‘And it came about that when Jesus had finished commanding his twelve disciples, he departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.” Then once Jesus had given His instructions to His twelve Apostles He left them in order to preach and teach in their cities. Matthew give no indication eith... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now when John heard in the prison the works of the Christ, he sent by his disciples, and said to him, “Are you he who is coming, or should we look for another?” ' In his prison John heard of ‘the kind of works that the Messiah was doing', but what he heard did not fit in with his conception of the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MESSIAH HAS COME, AND ONE WHO IS MORE THAN THE MESSIAH, OVERCOMING THE POWERS OF SATAN, AND WHILE REJECTED BY THE MANY HE IS REVEALING HIMSELF AND BEING ACCEPTED BY BABES AND BY THE MEEK AND LOWLY AND THOSE WHO DO THE WILL OF HIS FATHER WHO FORM HIS NEW HOUSEHOLD (11:2-12). Central to this whol... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS ASSURES JOHN THAT HE, JESUS, IS THE EXPECTED COMING ONE FOR WHOM JOHN WAS PREPARING THE WAY (11:2-6). John, languishing in a dungeon in the Fortress of Machaerus, east of Jordan, (compare Matthew 4:12; Matthew 14:3), was clearly puzzled. He had come to prepare the way for the Coming One Who wa... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see,” ' Jesus responds to their request by telling them to take a message from Him to John. They were to spell out the detail of what was happening. They were to tell John what they heard and saw, and He gives the... [ Continue Reading ]
“The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good tidings preached to them.” We have already noted how all these ‘signs' have been fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus as outlined in Matthew 8:1 to Matthew 9:... [ Continue Reading ]
“And blessed is he, whoever shall find no occasion of stumbling in me.” And then He adds a rider to what He has said so as to remind John that although he may not understand, he must trust and believe. He must not stumble over the fact that Jesus is not exactly what he was expecting, for great prop... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And as these went their way, Jesus began to say to the crowds concerning John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?” ' Jesus begins to impress on the crowds the greatness of John. He questions them as to what it was about John that caused them to flock to se... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS EXPRESSES HIS FULL APPRECIATION OF JOHN BUT POINTS OUT THAT NOW SOMETHING EVEN GREATER HAS COME, THE COMING IN FORCE OF THE KINGLY RULE OF HEAVEN (11:7-15). Having sent His assurance to John Jesus now turns to the crowds, both in order to vindicate John and also to bring out an even more impor... [ Continue Reading ]
“But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.” Note how well the pictures fit together, on the one hand the humble reed, on the other the mighty courtier. The one is found in the wilderness, but is hardly worth gong out... [ Continue Reading ]
“But why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I say to you, and much more than a prophet.” Why then did they go out into the wilderness? Was it to see a prophet? Yes, it was. And indeed it was to see more than a prophet, it was to see the special prophet whom God had sent to prepare the way for G... [ Continue Reading ]
“This is he, of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, Who will prepare your way before you.' ” ‘It is written.' This always signifies words which have the authority of God because they come from the Scripture. What is so written is God's truth. And what was written? Tha... [ Continue Reading ]
“Truly I say to you, Among those who are born of women there has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist. Yet he who is least in the Kingly Rule of heaven is greater than he.” And then Jesus makes clear that in Himself a new age has begun. It is the time of consummation (even if it will last for... [ Continue Reading ]
“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingly rule of heaven is forcefully advancing (or ‘suffers violence'), and men of violence are taking it by force.” A number of questions are immediately raised by this verse, although the problems of exact interpretation do not take away from it... [ Continue Reading ]
“For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come.” Again we have the emphasis on the fact that the new age has come. The prophets and the Law prophesied until John. That is, the whole of the Old Testament Scriptures led up... [ Continue Reading ]
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Jesus then finishes His words concerning these things by calling on all whose ears were open to take notice of what He was saying. This in itself confirms that He did not expect that all would hear and respond. He was always aware that the flock to whom the... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS CHARGES THE PEOPLE OF HIS GENERATION WITH NOT TAKING JOHN'S OR HIS MESSAGE SERIOUSLY, BUT BEHAVING LIKE CHILDREN AT PLAY (11:16-19). The sudden change of subject here is very vivid. He has been describing the great events towards which John's ministry has been built up, and has indicated their... [ Continue Reading ]
