#1274 Matthew 14 The Ghost of Conscience Past

 

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, 2 and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” 3 For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, 4 because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. 6 But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, 7 so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” 9 And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. 10 He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus. Matthew 14: 1-12 ESV

Matthew 14 Death of the Baptist

…18With these and many other exhortations, John proclaimed the good news to the people. 19But when he rebuked Herod the tetrarch regarding his brother’s wife Herodias and all the evils he had done, 20Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.… Luke 3: 18-20

Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus - He is the son of Herod the Great, the one who tried to have Jesus killed as an infant, making a proclamation to go and kill all the small boys throughout the land, in the hopes of killing the Messiah. John had been preaching the message of repentance throughout the land, and he is the one who baptized Jesus. John has decreased as Christ is ever increasing, and the fame of His teaching and miracles has reached even the ruling class. 

More on John the Baptist

…29The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands and listens for him, and is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30He must increase; I must decrease. 31The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all.… John 3: 29-31

This is John the Baptist - Herod had history with John, had heard John preach, and now it seems to him the ghost of his conscience has come to haunt him, but this Jesus is actually a different person. When we will not accept the truth then we are plagued by superstition, we fall victim to our own deceit. John was put in prison for no sin other than telling the truth, and I would not lock up nor kill a man for disagreeing with me, even if I thought what he said a lie or offensive, but it is in Herod's power to do so, and so he abuses it. This is the example, the outplaying of the past chapter, the pains that men will take to remain in their unbelief, to pursue that which God has damned. We always want to kill the messenger, and for some, that the messenger dies is proof enough that they are in the right for killing him. Herod realizes that many believe John to be a prophet, and so he doesn't want to kill him for fear of the people, but his wife also doesn't want to hear that they are sinners, and John is quite blunt. When we kill the messenger it proves nothing of the message, for Isaiah was said to be murdered by Manasseh, yet Isaiah's prophecies continue to come to past. 

i. “He imagined still that he saw and heard that holy head shouting and crying out against him, staring him also in the face at every turn…God hath laid upon evil-doers the cross of their own consciences, that thereon they may suffer afore they suffer; and their greatest enemies need not wish them a greater mischief.” (Trapp)

For the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife - This is the hardest family tree to follow, multiple Herods, multiple Phillips, and here is this woman, his brother's wife, but also the daughter of one of his other brothers. Herod seduces her on a visit to her husband, who is also her uncle, and she leaves one uncle for another. We have incest upon incest mixed with adultery. Note the language here, she is with Herod now, but this is written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and He refuses to recognize her as Herod's wife, instead she is called, "his brother Philip's wife." She is livid about this, offended, like the Nazarenes were offended by this carpenter's Son. Who are you, dressed in camel skins, with locust legs stuck between your teeth, to even dare confront royalty? He's God's messenger, and God is above all rulers, every kingdom. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. She won't come to the light, and she wants it turned off, they always kill the messenger. She can't have someone that she sees as beneath her telling her that she is wrong, there can be no disagreement, can't even agree to disagree, no, she will have it no other way than that you condone what God has condemned. John is a true prophet though, so he will die on the word of God, proclaiming the word of God. She will have a brief moment here on earth, with the pride of life, the arrogance of murder, having her way will only be for a moment. All she can do to John is send him off to eternal glory. Unbelief is powerful, fueled by pride, it will refuse to believe in the face of great evidence, it will seek to snuff out every candle it can, and in desperation it will finally gouge out it's own eyes. God said thou shalt not commit adultery, and He gave specific instruction against incest, but woe to the man who repeats what God says to those who love what He hates.  

14 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

15 Others said, “He is Elijah.”

And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”

16 But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”

17 For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, 20 because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him. Mark 6: 14-20

Daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod - In modern language, "pleased" would be like aroused. Birthday parties for these rulers were like stag parties today. It was all men who were invited as guests, and there was plenty of booze, the fuel necessary to drop already limited inhibitions, and when I was a drunk it was always my excuse the next day for whatever events transpired that night. The men ate and drank and then came the dancers, just like bachelor parties today. Well, this one had a special dancer, Herod's step daughter, the daughter of his niece, who he had married. What a mom too, pimping out her own daughter to dance for her great uncle in front of a bunch of creepy men. 

