The Victory Garden (Matthew 26v30-46)

Was it a harmless prank – or misdemeanor battery?

Workers at Intel in Albuquerque secretly taped a “Kick Me” sign to the back of a co-worker as a prank, then kicked the confused man a number of times as fellow employees laughed hysterically.

The employee said that once he suspected something was taped on his back, he went to a senior staffer to ask if something was there.

The staffer promptly kicked him three times in the buttocks.

The employee felt demoralized and assaulted and he began to cry during his drive home.  He initially could not tell his wife because he was so embarrassed and ashamed.

Two of the prankers were convicted of petty misdemeanor battery and ordered to perform sixteen hours of community service.  Both also lost their jobs.

In another story, a New York City elementary school suspended a fourth grade student for taping a “Kick Me” sign on another students back.

When I was a kid, we’d alternate between “Kick Me” and “Kiss Me.”  Kid’s, and adults who act like them, are mean.

You may not have a “Kick Me” sign taped to your back, but some days it seems like you do.  You seem to be a target for all kinds of abuse and trouble from the world.

In fact, if you are a Christian, you are targeted by the devil and the nonbelievers he has taken captive to do his will.

Good thing you are simultaneously safeguarded by Jesus.

While most of what happens in our text is unique to the eleven disciples, there is this general principle of being targeted as well as simultaneously safeguarded.  Let’s see if we can make some sense of it.

I’ll organize my thoughts around two points: #1 Jesus Said It Was Because Of Him You’d Be Targeted, and #2 Jesus Said It Was Because Of Him You’d Be Safeguarded.

#1    Jesus Said It Was Because Of Him
    You’d Be Targeted
    (v30-35)

We are down to the final 24 hours leading up to the Crucifixion.  Judas left the Upper Room to betray Jesus; the Last Supper was instituted; the Lord and His boys headed out to spend the night under the stars on the Mount of Olives.

Mat 26:30    And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Could you sing praises to God on your way to your betrayal and death?  Yes, yes, you could, because God would supply His grace in abundance to you in your time of need.

It was not unusual for Jews visiting Jerusalem for the Passover to spend the night outdoors, camping.  Jesus was headed for their regular spot; and Judas was, too.

Mat 26:31    Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I WILL STRIKE THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK WILL BE SCATTERED.’

It’s a quote from the Old Testament prophet, Zechariah 13:7.  The “I” is referring to God; the “Shepherd” is Jesus; the “flock” are His eleven disciples.

Make no mistake about it: the events leading up to, and including, Jesus death on the Cross were no afterthought.  They were necessary.

It was not morally possible for God to atone for sin and redeem lost men and women apart from the sacrificial death of Jesus on the Cross.

The Shepherd must be struck; He must be killed.

Momentarily Judas would come with the Roman soldiers and the eleven would, indeed, be “scattered.”

What does it mean that they would be “made to stumble?”  After all is said and read, it comes down to this: the arrest, the trials, and the crucifixion of Jesus would shake these men to the very foundation of their faith.

Think of it like this.  Although Jesus had told them repeatedly that He must die at the hands of the religious leaders, the eleven either ignored Him or they misunderstood Him.  They were certain He was going to inaugurate the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth, in which they would play a major role and hold positions of honor.

A stricken Shepherd was not part of their equation.  It would seem to them as if Jesus were not powerful enough to perform what He had promised.

Isn’t that the same problem most people, including Christians, struggle with?  If God is so powerful, why all my suffering?  Why doesn’t God do something?

With perfect hindsight, we see that God was doing something.  In fact, He was doing everything.  He was defeating sin and death so men could be forgiven their sins and receive eternal life.

If we had hindsight of our own lives, we’d see something similar.  Of course, we can’t; but we can walk by faith believing God is the same today as He was then.

I want to call our attention to three words easy to overlook: “Because of Me.”

Jesus was assuming the responsibility for them being scattered.  It wasn’t because they lacked faith, or some such thing.  No; it was all on Him, because of Him.

Think of it this way.  If a shepherd was out in the fields tending his flock and was attacked, lets say, by a cougar, and killed, what would we expect his sheep to do?

Would we expect them to rally and present a strong defense against the cougar?  No!  We’d expect them to run and scatter, because the shepherd was their sole protection.

Jesus said, “because of Me,” and it was full of emotion.  He had put the target on their backs, as it were.  It didn’t say “Kick Me,” or “Kiss Me.”  It said, “Kill Me.”

Today we, too, are targeted.  Jesus told us that since the world hated Him, it would hate us just as much.  In such a world we can expect persecution.  It’s unusual for believers not to be persecuted.  It’s the exception rather than the norm.

Since it’s “because of Him,” we can rejoice when we are treated badly, because we are being identified with Jesus.

Mat 26:32    But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.”

Besides being certain that death could not hold Him; that He would rise from the dead, conquering death as well as sin; these words contain an incredible promise for the eleven, and for all believers.

It’s a promise – an absolutely rock-solid promise – that all eleven guys would be regathered after Jesus rose from the dead.

They’d be scattered… Stumbled to various degrees… Reduced to a sort of hopelessness.  But hope there was in abundance in these word of Jesus.

No matter how hopeless your situation may get; no matter how helpless you become; the Lord will gather you to Himself, and He will regather all of His church together, to always be with Him.

The guys didn’t really hear that last promise.  They objected.

Mat 26:33    Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.”

Mat 26:34    Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”

Mat 26:35    Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And so said all the disciples.

We’ll talk about the rooster’s crowing when it happens.  For now concentrate on Peter, and “all the disciples,” thinking there was no way they could stumble.

We sometimes, perhaps most of the time, use the word “stumble” to describe falling into sin.  What I’m talking about today, from this text, is a different kind of stumbling.

As I presented it earlier, it’s more like doubt of the Lord and of His Word on account of the tribulation that you suffering.  It’s the “Why, God?” or “Where is God?” kind of stumbling.

And it can be crippling.  I know people who never recover from some tragedy.  They blame God and cease to walk with Him.

I know it hurts to realize God could have kept you out of your trouble rather than letting you go through it, but how does it help you to turn your back on Him?

It doesn’t.  Instead look full in His wonderful face.  Look at Jesus Who suffered for you, and Who promises to never, ever leave you nor forsake you.

#2    Jesus Said It Was Because Of Him
    You’d Be Safeguarded
    (v36-46)

In the Gospel of John Jesus prays to His Father for His disciples before they left the Upper Room to go to the Mount of Olives.  He says to His Father, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name.  Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.  I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one (John 17:12-15).

Jesus was asking His Father to safeguard the eleven disciples.  But He didn’t ask just for them.

Joh 17:20    “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;

Jesus had kept them; now His Father would keep them, and all believers, safeguarded on earth as the “evil one” seeks to rob,kill, and destroy us.

Let’s talk about God safeguarding us.  We already know it doesn’t mean we will never suffer.  It seems to mean that we will, or at least we can, always be victorious in our suffering.

Take Peter for an example.  In the Gospel of Luke we read,

Luk 22:31    And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.

Luk 22:32    But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

Peter was going to be sifted; he was the target of the enemy.  Jesus’ prayer would safeguard Peter; he would “return,” and he would serve, “strengthening his brethren.”

One commentator said this:

We can imagine a picture like this: Satan has a big sieve with jagged-edged wires forming a mesh with holes shaped like faithless men and women.

What he aims to do is throw people into this sieve and shake them around over these jagged edges until they are so torn and weak and desperate that they let go of their faith and fall through the sieve as faithless people, right into Satan’s company.  Faith cannot fall through the mesh.  It’s the wrong shape.  And so as long as the disciples hold to their faith, trusting the power and goodness of God for their hope, then they will not fall through the mesh into Satan’s hands.

We’re going to be sifted, but we are safeguarded by God and can always be victorious.

Mat 26:36    Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.”

I approach this section, this story, with real caution.  One commentator duly noted,

No man can rightfully expound such a passage as this; it is a subject for prayerful, heartbroken meditation, more than for human language.

“Gethsemane” means oil press – appropriate as this was the Mount of Olives.

Jesus strategically leaves eight disciples near the entrance.  He would take three others further.

Mat 26:37    And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.

The “two sons of Zebedee” were James and John.  These three were a sort of inner circle, often witnessing events the other disciples were not privileged to.

We shouldn’t assume they were more spiritual; or that they had earned these positions.  God chose them to this service.  Period.

I’m told these last words, “sorrowful and deeply depressed,” are among the strongest word in the Greek language to express a depth of emotion.

Have you ever been hit with a wave of emotion?  Been overcome to a point you can’t really function?

Jesus was fully God; but He was also fully human, and in His humanity, waves of emotion were billowing over Him.

Mat 26:38    Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”

Have you ever muttered the words, “I feel like I’m going to die?”  You mean that you feel awful, emotionally.  Beat up and left for dead spiritually.

Shifting gears, have you ever been around someone else who felt that way?  If you have, you certainly wanted to help them, encourage them, strengthen them.  You probably didn’t know what to do or say.

Jesus tells you what a person in that state needs more than anything else: For others to “watch” with the sufferer.  As the scene unfolds, we’ll see what that means.

Mat 26:39    He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

Here is what the person intensely suffering ought to do – pray, falling on his or her face, seeking the Lord for relief or for the resolve of accepting His will.

Regarding Jesus’ prayer, it establishes that there was no other way for God to forgive sin and save a lost race.  Jesus, as the God-man, must drink the “cup,” a picture from the Old Testament to describe God’s wrath against sin.

Jesus was determined to go to the Cross, but here, in Gethsemane, He decided He would.  One commentator said,

‘Not your will but mine’ changed Paradise to desert and brought man from Eden to Gethsemane.  Now ‘Not my will but yours’ brings anguish to the man who prays it but transforms the desert into the kingdom and brings man from Gethsemane to the gates of glory.

Mat 26:40    Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?

Before we form an opinion, something Luke says in his Gospel should be remembered.  He says that their eyes were heavy from sorrow (Luke 22:45).  Jesus had just told them some disturbing things: One of them would betray Him (Mark 14:18); He was leaving them (14:25); they would all fall away (14:27) and Peter would deny Jesus three times (14:30).

They weren’t sleeping as the result of normal weariness at the end of the day, but because they had been rocked by reality.

It has also been suggested that there were evil forces at work here – a demonic attack.  It makes sense that Satan would want to hinder the prayers of the disciples in order to try to undermine the decision of Jesus to obey His Father.

I’m not making excuses for Peter, James and John – only pointing out that praying is work, and it’s warfare.

Mat 26:41    Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

“Flesh” is more than the physical body getting tired.  “Flesh” is that propensity we find within us to fulfill our physical needs in sinful ways.

Again, this was more than mere tiredness after a long day.  This was warfare.  In actual warfare, you don’t want to be asleep when the assault comes; and neither can you afford to slack off in spiritual warfare.

Note, too, that, even though the disciples’ praying could have comforted Jesus, He was concerned for them.  “Temptation” here means testing.  A test, a trial, was coming, and they needed to be ready to meet it head-on.

Mat 26:42    Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.”

Jesus’ prayer has changed.  He acknowledges the “cup cannot pass away from” Him; that He must “drink it.”

The wages of sin is death.  Jesus would die as Substitute for every member of the human race that our sins might be forgiven, and that we might have life – eternal life.  There is no other way to deal with sin, and to be saved.

Mat 26:43    And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.

Jesus checked on them a second time.

Are you the kind of person who constantly checks on a baby, to make sure he or she is OK when sleeping?  I am; I’m a fanatic about it.  It’s so hard to tell if a baby is breathing; so I’ve been known to touch, or to poke.  Then they stir, and cry.

Jesus was poking His disciples, in a sense, to see if they were spiritually active.

Mat 26:44    So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

In the Gospel of Mark you learn that Jesus woke them a second time (14:40).

Watch; pray.  It seemed so simple, but it proved so hard.

Here’s what I mean.  When the soldiers come to arrest Jesus, Peter is going to draw his sword and cut-off a guys ear.  It’s easier to wield a sword than it is to yield to the sword of the Spirit.

We want to think we are doing something, and watching and praying don’t seem to us to be as important as taking action.

Mat 26:45    Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.

Mat 26:46    Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”

From one perspective, the disciples had failed.  They had been in a spiritual skirmish, and had been overcome by the flesh, and by whatever demonic forces were at work.  When Jesus seemed to need them the most, their own needs overwhelmed them.

When they could have been ministering to Jesus, He must minister to them.

Now the Lord wakes them, and leads them into the mouth of the roaring lion.  They will all be scattered, just as He predicted.

But they will nonetheless be safeguarded, will they not?  They will be regathered; none of them will be lost; they are safe, spiritually speaking.

You and I will face the roaring lion – the devil – as he goes about seeking whom he may devour.

We will be readier for some troubles than we will for others.

We will have varying degrees of spiritual success and failure.

We will sometimes sleep when we ought to be awake, aware, watching and praying.

Through it all, remember these words of Jesus:

Joh 17:15    I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.

Our heavenly Father will “keep” us; He will safeguard us.  We can break-through to victory, even after failure.

Make no mistake – we will not be kept from trouble or testing.  Because of Jesus, we have “Kill Me” targets taped to our backs.
But as we watch and pray, we are reminded that all our enemies have been defeated.

Our sin was atoned for by Jesus’ death, and we receive in its place His righteousness.

Death was defeated on the Cross and we expect to be raptured without ever dying.  If we die prior to the rapture, we are immediately absent from our bodies, and present with the Lord in Heaven.

The devil may roar, but we can resist him and need not fall into sin.

If his roaring is to bring persecution and suffering, we can endure it by the sustaining grace of God.

Thinking about being safeguarded, I came across some information about disaster preparedness.  Experts identify four phases in a disaster plan:

Prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery.

Now I don’t want to force this disaster preparedness outline on spiritual things; but we can note a few parallels.

As to prevention, you can prevent many of your potential troubles by simply obeying God, and yielding to the Spirit rather than the flesh.

As to preparedness, it’s more than just a suggestion that you stay in fellowship, read your Bible, pray, and share your faith.  These build you up spiritually and keep you awake rather than asleep.

As to response, this is going to vary.  As I said a moment ago, some trials will seem like smooth spiritual sailing, but others may seem like you’ve been shipwrecked.

Recovery, however, is promised you by the fact Jesus prayed, as is still praying, for you.

We are all in one of those categories today.  Whichever one it is for you, know that you can break through to victory, no matter how badly you’ve failed or are failing.

Separation Anxiety (Matthew 25v1-46)

It’s called jargon.  It’s the vocabulary that is peculiar to a particular profession, or trade, or group.  Some of the words are unique, but others are common words that have taken on a different meaning.

My family owned an automotive repair shop when I was growing up.  If my dad told me to take the rotors to be turned, I knew what he was talking about.

If my brother diagnosed an engine and said it was dieseling, I knew what he meant.

Hanging around cops, as a Chaplain, I hear a lot of jargon.  Your FTO may want you to FI a suspect to be certain they’re not 5150.

Wherever you work, there’s probably jargon that you take for granted.

We have our own jargon as believers, called by some, Christianese.  We might, for example, say that someone came forward and had hands laid on them to receive the anointing.  It sounds pretty weird if you aren’t familiar with it.

Shepherding is a common occupation in the Bible.  It has its own unique jargon.  For example, there’s an expression, “to pass under the rod.”  The rod of the shepherd was a two-foot long club that doubled as an instrument by which the shepherd could count and inspect his sheep one-by-one as they passed by him.

At the end of Matthew twenty-five we will read the famous passage where Jesus says that, at His return, He will separate the Gentiles “as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.”

In shepherding jargon, they will pass under His rod.

So will the Jews who survive the Tribulation.  While there is no direct mention of it in Matthew twenty-five, Jews understood from their Scriptures that one day they, too, would pass under the rod of their Great Shepherd.

They knew the passage in Ezekiel twenty which reads,

Eze 20:34    I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out.

Eze 20:35    And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face.

Eze 20:36    Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you,” says the Lord GOD.

Eze 20:37    “I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;

I’ll organize my thoughts around two points: #1 Before You Reign With Jesus In His Kingdom, Israel Will Pass Under The Rod, and #2 Before You Reign With Jesus In His Kingdom, The Gentiles Will Pass Under His Rod.

#1    Before You Reign With Jesus In His Kingdom,
    Israel Will Pass Under The Rod
    (v1-30)

I snuck something in on you.  Who said anything about reigning with Jesus?

It is our teaching that the church age saints will be resurrected and raptured to Heaven before the Tribulation on the earth can begin.

In Revelation 5:9-10, describing the raptured church in Heaven,  we read,

Rev 5:9    And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,

Rev 5:10    And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”
The church is in Heaven in Revelation chapter five.  The Tribulation is described, in Revelation chapters six through eighteen.  Then, in chapter nineteen, Jesus returns, and we return with Him.

