In addition, authority is important as a matter of order and protection. Without it,
everyone would be in constant danger from anyone stronger or craftier. Society would be
chaotic. The importance of authority is seen in the assault by Satan that it is under in our day.
There are no longer such things as right and wrong. Everything is relative, and a person is

free to do anything that he sees as self-fulfilling. Why? Because Satan is the ruler of this
world and he does not want it to express the nature of God. Thus he is bringing disorder on
every hand, all the way from families to governments, and including all the institutions of
society.
But the centurion understood authority and its importance. He knew that there must
be order for society to function. He knew that only a person who knows how to be under
authority is fit to exercise authority. When he backed up his request of the Lord with his
words about authority, he did not boast of his own great authority. He first said, “For I, too,
am a man under authority.” Only then did he mention the people under him who obeyed his
word. Because he knew how to submit to authority, he was qualified to exercise authority.
That little word “too” is of great importance. When the centurion said that he too was a
man under authority, he was addressing the Lord Jesus, indicating that he saw that the Lord
was a man under authority. This centurion, so experienced in the ways of authority,
recognized that because the Lord Jesus was a man under the authority of God, he was able to
exercise authority over paralysis. And indeed, the Lord Jesus is the best example in the Bible
of a man under authority, and thus qualified to exercise it. Paul puts it best of all in Phil. 2.5-
11, where he tells us that because the Lord Jesus humbled himself in obedience to the Father,
even to the point of crucifixion, he has been exalted to the highest position. He has the name
that is above every other name. Every knee will bow to him and every tongue confess that he
is Lord. How much this brief encounter reveals to us about this matter of authority, and how
vital it is that we, the Lord’s people, understand authority and express it properly. It reveals
our God. We must be under God’s authority if we are to exercise authority in his name.
Again, we will return to this story for further meaning after a consideration of the next
two paragraphs.
14And when Jesus had come into the house of Peter he saw his mother-in-law lying
[thrown down] and sick with a fever, 15and he touched her hand and the fever left her, and
she got up and served him. 16When evening had come they brought to him many
demoniacs and he cast out the spirits with a word, and he healed all those having it badly
[i.e., sick],
17that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled saying,
“He himself took our infirmities and bore our diseases.” [Is. 53.4]
After the healing of the servant, the Lord went home with Peter, where he found that
disciple’s mother-in-law sick with a fever. Again with only a touch he healed her, so that she
rose and served him. We see another evidence of the authority of the one who gave the
words of Mt. 5-7, and we see one of the purposes of the miracles, that their beneficiaries serve
the Lord.
Next we find that many demon-possessed and sick were brought to the Lord that
evening, and he healed them all. Matthew repeats his theme of telling us that this was done
in fulfillment of prophecy, this time Is. 53.4, thus showing us once more that this one of
whom he writes is the prophesied Messiah, the King. In these stories, we see the authority of
our Lord over sickness, paralysis, demon-possession. It does not matter whether problems
are physical or spiritual in nature, the Speaker of the Sermon on the Mount can deal with
them all.

This very fact of the ability of the Lord to do works of power is important in itself, as
we have seen, because of the validity it lends to his words, but there are also several spiritual
lessons revealed in these stories, and we turn now to them.
These four miracle stories, the cleansing of the leper, the healing of the servant, the
healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, and the general healings, first show us something about sin.
Leprosy, because of its especially fearful nature and the fact that it was incurable, became a
symbolic disease in Israel. It is the only disease that calls for detailed treatment in the law. We
read about it in Lev. 13-14, and these two chapters contain 116 verses. This disease is one in
which the victim’s body literally rots away as he lives. Fingers and toes rot off, and the
disease continues. Naturally, the sufferer was considered unclean and required to live apart.
Anyone else who touched him became unclean. There is provision in the law for what to do if
a leper was cleansed, but no leper ever was, so far as we know, with two exceptions, both
miraculous, Miriam and Naaman. Because of all these facts, leprosy in the Bible is a picture of
sin, particularly of its uncleanness, its progressive nature, and its incurability except by God.
Sin defiles, and it rots a person spiritually even while he lives. Ultimately it will destroy him.
There is nothing man could do about it. Thus we see in this leper cleansed by the Lord a
picture of sin in its uncleanness, its progressive nature, and its incurability.
In the story of the centurion’s servant we see the weakness caused by sin. This man
was paralyzed, unable to do anything. He was rendered helpless by his ailment. That is what
sin does. Whereas leprosy shows us the uncleanness caused by sin, which Paul expounds on
in Rom. 3, paralysis shows the weakness caused by sin, as Paul deals with in Rom. 7 when he
says that he cannot do the good he wants to do.
Paul writes of a lack of peace in Rom. 5, and that is what Peter’s mother-in-law shows
us about sin. A fever makes one especially restless. He cannot sleep well and may even
become delirious. There is no peace for the sinner.
The general healings of Mt. 8.16 show us the universality of sin, as set forth by Paul in
Rom. 3.23: all have sinned. There is not one of us who is not afflicted with this spiritual
disease.
Thus we find that these sick and demon-possessed people give us a physical picture of
the spiritual condition we are all in: sinners who are unclean, rotting, incurable, weak,
restless. Yet the wonder of it all is that the Lord Jesus is able to meet every physical challenge,
and he is equal to the spiritual challenge also. He healed every one who came, and he can
deal with our sin, cleansing us, restoring us, curing us, strengthening us, giving us peace.
Whether our need today is physical or spiritual, or psychological for that matter, we have a
Lord who can deal with every problem. He is not just a great talker. There is nothing he
cannot do.
We saw in our introduction to Matthew that one of the themes of the good news is the
three kinds of people, Jews, Gentiles, and the church. We see these three themes in these
miracles. The leper was a Jew and the Lord healed him by a touch. Thus he pictures to us the
Jews who had faith when the Lord was present with them physically on earth.
The centurion was a Gentile. He shows us the fact that Gentiles will be brought into
the people of God, and this, though not named at this point in Matthew, is the church. We
also see that the church consists primarily of those who have not seen the Lord, but walk by
faith. He was not present with the servant when he healed him. Further, we see the rejection

of the mass of Jews who did not, as the leper, believe in the Lord at his first coming. They,
sons of the kingdom, will be cast out, while Gentiles will be brought in. It is those who have
faith who are children of Abraham and true Jews (Gal. 3.7, Rom. 2.28-29), not physical Jews.
These sons of the kingdom who do not believe will be cast into outer darkness. This
term “outer darkness” is used only three times in the Bible, and all three are in Matthew. The
other two are at 22.13 and 25.30. In the latter two cases, it applies not to the lost, but to
Christians who do not serve the Lord faithfully in this life. Thus it is not a description of hell,
but of loss of reward. Remember that Matthew deals primarily not with being saved, but
with gaining the kingdom. It is possible to be saved, yet miss the kingdom, or at least to lose
reward in the kingdom. Outer darkness pictures being outside in the dark and looking in
through the window at the celebration inside, yet missing it.
Here in Mt. 8.12, the term is applied to Jews. Since in the other two occurrences it does
not mean hell, but loss of reward, that will also be the meaning in this verse. It is a bit
difficult to see how it applies to unbelieving Jews. Perhaps it means that there are Jews who
will miss the millennial reign of Christ because they have not served the Lord according to
the law they knew, but who will not be eternally lost. Paul tells us in 2 Cor. 3.15 that there is a
veil over the heart of the Jews so that they cannot understand even their own Scriptures, our
Old Testament, and he explains this more fully in Rom. 9-11, where we find that the Jews are
under the judgment of rejection now because of their rejection of Christ, but that they will
finally be brought back to God and will recognize the Lord Jesus as their Messiah. Thus it
could be that many Jews, unable to see the truth because under God’s judgment of blindness,
will not be held liable for eternal condemnation, but will lose the reward of the kingdom
before ultimate restoration.
Whatever the exact meaning of the term in this verse, the story of the healing of Peter’s
mother-in-law shows us the truth of what we have just been saying about the Jews as a
people. The centurion’s servant shows us the church age, but Peter’s mother-in-law was a
Jewess, and the Lord healed her with a touch. She shows us that after the church age the Lord
will appear to the Jews and restore them. They will look on him whom they pierced, repent,
and mourn. They will accept their Messiah and be healed of their sin, rejection, and spiritual
darkness.
Finally, the story of the general healings shows us the conditions of the millennium.
There will be deliverance from all ills then. What the Lord did only partially and
prophetically during his brief stay on earth will then be done universally. Among the many
descriptions of the millennial reign of Christ in Isaiah, we read these words in Is. 35.5-6:
“Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then
will the lame man leap as a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will shout.” What a wonderful
promise that is! Our great hymn, O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” has as its last verse,
“Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb, Your loosened tongues employ; Ye blind, behold
your Savior come, And leap, ye lame, for joy.” How those words cause words of praise to the
Lord and prayers for his return to well up within us! Amen, come Lord Jesus.

The Works of the Kingdom
Part II, The Cost of Discipleship
Matthew 8.18-34

18Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him he gave orders to go to the other side. 19And
when one scribe had come he said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have dens and the birds of the sky, nests, but the Son
of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 21But another of the disciples said to him, “Lord,
allow me first to go and bury my father.” 22But Jesus said to him, “Follow me and let the
dead bury their own dead.”
The present passage continues the presentation of himself by the King through works
of power, but the note of the cost of being subject to this King begins to come in as well. We
see this emphasis strongly in the words of the Lord Jesus, but we will see that it is also there
in the miracles he does in these verses.
V. 18 contains a remarkable note, one that we have already seen in Mt. 5.1: when the
Lord Jesus saw a crowd, he gave orders to leave! We would think that any preacher would be
overjoyed at having crowds seek him out, rather than he having to try to gather them, but
when the Lord had such a voluntary crowd, he left. Why would he do such a thing? We
would think that he should have preached the good news to them.
The first reason is simply that the Lord Jesus always did the will of his Father, and he
knew that God was telling him to go. His ability to hear his Father’s small voice was not
diminished by a clamoring crowd. In addition, the Lord knew what was in men (Jn. 2.25). He
knew that the crowds sought him, not for commitment to God, but for the benefits he was
dispensing through miracles. Where were the crowds that so adored the Lord when it
became evident that he was headed for the cross? A few were bitterly opposed to the Lord. A
few were wholly his. The crowds took no stand. As long as they were benefiting, they
followed. When the cross replaced the miracles, they looked elsewhere. The Lord knew this
to be true and stayed true to his mission without being swayed by fickle crowds.
On this move, the Lord Jesus and his disciples were going “to the other side,” that is,
of the Sea of Galilee. This area was known as the Decapolis, ten largely Gentile cities (deca =
ten, polis = city), outside of Judea and Galilee. As they were about to make this move, a scribe
came to the Lord and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” For a Jewish scribe
to go into such unclean territory would have been a remarkable step indeed, so the scribe
must have thought he was giving evidence of great commitment to the Lord. But what was
the Lord’s response? Did he welcome such a display with open arms? No, he made know the
fact that the cost of following him was far more than going into alien territory. “The foxes
have dens and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man does not have anywhere to
lay his head.”
What a remarkable statement! This is the King presenting himself. Kings live in
glorious palaces, but this King says that he has nowhere to lay his head, not to mention a
palace. Those who follow him will share the same lot. In this statement, the Lord calls himself
Son of Man for the first time in Matthew. This title was his own name for himself and shows
his humanity. The Son of God became a son of man and accepted all the limitations of that
humanity. In his case, it meant nowhere to lay his head. Of course, the ultimate meaning of
these words of the Lord is that his kingdom is spiritual and not of this world. His followers
cannot expect this King to lead them to high government positions in this world.

Another truth emerges from this incident. It is that God has no volunteers. It is true
that we have free will, that God does not force anyone to follow him, and that we have to
choose to do so voluntarily, but all of that does not change the fact that God has no
volunteers. The Lord told his disciples in Jn. 15.16 that they had not chosen him, but he had
chosen them. That is true of all of us. However freely we may respond to the Lord, it is just
that, a response. It comes from his call. Our very voluntary response to the Lord is all of his
grace. Were it not for the grace of God, no one would ever turn to him.
The Old Testament passage that really explains what is taking place in Mt. 8.19-20 is
Ex. 19.8. After God had told Moses on Mt. Sinai that if the people would obey him they
would be his people, and Moses had passed the word on to the people, they replied, “All that
I AM has spoken we will do.” Within days they had worshipped the golden calf. That is, the
words of the people revealed a reliance on natural ability, on the strength of the flesh, to obey
God. That is exactly what was taking place with the scribe in Mt. 8. He was boasting of his
great commitment to the Lord and his willingness to follow him anywhere. But the Lord
knew that such fleshly energies would not be able to stand up to the costs of discipleship. It
might be able to go into Gentile territory, but it would not be able to endure having nowhere
to lay the head, or going to a cross. Enthusiastic volunteering for God is like the seed that fell
on rocky soil. It is all excited at first, but as soon as the heat of testing comes it withers. Such
was the scribe, and the Lord did not encourage him. He showed him the true cost.
This theme continues in vs. 21-22. Another disciple wanted to follow the Lord Jesus,
but wanted permission to go and bury his father first. The Lord’s rather enigmatic reply was,
“Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.” Does this statement mean that followers of
the Lord are not permitted to bury their dead? No, it is showing again the cost involved in
following the Lord. It is not that burying one’s dead is wrong, but that the claim of the Lord
Jesus on a person takes absolute priority. If he should require a disciple not to bury his father,
the disciple would have to obey. Ordinarily, anyone would be permitted to bury his father,
but the Lord has a higher claim that must be obeyed if exercised.
The Lord is also showing something about our preoccupations. What he said in effect
was, “Let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead.” That is, those who are spiritually
dead have no hope, and thus they are preoccupied with death. It is the tragic end of
everything. But those who are spiritually alive, who know the Lord, know that death has
been conquered and is not the end. Thus, though they grieve at the loss of loved ones, they
do not grieve as those who have no hope (1 Thess. 4.13). They are not preoccupied with
death. “Let the spiritually dead be consumed by the death of loved ones. You know that I
have conquered death, so follow me.”
We do not know whether the father had already died, so that the would-be follower of
the Lord Jesus wanted only a few days to get ready, or whether he had not yet died, so that
the man meant that he would follow the Lord as soon as his family obligations were
discharged when his father died and was buried. Either way, the Lord’s reply is the same:
nothing, not even family, can take priority over him. In all likelihood, the Lord will allow any
follower of his to have a family, and will expect him to discharge his obligations to them (see
1 Tim. 5.8), but if ever family comes between a disciple and the Lord, there must be an
understanding that the Lord is the Lord.

We are reminded of the death of Ezekiel’s wife. God told the prophet that his wife
would die that night, but that he was not to weep or mourn, but go about his prophetic
business as though nothing had happened. That night she died. And Ezekiel did as the Lord
had commanded. We may wonder how God could make such heavy demands of his own.
This is not the place to go into a detailed discussion of that question, but a part of the answer
is what we have been seeing: the Lord’s kingdom is not of this world, and there is cost in this
world if one is to follow this King. And never forget that the Lord Jesus does not ask us to
endure something he did not endure. God gave his only Son, while we were still sinners and
did not even want him to do it. Such is his inexpressible grace!
23And when he had gotten into the boat his disciples followed him. 24And look! there came
a great storm on the sea so that the boat was covered by the waves, but he himself was
sleeping. 25And having come they woke him saying, “Lord, save, we are perishing!” 26And
he said to them, “Why are you cowardly, you of little faith? Then when he had gotten up
he rebuked the wind and the sea, and there came a great calm. 27Now the men marveled
saying, “Of what kind is this one that even the winds and the sea obey him?”
Having dealt with these two, one expressing the enthusiasm, the other, the hesitation,
of the flesh, the Lord then got into the boat with his disciples to make the journey to the other
side referred to at the beginning of the passage. The Lord Jesus fell fast asleep, but while he
slept a great storm arose. The greatness of the storm is indicated by the fact that Matthew
does not use the usual Greek word for “storm,” but the word for “earthquake.” Apparently
the violence of the storm was so great that the shaking of things was like that of an
earthquake. The parallel passages in Mark and Luke use a differnet Greek word that does
mean “storm,” so we accept that meaning here in Matthew. V. 26 mentions wind, which
would indicate a storm. Perhaps the rolling of the sea was in fact caused by an earthquake,
with wind as well. Whatever the actual circumstances, the Lord slept through it. Such was his
peace, his rest in his Father.
The disciples, in terror for their lives, woke him and begged him to save them. He
asked them why they were cowardly and called them men of little faith. Then he rebuked the
wind and the sea, and the storm ceased.
The first lesson that emerges from this story is the obvious one, that the Lord has
power over nature. He has already shown his power over all kinds of diseases and demon
possession. Now we gasp with awe as did the disciples: “What kind of man is this, that even
the wind and the sea obey him?” That lesson is important in itself, for it shows us that no
power in this world can touch the follower of the Lord outside his control. We need not fear
natural disasters, for our God controls them. This is not to say that we should act
presumptuously. It would be foolish to stay in the path of a hurricane, a tornado, or a flood,
protesting that God will allow nothing to harm his own. (Recall the presumption on God of
Mt. 4.6.) The point is that one need not live in fear that something might happen to him.
Nothing “might” happen to any child of God. He controls what happens to his own. If it is
his will for a natural disaster to overtake one of his, then it is best. If it is not, then it cannot
happen. Live in faith, not in fear, especially of what might happen. As the Lord said in Mt.

6.34, each day has enough evil of its own without our worrying about what might happen.
Trust in God and deal with reality instead of dreaming up things to worry about.
Beyond this vital lesson that our Lord controls nature, there is also the truth that he
has power over the forces of evil. In the Bible, the sea is symbolic of evil. We see this fact all
through God’s word. Look at the flood in Genesis. The sea became the instrument of
judgment and the whole world perished. The judgment was just, the act of God, but it
resulted from the evil of man. When the Israelites were trying to escape the Egyptians, what
blocked their path? The sea. In Ps. 69.1 we read, “Save me, God, for the waters have come to
my life” (to take it). Ps 107.23-27 says,
They who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in great waters, see the works
of I AM and his wonders in the deep. For he commands and raises the stormy wind,
which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens. They go down
again to the depths. Their soul melts away because of trouble. They reel and stagger
like a drunken man and are at their wits’ end.
The sea is a place of terror. Dan. 7.3 and Rev. 13.1 show the evil and symbolic nature of the
sea: it is out of it that Antichrist will arise. In this case, the sea pictures the nations of the
world, without God and tossing about restlessly. Out of them will come the beast. Perhaps
the most convincing verse in the Bible about the evil nature of the sea is Rev. 21.1: when the
new sky and the new earth come, there will no longer be any sea. Why? Because the sea
symbolizes evil, and evil will have been done away with at that time. Let us just state that the
sea is not actually evil, but it is symbolically so sometimes in the Bible. It is ome of God’s
greatest creations, a thing of wonder and beauty, but also of might, great, great might.
Yet God is master of the sea, of evil. Yes, the flood destroyed all the world, but there
were eight whom the Lord saved in the flood by means of an ark. The Red Sea that
threatened to doom Israel to the Egyptian army was rolled back at the word of God so that
they went over on dry ground. When the Egyptians tried to follow, the same God told the sea
to return to normal. It did so, drowning the enemies of his people. Ps. 107, that points so
eloquently to the fearful nature of the sea, shows God’s control of it, first in a verse already
quoted by saying that it is the Lord himself who raises up the storms, and then by continuing
in vs. 28-29, “Then they cry to the I AM in their trouble and he brings them out of their
distresses. He makes the storm a calm so that the waves of the sea are still.” The Lord
controls the sea. He is master over the forces of evil that try to undo his people. Just as we
need have no fear of natural disaster, so we need have no fear of the forces of evil that they
symbolize. Our God rules over nature and over intelligent evil.
In addition, there is the personal spiritual lesson that God us able to still the storms of
our lives. All of us have difficulties all through life, many of which cause great distress so
that we feel storm-tossed. Indeed we may even feel that it is not just a storm, but an
earthquake. But our God can speak peace to our souls, quieting us within even while there
are storms without, and he can still the storm.
There is a further lesson that emerges from this story as it relates to our personal trials.
The disciples were men of faith. They believed that their Lord could do something about this
earthquake-like storm. Yet they were men of little faith. They were terrified, even though the

Lord Jesus had already said that they were going to the other side. If he says that, that is the
end of the matter. No storm or anything else can prevent it. So the Lord’s object was to
increase their faith. We are all of little faith. That is one reason why the Lord allows difficult
situations to come into our lives. He is trying to strengthen our faith.
We noted above in citing Ps. 107 that it was the Lord himself who caused the storm
that so terrified the mariners, and then he delivered them with a word. One of God’s great
aims for us is that we learn to trust in him fully and thus draw on him for all our needs, yet
our faith is so small and weak. Thus he allows situations to come into our lives that
strengthen our faith. Nothing gains strength in an easy place. We build muscle by lifting
something almost too heavy to lift. God builds our faith by putting us into situations almost
beyond our faith. He will call up storms that stretch our faith to the breaking point. But just
as we think our faith is about to break, we find that instead it is strengthened. God speaks the
word we need to hear. He stills the storm, within if not without. And the truth emerges that it
is not really the greatness or the strength of our faith that matters after all, but the greatness
and strength of the God in whom it is placed. He is Lord of all.
We emphasized above that the matter of the cost of following the Lord Jesus was the
theme of this entire passage, and we see that cost in what we have just been emphasizing.
Part of the cost of following the Lord is going through trial designed to strengthen our faith,
We can be assured that if we follow the Lord, we will sail through storms, some so great that
we will think we are in an earthquake, but the storms will not hurt us, for the Lord has
already said that we are going to the other side. It is only designed for our growth in the
Lord. But it is a true storm. There is genuine conflict. It is a part of the cost of discipleship.
28And when he had come to the other side to the country of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs
met him as they were coming out from the tombs, very violent, so that no one was able to
pass by that way. 29And look! they cried saying, “What to us and to you, Son of God? Have
you come here before the time to torment us?” 30Now there was at a distance from them
herd of many swine feeding. 31The demons were begging him saying, “If you cast us out,
send us into the herd of swine.” 32And he said to them, “Go.” And when they had come out
they went into the swine, and look! all the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea
and died in the waters. 33And the herdsmen fled, and when they had come into the city
they reported all things and the things about the demoniacs. 34And look! all the city went
out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him that he might go away from
their regions.
The final episode in this passage deals with the casting out of demons from two men.
Matthew does not tell us how many demons, but Mark and Luke say that there were so
many that one of the men called himself Legion, a Roman army unit of six thousand men,
and Matthew does indicate that there were many, enough to possess a whole herd of swine.
Three facts about this story first catch our attention, one incidental, and two integral, to it.
The incidental fact has to do with the demons: they have a day of judgment coming and they
know it. The present context is not the place to go into a detailed discussion of the demonic,
but this fact about it can be noted in passing.

The second matter that catches our attention is that this case is an especially hard one.
These men were controlled by many demons. They lived among tombs. They were violent, so
much so that no one could venture out on the road that passed their way.
There is a third fact that we notice: these demons recognize the Lord Jesus. He did not
have to make himself known to them. They knew he was the Son of God and their ultimate
Judge.
The demons perceived that the Lord would cast them out, so they asked, if that were
the case, to be allowed to enter the herd of swine feeding there. At this point, the fact that this
was such a hard case comes into play. The reply of the Lord to their request was one word:
“Go.” And they went. It was not a hard case for him. He walked with divine authority and he
had defeated their master. Far from this matter being difficult for him, he was able to dismiss
a large number of demons with a single word. So great was his authority that they
themselves initiated the exorcism. They could sense it coming. Our Lord is master of
everything, disease, demons, nature, even large numbers of demons all at once. There are no
cases hard for him. It was a hard case for the people of that region, or of any region for that
matter.
When the demons entered the swine, the pigs rushed down the hill into the lake and
drowned. Their herdsmen hurried into town and reported the incident, whereupon the
townspeople came and asked the Lord Jesus to leave. We are not told their reason for doing
so, whether it was fear of such power in a man or fear of further economic loss or some other
reason, but the very fact that they asked the Lord to leave speaks for itself. It reveals the
condition of the hearts of these people. There is nothing more needed or more wonderful
than the Lord’s presence, and they asked him to leave.
We have been seeing all through this passage that there is a cost involved in following
the Lord, and we see it again in this last story. Though the people who suffered the loss were
not followers of the Lord, their experience is nonetheless instructive to us. The deliverance of
these two men cost them a herd of swine. It might at first seem unjust of the Lord to destroy
someone else’s property, but we need to recall that everything is the Lord’s and is given to
men only as a stewardship. They are to manage it for him. The cattle on a thousand hills are
his. If this be true with unbelievers, how much more so with us who have chosen to follow
the Lord, thus yielding our all to him. He has every right to take our property, for it is his in
the first place, and we have yielded it to him as well. We may well experience material loss as
a result of following him. But material things are temporary anyway. We will ultimately give
up all material things. How much better to lose some of them for the Lord’s purposes and
gain eternal reward in their place than to hang on to them and lose all. Would it not be
wonderful to meet someone in Heaven who is there eternally because of some material loss
of ours? Whatever the cost to us, material or otherwise, let us never ask the Lord Jesus to
leave.
Thus we see in four incidents the cost of discipleship: a worldly kingdom, temporal
attachments, exemption from trial, and material goods. The word “Lord” means what it says:
he is Lord of our lives. It is his right to exact a cost from us as his followers. But he is a
wonderful Lord: he asks nothing of us that he has not done himself. He could have just
stayed in Heaven and let us face the penalty for our sins. He could have had worldly glory
without going to the cross. He could have lived in a palace, or in as many palaces as he

wanted. He could have had a family and devoted himself to it. He could have avoided all
trial, for he was perfection itself and needed no maturing. He could have had untold material
wealth. But he gave up all these things to pay the cost of our salvation and sanctification.
Cane we not endure a temporary cost in order to share in his eternal glory?

The Works of the Kingdom
Part III, The Beginning of Controversy
Matthew 9.1-34

We have seen that Mt. 8 begins the actual presentation by the King of himself to Israel.
He had spoken the words of the kingdom to his own disciples in chapters 5-7, but the public
works beginning in chapter 8, in fulfillment of messianic prophecy, constitute the Lord’s
offering of himself to his people as their King. The offer calls for faith, for it was not what
they expected, but it was an offer just the same.
In chapter 8 we saw that the Lord Jesus is master of everything, whether it be disease
or demons, even nature, and we saw that there is a cost involved in following him. We see
the same theme of his mastery continued in chapter 9, but a new note is added, that of
controversy. The King is presenting himself, and opposition begins, opposition that will end,
of course, in rejection and the cross.

And having gotten into a boat he went over and came to his own city, 2and look! they
were bringing to him a paralytic lying on a pallet. And seeing their faith Jesus said to the
paralytic, “Take courage, child. Your sins are forgiven.” 3And look! some of the scribes said
within themselves, “This one blasphemes.” 4And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said,
“Why are you thinking evil things in your hearts? 5Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are
forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk.’ 6But that you may know that the Son of Man has
authority on the earth to forgive sins.” Then he said to the paralytic, “When you have
gotten up, take your pallet and go to your house.” 7And when he had gotten up he went to
his house. 8But when the crowds saw they were afraid and glorified God who had given
such authority to men.
The first story in the present passage has to do with the healing of a paralytic. In it we
see special emphasis on a fact we saw in chapter 8, that the Lord Jesus is more than talk, and
can do works that give validity to his words. All of his works validate all of his words in a
general sense, but in this story we see that truth in very specific fashion, for the Lord first
pronounced the forgiveness of the paralytic’s sins. In the first place, this act showed the
origin of human suffering and the man’s real need, indeed the real need of all people.
All suffering has its ultimate origin in sin. This does not mean that each specific
suffering is a specific punishment for a specific sin. If that were the cased, none of us would
survive, for the Lord would have to punish us so often that we could not take it. It does mean
that we live in a fallen world. Because sin was introduced into God’s sinless creation there is
suffering. Those who blame God for their hardships need to understand that it is our fault,
not his. He made it without sin and suffering. We introduced those factors. The man’s

paralysis was a result of the fact that there is sin in this fallen world. His ultimate need was
not physical healing, for he eventually died anyway, but spiritual healing. He needed his sins
forgiven, and the fallen world needs the fact of sin dealt with.
In addition, these words of the Lord Jesus were words that only God has a right to say.
That is why the Jews said that he was blaspheming, and they were right if the Lord Jesus was
not who we believe he is. Either he had God-given authority to proclaim the forgiveness of
sins or he was a blasphemer. Thus these words were a specific claim of messiahship. It called
for faith, for the claim was not made in the way the Jews expected, but it was a claim
nonetheless.
Here the note of controversy begins. The scribes accused the Lord Jesus of blasphemy.
We might just note here that the Lord’s knowledge of their thoughts was probably an
instance of what Paul calls a word of knowledge in 1 Cor. 12.8, for he lived as a man and not
with divine omniscience. To show that he was not just uttering empty words, he asked which
was easier, to say that sins were forgiven or to say that the man should rise up and walk. For
anyone else, the answer is obvious: it is easier to say any words than it is to heal a paralytic.
Anyone can say anything, but healing is impossible. But for the Lord there was no difference.
One was as easy as the other. He had authority to forgive sins, and he had authority to heal.
So he did both, the healing showing the truth of his words. But it did not matter. The Jews
were determined in their opposition.
9And Jesus, going along from there, saw a man sitting at the tax office, called Matthew, and
he said to him, “Follow me.” And when he had gotten up he followed him. 10And it took
place as he was reclining in the house, look! many tax collectors and sinners, having come,
were eating with Jesus and his disciples. 11And when they saw the Pharisees said to his
disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with tax collectors and sinners?” 12But having heard
he said, “The well [able, strong] don’t have need of a doctor, but those having it badly.
13But when you have gone learn what it is, ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ [Hos. 6.7 LXX]
For I did not come to call righteous but sinners.”
The second story continues the controversy. The Lord called Matthew, a tax collector,
and later author of this gospel, to be one of his disciples. Tax collectors were one of the most
hated groups in Israel, and not just for the usual reasons. What they did was actually
traitorous. The tax collectors were Jews who collected taxes from their own people for Rome.
Rome licensed them to collect taxes and wanted a certain amount. Whatever else the tax
collectors could extort they could keep for themselves. Thus the tax collectors were
treasonous Jews who helped the occupying power against their own people, and they were
usually cheats, too, preying on their own under the protection of a foreign army.
Not only did the Lord have the gall to call such a person to be one of his close
followers, he even ate in the same house with him, and that with even more sinners. The
Pharisees could not take it! They asked the Lord’s disciples why he did such a thing. When
he heard it, he pointed out the absurdity of their position. They were acting as though they
were doctors who refused to see sick patients: they had to get well first. The Pharisees
claimed to have God, who is what men need, but they refused to share him with people until

they had him. There is no point in calling the righteous to God for salvation: they are already
saved. There is no point in calling the well to the doctor for healing: they are already well.
To back up his assertion that he should go to sinners, the Lord Jesus quoted Hos. 6.6,
“For I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” Ja. 1.27 is perhaps the best commentary on this verse:
“Pure and undefiled worship before the God and Father is this, to visit orphans and widows
in their distress, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” The word “worship” in this
verse is the word for ritual acts of worship. One who does only those without helping the
needy and abstaining from the defilement of the world has an empty worship. Certain ritual
acts, if we may call them that, are prescribed by God. The Jews were not wrong to obey the
law’s instructions about how to worship God. Nor is a Christian wrong to observe baptism
and the Lord’s Supper. But if that is all one does, keep outward forms with no inward
motivation to service and holiness, all he has is empty religion, not the life of God. God does
not want the one without the other. It is a mockery to take the Lord’s Table and ignore the
needs of others. God desires mercy.
The Pharisees had such an empty religion. They observed all the ritual requirements,
but they knew nothing about mercy, the very nature of God. The Lord Jesus was showing
that mercy by going to sinners.
We also learn a fundamental truth about God in this passage. We saw in vs. 1-8 that
the Lord Jesus came to forgive sins. We now see in vs. 9-13 that he takes the initiative in
doing so. He does not wait for us to come to him for forgiveness: he seeks us out to offer us
forgiveness. It is what Paul says in Rom. 5.8: “But God shows his love for us in that while we
were still sinners Christ died for us.” It is what we call grace. Not only do we get love we do
not deserve: the Offended One seeks us to offer it to us, the offenders.
But again it does not matter. The Pharisees, as the scribes, have made up their minds.
14Then the disciples of John were coming to him saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees
fast, but your disciples don’t fast?” 15And Jesus said to them, “Are the sons of the wedding
hall able to mourn while the bridegroom is with them? [No] But days will come when the
bridegroom is taken from them, and then they will fast. 16But no one sews a patch of
unshrunken cloth on an old garment, for its fullness shrinks [lit. “takes”] from the garment
and a worse tear is made. 17Neither do they put fresh wine into old wineskins; otherwise
the wineskins are torn and the wine is poured out and the wineskins are ruined. But they
put fresh wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
The third note of controversy comes from the disciples of John the Baptist. They
wanted to know why the Pharisees and they fasted, but the Lord’s disciples did not. His
answer shows that we need to learn what it is that God is doing and act appropriately. God
does not always do the same thing. He himself is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but
he does different things from time to time. At a time of judgment, it would be inappropriate
to have a party. That is a time for mourning and fasting and calling on God for mercy. At a
time of great blessing, it would be inappropriate to fast. That is the time to have a party and
thank God. That is exactly what was taking place in the life of the Lord Jesus.
It was a time of great blessing. God was bringing the law to its fulfillment in grace. He
was offering his kingdom to his people. He was preparing the sacrifice for sins that would

open the Holy of Holies, not just to the High Priest once a year, but to all people all the time.
He would soon pour out the Holy Spirit. With such an abundant blessing being given, it was
inappropriate to fast. It was festival time!
To illustrate the truth of what he was saying, the Lord used three examples. The first is
that of the wedding. Weddings are important occasions in our society, but in the Bible days
they far surpassed their position today. Most people were poor and could not afford lavish
celebrations. They were concerned to survive. In that context, the wedding became the one
occasion in life when no expense was spared. Families would save for years and spend
everything on a wedding celebration. Then they would go on being poor for the rest of their
lives. Even today, certain ethnic groups take the same approach to weddings, the Jewish
people among them.
On an occasion of such joy, such feasting, how could there be fasting? There cannot be
both feasting and fasting, and fasting is inappropriate at a wedding, the most joyous occasion
of life. A wedding celebration is exactly what was being prepared at the coming of the Lord
Jesus. He is a heavenly Bridegroom, and he came to call his bride and to make the way for
her. How can the friends of the Bridegroom fast when he is with them? Impossible! The Lord
Jesus, the Bridegroom, was there.
We will save the second illustration for last because it is not generally understood and
requires a bit more explanation. The third example is that of pouring new wine into old
wineskins. That is also inappropriate because old wineskins are dry and brittle and the
fermentation process of the new wine will burst them, so that both wine and skins will be
lost. New wine is put into new, soft, supple skins that will expand with fermentation.
Wine in the Bible is a symbol of the Holy Spirit as joy. The point that the Lord is
making is that the Spirit of God was doing a new thing in him, a new thing that would not fit
into the old Jewish ritual wineskins. The Jews fasted on certain days because that day had
been appointed a fast day, no matter what God was doing. That was correct before the
coming of the Lord Jesus, for that was what God had told them to do, but now God was
doing a new thing. All those Jewish customs pointed to the Messiah. One of the most
profitable of all Bible studies is that of the Jewish ritual, the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the
priests’ garments, the festivals, all of it. Everything, down to the last detail, points to the
Messiah. It was all a picture of him. But as Paul says in Col. 2.7, when we have the reality we
no longer need the pictures. The Jewish system actually kept people away from God by
erecting barriers between him and them, though he was in the midst, but now God was
opening the Holy of Holies to all who would come in faith. The wine would not stay in the
old Jewish skins: it would burst them. New skins must be provided.
What are the new skins? The practices of the church, but according to the New
Testament, not according to all the traditions that God never gave in the first place that have
been built up by Christians to replace Jewish traditions. While there is order in the church,
there is also great freedom. There was no freedom in Judaism. Everything was prescribed.
But in the church, everyone is a priest. Everyone is a minister in the body. Everyone can
share in the meetings of the church as the Holy Spirit leads. It is not chaos, for the Spirit leads
and there is human government delegated by God to keep things in order if needed, but
there is freedom. Anyone can speak out in praise of God. Anyone whom God anoints can
share the word. What does Paul say in 1 Cor. 14.26? “When you come together, each one has

a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation.” Everyone
participates. Not all will speak out on every occasion, but all are in the Holy of Holies
ministering to God together. That is the freedom of the church. That is the new skin that the
poured-out Holy Spirit must go into, a skin that can give with his movings.

Thus we see that it is inappropriate to fast when the Son is present and to try to
put the poured-out Holy Spirit into Jewish forms. But the Lord also gives a third example. He
says that no one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth onto an old garment of cloth that has been
shrunk. Then he says why: “for the fullness will tear away from the garment and the tear will
be worse.” That is a literal translation. Usually the word for “fullness” is rendered “patch,”
but the Greek word is fullness. What is the fullness? Col. 1.19 tells us, and again we need to
translate very literally: “For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell….” Our translators
usually have it that it pleased the Father for all the fullness to dwell in him, but that is not
what the Greek says. “Fullness” is the subject of the sentence in Greek, and the word
“Father” is not there in the Greek text. The fullness was pleased to dwell in Christ. That is,
the fullness of God the Father. Is that not true? Is he not the fullness? Of course he is!
Thus in Mt. 9.16 we have he statement that just as it is not appropriate to fast when the
Son is present or to try to confine the Holy Spirit to Jewish ritual, so it is not appropriate to
try to mend the tear in Judaism with God the Father. Why? In the Bible, garments stand for
righteousness. This truth is seen most clearly in Rev. 19.8, where we are told that the fine
linen with which the bride clothes herself is the righteous deeds of the saints. The Jewish
garment was a righteousness based on law (Phil. 3.9), and we have already seen, in Mt. 5.17-
20, that those who desire the kingdom must have greater righteousness than that. We saw in
Mt. 5.21-48 that the Jewish righteousness asked, “How little can I get by with?” while
kingdom righteousness asks, “How much can I do?” That is God’s righteousness. In Christ
he is calling his people to go as far as they can go in him. Thus it is inappropriate to try to
mend the torn garment of Jewish righteousness with God, that is, to try to force God to fit the
old righteousness. His righteousness far surpasses the old. He is unshrunk cloth. If we try to
force him to shrink to Jewish righteousness, he will make the tear worse, not because he will
shrink, for God will not be shrunk to fit human ideas, but because he will stretch the garment
to try to increase its capacity, but the old rigid, legal Jewish righteousness will not stretch. He
is free. Instead of shrinking to fit us, he is calling us to stretch to fit him! We need a new
garment, a new righteousness, not based on meeting the minimal requirements of the law,
but on faith in Jesus Christ, a righteousness that comes from him into us and puts within us
the question, “What more can I do?” That is the righteousness of God.
These stories show us the beginning of controversy between the Lord Jesus and official
Judaism, but they also teach us valuable spiritual lessons. The Lord Jesus came to forgive
sins. Indeed, he came to seek out sinners before they even wanted him to do so. And we need
to be alert to the voice of God, to find out what God is doing and act accordingly, rather than
trying to reapply old techniques. God is always doing something new. Rather than trying to
force him to live in the shrines we have built around what he once did, we need to move on
with him to what he is doing now. Our God lives in a tent. Let us travel with him.
18While he was saying these things to them, look! one ruler having come bowed before
him saying, “My daughter is even now about to die. But having come, lay your hand on

her and she will live.” 19And when Jesus had arisen he followed him. 20And look! a woman
who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, having come from behind,
touched the fringe of his garment, 21for she said within herself, “If I only touch his
garment I will be healed.” 22But Jesus, turning and seeing her said, “Take courage,
daughter. Your faith has healed you.” And she was healed from that hour. 23And Jesus,
when he had come into the house of the ruler and seen the flute players and the crowd in
an uproar, 24said, “Leave, for the girl did not die, but is sleeping.” And they were laughing
at him. 25But when the crowd had been put out, having entered he took her hand and the
girl got up. 26And the report about her went out into all that land.
The emphasis on controversy is not present in the next stories, but occurs again in the
conclusion to the passage. The first story is actually the interweaving of two miracles. While
the Lord Jesus was giving the teachings in answer to the question about fasting, a synagogue
official came to him and asked him to come lay his hand on his daughter who had just died
so that she would live. The Lord and his disciples followed him. On the way a woman who
had had a hemorrhage for twelve years came up behind him and touched the hem of his
garment, thinking that only this touch would bring healing. The Lord turned and saw her
and said to her that her faith had made her well, and indeed she was immediately healed.
Then he continued on to the house of the synagogue official. There he ordered the mourners
out with the word that the girl was not dead, but sleeping, and they laughed at him. While
they laughed he raised her from the dead.
Several thoughts come to mind as we consider these two miracles. First is the
emphasis again on the fact that the Lord is master over everything. We have seen that he can
heal disease, cast out demons, and still storms at sea. Now in these stories we once again see
disease conquered, but we also see the ultimate. In 8.27, after the stilling of the storm, the
disciples had asked, “What kind of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Mt. 9.25 adds to the question: even death is subject to him.
If all this be true, what is there in our lives that is beyond our Lord? If he can rule over
all kinds of disease, demons, nature, even death, is he not Lord of our trials? He can deliver
us from them, or he can see us through them, according to his will. Whichever it is, this
almighty power of God working through the Lord Jesus must surely be a source of great
comfort to us. Our Lord is Lord of whatever we are going through.
Next we notice that the woman was able to touch the Lord and did so, whereas the girl
was unable to do so, so he touched her. In the woman we see an expression of faith.
Somehow, we are not old how, she had heard of the Lord and knew of his healing power,
and she believed. Faith is believing what God says and acting on that belief. In all likelihood
God had not spoken to this woman in a way that she would have consciously thought of as
God speaking. Yet he was always speaking through the Lord Jesus, who is the Word of God.
When she heard of him, she heard God speak, consciously or unconsciously, and she
believed. That is the first half of faith. Faith also includes acting on what we say we believe. If
we do not act, it is not faith. As James puts it, belief without works is dead. She showed the
reality of her belief by acting on it. She believed that if she touched the hem of the Lord’s
garment she would be healed, so she touched it and she was healed.

This matter of the touch is of great interest. The Lord Jesus was in the midst of a crowd
of people. Many of them touched him, but when this one woman touched him, he knew it
and turned to look at her. How did he know that she had touched him in such a crowd?
Because of all those people who touched him, she was the only one who really touched him,
for she touched not just his body, but his spirit. That is what is important. The Lord is not
now with us physically, but we can touch him nonetheless if we have faith. If we really
believe him, and act on our belief, we touch him spiritually. How many people are in the
religious crowds and never touch the Lord! What we need above all is to touch him. God
give us grace to have the faith of this poor woman!
Speaking of grace, that is exactly what we see in the case of the little girl. She was
unable to touch the Lord, for she was dead. She was unable to exercise faith. So the Lord
touched her. That is grace. And yet it is all of grace. Who would not say that the woman’s
faith and the healing it produced came from grace? Many of us had a desire for the Lord and
came seeking him. Many others can testify that they had no desire for God, yet he reached
out and touched them, saving them and calling them into his family. But it is grace with both.
Those who had a desire for the Lord, where did they get it? He put it there. It is grace. Those
who did not want the Lord, but were arrested by him, are obviously recipients of grace.
It is of interest that the passage says that the woman and the girl were both healed.
The Greek word that can mean either “saved” or “healed.” So which was it? Were they saved
or healed? Or does “saved” just mean “saved from the illness or death”? I am sure that it
means both. They were healed of disease or death, but they also received eternal life.
We learn another lesson from the fact that the woman touched the hem of the garment
of our Lord. In Ps. 133 we are told that when brothers dwell together in unity, the anointing
oil on the head of the High Priest runs down onto the beard and the garments, even to the
edge of the robe, so that there results the blessing of life forever. What is the meaning of this
little psalm? Aaron is a type of the Lord Jesus, our High Priest. The Lord is also the Head. In
addition, the anointing oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit. The point of the psalm is that the
anointing oil is not on the people, but on the Head. How do we come into the anointing of
the Spirit? By dwelling in unity under the Head, the Lord Jesus. When we do so, the
anointing runs down onto us, even to the edge of the robe, the hem of the garment.
The point is that we are the hem of the garment. Are we dwelling is such unity that
people can touch us and touch the anointing of the Lord, the Holy Spirit, so as to find their
needs met? That is what the Lord desires. He wants his people to be such that when the
needy world touches them, it touches him. But that takes unity, with all the Lord’s people
holding fast the Head. How searching a question this is for us, with all our division as the
Lord’s people. The Lord has only one people. Why can we not dwell in unity? How much
more of his power would be released if we did!
We noted in our introduction to Matthew that one of the themes of the good news is
the relationship among the Jews, the Gentiles, and the church. These two intertwined miracle
stories show us something about what is taking place in this regard. Israel is the people of
God, and the Lord Jesus came to them. His ministry on earth was to them. We will see more
of this in chapter 10, so we will let this simple statement suffice for now. The problem was
that Israel rejected her King, and thus was rejected by him. Israel is the little girl, dead. The
father came to the Lord to ask for her raising and he started out first to minister to her. But on

the way the woman came to him and touched him by faith. She is the Gentiles, and indeed
she is the Jews of this age of grace who respond to the Lord by faith. The point is that God
will ultimately bring the Jews to a knowledge of their Messiah, the Lord Jesus, and that will
be life from the dead, as Paul puts it in Rom. 11.15, just as the little girl was raised from the
dead. But meanwhile, all who will may come to the Lord by faith, and he will bless them.
27And as Jesus was going along from there two blind men followed him crying out and
saying, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” 28Now when he had entered the house the two
blind men came to him and Jesus said to them, “Do you have faith that I am able to do
this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” 29Then he touched their eyes saying, “According to
your faith be it to you.” 30And their eyes were opened. And Jesus charged them sternly
saying, “See that you let no one know.” 31But having gone out they spread the report about
him in all that land. 32As they were going out they brought to him a dumb man, a
demoniac. 33And when the demon had been cast out, the dumb man spoke. And the
crowds marveled saying, “Never was it seen so in Israel.”
The next two stories share a feature in common with the two just considered. In vs. 27-
33 we have the giving of sight to two blind men and the restoring of speech to a dumb man
by the casting out of the demon that caused the condition. The parallel is that the blind men,
like the woman with the hemorrhage, were able to come to the Lord and did so, while the
dumb man, demon-possessed, was unable, like the girl, to do so. He was brought. The Lord
Jesus responded to both cases, just as he did with the woman and the girl.
After the raising of the girl from the dead, the two blind men followed the Lord,
calling him Son of David. This is the first application of this term to the Lord after the first
verse of the book. The title Son of David is messianic, show us something about what is
taking place in this regard. Israel is the people of God, and the Lord Jesus came to them. His
ministry on earth was to them. We will see more of this in chapter 10, so we will let this
simple statement suffice for now. The problem was that Israel rejected her King, and thus
was rejected by him. Israel is the little girl, dead. The father came to the Lord to ask for her
raising and he started out first to minister to her. But on the way the woman came to him and
touched him by faith. She is the Gentiles, and indeed she is the Jews of this age of grace who
respond to the Lord by faith. The point is that God will ultimately bring the Jews to a
knowledge of their Messiah, the Lord Jesus, and that will be life from the dead, as Paul puts it
in Rom. 11.15, just as the little girl was raised from the dead. But meanwhile, all who will
may come to the Lord by faith, and he will bless them.
27And as Jesus was going along from there two blind men followed him crying out and
saying, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” 28Now when he had entered the house the two
blind men came to him and Jesus said to them, “Do you have faith that I am able to do
this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” 29Then he touched their eyes saying, “According to
your faith be it to you.” 30And their eyes were opened. And Jesus charged them sternly
saying, “See that you let no one know.” 31But having gone out they spread the report about
him in all that land. 32As they were going out they brought to him a dumb man, a

demoniac. 33And when the demon had been cast out, the dumb man spoke. And the
crowds marveled saying, “Never was it seen so in Israel.”
The next two stories share a feature in common with the two just considered. In vs. 27-
33 we have the giving of sight to two blind men and the restoring of speech to a dumb man
by the casting out of the demon that caused the condition. The parallel is that the blind men,
like the woman with the hemorrhage, were able to come to the Lord and did so, while the
dumb man, demon-possessed, was unable, like the girl, to do so. He was brought. The Lord
Jesus responded to both cases, just as he did with the woman and the girl.
After the raising of the girl from the dead, the two blind men followed the Lord,
calling him Son of David. This is the first application of this term to the Lord after the first
verse of the book. The title Son of David is messianic, for David was the great king of Israel,
and the promise to him was that he would have a son on the throne of Israel forever. Thus
their calling of the Lord by this title indicates some recognition of him as King on their part.
How much they knew and understood we are not told, but they did call him by a kingly title.
Matthew is presenting the Lord Jesus as King, but we have seen that his emphasis is first on
the spiritual nature of his rule. Before one sees and participates in the outward glory, he
must accept the hidden Messiah by faith.
Thus the Lord did not respond to the request of the two with an immediate miracle of
healing. Instead he first asked them if they had faith, calling for a confession of more than just
a hope for earthly blessing, as was the expectation of the Jews of their Messiah. When they
say that they do have faith that he is able to heal them, he does so. The lesson is that open
spiritual eyes are more important than open physical eyes. The Lord Jesus wanted these two
men, and us, to see more in him than one who will bring earthly blessing and glory. He is the
one who rules in our hearts by faith first of all, in times when there is no outward glory, but
only suffering and apparent defeat. Only then will he be manifested openly and rule the
earth.
After the Lord healed these two, he warned them strongly to tell no one. His hiding of
his messiahship is a theme of the gospels, and corresponds with what we have just been
saying about following him in the days of his humility. For now, simply take note of this fact.
It will be dealt with in chapter 12, where Matthew explains it.
The dumb man, unable to act on his own because of control by the demon, was
brought to the Lord, who cast out the demon so that the dumb man spoke. In addition to the
amazement of the crowds, we see a spiritual lesson in the linking of these two stories. It is
that we should not speak until we have had our eyes opened by the Lord. It is not enough to
learn truth with our heads and simply repeat it. There must be revelation, the opening of the
eyes of our hearts, as Paul puts it in Eph. 1.18. When the Lord has revealed truth to us
inwardly, spiritually, then we are able to speak. We do need our mouths opened to speak for
the Lord, but first we need our eyes opened. May the Lord be gracious to us in opening both
our eyes and our mouths, to see him and to speak for him.
34But the Pharisees said, “By the ruler of the demons he is casting out the demons.”

The passage closes with an indication of the outcome of the controversy which begins
in this chapter of Matthew. The Lord Jesus has healed a paralytic and a woman with a
hemorrhage, raised a dead girl to life, given sight to two blind men, and cast the demon out
of a dumb man, in addition to the miracles already worked in chapter 8. What is the response
of the Pharisees? “By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons.” They have already
determined to oppose the Lord no matter what. They admit his miracles, but they will not
admit that they are from God. Matthew develops the full implications of this decision by the
Pharisees in chapter 12, so we will wait until that point, also, to go into it fully. Suffice it for
now to say that the shadow of the cross is already beginning to fall. The opposition to the
Lord that begins in this chapter will have its results, both for him and for those who oppose
him. We will see these as we continue.

The Mission of the Twelve
Matthew 9.35-11.1

35Now Jesus was going around all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues
and preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every
malady. 36And seeing the crowds he had compassion for them, for they were troubled and
beaten down, like sheep having no shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest
is much, but the workers few. 38Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he may cast out
workers into the harvest.”
Mt. 9.35 is a summary statement of chapters 8 and 9, telling us in one sentence what
we have seen in those two chapters, that the Lord Jesus went about teaching, proclaiming the
good news of the kingdom, and healing. The good news of the kingdom is the good news
that the kingdom, and therefore the King, is near. The healings are evidence that the words
are true.
We saw in 9.34 that the Pharisees’ response to these works of the Lord was that he did
them by the ruler of the demons, and in v. 36 we see his response to that attitude. He had
compassion on the people of Israel because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Their
leaders, those who were supposed to be their shepherds, had rejected the King God had sent
to rule them. (His coming to rule would be delayed until his second coming.) Their leaders
misled. Thus they were sheep without a shepherd. What deep feelings of sorrow and love
this fact aroused in the Lord Jesus!
The Old Testament provides rich understanding of this likeness of the shepherd and
the sheep. In Num. 27.15-23 we have the record of the choice of Joshua to succeed Moses as
the leader of Israel. Moses knew that his own death was near, so he prayed for a man to be
raised up to lead Israel “that the congregation of I AM be not as sheep which have no
shepherd.” The Lord’s immediate answer was Joshua, but the use by the Lord Jesus of the
symbol of the shepherd in Mt. 9.36, and his calling himself the Good Shepherd in Jn. 10, show
that Moses’ prayer had a prophetic as well as an immediate fulfillment. Its ultimate
fulfillment was not in the Joshua of the Old Testament, but in the Joshua of the New
Testament, for “Jesus” is simply the English for the Greek form of the Hebrew “Joshua”
(Iesous).

In Ezek. 34.1-11 we read of the shepherds who prey on the flock of God rather than
feeding it and caring for its needs. God declares that because of the failure of the shepherds,
he would demand his sheep back from them and deliver them from their shepherds. Then he
adds, “Behold, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.” Is that not what the
Lord Jesus was doing? He is the Good Shepherd who came from Heaven to search for the
sheep who had no shepherd, or who had mis-shepherds. The Pharisees fulfill the declaration
of God that the shepherds do not lead the people rightly, and do so ultimately by rejecting
the Messiah, and the Lord Jesus fulfills God’s statement that he himself would shepherd his
people.
The Lord then changes the symbol from sheep and shepherds to harvest. Because the
people are in such a pitiful condition, he says that the harvest is plentiful. That is, many are in
need of the Lord and will respond to him if they hear of him. And that is just the problem.
There are so few to take the word to them. So the Lord tells the disciples to pray for God to
send workers into the harvest. It is interesting that this command lists one of the few things
the Bible actually tells us to pray for. There is much about prayer in the Bible, but very few
specific matters we are told to pray for. Workers for the harvest is one of them.
It is also of interest that the word used by the Lord for sending workers into the
harvest is not the usual word for “send,” but is actually the word “cast out,” the same word
used of casting out demons. It is also the word that Mark uses in his gospel about the Spirit
casting the Lord Jesus out into the desert to be tempted. It is a very strong word, picturing
the sense of urgency we should have about getting the message of the kingdom out to the
lost and to negligent Christians. The Lord is near. The time is short. How can we delay
spreading the word while so many are near eternal doom or loss of reward?
The harvest in the Bible is a picture of the Lord gathering his own people to himself
and separating them from those who are not. In the ultimate sense, as we see in Mt. 13 and
Rev. 14, the harvest comes at the end. It is the calling home of the Lord’s people, with
judgment being the result for others. In the sense in which the metaphor is used in Mt. 9.37-
38, it does not refer to the end, but to the calling of people to the Lord now. They are not
physically separated from the lost, but they are spiritually.
In Mt. 9.37-38 the Lord tells the disciples to pray for workers to be cast into the
harvest. In chapter 10, he answers the prayer by sending those he told to pray it! There is a
lesson for us in this fact. If we pray for something to be done, we may be God’s chosen
instruments to do it.

And summoning his twelve disciples he gave them authority over unclean spirits, in
order to cast them out and to heal every sickness and every malady. 2Now the names of the
twelve apostles are these: first Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, and
Jacob [The Greek is “Jacob” in every case in the New Testament. “James” came about by a rather
roundabout trail.] the son of Zebedee and John his brother, 3Philip and Bartholomew,
Thomas and Matthew the tax collector, Jacob the son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus, 4Simon
the Cananean [Aramaic for “Zealot”] and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

In v. 1 of chapter 10 the twelve are called disciples. In v. 2 they are called apostles. A
disciple is a learner. That is what the word means, one who is under the discipline of
learning. An apostle is one who is sent. Again, that is the meaning of the word. Up to this
point the twelve had been learners, learning from the Lord. Now, he says, it is time to start
using what has been learned. It is time to be sent ones. So the disciples became apostles. They
did not cease being disciples, for there is always more to learn from the Lord, but they
became apostles as well as disciples.
The twelve apostles were a special group of apostles, for they were the ones whose
witness and teaching formed the foundation of the church insofar as it had a human
foundation (see 1 Cor. 3.11, Eph. 2.20), but there were other apostles named in the New
Testament, and indeed we are all called to be apostles in the sense of being sent by the Lord.
We are all missionaries (the Latin form of the Greek “apostle”), with a mission, something we
are sent by God to do. But the New Testament apostles were a special group, the foundation.
Christians today generally do not call themselves or anyone else an apostle. There are
exceptions. I confess that I am exceedingly wary of anyone who calls himslef an apostle
today.
The apostles are named in pairs. The indication is that they were not to operate alone,
but in fellowship, on their missions. How vital this instruction is. The Lord does not intend
for his people to act independently, but in fellowship with other members of the body of
Christ. One’s hand does not function independently of the body, and neither is a servant of
the Lord to do so. We need the fellowship of others for encouragement, for correction, for
strength against the enemy.
Chapter 10, v. 1 tells us that the Lord gave his disciples authority over the enemy, and
v. 5, that he instructed them. These two statements show us that when the Lord sends
someone out to serve him, he first equips him, and the authority and instruction he gives are
not formal seminary training! Christ has his own school, that of his dealings with his own,
and that is where one gains authority and instruction. No degree conferred by men can equip
one for the Lord’s work. Only what God himself works into a person through his trials and
sufferings, and his times of hearing from the Lord, will so equip him.
5These twelve Jesus sent, having commanded them saying, “Into a way of Gentiles do not
go and into a city of Samaritans do not enter, 6but go rather to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. 7But as you go preach saying, ‘The kingdom of the heavens has come near.’ 8Heal
infirm, raise dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. 9Do
not acquire gold or silver or copper for your money belts, 10or a bag for the way or two
tunics or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worthy of his keep. 11Into whatever city or
village you enter, ask for someone in it who is worthy. Stay there until you leave. 12But
when you enter into the house, greet it, 13and if the house be worthy, let your peace come
to it, but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14And whoever does not receive
you or hear your words, as you go out of that house or city, shake the dust off your feet.
15Amen I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the
day of judgment that for that city.

