The Visit of Magi

v1: The birth of Jesus was recorded in Luke 1. The Magi visit in Matthew 2 happened when Jesus was approximately 2 years old (v16).

v1: The meaning of Bethlehem is The House of Bread. And Jesus is the Bread of God (John 6:33), Bread of Life (John 6:35,48), The Living Bread (John 6:51), The Bread from Heaven (John 6:58). Bethlehem was home of Boaz (Ruth 2:4), the great grandfather of King David (Ruth 4:21-22). King David grew up in this town (1 Sam 16:1). Bethlehem is 5 miles SW of Jerusalem. Its name is Abraham’s time is Ephrath. Jacob’s wife Rachel gave birth to Benjamin and died in Ephrath. She was buried there (Gen 35:19, 48:7).

v1: King Herod is a descendent of Esau, an Edomite. He was appointed by Romans Emperor to reign Palestine from 37BC to 4BC. Isaac had blessed Jacob to be Lord over his brothers (Gen 27:29), but in Jesus’s time, the descendent of Jacob was ruled by a Edomite King.

v1: Traditionally people assumes there were three Magi because of three gifts, however the number of Magi is actually not mentioned by Matthew. They came from east of Jerusalem, the journey probably took them close to 2 years.

v2: The only prophesy related to a star in OT is given by Balaam in Numbers 25:17-19. “A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Sheth. Edom will be conquered; Seir, his enemy, will be conquered, but Israel will grow strong. A ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city.” It is unknown what kind of star did the Magi observed that brought them to Jerusalem. It must be a journey of tremendous faith for them to travel for 2 years. Their purpose of the visit is to worship Jesus.

v2: What is the star of Jesus? How bright was it? What is its color? How fast does it move? Did it only show up once in history of the earth? How did the magi know that particular star was the star of the King of the Jews? There are many questions about the star of the King, throughout the history there were many speculations, however the bible did not mention much about the actual star. The focus is on the King, our Lord Jesus Christ. The purpose of the star is to point us to Jesus.

v3: It is understandable why the King was disturbed. A King is naturally disturbed by anything that could affect his kingship. Also perhaps he was aware of the prophesy in Numbers 25:17-19. Why all Jerusalem was disturbed with King Herod? Should not the Jews be excited because their King is born? Were they not waiting for hundreds of years for the promised Messiah? Perhaps the Jews in Jerusalem were concerned what King Herod would do to the Jews to get rid of this baby King of Jews. This shows the heart of the Jews, most of them were not waiting for the Messiah. They were more concern about their own life.

v4: The King of the Jews is The Messiah is probably a fairly common knowledge at that time, even King Herod knew it.

v5-6: They chief priests and the teachers of the law knew about the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. They obviously heard that the magi saw the star of the Messiah. However there is no record that any one of them go to Bethlehem to look for the Messiah. There is lesson to learn here. We could study the bible for sake of academic, or maybe to fulfill our Christian duty, or maybe to prepare to a lead bible study or to give a sermon. Our head could know the facts, the history, the prophesies or the teaching in the bible, but our heart may not follow the Lord, may not be waiting for the return of the Lord.

v6: This is a reference of Micah 5:2. One of the four references to OT prophesies in this chapter. Isaiah prophesied the Messiah would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 11:14), Micah prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

v7: The star may have appeared when Jesus was born, approximately two years ago.

v8: Herod obviously lied to the Magi here. He was planning to kill, not to worship Jesus.

v9: It was Herod who sent the Magi to Bethlehem. If the Magi knew about Micah 5:2, they did not need to ask around in Jerusalem where the Messiah would be. They could have bypass Jerusalem and went directly to Bethlehem, and could have avoid Herod, and potentially the killing of babies in Bethlehem. This shows us the importance of worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. As believers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we ought to know His Word and be obedient to His leading.

v9-10: “The star went ahead of the Magi and stopped over the place where the child was.” A star is in outer space, in the sky, how did a star stop over the place on earth? What actually happened here? How did the Magi find Jesus? “When they saw the star, they were overjoyed”. It is possible that the star didn’t show up all the time. When the Magi were searching for Jesus in Bethlehem, they didn’t know exactly where Jesus would be. They probably went to many places in Bethlehem to find Jesus. Bethlehem was a small village, so it is not very hard to look for every single houses. When they reached the house where Jesus and his parents were living, it was at night, and the star of Messiah suddenly show up.

v11: The gift represent the origin of Christ, the life of Christ and the work of Christ. Gold represents glory, meaning Christ is the Son of God, born as man. Incense represents the fragrance of the sinless, perfect life of Christ on earth. Myrrh represents the redemption work of Christ on the cross, because Myrrh was used a embalmment of the death.