When Jesus returns in His Second Coming, He will establish a real, physical kingdom on the earth, administrated from Jerusalem.  It will last one-thousand years, which is why it is sometimes called the Millennial Kingdom.

It is the kingdom that was promised to Israel throughout their Scriptures, but postponed when the leaders of Israel officially rejected Jesus as their King.

I don’t know exactly what we will be doing when we “reign on the earth” with Jesus in that kingdom.  I have a few of my own ideas about where I’d like to be posted; but that’s going to be up to the Lord to determine.

Something to keep in mind; something that often confuses folks when we talk about the coming kingdom on the earth.  When Jesus returns, at the end of the Great Tribulation, there are human beings who have survived the terror and carnage of those days.  There will be Jews and Gentiles in their human bodies.

These verses are about those future people.

Those among them who believe in Jesus Christ will remain on the earth and begin to repopulate it.  They are compared to sheep.

Those among them who do not believe in Jesus Christ will be taken away to await their eternal punishment.  They are the goats.

By the way, this is one reason why a post-tribulation rapture of the church is impossible.  If all the believers on the earth were raptured at the Lord’s Second Coming, there would be no human beings left in their natural, non-glorified bodies to repopulate the Millennial Kingdom.

Mat 25:1    “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

Do you remember the ’90’s sitcom, with puppets, called Dinosaurs?  The baby used to say to the dad, “Not the mama!”

As we encounter the ten virgins, I want to say, “Not the bride!”

The ten virgins are, at best, bridesmaids.  They are probably more like invited guests.  They are not the bride of Christ.

Other than a general biblical principle to always be ready, these virgins have nothing to do with the church.  The scene Jesus was describing was His Second Coming – not the rapture.  The church is raptured, safe in Heaven, at least seven years before the Second Coming.

Once you understand that, the interpretation of the parable itself is relatively straightforward.

Mat 25:2    Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

Mat 25:3    Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them,

Mat 25:4    but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

The wedding ceremony was taking place at the home of the bridegroom.  The ten unmarried, young, female friends of either the bride or the bridegroom are awaiting the return of the wedding party so they can attend the wedding feast.  The custom was to have oil lamps, on poles, by which the invited guests could illuminate the procession.

The lamps themselves did not hold much oil, so it was wise to have an extra supply.

Mat 25:5    But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

I’ve officiated at weddings like that.  After the ceremony, the guests wait and wait and wait while the wedding party takes its sweet time taking pictures.

Mat 25:6    “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’

Mat 25:7    Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.

Mat 25:8    And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’

Mat 25:9    But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’

They weren’t ready.  In the story, they’re told to try to wake up some shop owner and buy oil.  But the point was simply, it’s too late to get any oil.

Mat 25:10    And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.

Mat 25:11    “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’

Mat 25:12    But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

From the standpoint of a wedding feast, this seems pretty harsh.  However, Jesus wasn’t teaching first century wedding etiquette.  This is a story to illustrate a single, simple spiritual truth; and that truth is in verse thirteen.

Mat 25:13    “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

We saw, in chapter twenty-four, that this phrase is not referring to the rapture of the church.  It refers to the Second Coming of Jesus.  For various reasons we gave, it will be impossible to know the exact moment of the Lord’s Second Coming.

When He comes, it will be too late for a person to change their eternal destiny.

Those who were ready – believers who have been anticipating His return – will enter the kingdom.

Those who were not ready – nonbelievers – will be excluded from the kingdom.

Jesus started with a parable about a wedding feast, because He will be returning with us, His bride, and there will be a celebration on the earth.  Revelation 19:9 calls it “the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

His next parable gets down to business, because the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth will also be a time of growth and prosperity, and the Lord will install servants of His in positions of oversight and authority.

Mat 25:14    “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.

Mat 25:15    And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.

This was a pretty common occurrence in their culture.  Notice, in passing, that their lord did not divide his goods evenly.  Hold onto that thought.

Mat 25:16    Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.

Mat 25:17    And likewise he who had received two gained two more also.

Mat 25:18    But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money.

Mat 25:19    After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

Mat 25:20    “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’

Mat 25:21    His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

Mat 25:22    He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’

Mat 25:23    His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

Mat 25:24    “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.

Mat 25:25    And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’

We’re going to talk about faithfulness in a moment, but that’s not the real point of this parable.  When reading the parables it is important to not get bogged down in the details of the story.  Details are there so that the story makes sense.  The main point is what counts.

The main, single, simple point of the Parable of the Talents is that the servants needed to believe the master was returning, and live accordingly.  Their behavior would give evidence of their belief.

Two servants anticipated their lord’s return; one did not.

Mat 25:26    “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.

This is not an admission that their lord was really like this.  He was simply repeating back what the servant had said, and, in fact, by doing so, he was showing how foolish an assessment it was.

Mat 25:27    So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.

Don’t miss this.  This servant was not afraid; he was, in fact, shrewd.

Why not at least put the money in the bank to earn interest?  Because then there would be a record of it.  If the master never returned, the third servant could, in fact, simply keep the portion allotted to him, since it was buried in his backyard.

He fully expected that the master would not return; or he hoped he would not; and he acted accordingly.

Mat 25:28    So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

Mat 25:29    ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.

Mat 25:30    And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

At His Second Coming, Jesus will appoint servants to oversee and administrate His kingdom.

Those who are like the first two servants, anticipating the return of the King, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, and they will be rewarded with positions of service.

Those who are like the third servant, certain that the King is not going to return, will be excluded from the Kingdom.

Why do we think these parables are directed to the nation of Israel?

Well, for one thing, there’s the passage from Ezekiel I referenced earlier.  Jesus was describing His Second Coming and the Jews must, at some point at their Lord’s Second Coming, “pass under the rod.”

Eze 20:37    “I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;

Eze 20:38    I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

Charles Lee Feinberg commented on these verses, saying, “This is an exclusive judgment on Israel which will take place during the time of Jacob’s Trouble [the Tribulation], probably at the end of the period.”

Another reason we think these parables are for Israel are their Jewish tone.  For example Gentiles had completely different wedding customs than the ones taken for granted in the Parable of the Ten Virgins.  It’s not a parable Gentiles would easily identify with.

A final reason we think Jesus had Israel in mind in these opening verses is because He will make a very sharp distinction in the remaining verses between Gentiles and those He calls “My brethren” (v40).

Before we go on, there is something here, a timeless principle applicable to all believers at all times.

God rewards faithfulness.  It’s something you can be – no matter what you’ve got to work with.
All men might be created equal, but we certainly do not all have the same talents, abilities, or opportunities to serve the Lord.

There are five-talent Christians… Two-talent Christians… And one-talent Christians.

(You could say the same thing regarding churches)

The Lord commended the two-talent servant for his faithfulness in  exactly the same way He commended the five-talent servant.

Nothing is more freeing than for you to realize that God rewards faithfulness.  It’s something all of us can do – be faithful.

Add to that an honest realization that some churches and Christians really do have more to work with, and you will quit being so depressed when you seem to be accomplishing less than others.

And you’ll quit thinking it has anything to do with you when you have more, when really it’s all the Lord.

In fact, over the years I’ve wondered how five-talent Christians would fare if God had given them less.

Be faithful.

#2    Before You Reign With Jesus In His Kingdom,
    The Gentiles Will Pass Under The Rod
    (v31-46)

The judgment that is described in these remaining verses is not a parable.  It is a true description of Jesus separating out nonbelievers for eternal punishment, using imagery of sheep passing under the rod of the shepherd.

Mat 25:31    “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

Mat 25:32    All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

Mat 25:33    And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

At His return, the Lord will turn His attention to “the nations.”  It is a term which is mostly used to distinguish non-Jews from Jews.

We believe it definitely has that usage here because in verse forty Jesus contrasts these “nations” with those He calls “My brethren.”  Clearly there is an ethnic distinction between Gentiles and Jews.

Mat 25:34    Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

Mat 25:35    for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;

Mat 25:36    I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

Mat 25:37    “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?

Mat 25:38    When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?

Mat 25:39    Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’

Mat 25:40    And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

Jews will be the special target of satanic persecution during the last three and one-half years of the Great Tribulation.  Those who escape to the Judean wilderness when the antichrist defiles the Temple will be supernaturally protected.

Presumably there will be Jews all around the world who will lack that supernatural protection.  They will be hungry, thirsty, naked, sick and imprisoned.  To help them will give evidence a person is a genuine believer, since they risk being similarly treated.

A person can’t be saved by these good works done towards the Jews; but the works will be the evidence they are saved – that they are a tribulation saint.

I love the way Jesus identifies with His brethren.  Feed them… Clothe them… Visit them… And a person is doing it to Him.

Mat 25:41    “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:

Mat 25:42    for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;

Mat 25:43    I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

Mat 25:44    “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’

Mat 25:45    Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’

This is them passing under the rod, to be identified as goats.  Jesus reveals their treatment of the Jews, His brethren, desperate for the bare necessities of life, and for human kindnesses.

Sure, it will potentially mean imprisonment or death if a person helps the Jews.  But it means eternal punishment to not help.

Again, it isn’t the lack of works that condemns, but the lack of genuine faith in Jesus that would produce those works.

In any dispensation – Old Testament, New Testament, Tribulation, or the Kingdom – a person is saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  At the Cross you receive the forgiveness of your sins, and God gives you the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Mat 25:46    And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Only saved Jews… Only saved Gentiles… will be left standing as the Tribulation survivors pass under the rod of Jesus Christ.

They will be the citizens of the Millennial Kingdom, repopulating the planet for the next thousand years.

Even though these verses look to the future, they reveal the Lord as compassionate.  He cares for those who are persecuted – and so should we, if we have His heart.

It’s always a good spiritual exercise to analyze what we are doing to assist the poor and the persecuted church world-wide.

Yes, there are needs at home; we need to address those.  But without a bigger worldview, we will end up spending all our talents on ourselves; and we will implode.

We are in a position to help the poor and persecuted believers.  Let’s do so, regularly, sacrificially, and joyfully.

Cloudy With A Certainty Of Jesus (Matthew 24v26-51)

Here is a Family Feud question for you: Name something in the sky that makes people look up.

Survey says – Airplane.

In the near future, the answer to that question, all over the planet, will be, the Son of Man coming on the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory.

Jesus Christ rose from the dead in a glorified physical body.  Forty days later, He ascended into Heaven.

As His followers looked to the heavens, two men appeared, and said to them, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into Heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into Heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into Heaven” (Acts 1:11).

Jesus doesn’t get into it here in the Gospel of Matthew, but we know for a fact from other Bible passages that when Jesus returns, He won’t be alone.  You and I, and all the saints of the church age, will be coming back with Him.

I want to look at Jesus’ Second Coming, and our coming back with Him, from the perspective of both the heavens surrounding the earth, and the earth itself.

I’ll organize my thoughts around two points: #1 When You Return With Jesus At His Second Coming There Will Be Significant Signs In The Heavens, and #2 When You Return With Jesus At His Second Coming There Will Be Sighs And Shouts On The Earth.

#1    When You Return With Jesus At His Second Coming
    There Will Be Significant Signs In The Heavens
    (v26-31)

The church will have been resurrected and raptured to Heaven before any portion of the seven-year Tribulation.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ describes those who return at the end of those seven years, with Jesus.  In Revelation 19:14 we read,

Rev 19:14    And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.

The word “armies” is plural, meaning at least two.  We know from other passages who populates these two armies:

One army is an angelic army.  In Matthew 16:27 we read, “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels.”

The other army that will return with Jesus is the army of the church saints who had been raptured previously.  In Jude we read, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints” (v14).

The church is a huge part of the Second Coming, but we need to realize from the outset that the church is not spoken of by Jesus in Matthew twenty-four.  The resurrection and rapture of the church is not a subject covered at all in these verses.

Jesus had not yet so much as hinted about the resurrection and rapture of the church.  He would, the night before He was crucified, indicate to the believers that He was going to prepare a place for us, to return and take us there, and thereby keep us out of the terrible time of trouble coming upon the earth.

But the resurrection and rapture of the church would remain unknown until the apostle Paul revealed the mystery in his letters to the Thessalonians and the Corinthians.

When we last saw the Jews here in chapter twenty-four, the antichrist had set himself up in their Temple in Jerusalem and demanded to be worshipped.
They were instructed to flee into the wilderness where they would be supernaturally protected by God through the last years of the Great Tribulation.

Mat 24:26    “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it.

The Jews should not fall for these false reports of a ‘secret’ return of Jesus.  His Second Coming will be nothing short of spectacular.

Mat 24:27    For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Lightning is something everyone can see, as it illuminates the dark, stormy sky.  When Jesus returns, it says in the Revelation, “every eye shall see Him” (1:7).

There may be actual lightning, but it doesn’t say there will – only that at the Second Coming the atmosphere will be ablaze with the glory of the Lord.

More than one good commentator has suggested that this blaze of light is none other than the Shechinah glory of God.

Have you heard that term before?  It doesn’t appear in the Bible.  The Jewish rabbi’s coined it in order to distinguish those Bible passages where they believed a physical light was present when the Hebrew word for “glory” was used.

It was the visible manifestation of the presence of God among His people, like the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night that led the Jews in the Exodus; or like Jesus when He was on the Mount of Transfiguration with Moses and Elijah and His disciples saw His glory.

Mat 24:28    For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

Weird statement number one.  “Eagles” is probably better translated “vultures.”  When an animal dies, the vultures gather to pick its bones.  The Great Tribulation will end in carnage with the Battle of Armageddon.  Here it is in the Revelation:

Rev 19:17    Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God,

Rev 19:18    that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.”

The slaughter will be so great that blood will flow up to a horses bridle there in the Valley of Megiddo.

Mat 24:29    “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Obviously, if the sun is “darkened,” the moon will not reflect its light.

The falling “stars” are probably a massive amount of shooting stars; or a meteorite shower; or both.

The “powers of the heavens” refers to planets and stars.  The glory of Jesus in His return is physically announced by all the stellar heavens – it’s just that powerful.

Mat 24:30    Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

The “sign” will be the glory of the Lord filling the heavens against the backdrop of the darkened sun, no moon, falling stars, and the stellar heavens shaking.

How will “all the tribes of the earth” see this?  The simplest answer is that it will occur over a period of time, like a day, and, as the earth rotates, everyone left alive on the earth will experience it.

Mat 24:31    And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

In the parallel passage in the Gospel of Mark, you learn that “the four winds” of the “heavens” is referring to those “elect” on the earth (13:27).  This trumpet gathers the saints who survive the Great Tribulation.

Some people confuse the “trumpet” in this verse with the trumpet that sounds at the resurrection and rapture of the church.

There are lots of trumpets blown in the Bible, and they are all for different purposes.  Context must decide, and the context here is the gathering of Tribulation survivors – not the church.

I’ve read, over the years, in multiple resources, that there are something like eight times as many references to the Second Coming of Jesus than there are to His first coming.

He will be fully revealed in all His heavenly glory – filling the atmosphere with blinding light.

Guess what?  We’re going to be glorious, too, at His appearing.

If you haven’t highlighted it yet, go to Second Thessalonians 1:10 and do so immediately.  Talking about our return with Jesus at His Second Coming, the apostle Paul said,

2Th 1:10    when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.

When we return with Jesus, He will be glorified when people and angels look upon us.  Every one of us will be in the image of The Lord, having a body of glory like His, and every one will have His moral likeness.  Jesus will be admired in all who have believed in Him through the Tribulation, when His features are borne by every one in that great company of His saints.

We read something similar in Romans 8:18, but with an assessment of our time on earth now, awaiting the rapture.

Rom 8:18    For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

The “glory which shall be revealed in us” looks forward to our return with Jesus in our completed, glorified state.

Mean time, none of the “sufferings of this present time” can tarnish what is to come.  William MacDonald, in The Believers Bible Commentary, writes,

The greatest shame we may endure for Christ here on earth will be a mere trifle… Even the excruciating pain of the martyrs will seem like pinpricks when the Savior graces their brows with the crown of life.  Elsewhere Paul speaks of our present sufferings as light afflictions which are only for a moment, but he describes the glory as an exceeding and eternal weight (Second Corinthians 4:17).  If we could only appreciate the glory that is to be ours, we could count the sufferings along the way as trivial.

Your afflictions may not seem light; your sufferings are certainly not trivial.  The Lord saves your tears in His bottle, in Heaven, as He takes note of every one.

Still, it puts pain into perspective, does it not, when you understand that you will be returning with Jesus and people will see His glory revealed in you.

He Who has begun a work in you will be faithful to complete it.

Reveal some of it now, as you go about your life being filled with the Holy Spirit, to serve God – pain or no pain.  You’ve already been changed; go around bringing change to others.