“In these days mothers too often encourage their daughters in dress which is scarcely decent and introduce them to dances which are not commendable for purity. No good can come of this; it may please the Herods, but it displeases God.” (Spurgeon)

So that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask - So pleased was he, so enamored with his step daughter and kin, that Mark tells us he offered up to half his kingdom, probably the beer talking.

…22When the daughter of Herodias came and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests, and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” 23And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom!” 24Then she went out and asked her mother, “What should I request?” And her mother answered, “The head of John the Baptist.”… Mark 6: 22-24

Prompted by her mother - Like Jezebel, mommy rules the roost, and as they say, "hell hath no fury like that of a woman scorned." This is very calculating on her part, using her daughter as a tool to get her husband to do what she wants. 

Give me the head of John the Baptist - A drunken promise gets met with a meditated request, very cunning. I have blamed alcohol for so many things in my time, that at some point, regardless of the role it played, I had to admit it was the darkness of my own heart that got me there. It may help remove the filter, but if it is that powerful, well then there is a fix for that, anything that could lead to such a foolish and sick decision, the defiance of God, the murder of His messenger, should be left on the shelf. How dreadfully sobering and stupid he must of felt. He knows where this came from, from that Jezebel he stole from his brother, but now he has promised, and in front of his guest. What will he do? Rather than save face with God, Who alone matters, he will save face with his audience of fools, the leader is being led.  

1Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise. 2The terror of a king is like the roar of a lion; whoever provokes him forfeits his own life.… Proverbs 20: 1-2

And the king was sorry - So sorry, but someone has to suffer for my ill choices. I have seen men badger young girls to have an abortion, because they didn't sign up for the results of their sin, only the sin. I have seen men fired for doing what someone else told or allowed them to do, but did not stand up and mention their part when discipline arrived. He made a bad decision a long time ago in taking his brother's wife, then again in locking up the only one brave enough to tell you what God says about your actions, then again in getting pickled, then again in letting your stepdaughter degrade herself in front of you and your friends. You are a pervert, a bad husband, creepy father, adulterer, and now John the Baptist has to pay. 

And they went and told Jesus - His disciples came and got his body since Herodias had John's head, once again the greater man killed by the inferior, but most can see that. John's disciples went to Jesus, and this is important, John had to decrease, he was the herald, calling men to repent, a voice of one crying from the wilderness, saying, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make the path straight. He announced Messiah's revival, but it was the Messiah Who was the only way for men to be made right with God. John must decrease, his disciples must turn fully to Christ, that is the only way.

…2“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.” 3A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert. 4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain.… Isaiah 40: 2-4

1“Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple— the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight— see, He is coming,” says the LORD of Hosts. 2But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.… Malachi 3: 1-2

29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is He of whom I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’ 31I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.”… John 1: 29-31

5“Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”… John 14: 5-7

“It is not said by the Evangelist that they buried John, but ‘they took up his body, and buried it,’ not him. The real John no man could bury, and Herod soon found that, being dead, he yet spoke.” (Spurgeon)

Read More

#1273 Matthew 13 Part 5 The Curious Nature of Unbelief

 

53 And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, 54 and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief. Matthew 13: 53-58 ESV

Matthew 13: 53-58 The Sin of Unbelief

Unbelief is something you determine. You will not believe. Unbelief is the hard ground, the stony ground. It’s not like the man who said, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief. I’m trying to believe; help me the rest of the way.” But theirs was that hard, hard unbelief. “Doesn’t matter what the evidence is, we don’t believe.”...

Number one: Unbelief blurs the obvious. It is the nature of unbelief to blur out what is obvious. Look at verse 54. Here He teaches, and they’re astonished. And look at the question they ask – unbelievable: “From where hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works?”

Now that is an absolutely stupid question. That is a dumb question. “From where hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works?” I mean if that isn’t obvious, nothing is obvious. I mean where do you think supernatural miracles come from? Where do you think divine wisdom comes from? I mean a child knows the answer to that. But, you see, it is the nature of unbelief to make the choice to reject, and then blur out what is obvious. ...