The Escape of Egypt

1. Why did the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph instead of the Mary? (v13, v20)
2.  “Out of Egypt I called my son” is from Hosea 11:1. Hosea was referring to Israel when he wrote it, but the Holy Spirit has the Lord Jesus in mind for this verse.
3. v16: This verse shows the cruelness of King Herod. It was a nightmare for the parents for babies in Bethlehem.
4. v18: This is a quote from Jeremiah 31:15. Jeremiah was prophesying the restoration of Israel after the exile to Babylon in that chapter. In the middle of the prophesy, Jeremiah prophesied the killing of babies ordered by King Herod. Where is Ramah? Is that Bethlehem?

The Return to Nazareth

1. What is the meaning of Nazarene?
2. Why this particular quote is not in OT?

Chapter 18 is the fourth of the five long sermons of Jesus in Matthew. He was in Capernaum (Matt 17:24) in a house (Mark 9:33) when He preached this sermon, immediately after He taught Peter the lesson of temple tax (Matt 17:26).

Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven (v1-5)

Also recorded in Mark 9:33-37, Luke 9:46-48

v1
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Mark and Luke told us the the disciples were arguing whom was the greatest. Mark told us when the Lord asked them what were they arguing, they kept quiet. Luke told us that the Lord knows their thoughts (Luke 9:47).

Matthew told us the disciples came to ask the Lord: “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”. This may have happened after they had kept quiet to the Lord’s question.

Since only three of the twelve were called by the Lord to the mountain to witness His transfiguration, the rest of the apostles maybe wondering theirs position in the kingdom of heaven. Maybe each one of them hoped the Lord would name them as the greatest. We often fall into the same condition, let’s be honest, don’t we often have the desire in our heart to be the greatest among a group of people, even among a believers?

v2
And He called a child to Himself and set him before them,

The Lord frequently uses physical world to teach us spiritual lessons. In this case, He called a child.

v3
and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Children have good and bad characters.

Scriptures that teach us to be like children in the following areas:

1 Cor 14:20 teaches us to be an infant regarding evil for infants do not plan to do evil deeds like adults.

1 Peter 2:2 teaches us to crave the word of God like an infant craving for milk

Scriptures that teach us not to be like children in the following areas:

Eph 4:14 teaches us not to be ignorant like infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching.

1 Cor 13:11 teaches us not to be childish, not to talk, think and reason like a child, Not to emphasize only on prophecies and tongues while didn’t show the love of Christ.

1 Cor 14:20 teaches us to stop thinking like children

The disciples were arguing who was the greatest, which show the pride of their heart. The Lord knew their heart, thus the Lord reminded that the requirement to enter the kingdom of heaven is to like children. When we first believe and accept the Lord and our Savior, our heart was humble like a child’s heart. However as we gain more knowledge as Christians, we would become prideful.

v4
"Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

God desires us to humble like Christ (Phi 2:5, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5). The degrees of our greatness in the kingdom is directly proportional to the degrees of our humbleness.

v5
"And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me;

such child: believers who are humble

in my name: receive other believers not for selfish reason but for the glory of the Lord

receives Me: When we receive other believers in our home who are humble in spirit it is as if we are accepting the Lord in our home.

The Severity of Sin (v6-9)

This event is also recorded by Mark (Mark 9:42-50)

Sins is the theme in this sermon. The focus is the severity of causing someone else to sin.

What is the meaning of “to enter life”? It is contrast with eternal fire and the fire of hell.

Jesus thought a similar lesson in sermon of the mount (Matt 5:29-30).

“skandalizo” (G4624) is the key word in this lesson. It is often translated as “offended”, “stumble”, “fall”, “sin”.

v8: “If your hand or your foot causes (skandalizo) you to stumble (skandalizo), cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire.

v9: “If your eye causes (skandalizo) you to stumble (skandalizo), pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.

v10: but whoever causes (skandalizo) one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble (skandalizo), it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Jesus used this word right before He spoke this sermon, when He was teaching Peter about the lesson of temple tax:

Matt 17:26 “However, so that we do not offend (skandalizo) them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.”

Paul said the same word, we should not do anything that could cause other Christians to stumble in their spiritual life. (Rom 14:13, 21).

The Lord warns us not to cause other believers to stumble, and the number one reason we cause others to stumble is we ourselves sinned and stumbled. Thus the Lord warns us not to commit sins in our life.

A painting of the transfiguration

Transfiguration of Jesus

This event is also recorded in Mark 9:2-10 and Luke 9:28-36

Transfiguration is the climax of Jesus life on earth before His crucifixion and resurrection. This event happened six days after Jesus told His disciples some of them will see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom (Matt 16:28). Luke said it was eight days, probably he included the day Jesus spoke the prophecy and the day of the transfiguration, wherelse Matthew and Mark only counted the days in between.