#2    When You Return With Jesus At His Second Coming
    There Will Be Shouts And Sighs Upon The Earth
    (v32-51)

In verse thirty it said many will “mourn” at the Second Coming.  All Israel will be saved, and there will be Gentiles who turn to the Lord and survive the trouble and terror of those preceding years.  But the vast majority of people left alive on planet earth will be nonbelievers at His return, and they will “mourn” when they realize they will be lost forever.

Mat 24:32    “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.

Mat 24:33    So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near – at the doors!

Is Israel the fig tree?  Let’s read the parallel verse, in the Gospel of Luke.

Luk 21:29    Then He spoke to them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees.”

Israel is sometimes associated with the fig tree; but here, it would seem that Jesus was simply using the budding of all trees as an illustration.

Their budding is a sign of what inevitably comes next, and, in the same way, the events Jesus has been describing in Matthew twenty-four are a sign of what inevitably must come next.

If you are on the earth when the events of this chapter start going down, then you can be sure you are in the seven year Tribulation, and it is going to run its course exactly as Jesus and the prophets predicted, uninterrupted.

Mat 24:34    Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.

Because some prophecy teachers insisted that Israel is the fig tree, they erroneously predicted that the Lord must come back a generation after Israel “budded,” or became a modern nation, in 1948.

Since a biblical generation, they said, is forty years… Well, you do the math.  Jesus ‘should’ have come back before 1988.

Didn’t happen – but that’s not a surprise, because that’s not what Jesus was teaching.

He simply meant that the generation that experiences the Tribulation will be the one to witness His Second Coming.

Mat 24:35    Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

People tend to think Bible prophecy is a “maybe,” not a certainty.  They think if we can just get it together, and “give peace a chance,” the Tribulation need not occur.

International Peace Day is September 21.  The John Lennon song, Imagine, has been offered to the United Nations as its theme.  Commenting on it, Yoko Ono said the song explains what should be done to bring world peace.

You know the lyrics; “Imagine there’s no Heaven…”

If we could only get it together… We could save ourselves.  Not!

The things Jesus said were going to happen will happen just as He said they would.  Once the Tribulation starts, it will follow its seven-year course without interruption.

Mat 24:36    “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.

Jesus is the God-man, fully God, and fully human, in a way we cannot comprehend.  As to His humanity, He was completely submitted to His Father in Heaven, and could honestly say He did not know the exact hour of the exact day of His Second Coming.

Ah, but can’t it be calculated?  Isn’t it exactly three and one-half years after the antichrist reveals himself?

Yes, it is; but consider two things:

I remember a great line in an Arnold movie.  He was called upon to fight the devil and stop the end of days.  The devil was supposed to be returning to rule the world.  Arnold’s character says, “So the prince of darkness wants to conquer the earth.  He has one hour to do it before midnight.  Is this Eastern time?”  Even if folks who survive the Great Tribulation wanted to, it would be hard to know with certainty the exact moment of the Second Coming.
Secondly, if you read the Revelation, you see there are unprecedented events in the stellar heavens throughout the Tribulation that might make it impossible to calculate time with any accuracy by its end.  If ever there was a time when you might lose track of time, it’s then.

The Lord compared His return to the flood during the days of Noah:

Mat 24:37    But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Mat 24:38    For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,

Mat 24:39    and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Noah had announced judgment upon the earth, and impending doom.  When the ark was finished and Noah and his family and the animals were in it, the people on the earth could anticipate that the flood would occur any day after the door was closed.

But they could not know the exact day or hour.

Mat 24:40    Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.

Mat 24:41    Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.

This is not the rapture.  Think flood thoughts.  When the flood came, it “took away” nonbelievers to their eternal judgment.  It “left” behind the believers – righteous Noah and his family – to repopulate the earth.

At the Second Coming, nonbelievers will be taken away to await eternal damnation, and the believers who’ve survived the Great Tribulation will be left behind on earth to repopulate the Kingdom of Heaven Jesus will establish.

This is a situation in which people will want to be left behind!

Mat 24:42    Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.

Mat 24:43    But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.

Mat 24:44    Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

In Bambi there is a scene in which three quail are hidden in the thick underbrush from the evil hunters.  One of them is overcome by fear and tries to fly away.

Blam! goes the shotgun and it falls dead to the ground.

(I think it was filmed here in the Valley!).

Remember, this section opened with Jesus warning the Jews to not be lured out of the place of His divine protection.  Wait it out; watch for the glory of His return.  Otherwise, Blam! the devil is gunning for them.

One thing Jesus hasn’t referred to yet is His judgment when He returns with regard to giving out rewards for faithful service to Him during the Great Tribulation.  He compares the Jews primarily, but all people, living during the Tribulation, to stewards who can be either faithful or evil.

Mat 24:45    “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?

Mat 24:46    Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.

Mat 24:47    Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.

Mat 24:48    But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’

Mat 24:49    and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards,

Mat 24:50    the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of,

Mat 24:51    and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Don’t get lost in the details.  The single, simple point Jesus made was that you should remain faithful to Him despite the awful tribulation of those years, and the very real likelihood of martyrdom.

He will reward faithfulness with positions of authority in the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth.

Those found “evil, i.e., unfaithful – nonbelievers – will, as we’ve seen previously, be taken away to await eternal damnation.

There will be both shouts of joy, and sighs of horror, from the inhabitants of the earth at the Second Coming of Jesus.

If you’re not a believer, what is it, really, that is keeping you from receiving the forgiveness of your sins, and eternal life?
What or who could be so important to you that you risk being left behind if the rapture happened right now, and odds are end up being taken in judgment at the end of the Tribulation?

Jot it down as we, in a moment, give you time to think about it.  Look at what you’ve written down.  Is it worth it to risk an eternity separated from God?

Believer, you will reveal the glory of Jesus Christ at His coming.  People and angels will marvel at the work Jesus Christ has completed in you.  It will be the greatest ‘before-and-after’ comparison of all time.

Take this time we have reserved to revel in His love.

Lookin’ For The Lord In All The Wrong Places (Matthew 24v15-25)

See if you recognize this movie dialog:

“Abominable!  Can you believe that?  Do I look abominable to you?  Why can’t they call me the Adorable Snowman or… or the Agreeable Snowman, for crying out loud?  I’m a nice guy.”

It’s the Abominable Snowman, banished to the Himalayas in Monsters Inc., complaining to Mike and Sully.

I don’t know about you, but “abominable” isn’t a word I much use; and, when I hear it, I always associate it with the legendary Yeti.

Our text speaks, not of “abominable,” but of an abomination:

Mat 24:15    “Therefore when you see the ‘ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),

Not a phrase we use everyday, either.  Neither did the followers of Jesus use it every day – but they all knew immediately what He meant from their history and their reading of the Book of Daniel.

We’re going to see exactly what is “the abomination of desolation,” and show how it is the pivotal statement in this chapter for understanding everything else The Lord says.

Additionally, as interested as we may be in end times prophecy for its own sake, we also want to find insight for living our own lives, right now.

I’ll organize my thoughts around two points: #1 Look Closely At What The Lord Is Showing You, and #2 Listen Carefully To What The Lord Is Saying To You.

#1    Look Closely At What The Lord Is Showing You
    (v15)

Let’s get right into “the abomination of desolation.”

This term is found three times in the book of Daniel (9:27; 11:31; 12:11).

Its definition is found in Daniel 11:31 in the prophecy written by Daniel concerning a Syrian ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes, who reigned over Syria from 175-164BC, about four hundred years after Daniel wrote.

In his prophecy, Daniel predicted, “And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation.” (11:31).

This was fulfilled in history, so there’s no doubt as to what Daniel meant.  Antiochus Epiphanes was a great persecutor of the people of Israel, as recorded in the apocryphal books of First and Second Maccabees.  In attempting to stamp out the Jewish religion, he murdered thousands of Jews, including women and children, and desecrated the Temple of Israel, which precipitated the Maccabean revolt.

Antiochus, in attempting to stop the Temple sacrifices, offered a sow, an unclean animal, on the altar, to render the Jewish Temple abominable to the Jews.  According to First Maccabees 1:54, “Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred forty-fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege on the altar of burnt offering.”  A statue of a Greek god was installed in the Temple.  For a time, the sacrifices of the Jews were stopped, and the Temple was left desolate.

Jesus predicted that the action of Antiochus in stopping the sacrifices, desecrating the Temple, and setting up an idol in the Temple, is going to be repeated in the future.

This future abomination is described in Daniel 9:27: “Then he shall confirm a covenant with many [Israel] for one week [literally, one “seven,’ meaning for seven years]; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.  And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”

The prediction is that a future leader will do just what Antiochus did in the second century BC.  This future leader is the antichrist.

Further light is cast on this in Daniel 12:11, where it states, “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days,” or approximately three-and-a-half- years preceding the second coming of Christ.

The New Testament, in Second Thessalonians 2:4, describes the same period, with the leader setting himself up as God in the Temple.
Revelation 13:14-15 also records that an image of the leader will be set up in the Temple.

It may seem clear to you that these events Jesus was referring to are all in the future.  However, in the past decade or so there has been a resurgence among Christians in the popularity of what is called preterism.

The term preterism comes from the Latin praeter, which is a prefix denoting that something is “past” or “beyond.”

The preterist view of the end times is based on a symbolic view of the Book of Revelation that holds most of its prophecies have already been fulfilled, with the exception of the Second Coming of Jesus and the resurrection of the dead to either everlasting life or everlasting damnation.

Of particular importance to preterists is the argument that the end time prophecies of Revelation were fulfilled in 70AD when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans.  That, they say, was “the abomination of desolation.”

Preterists you may recognize and read include R.C. Sproul and Hank Hannegraaf.

You will see throughout Jesus’ discussion of end times events that He was looking past the destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem in 70AD to a literal Great Tribulation.

Look closely at these events.  None of the things He spoke of in Matthew twenty-four happened in 70AD, starting with the fact that no image was set up by a leader desecrating the Temple.

Speaking to the generation that would be alive at the time, Jesus said they would be able to “see” this event and recognize it because it was described in detail in the Bible.

If we don’t “see” it in history, then it hasn’t happened, and is future.

Before we move on, to talk about what the folks in the Great Tribulation will see and recognize, let’s talk about us.

What do we see?

Well, on a prophetic level, we see quite a bit.  We see Israel, a nation again in her promised land, and that is a direct, literal fulfillment of many centuries old Bible prophecies.

We see a lot of other things, which we bring to your attention weekly in our It Might Be Today prophecy updates.

Here is something to bear in mind.  In light of what we see, the apostle Peter asks us, “What manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God…? (Second Peter 3:11-12).

We should be pursuing God above all else so our lives can be used by God to make a difference with the Gospel.

Every now and again there’s a story about something tragic happening to someone while bystanders, well, stand by and do nothing.

We know too much about what is happening in the world, and what is going to happen, to be spiritual bystanders.

Peter said we were to be “looking for the day of God.”  The Lord wants us to see His coming for us, by faith, and live our lives accordingly.

What are you enduring today?  What light affliction is assailing you; or what trial or trouble?  The Lord is coming to take you home.  Your departure is booked; your destination is being prepared.  You’re almost there, so don’t grow weary in well-doing.

Finish well.

#2    Listen Carefully To What The Lord Is Saying To You
    (v16-25)

The “abomination” Jesus predicted has not yet occurred.  It’s coming, in the future, in the middle of a week of years (according to Daniel).

A week of years is seven years.  Three and one-half years is the mid-point.

Jesus was talking about the seven year Tribulation.  In verses four through fourteen He described general characteristics of the time after His ascension into Heaven that go right into the first half of the Tribulation.  At the mid-point, three and one-half years into it, the man we know as the antichrist will do what Antiochus did centuries ago, and more.

When that happens, if you are a Jew living in Israel, what follows is your survival strategy.

Mat 24:16    “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Mat 24:17    Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.

Mat 24:18    And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.

Mat 24:19    But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!

Mat 24:20    And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.

First, please notice that Jesus was warning Jews in Jerusalem.  This is a specific command to a specific group of people about a specific future event.
The mention of being on the housetop or field suggests urgency.  Just run for it with whatever clothes you have.

Women who are pregnant, or with infants, are going to want to grab provisions.  Don’t.  Just run.

Winter and the Sabbath highlight potential difficulties to those refugees fleeing.  Regarding the Sabbath, Jews are forbidden, by their traditions, to travel very far.  Even today, in Israel, some ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods are barricaded on the Sabbath to prevent driving.  In Jerusalem and some other Israeli cities with large Orthodox populations, public buses do not operate on the Sabbath.

It creates a dilemma, but they should do what the Lord says.

Why must Jews flee immediately?  For one thing, the moment the Temple is desecrated, the antichrist will go from protecting Jews to persecuting them.

But another reason they must flee immediately is because God has promised to supernaturally protect them during their flight, and to provide for them in the wilderness for the next three and one-half years.  It’s not going too far to suggest that God’s protection will only extend to those who go immediately.  Those who tarry will find themselves caught.

In Micah 2:12 God said, “I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together like sheep of the fold, Like a flock in the midst of their pasture; They shall make a loud noise because of so many people.”

Here is a more complete description of the Lord’s protection – the same event as presented in Revelation 12:12-14, but from the perspective of Heaven, showing us that the devil is behind the antichrist.

Rev 12:12    Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

Rev 12:13    Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child [Israel, through whom was born Jesus]

Rev 12:14    But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time [three and one-half years], from the presence of the serpent.

The Bible further indicates that it is to Bozrah that the Jews will flee to be protected (Jeremiah 49; Isaiah 63).  Bozrah is a region in southwest Jordan where the ancient fortress of Petra is located.

If you read about Petra, you’ll see it is easy to defend, because it is only accessible through what is called the Siq, a very narrow opening in the natural rock.

Of course, Satan is not thwarted by a narrow doorway.  God will supernaturally protect His people in the wilderness.

By the way, regarding preterism, in 70AD there was no flight by the Jews into the wilderness where they would be nurtured by The Lord for three and one-half years.  This is all future prophecy.

Mat 24:21    For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

If the Jews in Jerusalem do not immediately escape, they will be caught instead in a time of horrible, unprecedented tribulation upon the earth.

J. Dwight Pentecost provides the following description of the use of the word “tribulation” in the Bible:

The term tribulation is used in several different ways… It is used in a non-technical… sense in reference to any time of suffering or testing into which one goes.  It is [also] used in its technical… sense in reference to the whole period of the seven years of tribulation, as in Revelation 22:2 or Matthew 24:29.  It is also used in reference to the last half of the seven year period, as in Matthew 24:21.

The Old Testament predicted a time of tribulation that Israel is destined to endure that will result in national repentance and receiving the Lord as their Messiah at His Second Coming.  Jeremiah 30:7 refers to it as the time of Jacob’s trouble.

It’s probably best to refer to the seven years as the Tribulation, and the last three and one-half years as the Great Tribulation, because that is when it really amps up.

It is the period that is described in chapters six through eighteen of the Revelation.

Listen carefully to what Jesus said.  No time in Jewish history – including the Holocaust – fits the description of the Great Tribulation predicted by Jesus and described by John.  It is future.

The preterist position – it’s just wrong.

Mat 24:22    And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.

Wait – isn’t the Great Tribulation three and one-half years long???

It is.  The word for “shortened” means cut off.  It’s use here means that the Great Tribulation will go exactly as long as God has indicated, not one day more, then be cut off.  If it could go beyond the borders God has set for it, all humanity would be destroyed.

Maybe a better word would be “limited.”  Those days will be limited to the three and one-half years that God has prescribed for them.

In the Revelation, Jesus sequentially opens seven seals on a scroll.  The seventh seal starts a series of seven trumpets being blown.  The seventh trumpet starts the pouring out upon the earth of seven bowls.

The fourth seal (6:7-8), predicts a fourth part of the earth perishing.  In Revelation 9:13-21, the sixth trumpet refers to a third part of the world’s population being killed.  These are only part of the great catastrophes which fall one after another upon the world and which will climax in a great world war (16:12-16).

The final judgment just before the second coming, described as the seventh bowl of the wrath of God, consists in a great earthquake, which destroys cities of the world, and a hailstorm, with hailstones weighing a talent, or as much as eighty pounds.

Putting all these Scriptures together, it indicates that the Great Tribulation will mark the death of hundreds of millions of people in a comparatively short period of time.

None of that has happened; but it will.

Who are the elect?  Israel is the elect in this passage.  They are God’s elect nation.  Israel, as a nation, is corporately elect.

Notice they are not saved, not born-again, at the time of their flight into the wilderness.  Corporate election does not guarantee their salvation.  Individual Jews still need to be saved by grace through faith in Jesus.

But when the Lord returns, all Israel will be saved.

Zec 12:8    In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the LORD before them.

Zec 12:9    It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Zec 12:10    “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.

The apostle Paul said as much, too; “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26).

Mat 24:23    “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it.

Mat 24:24    For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

Mat 24:25    See, I have told you beforehand.