In vs. 5-6 the Lord tells the disciples to go not to the Gentiles or Samaritans, but only to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. We saw in 9.36 that he saw Israel as sheep without a
shepherd. Now he sends the twelve out to these lost sheep. Why did he do so? Keep in mind
that in these early chapters of Matthew, the King is presenting himself to Israel. That is really
the governing idea of these passages. But the King is already experiencing rejection. The
leaders have already decided that he works by Satan’s power. Thus he sends out the twelve
for three reasons. One is simply that he was only one man with a limited amount of time.
Though he was God in the flesh, he chose to live as a man, and thus he was subject to human
limitations of time and space, except when God might choose to override those limitations, as
he might do in anyone’s case (see Mt. 8.5-13). So he sent the twelve out to help cover the
ground during the time available.
This mission was also a time of training for the twelve. They were to be the
foundational witnesses who would carry on the work after the Lord’s departure, so he gave
them opportunity to work under his guidance while he was still with them.
Finally, the twelve went out as witnesses. The King was presenting himself. These had
responded and could go out to the people of Israel to testify that this was indeed the King,
the Messiah. It was the Jewish law that every matter would be established in the mouths of
two or three witnesses. These men were such witnesses.
Why were they sent only to Israel and expressly forbidden to go to the Gentiles or
Samaritans? It is God’s way to choose an instrument to be the means of spreading his word
to others. This is true in the case of one individual sharing the good news with another. In the
whole sweep of history God chose the Jewish people to be his means of enlightening the
nations. He revealed himself to them, delivered them, gave them the law. They had every
means at their disposal of being the people of God and sharing him with the world. Instead
they turned away from God to idols, and when they finally forsook their idols, they turned to
religion rather than to God himself, hardening what God had revealed to them into such a
rigid system that God himself could not penetrate it! That was the condition they were in
when the Lord Jesus came in the flesh. His mission from God was not to go to the whole
world, but to call God’s chosen instrument back to him. They had been called by God,
privileged by him, to share him with the world, and through Christ he was giving them one
last opportunity to do so before he called the Gentiles to himself in the church. Of course, the
ultimate purpose of Christ’s coming was to die for sin and thus deal with man’s ultimate
problem, but in the passage we are considering we see that in the first place he came to call
Israel back to God. The twelve were instructed to join him in that mission.
Let me say that I do not believe that the Lord was expecting Israel to respond
positively. He knew that they would reject him and crucify him, and would not respond to
the message of the church after his departure. But there was an obligation that he present
himself to Israel as their Messiah to give them an opportunity to repent and follow him, and
they could not say afterward that they had not been told. And some did respond to him
positively. We might call these a remnant.
Vs. 7-8 indicate that the apostles were to do exactly what their Sender had done:
preach the kingdom and do works that displayed the powers of the kingdom.
Vs. 9-10 deal with the matter of finances. In this case the apostles were not to take
material provision, but to rely on the hospitality given by those to whom they went. In Lk.

22.35-36 they were told at a later time to take money with them. The point is that there is not
a strict rule that those on mission should always follow. God is not a God of rules. There is
always to be absolute dependence on the Lord and absolute obedience to him as to how to
have material provision. When these twelve first went out in dependence on their hosts, there
was always the possibility that no provision would be given, but that they would be rejected
and thrown out hungry, with no place to stay. Thus they were trusting God to move their
hearers to provide for them. In the case of Lk. 22.35-36, where were the apostles to get the
money to start with? They had to look to the Lord. That is what the Lord is saying in Mt.
10.9-10, not that those he sends should or should not ever make material provision, but that
they should always depend on him and obey his command in each case.
Vs. 11-15 deal with their reception. When they entered a city or village they were to
inquire for someone worthy, but we find that the word “worthy” has two meanings in these
verses. Someone worthy in v. 11 would be a Jew well thought of in his community, someone
worthy in Judaism. But we find immediately in v. 13 that the house in which this one dwells
might not be worthy. That is, a good Jew might be worthy in Judaism and not be worthy of
the kingdom.
What determines worthiness of the kingdom? We saw in Mt. 5.20 that there is a
righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees that is necessary for entrance
into the kingdom. The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was that of strict adherence
to the minimal requirement of the letter of the law. But the surpassing righteousness was set
forth by the Lord in Mt. 5.21-48, the righteousness of God that asks not how little one can get
by with, but how much more one can do than is required. Those who are worthy of the
kingdom have this approach to righteousness. They will receive the messengers of the
kingdom and their message, and thus the one who sent them.
If the one who is worthy in Judaism is also worthy in the kingdom, thus receiving its
messengers, their peace is to come on his house. If not, it is to return to its offerers. The peace
of God is the well-being that comes from a right standing with God. That peace could not
abide on a house unworthy of the kingdom, so it would return to those who offered it. In that
case, the apostles, on leaving, were to shake the dust of that house or city off their feet. This
was a symbolic proclamation that God would shake the unbelievers off in judgment.
Those in Israel who reject the message of the kingdom will indeed be judged, and their
judgment will be greater than that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Why? Because they had more
light. Sodom and Gomorrah were wicked and were judged, but they had very little light
from God. Israel had Abraham, Moses, David, the law, the prophets, fifteen hundred years of
history with God. They had no excuse. Just as there will be levels of reward for Christians in
the kingdom, so there will be degrees of punishment for the lost. Those who reject greater
light will experience grater judgment. What does that say about those who have lived for
centuries in the light of the preaching of the good news, but have rejected it?
16″Look! I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore become prudent as the
snakes and innocent as the doves. 17Be on guard against men, for they will deliver you to
courts and in their synagogues they will scourge you. 18Yes, and moreover you will be led
before governors and kings for my sake for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19But
when they deliver you don’t be worried how or what you are to say, for it will be given

you in that hour what you are to say, 20for it is not you who are speaking, but the Spirit of
your Father who is speaking in you. 21Brother will deliver brother to death, and father,
child, and children will turn against parents and put them to death. 22And you will be
hated by all because of my name, but the one who endures to the end – this one will be
saved. 23But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the other, for amen I say to you,
for you will not complete the cities of Israel until the Son of Man come.
As we come to v. 16 we are faced with a question that has caused much debate among
interpreters of Matthew. Vs. 1-15 clearly describe a mission of the twelve to Israel during the
earthly ministry of the Lord. Thus many take all of Mt. 10 to refer to that mission. The
instructions given are to apply to that mission only. Others feel that the Lord’s words in this
chapter have a more general application. There are some statements in vs. 16-23 that would
be very difficult to explain if they concern the mission of the twelve of vs. 1-15, as we will see
when we come to them. Because of them, it seems that at v. 16 the Lord passes on from the
original mission of the twelve to instructions about the future work of the church. It is not at
all unusual for the Bible to move from historical to prophetic matters even in the same
sentence. Is. 61.1-2 is a good example. When the Lord quotes this passage in Lk. 4, he stops
with “to preach the acceptable year of the Lord,” while Isaiah goes on with more statements.
These latter refer to the end times. Isaiah started with the present and moved seemlessly into
the future. The Lord Jesus stopped with what was present in his day and left the future
statements for another time, the time of the end of this age. That seems to be the case in Mt.

The Lord begins with a mission to take place at once during his earthly ministry, but uses
it to move on to a prophetic word about the entire church age, and then finally, in vs. 24-42,
to general principles of discipleship and apostleship.
He begins by noting that he is sending the twelve out as sheep among wolves. This
was true of Israel at that time, for they rejected the Lord and his messengers, and it has been
true all through the church age as the world, including the religious world, has persecuted
the followers of the Lord. What is to be the response of the disciples to this persecution? They
are to be as wise as snakes and as innocent as doves. That is, they are to know what is going
on, to be aware of the wickedness of the world and to expect nothing other than persecution,
but they are not to retaliate. The Lord says that vengeance is his and that he will repay. The
wrong done by another is no excuse for one of the Lord’s people to do wrong in return, for
we will not be judged on the basis of what someone else has done, but only by our own
actions. Our wrong will not be justified by another’s. The Lord Jesus, not other people, is the
standard of measure (Eph. 4.13).
One would do well to study the book of 1 Peter in this connection, for one of the
primary themes of that book is unjust suffering and the Christian’s reaction to it. Especially
relevant passages are 2.12, 19-23, 3.16-17, 4.15-16, 19. The Lord Jesus was the supreme
example of one who suffered unjustly. He did not respond in kind, but even went so far as to
die rather than retaliate. He is our example. Our task is not to gain vengeance on those who
reject the Lord, and thus reject us, but to share the good news with them, and to be a living
example of it.
But again, those sent out by the Lord are to have no illusions about what will occur,
and should beware. Be prepared. Many would be arrested for proclaiming the good news.

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Vs. 17-18 make statements that indicate that the Lord Jesus has moved on from the mission of
the twelve to instructions about the mission of the church. He says in v. 17 that his followers
will be delivered to courts and scourged in synagogues. The word “courts” is the word
“sanhedrins,” a strictly Jewish word, the Sanhedrin being the highest Jewish council. And
“synagogue” is a Jewish word. But the governors, kings, and Gentiles of v. 18 indicate a
wider application. It is possible that the twelve could have been arrested during the mission
of vs. 1-15, with the governors, kings, and Gentiles of v. 18 being the Roman rulers of Israel at
that time, but there is no record that this occurred, whereas it certainly has taken place all
through the church age.
We see, though, that Satan’s instigations to persecution are used by God as
opportunities for testimony. It is not the church’s mission to avoid persecution, but to get the
good newsl out by any means, under the Lord’s direction. What Satan intends as a hindrance
to the work, the Lord uses as a witness to those who hear the cases. We are reminded of Acts
8, where the persecution that broke out after the martyrdom of Stephen led to the scattering
of the good news all through Judea and Samaria. What a blessed position those who obey the
Lord are in: nothing Satan can do can hurt them, even if they are martyred, for that would
put the person in the Lord’s visible presence, and the Lord uses Satan and what he does to
advance his purposes and to form Christ in his people.
Vs. 19-20 have been used by some to say that one who is to preach or teach God’s
word should not prepare, but should just let the Holy Spirit tell him what to say at the time,
but these verses have nothing to so with teaching and preaching the word during church
meetings or evangelistic outreaches. They refer specifically to what one of the Lord’s people
should say in court while under arrest for sharing the Lord. They are not to make preparation
for that, but to rely on the Spirit to draw forth what the Lord has placed in them over the
years of faithfulness to him. We do not need to have a defense prepared for a court
appearance, but a heart prepared by a walk with the Lord. And of course God can tell anyone
what to say at any time in a church meeting or anywhere else.
V. 21 quotes Mic. 7.6, a passage we will come back to in Mt. 10.35, and indicates that
the opposition to the Lord will be so strong that even families will divide over him. The Jews,
of course, often regard a convert to another faith as dead. The first part of v. 22 says that the
hatred will extend beyond families. The world hates the Lord, so it hates those who obey
him.
The second half of v. 22 is another indication that the Lord Jesus is dealing with the
work of the church in vs. 16-23, for the words he says, “But the one who endures to the end,
this one will be saved,” are identical to his words in Mt. 24.13, a verse that obviously refers to
the end of the church age just before the return of the Lord. If Mt. 24 leads up to the end, it
would seem that Mt. 10.16-23 does also.
V. 23 also lends weight to this view of the passage, for it says that the apostles would
not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man came, and this has not
taken place. There was no coming of the Son of Man before the twelve went through all the
cities of Israel during the mission of vs. 1-15. The coming of the Son of Man seems to refer to
the second coming. What v. 23 seems to be saying is that near the end of the church age, just
before the second coming of Christ, there will be an evangelistic mission to the Jews in Israel,
and it will not be completed before the Lord appears.

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For the reasons noted as we went through vs. 16-23, we take these verses to have to do
with the mission of the church after the ministry of the Lord Jesus on earth, not to the original
mission of the twelve. It is a passage of both instruction and prophecy, predicting persecution
while counseling abstinence from retaliation, and prophesying a final mission to Israel before
the coming of the Lord at the end of history as we know it.
24″A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his lord. 25It is enough for the
disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave, like his lord. If they called the
master of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household?
26″Therefore don’t be afraid of them, for nothing is veiled that will not be revealed or
hidden that will not be made known. 27What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the
light, and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. 28And don’t be afraid of those
who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather be afraid of the one who is
able to destroy both soul and body in gehenna. 29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny
[assarion, the smallest copper coin]? And not one of them will fall to the earth without your
Father. 30But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31Therefore don’t be afraid. You
are worth more than many sparrows.
In vs. 24-42 the Lord moves on again, this time from the historical mission of the
twelve and the prophesied mission of the church to general principles of discipleship and
apostleship. He begins in vs. 24-25 by indicating that discipleship is like messiahship: if we
are to reign with the King in the kingdom, then we must be trained for the throne in the same
way he was. The Lord Jesus was God in the flesh, yet he chose to live as a man, not as God.
Thus he was tempted, and thus he knew the trials and sufferings of humanity. We are told in
Heb. 2.10 and 5.8 that he was matured through sufferings and learned obedience through
sufferings. This maturity and learning refer to his humanity. Though he was perfect God, he
was willing to experience what we do in order to be our Savior, Priest, and Example, and
thus he took on humanity that had to be matured and that had to learn obedience.
Because he learned well he became a teacher, and now in Mt. 10 he tells the disciples
that they are not above him as Teacher, nor are they as his slaves above him as their Lord.
They will go through what he did as the Messiah, rejection and suffering. What else can they
expect? It is only natural that the followers will receive the same treatment as the Leader. But
that treatment prepared him, as a man, for the throne of the universe, and it will prepare his
disciples and slaves to reign with him.
In v. 25, the Lord says that he was called Beelzebul by the Jews. He is referring back to
Mt. 9.34 and forward to 12.24. The former verse does not contain the word Beelzebul, but we
see by reading both verses that the term was used by the Jews to refer to Satan, the ruler of
the demons. The name Beelzebul is of interest. It is not known how it came to have this
spelling, but it seems certain that it came from the name Baalzebub in 2 Kings 1.1-6. There we
find the injured king of Israel, Ahaziah, wondering whether or not he will recover. Instead of
calling on the God of Israel, he sends to inquire of Baalzebub, the pagan god of Ekron, a
Philistine city.

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The word Baalzebub means “Lord of the flies,” Baal being the word for “lord” that we
see often in the Old Testament for the false god that Israel worshipped instead of or along
with God. It might seem at first that “Lord of the flies” is a derisive term, and so it would
probably be if it were Israel’s word for a pagan god, but it is not. It was the pagans’ name for
their own god. Why would people call their god by such a name?
The answer appears to have to do with the fact that flies come and go with the warmer
and cooler weather. They were seen, not as responding to the weather, but as bringing it, and
thus they were thought to be prophetic. The god Baalzebub is thus a “prophetic god,” one
who can tell the future, and that is why King Ahaziah sent to inquire of him as to his
prospects. This “fly-god” supposedly could prophesy, just as the flies prophesied the
weather.
Incidentally, God’s answer to Ahaziah was that he, God, was the true author of
prophecy, and he himself told Ahaziah through Elijah what would take place: he would die.
And die he did. God was the real prophetic God, and Elijah was the true prophet.
In time, of course, this name Baalzebub became a derisive term on the lips of Jews and
was ultimately applied to Satan as the spirit behind all false gods and the ruler of the
demons, who are the false gods, as Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 10.20. By the time of the Lord Jesus,
the form had become “Beelzebul,” and it was said by the Pharisees that this great evil spirit
was the source of the power of the Lord Jesus to cast out demons. If, the Lord said, they
called him by that derisive name, what more could the disciples expect? As he told them in v.
16, do not be surprised at anything men do.
In vs. 26-27 we see that these authorities in Judaism who reject the Lord appear to
represent God, simply because they do have authority among God’s people. That is the
apparent truth. The covered, hidden truth is that the Lord Jesus and his followers are the true
representatives of God. That will come out in time: it will be revealed and known. It does not
matter what people think, except for those who think wrongly. What matters is what is true,
and as Paul tells us in 2 Tim. 2.19, the Lord knows those who are his. He will reveal it in time.
Therefore, what the Lord reveals to them and inspires them to do now in secret, they are to
speak in the light and proclaim on the housetops. It does not appear to be true now, but they
will be vindicated when the Lord comes and the truth comes out.
Along with this lack of fear about speaking out what appears not to be true, but
actually is, the disciples are to have no fear of those who can kill the body. The Lord has
already made it clear that there will be persecution and martyrdom, and now he says not to
fear death for him. Why? Because those who kill the body really do no harm to the Lord’s
people: they only put them into the Lord’s visible presence. But God can judge both soul and
body in hell. He is the one to fear. The Lord’s people should fear disobeying him more than
physical suffering and death. Everyone is going to die anyway if the end of this age does not
come first, so death is not the issue anyway. Readiness is the issue, readiness to die or to meet
the Lord.
Besides, as vs. 29-31 tells us, nothing happens to any of God’s own outside his control.
Those who can kill the body cannot do so unless he allows it. We learn from the story of Job
that Satan could do no more to Job than God allowed, and Job 2.6 says that God would not
allow Satan to take Job’s life. It is God who takes the lives of his own, and that taking of life is
not a destruction, but a calling home. We see the same truth in the book of Esther. The

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wicked Haman, under the inspiration of Satan, tried to destroy all of God’s people, but God
would not allow it and he brought about circumstances that turned the tables on Haman and
delivered and even exalted the Jews. God knows about the death of every sparrow. We are so
valuable to him that he has numbered even the hairs of our heads. He keeps complete track
of us, down to the minutest detail. How he loves us! We are of more value than many
sparrows. No one can touch us outside his will, and when he is ready to call us into his
blessed visible presence, what does it matter if it is by the hand of a persecutor? The means
does not matter. The Lord of the home-calling is what matters.
32″Everyone therefore who will confess me before men, I will also confess him before my
Father who is in the heavens, 33but whoever will deny me before men, I will also deny him
before my Father who is in the heavens.
Therefore (a very important word in the Bible, therefore) v. 32 says, do not deny the
Lord because of persecution. Confess him, even at the cost of life. That determines whether or
not Christ will confess one before God at the judgment. Does this confession before the
Father have to do with salvation or kingdom reward? Probably the latter, since that is the
theme of Matthew. He is not saying that disciples, to whom he is speaking, will lose their
salvation because they deny the Lord in persecution, but that they will lose their place in the
kingdom when the Lord returns to reign. They will not reign with him. They will be saved in
the end, but they will suffer great loss nonetheless (1 Cor. 3.12-15).
This confession or denial by the Lord before the Father is in the heavens. It is in the
spiritual world, which is eternal. The things of the material world are temporary. What
happens here will not last, so is not of great importance, except as it prepares us for the
kingdom and eternity. How foolish it would be to gain a few years of relief from persecution
and to lose eternity.
34″Don’t think that I came to bring [lit., “cast”] peace on the earth. I came to bring not peace,
but a sword, 35for I came to turn a man ‘against his father and a daughter against her
mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, 36and a man’s enemies will be
those of his household.’ [Mic. 7.6]

37The one who loves father or mother above me is not
worthy of me, and the one who loves son or daughter above me is not worthy of me. 38And
the one who does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. 39The one
who has found his life will lose it, and the one who has lost his life for my sake will find
it.
In this same context of persecution and God’s protection of his people, even if they
die, the Lord Jesus reveals in vs. 34-37 his divisiveness on the earth. It is not that he is divisive
in himself, but that he presents the truth and people do not want it. Those few who do will be
divided from the others by their rejection of the truth. Thus the Lord brings not peace, but a
sword, not deliberately, but as a matter of fact because of man’s reaction to him. He does
bring peace to the individual (Rom. 5.1) and among his people (Eph. 2.14), but those who do
not know him will be divided from those who do and will oppose them.

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The Lord referred to Mic. 7.6 in v. 21, and now he quotes it again to show that what
will take place is only the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. If we study Mic. 7, we find
that it presents a picture of Israel without God, as sheep without a shepherd. There is
wickedness and division on every hand when God is rejected. So it will be among those who
do not know the Lord until he comes, and some will turn against family members who do
know him.
In the midst of this situation of even family division, the Lord emphasizes once more,
as he did in 8.21-22, the absolute priority of his claim on his disciples. If one must choose
between earthly family and Christ, he must choose Christ. The earthly family is temporary.
The spiritual family is eternal. What if Abraham had chosen Isaac instead of God?
The self-denial implied in all the foregoing is made explicit by the Lord in vs. 38-39.
We are to bear the cross. The cross has one purpose and one purpose only: it is an instrument
of death. If we are to remain faithful to the Lord through physical persecution and even the
opposition of family, we will have to experience the application of the cross to the self-life.
That is the only way to do it. But Paul makes it abundantly clear in Rom. 6 that we have
already been crucified with Christ. Taking up the cross is not trying to put ourselves to death,
but acceptance of the circumstances of life that God sends to make our crucifixion with Christ
a practical experience. It is yielding to God in his dealing with the flesh. If we try to avoid this
way and save our lives, we will ultimately lose them, but if we will submit to the working of
the cross, we will finally gain our lives eternally, and our place in the millennial kingdom.
Again, the Lord is not referring to salvation. That is the free gift of God, by grace
through faith. He is referring to kingdom blessing. We see this fact in the word he uses for
“life.” It is actually the Greek word psyche, “soul.” This word is often used in the New
Testament to refer to physical life, and its Hebrew counterpart is so used in the Old
Testament. In this passage it is so used, but it has the double meaning of also referring to the
soul-principle of loving life so much that one would deny God to keep it. The New
Testament does not use the phrase “the salvation of the soul” the way we often do to mean
new birth, escape from hell, and the fixing of Heaven as the eternal destiny. Actually, “the
salvation of the soul” is used only four times in the New Testament (Mt. 16.25 and its
parallels in Mk. 8.35 and Lk. 9.24, Ja. 1.21 and 5.20, and 1 Pt. 1.9). It means the lifelong process
by which God takes souls, psyches, damaged by sin, and ultimately brings them to
wholeness. That is what the Lord is getting at here in Mt. 10.39. The one who denies his Lord
to save his physical life because he loves himself, his soul, too much will not have his soul
brought to full health by the time of the Lord’s coming. Thus he will suffer loss in the
kingdom, though he is a saved person. The one who does forfeit his life, in actuality or in
principle, for the Lord will find that he gains a fully healthy psyche in the end. He gets back
what he gave up, and he gets it back in a better, indeed perfect, condition.
40″The one who receives you receives me, and the one who receives me receives the one
who sent me. 41The one who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a
prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous
man will receive a righteous man’s reward. 42And whoever gives only a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple, amen I say to you, he will not lose his
reward.”

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All that has gone before has had a somewhat negative note to it: the disciples are to go
as apostles with the message of the kingdom, but they will be persecuted, even by their
families, as most people will reject the Lord. They need to be prepared for a difficult time. But
now in vs. 40-42 the Lord sounds the positive note: there will be those who respond. There
will be those who receive the apostles and their message, and thus they will receive the Lord
Jesus and the Father, and the Holy Spirit, we might add. Those who do receive the Lord will
be rewarded in the same way as those they received. Those who receive a prophet will
receive a prophet’s reward. Those who receive a righteous man will receive a righteous
man’s reward. That is, one’s reward from the Lord is not based on his calling, but on
faithfulness to his calling. Some think that a great preacher who brings many to the Lord will
have a greater reward than the unknown Christian who quietly goes about his business, but
that is not true. If the unknown Christian is faithful to the Lord in whatever his calling is,
however small it may be, his reward will be just as great as the famous preacher’s, and who
knows, it may be greater. We do not really know how faithful to God the great preacher has
been. Only God sees the heart. In the matter of reigning with Christ, the parable of the talents
in Mt. 25.14-28 shows that the Lord will give both the five and the two talent slave authority
over many things, without specifying how much. In Luhe 19.11-25, a similar parable, the
Lord puts the slave who had ten minas and made ten more in charge of ten cities, and the
slave who had five and made five more in charge of five cities. Thus we see in tese two
parables that some made be given greater responsibility, but there is not really a greater
reward. And in fact, the greatest reward is to be a part of the bride of Christ and spend
eternity in intimacy with him. Don’t be concerned about getting your mansion and your
crown. Be concerned about know and loving the Lord and doing his will. If we do that the
rewards will take care of themselves.
A vital Christian principle comes out in v. 42, where the Lord says that one who does
no more than give a cup of cold water to a little one in the name of a disciple will not lose his
reward. All of us as Christians would be anxious to receive a prophet or a righteous man, and
thus gain a prophet’s or a righteous man’s reward. But how many of us ignore the little ones,
thinking there is nothing to be gained by attending to them? How that betrays our hearts!
Our purpose is not to gain something, but to serve. How better to serve than to serve a little
one? As James puts it in chapter 2 of his epistle, vs. 1-9, if we receive a great man and give a
poor place to a poor man, we are showing partiality and will answer to the Lord for it. How
do we know that a little one is not an angel in disguise sent to test us? It is important to
receive prophets and righteous men, but they are not the real test. The little ones are the real
test.

And it took place when Jesus had finished giving instructions to his twelve disciples,
he went from there to teach and to preach in their cities.
Having given all these instructions, warnings, and principles, the Lord himself in Mt.
11.1 went out to teach and preach. We are told no more about the mission of the twelve, but

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apparently they went out on that mission at the same time. The Lord did what he told the
disciples to do, and they were to do what he did. Discipleship is like messiahship.

John the Baptist’s Questions
Matthew 11.2-19

2Now John, when he heard in the prison the works of Christ, sending through his
disciples, 3said to him, “Are you the Coming One or should we wait for another?” 4And
answering Jesus said to them, “When you have gone tell John the things you hear and see:
5blind see again and lame walk, lepers are cleansed and deaf hear, and dead are raised and
poor have Good News preached to them [see Is. 61.1]. 6And blessed is the one who is not
offended at [or “caused to stumble over”] me.”
Mt. 4.12 tells us that John the Baptist had been arrested, but nothing more is said about
the matter at that point. Chapter 14 tells about his death. Here in the present passage we
learn of one incident that occurred during John’s imprisonment. It is that John, hearing of the
works of the Lord Jesus, sent to him asking, “Are you the Coming One, or should we look for
another?”
John was one of the remarkable men of history. He was born in a miraculous way,
having been conceived by his mother when she was too old to do so, but at the word of God.
He was filled with the Holy Spirit while still in the womb. He preached the coming of the
Messiah, and then saw him with his own eyes and recognized him. Yet when we come to Mt.
11, we find John in prison asking if the Lord Jesus is the Coming One. In other words, John is
expressing doubt about him. As we seek to understand why he had such doubts, we will
learn a most valuable spiritual lesson.
The Old Testament prophesied the coming of the Messiah and it spoke of both his
sufferings and his glory. The Jews knew they were God’s chosen people, yet for the six
hundred years of their history before the coming of the Lord Jesus they had been dominated
by foreign powers. They knew why they had been conquered by Babylon, idolatry, but the
captivity had cured them of that curse and they had put away their idols. Ever since then
they had been faithful to their God, yet they were under the rule of pagan Rome. Not seeing
that they had substituted religion, rather than the living God, for idolatry, they could not
understand why they were still subject to a Gentile power. They grew to hate the Romans
and their fondest wish was to be free of them and to return to greatness in the world.
In the context of this hatred for Rome and yearning for freedom, the Jews stressed the
messianic prophecies of glory. They began to look for a Messiah who would deliver them
from Roman domination and restore their earthly glory.
John the Baptist was born into this environment. He knew that the Messiah was
coming and that he was his forerunner. God told him how to recognize the Messiah when he
came and he did recognize him. But this Messiah was not raising an army. He was making no
claim to the throne of Israel. Surely John, as the other Jews, expected the Lord Jesus to
establish an earthly kingdom, and John, as the forerunner, had every right to expect some
position in that kingdom, though John was certainly not out for himself. Yet instead of

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having a job in the new government, he was languishing in prison, and there was no new
government. Thus he began to wonder if he had made a mistake. Was this one who did not
do what all the Jews expected the Messiah to do really the one, or should they look for
another? So he sent some of his disciples to ask.
How John’s experience speaks to us! Have we not all had expectations of God that he
did not meet? What was our reaction? Usually it is to question God or to be upset with him.
Some even quit believing in him, though it is probably anger disguised as unbelief rather
than real atheism. It is an attempt to get at God. One of the most vital spiritual lessons that
we can learn is that God is not the God of our expectations. He is just God. We belong to him,
not he to us, and he has the freedom to do whatever his will is in our lives. We need to learn
to trust in God when he does not do what we expected. Every event in life will draw us closer
to God or drive us further from him. If we will trust him when he does not perform
according to our expectations, we will find that we are ultimately drawn closer to him.
The answer of the Lord to John’s questions draws out this lesson for us, so let us turn
to it. In fact, he did not give John a direct answer. Instead of saying yes or no, he told John’s
disciples to tell him what they heard and saw. Then he quoted Is. 35.5-6 and 61.1: “… blind
see again and lame walk, lepers are cleansed and deaf hear, and dead are raised and poor are
evangelized.” The two passages from Isaiah are both prophecies of the messianic age. The
things they said would take place in that age were being done by the Lord Jesus. But there
were other prophecies of the messianic age that were not being fulfilled, those of an earthly
kingdom and Israel restored to glory. Thus one had to look at what was occurring and make
his own decision about this Man. That is what the Lord told John: decide on the basis of what
is taking place whether you believe in me or not. That is, God does not prove himself to man
in advance in what we today would call a scientific way. He requires faith. Even John, as
great as he was in God’s plans and as much spiritual advantage as he had with his
miraculous birth and fullness of the Holy Spirit, had to have faith. Was the Lord Jesus the
Coming One or not? It was John’s decision.
Then the Lord added a final word in the answer to John: “And blessed is he who does
not stumble at me [or, who is not offended in me].” The Lord Jesus is a rock. As such he can
be built on or stumbled over. To build on him is to have faith in him. To stumble over him is
not to have faith in him. If John would have faith in him despite his expectations not being
met, he would be building on this rock. If he would not, he would be stumbling over him.
Blessed is the one who has faith, who builds. The same is true for us. The Lord is the same
rock today. We have the same choice. He has not proved himself in this world, but still calls
for faith. And things certainly do not always occur so as to make it appear that the Bible is
true and that God is who the Bible says he is. Our expectations are not always met. Then we
have to decide: do we trust God or not? Blessed is the one who does not stumble over this
enigmatic Messiah.
Another aspect of John’s trials was that he never did receive any answers. The Lord
did not answer John’s question with a simple yes or no, but left him to make his own decision
by faith, and it was not much later that an executioner went into the prison one night and
ended John’s life. Instead of sharing in the kingdom with this Messiah he had proclaimed,
John ended his brief life in prison without having his questions answered. How often God
works in our lives in that way. We have not been executed for the Lord, though some are in

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fact, but God just will not always answer our questions. He does very little explaining. We
are left to wonder why and how, and to decide whether we will stumble or build. Blessed is
the one who does not stumble. All of this treatment is part of God’s plan for dealing with our
flesh, developing our faith, and preparing us to reign with Christ when he comes into his
kingdom. If we go on with the Lord despite not having our expectations met or our questions
answered, we will be building on the Rock and will be ready to reign when the time comes.
God give us grace.
7But as they were going Jesus began to say to the crowds concerning John, “What did you
go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8But what did you go out to
see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Look! those wearing soft clothing are in the houses of
kings. 9But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a
prophet. 10This is the one of whom it was written, ‘Look! I am sending my messenger [or
“angel”] before your face who will prepare your way before you.’ [Mal. 3.1] 11Amen I say to
you, there has not arisen among those born of women one greater than John the Baptist,
but the one who is least in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he. 12From the days
of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens exerts force and men of force
seize it. 13For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John, 14and if you are willing
to receive it, he himself is Elijah who is to come. 15Let the one who has ears hear.
Thus the Lord left John no answers, other than the call to faith, but as soon John’s
disciples left, he spoke very highly of John to the crowds. He began by asking them what
they had gone out to see when they had gone to John in the desert, a reed shaken by the
wind. That would be someone who changes his mind with every prevailing opinion. That
was not John. He stood for something, so much so that he called the Jewish leaders a brood of
snakes, stood up to the sinful king and his wife, and endured prison. Well, then, did they go
out to see someone in soft clothing? That was not John. Those people were in kings’ palaces,
while John wore, not the luxurious camel’s hair of our day, but the scratchy camel’s hair of
his. He was not out for himself and his own pleasure.
What was he then? A prophet? Yes, he was a prophet, but he was also more than a
prophet. He was a prophet in that he foretold the coming of the Messiah, but he was more
than a prophet in that he was the Messiah’s forerunner. He prepared the way of the Messiah
and brought him in. All the other prophets had seen the Messiah from afar, and only
inwardly. John saw him with his physical eyes. He was a prophet indeed, but he was more
than a prophet. In showing that John was the one who brought the Messiah onto the scene,
the Lord quoted Mal. 3.1, “Behold I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare
your way before you.” John was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy of the
forerunner of the Messiah, and thus the Lord Jesus was the Messiah.
Because of John’s unique position, says the Lord, there is no one born of women
greater than he. Yet, he strangely adds, the least one in the kingdom of the heavens is greater
than John. What did he mean by these statements? Being born of women refers to physical
birth and includes everyone who ever lived, except Adam and Eve. No one who ever lived is
greater than John, for he brought in the Messiah. But those in the kingdom of the heavens
have been born into a spiritual people of God. John belonged to the days before the

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outpouring of the Holy Spirit, though he himself was filled with the Spirit, so he was not a
part of that spiritual people of God. With the coming of the Lord Jesus, God began calling
into being a spiritual people that began at Pentecost. John was a part of the earthly people of
God, the Jews, but was not in that spiritual people, the church. Thus that least one in the
kingdom of the heavens is greater than John.
Then the Lord draws out this change in the times that took place with the coming of
John and of the Lord himself. V. 12 is one of the more difficult verses in the Bible to translate
and interpret. It is usually translated, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the
kingdom of the heavens suffers violence and violent men take it by force.” However, it is
difficult to understand the meaning of this statement in the context. What does it mean for
the kingdom to suffer violence? Perhaps it is the persecution that its subjects suffered. What
does it mean that violent men take it by force? If the violent men are the opposers of the
kingdom, as would agree with the idea of the kingdom suffering violence, in what sense do
they take the kingdom? The opposers of the kingdom do not take it. It prevails against them.
If the men of violence are those in the kingdom, we are faced with the problem of calling
God’s people violent, a thought that does not harmonize well with the rest of Scripture.
There is a second way to translate this verse allowed by its Greek grammar, and that
way can be interpreted in a way that does not present such problems and that does fit in the
context of Matthew where it occurs: “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the
kingdom of the heavens exerts force and men of force seize it.” That is, up until the time of
John, the world was ruled by Satan, whom the Lord Jesus called the ruler of this world (Jn.
12.31) and Paul called the god of this age (2 Cor. 4.4), and the kingdom of the heavens was
not exerting any force to change that fact. The law was given to the Jews and they were told
to keep it. But with the coming of John and the Lord Jesus, something changed. The kingdom
of the heavens began to exert force on the kingdom of Satan. Satan’s rule was challenged. The
coming of the Lord was an invasion of this world, Satan’s territory, from another world, from
Heaven.
And what was the result? Satan was defeated. The Lord lived a sinless life, thus
overcoming Satan’s ability to draw all men into sin. Thus his death on the cross was
acceptable as a sacrifice for our sins, he being a Lamb without blemish, so that we, too, are
released from Satan’s hold on us through our sins. In addition, the Lord’s death dealt with
our sin nature as well as with our sins, for we died with him, the last Adam, the last
representative man. As Col. 2.15, Heb. 2.14, and 1 Jn. 3.8 tell us, Satan was utterly defeated by
the Lord Jesus. The kingdom of the heavens exerted force on Satan and won. Satan has been
dislodged as the ruler of this world and the god of this age. He still exercises that authority,
but only as the instrument of God’s purposes in completing the number of the Gentiles (Rom.
11.25) and in training his people to reign with Christ, and only until God chooses to stop it
and install his choice as King of kings, his beloved Son.
If this be true, what does it mean that men of force seize the kingdom? We have seen
that the kingdom in Matthew has not so much to do with salvation, though it certainly
includes that, as with coming under the rule of God now and being prepared for a place in
his visible kingdom when he comes. There is opposition to that. We will see in Mt. 23.13 that
the religious establishment opposes people being ruled by God: it wants to rule them itself.
Obviously Satan does not want people, even Christians, especially Christians, ruled by God

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in this age, for they will undo him if they are. One is saved by the free gift of God, merely by
accepting it by faith, but one will have to fight his way into the kingdom. He will have to be a
person of force to come under the rule of God and to be trained to reign with the Lord in his
kingdom. He will be opposed and will not gain the kingdom except by force, by doing
spiritual battle with Satan and his forces.
This reality conforms to the people of Israel having to fight for the Promised Land.
That land in that context symbolizes victorious Christian living. God gave the Israelites the
land, but they had to fight for it. If they would fight they would win, but fight they must.
God has promised us the kingdom, but we must fight our way into it, for we are opposed by
the world, the flesh, and the devil.
This is what took place when John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus came. Up until then
the kingdom did not exert force, but when John brought in the Messiah, the kingdom of
Satan came under assault. That did not occur before the coming of John. Now it is the reality.
“For,” the Lord says, “all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.” That is, before
John there was only prophecy, only the predicting of the kingdom. With John there was more
than the prophesying of the kingdom, though he did that, but also the coming of the
kingdom and its exertion of force to establish itself. The law and the prophets saw the
kingdom from afar. John and the Lord Jesus saw it as near.
V. 14 refers to Mal. 4.5-6. There the prophet had predicted the coming of Elijah “before
the great and terrible day of I AM comes.” Now the Lord Jesus says that John the Baptist is
this Elijah. This is another one of those verses that is hard to understand, as the Lord himself
makes clear in v. 15: “The one having ears, let him hear.” That is, the one who is able to
understand v. 14, let him understand it, indicating that many will not understand it. How are
we to understand it?
There are two ways to look at this saying of the Lord. One group of interpreters
believes that when the verse says, “If you wish to receive it,” it means that if the Jews had
accepted John as the Elijah, he would have been the Elijah and the end would have come
very shortly, but since they did not so receive him, he was not the Elijah and the prophecy
still awaits fulfillment. This is a very attractive idea, but it has the problem that Mt. 17.12-13
tells us that the Lord said that Elijah had already come and that he was referring to John.
The other understanding of the saying is that the two comings of Christ form one
overall event, with the work of the first coming, the death on the cross and the resurrection,
making possible the second coming to claim the throne. They are separated by many years to
our way of thinking, but they are one event to God’s. Thus Elijah did come in the person of
John the Baptist before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. The great and
terrible day of the Lord is without doubt a reference to his second coming to judge and claim
the throne, and may include the Great Tribulation. When we read in Malachi that Elijah will
come before this day, we assume that it means immediately before, but it does not say that. It
only says before, without saying how long before.
Of course, there is the possibility that there will be another Elijah yet to come. None of
us know all, and we confess that we do not have the ears of v. 15 to the extent that we would
like. But God will graciously make known to all who trust him what they need to know as
the times require it.

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16″But to what will I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the market
places who are calling to the others 17saying, ‘We played the flute for you and you did not
dance; we sang a dirge and you did not beat the breast.’ 18For John came neither eating nor
drinking and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19The Son of Man came eating and drinking and
they say, ‘Look! a man, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
And wisdom is justified by her works.”
Having spoken so highly of John, the Lord now turns to the generation to which John
preached. What are they like? They are like whining children who are not satisfied with any
game the others suggest. One group of children says, “Let’s play wedding,” and the other
group whines, “No, we don’t want to play that.” So the first group says, “Well, then, let’s
play funeral,” and the second group whines, “No, we don’t want to play that either.” That is
the way the Jews reacted to John and the Lord. John came neither eating nor drinking, an
austere man who ate sparingly and abstained from wine. They said he had a demon. So the
Lord came as the Bridegroom, calling for celebration (Mt. 9.15), and they said he was a
glutton and a drunkard. Nothing pleased them. They assumed an air of elevated wisdom that
condemns everything beneath it, and it sees everything as being beneath it!
But, says the Lord, wisdom is justified by her works. That is, what works, the way of
assumed wisdom of the Jews that resulted in Babylonian and Roman captivity and a
legalistic system that shut the majority of God’s people off from God while giving special
position to the self-righteous, or the Lord’s way of the stumbling block of the cross? Yes, he
died, but he was raised from the dead and exalted to the throne of God, where he awaits his
bride and his kingdom. The Jews, in their wise rejection of the Lord Jesus, shouted, “We have
no king but Caesar,” and they have suffered mightily under his rule for two thousand years
now, years of the bitterest persecution. Have their results justified their wisdom? The Lord’s
people know peace, ordered lives, joy.
This line of thought is especially relevant to our day when traditional Judeo-Christian
values have been replaced by humanism and relativism. What are the results? Our society is
crumbling and there is crisis on every hand. Homes are broken, lives are shattered, society
itself is in danger of collapse. Do the results of humanism and relativism justify them?

Hardly. Yet, without being materialistic, we must point out that the acceptance of Judeo-
Christian values by a portion of the world produced the greatest society ever known to man,

with freedom, prosperity, and order in society being the rule rather than the exception. At the
same time, that society sent the good news throughout the world, opposed slavery and
brought about its end, and established education, orphanages, and hospitals everywhere. It is
Judeo-Christian values that produced these results. Do the results justify the values?
Yes, the way of John, ending at an executioner’s block in a prison, and the way of the
Lord, ending at a cross (temporarily), appear foolish indeed to the wise of this world, but
wisdom is justified by her works. John’s works justify him, and so do the Lord’s, and so does
what has taken place since.

The Response of the Lord Jesus to Growing Rejection

Matthew 11.20-30

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20Then he began to rebuke the cities in which he had done most of his works of power,
because they did not repent. 21″Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the
works of power had taken place in Tyre and Sidon which took place in you, they would
have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22But I say to you, it will be more tolerable
for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. 23And you, Capernaum, will you
be lifted up to Heaven? [No] You will go down to hades. For if the works of power which
took place in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24But I say
to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for
you.”
We have seen that in the good news according to Matthew the King has been
presenting himself to his people, by his words in chapters 5-7, by his works in chapters 8 and
9, and by the mission of the twelve in chapter 10. At the same time, we have seen the
beginnings and growth of rejection of the King by the Jewish people, or at least by their
leaders. In 9.3 he is accused of blasphemy. In 9.11 his eating with tax collectors and sinners is
questioned, as is his lack of fasting in 9.14. The greatest statement of rejection comes in 9.34
when the Pharisees say that he casts out demons by the power of Satan. Even John the
Baptist, in 11.3, asks if the Lord Jesus is the Coming One. We do not think that John was
rejecting the Lord, as the leaders of the Jews were, but his questions show the profound
nature of the decision thrust on the Jews by the appearance of the Lord.
We saw in concluding the last chapter, dealing with 11.16-19, that the Lord Jesus was
already concluding that the Jews were a generation that could not be satisfied with anything
God did, whether by way of the austerity of John or the joy of the Lord, and now, in 11.20-30,
we begin to see the first traces of his response to their rejection of him as King.
V. 20 says that he began to reproach the cities where most of his miracles had been
done because they did not repent. This fact shows us first that miracles do not necessarily
produce faith and repentance, but reveal the condition of the hearts exposed to them. Those
who see the Lord in the miracle are usually people of faith already and the miracles move
them to deeper faith and repentance, and perhaps deeper understanding of the Lord. Those
who are unbelieving find some other explanation for the miracles. The Pharisees could not
deny them, but they attributed them to Satan instead of to God. Perhaps the most astonishing
example is seen in John 12.10, where we read that the Jews planned to kill Lazarus. They
could not deny the miracle, so they would just kill the Lord and Lazarus and get rid of it. In
our day, the biblical miracles are simply denied, and modern-day miracles are explained
away. If it is a healing, then it is psychosomatic or the disease is in remission. Unbelief will
not respond to miracles with belief, but with denial or explanation.
In v. 21, the Lord pronounces woe on Bethsaida and Chorazin for not repenting, and
says that if the miracles done there had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have
repented long ago. Tyre and Sidon are two cities up the Mediterranean coast from Israel. In
Old Testament times they were pagan cities and centers of idol worship. The wicked Jezebel,
wife of King Ahab, was a native of Sidon, the center of Baal worship, and was one of the
leaders in bringing the worship of Baal into Israel. Yet, the Lord says, these evil cities would
have repented if they had seen what Chorazin and Bethsaida saw. (Compare Jonah and
Ninevah.) They believed in their gods, false though they were, but they did not assume that

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they were automatically righteous because of their religion. That was the problem with
Bethsaida and Chorazin. The Jews had convinced themselves that because they were chosen
by God, they were better than other peoples. They thought they had been chosen on merit,
not realizing the grace of God. Thus self-righteousness blinded their eyes to their own need
of repentance, and when God himself tried to do a fresh work among them, they rejected
him.
V. 22 repeats what we have already seen in 10.15: there will be degrees of punishment
for the lost as well as degrees of reward for the saved. Tyre and Sidon were wicked and will
be judged, but their judgment will not be as severe as that of Bethsaida and Chorazin, for
they had far less light.
Vs. 23-24 repeat vs. 21-22, with Capernaum the example this time. This city was the
home of the Lord during his ministry (Mt. 4.13). Here was a city that had God in the flesh
living in it and that had his miracles done in it, but did not respond. The Lord asks if
Capernaum will be exalted to Heaven, showing her assumption of worthiness before God,
and says that, on the contrary, she will descend to hades, the abode of the lost dead awaiting
judgment (see notes on Mt. 16.18). Then the Lord parallels Sodom to Capernaum. Sodom was
the most proverbially wicked city in the Old Testament, destroyed by God for its sin. Yet,
says the Lord, it would have remained to this day if it had seen the miracles Capernaum did,
for it would have repented.
As with Tyre and Sidon as opposed to Chorazin and Bethsaida, so will it be with
Sodom as opposed to Capernaum: its judgment will not be so severe because, wicked though
it was, it did not have the light Capernaum did.
Thus we that the first response of the Lord to his rejection by the Jews is a word of
judgment. Rejection of the King brings judgment. It appears that the Jews are judging the
Lord Jesus, for he comes as a king in a very unkingly way, as worldly kings go, and they
judge him unfit for the throne. He will not raise an army. He will not try to seize the throne
by force. He simply serves, which is what a king ought to do, rather than demanding that his
subjects serve him, which is what kings do, and they will have none of it. But in reality, they
are bringing judgment on themselves, for he is the Judge.
25At that opportunity Jesus said answering, “I thank you, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth,
that you hid these things from wise and understanding ones and unveiled them to
children. 26Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing before you. 27All things were 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 whomever the Son wills to unveil him to. 28Come to me, all
you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon
you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls. 30For my yoke is easy to bear and my burden is light.”
Then in v. 25 the Lord Jesus turns to the second half of his response. He begins by
thanking God that he has hidden these things from the wise and perceptive and revealed
them to babies. It is interesting that the verse actually says, “ … answering Jesus said…,” when
no one had addressed him. He had just been speaking himself. Whom was he answering? It
would seem that God had spoken to him, for in answering he spoke to God. Either God had

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been telling him what to say by way of judgment in vs. 20-24, or he had spoken affirmatively
of what the Lord Jesus had just said, or perhaps both. Whatever the exact details, this fact
that the Lord was answering when he spoke provides an instructive insight into the
relationship of the Father and the Son.
The matter of the Father hiding things from the wise and perceptive and revealing
them to babies was, says the Lord, pleasing to God. What does he mean and why was it
pleasing to God? There are two kinds of wisdom, as James tells us in his epistle (3.13-18), that
which is of the earth, even demonic, and that which comes from above. The great problem
with the Jews, as we have just been seeing, was self-righteousness. Hand-in-hand with that
character flaw goes worldly wisdom. The Jews were self-righteous and they were wise in
their own eyes (Prov. 3.7, Rom. 12.16). They seemed to think they knew all there was to know
about God, and so had nothing else to learn. Thus when the Lord Jesus came with fresh
revelation about God, building on and fulfilling the revelations of the Old Testament, they
rejected him.
The Lord says that this attitude of self-wisdom causes God to hide the truth from the
self-wise and to reveal it to babies, that is, not babies in physical years, but in worldly
wisdom and perceptiveness. Why would God hide the truth from those who think they are
wise and reveal it to those who do not? The answer is found in 1 Cor. 1.26-29. It is that no
flesh may boast before God. Israel boasted in the flesh before God, assuming righteousness

and wisdom. God will not allow that. He gets all the glory. So he hides truth from the self-
wise and reveals it to those who admit their need. Human wisdom and intelligence,

unyielded and undealt with by the Lord, are a hindrance to him.
How this fact applies in our own day! We live in a time of great learning. Our world
knows more now than has ever been known before, and new knowledge is being
accumulated faster than it can be absorbed. Yet we cannot solve our problems, and they grow
worse. That is because our society has rejected God’s wisdom, assuming that it can find
solutions by its own wisdom. If that were true, men could boast before God. But they cannot.
It is only those who will glorify him who will receive revelation.
The Lord expands this thought in v. 27 by indicating that knowledge of God does not
come by self-wisdom, but by revelation, and, as we saw in 1 Cor. 1.26-29, God does not reveal
himself to those who boast in their own flesh, but to those who admit their need. It all goes
back to Mt. 5.3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” That awareness of poverty of spirit is
fundamental and essential to the knowledge of God, for it is the only approach to God that he
will honor by revelation of himself.
In addition, the Lord adds the statement that all things have been given to him by the
Father. In the context we have been seeing of the King offering himself to his people, we see
that this means that even though the Lord Jesus has been denied the throne by the Jewish
people, he knows that God has nonetheless given it to him. He will come to it in due time, so
he can afford to be patient. It appears that the Jews are judging him unworthy of the throne,
but in fact they are judging themselves unworthy of the kingdom, as will be revealed when
the Lord returns.
How does one come to know the Father by the revelation the Lord Jesus is talking
about? By coming to the Lord Jesus. “Come to me,” he says in v. 28, “and I will give you
rest.” Israel labors under the heavy burden of the law, trying to please God, and finds no rest,

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except for the self-righteous who are proud of their keeping of the law. And were they really
at peace? Those who admit they cannot find rest by the law, because they cannot keep it in
their own strength, and turn to the Lord Jesus, find rest in him, the rest of grace.
This offer of rest by the Lord to those who come to him is in effect the throwing open
of the doors to the Gentiles, a theme we have seen over and over in Matthew. It is no longer
the King offering himself to Israel, but saying, “Come to me all….” Anyone may come to find
the rest of faith in the Lord of grace.
Then the Lord quotes Jer. 6.16 in saying, “Take my yoke on you and learn from me, for
I am humble and lowly in heart, ‘and you will find rest for your souls.’” Jer. 6 is a prophecy
of impending judgment on Judah for her unfaithfulness to God, but in the midst of this
prophecy he shows the way of deliverance, repentance. That is what took place in Israel with
the coming of the Lord Jesus: her response to him would bring rest or judgment. In the same
prophecy, Jer. 6.21, we read of stumbling blocks that God lays before his people because they
will not repent. We read of the same thing in Mt. 11.6: the Lord Jesus was either a stumbling
block or a building stone, depending on the response of people to him.
The Lord says that he is meek and lowly in heart, and because of that those who come
to him can learn of God from him, for those are exactly the character requirements for the
knowledge of God set forth in vs. 25-27. Not the wise and perceptive, but the babies, not the
self-wise, but the poor in spirit receive revelation from God. That was the kind of man the
Lord Jesus was, so he received God’s revelation and could give it to others. He is the source
of all knowledge of God, for he is the only man who ever lived who perfectly fulfilled the
requirements for knowing God. In him “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge” (Col. 2.3).
Actually, the offer of rest made by the Lord in this passage is twofold. In v. 28 he says
to those who labor and are heavily burdened that he will give them rest if they will come to
him. Then he says in v. 29 that they will find rest if they will take his rest and learn from him.
The first is the rest of grace, the salvation freely given to all who have faith. The second is the
rest of obedience that comes to those who serve the Lord. The first is peace with God (Rom.
5.1). The second is the peace of God (Phil. 4.7).
It is of interest that the Lord says that this latter group, those who obey and learn from
the Lord, will find rest for their souls. The soul, as we noted earlier, is the psychological aspect
of man, his mind, emotions, will, temperament, personality. The person who has faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, but does not walk in obedience to him, does have peace with
God. He will not be judged for his sins with regard to salvation. But he does not have the
peace of God, the peace of mind that comes to the one who walks with God. He is saved, but
he is a troubled, worried Christian. He has not learned to take the Lord’s yoke, obeying him
in all things, and learn from him, discovering that his trials are for his good, designed by God
to put to death the flesh, which would destroy him, and release the life of God in him.
Instead of resting and rejoicing in his trials because they are God’s instruments for his eternal
benefit, he worries and frets over them. He does not know peace of soul, of mind and
feelings.
Both kinds of peace are offered by the Lord. Salvation is the beginning of life with the
Lord, but it is only the beginning, a new birth, after which there is a life to be lived. It
provides peace with God, but it takes obedience and discipline in the Lord’s school to find

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the peace of God, peace of soul. And let me just point out that peace, either kind, is actually
the Lord Jesus himself, dwelling in our hearts through faith (Eph. 3.17). He is what we need
(Mic. 5.5a, Eph. 2.14).
The Lord says that his yoke is easy (literally, “kind”) and his burden light. That does
not mean that there are not hardships in life that are difficult to bear. It means that, as with
cattle, there are two in the yoke, and in our case the other one is the Lord himself. He does
not ask us to bear any burden that he himself has not borne and is not willing to shoulder
with us. What a privilege we have! We who have offended the great and only God have the
opportunity of walking in his service in the same yoke with his beloved Son! Come to him!
You who have never come to him for the first time, in simple faith for salvation. Do so now
and find peace with God. You who have found peace with God, but are burdened with many
worries, take his yoke. Serve with him. Learn from him. Let him be to you the peace of God,
blessed rest for your troubled soul. He is a gracious Lord.
The Rejection by the Jews Comes to a Climax

Matthew 12.1-50

As we come to the twelfth chapter of Matthew, we find the theme of judgment on the
Jews building to a climax. The King has been presenting himself to his people, and they are
rejecting him. The result is not his downfall, as it might appear, but theirs, for he is the King
of God’s choice and will be installed on the throne in God’s time. All men can do is judge
themselves by their response to him. They cannot judge him, though they may appear to do
so in this age before the visible appearing of the Lord in glory.
In this chapter we have two more stories of controversy, showing the rejection of the
King by the Jews and then further response by him to their rejection, a response consisting of
words of judgment of the strongest sort. We begin with vs. 1-8.

At that opportunity Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grainfields. Now his
disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and to eat. 2But the Pharisees,
seeing, said to him, “Look! your disciples do what it is not permitted to do on a Sabbath.”
3But he said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those
with him, 4how he entered into the house of God and ate the loaves of the presentation,
which it was not permitted for him to eat, nor those with him, but for the priests only? 5Or
have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple [ἱerovn]
desecrated the Sabbath and were not guilty? 6But I say to you that one greater than the
temple [ἱerovn] is here. 7But if you had known what it is, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’
[Hos. 6.6] you would not have condemned the innocent. 8For the Son of Man is Lord of the
Sabbath.”
In this story we find the Lord Jesus and his disciples walking through a grain field on
a Sabbath. The disciples became hungry and picked and ate some of the heads of grain. This
taking of a bit of grain was not illegal in Israel, for the law of Israel, given by her God, was
designed to lead his people to take care of one another. In Dt. 23.25 we read that it is lawful to

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pluck a few heads of grain with the hand from someone’s field, but not to put in a sickle.
That is, it is legal to satisfy immediate hunger, but not to steal someone’s crop!
The Pharisees objected, but their objection was not that grain had been stolen, for they
knew the law, but that it had been picked on a Sabbath. They saw it as work.
The Lord’s response is to give two Old Testament examples to make a point, that man
takes precedence over the law. The first example is from 1 Sam. 21.1-6, where David and his
men, fleeing from Saul, were hungry and ate the bread of the presentation, bread presented
to God weekly in the Holy Place of the tabernacle, a type of the Lord Jesus as the bread, of
life from the tabernacle. The law pointed out that only the priests should eat this bread, yet
the Lord says that David and his men were guiltless.
The second example is that of the priests themselves ministering in the temple on the
Sabbath. The law forbids work on the Sabbath, but requires the priests to work on the
Sabbath, thus ostensibly contradicting itself. But they are also innocent.
The Lord draws out his point in v. 6: there were times during the reign of the law
when it was acceptable to break the law, and now something even greater than the law is
present, the one who gave the law. The tabernacle and the temple, from which David ate and
where the priests work, picture something. They are part of the law that points to something
beyond itself. That which the law points to has arrived. It all pictures the Lord Jesus. The
whole point of the tabernacle and the temple is that God dwells among his people, and that is
exactly what the Lord Jesus is, Immanuel, God with us, dwelling among his people. Indeed
in Jn. 1.14 the Greek says that the word became flesh and tabernacled among us. Every detail
in the tabernacle pictures some aspect of the Lord Jesus.
The point now in Mt. 12.6 is that what the symbol pictured has now arrived, so we no
longer need the symbol. It is what Paul says in Col. 2.17: the things of the law are a shadow of
what is to come, but Christ is the body (the Greek word means “body,” the thought being
that a shadow is cast by a body, human or otherwise, and in this case, the shadow was cast
by the Lord Jesus as opposed to a symbol) and he has now come. Why would anyone sit
gazing at a picture of a loved one when the loved one was present? Something greater than
the temple is here, namely, the one it symbolizes.
The Lord quotes the Old Testament to reinforce his point. Hos. 6.6, also quoted by the
Lord in Mt. 9.13, says that God desires mercy and not sacrifice. That is, people are what are
important to God. People are why the law was given. Somehow we seem to have the idea
that before man was made, God had a law that he needed someone to enforce on, so he made
people in order to inflict the law on them. Thus people have to endure the misery of obeying
God’s law. But that is not the case at all. God gave the law for the good of people. The things
required by the law are not imposed on them to take all the enjoyment out of life and make
them miserable, but to show them what is best for them. Why not kill and steal? Because it
does spiritual as well as physical harm and it puts society into chaos. Why not commit
adultery? Because it breaks up homes, leaving innocent children as the greatest victims, or
creates unwanted children who must suffer the consequences, or causes sexual diseases, or
leaves a woman on her own to take care of responsibilities. God requires of people only what
is for their best. Thus it is merciful, and pleasing to God, to do what is best for people even if
it appears to violate the law.

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In v. 8 the Son of Man says that he is Lord of the Sabbath. That is, the giver of the law
has the right to interpret it and determine its proper use. The Jews misunderstood the
purpose of the law. They saw it as a means of gaining favor with God, and of course, the
Pharisees thought that they had succeeded in doing so and were self-righteous. But it is not a
means of gaining favor with God. No flesh is justified before God by the works of the law
(Rom. 3.20). The law was given for the good of people, to show them the right way to live for
their own benefit, and to show them their inability to do even that. It is one of the greatest
ironies of human history that people cannot even do what is in their own best interest. How
else do we explain the self-destructive things we do to ourselves? It is so obvious that
smoking, excessive drinking, and drug abuse are harmful, yet millions of people indulge in
these activities like lemmings headed for the cliffs. It is easy for those of us who do not do
these things to point fingers at those who do, but we are often just as guilty in the way we
eat, or overeat. Almost all of us consume large amounts of foods that are harmful to our
bodies. Why do we do it? There is something perverse in us, and the law shows us that by
showing us what is good for us and then putting the light on our failure to do it.
It pleases God for people to do what is good for them. One might respond to this
statement by taking the position that he will just live for himself, but what is good for us
includes the worship of God and self-denial. That is the point of Mt. 12.1-8: the law was made
for man, not man for the law, but man’s highest good is the Lordship of Christ.
9And having gone from there he went into their synagogue, 10and look! a man having a
withered hand. And they asked him saying, “Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath?” that
they might accuse him. 11But he said to them, “What man will there be of you who will
have one sheep, and if this one fall on the Sabbath into a pit, will not take hold of it and
lift it out? 12Of how much more worth is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is permitted to
do good [lit. “well”] on the Sabbath.” 13Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”
And he stretched it out and it was restored, sound as the other. 14But having gone out the
Pharisees took counsel together against him that they might destroy him.
The same lesson is repeated in vs. 9-14: man is the reason for the law, not vice versa.
By now the Pharisees knew what the Lord Jesus would do, so they used the occasion to try to
trap him. The Lord was in a synagogue on a Sabbath, and so was a man with a withered
hand. The Pharisees, knowing that the Lord would heal the man, asked him if it was lawful
to heal on the Sabbath. In vs. 1-8 the Lord used Old Testament examples of man’s precedence
over the law. Now he uses his accusers themselves as his example. They did the very thing
they were accusing the Lord of doing, with this difference: they did it for an animal while he
did it for a man. Actually they did it for themselves, for the sheep in question was their
property and they did not want to lose their property even on a Sabbath.
This is the point where legalism always breaks down. The legalist is very demanding
that people pay the full penalty for the slightest slip, but he exempts himself. He always has a
good reason for what he does: the sheep is in the pit.
Often the Lord Jesus did not give direct answers, but answered with another question
or with an act, but in this case he did answer the question directly. He said that since the
Pharisees did good for sheep on the Sabbath, yes, it was lawful to heal men on the Sabbath.