The transfiguration shown the three disciples a glimpse of Christ’s glory in His kingdom.

Luke tells us Jesus brought them up to the mountain to pray (Luke 9:28). What was the content of their prayers? They might have been praying about Jesus’s crucifixion since Jesus just told them about it six days ago, and that was the content of Jesus’s conversation with Moses and Elijah.

Which mountain? It may be the 9,232 feet high Mt. Hermon, it is  north east of Caesarea Philippi. It was a sacred mountain (2 Peter 1:18).

Why only bring Peter, James and John but not others? The Lord would also select them only to accompany Him in the garden of Gethsemane. They were the closer disciples to the Lord among the twelve. Maybe the Lord has chosen them because only they were ready to receive this revelation.

Witnessing the glory of the Lord left a deep impression on the disciples. Peter mentioned it in 2 Peter 1:17-18. And John alluded to it in John 1:14: “We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only”.

Why did Jesus transfigure before them? What is the meaning of transfiguration? The greek original word of transfiguration (Matt 17:2) is “metamophoo” (G3339). The english word metamorphosis was derived from it.

Sun and Light signify brightness, Matthews used them to illustrate the face and the clothes of the transfigured Jesus

Locations of Caesarea Philippi and Mt Hermon

Moses and Elijah

Why Moses and Elijah but not others? It is worth noting that Moses and Elijah both had encounter with God on mountain (Ex 19, 1 King 19). Moses may have represented God’s people who had die, and Elijah may have represented God’s people who did not experience death before entering the Kingdom of God. Moses represents the laws of God, and Elijah represented the prophets of God, which together is the major content of the Old Testament texts. The law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).

All the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John (Matt 11:13). It is because the the One who is greater and Moses and Elijah is here.

Only Luke mentioned that Moses and Elijah appeared in “glorious splendor” (Luke 9:31). It was interesting to note that Elijah never die, and no one know where the grace of Moses was (Deut 34:6). The archangel Michael disputed with the devil about the body of Moses (Jude 1:9).

Luke tells us the content of the conversation between Moses, Elijah and Jesus, it was about the death of Jesus (Luke 9:31).

The Jews commonly believed that Elijah must came before the Messiah arrived.

“Elijah comes and will restore all things” (Matt 17:11). John came and called people into repentance however all things were not restored.

Jesus said Elijah has already came but the Jews did not recognize him. The disciples than understood Jesus was referring to John the baptist. Why did John the baptist said he was not Elijah (John 1:21)? An angel of the Lord told Zechariah, the father of John the baptist that he would go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luku 1:17).

The prophecies of Malachi regarding Elijah (Mal 4:5), is fulfilled in two stages, the first stage being in 1st century, fulfilled by John the baptist, and the second stage in the end time, where Elijah will show up, and God the Father will bring all things in heaven and on earth together under the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Eph 1:10).

Peter, James and John

Only Luke tells us the disciples fall asleep during prayer meeting with Jesus (Luke 9:32). They may have heard the later part of the conversation between Moses, Elijah and Jesus.

Why Peter think it was good to be here? Is it because he saw the the glorified Jesus and enjoyed it?

Luke tells us that Peter suggested the building of shelters for Moses, Elijah and Jesus as Moses and Elijah were leaving (Luke 9:33). Peter, although received the greatest revelation from God in Caesarea Philippi (Matt 16:17), still acted according to his flesh. He put Jesus at the same level with Moses and Elijah when he suggested to Jesus that he will put up three shelters.

The shelters Peter suggested was “skene” (G4633). It is the same greek word that is translated as tabernacle (Rev 21:3). It is also the booth God asked the Jews to build and live for seven days during the feast of the tabernacle (Lev 23:42-43). It was a seven days feast the look forward to the time when Israel would dwell in peace and rest in the Promised Land.

Although Peter acted impulsy in his old-self, he did ask the Lord: “If You wish”.

Peter also did not think about building shelters for himself or James and John.

This glorious event had a deep impression on Peter, he mentioned it is 2 Peter 1:16-18.

God the Father

God the Father spoke. He called Jesus His Son. Whom He loves. With Him He is well pleased. God said that when Jesus was baptized by John the baptist (Matt 3:17). But this time God added one more thing: “Listen to Him!”

Moses has prophesied that God will raise up a prophet like him, and instructed the Jews to “listen to Him” (Deut 18:15). Here, God is confirming that Jesus is the Prophet by repeating the same word as Moses has spoken: “Listen to Him!”

When disciples heard the voice of God, they fell face down, instead of facing up like what is happening in today’s healing meetings.

Why did the disciples feel terrified when they heard the voice of God?

Jesus touched them, and comforted them not to be afraid.