In the Revelation, we’re told that the image of the antichrist set up in the Temple comes to life.  “The image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed” (13:15).

There will be other deceiving miracles, signs and wonders; but the Lord has told the Jews beforehand to not be drawn out of their fortress.

The antichrist and the devil will try unsuccessfully to lure the elect Jews out from their fortress in order to destroy them.

Sadly, many people all over the world will be deceived, and be lost for eternity:

2Th 2:9    The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,

2Th 2:10    and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

2Th 2:11    And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,

2Th 2:12    that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Need I mention, there is no record of false christs or false prophets or signs or wonders in 70AD?  You just cannot in any way say that these things have already been fulfilled.

There is scholarly debate on whether or not Satan can do a genuine miracle, even with God’s permission.  There are good men on both sides.

Whether they are genuine but-meant-for-evil miracles, or they are Houdini tricks, people will be led astray.

It will be important for the Jews who see the abomination of desolation to listen carefully to what Jesus said, and to follow His instruction to the letter.

It’s no less important for us, today, to listen and obey.  The Lord tells us much, in His Word, about how to live.  All of it comes from the heart of a Father wanting what is best for His children.

Is there something that God is telling you, but that you are resisting?

Maybe He has asked you to do something; to go somewhere.  It’s time to obey.

Maybe He has been telling you something, but you won’t receive it.  It could be a reproof; but it might be something rewarding that you are having a hard time believing by faith on account of your current circumstances.

In our reflection this morning, look at what The Lord is showing you, and listen to what He is saying.

Informative Jesus And The Temple That’s Doomed (Matthew 24v1-14)

Do you see the glass as half empty, or as half full?

The optimist says the glass is half full, while the pessimist says it’s half empty.

Some other unique approaches:

A person with phobias says “Yuck, someone drank out of it and left germs on the glass.”

A worrier frets that the remaining half will evaporate by next morning.

A philosophy student declares, “What glass?”

Bill Cosby said, ” It depends on whether you’re pouring, or drinking.”

George Carlin had the best answer when he said, “I see a glass twice as big as it needs to be.”

The disciples saw the Temple.  It was a magnificent structure.  Begun by Herod about 20BC, it would not be completed until 64AD.

Jesus’ disciples couldn’t help but think that the Temple was being built and nearing completion just in time for Jesus to set Himself up as King and establish the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth.

To use our glass analogy, they saw the Temple as being more than half full.

Imagine their shock when Jesus said, “Do you not see all these things?  Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

Was Jesus a Temple half-empty pessimist?

He was not a pessimist.  Turns out, He was a realist, because just six years after the Temple was completed, it would be utterly destroyed.

Jesus was more than a realist; He was a prophet who would reveal to His followers – including us – the course of the age from His comments until His Second Coming.

After listening to Jesus, Peter would put things about the Temple into perspective.  In his first letter he  wrote,

1Pe 2:4     [Jesus is] a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious,

1Pe 2:5    you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Jesus wasn’t interested in finishing and occupying the Temple that King Herod had built.  He was going to build and occupy a very different kind of temple on the earth, comprised of living stones – believers in Him, including you (if you are saved).

I’ll organize my thoughts around two points: #1 The Living Stone Exposes The Course Of This Age, and #2 The Living Stones Endure The Course Of This Age.

#1    The Living Stone
    Exposes The Course Of This Age
    (v1-2)

Because Jesus was on the Mount of Olives when He spoke these words, His talk is called the Olivet Discourse.

We see His words as being a literal prediction of the course of future history, from the time He spoke right through to the end of the age at His Second Coming to the earth.  Most of what Jesus said remains to be fulfilled in the future.

Mat 24:1    Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.

It’s not going too far to speculate that these guys were excited, thinking that Jesus would rule the Kingdom on earth from this magnificent structure.

They were constantly thinking about the Kingdom, and wondering who among them would have the best positions.  Even after Jesus rose from the dead, on His way to ascend into Heaven, they were still thinking the Kingdom was about to be established.

Mat 24:2    And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

For Jews, the Temple was everything.  One commentator wrote,

The Temple was the sacred heart of Jewish life and faith.  It was… the only place were one could truly experience God.  It’s stones, walls, courts and furniture where themselves sacred.  The Temple guided their way of life; it was at the center of the cycle of feasts, fasts and sacrifices.  To pronounce it’s destruction meant to pronounce the end of a way of life.

This statement by Jesus would put them in a state of shock.  I was trying to think of something that would be the symbolic equivalent for us, not as Christians, but as Americans.  It would have to be the destruction of the White House.

Remember the film, Independence Day?  It got blown to smithereens.  According to reports, test audiences were so unsettled by early footage of the White House being turned to dust by an alien laser that director Roland Emmerich added the scene in which a helicopter carrying the first lady and a handful of other dignitaries narrowly escapes.

Adding to the shock of the disciples was their history.  When their previous temple, Solomon’s Temple, was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, the Jews were sent into exile, in Babylon.

This wasn’t just going to be damage to the building that insurance would cover.  No, this meant suffering on a grand, national, scale.

Jesus’ prediction was remarkable in its specificity.  He said the stones would be “thrown down.”  No natural disaster would destroy the Temple; it would be done by men, throwing down one massive stone at a time.

On the 10th of August, in 70AD – the 9th of Av in Jewish reckoning, the very same calendar day when the King of Babylon burned the Temple in 586BC – General Titus took the city and put it to the torch, burning the Temple.

When the Temple was set on fire the Roman soldiers tore apart the stones to get the melted gold.  Stone after stone was thrown down until none were left standing.

The Kingdom promised to the Jews, announced by John the Baptist, and offered by Jesus, would have been Heaven on earth.  The descriptions of it that can be found throughout the Jewish Scriptures are wonderful:

It will be a time of health and prosperity.

It will be a time of peace and security.

Nature will be restored, and the curse removed, so that streams break out in the desert, and the lion shall lie down with the lamb.

It will be a time of holiness in which righteousness will reign.

All of that was forfeited when the leaders of the Jews rejected Jesus.  He was the Living Stone, Who alone could offer Jews and Gentiles sanctuary.

They preferred to live in their small, legalistic, self-righteous world, oppressed from within and without, rather than receive the forgiveness of their sins offered by Jesus.

Why stay in that state?  Because they refused to repent.

Jesus still offers forgiveness of sins that would bring salvation, eternal life, peace with God, and the empowering of God the Holy Spirit.

And men and women still refuse to repent, preferring their selfishness and sin.  It’s mind-boggling, really.

It’s still coming, the promised earthly Kingdom.  It has to, or God is a liar.  But there is a delay.  Jesus describes the delay as He begins to give us the course of future history in the remaining verses.

#2    The Living Stones
    Endure The Course Of This Age
    (v3-14)

Back to our glass half-full or half-empty analogy, after we read this section, and these two chapters, we’re gonna say that the glass is filling-up with the wrath of God.

Things on earth will get worse and worse, leading up to the Great Tribulation where, especially in the last three and one-half years, it will be positively awful on the earth

Recovering from their initial shock, but still stunned, the disciples ask Jesus to clarify a few things for them.

Mat 24:3    Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

If the Kingdom was going to be delayed, and the Temple was going to be destroyed, what would follow?  That is what Jesus addresses.

There are at least three possible ways to understand verses four through fourteen:

The first is to see verses four through eight as general characteristics of our age, and verses nine through fourteen as particular signs of the end of the age.  H.A. Ironside thought that way.

The second way to understand these verses is to see them describing the first three and one-half years of the Great Tribulation.  William MacDonald, author of the Believer’s Bible Commentary, sees them that way.

The third way to understand these verses is to see all of them as general characteristics of the age in which we live, intensifying as the world moves in to the Great Tribulation. John Walvoord saw them that way.

It makes sense to see the things Jesus describes as characteristics of the age in which we live, right into, and intensifying, in the opening years of the Great Tribulation.

Then, in verse fifteen, He describes the pivotal event of the Tribulation, which takes place exactly half-way into it.

One thing we won’t find in these verses, or in this chapter, is the rapture of the church.  Jesus doesn’t reveal that mystery until the night before His crucifixion when, in the upper room, He tells us, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3).

The resurrection and rapture of the church will occur before the specific end times events mentioned in these verses.  The church will have been taken to the place Jesus has been preparing for us, to be kept out of the Great Tribulation.

Regardless how you time these things, here is what Jesus wanted to get across to His disciples, and to us.  Bible prophecy will be fulfilled to the letter as history unfolds.

You might not think that is saying much, but it is.  For one thing, the general public has the idea that Bible prophecy is like the Mayan calendar.  They think that it predicts apocalyptic events, but that they may or may not occur, depending on what we do about them.

In other words, people think that Bible prophecies are warnings to get it together or we might destroy ourselves, or be destroyed.

That’s the plot of the movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still – not the teaching of the Bible.

For another thing, a lot of Christians don’t think these things are going to occur – not literally, at least.

The most popular belief among the majority of Christians is that the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan.  They see no prophetic significance in the rebirth of Israel as a nation.  As to the Kingdom, they think we are in it now, spiritually speaking, or that we must work to establish it, so that The Lord can return to a world-wide utopia.

So, yes, this short section is crucial, and it’s imperative we understand that The Lord was saying, “Things are going to literally unfold just as prophesied, no matter what you see happening that might seem contrary and tend to confuse you.”

Mat 24:4    And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.

Deceives us about what?  Well, as I just indicated, about the end times timeline.  In other words, things will get worse-and-worse; there is going to be a seven-year Great Tribulation; Jesus will return in His Second Coming; He will establish a one-thousand year Kingdom of Heaven on the earth; and He will create a new earth and new heavens for us to enjoy for eternity.

None of the following nine things Jesus mentions ought to fool you into thinking the end will be different from the one you read about in God’s Word.

Mat 24:5    For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.

There have been counterfeit Christ’s, false Messiah’s, and cults galore, seeking to deceive believers.

A few of you sent me an article titled, Could Scientology be the thing that turns Flint, Michigan, around?  Flint’s city council is seriously considering embracing L. Ron Hubbard’s, “The Way to Happiness” program.

Jim Jones… David Koresh… Charles Manson, for that matter.  No one should be deceived into thinking they were some sort of messiah.

Jesus – the same Jesus Who rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven – is coming back, in that same body.  Nothing can change that fact.

Mat 24:6    And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

Mat 24:7    For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…

No matter how many wars threaten us, nuclear or biological or World War Z, humanity will continue through the Great Tribulation and to a war at the end of those seven years, the Battle of Armageddon.  Jesus will return, and He will destroy His enemies.

Mat 24:7    … And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.

When the missionaries from Samaritan’s Purse contracted ebola, it sent a panic through people around the world.  Could this be the end?
How many recent movies have there been about pandemics that threaten to, or actually, wipe-out the human race?

Not gonna happen; not on a universal scale, anyway.  The human race will continue, and thrive, on into the Great Tribulation.

Mat 24:8    All these are the beginning of sorrows.

The Amplified Version says these are “the early pains” of “the intolerable anguish.”  This whole section wants to remind us that no matter how bad things seem, or actually get, things will end exactly the way God said they would – after the time of “intolerable anguish,” the Great Tribulation.

Mat 24:9    “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.

Mat 24:10    And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.

Ten of Jesus’ faithful followers on that mountain would be cruelly martyred.  John may have been martyred, or he may have died of natural causes; we’re not sure.

There have been Christian martyrs throughout the centuries.  The twentieth century, by some estimates, may have been the greatest era for killing Christians in all of history.   In one ten year period, it was estimated that 500,000 Christians were killed in North Africa.

But it isn’t the end; the Tribulation is coming, and it will make all the previous centuries of martyrdom seem peaceful by comparison.

Mat 24:11    Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

Mormonism is the fastest growing faith group in American history according to U.S. News & World Report, which reports that if present trends continue there could be 265 million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints worldwide by 2080.

But, wait: Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world.  We read everyday about some city in Europe that is now predominately Muslim.

Still, the end will come, just as Jesus predicted it will, and just as we read in the Revelation.

Mat 24:12    And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

What kind of “lawlessness” was Jesus talking about?  Maybe it is the general decay of society.  For sure, we see more-and-more senseless violence and the almost wanton disregard for life.

I think Jesus had a different kind of lawlessness in mind, the kind that leads to “the love of many” believers growing cold.

He was talking about Christians leaving their first love on account of lawlessness – meaning, they no longer look to the Bible in order to rule their lives.  They sin openly, declaring God nevertheless loves them just as they are.

While many will fall away from the faith… God’s plan for the church cannot fail, and the church – the bride of Christ – will return with Him in His Second Coming, just as anticipated by Jesus and as predicted by John in the Revelation.

Bible prophecy isn’t what might happen, or what could happen.  It is what will happen.

It’s why those who took the Bible literally were predicting, for example, that Israel would be a nation again in her ancient homeland way before it happened.  They were ridiculed and criticized.  Then, guess what?  On May 14, 1948, God fulfilled His prophecies to regather the Jews.

Sadly, those who had allegorized or spiritualized those prophecies still will not admit that end times prophecies should be taken literally.  It makes no sense – except that they’d have to rethink their entire theology, since it was wrong.

Mat 24:13    But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

“Endure” means to remain under, or to continue, no matter the distress.  It is stressing that believers persevere, despite these nine factors, and anything else that would seek to undermine our faith in Jesus.

I like what J. Vernon McGee said:

When someone says to me, “So-and-so… has gone into sin.  Is he saved?” I can only reply that I do not know.  We will have to wait to see what happens.  I tell people that the pigs will eventually end up in the pigpen, and the prodigal sons will all find their way back to the Father’s house.  
Peter says, “… the sow that was washed [has returned] to her wallowing in the mire” (2Pe 2:22).

It’s not a time to be messing around with sin; to be wallowing in the mud and mire of this world.

If you’re a prodigal, get back to where you once belonged.  Persevere to the end and finish well.  Think about facing Jesus.

Mat 24:14    And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Here the Gospel is specifically called the “Gospel of the Kingdom.”  I take that to mean that the Second Coming of Jesus to establish the Kingdom  will be preached to the entire world during the Great Tribulation, so that no one on the planet is ignorant of the Lord’s intentions.

There is a present spiritual kingdom.  The King is absent but He does reign in the hearts of those who trust Him.  We are His living stones, His building on the earth.

But the Scriptures also speak of the future Kingdom which will be a kingdom on earth, a political kingdom, a kingdom where Christ will reign.

While we should push forward with the Gospel throughout the world, reaching everyone we can, the Gospel of the Kingdom will be delivered to everyone on the planet during the Great Tribulation, and millions – perhaps billions – will be saved.

There is no requirement in God’s Word that we preach the Gospel to every person on the earth before Jesus can return.  It’s not a cop-out so we can slack-off.  Who would want to slack-off?

It is yet another reminder that God’s program is right on-track and will be right on time.

The glass is filling-up with the wrath of God against sin that will be poured-out upon the earth and its inhabitants during the seven years of the Great Tribulation.

Jesus will return at the end of those years, in His Second Coming, and He will establish the thousand-year Kingdom of Heaven on the earth.

The church will be resurrected and raptured prior to that great and terrible Day.

Let no one deceive you.

If you are not a believer… You are being deceived; you are allowing yourself to ignore the warnings.

God’s grace is working to free your will, so that you can repent, and receive the forgiveness of your sins.

Jesus, the Savior of all men, desires to save you; believe on The Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

God Only Woes What I’d Be Without Him (Matthew 23v1-39)

Arman Molla was diagnosed with bone cancer when he was just 15.

When Make-A-Wish contacted Arman, he asked for something no one had ever wished before.  Arman decided that what he really wanted more than anything wasn’t to parachute out of a plane.  He didn’t want a Disney cruise or to meet his favorite movie star.

He wanted a mentor.  Somebody to take him under his wing and show him how the business world works.

The people at Make-A-Wish were accustomed to making big things happen.  They offered to get Arman a meeting with Warren Buffett or Bill Gates.

Then Arman threw them for another loop.  He said no thanks.  He wanted someone whom he could really get to know.

Touched by the request, one of the board members who works in finance decided to take Arman on personally, and they have developed a close mentoring relationship.

The thing that attracted me to this story was the familiar phrase, “take him under his wing.”  We use it mostly to describe taking an interest in someone to instruct and train them.

It’s borrowed, obviously, from the world of birds, who quite literally take their young under their wings for protection from things like the sun, and the weather, and predators.

It is a favorite illustration, in the Bible, of God’s overall care for His people.  Here are just a few of the many wing references:

Psa 17:8    … Hide me under the shadow of Your wings,

Psa 36:7    How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.

Psa 57:1    Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by.

Psa 61:4    … I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.

Psa 63:7    Because You have been my help, Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.

Psa 91:4    He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge…

Jesus says to the Jews of Jerusalem, “how often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (v37).