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Then he did it! By doing the healing he showed that he had authority to say what he had
said. Once again his works validate his words.
V. 10 says that the point of the Pharisees’ question was to trap the Lord, and v. 14
proves it. They were not asking in order to learn, but to accuse, and even when the answer
showed how wrong they were, they would not admit their guilt, but took the course they had
already decided on despite the evidence: they took counsel together as to how they might
destroy the Lord.
Thus we see again the rejection of their King by the Jews, and v. 15 shows us an aspect
of his response that we have not seen before. He had already spoken words of judgment, in
11.20-30, and that theme will reach its climax at the end of chapter 12 and in chapter 13, but
in vs. 15-21 he simply withdraws, and Matthew tells us why. V. 15 says that the Lord,
knowing the Pharisees were plotting to kill him, withdrew. Many followed him in this
withdrawal and he healed them, but he told them not to make known the fact that he had
healed them. We have already seen the Lord giving this order, and now Matthew gives the
explanation.
The first thing we should say is that the Lord withdrew because it was not yet God’s
time for him to die. He knew that he had come to die, but he also knew that death was under
his own control. His life would not be taken from him, but he would lay it down when the
Father’s time came. It was not yet time, so instead of forcing the issue with these plotting
Pharisees, he simply withdrew.
15But Jesus, knowing, went away from there and many followed him, and he was healing
all of them, 16and he commanded them that they should not make him known, 17that what
was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled,
18Look! my Servant whom I chose,
My beloved in whom my soul is well-pleased.
I will put my Spirit on him,
And he will declare judgment to the Gentiles.
19He will not quarrel or cry out,
Nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
20A bruised reed he will not break
And a smoking wick he will not quench
Until he brings [lit. “casts out”] judgment to victory,
21And in his name the Gentiles will hope. [Is. 42.1-4]
His concealing of his miraculous work is explained by Old Testament prophecy, a
device characteristic of Matthew. The evangelist quotes Is. 42.1-4, proving once again that the
Lord Jesus is the Messiah, for he does what the prophets said the Messiah would do. Is. 42.1
shows that the one about whom he is speaking is the Messiah, for it says that God will put
his Spirit on him, and that is the anointing that all of the anointings with oil in the Old
Testament picture. The word “Messiah” means “anointed one.” This Messiah will proclaim
judgment. That is, things are not right in the world, among the Gentiles, but he will make
them right. But he will do so not by arguing or by armed force, but by way of the cross, thus

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dealing with the ultimate source of the injustice. Man tends to deal with symptoms, the
outward works of injustice, but the Lord knows that the real problem is Satan and the evil
heart of man. Thus he does a spiritual work, dying on the cross and thereby dealing with
man’s sins and sin nature and undoing Satan. The result of this spiritual work that goes to
the cause will be hope in the Gentiles that justice will come.
The Jews looked for an earthly deliverer and kingdom. The Lord Jesus was unwilling
to be made King on those terms (Jn. 6.15), so he hid what he was doing, not openly asserting
who he was and claiming the throne, but working secretly and seeking, those who would see
the Deliverer in this one who would not raise an army, and the King in this one who would
not seize the throne. He would wait for God to bring these about by his work in the spiritual
world on the cross. He would do God’s work in God’s way and in God’s time. Moses is an
example of a man who tried to do God’s work in man’s way and time, and he had to spend
forty years tending sheep in the desert to learn God’s way. God deals with causes, not
symptoms, and with ultimate causes, not intermediate ones.
In addition we see the theme of the turning from the Jews, who are rejecting their
King, to the Gentiles, who will receive him. Vs. 18 and 21 say that the Lord will proclaim
judgment to the Gentiles and they will hope in him.
22Then a demoniac, blind and dumb, was brought to him, and he healed him so that the
dumb man spoke and saw. 23And that all the crowds were amazed and were saying, “Is this
the Son of David?” [No] 24But the Pharisees, when they heard, said, “This one does not cast
out the demons except by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” 25But knowing their
thoughts he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is desolated, and every
city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26And if Satan casts out Satan, he is
divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27And if I by Beelzebul cast
out the demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Because of this they themselves will
be your judges. 28But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then the kingdom of God
has come upon you. 29Or how is anyone able to enter into the house of the strong man and
plunder his goods unless he first bind the strong man? And then he will plunder his
house. 30The one who is not with me is against me, and the one who does not gather with
me scatters. 31Because if this I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men,
but the blasphemy of the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32And whoever has spoken a word
against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him, but the one who has spoken against the
Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the coming one.
33″Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for
from the fruit the tree is known. 34Brood of vipers, how are you able to speak good things,
being evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35The good man out of
the good treasure brings out [lit. “casts out”] good things, and the evil man out of the evil
treasure brings out [lit., “casts out”] evil things.

36But I say to you that every idle word
[rema] that men will speak, they will give an account concerning it on the day of
judgment, 37for from your words you will justified and from your words you will be
condemned.”

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Vs. 22-24 set the stage for the passage that consists of vs. 22-37. In v. 22 the Lord healed
a blind and dumb man by casting out the demon that caused these disabilities. This blind and
dumb man is a picture of the Pharisees, as we will see presently. In v. 23 we see the reaction
of the crowds who saw it. They were not committed to the Lord Jesus as the Messiah, but
they were open to the possibility: “Is this one the Son of David? [No.]” Recall that we wrote
earlier that there is a Greek construction that assumes the answer is no. In this case the
answer is actually yes, he is the Son of David. But the cowd thought not. They were wrong!
V. 24 shows the reaction of the Pharisees, one we have already seen alluded to twice in
Matthew (9.34, 10.25): “This one does not cast out the demons except by Beelzebul, the ruler
of the demons.” The Pharisees cannot see the miraculous as from God or speak testimony to
it because they are blind and dumb like the man possessed. They do not deny the miracles,
but they dispute their source. The Lord is not being the Messiah the way they insist he must
be, so they refuse to receive him as such and find another explanation for the obvious.
The answer of the Lord Jesus to their accusation brings the theme of judgment closer
still to its climax. He begins by showing the absurdity of the charge. Never mind the
spiritual, its logic is ridiculous. No ruler would divide his own kingdom, one side against
another, for then his kingdom would fall. Satan may be evil, but he is not stupid! Then in v.
27 the Lord turns the charge back on the Pharisees. He says that if the Pharisees attribute his
exorcisms to Satan, they must attribute those of their own sons to Satan, and if they attribute
those of their sons to God, then they must do the same with his. There are no records of a
Jewish exorcist actually casting out a demon, but there are general references to the practice
in Tobit, one of the apocryphal books (a collection of ancient writings that are in some ancient
Greek translations of the Old Testament and in Roman Catholic bibles) and in Josephus, and
Acts 19.13-16 records the effort of Jewish exorcists to cast out a demon in the name of the
Lord Jesus, with unsuccessful and somewhat comical results.
Then in v. 28 the Lord gets to the heart of his response. If God is the source of what he
does, and he must be, as vs. 25-27 show, then what John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus
preached is true: the kingdom has come near. What the Jews had so long wanted has been
presented to them, and they are rejecting it because it is not in the form they want. Mt. 11.12
is true: the kingdom of the heavens is exerting force to dislodge Satan and establish itself in
his place.
One manifestation of this coming of the kingdom is the casting out of demons, the
agents of Satan’s kingdom. In v. 29 the Lord uses a picture to show what has taken place.
Someone has entered the house of a strong man, bound him, and carried off his property.
Satan is the strong man. His property consists of people he has possessed through demons, or
who live their lives based on his lies. The Lord Jesus is the one who has entered his house
and bound him, and the carrying off of his property is the delivering of people from demonic
possession or deceit. That is the coming of the kingdom. That is the exertion of force by the
kingdom.
If this is true, when did the Lord bind Satan? The starting place for our answer is Rev.
13.8: the Lord Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That is, in eternity
past the Son voluntarily chose to lose his life instead of saving it by denying his own will and
submitting to that of the Father. Because he has eternally given up his own will, he has

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always been the one who has laid down his life, the slain Lamb, unlike Satan, who tried to
exalt himself above God himself, refusing to die to his own self-will. That is the first instance
of the binding of Satan by the Lord. Satan is bound in dealing with a person who will do
nothing but the will of God.
Then that binding was carried into history when he became a man. The very fact that
he became a man was a binding of Satan, for it was in obedience to the Father that he did so.
He did not have to leave the glories of Heaven to suffer what we do in the world and then
bear all our sins, but he was ever the obedient Son, so he did so. When he began his ministry
on earth he was tempted by Satan, as we saw in Mt. 4, but he overcame the temptations, thus
binding Satan yet again. He continually bound Satan throughout his life on earth by his
obedience to the Father, as the gospel of John especially emphasizes, with its many
quotations of the Lord’s statements that he said or did only what he heard from the Father or
saw the Father doing. Finally, he bound Satan ultimately at the cross, where the decision he
had made in eternity past became a historical reality: the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world became the Lamb slain in human history.
What all of this amounts to is that the reason the Lord Jesus is able to bind Satan is that
he had died to self-will. Jn. 14.30 explains why this death had the result it did. There the Lord
tells us that Satan has nothing in him. That is, because he has laid down his self-life, Satan has
no ground of operation in him. That is not true of us. All of us have decided to rebel against
God and be our own little gods, not dying to self’s desires, but living for self. Thus Satan has
ground in us. He has a beachhead from which to operate, and the truth is that he has
extended the beachhead to occupy all the territory. It is only the entrance of the Lord himself
into our hearts that has driven Satan back. Now the Lord has the beachhead in us and is
extending his control as we yield to him and learn of him through his dealings. But that is
another matter. The present point is that Satan has nothing in the Lord, no ground for
operation, because he was characterized by a laid-down life. Because Satan had no means of
appealing to the Lord’s sinful nature, since he did not have one, he was bound in this case.
(The virgin birth was also a factor in the Lord’s lack of a sinful nature.)
There is a very important lesson in this fact for us. We often pray or hear prayers
concerning the fact that we bind Satan in some situation, and that is valid. However, it is vital
that we understand that the key to binding Satan is a laid-down life. If our lives are not laid
down, we have no basis for binding Satan. He has something in us. As long as our flesh is
alive he has something in us, but when we accept our death on the cross with Christ and do
in fact die to living for self, we find that Satan has nothing in us either. Of course, none of us
achieve this place perfectly in this life, but the Lord looks on the intent of the heart and the
finished work of Christ and our position in him. If we do in fact choose to lay down our lives
as the Lord Jesus did, giving up our own wills and submitting to that of the Father, we will
find that Satan is bound. No matter how loud we may shout that we are binding Satan, it will
not work unless our lives are laid down. Then we, too, may plunder Satan’s house.
V. 30 forms an interesting contrast to Mk. 9.40. In that verse we see the inclusiveness of
the Lord. There the disciples had forbidden someone to cast out demons in the name of the
Lord Jesus because he was not following them, and the Lord had shown that they did not
constitute an exclusive club by saying that whoever was not against them was for them. He
was dealing with the mentality of his own followers that they were the Lord’s only people.

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But here in Mt. 12.30 we have a seemingly contradictory statement: “He who is not with me
is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.” This word shows the exclusivity
of the Lord, for he is dealing, not with the club mentality of his own followers, but with the
attitude of unbelievers that they can serve God just as well without the Lord Jesus as with
him. That is not true. He is the one from God and the way to God. The Pharisee who is not
with him is against him. The Pharisee who is not gathering people into the kingdom that has
come near in the person of the Lord is scattering people from it. There is no neutrality with
regard to Christ. Where he is declared, people must decide, yes or no. They cannot remain
neutral and serve God. Indeed they cannot remain neutral at all. If they do not decide for the
Lord they are deciding against him.
The theme of judgment now comes to one of its strongest expressions, the words of the
Lord about what has come to be called the unpardonable sin. Probably nearly every Christian
has heard a sermon about the unpardonable sin, and many have worried that perhaps they
have committed it. To that thought let us just say that anyone who is afraid that he has
committed it has not, for those who have would never even consider the possibility. That is
just the point. The self-righteousness of the Pharisees had reached such a stage that they had
no openness to God’s fresh moving, and thus no possibility of conviction and repentance.
They were so convinced that they had attained righteousness by their own efforts that it
never entered their minds that they might need to repent. The unpardonable sin is the
condition brought about by the continual rejection of the work of the Holy Spirit while
maintaining a religion. It is self-righteousness gone to the extreme. It is knowing all about
God so that nothing else can be revealed, even by God himself. Its ultimate point is seen in
the Pharisees: they call the work of the Holy Spirit the work of the evil spirit. They claim to
be God’s special representatives, but they cannot even recognize him when he works.
The stage was set for this passage by v. 22, the delivering of a demon-possessed blind
and dumb man. Who is really blind and dumb, the one with physical disabilities or the
Pharisees who cannot see God or speak for him because they are so sure that they do so in
their own strength? They cannot be forgiven because they will not see that they need to be.
Their speaking against the Holy Spirit reveals this condition of their hearts.
We will see Mt. 13.14-15 judicial blindness, God’s blinding of those who have so
hardened themselves against God that they are under the judgment of blindness. No matter
what the see of the works of the Lord Jesus, they will be unable to see the truth of it because
God has rendered them blind to it. What a fearful position to be in, a position with no hope:
“And seeing you will see and not perceive.” [Is. 6.9, Mt. 13.14]
V. 33 has a double application, to both the Lord and the Pharisees. When he says to
make the tree good and its fruit good, or the tree bad and its fruit bad, he means first that the
Pharisees should apply that logic to him. They say that he is a bad tree, but his works are
good: good news is preached, the sick are healed, the demon-possessed are freed. They need
either to admit that he is a good tree or to show that his works are evil, something they
cannot do.
But this word also applies to the Pharisees. They claim to represent God, but they
reject his Messiah, call the Holy Spirit’s work the work of Satan, and plot to murder the Lord
Jesus. They claim to be good trees, but these are evil works. They need to admit that their bad
works reveal that they are bad trees and repent. They should make up their minds. Do one or

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the other: either quit claiming to be a good tree while bringing forth bad fruit and admit to
being a bad tree, and repent. They may claim to be good, but their works reveal the
undeniable truth.
But the Pharisees cannot speak good, as vs. 34-35 show. What they said in v. 24, that
the Lord works by the power of Satan, is only to be expected because speech comes from the
heart and they have evil hearts. A tree, or a snake, does produce fruit in kind. It cannot be
hidden.
That is why vs. 36-37 are true. One’s words reveal what is in his heart, and the heart is
the key. On the day of judgment God will not need to call in witnesses. He can just repeat our
own words and they will justify or condemn us. Our evil words and our unfulfilled righteous
pronouncements will condemn us, or our good words that are true will justify us, for these
words will reveal our heart condition, whatever it is. The Pharisees’ words were v. 24: they
will condemn them on the day of judgment when the truth about the Lord Jesus is plain for
all to see. It is easy for us to point fingers at the Pharisees. What is important is that we
examine our own hearts in the light of these words of the Lord. Don’t forget the Pharisee and
the tax collector (Lk. 18.9-14).
38Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him saying, “Teacher, we want to see a
sign from you.” 39But answering he said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks
a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. 40For as Jonah
was in the belly of the creature three days and three nights, [Jon. 1.17] so will the Son of
Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. 41Men of Nineveh will rise up
at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of
Jonah, and look! something greater than Jonah is here. 42The queen of the south will rise
up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the
earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and look! something greater than Solomon is here.
V. 38 reports one of the most remarkable facts in the Bible: the Lord Jesus has healed
the sick, cast out demons, even raised the dead, and now the scribes and Pharisees ask him
for a sign. They seek proof that he is the Messiah. God requires faith, while the world seeks
proof. Actually, there is nothing wrong with wanting proof. The Lord was asking them to
commit to him totally, yet he came in such a way as to raise questions about his identity. It is
very easy for us to criticize the Pharisees for their response to the Lord, but what would we
have done? What would we do now if a man came onto the scene as he did?
The problem is not with the desire for proof, but with the kind of proof one desires,
and with the condition of the heart that is seeking proof. There are different kinds of proof.
The Pharisees wanted external proof that required no heart commitment, and they wanted
glory with no suffering. But the Lord proves himself inwardly to the heart that is open to

him. No one who has met the Lord can prove that there is a God in the microscope or test-
tube sense, but he knows that he has met the Lord. God has proven himself to him.

Further, what the Lord did fulfills the Scriptures, as Matthew has been at pains to
show. Those who knew the Lord in the flesh and knew the Old Testament, as the Pharisees
certainly did, could test him by them, but the Pharisees refused to do so. They had already
made up their minds about the Lord, so their request for a sign was not made in sincerity, but

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as a further attempt to entrap him in the inability to produce a sign, or to compel him to be
the Messiah their way, if the Messiah he were.
God does want us to believe him beyond our ability to understand. What kind of God
would he be if our minds could fully understand him? But he does not require us to believe
blindly without evidence. There is something about the Lord Jesus that appeals to the heart
that is open to him, and that heart, responding with faith, not with demands for outward
proof, finds inward proof that is more than adequate. This is the testimony given by the
millions who have known the Lord, solid evidence that will stand the test.
The Lord’s response to this request for a sign was first to call the scribes and Pharisees
an evil and adulterous generation, for they revealed by their request a heart that was not
open to God’s way, but demanded their own, and then to say that they would not be given a
sign but that of the prophet Jonah. What was that sign? Jonah spent three days and three
nights in the stomach of a large fish. Surely such an experience could result in nothing but
death, yet Jonah came back alive from it. Thus he is a picture of resurrection. And that is the
sign of Jonah, resurrection. God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, thus giving him his
ultimate stamp of approval and giving the world the ultimate sign.
Yet even this sign is not outward proof, but calls for faith, for it was only the Lord’s
own who saw him alive from the grave. Their testimony had to be accepted by everyone else.
But the life of the Lord himself was active in their testimony, giving spiritual weight to it,
giving God’s amen to it. The sign of Jonah, resurrection life, was present in the church after
the Lord’s physical departure. That is what distinguishes the Lord’s people from all others.
There is nothing else. Our rites do not distinguish us. Religions have rites, too, and ours can
be just as dead as theirs! The only thing that separates the Lord’s people from others is his
life. If we do not have resurrection life in us individually and corporately, we are no different
from unbelievers. That is how people touch the Lord: they come among his people and touch
life. God have mercy on us! How we need his life!
Then the Lord gives two examples of those who were not God’s people, but who
condemned God’s people by their response to him. The first is the people to whom Jonah
preached, Ninevah. The wicked people of this pagan city repented when Jonah, only a
picture of life from the dead, preached to them. The Jews would not repent when the one
who was and is resurrection life preached to them.
The queen of the south, whose visit to Solomon is recorded in 1 Kings 10, heard of the
wisdom of Solomon and came to hear for herself. Her response was that she had not been
told half. The wisdom that Solomon preached, the Lord Jesus himself, was in the midst of the
Jews and they would not listen to his wisdom. The queen of the south had to make a long
journey to hear Solomon, and there were no easy ways to travel in those days, even for a
queen. The Jews had to go nowhere to hear the Lord, but they would not listen.
The Jews had something greater than Jonah or Solomon in their midst, but they would
not repent or listen. Great will be their judgment by comparison with these pagan peoples.
Thus we see the theme of judgment continuing to build in Matthew. The Jews’ judgment of
the Lord is actually their judgment of themselves.
43But when the unclean spirit has gone out from the man, it goes through waterless places
seeking rest and does not find it.

44Then it says, “I will return to my house from which I

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went out,” and when it has come it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45Then it goes
and takes with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and when they have entered they
dwell there, and the last things of that man have become worse than the first. So will it be
also with this evil generation.”
In vs. 43-45 the Lord Jesus shows the historical course of this evil and adulterous
generation that he is dealing with. The word “generation” in this passage, and in others
similar to it, does not mean just the people born at roughly the same time. The root of the
word actually has to do with the fact of being born generally and can mean “generation” in
the usual sense or “family” or “race.” The Lord seems to be referring to the Jewish people as
a whole up until they finally repent and own him as their Messiah.
The Lord tells us in v. 45 that he is speaking in vs. 43-45 about the Jewish people, the
evil generation. Thus the evil spirit that has gone out of the man in v. 43 is one that has gone
out of the Jews. The only evil spirit that we can trace historically as going out of the Jewish
people is the spirit of idolatry. That was the great sin of Israel. After they were delivered from
Egypt miraculously, it was not long before they worshipped the golden calf. After they
settled in the promised land, they began to worship the pagan gods of the land along with
their God. All through the stories and proclamations of the prophets we read the warnings to
Israel to forsake the other gods and be faithful to God alone. Yet they would not repent. Thus
God finally brought Assyrian exile on Israel and Babylonian exile on Judah, and his
punishment worked. The Jews forsook their idols and never returned to them, worshipping
God alone. The spirit of idolatry had been cast out.
But, the Lord says, the period after his expulsion was one in which the house was
unoccupied, swept, and put in order. What does he mean by these descriptions?
One of the great stories of the Old Testament is that of the tabernacle in Exodus. The
whole point of the tabernacle was that God was dwelling in the midst of his people,
Immanuel, God with us, fulfilled by the Lord Jesus, to whom every aspect of the tabernacle
points. At the end of the long, detailed descriptions of the instructions for and building of
this tent, we have that wonderful picture of the glory of the Lord filling the completed
structure. So intense was the presence of God that Moses could not enter the tabernacle.
Then when Solomon replaced the tabernacle with the first temple, we find the same
marvelous fact: the glory of the Lord filled the temple, and God dwelt among his people.
But after the exile, when the remnant had returned to the land and rebuilt the temple,
we find this filling of the house by the glory of the Lord glaring in its absence. God’s presence
never filled the second temple, the temple, in fact, which stood when the Lord Jesus exercised
his earthly ministry. That was the condition of Judaism from the exile to the Lord’s first
coming. It was swept and put in order, idolatry having been put away and the very ordered
religion of Judaism having been established. But it was spiritually empty. The life of God, the
sign of the prophet Jonah, was not in it. And that is the way it is to this day.
But, says the Lord, the day will come when the spirit of idolatry will reenter the Jews
and will bring with it seven spirits worse than itself. There will again be idolatry, and worse,
in Israel. We see this in Dan. 9.27, where the Jews will make a covenant with Antichrist, who
will proceed a bit later to set up idol worship in the Jewish temple. We see it in 2 Thess. 2.4,
where we have Antichrist setting forth himself as God in the temple and requiring worship.

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We see it in Rev. 13.4 and 8, where everyone on earth whose name is not written in the
Lamb’s book of life will worship Antichrist. Thus will come the darkest day of the Lord’s
ancient people, the Great Tribulation, the time of Jacob’s trouble, when their continued
rejection of him will give him no choice but to unleash his greatest judgment on them. But,
praise him, that judgment, frightful though it will be, will finally lead the Jews to recognize
their Messiah and to bow before him.
46While he was still speaking to the crowds, look! his mother and brothers stood outside
seeking to speak with him. 47Now someone said to him, “Look! your mother and your
brothers have been standing outside seeking to speak with you.” 48But answering he said
to the one speaking to him, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” 49And having
extended his hand to his disciples he said, “Look! my mother and my brothers, 50
for the
one who does the will of my Father who is in the heavens, he is my brother and sister and
mother.”
In vs. 46-50 we find that the judgment of the Jews, brought about by their rejection of
the Lord Jesus, and growing all through chapters 8 through 12, reaches its climax. He shows
that the family of God in the new relationship with God that he is bringing in is spiritual, not
fleshly. Thus the Jews are no longer recognized as the people of God, but those, Jew and
Gentile, who respond in faith to the Lord Jesus. It is not physical birth but spiritual birth that
constitutes God’s family. The theme of the rejection of the Jews and the offer of the good
news to the Gentiles has reached a climax in Matthew. The kingdom has been taken from the
Jews, a physical, earthly people. and given to a spiritual, heavenly people. We will see this
judgment explained, and its implications drawn out, in Mt. 13. We have reached a turning
point in the earthly life of the Lord Jesus.

The Parables of the Kingdom
Mt. 13.1-52

On that day Jesus, having gone out from the house, sat beside the sea, 2and many
crowds were gathered to him so that having gotten into a boat he sat down, and all the
crowd stood on the shore. 3And he spoke to them many things in parables saying, “Look!
The sower went out to sow. 4And in his sowing some fell by the way and when the birds
came they ate them. 5But others fell on the rocky grounds where they did not have much
earth, and immediately they sprang up, because they did not have depth of earth. 6But
when the sun had come up they were burned, and because they did not have root they
withered. 7But others fell on the thorns and the thorns came up and choked them. 8But
others fell on the good earth and produced fruit, some a hundred, but some sixty, but some
thirty. 9Let the one who has ears hear.”
We saw in the last chapter that the rejection of the Lord Jesus by the Jews led to their
judgment and rejection by God, and that this theme reached a climax with the attribution by
the Jews of the work of the Holy Spirit though the Lord Jesus to Satan, their request for a

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sign, and his statement that the family of God no longer consisted of physical Jews, but of a
spiritual people obedient to the will of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Now the present chapter
moves on. Instead of detailing the King’s presentation of the kingdom to the Jews, this
chapter shows him giving special teaching on the course of the kingdom from that time until
the end, with what he teaches showing that it does not deal with the Jews as Jews, but with
all who will come to the Lord in faith, Jew and Gentile alike.
The Lord Jesus did not himself go to the Gentiles, but he gave a prophetic picture of
what would take place after his ascension. Matthew records this prophetic representation of
the turning of the Lord from the Jews to the Gentiles in the first verse of chapter 13, where we
have the Lord going from the house to the sea. The sea in the Bible is sometimes a picture of
the nations, tossing restlessly without direction as the nations often do. Daniel’s vision of the
four beasts from the sea in his chapter 7 is such a picture, and Rev. 17.15 tells us plainly that
the waters of v. 1 on which the prostitute sits are peoples and multitudes and nations and
tongues. Having spoken words of judgment on the Jews, the Lord goes to the sea, in
prophetic symbol to the Gentiles, and begins to teach in an entirely new way.
V. 3 tells us that this new way consisted of the use of parables, everyday stories that
contain spiritual points. He began the first parable by saying, “Behold, the sower went out to
sow.” The real background of this statement is Is. 5.1-7, the likening of Israel to God’s
vineyard. When God came to the vineyard in the person of his Son, instead of finding a good
crop, he found only wild, sour grapes. Since he was unable to gather the fruit he expected of
his people, he went out to sow seed in the field, thus to produce a crop. No longer is he
looking for the grapes of Israel, but for the wheat of the church. Again we have a picture of
the turn from the Jews to the Gentiles.
The parable continues with descriptions of the kinds of ground on which the seed fell.
Some was the hard-packed ground by the road where the birds simply came and ate the
seed. Other was a ground with a thin layer of soil that had a sheet of rock underneath.
Because the seeds could not put down roots through the rock, even though they came up,
they withered as soon as the sun became hot. Other seeds fell into thorny ground. These, too,
came up, but they were eventually choked by the thorns. Finally, some seeds fell into good
soil. These came up, matured, and produced a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and
some thirty.
The Lord gave the interpretation of this parable later, and we will wait until then to
deal with it. The important point now is that he spoke in parables. There was a specific
reason why he so taught, and Matthew first tells us that, and his explanation brings out a
vital point in his gospel, and in the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus.
10And as they went along the disciples said to him, “Because of what do you speak in
parables to them?” 11But answering he said to them, “To you it has been given to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to them it has not been given. 12For whoever
has, it will be given to him and he will have abundance. But whoever does not have, even
what he has will be taken from him. 13Because of this I speak in parables to them, because
seeing they are not seeing and hearing they are not hearing or understanding, 14and in
them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled which says,

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“By hearing you will hear and not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive.
15For the heart of this people has become dull, [lit., “fat”]
And with he ears they heard with difficulty, [lit., “with heaviness]
And they closed their eyes,
That they might not see with the eyes
And hear with the ears
And understand with the heart and turn,
And I will heal them. [Is. 6.9-10]
16But blessed [happy] are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear. 17For
amen I say to you that many prophets and righteous men wanted to see what you see and
did not see, and to hear what you hear and did not hear.
Matthew tells us in v. 10 that the disciples asked Jesus why he taught in parables. They
did not understand the parables or why they were used, and that is just the point. The Lord’s
answer to their question contains a sobering lesson:
To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to
them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him it will be given and he will have
abundance, but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. For
this reason I speak to them in parables, that seeing they may not see and hearing they
may not hear or understand.
Then the Lord quotes Is. 6.9-10 as a biblical support for what he has just said, another
example of Matthew’s use of the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy to show that the
Lord Jesus is indeed the Messiah.
These statements by the Lord make it appear that he is deliberately concealing the
truth from people. At first, that seems an impossibility, but when we study the passage in
Isaiah as well as the development of the theme of judgment in Matthew, we see that that is
exactly what the Lord is doing. The verses from Isaiah occur in the well-known chapter in
which Isaiah had the vision of the Lord in the temple, confessed his sin, and had his lips
cleansed by the burning coal. Then he received his call from God to his prophetic ministry. In
giving him his commission, God said to him,
Go and tell this people, “Hear indeed, but do not understand, and see indeed, but do
not perceive. Make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy and shut
their eyes so that they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and do not
understand with their heart and turn and be healed.
The key words in this passage are “so that … not,” as it is also in its quotation in Matthew. In
other words, the purpose of Isaiah’s mission to the Jews was to prevent them from repenting
and being healed by concealing the truth from them. The reason for this was that they had
rejected God for so long that God had finally put them under the judgment of spiritual

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blindness and deafness so that they could have no less a man of God in their midst than
Isaiah and they would be unable to see or hear God through his man.
The same was the case with the Lord Jesus. Not only did the Jews have the long Old
Testament history of rejecting God, but now they had also rejected John the Baptist and the
Son of God himself. Thus the Lord pronounced judgment on them, not the fiery judgment of
war or hell, but the living judgment of being unable to see or hear God even in his greatest
spokesmen, even in his own Son. What a fearful condition these people brought themselves
into! They had no further opportunity of repentance, for they were under God’s judgment of
spiritual blindness and deafness. We see a similar judgment in 2 Thess. 2.11: God sending a
“working of deception” on those who follow antichrist. See alaso 1 Kings 22.19-23.
Thus the parables reveal the kingdom to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear,
but conceal it from those who do not. The parables present the mysteries of the kingdom. A
mystery in the Bible is not a difficult puzzle that can be figured out with the help of enough
clues and much intellectual effort, but a truth that can be known only by revelation, and that
God intends to reveal at his time. But of course, only those who can receive revelation will
understand the mystery.
There are mysteries of the kingdom. The kingdom itself was no mystery in the New
Testament, for it had been abundantly revealed in the Old Testament. Every Jew was looking
for the kingdom. That is one reason the Lord Jesus stirred up such excitement. But there were
truths about the kingdom that were not revealed in the Old Testament, and the Lord
proposes to reveal them, or some of them, now through the parables to those who have eyes
and ears. Those who do not will hear good stories.
V. 12 indicates that those who have faith will receive more, namely, understanding,
the revelation of the mysteries, and a place in the kingdom if they are faithful to it. Those
who do not have faith will lose even what they have, the hearing of the parables and the
opportunity to repent. In fact, they had already lost the opportunity to repent. Judgment was
settled. Then the Lord explains the judgment that was revealed first in Isaiah and was
brought to ultimate fulfillment in his own ministry. Then he closes his explanation of why he
speaks in parables with vs. 16-17. Many do not have eyes to see or ears to hear because they
have brought judgment on themselves, but blessed are the eyes and ears of the disciples.
Abraham received prophecy of the Seed of the woman, but he never saw the Seed. The
disciples did. David was promised a man on his throne forever, but he never saw the King of
the Jews. The disciples did. Isaiah had the greatest revelations of the Messiah in the Old
Testament, but he never saw the Messiah. The disciples did. All the great men and women of
the Old Testament did not see what those twelve humble fishermen, tax collectors, and so on
saw. They saw the Lord, and they recognized him.
18″You [emphasized] then hear the parable of the sower. 19Everyone hearing the word of the
kingdom and not understanding, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been
sown in his heart. This is he that was sown by the way. 20But he that was sown on the
rocky grounds, this is the one hearing the word and immediately he receives it with joy.
21But he has no root in himself, but is for the moment, but when tribulation or persecution
has come because of the word immediately he is caused to stumble [or, “is offended”].
22But
he that was sown in the thorns, this is the one hearing the word, and the worry of the age

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and the deception of riches choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. 23But he that was
sown on the good earth, this is the one hearing the word and understanding, who indeed
produces fruit and makes some a hundred, but some sixty, but some thirty.”
Then the Lord explains the parable of the sower. The seeds are the words of the
kingdom, which the Lord himself was sowing at that very time. The four kinds of ground are
four kinds of hearts that hear the word. Those by the way are those who have no interest in
or understanding of spiritual things. As soon as they hear the good news, Satan, the birds,
takes it away and it comes to nothing.
The rocky ground represents people, like the crowds in the days of the Lord’s ministry
on earth, who are joyful at the good news, but have no desire to pay a cost to follow the Lord.
They respond at once to such good news, but as soon as trial comes along, they realize there
is a price to pay and wither away. They want the benefits, but not the cost. They want the
crown, but not the cross.
Those who are likened to thorny ground are those who receive the word and it comes
up, but they allow the worry of this age and the deceit of riches to choke the word. They do
not allow the word to have its full effect in their lives because they spend their time worrying
instead of trusting God’s word, worrying about how to pay the bills, about health, about all
the cares of this life. And they fall prey to the idea that money is the answer to life. They do
not have time for the word because they are too busy trying to gain wealth. Thus the word is
choked out and never comes to fruition.
Finally, there is the good soil, plowed and prepared to receive the seed. It comes up
and bears fruit. Even so, there are varying amounts of fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty,
and some thirty. Not all fruitful Christians are equally fruitful.
Thus we have revealed the first mystery of the kingdom. During the age between his
rejection by the Jews and the second coming of the King, the kingdom is no longer a matter of
accepting a man as the outward king, but of receiving the word in the heart. It is no longer
physical, but spiritual.
24Another parable he set before them saying, “The kingdom of the heavens is like a man
having sown good seed in his field. 25But while the men slept his enemy came and sowed
weeds in the midst of his wheat and left. 26Now when the plants [lit., “grass”] sprouted and
produced fruit, then the weeds appeared also, 27and when the slaves of the householder
had come they said to him, ‘Lord, did you not sow good seed in your field? Why then does
it have weeds?’ 28And he said to them, ‘An enemy, a man, did this.’ And the slaves said to
him, ‘Do you want us then having gone to gather them?’ 29But he said, ‘No, so that in
gathering the weeds you would not uproot the wheat with them. 30Leave both to grow
until the harvest and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “Gather first the
weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”
In vs. 24-30 the Lord tells the second parable of the kingdom, saying that it is like a
man who sowed good seed in his field, but while men slept, an enemy came and sowed
weeds among the wheat. When both came up and the good sower’s men saw the weeds
among the wheat, they asked about it, and the man replied that an enemy had done it. When

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they asked if he wanted them to gather up the weeds, he said no, because they might pull up
some of the wheat as well. Let them both grow, he said, until the harvest, and then he would
have them separated, the weeds into bundles for burning, and the wheat into his barns. The
Lord does not explain this parable at once, but first tells two more parables, brief ones at that.

31Another parable he set before them saying, “The kingdom of the heavens is like a grain
of mustard, which a man taking sowed in his field, 32which is the least of all the seeds, but
when it has grown it is the greatest of the vegetables and becomes a tree, so that the birds
of the sky come and nest in its branches. [cf. Ezk. 32.6, Dan. 4.12, 21] 33″Another parable he
spoke to them, “The kingdom of the heavens is like leaven, which a woman taking hid in
three sata [21.6 pints each] of flour until the whole was leavened.”
In the next patable the Lord says that the kingdom is like a mustard seed which a man
sowed. Though it is the smallest of seeds, it grows into a tree, where the birds of the sky nest.
In the parable of the leaven, the Lord says that the kingdom is like leaven which a woman
hid in three measures of meal until it was all leavened.
These two parables have often been taken to mean that the kingdom would have a
small beginning, but would grow to fill the earth, with the further implication that the world
would be Christianized by the gradual growth of the kingdom. This way of thinking became
especially popular in the nineteenth century when the Darwinian theory of evolution came
out. Darwin’s theory applied to nature, but certain philosophers and theologians applied it to
morals and religion. They developed the idea that sinful man would develop into a moral
creature so that eventually the world would become the kingdom of God by evolution, like a
small seed growing into a great tree or a bit of leaven leavening three measures of meal.
In the first place, if these men had read their Bibles carefully, they would have seen
that it clearly states that the world will not evolve into the kingdom, but will become so only
after the violent intervention of the Lord himself to judge evil and cast it out, establishing a
millennial reign of righteousness. In the second place, this way of thought took a devastating
blow historically. The nineteenth century, with its evolutionary theories, was the age of
optimism. Man was getting better and better. Soon he would develop the perfect society.
Then came World War I, the most violent conflict in the world’s history to that time. That war
was a serious setback to nineteenth century optimism, but, no matter, it could be taken in a
good light. It was the war to end all wars, the war to make the world safe for democracy, the
ashes out of which the phoenix of the League of Nations rose, that world organization that
would see to it that war would never again curse man.
Then came World War II, barely twenty years later, What had been left of the
optimistic thought of the moral evolutionists took the fatal blow. No longer could men
pretend that they were getting better and better, especially with the history since that time,

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with all the injustice committed by governments against their own people and all the
conflicts of the Cold War. The evolutionary theory of the kingdom can no longer be seriously
entertained.
How then are we to take these two parables? They actually extend the thought of the
parable of the weeds and wheat. It is true that a mustard seed is very small, but it is not true
that it grows into a tree. A mustard plant is small. Thus the growth of the mustard seed into a
tree is abnormal growth. What began with a Jewish Rabbi and twelve disciples, none of
whom had anything in this world, has become a series of colossal organizations with great
wealth, massive cathedrals, and huge membership rolls. There were none of these in the New
Testament. The organization was simple: elders governed local bodies of Christians while
those with various ministries exercised them, not as clergy, but as servants of the body. There
was no wealth: collections had to be taken to relieve the poor. There were no church
buildings at all that we know of: the first local churches met in homes insofar as their meeting
places are mentioned at all (Rom. 16.5, 1 Cor. 16.19, Col. 4.15, Phm. 2). There were no rolls.
Every born again person was in the church.
The fact that makes it clear that the Lord was dealing with the abnormal growth of
what outwardly appeared to be the kingdom is his statement that the birds of the sky nested
in the branches of this tree. In Mt. 13.4 and 19 we learn that the birds are the devil or his
demons. The ones who initially snatched away the seed to prevent people from coming to the
Lord at all ends up nesting in the branches of Christendom!
It is the same with the leaven. Leaven is always a symbol of evil in the Bible, whether
in the Old Testament story of the unleavened bread eaten with the Passover and the accounts
of the sacrifices, which could not contain leaven, or in the Lord’s warning to beware the
leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees in Mt. 16.12 and Paul’s command to clean out the old
leaven and be unleavened in 1 Cor. 5.7-8. If leaven was to be taken as a symbol of the gradual
benign influence of the kingdom in this parable, it would be the only place in the Bible where
it is so used. Rather is its meaning to be found in its symbolizing evil. What outwardly
appeared to be the kingdom would be leavened with the evils of false doctrine and practice.
And is this not true even in our day when anything can be preached from so-called Christian
pulpits? What appears to be the kingdom is full of evil.
So we learn that the kingdom is not only a matter of the heart and will have an
outward appearance that will contain both saved and lost people, but it will also grow into
the abnormal, grotesque thing called Christendom, and it will be full of evil.
34All these things Jesus spoke in parables to the crowd, and without a parable he did not
speak to them, that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled saying, “I will
open my mouth in parables; I will declare things hidden from the foundation of the
world.” [Ps. 78.2]
In v. 34, Matthew tells us that the Lord spoke all these things in parables and that he
did not speak to the crowds except in parables, emphasizing what we saw in vs. 10-17, that
he spoke to reveal truth only to those who had ears to hear it. Then Matthew adds in v. 35
that this manner of teaching also fulfilled another Old Testament prophecy, Ps. 78.2: “I will
open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old.” These hidden things are the

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mysteries of Mt. 13.11, They are declared, but they are declared in parables, designed to
reveal the truth to those with ears to hear while concealing it from those without ears to hear.
36Then having left the crowds he went into the house, and his disciples came to him
saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37And answering he said, “The
sower of the good seed is the Son of Man and 38the field is the world, and the good seed,
these are the sons of the kingdom, but the weeds are the sons of the evil one,
39and the
enemy who sowed them is the devil. And the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers
are angels. 40As then the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end
of the age. 41The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather from his kingdom
all stumbling blocks and those who do lawlessness 42and will throw them into the furnace
of fire. There will there be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine
as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let the one having ears hear.
V. 36 contains an important note: the Lord left the crowds and went into the house,
where he spoke only with his disciples. That is, what preceded this point was spoken to all,
and showed the outward form the kingdom would take during this age, but what follows
was spoken only to the twelve.
We need not speculate as to the meaning of this parable, for the Lord tells us here in
vs. 36-43. The Son of Man is the sower of good seed. The field is the world. The good seed are
the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one. The enemy who sowed them
is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age. The reapers are angels. At the end of the age the
angels will gather out the sons of the evil one for burning, but the righteous will shine as the
sun in the kingdom of their Father.
The point is that during the age between the two comings of the Lord, the kingdom
will not be one of earthly glory that the Jews looked for, but a situation in which both the
Lord’s people and Satan’s will exist side-by-side in what appears to be the kingdom. That is,
there will be what outwardly appears to be the kingdom, but in reality is not, and what
actually is the kingdom.
At this point we need to think for a moment again about the meaning of the kingdom
in Matthew. It is first, as we saw at the beginning, the overall sovereignty of God. Nothing is
outside his control. It is secondly the spiritual reality in which people do the will of God.
Under God’s sovereignty his will is often not done. In the second sense, any time God’s will
is done, his kingdom, his rule, is manifested. Finally, the kingdom is also the millennial
kingdom, the time of earthly glory the Jews expect, but that will come only after people have
accepted the spiritual kingdom in their hearts. But now in Mt. 13 we see another aspect of the
kingdom, the outward appearance and the inward reality.
The church is the spiritual people of God, all those who have been born again. It ought
to be the expression of the kingdom of the heavens, but it is not. Not only do all Christians
fail, but there have grown up those groups of people who call themselves churches, but who
in reality are only manmade organizations, put together to further certain ends. They may be
good ends, but the church is not an organization whose purpose is to further ends, but all
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It has also been true that almost from the beginning there have been people in the
outward church who have not been born again. As history went on and Christianity became
the official religion of the Roman Empire, virtually everyone became a Christian in name,
many to avoid persecution, and others, to gain the advantage of a good position in the official
religion. But Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship with the Lord.
This outward organization was called the church and often identified with the
kingdom of God. But it is neither. Neither the true church nor the kingdom is what
outwardly purports to be those realities in the world. The church is all born again people.
The kingdom is everything under God’s sovereignty and then the manifestation of the will of
God.
The Lord Jesus is talking about the outward appearance in the parable of the weeds
and the wheat. During this age there will be many in the church, people who claim to be in
the kingdom of the heavens, who are not born again, sons of the kingdom, but sons of the
devil. This is the first point of the parable: the fact that there will be both God’s people and
Satan’s in what appears to be the kingdom. The second point is that men are not competent
to judge which are weeds and which are wheat and to separate them. If we attempt to purify
the kingdom by casting out those who are weeds, we will make mistakes and cast out wheat
as well. Instead, says the Lord, wait until the end and let the angels, who know who are the
Lord’s, make the separation.
In the interpretation of the parable, the Lord says that the field is the world. Thus
when he says not to try to separate the weeds from the wheat he does not seem to be saying
not to cast them out of the church, which is not the world, but not to cast them out of the
world, which could be done only by death. This simple statement by the Lord rules out all
the killings done by both Catholics and Protestants in an effort to purify the kingdom.
These statements do not apply to church discipline. That is another issue entirely, not
dealt with at this point by the Lord. The church is to have discipline, dealing with sin in its
midst, but it is not to execute those it deems to be weeds. If it does, it will surely pull up
wheat at the same time.
Thus we see in the parable of the sower that the kingdom has become a matter of the
heart in this age, and in the parable of the weeds and the wheat, that there will develop an
outward form that holds itself forth as the kingdom, but which in reality contains both sons
of the kingdom and sons of the evil one.
44″The kingdom of the heavens is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man having
found hid, and from his joy goes and sells all, however much he has, and buys that field.
45″Again the kingdom of the heavens is like a man, a merchant, seeking good pearls. 46And
having found one pearl of great value, having gone he has sold all, however much he had,
and bought it.
Then the Lord tells two brief parables, those of the treasure hidden in a field and of the
pearl merchant. Like those of the mustard seed and the leaven, these two stories are not
interpreted by the Lord. Thus we are left to seek their meaning before him. Students of the
parables are not in agreement as to their meaning.

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The simplest meaning is always attractive. Some elaborate interpretations of these
parables have been given, but usually something can be found that does not fit. The simple
understanding is that in the midst of all the confusion, worldliness, and manmade works of
Christendom, there is nonetheless the reality of the kingdom, the real thing, the rule of God
in one’s life with its promise of millennial blessing, and it is worth everything. That is
certainly true, but whether or not it is the proper interpretation of these parables is open to
debate.
Because this understanding is true and simple, it is indeed attractive. However, it
takes the approach of not assigning a meaning to each element in the story, just taking the
whole impression created as conveying the meaning, while in the other parables, the
elements do have their own meanings. The sower is the Son of Man, the field is the world,
and so forth. Thus it would seem that consistency would require that the elements of these
two parables have meanings.
Perhaps the best interpretation that meets this requirement is that the field is indeed
the world, the treasure is the Lord’s people, the man who found the treasure is the Lord
Jesus, and his selling of all that he has to buy the field is his sacrificial death. In the same way,
the pearl is the Lord’s people, and his selling of all to buy it is his death. He bought the field,
the world. That is, all the world was offered salvation by his death, though not all take it,
only that part constituting the treasure doing so. With this interpretation, we see that the
reality of the kingdom, not its outward appearance, is such that the Lord considered it worth
everything to secure. Its value to him shows what ought to be its value to us.
One might argue that the fact that the man found the treasure in the field, an obvious
accidental discovery, is against this understanding. Perhaps it is, but it may also be that the
kingdom is like this situation, not exactly the same, but like it. The emphasis is not on the
accidental discovery, but on the extreme value of the treasure. Perhaps to counteract the
notion that the discovery was accidental, the Lord tells a second story to show that in fact he
was seeking a people all along. And perhaps the discovery of the treasure was not accidental
after all. Perhaps the man had heard that there was a treasure there and was looking for it.
When he found it he bought the field.
Whatever interpretation of these stories one may consider correct, the absolute value
of the kingdom is at the heart of their teaching. The kingdom is indeed worth everything,
both to the Lord and to us.
47″Again the kingdom of the heavens is like a dragnet cast into the sea and gathering from
every kind, 48which when it was filled, having dragged it onto the beach and sat down,
they gathered the good into containers, but they threw out the bad. 49Thus will it be at the
end of the age. The angels will come and separate the evil from the midst of the righteous
50and throw them into the furnace of fire. There will there be weeping and gnashing of
teeth.
The final parable in this series is that of the dragnet in vs. 47-50. It seems to be
primarily a repetition of the truth taught in the parable of the weeds and wheat, that there
will be a mixture in the outward kingdom during this age, but that there will be a separation
made by angels at the end. There is, however, a difference of emphasis. The parable of the

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weeds and wheat stresses the separation at the end by the angels, and the parable of the
dragnet stresses the gathering in during this age. This is the time during which the dragnet is
cast by the preaching and sharing of the good news. The preaching and sharing draw in all
sorts, just as the seed being sown fell on all kinds of ground. There some were eaten by birds.
Others sprang up, but quickly withered. Other seeds sprang up, but were choked by the
world. Others fell into good ground and produced a crop. Here all kinds of fish are drawn in,
and it is only at the end that they will be separated by those competent to do so. When we
share the good news and people respond, it is not for us to decide whether or not they are
genuine, but to go on casting the net. The Lord knows who are his.
51″Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52And he said to them,
“Because of this every scribe having been made a disciple of the kingdom of the heavens is
like a man, a householder, who brings forth from his treasure things new and old.”
Then the Lord Jesus closes his teaching on parables in vs. 51-52 by asking his disciples
if they have understood, and then making an interesting and instructive statement when they
say they do: “Because of this every scribe having been made a disciple of the kingdom of the
heavens is like a man, a householder, who brings forth from his treasure things new and old.”
A scribe was a Jew who was expert in the law, in the Old Testament. Such a man who knows
the Old Testament and becomes a disciple of the Lord Jesus can bring forth treasure from the
Old Testament, interpreting it in the light of the Lord Jesus, and can bring forth new treasure
revealed in and by the Lord Jesus. He sees in manifestation the kingdom prophesied in the
Old Testament and can declare that future age. He also sees the kingdom in its mystery,
hidden form in this age, as revealed in these parables of the Lord, and can declare to us how
we ought to pursue the kingdom that is worth everything and how we ought to view the
outward manifestations that call themselves the kingdom or the church in the light of God’s
word. God grant us the grace to be such scribes, disciples of the Lord Jesus who see him on
every page of Scripture, Old and New.

Continued Withdrawal From Public Ministry

Mt. 13.53-16.12

53And it took place, when Jesus finished these parables, that he went away from there.
54And having come to his home town he was teaching them in their synagogue so that they
were amazed and said, “From where to this one this wisdom and the works of power? 55Is
this one not the carpenter’s son? Is his mother not called Mary and his brothers Jacob and
Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56And are his sisters not all with us? From where then to this
one these things?” 57And they were offended by him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is
not without honor except in his home town and his house.” 58And he did not do many
works of power there because of their unbelief.
The parables show us the result of the rejection of the Lord Jesus by the Jews: he
begins to deal with the Jews not as Jews, but on the same basis as Gentiles, veiling the truth
of his teaching in stories designed to reveal to those who have ears to hear and conceal from

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those under judgment. He requires a faith response to himself from all alike, Jew and Gentile.
This turn to the Gentiles and treating of Jews on the same basis would take place historically
after the ascension of the Lord Jesus and during the early spread of the good news
throughout the Roman world. Now we find in Mt. 13.54 that the Lord Jesus went to the
synagogue of his home town and began teaching there. This is the last time on record that the
Lord entered a synagogue. He seems to be offering one last opportunity to the Jews, even
after he has turned from them, and this he does in the place where it should be easiest for
them to respond to him. But their response only proves the correctness of his action in
turning from them. They despise him because they know him. How could this man be
anybody great when he is only a carpenter’s son with no background and no education?
We may point accusing fingers at these Jews for their actions, but how often do we
measure a man’s worth as a preacher or teacher by his academic credentials? We think we
should hear someone speak who has many degrees listed after his name. Those count for
exactly nothing. It is dealings with the living God that qualify a man to share God’s word. It
is knowledge in the heart through experience with God, not knowledge in the head through
study, that gives life to a ministry. This in no way means that we should not study diligently,
for we should, but the study should be based on life and will not substitute for it.
The Jewish scholars had all the credentials available, but knew nothing of the life of
God and indeed killed the Son of God when he came. The Lord Jesus had no credentials, but
he had been much with God and had been dealt with and taught by him (see Heb. 2.10 and
5.8, referred to earlier). He had no credentials, but he had life.
Matthew tells us in v. 57 that the Jews of Nazareth stumbled over the Lord because of
his lowly origin. We saw in Mt. 11.6 that stumbling comes from lack of faith, and now we are
told in v. 58 that the Lord did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
Because they allowed origin and credentials to cause them to stumble over this Rock that
they could have built on, they cut off the flow of power that comes to faith.
Their lack of faith was not that he had wisdom and did miracles. These they admitted,
as v. 54 shows. The Pharisees accepted his works and attributed them to Satan. These people
accept them and ask where they came from. They do not have an answer. In both cases, the
Pharisees and the Nazarenes, the works are accepted, but the Lord Jesus is not. Their lack of
faith is not in his works, but in him, and that is just the key. God is interested in our
relationship with the Lord Jesus, not in our seeing displays of power. Displays of power there
probably will be where there is faith, but that is secondary. The Lord is what matters. This
inability to get beyond the requirements of their tradition, built on God’s revelation, but
going beyond it, made them unable to have faith in this man who did not qualify according
to their rules, even though he had astonishing wisdom and power, and thus the flow of
miraculous power was cut off, and worse, the flow of the life of God in their own hearts was
cut off.

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report of Jesus 2and said to his servants, “This
one is John the Baptist. He was raised from the dead and because of this the works of
power are working in him.” 3For Herod, having seized John, bound him and put him into
prison because of Herodias the wife of Philip his brother. 4For John was saying to him, “It

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is not permitted for you to have her.” 5And wanting to kill him, he was afraid of the crowd,
for they had him as a prophet. 6Herod’s birthday having come, the daughter of Herodias
danced in the midst and pleased Herod, 7so with an oath he promised to her whatever she
asked. 8But she, prompted by her mother, said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John
the Baptist.” 9Though made sorrowful the king, because of his oaths and those reclining
with him, ordered it given, 10and having sent he beheaded John in the prison. 11And his
head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she took it to her mother. 12And
when they had come his disciples took the body and buried it, and when they had gone
they reported to Jesus.
The people in v. 54 wondered where the Lord Jesus got his power. In 14.2 we find that
King Herod had an answer, one based on guilt and superstition. We are told in Mt. 4.12 that
John the Baptist had been arrested. Now we are told in 14.1-12 what happened to him
subsequently.
John had been arrested because he condemned the adulterous marriage of King Herod
to his brother’s wife, Herodias. Both hated John and wanted revenge, but feared the people,
who considered him a prophet. But when the daughter of Herodias danced for Herod and his
guests at his birthday, the dance itself a shameful act, he was so pleased that he promised her
anything as a reward. On her mother’s instructions, she asked for the head of John. Despite
his grief over the decision, the king granted her request and John was beheaded. Thus ended
the life of this extraordinary man who truly gave up everything for his God.
The real point of this passage, other than the historical information it gives and the
spiritual lessons that we learn from John that we drew out in studying Mt. 11, comes from a
consideration of King Herod. In him we see a man who believes in God or gods or at least the
supernatural, but who has no understanding at all of spiritual things or commitment to live
the right kind of life based on God’s reality. He is superstitious (v. 2: thinking that the Lord
was John back from the dead), sinful (v. 3: living in adultery), and full of hatred (v. 5:
wanting to kill John for revenge). Yet he believed in God. He is afraid of the supernatural and
does not know what to do with it. He pictures the condition of much of the world today.
God has revealed in his word that he is a God of love who has good plans for people,
and that they are required to live moral and ethical lives in relationship with him. However,
much of the world, believing in God or gods, is in total darkness about these facts. They are
afraid of their god or gods. Many who believe in the existence of the true God are afraid of
him! They do horrendous things to appease their gods, even offering their children as
sacrifices. Their concept of God is not as a loving Father who protects and provides for them,
but as an angry tyrant whose wrath must somehow be assuaged. The right relationship with
God is not a matter of living a moral and ethical life, but of going through ritual requirements
that will keep the god from wreaking destruction on his subjects. How tragic that men have
such misconceptions of God. It is demons they worship and call gods. God loves them and
wants them to know him. But how like Herod we all are at times, and how like so much of
the world always is. God deliver us from superstition and sin!
13But when Jesus heard he went away from there is a boat to a deserted place by himself,
and when they heard the crowds followed him on foot from the boat. 14And when he had

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gone out he saw the large crowd and had compassion [from Gk. for “intestines”] on them
and healed their sick. 15But when evening had come the disciples came to him saying, “The
place is deserted and the hour has passed. Dismiss the crowds that having gone into the
villages they may buy themselves foods. 16But Jesus said to them, “They have no need to
go away. You [emphasized] give them to eat.” 17But they said to him, “We have nothing
here except five loaves and two fish.” 18But he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19And having
ordered the crowds to be seated on the grass and having taken the five loaves and the two
fish, having looked into Heaven he blessed them and having broken them he gave to the
disciples the loaves and the disciples to the crowds. 20And all ate and were satisfied, and
they took up what was left over of the fragments, twelve baskets full. 21Now those eating
were about five thousand men, without women and children.
In v. 13 we see the Lord’s response to the death of John the Baptist: he withdraws. This
is the second time we see him withdrawing from a threatening situation. In 12.15 he did so
because the Pharisees were taking counsel together on how to destroy him. Now he does so
because of John’s death. Yet it is not out of fear or lack of power that he does so. As we saw in
12.15, this matter of withdrawal is a theme in the gospels. The Lord Jesus has been rejected by
the Jews, and he withdraws because there is no further need to present the kingdom to the
Jews, and to prepare himself and his disciples for his impending death and the events
beyond it. No one takes his life. He lays it down at God’s time (Jn. 10.17-18). It is not yet
God’s time, so instead of forcing the issue with the Pharisees or Herod, he simply goes
somewhere else. He will force the issue at the right time.
In v. 14 we see once again that even though the Lord has rejected the Jews and is no
longer presenting the kingdom to them, his compassion for hurting people is not diminished.
When he withdrew, these needy crowds followed him, as they always did, and he responded
to their need with compassion and healing.
V. 15 then sets the stage for what happens next. The disciples suggest to the Lord Jesus
that since the hour is late and the place desolate, he send the crowds away so that they can
get to the villages in time to buy food. In response he challenges them in v. 16 with an
impossibility: you feed them. What is he thinking? There are five thousand men here, not
counting women and children! In v. 17 they plead their lack: only five loaves and two fish. In
v. 18 the Lord takes their lack. Then in vs. 19-21 he multiplies the lack into enough and more.
Several lessons come to us as we consider this passage.
In 2 Kings 4.42-44 we read that Elisha once fed a hundred men with twenty loaves and
a sack of grain. The feeding of five thousand by the Lord was a ministry done in the Spirit
and power of Elisha. The Jews thought that the Holy Spirit had ceased to work in Israel with

the death of Malachi, the last prophet. Now here is a man doing something that only a Spirit-
anointed man, such as Elisha, could do. This miracle was a testimony to the return of the

Holy Spirit in the person of the Lord Jesus, just as John the Baptist had prophesied.
Then we see that this incident pictures the death of the Lord. As the loaves were
broken and thus fed multitudes, so he, broken on the cross, became the Bread of life for all
the world.
There are also lessons for us. The most obvious, perhaps, is that what matters is not
our inadequacy, but God’s adequacy. If we will give ourselves to him, little or nothing that

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we are, he can use us. It does not matter that you do not have enough. You are not supposed
to have enough! That is God’s way of driving us to him. Take your meager supply to God
and give it to him. He can multiply it a thousand times, or five thousand times.
Just here is perhaps where the most important lesson comes. God can indeed multiply
what is given to him, but there is a secret to multiplication. It does not just happen. After the
Lord Jesus was given the loaves and fish, he blessed, broke, and gave them out. That is the
key to multiplication. What we are and have must first be given to the Lord. Then he will
bless it. Without his blessing our resources are of no value. With it, they can feed multitudes.
There are two Greek words for “blessed” in the New Testament. One is makarios,
meaning “happy,” and it is found, for example, in the Beatitudes of Mt. 5: “Happy is the
man.” The other is eulogetos, meaning “well spoken of,” and it is applied only to God in the
New Testament. It is the verb form of this second word that is used of the Lord’s blessing of
the bread: he spoke well of it. That is, he made the bread a thing that spoke well of God. As
long as our resources are in our hands, they only boast of the flesh, poor as they are, but
when they are in the hands of the Lord, they become something that speaks well of God.
They show not the supposed strength of the flesh, but the provision of God.
Then the Lord broke the loaves. Here is where we get to the heart of the matter, for the
truth is that what we really give to the Lord is ourselves: we are the loaves. Just as he is the
Bread of life, so he wants to use us to feed others. But just as the loaves are of no use until
they are broken, so must we be broken. That is one explanation of the trials we suffer in life.
They are the application by God of the cross to our flesh, to break us that the life of God may
escape from us and feed others. If we resist God’s efforts to deal with our flesh through trial,
we will find that we are not food for others, no matter how much we may know or may try to
serve. It is only as God’s life gets out of us through our brokenness that others are fed. If we
give ourselves to him, he will take us and bless us, but he will also break us.
And he will give us out. We have no right to say when, where, or how he will give us.
We are his, so those decisions are his.
The wonderful experience for us is that, as we give ourselves to the Lord, receive his
blessing, yield to his breaking, and allow him to give us out, we will find that we, inadequate
though we are, feed multitudes. It may not be in a public or obvious way, such as by
preaching to great crowds. It may be through secret prayer that no one ever knows of,
through faithful witness, through lowly service. The important matter is not whether or not
anyone knows about it, but whether or not people are fed. The Lord knows, and his rewards
are eternal. How we need to give ourselves wholly to the Lord, just as we are!
Finally, we read that after the multitude was fed, there were twelve baskets of
fragments left over. There was more at the end than there was at the beginning! There is
always enough with the Lord. His supplies are neither inadequate or just adequate: they are
abundant. This should be our experience in feeding others. When people come into contact
with us as God’s loaves, they need to experience the abundance of God. Do we have so much
of the life of the Lord in us that there is enough for multitudes to be satisfied, with some left
over? It all goes back to our giving of ourselves to the Lord, his blessing, his breaking, his
giving out. The extent of our submission to him will determine if there is enough with some
left over.