“They saw no one except Jesus”. They no longer see Moses and Elijah. The voice of God the Father and the dissaperance of Moses and Elijah reveal to us the most important subject of our worship, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Cloud

God spoke from a bright cloud. God frequently speaks from a cloud. God spoke from a cloud in Mt Sinai (Ex 19:16). God led the Israelites with cloud in the day and fire at night after the Exodus (Ex 13:21-22).

God’s glory is frequently manifested with a cloud. For example when Aaron spoke, the glory of God appeared in the cloud (Ex 16:10). The glory of God rested on Mt. Sinai covered with cloud  for six days before calling Moses from the midst of cloud. (Ex 24:15-18). Cloud covered the tabernacle and the glory of God filled the tabernacle when it was completed (Ex 40:34-38).

Daniel’s prophesied the Son of Man will come with the clouds of heaven(Dan 7:13). Jesus ascended into heaven in the clouds (Acts 1:9) and will return the same way.

Coming Down From The Mountain

Every time the disciples went up to the mountain with the Lord, they learned tremendous lessons and had precious experience with the Lord. Now, they need to come down from the mountain to live out what they have learned from the Lord.

Why did Jesus told them not to tell others about the transfiguration until He was resurrected? This is the last of a total of five times Jesus told them to keep silent (Matt 8:4; 9:30; 12:16; 16:20)

The disciples keep the transfiguration event to themselves (Luke 9:36) just as Jesus had told them. They might have shared the experience with the rest of the nine apostles.

Jesus told them right here that He will die, but will resurrect. The disciples didn’t fully understand this. Mark 9:10 told us that they kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant. They may think Jesus meant something else because they were scared to death when Jesus was crucified. Also, when the women came to tell them Jesus had resurrected, they did not believe in them (Luke 24:11).

The lack of faith and understanding of heavenly things on the disciples was changed when the Holy Spirit came in Pentecost (Acts 2). The revelation of the glory of the Lord Jesus on the sacred mountain has made tremendous impact in Peter, James and John’s life. James was martyred at young age (Acts 12:2), Peter wrote 1 and 2 Peter and was crucified upside down according to church’s history, and John was exiled to the Island of Patmos and written the fourth Gospel, the three epistles and the book of revelation.

Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5)

v1:

Sabbath is a day of complete rest to the LORD, whoever does any work on it shall be put to death (Ex 31:12-17). As an example, God commanded the Jews not the kindle a fire in any of their dwellings on the Sabbath (Ex 35:2-3).

A man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day, and God commanded the Jews to stone him to dead (Number 15:33-36).

Picking grain is allowed by Deut 23:25. However it is not specifically mentioned that it can be carried out on Day of Sabbath. In fact, the apart from the above scriptures, the Torah has very little instruction on what are allowed and what are forbidden on the Day of Sabbath.

The question is whether picking some heads of grain and eat them considered work, not forbidden by God on Sabbath?

v2:

The Pharisee thought it was work and thus forbidden on Day of Sabbath.

Jews religious leaders have written many commentaries or interpretation of the laws, including what activities can or cannot be carried out on the Day of Sabbath. the writing is called Talmud. In the Talmud, there are 39 categories of what are forbidden on the Day of Sabbath.

Their religious focus is for the Jews to observe these laws, thus adding heavy burden to the people (Matthew 11:28).

The desire of God to establish Day of Sabbath is so His people can rest in Him. It is made clear in Hebrew 4:3 “Now we who have believed enter that rest..”

v3:

The Lord Jesus wanted to show the Pharisees the true meaning of Sabbath by telling them two examples: first is King David, second is the priests.

The original story is in 1 Sam 21:1-6. David was running from Saul’s persecution, and he went to Nob, where the Tabernacle was to ask High Priest Ahimelech bread with a lie. Ahimelech gave David the showbreads that were removed from the showbread table in the Tabernacle.

v4:

Showbreads need to be present at the table all the time (Ex 25:30), the bread needs to be changed out on every Sabbath (Lev 24:8). Only the Aaron and his sons can eat the bread in a holy place (Lev 24:9).

David and his followers ate the bread, but the old testament did not condemn them. It is because the position of David. He is King David, the shadow of King Jesus. King is the main theme of Matthew, for the book started with Jesus was the Son of David.

v5:

Technically the priest break the Sabbath because they need to make and remove the bread from the table in the Tabernacle. The priests also need to sacrifice two lambs for burn offering (Num 28:9). However they are innocent, because the purpose of Sabbath is for the Jews to rest from daily work so they can worship and serve the Lord God. The priests were serving God in the tabernacle, that is why they were considered innocent.