One reason the people were “not willing” is given in the verses that precede Jesus’ lament over the people and city He loved.  Their religious leaders, the scribes and Pharisees, discouraged the Jews from following Jesus.

Jesus describes their leadership as blind, burdensome, and hypocritical.  As mentors, they took Jews “under their wings,” so to speak, but once under there, their followers were stifled and smothered rather than nurtured and protected.

Jesus’ disciples were going to go into the world making disciples.  They would be taking people “under their wings.”

What would it be like under their wings?  What should it be like?  That is what we can discover in chapter twenty-three.

I’ll organize my thoughts around two questions: #1 What Is It Like For People Who Are Taken Under Your Wings?, and #2 What Is It Like For People Who Refuse To Be Taken Under Jesus’ Wings?

#1    What Is It Like For People
    Taken Under Your Wings?
    (v1-33)

What the world calls “mentoring,” we call discipling.  Whether we are talking about a formal, structured program, like Operation Timothy; or a casual relationship between a mature believer and a younger one, it’s discipling.

Since the Great Commission, to “go and make disciples,” applies to every Christian, at some point or another someone, or some group of believers, is going to be under your wings.

Make sure your wings are spiritually preened.  And by that, I mean, let’s learn what not to be like from the negative example of the Pharisees.

Mat 23:1    Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples,

Mat 23:2    saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.

Mat 23:3    Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.

Scribes had knowledge of the law and could draft legal documents.  Every village had at least one scribe.  Most scribes were Pharisees, but not all Pharisees were scribes.

It’s good to be reminded that the Pharisees started well.  They were the spiritual guys who wanted to keep separated from the world.  They were religious conservatives, Jewish patriots, and (as we will see) evangelical.  Sounds like us!
Furthermore, they “[sat] in Moses’ seat,” meaning they were the ones who believed in the authority and inerrancy of the Bible.

Sounds more like us!  But there are things about them we do not want to resemble.

Jesus went so far as to tell His disciples “whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do.”  Insofar as they rightly divided the Word of God, you should be ready to submit and obey.

The problem: “they say, and do not do.”  The remaining verses about the Pharisees tell you what Jesus meant.

Mat 23:4    For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

I see this as referring to what we would call legalism.  They held to a strict interpretation of the letter of God’s law, while ignoring the spirit of the law.  Thus they could drag a woman caught in adultery to Jesus, throw her down before Him, and demand she be stoned – all as a test for The Lord, not caring a whit for the woman’s eternal soul.  And all the while themselves filled with secret sins of the heart far more heinous than hers.

There must be compassion under our wings, and an understanding of the spirit of the law as we seek to lift folks up, not keep them down.

Mat 23:5    But all their works they do to be seen by men…

Jesus knew their motives, and it was to be seen by men, to receive the praise of men, to be thought great by men.
We should not judge motives, but we can look at behavior to see if a person is calling attention to himself or herself rather than to Jesus.

Mat 23:5  … They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.

In Deuteronomy 6:8, describing the words of God, the Jews were told “you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.”

What do you think that means?  It is figurative language.  It means that God’s Word should direct your actions, and it should filter everything you take in.

The Pharisees took it literally and wore leather prayer boxes, with Scripture verses in them, tied on their foreheads and forearms.  These were called phylacteries.

The Pharisees had phylacteries made that got bigger and bigger over time, as an outward show of their righteousness.

As far as the “borders of their garments,” they were to be sewn on simply to set them apart from nonbelievers.  The Pharisees tried to outdo one another as to the length of their borders – again, attracting attention to themselves.

Mat 23:6    They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,

Mat 23:7    greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’

Mat 23:8    But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.

Mat 23:9    Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.

Mat 23:10    And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.

Later in the New Testament, we see certain gifts and gifted men in the church who have titles like pastor, or elder, or teacher.  There’s nothing wrong with that as a designation.

The problem is when men seek titles, and authority, that God has not given them, and then demand to be followed.

Under our wings, folks should know that the singular authority in their lives is Jesus.  To the extent He delegates authority to gifted men, and they are godly and follow the Scriptures, they are to be respected.  But we are never to lord over others.  We are to point them away from us and to Jesus Christ.

Here is how we do just that:

Mat 23:11    But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.

Mat 23:12    And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

A servant must, at some point, serve.  I’ve known a lot of guys and gals over the years who, because they think they are gifted leaders and teachers, will only ‘serve’ if they can lead and teach.

Hand them a broom, or a toilet plunger, and they set it down, or go looking for someone less gifted who can accomplish such a menial task.

You find true spiritual greatness when you find a servant who is content to point you to Jesus.

Jesus next launched into a series of eight “Woes!”  The Lord was expressing sorrow for them, and for what they were doing to drive men away from God.

Mat 23:13    “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

John the Baptist had called for repentance, announcing that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand.  He pointed to Jesus as the rightful King.

Jesus went about, for three and one-half years, offering to establish the Kingdom on the earth.

The Pharisees refused to repent; they rejected Jesus; and they did everything in their power to actively discourage the Jews from following The Lord.

Do we ever “shut up the kingdom of Heaven against men?”  I think we can if we start to add things to the salvation formula of ‘by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ.’  When we demand folks keep the Sabbath, or be baptized, or speak in tongues, in order to be saved, we shut up the Kingdom to them.

Some of you have been under wings like those and you can testify how stifling it was.

Mat 23:14    Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

The Pharisees depended on their disciples to support their ministries.  This verse describes them as seeming to be pious while, in fact, they were taking advantage of widows by coercing them into giving them money.

Let us be extra cautious, therefore, to never coerce those under our wings into supporting the work of God.

Mat 23:15    “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

A proselyte was either a Gentile who totally converted to Judaism, or a resident alien who agreed to follow the seven laws of Noah.

Apparently the Pharisees were zealous in promoting their brand of self-righteousness.  Today we’d compare the Mormon’s or the JW’s who go door-to-door to win converts, making them “twice as much [sons] of Hell,” in that they are promoting a false salvation whose final destination is Hell.

Mat 23:16    “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’

Mat 23:17    Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?

Mat 23:18    And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’

Mat 23:19    Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?

Mat 23:20    Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.

Mat 23:21    He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.

Mat 23:22    And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

The Pharisees would swear oaths in order to make them seem spiritual.  They made fine lines of distinction that could invalidate their oaths.

In other words, they kept their fingers crossed, and hidden behind their backs.

We ought to be honest and open with those under our wings, with no need for oaths, and certainly without being deceptive in any way.

Mat 23:23    “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

Tithing was a huge deal to these guys.  They made you weigh out herbs from your herb garden, and give God 10% of “mint and anise and cummin.”

While God required the tithe, it was no substitute for the spirit of the law – things like “justice and mercy and faith.”

Do you give to the work of God?  You should.  How much, that’s up to you, but 10% is a good place to start.

If you give, or if you ‘give’ of your time serving, it’s no substitute for “the weightier matters of the law.”  You need to be listening to God, and be ready to show His character all the time.

In other words, under your wings you must demonstrate that you, and everything you have, are God’s, 100% of the time, to use as He directs you.

Mat 23:24    Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

They literally strained their drinks, so as to not swallow an insect that would be considered unclean by the law.  But by neglecting the spirit of the law, they were, figuratively, swallowing the largest unclean beast in the land.

Under our wings, people should see the big picture.  For example, as long as there is a world to reach for Jesus, we should have no time, or energy, for petty issues.  Yet so much of our time is dedicated to whether or not someone from church waved to us.

Mat 23:25    “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.

Mat 23:26    Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

This isn’t talking about washing your dishes; it’s referring to specific rituals you were required to perform before you could eat or drink – rituals not prescribed at all in God’s law, but added by the Pharisees, so that they would appear more spiritual.

The rituals that God did prescribe were intended only to remind us of the need for inner cleansing, or what we might call the pursuit of holiness.

I can appear to be spiritual, while hiding gross sin.  My serving The Lord doesn’t cleanse me.  For that I need to repent and thank Jesus for shedding His blood that makes me white as snow.

Under our wings, a lot of repenting ought to be going on.

Mat 23:27    “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.

Mat 23:28    Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Under the law you were considered ceremonially unclean if you inadvertently touched a tomb.  Tombs were regularly whitewashed to mark them so you might avoid them.

If a Pharisee was a whitewashed tomb, then you should avoid contact with them, and avoid being influenced by them.

“Lawlessness” is better translated uncleanness, referring to moral and/or physical impurity.  I’d apply it to believers who have taken their liberties in Christ too far in that they want to flaunt them.

Under wings like that lurks danger for believers who can be led into sin, stumbled into partaking of things that are not right for them.

Mat 23:29    “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,

Mat 23:30    and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

Mat 23:31    “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

Mat 23:32    Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt.

Mat 23:33    Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

No way would they have killed the prophets – or so they thought.  While they were thinking that, they were planning to kill the Prophet promised by Moses – their Messiah, Jesus the Christ.

Under your wings – is Jesus your all-in-all?  Is He everything to you?  Is He the answer you seek, and the answer you give when asked the most important questions in life?

Under your wings should not be a place for worldly wisdom, for the philosophies of men.  It should be the place where the Gospel is the power of God to salvation, and where God the Holy Spirit is depended upon to transform lives.

Maybe this will help.  Whatever you find under God’s wings – others ought to be able to find who come under your wings.

#2    What Is It Like For People
    Who Refuse To Be Taken Under Jesus’ Wings?
    (v34-39)

The Pharisees did everything they could to keep Jews from following Jesus.  The result of the official rejection of Jesus as King by Israel would result in their destruction and dispersion throughout the world, for a time of national discipline.

Here is how Jesus depicted it:

Mat 23:34    Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,

Mat 23:35    that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

Jesus not only foresaw His own death; He plainly told the Pharisees that they would murder some of the messengers whom He would send immediately after Him.  Some who escaped martyrdom would be scourged in the synagogues and persecuted from city to city.  This is exactly what you see in the Book of Acts.

By seeing to it Jesus was killed, and by killing those who came after Him, they would show that they were exactly like their forefathers, if not worse.

Mat 23:36    Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

We have the benefit of history, and know that around 70AD, Titus and the Roman legions sieged, then destroyed, Jerusalem and the Temple.

Mat 23:37    “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

Mat 23:38    See! Your house is left to you desolate;

In spite of all the rebellion of Israel, all the blood they shed by killing God’s servants, The Lord desired to shelter, to protect, to instruct, to save them, by taking them under the strong shelter of His wings.

Instead, the Roman eagle would swoop down upon them, unprotected and vulnerable, to leave their “house,” the Temple, “desolate.”

Note, in passing, Jesus has twice mentioned “Hell.”  Both times He meant the place of eternal, conscious torment.  Refuse to be taken under His wings, and Hell is your destiny.

Allow me to spend a moment on The Lord’s analysis that He was willing to save them, but they were unwilling to be saved.

Jesus thought grace was resistible.  God is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance and faith.  His grace in salvation works upon your heart, to free your will to be able to receive or reject eternal life.

If you are not a believer, God’s grace is freeing your will, right now, to decide whether to receive Him, or to go on rejecting Him.

His desire is to take you under the shelter of His wings; and, believe me, that’s the place you want to be in these last days.

Mat 23:39    for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘BLESSED is HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ ”

As a point of fact, after Jesus rose from the dead, He was seen only by believers.  No nonbelieving Jew or Gentile laid eyes on Him.

Big, BIG, promise here: Jesus will return to the nation of Israel, and the Jews who are alive when He does will receive Him, and He will establish the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth.

I’d like to again address any nonbeliever.  Think hard about this illustration.  You spend your lifetime desiring a relationship in which you are loved, cherished, and protected.  One in which you can grow and realize your potential.  Where you can be you, and become the ‘you’ that you want to be.

You won’t find wings like that except in a relationship with Jesus.  Come to Him as He is calling out to you.

For us believers… Like it or not, people will come under your wings, as you go, making disciples.

What’s it like under there – really?

Frequently Masked Questions (Matthew 22v15-46)

We’ve learned to GOOGLE-it when we have questions.

What are we asking?  The top five questions asked on GOOGLE in 2013 were:

#5 What is Gluten?  Gluten is a protein found in all wheat.  Some people are allergic to it, but it became trendy to remove it from your diet even if you are not allergic to it.

#4 What is Molly?  It’s a designer drug, a form of ecstasy.

#3 What is DOMA?  It’s the Defense of Marriage Act.

#2 What is Ricin?  Back in April 2013, a Mississippi man was arrested for allegedly sending letters laced with ricin – a toxic substance extracted from castor beans – to President Obama and Senator Roger Wicker.

#1 What is Twerking?  Thanks to Miley Cyrus’ performance on the Video Music Awards, everyone found out it is a type of suggestive dancing.

Here’s another way of breaking down the data.  A research firm ran hundreds of search questions through Google Trends to determine which words, terms, and questions each state in the United States was searching for more than any other.  The results ranged from mildly amusing to completely disturbing.

For example:

ALABAMA:  searched for FOX News, God, Impeach Obama, Jesus, Jessica Simpson, Obama Is The Antichrist, Polka, and Satan.  Their analysis: It’s a fire and brimstone kind of state, but with a soft spot for pretty blondes.

IDAHO:  searched for Bigfoot, Caramel Corn, Potato, and Unicorns.  Their analysis:  It’s a great state for imaginary creatures hungering for carbs.

MONTANA:  searched for Bill O’Reilly, Gun Rights, National Rifle Association, and Meth.  Their analysis:  So that’s how they use the internet in Montana.

CALIFORNIA: searched for Alcoholics Anonymous, Dandruff Cure, Food Poisoning, Google Glass, Kim Kardashian, Meat is Murder, Paris Hilton, Pokemon, Rogaine, and What does Siri look like?  Their analysis: Somebody needs to go and check on California.

In our text, three different groups opposed to Jesus come and each ask Him their #1 question.  He answers them, then asks a question of His own.

The questions asked of Jesus reveal something about the priorities of those asking.

The question asked by Jesus reveals something about His superiority.

I’ll therefore organize my thoughts around two points: #1 What Do Your Questions For Jesus Say About Your Priorities?, and #2 What Does Jesus’ Question For You Say About His Superiority?

#1    What Do Your Questions For Jesus
    Say About Your Priorities?
    (v15-40)

On Tuesday of Passover week our Lord’s enemies tried to trap Him by using a series of “loaded” questions.  They were bent on destroying Jesus, and they hoped to trap Him into saying something that would permit them to arrest Him.

Something else we should note – something important and prophetic.  It was customary for the sacrificial lamb to be examined before Passover (Exodus 12:3-6).  If any blemish whatsoever was found on the lamb, it could not be sacrificed.

Jesus was God’s final Passover Lamb – the One Who would take away the sins of the world.  Jesus was being examined publicly by His enemies, and they could find no fault in Him.

Mat 22:15    Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.
Mat 22:16    And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.
Mat 22:17    Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

The Pharisees were the traditionalists; they were the conservatives.  They despised Roman rule.

Herodians were Jews who supported Rome and the rule of the Herods.

Normally opposed, they joined together to put Jesus on the spot:

If Jesus answered, “No,” He would not only antagonize the Herodians, but would be accused of rebellion against the Roman government.
If He said, “Yes,” He would seem like a traitor to the common people who were His primary supporters.

Mat 22:18    But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?

Mat 22:19    Show Me the tax money.” So they brought Him a denarius.

Mat 22:20    And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?”

Mat 22:21    They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Mat 22:22    When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.

The Jews were a sovereign nation, but for the time being, they were subjected to Roman rule.  As subjected people, they were to be good, even model, citizens.  They were to pay their taxes, pray for those in authority, and obey the laws of Rome that did not violate their conscience toward God.

What is sometimes overlooked in Jesus’ response is His emphasis on rendering to God “the things that are God’s.”  Here is what I mean: It was precisely because they had failed to render honor and obedience to God that He raised-up Rome to discipline His people.

They created this dual citizenship because of their rebellion against God.  The solution was not to rebel against Rome, but, rather, to repent and return to God.

Here is how this applies to us as Christians.  We are always in a position of dual citizenship.  We are citizens of Heaven and of some earthly country.

Whether our earthly country is godly or ungodly, we are to render its authorities our obedience in that God has raised-up the government.  We are to pay our taxes, pray for those in authority, and obey the laws that do not violate our biblical conscience.

We, too, would do well to remember to render to God the things that are God’s.  If we are being oppressed, our first response ought to be repentance and return to God, rather than rebellion.

Mat 22:23    The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him,

The Sadducees were the religious liberals.  They were mostly wealthy, and since they were doing well, in favor of Roman rule.  Theologically, they denied any afterlife.  In fact, they denied the supernatural in general, saying there were no such things as miracles, angels and demons.

Mat 22:24    saying: “Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.

Mat 22:25    Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.

Mat 22:26    Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.