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22And immediately he made the disciples to get into the boat and to go before them to the
other side while he dismissed the crowds. 23And having dismissed the crowds he went up
into the mountain by himself to pray. Now when evening had come he was there alone.
24But the boat was already many stadia [one = 607 feet] distant from the land, being tossed
about by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 25Now at the fourth of the night he came to
them walking on the sea. 26But the disciples, seeing him walking on the sea, were terrified
saying, “It is a ghost,” and from fear they cried out. 27But immediately Jesus spoke to them
saying, “Take courage. I am. Don’t be afraid.” 28And answering him Peter said, “Lord, if it is
you, command me to come to you on the waters.” 29And he said, “Come,” and getting down
from the boat Peter walked on the waters and came to Jesus. 30But seeing the wind he was
afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out saying, “Lord, save me!” 31And immediately
Jesus, having extended his hand, took hold of him and said to him, “You of little faith, for
what did you doubt?” 32And when they had gone up into the boat the wind ceased. 33But
those in the boat worshipped him saying, “Truly you are God’s Son!”
In vs. 22-23, after the miraculous feeding, the Lord sent the disciples away in the boat,
dismissed the crowds, and went up into a mountain alone to pray. We are not told why he
went to pray or what the content of his prayer was, but surely the very fact of his praying is
by itself instructive for us. It shows his humanity and his dependence on his Father as such. It
shows us our need of prayer: if the Lord needed prayer, how much more do we?
During this time of prayer by the Lord, a storm arose on the sea and tossed the boat
bearing the disciples. This story bears similarities to that of Mt. 8.23-27, where the Lord, in
the boat with the disciples, stilled the storm at sea. The reader should refer to our comments
on that passage at this point for the symbolism of the sea and the lessons of that incident, for
the present story teaches the same lessons and adds to them. We have the Lord Jesus as Lord
over nature and spiritual evil. We need have no fear of natural events, for our Lord controls
them and protects us in them, or if he should choose to take us to himself through such an
event, that is our blessing! We need have no fear of Satan and his forces, though we should
certainly respect them, for our Lord has conquered them and rules over them. They cannot
hurt us if we are faithful to our victorious Lord.
In addition to these lessons, we also have in this passage the Lord walking on the
water, and Peter walking on the water, too. The waves are what appeared to be what would
destroy the disciples, yet the Lord came walking to them on the waves and enabled one of
them to walk on them. The point is that it is our very trials, the things we fear most as that
which would destroy us, on which the Lord can come to us, and which can take us to him. If
we call out to the Lord in faith in the midst of our difficulties, we will find that they bear him
to us, and we will find that we can go to the Lord on them. They are his instruments for
turning us to him, and for his breaking of us, as we saw in considering the feeding of the five
thousand. When the storms of life seem about to engulf us, let us look to the Lord with faith
and rejoicing, for he is walking to us on those very storms, and he bids us use them to come
to him. The waves that can drown also bear up the boat that sails on them, and they will bear
both the Lord and his trusting disciple. Let us not fear, but trust!
It is interesting that Peter walked on the water as long as he kept his eyes on the Lord
Jesus, and began to sink when he took notice of the wind, interesting because a man cannot

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walk on the water whether there is a storm or not! The storm was not the issue. The water
itself was the issue. Peter would have been in just as much danger on a calm sea. But he, like
us, let circumstances get his attention away from the Lord. The storms really do not matter.
Where our eyes are is what matters. Everyone, saved and unsaved, maturing Christian and
immature, has calm times and storms in life. They go with the fallen world we have made of
God’s creation. That is not what is important. What is important is that we keep our eyes on
the Lord Jesus no matter what. Some of us tend to forget him in good times or become
embittered against him in bad times. Let us keep our eyes on him in faith no matter what our
circumstances. He is Lord of all and has good purposes for us in everything that comes our
way.
This story of the walking on the water ends in v. 33 with the worshipping disciples
calling the Lord Jesus God’s Son. In this fact we see faith leading to understanding. The
disciples did not know or understand very much, but they had faith in this man Jesus. That
faith led to understanding. If we insist on understanding everything before we make a
commitment, we will never make it, but if we will trust this man who is more than a man, we
will have our eyes opened more and more. We will be brought to worship at his feet and
acknowledge that he is God’s Son.
34And having crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, 35and when the men of
that place recognized him, they sent to that whole surrounding region and they brought to
him all who were sick [lit., having it badly],

36and they were asking him that they might

only touch the fringe of his garment, and as many as touched it were healed.
Vs. 34-36 emphasize what we keep seeing all through: the Lord, withdrawing from
public attention to prepare himself and his disciples for his death, nonetheless cannot escape
the public. They flock to him, for they are full of needs and he is able to meet those needs, so
he continues in mercy, not seeking out the crowds, but responding to them when they seek
him out. He is a merciful Lord, blessing even those who have no commitment to him, who
seek for his benefits, but who will leave him to die alone.

Then there came to Jesus from Jerusalem Pharisees and scribes saying, 2

“Because of
what do your disciples violate the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands
when they eat bread.” 3But answering he said to them, “And because of what do you
violate the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4For God said, ‘Honor the
father and the mother,’ [Ex. 20.12, Dt. 5.16] and, ‘Let the one speaking evil of father or
mother die the death.’ [Ex. 21.17, Lev. 20.9] 5But you say, ‘Whoever has said to the father or
the mother, “A gift, whatever you might have been profited from me,” 6will not honor his
father.’ And you have nullified the word of God because of your tradition. 7Hypocrites,
well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you saying,
8This people honors me with the lips,
But their heart is far distant from me.
9But in vain do they worship me,
Teaching as teachings the commandments of men.” [Is. 29.13 LXX]

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We have seen that the Lord Jesus has entered a period of withdrawal from public
ministry and is trying to deal privately with his disciples to prepare them for the coming
events, but he keeps being interrupted. The crowd of more than five thousand that were fed
by miraculous means followed him and gained his attention. The crowd who came for
healing in 14.34-36 gathered as soon as he was recognized. Now in chapter 15 we see the
same theme.
That the Lord was in withdrawal from public ministry to the Jews is seen in v. 1 in the
fact that the Pharisees and Jews come to the Lord Jesus, not he to them, and in v. 14 when he
says to leave them alone. There is no more any presenting of the kingdom to the Jews, so
leave them alone. Withdraw and prepare for the death, resurrection, and ascension of the
Lord, and for Pentecost and the presenting of the kingdom to the Gentiles.
This coming of the Pharisees and scribes to question the Lord brings up two issues, the
importance of the word of God as opposed to man’s traditions, and the importance of the
heart. The Lord uses the Pharisees’ practice to make the first point, and he uses the question
they raise to make the second.
They ask the Lord why his disciples transgress the tradition of the elders by eating
without washing their hands. He deals first with the matter of the tradition of the elders,
pointing out that the Pharisees use that tradition, built up around the word of God, to negate
the word of God. God’s word commands that one honor his father and mother. The Pharisees
had developed the tradition of allowing men to declare that their property was given to God,
thus allowing them to refuse to spend it on their aged, needy parents. They were not actually
required to give it all to God’s work, but only to declare that it was so dedicated. They had
the use of it themselves. In this way, the Pharisees used their own traditions to set aside the
word of God which they claimed to uphold.
A subtle factor is at work in what this example illustrates. Man’s tradition is usually
built around some word or act of God, but man adds to the word or act of God to protect or
extend it. His motives are good, but his deeds betray a fundamental misunderstanding of the
way God works. It is not long before the tradition takes on the force of what God said, and
then it becomes more important than what God said. Men live by the tradition without
knowing the word of God, assuming that it is the word of God. Then those who do not
conform to the tradition, but go by God’s word, are persecuted in some fashion. V. 12 says
that the Pharisees stumble, that is, lack faith. This is why they stumble: they cannot have faith
in the Lord Jesus and build on him because he does not hold to their tradition, but to God’s
word, which had been lost sight of in the tradition that was meant to uphold it.
The problem is, first, that God is a living God who lives in a tent. He does not build
shrines where he does a work, but folds his tent and moves on to something new. He is
always doing a fresh, living work. Second, God does not need man to keep his work alive.
Indeed, man will bring only death. How weak we must think God is to think that we must
build an institution or a tradition to keep alive something God has done. Is God unable to
keep his own work alive?
It is easy for us to point fingers at the Pharisees whom the Lord dealt with so harshly,
but do we not do the same thing? How many of the practices in our so-called churches can be
found in Scripture? It would be an interesting and profitable study for a congregation to

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search the Scriptures for justification for all their practices. Many could not be found! Some
are more or less harmless, but others have been cause for the persecution of those who did
not conform to them, holding instead to the word of God. Persecution of Christians by other
Christians because of the traditions of men! How far have we come from the New Testament?
Then the Lord uses the issue that the Pharisees raise to make his second point, the
importance of the heart. They argue for washing the hands before eating, not for reasons of
sanitation, which they knew little or nothing about in a pre-scientific day, but because it is
their religious tradition. The washing was not designed to clean off physical dirt, but to
remove the religious defilement derived from contact with less righteous people. You are not
as righteous as I am, so if I touch you, I must wash you off! Otherwise I will be defiled. It is
these clean-handed righteous people who are plotting to murder the Lord!
What does the Lord say to this attitude? He says that it fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah
that the Lord’s people honor him with their lips while their hearts are far from him. He says
that what defiles a man is not what goes into him from outside, but what comes out of his
heart. It is the heart that matters to God. Why is this so? Because God knows that a person
can fake behavior. One can pretend to love God and to be doing right while in his heart he is
plotting evil. It may not be what we would call heinous crimes. It may be only the selfishness
and pride of trying to use God himself for one’s own interests. One may even try to serve
God to advance himself among God’s people. That is an evil motive in God’s sight and it
defiles.
We have seen that in Matthew the kingdom has become a matter of the heart. The
Lord shows that before the outward kingdom of earthly glory comes, there must be its
acceptance in the heart by those willing to follow the Lord now in his days of humility. Man
looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. May what comes from our
hearts not defile us, but honor our God.
21And having gone out from there Jesus went to the parts of Tyre and Sidon. 22And look! a
Canaanite woman having come out from those regions cried out saying, “Have mercy on
me Lord, Son of David. My daughter is badly demonized.” 23But he did not answer her a
word, and having come his disciples asked him saying, “Send her away, for she cries out
after us.” 24But answering he said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel.” 25But she, having come, was bowing to him saying, “Lord, help me.” 26But
answering he said, “It is not good to take the bread of the children and throw it to the
dogs.” 27But she said, “Yes, Lord, for even the dogs eat from the crumbs that fall from the
table of their master.” [lit., “lord”] 28Then answering Jesus said to her, “O woman, great is
your faith! Be it to you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.
V. 21 shows us that the Lord’s period of withdrawal continues. Every time his Jewish
opponents confront him, instead of continuing the argument until it comes to a conclusion,
he simply goes somewhere else, until it is God’s time for him to die. Then he will stay and lay
down his life. In this verse, after the Pharisees and scribes try to trap him on the issue of
eating with unwashed hands, he withdraws to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Tyre and Sidon
were Gentile cities outside the boundaries of Israel. It is not made explicitly clear whether or

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not the Lord left Israel or only went near the Syrian border, but whichever is the case, the
extent of his withdrawal is seen in this approach to Tyre and Sidon.
In this place a very unusual event takes place. The Lord Jesus is approached by a
Gentile woman who cries to him for mercy on her demon-possessed daughter, but he ignores
her. Then when he finally does speak to her, his treatment of her seems to be very harsh, for
he as much as calls her a dog who is not worthy to eat the children’s food. The Jews,
regarding themselves as superior because they were God’s chosen people, looked down on
Gentiles and called them dogs as a term of derision. Dogs did not have the status in ancient
times that they have in our society! Thus when the Lord Jesus uses this term, he is pointing
out the fact that she is a Gentile and that he has come to Israel.
What are we to make of this seemingly uncharacteristic behavior by the Lord? He has
been so open to the hurts of the masses, and now he first ignores and then speaks harshly to a
woman in great need. But in the end he grants her request.
There are two lines of thought along which we must pursue our answer. First, the
woman addresses the Lord as Son of David. That is a specific reference to his position as King
of the Jews, God’s earthly people, but she was a Gentile and as such had no claim on him as
King of the Jews. Thus he ignores her. When she persists so much that the disciples ask the
Lord to send her away, he replies that he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel, verifying what we have just said about her, a Gentile, having no claim on him as King
of the Jews. When he says this, she still persists, but now on different ground. She bows
down before him and cries out, “Lord, help me!” Now she has begun to find the right place.
To her he is not Son of David, but Lord.
But still he refuses her, this time telling her that she is a Gentile dog with no right to
eat the bread of God’s children. How many of us would have turned away in disappointment
or anger? But not this woman. She admits that what the Lord says is true, but adds that even
dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the table. At that word the Lord Jesus grants her request,
and her daughter is healed.
Why did all this take place? The important factor in her case was that she come to a
true understanding of her position before the Lord. She could not come to him as though she
had a claim on him, but must admit that she had none, that she deserved nothing because of
her sinfulness. But she must have faith in his mercy [see note at the end of this section]. Is
that not the case with all of us? How many times we approach God as though he owes us
something. Yet that is not true. We deserve only judgment for our sins. And it is only when
we take our rightful place that we are able to receive from the Lord. We have to be in a
humble, repentant condition of faith to gain God’s help. He resists the proud, but gives grace
to the humble.
Thus what appeared to be harsh treatment by the Lord was in reality an expression of
deep love, for it brought this woman to the place where she could admit her true condition
and thus get help. One of the keys to the success of such groups as Alcoholics Anonymous is
that they are able to get people to admit that they have a problem. Only then can they be
helped. The Lord Jesus brought this woman to that place, and thus loved her greatly. He
loved her enough to do what she needed even when it made him look harsh for the moment.
The woman herself is to be admired, for she persisted, and just here is the second
aspect of the answer to our question as to why the Lord dealt with her as he did. He was

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developing her faith. She was a Gentile. The presenting of the kingdom had been withdrawn
from the Jews as such and shortly was to be made to the Gentiles. She was a sort of prefigure
of what was coming. But Gentiles come on the basis of faith, not of law, as Jews actually have
to do also. Thus it was necessary that this woman see that she had no legal claim on the Lord
Jesus as Son of David and that she have faith drawn out. So again the Lord was loving her
supremely by giving her just what she needed, the kind of persistent faith that can prevail
with him. God give us all such faith!
So in this little story of a Gentile woman with a demon-possessed daughter we see two
major themes of Matthew, the Lord’s withdrawal and the taking of the kingdom from the
Jews and the giving of it to the Gentiles, and we see how one approaches God in this new
situation: by repentance and faith, not by law.
Note on mercy: Grace and mercy are very much the same in that both are expressions of the
love of God to those who do not deserve it. But there is a difference. While grace is primarily
a response to sin, mercy is more a response to the pitiful condition of sinners caused by their
sin. Grace forgives. Mercy helps. In practice the terms are used more or less interchangeably,
but it is an added understanding to see the difference. Thanks be to God for forgiving me,
and for getting me out of the pitiful condition I got myself into by sin.
29And having gone from there Jesus went alongside the Sea of Galilee. And having gone
up into the mountain he was sitting there, 30and there came to him many crowds having
with themselves lame, blind, crippled, dumb, and many others and put them down at his
feet, and he healed them, 31so that the crowd marveled seeing dumb speaking, crippled
sound, and lame walking and blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.
In vs. 29-31 we see something that occurs more than once in Matthew. The Lord, even
in his efforts at withdrawal so as to instruct his disciples, shows compassion on the crowds of
hurting people. Even though he has in principle turned from the Jews and is preparing to
open the kingdom to Gentiles, he nonetheless does not refuse those who come to him in their
need. But we also notice one other factor in these verses. Matthew tells us that the Lord Jesus
goes up to a mountain and is sitting there. He does not tell us why or what he was doing. He
simply says that he is sitting there. In the Bible a mountain is sometimes symbolic of a
kingdom (Dan. 2.35). It appears that in the midst of his rejection as King, the Lord still takes
the place of King. He sits as King, and he does the things the messianic King would do: he
heals the lame, crippled, blind, and dumb. Whether he is received as King or not, he will still
act as King.
32Now, Jesus, having called the disciples to him, said, “I have compassion on the crowd
[from Gk. for “intestines”] for they remain with me three days already and they have
nothing that they might eat. And I don’t want to dismiss them fasting so that they may not
faint on the way. 33And the disciples said to him, “From where to us in a deserted place so
many loaves as to satisfy so large a crowd?” 34And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves
do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few fish.” And having commanded the crowd
to sit on the ground 36he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he

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broke them and was giving them to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds. 37And all
ate and were satisfied, and they took up what was left of the fragments, seven large
baskets full. 38Now those eating were four thousand men, without women and children.
38And having dismissed the crowds he got into the boat and went to the regions of
Magadan.
Vs. 32-39 tell the story of the miraculous feeding of the four thousand. The lessons to
be learned from this incident are the same as those in the feeding of the five thousand in
14.13-21, to which the reader should refer. The real question that arises in connection with
this story is why the Lord did essentially the same miracle twice. God does not do things for
no good reason. Many attempts have been made to see a difference in the two stories based
on the numbers, four thousand instead of five thousand, seven loaves instead of five, seven
baskets of fragments instead of twelve. Frankly, it is difficult to see any essential difference
between them, and that is perhaps the answer. The point is not in their difference, but in their
sameness. Why would the Lord do the same thing twice? To emphasize it. The lessons of
these stories are so important, are so much at the heart of what God is doing, that he did the
same thing a second time to underline these lessons.
The working of the Holy Spirit as through Elisha is vital. The Spirit who had been
absent since Malachi was again active in Israel. God was doing a wholly new thing through
this man Jesus.
The fact that God does not think or work as man works is made so clear in the contrast
between Jewish conceptions of the Messiah as a conquering hero and the determination of
the Lord Jesus to be broken bread, and thus to be the Bread of life. It is essential that we as
Christians understand this principle, for we are called on to be broken bread, too.
One of the greatest lessons we will ever learn is our utter inadequacy and total
dependence on God to do anything worthwhile. We cannot feed people. They do not need
our intelligence, knowledge, wisdom, talents. They need God. Only as we give what little we
are and have to him will we find it of any use.
And the way in which we become useful is perhaps the most important lesson of all.
When we do give our inadequacy to the Lord, he blesses it, making it speak well of God
instead of our flesh. He breaks it, dealing with our flesh through the breaking experiences of
life. And he gives it away. If we are to feed multitudes, we must be willing to be given to the
Lord, blessed, broken, and given away. There is nothing more at the very heart of kingdom
living than this truth. That is why the Lord did this miracle twice, to underline the
importance of the lessons it contains.

And the Pharisees and Sadducees having come, tempting him they asked him to show
them a sign from Heaven. 2But answering he said to them, “When evening has come you
say, ‘Fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 3And in the morning, ‘Bad weather today, for the sky
is red and dark.’ You know how to discern the face of the sky, but the signs of the times
[kairos] – you are not able. 4An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and no sign will
be given it except the sign of Jonah.” And having left them he went away.

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The Lord’s efforts at withdrawal are interrupted once again in 16.1-4 as the Pharisees
and Sadducees come to him to test him yet again by asking for a sign. It is of great interest
that these two groups would join together in their attempts to trap the Lord Jesus, for they
were rivals. The Pharisees were the party of the law, those who tried to preserve the written
word of God and the oral traditions be keeping and enforcing them. They were fiercely loyal
to their Jewishness and hated the occupying Romans, their fondest hope being freedom and
the restoration of earthly glory to Israel. They believed in God, in spirits, and in the
resurrection.
The Sadducees, on the other hand, were more the party of the status quo. They were in
a good situation, for they were the wealthy priestly class of Jerusalem. They were able to
continue their exercise of the profitable priestly offices at the pleasure of the Romans, and
thus they supported, or at least did not oppose, Rome. Because of their wealth and position,
they were very much oriented toward this world and did not believe in spirits or the
resurrection. Paul took advantage of these differences when, in Acts 23, he set the two parties
at each others’ throats when they were attacking him, using just these issues to do so. See
especially Acts 23.8.
Despite their bitter differences we find these two parties joining forces to do away
with a common enemy, the Lord Jesus, for both saw him as a threat to their way of life (Jn.
11.47-48). Their approach is to ask for a sign from Heaven. Scribes and Pharisees had tried the
same approach in 12.38-40, and the Lord’s answer at this second effort is about the same, but
he adds the note that they, desiring a sign, are able to read the signs of the sky and predict
the weather, but cannot discern the signs of the times. The signs in that day had to do with
the coming of the kingdom in the person of the Lord Jesus: the manifestations of the Holy
Spirit and the messianic works. Instead of discerning these signs and receiving the kingdom,
the Pharisees and Sadducees attribute the works to Satan. The word for “times” in “signs of
the times” is one of two Greek words for “time.” One is chronos, which refers to chronological
time, one o’clock, two o’clock, and so on. The other is kairos. It has to do with an opportune
time. The coming of the Messiah to Israel was not just another date on the calendar. It was
God’s time for the greatest of all interventions in hisory.
Once again it is easy for us to point fingers of blame at these Jewish opponents of the
Lord, but do we discern the signs of our own times? Read 1 Tim. 4.1-3 and 2 Tim. 3.1-7. Look
at the existence of the nation of Israel. What do we learn about the times we live in? The
Scriptures were not written so that we could judge those in it who failed, but so that we
could learn from them (Rom. 15.4), among other reasons. May God give us discernment of
the signs of our times.
Then the Lord gives the same answer as in 12.38-40: the only sign these questioners
would receive would be the sign of Jonah. As Jonah came figuratively from the dead and
preached to Gentiles, who repented, so would it be in the case of the Lord Jesus. The Jews’
judgment would be revealed in the fact that the one they put to death would rise from death
and pesent their kingdom to Gentiles.
5And when the disciples had gone to the other side they had forgotten to take loaves. 6Now
Jesus said to them, “Be observant and be on guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and
Sadducees.” 7But they were discussing among themselves saying, “We did not bring

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loaves.” 8But knowing Jesus said, “Why are you discussing among yourselves, you of little
faith, that you don’t have loaves? 9Do you not yet understand? Do you not remember the
five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? 10Nor the seven
loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? 11How do you not
understand that I did not speak to you about loaves? But be on guard against the leaven of
the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12Then they understood that he did not say to be on guard
against the leaven of the loaves, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
[The disciples might have been thinking about the prohibition of leaven at Passover and
Unleavened Bread.]
Then the Lord does what he keeps doing under these circumstances: he leaves them.
He does not initiate any encounters with the Jews after chapter 13 of Matthew, for their
rejection of him is completed in chapter 12, and his turning from them is revealed in chapter
13 with his parabolic teaching. From then on, he is withdrawing, always withdrawing,
preparing for his impending death.
On this withdrawal the disciples forget to take bread, and when the Lord says to them
to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, they take his reference to leaven to
mean that he is displeased with them for having forgotten bread. He calls them men of little
faith and asks why they are talking about bread. Did they not understand about the feedings
of the five thousand and the four thousand? Then they understand that he is referring to the
teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. trump
Vs. 9-10 show us that physical bread is not an issue for the Lord. He will provide for
his people. He has already told his disciples in the Lord’s Prayer to ask for their daily bread,
and in the two feedings he has demonstrated his ability to provide it. That is not the issue.
Vs. 11-12 tell us that what the disciples should be concerned with is spiritual truth and
practice. If they attend to these matters the Lord will provide for their material needs. This
does not mean, of course, that disciples will never have to work for a living. Work may be,
and usually is, the Lord’s means of providing. How he provides is a matter of his will for the
individual. The point is that he can and will provide for his people if they see to their
relationship with him. It is Mt. 6.33 again: seek for the kingdom and righteousness and God
will add the material things needed.
We saw in our consideration of the parable of the leaven in chapter 13 that leaven
always symbolizes evil in the Bible, and that is just the case in this passage. The Lord Jesus
sees the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees as an evil that will spoil the whole lump of
those who follow it. Just what is their teaching that the Lord considers so evil? The most
immediate example is the passage just prior to this one, 16.1-4. There these two opponents of
each other combine forces against the Lord Jesus in asking for a sign. This demand for signs
before faith is evil. That is man’s way: seeing is believing. God’s way is, believing is seeing.
God requires faith, and to the one who trusts him he gives inward proof enough, but the one
who demands of God that he prove himself outwardly before he trusts him will receive no
sign, except that of Jonah.
Another example occurs in the previous chapter, where the Lord had the encounter
with the Pharisees and scribes about eating with unwashed hands. The teaching of traditions

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of men that supersede God’s word is evil. It permeates as leaven with the death of man’s
word instead of the life of God’s word.
We referred to Acts 23.8 in noting the enmity between the Pharisees and Sadducees.
There we saw that the Sadducees denied the existence of resurrection and spirits. Such
teaching is evil, for it denies the greatest reality there is, the spiritual world, which governs
the material and where our warfare as God’s people is fought (Eph. 6.10-12).
Thus does the Lord Jesus warn his disciples against those who claim to speak for God,

and yet deny what God himself says in his word. We need to be on guard against modern-
day dispensers of leaven into the body of Christ.

You Are the Christ
Mt. 16.13-17.27

13Now when Jesus had come to the parts of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples
saying, “Who do men say the Son of Man to be?” 14And they said, “Some John the Baptist,
but others Elijah, but others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15He said to them, “But you
[emphasized], who do you say me to be?” 16And answering Simon Peter said, “You are the
Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17And answering Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you,
Simon Barjona [son of Jonah], for flesh and blood did not unveil this to you, but my Father
who is in the heavens. 18And I say to you that you are Peter, and on this Rock I will build
my church, and gates of hades will not prevail against it. 19I will give you [singular] the
keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you bind on the earth will have been
bound in the heavens, and whatever you loose on the earth will have been loosed in the
heavens.” 20Then he commanded the disciples that they should tell no one that he was the
Christ.
Even though v. 13 of Mt. 16 continues the Lord’s period of withdrawal, it nonetheless
marks a turning point in the Matthew’s version of the good news. Matthew told us in
chapters 1-4 that this one about whom he is writing is the King. In chapters 5-7 this King
spoke the words of the kingdom, and in 8-9 he did the deeds of the kingdom. In 10-12 he
presented himself to the Jewish people as their King. The response to all this was rejection, so
in chapter 13 he began his withdrawal by teaching in such a way, through parables, as to
conceal the truth from those who had rejected him while revealing it to those who had ears to
hear. In 14-18 he continued this withdrawal by physically, geographically going away from
his opponents and the crowds who wanted him only for the benefits he was dispensing, in
order to concentrate on preparing his disciples for the coming events. Through all of this the
twelve have not only seen his deeds and heard his words, but have also gotten to know him
personally by spending much time with him both in public and in private. Thus we come to
the point in the earthly life of the Lord in which he asks the disciples a vital question. Perhaps
we should say the vital question.
Continuing the geographical withdrawal, he takes the disciples to the region of
Caesarea Philippi in the extreme north of Israel and east of the Jordan River. There he asks
them, “Who do men say the Son of Man is?” His use of the title Son of Man is of great
importance. The term means simply “man.” There are those who see it as a title of the

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Messiah in Judaism at that time, but there is no evidence for this contention. The title is used
dozens of times in the Old Testament, especially in Ezekiel, and in every case it means
someone who is born a man, and so is a man like the one he is born of, as opposed to one
who is born of God. It is even said of God that he is not a man or a son of man, the two terms
being used synonymously (Num. 23.19). The only place that Son of Man is used as a title of
the Messiah is in writings that were probably done after the life of the Lord on earth, taking it
from his application of it to himself. By so using it, the Lord Jesus meant that he was a man. It
is a title of his humanity.
In asking the disciples who men said the Son of Man was, the Lord is asking if men
saw more than a man in this one who came as a man, or if a man was all they saw. Their
answer was the latter. Men saw John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or another of the prophets,
men of God, but men and nothing more just the same. So the Lord asks the disciples if they
who had been with him all this time had seen anything other than man in this man: “But you,
who do say that I am?” The “you” is emphasized in Greek, singling out the twelve: You, not
everybody else, but you, who do you say that I am? Then in a flash of revelation, Peter, the
one who always spoke without thinking, for once said the right thing: “You are the Christ,
the Son of the living God.” The Son of Man is also the Son of God. The disciples did see more
than a man in this man.
The Lord’s reply to Peter shows that the knowledge of who the Lord Jesus is is not a
matter of man’s rational deduction or discovery by investigation, but of revelation. Only by
the revelation of God can one know Jesus as the Christ. This is a matter of spiritual truth and
it comes from the Father who is in the spiritual world, the heavens. This fact is still true. Like
Peter, we can know the Lord only by revelation.
V. 18 is one of those verses that have been at the center of much controversy: “And I
say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hades
will not overpower it.” Several matters are integral to this verse. Let us take them as they
come.
In the first place, the Lord gave Simon a new name, Peter. The Jewish name Simon
means “hearer” or “listener.” Simon was not much of a listener, being the one who always
spoke first and thought later, but he had listened enough to the Lord that he had heard
something of inestimable value, and it was he who confessed him as the Messiah. As a result
of his being a listener, the Lord said that he would become a rock, for that is what the name
Peter means. Peter was not a rock , but in the Lord he would become one. One who listened
to the Lord Jesus, though impetuous and vacillating in himself, became a rock. The listener,
Simon, became a rock, Peter. Thus we learn that all of us can receive a new name in Christ,
that is, be what God intended us to be (see Rev, 2.17).
The Lord’s addition of the words, “on this rock I will build my church,” is where the
controversy arises. The Lord has just changed Simon’s name to Rock, and then said that he
would build his church on this rock, causing many to take the words to mean that the church
is built on Peter, and of course, Roman Catholicism claims this verse as support for the
contention that Peter was the first pope. But the notion that Peter is the rock on whom the
church is built represents a complete misunderstanding of Scripture and the church. In 1 Cor.
10.4 Paul tells us plainly that Jesus is the Rock, and he says in 1 Cor. 3.11 that no other

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foundation can be laid than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus,
not Peter, is the Rock on whom the church is built.
In addition Peter himself makes it clear what it means for him to be a rock. In the
second chapter of his first epistle he writes in vs. 4-5 that Jesus is the living Stone, the Rock,
on whom Christians, as living stones, of whom Peter is only one, are built into the church.
Peter would be the last to claim to be the rock, and would be deeply grieved that such an idea
could even occur to anyone, much less gain credence. Peter was one of the living stones, yes,
but Jesus is the Rock on whom the church is built. The fact that Peter confessed the Lord
Jesus made him a living stone who could be built onto that foundation.
In addition, the name “Peter” is Petros in Greek and the Greek word means a small
stone, even a pebble, and it could mean a boulder. It is a masculine noun. When the Lord
says, “on this Rock” he is using the feminine noun petra which means a massive rock, even a
projecting cliff. Peter is he small stone. Peter is a small stone, in actuallity probably a stone
chiseled out of a quarry made to fit the building. The foundation, the Lord Jesus is a massive
Rock.
The statement that the gates of hades would not prevail against the church has also
been problematical because of the improper translation “gates of hell.” The Greek does not
say “hell,” a different word entirely, but “hades.” Hell is the place of eternal punishment for
Satan and his angels that will be inhabited only after the millennium, except for Antichrist
and his prophet and the “goat Gentiles” of Mt. 25.31-46, all of whom will be cast into hell just
before the millennium. Hades is the temporary “holding cell” of the lost dead while they
await final judgment and casting into hell. It can also mean death and the grave. When the
Lord says that the gates of hades will not prevail against the church, he says that he himself
will rise from the dead, thus gaining eternal life that triumphs over death, and will give this
life to his church. Death is not the end for the Lord’s people. We have more than hope for our
loved ones and ourselves. We have the Lord’s word that the church is the place of life, not of
death. Life will prevail against death, and the church has that life.
This verse is the first place in the Bible where the word “church” is used, and is one of
only two places in the gospels, the other being Mt. 18.17. By using it, the Lord reveals the
outcome of his rejection of the Jews. Up until chapter 13, he presented himself as King to the
Jews, but because they rejected him, he rejected them and turned in principle to the Gentiles.
We say “in principle” because the Lord himself did not actually go to the Gentiles during his
earthly ministry, but did so only through his followers after his ascension. But what took
place when he turned to the Gentiles? He called into being a new people, not a people after
the flesh like the Jews, but a spiritual people. The church was something entirely new at that
time, never before heard of by man. It was the mystery hidden from the ages and
generations, as Paul puts it in Col. 1.26. In Mt. 16.18, the Lord himself, in the flesh, revealed
the church for the first time. It was to be the place where the kingdom of the heavens as a
spiritual concept during this age of its hiddenness was to find expression. God’s earthly
people the Jews rejected the kingdom. Now a spiritual people would come into being who
would accept it and its King, the Lord Jesus.
Then the Lord makes another statement to Peter that has also been used to reinforce
misinterpretations of Peter. He says, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens,
and whatever you bind on the earth will have been bound in the heavens, and whatever you

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loose on the earth will have been loosed in the heavens.” First, the word “you” in this verse is
in the singular, meaning that the Lord was talking to Peter only, not to all the disciples. Then
we need to recall what is meant by the term “the kingdom of the heavens.” It is not Heaven,
but the hidden, spiritual rule of God in this age before the Lord’s return. Thus Peter was not
given the authority to grant or deny admission to Heaven. He was given the privilege of
being the first to open the spiritual kingdom to men on earth, and that is exactly what took
place, and many more evangelists have followed. It was Peter who preached the first
Christian sermon, at Pentecost, and three thousand came into the kingdom. It was Peter who
first preached to the Gentiles at the home of Cornelius, and all there received the Holy Spirit,
coming into the kingdom. Thus we see that the keys to the kingdom were simply evangelism,
the privilege of bringing people under the rule of God during this evil age. Peter was called
to be a fisher of men (Mt. 4.19). He was called to be an evangelist, to open the doors of the
kingdom to all who would come. He opened those doors with his sermon at Pentecost and
those doors have been open ever since. All who will may come.
The statement that whatever Peter bound and loosed on earth will have been bound
and loosed in the heavens has also raised questions, but again the proper translation helps
our understanding. It is a future perfect tense, “will have been,” not future, “will be.” If we
take it as “will be,” the meaning is that Peter’s decisions will be binding on the spiritual
world, but that is simply not true, as both Scripture (Dan. 4.26: “the heavens rule”) and the
tense of the verbs in this verse show us. Whatever Peter binds and looses on earth will have
been bound and loosed in the heavens, that is, will already have been done in the heavens
before Peter does it on earth. In other words, Peter as an evangelist is to minister just as the
Lord Jesus himself did, by hearing from God and doing what he says. If we find out what has
been done in the heavens and proclaim it on earth, it will be done on earth. Satan and his
forces will be bound and people will be loosed to respond to the Lord and enter the kingdom.
These statements by the Lord in v. 19 are very much evangelistic and should not be taken to
refer to authority over the church or the destinies of people. Peter was not being appointed
head of the church, but being called to be an evangelist. Jesus Christ is the Head of the church
(Eph. 1.22-23, 4.16, Col. 2.19), just as he is the Rock on whom it is built.
V. 20 is the logical outcome of the Lord’s rejection of the Jews and withdrawal from
them and the subsequent turning to the Gentiles. The Jews have rejected the Messiah, so
there is no need to proclaim him to them as such any more than to continue to present the
kingdom to them. After the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord, he can be
proclaimed to the Gentiles as the Messiah. Some of them will receive him. Of course, he was
proclaimed first to the Jews as the Messiah even at Pentecost, but they were no longer
addressed as Jews as such. They had to come to the Lord then, not as Jews, but in the same
way as the Gentiles. They had no claim on the Lord as an earthly people of God, but had to
enter the church, the spiritual people of God.
21From then Jesus began to show his disciples that it was necessary for him to go up to
Jerusalem and to suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and to
be put to death, and on the third day to be raised up. 22And having taken him aside Peter
began to rebuke him saying, “God be merciful to you, Lord! This will not be to you.” 23But
having turned he said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me,

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for you do not think the things of God, but the things of men.” 24Then Jesus said to his
disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross
and follow me. 25For whoever may wish to save his life [psuche] will lose it, but whoever
may lose his life [psuche] for my sake will find it. 26For what will a man be profited if he
gain the whole world, but forfeit his life [vpsuche]? Or what will a man give in exchange
for his life [psuche]? 27For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his
angels, and then he will reward each one according to his practice. 28Amen I say to you that
some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of
Man coming in his kingdom.”
We said that Mt. 16.13 marks a turning point in the good news. It is here that the
Messiahship of the Lord Jesus is plainly revealed to the disciples. But the Lord had a great
obstacle to overcome in this regard and that was that, as we have seen before in Matthew, the
Jewish conceptions of the Messiah, shared by the twelve. The Jews looked for a Messiah who
would deliver Israel from foreign domination and restore her to earthly glory. Thus the task
of the Lord Jesus, now that he has brought the disciples to an understanding of who he is, is
to redefine the concept of the Messiah for them. He begins by telling them in v. 21 that as the
Messiah he will die and be raised.
It is of great interest that the term “Jesus Christ” is used here for the first time in the
course of the story of Matthew’s good news. It was used in 1.1 and 18 when Matthew was
introducing his good news and telling us whom he was writing about, but this is its first use
in the story of the earthly life of the Lord. That is because the word “Christ” is the Greek
word for the Hebrew “Messiah.” It has now been revealed that Jesus is the Christ, the
Messiah, so he can now be called Jesus Christ. As such he will die and be raised. He will not
be the champion of earthly glory the Jews looked for, not yet, but will give his life for his
people.
V. 22 records one of the great acts of presumption in history! When Peter hears the
Lord’s statement that he would die, he takes him aside, rebukes him, and tells him this
would never happen to him. Imagine taking the Lord Jesus aside to correct him! But before
we take too harsh a view of Peter, let us realize that we all do the same thing. How much of
our time in prayer is taken up with informing the Lord how he ought to perform on our
behalf, instead of the way he is performing?
The Lord’s response to Peter is a very hard saying. He calls Peter Satan, tells him he is
a stumbling block, and says that he is thinking the things of men, not the things of God.
Man’s way of thinking is self-exaltation and outward glory. God’s way is life out of death.
Man’s way may lead to glory, but it will end. God’s way leads to resurrection, indestructible
glory.
Peter is acting as Satan’s agent, tempting the Lord to avoid the suffering associated
with God’s way. It is instructive that the Lord Jesus uses the word “stumbling block.” Others
had stumbled over him because he took the way of humility and hiddenness, God’s way.
Now Satan uses Peter to tempt the Lord to stumble over the same stone, so the Lord rebukes
him strongly.
Having taken the first step toward redefining Messiahship, the Lord now makes a
further revelation to the disciples. He shows them that discipleship is just like Messiahship:

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“If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me.” Messiahship involves a cross, and so does discipleship, and a cross has only one
purpose, death. In the case of the Lord Jesus, it was the instrument of his physical death as a
sacrifice of himself to God and for our sins. In our case, it is a spiritual matter. The cross for
us, in a practical way, is the circumstances of life that God uses to deal with our flesh. Flesh is
the New Testament word for self. The death of the self-life is the purpose of God, on the
negative side, for that is what releases his resurrection life in us, just as in the case of his Son.
That death comes about by self-denial, by accepting the will of God when it is unacceptable
to our flesh, by yielding to God when he applies the cross to self through the trials of life.
The Lord draws out this truth in vs. 25-26: “For whoever wishes to save his soul will
lose it, but whoever loses his soul for my sake will find it. For what will a man be profited if
he gain the whole world, but forfeit his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his
soul?” The word for “soul” in this statement is psuche, sometimes translated “life.” Indeed, it
is difficult to translate this passage, for it means both soul and life. The word psuche is often
used to refer to the physical life, not the body, but the life that is in it. Genesis tells us that
God breathed into the lump of clay that he had formed into a man and it became a living
soul. If one loses his soul, he has lost his life. But the word also refers to one’s psychology, or
psyche, his personality, made up of intellect, emotions, will, temperament (psychological
state). That is the center of the self-life, the flesh. The Lord says that anyone who wishes to
hang onto his self-life will lose it, but whoever loses it for him will find it. Thus we see that
the soul is the physical life, but it is also the love of physical life that would cause one to deny
the Lord to keep it. The irony is that one cannot keep physical life by trying to do so, for we
will all die physically, and if we do so without the Lord, all is lost. But if we choose to deny
self, to give up self-centered life, including physical life, in principle, then we will ultimately
gain back what we have given up, for the Lord will raise it from the dead with resurrection
life, just as he did in the case of his Son, who gave up his life.
The regaining of this life will occur when the Son of Man, who accepted the will of
God that he die in hiddenness and in shame, gains the glory that is the result of that choice.
Because he was obedient, even to the point of death, as Paul says in Phil. 2.8-11, God has
highly exalted him, and he will come in glory to claim the earthly kingdom the Jews were so
anxious to get, but it will not be those who strove for earthly glory, but those who followed
the Lord in his hiddenness and humility, who will share in the glory. Those who tried to hold
onto the soul will suffer loss.
It is important that we see that this passage is not dealing with saved and lost people,
but only with saved people. The Lord is not dealing with salvation. If he were, he would be
saying that salvation is by works, and it is not, but only by grace through faith. Those who
try to save their souls, to retain their self-life, are Christians who do not follow their Lord to
the cross, allowing God to put their self-life to death through life’s sufferings. They will not
be lost, but they will lose reward. They will not share in the glory of the millennial kingdom
when the Lord returns. It is those Christians who have laid down their lives in principle, in
fact, in the way they live, and physically if the Lord so wills, who will share in his glory when
he comes. This passage is dealing with kingdom rewards, not salvation. Peter, a saved man,
has rebuked the Lord for prophesying his death. The Lord says to him that unless he walks
the same path, he will have no part in the kingdom, though he will not be lost. The Lord will

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reward every man according to his deeds. That is works for reward, not faith for salvation.
We must be reminded again that Matthew is the good news of the kingdom.

And after six days Jesus took Peter and Jacob and John his brother and took them into
a high mountain alone. 2And he was transfigured before them and his face shone as the
sun and his garments became white as light. 3And look! there were seen by them Moses
and Elijah talking with him. 4Now answering Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to
be here. If you wish I will make here three tents, for you one and for Moses one and for
Elijah one.” 5While he was still speaking look! a cloud full of light overshadowed them,
and look! a voice from the cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased. Hear him.” 6And when the disciples heard they fell on their faces and were very
afraid. 7And having come and touched them, Jesus said, “Get up and don’t be afraid.” 8And
having lifted up their eyes they saw no one but Jesus himself alone.
9And as they were coming down from the mountain Jesus commanded them saying, “Tell
no one the vision until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” 10And the disciples
asked him saying, “Why do the scribes say that it is necessary for Elijah to come first?”
11And answering he said, “Elijah comes and will restore all things, 12but I say to you that
Elijah has already come and they did not know him, but did whatever they wished with
him. So also will the Son of Man suffer under at their hands.” 13Then the disciples
understood that he spoke to them about John the Baptist.
Having just said in v. 27 that the Son of Man would come in glory, the Lord now says
in v. 28 that there were some standing there who would not taste death until they had seen
the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. What did he mean by this statement?
Vs. 21-26 have been taken up with showing the disciples that both Messiahship and
discipleship involve suffering: the Messiah would be mistreated and put to death, and the
disciples must take up their crosses and follow him. Now, so that the experience of his death
would not be too much for the twelve, the Lord gives three of them an experience of his glory
that would strengthen them for the ordeal, consistent with his period of withdrawal in which
he was preparing the disciples for the coming events. He took Peter, James, and John up a
mountain, where they saw him transfigured into his coming glory.
That this experience of the transfiguration was what the Lord meant in 16.28 by some
of those standing there seeing the Son of Man coming in his kingdom is made clear by Peter
himself, one of the eyewitnesses, in his second epistle. It is a remarkable fact that of all the
memories of his time with the Lord on earth, the only one that Peter mentions in his epistles
is the transfiguration. In 2 Pt. 1.16 he says that he had made known the power and coming (or
presence) of the Lord, and then shows in vs. 17-18 that the transfiguration was an example of
this coming. True, it was a foreshadowing of his ultimate coming in glory, but it was a
coming nonetheless of the Son of Man in his kingdom. This interpretation is reinforced by the
fact that it took place on a mountain, sometimes symbolic in the Bible of a kingdom.
T. Austin-Sparks, in his book Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, Forever,
writes, “What was the meaning of the Transfiguration? The Gospel by Matthew, as you
know, is the Gospel of the Kingdom, and the Transfiguration was the manifestation of the

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King in His glory. You must have a king before you have a kingdom, so in the
Transfiguration you have a foreshadowing of the King in glory.”
In 17.2 we read Peter, James, and John see the Lord transfigured before them, with his
face shining like the sun and his garments as white as light. This is the heavenly, kingly glory
that the hidden Jesus will come into and return to earth with.
Then Moses and Elijah appear and talk with the Lord. Matthew does not tell us the
exact significance of these two. Moses, of course, was the Lawgiver, and Elijah was a great
prophet, and thus some have seen them as symbolizing all of the Old Testament revelations
of God, the law and the prophets, with the picture being that the Lord Jesus has fulfilled all.
It is also true that as a prophet, Elijah was calling the people back to the law, so that both
Moses and Elijah could be seen as standing for the same thing, the revealed will of God, with
Moses the original giver of it and Elijah the restorer of it. Thus they would be a revelation of
the approval by God of the Lord Jesus.
Another possibility centers around the fact that Moses died, but Elijah did not, having
been taken to Heaven alive. Because of this, some have thought that these two stand for all
the saints, those who die in the Lord and those who are alive at his coming. Both groups will
share the glory of the Lord at his coming.
Since Matthew does not say, we cannot know with certainty why these two appeared,
but there is truth in both thoughts. The fact that in v. 5 God himself speaks his approval of
the Lord Jesus lends weight to the view that their appearing was evidence of God’s approval.
He sent two who represented his will in the Old Testament to show his approval by their
presence. The significance of this approval will be seen momentarily when we come to v. 5.
V. 4 shows Peter’s usual approach, to say something, even if it is wrong. He is
obviously aware of what a wonderful experience this is, and so he is prepared to build three
tents for the three dignitaries and stay right there. The Lord Jesus does not bother to answer
him, for God himself is about to silence Peter. As he is speaking, a cloud overshadows them
and the voice of God comes from the cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am
well pleased. Hear him.” Why does God make this statement to the disciples?
Recall that in 16.21 the Lord Jesus redefined Messiahship in terms wholly opposed to
the prevailing Jewish ideas of earthly glory. Then in vs. 24-26 he said that discipleship
involves the laying down of life. Because these thoughts were so foreign to their way of
thinking, the disciples might be tempted to question the Lord, as Peter had done when the
Lord said he would die, perhaps even to turn back. He was just not what they had been
looking for. So God himself gives his approval to the Lord in their presence, and not just to
the Lord, but to what he says: “Hear him.” Listen to him. What he is telling you is true. The
Messiah will die, but that is my plan, and it will result in resurrection for him and salvation
for you. It will result in kingdom glory for him and for those who follow him along this
difficult path. Hear him.
The not surprising response of the three is to fall on their faces in fear, but the Lord
tells them to arise and not to be afraid. There is no reason to fear, for this is an encounter with
the God who loves them enough to give his Son for them. When, at this word, they look up,
they see no one but the Lord Jesus. Moses and Elijah are gone. They have been fulfilled and
superseded in the only Son of God. As great as they were, they were only men like the rest of

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us. It is only the Lord Jesus to whom we are to look. We learn from Moses and Elijah, but
there is only one Lord.
As is always the case with a mountain-top experience in this life, the Lord Jesus and
the three disciples come down from the mountain. As they come down, the Lord tells them to
tell no one what they have seen until he has risen from the dead. We saw in considering Mt.
16.20, where the Lord told the disciples after their confession of his Messiahship to tell no one
of it, that he did so because the Jews, having rejected their King, were in rejection by him, and
thus there was no longer any need to make proclamation to them. The same reason holds in
the present passage. The Jews would not accept the words and works of their King in their
midst. They certainly would not believe the word of three fishermen that he had been
transfigured into glory before their eyes. The theme of rejection continues. But so does the
theme of taking the kingdom to the Gentiles, for after the resurrection of the Lord, the
disciples could tell what they had seen, when the hearers would be Gentiles or Jews who
came on the same ground.
In v. 10 the disciples, having their thoughts stimulated by the appearance of Elijah, ask
the Lord why the scribes say that Elijah must come first. The Lord Jesus does not directly
answer their question, but simply says that Elijah is coming, and then that Elijah has already
come, but the Jews have not recognized him and have done what they wanted with him, that
is, rejected him. This, Matthew tells us, is a reference to John the Baptist, and it is so
understood by the disciples.
It is Mal. 4.5 that tells us that Elijah will come, but it says that he will come before the
great and terrible day of the Lord, which would be the second coming of the Lord. Thus we
are to look for a still future coming of Elijah. Nonetheless, Elijah came before the first coming
of the Lord in the person of John the Baptist. Lk. 1.17 says that John would come in the Spirit
and power of Elijah, and this seems to be the explanation of the statement that Elijah would
come, not the man himself, but someone like him. John was like him, of course, in dress and
behavior, but the real likeness was the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Before the first coming of
the Lord, a Spirit-filled forerunner came in the person of John. Before his second coming,
another Spirit-filled forerunner will come. Thus John fulfilled the prophecy in a partial way,
but there is more for us to look for.
14And when he had come to the crowd a man came to him, kneeling before him 15and
saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is moonstruck and suffers badly. For he falls
often into the fire and often into the water. 16And I brought him to your disciples and they
were not able to heal him.” 17But answering Jesus said, “O faithless and perverted
generation, until when will I be with you? Until when will I bear with you? Bring him
here to me.” 18And Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out from him, and the boy was
healed from that hour.
We saw in the story of the transfiguration that Peter wanted to build three tents and
stay on the mountain top with the Lord and his two visitors, and we also saw that they
nonetheless had to come down from the mountain. Now we see in v. 14 why that is true.
There is a world of need at the foot of our experiences with the Lord. Those experiences are
not given just for our own sakes, though God does want to bless us, but also so that we have

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something with which to serve those in need. We must take what we gain on the mountain
top with the Lord to the valley of suffering and use it to help the needy.
Another reason for this experience in the valley is that, just as the transfiguration was
given so that they might not be disheartened to the point of giving up by the sufferings of the
Lord, so also they might not be misled by the transfiguration into forgetting the necessity of
the Lord’s suffering. They could easily have been so taken with the vision of his glory that
they forgot entirely the lesson just taught them, that Messiahship and discipleship involve a
cross. Indeed, they did not understand it anyway, so it would be no wonder if they forgot. So
the Lord takes them down from the mountain of glory into the valley of suffering to remind
them once again that the cross must precede the glory they have just glimpsed. “Hear him,”
God had said on the mountain. Now what God wants heard is reinforced.
In this valley of suffering a man falls before the Lord Jesus and cries for mercy on his
son who is, in the picturesque Greek word “moonstruck,” that is, insane or perhaps epileptic.
He has often fallen into the fire and the water. The father has brought the boy to the nine
disciples who wait for the Lord and the three disciples to return from the mountain, but they
cannot effect a cure. The reply of the Lord is forceful: “O faithless and perverted generation,
how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring him here to me.” Then he
commands the demon to come out and the boy is healed.
19Then the disciples having come to Jesus alone said, “Because of what were we not able to
cast it out?” 20And he said to them, “Because of your little faith, for I say to you, if you had
faith as a grain of mustard, you will say to this mountain, ‘Be removed from here,’ and it
will be removed. And nothing will be impossible for you. {21But this kind does not go out
except by prayer and fasting.”} [The braces { } mean that the passage so marked does not
occur in some of the earlier Greek manuscripts.]
22Now as they were being gathered together in Galilee Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man
is about to be delivered into the hands of men, 23and they will kill him, and on the third
day he will be raised.” And they were made very sorrowful.
The disciples then ask the Lord privately why they had been unable to cast out the
demon, and he tells them, “Because of your little faith.” This statement, combined with the
earlier cry of the Lord, “O faithless and perverted generation,” shows that faith is the key to
the ability to overcome evil forces and serve the Lord. This passage is really one about
service, coming as it does on the heels of the transfiguration and thereby showing that the
purpose of glorious experiences is service. But the service of the Lord is not a matter of
human good will and ability. It takes the power of God to do the work of God, and that
power is available only to faith.
The Bible makes many promises to us and makes many claims. Not the least of these is
that Satan has been defeated and we as Christians are already in victory in the Lord. But we
must have faith in those claims, stand on them, rest in them for them to be reality in our
experience. Just as the Lord Jesus overcame Satan’s temptations in the desert by relying on
the word of God, so must we, for that is what faith is, believing the word of God and acting
on it. Not just believing it, but believing and acting on it.

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The anguished cry of the Lord about the lack of faith in the generation in which he
lived on earth must go back in part to chapter 10 of Matthew, where the disciples had been
given authority over demons that they might cast them out. Yet now they are faced with a
demon and they cannot cast it out. Why? Because of their little faith. In some way they did
not believe God and act on their belief. We are not given the details of their lack of faith, but
whatever they were, the lack of faith was the reason for their failure. How instructive that is
to us, for we, too, must have faith in the same way to serve God effectively. For the Lord
went on to say, “For amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard, you will say
to this mountain, ‘Be removed from here to there,’ and it will be removed, and nothing will
be impossible to you.”
V. 21 does not occur in the oldest Greek manuscripts available, and was apparently
brought in from Mark by a later copyist of manuscripts.
To reinforce further the lesson to the disciples that the reality of sufferings must not be
forgotten in the glow of the transfiguration, the Lord tells them once again in vs. 22-23 that he
will die and be raised on the third day. This time, instead of Peter rebuking the Lord, we find
only that the disciples were grieved at this word. Again we are reminded of the words of
God on the mountain, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Hear him.”
Yes, he will come into the glory of the transfiguration, but he will go to the cross first.
24Now when they came to Capernaum those receiving the two drachmas [a tax to maintain
temple services; a drachma equaled about one day’s wages for a laborer] came to Peter and
said, “Does your Teacher not pay the two drachmas?” 25He said, “Yes.” And when he had
come into the house Jesus spoke to him first saying, “What do you think, Simon? From
whom do the kings of the earth receive taxes or revenue, from their sons or from the
strangers?” 26When he had said, “From the strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are
free. 27But that we not give them cause to stumble, when you have gone to the sea, cast a
hook and take the first fish coming up, and opening its mouth you will find a stater [a
shekel coin]. Having taken that, give it to them for you and me.”
In vs. 24-27 we see the continuation of two themes in Matthew, and an additional
point as well. In chapter 16 the Lord redefined Messiahship in terms of suffering. Then he
gave three disciples a foretaste of his glory, so that the sufferings would not be too much for
them. Then he took them back to the valley of suffering and again prophesied his death, so
that they would not forget that in the glow of the glory. Now, to counterbalance the
sufferings once again, he gives Peter another experience of his glory.
Every adult Jewish male was required to pay a half-shekel tax to support the temple.
The collector of this tax asks Peter if his Teacher paid this tax, and Peter, speaking as usual
without consulting the Lord, says yes. Then when he returns to the house, the Lord Jesus
shows his glory to Peter first by speaking to him about the matter before Peter brings it up,
showing that he has knowledge in a miraculous way (a word of knowledge, 1 Cor. 12.8), and
then by sending Peter to get the tax money in a miraculous way, by catching a fish and taking
the coin from its mouth. The coin was enough to pay the tax for both the Lord and Peter,
showing the Lord’s provision.