The temple shielded the priests from breaking the Sabbath, because the temple is greater than the Sabbath. Now Jesus is greater than the temple, King Jesus shielded His disciples from the accusation of the enemies.

v6:

Jesus mentioned He is greater than the temple (v6), He is greater than Jonah (v41), He is greater than Solomon (v42). Greater than temple because Jesus is the High Priest, greater than Jonah because Jesus is the Prophet, greater than Solomon because Jesus is the King!

v7:

A quote from Hosea 6:6. This is the second time Jesus quote this verse. The first time was in Matthew 9:13, where Jesus told the Pharisees that He did not come to call the righteous, but the sinners. In Chapter 9, because Pharisees were so focused on observing external rituals, they did not recognize themselves as sinners. In Chapter 12, the Pharisees did not recognize Jesus as the Lord of Sabbath.

The Jews in Hosea’s days relied on mere ritual to satisfied God. The Pharisees were doing the same thing.

The disciples didn’t break the Torah, but Jesus took the opportunity to teach them a lesson about God. God desires compassion, and not a sacrifice. It means God is concerned about our inward spiritual condition, not our outward religion activities. The Pharisees were so concerns about keeping external laws created by men, but they didn’t understand meaning of the Sabbath is to rest from this world, so that men can focus on worshipping God. “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

Jesus healed a man whose hand was withered

v8:

That is why Jesus reveals to the Pharisees He is the Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus has the authority to do whatever He wishes to do on Sabbath, because the Sabbath is about Jesus. Jesus’s authority is obviously infinitely greater than the Pharisee’s human’s authority.

v9-10:

According to Talmud, it is permissible to heal someone only if a sick person’s life is in danger.

v11:

Jesus is comparing the life of an animal, a sheep in this case with the life of a human. In both cases, the man and the sheep were not in mortal danger, however Jesus argued that if the Pharisees would lift the sheep out of the pit, they have more reasons to heal a man with a withered hand.

v13:

Jesus healed the man with His word. The word of Jesus has authority over all creation, for it is by His word the universe was created.

v14:

Jesus just did a miracle right in front the Pharisees, but they still did not believe He is the Messiah, the King of the Kingdom of Heaven. Even more so, they started to conspire to destroy Jesus. They may be thinking they are being obedience to God because the laws say whoever desecrate Sabbath shall be put to dead. (Ex 31:14).

The King is the Servant

v15-16:

Once again Jesus told those He healed not to tell others who He was.Why? I believe it is because Jesus’s main purpose at this point of His life is not to heal people’s physical sickness, thus He did not want that distraction. Instead, He wanted to spend more time prepare His disciples for His Kingdom.

v18-20:

Verse 18-20 is a quote from Isaiah 42:1-3.

Isaiah prophesied a Servant of God, who is gentle and loving. “A battered reed He will not break off, and a smoldering wick He will not put out.” It is a huge contrast with the hashed attitude of the Pharisees.

Because the Pharisees and Jews in general (Matthew 11:21-24) rejected Jesus, Matthew started to introduce Jesus as the Savior of the gentiles, not just the Jews. Jesus is the gentle Savior for the gentiles was mentioned twice in this quote of Isaiah. “And He shall proclaim justice to the gentiles” (v18), “And in His name the gentiles will hope” (v21).

The Pharisees Rebuked Jesus cast out demons by Beelzebul

v22:

This story was also in Mark chapter 3 and Luke chapter 11.

The man was blind and mute because he was possessed by demon.

v23:

Jesus healed the demon possessed man and the crowds asked the question: “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?” The Jews have been waiting for the Messiah, the anointed one, the Christ, who is the Son of David. On the passion week, Jesus asked the Pharisees this question: “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?” They said to Him, “The son of David.” (Matthew 22:42). It is widely known in Jewish culture at Jesus’s time that the Christ will be a descendant of King David. Jesus was the Son of David is the main theme of Matthew.

The crowd did not want to believe Jesus is the Son of David even they witnessed the miracle performed by Jesus. They asked this question expecting a negative answer because they expect the Son of David as a warrior, a King that lead them to flight against the Romans. Instead Jesus is gentle, loving, carpenter from Nazarene.

v24:

The Pharisees did not want to believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of David neither. As soon as their heard the crowd said this, they accused Jesus casts out demons by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.

v25:

“References to the Spirit occur only twelve times altogether in Matthew’s gospel, with one-third of them in chapter 12. As might be expected in a gospel concerned to interpret the significance of the life and ministry of Jesus, most of the references describe the work of the Spirit in relation to Him.”

v27:

Some of the Pharisees could cast out demons as well.

v28:

Jesus cast out demons by the Spirit of God.

v29:

The strong man is Satan. The one who bind him and plunder his house is King Jesus. Satan had men under his possession, but King Jesus came to bind Satan and plunder his house to rescue mankind.