Mat 22:27    Last of all the woman died also.

Mat 22:28    Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her.”

A little background is in order.  According to the Law of Moses, if a husband died childless, it was up to his brother to have children with his widow, so that his line would not cease.

A little deeper background.  There is an apocryphal book, the Book of Tobit, that describes a woman named Sarah who (supposedly) lived through this very situation.

As the story goes, she had lost seven husbands to the demon of lust, Asmodeus, ‘the worst of demons’, who abducted and killed every man she married, on their wedding night before the marriage could be consummated.  God sent the angel Raphael, disguised as a human, to free Sarah from the demon.

The Sadducees were making fun of this book – it’s emphasis on miracles and angels and demons.  Since a woman like Sarah could have multiple husbands in life, didn’t this prove the silliness of thinking there would be an afterlife?  Because, after all, who of the seven would be her husband in Heaven?

Mat 22:29    Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.

Mat 22:30    For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.

First, they didn’t know “the Scriptures.”  What Scriptures?  Well, it would have to be the Hebrew Scriptures regarding marriage and angels.

When God brought the first woman, Eve, to the first man, Adam, it was because he was incomplete, needing a companion to help him; and so they could procreate and fill the earth with their offspring.

In Heaven, we will all be complete and perfect; we will have everyone for companionship; we will have no need of help; and there will be no procreation.  In other words, there will be no “marriage” as it was first established by God.

We could add to that something the Sadducees should have known from reading their Scriptures, and that is that God considered Himself a Husband to Israel.  So there will be “marriage” in that spiritual sense.

As for angels, The Lord spoke of them matter-of-factly as existing.  He did not say humans will become angels; we won’t.  We will be like them.

A quick survey of angels in the Hebrew Scriptures reveals them as corporeal beings with an eternal existence whose number is fixed in that they do not reproduce.

There is that strange episode in Genesis chapter six where the sons of God somehow impregnate human women to produce an offspring of giants.  If those are angels, it’s still clear that they do not, among themselves, reproduce in Heaven.

The Sadducees were the ones being silly, thinking that Heaven is a mere extension of life on the earth.  No, it is life on a plane we cannot begin to fully fathom.

The resurrection isn’t a restoration of things as they were, only better.  It is as different as an oak is from its acorn.

Am I saying we won’t be married in Heaven?  I’m not – Jesus is.  Again, like God and Israel, Jesus and the church are described as Bridegroom and bride.  So, in that sense, we will be “married.”

Relationships and intimacy in Heaven are going to be something spiritual we cannot fully fathom; “What God has planned for people who love Him is more than eyes have seen or ears have heard.  It has never even entered our minds!” (First Corinthians 2:9).

Jesus also said the Sadducees did not know “the power of God.”  He elaborates on that:

Mat 22:31    But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying,

Mat 22:32    ‘I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB’ ? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

Mat 22:33    And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were long dead by the time God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush.  But He spoke of them as being alive.  He said, “I am their God,” not, “I was their God.”

C.S. Lewis said, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another.”  God has put eternity in our hearts.  We know, innately, there is something more, something after life.  It’s Heaven; or it’s Hell.

Mat 22:34    But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.

Mat 22:35    Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,

Mat 22:36    “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

The Pharisees had identified six hundred thirteen commands in God’s Word.  They saw two hundred forty-eight positive laws, and three hundred sixty-five negative laws.  Their careful scrutiny led them into debates about which laws were most important, and which could be overlooked.  This lawyer was interested in Jesus’ position on the greatest commandment.

It’s initially hard to see how this was a loaded question.  Perhaps it was intended to side-track Jesus, or pigeon-hole Him.  Depending on His answer, He’d be agreeing with some rabbi’s, and disagreeing with others.  He’d be just another rabbi in the pack, sharing a personal opinion.

Mat 22:37    Jesus said to him, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’

Mat 22:38    This is the first and great commandment.

Mat 22:39    And the second is like it: ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’

Mat 22:40    On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 4:4-5 and linked it up with Leviticus 19:18.  In doing so He was also giving this Scribe a whole new way of looking at God’s Laws.  Jesus told him to live by relationships, not by rules.

If you love God, you will find yourself keeping His laws.

If you love God, you will find yourself loving others the way God loves them.

I said earlier that these questions revealed the priorities of the questioners:

The Pharisees who first approached Jesus had as their priority rebellion against Rome, while the Herodians who appeared with them had as their priority submission to Rome.  Instead, both ought to have had as their priority submission to God.

The Sadducees had as their priority the material world.  They were wealthy, successful, and powerful, and wanted to shore-up their position on earth and not think about a future judgment before God in Heaven.

The lawyer’s priority was the self-righteousness that he thought could be gained by obeying the most important Law.

One or more of those might be true of you.  If so, change your mind and adopt new, godly, priorities.

What would you say is your priority in life?  Better yet, take a close, analytical look at your life – how and where you spend your time, your talent, your treasure.

What does the evidence say your priorities are?  What do you ‘search’ for the most through your life and its actions and resources?

If it isn’t Jesus, you can clear your search history and start fresh.

#2    What Does Jesus’ Question For You
    Say About His Superiority?
    (v41-46)    

I mentioned a few studies ago that Jesus loved to ask questions.  He asked hundreds of them.  He asks one here, and it’s a doozie – not just for His oppressors, but for us.

Mat 22:41    While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,

Mat 22:42    saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They said to Him, “The Son of David.”

They must have gotten a little excited when Jesus asked this question.  It was Messiah 101; a softball lobbed up to them.  There was no chance of getting this wrong.

Mat 22:43    He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘LORD,’ saying:

Mat 22:44    ‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, TILL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES YOUR FOOTSTOOL” ‘?

Mat 22:45    If David then calls Him ‘LORD,’ how is He his Son?”

David himself said that the Messiah would be his Lord – his adonai, a word which refers to the Messiah, and a Hebrew name for God.

How could David’s God also be David’s son?  He would have to both precede David, and proceed from him.

We understand this to be fulfilled in Jesus because He was God and became a man, born through the lineage of David.

Mat 22:46    And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

No more questions asked; no more questions answered.

Does that mean we cannot question God?

Depends on who you ask.  If you were to ask Job, “Can I question God?”, I think he’d say “No, better not; not a good idea.”  In his suffering, Job had lots of questions and complaints for God.  God answered him by saying,

Job 40:2    “Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.”

Then God asked Job a series of amazing questions that show the greatness of His power and majesty.

Job responds, saying,

Job 42:2    “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.

Job 42:5    “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You.

Job 42:6    Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.”

In the New Testament, Ananias might encourage you to ask God questions.  Confused as to why God was sending him to pray for the healing of Saul of Tarsus, who was coming to kill Ananias and his kind, The Lord answered him gently, assuring him that He had big plans for Saul.

I want to elevate our thinking beyond questions we have for God.  I want us to see the superiority of God so that we don’t need to be distracted by asking Him questions, but can more fully enjoy His presence.

A lot of our questions are really our asking Him to explain Himself.  The real, rubber-meets-the-road questions are about suffering and affliction and loss and the evil that befalls us.

If you’ve seen the recent film, “God’s Not Dead,” you know that a major plot point is this question of why God allows suffering.

We want to know “Why?”  We want an explanation.

Short of an explanation, we want to see the good that will come out of the situation.  It’s almost as if we are letting God know we are willing to endure our pain IF we know some good is going to be done – some new earthly foundation is established to help others, or someone gets saved, or the like.

Well, all things do work together for the good.  God redeems everything.  It’s just that He might not do it in our lifetime, or in a way that we can see for many years – if ever.  God owes us no explanation.

That’s not to say He’s cold or distant.  Quite the opposite.  He is always with us, never leaving us or forsaking us.  When I’m suffering, I have a Savior Who has suffered as well, and more than I ever will or could.

And He did it for me, so I could draw from His strength, rest and revel in His love, look forward to His presence forever and ever in a place free of sin, death, pain and tears.

Jesus reminds us in His question that He is the unique God-man Who came into a war-torn world to defeat the devil, conquer death by His own death, and redeem lost mankind along with the ruined, forfeited creation.

He has answers to our questions, but, more importantly, He is the answer when we are questioning.  It is our relationship with Him, our intimacy with Him, our suffering together with Him, that sustains us.

Since He is the God-man… Since He proved His love for me by dying on the Cross while I was still a sinner, and His enemy… Since my sins are all forgiven and cannot be held against me… Since my name is written in His Book of Life… Since He is building my mansion in Heaven, and has promised to return to bring me safely there… Since He has promised to complete the work He has started in me, and present me faultless to God the Father… Since He has given me the Holy Spirit as a token of our engagement… Since He is my heavenly Bridegroom…

What question do I really have?  Can I not simply rest in His love?

I can; I should; but I don’t – and that’s on me, not on Him.

Just something I’ll throw out there for your consideration.  Some things are beyond our comprehension.  For God to explain them, it would be like a four year old attending a lecture on quantum physics.

Only the four year old would probably better comprehend quantum physics than we can the things that happen to us and around us.

Would you rather have the answers to your questions, or have the Answer, Jesus, as your constant companion?

I think you know the ‘Answer’ to that.

My Big Foretold Jewish Wedding (Matthew 22v1-14)

You’re familiar with wedding crashers, but did you know there are wedding bashers?

Bridal websites and publications are using the term more frequently.  They use it to describe someone who spends the day finding fault with the wedding.

Then there are the weddings that get more seriously bashed.

I read an article describing a wedding reception that turned into a brawl after the best man pushed into the buffet line to help himself to a piece of chicken.

The bride’s sister was left with a broken nose and two black eyes after she was allegedly punched unconscious by her uncle.

Bashers and crashers figure prominently in the Parable of the Wedding Feast Jesus told.  It goes without saying that you don’t want to be identified with either of them.

I’ll organize my thoughts around two points: #1 You Should Have No Resemblance To A Wedding Basher, and #2 You Should Have No Reason To Be A Wedding Crasher.

#1    You Should Have No Resemblance
    To A Wedding Basher
    (v1-7)

We are living at a time when anti-Jewish sentiment is high and growing.  An August 6 web article stated the following:

A heavily Jewish section of Paris was looted and attacked as crowds shouted “Gas the Jews.”  Multiple synagogues and Jewish centers in Paris and elsewhere in France were firebombed.

In Berlin protesters shouted “Jew, cowardly pig, come out and fight.”

While in Frankfurt they carried signs such as “The Jews are Beasts” and the Star of David is “The Star of the Devil.”

In the Hague, Netherlands, crowds chanted “death to all Jews.”

In England, particularly London, there have been over 100 anti-Semitic incidents.

In Miami, protesters chanted “Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammed is returning,” commemorating an Islamic war victory.

In Boston, pro-Israel supporters had to be rescued from an angry crowd that shouted “Jews back to Birkenau” and “Drop dead.”  A pro-Israel student was attacked by a woman insisting that Jerusalem would be cleansed of Jews, while another crowd shouted that “Jews better learn how to swim.”

There are dozens of other examples.

Worse than all those, however, is the fact that the professing church has, in large part, abandoned Israel.  One researcher claims,

Today there are approximately 100 million American church members who have very little to no understanding of Bible prophecy.  These church members are from replacement theology churches that don’t teach Bible prophecy and who look at prophetic scriptures as allegorical and not literal.  Consequently, they do not understand the importance of Israel to the God of Israel or God’s redemptive plan for Israel and the nations.

What is “replacement theology?”

Replacement theology essentially teaches that the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan.  Adherents of replacement theology believe the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people, and God does not have specific future plans for the nation of Israel.

I found a list of the major denominations that adhere to replacement theology.  It seems well researched.  On the list are the Roman Catholic Church, the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., the Episcopal Church, and the United Church of Christ.

Reformed theology, in general, is replacement oriented.  While many in the Reformed camp argue their position isn’t ‘replacement,’ they do not believe Israel has a unique place anymore in the plan of God.

Replacement theology is a form of wedding bashing.  God is not through with His chosen nation – and that should be obvious to even a casual observer.

The church did not replace Israel in God’s plan, but is something beautiful in addition to His plan for Israel.

If God can renege on even one of His promises to His covenant people, than what hope do we have He will keep them to us?

We have every hope, because our God is faithful, and cannot lie.

The Parable of the Wedding Feast is a simple, strait-forward explanation of God’s dealings with Israel.

The King in the parable is God.

The son is His Son, The Lord, Jesus Christ.

The wedding banquet is the literal kingdom on the earth promised to the Jews throughout their Scriptures.

The initially invited guests are the Jews, the nation of Israel.

The messengers sent to them are the prophets, and the first preachers of the Gospel.

Mat 22:1    And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:

Mat 22:2    “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son,

God made certain unconditional covenants with the Jews:

The Abrahamic Covenant promised Israel a land, a posterity and a ruler, and a spiritual blessing (Genesis 12:1–3).

The Palestinian Covenant promised Israel a restoration to the land and occupation of the land (Deuteronomy 30:1–10).

The Davidic Covenant promised Israel a king from David’s line who would rule forever – giving the nation rest from all their enemies (2 Samuel 7:10–13).

(BTW: The Bible never uses the term “Palestinian Covenant,” and Moses certainly never would have called the land “Palestine.”  It’s better to refer to it as the Land Covenant).

Many Old Testament passages describe a literal kingdom on the earth.  It’s when the lion will lie down with the lamb, to quote one of the most famous representations of it.

We learn in the Revelation of Jesus that it will last one thousand years, and because that is mille annum in Latin, we call it the Millennium or the Millennial Kingdom.

The wedding motif represents God’s attitude about the kingdom He promised to establish for Israel.  He envisioned it as a festive time that every one of His chosen people would rush to attend and enjoy.  The thousand years would be like one, long wedding feast.

A meager earthly equivalent would be something like the recent royal wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton.  It was watched by millions of people in over 180 countries around the world.  It was a spectacle, a phenomenon, and if you were invited, you planned months in advance to be there.

But it’s like an afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese compared to what God has in store.

Mat 22:3    and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.

Notice that the servants were sent out “to call those who were invited to the wedding.”  They were already invited by virtue of being God’s specially chosen nation.  The time they should have been preparing for had arrived.

There had been a previous announcement – what today we’d call a ‘save the date’ announcement.

We can even get specific about the date.  Daniel was praying back in about the sixth century BC.  The Lord dispatched the angel Gabriel to give Daniel a remarkable prophecy that describes the history of Israel.  It’s the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks.

We don’t have time to go into it right now, but it contains a mathematical component by which the Jews could have calculated the exact date on their calendar that Jesus Christ would enter Jerusalem as their King.

They did not ‘save the date.’  But God would not be deterred.

Mat 22:4    Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ‘

This second wave of “other servants” might refer to the first ten or so years after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus into Heaven.  The apostles and those converted by their preaching continued to invite mostly Jews to the kingdom.

Mat 22:5    But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.

Mat 22:6    And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.

Stephen is a good example of this.  The first martyr of the church, he was stoned to death for preaching the Gospel to the Jews.

As far as we know, all the original apostles, with the possible exception of John, died martyr’s deaths; and John was severely persecuted, even if he did die a natural death.

The Jews continued stiff-necked in their refusal, and at the end of the Book of Acts the apostle Paul said,

Act 28:28    “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!”

The promised kingdom was on hold; postponed.  Jesus would establish it upon His return to the earth, at His Second Coming.

Mat 22:7    But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

Would to God this were just a figure of speech or an allegory.  It was not.

We typically say that Titus and the Roman legions destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple in 70AD.  That was the year they breached the walls, true; but the entire campaign started in 66AD and last until 73AD.

It was, to put is simply, awful.  Accounts of it are for Mature Audiences, rated V for extreme violence.

Contrary to popular sentiment, that was not the end of God’s care and concern for Israel.  He promised to restore them to their land – which He has.

Through the coming Great Tribulation, He will turn the hearts of His people back to Him.  They will receive Jesus at His Second Coming and He will establish their kingdom just as He promised.

What can we glean from this parable?  Quite a lot.

In verse five we read, “But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.”

The Jews knew (or could have known) the exact date that their King would roll into town.  Instead, “they made light of it”; they thought little about it.  They were apathetic.

Dare we say that making light of prophecy can lead to spiritual apathy?  Of course it does.

The apostle Peter thought that prophecy was the thing that kept you razor-sharp as a believer.  The whole last chapter of his second letter encourages you to look for and thereby hasten the coming of The Lord.

We have very little excuse for ever growing spiritually apathetic.  For one thing, we don’t know the date The Lord is coming for us, because His coming is imminent.  It could happen at any moment.    There’s no time for apathy if you’re looking for The Lord to return at any moment.

Imminency ought to keep us sober and vigilant.  If I’m taking the Christian life lightly, putting off my walk with The Lord, I’m betting He won’t return while I’m being spiritually lazy, or while I’m in sin.