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This revelation of the Lord’s glory seems to be one point of the story, but another is a
bit more difficult to discern, for it comes in the words the Lord speaks to Peter about the
matter. When Peter says, in answer to the Lord’s question, that the kings of the earth collect
taxes from strangers, not from sons, the Lord replies that therefore the sons are free from the
tax. Then he says that they would pay the tax anyway so as not to cause a stumbling block,
and sends Peter off on his fishing expedition. The problem that these statements raise is that
the Lord says the kings of the earth collect taxes from strangers, not sons, but it was the Jews
who had to pay the tax, and they were the sons, not the strangers, in the Jewish world. How
are we to explain this difficulty?
The answer seems to lie in the use of the word “sons” as interpreted by Paul in Gal. 3-

There we learn that the Jews before the coming of Christ were children, not sons. The child,
though heir of everything, is no different from a slave as far as his control of the family
fortune. He lives under rules and can make no decisions or disposition of money. That is a
picture of the Jew under the law. But when Christ came, the children came into maturity, or
into son-placing, as the Bible puts it. When they became sons, they gained control over the
family’s possessions and began to make decisions. They were no longer under rules, but had
to make the rules themselves. They had to exercise responsibility. So it is with the Christian.
We do not live by rules, but by our daily walk with the living God.
Thus this little paragraph in Matthew’s gospel seems to present the continuation of yet
another theme in the gospel, the taking of the kingdom from the Jews and the offering of it to
the Gentiles. In the Jewish world, the Jews were not strangers, but sons, but in the new
situation brought about by their rejection and the presdenting of the kingdom to the Gentiles,
the Jews are not sons, but children, and it is those who receive the Lord Jesus who are sons. It
is these sons who are not required to pay the tax, that is, not literally, but to live under the
law. We are free from the rules of the law, but we have the greater responsibility of exercising
proper stewardship of what God has entrusted to us.
The final point of this passage has to do with the Lord’s willingness to pay the tax
even though he was free from it. He forewent his rights in order to avoid giving a stumbling
block, and thereby established a principle of Christian living that Paul drew out in his letters,
in particular, in Rom. 14 and 1 Cor. 8, and summed up in his statement in 1 Cor. 6.12 and
20.23, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable.” That is, the Christian is
not under the law and is therefore free to do anything, but he cannot please the Lord by
doing just anything, and will want to do what pleases the Lord. One of the things that do
please him is the principle set forth in these passages, namely, that one will forego his rights
in order to avoid causing harm to a weaker brother or sister. If a weaker one would be hurt
spiritually by a more mature believer exercising his rights as a son, he will let those rights go,
just as the Lord Jesus did. The Lord did not have to pay the temple tax, but he did so in order
to avoid putting a stumbling block before the Jews. He did not have to die for us, but he did
so, foregoing his right to life.
We will not take the space at this point to quote Rom. 14 and 1 Cor. 8 in full, but the
reader should study these passages at this point and compare them with the Lord’s behavior,
as well as with his own. One of the great principles of Christian living is that we will not
insist on our rights to the detriment of another. As always, the Lord is our example.

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Relationships in the Kingdom
Mt. 18.1-35

At that hour the disciples came to Jesus saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom
of the heavens?” 2And having called a child he stood it in the midst of them 3and said,
“Amen I say to you, “Unless you turn and become as the children, you will not enter into
the kingdom of the heavens. 4Whoever therefore humbles himself as this child, this one is
greatest in the kingdom of the heavens. 5And whoever receives one such child in my name
receives me. 6But whoever causes one of these little ones who trust in me to stumble, it is
better for him that a large millstone drawn by a donkey were hung around his neck and he
be drowned in the depth of the sea. 7Woe to the world from stumbling blocks. It is
necessary for stumbling blocks to come, but woe to the man through whom the stumbling
block comes. 8Now if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and cast it
away from you. It is better for you to enter into life [zoe] crippled or lame, than having two
hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9And if your eye causes you to
stumble, pull it out and cast it away from you. It is better for you to enter into life [zoe]
with one eye than having two eyes to be thrown into the gehenna of fire. 10See that you do
not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in the heavens are
always beholding the face of my Father who is in the heavens. {

11″For the Son of Man came

to save that having been lost.}
In Mt. 5-7 the Lord Jesus showed the characteristics of people ruled by the kingdom
now and qualifying for a place in the visible kingdom when the Lord returns. In 16.13-28 he
continued this theme by redefining both Messiahship and discipleship. Now in chapters 18-
20 he adds more to this line of thought. In 18.1 the disciples, betraying their failure to grasp
what the Lord was teaching about the kingdom and their continued belief in earthly glory,
ask him who is the greatest in the kingdom. He uses this question as the occasion of adding
to his teachings about the nature of his kingdom and the people in it.
In order to answer the disciples’ question as to who is the greatest in the kingdom, the
Lord calls a child and stands him in their midst, then says, “Amen I say to you, unless you
become converted and become like children, you will not enter into the kingdom of the
heavens. Whoever therefore humbles himself as this child, this one is the greatest in the
kingdom of the heavens.”
The disciples are concerned with being the greatest in the kingdom, and by that they
mean a position of power and perhaps of wealth, but the Lord tells them that the real issue
for them at the moment is not greatness in the kingdom, but entering it at all. With their
approach they will not even enter it, much less be great in it, so they had better stop worrying
about greatness and see to the first matter, their entrance into the kingdom.
How does one enter the kingdom? By being converted and becoming like a child. The
Lord is not speaking in this instance about the conversion that results in salvation, for he is
talking to his disciples, already converted, saved men in that sense. Instead he is talking
about the conversion of Christians that we saw in Mt. 16.23, changing one’s way of thinking
to God’s way. All of us, Christians included, think the way the world trains us to think, in

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terms of self-interest and worldly gain. We think that the way up is up, fighting for all we can
get. God’s way of thinking is that the way up is down, laying down self, even life if need be,
and letting God exalt us in his time (1 Pt. 5.6).
A child is the example of the kind of person a Christian ought to be. He is humble
because he has no power, wealth or standing. He is completely at the mercy of those above
him. The right approach for God’s people is not to be concerned with being the greatest, but
with being the lowest, like a child. Those who will enter the kingdom, that is, who will be
ruled by the Lord now and who will be ready for a place in his earthly kingdom when he
returns, are those who take this childlike approach.
In v. 5 the Lord carries the thought a step further, saying that anyone who receives
such a child in his name receives him. What does he mean by that statement? We like to
receive the great because we hope it might result in some benefit to us. The great could give
us a good job or good contacts or recognition. What can a child do for us? Nothing, because a
child has nothing to give and no power to influence matters, and thus we have little interest
in receiving children. The Lord points out through Ja. 2.1-4 that the one who behaves in such
a way has evil motives, namely, what we have just said, not a desire to share the love of God
indiscriminately, but to gain something for oneself from the rich and powerful.
What if the Lord had received us on the basis of what we could do for him? We ought
to receive people on the same basis on which God received us, not because we could do
something for him, but because he loved us. The Lord is not talking just about children,
though they are certainly included, but he is using them as an example of the powerless
whom we ought to receive simply because God loves them. The one who receives such a one
receives Christ, for Christ himself came in the same way. He is the eternal Son of God,
through whom and for whom everything was created (Col. 1.16). Yet he came to earth as a
humble man with no credentials, no wealth, no power. He took the lowest place, even dying
for us as a criminal and blasphemer. Thus when we receive a little one who can do nothing
for us, we receive the Christ who took the same place, but the glory is that if we will do so,
we will find that he can do everything for us, and delights to do so.
Vs. 6-14 continue this line of thought by returning to the theme of 17.24-27, the
foregoing of our rights in order to avoid presenting a stumbling block to a little one. Not only
should one take the lowly place himself and receive those who are in a lowly place, but he
should also be careful not to cause a little one to stumble. Vs. 6-9 make it clear that physical
suffering and death are not nearly so bad as judgment from God after death. We are all going
to die anyway, if the Lord does not call us home first by another means, so the important
issue is not life or death, but being ready for death. One way of being ready for death is the
avoidance of causing stumbling blocks.
The Lord says in vs. 8-9 that one should cut off a hand or a foot or pluck out an eye if it
causes him to stumble. Thus it is important not only to avoid causing others to stumble, but
also to avoid causes of our own stumbling, and measures we take to do so should be extreme
if necessary. Probably the Lord does not mean that we should literally mutilate our bodies,
for the source of sin is the heart, as he made clear in Mt. 15.19, but he is using extreme
language to get across the importance of the matter. We could destroy hands and feet and
eyes and still be fleshly rather then spiritual. It is our flesh (not physical, but the principle of
self-centeredness) that needs to be cut off and plucked out, and that is the point the Lord is

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making. The flesh will destroy us if left undealt with. Our measures with it must be extreme.
Paul tells us in Rom. 6 that God’s view of the flesh is that it is worthy of nothing but death, so
he put it to death in Christ on the cross. Now it is up to us to accept that death of self, even as
the Lord taught in Mt. 16.24-25, and do whatever is necessary to enforce it.
The Lord says that it is better to enter life (zoe) crippled or blind that to be whole and
end up in hell. Zoe is one Greek word for “life.” It is the word used in the New Testament for
spiritual life, the life of God in us. It should be obvious that it is better to enter into that life
crippled or blind than to enter whole into hell because that life is not only wonderful, but it is
also eternal, and so is hell. That is the reason for the extreme measures.
In vs. 8 and 9 the Lord mentions the eternal fire and hell (gehinna is the Greek for “hell,
from the the valley of hinnom in the Old Testament, e. g., 2 Kings 23.10.” It was a place of
burning and had been defiled by human sacrifice, so it came to be identified with hell.
www.biblestudytools.com). He is talking to his disciples, so a question is naturally raised
about this reference to hell, not a possible destiny of those the Lord is addressing. The answer
seems to be his reference to the world in v. 7: the disciples are liable for loss of reward if they
cause stumbling blocks, but the world is always in danger of hell. Unless a person escapes the
world, in Christ, hell will be his end.
We saw in considering vs. 2-5 that the little ones are the ones who are not important,
but v. 10 shows us just how important they really are. All those people that we think are not
worth our time have angels in Heaven beholding the face of the Father of King Jesus. All
those people who are powerful in the world and who can thus do so much for us in the
world can really do nothing for us, for what they give us will pass away with the world, but
what we gain by receiving the little ones will be there waiting for us in eternity.
V. 11 does not occur in the oldest of manuscripts of Matthew and was apparently
brought in from Luke by later copyists. If it should be in Matthew, the meaning is obvious.
12How does it seem to you? If there be to a certain man a hundred sheep and one of them
go astray, will he leave the ninety-nine on the mountain and, having gone, seek the one
gone astray? 13And if it be to him to find it, amen I say to you that he rejoices over it more
than over the ninety-nine that have not gone astray. So it is not the will before your Father
who is in the heavens that one of these little ones perish.
Vs. 12-14 continue the theme of vs. 1-11, the real importance of the unimportant. If a
shepherd is so concerned about one sheep, how much more is God concerned about one
person, even one with no more importance in our eyes than a sheep?
Recall that the Lord Jesus is talking about the kingdom, as he said in vs. 1-4. This
taking of a humble position and this receiving of the humble is characteristic of the kingdom
of the heavens. If you are ruled by the King now in the days of the hiddenness of the
kingdom, you will be such a person, and you will thereby be prepared for a place in the glory
when he returns.
15″Now if a brother sin {against you,} go show him between him and you alone. If he listen
you, you have gained your brother, 16but if he does not listen, take with you one or two in

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addition, that “in the mouth of two or three witnesses” [Dt. 19.15] every fact may be
established. 17But if he refuse to listen to them, tell the church, and if he also refuse to
listen to the church, let him be to you as the Gentile and the tax collector. 18″Amen I say to
you, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose
on earth will have been loosed in Heaven. 19Again I say to you that if two of you should
agree on earth concerning any matter about which they may ask, it will be to them from
my Father who is in the heavens. 20For where two or three are gathered together in my
name, there I am in the midst of them.”
Vs. 6-14 deal with the matter of stumbling blocks in general, and vs. 15-20 deal with
the proper response to one who has stumbled. The nature of the sin and the one sinned
against are not mentioned in this passage. The one who goes to the sinner may or may not be
the one sinned against. (The words “against you” do not occur in the oldest Greek
manuscripts.) The important fact is that he does not gossip about the sinner or make
accusations, but that he goes to him privately in an effort to restore him. That is the purpose.
It is not to judge, but to restore. Paul tells us in Gal. 6.1 that the right way to restore is with a
spirit of humility, lest the restorer also sin. This is a matter calling for the greatest care.
If the sinner will not listen, the one attempting to restore him should take one or two
others with him and try again, thus fulfilling the law that there be two or three witnesses to
establish a matter (Dt. 19.15). That way it cannot become a matter of dispute between the
sinner and the restorer, but there are witnesses to what went on.
If the sinner still will not listen, the matter is to be reported to the church. If he will not
listen to the church, he is to be refused fellowship, like a Gentile and a tax collector.
The consequences of this refusal to listen to the church are serious, for whatever the
church binds or loosens on earth will have been bound or loosed in Heaven. That is, Heaven
has already taken fellowship from the unrepentant sinner, and the church is only voicing the
decision of Heaven, a binding decision.
V. 19 has often been used to teach that all two Christians have to do to get anything
they want is to agree on it, and then God has to do it, but the statement must be taken in its
context, that of dealing with an unrepentant brother. The agreeing is not making a deal
together to get something from God, but agreement on what God has said, that an
unrepentant brother is to be refused fellowship, a serious matter, as Paul makes clear in 1
Cor. 5.5: serious judgment may result for the unrepentant. If Heaven has decided this and the
church agrees on it and proclaims it as the word of Heaven, it will be. Let the sinning
Christian (“your brother”) beware! And again, I believe that the purpose of the church’s
action is to restore the brother (1 Cor. 5.5, 2 Cor. 2.5-8, 2 Thess. 3.6-12). The sinning and
unrepentant brother is not in danger of hell, but he is in danger of losing his inheritance in
the kingdom.
The reason that the word of these two is so effective is that when they, or a few more,
meet in the name of the Lord Jesus, he is there in their midst. They are expressing the will of
the Head, another way of saying that what they say has been decided in Heaven. What the
Head wills will be done, with serious consequences for the sinner.

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Two or three other thoughts come out in this passage in addition to the matter of how
to deal with a sinning Christian. One is that dealing with him is an obligation of love. It is not
easy to confront someone with his sin. No one likes to be the enforcer of discipline. But that is
one thing that love does. Is that not the way God has dealt with each of us? If we had been
allowed by God just to go on in our sins because he did not want to hurt our feelings, where
would we be? But God convicts us of our sin, and he disciplines us for our good (Heb. 12.5-
11), and thus we are saved and matured. His willingness to deal hardly with us when we
need it is our blessing. We have the same obligation toward our brothers and sisters, to go to
them in their sin just as God came to us in ours, and with the same object, to restore them in
love.
Another matter of interest is the mention of the church in v. 17. This is the second
reference to the church in Matthew, the other being in 16.18, and these are the only two uses
of the word “church” in the four gospels. In chapter 16 the reference was to the universal
church; here it is to the local church. Thus we have in Matthew the Lord’s revelation of the
church in both its aspects, the spiritual entity that includes all born again people and that
spans all times and places, and the local expression of that entity at a given time. Then the
Lord left it to the period after his ascension for the teaching on the church, and the actual
development of it to be drawn out.
21Then when he had come Peter said to him, “Lord, how many times will my brother sin
against me and I will forgive him, until seven times?” 22Jesus said to him, “I don’t say to
you until seven times, but until seventy times seven. 23Because of this the kingdom of the
heavens was likened to a man, a king, who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.
24Now when he had begun to settle, one debtor of ten thousand talents [a day laborer
would require about 60,000,000 days’ work to pay the debt, more than 164,000 years] was
brought to him. 25But he having nothing to pay, the lord ordered him to be sold, and the
wife and the children, and all, whatever he had, and payment to be made. 26Then the slave,
having fallen down, bowed to him saying, ‘Be patient with me and I will repay you all.’
27And the lord of that slave, having been moved with compassion, released him and
forgave him the debt. 28But when that slave had gone out he found one of his fellow slaves
who owed him a hundred denarii [one hundred days’ labor ], and when he had seized him
he was choking him saying, ‘Pay what you owe!’ 29Then having fallen down, his fellow
slave begged him saying, ‘Be patient with me and I will repay you.’ 30But he would not, but
having gone out he threw him into prison until he paid that which was owing. 31Then his
fellow slaves, having seen the things that were done, were very sorrowful, and when they
had gone, they told their lord all the things that were done. 32Then having called him his
lord said to him, ‘Evil slave, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33Was it
not necessary for you also to have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I also had mercy on
you?’ 34And being angry his lord delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that
was owing. 35So also will my heavenly Father do to you if you do not forgive each his
brother from your hearts.
In v. 21 Peter, continuing this line of thought about forgiveness, asks the Lord how
many times he should forgive his brother who sins against him. Thus in vs. 5-14 we have

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stumbling blocks in general, in 15-20, a brother who stumbles, and now in 21-35, a brother
who stumbles by sinning against another brother in particular. How many times should the
offended brother forgive, seven?
Peter was being very generous in being willing to forgive seven times, for some of the
Jewish Rabbis said that one should forgive three times and no more. But the Lord says in v.
22 to forgive seventy times seven. Does that mean that one is to keep count and when the
brother sins the four hundred and ninety-first time, he is not to be forgiven? If that is what
one thinks, he misses the whole point. What the Lord was really saying was, forgive your
brother as many times as God has forgiven you.
Does this not hit home? How many times have we all had to go back to God with the
same sin, committed over and over until we have lost count, and ask forgiveness yet again?
Has he ever refused us? Never! We cannot count the times he has forgiven us, and we are to
show the same measure of mercy toward those who sin against us.
In vs. 23-34 the Lord gives a parable to illustrate what he is saying. He uses hyperbole,
an exaggeration to make or emphasize a point. A king had a slave who owed him a
staggering sum, ten thousand talents, approximately seventy-five thousand pounds of silver
or gold (we are not told which), at least 150,000 years worth of day labor. He demanded
payment, threatening debtors’ prison, but the slave begged for mercy and promised to repay.
The king had mercy and forgave him the entire debt. We see the Lord’s use of hyperbole in
the amounts of money. What king would loan his slave the amount of money equal to
150,000 years of labor? And slaves do not earn wages. The Lord’s point is that he has forgiven
us far more than we will ever be called on to forgive others. All sin is against God (Ps. 51.4),
so how great is our debt?
Then the slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him one
hundred denarii, about one hundred days wages for a day laborer. He demanded payment.
When the second slave begged for mercy and promised to repay, the first slave had him
thrown into debtors’ prison.
The other slaves told the king, so he had the first slave brought back in, rebuked him,
and handed him over to the torturers until he repaid the entire debt.
The point is stated by the Lord in v. 35: that is the way God will deal with us if we do
not forgive our brothers from our heart.
It is obvious that the king is God, and that the first slave is all of us who have been
forgiven by him. Our debt was so great that we could not even begin to repay it. Which of us
could repay the money for 150,000 years of labor? That is a measure of our sin-debt to God.
Yet he forgave us the entire debt strictly on the basis of his grace and mercy, with no merit
whatsoever on our part.
The second slave is a brother who sins against us. We ought to show him the same
mercy God showed toward us and forgive him, in any amount and as many times as need be.
No one will ever sin against us as much as we have sinned against God, so we will never
have to worry about forgiving too much.
One of the vital points of this passage is seen in v. 23: the kingdom of the heavens is
like this story. The Lord is not addressing lost people, telling them they must forgive to be
forgiven. That would be salvation by works. He is addressing Christians, telling them that as
Christians they must forgive their brothers and sisters who sin against them if they expect

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God not to hold their deeds against them when giving rewards in the kingdom. Chapter 18
deals with the kind of people who are ruled by the Lord now in the hiddenness of the
kingdom, and who will receive rewards in the heavenly kingdom at the return of the Lord.
One characteristic of such people is that they forgive as they have been forgiven by God. In
dealing with the matter of those who have sinned against us, let us be generous, not like
Peter, but like our merciful God.

More Characteristics of the Kingdom
Mt. 19.1-20.34

And it took place when Jesus finished these words that he went from Galilee and
came to the regions of Judea across the Jordan. 2And many crowds followed him and he
healed them there.
Mt. 19.1 marks a new turning point in the good news. We have seen that ever since
chapter 12 the Lord Jesus has been in a period of withdrawal from the Jews, both in his
method of teaching and in his geographical location. First, the Jews, having rejected the Lord,
have been rejected by him, so there is no longer any purpose in presenting the kingdom to
them, and second, it is not yet time for the Lord to die, so he avoids confrontation and
concentrates on preparing his disciples for the future. But now the time of his death is
drawing near and he himself takes the initiative in moving toward Jerusalem, where, as he
prophesied, his death will take place. By moving toward Jerusalem himself he confirms what
he said as recorded in Jn. 10.17-18, that no one takes his life, but he lays it down. It is the first
step toward the laying down of his life that we have recorded in this verse.
V. 2 shows his continuing compassion on the suffering multitudes no matter what
burdens were weighing on his own mind. He came to obey the Father, and he came to serve
people in their need, and he carries out his mission without regard for himself.
3And Pharisees came to him testing him and saying, “Is it permitted for a man to divorce
his wife for every reason?” 4But answering he said, “Did you not known that the one who
created from the beginning ‘made them male and female?’ [Gen. 1.27, 5.2] 5and said,
‘Because of this a man will leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, the two will
be one flesh.’ [Gen. 2.24] 6So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has
joined together, let man not separate.” 7They said to him, “Why then did Moses command
‘to give her a certificate of divorce and send {her} away?’ [Dt. 24.1] 8He said to them,
“Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives, but from
the beginning it has not been so. 9But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife except
for immorality and marries another commits adultery.” 10{His} disciples said to him, “If the
relationship of the man with the wife is so, it is better not to marry.” 11And he said to them,
“Not all receive this word, but those to whom it is given, 12for there are eunuchs who were

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born so from the mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men,
and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs because of the kingdom of the
heavens. Let him receive who is able to receive.”
In this situation of moving toward his death while continuing to serve in a miraculous
way, the Lord encounters some Pharisees who come to him for their usual purpose, to ask
him a question designed to trap him in some way. In this case the question concerns divorce:
“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?” The trap behind the question is this:
there were two schools of Jewish thought, following two Rabbis Hillel and Shammai, the
former the liberal, and the latter, the conservative. Hillel and his school said that a man might
divorce his wife for any cause, sometimes even the most trivial, while Shammai said that
only adultery was grounds for divorce. The purpose of the Pharisees was to draw the Lord
into this Rabbinic debate, with the idea that if they could get him so enmeshed in an
unanswerable question, he would be reduced to taking sides in one of their debates and so
would lose the position of authority he had taken.
The Lord Jesus did in fact ultimately side with Shammai, but Shammai is not his
authority, as he would have been to his followers who took his side. Instead the Lord goes
back before Hillel and Shammai, and even before Moses and the Jewish law, and appeals to
God’s original intent in marriage as his authority. He quotes Gen. 1.27, which says that God
made man male and female, showing that he intended marriage, and Gen. 2.4, which says
that a man should leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, the two becoming one
flesh. Then the Lord draws his conclusion: divorce plays no part in God’s original plans.
Why then, the Pharisees ask, did Moses give the command for the Jews to give their
wives a certificate of divorce, referring to Dt. 24.1. By so phrasing the question, the Pharisees
prejudiced the issue, as the Lord was quick to point out in his answer. He says that Moses did
not command the Jews to give their wives a certificate of divorce, but he permitted them to do
so. Because some insisted on disobeying God by divorcing their wives, Moses made
provision for the proper legal handling of the matter so as to protect the parties involved, but
he did not command divorce. It was simply a matter of recognizing the hardness of men’s
hearts.
V. 9 is difficult to interpret because there are no fewer than six variant readings of the
verse in the ancient Greek manuscripts. Which reading is right? There is no way to know
with certainty, but it appears that the best possibility is that the Lord said, “But I say to you
that whoever divorces his wife except for immorality and marries another commits adultery.”
If this is the correct reading then the Lord agreed with the school of Shammai that adultery
was the only grounds for divorce, but his agreement with Shammai is not the point. The
point is that divorce is not the will of God, but is only a provision for the hardness of men’s
hearts, with immorality being the only permissible grounds. Any other basis for divorce only
masks adultery by the one divorcing his partner. The Lord does not take sides in the Rabbinic
debate, but shows God’s side.
The disciples now join the discussion, saying that if what the Lord has just said is true,
it is better not to marry. Perhaps they were showing their own hardness of heart by
indicating that they thought it better not to get into a situation one might wish to get out of.
Whether that is true or not, the Lord does not say, but rather responds to the truth in what

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they say. First he points out that there are some who are born eunuchs, then that there are
those made eunuchs by men, then that there are some called by God to forego marriage, and
that he gives grace to fulfill this calling to those so called. Most marry, as is normal and
pleasing to God, but there are the exceptions. The key phrase in the statement is “for the
kingdom of the heavens.” Gaining Christ is more important than anything else, including
such holy things as marriage. Marriage is not a bad thing, but a good thing made by God, but
it is to be foregone for the kingdom if that is the will of God.
13Then children were brought to him that he might lay hands on them and pray, but the
disciples rebuked them. 14But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me and don’t prevent
them, for of such as these is the kingdom of the heavens. 15And having laid hands on them
he went from there.
Vs. 13-15 repeat the message of 18.5: receiving children, and those symbolized by
them, those who cannot repay, is important because it shows our understanding that God
received us when we could not repay, and continues to do so. It is those who know their
place of childlike dependence on God, and thus who treat others in the same way, who will
come into the kingdom: “for of such as these is the kingdom of the heavens.”
16And look! one having come to him said, “Teacher, what good will I do that I may have
eternal life?” 17But he said to him, “Why are you asking me about the good? If you want to
enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18He said to him, “Which?” And Jesus said to
him, “Don’t commit murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t bear false witness,
19honor the father and the mother,’ [Ex. 20.12-16, Dt. 5.16-20] and, love your neighbor as
yourself.” [Lev. 19.18] 20The young man said to him, “All these things I have kept. What am
I still lacking?” 21Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and
give to {the} poor and you will have treasure in the heavens, and come, follow me.” 22But
the young man, having heard the word, went away sorrowing, for he was one having many
possessions.
Vs. 16-22 contain the story known as that of the rich young ruler. Matthew tells us
only that he was young and rich, as does Mark, and it is Luke who tells us that he was a
ruler. This young man asks the Lord what good thing he could do to obtain eternal life,
thereby betraying his acceptance of the almost universal belief that one gains God’s favor by
good works. The average person, even many who would say they are Christians, thinks he
will make it to Heaven, if he so thinks, because he has lived a good life. So does this young
man.
The Lord’s first response does not deal with this issue, but with the matter of
goodness. If the young man asks the Lord about the good, he must see goodness in him. But
the Lord says that there is only one who is good. That one, of course, is God. Therefore, the
Lord seems to be asking, since you think that I know something about the good, does that
mean you see God in me? Does that mean that you know who I am, the Son of God? The
questions, not asked directly, are not answered either. The Lord does not pursue them, but
moves on to the good that the young man can do to enter into life.

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What is this good? He can keep the commandments. Which ones, asks he? As we will
see, he has kept the commandments, so he wants to see if what he has done is adequate, or if
there is something else to be done. So the Lord names the commandments, those having to
do with the treatment of others. When the man says that he has done these things, the Lord
tells him there is one thing he lacks, and that is what he should do to enter into life: sell his
possessions and give to the poor. At that word the young man goes away grieved, for he is
rich.
The man’s question had to do with how to gain eternal life, and the Lord’s answer was
that he should keep the commandments. That sounds like salvation by works. So does the
instruction to sell his possessions and give to the poor. Yet we know that salvation is not by
works, but by grace, so we must seek to understand the Lord’s words in another way. The
point of the passage is not that one gains eternal life by keeping the law, an impossibility
(Rom. 3.20), but that the Lord was trying to get the young man to see that even though he
had kept the law to his own way of thinking, yet there was something missing. He was
satisfied that he had kept the law, saying so in all sincerity, but the very fact that he inquired
how to gain eternal life testifies to the fact that he knew he was not inwardly satisfied. The
reason for the Lord’s pointing him to the law was to get him to see that fact. Once he realized
that good works would not save, he would be open to what will save.
What is it that will save? Is it selling possessions and giving to the poor? No, that will
not save either, for that is another good work, and people cannot be saved by works. One of
the interesting truths that emerge from a study of the gospels is that the Lord dealt with each
person on an individual basis. We tend to design a witnessing program to be used with all
indiscriminately, but the Lord did not do so. We make much, for example, of being born
again, as we should, but the only person the Lord ever told to be born again, as far as
Scripture records, was Nicodemus. He did that because that was what Nicodemus needed, a
religious man ignorant of the spiritual world into which he needed to be born.
That event is recorded in Jn. 3. In the very next chapter of John the Lord had the
encounter with the Samaritan woman. He did not tell her to be born again. He told her to
drink of the water that he would give her and to go call her husband. Those were the words
she needed to hear. She was a thirsty woman who had tried desperately to quench her thirst
with many men, always thinking or hoping that the next one would have what she was
looking for. The Lord Jesus helped her to see that the thirst she was trying to slake was
spiritual, and that he was the answer, not, of course, as another man, but as the supplier of
spiritual water, of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord did not tell the rich young man to be born again or to drink of the living
water because that was not what he needed to hear. He needed to hear that salvation comes
from having the right God, and that he had a wrong god, money. The Lord was getting at
where his heart was. As long as his treasure was on earth, it could not be in Heaven. If he
could tear himself away from his false god and give himself to the true God, he would gain
eternal life, not by the good work of selling his possessions and giving to the poor, but by the
act of faith of giving his heart to a new God. He thought he was being a good man, obeying
God, by keeping the law, when all along he was serving a false god, trusting in it for
happiness and security. It provided neither, as his question of the Lord shows, but he could
not give it up and went away in grief. A false god will always bring one to grief.

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We said, “If he could tear himself away from his false god,” and that “he could not give
it up.” Of course the truth is that none of us can do that. All we can do is cry out to the Lord
that we want to give up the false gods and be his and ask for his grace to set us free. If the
rich young man had made such a plea, he would have had the grace available to turn loose of
his riches.
It is one of the most instructive pictures of the Lord Jesus in Scripture that he allowed
the rich young man to walk away. How many of us could be so uncompromising with a rich
man? He could contribute so much to our budget! Perhaps we had better relax the standards
a bit in his case and bring him in. But the Lord had no interest in such things. He was
interested in hearts committed to God, and he would not allow money to interfere with his
mission. How we need to learn from him!
23Now Jesus said to his disciples, “Amen I say to you that it is with difficulty that a rich
man will enter into the kingdom of the heavens. 24And again I say to you, it is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
God.” 25But when the disciples heard, they were greatly astonished saying, “Then who is
able to be saved?” 26And looking straight at them Jesus said, “With men this is impossible,
but with God all things are possible.” 27Then Peter answering said to him,”Look! we have
left everything and followed you. What then will be to us?” 28And Jesus said to them,
“Amen I say to you that you, the ones who have followed me, in the regeneration when the
Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you [emphasized] will also sit on twelve
thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers
or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for the sake of my name will receive a
hundredfold and he will inherit eternal life. 30But many first will be last, and last first.
The story continues with the Lord’s observation in vs. 23-24: “Amen I say to you that a
rich man enters into the kingdom of the heavens with difficulty. And again I say to you, it is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the
kingdom of God.” Throughout Matthew the references to the kingdom have primarily been
to Christians gaining a place in the coming earthly kingdom by being committed to the King
now in this age of the kingdom’s hiddenness, but in this saying of the Lord the reference is to
entering the kingdom as salvation. If one is going to be ruled by the kingdom now and gain a
place in the earthly kingdom, he must enter into it at some point by being saved, and that is
what the Lord is dealing with at this point, as the context clearly shows. The rich you man
was not a saved man, but was trying to find salvation. That is what the Lord is dealing with.
His point is that it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom, to be saved, because it is
hard for him to give up his false god. Even though most of us are not rich, the same is true of
all of us: the rich man pictures us all. We all have difficulty giving up our false gods,
whatever they are.
This saying of the Lord astonishes the disciples, as v. 25 shows. They wonder who can
be saved if a rich man can hardly be saved. This amazement shows their Jewish theology.
They share the Jewish belief that obedience to God results in material prosperity, while sin
results in material curses. The most obvious example of this fact is seen in Jn. 9, where the
Lord and his disciples encounter the man born blind and they ask who sinned, the man or his

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parents, that he was born that way. Since he is physically cursed, someone must have sinned.
Since the rich young man is materially blessed he must be righteous. By responding to the
rich young man’s refusal of his suggestion in this way, the Lord shows that this way of
thinking is erroneous. It is true under the law, for God did promise that if his people kept the
law, he would bless them materially and physically, but they did not keep the law. Perfect
keeping of the law would have meant perfect blessing, but there was never perfect keeping of
the law. With the coming of the Lord Jesus things are changing. God is bringing in a new
covenant when these promises are spiritual, and material blessing or suffering are not signs
of righteousness or sinfulness. One might be righteous and still suffer, as we see all through
Paul’s letters and 1 Peter, and one might be sinful and enjoy material prosperity, as the
psalms especially point out. And as the psalms and other Old Testament passages show, the
fact was that it had always been the case that the righteous could suffer and the wicked could
prosper. Consider Job.
In answer to the disciples’ astonished question, “Who then can be saved?” the Lord
replies, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible,” confirming our
observation above that it is with difficulty that anyone is saved, not just the rich. It is
impossible for you to be saved, and it is impossible for me to be saved, if we are left to
ourselves. But God can save the vilest.
V. 27 contains one of the humorous pictures in the Bible. Peter has always accepted the
prevailing theology that material blessing is a sign of righteousness and maintains that
position before the Lord at first, but then when the Lord makes it clear that money is not a
sign of God’s favor, Peter decides that the opposite must be true: poverty must be the sign of
righteousness. Thus, to show how good he is, he blurts out, in his usual way, “Look! we have
left everything and followed you. What then will there be for us?” We have poverty, the sign
of righteousness!
The Lord could lecture Peter, telling him that neither wealth nor poverty is a sign of
God’s favor. All that is a matter of God’s will for each individual. It is not what one has, but
one’s heart, that matters. But how gracious the Lord is! He does not scold Peter, but agrees
with him that indeed he and his fellows have left everything for him, and says that they will
have their reward: when the Son of Man returns and claims his throne, and says, “You, too,
will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Not any other twelve men, but
you. And not only will these twelve who have left everything have their reward, but so will
all who have left houses or brothers or sisters or fathers or mothers or children or fields for
the Lord. They will receive many times as much as they have left, and eternal life. How true
that is. Even now in this life, all who have left anything for the Lord have a hundred houses
open to them, have a hundred families and a hundred fields in the body of Christ, and they
have an eternity of the Lord’s life to look forward to.

“For the kingdom of the heavens is like a man, a householder, who went out early in
the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2Now when he had agreed with the workers
at a denarius per day he sent them into his vineyard. 3And having gone out about the third
hour he saw others standing idle in the market place, 4and to these he said, “You
[emphasized] also go into the vineyard and whatever is right I will give you.” 5And they

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went. Having gone out again about the sixth and ninth hour he did the same. 6Now having
gone out about the eleventh he found others standing and said to them, “Why have you
stood here idle the whole day?” 7They said to him, “Because no one hired us.” He said to
them, “You [emphasized] also go into the vineyard.” 8When evening had come, the lord of
the vineyard said to his foreman, “Call the workers and pay them the wage beginning
from the last, to the first.” 9And those having gone out about the eleventh hour received a
denarius each. 10And those having gone out first thought that they would receive more, but
they [emphasized] also received a denarius each. 11Having received it they grumbled
against the householder 12saying, “These last did one hour and you have made them equal
to us who bore the burden of the day and the heat.” 13But answering to one of them he said,
“Friend, I am not doing you wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14Take what
is yours and go. But I wish to give to this the last one as also to you. 15Is it not permitted to
me to do what I wish with what is mine? Or is your eye evil because I am good?” 16So the
last will be first and the first last.
Then, to counter Peter’s boasting that he and the others have left everything, the Lord
adds, “But many who are first will be last, and last, first.” Having made this statement, the
Lord proceeds to give the parable of 20.1-16 as an illustration of the principle he has just
enunciated, as 20.16 shows. He says that the kingdom is like the story he tells. That is, in the
kingdom, both now and in the millennium, those ruled by the kingdom will experience what
is set forth in this story. Just what is set forth? Let us see.
The parable tells of a householder who goes out early in the morning to hire laborers
for his vineyard. He agrees to pay them a denarius, the normal day’s pay for such labor. Then
he goes out at nine in the morning, noon, and three in the afternoon and hires more workers,
promising to pay them what is right. At about five o’clock he hires more, with no mention of
wages being made. Then at the end of the day he has his foreman pay the workers, starting
with those hired last. When he pays them a denarius, those hired first think they will get
more, but when they come to get paid, they receive the agreed-on denarius. Then they
complain that they have worked hard during the heat of the day for the same pay as the ones
who worked only an hour in the evening. But the householder protests that he has done them
no wrong, paying them what they agreed on and claiming that he has a right to do what he
wants with what is his. Thus, concludes the Lord Jesus, “So the last will be first, and the first,
last.”
What are we to make of this parable? It seems at first to indicate that all who belong to
the lord will receive the same reward in the kingdom, no matter how long they served the
Lord or how hard they worked. But that conclusion would disagree with the Scriptures in
general, which teach that there are indeed rewards in the kingdom based on works. What
then does the Lord mean?
Keep in mind that the story illustrates the principle that many who are first will be
last, and last, first, and that it grows out of Peter’s boasting that the disciples have left
everything for the Lord and thus deserve some reward in the kingdom. Yes, the Lord says,
there is reward in the kingdom, but the rewards in the kingdom do not grow out of what the
workers deserve, but purely from the grace of God. It is true that our salvation is only by
grace, with no reference whatever to works on our part, and that there are rewards in the

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kingdom based on works. But the point the Lord wants us to grasp in this connection is that
even the rewards are the result of grace. Everything flows from the grace of God. The very
fact that we desire to work for him and gain a reward at his appearing is grace. Why do we
have that desire when others do not? It is grace.
Go back to the parable of forgiveness in Mt. 18.23-34. How much did the king forgive
the first slave? A million dollars or more. Did the slave ever earn enough working for his
king to pay back that much? Of course not. Whatever he may have earned would only have
been applied to his account. The king owed him nothing. That is the way it is with us, as
revealed by the parable of the householder and his workers: God does not owe us anything.
Whatever we may earn by our works for him does not put him in our debt, but at best only
reduces our debt to him, though, of course, it does not even do that. It would only be applied
to our account, if God kept the account. But by his grace he does not, having canceled the
debt entirely. Yet we are still in God’s debt beyond our comprehension. Oh, the grace of God.
He owes us nothing, yet he allows us to work for him and pays us our wages.
Part of the point of the parable, of course, is that those who take the first place, that is,
are proud of their service like Peter, will find themselves put last, and those who humbly
serve the Lord with no thought of how valuable to him they are, will find themselves first
when the Lord returns. We may put too high a value on our service to the Lord. May he
deliver us from that, helping us to see that the very fact that we do serve him is the result of
his grace, that he does not need us and owes us nothing, but that in his grace he uses us and
rewards us.
This parable is a parable of grace, even in works, and the Lord says that the kingdom
is like this. In the kingdom there are works for reward, but when all the works are done, the
laborers deserve nothing and receive only from the Lord’s grace. Let us not begrudge
someone else his reward because we think we are before him in our service to the Lord. If we
think that way, we reveal that we consider ourselves one of the first, and we will be put last.
Let us not be concerned with being first or last, but with responding to the abundant grace of
our God with grateful service to him. How worthy he is of all our service, and of our eternal
praise!
17And going up to Jerusalem Jesus took the twelve disciples aside and on the way he said
to them, 18″Look! we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be delivered to the
chief priests and scribes and they will condemn him to death, 19and they will deliver him
to the Gentiles to be mocked and whipped and crucified, and on the third day he will
raised.”
We saw in 19.1 that the Lord Jesus began the end of his period of withdrawal with a
movement toward Jerusalem. Now we see the continuation of this transition from
withdrawal to confrontation. In 20.17 Matthew says that the Lord is about to go up to
Jerusalem. The earthly ministry of the Lord is about to end, and that for which he ultimately
came is looming on the horizon.
At this point he tells the disciples for the third time that he will die and be raised, but
we notice a slight difference in his wording. In 16.21 he said that he would suffer at the hands
of the Jews, and in 17.22, that he would suffer at the hands of men. Now in 20.18-19 he says

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that he will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes who will in turn deliver him to the
Gentiles. We learn an important lesson from this statement. Sometimes there has been a
debate as to who was responsible for the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. Some Gentiles have
tried to point accusing fingers at the Jews, blaming them. Some Jews have tried to evade
responsibility by saying that it was the Romans who actually crucified Jesus. The truth is that
no one can point a finger at anyone else. The Lord was not killed by anyone, but laid his life
down, as we have seen from Jn. 10.17-18, and the reason he laid down his life is that we are
all sinners. He died because of you, and he died because of me. We are all to blame for his
death because it was the sins of all of us that led him to the cross. Yes, the Jews had a hand in
it. Yes, the Gentiles did, too. But the priests who prodded Pilate into passing sentence and the
soldiers who drove the nails are no more guilty than you and I.
20Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, bowing and
asking something from him. 21But he said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to him,
“Say that these two sons of mine may sit, one at your right and one at your left, in your
kingdom.” 22But answering Jesus said, “You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able
to drink the cup which I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23He said to
them, “My cup you will drink, but to sit at my right and at my left is not mine to give, but
for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” 24And when the twelve heard they
were indignant about the two brothers.” 25But Jesus having summoned them said, “You
know that the rulers o the Gentiles lord it over them and the great ones exercise authority
over them. 26Not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you will be
your servant, 27and whoever wishes to be first among you will be your slave, 28as the Son
of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life [psuche] a ransom for
many.”
We have seen a lack of understanding on the part of the disciples when the Lord has
predicted his death. The first time, Peter rebuked him and told him that would never happen
to him. The second time, the disciples were grieved, and then shortly afterward asked who
would be greatest in the kingdom. We see the same thing now after the third prophecy by the
Lord of his death. This time the mother of James and John brings her two sons to the Lord
and asks that they may sit at his right and left hands in his kingdom.
The Lord’s reply is that they do not know what they are asking, as they obviously do
not. If they understood what he was saying about dying as the Messiah, about the
hiddenness of the kingdom during this age, and about becoming as little children, they
would not ask for such positions. Then the Lord asks if they are able to drink the cup that he
will drink. Still not knowing what he means, they say, boasting in the flesh, that they are able.
Then he says that yes, they will indeed drink his cup, and they did. In Acts 12.2 we have the
record of the execution of James, and in Rev. 1.9 we see John exiled on the island of Patmos
for his faithfulness to the Lord. Nonetheless, the Lord could not grant positions in his
kingdom. They were for those for whom they had been prepared by the Father.
Thus these two show their complete lack of comprehension of what the Lord has been
getting at, but before we take too hard a view of them, let us realize that most of what we
learn comes by experience. Many, surely all, of us have been told things that we did not

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grasp until we had some experience of them. We see an example of this fact in the Bible in Jn.
2.22. The Lord had said that if “this temple” were destroyed, he would raise it up again in
three days. The disciples, like everyone else, thought he meant the building the Jews
worshipped in, until his resurrection, when they remembered that he had said this and
realized that he was talking about his body. Only experience shed light on what they had
been told. The same is true with this saying about drinking from the Lord’s cup. James and
John eventually understood what he meant, and they were able to drink it, not in the
boasting of the flesh, but by the grace of God.
In v. 24 we are told that the other ten disciples become very angry when they learn
that James and John have asked for the two best positions in the kingdom. Is this because
they understand the Lord’s teaching about the spiritual nature of the kingdom and are upset
because James and John are so materially minded? No, in all likelihood the ten want the best
positions also and are angry with James and John for going to the Lord without their
knowledge and trying to get these jobs for themselves.
As usual the Lord deals gently with them, using the occasion as an opportunity to
teach them further about the nature of service in his kingdom. He begins by citing the
example of the Gentiles as the wrong example. Among them the rulers lord it over the
subjects and the great ones exercise authority over them. In effect, the people exist to serve
the government officials, paying them well, risking their lives in battle for them, and so forth.
Is that not true? How many palaces can be found in the midst of squalor? How many
dictators hide in safe bunkers while their common soldiers die by the thousands.?
It is not to be this way, says the Lord, in his kingdom. Those who wish to be great
must be servants of all, for it is the servants who are considered great in his kingdom, not
those served, and the one who wishes to be first of all must be a slave of all. A slave is lower
than a servant, so a slave in the kingdom is not just great, but first. What a kingdom this is!
How utterly different from the thoughts of men, whose desire is to gain power so they can
use the people for their own benefit.
As always the Lord himself is the example. He did not come to be served, but to serve,
and more, to give his life a ransom for many. He himself is the greatest in the kingdom
because he is the greatest servant, and he is first because he is the greatest slave. He has never
used anyone for his own benefit, nor will he ever. He lives to love and serve. Those of us who
wish to have a place in his kingdom, both now and when he returns to claim his throne, must
follow his example. We gain stature not by jockeying for position, but by laying down our
lives for the Lord and his people.
29And as they were going out from Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30And look! two
men sitting by the way, when they heard that Jesus was going by, cried out saying, “Lord,
have mercy on us, Son of David.” 31But the crowd ordered them that they should be quite,
but they cried more saying, “Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David.” 32And when he had
stopped Jesus called them and said, “What do you want that I should do for you?” 33They
answered him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.” 34And having compassion Jesus
touched their eyes, and immediately they saw again and followed him.

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V. 29 shows the final climactic steps in the Lord’s journey, his leaving of Jericho, for
that is the last city before Jerusalem, the city of his death. As he is leaving Jericho a large
crowd follows him. They pass two blind men who are sitting by the road, and when the two
hear the commotion they want to know what is going on. On learning that the Lord is
passing by, they begin to cry out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” The crowd tells them to
be quiet, but they just cry out the more, and the Lord stops and asks them what they want.
When they reply that they want to see, he touches their eyes and they see, and they follow
him.
In Mt. 15.22, when the Canaanite woman called on the Lord Jesus as Son of David, he
would not respond to her. We saw there that the reason was that she was Gentile and as such
had no claim on the Lord as Son of David, a Jewish title. She had to take her place as a
Gentile sinner and come to him on the basis of confession, repentance, and faith. But these
two blind men are Jews. Despite the fact that the Jews as a whole had rejected their King,
these two who are blind physically have spiritual sight and recognize their King. Thus he
responds to their cries at once and grants their request.
The contrast between the attitude of the crowds and that of the Lord Jesus is
noteworthy. They tell the blind men to be quiet. He stops and grants their request. The
crowds exemplify what the Lord has just been saying to the disciples: they see the Lord as a
great one, too important for two blind men. The Lord shows that he came not to be served,
but to serve, and takes time for two men who can do nothing for him.
We also see in this passage the importance of making our requests known to God.
Beautiful in its simplicity is the exchange between the Lord and these two. He simply asks
what they want. They simply reply that they want to see. There is no complicated discussion.
There is no theological language, no flowery prayer. They tell the Lord what they want and
he gives it to them. We are reminded of Ja. 4.2, “You don’t have because you don’t ask,” and
of Phil. 4.6, “Let your requests be made known to God.” God does not always say yes to our
prayers, for we sometimes in our foolishness as for that which would hurt us, but never let it
be said that we don’t have because we don’t ask. Let us make our requests known to God
and give him an opportunity to say yes. If he does, we have our request. If he does not, we
have the assurance that he does only what is best for us.
This story is also a picture of discipleship. Ever since chapter 16 the Lord has been
trying to show the disciples that being a disciple means following a Messiah who will go to a
cross. They hear the prophecy of his death three times, and follow the third prophecy with a
request for the best places in the kingdom. But the two blind men have their eyes opened and
follow him. They picture those who see that the road on which they follow the Messiah leads
to a cross, and they go anyway. That is a disciple, one who knows that a cross lies ahead and
goes on.

The Triumphal Entry
Mt. 21.1-22.14

And when they were near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives,
then Jesus sent two disciples, 2saying to them, “Go into the village which is opposite you

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and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Having loosed them
bring them to me. 3And if anyone say anything to you, say, “Their Lord has need, and
immediately he will send them.” 4Now this happened that what was spoken through the
prophet might be fulfilled saying, 5

“Say to the daughter of Zion, [Is. 62.11] ‘Look! your
King is coming to you, meek and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the son of an “under
the yoke.”‘” [Zech 9.9] 6Now the disciples having gone and done what Jesus commanded
them, 7
they brought the donkey and the colt, and they put their garments on them and he
sat on them. 8Now most of the crowd spread their garments on the way, but others were
cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the way. 9Now the crowds which
were going before him and those following him cried out saying, “Hosanna to the Son of
David. ‘Blessed is the one coming in the name of I AM.’ [Ps. 118.26] Hosanna in the
highest!” 10And when he had entered into Jerusalem all the city was shaken saying, “Who
is this? 11But the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, the one from Nazareth of
Galilee.”
In Mt. 21.1 we find the Lord approaching Jerusalem, about to enter it for the first time
in this gospel. We need to understand that the gospels were not intended so much to be
chronological accounts of the life of the Lord Jesus on earth as writings designed to show
some aspect of his character and to bring people to faith in him. Thus we find stories and
accounts grouped together differently in the four gospels. John has the Lord going to
Jerusalem more than once during his ministry before the final journey there, but Matthew,
Mark, and Luke record only this trip at the end. The reason is that they show the Lord as the
one who is rejected by official Judaism while he is accepted by those despised by official
Judaism, the Galileans, and that when he makes his visit to Jerusalem, he is finally rejected.
So we come to this point in Matthew when the Lord is at the gates of Jerusalem.
Chapters 21-23 of Matthew might be seen as the King’s official presenting of himself in the
capital. He has already presented himself in Galilee and been rejected by the representatives
of Judaism there, but now he comes to the capital city and makes a more official presenting.
Or these chapters might be seen as the slowness of the Lord to anger. Even after all the
rejection he has experienced, and after the good news shows that he has turned in principle
from the Jews to the Gentiles, he still gives the Jews one last chance. But again he is rejected,
and these three chapters show, in every paragraph, this rejection and the spiritual condition
of the Jews, either by the Lord’s words, by the words or actions of the Jews, or by some
encounter between them.
Having come to the outskirts of Jerusalem the Lord sends two disciples to get a
donkey and her colt for him to ride into the city. They do so and he rides in. He does this in
fulfillment of prophecy. The Jews, as we have seen, looked for their Messiah to be a mighty
deliverer who would ride in on a great horse at the head of an army and liberate Israel from
the Romans. But their own prophet Zechariah had said that their King would come to them
humbly, riding a donkey (Zech. 9.9), and that is exactly what the Lord does. Not only does he
fulfill prophecy, but he also gives one more example of what he has been teaching his
disciples about Messiahship. To be the Messiah was not to be in a position of greatness

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lording it over people, but to be the humble servant of all, and so he comes riding, not a great
beast, but a humble one. And his followers are not a great army, but twelve lowly Galileans.
Not only is his entry on a donkey a fulfillment of prophecy, but so is his reception by
the crowds. They spread their garments and branches from the trees before him and cry out,
“Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed be the one who comes in the name of the I AM.
Hosanna in the highest.” These words come from Ps. 118.25-26, a psalm giving prophecy
about the coming of the Messiah, and here it is fulfilled in part, as it will be wholly at his
return.
However, the understanding of the crowds is far from complete. Even though they
hail this one as Son of David, a title of the messianic King of the Jews, when some in the city
ask who this is who is causing such a commotion, they answer that he is the prophet Jesus
from Nazareth in Galilee. The Lord Jesus had asked his disciples who men said he was, and
they had replied that they saw him as a prophet. That was all they saw and it is all they see
now. He was indeed a prophet, but he is so much more. The Prophet was the Messiah-King;
the Son of Man was the Son of God.
12And Jesus entered into the temple, and he drove out all those selling and buying in the
temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling
doves, 13and he said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ [Is.
56.7] but you are making it a robbers’ cave.”
The first official act of the King on his entry into his capital city is to cleanse his
temple. The temple was the symbol of the dwelling of God among his people. As such it
ought to be a place where people could approach God with their prayers and worship. But
the Jews had made the temple into a place where worship from the heart was all but
impossible.
The temple consisted of the innermost holy of holies, where no one but the high priest
could go, and he could go only once a year on the Day of Atonement, the holy place, where
the priests ministered daily by turns (see Lk. 1.8-9), and a series of courtyards. The courtyard
just outside the holy place contained the altar where the sacrifices were made. Outside this
were the court of men, where only Jewish men could go, then the court of women, where
only Jewish men and women could go, and finally the outermost court of Gentiles, where
Gentiles could worship God from afar. It was in this outer court of the Gentiles that the
moneychangers and sellers of sacrificial animals set up their stalls for business.
Jewish men were supposed to go up to Jerusalem three times a year to appear before
the Lord, at Passover, Weeks (Pentecost), and Tabernacles. By this time Jews were scattered
all over the known world, so when one of these festivals occurred, there would be Jews there
from every country, with the need to change their money in order to make temple offerings
and conduct other business. Furthermore, the men were not to appear before the Lord
empty-handed (Ex. 23.15). That is, they were to offer a sacrifice to him. It would not be
feasible for Jews traveling from all over the known world to take animals for sacrifice with
them, so there were those who had such animals for sale at the temple. All of this business
was conducted in the court of the Gentiles, creating such a bustle and din that one could do

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no more than make the external ceremonial acts of worship, without being able to quiet his
heart before God.
It is this situation into which the King walks, and he deals with it. He drives out those
who are buying and selling and overturns the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of
the sellers of doves. As he does so, he quotes from two Old Testament passages, Is. 56.7 and
Jer. 7.11. In Is. 56 the Lord promises Gentiles that they will not be turned away if they love
him and come to worship him. Their sacrifices will be accepted: “For my house will be called
a house of prayer for all peoples.”
In chapter 7 of his prophecy Jeremiah says that the Jews cannot live sinful lives and
then say that they are approved by God because they have his temple and do his religious
exercises there. If they try to do so, they make the Lord’s house a den of thieves.
In Mt. 21.13 the Lord Jesus says that what Isaiah said ought to be true, that the temple
is a house of prayer, but that what Jeremiah said is the actual case, that it is a den of thieves.
And he cleanses it.
14And blind and lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. 15But when the chief
priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children who were
crying in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant
16and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” But Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have
you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babies and nursing infants you have prepared praise
for yourself'”? [Ps. 8.3 LXX] 17And having left them he went out of the city to Bethany, and
he spent the night there.
Then v. 14 shows what takes place when God does dwell among his people: there is
blessing. The blind and the lame are healed. That is what ought to take place in the house of
God, not the practice of empty religion with such noise that no one can tell if God is even
there. The Lord wants to dwell among his people, and he wants to bless them. He does so
when he is received as King by his own now in a spiritual way, and he will do so outwardly
when he comes again. The Lord’s temple is not a building made with hands, but his people.
Lord, do come soon to your temple, cleanse it, and bless in it.
So the King has come into his city just as the prophet said he would, riding on a
donkey, offering himself to his people as their humble servant. We see the result in vs. 15-16:
further rejection by the Jews. The high priests and the scribes cannot join in the rejoicing that
blind and lame people are being healed in the house of God. Instead they are angry that the
one who brought such an obvious visitation from God is being hailed by even the children as
the Son of David, the Messiah. They ask him if he hears what they are saying.
Of course he does, but instead of telling them to stop giving that title to him, he says
that it is another fulfillment of prophecy, this time from Ps. 8.2: “Out of the mouth of babies
and nursing babies you have prepared praise.” We are reminded of 1 Cor. 1.26-29. Those who
have every advantage, such as the Jews, find that these advantages are of no avail in the
things of the Spirit. Those who seemingly ought to recognize the Lord do not. But those who
seem to have no advantage at all, who are simple-minded, weak, and humbly born, do
recognize him. How can this be? That no flesh may boast before the Lord. God sees to it that
those who take pride in their flesh will be humbled, while those who confess their emptiness

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are filled. Is this not another example of the Lord’s word that many who are first will be last,
and last, first?
Having come to his capital city and his temple and been rejected, the Lord leaves the
city and spends the night in a little village outside, in Bethany, almost certainly in the home
of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. The King cannot even sleep in his capital city. What a picture
of his rejection by the Jews. What a picture of their hearts. But he does lodge in the hearts of
those who receive him now in his humility, and the day will yet come when he lodges in
Jerusalem as King of kings and Lord of lords. May that day come soon!
18Now in the morning as they were returning to the city he was hungry, 19and seeing one
fig tree by the way he went to it, and he found nothing on it except leaves only. And he
said to it, “No more may there by fruit from you into the age.” And immediately the fig
tree dried up. 20And seeing it the disciples marveled saying, “How did the fig tree dry up
immediately?” 21And answering Jesus said to them, “Amen I say to you, “If you have faith
and don’t doubt, not only that of the fig tree will you do, but if you said to this mountain,
‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22And all, as much as you ask, as you
have faith, you will receive.”
The next day the Lord returns to Jerusalem. On his journey he becomes hungry. Seeing
a fig tree full of leaves he comes to it and finds no fruit, so he curses it: “No longer may there
be fruit from you forever.” The tree withers at once. Naturally the disciples are amazed and
ask how the tree could wither at once. The Lord replies, “Amen I say to you, if you have faith
and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to
this mountain, ‘Be taken up and be cast into the sea.’ it will be. And all things, whatever you
ask in prayer, having faith, you will receive.”
What are we to make of this story? The Lord did nothing without a good purpose, so
there is obviously more to this episode than his displeasure at being unable to find figs. The
answer is simple. The fig tree is a symbol of Judaism. By the time of the Lord Jesus this fig
tree was full of leaves, of outward display of religion, but it bore no fruit for God. When God
himself came to his people in the person of his Son, the Jews rejected him, so the Lord curses
Judaism, saying that it will never again produce fruit forever. And that is exactly what has
taken place. Judaism has been a religion devoid of spiritual life ever since. Many practicing
Jews do not even believe in God in our day, but see their religion only as a social force, both
for maintaining their identity as a people and for doing good works. In addition the nation
soon withered as well, and has stayed in a withered condition until our day, when we now
see Israel restored as a nation.
This raises the question as to why the nation would be restored, and why the Bible is
full of promises that Israel will be restored and will ultimately glorify God forever, when the
Lord said that it would bear no fruit again forever. The answer is that the Lord did not curse
Israel as a nation, but Judaism as a religion. Never again will Judaism bear fruit for God. One
day the Jews will own their Messiah and will bear fruit for God as followers of that Messiah,
but that empty religion will never be revived. The nation, yes, but religion without life, no.
At first glance the Lord’s answer to his disciples’ question may not seem to fit the
story. When they ask about the fig tree withering at once, since he is giving a picture of

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Judaism, it would seem that his answer would have to do with Judaism, but instead he says
that if they have faith, they can do the same thing. The answer is that the response the Jews
should have made to their Messiah was faith, believing that this humble man was the
Messiah and accepting him as their King. But they did not because he was not what they
expected. Instead of the expected killer of Romans, they got a man who intended to die
himself. Thus they rejected him. If they had believed and received him, they would have seen
the mountain of the rule of Rome cast into the sea in God’s time, and could have received
anything in response to prayer made in faith. Instead they do not have faith and are cursed
so as never again to bear fruit.
This truth has spiritual meaning for us. It is the same with us. The Lord is often not
what we expect. So many of us were told that if we turned our lives over to the Lord, he
would solve all our problems and give us a wonderful life, but we found that when we did
come to the Lord, we continued to have trials, sometimes more severe than before we had
faith. When that happens, when the Lord is not what we expected, what do we do? We have
the same choice as the Jews. We can reject him because he is not what we thought he would
be, or we can believe him and follow him to the cross. If we take the former course, we will
find the same withering within as happened to Judaism, for the Lord cannot produce fruit
through a tree that is not willing for him to prune it through suffering. If we believe in this
unexpected Messiah and yield to his pruning, we will find that we will bear fruit, more fruit,
and much fruit, as Jn. 15 puts it. As he continues this work in us, we will find that even the
miraculous is not beyond us. We will be able to wither unfruitful trees and cast mountains
into the sea at a word, if we have faith.
This matter of having faith is the key, and that is what the Lord says in v. 22 when he
says that “whatever you ask in prayer, having faith, you will receive.” This verse is one of
those so misused by those who teach that we can have anything we want just by believing
that we will. If we want something, believe that we will have it and God is obligated to give it
to us. What a lack of understanding of what faith is that approach betrays. Faith in the Bible
is not our effort to make ourselves believe something. It is the acceptance of what God says. If
God does not say anything, we cannot have faith. Paul says in Rom. 10.17 that “faith comes
from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Mt. 21.22 does not mean that we can
just decide to believe for anything we want. If God tells us to wither a tree or move a
mountain, then we can believe it will take place and speak the word, and it will take place.
The key is what God says. There can be no faith until God speaks, but when he does, we can
believe and act on anything he says. All things we ask for in prayer, having faith in what God
says, we will receive. That is faith, and faith can wither trees and move mountains. God give
us ears to hear what he is speaking and faith to trust him!
23And when he had come into the temple [ἱerovn] the chief priests and the elders of the
people came to him as he was teaching saying, “By what authority are you doing these
things and who gave you this authority?” 24But answering Jesus said to them, “And I will
ask you one thing [lovgo”], which, if you tell me, I also will tell you by what authority I do
these things. 25The baptism of John, where was it from? From Heaven or from men?” But
they discussed among themselves saying, “If we say, ‘From Heaven,’ he will say to us,
‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the crowd, for all

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have John as a prophet. 27And answering they said to Jesus, “We don’t know.” And he said
to them, “Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.
The theme of the Jews’ rejection of the Lord continues in vs. 23-27. The high priests
and elders ask him by what authority he acts and who gave him the authority. By doing so
they set themselves up as judges. Since that is the case, the Lord sets out first to test their
competence to act as judges. He asks them a question in return: Was John’s baptism from
God or from men?
The priests and elders reason among themselves that if they say John’s baptism was
from God, Jesus will ask them why, then, they did not believe him, and if they say from men,
the crowds will create an uproar, for they believe John was a prophet. They reply that they
do not know. By doing so, they reveal their incompetence as judges. If they cannot make a
judgment about John, neither can they make one about the Lord Jesus, so he says that he will
not tell them by what authority he acts.
In addition to this revelation of the incompetence of the priests and elders to judge, we
also see in this passage a further revelation of the heart of the Jews. As always, their question
was not designed to gather information that would help them in their relationship with God,
but was intended to harm the Lord Jesus. Most questions of the Jews were designed to trap
him in some statement that would enable them to bring a legal charge against him, and thus
arrest him. Perhaps that was the case in this passage, for if he said that he acted on the
authority of God, they might accuse him, a man without credentials, of blasphemy, or it may
be that they were simply trying to discredit him by showing his lack of credentials.
Whatever their exact reason may have been, the passage shows again that God does
not reveal himself to lack of faith and closed hearts, but to faith and open hearts. Instead of
having open hearts hoping to learn of God, these leaders of the people of God had hearts that
lacked faith and were full of the desire to undermine the work of the Lord Jesus through their
questions.
We also see their lack of understanding of God’s ways in v. 25 when their response to
the Lord’s question was to reason among themselves. Instead of seeking the answer of God
through prayer or the Scriptures, they relied on their own reason, and human wisdom
always fails in the things of God. We know spiritual truth by revelation, not by reason.
28″But what do you think? A man had two children. And having come to the first he said,
“Child, go work today in the vineyard.” 29And answering he said, “I don’t want to,” but
later changing his mind he went.” 30And having come to the other he said the same. And
answering he said, “I will, sir,” and did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of the
Father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Amen I say to you that the tax
collectors and the prostitutes are going before you into the kingdom of God. 32For John
came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors
and the prostitutes believed him. But you, [emphasized] seeing, did not change your mind
later to believe him.
If these men had sought God’s answer with a sincere heart, surely they would have
found the truth, but instead they gave the Lord Jesus the occasion to tell the parable of the

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two sons, found in vs. 28-32. A man told his first son to work in the vineyard, and the son
said he would, but did not. He told the second the same thing, and he said he would not, but
regretted it and did the work. Which of them, asks the Lord, did the will of his father? The
priests and elders have to answer that the son who did the work, even though he said he
would not, did the will of his father. Then the Lord says that it is the same with the Jewish
leaders. They, as did the first son, profess to obey God, but they do not do it. They are fig
trees full of leaves, but with no fruit. The second son is the tax collectors and prostitutes,
sinners who at first refused God’s call, but who later repented and began to obey God. They,
says the Lord, will enter the kingdom before the priests and elders of the Jews. It is those who
obey God, not those who only make professions of righteousness, who will enter the
kingdom.
Then the Lord relates this parable of the two sons to the preceding incident about his
authority by pointing out that the priests and elders could not judge John the Baptist when he
first came, and they could not even see that he was from God when sinners began to repent
at his call. The righteous message of John should have been enough to show his origin. The
conversion of sinners should have been good evidence. But these incompetent judges could
not see God in either the message or the results of John’s ministry. The reason was that they
did not do the will of God, but only professed to, and they continue this manner of behavior
in the case of the Lord Jesus. How ironic, too, that the spiritual leaders of the people of God
could not evaluate John the Baptist while the tax collectors and prostitutes, utterly without
religious credentials, could and did! They repented and gained the kingdom. Again the Lord
emphasizes the “you”: They – the sinners – believed, but you, the religious leaders, did not.
33″Hear another parable. A man was a householder who ‘planted a vineyard and put a wall
around it and dug in it a winepress and built a tower,’ [Is. 5.1-2] and rented it to
vinedressers and went away. 34But when the season [kairov”] of the fruits was near he sent
his slaves to the vinedressers to receive his fruits. 35And when the vinedressers had taken
the slaves, they beat one and killed one and stoned one. 36Again he sent other slaves, more
than the first, and they did to them the same. 37But last he sent to them his son saying,
‘They will respect my son.’ 38But the vinedressers, when they saw the son, said among
themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and we may have his inheritance.’ 39And
when they had taken him they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40When
therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do with those vinedressers?” 41They
said to him, “He will badly destroy those bad ones and rent the vineyard to other
vinedressers who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” 42Jesus said to them, “Have you
never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this one became head
of the corner; this is from the LORD and it is marvelous in our eyes’? [Ps. 118.22-23]
43Because of this I say to you that the kingdom will be taken from you and given to a
nation producing its fruits. 44And the one who has fallen over this stone will be broken to
pieces, but the one on whom it falls, it will scatter him like chaff.” 45And when the chief
priests and the Pharisees had heard his parables they knew he was speaking about them.
46And seeking to seize him they were afraid of the crowds, for all had him as a prophet.