Nicodemus knew it. Nicodemus came to Jesus, in John 3, and this is what he said: “We know that Thou art a teacher come from God;” – why? – “for no man can do these things that Thou doest, except God be with him.” I mean that was obvious. It was obvious. He did miracles all over the place; and these people had seen some of them.

It says, “He did not many mighty works.” Now I don’t know whether or not He may have done just a few. But if He didn’t do even any in Nazareth, He had done them in that area; and you could walk in less than a day, and maybe an afternoon from Nazareth to Capernaum. And the word was all over everywhere. And the lame were walking, the blind were seeing, and the deaf were hearing; and believe me, they were telling about it. And there was no question. In fact, they even said in the question, “From where does the man get His wisdom and His mighty works?” They don’t deny either one.

Now may I add a footnote here for those of you who are into apologetics? This is one of the greatest apologetics or defenses of the deity of Christ on the pages of Scripture. You say, “What is it?” It is the fact that it isn’t His friends, and it isn’t His disciples, and it isn’t the Christian church that affirm that He did these miracles; it is His enemies. And over and over and over in the Bible, it is His enemies who never ever try to refute that He did these things. - J Mac

More on the Miracles, Unbelief and the Talmud

And coming to His hometown - Jesus grew up in Nazareth, which is by human standards apparently a reason not to believe Him. We know from other parts of the gospels that even His own brothers did not believe in Him. We also know that He was known as a good man, but this is often an annoyance to sinners as well, imagine, a brother who never does anything wrong, and who is wisdom incarnate from your earliest memories of him. As they say, "familiarity breeds contempt". 

…45Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, the One the prophets foretold—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. 47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.”… John 1: 45-47

…51Then He went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But His mother treasured up all these things in her heart. 52And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. Luke 2: 51-52

Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works - Amazing, we acknowledge the wisdom, that it is not typical, and the works, that they are impossible, humanly speaking. Being able to make the blind see, the lame walk, hearing the testimony of others who had not only seen but received these miracles, knowing what the prophets foretold of Messiah, huh, I wonder where He got this power? Let's think about this, if they, the Jews, Scribes and Pharisees, believed that there is a God, believed in the testimony of Moses, the prophets, then they had heard stories of the miraculous which happened to their forefathers in Egypt, in the wilderness, and in the times of the Judges, Who was the source of that then? As far as wisdom, who did Solomon go to for wisdom? Did Abraham find God by process of scientific method, or did God make Himself known to Abram? Was Abraham a man of faith, who believed so hard that it made God appear, or did God build a relationship with Abram, make a unilateral covenant with him, reveal His power over the barren womb, protect him from his enemies and draw him out of his unbelief? If this Jesus does and says things that are supernatural, outside the normal human experience and ability, well then, just like salvation, it comes from God. 

38nor does His word abide in you, because you do not believe the One He sent. 39You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me, 40yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.… John 5: 38-40

Is not this the carpenter's son - You can't be the Messiah because of your humble beginnings, you are a nobody from nobodies. Now you may cringe at this, and think, wow, people were so caste like back then, judging someone because of where they came from, because they were poor. It happens today, and people can't answer simple questions, like, "what is a woman?" They say, "I don't know, I am not a biologist." Well is it raining? I'm not a meteorologist. Is that a cow? I'm not a vet or a farmer, so how could I possibly know? The truth is a constant, and it does not matter who is telling it, how much money they have, what town they were born in, what piece of paper they hold. Your degree does not make what comes out of your mouth true, it was already true or not true before you said it, your mouth doesn't create truth. In fact, this is all the more reason to stand in awe, that yes, He is the carpenter's son, not formally trained, not one of the Scribes from a well to do or respected home. Joseph didn't teach Him these things, especially how to perform miracles, so where did this come from?

Is not His mother called Mary - They knew who His mom was.

James, Joseph, Simon and Judas - They knew who His brothers were, and also that Mary had more than one son, so they knew more than the Roman Catholic Church does.

Are not all His sisters with us - More children, so Mary did not remain a virgin her whole life, what a blasphemous and stupid teaching to come out of Rome, contrary to the word of God. 

