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MATTHEW CHAPTERS 21 & 22
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Mat 21,1-3
· (68b) Authority Ø
Doing God’s work under His authority Ø
Natural Ministry of helps
Mat 21-2,3
· (110a) Thy kingdom come Ø
Spirit and the word Ø Spirit speaks through you
Ø Word of knowledge Ø
knowing their thoughts by the mind of Christ
Mat 21-4,5
· (141a) Witness Ø
Validity of Jesus Christ Ø Old Testament bears
witness to the new Ø It bears witness to Jesus Ø
Prophesy about Jesus’ ministry Ø Jesus as the
great shepherd
· (252b) Trinity Ø
You shall put no other gods before Me Ø Worship
Jesus (Because He is equal with God) Ø Jesus is
worthy of our worship Ø Worship Jesus for who
he is
-- These verses go with verses 15,16
Mat 21-6,7 -- No Entries
Mat 21-8,9
· (252b) Trinity Ø
You shall put no other gods before Me Ø Worship
Jesus (Because He is equal with God) Ø Jesus is
worthy of our worship Ø Worship Jesus for who
he is -- These verses go with verses 15,16
Mat 21-10,11 -- No Entries
Mat 21-12,13
· (69d) Authority Ø
Righteous judgment (outcome of discernment) Ø
God is angry at sin
--
We realize that in chapter 24 Jesus is going to give His exposé on end-time prophesy
regarding how the world intends to destroy itself, but in these verses, a couple chapters
prior to His teachings, Jesus casts the money lovers from God's sanctuary, who
were also spiritual leaders of His time.
What does that tell you? When you take these verses in context with His dissertation
in later chapters it suggests that in the last days there will be a
high concentration of spiritual leaders within the church who will be lovers
of money. This will be the precursor for end-time prophesy to unfold and for
the world to implode on itself through an unchecked passion for evil, since the
church abandoned its role in the world as the salt of the earth, which has
lost its savor and no longer has the power to preserve it by acting as its conscience
against sin.
Mat 21-14
· (145c) Witness Ø
Validity of Jesus Christ Ø Jesus’ works bear
witness of Himself Ø Healing Ø
Jesus healed them all
Mat 21-15,16
· (76d)
Thy kingdom come Ø Wicked motives Ø
Motives based on envy --
Envy is the single most destructive force in the universe. It may not seem like
it on the surface, yet it was the motive that Jesus' accusers had to crucify
Him, which was the single most wicked act of man's shady reputation. In these
verses the children bystanders were worshipping Him for all the wonderful things
He had been doing with the power of God. The chief priests and scribes didn't
want Jesus to get any more popular with the people than He already was, because
He was stealing their popularity away, and they knew it would ultimately
translate to fewer dollars in their pockets.
· (252b) Trinity Ø
You shall put no other gods before Me Ø Worship
Jesus (Because He is equal with God) Ø Jesus is
worthy of our worship Ø Worship Jesus for who
he is -- These verses go with verses 8,9.
If Jesus never committed a sin and worshipping other gods breaks the first and
most important commandment, then why did Jesus let the bystanders worship Him
without trying to do something to silence them as the chief priests and the
scribes told Him to do? There is only one explanation, Jesus is God!
Look at all the instances in the New Testament where Jesus allowed people to
worship Him and did nothing to stop them, in sharp contrast to the instances
where angels were worshiped and immediately stopped the people, directing them
to worship God (196c).
This holds a strong case for the trinity.
Mat 21-16
· (141c) Witness Ø
Validity of Jesus Christ Ø Old Testament bears
witness to the new Ø It bears witness to Jesus Ø
Prophesy about Jesus’ ministry Ø Jesus as the
Son of God
Mat 21-17 -- No Entries
Mat 21,18-22
· (49d)
Judgment Ø Those who are unfruitful in His
kingdom are destroyed --
Its a scary thought, but one that is well supported by the Scriptures, that
God wants us to be fruitful; He will have it no other way. Either we are
fruitful or we will dry up and die. Yes, our faith can die if we do not
protect and maintain it; read Lk 13,6-9. It is not enough that you personally
will dry up, but that God Himself will terminate your faith if you put forth
no effort to grow spiritually. God is offended when someone wants to go to
heaven to avoid hell, but doesn't want to know Him in any way.