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The Lord gives a second parable that reveals the spiritual condition of the Jews in vs.
33-46. He tells the story of the vineyard, of the man who planted a vineyard, let it out to vine
growers, and went away. When he sent for his produce, his slaves were beaten or killed.
More slaves were treated in the same way, so he sent his son, thinking they would surely
respect him, but instead they killed him in order to steal his inheritance. When the Lord asks
the Jews what the owner of the vineyard will do, they have to admit that he will kill them
and let out the vineyard to growers who will give him what is his.
Every Jew would know exactly the Lord’s reference, for he alludes to Is. 5.1-7 where
the prophet says that Israel is God’s vineyard that is given every advantage by him, but
produces only wild grapes. The result will be God’s judgment on the vineyard of Israel,
laying it waste. This prophecy had its fulfillment in the Old Testament days when Judah was
taken captive by Babylon, but the Lord Jesus says that it is about to have second fulfillment
because of the Jews’ rejection of him. He is the Son sent by the owner, who is God.
After the Jews admit that the owner of the vineyard will destroy the unfaithful
growers, the Lord Jesus says,
Have you never read in the Scriptures, “The stone which the builders rejected, this has
come to the head of the corner; this was done by I AM and it is marvelous in our
eyes”? Therefore I say to you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and
given to a nation producing the fruits of it. And the one falling on this stone will be
broken to pieces, but the one on whom it falls, it will crush him.
The Lord tells the Jews that because they have rejected the prophets sent to them by God, and
even his Son, the kingdom which had been presented to them will now be taken from them
and presented to a nation that will produce its fruits, the church, also called a nation by Peter
in 1 Pt. 2.9. The one they rejected will become the Cornerstone and Head of that church, for
he is God’s chosen one, no matter what man may choose, and he will reign in the kingdom to
come. This fact of the kingdom being taken from the Jews and presented to the Gentiles is a
theme that we have seen all through Matthew.
Another theme is that of stumbling or lack of faith, of falling on the Stone which is
Christ, as the Lord puts it in v. 44. We saw it first in chapter 11, when the Lord told John the
Baptist through his messengers that the one who did not stumble over him was blessed. We
learned there that stumbling amounts to failure to have faith in the Lord Jesus because he is
not what one expected. He was not the Messiah the Jews were looking for, and they were so
set on their own expectations that they gave God no freedom to work in his own way. Thus
they rejected their King and lost their kingdom. John the Baptist had the same questions
because he had the same expectations, and so he was in danger of stumbling, of not having
faith in the Lord Jesus, because he was not what John looked for. Yet we believe that John
was faithful to the end. He did not stumble over, but built on, this Rock.
Other occurrences of stumbling in the sense of not having faith in the Lord come in
13.57-58, where the Jews stumbled over the Lord because he was supposedly only an
uneducated carpenter’s son; in 15.12, where the Pharisees and scribes stumbled because he
did not follow their traditions; and 17.27, where the Lord teaches that one should not give
another a cause of stumbling in insisting on his own freedom. Now this theme comes to a

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climax here in Mt. 21.44, where the Lord makes it plain that these Jews who have rejected
God’s prophets and Son, and thus have lost the kingdom, will be broken to pieces by falling
over this Stone who did not meet their expectations.
The Lord also adds another word to this statement: “but on whomever it falls, it will
crush him.” This word is a reference to Dan. 2.34-35 and 44-45. There the prophet shows that
at the end of history as we know it, when Gentile world rule has run its course, there will be
a stone that will crush all the Gentile empires and replace them as a kingdom that will never
end. That Stone is no one else but the Lord Jesus Christ, rejected by the builders, but chosen
by God and precious to him as the Head of the building, the church, in which God dwells,
the Stone over which those who do not have faith fall and are broken, and the Stone that will
ultimately grow into a great kingdom that will never end. The Jews did indeed stumble and
fall over this Stone in lack of faith, but those who have faith in him will build on him and be a
part of that kingdom built on the Rock.
What is the response of the high priest and Pharisees who hear these words,
repentance and faith? No, sad to say. They know he is speaking of them, as well they would,
for, as we saw, they knew Is. 5.1-7, the Old Testament likening of Israel to God’s vineyard
that produced only wild grapes. Yet instead of realizing that Isaiah’s prophecy was true of
them so that they repent and make things right, they are only angered and seek to arrest the
Lord. Yet it is not quite God’s time for his arrest, so through fear of the crowds who think him
to be a prophet, they do not do so. Nonetheless, they would soon cast the Son out of the
vineyard and kill him, thus fulfilling not only Isaiah’s prophecy, but that of the Lord Jesus as
well.

And answering Jesus again spoke to them in parables saying, 2

“The kingdom of the
heavens is like a man, a king, who made a wedding feast for his son. 3And he sent his
slaves to invite those invited to the wedding feast, and they did not want to come. 4Again
he sent, other slaves, saying, ‘Say to those invited, “Look! my feast I have made ready, my
bulls and fattened calves I have slaughtered, and all things are ready. Come to the
wedding feast.”‘ 5But they, disregarding, went away, one to his own field and another to
his business, 6but the rest, seizing his slaves, mistreated and killed them.

7Now the king
was angry, and sending his soldiers he killed those murderers and burned down their city.
8Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.
9Go therefore to the crossings [ways out of town] of the ways and as many as you find
invite to the wedding feast.’ 10And those slaves having gone out into the ways gathered
together all whom they found, both evil and good, and the wedding feast was filled with
those reclining. 11But when the king had entered to see those reclining he saw there a man
not wearing a wedding garment, 12and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you enter here not
having a wedding garment?’ But he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the servants,
‘When you have bound his feet and hands, throw him out into the darkness outside.’
There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth there. 14For many are the called, but few the
chosen.”

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A third parable dealing with the spiritual condition of the Jews and the result follows
as the Lord tells the story of a king giving a wedding feast for his son. The invited guests
refuse to come, some even mistreating and even killing some of the slaves sent to summon
them to the feast. The king sends his armies to kill the murderers and destroy their city. Then
he sends more slaves into the highways to invite as many as they find, good and evil, to the
feast.
Then when the king comes into the banquet hall and finds this assemblage, he sees one
man who is not wearing a wedding garment. He asks him how he got in without a wedding
garment, but the man is speechless, so the king has him bound and thrown into the outer
darkness. The Lord Jesus concludes the story with the words, “For many are called, but few
are chosen.”
The rejection of the invited guests of the wedding feast for the son pictures the Jews’
rejection of God’s presentation of the kingdom to them through his Son, the Lord Jesus. The
slaves who were mistreated and killed would be all those sent by God to the Jews, prophets,
Old and New Testament saints, and the disciples of the Lord Jesus. The king’s destruction of
the murderers and their city is the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies under Titus
in A.D. 70. Those who follow with the invitation in the highways are Christian preachers and
witnesses who call the Gentiles, good and evil as men would judge, to come to Christ. Thus
the banquet hall will be filled for the marriage supper of the Lamb at the return of Christ
(Rev. 19.7-8). We see once again the theme of the kingdom being taken from the Jews who
rejected it and presented to the Gentiles.
At vs. 8-9 the story passes from God’s dealings with the Jews to his work through the
church, and the story ends with the marriage supper of the Lamb, when the bride of Christ is
received by her Lord. We find there the man not dressed in a wedding garment who is
thrown into outer darkness. What are we to make of this part of the parable?
Some say that this man was not a Christian and that outer darkness is hell. They point
to the fact that he was not wearing a wedding garment as proof that he was not clothed with
Christ as his righteousness and so was not a Christian at all. However, Rev. 19.7-9 makes it
quite clear that the wedding garment at the marriage supper of the Lamb is the righteous
deeds of the saints. If that garment represents salvation, then it is salvation by works, for it is
righteous deeds.
But salvation is not by works, so the garment must stand for something else, and
indeed it does.
It is true that salvation is by grace, with no reference at all to our works, but it is also
true that people who are saved by grace will have to give account for their works after they
are saved. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5.10). Participation
in the marriage supper of the Lamb and a place in the kingdom when the Lord returns are
dependent on the righteous deeds of the saints, a truth we have seen all through Matthew.
Matthew is the good news of the kingdom, and it teaches that not all Christians, though truly
saved, will share in the millennial kingdom. It is those whose righteous deeds have qualified
who will do so.
The man in the wedding hall without a wedding garment is a Christian who has not
woven a wedding garment by his righteous deeds during this life, and thus is not ready to
share in the kingdom. He is thrown into outer darkness, a term that we have already seen is

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used only three times in the Bible, all three being in Matthew (8.12, 22.13, and 25.30). Outer
darkness is not hell, but simply the darkness outside the banquet hall. The man has to go
outside while those who are ready for the Lord at his return share in the joy of the supper. He
weeps and gnashes his teeth, for he realizes too late what he is missing.
Many are called. All the Jews were called, but only those who responded to God and
were faithful to him knew his blessing. All Christians are called to the kingdom, but not all
live under the rule of the kingdom in this life, and thus not all will be chosen for the visible
kingdom when Christ returns. Few are chosen. Those are chosen who weave a wedding
garment in this life by their righteous deeds, and righteous deeds are not just good deeds, but
those that are the will of God for for each person (see Mt. 7.21-23).
So we have the Lord giving three parables to illustrate the spiritual condition of the
Jews and what will come of it. They profess to obey God, being the most religious people on
earth, but they do not do it, while some who are the vilest of sinners change and do the will
of God. The Jews are God’s vineyard, but they produce only wild grapes, so the kingdom will
be taken from them and given to a nation, the church, that produces the fruit of the kingdom
(Matthew 21.43). The Jews reject the wedding feast that they have long been invited to, so
God rejects them and invites the Gentiles, and as many Jews as will, to become the church
and make up the bride of Christ. But even among this spiritual people of God, many are
called, but few are chosen. The Lord tells the Jews what has happened to them, and warns
Christians that the same can happen to them. Let us not as Christians say we will do the will
of God and then not do it, bring forth wild grapes, and fail to prepare a wedding garment.
Instead, let us do his will, bear his fruit, and weave our wedding garments by righteous
deeds. Thus will we be ready for the return of our Lord to claim his bride. And may he come
for us soon. Amen.

Mercy Boasts Over Judgment
Mt. 22.15-23.39

15Then when they had gone the Pharisees took counsel together that they might trap him
in a word. 16And they sent to him their disciples with the Herodians saying, “Teacher, we
know that you are truthful and you teach the way of God in truth and it does not matter to
you about anyone [you don’t seek anyone’s approval], for you don’t look into the face of
men [show partiality].

17Tell us therefore what you think: Is it permitted to pay tax to
Caesar or not?” 18But Jesus, knowing their evil, said, “Why are you testing me, hypocrites?
19Show me the coin of the tax.” 20And they brought to him a denarius. 20And he said to
them, “Whose is this image and inscription?” 21They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Then he said
to them, “Give then the things of Caesar to Caesar, and the things of God to God.” 22And
when they heard they marveled, and leaving him they went away.
We have seen that chapters 21-23 of Matthew all deal with the final encounter between
the Lord and the Jews in which they reject him as their King once for all, and in which their
spiritual condition is revealed by his actions or words and theirs. These three chapters
comprise the final scenes of the public ministry of the Lord. Up through Mt. 22.14 the events

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were primarily initiated by the Lord, with the questioning of his authority being the only
exception. Now in 22.15 the Jews take the offensive in an effort to discredit the Lord or find
grounds for charges against him.
In the first of these attacks the Pharisees and Herodians team up to try to trap the Lord
Jesus in his words. This joining of forces is remarkable in itself, for the Pharisees and
Herodians were bitter enemies. The Pharisees were the party most loyal to the law and the
tradition they had built up around it, and thus to things Jewish. They believed that the Jews
were the chosen people of God and so ought to be free, and indeed the dominant nation in
the world. They hated the pagan Romans who occupied their land, and their fondest dream
was the freeing of the Jews from Rome. We have seen the result of this desire in the messianic
expectations of the Jews, with their desire for a Messiah who would drive out the Romans
and restore the Jews to earthly glory.
The Herodians, on the other hand, were those who made peace with the Romans,
accepting things as they were and cooperating with Rome in its rule of the Jews. The
Pharisees saw them as traitors and hated them bitterly. A common opponent often brings
enemies together, though, and such was the case with the Lord. Both groups were opposed to
him so they joined forces to attack him.
Their approach is to flatter the Lord first and then to ask him if it is lawful to pay taxes
to Caesar. Their purpose, of course, is not to gain information, but to trap him, for the
question they ask does not have a right answer. If the Lord says it is lawful to pay taxes to
Caesar, then he is a traitor to the Jews in the eyes of the Pharisees. If he says no, then he is a
traitor to Rome. Either way he lays himself open to charges from one group or the other.
The wisdom of the Lord is seen in his reply. Not fooled by their flattery, he calls them
hypocrites and asks why they are testing him. Then he asks for the coin with which the taxes
are paid, and they produce one. He asks whose image is on the coin. It is Caesar’s. He says to
give Caesar what is his and to give God what is his. What is God’s? The answer is in the
image. The coin bore Caesar’s image, showing that it was his. Who bears the image of God?
Man does, showing that he is God’s. The Lord tells the Jews not to be troubled about the
things of this world. Let Caesar have his money. It will perish with him. What God wants is
people, and they should give themselves to him. The Pharisees and Herodians have no
answer, but marvel and go away.
23On that day there came to him Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) and they
questioned him 24saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If someone die not having children, his
brother will marry his wife and raise up seed to his brother.’ [Dt. 25.5, Gen. 38.8] 25Now
there were with us seven brothers, and the first, having married, died, and not having
seed, he left his wife to his brother. 26In the same way the second and the third, until the
seventh. 27Now last of all the woman died. 28In the resurrection therefore whose wife of the
seven will she be?” 29But answering Jesus said to them, “You are deceived not knowing the
Scriptures or the power of God. 30For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given
in marriage, but they are as angels in Heaven. 31But concerning the resurrection of the
dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 32’I am the God of
Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’? [Ex. 3.6] He is God not of the dead,
but of the living.” 33And when the crowds had heard they were amazed at his teaching.

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When the Sadducees see the failure of the Pharisees and Herodians they decide to
make an attempt. The Sadducees were the priestly party. They were allowed to maintain the
high priesthood at the pleasure of Rome, and there was considerable wealth associated with
the high priesthood, so they, too, had made peace with Rome. Because of their wealth they
had developed a this-worldly outlook, not being so careful of supposed spiritual things so
long as they got on in this world. Thus they did not believe in the resurrection, as Matthew
tells us in this passage, nor in spiritual beings, as Acts 23.8 says.
Not believing in the resurrection, they ask a question related to it, hoping not so much
to bring a legal charge against the Lord as to make him look ridiculous, and thus to
undermine his authority with the crowds. The Jews from the first did not know about eternal
life as we know it, and believed that a man lived on only in his sons, who carried on his
name. That is why it was so vital for a man to have sons in the Old Testament, and why a
woman who could not bear sons felt disgraced, even cursed by God. Since the bearing of
sons was so important, the Jewish law provided that if a man died without a son, his brother
should take his wife and have a son by her. The first such son would be considered the son of
the dead man and would carry on his family name.
It is this practice that underlies the question of the Sadducees. Seven brothers all
married the same woman, and all died childless. Whose wife will she be in the resurrection,
since all had her as wife? If the Sadducees can succeed in drawing the Lord Jesus into trying
to figure this one out, they can reduce him to the level of argument, for anyone could argue
for any of the seven with equal validity. One man’s opinion is as good as another’s. Thus they
would make him look absurd.
In reality he makes them look absurd by his answer, which again shows his wisdom
and their failure to understand both God and the Scriptures. The woman will not be anyone’s
wife in the resurrection, for their will be no marriage then. The primary purpose of marriage
is reproduction in a holy setting. There will be no need for reproduction in the resurrection,
for those who live then will never die. We will be like angels and will have spiritual bodies
that live forever.
Furthermore, the Bible says that God is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.
This was said to Moses in Ex. 3.6 after all three of those men had died. If they were dead then
God is the God of the dead. But he is the God of the living, and if that is true, then there must
be a resurrection, for it cannot be denied that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all died. The power
of God will raise them up. Thus the Sadducees are refuted and the crowds amazed once
more.
34But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered together
at the same place, 35and one of them, a lawyer, asked a question, testing him, 36″Teacher,
Which is the great commandment in the law?” 37And he answered him, “‘You shall love the
LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul’ [Dt. 6.5] and with all your mind.
38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.’ [Lev. 19.18] 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets.”

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41Now while the Pharisees were gathered together Jesus asked them 42saying, “What does it
seem to you concerning the Christ? Whose Son is he?” They said to him, “Of David.” 43He
said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord saying, 44’I AM said to my
Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies footstool of your feet”‘? [Ps. 110.1]
45If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 46And no one was able to answer him a
word, nor did anyone dare from that day to question him any more.
The Pharisees decide to make one last attempt. One of their number, a lawyer, asks the
Lord a question about the law: Which is the greatest commandment? Again their purpose is
not so much to gain grounds for a legal charge as to reduce the Lord to the level of debate.
Anyone could argue forcibly for any of the commandments, and again, one man’s opinion is
as good as another’s. The Lord would have no authority if he were engaged in this sort on
unanswerable discussion. But once again he is equal to the occasion.
He simply sums up the whole law in two statements: love God and love man. It is Dt.
6.5 that says to love God, and Lev. 19.18 that says to love man. Anyone who loves will not do
wrong, and so will keep the whole law. Paul makes the same point in Rom. 13.8-10.
There being no answer to this reply by the Lord, he proceeds to ask the Pharisees a
question: Whose Son is the Christ? David’s, they reply. Then, asks the Lord, how could David
call him Lord, for Ps. 110.1 says that David calls the Messiah Lord. How could the Messiah be
both son and Messiah to the same man, for the father is lord of the son?
This was precisely the kind of question the Pharisees were always debating among
themselves and never answering. It was the kind of question they tried to draw the Lord into.
The answer seems obvious to us as Christians, for we know that the Lord Jesus was
descended from David in his humanity, but he was God before David existed and became a
man only at a point in time to redeem people. But the Pharisees were confounded by the
question. Thus the Lord turned the tables on the Pharisees by using their own methods. The
result was that no one could answer him, and no one dared to ask him any more questions!

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and his disciples 2saying, “On Moses’ seat sit the
scribes and the Pharisees. 3All therefore, whatever they say to you, do and observe, but
don’t do according to their works, for they say and don’t do. 4But they bind up heavy
cargoes and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves with one finger of theirs
don’t want to move them. 5But all of their works they do to be seen [θεαθῆναι] by men.
For they broaden their phylacteries and enlarge the tassels, 6and they love [φιλοῦσιν] the
first reclining place at the banquets and the first seats in the synagogues, 7and the
greetings in the market places and to be called by men Rabbi. 8But you are not to be called
Rabbi, for one is your Teacher and you are all brothers. 9And don’t call anyone on earth
your father, for one is your Father in Heaven. 10And don’t be called leader, for one is your
Leader, Christ. 11But the greatest of you will be your servant. 12Now whoever exalts himself
will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
With all this debate behind him the Lord addresses both the crowds and his disciples.
The words he speaks are the last of his public ministry, and they are words of judgment as

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severe as any spoken. He exposes the scribes and the Pharisees for what they really are and
condemns them. This is the outcome of the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus, total rejection
by the people of God, and judgment on them because of it.
The Lord begins his condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees by saying that they
have put themselves in Moses’ seat, so the people should do what they say, but they should
not do as the scribes and Pharisees do, for they say and do not do. Moses, of course, was the
giver of the law of God, so insofar as the scribes and Pharisees taught the law of Moses they
should be obeyed. But while scrupulous on the letter of the law and on their own traditions,
they did not keep the spirit of the law as set forth by the Lord in Mt. 22.37-40. God’s concern
is that men love him and one another and act in accordance with that love. The Pharisees
were capable of doing wrong to both God and man if it appeared they were keeping the law
by so doing. The forbidding of healing on the Sabbath is a good example.
In v. 4 the Lord continues this line of thought by adding that the scribes and Pharisees
put heavy loads on people without lifting a finger themselves. Since these legalistic Jews
were very careful about keeping even the minutest points of the law, it does not appear that
the Lord means that they require others to keep the law while they themselves do not.
Rather, he seems to be referring to the traditions that the scribes and Pharisees developed
around the law to insure that it was kept. In time they created over six hundred regulations
designed to make certain that the ten commandments and the religious and social laws were
kept. They placed this load of rules on people, but, like the law itself, did nothing to help. The
problem with the law is that though it tells what to do, it gives no power to do. It was the
same with the scribes and Pharisees. They told people what to do, down to the minutest
detail, but they gave no help in doing it.
The Lord reveals the real hypocrisy of the religious behavior of the scribes and
Pharisees in vs. 5-7 when he shows that their motive is to be seen by people and to be highly
regarded by them. Recall that we saw in Mt. 6.1 that this word for “see” is the Greek word
from which we get “theater”: they put on a show. They broaden their phylacteries.
Phylacteries are based on Ex. 13.9 and Dt. 6.8 and 11.18. These were small leather cases
containing Scripture passages that were worn by some Jews to remind them of the law of
God and of the fact that God had delivered them from Egypt. But the scribes and Pharisees
wore phylacteries, not to remind them of what God had done for them and required of them,
but so that people would see how righteous they were. To make sure, they broadened the
phylacteries, making them larger than usual.
They also lengthened their tassels. Tassels were commanded by God in Num. 15.38-41
and served the same purpose as phylacteries. But again, instead of using the tassels as a
reminder, the scribes and Pharisees used them as a badge of righteousness and lengthened
them to make sure people could see them.
In the same way they loved the seats of honor at banquets and in the synagogues, to
be shown proper respect in the markets, and to have titles of honor by which to be addressed.
They lived for the praise of men. (See notes at Mt. 6.5)
The mention of titles of honor leads the Lord to give specific instructions about this
matter to his own followers. They are not to have such. They are not to be called rabbi or
father or leader, for there is only one Teacher (the meaning of “Rabbi”). Some think the
Teacher is the Lord Jesus, some, the Holy Spirit. In favor of the Lord Jesus are Mt. 26.25, 49,

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Mk. 9.5, 10.51, 11.21, 14.45, 1.38, 49, 3.2, 4.31, 6.25, 9.2, 11.8. In favor of the Holy Spirit, Jn.
14.26 and the thought that if he is the Rabbi, that would be the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit.
There is one Father, God the Father, and one Leader, the Lord Jesus. It is not a matter to fight
over, but it seems to me that the preponderance of the evile points to the Lord Jesus, but of
course it was the Holy spirit in the Lord that enabled him to do what he did as a man.
We have proceeded to violate this instruction freely. Roman Catholicism calls its
priests fathers in direct violation of this command of the Lord, and the title of Reverend is no
better. There are no reverends in the church, except the Lord himself. We are all the same
before him. Our place is not to hold titles of distinction, but, as the Lord makes clear once
again in vs. 11-12, to serve one another. The Lord himself is the example. As Paul tells us in
Phil. 2.5-11, he was God, yet he did not consider his equality with God something to be held
onto, but emptied himself. If the Lord Jesus himself did not claim the prerogatives of God in
his earthly life, how can we arrogate titles to ourselves? We should be as he was, a servant
who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many (Mt.
20.28). If we want to exalt ourselves with titles, God knows how to humble us, and will do so,
as the Lord says here. If we choose instead to serve without honors, the Lord knows how to
exalt us, and will do so. The humbling and exalting by the Lord may be in either this life or
the age to come, and it is far better to be humbled now and be exalted then than to be exalted
now and humbled then.
13″Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut the kingdom of the heavens
before men, for you don’t enter, nor do you permit those entering to enter.{14 Woe to you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you devour the houses of the widows, in pretense
even praying long prayers. Because of this you will receive greater judgment.}
Beginning at v. 13 the Lord pronounces woe on the scribes and Pharisees seven or
eight imes (v. 14 is not in the best Greek manuscripts of the gospel of Matthew). The first woe
comes because they did not enter the kingdom themselves, and they tried to stop those who
wanted to do so. They did not believe John the Baptist (21.25), and they opposed the ministry
of the Lord Jesus, even plotting to kill him (12.14). We are reminded of Mt. 11.12, “From the
days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of the heavens exerts force, and men of force
seize it.” Why must people seize the kingdom? Because they are opposed in their efforts to
enter it. The Lord’s condemnation of the Pharisees in the present passage is an example of
such opposition. Thus people must fight their way, not into salvation, a free gift, but into the
kingdom, a life ruled by the Lord. And never forget that the devil opposes us in our desire to
enter the kingdom.
The King had presented himself to the Pharisees by words and works and they had
rejected him themselves while hindering others. What a contrast with Peter, to whom the
Lord gave the keys of the kingdom, which, as we saw, are simply the opening of the
kingdom by evangelism. Peter entered the kingdom, and at Pentecost and in the house of
Cornelius he opened the kingdom to all who would come. Woe to those who do not enter
and to those who oppose those who do.

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If v. 14 should be included, it is more of the same. While holding themselves forth as
righteous they cheat helpless widows, all the while praying long prayers. This brings only
greater judgment.
15″Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you go around sea and land to make
one proselyte, and when he comes you make him twice more than yourselves a son of
gehenna.
In v. 15 the Lord pronounces the second or third woe on the scribes and Pharisees by
saying that they travel on sea and land to make one proselyte, and when they do, they make
him twice as much a son of hell as themselves. The Pharisees did try to make converts, but
what the Lord seems to be getting at is that instead of bringing people to God, they brought
them to a religion, the religious system they had created with their hedge of rules around the
law. More than anything else, God wants people in a living relationship with himself, but
relationships are difficult, for they require commitment, vulnerability, effort. People seem to
prefer religion, for by it they can observe some rules and rituals and be pronounced
acceptable by the religious establishment. That was the case with Pharisaism. One could keep
their rules and feel that he was pleasing to God without ever coming to know God. But that is
salvation by works in the first place, and it is not what God wants, people who know him.
Religion will not save anyone or put him in touch with God. We do not need religion. We
need God.
16″Woe to you, blind guides, those saying, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing,
but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ 17Fools and blind ones, for
which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18And, whoever swears by
the altar, it is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it is obligated. 19Blind ones,
which is greater, the offering or the altar that sanctifies the offering? 20Therefore the one
swearing by the altar swears by it and by all things that are on it. 21And the one swearing
by the temple swears by it and by the one dwelling in it. 22And the one swearing by
Heaven swears by the throne of God and by the one sitting on it.
Vs. 16-22 remind us of Mt. 5.33-37. There the Lord said not to swear at all, for one in
the kingdom should be so honest that he should not have to swear to be believed. The
Pharisaical approach was that if one swore, he had to tell the truth, whereas he might not be
bound by what he said if he did not swear. The Lord’s followers, by contrast, are bound
always to tell the truth. In the present passage there seem to be distinctions among oaths,
some being binding and others not, so that one who knows the tricks might cleverly lie. It is
like children crossing their fingers behind their backs when they say something so that they
can lie with impunity. Such cannot be the case, says the Lord, with his people. They are not to
swear at all, but if they do take an oath, they are bound to keep it, no matter what it is by.
Woe to those who make provision for lying.
23″Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint and dill and cumin and
neglect the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. It is necessary to do

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these things and also not to neglect those. 24Blind guides, those straining out the gnat and
swallowing the camel.
Lev. 27.30 and Dt. 14.22 provide for tithing among the Jews, and in Mt. 23.23-24 the
Lord pronounces another woe on the scribes and Pharisees for carrying the minute matters of
tithing to extremes while neglecting right relationships among people. It is still a matter of
rules. So long as one keeps the religious rules, he can treat people any way he pleases. Not so
says the Lord. Tithing ought to be done, but not the neglect of justice, mercy, and
faithfulness.
The Pharisees were careful to tithe, but as we saw in Mt. 12.1-14 they opposed
providing for human need and healing on the Sabbath, thus neglecting mercy. In Mt. 15.5-6
we learned of their practice of allowing people to escape providing for their elderly parents
by declaring their goods a gift to God. They neglected justice and mercy and faithfulness all
at once.
There were certain animals which were unclean to the Jews, so they could not eat
them. One of these was the gnat, and another was the camel. Since gnats were unclean, the
Jews would put a cloth over their wine glasses and strain the wine whent hey poured it to
make certain that they did not inadvertently swallow a gnat and thus become unclean.They
are so wrapped up in these minute regulations, says the Lord, that they do not notice the fact
that they are swallowing a camel while being preoccupied with the gnat. They cannot see the
forest for the trees, we would say. They cannot see justice and mercy and faithfulness for
tithing mint and dill and cumin. Woe to them!
25″Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you clean the outside of the cup and
the dish, but inwardly you are full of robbery and self indulgence. 26Blind Pharisee, clean
first the inside of the cup and the dish that the outside of them may also become clean.
Vs. 25-26 recall Mt. 15.10-20 to our minds. There we found that it is not what enters a
man that defiles him, but what comes out of his wicked heart. The same principle is stated
here in chapter 23. The Pharisees were concerned to see to the ceremonial washings of their
dishes, as they were of themselves. They would even wash when they returned from a
marketplace or other public area, not to get physically clean, but to wash off the ceremonial
defilement of contact with a person less righteous than they (Mk. 7.3-4). The Lord denounces
them for being so concerned with outward cleanliness while they have dirty hearts. The
simple fact that they were plotting murder against him is the proof of what he says. Certainly
we should do right outwardly, but not to the neglect of, or as a cover-up for, the heart.
27″Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs
which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all
uncleanness. 28So also you appear righteous on the outside to men, but inside you are full
of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Vs. 27-28 come from another Jewish practice dealing with ceremonial defilement.
Contact with a dead body or a tomb containig a dead body produced such defilement. When

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it was festival time Jews from all over the world would be travelling to Jerusalem to take
part. If they inadvertently touch a tomb on their journey they would be rendered unclean and
thus unable to participate in the festival. For this reason the Jews would whitewash tombs so
that people would be sure to see them and avoid them. The Lord says that the scribes and
Pharisees are like these tombs. Outwardly they are whitewashed, looking very religious.
Inwardly they are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. They keep the letter of the law, but they
do not love God or their neighbor, the summing up of all the law, as we saw in 22.37-40.
Woe!
29″Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you build the tombs of the prophets
and adorn the graves of the righteous 30and say, ‘If we had been in the days of our fathers,
we would not have been their partners in the blood of the prophets. 31Therefore you testify
against yourselves that you are sons of the ones who murdered the prophets. 32Fill the
measure of your fathers. 33Snakes, brood of vipers, how would you flee from the judgment
of gehenna. 34Look! because of this I am sending to you prophets and wise men and
scribes. Of them you will kill and crucify, and of them you will scourge in your
synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35so that on you will come all the righteous
blood poured out on the earth from ther blood of Abel the righteous to the blood of
Zachariah son of Berechiah, who was murdered between the sanctuary [the Holy of Holies]
and the altar. 36Amen I say to you, all these things will come on this generation.
The final woe occurs in vs. 29-36 where the Lord says that just as the fathers of the
scribes and Pharisees persecuted and killed the prophets sent to them by God, so will they.
They say they would not have done so if they had been living in that past time, but the proof
they would have is that they killed the Lord Jesus, the Prophet sent to them by God, and the
Christian people who followed. Stephen very soon became the first Christian martyr, and a
great persecution broke out with his death. Paul persecuted the church, and then was
persecuted himself when he turned to Christ. By such persecution of the Messiah himself and
his followers they filled up the measure of their fathers and brought on themselves all the
righteous blood shed on earth, from Abel to Zechariah. Judgment did indeed fall on that
generation, as the Lord prophesied in v. 36, for in A.D. 70, Rome put down a Jewish rebellion,
killed many Jews, and destroyed their temple.
It is of great interest that these last words of the public ministry of the Lord Jesus are
words of such harsh judgment. They are the climax of a theme that we have seen all through
Matthew, the rejection of their King by the Jews with his consequent judging of them and
turning from them to the Gentiles. And yet as strong as these words of judgment are, they are
not quite the last word.
37″Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one killing the prophets and stoning the one sent to her,
how often I wanted to gather your children in the same way a hen gathers her chicks
under the wings, and you would not. 38Look! your house is left to you desolate, 38for I say
to you, you may not see me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the one coming in the
name of I AM.'” [Ps. 118.26]

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In vs. 37-39 the Lord laments over the city, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the
prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children in the same
way that a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not.” And what is the
result of this refusal? “Behold, your house is left to you desolate.” One last word of judgment.
But the very last word is, “For I say to you, you will not see me from now until you say,
‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
We saw in Mt. 21.9 that the crowds shouted this acclamation from Ps. 118 at the Lord’s
triumphal entry, but how empty it rang at that time, for only five days later they deserted
him as the angry mob shouted, “Crucify him!” But there is yet coming a day when the Jews
will recognize their Messiah and will cry these words out with sincerity, hailing at last the
coming of their King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, the Jews have gone through terrible
judgment for their rejection of their King, but judgment is not the last word. God will yet
realize his purposes among the Jews. His King will be their King. Mercy will boast over
judgment as they cry, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Watch!
Mt. 24.1-25.46

And when Jesus had gone out from the temple [ἱerovn], he was leaving, and his
disciples came to show him the buildings of the temple. 2But answering he said to them,
“Do you not see all these? Amen I say to you, there will not be left here stone on stone
which will not be torn down.” 3But as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives the disciples
came to him alone saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what is the sign of your
parousia and of the end of the age?” 4And answering Jesus said to them, “See to it that no
one deceive you. 5For many will come in my name saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will
deceive many. 6And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not
alarmed, for it is necessary to take place, but it is not yet the end. 7For nation will rise
against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes
in various places. 8But all these things are the beginning of birth pangs. 9Then they will
deliver you to tribulation, and they will kill you, and you will be hated by all the nations
because of my name. 10And then many will be caused to stumble, and they will betray one
another and hate one another. 11And many false prophets will arise and deceive many,
12and because lawlessness to increase, the love [agape] of many will grow cold. 13But the
one who endures to the end – this one will be saved. 14And this Good News of the
kingdom will be preached in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations,
and then the end will come.
Having concluded his public ministry, the Lord Jesus leaves the temple, as Mt. 24.1
tells us, an act symbolic in itself of his rejection of the Jews. As he does so, the disciples reveal
that their hopes are still largely connected with the earthly hopes of the Jews, for they call his
attention to the temple. His reply is that all this will be torn down, leading his disciples to ask
the questions that give him the opportunity to deal with prophetic matters relating to the end

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of history as we know it and the beginning of the age to come: “Tell us when these things will
be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the consummation of the age.”
As we go into a discussion of these matters we should point out that there is much
disagreement on details among interpreters who believe God and the Bible. These
disagreements will not be resolved until the events themselves occur and the Lord himself
has returned, so our emphasis will not be so much on trying to determine every detail as on
setting forth what the Lord makes clear and seeing the primary message.
Many students of this passage believe that 24.4 begins a section that deals only with
the Jews. They disagree on the end of the section, some thinking that it ends with v. 31 and
others, with v. 41 or 44. They think that the next section begins with the verse following the
one they pick for the end of section one and goes through 25.30, and concerns the church.
Then 25.31-46 deals with the Gentiles. It is obvious that 25.31-46 deals with the Gentiles, for
the passage says that it does. However, the case for the first two sections is not quite so clear.
Reasons for believing that the first section deals only with the Jews, and not with the
church, are that it has to do with earthly things, such as wars and famine and physical
persecution, whereas the church is the spiritual people of God; v. 15 brings in the Great
Tribulation, which some think is a Jewish experience, the church having been raptured; the
warnings in vs. 16-20 would apply only to the Jews, especially the prayer that the Tribulation
might not necessitate flight on a Sabbath.
The second section is seen as dealing with the church because it consists of a series of
parables, which, unlike the earthly matters of 24.4-31, 41, or 44, are to be interpreted
spiritually, the church being God’s spiritual people.
It is difficult to see, however, how the first section could apply only to Jews. It consists
largely of instructions as to what to do in various circumstances. Why would the Lord give
instructions to the Jews in a book they do not believe in and do not read? In addition, some of
the assumptions about the rapture that underlie this belief may or may not be true, as we will
see. Finally, it seems especially that 24.4-14 deals with this entire age, from the Lord’s earthly
ministry to the end of the age, and thus would include Christians as well as everyone else,
and it is Christians who read and believe this book.
We think it better, therefore, to divide these two chapters up as follows: (1) 24.4-31:
events in this age, from the Lord’s earthly ministry to his visible return; (2) 24.32-25.30:
warnings to be ready; (3) 25.31-46: the judgment of the Gentiles after the visible return of the
Lord. Now let us return to the details of these sections and see what the Lord has to say to us
in them.
The Lord does not actually answer the disciples’ first question, “When will these
things be?” They seem to be refering primarily to the destruciton of the temple, for that is
what he has just said will take place. That took place in A.D. 70, when the Romans put down
the Jewish rebellion. But he does launch into matters that give some guidance as to the
answers to the questions about the sign of his coming and of the end of the age. Actually
these seem to be one question.
He says first that they should not be misled by the many who will come claiming to be
the Christ. Before Christ does come again certain things will occur. Anyone who claims to be
Christ before they do occur is not Christ and should not be believed. First there will be wars
and rumors of wars, but that is not the end. That has indeed been the case. There has hardly

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been a peaceful year in all the long history of mankind, but the end has not yet come. Wars
and rumors of wars are not a sign of the end, but a characteristic of human history, and are
the beginning of birth pangs, as v. 8 says.
There will be famines and earthquakes. Like wars, these will not herald the end, but
will be only the beginnings of the pangs of the birth of the age to come. In a sense we have
been living in the last days ever since the earthly life of the Lord, for he has done what must
be done for the establishment of the millennial kingdom, and some New Testament epistles
say that the days they were written in were the last days. All the sufferings of this age have
been the cries of the struggle to give birth to an age of righteousness.
V. 9 tells us that persecution of the Lord’s people will be another characteristic of this
age, and how true that has been. The Lord Jesus was the most persecuted of all, and the
attacks against his people began with the murder of Stephen and have continued ever since.
Because of this persecution, v. 10 says, many will stumble and even betray others whom they
had claimed to be Christian brothers. They will not endure persecution for the Lord. In this
situation many false prophets will be able to deceive many who are looking for a way out
rather than for the Lord himself. There will be such lawless attacks on the Lord’s people that
love will grow cold and people will turn from the Lord to avoid persecution. The Greek word
for “love” in this v. 12 is agape, the word for God’s love and the love he wants us to have for
one another as Christian brothers and sisters. That is, even some who are saved people will
have their love for one another grow cold. In this situation, the Lord says, it is the one who
endures to the end who will be saved. By saved, does he mean the gaining of eternal life,
which would indicate that stumbling in perecution can rob one of salvation, or being rescued
from the terrible trials? Certainly not the first, for eternal life, once given, cannot be taken
away. It refers to the finishing of the course faithful to the Lord, and thus ready for his
kingdom, even if that means martyrdom (see 1 Pt. 1.9, which refers not to initial salvation,
which is the new birth of the spirit by the entrance of the Holy Spirit, but to the completing of
the Lord’s work of saving the soul, which is a lifelong process of repairing the damage done
by sin (see 1 Pt. 2.11 and 3.21 and note at the end of this section); in addition the body will be
saved at the Lord’s return, Rom. 8.23).
With all of these evils taking place, the good news of the kingdom will nonetheless be
preached in the whole inhabited earth, and then the end will come. Some have said that the
good news of the kingdom is different from the good news of grace and that this verse refers
not to this age, when the good news of salvation by grace through faith is preached, but to
the very last years of history when the church has been raptured, grace is no longer available,
and the millennial kingdom is once again being preached, with endurance to the end the
criterion for entering it. We would argue that there is only one good news. The kingdom, the
time of the Lord’s righteous rule and our rest from our labors in this age, is the great
manifestation of grace that we long for. Part of the message of the good news of grace is that
there is a righteous age coming. This verse refers to the preaching of the only good news
there is in this age.
15”Therefrore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ [Dan. 9.27, 11.31, 12.11] which
was spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the Holy Place [let the reader
understand], 16let those in Judea flee to the mountains, 17let him who is on the housetop

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not go down to take the things in his house, 18and let the one in the field not turn back to
take his garment. 19But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing in
those days. 20And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. 21For then
there will be a great tribulation such as has never been from the beginning of the world
until now, nor will be. 22And if those days were not shortened no flesh would be saved,
but because of the elect those days will be cut short. 23Then if anyone say to you, ‘Look,
here is Christ,’ or, ‘Here,’ don’t believe it.

24For false Christs and false prophets will be
raised up, and they will give great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even the
elect. 25Look, I have told you beforehand. 26If therefore they should say to you, ‘Look, he is
in the desert,’ don’t go out. ‘Look, in the inner rooms,’ don’t believe it. 27For as the
lightning comes out from the rising of the sun and shines to the west, so will be the
parousia of the Son of Man. 28For wherever the body may be, there will the vultures be
gathered.
V. 15 brings in one of the events by which we can arrange the other prophecies. One of
the keys to understanding prophecy is the finding of certain events that can be fixed, and
then the relating of other events to that event. God has purposely made it impossible for us to
know everything and to construct an exact timetable of prophetic events, for he is more
interested in our knowing him than in our having knowledge, and he wants to keep us alert.
If we knew everything, we could be careless till the end and then be careful. Nonetheless,
there are certain events that Scripture is rather clear about, and we use them to gain some
understanding of the order of events at the end. Let us emphasize once again that there is
room for disagreement on details, but we can be fairly certain of some conclusions.
The event that v. 15 brings to us is the abomination of desolation. This occurrence is
first referred to in Dan. 9.27, 11.31, and 12.11. Dan. 9.24-27 teaches that there will be a final
seven years of human history (these seven years may be literal or symbolic, but there is no
reason that I see not to take them literally). Antichrist will rule during this seven-year period.
Apparently for the first three and one-half years he will rule benignly, but at the middle of
the period he will reveal his true nature, outlawing all worship except of himself, claiming to
be God, and descecrating the Jewish temple. This descecration of the temple is the
abomination of desolation spoken of by the Lord in Mt. 24.15. We see another reference to it
in 2 Th. 2.4, where Antichrist calims to be God.
This abomination of desolation is an event that helps to sort out prophecy because the
Bible tells us when it will occur, not by giving the date according to our current calendars,
but by telling us that it will take place at the midpoint of the final seven years of history. At
that point, Antichrist will have reigned for three and one-half years, and students of the
Scriptures will realize this fact. This abomination of desolation will touch off what the Bible
in only two places (Mt. 24.21 and Rev. 7.14) calls the Great Tribulation. The outbreak of the
Great Tribulation will mean that there are three and one-half years left in the present evil age,
and until the Lord apears. As we see how other events relate to it, we can place some of them
in sequence.
This will be a time of unparalleled suffering, with both the persecution of the Lord’s
people and the raining from Heaven of judgments on the earth for the evil of its people. The

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Lord warns that those living in Judea at the time this Tribulation breaks out should flee to the
mountains. Flight should be so urgent that the one on the housetop should not even go into
his house to take anything with him, and the one in the field should not even take time to
pick up his cloak. Those who are pregnant or nursing will have an especilly difficult time.
Those living then should pray that it will not occur in winter or on a Sabbath. Winter
conditions will make it very difficult to flee and live in the mountains. The prayer that the
flight might not be on a Sabbath is taken by many to be proof that this section refers to the
Jews, but that is not necessarily the case. The nation of Israel virtually shuts down on the
Sabbath, a situation that would make it difficult for those fleeing to get help on their flight.
Not having gone into the house for supplies, they will have to make do as they travel. If
there is no one to help because of Sabbath observance, conditions will be made more difficult.
These could be Christrians as well as Jews.
The Great Tribulation that will break out with the abomination of desolation will be
worse than anything that has ever taken place or will ever occur again. It will be so terrible
that unless God shortened the days, no life would be spared, but for the sake of the elect he
will shorten the days.
In that horror, there will be more who will try to take advantage by claiming to be
Christ. They will try to draw a following by promising deliverance. They will indeed deceive
many, for they will even be able to do signs and wonders. But the Lord says not to believe
them, for his coming will not be here or there, in the desert or in an inner room. It will be like
lightning. Everyone will know it when the Lord appeqars. If there is any question as to
whether or not the Lord has come, he has not. When he does there will not be anyone who
does not know it.
Then the Lord adds a final statement that seems mysterious at first, but is clear in the
light of other Scripture. He says, “Where the body is, there the vultures will be gathered.”
This word first reinforces the Lord’s claim that his coming will be obvious to all. Just as
lightning is not hidden, but is open for all to see, so vultures circling in the sky over a dead
body are easily seen.
But there is a much deeper meaning to this statement, as a reference to Rev. 19.17-18
will make clear:
And I saw one angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all
the birds flying in the midheaven, “Come, be gathered to the great supper of God, that
you may eat flesh of kings and flesh of rulers of thousands and flesh of strong men
and flesh of horses and of those sitting on them and flesh of all men, free and slaves
and small and great” (see Ezk. 39.17-20).
This statement is a reference to Armageddon, the final confrontation of this age that
will occur at the visible appearing of the Lord Jesus, when he will destroy the evil armies
gathered against Israel. The Lord has just said, in Mt. 24.27, that his coming will be like the
lightning. This is his visible appearing at the end of history. With it will come Armageddon,
the great supper of God when the birds of the sky will eat the flesh of those slain at
Armageddon: “Where the body is, that the vultures will be gathered.”

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So we begin to see some outline of the time sequence at the end. After a long age of
wars, famines, earthquakes, persecution, and the preaching of the good news, there will be
the rule of Antichrist, the Great Tribulation, and the visible appearing of the Lord at
Armageddon.
29“But immediately after the tribulation of those days, ‘the sun will be darkened and the
moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, [Is. 34.4 LXX] and the
powers of the skies will be shaken.’ [Is. 13.10, Ezk. 32.7, Jl. 2.20, 31, 3.15, Hg. 2.6] 30And then
the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will
mourn and they will see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky’ [Dan. 7.13] with
power and much glory. 31And he will send his angels with a great trumpet and they will
gather his elect from the four winds from one end of the skies to the other.
V. 29 goes back just a bit and fills in another event that will occur just at the end of the
Great Tribulation and just before the appearing of the Lord. The sun, moon, and stars will be
affected, the sun being darkened, the moon not giving its light, and the stars falling from the
sky. These words are quotations of or allusions to a number of Old Testament passages,
including Is. 13.10 and 34.4 and Joel 2.30-31. Matthew adds that the powers of the heavens
will be shaken. We have seen that the heavens in Matthew can the spiritual world. It may be
that this statement by Matthew refers to the evil spirits that now rule the earth from the
heavens, or the air (Satan is the god of this age, 2 Cor. 4.4; he is the ruler of the authority of
the air, Eph. 2.2, 6.12, Col. 2.15). Perhaps Matthew is saying that at the visible return of the
Lord Jesus, the physical heavens will be shaken (“heavens” in Hebrew and Greek can refer to
Heaven or the skies), and so will the spiritual, with the evil spiritual forces losing their
authority, to be replaced by the King of kings and those who will rule with him. For the very
next verse of Mt. 24 says that then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then
all the tribes of the earth will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky. It seems
that all the shaking is caused by the passing of the returning Lord through the spiritual world
and the sky.
There is disagreement as to what the sign of the Sof of Man is. Perhaps it is simply the
Lord himslef becoming visible, the sign that is the Son of Man. Some have proposed various
speculations, but that is all they are, for the Bible does not tell us what this sign is. Whatever
it is, there will be no mistaking it when it appears.
When it does, all the tribes of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man
coming. Those who believe that these prophecies refer only to the Jews translate this phrase,
“all the tribes of the land,” the land meaning Israel and the phrase meaning the Jews. This
would be a reference to Zech. 12.10, where it is prophesied that the Jews will mourn when
they see their Messiah, for they will realize that they pierced him. This is a strong argument
for this view, because of the allusion to Zech. 12.10, but it is not conclusive, for the phrase
may mean tribes of the earth or land, and indeed many peoples of all the world who are not
ready for the Lord will mourn at his coming.
Whatever the exact meaning, at this instant in history the Lord Jesus will appear
visibly and will send out his angels to gather his elect. This will be done with a great trumpet.
This trumpet is another of those events in prophecy to which we can relate other events, thus

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gaining some understanding of the sequence of events. Revelation tells us that there will be
seven trumpets at the end, with the seventh obviously being the last, and Rev. 11.15 says that
when the last trumpet is sounded, the Lord Jesus will have begun to reign forever, the
kingdom of the world having become God’s and his Christ’s. It would seem only logical that
this last trumpet of Revelation is the same as the trumpet in Mt. 24.31, for at his return, the
Lord Jesus will begin to reign, having replaced Satan as the ruler of this world (Jn. 12.31).
Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 15.51-52 that we will not all sleep, that is, die, but we will all be
changed at the last trumpet, and that at the last trumpet, the dead will rise and the living will
be changed. Paul tells us further in 1 Thess. 4.13-18 that when Christ descends from Heaven
with the trumpet of God, the dead in Christ will be raised and those who are alive will be
caught up with them.
It would seem that Mt. 24.31, 1 Cor. 15.52, 1 Thess. 4.16, and Rev. 11.15 all refer to the
same event, the last trumpet after the Great Tribulation, when the Lord visibly appears. Thus
the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the rapture of the living occur after the Great
Tribulation, not before, for Matthew plainly tells us that this trumpet will be blown after the
Great Tribulation. The common teaching is that the rapture will occur before the Great
Tribulation, but it is hard to see how this can be true in light of the passages just cited. It is
true that there will be a rapture before the Great Tribulation, but it will not be of all the
church. It will be only of the firstfruits, as Rev. 14 puts it, of those Christians who have
allowed the Lord to deal with them through their trials, thus maturing them for the early
harvest of firstfruits. Those who have resisted the Lord in their trials, only trying to get out of
them, rather than submitting in them and being matured by them, will be left to be matured
by the greater trial of the Great Tribulation.
This first rapture before the Great Tribulation, of those who are reeady at the time, is
seen in Rev. 12.5. Again, it is commonly taught that the woman is Israel and the man-child is
the Lord Jesus, with the reference being to his ascension, but this could not be, for he was not
caught up to the throne at his birth, but only after the thirty years of life in obscurity and then

three or so years of ministry, death, and resurrection. The woman is the church, and the man-
child is the firstfruits of the church, those who have been matured through trial and are ready

for rapture before the Great Tribulation. In Rev. 12.17 we see an enraged Satan persecuting
the rest of the woman’s seed, those Christians who were not raptured, but who were left to
go through the Great Tribulation.
It is really outside the scope of Matthew to deal with this matter of the pre-tribulation
rapture of the firstfruits, for he does not deal with it (unless he does so in 24.40-41), but only
with the post-tribulation resurrection of the dead in Christ and rapture of those still living in
Christ at that time. However we need to add these words for the sake of clarity.
V. 31 ends, then, what we might call the historical survey of last things in Matthew.
There will be age-long wars, famines, earthquakes, persecutions, and the preaching of the
good news, the abomination of desolation, the Great Tribulation, the shaking of the sky and
heavens, the visible appearing of the Lord, Armageddon, and the gathering of the elect.
32“From the fig tree learn the lesson [parable]. When its branch is already tender and is
putting forth the leaves you know that summer is near. 33So also you, when you see all
these things, you know that he is near, at the doors. 34Amen I say to you that this

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generation will not pass away until all these things come to pass. 35The sky and the earth
will pass away, but my words may not pass away.
V. 32 begins with a new section of the Lord’s teaching on last things, one that deals
with the primary purpose of prophecy, and he uses the word “parable” for what he is saying.
As the stories he told in Mt. 13 and other chapters, this use of the fig tree pictures what will
take place. The purpose is not to satisfy our curiosity about the future by giving us every
detail and an exact time sequence. We have tried to learn as much about these matters as
possible, but only because they are there in the Scriptures, but they are not the purpose of
prophecy. Its purpose is very simple and sobering, too: it is that we might be ready for the
Lord when he calls for us, whether by death, by rapture to the throne before the Great
Tribulation, or by resurrection or rapture after the Great Tribulation. This is a word to
Christians, too, as we have seen all through Matthew. Obviously the lost need to repent and
be ready, to avoid hell, but Christians need to be ready, for those who are not ready before
the Great Tribulation will be left to go through it. Those who have died before that time will
be raised at the Lord’s visible appearing, but those who are raised who are not ready will lose
something of reward in the kingdom, a constant theme of Matthew. The Lord Jesus uses a
number of ways to tell us to watch and be ready. Let us turn now to these.
He begins by telling us in vs. 32-33 that just as one can tell that summer is near when
the fig tree puts forth its leaves, so one can tell that his coming is near when he sees “all these
things.” That is, there is no excuse for a Christian not to be ready for the return of his Lord,
for he has told us what to look for as signs of his coming. We have seen that all have needed
to be ready for the Lord’s return, including those that have already died. That is, the one who
dies must be prepared to meet the Lord just as surely as the one who is alive at his coming. In
that sense, one’s death amounts to the same thing as the Lord’s return, for that person. The
Lord said that this age would be characterized by wars, famines, earthquakes, persecution,
falling away, false prophets, lawlessness, and the preaching of the good news. The very fact
that these things exist, as they always have and do now, should cause one to be ready to meet
the Lord, for he will judge evil sooner or later.
But this warning to be ready has special significance for those living near the time of
the Lord’s return, for there will be additional signs. It seems that the lawlessness of v. 12 will
grow intense, as we see in our day, and v. 14 says that the good news will be preached in the
whole inhabited earth before the end comes. It is only in the last hundred and fifty years or
so, with the rise of the missionary movement, that the good news has really gotten out to all
the world. That is a sign of the end.
The rapture of the overcomers, of course, will be a sign to those who are not raptured.
They will see that the end is near and that they must do what they have not done up to that
time, get ready. The rise of Antichrist, the abomination of desolation, the Great Tribulation,
are all signs of the Lord’s visible appearing for those living at that time.
Because the fig tree is a symbol of Israel, as we saw in Mt. 21.18-22, some think that the
Lord’s reference to the fig tree here in 24.32 means that the rise of Israel is a sign of the end.
That is certainly a possibility, for Moses himself prophesied that Israel would pass out of
existence as a nation and then be called back to her land. That has happened in our day. It is
not conclusive that this statement refers to Israel, but the possibility cannot be denied.