King Jesus eventually binds Satan for 1000 years (Rev 20:2).

v30:

Jesus is drawing a clear line: “He who is not with Me is against Me”. There is no middle ground, you are either for Jesus or against Jesus. Which side are you on?

When you do not believe in Jesus, your action also affects other: “he who does not gather with Me scatters”.

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit – Unpardonable Sin

v31-32

They are two parts on verse 31. The first part is the a great declaration of the effect of the redemption work of the Lord Jesus: “Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men”!

“that all kind of sin, whether committed more immediately against God, or man, the first or second table of the law, or against any of the divine precepts; be they sins small or great, secret or open, sins of heart, lip, or life, or attended with whatsoever aggravating circumstances; and all kind of blasphemy, or evil speaking of men, or of angels, or of the name of God, but what is hereafter excepted, there is forgiveness of in the grace of God, through the blood of Christ, even for all sorts of men and sinners whatever.” (Gill)

The second part of verse 31 is one of the hardest verse to interpret in the bible: “… but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.”

Many Christians are fearful that they have committed this sin. Just the fact that they are fearful and concerned is an great indication that they did not commit this sin.

The following are quotes from a few servants of the Lord on the interpretation of this verse:

Explanation One:

Any sin can be forgiven, except the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which Jesus explains is to speaks against the Holy Spirit.

In the context of Matthew 12, we can explain that one can only commit this sin if he witnessed Jesus performed miracle like cast out demons but attributed that Jesus was depening on Satan instead of depending on Holy Spirit. (Constable)

Explanation Two:

He could pardon all sin; but to speak against and blaspheme the Holy Ghost (that is, to acknowledge the exercise of a power, which is that of God, and to attribute it to Satan) could not be pardoned; for the Pharisees admitted that the devil was cast out, and it was only with malice, with open-eyed deliberate hatred to God, that they attributed it to Satan. And what pardon could there be for this? There was none either in the age of the law (32) or in that of the Messiah. The fate of those who thus acted was decided. This the Lord would have them understand. (Darby)

Explanation Three:

not because the Holy Ghost is greater than Christ; or for want of efficacy in the blood of Christ; or because God cannot pardon it; but because such persons wilfully, maliciously, and obstinately oppose the Spirit of God, without whom there can be no application of pardon made; and remain in hardness of heart, are given up to a reprobate mind, and die in impenitence and unbelief, and so there is no forgiveness for them, (Gill)

Matthew 11

Background

• Chapter 11 and 12 is the seconds of the five records of Jesus’s interaction with the people in Matthew.
• After Jesus finished His seconds of the five sermons in Matthew, which He sent His disciples for their first mission, He went forward to preach and to teach enforcement of His claims.
• From this point onwards, we notice increasing oppositions of Jesus and His teachings from pharisees, priests and the scribes
• There are three events in Chapter 11
  • John the baptist (v2-19)
  • The unrepentant cities (v20-24)
  • Rest of the weary (v25-30)

John the Baptist’s (v2-19)

Jesus Speaking to John through John’s disciples:

• v2 “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”. In order to understand why John asked this question, we must place the works of Jesus into contrast with what John had said of Him before He began His public ministry.
  • John’s ministry is a ministry of repentance and judgement. He called the Jews to repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near (Matt 3:3). He scolded the Pharisees and Sadducees: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance… The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
  • John was describing Jesus as a great and mighty reformer, breaking down abuse, sweeping out oppression, gathering precious things, and blasting evil things as with thunderbolts.
  • However all John heard when he was in prison about the ministry of Jesus was He was preaching sermons like the beatitudes on mountains, and was healing the sick and casting out demons. He seemed to be doing gentle, sweet, loving things. There is little judgement coming from Jesus’s teaching or doing, thus John was perplexed.
• v4-5 Jesus’s response was a surprise to us, He told John the healings He had performed,
  • and then He said: ” the good news is preached to the poor”. It is a quote from Isaiah 61:1-2: The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor.”
  • Luke 4:16-19 tells us that Jesus read these verses when He was preaching in the synagogue. He said: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
  • However He didn’t read the second part of Isaiah 61:2, which prophesied “and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.” because the prophecy will only be fulfilled on Jesus’s second coming.
  • Jesus was telling John that before the final judgment falls, there is a mission of tenderness, grace, healing and blessing.
• v6: “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Me.”
  • Jesus ended His message to John with this verse. He was telling John if you cannot perfectly understand Me, trust Me. If you cannot see how I am going to accomplish that upon which your heart is set as a passion, do not be offended, do not stumble, but Me perfectly, and you will be blessed.