· (83a) Thy kingdom come Ø
Receiving from God through prayer Ø Prayer of
faith
Mat 21-18,19
· (147h) Witness Ø
Validity of Jesus Christ Ø Jesus’ works bear
witness of Himself Ø God uses His power to be
destructive
Mat 21-19,20
· (215h) Sovereignty Ø
God controls time Ø
The judgments of God come suddenly Ø Without
delay
Mat 21-21,22
· (114g) Thy kingdom come Ø
Working the grace of God Ø Obeying the Holy
Spirit Ø Implementing the revelation of the
Holy Spirit
--
For those kind of results in prayer, you must be fully committed in your
relationship to God, both through diligent study in His word and through
powerful and frequent sessions of prayer. In other words for God to satisfy
your every whip, you must know Him as you would know your spouse. He would be
in control of your life and you would be praying His will, so your whims are
His longings, and your longings are His calling in your life. God would have
given you many revelations through a dynamic relationship like that, and you
would have already proved a potent zeal compelling enough to see those visions
to the end. We as believers in Jesus live by them, and if need be, die by
them. What we believe about Jesus is greater than ourselves and greater than
this life; we are believing God for eternal life, and what He shows us in the
spirit about His kingdom is that it is already here and attainable. This is
how the fig tree withered at once and is how the mountains will be removed in
God's time at your request through His impressions in your life.
Mat 21-22
· (85l) Thy kingdom come Ø
Belief Ø Treating the knowledge of God as fact Ø
Believing the Son by obeying the Father Ø
Obeying the law by faith in the cross
--
Although the Father and the Son are essentially equal in every way, yet they
hold different positions within the trinity; which one do you think has the
greater position? In the same way belief and obedience are one
and the same, yet one is greater than the other; which one do you think is
greater? Therefore, if the Father and obedience are greater,
then to obey the Father is greater than believing the Son. Since the Father is
associated with the old covenant law, which is inferior to the son's new
covenant Spirit, they cancel each other and the Father and the Son are seen
equal again, the Father with the greater position and the Son with the greater
covenant. So, the best of both worlds is to obey the Father through Jesus' new
covenant. The law is where the rubber meets the road, since it spells out in
painful detail what our lives should look like. It is a reflection of
ourselves that we should turn around and look at occasionally just to get a
ground view of our spiritual progress. If you find your self soaring with
windswept seeds but have left the law behind, it is solid proof that all your
spirituality is based squarely on emotion and not on God.
Mat 21,23-27
· (62a) Paradox Ø
Anomalies Ø Responding cleverly to your enemies
Ø Outwit them
· (75f) Thy kingdom come Ø
Motives Ø Being manipulative Ø
Questioning God’s authority
· (89e) Thy kingdom come Ø
Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom Ø Wise
questions
· (179a) Works of the devil Ø
The religion of witchcraft Ø Hypocrisy Ø
Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for
questioning His authority
--
The Pharisees were the authority of the land as leaders of their nation, since
their religion had ties with politics, with the economy and even with the
Roman empire who held them in bondage militarily to their own set of laws. Caesar
Himself had to dicker with Israel's religious figures in order to keep the
peace, yet Jesus never made any deals with the Pharisees, because He was not
going to put power in their hands to control His destiny or the destiny of the
church that He would establish. Instead, Jesus let His Father do the talking
for Him through convincing proofs of His identity, including the wisdom to
answer His enemies. Jesus humbled them so that they had to make one of two
choices, that either this man had something they didn't, and to sit down at
His feet and learn from Him as Mary did, or to allow jealousy to consume them
until they disposed of this person who continually proved His higher rank than
them in every way. As authority figures are, if you ask them a question they
feel no obligation to answer you, but if they ask you a question, they expect
an answer or cite you with contempt for their position. Jesus felt no
obligation to answer the Pharisees' questions, because they would never answer
any of His. By not answering their questions, Jesus was making the statement
that they had no authority over Him, who came from God whom they claim to
represent to the people and yet responded so adversely to His love and acted
so contrary to His ways and teachings.
· (206j) Salvation Ø
God makes promises on His terms Ø Conditions to
promises Ø Conditions to getting your prayers
answered
--
We talk to the Father through Jesus when we pray, so in a way the
conversations the Pharisees had with Jesus were like their prayers to Him.
They obviously did not get their prayers answered, just as obviously because
their heart was not with Him. This might sound silly, but we often pray to God
thinking our heart is with God, yet our prayers often go unanswered, and we
wonder why. Mostly the problem stems from what we mean by our heart being with
God; we don't know what it means to have our heart right with God, or if we
do, we don't know how to get it there. Whatever is in our hearts that is
greater than our relationship with God is getting in the way of our prayers.
It could be one thing or it could be hundred things collectively, this world
should not have the hold on us that it does. We should not be living this life
but sacrificing it so we can truly live! I know this is not a popular
statement or what the world would tell you to do, but it is Bible. Then and
only then can we pray and expect to receive what we asked from
God.