“But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call to their fellows and say, We piped to you, and you did not dance, We wailed, and you did not mourn.” In Matthew 11:10 we had a quotation indicating what Jesus likened John the Baptist to. It was... [ Continue Reading ]
“For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon'.” John lived a life of fasting and prayer. He drank no wine or strong drink because of his dedication to God (Luke 1:15). He dressed in goatskins or camel's hair, and ate locusts and wild honey (Matthew 3:4). Thus once peopl... [ Continue Reading ]
“The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of public servants and sinners!' ” Jesus on the other hand was willing to sit at table with public servants and sinners, and with the common people. Thus when people began to find His teachi... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then he began to upbraid the cities in which most of his mighty works were done, because they did not repent.' Note here the difference between His approach to John and His approach to these people. To the seeking heart of John He had pointed to His works with a promise of blessing (Matthew 11:5),... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS CASTIGATES HIS LOCAL TOWNS FOR THEIR FAILURE TO REPENT IN VIEW OF THE FACT THAT THEY TOO HAVE SEEN THE MESSIANIC SIGNS, BUT WITHOUT RESPONDING (11:20-24). In this chapter Jesus has already been faced with two examples of men's attitudes towards Him, the puzzlement of John, whose heart was rig... [ Continue Reading ]
“Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” He contrasts His two local towns with the cities of Tyre and Sidon. They were Gentile cities, on the shores of... [ Continue Reading ]
“ But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.” And the consequence of the failure of the Jews to respond to His Messianic works in repentance is that when they face the Day of Judgment, they will be found guilty of more heinous behaviour than... [ Continue Reading ]
“And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to Hades, for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in you, it would have remained until this day.” Capernaum is, if it were possible, even more guilty. She is here specifically compared with Sodom, the byword... [ Continue Reading ]
“But I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.” Note the solemn repetition of ‘I say to you'. Again the same principle applies. Even sinful Sodom will not be found to be as guilty as Capernaum in the Day of Judgment, that day which was c... [ Continue Reading ]
‘At that time (season) Jesus answered and said, “I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to babes.” ' Note the vivid contrast between this and the previous passage. In the previous passage Jesus surveys the unrespo... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FATHER HAS ENLIGHTENED HIS TRUE PEOPLE AND HAS DELIVERED ALL THINGS TO JESUS WHO ALONE TRULY KNOWS HIS FATHER, WHO HAS RECEIVED ALL THINGS FROM HIS FATHER, AND WHO ALONE CAN REVEAL HIS FATHER TO OTHERS (11:25-27). This passage is connected to the previous one by ‘at that time (or season)'. The t... [ Continue Reading ]
“Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight.” And in the end that is because it is what is pleasing to His Father, the Lord of Heaven and earth. That is how God has been pleased for men to come to know Him. He reveals Himself to those who have a broken and a contrite spirit, who are the... [ Continue Reading ]
“All things have been delivered to me of my Father, and no one knows the Son, except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whoever the Son wills to reveal him.” But how can such men come to know God? It is through the One Who has had all things delivered into His han... [ Continue Reading ]
“Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The call ‘come (deute) to Me' made to those who are labouring can be compared with Isaiah 55:3, where it is God Who speaks, and the aim there is that men might enjoy the life of the new age by entering into the everlast... [ Continue Reading ]
A GENERAL APPEAL TO MEN AND WOMEN (11:28-30). This final general appeal to all who will hear confirms that in spite of His words to the towns, for those who will respond there is a way back to God. In the turmoil of a troubled world there is a place of rest, and it is under His yoke which will resu... [ Continue Reading ]
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest to your souls.” The yoke of Jesus is not based on submitting to His instruction but on learning from Jesus Himself what it meant to be meek and lowly in heart, and walking in submission to Him. It is th... [ Continue Reading ]
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” The word translated ‘easy' means ‘good, kind'. The point is that the yoke fits well and makes life easy so as to enable the task to be done quicker and better. It is not a recipe for idleness. As a carpenter Jesus had known what it meant to make a yoke... [ Continue Reading ]