Jesus speaking to the crowd about John

• The crowd heard John’s question, they may be tempted to think John has failed, he is afraid and trembling. Thus Jesus told the opportunity to tell them about the Kingdom of Heaven.
• First Jesus asked them three questions about John:
  • v7: “A reed swayed by the wind?”
  • v8: “A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces”
  • v9: “A prophets? Yes, I will you, and more than a prophet”
• And then Jesus defended John by quote Malachi 3:1
  • v10: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you”
  • Matthew already quoted Isaiah 40:3 when he wrote of John the baptist ministry in chapter 3, verse 3
  • Jesus is quoting Malachi 3:1 to remind the crowd John is His messenger, who prepares the way for Him.
• v11: John is the greatest of all men in the history of mankind until that point. He is the immediate forerunner of the Messiah, a ministry no other prophet enjoyed.
• v11: “yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
  • John was in the light that preceded the Kingdom of Heaven, and the weakest inside knows more than John.
  • John only anticipated the Kingdom, whereas participants will be in the kingdom, thus greater than John.
  • John is the greatest of all natural born human. And the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than John, Jesus is telling us how precious and blessed for those who are in His Kingdom!
  • Notes take in Luke 13:28, Jesus said: “… when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.” All true prophets of God will be in the Kingdom of God. John the baptist is last prophet of the Old Testament, so he will surely be in the Kingdom of God. The question is whether the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are referring to the same Kingdom.
• v12: ““From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.” (NASB)
  • We are saved by grace through faith (Eph 2:8). But how to do take the Kingdom of Heaven? It is by violence. Not violence to others, but to ourselves.
  • Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. (Matt 16:24)
  • but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. (1 Cor 9:27)
• v14: “And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come”
  • John himself said he was not Elijah (John 1:21), so if John and Jesus had different opinion of who John was?
  • Jesus said if the crowds are willing to accept the what He had just taught them about the Kingdom of Heaven, John would fulfill the prophecy about Elijah.
  • However since the crowds did not believe in the Lord, John did not fully fulfill all the prophecies about Elijah. John fulfilled Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1, which are prophecies about the Messiah’s forerunner.
  • John didn’t fulfill Malachi 4:5-6, that prophecy will fulfill during the second coming of the Lord. Perhaps one of the two witnesses in Revelation 11 would be Elijah, who will fulfill Malachi 4:5-6
• v16-17:
  • This is a reference to Jews children playing the games of wedding and funeral on the streets. The children saw what adults did in wedding and funeral, and acted how the scenes on the streets.
  • “We sang a dirge, and you did not mourn” is referring to John was proclaiming judgment on the Jews, but they didn’t response.
  • “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance” is referring to Jesus was proclaiming the good news to the Jews, but they didn’t response neither.
• v18-20:
  • The Jews’ hearted were harden. They accused John as demon possessed because John living an ascetic life. They accused Jesus a glutton and a drunkard when because Jesus eat and drink with sinners.
  • When someone heart is harden, they will find reason to accused us. They have ears but cannot hear (v15).
  • “Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds” The Lord ended His message with this proverb. They nonbelievers can accuse John and Jesus all day long, but the wisdom of John and Jesus is justified by their actions. They people attack us, instead of arguing with them, sometimes it is better to show them wisdom of God’s word by our actions and our lifestyles.

Why We Should Not Worry

The Lord teaches us not to store up treasures on earth (v19). When we do not have a lot of money in the bank, naturally we would worry about our life. Do I have enough money to support my family? To support my children’s education? For retirement?

The Lord knows our concerns, that is why He follows up with a sermon titled: “Do Not Worry”. The sermon starts with “therefore” (v25), meaning what He is going to teach is to address the concerns of the disciples on not storing treasures on earth.

1. Because life is more than material needs (v25)

Jesus talked about not to worry about food, drink and cloth, because life is more important than food, and body is more important than clothes.

Jesus said not worry about life, and then He gave us three examples: food, drink and clothes. These are life necessities.

Jesus is telling us not to worry about life necessities. In fact, we should spend our time thinking about spiritual food than food. In fact, when we start to feel we are worry, the bible tells us that we should immediately spend time with God in prayers, read His words and instead of eating, we should be fasting. (Matthew 6:16-18. Matthew 9:14-15)

Unlike many poor countries, not many people are lacking are food, drink and clothes in America. Even if we are truly lacking in these things, Jesus told us not to worry about them because our heavenly father who is all loving will provide us.

Some of us are worry about not having the latest branded clothing to impress our friends. We should not be wasting our time on this kind of worry. Life is more important than that. God created each one of us with purpose. We should be spending our time for God’s Kingdom, do things that could help us to grow spiritually.

2. We are precious in Heavenly Father’s eyes (v26)

In Matthew 10:29, Jesus mentioned that two sparrows sold for a penny, yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid.