And they took offense at Him - Why? What was their reasoning for not believing? When I was young, and I hear this from so many today, but I can have nothing but pity for them, because again, when I was young I prided myself on being a skeptic. I grew up in church, grew up hearing about God, my mom reading the Bible to us, but when I hit a certain age and was doing certain things, well, the Bible was no longer cool. I became a "truth seeker", looking for the truth that supported my lifestyle, and I hung out with other "truth seekers", who by shear dumb luck also happened to support my lifestyle. They would say brilliant things, like, "if there's a God, show Him to me." We need proof, right? My friends believed that everything evolved from nothing, and I wanted to believe this too, and what's cool, more than just my buddies believed this, people who called themselves "scientists and truth seekers", also believed this. They were respected in their circles, not like this Nazarene, and what they believed didn't interfere with my lifestyle, so all the proof I needed. I remember watching the debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham, and admittedly, I was no longer of the atheist persuasion at this time, but I thought Ken was an idiot for building an ark in the middle of Kentucky. If you watch the debate though, Bill makes a lot of faith statements, while seemingly accusing Ken of being a man of faith rather than science. At one point, he is making his final statements, and he says, paraphrasing from memory, "trust science, we don't have all the answers but we are getting there." You have already said you don't believe the Bible, in a Creator, made claims that it is macro evolution and that alone, that life came from nothing, and is in a sense a series of unguided happy accidents, yet you have shown no proof. Saying what you said is the same as saying, "I believe this now, and one day science will back up what I already believe." It's pseudo faith. The people in Nazareth, and the Scribes and Pharisees, they acknowledge the miracles, it's a no contest, but it says, "they took offense at Him". So it wasn't a question of evidence, but rather Who He is and the affront that He is to sinners. He's telling the Pharisees they got it wrong, so pride, not facts, evidence, nor proof, but rather their arrogance dictates that He is not to be believed. He is not from their circles, and even worse, it doesn't bother Him that He is of humble birth. He is a Nazarene, yet even the people there are offended, see Him as a bad omen. There is jealousy, pride, accusations without proof, unbelief in the face of great evidence that this man is from God.  

1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with him.” 3Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”… John 3: 1-3

And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief - So in the last post we mentioned hell, and it is a place that Jesus talks about more than any other person in Scripture. It is a place of unbelief, and you wonder, how is that, at this point every knee has bowed and every tongue confessed, yet you still think there will be unbelief? Yes, like the Bible tells us, the demons believe in God, and they tremble. They believe He is, that He is the eternal Being, but just believing that God exists didn't save them or the Pharisees, or Judas. It says, "you must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." And the only people who diligently seek Him, believe in Him as Lord, are those who are born again. There will be those in hell who come to believe that He is, but they will be offended by Him just like the Nazarenes. Why? Because they love their sin more than God. God is eternal, and He is that not only in His love, but also in His justice, He is holy and eternally so. Unless you are born of the Spirit you will continue in disbelief, thinking you are more just than God, that you are a good person, and you will stand in disbelief about His Word, what He said. The same word that He has made equal to His name, you will continue to despise. The wages of sin is death and you will never stop sinning against the eternal God, so you will be removed from the presence of His mercy and know only His eternal wrath. It is perpetual, your desire for autonomy, thinking you are the god of your own little universe, that the true God, the One without Whom you could not, would not exist, is unfair. The Creator of the Universe would not bow to your emotions and feelings, and you came to hate His facts and proofs. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, not repentance, but the eternal temper tantrum. Why? Well, first off, God doesn't owe you anything but that, yet in His mercy He has made Himself known to us by His word, His Son, and even nature demands by the evidences for design that there must be a designer, yet because of our adultery, our penchant for sin, we would believe anything else before we would believe in God, and believe what God says. Those in Hell do not want God for Who He is, as He has revealed Himself, they want a god after their own image. "Truth seekers", who would accept anything as true other than the truth, because it offended them, it demanded that they deny themselves and accept God's explanation for the universe. You must be born again.

