The Coming One, the Messiah

Matthew 11:3-6
3 and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”
4 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

John baptized Jesus, calling Him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; yet he did not see the works Jesus did to show He was the Christ because he was imprisoned. But he heard and sent others to ask Jesus if He was the anointed of God, the Messiah or Christ. Jesus showed the miraculous works as told long ago, and then told the disciples to let John know for certain who He was. We now hear the testimony of those in the Bible and many since then of who He is and what He did to deliver us from death to life. We too can rest assured He is Emmanuel, God come among us to die in our place and rescue us forever!

Drowning in Sin

Matthew 18:6-7 
6 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!

We must not lead others to sin, causing to stumble or offend either by word or example.  Such deserves to be punished, for we then affect another's relation with God as we keep them from Him by sin.  So discipleship and being examples requires us to walk sincerely and the best we can ourselves to minimize our offense to others.

Humble Reception to Conversion

Matthew 18:2-5   
2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.

We must hear and trust Christ's words as a child heeds and learns by obedience from natural parents in authority.  So we are told to be converted, literally "turned around", hearing and lovingly obeying to follow Him.  This humble attitude of complete trust and reliance kills pride and honors God as we listen and trust (faith means trusting with an active response).  And so we who are His must also receive all those who so respond to Him as He does us as we follow and lead many to His righteousness and rightness. 

Don't Offend in Freedom

Matthew 17:24-27   
24 When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?”  25 He said, “Yes.” And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?”  26 Peter said to Him, “From strangers.” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. 27 Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”

We may be free from obligation in paying religious dues, but Jesus taught not to offend in our freedom, but use what God provides to pay.  Though this is a temple tax, Jesus also compares taxes of kings (nations) here as well, so this truth does apply to our taxes also - "whose inscription / what is written on the money we have?"  It is of the country we live in, so pay to whom it is due and trust God in it. 

To be Betrayed, Killed, and Raised

Matthew 17:22-23   
22 Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, 23 and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful.

Jesus was betrayed by Judas, but in a sense by all of mankind as well.  We all sinned and fall short of His righteousness.  We all then chose sin over our God and Savior.  Ah, but God's love and mercy brought life from death and forgiveness for our offenses, blotting them out of the courtroom record in eternity!  So we have true sorrow over our sin that led to His crucifixion, yet joy in knowing He died while we were still in our sin - this is amazing grace.

Smallest Seed of Faith

Matthew 17:18-20   
18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

When a lunatic (lit., 'moonstruck') child who was overrun by a fallen angel was healed by Jesus, the disciples wondered why they could not make the demon leave as Christ's representatives.  Jesus explained they needed to trust and rely on Him more.  He used this not to have them do miraculous things such as moving a mountain, but to trust Him for the strength in the gospel preaching and serving. 

Repentance and Suffering

Matthew 17:10-13   
10 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” 11 Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. 12 But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.

John came to set the way of repentance before Jesus arrived in the flesh in order to restore the hearts of people to what they were in the before - seeking and set on Him.  But instead most mocked John, yet some heeded the message and turned from sin to seek God again.  So when Jesus began to tell the good news of forgiveness, mercy, and provide the way to be reconciled with the Father (in heaven, not a church position),  He also suffered as we who sincerely follow Him will also.  Let us follow because it pleases God, not lagging behind for a comfortable life without glorifying Him. 

Metamorphosis of Glory

Matthew 17:1-5   
1 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; 2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”

Jesus was metamorphosised, changed and transformed to show His glory and the glory of the our bodies to come when we rise with Him.  We will reflect God's glory as we stand in His presence at last, reminding us of how it was in Eden when God walked among us!  As we behold His face we are being transformed in ever increasing glory until we see Him at last.  So we must hear the Son and embrace Him now. 