It’s a bad bet, not just because I might get caught off-guard at His coming for the church, but because it begins to affect my walk in general, and I think less-and-less about personal holiness.

We also read, in verse five, they “went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.”

Those aren’t bad things; there’s nothing wrong with farms and businesses.  But we might do well to consider how we might insert The Lord in them; how we might acknowledge His ways through them.

Is it just Chic-fil-A and In-n-Out and Hobby Lobby that are called to let the world know there is something more – Someone greater?  We should be asking The Lord how we can insert Him in our daily business.

It’s also one of those “what does it profit you” comparisons.  If your farm, or your business, is keeping you from serving The Lord, there’s a problem.

What is His way for your farm?  For your business?  For your family?  For your future?

Develop a spiritual strategy to be more of a witness everywhere you find yourself.

#2    You Should Have No Reason
    To Be A Wedding Crasher
    (v8-14)

A third wave of invitations is sent out:

Mat 22:8    Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.

Mat 22:9    Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’

Mat 22:10    So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

Historically, this would describe all the period after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple until the kingdom is established.

It’s the time in which we live, which Jesus earlier described as the church.  It includes the Great Tribulation – the seven years after the church is resurrected and raptured.

During this time, the invitation is going out all over the earth, to everyone, everywhere.

“Both bad and good” are invited.  What does that mean?

It’s a summary of things Jesus has said before.  Commentator Adam Clarke points out that Matthew had already recorded several such opposites.  Clark said,

The church is the threshing floor, where the wheat and the chaff are often mingled (Matthew 3:12).  It is the field, where the tares and the true grain grow together (Matthew 13:26-27).  It is the net, which collects of all kinds of fish, both good and bad (Matthew 13:48).

Later, in Matthew twenty-five, Jesus would use yet another contrast to describe the folks who survive the Great Tribulation – the sheep and the goats.

“Bad” and “good” are shorthand for those we would call “lost” and “saved.”

At the end of the age, when Jesus returns to establish the kingdom, only those who are saved will enter it.  The parable describes this in terms of whether or not the person is wearing the wedding garment provided him by the King.

Mat 22:11    “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.

Apparently, you had to wear a special wedding robe, given to each guest by the host.  Whether this was the custom at every Jewish wedding, or just for royal weddings, I cannot tell.

It’s really not so strange a custom.  There are still restaurants where, if you’re a guy, you cannot eat without wearing a jacket.  Many of them have jackets on hand you can borrow; but in others, you’re simply turned away.

Mat 22:12    So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.

First, let’s talk about the garment.  It is among my favorite illustrations of the salvation that you receive by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

The prophet Isaiah said of us,

Isa 64:6    But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags…

He was describing what we would look like, spiritually speaking, if we were to stand before God.  If all of our good deeds – our “righteousnesses” – could be spun into a beautiful robe, our very, very best would be like filthy rags in comparison.

Who do you consider to be the most holy, saintly person to ever live?  Most of the time, the average person will say, “Mother Theresa.”

Her entire lifetime of very best good deeds are filthy rags when seen in the holiness of Heaven.

How filthy?  I need to tell you what the text is really describing; and it’s pretty gross.  If you don’t want to be exposed to it, or if you’ve got little ones – time to cover ears.

Ready?  The phrase “filthy rags” describes a woman’s used menstrual cloths.

Let me give you a more complete picture of the garments.  It’s found in Zechariah chapter three.

Zec 3:1    Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.

Zec 3:2    And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”

Zec 3:3    Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel.

Zec 3:4    Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.”

Zec 3:5    And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the LORD stood by.

Understand that Joshua was the high priest.  He was dressed, on earth as he served in the Temple, in the most glorious, expensive, garments ever sown.  He was decked-out with gold and gems galore.

Standing before The Lord, on earth, he looked magnificent.  He was the best-dressed person on earth, and through the rituals and ceremonies required of him, he was the most prepared person on earth to stand before God.  He was the only one allowed to enter the Holy of Holies.

In Heaven his righteousnesses were still filthy garments.

God exchanged Joshua’s garments for those of His own provision.  The “Angel of The Lord” Who stood nearby was none other than Jesus Who would provide those garments for Joshua and for everyone who believes by His death upon the Cross.

Second Corinthians 5:21 summarizes it, saying,

2Co 5:21    For He made Him [that is, Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Our sin – like a filthy garment – was put on Jesus, while His righteousness – like a pure robe – is put on us.

This exchange takes place when God’s grace frees your will to enable you to receive His Son as your Savior.  He exchanges righteousness for sin, and declares you righteous on the basis of what Jesus did on the Cross.

The garment is given, not earned.  There is therefore no reason for remaining in your sin.

Mat 22:13    Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

This is when you start singing, Mamma Told Me Not to Come.

We might joke now; it’s black humor to defer the horror.  Eternal torment is real.  Hell is real.  I wish it weren’t; but it is.  One author wrote,

Jesus chose strong and terrifying language when He spoke of Hell.  I believe He chose to speak this way because He loves us and wanted to warn us.  So let’s not miss the point: He spoke of Hell as a horrifying place, characterized by suffering, fire, darkness, and lamentation.

I believe His intention was to stir a fear in us that would cause us to take Hell seriously and avoid it at all costs.

Mat 22:14    “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

This saying of the Lord’s has been used to try to limit the scope of His call to salvation, when, in fact, it does not.

The terms “many” and “few” divide the whole of humanity into two unequal parts.  The “many” and the “few” add up to everyone.

If you’re not buying that, the parable itself teaches us that “many” and “few” add up to everyone, because everyone who could be found anywhere – both good and bad – was included in the invitation.

It was an all-inclusive invitation.

Jesus said of Himself that, if He be lifted up on the Cross, He would draw all men to Himself (John 12:32).

He didn’t mean all men would be saved, but that the Cross would exert an influence of grace upon every hard human heart to free the will in order to be enabled to receive or reject Him.

Jesus is the Savior of all men – especially those who believe.  His sacrifice as our Substitute on the Cross is sufficient to save everyone, but only becomes effective in those who receive Him.

In that sense, you are “chosen” by God, having received His Son by grace, through faith.

If you are not yet saved, what is your reason?

The guest in our parable offered no reason.  He realized there was no reason, and, he realized too late, that it was too late.

It’s not too late, not today, not for you.

For those of us who are walking with The Lord, let’s ask Him to show us how His ways and our ways either coincide or are out of synch – so that we can be those who live preparing for the trumpet that will call us home in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.

Because You’re Mine, I Tend The Vine (Matthew 21v23-46)

It’s the question every parent dreads.  Sooner or later, you’re going to have to deal with it.

“Are we there yet?”

I remember a promo for the Simpsons in which Bart and Maggie keep asking, over-and-over, all across the country, “Are we there yet?”, “Are we there yet?”, “Are we there yet?”

Just as Homer can’t take it anymore, and he jumps into the back seat to throttle them, Marge grabs the wheel and says, “I think we’re there!”

Hard to believe it is only the second most annoying question children repeatedly ask; the first one being, “Why?”

I was thinking about questions because, in our text, Jesus answered a question He was asked by asking a question of His own.

Jesus loved to ask questions.  It’s been calculated that He asked between two and three hundred questions in the Gospels.  Some of those are the same questions being reported by four different writers, but even allowing for that repetition, the sheer number of questions Jesus asked was impressive.

He did not answer questions by asking questions in order to be evasive.  Quite the opposite is true, in that the answer to His question would also answer the one He had been asked.

With respect to the ask-a-question format of Jesus, I’ll organize my thoughts around two questions: #1 What Has Jesus Told You To Do?, and #2 Are You Going To Do What Jesus Told You To Do?

#1    What Has Jesus Told You To Do?
    (v23-27)

It was the last few days for Jesus before His crucifixion.  It had been a busy week of ministry thus far.

He’d made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey, to the shouts of “Hosanna!”

He had overturned the tables of the money changers, stringing together a couple of prophecies from the Old Testament, saying, “It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER,’ but you have made it a ‘DEN OF THIEVES.'”

He had spent time healing in the Temple, and now He was back there, teaching.

Apparently, Jesus was doing all that without a permit.

Mat 21:23    Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?”

Do you need a permit if you’re the Messiah?  Or permission?

Jesus had not gone through the proper channels – or so the religious leaders thought – and so they felt they were on good ground challenging His authority to do the things He was doing.

There is such a thing as spiritual authority.  Jesus will tell His disciples, after His resurrection, that “all authority has been given to” Him (Matthew 28:18).  In Hebrews we are told, “Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you” (13:17).

God has likewise established authority in the home and family, and in the governments He allows to exist on the earth.

We are not able, spiritually speaking, to ignore authority.  We are to submit to it as God has determined it, with the Word as our guide.

The question the religious leaders asked wasn’t a bad one, in general, but it was insincere, since they could see that Jesus’ authority came from God.

G. Campbell Morgan is a really good Bible expositor.  Remember his name, and grab his books at thrift stores.  He pointed out that these religious leaders said Jesus was “doing these things.”

It was an admission on their part.  Jesus was doing things – good things, great things, things that only the Messiah could do.  He’d been doing them for the past three and one-half years.  Healing all manner of illness and affliction… giving sight to the blind… causing the deaf to hear and the lame to walk… casting out all manner of demons… raising the dead.

Simultaneously He had been teaching in a way no one had ever heard before – with a divine authority, with Heaven’s anointing upon each word.

Many lives had been changed, for the better, by this itinerant rabbi.

All of that is admitted, really, when they say, “doing these things.”

Jesus has been “doing… things,” good things, great things, from that time right up to the present.  Changed lives are a powerful testimony of His authority, of the heavenly anointing upon Him.

Jesus wants to “do things” in your life; and through your life.  You are both His great work, and one of His workers.  You are to be being changed more into the image of Jesus while you simultaneously discover the good works The Lord has for you to accomplish in the power of His Holy Spirit.

Mat 21:24    But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things:

It was not unusual, in Jewish culture, to answer a question with a question.  It was, in fact, a preferred method that rabbi’s used with their students.

Far from being evasive, or even disrespectful, The Lord was being gracious to these guys – even though they had rudely interrupted Him in the middle of a teaching.

He was treating them as if this was a genuine dialog, even though their hearts were wicked and accusatory.

Mat 21:25    The baptism of John – where was it from? From heaven or from men?” And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’

Mat 21:26    But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.”

This was a lose-lose for them.  What is sad is that, here they were – the religious and (supposedly) spiritual leaders – but they were in a place where they could not honestly answer a simple question.

If in your ministry you find you cannot give a straightforward, honest answer, something has gone very wrong.  If you are taking evasive action, it’s a problem.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be tactful, or thoughtful.  It doesn’t mean we should blurt out things people have no business hearing.  It doesn’t mean we should lack sensitivity.

It just means we shouldn’t have a hidden agenda that requires stealth and deception.

Mat 21:27    So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

Their answer was a lie told to protect themselves.

It’s like the guy who said, “I always lie.”  Was he telling the truth?  How can he be telling the truth about lying if he always lies?

Jesus’ question was not just to avoid giving them an answer.  If they would have answered Jesus’ question, they would have answered their own question.

If they admitted that John the Baptist was sent with the authority of Heaven, then they would have admitted Jesus also had heavenly authority.  John had introduced Jesus as the one who was “mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.”

He had initially refused to baptize Jesus, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”

John made it clear that Jesus would increase, and that he – John – must decrease.

He had declared, plainly and boldly, that Jesus was God’s Lamb Who would take away the sins of the world.

Receive John’s ministry and you must receive Jesus, since John was the herald, and Jesus was the King he heralded.

Say “No, John the Baptist was not Heaven-sent,” and you reject Jesus.  But then you are in denial – because it was evident to everyone that John was indeed a prophet sent by God.

People seem to have a lot of questions for God.  Some of them are accusatory – like, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

In most cases, He answers them with a question of His own, like this one: “Who do you say that I am?”

Answer that, and you’ll discover answers to everything else.

Jesus is the sinless Son of God, the unique God-man Who died on the cross as your Substitute to take upon Himself your sins and provide for you His righteousness.

There is an important application for us in Jesus’ question and question session with the religious leaders.  God wants you to act upon what you already know, and what He has already asked of you, before He gives you further direction.

Take these religious leaders as an example for us.  If they had received the ministry of John the Baptist, they would not be asking Jesus ridiculous questions.  Instead, they’d have had their lives changed, and they’d be in the crowd, soaking up the greatest teaching ever heard by men – from the lips of the God-man.

It was useless to answer their questions, since they had refused the revelation God had already given.

Sometimes – not always, but occasionally – when you feel like you’re spinning your spiritual wheels, it is because God has already asked you to do something, told you what He wants, but you aren’t doing it.

Maybe you disagree with what He’s asking… Or, more positively but just as disobediently, you don’t feel adequate to accomplish it.

On the adequacy issue, I encountered a quote from J. Hudson Taylor, the great missionary, who said, “All of God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on God being with them.”

If you think you are adequate for a spiritual task, because of your spiritual discipline or effort, think again.  God is in the business of doing what is beyond your abilities.

You might be spinning your wheels because you disagree with God – at least with regard to the approach He wants you to take.  He wants us, by His Spirit, to humble ourselves, put ourselves last and others first, return blessing for cursing; things like that.

I don’t know what it is, for you, that might have you stuck in a rut.  God does, and He wants to show you, and then yoke-up with you to pull you out of the rut and get you to your next spiritual destination.

Jot this down: “God, what do you want me to do for You?”  In a little while we will give you time to reflect on today’s worship service and, if you need something to think about, that’s as good a question as any.

In case the religious leaders didn’t fully grasp what Jesus was telling them, He told two parables to illustrate it.

#2    Are You Going To Do
    What Jesus Told You To Do?
    (v28-46)

Facebook seems overrun with questionnaires.  The ones I’m thinking of ask you a series of questions to see what state in the United States most suits you.  Or what Disney prince or princess you are.  Or which character you are most like in Star Wars.

Yesterday there was this one: Which classic novel are you?

In the Parable of the Two Sons, you need to figure out which son you are.

Let me give you a hint: You don’t want to be the second son.

Mat 21:28    “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’

Mat 21:29    He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went.

Mat 21:30    Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go.

This parable, and the next, are set in the vineyard.  Every Jew listening to it would recognize Israel as God’s vineyard from the famous Song of the Vineyard in Isaiah chapter five.

It’s a remarkable passage.  In it, The Lord illustrates His love for His people as a if He were the owner of a vineyard, and they were His vineyard.  One commentator summarized it:

Nothing was left undone to guarantee a bountiful crop.  The LORD had great expectations of His vineyard.  He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.  He built a watchtower, not a temporary hut, in it and cut out a wine vat as well.

Nevertheless the vineyard did not produce, leading the Owner to exclaim, “What more could have been done for My vineyard than what I have done for it” (v4).

The Song of the Vineyard ends on this ominous note:

Isa 5:6    I will lay it waste; It shall not be pruned or dug, But there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds That they rain no rain on it.”

The time of this judgment upon Israel was at hand, and these two parables fill-in some additional details as to why that was so.

Mat 21:31    Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to Him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.

Mat 21:32    For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.

Ouch!  That had to sting – especially in front of the crowd that included former tax collectors and harlots.

“Tax collectors and harlots” were the most despised, on the one end, and the most degenerate, on the other end, of sinners; but, really, they represent all those who were not part of the spiritual elite – the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees.

If the first son in the parable represents tax collectors and harlots, in what sense did they initially refuse to enter the kingdom?

Probably in the sense that they continued in their sin, despite knowing the Law of Moses.

We shouldn’t give them a pass, but we can lay some blame at the feet of the religious elite.  The Pharisees, especially, made it so hard to ‘keep’ God’s Law that the average sinner was overwhelmed.  Jesus once described them as heaping huge burdens on people, then refusing to lift a finger to help them carry the load.

He was referring to all the crazy external rules they added to God’s Word that a person was expecting to ‘keep’ in order to be righteous.
Like tithing from your herb garden by, literally, counting out one leaf of oregano for God for every nine you kept for yourself.

When John the Baptist came, the sinners “regretted” their sin, and the word is repented.  They believed John, were baptized, and were awaiting entrance into the kingdom.

Had the nation received Jesus Christ as their King, these repentant tax collectors and harlots would have been its chief citizens.

The religious elite only acted as though they were obedient to the Law of Moses.  They were all about externals, ignoring any internal transformation.

They went out to see John baptizing, but they refused to repent at his preaching, and were rejecting the One John pointed to as their Savior and Lord.

While they were still reeling, Jesus told another parable.

Mat 21:33    “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.

Mat 21:34    Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.

Mat 21:35    And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.

Mat 21:36    Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.

Mat 21:37    Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

Mat 21:38    But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’

Mat 21:39    So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

The leaders of Israel are represented by the vinedressers, who were responsible for cultivating, pruning, and tending God’s vineyard to produce a bountiful harvest.