In Luke 12:6, Jesus told the disciples Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.

Sparrows are so cheap in Jesus time that you can get two for a penny, and if you pay two pennies, you will get an additional one for free.

When he relates God with the disciples, He used “your Heavenly Father”. Jesus is telling us that God is our Heavenly Father. We are His children. If God takes care of the birds on the air, He will even more so take care of His children. We are precious in His eyes.

Our Heavenly Father loves us more than our earthly father. In Matthew 7:9, Jesus said “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

The bible tells us that God is full of mercies, abundant in love, His love endures forever, his faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psalm 100:5).

Instead of feeling worry, cast all your anxiety on him because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7)

3. Worry cannot add a single hour to your life (v27)

Worry does not help the situation. In fact, a lot of times it will hurt us. A minister had a bible study of Matthew 6 with his son. He asked his son, what should be the answer of Jesus question on verse 27? His son answered by saying “no one, in fact, I think if we worry our life would be reduced!”.

Indeed, worry for future hinders the fellowship with our Heavenly Father today. It robs the blessing God has planned to give us today because our mind is fulled of worry about tomorrow.

There is one saying, a person that worry a lot crucified himself between two thieves, because he keeps regret about yesterday and worry about tomorrow.

Let’s not forget most of the things we worries about never came true. Even if the situation came true, our worries would not change the situation.

4. O you of little faith? (v30)

There are many reasons why we as believers, worry. But if drill deep inside, the root cause that we worry is because our faith is small.

We don’t know believe the God that we know, the all powerful God is actually in control in the universe. Because bad things happened to us, we think God must not be paying attention to our daily life.

Jesus told us that God take cares of the lilies on the field. He has designed the lilies so beautifully, even King Solomon with all his fortune has a dress that is comparable to the God’s creation.

Even the grass the have short life span, God take care of them. If God takes care of all these things, how much more God would take care of His children.

Sometimes our prayers are not answered, and we think God does not listen to prayers. God has promised to meet our real needs, but not unnecessary all our desires, because some of our desires is bad in God’s eyes, or God has a better plan for us.

Some of us rely on money to feel secure. We think if we have a lot of money is the bank, if bad things happened in the future, we can depends on the money. There is nothing wrong in saving for future needs, but we cannot be the slave for money. As we mentioned early in Matthew 6:24, we cannot serve two both God and money. God looks into our hearts to see whether we really depends on Him for our needs. Money will eventually fail us, but God will never fail. I rather depends on the almighty God than the money in the bank. If deep inside our heart, we believe in God’s words, believe in His promises, we should not be worry.

5. We lower ourselves the the level of pagan (v32)

Jesus told us the unbelievers worry about these things. But our Heavenly Father knows what we needs, even before we open our mouth in prayers. If we spend all our time worrying about things, we essentially lower ourselves to the level of the unbelievers. We are the children of God, He is our Heavenly Father will care about us.

6. Seek His Kingdom First (v33)

Jesus told us to seek God kingdom and God righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

A lot of times, we spend all our energy seeking our kingdom, we are so busy in our life that we have no time to seek God kingdom. We should stop being selfish, instead of thinking about our needs, we should focus our energy on God’s needs, and the needs of others.

We need to think how we can serve God. When we move from being self-centered to God centered, about worry will disappear, because God will take care of our problems.

God has a plan for us, we should spend time working towards God’s plan for us, instead of wasting time worrying about tomorrow.

What is God’s kingdom? God kingdom is manifested in this world in His church, the body of Christ. God desires the body of Christ grow in maturity, to be like the King, so that the church can be the ambassador of the King on this earth. This is the the responsibility of each members of the body in the church. That is why the Lord taught us to pray: “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

Seek God kingdom means we spend our energy to build God’s Kingdom instead of our own kingdom. Seek His righteousness means to live a righteous, holy life devoted to God.

Matthew 6:33 is one of George Muller’s favorite verses. He is a man who seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, and God faithfully provided all the resources needed to run the orphanages that supported thousands of orphans for decades.

If you seek first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, God will take care of your needs as He has promised here.

7. Tomorrow will worry about itself

Jesus is asking us to live in the present, do not spend all your time worrying about tomorrow. Our worry on tomorrow robs today blessings.

Just like to lilies wake up every morning knowing the Sun will surely be there, we should have faith that our Heavenly Father is with us tomorrow.

Planning is time well spent, however worrying is time wasted. Don’t let worries about tomorrow affect your relationship with God today. If we live one day at a time keeps us from being consumed with worry.

Conclusion

In the letter to Philippians, Paul said “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:6-7).

When you are worry, take the worries to God. Tell Him that you needs Him, ask Him to take the worries away from you. If you asked God sincerely, God will surely deliver you from the worry of this world.