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The point is that there is no excuse for the Christian not to be ready to meet his Lord,
for there is abundant evidence of the truth in his words that he will come again.
V. 34 is one of those difficult statements of Scripture: “Amen I say to you that this
generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” If by “generation” the Lord
Jesus meant the people living at the time he spoke the words, then he was wrong, and we
certainly do not believe that he was wrong. If he meant the generation living at the time these
things do take place, in the first place, that seems to be so obvious as to be silly to say. Of
course the generation living when something happens will be living when it happens! In the
second place, if he had been referring to a future generation, he would almost surely have
said, “that generation,” not “this generation.” Some have pointed out that the Greek word for
“generation” can also mean “race,” with the thought that he was referring to the Jews, a race
that has indeed not passed away from that day to this. But the meaning “race” does not seem
to fit elsewhere in the Bible, and it would be unusual for it to have that meaning only once,
when it normally means “generation.”
A generation is a group of people born at approximately the same time, so it is usually
taken to mean a period of from twenty to forty years. Since this usual meaning does not fit, it
may be that the Lord meant that all of us are born of Adam, born in sin, and that sinful race
generated by Adam will not pass away till God himself brings it to an end by his own
intervention through the last things and the appearing of the great Judge and King, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Whatever his exact meaning, the things he propheseid will take place, and he
will return.
Having set forth these possibilities, let me say that I believe the key is in v. 32, the fig
tree putting forth its leaves. I believe that the fig tree is Israel and that the putting forth of
leaves refers to its becoming a nation again. That has taken place in our day, in 1948. When v.
34 reads “this generation,” it means the generation when the leaves are put forth. Those born
in the generation including 1948 will not pass away until they see all these things take place.
If all that is true, we are indeed living in the last days, even as John says, “It is the last hour!”
(1 Jn. 2.18)
36“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of the heavens, nor
the Son, except the father alone. 37For as the days of Noah, so will be the parousia of the
Son of Man. 38For as they were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered into the ark, 39and they did
not know until the flood came and took them all away, so will be the parousia of the Son
of Man. 40Then two will be in the field; one is taken and one left; 41two women grinding at
the mill; one is taken and one left. 42Stay awake, therefore, for you do not know at what
hour your Lord is coming. 43But you know that, that if the householder had known at what
watch the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not have permitted his
house to be dug through. 44Because of this you also be ready, for at an hour you do not
think, the Son of Man is coming.
The need to be ready is especially emphasized by v. 36: no one knows the day or the
hour when the Lord will come, not even the Lord Jesus himself. That is a very interesting
statement in itself. As God he knows everything, but we believe that when he became a man,

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he voluntarily chose to live as a man, to go through what we have to go through, and thus he
did not live by divine power and knowledge, but by faith in his Father, as we must. As a
man, he did not know everything, but he did receive supernatural revelations from God, as
we may, too, if God wills (what Paul calls a word of knowledge in 1 Cor. 12). One thing that
was not revealed to him was the time of his own return,
Since this time is utterly unknown, it is vital that Christians be ready for it at all times.
The visible return of Christ will not take place till Antichrist, the abomination of desolation,
and the Great Tribulation occur, but the rapture of the firstfruits could take place at any
instant, and always could have since the Lord’s ascension. There is never a moment when
that could not occur.
Then the Lord uses an Old Testament illustration of what he is saying about the need
to be ready. He cites the days of Noah. God revealed to Noah that there would be a flood, so
for one hundred and twenty years, Noah preached repentance and built a boat on dry land.
What a fool he appeared to be, and how he was mocked. Then one day it started raining,
without any warning other than Noah’s testimony, and it did not stop till every person on
earth was dead excpet for Noah and his family, eight people. Someone has pointed out that
this was the first time the Bible says it rained, so it may well be that Noah was ridiculed for
saying it would rain as much as for building a boat on dry land. Those living at that time did
not believe Noah, and went on about their lives as though nothing were about to happen.
The things the Lord mentions that they did were not wrong, eating, drinking, marrying. The
problem was that they gave these things all their attention, with no thought for God. Then
when God suddenly came, they were not ready and it was too late. So will the coming of the
Son of Man be. People will be living with no thought of God, not necessarily doing evil
things, though many will, and suddenly what has long been prophesied will happen, and,
sad to say, many of those living in such a way will be the Lord’s own people, Christians who
have neglected to be ready. They will not be lost, but they will suffer loss in the kingdom.
In vs. 40-41, the Lord says that when he comes, two men will be in the field: one will
be taken and the other left; two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the
other left. It is difficult to know just what he means by this statement. Those who believe that
Mt. 24.4-31, 41, or 44 deals only with the Jews think that those taken are taken for judgment,
as those taken in the days of Noah were taken away by the flood, while those left are left to
enjoy blessing in the land when the Jews are restored. Others think that those taken are taken
up in the rapture to be with the Lord, while those left are left for judgment. The fact that the
example used, the flood, points to the judgment of sinners and the salvation of the righteous,
might support the former view. However, the Lord does not seem to be so much stressing the
judgment itself as the need to be ready. Further, the Greek word for “took” in v. 39 is
different from the word for “taken” in vs. 40 and 41. The first word is often used in a violent
sense and would refer to judgment, while the second is almost always used in a good sense.
Whichever way one chooses to take the statement about one being taken and the other left,
still the point is, be ready when it happens.
In v. 42, the Lord says again that there is a need to be on the watch because we do not
know when he is coming. Then he gives another example, that of the owner of a house that is
the target of a thief. If he knew what hour of the night the thief was coming, he would
certainly be ready at that hour and not let his house be broken into. Since he did not know, he

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had to be ready at all times. It is the same with us. If we knew when we would die or the
Lord would come for us, we might try to get ready at the last minute. Since we do not know,
we must be ready at all times, for his coming will be unannounced and sudden, like a thief’s.
Furthermore, the Lord says in v. 44, he will come at an hour when we think not. Not
only do we not know when he is coming, he will do so when we think he will not. Thus we
must be ready at all times.
45“Who then is the faithful and prudent slave whom the lord put in charge of his
household to give them food at the right time? 46Blessed is that slave whom, the lord
coming, will find him so doing. 47Amen I say to you that he will put him in charge over all
his possessions. 48But if that evil slave say in his heart, ‘My lord delays,’ 49and begin to beat
his fellow slaves, but to eat and drink with the drunkards, 50the lord of that slave will
come on a day which he does not expect, and at an hour which he does not know, 51and he
will cut him in two and will make his place with the hypocrites. There will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth there.
Following these examples of the days of Noah and the owner of the house, the Lord
gives three parables that further illustrate the need to be ready at all times. The first is in vs.
45-51, that of the slave put in charge of the household to feed them while the master was
away. The slave who is faithfully performing his duties when the master returns will be
rewarded by being put in charge of all his possessions. The slave, however, who, because of
his master’s delay, begins to mistreat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards will
one day be surprised by the master’s return. He will not be ready, and will be punished.
The punishment in this parable is severe, the slave being cut into pieces, so as to
suggest the possibility that the slave represents one who was never really saved at all. The
point of all these parables, though, is that the Lord’s people need to watch for his coming and
be ready for his return. The slave is a saved man, but he is lulled to sleep by the master’s
delay, stops watching, and slips into neglect of his duties and into sin. The severity of the
punishment is to be explained, first, by the fact that the story is a parable, not an exact
account, and, second, by the need to show the seriousness of not being ready for the Lord’s
coming. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth among saved people when the Lord
comes, for some will not be ready and will lose something of rewad in the kingdom as a
result.
Probably the fact that the slave in the parable was put in charge of feeding the
household refers to the ministries that we all have in the body if Christ. Every Christian has
some way in which he is called by the Lord to feed the others. Those who are found faithfully
discharging their ministries, however seemingly small and insignificant they may be, will not
lose their reward when the Lord comes. Those who are not will.

“Then the kingdom of the heavens will be likened to ten virgins, who taking their
lamps went out to meet the bridegroom, 2but five of them were foolish and five prudent,
3For the foolish ones, taking their lamps, did not take oil with them, 4but the prudent took
oil in containers with their lamps. 5But when the bridegroom delayed they all grew

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drowsy and went to sleep. 6Now in the middle of the night there was a cry, ‘Look! the
bridegroom. Come out to meet him.’ 7Then all of those virgins got up and trimmed their
lamps. 8And the foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us of your oil, for our lamps are going
out.’ 9But the prudent answered saying, ‘There may not enough for you and for us. Go
rather to the sellers and buy for yourselves.’ 10Now while they were going away to buy the
bridegroom came and those who were ready entered with him into the marriage feast, and
the door was shut. 11Later the rest of the virgins also came saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’
12But answering he said, ‘Amen I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13Stay awake therefore,
for you do not know the day or the hour.
Chapter 25 begins with the second of these three parables, that of the ten virgins, five
of whom were prudent, the other five being foolish. Again these are all saved people. Oil in
the Bible is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. All ten had oil in their lamps, so all ten were saved,
but the five prudent virgins had extra oil. When the groom delayed and their lamps burned
down, they did not run out of oil. The five foolish did not get extra oil, and when their lamps
burned down because of the groom’s delay, they had run out when he finally did come and
were not ready to go with him.
The extra oil is the fulness of the Holy Spirit. Every saved person has the Holy Spirit or
he would not be saved (Rom. 8.9), but we are commanded not just to receive the Spirit by
new birth, but to be filled with the Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit is a costly thing. Note
that the virgins had to buy the extra oil. We do not have to buy salvation, a free gift, but we
do have to buy extra oil, the fulness of the Spirit, by submission to the Lordship of Christ,
self-denial, and allowing him to deal with our flesh through the trials of life. It costs
something to be full of the Spirit. The prudent virgins gave themsleves wholly to the Lord
and allowed him to do the work in them that enabled them to be filled, while the foolish ones
neglected to deepen their relationship with the Lord, thinking that being saved was enough.
Being saved is enough to escape hell, but again, there is loss for Christians who do not get
ready for the heavenly groom’s coming by full submission to him. They will miss the
wedding feast, the marriage supper of the Lamb pictured in Rev. 19.7-9.
The fact that the virgins in this parable all fell asleep has led some to think that they
represent Christians who die before the Lord’s return. That may well be the case, for if so, it
lends support to our earlier statement that the Lord’s command to be ready is for all
Christians, those who die as well as those who are alive at the end. Those who believe that
the virgins represent those who are asleep in the Lord also think that the two men in the field
and the two women at the mill in 24.40-41 represent Christians who are alive at the Lord’s
coming, those who are taken being those who are raptured before the Great Tribulation, and
those who are left being those Christians who are left to go through the Great Tribulation.
Whether the virgins stand for those who have died in the Lord or not, the point is the
same as that made all through this passage, the need to watch and be ready, as the Lord says
yet again in v. 13. Always be ready, for we do not know the day or the hour. Be a prudent
virgin: be filled with the Holy Spirit.
14“For as a man was leaving on a journey he called his own slaves and gave to them his
possessions, 15and to one he gave five talents, and to one, two, and to one, one, to each

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according to his own ability, and he left on the journey. Immediately 16going, the one,
taking the five talents, traded with them and made five more. 17Likewise the one with the
two gained two more. 18But the one receiving the one going out dug in the earth and hid
his lord’s money. 19Now after much time the lord of those slaves came and settled accounts
with them. 20And when he had come the one receiving the five talents brought five more
talents saying, ‘Lord, you gave me five talents. Look! I gained five more talents.’ 21His lord
said to him, ‘Good, you good and faithful slave. You were faithful over a few. I will put
you over many. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22And when he had come the one receiving
the two talents said, ’Lord, you gave me two talents. Look! I gained two more talents.’ 23His
lord said to him, ‘Good, you good and faithful slave. You were faithful over a few. I will
put you over many. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 24But when he had come, the one
having received the one talent said, ‘Lord, I knew you, that you are a hard man, reaping
where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter. 25And being afraid,
having gone out I hid your talent in the earth. Look, you have what is yours.’ 26But
answering his lord said to him, ‘Evil and lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not
sow and gather where I did not scatter. 27It was necessary for you therefore to give my
money to the bankers, and having come I would have received what is mine with interest.
28Therefore take from him the talent and give it to the one having the ten talents. 29For to
everyone who having it will be given and he will have an abundance, but the one not
having, even what he has will be taken from him. 30And throw the worthless slave out into
the outer darkness. There will there be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
The final parable is told in vs. 14-30. It is the story of the talents. Again there is a slave
owner about to go away. He calls his slaves in and gives one five talents, another, two, and
another, one, according to their ability. Then he goes away. The slaves who receive the five
and two talents go and trade with them and double them. When the master returns, both are
commended, put in charge of more, and told to enter the joy of their lord.
The slave who receives the one talent is afraid of his lord, afraid of losing the money,
so he buries it for safe-keeping, probably thinking he is taking a wise course. But when the
lord returns he is denounced for not at least earning interest at the bank, the talent is taken
from him and given to the one who had ten, and he is cast out into outer darkness where
there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
As in the other parables, all three slaves are saved men. Two are faithful to the gifts
given them by the lord, using them in his absence. It is instructive to us that both receive the
same reward on the lord’s return: commendation, more responsibility, and the joy of the lord.
The one who had more ability and responsibility did not receive a greater reward. That is,
God does not judge us by how much we do, but by how faithful we are to what we can do.
The great evangelist who sees thousands come to Christ at his preaching will receive no
greater reward than the janitor who sweeps the floors at his meetings, provided both are
using all their ability fully for the Lord. The one more able may receive more responsibility,
but not more reward.
The problem with the slave with one talent was not that he was not a saved man or
that he had no talent, but that he did not use what he had. We tend to think of those who
have public ministries, such as preachers and teachers and musicians, as the ones who have

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ministries, but that is a deception. Every Christian has a ministry. The Greek word for
“ministry” just means “service.” Every Christian has something he can do to help build up
the body of Christ, to serve the body. Reward is not based on quantity, but on faithfulness to
what God has gifted one to do. The one who is faithful will receive more, while the one who
is not will lose even what he has. When the Lord returns, he will be cast into outer darkness,
where he will weep and gnash his teeth because he was not ready for the Lord. The outer
darkness, as we saw in Mt. 8.12 and 22.13. is not hell, but simply the dark place outside the
banquet hall of the marriage supper. How sad to be outside in the dark looking in while
those who were ready for the Lord are inside enjoying the feast with the heavenly Groom.
So we see three parables that stress the main point of prophecy: watch for the Lord’s
coming. Be ready. Whether it is faithfulness to ministry, fulness of the Holy Spirit, or
faithfullness to ability given, or some other aspect of Christian life, the vital point is not to
know all about prophecy, but to be ready when it occurs. The Lord is coming at an unknown
hour. Be ready!
31”But when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will
sit on his throne of glory. 32Then all the Gentiles will be gathered before him, and he will
separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33And
he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. 34Then the King will say to
those on his right, ‘Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty
and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36naked and you clothed
me. I was infirm and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37Then the
righteous will answer him saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or
thirsty and give you drink? 38And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or
naked and clothe you? 39And when did we see you infirm or in prison and come to you?’
40And answering the King will say to them, ‘Amen I say to you, inasmuch as you did it for
one of the least of these my brothers you did it for me.’
41“Then he will also say to those on the left, ‘Go from me, you cursed ones, into the eternal
fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and did not give me to eat. I
was thirsty and you did not give me drink. 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me,
naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44Then they
will also answer saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or
naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you?’ 45Then he will answer them
saying, ‘Amen I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it for one of these least ones, you
did not do it for me.’ 46And these will go into eternal punishment, but the righteous into
eternal life.”
These prophetic chapters of Matthew close in 25.31-46 with the story of the judgment
of the Gentiles at the Lord’s visible return. V. 32 is usually translated to say that the nations
will be gathered before the Son of Man as he sits on his throne, but people are not judged in
nations. One will not be approved or disapproved because of the nation he belongs to, but

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on his own. The same Greek word means both “nations” and “Gentiles,” and it seems that
“Gentiles” is the proper rendering in this passage.
We are told that the Gentiles will be gathered before the Son of Man for judgment, and
he will separate them, righteous from unrighteous, as a shepherd separates sheep from goats.
The criterion of judgment will be treastment of “the least of these my brothers.” What is the
judgment and who are these Gentiles?
The Scriptures teach that those who are Christians will appear before the judgment
seat of Christ and be judged according to their works (2 Cor. 5.11), not for salvation, for that
would be salvation by works, but for rewards. We are not told the exact time of this
judgment, but it will be during the period of the end we have been dealing with in chapters
24 and 25 of Matthew. The Lord will appear visibly at Armageddon to destroy the wicked
armies and to take the throne of the world. Possibly the judgment of Christians by works will
be just before this visible appearing.
Then there will be a judgment of the wicked dead at the great white throne after the
millennium (Rev. 20.11-15). But the judgment of Mt. 25.31-46 is different from these two. It is
the judgment of the Gentiles living on the earth at the time of the Lord’s visible return. The
New Testament teaches that there are three kinds of people, Jews, Christians, and Gentiles (1
Cor. 10.32). There are many Gentiles who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ. Many
have taught that all who have not actually become Christians in reality and in name will be
eternally lost. But will this thought stand up to examination in the light of Scripture?
The present passage indicates that those Gentiles, that is, non-Chtistians and non-Jews,
alive at the visible return of Christ, will be judged by their treatment of “the least of these my
brothers,” and that some will be allowed to enter the kingdom, while others will be sent into
the eternal fire. Those who have treated these brothers well will be saved, while those who
have not will not. Thus we see that people who have never heard of Christ, and people who
have never understood the good news, will be judged on the basis of the kind of people they
are, and this is really a matter of the heart, for behavior reveals the heart. God will not
condemn someone who hae never heard of Christ simply because he does not beard the
name Christian, but will judge him on the kind of heart and behavior he has exhibited.
This belief is confirmed by Rom. 2.12-16, where Paul says that those who do not have
the law and yet do the things required by the law show that they have the law in their hearts.
They are people who want to do what is right, even though their knowledge of what is right
may be imperfect. In the same way, those who, not having the law, do things against the law,
show that they have the wrong kind of heart, and they will be judged accordingly.
Who are “the least of these my brothers” who form the criterion of judgment? We do
not know. Some believe they are the Jews, who were the Lord’s brothers according to the
flesh. Those who believe that the entire church will be raptured before the Great Tribulation,
which we do not believe, and that it is the Jews and unbelievers who will go through the
Great Tribulation think that “the least of these my brothers” are Jews. Getniles will be judged
based on their treatment of persecuted Jews during the Tribulation. Did they help them? Did
they join in the persecution?
“The least of these my brothers” could also be Christians, for, we believe, there will be
Christians going through the Great Tribulation. They could also be other Gentiles who do not
call themselves Christians, those who have never heard or understood the good news, but

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who will be among the sheep. We are not told plainly who “the least of these my brothers”
are, but the point is that Gentiles who are not Christians in name will be judged by their
treatment of them. Matthew does not deal with it, but after this judgment will come the
millennium, the thousand-year righteous reign of the Lord Jesus Christ on earrth.
So we come to the end of these prophetic chapters in Matthew’s good news, chapters that
show us the course of history up to the visible appearing of the Lord, warn us to be ready at
all times, and tell us that there will be a judgment of living Gentiles after his coming. We
cannot close these thoughts any better than with the Lord’s own word, “Watch!”

The Suffering of the King
Mt. 26.1-27.66

And it came about when Jesus finished all these words, he said to his disciples, 2“You
know that after two days the Passover comes, and the Son of Man will be delivered to be
crucified.” 3Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together into
the courtyard of the High Priest, called Caiaphas, 4and they took counsel together that they
might seize Jesus by treachery and kill him, 5but they said, “Not during the festival, that
there may not be a riot among the people.”
The last three chapters of Matthew do not require extensive interpretation, being
primarily historical accounts of the events surrounding the death and resurrection of the
Lord Jesus. These events are nonethesess vital because of their nature, dealing as they do
with the provision for sin and the restoring of man to God’s original purpose. Our study of
these chapters will consist mostly of a survey of their contents, with a few interpretative
comments as needed.
In the first two verses of chapter 26, the Lord tells the disciples that he will be
delivered up for crucifixion at the Passover in two days. The Passover, of course, was the
festival in which the Jews commemorated their deliverance from Egypt at the hand of God,
and particularly, of his sparing of them in his smiting of the firstborn of Egypt. Because the
Israelites had the blood of the lamb on their doorposts, the angel of death passed over them,
hence the name, Passover. The outstanding feature of the Passover was the lamb slain, and
that points to the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Because of him, when the judgment of death comes on sin, God passes over those who are
under that blood. He is the fulfillment of the Jewish Passover.
It is of great interest that when the leaders of the Jews plotted in vs. 3-5 to kill Jesus,
they determined not to do so during the festival. Jerusalem was full of people who thought
the Lord was a prophet, and the leaders feared a riot if they seized him. We saw earlier in
Matthew that there were times when the Jews wanted to kill Jesus but were unable to, and
that the reason was that it was not yet God’s time. Whatever outward reason may have
prevented them from carrying out their desire, the underlying reason was God’s time. Now
we see in the present passage that when God’s time did come, they could not keep from
killing him even though they did not want to at that time. God is sovereign. He chose the

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time for the Lord’s death. He wanted it to occur at the Passover as a fulfillment of that
festival, and no devices of man could prevent it.
6Now when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, 7

there came to him a
woman having an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume and she poured it on his head as
he was reclining. 8But seeing it the disciples were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9For
this could have been sold for much and given to the poor.” 10But Jesus, knowing, said to
them, “Why do you make trouble for the woman? For she has done a good work for me.
11For you always have the poor with you, but me you do not always have. 12For when she
poured this perfume onto my body she did it to prepare me for burial. 13Amen I say to you,
wherever this good news is preached in all the world, what she did will be told as a
memorial for her.”
Vs. 6-13 give us the story of the woman anointing the Lord with the expensive
perfume. This story is like a picture, framed by the plot of the Jews in vs. 3-5 and of Judas in
vs. 14-16. The love of the woman stands in stark contrast to the hatred of these conspirators
by the very location of its description between theirs.
The most obvious lesson of this account is the great love of the woman for her Lord.
She gave him what was probably her most precious possession. What an example she is for
all of us, forcing us to ask ourselves if we have the same devotion, the same willingness to
give what we value most to him.
Then the matter of waste comes up. Her love is contrasted not just with the plotting of
the Jews and Judas, but with the indignation of the disciples at the waste of such expensive
perfume. She just poured it out when it could have been sold for a goodly price. We see that
what may appear to be waste to the logical human eye may not be waste to God at all.
Nothing is wasted on the Lord. Whatever we give to him, he keeps the value of it stored up
in Heaven for us. The Lord told us in Mt. 6.20 to store up treasure in Heaven, and this is one
way of doing it. In addition, the Lord’s resources are unlimited. There is no waste with him.
His wealth is never depleted in the least by any amount of giving. This does not mean that
we are justified in being wasteful from a human standpoint, but it does tell us that nothing
we give to the Lord is wasted.
The Lord’s comment in v. 12 is instructive to us. He says that the woman anointed him
to prepare him for burial. We have seen all through Matthew that the Lord came as King of
the Jews. The Jews anointed their kings as a symbol of their kingship. We would naturally
expect the Lord Jesus to be anointed and that is just what takes place in this passage, but he is
anointed not for the throne, but for the grave. He shows us once again that he will be King by
dying, not by killing his foes, and by trusting God to raise him from the dead and to exalt
him to the throne.
14Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, having gone to the chief priests, 15said,
“What are you willing to give me, and I will betray him to you?” And they counted out to
him thirty pieces of silver. 16And from then he was seeking an opportunity that he might
betray him.

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The decision by Judas to betray the Lord is recorded in vs. 14-16. We are not told what
Judas’ reasons were, at least in his own mind (John does tell us that Satan possessed him), but
whatever they were, he went to the Jews and made a deal with them to betray the Lord for
thirty pieces of silver. Two Old Testament passages tell us the significance of this amount.
We learn in Ex. 21.32 that thirty pieces of silver was the price of a slave. If a free Israelite was
wrongfully killed, the person responsible had to pay with his life or with whatever amount of
money was demanded, but if a slave was wrongfully killed, the owner was to be
compensated with thirty pieces of silver. That was all a slave was worth, and that was all the
Jews considered their King to be worth.
Zech. 11 contains a prophecy of God’s judgment on Israel, and it contains a prophecy
of the Lord Jesus as the Shepherd raised up by God, yet rejected by his people, they thus
coming under judgment. In the course of this passage we come to v. 12, where the Shepherd
demands his wages of the Jews, and they give him thirty pieces of silver. The worth of their
God-sent Shepherd in their own eyes was again the price of a slave. Judas and the Jews
fulfilled this prophecy in Mt. 26.15.
17Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus saying, “Where do
you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 18And he said, “Go into the city to a
certain one and say to him, ‘The teacher says, “My time [kairovς] is near. With you I am
keeping the Passover with my disciples.”’” 19And the disciples did as Jesus instructed
them and prepared the Passover.
What we call the Lord’s Supper is both a memorial and a prophecy. The first one,
described in vs. 17-30, was actually a keeping of the Jewish Passover, with the Lord Jesus
showing that he was about to fulfill the meaning of that festival. He began by sending the
disciples to prepare the Passover, which they did. He told them to say that his time is near.
Recall Mt. 16.3 where we saw that the word for “time,” kairos, is not just the passing of hours
and days, and so forth, but the arrival of an opportune time. This time was set by God from
eternity, and now the moment has come. Matthew tells us that it was the first day of
Unleavened Bread. The Jews had seven annual festivlas, the first two of which were Passover
and Unleavened Bread. The Passover lasted for one day, and Unleavened Bread lasted for
one week, with the first day corresponding with Passover.
20Now when evening had come he reclined with the twelve. 21And as they were eating he
said, “Amen I say to you that one of you will betray me.” 22And being very sorrowful they
began to say to him, each one, “Is it I, Lord?” [No] 23And answering he said, “The one
dipping his hand with me in the dish, this one will betray me. 24The Son of Man is going
as it is written of him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed. It
would be good for him if that man had not been born.” 25And answering, Judas, the one
betraying him, said, “Is it I, Rabbi?” [No] He said to him, “You said.”
After the preparations had been made and the Lord had come together with the
twelve, the first thing he did was to prophesy that one of them would betray him. This fact in

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itself is further proof of what we said above, that God was sovereign in the Lord’s death. It
was not the work of men, but of God. The Lord was not killed, but laid down his life.
V. 22 is a searching word. Each disciple had to ask if it were he who would betray the
Lord. They had been with him for three years and loved him, yet they all wondered, “Is it I?”
Does that not cause each of us to look at our own hearts and ask the same question? How we
need the working of God in our hearts to make certain that they are truly his and that we will
be faithful to him, even to death if need be. It is his grace that we are faithful to him, and we
need to pray earnestly for that grace to offset our natural unfaithfulness.
The Lord did not give a direct answer to their questions, but pronounced a solemn
woe on the one who did betray him. Then Judas asked, “Is it I, Rabbi?” The Greek grammar
of the question implies that he expected a negative answer, revealing that Judas was lying, a
fact we know already from his having made the deal with the chief priests in vs. 14-16. The
Lord’s answer is again a bit puzzling. The Greek says literally, “You said.” Does that mean,
“Yes”? Perhaps the Lord had in mind what he had said in Mt. 12.37, that one would be
justified or condemned by his own words.
26But as they were eating, Jesus, having taken a loaf and blessed it, broke it, and having
given to the disciples said, “Take, eat. This is my body. 27And having taken a cup and
given thanks, he gave it to them saying, “All of you drink from it, 28for this is my blood of
the covenant which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29But I say to you, I will
not drink from this produce of the vine from now until that day when I drink it new with
you in the kingdom of my Father.” 30And when they had sung a hymn they went out to the
Mount of Olives.
V. 26 says that as they were eating the Passover meal, the Lord took bread, blessed it,
broke it, gave it to the disciples, and told them to eat it, that it was his body. Then he took a
cup, gave thanks, gave it to them, and told them all to drink of it, that it was his blood of the
covenant, to be shed for the forgiveness of sins. The Jews were a people of the covenant. In
the Old Testament God had made a covenant with them that if they would obey the law, he
would be their God and provide for and protect them. That was a great blessing, but there
was a problem with it: it told them what they ought to do, but it provided no power to do it.
Now the Lord Jesus has come with a new covenant, one that does not say, “Do this
and live,” which cannot be done, but rather, “Live, and then do what God requires.” It is a
covenant that forgives and gives life and power first, thus enabling one to live pleasing to
God. It is not law, but grace.
This grace is revealed in the broken bread and poured out wine, symbolic of the body
and blood of the Lord Jesus, who allowed his body to be wounded and his blood to be shed
as the Passover Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.
We said at the beginning that the Lord’s Supper is both a memorial and a prophecy. It
is a memorial of what he did for us on the cross long ago, dying in our place that we might
have life. We see the prophecy in v. 29: it prophesies that there will be another supper, the
marriage supper of the Lamb of Rev. 19.7, when, after the King has come in glory, he will
again drink wine, with his bride in his millennial kingdom. May that day hasten!

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V. 30 says that after they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. It
was customary for the Jews to sing Pss.113-118 at the Passover, so it is very possible that
some or all of these psalms comprised the hymn sung.
31Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be caused to stumble because of me on this
night, for it is written, ‘I will strike the Shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be
scattered.’ [Zech. 13.7] 32But after I have been raised I will go before you to Galilee.” 33 But
answering Peter said to him, “If all are caused to stumble because of you I will never be
caused to stumble.” 34Jesus said to him, “Amen I say to you that on this night before a cock
crows [sounds] you will deny me three times.” 35Peter said to him, “Even if it be necessary
for me to die with you, I will not deny you.” Likewise all the disciples also said.
In v. 31 the Lord tells the disciples that an Old Testament prophecy is about to be
fulfilled. Zech. 13.7 says that the shepherd will be struck and the sheep will be scattered, and
the Lord reveals that he is the Shepherd referred to and the disciples are the flock. Because of
his arrest and the subsequent events, they will all flee. The Greek word “stumble,” is one that
we have seen often in Matthew. The Lord is a Rock, one on which we can build or over which
we can stumble. In this case the disciples stumbled.
But the Lord had the answer to their stumbling. In v. 32 he says that after his
resurrection, he would go before them to Galilee. They would not be rejected for their
stumbling, but would be restored as the Lord gathered them together once again in Galilee.
Again we see the theological significance of Galilee. There, in the area despised by the more
racially pure and self-righteous Jews of Judea, the Lord Jesus had conducted most of his
ministry and had found what measure of acceptance he did find. When this King went to his
capital, he found only rejection and crucifixion. So he will go one again from the strongholds
of religion to the areas of felt need. This is not just a historical fact from the life of the Lord,
but a principle as well. The Lord resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. He turns
away from the self-righteous and reaches out to admitted sinners.
This prediction of the Lord that the disciples would stumble gives rise to an important
event in the life of Peter. As usual, he gave a blustering response to the prophecy: though all
might stumble because of the Lord, he never would. Then the Lord told him that he would
deny him three times that night before a cock crowed. Again Peter protested that he would
even die with the Lord, and all the disciples agreed.
No doubt Peter meant what he said. He loved the Lord. But there was a fundamental
problem with his response, one that we all face, and thus we can all learn from his
experience. Peter was speaking his heart when he said that he would not stumble and would
even die for the Lord, and we know that ultimately he would die for the Lord, but the
problem was that his confidence was in himself, in the ability of his own flesh to serve the
Lord. One of the greatest lessons any Christian will ever learn is to put no confidence in the
flesh, as Paul records in Phil. 3.4-11. We cannot be faithful to the Lord or serve him. It is not
in us to do it. We are wholly dependent on the grace and power of the Lord, not on our
determination and resolutions and ability.
It is as though, in this event, the Lord were saying to Peter, “You have great
confidence in your flesh. I will give you an experience that will break that confidence forever.

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It will be bitter. It will break your heart. But it will destroy your confidence in yourself and
put it where it belongs, in me. And I will restore you. I will go before you to Galilee, the place
of restoration because it is the place of admitted sin and need.” As we will see later, that is
exactly what took place. We will consider the rest of the events in this episode as we come to
them.
36Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to the disciples, “Sit
here while having gone there I pray.” 37And having taken Peter and the two sons of
Zebedee he began to be sorrowful and distressed. 38Then he said to them, “My soul is very
sorrowful, to death. Remain here and stay awake with me.” 39And having gone on a little
he fell on his face, praying and saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from
me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as you will.” 40And he came to the disciples and found
them sleeping and he said to Peter, “So, you were not able to stay awake with me one
hour? 41Stay awake and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing,
but the flesh is weak.” 42Again having gone a second time he prayed saying, “My Father, if
it is not possible for this to pass except I drink it, your will be done.” 43And having come
again, he found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44And having left them, again
having gone, he prayed a third time saying the same word again. 45Then he came to the
disciples and said to them, “Sleep on and rest. Look, the hour has come near and the Son
of Man is being delivered into the hands of men. 46Wake up. Let’s go. Look, the one who is
betraying me has come near.”
In v. 36 we come to the Garden of Gethsemane and the Lord’s struggle in prayer with
what is about to occur. The word “Gethsemane” teaches us an important lesson. The garden
was on the Mount of Olives, and the word means “oil press,” the place where the olives were
crushed to release their oil. In the Bible oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. It was out of the
crushing of the Lord, out of his death for our sins, that the Holy Spirit was made available to
us for our life. He went into the oil press of the cross that the Holy Spirit might flow to us.
Vs. 37-38 show us the humanity of the Lord Jesus. We have seen that the Bible
distinguishes between soul and spirit, the spirit being the immaterial part of a person that is
able to know God, and the soul being the psychology, the personality, temperament, intellect,
emotions, will. In these verses we see the psychological suffering of the Lord, his emotional
distress at the impending cross. He told the disciples that his soul was grieved even to the
point of death.
Then in his prayer in v. 39 we see how God intended humanity to function. Yes, in his
soul the Lord shrank from the cross. He did not want to submit to it. Yet in his will he was
wholly yielded to the will of God. Even though he asked that the cross might pass from him
if possible, nevertheless he accepted the will of God even if it meant the cross. He had all the
emotions we have, without sin, of course, but he did not live by his emotions. His spirit, filled
with the Holy Spirit, governed his soul, and his body, too, we might add. What he heard in
his spirit from the Holy Spirit he obeyed. His will was fully subjected to his Father.
What a lesson that is for us. We think of ourselves as normal humans, but we are not.
We are fallen humans. Jesus Christ is what God made man to be. He is the only normal
human who has ever lived since Adam fell. Because of what he did, though, we can begin to

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live normal lives. We can be filled with the Holy Spirit. We can refuse to allow our souls, our
intellect or our feelings or our will, to rule us. We can learn the will of God in our spirits and
yield to it, bring our souls under authority, just as the Lord Jesus did.
The weakness of the flesh that the Lord was dealing with in Peter through his denial is
seen in the garden. The Lord Jesus had asked Peter, James, and John to watch with him while
he prayed, but they all fell asleep. He shows that their need to watch and pray was not just
for him, but for themselves as well, for they would fall into great temptation through his own
suffering, and would indeed stumble, as he had prophesied. The Spirit was willing, as Peter’s
honest boasting revealed, but the flesh was weak and could not keep the boasts.
The Lord prayed three times for the cup to pass, yielding to the Father’s will all three
times, and three times he returned to find the disciples sleeping. The third time the issue was
settled. He told them to arise: the hour of betrayal had come near. And he went out to meet
the sinners who would take him. No one took his life. He laid it down.
47And while he was still speaking, look! Judas, one of the twelve came, and with him a
large crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and elders of the people. 48Now
the one betraying him had given them a sign saying, “The one whom I kiss is he. Seize
him.” 49And immediately having come to Jesus he said, “Greetings, Rabbi,” and he kissed
him. 50But Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you are coming for.” Then having come they
laid hands on Jesus and seized him. 51And look! one of those with Jesus, having extended
the hand drew his sword and having struck the slave of the High Priest took off his ear.
52Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place, for all those having taken the
sword will die by the sword. 53Or do you think that I am not able to call my Father, and he
will send to me now more than twelve legions of angels? 54How then would the Scriptures
be fulfilled that it is necessary so to take place?” 55In that hour Jesus said to the crowds,
“As against a thief have you gone out with swords and clubs to arrest me? Daily I was
sitting in the temple teaching and you did not seize me. 56But all this has taken place that
the Scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples, having left him,
fled.
Vs. 47-56 give us the account of the arrest of the Lord. Judas comes with a mob armed
with swords and clubs and sent by the chief priests and elders. He had told the mob that the
one he kissed was the one they should arrest. We might wonder why the Lord had to be
pointed out to them. Did they not know him? He had been teaching every day in Jerusalem.
But perhaps they did not know Jesus by sight. This was a mob, perhaps a band of hired thugs
who would not have been listening to the Lord’s teachings anyway. It was night, with the
darkness possibly making it difficult for those who did not know him well to recognize the
Lord. After all, most of his ministry had been spent in Galilee, not in Jerusalem, so he would
not have been so well known in the city. Whatever answers to all these questions may be,
Judas committed his crime: he betrayed his Lord with a kiss.
At this point we see further in v. 46 when the Lord went out to meet his opponents.
That is that all through these events, not just the arrest, but the court appearances and the
crucifixion, when the Lord appears to be at the mercy of his captors, the truth is that he is in
complete control. Again, no one took his life. He laid it down. When Judas kissed him, the

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Lord addressed him first. His meaning is not entirely clear from the Greek, which is not a
complete sentence, but says literally, “Friend, for what are you here?” or it may be a
statement, not a question: “Friend, for what are you here.” Some take it as a command to
Judas to do what he has come for, but he has already done that. Possibly it is just the Lord’s
statement that he knows what Judas has come for. This view would support our belief that
the Lord was in control of the situation: the Lord could have avoided it because he knew
about it, but he walked into it deliberately.
Then the Lord is seized by the mob. When this occurs, one of the twelve draws his
sword and cuts off the ear of the slave of the High Priest. In the other gospels we are told that
it was Peter who did this, and that the Lord replaced and healed the ear, but Matthew does
not give these details. Instead, he relates what supports his theme, that the Lord Jesus is the
King. He tells us that the Lord Jesus told the disciple to put up his sword, for those who live
by the sword will die by the sword, that he could call on his Father for more than twelve
legions (72,000) of angels, and that if he did so, the Scriptures could not be fulfilled. That is,
he will not be King in man’s way, by raising an army and fighting, killing, for the throne. He
will do it God’s way, by dying in obedience to his Father and letting him exalt him to the
throne. Even at his arrest, the King is reigning.
Then the Lord Jesus turns to the mob and addresses them. He points out the absurdity
of their action, and again he shows his control, by asking them why they come out against
him under cover of darkness and armed with swords and clubs. He taught among them
every day in their Temple without defense. They could have taken him at any time in broad
daylight with no arms. Why do it this way? Then he answers his own question, showing why
it is done this way: that the Scriptures may be fulfilled. The prophets had said the King
would suffer before coming to his throne. They also said the disciples would flee, as we saw
above in v. 31 (Zech.13.7). And they did, leaving Jesus alone in the hands of the mob.
There follow what are called trials, but they were certainly not trials in any true sense
of the word. A trial is a judicial proceeding in which evidence is presented in an effort to
determine the truth. These proceedings were no such thing. The verdict and sentence had
already been decided. Their purpose was to find an appearance of legality for carrying them
out. These were what we call kangaroo courts.
57But the ones having seized Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the High Priest, where the
scribes and the elders were gathered together. 58Now Peter was following from a distance
to the courtyard of the High Priest, and having entered inside he was sitting with the
servants to see the end. 59Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking
false witnesses against Jesus that they might put him to death. 60And they did not find,
many false witnesses having come, but finally two having come 61said, “This one said, ‘I
am able to destroy the temple of God and after three days to rebuild it.’” 62And having
stood up the High Priest said to him, “Do you not answer? What is it these are accusing
you of?” 63But Jesus was silent, and the High Priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living
God that you tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” 64Jesus said to him, “You have
said, but I say to you, hereafter you will see ‘the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of
Power,’ and ‘coming on the clouds of the sky.’” [Ps. 110.1, Dan. 7.13] 65Then the High Priest
tore his garments and saying, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of

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witnesses? Look! now you have heard the blasphemy! 66What do you think?” And
answering they said, “He is worthy of death.” 67Then they spat in his face and beat him,
but some slapped him 68saying, “Prophesy to us, Christ. Who is the one who hit you?”
The first of these courts has its record in vs. 57-68, the appearance before the High
Priest, Caiaphas. We see its illegal nature in vs. 59-61, where the effort is made to gain false
testimony. The King’s reigning over the situation is seen once again in the fact that they are
unable to obtain the testimony they want themselves, but he gave it to them himself. When
they ask him if he is the Christ, the Son of God, he says literally, “You said,” apparently
meaning yes, but then quotes Ps. 110.1 and Dan. 7.13 as though they apply to himself, thus
equating himself with God: “After this, you will see ‘the Son of Man sitting at the right hand
of the Power, and coming on the clouds of the sky.’” At this remark, the High Priest tears his
robes and announces the charge for which the Lord was condemned by the Jews: blasphemy.
Blasphemy was a capital offense. We read in Lev. 24.10-16 and 23 that the blasphemer was to
be stoned to death, and 1 Kings 21.9-10 gives an additional example. So we find that the first
kangaroo court settles the religious charge against the Lord. There is another charge to come,
but before Matthew tells us of it, he records Peter’s denial.
69Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and there came to him one of the servant
girls saying, “And you were with Jesus the Galilean.” 70 But he denied it before all saying,
“I don’t know what you are saying.” 71But when he had gone out to the gateway, another
one saw him and said to those there, “This one was with Jesus the Nazarene.” 72And again
he denied it with an oath, “I don’t know the man.” 73But after a little those who had been
standing by, having come to him said to Peter, “Truly you also are of them, for even your
speech makes you evident.” 74Then he began to curse and to swear, “I don’t know the
man.” And immediately a cock crowed [sounded].” 75And Peter remembered the speaking
of Jesus saying, “Before a cock crows [sounds] you will deny me three times.” And having
gone out he wept bitterly.
This account occurs in vs. 69-75. We saw above that the Lord brought about this
experience in the life of Peter to destroy his confidence in the flesh. That is exactly what takes
place, just as the Lord predicted. A servant girl recognizes Peter and says that he has been
with Jesus, but Peter denies it. Then another says the same thing, and he denies it again, this
time with sn oath. Then others say his Galilean speech gives him away, and he denies the
Lord a third timecursing and swearing. Then a cock crows. That crow does not just fall on
Peter’s ears, but strikes him to the heart, for it recalls to him the Lord’s words that he would
deny him three times that very night before a cock crowed. Then Peter goes out and weeps
bitterly. Yes, his heart is broken, but so is his confidence in the flesh. He will be brought back
to the Lord, and never again will he boast of his ability to serve God. He will indeed die for
the Lord, but it will be by God’s grace.
It is of note that the Lord yielded his will to the Father’s will three times in the garden,
and Peter denied him three times. Confidence in the Holy Spirit contrasted with confidence
in the flesh.

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Now morning having come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took
counsel against Jesus that they might put him to death. 2And having bound him they led
him away and delivered him to Pilate the governor.
The first two verses of chapter 27 tell us that the chief priests and elders take Jesus to
Pilate, the Roman governor, but before dealing with that appearance, Matthew gives the
contrast between Peter and Judas.
3Then Judas, the one betraying him, having seen that he was condemned, having regretted,
returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders 4saying, “I have sinned
betraying innocent [guiltless] blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? You will see to it.”
5And having thrown the pieces of silver into the sanctuary [vnaovn] he left, and having
gone away he hanged himself. 6But the chief priests, having taken the pieces of silver, said,
“It is not permitted to put these into the temple treasury since it is the price of blood.” 7But
having taken counsel they bought with them the potter’s field for a burial place for
strangers. 8Therefore that field has been called the field of blood to this day. 9Then was
fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet saying, “And they took the thirty
pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been priced by the sons of Israel,
10and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord ordered me.” [Zech. 11.12-13,
compare Jer. 32.6-9]
Peter went out and wept bitterly, but we know that he repented and was restored.
Judas feels remorse, but it is only the hopeless feeling of man when he knows he has done a
terrible act without real heart repentance before God. It is what Paul describes in 2 Cor. 7.9-
Peter feels sorrow according to God and repents. Judas feels the sorrow of the world that
leads to death. Knowing that he has betrayed an innocent man for thrity pieces of silver, he
tries to return them to the chief priests and elders. When they refuse them, he throws them
into the Holy Place of the Temple and goes out and hangs himself. His sorrow does indeed
lead to death.
The priests cannot put the money into the Temple treasury since it is the price of blood
(!), so they use it to buy a field as a burial place for strangers. So the field is called the field of
blood, and so is fulfilled the prophecy of Zech. 11.12-13 (though Matthew attributes the
prophecy to Jeremiah, for which we have no explanation). We saw above that Zech. 11
prophesies the rejection of their Shepherd by the Jews, and their resultant judgment, and it
adds that the money at which they valued him, thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave,
would be thrown to the potter in the house of the Lord. Judas threw the money into the Holy
Place, and the priests used it to buy the potter’s field.
11Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him saying, “You are the
King of the Jews?” And Jesus said, “You say.” 12And as he was being accused by the chief
priests and elders he answered nothing. 13Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how
many things they are testifying against you?” 14And he did not answer him even to one
word so that the governor marveled greatly.

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15Now at the festival the governor was accustomed to release to the crowd one prisoner
whom they wanted. 16They were holding then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas, 17so
when they had been gathered together Pilate said to them, “Whom do you wish that I
should release to you, Barabbas or Jesus, the one called Christ?” 18For he knew that
because of envy they had handed him over. 19While he was sitting in the judgment seat,
his wife sent to him saying, “Nothing to you and to that righteous one, for today I suffered
many things in a dream because of him.” 20But the chief priests and the elders convinced
the crowds that they might ask for Barabbas, but that they might put Jesus to death. 21But
answering the governor said to them, “Which of the two do you wish that I should release
to you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” 22Pilate said to them, “What then should I do with
Jesus, the one called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” 23But he said, “Why, for
what evil has he done?” But they cried all the more saying, “Let him be crucified!” 24But
Pilate, having seen that he was achieving nothing, but that rather there would be a riot,
having taken water he washed his hands before the crowd saying, “I am innocent of this
one’s blood. You see to it.” 25And answering all the people said, “His blood be on us and
on our children.” 26Then he released to them Barabbas, but having had Jesus scourged he
delivered him that he might be crucified.
Matthew returns to the kangaroo courts in vs. 11-26, where we find the legal charge
against the Lord. We saw that blasphemy was the religious charge. There is some question as
to whether or not the Jews under Rome could conduct executions. It appears they could not,
though they stoned Stephen in Acts 7. Pilate was the Roman governor, and they had to
secure his condemnation of the Lord Jesus in order to have him put to death. The reason for
the contrast between their stoning of Stephen themselves and their resorting to Pilate may
have been the time of the year. The Lord was crucified at Passover, when Jerusalem was
crowded with Jews from all over the world, as well as from their own land. The Romans put
extra troops on duty during these times to keep order among the rebellious Jews. Stephen’s
death occurred at another time, when a riot was not so great a risk, and this may explain the
freer hand of the Jews at that time.
Whatever the exact facts may be, the Lord is brought before Pilate, again not to
determine the facts, but simply to secure his condemnation of the Lord. Pilate asks him if he
is King of the Jews. Again the answer is not entirely clear from the Greek, for it says literally,
“You say.” This statement is not in the imperative mood, a command to Pilate to make up his
own mind, but in the indicative, “You are saying.” It appears to mean simply yes. Thus we
have the legal charge against the Lord to go along with the religious charge of blasphemy:
treason against Rome.
Pilate is amazed that the Lord will not defend himself. He tries to release Jesus,
according to his custom of releasing to the Jews a prisoner of their choosing at the Passover,
but they choose Barabbas. Pilate’s wife warns him that Jesus is a righteous man with whom
he should have nothing to do. Pilate tries to determine what the Lord has done that is worthy
of death, but is shouted down by the irrational, emotional mob of Jewish priests and elders.
So he gives in to political expediency, tries to wash himself of accountability by washing his
hands symbolically, and then scourges the Lord Jesus and delivers him to be crucified. When

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he says that he is innocent of this man’s blood, the Jews cry out, “His blood be on us and on
our children.” It has been to this day.
27Then the soldiers of the governor, having taken Jesus into the Praetorium, gathered to
him the whole cohort. 28And having stripped him they put a scarlet cloak on him. 29And
having woven a wreath of thorns they put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand, and
having bowed before him they mocked him saying, “Hail, King of the Jews.!” 30And
having spat on him they took the reed and were beating on his head. 31And when they had
mocked him they stripped him of the cloak and put on him his clothes and led him away
to crucify him.

32And as they were coming out they found a man, a Cyrenian, by the name

of Simon. They forced this one that he might take up his cross.
The verdict having been officially reached and sentence passed, we find the Lord in
the hands of the soldiers who would crucify him. First they strip him of his own clothes and
put a scarlet robe and a crown of thorns on him, and a reed for a scepter in his hand, in
mockery of his supposed kingship. Then they kneel before him, spit on him, beat him with
his own scepter. When they have finished making sport of him, they replace his clothes and
take him out to be crucified. On the way they compel Simon the Cyrenian to carry his cross.
Evidently the scourging the Lord had endured, a beating often resulting in death, had
rendered him so weak as to be unable to lift the cross.
33And having come to the place called Golgotha, which is called Place of a Skull, 34they
gave him wine mixed with gall to drink, and having tasted he did not want to drink. 35And
having crucified him, they divided his clothes, casting a lot. 36And as they were sitting they
watched him there. 37And they put over his head his accusation, written, “This is Jesus, the
King of the Jews.”
They came to Golgotha, a Hebrew word meaning Place of a Skull (Calvary is the Latin
word with the same meaning). The exact reference is unknown and has been the subject of
debate for centuries. Some think it has to do with the fact that it was a place of execution, so
that there were skulls there, but the Jews were very careful about burying all dead bodies,
with all their parts, so that there certainly would have been no skulls laying about. There is a
hill in Jerusalem that has the appearance of a skull because of the shape of the rocks, and
some see this as the answer. All such attempts are speculation. Whatever the case may be, it
was at this place that the Lord was crucified.
First he is given wine mixed with gall to drink, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Ps.
69.21. This was a drug given to help lessen the pain, but the Lord will not drink it, choosing
instead to drink the cup that his Father had given him to the full. It does seem strange that
the Romans would execute a man in such brutal way, especially after having beaten him half
to death in the scourging, and then give him a drink to lessen the pain!
Another prophecy is fulfilled in v. 35, Ps. 22.18, when the soldiers gamble for his
garments.

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Once again the charge for which he is executed is stated when the notice is put above
his head, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Rome is in charge of the execution, and it is the
legal charge, not the religious, which Rome announces.
38Then there were crucified with him two thieves, one on the right and one on the left.
39Now those passing by were blaspheming him, wagging their heads 40and saying, “the one
destroying the sanctuary and in three days building it, save yourself. If you are the Son of
God, come down from the cross.” 41Likewise also the chief priests, mocking him with the
scribes and elders, said, 42“He saved others. He is not able to save himself. He is King of
Israel? Let him now come down from the cross and we will believe in him. 43He trusted in
God. Let him deliver him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am God’s Son.’” 44And the
thieves who had been crucified with him also reviled him the same way.
V. 38 tells us that two robbers are crucified with the Lord, showing that he was
executed as a common criminal. It is easy for us sometimes to think of the Lord’s death as a
glorious martyrdom, almost as though it were easy for him, but we have already seen how he
shrank from it in the garden of Gethsemane. Now we see something of the shame associated
with his death. He did not die as a martyr, but as the lowest of criminals. What depths he was
willing to sink to for our salvation! What grace!
Ps. 22, already referred to, is a chapter that should be studied in connection with the
crucifixion, for it is an Old Testament prophecy of it, and a most remarkable one at that, for
crucifixion was unknown to the Jews at the time the psalm was written, yet it is an exact
description of the physical agonies of crucifixion. Ps. 22.7 speaks of the wagging of heads in
mockery of the crucified Lord, and Mt. 27.39 gives us the fulfillment of the prophecy. The
psalm is again quoted in v. 43 at the end of this account of the abuse heaped on the Lord as
he hung on the cross, this account that shows us the final and perhaps greatest temptation of
the Man Jesus: Come down from the cross. How easy it would have been for him to do so, as
Mt. 26.53 shows us. What temptation Satan must have pressed for him to do so. Yet he stayed
there on that cross, voluntarily, laying down his life even for those who so mocked him. It
took much more power for the Lord to stay on the cross than it would have to come down.
45Now from the sixth hour darkness came over all the earth [or land] until the ninth hour,
46but about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a great voice saying, “Eli, Eli, lema
sabachthani.” This is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 47Now certain ones
standing there, having heard, said, “This one is calling for Elijah.” 48And immediately one
of them, having run and taken a sponge and filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed,
gave him to drink. 49But the rest said, “Let us see if Elijah comes saving him.” 50But Jesus,
having cried again with a great voice, dismissed the spirit. 51And look! the veil of the
sanctuary was torn from top to bottom into two, and the earth was shaken and the rocks
were split, [same word as “torn”] 52and the tombs were opened and many bodies of saints
who had fallen asleep were raised, 53and having come out of the tombs after his rising
went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54And the centurion and those with him
watching Jesus, having seen the earthquake and the things taking place, were very
frightened, saying, “Truly this one was God’s Son.” 55And many women were there

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watching from a distance who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him. 56Among
them was Mary the Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Jacob and Joseph, and the mother
of the sons of Zebedee.
V. 45 is of great interest, telling us that for three hours, from noon till three o’clock,
darkness prevails at midday as the Creator dies. What was this great darkness? Lk. 19.40 tells
us that if men did not praise the Lord Jesus, the very stones would cry out to him. Rom 8.20-
22 says that all creation groans under the fall, hoping for freedom from its slavery to
corruption. We would not ascribe consciousness to inanimate creation, yet these verses
indicate to us that creation operates under the laws of its Creator and somehow “knows”
when things are not right. Nature itself responds with darkness when its Lord faces the hour
of the authority of darkness (Lk. 22.53).
At the end of that darkness, at three in the afternoon, the Lord himself quotes Ps. 22,
crying out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We know the physical agony of
crucifixion, the suffering of one hanging by his own arms and being slowly suffocated by his
own body weight. We saw the shame of the Lord’s crucifixion as a common criminal. But
now we see the height of his suffering, the forsaking of the Father with whom he had
eternally enjoyed perfect oneness. He becomes sin for us, and God turns from him. In that
awful moment the Man Jesus experiences hell, the absence of God. He suffers what we
deserve.
His cry is in the language of the Jewish people, beginning with, “Eli, Eli,” not the name
Eli, but pronounced EL-e (rhyming with kelly), from the Hebrew word El for God (the “i”
makes it “My God”). Hearing this cry, some think he is trying to summon Elijah to come and
save him. One runs to get him a drink of cheap wine, another reference to Ps. 69.21, while
others say to wait and see if Elijah comes. The Jews believed that Elijah would come some
day, from Mal. 4.5. As they wait, the Lord Jesus cries out with a loud voice and yields up his
spirit. Again, his life is not taken from him. At God’s moment he gives it up voluntarily. His
spirit does not leave. He dismisses it. In Jn. 10.18, noted earlier, the Lord Jesus says that no
one takes his life, but he lays it down of himself.
At this instant, one of the great symbolic acts of history occurs. In the symbolism of the
Jewish Tabernacle and Temple, God dwells in the Holy of Holies, a sanctuary separated from
all the world by a veil that cannot be passed by any man on pain of death, with the one
exception of the High Priest once a year on the Day of Atonement. That veil had hung for
centuries as a testimony that man in his sin cannot come into the presence of God, but at the
exact instant that the Lord Jesus dismisses his spirit, God the Father tears the veil from top to
bottom. Sin has been dealt with. The way is open for all who will to go into the Holy of
Holies, into the very presence of God. That is the result of the Lord’s death on the cross.
[There were three veils in the Tabernacle, the veil into the Tabernacle grounds, the veil into
the Holy Place, and the veil into the Holy of Holies or sanctuary.]
We see further response from nature in the shaking of the earth and the spliting of the
rocks.
Vs. 52-53 seem strange to our ears and very little is told us of this occasion. Indeed,
many students of the Bible believe they are legend, but we who believe the entire Bible is the
inspired word of God cannot take such a position. When the earth was shaken and the rocks

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split, tombs were also opened, and many bodies of saints were raised, and leaving their
tombs after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, they went into Jerusalem and appeared to
many. These statements have given rise to all sorts of speculations as to whether these saints
were restored to this life, as were Lazarus, the young man of Nain, and the little girl of twelve
years, and later died again, or were resurrected to a new body, as was the Lord, and
accompanied him to Heaven at his ascension. We are not told and the speculations cannot be
proved or disproved. Let us be content with the knowledge that the experience of these saints
is a testimony of the efficacy of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and that his
death and resurection assured for all time and eternity that his own will be raised from the
dead, transformed bodily, and taken into his presence forever. My dear brother Stuart Lane
reminded us on a Resurrection Sunday that these who came out of the tombs at the
crucifixion were the down payment of the promise of the Lord Jesus declared in Mt. 16.18,
that the gates of hades, death, would not prevail against the church. Those who die in the
Lord will not stay in the grave forever, but will rise again with life everlasting. Life, the life of
God, will overpower death.
Indeed, these final events of the Lord’s life and his death, and the expressions of
nature, and these coming out of the tombs were testimony to the centurion, a Roman soldier
commanding a hundred men, and to his men, that this man who had just died was God’s
Son.
In vs. 55-56 Matthew takes special notice of the women who had ministered to the
Lord and had followed him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and were looking on from a distance.
He names Mary the Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the
disciples James and John, Zebedee’s sons.
57Now when evening had come there came a rich man from Arimathea by the name of
Joseph who was himself also a disciple of Jesus. 58This one having come to Pilate asked for
the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded that it be given. 59And having taken the body of
Jesus, Joseph wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. 60And he put it in his new tomb which he
had hewn in the rock, and having rolled a large stone to the door of the tomb he left. 61And
Mary the Magdalene and the other Mary were there sitting opposite the grave.
Matthew then gives us a short report of Joseph of Arimathea asking for the body of
Jesus and burying it in his own new tomb which he had hewn from rock. Mark gives more
detail, as do Luke and John. John deals with this episode in 19.31-42, adding much more
information. Then Matthew again notices the women, naming the two Marys sitting opposite
the grave.
We cannot know all the thoughts that went through the minds of these who loved the
Lord Jesus, but we can see this love in the actions of these who wanted to care properly for
his body. The story of the two on the way to Emmaus in Luke 24.13-21 shows something of
the disappointment the followers of the Lord felt when all their hopes appeared to be dashed.
They could not have known, of course, what was about to take place. When the Lord told the
disciples in Mt 16.21 that he would be killed and would rise up the third day, Peter
immediately shows in v. 22 that he did not understand when he rebuked the Lord and said,
“This will not be to you!” Mk. 8.32 also reports Peter’s rebuke of the Lord.