So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13: 49-50

…16The LORD is known by the justice He brings; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. Higgaion Selah 17The wicked will return to Sheol— all the nations who forget God. 18For the needy will not always be forgotten; nor the hope of the oppressed forever dashed.… Psalm 9: 16-18

…6And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life. 7The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son. 8But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”… Revelation 21: 6-8

…8But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.… Romans 10: 8-10

31So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 32Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven. 33But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven.…  Matthew 10: 31-33

Read More

#1272 Matthew 13 Part 4 What About the Thing You Cannot Keep

 

31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” Matthew 13: 31-33 ESV

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

The Parable of the Net

47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

New and Old Treasures

51 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” Matthew 13: 44-52 ESV

Matthew 13: 31-33 & 44-52 Parables of the Kingdom

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed - It's starts out as a seed so small, that you would give up looking for it if you dropped it on the ground. Some commentators write that it can achieve heights of 15 feet in good conditions, which would be large enough to house birds. Christ later uses this small seed as a measure of faith, even faith this small is enough to move mountains. Some commentators see this as an herb that grew uncommonly large, and in the course of doing so, began to house those birds, which in former parables, came to eat the seed that was scattered. The birds here are seen to indicate the rise of apostasy within the church, as the tares also grow up with the wheat. I believe you will see both the miraculous growth that sprouts up from the gospel, and also that which desires to infiltrate and corrupt, as we move through these last parables.

…19Afterward the disciples came to Jesus privately and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 20“Because you have so little faith,” He answered. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” … Matthew 17: 19-20

This parable accurately describes what the kingdom community became in the decades and centuries after the Christianization of the Roman Empire. In those centuries the church grew abnormally large in influence and dominion, and was a nest for much corruption. “Birds lodging in the branches most probably refers to elements of corruption which take refuge in the very shadow of Christianity.” (Morgan)

v. “Close study of birds as symbols in the Old Testament and especially in the literature of later Judaism shows that birds regularly symbolize evil and even demons or Satan (cf. b. Sanhedrin, 107a; cf. Revelation 18:2).” (Carson) - E Word

Is like leaven - Many can only see leaven in a bad sense, since Christ used it to teach about the dangers of the false teachings of the Scribes and Pharisees, but leaven itself is a morally neutral thing. It is like influence, or saying "a lot" of something. You can have a lot of good or a lot of bad, something may be good in moderation or the same thing may be bad in excess. I think you will get a poor translation and understanding here if you look at it as the leaven of the Pharisees, making leaven even there, itself, the moral problem. The Pharisees' teachings spread like leaven through a lump of dough, but good teachings can also spread like this through the Kingdom. When you salt something you want it to be evenly dispersed, when you mix something in you want it to be thoroughly. The gospel was given to a few, but the Kingdom grows from their teaching, and it spreads throughout the world in various times, sometimes with great force and explosive growth like the time of the Reformation. 

Like treasure hidden in a field - People did not rely on banks back then so much as we do now, but often, and for sake of necessity, due to bandits and overtaking forces, people would bury their treasure, gold or household idols in the ground. Remember Jesus's other parable about the servant who buries his talent in the earth rather than invest it to earn interest for his Master.

…9The true Light who gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. 11He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.… John 1: 9-11

Josephus said…the historian in that time…“The gold and the silver and the rest of that most precious furniture which the Jews had and which the owners treasured up underground was done to withstand the fortunes of war.” And so, this was a very, very common thing to do. And there would be people plowing in the field, or there would be people digging in the field for other purposes. And they would inadvertently come across this treasure from time to time. - J Mac

Finding one pearl of great value - Now when you take this and put it with the treasure hidden in the field, they build upon one another. In other words, the Kingdom of Heaven is priceless, it is hidden treasure, valuable, and like wisdom, nothing compares to it. Pearl diving was exceptionally difficult in those days; there were no diving tanks, no compressors, it was all done on a breath. Not every clam contained the coveted pearl, so men searched far and wide, some did it at the cost of health and or life. Earlier in Matthew we read about the rich young ruler, and a man waiting for his parents to die so he could collect his inheritance, at which time he would then be ready to follow Jesus, but this guy finds the pearl and sells everything else to possess something far more valuable.  

And when once discovered, a pearl that was of perfection and beauty would be worth literally an unnamed price, incredibly valuable. So valuable are they that the Talmud says, “Pearls are beyond price.” So valuable were they that the Egyptians actually worshiped the pearl and this came over into Roman life. So valuable were they that when women wanted to show their wealth, according to I Timothy 2:9, they put pearls on their head.