The servants who were sent represent the prophets whom God sent over-and-over again throughout Israel’s history to call them to repentance and obedience in order to produce fruit.

The leaders of the nation routinely killed God’s prophets.

In an amazing display of patience, God continued to send prophets to try to woo His wayward people.  It was to no avail.

Graciously, God provided one final opportunity by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to Israel.  He, too, would be rejected and killed by Israel’s leaders.

Mat 21:40    “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”

Mat 21:41    They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”

They must not have realized that they were passing judgment upon themselves.

People do this, in a different way today.  I’ve had a lot of people tell me, somewhat jokingly but sometimes seriously, that they know they are going to Hell when they die; or, at the very least, they are not going to Heaven.

If you believe that – you’d better do something about it while there is still time.  Because you are passing judgment on yourself – even though you may not realize it.

Mat 21:42    Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED HAS BECOME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE. THIS WAS THE LORD’S DOING, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’ ?

Mat 21:43    “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.

Mat 21:44    And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”

Jesus changed illustrations and began talking about a building.  The figure of a stone is found often in Scripture, Jesus being referred to both as the foundation stone and the head of the corner.  Jesus is God’s “chief cornerstone,” upon Whom the Kingdom of God would, and yet will, be built.

The “builders” were the religious leaders, rejecting Him.  That they would be “[ground] into powder” anticipates the very real destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD by Titus and the Roman legions he commanded.

“Whoever falls on this stone” was Jesus’ way of describing a person who would receive Him and be saved by humbling himself or herself.

God is not willing that any should perish.  The Lord wept over Jerusalem, knowing they would reject Him and bring destruction and dispersion upon themselves.

Who, or what, is the “nation” that the kingdom will be given to?  John Walvoord says, “The word nation is without the article in the Greek and probably does not refer to the Gentiles specifically.”

In other words it may not refer to a specific “nation” as we know it, but perhaps to a people group.

It might mean anyone, Jew or Gentile from any nation, who brings forth fruit during Jesus’ absence, in-between His first and Second Coming.  In that sense, we would say the church, throughout the age in which we live, is that nation.

It undoubtedly refers, in the future, to the “nation” of Jews who will survive the Great Tribulation.  The kingdom will be offered again, and at the end of the seven years, The Lord will return, and the remnant of Israel will be saved.  Then Jesus will establish the Kingdom of God on earth for a thousand years.

Mat 21:45    Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them.

Mat 21:46    But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.

Have you ever had someone realize that you are calling them, personally, a sinner?  It can be kinda scary, but at least you know that the Word of God is convicting them, and for that you ought to be glad.

It’s a little harder to put yourself in this parable, because it’s so specific to Israel’s leaders at the time Jesus was on the earth.  It’s clearly and unmistakably a parable of the vineyard – which is Israel.

There are some principles we can glean.

If you are not a believer in Jesus Christ; if you’re not saved; in a very real sense, you are rejecting God’s prophets and, ultimately, you are rejecting His Son.

He is the Savior of all men, especially those who believe.  If you do not believe, His death was sufficient for you, but you are left dead in your trespasses and sins.

The good news: You can “Repent!”

In a moment, you’ll have the opportunity to do just that, and I’d encourage you to confess your sin and call upon your Savior.

It’s harder to put believers into this parable.  Here is what we can say.  Jesus’ initial effort, in the opening fray, was to show these guys they had not done what God had told them to do.  They had not repented at the preaching of John the Baptist and, so, they were stuck in a particularly deep spiritual rut.

If you have not done something Jesus has told you to do, what are you going to do about it?

Jesus Is A Fig-Wither Friend (Matthew 21v18-22)

Before his 19th birthday, Frank Abagnale successfully performed cons worth millions of dollars by posing as a Pan American World Airways pilot, a Georgia doctor, and a Louisiana parish prosecutor.

His life was made famous in the 2002 Steven Spielberg film, Catch Me if You Can, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale, and Tom Hanks as Carl Hanratty, a bumbling but persistent FBI agent.

We have a tendency to revere those who can pull off a con; we even call them artists.  Think Paul Newman and Robert Redford in The Sting.  They were the handsome heroes, making right the wrongs of their mark.

If there’s one place where you never want to fake it, never want to try to con others, it’s in the church.  Too much is at stake – not the least of which is the eternal destinies of the folks you come into contact with.

We are warned that there will be frauds among God’s people.  In his book, Jude describes some of them as “late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots” (v12).

Those guys are apostates; they’re not saved.  When Jude says they are “twice dead,” he means they never had eternal life in the first place, and that they are headed for eternal damnation in the end.

Jesus is going to encounter a fig tree that is without fruit.  He will curse the tree so that it withers.  It was symbolic of the true condition of the leaders of Israel.  They were trees without fruit.

He uses the occasion to teach His disciples – which includes us – a lesson about fruit and faith.

We are not the fig tree; we are not going to be cursed; we are not twice dead apostates.

But there is something to be said about fruit and faith as we walk with The Lord.

I’ll organize my thoughts around two points: #1 Jesus Is Going To Walk With You Inspecting For Fruit, and #2 Jesus Is Going To Work With You Expecting Faith.

#1    Jesus Is Going To Walk With You
    Inspecting For Fruit
    (v18-19)

The fig is the first fruit mentioned by name in the Bible.  It has the sad distinction of being the tree from which Adam and Eve took leaves to sew together coverings for their nakedness immediately after they had sinned – plunging God’s creation into its current state of ruin.

God came to fellowship with Adam and Eve that afternoon, as He always did each day.  They were hiding, wearing fig leaves.

It was the first case of camouflage as they tried to blend in with the fig tree.

Fig trees produce early and late fruit, and one thing that is true of their cycle is that, if they have leaves, they should have fruit underneath.

Mat 21:18    Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.

Mat 21:19    And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.

If you compare Matthew’s account with the one in Mark’s Gospel, you learn that Jesus came across the fig tree on Monday morning and, finding it fruitless, He cursed it.  Then, on Tuesday morning, the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots.

Skeptics like to find apparent discrepancies in the Bible.  They want to prove it has errors – so that they don’t have to feel its conviction that they are sinners in need of the Savior presented on its pages.

There is no discrepancy or contradiction in these two accounts.  The writers are simply telling the same story from two different perspectives:

Mark is telling the story chronologically.

Matthew is telling the same story topically.

Just the other day, one of the sisters asked me to tell someone a story I’ve told many times before.  I did – then she said, “You left out the best part!”  I told it properly, but not completely; and that is what happens in the Gospels.

There are no insurmountable contradictions in God’s Word.  It is trustworthy through-and-through.

Matthew notes that Jesus “was hungry.”  It’s been suggested that He was hungry because He had missed breakfast spending time instead in prayer talking to His Father.

Makes sense that Jesus, who often retreated for prayer, sacrificing both sleep and food, would be hungry on His way into town.  He always spent time alone with the Father; how much more might He this last week on earth leading to the Cross.

You might go so far as to say that Jesus’ physical hunger was evidence of His spiritual hunger to spend time alone with God.  He would be hungry, and tired, precisely because He felt the need to first satisfy His spiritual hunger to be with the Father to the exclusion of material things and physical comforts.

When I was first a Christian, I came across this saying in a devotional: “No Bible, No breakfast.”  It was a solid reminder that, if I didn’t have time to feed the inner man, what good would feeding my body do for me.

Jesus was a “No Bible, No breakfast” kind of guy.  Finding Himself hungry, He was probably, as we used to say to sound like surfers, ‘stoked’ to come across a fig tree in leaf.

The Gospel of Mark says it wasn’t the season for figs, so why would Jesus expect to find any?

Figs may not have been in season, but a leafy fig tree meant you should nevertheless find fruit underneath its outward growth.

Besides, this fig tree wasn’t in an orchard.  It didn’t seem to belong to anyone.  It was growing all by itself, along the path they were walking.  It was an altogether unusual fig tree.

Jesus “said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.”

This was the only so-called ‘destructive’ miracle Jesus ever performed.  For three and one-half years He had gone around doing only good: healing the sick, delivering the oppressed, raising the dead.

It certainly marked a change in His ministry, but not a change in Him.  Here’s what I mean.

When Jesus first came on the scene, when He first began His ministry to the nation of Israel, He went into the synagogue at Nazareth and this is what happened:

Luk 4:17    And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

Luk 4:18    “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR; HE HAS SENT ME TO HEAL THE BROKENHEARTED, TO PROCLAIM LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET AT LIBERTY THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED;

Luk 4:19    TO PROCLAIM THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

Luk 4:20    Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

Luk 4:21    And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus had been doing exactly what Isaiah said the Messiah would.

What is fascinating is that, when Jesus read from Isaiah, He stopped reading in mid-verse.  Here is how Isaiah 61:1-2 reads:

Isa 61:1    “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

Isa 61:2    To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,

Jesus had been “proclaim[ing] the acceptable year of The Lord.”  He had been offering to establish the kingdom on earth, inviting the Jews to accept Him.

They would not, and this was the final few days on earth before they would see to it He was killed.

Thus “the day of vengeance of our God” was something the nation of Israel must experience.

In just a few short years after His crucifixion, around 70AD, Titus and the Roman legions would surround, then destroy, Jerusalem and its Temple.  For the next almost two thousand years, the Jews would be dispelled from their promised land; they would not be a nation geographically – although God would preserve them miraculously to return to their land in our lifetime.

The fig tree illustrates Israel – the nation of Israel as it was officially represented by its leaders.  Israel’s Messiah had come.  He had proven Himself over-and-over again, fulfilling all the signs of the Messiah, showing all the credentials that were predicted.

He had taught them for three and one-half years, showing them the way out of their self-righteousness back to the righteousness that comes by faith in God when you simply believe and are justified by God – declared righteous by faith in Jesus.
But for a handful of followers – one hundred twenty on the Day of Pentecost, huddled in an upper room – Jesus was totally rejected.

The Jews, represented by their leaders, preferred to attempt to meticulously keep the outward Law of Moses while ignoring the more important issues of the heart.

Thus they were like a leafy fig tree.  They gave he impression, by their much religious activity, that they were bearing fruit.  But underneath, they were fruitless.

Another time, Jesus had made this same point using a different illustration.  Passing by a grave, He said that the self-righteous religious leaders of the nation were like that grave: outwardly, well-kept, but inwardly, full of dead man’s bones.

Jesus said, “let no fruit grow on you ever again.”  We know, from reading the rest of the New Testament, and especially Romans chapters eight, nine, and ten, that God has an ongoing plan for the nation of Israel.  So we need to be careful when we say, “the fig tree is Israel.”

If that were the case, Jesus would have just condemned Israel – as a nation, as a people – out of God’s plan.

He didn’t, so we understand that, at least here, the fig tree represented the Jewish leadership that would shortly condemn Him to death.

In the next verse, in verse twenty, the disciples ask about the withering of the fig tree, and Jesus applies it to them.

Thus, while we’ve seen the context of the incident is to discuss and describe Israel’s fruitlessness even after her Messiah had been cultivating her, there is an application beyond Israel and her leaders that we can appreciate.

Jesus expects to find fruit in our lives as believers.

By “fruit,” we mean, of course, the fruit of the Spirit, listed in Galatians chapter five: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (5:22-23).

But beyond those specific traits, fruitfulness is a catch-all for a solid, grounded, growing Christian life that is offered as a living sacrifice to The Lord, looking forward to His coming and to hearing Him say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Salvation means we have spiritual life.  Our spirit is alive, and God the Holy Spirit indwells us.  You could say we are, as Christians, rooted and grounded in Jesus.  If His life courses through us, of course He’d expect to find fruit.

Not only do we have life that can produce fruit, Jesus is constantly at work cultivating fruit in our lives.

In a few days, Jesus would have a final supper with His disciples, and He would tell them the following:

Joh 15:1    “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

Joh 15:2    Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Joh 15:3    You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

Joh 15:4    Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

Joh 15:5    “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

The vinedresser repositions under-producing vines.  He prunes others to get a greater yield.  He removes dead growth.

The Lord is telling us, in these figures, that He is constantly at work, through the Word of God and the issues and circumstances of our lives, to produce spiritual fruit in abundance.

We know all this.  Knowing it, we can sit before The Lord and ask Him to inspect us for fruitfulness.

It’s all to possible to be leafy on the outside, but lack real fruit – spiritual fruit – underneath.  We can leave our first love; we can go through the motions, lacking the emotion.

I can’t tell if you are a fruitless fig tree; and you can’t tell if I am.  Time might reveal some things.  But only God can discern whether or not I am abiding in Him, yielding to Him.

When we get to our reflection on the message today, give The Lord freedom to look beneath the leaves and tell you what He finds.

It might surprise you in a good way!

#2    Jesus Is Going To Work With You
    Expecting Faith
    (v20-22)

As we get back to the text, it’s good to remember that part of what Jesus was doing was preparing His boys for their mission after He was crucified, raised, and had ascended into Heaven.

Jesus’ answer to their amazement at the withering of the fig tree is about their future, and the need to walk by faith if they had any thought of accomplishing their task.

Mat 21:20    And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?”

After everything Jesus had done, they marveled at a withered tree?

I see that as a good thing.  Or, at least, we can apply it in a good way.

In our walk with The Lord, the things He does (or doesn’t do) – for us and others – ought to cause us to marvel.

If you are an older Christian – and by that I mean your spiritual age, not your physical age – you should marvel with younger believers when they are all excited about something that you experienced, or realized, years ago.  It’s a marvel to them – and it still ought to be for us, as well.

Mat 21:21    So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.

Mat 21:22    And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

I think the scenery is important.  They were walking along the road, had encountered a fig tree, and were in the vicinity of the Mount of Olives and the Dead Sea.

I’m going to suggest that The Lord meant to illustrate for them, and for us, that as we walk with Him during His absence, there is work to be done, but that obstacles will present themselves.  We must therefore walk and work by faith – believing that our mission cannot fail and that obstacles can and be removed.

I think Jesus’ teaching here is like what we read in Zechariah 4:6-7:

Zec 4:6    So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.

Zec 4:7    ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” ‘ ”

In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, Zerubbabel led the first band of Jews who returned from the Babylonian captivity at the close of the seventy years.  In the second year after the return, he erected an altar and laid the foundation of the Temple on the ruins of that which had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.

He was overwhelmed with obstacles in the path of completing the task.  The obstacles are compared to a great mountain in the path of his progress, needing to be leveled before he could go forward.

It seemed as though the Himalaya’s were standing in his way, needing not just to be climbed and crossed, but removed.  Impossible.

But not impossible with God – not by the power of God the Holy Spirit to complete the task through him as he walked and worked by faith.

We usually backpeddle on these verses, trying to defend them, since they seem too good to be true.  Certainly “whatever things [we] ask in prayer” don’t always come to pass.  So we say Jesus meant, “whatever things we ask that are in God’s will.”

That’s, of course, true.  We really wouldn’t want anything that wasn’t in God’s will, would we?  You’d have to be really out there to want something that was outside of the will of God.

Come to think about it, a lot of Christians do seem to be “out there.”  I hate to pick at spiritual scabs, but marriage and divorce are examples we can all relate to.  Too many believers are living in sin, or pursuing unbiblical divorces.  They are definitely, obviously out of God’s will – but they pray for Him to bless them.

What Jesus might have been going for here is a potent promise regarding the disciples’ future mission.

They were on the road to Jerusalem.  The nation of Israel – officially – was a fruitless fig tree.  It called for a change of plan in terms of reaching the world with the message of salvation.

The mission of spreading the Gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth, would fall first to the apostles, then to all their future converts, until the church age ends with the resurrection and rapture of the church.

Think of it.  Eleven guys were tasked with spreading the greatest message of all time, but in the shadow of the national rejection of, and the violent killing of, their Leader; and the suicide of one of them, who had been a traitor.

It was like putting the Sierra mountain range on top of the Himalaya’s, and putting them right in the path of the apostles, and having them climb it in sandals with no mountain climbing gear.

Or asking them to level it with only their bare hands as tools.

And, if they could somehow struggle over the mountains, or remove them, they’d be faced with crossing an ocean on the other side, but without the use of a boat, or even a raft.

It was an impossible task.  At least, humanly speaking.

Supernaturally speaking, Jesus let them know that they could not fail, if they simply believed in Him, and worked by faith.

Any mountain, or ocean, or obstacle of any kind, could and would be removed as they simply pressed forward sharing Christ, one person or one home or one village at a time.

You see it in the Book of Acts.  Guess what?  It’s still happening!

But it only happens by faith – walking by faith, working by faith.  It’s not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of God.

Are we trusting in might and power?  It happens as God blesses us with resources and tools.

Let’s be sure that we are working yielded to Him – doing those things He has called us to, the way He has gifted us to do them.

Let us continue – always – in the Spirit.