Psalms 2:12  Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

Reward of the Kingdom

Matthew 16:27-28 
27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.  28 Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

If we lose the world and gain Christ and His kingdom, then we can rejoice to see His return, confident in His work up to, on, and beyond the cross.  Some will taste spiritual "death" as they suffer forever because they did not gain Christ, but we who have will live forever.  The disciples saw His return from death, and we will see the final rerun and be with Him forever - because we lost our lives for His.

Deny to Follow, Lose to Live

Matthew 16:24-26 
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Bearing witness to the truth as Christ's follower means we must not seek our own pursuits, but His.  We live as crucified with Him, dying to what we would and choosing instead to live for what He tells us in His words of life.  When we so lose ourselves in God, we find everything and more.  What could we ever want to trade for this? 

Propitiation Plan Revealed

Matthew 16:21-23 
21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.  22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”  23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

Jesus said He would suffer from the religious leaders for bearing witness to the truth in Himself they denied, that He would be killed to die for His own, and yet rise from death to life.  This is why He did all this - to pay our sin's weighty price that we could rise from death to eternity without sin's just due.  So we cannot deny the suffering for His name's sake, we cannot deny Him who cannot deny Himself.  We must be mindful of God's things, seeing from His only right perspective. 

Authority of Church's Confession

Matthew 16:18-19   
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

When Peter confessed Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus told him that confession is the foundation of His body, the church of those who truly believe and confess the same.  This church of God, and not an institution of man, is unstoppable because the gospel of he suffering, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ cannot be done away with.  God Himself has the keys as the Son, and on earth His kingdom will come.  In Christ the true church has the keys. 

Who Do You Say Jesus Is?

Matthew 16:13-16   
13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”  14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”  16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Who is Jesus?  Is He just a good man or a prophet?  The Bible clearly says He is the anointed of God, Messiah/Christ, God's own Son.  John tells us He is God come as a man, so He is God among us, Emmanuel.  Peter knew this inside and so confused Him as this Lord of Lords.  If we see Jesus as anyone else but God, we do not truly know Him.  Who do you say the Son of Man is?

False Teaching Creeps In

Matthew 16:8-12 
8 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? 9 Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? 10 Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? 11 How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Jesus warned of bad teaching, but the disciples did not get the allusion of yeast spoiling the bread.  If we allow bad yeast in the dough, it quickly multiplies and taints the entire loaf.  So if we allow rules of man or religious teachings that contradict what the Bible shows God says, we allow ourselves and the church to become unpalatable.  Our God and His word within us must remain pure, and we must contend earnestly for the faith. 

Discerning Signs or Trusting God?

Matthew 16:1-4   ​
1 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed.

Some will look and even demand God give them a visible sign so they can say they have the ability to understand Him, like the "red sky at night, sailors delight" saying we still have.  But Jesus demands we trust Him and take Him at His word, not demanding proof so we can only intellectually get the gospel.  We have the sign of Jesus rising from the dead - how do we reason what we can only accept as true because He said and did so?

His Hand Meets All Needs

Matthew 15:32-34 
32 Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”  33 Then His disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?”  34 Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?”  And they said, “Seven, and a few little fish.”

Jesus loves us enough to meet our needs (not just unwarranted desires, but deficits).  When we have nothing, He provides from what little we already possess.  By using what we have and multiplying it to meet the needs of others, we experience grace and so run and do not faint.  When we see the impossibility and ask how we can meet so great a need, we only need to look to the Master's hand who alone is able.

Inner Healing by His Stripes

Matthew 15:30-31 
30 Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them. 31 So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.  (See Isa 35:4-6; Isa 61:1)

How the many crowded to Jesus to find healing of their bodies and their souls!  He worked the miraculous to show His divine nature, and also spiritual healing by deliverance from sin, often overlooked in the midst of the visible work.  Jesus came to save (Isaiah 35:4).  Too often the gospel is made to appear as just meeting our physical needs, but overlooks the real healing in reconciling us to God with inner healing of the soul.