And it was said of one lady by the name of Lollia Paulina, the wife of the emperor Caligula, that at one event, she had $36 million worth of pearls all over her. In fact, the historian says she had pearls on her head, she had pearls on her hair, she had pearls on her ears, she had pearls on her neck and she had pearls on her fingers. She could have stood in for one of the gates of heaven.

But this was how pearls were perceived in those days. Pliny, the historian says that Cleopatra had two pearls, each worth a half a million dollars and that was in a day when money was 20 times greater in its buying power than it is today. And when the Roman emperors wanted to demonstrate their incredible wealth and show how filthy rich they were, they dissolved pearls in vinegar and drank them in their wine. So pearls were very valuable.

Our Lord in Matthew 7:6 says, “Don’t cast your – ” what? – “pearls before swine.” Because He is trying to compare the worst with the most priceless. You don’t give the most valuable thing to a pig. That’s foolish. And so pearls were really perceived like we perceive diamonds today, very, very, very valuable. In fact, even going into the book of Revelation, we find that when God begins to describe heaven, it is as pearls in its beauty. - J Mac

Is like a net - When men put out a net, the net is not altogether selective. I mean, it will let water and things smaller than the holes pass through, but it catches everything else indiscriminately. There is in the haul both that which is desirable and that which we call bycatch. The fishermen sort the good from the bad, keeping the good and either throwing away the bad or grinding it up for fertilizer. This is very much like the parable earlier with the wheat and the tares, both grow in the same field. Many like Christian values, not stealing, not being lied to, and many came to Jesus for the fish and the bread, but inwardly they were unmoved, happy in their own pride and sin, only caring about the byproducts of the Kingdom, yet not hungering and thirsting for the righteousness that comes by faith.

…20So then, by their fruit you will recognize them. 21Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’…

23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’ 24Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock.… Matthew 7: 20-25

The angels will come and separate the evil from the righteous - Again, the angels, the same that reaped the harvest at the end of the age, that separated the wheat from the tares. 

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth - Again Christ teaches about hell, and yet men will claim to be Biblical teachers today and avoid the subject all together. I am going to go deeper into this in the next post which will finish this chapter. I would rather understand it, share that understanding, than pretend it does not exist.

Every Scribe who has been trained for the Kingdom of Heaven - He will know both the OT and the NT, see the gospel from both directions and everything pointing to Christ as the Pearl of great value, the Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah, the Messiah, King of kings, and Lord of lords.

A week ago I cuddled up on the couch with Melinda and I said I want to read you a story, honey, that I think you’ll like. It’s about a caterpillar named Stripe. And so she jumped up and we read about Stripe. Stripe was a caterpillar and he just did what caterpillar’s do. He just kind of walked around in a field a little bit. He got kind of bored and so one day he looked off in the distance and he saw a pillar going up into the sky. And he thought, “I wonder what that is.”

And he got closer and he saw that it was a caterpillar pillar. It was just a pillar full of caterpillars climbing up. And he couldn’t see at the top because there was a cloud up there. And it was just a bunch of caterpillars climbing on each other going into the cloud. And he thought, “Well, maybe that’s what caterpillars do; they just climb up caterpillar pillars.” And so he got on the caterpillar pillar and he started to climb.

And when you’re climbing on a caterpillar pillar, you step on anybody’s head to get up further. And so he just kept pushing his way up the caterpillar pillar and he’d ask people now and then, “What was at the top?” And they all said, “We don’t know, but it seems as though everybody’s going there so it must be important.” And so they all just kept climbing. And then one time, he…he stepped on the head of a little yellow caterpillar who’s real pretty and he felt bad about that.

And then he did something you’re never suppose to do when you’re climbing a caterpillar pillar. He looked the other caterpillar in the eye, and you don’t make relationships with people you’re stepping on. And then when he made the mistake of looking in the eye, he thought, “That’s a lovely little yellow caterpillar.” And he said to her, he said, “You know, maybe it’d be better not to climb this caterpillar pillar but to go back to the field and just hug a lot.

