OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS PROPHETS BUT THE PEOPLE FOUND EXCUSES TO DISREGARD THEM

The Lord Jesus, continuing His explanation of John the Baptist's ministry in Matthew chapter 11 verses 16 - 19, said this;

16 “But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, 17 and saying:

‘We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not lament.’

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”

The Lord commented on the state of the society and its leaders at the time of John the Baptist and the Messiah.

The scoffing and cynical status quo had two citizens of heaven arrive in rapid succession with opposite modes of operation.

John conducted his ministry in a mournful mode codified by reclusion and fasting. The establishment, finding this to be too austere, labled John a demonniac as a way of denigrating and dismissing him.

On the other hand, Jesus conducted His ministry in a celebratory mode codified by sharing in food and drink and by gathering with people from all sectors of the society.

For Him, the establishment gave the labels of glutton, drunkard and associate of outcasts.

In current parlance, we would use the idiom  'damned if you do, damned if you don't' to describe the establishment's critical attacks on any person who was sent to them proclaiming a standard of righteousness that was not welcome. No matter how the messengers approached and how they presented themselves, their message was always rejected.

Jesus compared this conduct by the leaders of the society to the silly games that children played in the market place where some of them would not cooperate and join in no matter what form of activty was initiated. This would prompt calls by the kids (who wanted to engage everyone in play) to say;

‘We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not lament.’

The Lord concluded His commentary on the stance of the society by saying that wisdom is justified by her children.

If wisdom is used, the validity of the wisdom is vindicated by the results it yields.

Whether or not  rejecting the message from heaven was wisdom would be evident in the day of judgement. As Psalm 37 verse 6 says;

He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT A PROPHET TO PREPARE THE WAY BEFORE THE MESSIAH

When John's followers left to take the Lord's message back to John, the Lord Jesus taught the people about John the Baptist and the significance of his ministry and the sea change that had occured since his arrival.

Matthew chapter 11 verses 7 - 15 says it this way;

7 As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. 10 For this is he of whom it is written:

‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’

11 “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14 And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Jesus asked the group of people around Him what had attracted them out to the wilderness when John was preaching there.

The Lord answered for them and told them that they had gone out to the wilderness because John was a genuine prophet from God speaking with authority and conviction.

The Lord then told them that John was a greater prophet than all other prophets prior to him but in the spiritual  kingdom that Jesus Himself was instituting in earth, the lowest ranking member would be greater than John.

The comparison reflects how momentous Jesus' own mission was because it was bringing in a system of salvation that was so great that the nothing that came before it, even with all the glory that it had, could match it.

Since John started preaching, the Kingdom of Heaven, reaching down to get a foothold on the earth, was suffering a violent counterattack as the agents of darkness were being promted to strike at it in order to snuff it out.

Whereas Moses and the prophets were prophesying into the future about the coming kingdom of heaven, John was the old covenant prophet who actually came into contact with the kingdom of heaven and was no longer prophecying but contending for the platform on which the Messiah would be presented.

John was the warrior prophet in the order of Elijah who was prophesied about and had now come and had plunged into the battle for righteousness headlong for which he was now imprisoned.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS ONLY SON TO SAVE US AND THERE IS NONE OTHER TO EXPECT

The Lord Jesus, having completed issueing His instructions and guidance to His followers on the side of the mountain, left from that area and began moving through the territory preaching the good news of the kingdom of God. 

As Jesus travelled, John the Baptist ( who was in prison ), heard of Jesus' activities. 

John was perplexed by the variance between what He thought the promised Messiah whom He had  heralded would usher in and what he was actually hearing while in prison.

John believed that the Messiah would come as a conquering king who would deliver Israel out of the hands of the Romans and bring the rulership of the God of Israel to the whole earth.

What was happening instead was that he himself was imprisoned and Israel was still under the control of the Romans with no sign of abatement.

John, as delicately as he could, sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus a question.

1 Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.

2 And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples     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.”

The question John asked stemmed from the conflict that John felt over the fact that he had, with certainty, identified Jesus as the promised Messiah when Jesus arrived at the Jordan river to be baptized and yet John found himself languishing in prison and no great political earthquakes were occuring in the country since that day.

 “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”

When Jesus was asked this question, He recognized the cause of John's internal conflict as a misunderstanding of the progression of events that were to transpire once the Coming One was identified.

Jesus told the messengers to watch the miracle services he was conducting and witness with their own eyes that He was indeed doing what was prophesied in the book of Isaiah chapter 35 verse 5 - 6 which foretold of coming time when these things would occur when the arrival of the reign of Zion would draw God's people and they would experience supernatural interventions. 

5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert.

The Lord sent a message back to John to assure him that all his toil was not in vain and that the program was proceeding exactly as prophecied even though it was not playing out as expected.

The Lord added that there is a blessing that stems from not being offended by the unexpected manifestations of the Lord's agenda and from a willingness to dump our own tightly held orthodoxies in the face of new revelation from the scriptures.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO REWARDS THOSE WHO RECIEVE HIS PEOPLE 

Reaching the end of Matthew chapter 10, we examine verses 40 - 42 that describes an  economy of renumeration that operates in the kingdom of God.

40 “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”

The Lord Jesus tells His disciples that if a person recieves them and in accepting them,  provides hospitality for them, that person's response is registered as a direct gesture of acceptance towards the Lord Jesus and towards the Father.