Humble Crumbs of Faith

Matthew 15:26-28 
26 But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.”  27 And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”  28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

Being needy and worshipping Christ means that we have no second thoughts to humble ourselves.  We see that we deserve not even a crumb from the Master's table, yet eagerly await even one of those from Him.  Jesus told us this is great faith, to trust in anything small we are given.  Do we admit our need and await the undue grace from His table? 

Have Mercy on Lo Ammi

Matthew 15:22-24   
22 And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”  23 But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.”  24 But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Jesus came first for His chosen people, but they rejected Him as others were drawn in need and humility to the Savior.  People knowing Him by who He is looked past the religious mold of how Jesus should be to see Him as He is.  And they trusted Him to work in their hearts and lives.  This is a heart of a mother here as well, pleading for her daughter when she seemingly had no right outside of God's people.  But she saw who He was enough to beg mercy anyway.

Clean Heart, Clean Lips

Matthew 15:17-20 
17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”

What are some of the things that a heart untouched by God unleashes?  Thinking what is opposed to the good of His word and intentions (evil thoughts), hatred even to murder, lust even to adultery, perversion, stealing, lying, and defaming God (blasphemy).  These all make us unclean before a holy, just, and angry God.  But there is hope! Jesus offers to make us right inside with a new birth, creating us as a new person.  This is not possible by religious acts such as washing of hands, church attendance, tithing, giving to the poor, and all other efforts of our own. 

Blind Leaders Not Planted by God

Matthew 15:13-14 
13 But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”

When God calls a man, He waters the roots and holds him fast to the good soil.  Those who plant themselves can't see and lead others to follow them to destruction.  So are those who try to earn their eternal standing with God by their own efforts led by rules of man in the name of God.  What comes from Him is in His word, not added to it by those who give themselves authority; this leads to life by the truth found in the only way, Jesus Christ - He alone justifies and reconciles us. 

God Looks at the Heart

Matthew 15:10-12 
10 When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”  12 Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

God sees our hearts.  We can hear and see disturbing things and others can do their best to wrongly influence each of us, but it comes down to what we allow to grow in our heart.  Out of what we store there comes what we think, believe, and feel.  Here the religious leaders were offended because the status quo was upset on the hidden sin that came out in unloving and God dis-honoring actions and words.  They could not hide behind religious rules covering God's anymore.  Jesus and His word reveal what lies within; we must be transformed by these.

Words Must Match Heart

Matthew 15:2-3, 6-8 
2 “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” 3 He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?   6 then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:  8‘ These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.

Tradition.  When our ways are no longer God's, done from a good heart and conscience for His glory above all else, then we have missed the mark. His commands take precedence over our ways, even though some traditions which do honor Him are good.  Why we do what we do and how it aligns with His words makes the difference.  Let our hearts be close to Him in this, not far from Him.

Made Perfectly Well in Christ

Matthew 14:35-36 
35 And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, 36 and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.

When Jesus came to an area, people knew they could be made well.  They immediately would tell everyone to come and be healed, even by just touching His clothes, the mere edge of who He was, by faith.  So we too come just to be near Him, and are made perfectly well in our souls.  It is not about the physical healing, but the position and relationship with God that is at stake here.  Jesus suffered and died to bring us to God, healing the broken spirit within each of us who trust and so follow Him.

Truly He is Son of God!

Matthew 14:32-33 
32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.  33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God (Ἀληθῶς θεοῦ υἱὸς εἶ)." 

When we trust God and all He says by seeing the truth as shown us by His accurate word and living Spirit of help, then we trust and can also echo the followers of Jesus by saying He really is the Son of God.  Nobody else could do what He did - God alone controls the universe, and can command it at will.  So we know we can trust Him with our lives.

Faith to Walk on Water

Matthew 14:28-31 
28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”  29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”  31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Do we have faith as Peter, jumping in to follow Jesus wherever He is and goes, only to immediately doubt and falter?  Or do we learn from those examples and encouraging promises that we can trust Him fully, and can follow in situations that seem impossible?  We can choose to doubt or trust as we follow.