And so the two of them worked their way back down the caterpillar pillar and into the field and they hugged a lot. And after a while, hugging got a little boring and he said, “I think I’m going to go back up the caterpillar pillar and see what’s up there. Hugging is kind of boring.” And she said, “I can’t go back to that.” And so he left her and she was very lonely.

And she was crawling around out there in the field and she looked up on a branch and she saw something funny hanging down. It was half of a little case and then it was half of a caterpillar. And she said to the caterpillar, “What are you doing?” He said, “Well, I’m spinning a cocoon. And she said, “Well, why are you doing that?” And the caterpillar said, “Because I’m going to die.” And she said, “Well, why do you want to die?” He said, “Because if you die, you get born all over as a butterfly.”

And she said, “Are you sure? Because what if you die and then you just die, and you don’t get born as a butterfly?” “Oh,” he says, “You do get born as a butterfly because that’s what caterpillars are made to be, butterflies, but they have to die first.” And she thought about that a long time because that was a big move. And she decided, too, she’d be willing to die and be born as a butterfly. And then she wouldn’t have to climb the caterpillar pillar. She could fly over the top and just look down and see what was up there. And so she spun a cocoon and she died.

And guess what? She did get born as a butterfly. And she flew over to the caterpillar pillar and there she found Stripe, and he was almost to the top. And he was just close enough to the top to find out what the top was all about. You know what happened when you got to the top? Somebody underneath pushed you off and you fell all the way to the bottom and died. And before he did that, she rescued him and he spun his cocoon and he became a butterfly too.

What does that say? I asked Melinda. She said, “I know what that says. That says if you’re willing to die you can be born again as a Christian.” That’s right. That’s the message of the parable. That’s what it’s saying. Think of Christ. He took His life and threw it for a world redeemed. And ere His agony was done before the westering sun went down, crowning that day with its crimson crown. He knew that He had won.

The kingdom is precious. The kingdom is hidden. The kingdom is personal. The kingdom is joyous. The kingdom is entered from different circumstances, but always the price is to abandon myself to receive the supreme sovereignty of Jesus Christ. - J Mac

Read More

#1271 Matthew 13 Part 3 Darnel

 

24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” Matthew 13: 24-30 ESV

36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. Matthew 13: 36-43 ESV

Matthew 13: 24-30 & 36-43 Weeds

…44But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same?… Matthew 5: 44-46

The Kingdom of heaven - Those in the kingdom are founded, grown here, in God's field, which Christ explains to His disciples in verse 37. This goes all the way back to the garden, it is God's earth, His lives, supported by the universe He so perfectly fine tuned. He says, the one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, a Messianic name for Himself, referring to His human nature. In verse 38 He tells us the field is the world, and that the good seed is the sons of the Kingdom. In Eden, on the sixth day, God created human kind, and He created them good, but sometime after, the enemy, who is Satan, which we see here in verse 39, sowed in bad seed. Satan sowed doubt, pride, rebellion, deceit, and it was sadly received into the heart of our parents. Since then all of mankind has fallen, and there grows together, in this world, both those who will be forever sons of the evil one, and those who are being saved. 

…2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. 4In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.… John 1: 2-4

His enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat - This is something that actually happened in ancient times and was punishable under Roman law. It happens even in the church today, wheat and tares spring up together, and this is a particular weed that looks like wheat, very hard to distinguish in it's early days. Below is an excerpt from Barclay's Bible Study:

The pictures in this parable would be clear and familiar to a Palestinian audience. Tares were one of the curses against which a farmer had to labour. They were a weed called bearded darnel (Lolium Temulentum). In their early stages the tares so closely resembled the wheat that it was impossible to distinguish the one from the other. When both had headed out it was easy to distinguish them; but by that time their roots were so intertwined that the tares could not be weeded out without tearing the wheat out with them.

Thomson in The Land and the Book tells how he saw the tares in the Wady Hamam: "The grain is just in the proper stale of development to illustrate the parable. In those parts where the grain has headed out, the tares have done the same, and there a child cannot mistake them for wheat or barley; but when both are less developed, the closest scrutiny will often fail to detect them. I cannot do it at all with any confidence. Even the farmers, who in this country generally weed their fields, do not attempt to separate the one from the other. They would not only mistake good grain for them, but very commonly the roots of the two are so intertwined that it is impossible to separate them without plucking up both. Both, therefore, must be left to grow together until the time of harvest."