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This can be a lesson to us, that when our hopes and dreams appear to be disappointed,
the Lord is still in charge and has a good purpose in mind. Rom. 8.28 is still true: “Now we
know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are being called
according to purpose.”
62Now on the next day, which is after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees
were gathered together to Pilate, 63saying, “Sir, we remembered that that deceiver said
while still living, ‘After three days I am to be raised.’ 64Command therefore the grave to be
secured until the third day, so that his disciples having come may not steal him and say to
the people, ‘He was raised from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the
first.” 65Pilate said to them, “You have a guard. Go, secure it as you know.” 66And when
they had gone they secured the grave, having sealed the stone, with the guard.
In this paragraph we see more of the lack of interest in the truth on the part of the chief
priests and Pharisees. They have secured their objective of putting the Lord Jesus to death.
Now they act to make sure that the disciples do not steal the body and proclaim his
resurrection. Could they also have wanted to be sure that he was not actually raised, or if so,
the guards could do something about it? Pilate gave permission and they sealed the tomb, a
tomb that would not remain sealed and that would soon be empty.

Now after the Sabbath as the first day of the week was drawing near, Mary the
Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the grave. 2And look! there was a great
earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, having come down from Heaven and approached,
rolled away the stone and was sitting on it. 3And his appearance was like lightning, and
his clothing white as snow. 4And from fear of him those watching were shaken and
became as dead.
The Jewish Sabbath began at sundown on Friday and ended at sundown on Saturday.
The first day of the week was Sunday. Sometime after midnight on Sunday the Lord was
raised from the dead as he had promised. Again Mary the Magdalene and the other Mary
come to the tomb. Mark tells us that Mary the Magdalene and Mary the mother of James
(Jacob in Greek) and Salome came to anoint the Lord’s body with spices. Luke says that the
women from Galilee did this. We are not told clearly when the earthquake occurred. The text
reads as though it occurred when the women arrived at the tomb, but it would appear that it
had occurred when the angel came and rolled away the stone. The angel is sitting on what
had been intended to keep the Lord in the tomb. His appearancei is dazzling, so much so that
the guards have passed out.
5But answering the angel said to the women, “Don’t you be afraid, for I know that you are
seeking Jesus, the one crucified. 6He is not here, for he was raised just as he said. Come,
see the place where he was lying.” 7And having gone quickly, say to his disciples, ‘He was
raised from the dead, and look! he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see
him. Look! I have told you.” 8And having left quickly from the tomb with fear and great

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joy they ran to tell his disciples. 9And look! Jesus met them saying, “Greetings!” And
when they had come to him they took hold of his feet and worshipped him. 10Then Jesus
said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go tell my brothers that they should go to Galilee where
they will see me.”
The angel says to them, “Don’t YOU be afraid….” The “you” is emphasized in Greek,
so as to compare the women with the guards. They passed out from fear, but the women had
nothing to fear. “They passed out, but don’t YOU be afraid.” Why? Because the Lord Jesus is
not there, but has been raised from the dead. It was a time for great joy, not fear. And the
angel invites the women in to see where the body had been.
Next the angel gives the women their instructions. They are to go quickly and tell the
disciples what had taken place, that the Lord had been raised from the dead, and that he was
going before them into Galilee and they would see him there. The women leave quickly, as
instructed, but not with just the fear that an earthquake and the sight thay saw at the tomb
might cause, or the great joy that the good news would cause, but with both.
As they are going the Lord meets them and says, “Greetings.” Can you imagine what
was going on in their minds and hearts? They fall at his feet and worship him. Worship is the
proper response. When we see the Lord I am certain that our response will be the same, just
as John fell as his feet in Rev. 1.17. Then the Lord tells them to go tell his brothers to go to
Galilee. Brothers! He is God in the flesh. He is King of kings and Lord of lords and he calls
these lowly earthlings brothers! What kind of King is this one? And they will see him in
Galilee. They may have run all the way to Galilee as the women did to them!
11Now when they had gone, look, some of the guard, having gone into the city, reported to
the chief priests all the things having taken place. 12Now when they had been gathered
together with the elders and having taken counsel they gave many pieces of silver to the
soldiers, 13saying, “Say, ‘His disciples, having come by night, stole him while we were
sleeping.’ 14And if this is heard by the governor, we will persuade him and we will make
you unworried.” 15And having taken the pieces of silver they did as they had been
instructed, and this word was spread around by the Jews until this day.
The back and forth of this story continues. Joseph loves the Lord and wants to bury his
body properly. The priests and Pharisees want to make sure he stays in the tomb. The
women come to the tomb, meet the Lord, and go to his disciples with unbelievable good
news. The priests and Pharisees bribe the guards to say that the Lord’s body had been stolen.
Love. Hatred. Love. Hatred. The enemies of the Lord could spread lies, but they could not
keep him in the grave. He is risen!
16Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them,
17and having seen him they worshipped him, but some doubted. 18And when he had come
Jesus spoke to them saying, “All authority has been given to me in Heaven and on the
earth. 19Having gone, therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all

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things, whatever I commanded you. And look! I am with you all the days, even to the end
of the age.”
The eleven disciples obey the Lord and meet him in Galilee. They meet him with
worship, the only appropriate way to meet the Lord. He is God in the flesh, and now he is
risen from the dead. What else could one do but worship? Yet some doubt. We do not know
if these doubters are of the eleven or if there were others there as well, but doubt is always a
challeenge to faith and must be dealt with. Faith is a decision, not automatic. We have all had
doubts and must decide whether we trust God or not.
Now we come to the portion of Scripture known famously as the Great Commission.
The Lord gives his people their instructions for carrying on after his departure. He first says,
“All authority has been given to me in Heaven and on the earth.” The King James has “all
power,” but the word here is “authority.” Power is brute force, the strength to do whatever
one may choose to do. Authority is the right to do. Yes, the Lord has the power. He is
almighty. But he also has authority from the Father to exercise power. We see that in this
world might makes right. Whoever has the most power has his way, even if it be evil, and the
world is full of that. But in the spiritual realm, right makes might. God overcomes Satan
because he wills what is right, and that right deals victoriously with the forces of evil. That
authority has been vested in the Lord Jesus, who is at he right hand of the throne of God.
The Lord having this authority, he commands his followers. Again we have a question
of translations. Our English Bibles say, “Go,” but the word in the original is a participle,
“Having gone.” That is, wherever you find yourself, there make disciples of all the nations.
Yes, there will be some who go to the nations specifically for the purpose of evangelism, but
all the Lord’s people are to bear witness wherever they may have gone, if it is only across the
street.
They are to baptize them into the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That is, they
take them into the grave in the synbolism of baptism and raise them up in newness of life
(Rom. 6.4). That life is the Lord’s life. It is in them, but they are also in the Lord, as Paul wrote
dozens of times – in Christ. We are not just in the world, but also in Christ, the safest place to
be, even if we face death for the Lord.
And they are to teach. The nations are in spiritual darkness, knowing little or nothing
of spiritual truth. Don’t stop with evangelism. Take those who have responded into truth.
The Lord Jesus is the truth (Jn. 14.6). They need to be taught so as to know who they are in
Christ, how to live that out, how to face the efforts of Satan to turn them aside by sin or by
falsehood, how to observe all that the Lord himself commanded his disciples.
Finally there comes that great promise, “And look! I am with you all the days, even to
the end of the age.” He will never leave us or forsake us (Dt. 31.6, 8, Josh. 1.5, Heb. 13.5).
Whether we sense his presence or not he is there. Whatever we may go through he goes
through with us. He has faced everything we will face and has done so victoriously. “For if
we should live, we live to the Lord, and if we should die, we die to the Lord. So whether we
live or we die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom. 14.8).
And there is an end to this evil age (Gal. 1.4). There is an age to come (Eph. 1.21), an
age in which the Lord is King and there is righteousness throughout the world.

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So ends the Good News According to Matthew. His version of the good news that is
the good news of the Kingdom, and thus of the King, ends with that one who has all
authority in Heaven and on the earth giving his commands and his promises to his disciples.
They are to reproduce as they make disciples of all the nations, and they are to glory in his
promise of a new age in which righteousness dwells. May that day hasten. May his coming
hasten. Amen.

Seek first his kingdom.

Copyright © 2018 by Tom Adcox. All rights reserved. You may share this work with others,
provided you do not alter it and do not sell it or use it for any commercial purpose. “Freely
you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10.8). Also you must include this notice if you
share it or any part of it.

Old Testament quotations are the author’s updates of the American Standard Version.
Quotations from the New Testament are the author’s translations.

Introduction

knowing the Lord and knowing his truth spiritually. If readers are helped in this regard I will
be more than rewarded and fully grateful to our Lord. May he use this work for his glory.

The Genealogy and Birth of the King
Matthew 1.1-2.23

1The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham: 2Abraham
fathered Isaac. Isaac fathered Jacob. Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers. 3

Jesse fathered David

Commented [TA1]:

Matthew 3.1-4.11

Now in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2saying,
“Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has come near.” 3For this is he who was spoken of
through Isaiah the prophet, saying,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way of I AM;
Make straight his paths.'” [Is. 40.3]
Repentance is the first step into the kingdom of the heavens. Matthew skips over all
the childhood of the Lord Jesus and records, after his settling in Nazareth as a young child,
the beginnings of his ministry. John the Baptist was the beginning, and his message was,
“Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has come near.” The kingdom includes the doing of
the will of God, and where the will of God has not been done, there must be repentance. If
one has not been in the kingdom, then he has not been doing the will of God and must
repent. That is how John starts. Something is about to take place: the kingdom is about to
come. The way to get ready is to repent.
We stressed in our introduction that the kingdom is first spiritual, before the earthly
glory comes. This need for repentance emphasizes that fact. Repentance is first of all a
spiritual matter, a dealing between God and the individual. The basic idea of repentance, and
the root meaning of the Greek word, is a change of mind. A change of behavior is certainly
involved, but that change of behavior is based on a change of mind. One realizes that he has
been wrong and has been thinking wrongly, in effect apologizes to God, and decides to think
and live a different way. Then he does so. That is repentance. If one would come under the
control of God in his life, that is the first step. If he will take that step and live on the basis of
it, he will then be ready when the earthly kingdom appears.
The kingdom of the heavens is the main sub-theme of the gospel of Matthew under
the presentation of the King himself, and John’s proclamation is the first mention of it. The
first thing we learn about the kingdom in his preaching is that it has come near, and we may
ask in what sense it has done so.
First, it has come near in the person of Christ, himself both the King and one fully
ruled by God. The will of God was perfectly done in Christ, as he himself repeatedly said in
the good news of John, and thus he himself was a manifestation of the kingdom. When he
was near, the kingdom was near.
But the kingdom in the particular sense in which Matthew presents it, as the spiritual
kingdom first, had also come near in time. The problem in the Old Testament was that the
law told people what to do, but gave no power to do it, and thus the will of God was not and

Then Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil.
We would think that one who had just been baptized in the Holy Spirit would move
on from glory to glory, but the very next episode in the life of our Lord was temptation. In
the context of Matthew, it is best to understand this temptation as the testing and proving of
the King. The words “tempt” and “test” are the same in Greek. It depends on the viewpoint.
From Satan’s standpoint it is temptation to evil with destruction the goal, but God uses the
same situation to test and strengthen and prove his people. Such was the case with the Lord
Jesus. God had just revealed at his baptism that this was the one he had chosen to be King.
Now he puts him into a situation that will prove his fitness to be the King.
Matthew says that the Spirit led the Lord into the desert to be tempted. Further, he
says that he was there forty days and forty nights. In the Bible, the desert is a place of testing
and forty is often a number of testing, as when Israel was tested for forty years in the desert,
an example using both symbols. Thus the thought of the testing of the King is reinforced.
The Lord Jesus himself told us to pray not to be led into temptation, yet, he was led
into the place of temptation by the Spirit in whom he had just been baptized. How are we to
explain this fact? Later passages in Matthew (11.12, 12.22-29) will demonstrate what we only
state at this point, that the going of the Lord Jesus to be tempted by Satan was actually an
invasion of Satan’s territory by the Lord. Jesus was under temptation, but Satan was under
assault. His rule of this world was being challenged.
3And when the tempter had come he said to him, “If you are God’s Son, say that these
stones should become loaves.” 4But answering he said, “It is written, ‘Not by bread alone
will the man live, but by every speaking coming out of the mouth of God.'” [Dt. 8.3]
Satan’s first words to the Lord were, “If you are God’s Son….” They remind us of his
first words recorded in the Bible. When he first approached Eve he asked, “Has God said…?”
Satan’s method is always to call God’s truthfulness into question, to get people to doubt God.
God calls for faith. Satan calls for unbelief. God had just testified from the heavens that our
Lord was his beloved Son. Now Satan almost sneers, “If you are God’s Son….”
This was not so much a temptation to the Lord Jesus to doubt that he was God’s Son,
for he knew who he was, but to prove who he was in a way that was out of keeping with the
will of God. The Lord did not live on the earth as God, but as man, subject to the same
limitations that we have. If he had not taken this course, he would be no example for us.
Though God, he was a man who lived by faith and obedience. Because he fully believed and
obeyed God, he was able to exercise great power, not as his own divine power, but as a man
drawing on the power of God by faith. When he healed he was not acting as God with divine
power; he was obeying God in speaking a word of faith as a man. The reason God was able
to give this man such power was that he could trust him with it. If any of us had such access
to power, we would probably misuse it to build an empire for ourselves, and that is probably
one reason we have no more power than we do. But the Lord Jesus could be trusted to use
power only in obedience to the will of God, and never for himself or without direction.

Matthew 4.12-25

12Now hearing that John had been arrested he withdrew into Galilee.

The Sermon on the Mount
Part I, the Beatitudes
Matthew 5.1-12

Now when he saw the crowds he went up into the mountain, and when he sat down his
disciples came to him, 2and opening his mouth he was teaching them saying, 3

used to support his work, not for selfish indulgence. But the general rule is that it is the self-
asserting who gain the earth and its wealth.

Take note, too, that Rom. 8.17 and 2 Tim. 2.12 both say, “if we suffer with him.” Peace-
making can be a battle, for there are those who oppose it, and certainly the devil does.

The Sermon on the Mount
Part II, Salt and Light
Matthew 5.13-16

The Sermon on the Mount
Part III, The Law
Matthew 5.17-48

self-effort, as the Jews taught. We have already seen that that approach leads to self-
righteousness or despair or apathy. No one is able to keep the law perfectly. The way to keep

white or black. 37But let your word be yes, yes, no, no. Now what is beyond these is out
from the evil [or evil one].
The next matter taken up by the Lord is that of oaths. The law says not to make false
vows, but to keep them. That is good and right as far as it goes. It is true that if a person
makes a vow, he should do what he says. That is only honest.
But as always the Lord goes beyond the outward behavior required by the law to the
heart of man. What kind of heart would have to take an oath anyway? A dishonest one. If a
person must take an oath to be believed, that means he cannot be believed when he has not
taken an oath, and probably when he has as well. He is not honest. Entrance into the
kingdom, says the Lord Jesus, is gained not by keeping oaths, but by being the kind of person
who does not have to take an oath to be believed. He must be one whose yes means yes and
whose no means no. It is not, Do you keep the oaths you make? but, Do you have an honest
heart? God looks on the heart.
As in the other cases, grace requires more than the law. The law requires that one keep
his oaths. Grace requires that one always be honest, whether he has made an oath or not, and
then oaths will be unnecessary.
One can be saved and make oaths and break them. He will not lose eternal life for so
doing. But he will not gain entrance into the kingdom, either now spiritually, or in the
millennial reign of Christ.
38″You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ [Ex. 21.24,
Lev. 24.20, Dt. 19.21] 39but I [emphasized] say to you not to resist evil, but whoever strikes
you on your right cheek, turn to him also the other. 40And to the one wanting to sue you
and take your tunic, leave to him also your cloak. 41And whoever forces you one mile, go
with him two. 42To the one asking you give, and don’t turn away from the one wanting to
borrow from you.
Vs. 38-42 deal with retaliation. The law says, “Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.” There
are two reasons for this law. One is that it is a deterrent to wrongdoing. If one knows that he
will lose an eye for taking one, he will be less likely to take one! The other reason is to
prevent retaliation from going beyond the original crime. One should not have both eyes
destroyed for destroying one eye, but only one. Thus the law protects both the victim and the
offender, the one from offense, and the other, from law is good and right in principle, though
we might balk at actually destroying an eye.
But once again the Lord Jesus does not stop with what is right and good outwardly.
He raises the question of the heart. A vengeful person will demand the eye for the eye, but
the Lord says to have a forgiving heart, not a vengeful one. Instead of demanding that the
one who slaps his cheek be slapped back, he is to offer the other cheek. Instead of filing a
counter suit, he is to give more than he is sued for. Instead of going one mile under
compulsion, he is to go two.
This passage is one of the more difficult in Scripture to apply, for it must be studied in
the light of other passages. Does it mean, for example, that a Christian, who is told not to
resist him who is evil, should allow dangerous criminals to go free, when they might harm

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The Sermon on the Mount
Part IV, Righteous Deeds
Matthew 6.1-18

“Be careful not to do your righteousness before men, to be seen by them [the Greek word
for “see” here is the word from which we get “theater,” an apt description of what those are
doing who do their righteousness to be seen by men – putting on a show]. Otherwise you
don’t have a reward with your Father who is in the heavens.
2
“When therefore you do alms, don’t blow a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do
in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be glorified by men. Amen I say to you,
they have their reward. 3But when you do alms, do not let your left hand know what your
right hand is doing 4so that your alms may be in the secret place, and your Father who sees
in the secret place will reward you.
5
“And when you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites, for they love [the Greek is phileo,
tender affection, W.E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words; also love of
close friends] to pray standing on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men
[this word for “see” has the idea of making an appearance]. Amen I say to you, they have
their reward.
We have just seen that in Mt. 5.21-48 the Lord Jesus shows that the righteousness of his
followers is to surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees in relation to the law. Now, in 6.1-18,
he shows that it is to surpass in what would commonly be called our Christian duties. The
primary way in which it surpasses is that it is not done to be seen by men, but comes from a
heart toward God. The Lord begins by saying, “Be careful not to do your righteous deeds
before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in
the heavens.”
The righteous deeds referred to are, as we have seen in the context of Matthew’s
emphasis on the kingdom, not designed to gain salvation, which would be salvation by
works, but are done for the Lord, out of love for him, and this gains one a place in the
kingdom. They are done to please the Lord now by being under his rule, and to be prepared
for a place in the kingdom when the Lord returns.
The things he talks about would be seen as religious duties by the average person, but
such a designation of these deeds reveals a complete misunderstanding of the things of God.
The world would say that a person does these things to keep God from being angry with him
or to gain points toward salvation. There is no joy in them, but only the exercise of a duty
required by a God whose primary purpose seems to be to make people miserable.
But these are not religious duties, though they are things that ought to be done. The
difference is that when one knows and loves the Lord, the “ought” does not come into the
picture. He does not do these things because he ought to, but because something within him
causes him to want to. He takes delight in them because they please the Lord, and because
the Lord makes them enjoyable. That something within is the Spirit of God, transforming one
from a sinner or one who is trying to work for God’s favor, to one who has been changed

The Sermon on the Mount
Part V, Material Things
Matthew 6.19-34

The Sermon on the Mount
Part VI, Judging and Good Judgment
Matthew 7.1-29

“Don’t judge so you will not be judged. 2For with the judgment with which you judge
you will be judged, and with the measure with which you measure it will be measured to
you.
The Lord now turns to the matter of judging others. It is of interest that he says in 7.1
not to judge, then makes statements in vs. 6 and 16 that require that we make judgments.
How are we to understand this apparent inconsistency? In the first place, we need to see that
judging has to do with another’s heart and motivation and no one but God can see those
things. We can see another’s behavior and make a judgment that the behavior is right or
wrong, but we cannot see the heart of the other person, so we cannot judge him. We do not
know why he behaves as he does. How easy it always is for us to make allowances for
ourselves while demanding perfection of others. There is always a good reason why we fail
to do as we should, but the other person should be held strictly accountable. That is not the
right approach. We cannot condemn another person, but must leave that to God.
In the second place, we must keep in mind what we have seen all through the
Sermon, that it sets forth the character and behavior of those who would live under the rule

self-control. Do these fruits characterize one who claims to be a prophet, or is he proud, self-
centered, materialistic, demanding?

flesh problem, a self problem. We want to live for self, or we want to live for God in self-
strength. God will deal with that, for the flesh is of no use to him. He will lead us into

circumstances in life that will apply the cross to the flesh, putting it to death that his life may

Now when he came down from the mountain many crowds followed him.
A new section of Matthew begins with chapter 8. Chapters 1-4 are introductory,
setting the stage for the ministry of the Lord Jesus and for the way Matthew presents him.
Chapters 5-7 set forth the teaching of the King about the kingdom. Now we find in chapters 8
and 9 a number of miracles, showing that the words of the Lord of 5-7 are backed up by his
deeds. It is true that talk is cheap. Anyone can say anything. But backing up one’s words is
another matter. Matthew shows us that the Lord was not just a talker, but could do works
that showed the validity of his words. He did not just talk as a King: he acted as one, and
more then a King.
In addition to the displays of power in chapters 8 and 9, we find many other lessons in
the miracles as well. While miracles are important in themselves, the Lord is concerned not
nearly so much with outward displays, or even with what they accomplish physically, as
with the spiritual truth they convey and the spiritual results they have in people’s hearts.
Matthew tells us in 8.1 that the Lord had come down from the mountain. In the
Scriptures, a mountain often represents a kingdom or a place of authority. We see this fact in

The Works of the Kingdom
Part II, The Cost of Discipleship
Matthew 8.18-34

The Works of the Kingdom
Part III, The Beginning of Controversy
Matthew 9.1-34

And having gotten into a boat he went over and came to his own city, 2and look! they
were bringing to him a paralytic lying on a pallet. And seeing their faith Jesus said to the
paralytic, “Take courage, child. Your sins are forgiven.” 3And look! some of the scribes said
within themselves, “This one blasphemes.” 4And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said,
“Why are you thinking evil things in your hearts? 5Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are
forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk.’ 6But that you may know that the Son of Man has
authority on the earth to forgive sins.” Then he said to the paralytic, “When you have
gotten up, take your pallet and go to your house.” 7And when he had gotten up he went to
his house. 8But when the crowds saw they were afraid and glorified God who had given
such authority to men.
The first story in the present passage has to do with the healing of a paralytic. In it we
see special emphasis on a fact we saw in chapter 8, that the Lord Jesus is more than talk, and
can do works that give validity to his words. All of his works validate all of his words in a
general sense, but in this story we see that truth in very specific fashion, for the Lord first
pronounced the forgiveness of the paralytic’s sins. In the first place, this act showed the
origin of human suffering and the man’s real need, indeed the real need of all people.
All suffering has its ultimate origin in sin. This does not mean that each specific
suffering is a specific punishment for a specific sin. If that were the cased, none of us would
survive, for the Lord would have to punish us so often that we could not take it. It does mean
that we live in a fallen world. Because sin was introduced into God’s sinless creation there is
suffering. Those who blame God for their hardships need to understand that it is our fault,
not his. He made it without sin and suffering. We introduced those factors. The man’s

The Mission of the Twelve
Matthew 9.35-11.1

And summoning his twelve disciples he gave them authority over unclean spirits, in
order to cast them out and to heal every sickness and every malady. 2Now the names of the
twelve apostles are these: first Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, and
Jacob [The Greek is “Jacob” in every case in the New Testament. “James” came about by a rather
roundabout trail.] the son of Zebedee and John his brother, 3Philip and Bartholomew,
Thomas and Matthew the tax collector, Jacob the son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus, 4Simon
the Cananean [Aramaic for “Zealot”] and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

The Lord begins with a mission to take place at once during his earthly ministry, but uses
it to move on to a prophetic word about the entire church age, and then finally, in vs. 24-42,
to general principles of discipleship and apostleship.
He begins by noting that he is sending the twelve out as sheep among wolves. This
was true of Israel at that time, for they rejected the Lord and his messengers, and it has been
true all through the church age as the world, including the religious world, has persecuted
the followers of the Lord. What is to be the response of the disciples to this persecution? They
are to be as wise as snakes and as innocent as doves. That is, they are to know what is going
on, to be aware of the wickedness of the world and to expect nothing other than persecution,
but they are not to retaliate. The Lord says that vengeance is his and that he will repay. The
wrong done by another is no excuse for one of the Lord’s people to do wrong in return, for
we will not be judged on the basis of what someone else has done, but only by our own
actions. Our wrong will not be justified by another’s. The Lord Jesus, not other people, is the
standard of measure (Eph. 4.13).
One would do well to study the book of 1 Peter in this connection, for one of the
primary themes of that book is unjust suffering and the Christian’s reaction to it. Especially
relevant passages are 2.12, 19-23, 3.16-17, 4.15-16, 19. The Lord Jesus was the supreme
example of one who suffered unjustly. He did not respond in kind, but even went so far as to
die rather than retaliate. He is our example. Our task is not to gain vengeance on those who
reject the Lord, and thus reject us, but to share the good news with them, and to be a living
example of it.
But again, those sent out by the Lord are to have no illusions about what will occur,
and should beware. Be prepared. Many would be arrested for proclaiming the good news.

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And it took place when Jesus had finished giving instructions to his twelve disciples,
he went from there to teach and to preach in their cities.
Having given all these instructions, warnings, and principles, the Lord himself in Mt.
11.1 went out to teach and preach. We are told no more about the mission of the twelve, but

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apparently they went out on that mission at the same time. The Lord did what he told the
disciples to do, and they were to do what he did. Discipleship is like messiahship.

John the Baptist’s Questions
Matthew 11.2-19

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Hardly. Yet, without being materialistic, we must point out that the acceptance of Judeo-
Christian values by a portion of the world produced the greatest society ever known to man,

The Response of the Lord Jesus to Growing Rejection

Matthew 11.20-30

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and wisdom. God will not allow that. He gets all the glory. So he hides truth from the self-
wise and reveals it to those who admit their need. Human wisdom and intelligence,

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Matthew 12.1-50

At that opportunity Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grainfields. Now his
disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and to eat. 2But the Pharisees,
seeing, said to him, “Look! your disciples do what it is not permitted to do on a Sabbath.”
3But he said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those
with him, 4how he entered into the house of God and ate the loaves of the presentation,
which it was not permitted for him to eat, nor those with him, but for the priests only? 5Or
have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple [ἱerovn]
desecrated the Sabbath and were not guilty? 6But I say to you that one greater than the
temple [ἱerovn] is here. 7But if you had known what it is, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’
[Hos. 6.6] you would not have condemned the innocent. 8For the Son of Man is Lord of the
Sabbath.”
In this story we find the Lord Jesus and his disciples walking through a grain field on
a Sabbath. The disciples became hungry and picked and ate some of the heads of grain. This
taking of a bit of grain was not illegal in Israel, for the law of Israel, given by her God, was
designed to lead his people to take care of one another. In Dt. 23.25 we read that it is lawful to

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him. No one who has met the Lord can prove that there is a God in the microscope or test-
tube sense, but he knows that he has met the Lord. God has proven himself to him.

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44Then it says, “I will return to my house from which I

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The Parables of the Kingdom
Mt. 13.1-52

On that day Jesus, having gone out from the house, sat beside the sea, 2and many
crowds were gathered to him so that having gotten into a boat he sat down, and all the
crowd stood on the shore. 3And he spoke to them many things in parables saying, “Look!
The sower went out to sow. 4And in his sowing some fell by the way and when the birds
came they ate them. 5But others fell on the rocky grounds where they did not have much
earth, and immediately they sprang up, because they did not have depth of earth. 6But
when the sun had come up they were burned, and because they did not have root they
withered. 7But others fell on the thorns and the thorns came up and choked them. 8But
others fell on the good earth and produced fruit, some a hundred, but some sixty, but some
thirty. 9Let the one who has ears hear.”
We saw in the last chapter that the rejection of the Lord Jesus by the Jews led to their
judgment and rejection by God, and that this theme reached a climax with the attribution by
the Jews of the work of the Holy Spirit though the Lord Jesus to Satan, their request for a

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Continued Withdrawal From Public Ministry

Mt. 13.53-16.12

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At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report of Jesus 2and said to his servants, “This
one is John the Baptist. He was raised from the dead and because of this the works of
power are working in him.” 3For Herod, having seized John, bound him and put him into
prison because of Herodias the wife of Philip his brother. 4For John was saying to him, “It

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the death of Malachi, the last prophet. Now here is a man doing something that only a Spirit-
anointed man, such as Elisha, could do. This miracle was a testimony to the return of the

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36and they were asking him that they might

Then there came to Jesus from Jerusalem Pharisees and scribes saying, 2

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¹⁰And having called the crowd to him he said to them, “Hear and understand.” ¹¹Not the thing entering into the mouth defiles the man, but the thing going out the mouth, this defiles the man. ¹²Then having come to him the disciples said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees, having heard the word, were offended?” ¹³But answering he said, “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be rooted up. ¹⁴Leave them. They are blind guides [of the blind]. But if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit. ¹⁵But answering Peter said to him, “Explain to us the parable.” ¹⁶But he said, “Are you still without understanding also?” ¹⁷Do you not understand that everything going into the mouth passes into the stomach and is cast out into a latrine? ¹⁸But the things going out of the mouth come out of the heart, and these defile the man. ¹⁹For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slanders. ²⁰These are the things defiling the man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.

That the Lord was in withdrawal from public ministry to the Jews is seen in v. 1 in the fact that the Pharisees and Jews come to the Lord Jesus, not he to them, and in v. 14 when he says to leave them alone. There is no more any presenting of the kingdom to the Jews, so leave them alone. Withdraw and prepare for the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord, and for Pentecost and the presenting of the kingdom to the Gentiles.

This coming of the Pharisees and scribes to question the Lord brings up two issues, the importance of the word of God as opposed to man’s traditions, and the importance of the heart. The Lord uses the Pharisees’ practice to make the first point, and he uses the question they raise to make the second.

They ask the Lord why his disciples transgress the tradition of the elders by eating without washing their hands. He deals first with the matter of the tradition of the elders, pointing out that the Pharisees use that tradition, built up around the word of God, to negate the word of God. God’s word commands that one honor his father and mother. The Pharisees had developed the tradition of allowing men to declare that their property was given to God, thus allowing them to refuse to spend it on their aged, needy parents. They were not actually required to give it all to God’s work, but only to declare that it was so dedicated. They had the use of it themselves. In this way, the Pharisees used their own traditions to set aside the word of God which they claimed to uphold.

A subtle factor is at work in what this example illustrates. Man’s tradition is usually built around some word or act of God, but man adds to the word or act of God to protect or extend it. His motives are good, but his deeds betray a fundamental misunderstanding of the way God works. It is not long before the tradition takes on the force of what God said, and then it becomes more important than what God said. Men live by the tradition without knowing the word of God, assuming that it is the word of God. Then those who do not conform to the tradition, but go by God’s word, are persecuted in some fashion. V. 12 says that the Pharisees stumble, that is, lack faith. This is why they stumble: they cannot have faith in the Lord Jesus and build on him because he does not hold to their tradition, but to God’s word, which had been lost sight of in the tradition that was meant to uphold it.

The problem is, first, that God is a living God who lives in a tent. He does not build shrines where he does a work, but folds his tent and moves on to something new. He is always doing a fresh, living work. Second, God does not need man to keep his work alive. Indeed, man will bring only death. How weak we must think God is to think that we must build an institution or a tradition to keep alive something God has done. Is God unable to keep his own work alive?

It is easy for us to point fingers at the Pharisees whom the Lord dealt with so harshly, but do we not do the same thing? How many of the practices in our so-called churches can be found in Scripture? It would be an interesting and profitable study for a congregation to search the Scriptures for justification for all their practices. Many could not be found! Some are more or less harmless, but others have been cause for the persecution of those who did not conform to them, holding instead to the word of God. Persecution of Christians by other Christians because of the traditions of men! How far have we come from the New Testament?

Then the Lord uses the issue that the Pharisees raise to make his second point, the importance of the heart. They argue for washing the hands before eating, not for reasons of sanitation, which they knew little or nothing about in a pre-scientific day, but because it is their religious tradition. The washing was not designed to clean off physical dirt, but to remove the religious defilement derived from contact with less righteous people. You are not as righteous as I am, so if I touch you, I must wash you off! Otherwise I will be defiled. It is these clean-handed righteous people who are plotting to murder the Lord!

What does the Lord say to this attitude? He says that it fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that the Lord’s people honor him with their lips while their hearts are far from him. He says that what defiles a man is not what goes into him from outside, but what comes out of his heart. It is the heart that matters to God. Why is this so? Because God knows that a person can fake behavior. One can pretend to love God and to be doing right while in his heart he is plotting evil. It may not be what we would call heinous crimes. It may be only the selfishness and pride of trying to use God himself for one’s own interests. One may even try to serve God to advance himself among God’s people. That is an evil motive in God’s sight and it defiles. We have seen that in Matthew the kingdom has become a matter of the heart. The Lord shows that before the outward kingdom of earthly glory comes, there must be its acceptance in the heart by those willing to follow the Lord now in his days of humility. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. May what comes from our hearts not defile us, but honor our God.

21And having gone out from there Jesus went to the parts of Tyre and Sidon. 22And look! a
Canaanite woman having come out from those regions cried out saying, “Have mercy on
me, Lord, Son of David. My daughter is badly demonized.” 23But he did not answer her a
word, and having come his disciples asked him saying, “Send her away, for she cries out
after us.” 24But answering he said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel.” 25But she, having come, was bowing to him saying, “Lord, help me.” 26But
answering he said, “It is not good to take the bread of the children and throw it to the
dogs.” 27But she said, “Yes, Lord, for even the dogs eat from the crumbs that fall from the
table of their master.” [lit., “lord”] 28Then answering Jesus said to her, “O woman, great is
your faith! Be it to you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.
V. 21 shows us that the Lord’s period of withdrawal continues. Every time his Jewish
opponents confront him, instead of continuing the argument until it comes to a conclusion,
he simply goes somewhere else, until it is God’s time for him to die. Then he will stay and lay
down his life. In this verse, after the Pharisees and scribes try to trap him on the issue of
eating with unwashed hands, he withdraws to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Tyre and Sidon
were Gentile cities outside the boundaries of Israel. It is not made explicitly clear whether or

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developing her faith. She was a Gentile. The presenting of the kingdom had been withdrawn
from the Jews as such and shortly was to be made to the Gentiles. She was a sort of prefigure
of what was coming. But Gentiles come on the basis of faith, not of law, as Jews actually have
to do also. Thus it was necessary that this woman see that she had no legal claim on the Lord
Jesus as Son of David and that she have faith drawn out. So again the Lord was loving her
supremely by giving her just what she needed, the kind of persistent faith that can prevail
with him. God give us all such faith!
So in this little story of a Gentile woman with a demon-possessed daughter we see two
major themes of Matthew, the Lord’s withdrawal and the taking of the kingdom from the
Jews and the giving of it to the Gentiles, and we see how one approaches God in this new
situation: by repentance and faith, not by law.
Note on mercy: Grace and mercy are very much the same in that both are expressions of the
love of God to those who do not deserve it. But there is a difference. While grace is primarily
a response to sin, mercy is more a response to the pitiful condition of sinners caused by their
sin. Grace forgives. Mercy helps. In practice the terms are used more or less interchangeably,
but it is an added understanding to see the difference. Thanks be to God for forgiving me,
and for getting me out of the pitiful condition I got myself into by sin.
29And having gone from there Jesus went alongside the Sea of Galilee. And having gone
up into the mountain he was sitting there, 30and there came to him many crowds having
with themselves lame, blind, crippled, dumb, and many others and put them down at his
feet, and he healed them, 31so that the crowd marveled seeing dumb speaking, crippled
sound, and lame walking and blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.
In vs. 29-31 we see something that occurs more than once in Matthew. The Lord, even
in his efforts at withdrawal so as to instruct his disciples, shows compassion on the crowds of
hurting people. Even though he has in principle turned from the Jews and is preparing to
open the kingdom to Gentiles, he nonetheless does not refuse those who come to him in their
need. But we also notice one other factor in these verses. Matthew tells us that the Lord Jesus
goes up to a mountain and is sitting there. He does not tell us why or what he was doing. He
simply says that he is sitting there. In the Bible a mountain is sometimes symbolic of a
kingdom (Dan. 2.35). It appears that in the midst of his rejection as King, the Lord still takes
the place of King. He sits as King, and he does the things the messianic King would do: he
heals the lame, crippled, blind, and dumb. Whether he is received as King or not, he will still
act as King.
32Now, Jesus, having called the disciples to him, said, “I have compassion [from Gk. for “intestines”] on the crowd
for they remain with me three days already and they have
nothing that they might eat. And I don’t want to dismiss them fasting so that they may not
faint on the way. 33And the disciples said to him, “From where to us in a deserted place so
many loaves as to satisfy so large a crowd?” 34And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves
do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few fish.” And having commanded the crowd
to recline on the ground 36he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he

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And the Pharisees and Sadducees having come, tempting him they asked him to show
them a sign from Heaven. 2But answering he said to them, “When evening has come you
say, ‘Fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 3And in the morning, ‘Bad weather today, for the sky
is red and dark.’ You know how to discern the face of the sky, but the signs of the times
[kairos] – you are not able. 4An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and no sign will
be given it except the sign of Jonah.” And having left them he went away.

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and yet deny what God himself says in his word. We need to be on guard against modern-
day dispensers of leaven into the body of Christ.

You Are the Christ
Mt. 16.13-17.27

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foundation can be laid than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus,
not Peter, is the Rock on whom the church is built.
In addition Peter himself makes it clear what it means for him to be a rock. In the
second chapter of his first epistle he writes in vs. 4-5 that Jesus is the living Stone, the Rock,
on whom Christians, as living stones, of whom Peter is only one, are built into the church.
Peter would be the last to claim to be the rock, and would be deeply grieved that such an idea
could even occur to anyone, much less gain credence. Peter was one of the living stones, yes,
but Jesus is the Rock on whom the church is built. The fact that Peter confessed the Lord
Jesus made him a living stone who could be built onto that foundation.
In addition, the name “Peter” is Petros in Greek and the Greek word means a small
stone, even a pebble, and it could mean a boulder. It is a masculine noun. When the Lord
says, “on this Rock” he is using the feminine noun petra which means a massive rock, even a
projecting cliff. Peter is he small stone. Peter is a small stone, in actuallity probably a stone
chiseled out of a quarry made to fit the building. The foundation, the Lord Jesus is a massive
Rock.
The statement that the gates of hades would not prevail against the church has also
been problematical because of the improper translation “gates of hell.” The Greek does not
say “hell,” a different word entirely, but “hades.” Hell is the place of eternal punishment for
Satan and his angels that will be inhabited only after the millennium, except for Antichrist
and his prophet and the “goat Gentiles” of Mt. 25.31-46, all of whom will be cast into hell just
before the millennium. Hades is the temporary “holding cell” of the lost dead while they
await final judgment and casting into hell. It can also mean death and the grave. When the
Lord says that the gates of hades will not prevail against the church, he says that he himself
will rise from the dead, thus gaining eternal life that triumphs over death, and will give this
life to his church. Death is not the end for the Lord’s people. We have more than hope for our
loved ones and ourselves. We have the Lord’s word that the church is the place of life, not of
death. Life will prevail against death, and the church has that life. When the Lord says that hades will not prevail against the church he means that death will not prevail, but life, eternal, resurrection life will prevail against death.
This verse is the first place in the Bible where the word “church” is used, and is one of
only two places in the gospels, the other being Mt. 18.17. By using it, the Lord reveals the
outcome of his rejection of the Jews. Up until chapter 13, he presented himself as King to the
Jews, but because they rejected him, he rejected them and turned in principle to the Gentiles.
We say “in principle” because the Lord himself did not actually go to the Gentiles during his
earthly ministry, but did so only through his followers after his ascension. But what took
place when he turned to the Gentiles? He called into being a new people, not a people after
the flesh like the Jews, but a spiritual people. The church was something entirely new at that
time, never before heard of by man. It was the mystery hidden from the ages and
generations, as Paul puts it in Col. 1.26. In Mt. 16.18, the Lord himself, in the flesh, revealed
the church for the first time. It was to be the place where the kingdom of the heavens as a
spiritual concept during this age of its hiddenness was to find expression. God’s earthly
people the Jews rejected the kingdom. Now a spiritual people would come into being who
would accept it and its King, the Lord Jesus.
Then the Lord makes another statement to Peter that has also been used to reinforce
misinterpretations of Peter. He says, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens,
and whatever you bind on the earth will have been bound in the heavens, and whatever you

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reward every man according to his deeds. That is works for reward, not faith for salvation.
We must be reminded again that Matthew is the good news of the kingdom.

And after six days Jesus took Peter and Jacob and John his brother and took them into
a high mountain alone. 2And he was transfigured before them and his face shone as the
sun and his garments became white as light. 3And look! there were seen by them Moses
and Elijah talking with him. 4Now answering Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to
be here. If you wish I will make here three tents, for you one and for Moses one and for
Elijah one.” 5While he was still speaking look! a cloud full of light overshadowed them,
and look! a voice from the cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased. Hear him.” 6And when the disciples heard they fell on their faces and were very
afraid. 7And having come and touched them, Jesus said, “Get up and don’t be afraid.” 8And
having lifted up their eyes they saw no one but Jesus himself alone.
9And as they were coming down from the mountain Jesus commanded them saying, “Tell
no one the vision until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” 10And the disciples
asked him saying, “Why do the scribes say that it is necessary for Elijah to come first?”
11And answering he said, “Elijah comes and will restore all things, 12but I say to you that
Elijah has already come and they did not know him, but did whatever they wished with
him. So also will the Son of Man suffer under at their hands.” 13Then the disciples
understood that he spoke to them about John the Baptist.
Having just said in v. 27 that the Son of Man would come in glory, the Lord now says
in v. 28 that there were some standing there who would not taste death until they had seen
the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. What did he mean by this statement?
Vs. 21-26 have been taken up with showing the disciples that both Messiahship and
discipleship involve suffering: the Messiah would be mistreated and put to death, and the
disciples must take up their crosses and follow him. Now, so that the experience of his death
would not be too much for the twelve, the Lord gives three of them an experience of his glory
that would strengthen them for the ordeal, consistent with his period of withdrawal in which
he was preparing the disciples for the coming events. He took Peter, James, and John up a
mountain, where they saw him transfigured into his coming glory.
That this experience of the transfiguration was what the Lord meant in 16.28 by some
of those standing there seeing the Son of Man coming in his kingdom is made clear by Peter
himself, one of the eyewitnesses, in his second epistle. It is a remarkable fact that of all the
memories of his time with the Lord on earth, the only one that Peter mentions in his epistles
is the transfiguration. In 2 Pt. 1.16 he says that he had made known the power and coming (or
presence) of the Lord, and then shows in vs. 17-18 that the transfiguration was an example of
this coming. True, it was a foreshadowing of his ultimate coming in glory, but it was a
coming nonetheless of the Son of Man in his kingdom. This interpretation is reinforced by the
fact that it took place on a mountain, sometimes symbolic in the Bible of a kingdom.
T. Austin-Sparks, in his book Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, Forever,
writes, “What was the meaning of the Transfiguration? The Gospel by Matthew, as you
know, is the Gospel of the Kingdom, and the Transfiguration was the manifestation of the

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There we learn that the Jews before the coming of Christ were children, not sons. The child,
though heir of everything, is no different from a slave as far as his control of the family
fortune. He lives under rules and can make no decisions or disposition of money. That is a
picture of the Jew under the law. But when Christ came, the children came into maturity, or
into son-placing, as the Bible puts it. When they became sons, they gained control over the
family’s possessions and began to make decisions. They were no longer under rules, but had
to make the rules themselves. They had to exercise responsibility. So it is with the Christian.
We do not live by rules, but by our daily walk with the living God.
Thus this little paragraph in Matthew’s gospel seems to present the continuation of yet
another theme in the gospel, the taking of the kingdom from the Jews and the offering of it to
the Gentiles. In the Jewish world, the Jews were not strangers, but sons, but in the new
situation brought about by their rejection and the presdenting of the kingdom to the Gentiles,
the Jews are not sons, but children, and it is those who receive the Lord Jesus who are sons. It
is these sons who are not required to pay the tax, that is, not literally, but to live under the
law. We are free from the rules of the law, but we have the greater responsibility of exercising
proper stewardship of what God has entrusted to us.
The final point of this passage has to do with the Lord’s willingness to pay the tax
even though he was free from it. He forewent his rights in order to avoid giving a stumbling
block, and thereby established a principle of Christian living that Paul drew out in his letters,
in particular, in Rom. 14 and 1 Cor. 8, and summed up in his statement in 1 Cor. 6.12 and
20.23, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable.” That is, the Christian is
not under the law and is therefore free to do anything, but he cannot please the Lord by
doing just anything, and will want to do what pleases the Lord. One of the things that do
please him is the principle set forth in these passages, namely, that one will forego his rights
in order to avoid causing harm to a weaker brother or sister. If a weaker one would be hurt
spiritually by a more mature believer exercising his rights as a son, he will let those rights go,
just as the Lord Jesus did. The Lord did not have to pay the temple tax, but he did so in order
to avoid putting a stumbling block before the Jews. He did not have to die for us, but he did
so, foregoing his right to life.
We will not take the space at this point to quote Rom. 14 and 1 Cor. 8 in full, but the
reader should study these passages at this point and compare them with the Lord’s behavior,
as well as with his own. One of the great principles of Christian living is that we will not
insist on our rights to the detriment of another. As always, the Lord is our example.

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Relationships in the Kingdom
Mt. 18.1-35

At that hour the disciples came to Jesus saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom
of the heavens?” 2And having called a child he stood it in the midst of them 3and said,
“Amen I say to you, “Unless you turn and become as the children, you will not enter into
the kingdom of the heavens. 4Whoever therefore humbles himself as this child, this one is
greatest in the kingdom of the heavens. 5And whoever receives one such child in my name
receives me. 6But whoever causes one of these little ones who trust in me to stumble, it is
better for him that a large millstone drawn by a donkey were hung around his neck and he
be drowned in the depth of the sea. 7Woe to the world from stumbling blocks. It is
necessary for stumbling blocks to come, but woe to the man through whom the stumbling
block comes. 8Now if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and cast it
away from you. It is better for you to enter into life [zoe] crippled or lame, than having two
hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9And if your eye causes you to
stumble, pull it out and cast it away from you. It is better for you to enter into life [zoe]
with one eye than having two eyes to be thrown into the gehenna of fire. 10See that you do
not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in the heavens are
always beholding the face of my Father who is in the heavens. {

11″For the Son of Man came

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More Characteristics of the Kingdom
Mt. 19.1-20.34

And it took place when Jesus finished these words that he went from Galilee and
came to the regions of Judea across the Jordan. 2And many crowds followed him and he
healed them there.
Mt. 19.1 marks a new turning point in the good news. We have seen that ever since
chapter 12 the Lord Jesus has been in a period of withdrawal from the Jews, both in his
method of teaching and in his geographical location. First, the Jews, having rejected the Lord,
have been rejected by him, so there is no longer any purpose in presenting the kingdom to
them, and second, it is not yet time for the Lord to die, so he avoids confrontation and
concentrates on preparing his disciples for the future. But now the time of his death is
drawing near and he himself takes the initiative in moving toward Jerusalem, where, as he
prophesied, his death will take place. By moving toward Jerusalem himself he confirms what
he said as recorded in Jn. 10.17-18, that no one takes his life, but he lays it down. It is the first
step toward the laying down of his life that we have recorded in this verse.
V. 2 shows his continuing compassion on the suffering multitudes no matter what
burdens were weighing on his own mind. He came to obey the Father, and he came to serve
people in their need, and he carries out his mission without regard for himself.
3And Pharisees came to him testing him and saying, “Is it permitted for a man to divorce
his wife for every reason?” 4But answering he said, “Did you not known that the one who
created from the beginning ‘made them male and female?’ [Gen. 1.27, 5.2] 5and said,
‘Because of this a man will leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, the two will
be one flesh.’ [Gen. 2.24] 6So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has
joined together, let man not separate.” 7They said to him, “Why then did Moses command
‘to give her a certificate of divorce and send {her} away?’ [Dt. 24.1] 8He said to them,
“Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives, but from
the beginning it has not been so. 9But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife except
for immorality and marries another commits adultery.” 10{His} disciples said to him, “If the
relationship of the man with the wife is so, it is better not to marry.” 11And he said to them,
“Not all receive this word, but those to whom it is given, 12for there are eunuchs who were

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“For the kingdom of the heavens is like a man, a householder, who went out early in
the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2Now when he had agreed with the workers
at a denarius per day he sent them into his vineyard. 3And having gone out about the third
hour he saw others standing idle in the market place, 4and to these he said, “You
[emphasized] also go into the vineyard and whatever is right I will give you.” 5And they

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The Triumphal Entry
Mt. 21.1-22.14

And when they were near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives,
then Jesus sent two disciples, 2saying to them, “Go into the village which is opposite you

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And answering Jesus again spoke to them in parables saying, 2

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Mercy Boasts Over Judgment
Mt. 22.15-23.39

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Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and his disciples 2saying, “On Moses’ seat sit the
scribes and the Pharisees. 3All therefore, whatever they say to you, do and observe, but
don’t do according to their works, for they say and don’t do. 4But they bind up heavy
cargoes and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves with one finger of theirs
don’t want to move them. 5But all of their works they do to be seen [θεαθῆναι] by men.
For they broaden their phylacteries and enlarge the tassels, 6and they love [φιλοῦσιν] the
first reclining place at the banquets and the first seats in the synagogues, 7and the
greetings in the market places and to be called by men Rabbi. 8But you are not to be called
Rabbi, for one is your Teacher and you are all brothers. 9And don’t call anyone on earth
your father, for one is your Father in Heaven. 10And don’t be called leader, for one is your
Leader, Christ. 11But the greatest of you will be your servant. 12Now whoever exalts himself
will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
With all this debate behind him the Lord addresses both the crowds and his disciples.
The words he speaks are the last of his public ministry, and they are words of judgment as

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Watch!
Mt. 24.1-25.46

And when Jesus had gone out from the temple [ἱerovn], he was leaving, and his
disciples came to show him the buildings of the temple. 2But answering he said to them,
“Do you not see all these? Amen I say to you, there will not be left here stone on stone
which will not be torn down.” 3But as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives the disciples
came to him alone saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what is the sign of your
parousia and of the end of the age?” 4And answering Jesus said to them, “See to it that no
one deceive you. 5For many will come in my name saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will
deceive many. 6And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not
alarmed, for it is necessary to take place, but it is not yet the end. 7For nation will rise
against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes
in various places. 8But all these things are the beginning of birth pangs. 9Then they will
deliver you to tribulation, and they will kill you, and you will be hated by all the nations
because of my name. 10And then many will be caused to stumble, and they will betray one
another and hate one another. 11And many false prophets will arise and deceive many,
12and because lawlessness to increase, the love [agape] of many will grow cold. 13But the
one who endures to the end – this one will be saved. 14And this Good News of the
kingdom will be preached in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations,
and then the end will come.
Having concluded his public ministry, the Lord Jesus leaves the temple, as Mt. 24.1
tells us, an act symbolic in itself of his rejection of the Jews. As he does so, the disciples reveal
that their hopes are still largely connected with the earthly hopes of the Jews, for they call his
attention to the temple. His reply is that all this will be torn down, leading his disciples to ask
the questions that give him the opportunity to deal with prophetic matters relating to the end

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three or so years of ministry, death, and resurrection. The woman is the church, and the man-
child is the firstfruits of the church, those who have been matured through trial and are ready

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“Then the kingdom of the heavens will be likened to ten virgins, who taking their
lamps went out to meet the bridegroom, 2but five of them were foolish and five prudent,
3For the foolish ones, taking their lamps, did not take oil with them, 4but the prudent took
oil in containers with their lamps. 5But when the bridegroom delayed they all grew

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The Suffering of the King
Mt. 26.1-27.66

And it came about when Jesus finished all these words, he said to his disciples, 2“You
know that after two days the Passover comes, and the Son of Man will be delivered to be
crucified.” 3Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together into
the courtyard of the High Priest, called Caiaphas, 4and they took counsel together that they
might seize Jesus by treachery and kill him, 5but they said, “Not during the festival, that
there may not be a riot among the people.”
The last three chapters of Matthew do not require extensive interpretation, being
primarily historical accounts of the events surrounding the death and resurrection of the
Lord Jesus. These events are nonethesess vital because of their nature, dealing as they do
with the provision for sin and the restoring of man to God’s original purpose. Our study of
these chapters will consist mostly of a survey of their contents, with a few interpretative
comments as needed.
In the first two verses of chapter 26, the Lord tells the disciples that he will be
delivered up for crucifixion at the Passover in two days. The Passover, of course, was the
festival in which the Jews commemorated their deliverance from Egypt at the hand of God,
and particularly, of his sparing of them in his smiting of the firstborn of Egypt. Because the
Israelites had the blood of the lamb on their doorposts, the angel of death passed over them,
hence the name, Passover. The outstanding feature of the Passover was the lamb slain, and
that points to the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Because of him, when the judgment of death comes on sin, God passes over those who are
under that blood. He is the fulfillment of the Jewish Passover.
It is of great interest that when the leaders of the Jews plotted in vs. 3-5 to kill Jesus,
they determined not to do so during the festival. Jerusalem was full of people who thought
the Lord was a prophet, and the leaders feared a riot if they seized him. We saw earlier in
Matthew that there were times when the Jews wanted to kill Jesus but were unable to, and
that the reason was that it was not yet God’s time. Whatever outward reason may have
prevented them from carrying out their desire, the underlying reason was God’s time. Now
we see in the present passage that when God’s time did come, they could not keep from
killing him even though they did not want to at that time. God is sovereign. He chose the

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Now morning having come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took
counsel against Jesus that they might put him to death. 2And having bound him they led
him away and delivered him to Pilate the governor.
The first two verses of chapter 27 tell us that the chief priests and elders take Jesus to
Pilate, the Roman governor, but before dealing with that appearance, Matthew gives the
contrast between Peter and Judas.
3Then Judas, the one betraying him, having seen that he was condemned, having regretted,
returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders 4saying, “I have sinned
betraying innocent [guiltless] blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? You will see to it.”
5And having thrown the pieces of silver into the sanctuary [vnaovn] he left, and having
gone away he hanged himself. 6But the chief priests, having taken the pieces of silver, said,
“It is not permitted to put these into the temple treasury since it is the price of blood.” 7But
having taken counsel they bought with them the potter’s field for a burial place for
strangers. 8Therefore that field has been called the field of blood to this day. 9Then was
fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet saying, “And they took the thirty
pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been priced by the sons of Israel,
10and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord ordered me.” [Zech. 11.12-13,
compare Jer. 32.6-9]
Peter went out and wept bitterly, but we know that he repented and was restored.
Judas feels remorse, but it is only the hopeless feeling of man when he knows he has done a
terrible act without real heart repentance before God. It is what Paul describes in 2 Cor. 7.9-
Peter feels sorrow according to God and repents. Judas feels the sorrow of the world that
leads to death. Knowing that he has betrayed an innocent man for thrity pieces of silver, he
tries to return them to the chief priests and elders. When they refuse them, he throws them
into the Holy Place of the Temple and goes out and hangs himself. His sorrow does indeed
lead to death.
The priests cannot put the money into the Temple treasury since it is the price of blood
(!), so they use it to buy a field as a burial place for strangers. So the field is called the field of
blood, and so is fulfilled the prophecy of Zech. 11.12-13 (though Matthew attributes the
prophecy to Jeremiah, for which we have no explanation). We saw above that Zech. 11
prophesies the rejection of their Shepherd by the Jews, and their resultant judgment, and it
adds that the money at which they valued him, thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave,
would be thrown to the potter in the house of the Lord. Judas threw the money into the Holy
Place, and the priests used it to buy the potter’s field.
11Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him saying, “You are the
King of the Jews?” And Jesus said, “You say.” 12And as he was being accused by the chief
priests and elders he answered nothing. 13Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how
many things they are testifying against you?” 14And he did not answer him even to one
word so that the governor marveled greatly.

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32And as they were coming out they found a man, a Cyrenian, by the name

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Now after the Sabbath as the first day of the week was drawing near, Mary the
Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the grave. 2And look! there was a great
earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, having come down from Heaven and approached,
rolled away the stone and was sitting on it. 3And his appearance was like lightning, and
his clothing white as snow. 4And from fear of him those watching were shaken and
became as dead.
The Jewish Sabbath began at sundown on Friday and ended at sundown on Saturday.
The first day of the week was Sunday. Sometime after midnight on Sunday the Lord was
raised from the dead as he had promised. Again Mary the Magdalene and the other Mary
come to the tomb. Mark tells us that Mary the Magdalene and Mary the mother of James
(Jacob in Greek) and Salome came to anoint the Lord’s body with spices. Luke says that the
women from Galilee did this. We are not told clearly when the earthquake occurred. The text
reads as though it occurred when the women arrived at the tomb, but it would appear that it
had occurred when the angel came and rolled away the stone. The angel is sitting on what
had been intended to keep the Lord in the tomb. His appearancei is dazzling, so much so that
the guards have passed out.
5But answering the angel said to the women, “Don’t you be afraid, for I know that you are
seeking Jesus, the one crucified. 6He is not here, for he was raised just as he said. Come,
see the place where he was lying.” 7And having gone quickly, say to his disciples, ‘He was
raised from the dead, and look! he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see
him. Look! I have told you.” 8And having left quickly from the tomb with fear and great

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Seek first his kingdom.

Old Testament quotations are the author’s updates of the American Standard Version.
Quotations from the New Testament are the author’s translations.

THE GOOD NEWS ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

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