An example of this economy of direct action towards God being achieved by actions towards His disciples can  be found in the book of Acts chapter 9 verse 4 where the Lord confronts Saul;

Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

In this case, Saul's harsh actions towards the Lord's followers were transmitting directly to Jesus such that He asked Saul why he was persecuting Him.

Verse 41 enigmatically describes a system of gradation of renumeration that is predicated on the ranking of the person to whom a gesture of a acceptance is made.

If a person hospitably receives a prophet having been identified himself as a prophet, the person shall receive a prophet's reward and likewise for a righteous man.

The nature of the rewards for prophets and righteous men is not explained in the context but, inferring from other biblical contexts, coming alongside a prophet or a righteous man to aid them and facilitate they work results in their mantles being conferred upon the host in the way that Elija's mantle was conferred upon Elisha and Moses' mantle conferred upon Joshua.

Verse 42, in buttressing the principles of verse 41, asserts that even a tiny gesture like a person offering a cup of cold water to one of Jesus'  followers  who identifies himself as a disciple, that person shall never lose the commensurate reward.

This affirms the granularity of the kingdom of God's tracking system. In a realm where every hair on a person's head is numbered, each miniscule act of favour upon the Lord's servants is transmitted all the way to God and will not be forgotten at the time that rewards are issued.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE KINGDOM IS IN OPPOSITION TO THE THINGS OF THIS WORLD

The Lord Jesus, in Matthew chapter 10 verses 34 - 39, continues delving into the heavy spiritual principles that are at work when a person seeks to participate in the kingdom of God.

34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’;      36 and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ 

37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

The conditions that will surround a person when they commit themselves to the kingdom of God include these listed here;

• No peace while on the earth but battle
• Division between fathers and sons
• Division between mothers and daughters
• Division between inlaws
• Opposition from ones' own household

The Lord explained to His followers that the pursuit of the kingdom of God requires that the kings of the kingdom of God be their highest priority.

Membership in the kingdom of God requires that the love of parents and children be displaced by the love for the King of the kingdom of God or else, one would be disqualified.

Similarly, if a person aspiring to the kingdom of God does not bear the burdens of persecution and hazards of membership in the kingdom, they would be disqualified.

The kingdom of God is an exacting domain and its mission on earth is a pitched battle against the kingdom of darkness that by definition is lawless and cruel.

Where those in the kingdom of God come into contact with the world and the kingdom of darkness, a clash of civilizations erupts and thus the followers of Jesus are advised to be prepared to endure these conditions of conflict.

The Lord completes the laying the groundwork for the concept of spiritual conflict with an axiomatic principle in verse 39; 

He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

When operating in the kingdom of God and serving its King, a person who in the face of danger tries to preserve his own life, will instead lose it while the person who relinquishes his life for the King of the kingdom of God, will gain his life.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO KNOWS WHEN EVERY SPARROW FALLS 

The Lord Jesus, teaching His disciples in Mathew chapter 10 verses 27 - 33, teaches the mode of transmission that will be used in the dissemination of the goods news of the kingdom of God  in the light of the fierce resistance they will face.

In their secret places of prayer, they would receive the messages from Jesus that they would then proclaim in the open. 

And even in the hostile environment, they were not to fear the response of their detractors who could only kill the body and not the soul. Rather than fear men, the Lord told them that they should fear God who could destroy the body and soul in hell.

27 “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

The Lord informed His followers that the Father knows when every sparrow falls even though they could be bought at the market for almost nothing. If the Father tracks the life of each sparrow, how much more does He track the life of those who trust in Him? 

The Lord adds that the Father knows so much about each of us that every hair on our heads are numbered by him.

This matches verse 17 of Psalm 139 which says in the NIV;

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!

In light of the opposition they would face carrying the good news of the kingdom and in the light of the direct and personal interest that the Father has in each of them, the Lord Jesus then charges His followers to publicly identify with him.

This association with Jesus, even when it is hazardous to His followers, is what formally registers before the Father that the believer is in Jesus and thus can be inducted into kingdom matters by the Father.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE SON ENDURED PERSECUTION FOR THE SAKE OF THOSE BEING SAVED

Continuing with the preparation of His disciples for the reality of their mission, the Lord Jesus, in Mathew chapter  10 verses 21 - 26 explained the severity of the blowback they would encounter as they undertook the spreading of the gospel.

21 “Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 22 And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! 26 Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.

The introduction to the gospel brings such stark divisions into any society such that even brothers hand their brothers over to inquisitors and fathers betray their children and children turn in their own parents to be executed.

Citizens of the kingdom of darkness will respond with revulsion to the announcement of the arrival of the kingdom of light and the messengers of the kingdom will be hated and hunted but the Lord tells his followers that those who suffer persecution and pressure without surrendering their faith even unto death will be saved.

The Lord Jesus gives them a pattern to follow when navigating the gauntlet of spreading the gospel as sheep among wolves. If persecution mounts in one city, move to the next and continue the mission there. The Lord assures His followers that they would not exhaust the available cities to flee to before the Son of Man appears.

The disciples were taught that students are not above their teacher and therefore, if their teacher is subjected to insults and denegrations, the students would be favoured to be equal to their teacher in this regard.

The Lord told His disciples not to fear those who seek to harm them because of the gospel because all things done in darkness will be revealed to all and the things that are concealed will be laid bare

Amen.

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