The tares and the wheat are so like each other that the Jews called the tares bastard wheat. The Hebrew for tares is zunim, whence comes the Greek zizanion ( G2215) ; zunim is said to be connected with the word zanah ( H2181) , which means to commit fornication; and the popular story is that the tares took their origin in the time of wickedness which preceded the flood, for at that time the whole creation, men, animals and plants, all went astray, and committed fornication and brought forth contrary to nature. In their early stages the wheat and the tares so closely resembled each other that the popular idea was that the tares were a kind of wheat which had gone wrong. - Barclay

So when the plants came up and bore grain - Notice this, we can't see in the Lamb's book of life, but we know that not everyone who says, "Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven". Even an expert, very discerning farmer, had difficulty telling the wheat from the darnel, until when? When they bore grain, and we know a tree by it's fruit, so now we have a plant that was sown to look like wheat, but steal nutrients from the wheat, or tempt the farmer to pull it and possibly damage the true wheat before it has fully ripened. 

Do you want us to go and gather them - The Land Owner's servants are wanting to remove the imposters, and understandably, it is as welcome as blight on a farm. This was the thought of the Roman Catholic Church at different times in history as well, but it wasn't their place. First, they are a cult, just like communist atheism, or Islam, but they were calling themselves Christian, and in the name of Christ they went out and tried to remove those who opposed their thinking. They killed Muslims and Jews during the Crusades. The Jews shared the OT with them, but they considered them apostate because they had not accepted Christ, and this is true, but this was also true of the Roman Catholic's teachings, for they taught another Christ, another gospel. The church in this age was never called to be a political entity, and you cannot force anyone to be a Christian, as we have seen, only Christ's sheep hear His voice, and only those the Father draws come to Him. Later, when the gospel is defended and printed in the language the masses can understand, the Roman Catholic Church, which was a ruling political entity, a state sponsored religion, came after the Reformers, and martyred many who defended the pure teaching of Scripture, taking the whole counsel of God. During the Spanish Inquisition an estimated 150,000 people were prosecuted for heresies against the Roman Catholic church, and some 5,000 of these were murdered. 

No, lest in gathering the weeds you uproot the wheat with them - There's a lot here, again, we don't know how to distinguish until there is fruit, at which time it can be pointed out, removed from the church, but not destroyed from this life. We are to confront apostasy among us, but we are not called to be exterminators. 

…12What business of mine is it to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.” 1 Corinthians 5: 12-13

Secondly, we are talking about the God Who changes water into wine, and we all come from enmity with God, born dead in our trespasses and sins, spiritually bankrupt. Salvation is of the Lord alone, and if you look at the thief on the cross, he appeared to be a darnel all the way to the very end, and yet the Lord changed him in an instant. We should not lose hope, we should love our enemies, and pray for the restoration of those who have stepped away from the faith.

Third, it's not your job, look at verses 41 and 42, the reapers are the angels. They come and remove the tares, the darnels, the weeds, at the end of the church age. You spread the gospel, the Holy Spirit regenerates men, convicting them of the sin which we preach about, and He brings them to repentance, based upon the effectual call of God. You don't get to choose who get's saved, and you should want everyone to be saved, because they are underserving, just like you.  

…13for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”… Romans 10: 13-15

All causes of sin and all law-breakers - God has spoken many times in the past, and His word always holds true. What He says comes to past, and He is a Holy God, which means otherly, without blemish, opposed to sin, and He is eternal, so this is infinitely so. In verse 42 He reveals the destination of the lawless, of those darnel that have grown up in this world together with the wheat, of those who have not acknowledged Christ as Lord, repenting of their sin. Jesus speaks of hell more than anyone else in the Bible, and it is a place of bitter torment, of much regret, and I can't desire that for anyone else because I deserved it myself. Any pastor who avoids this part of the gospel message is not a pastor, not a true shepherd. Let Christ be the example, warn those around us of the judgment that is to come. Flee from the wrath that is to come.

…9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, 10nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.… 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11

Read More