· (241c) Kingdom of God Ø
Opposition toward the kingdom of God Ø
Hindering the kingdom Ø Obstacles in the way of
the kingdom Ø Ask but don’t receive Ø
Asking with wrong motives
Mat 21,25-27
· (17h) Sin Ø
Judging in the flesh Ø Passing judgment
without seeking truth – Instead of diligently seeking truth
for making important decisions, some people strategize with what they call
truth as though
they were playing a game of chess. They make final
decisions based on predictions, hoping to manipulate the circumstances to change in their favor, as opposed to allowing the Holy Spirit and their
conscience to guide them in making right decisions through sacrifice and
conviction. However, Jesus put the Pharisees in a corner so there were no
right answers according to their perception of "truth" no matter
what they said. This flushed out the cruelty of their ways and exposed them
to the public as the religious villains they were.
· (166e) Works of the devil Ø
Manifestations of the devil Ø Wisdom of the
world Ø Nature Of Man’s Wisdom Ø
Man’s wisdom is fixed on gaining personal advantage
Mat 21-27
· (222g) Kingdom of God Ø
The elusive kingdom of heaven Ø Do not give
what is holy to dogs Ø God shares no intimacy
with dogs Ø God does not speak to dogs
-- There were a number of reasons Jesus did not answer the Pharisees. One of them
was that they would not answer Him if He asked them a question. When they took
Jesus by force to their mock trial and interrogated Him, He told them in Lk
22-67,68, "If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I ask a question,
you will not answer...." Jesus was not in the habit of answering people's
questions who did not reciprocate that respect. His mission was not to submit
to man's tyranny, but rather to set us free from such bondages. Jesus may have
submitted to the Roman guards, to His murderers, and He even answered their
question that night, He was the faithful witness, but He did not live under
their oppression, instead submitted by the will of God to fulfill His mission.
He made it clear that He had nothing in common with those guys and lived free
from their tyrannical ways and gave them no place to hold Him in bondage to
their godless religion.
Mat 21,28-46
· (178l) Works of the devil Ø
The religion of witchcraft Ø Hypocrisy Ø
Jesus rebukes the Pharisees Ø Rebuked for
having no love for God
--
The Pharisees and many of the Jews made the ill-omened assumption that they
were the chosen few who would find favor in God's eyes no matter what they did
or how they lived. They could be sons of the murderers of the prophets, and
they could be contriving a plan to dispose of Christ while deliberating with
Him and somehow God was not supposed to find fault with them. They thought they
were special based on some genealogical evidence asserting that they were part
of the lineage of the Hebrew priesthood. Jesus came and taught that bearing
fruit for the kingdom of God was greater than who you were genealogically or
otherwise, and the Pharisees took it hard since they believed in their Jewish
heritage. These religious leaders used their religion for
profit, shunned whomever they didn't like and killed whomever they couldn't shun.
It is the religion of witchcraft to use good for evil, such as the Bible to distort
the truth, and to believe in something evil to be good. The end justifies
the means they say, until their inheritance is taken away from them and given
to a nation producing the fruit of it. This too may well happen to this
country, if it doesn't relearn the fear of God instead of leaning of the
spirituality of its past. Our ancestors received their reward for their
stewardship or the lack of it, and we will receive ours.
Mat 21,28-32
· (20m) Sin Ø
Demonstrating unbelief through disobedience in the validity of God’s word
· (87i) Thy kingdom come Ø
Obedience Ø Those who obey believe
--
Perhaps the central theme of this parable is keeping an honest and open
heart to the Lord, as opposed to practicing deception. The first son showed
a lack of integrity by telling his father what he wanted to hear without
determining in his heart to work in the vineyard. The second son didn't want
to work in the vineyard either, but he was forthright in his answer because
he was honest; and it was his good heart that made him regret turning down
his father and later doing his will. Having an honest and good heart before
the Lord is worth more to Him than a hundred vineyard workers. His father
would have been more happy with the honest son than the dishonest son if
neither of them did his will, but an honest and sincere heart creates
conviction, which led the honest son to the vineyard to work.
Mat 21,28-31
· (225f) Kingdom of God Ø
Illustrating the kingdom Ø Parables Ø
Parables about wealth Ø Parables about a father
and his sons
Mat 21-28,29
· (174k) Works of the devil Ø
The religion of witchcraft Ø Form of godliness Ø
Lip service
· (182h) Works of the devil Ø
The origin of lawlessness Ø Deception Ø
Being deceptive with people Ø Lying to others
Mat 21-30
· (63d) Paradox Ø
Anomalies Ø Righteous deception Ø
God’s people deceive Jesus
Mat 21,33-44
· (201c) Denying Christ Ø
Whoever is not with Jesus is against him Ø You
are against Christ when your unbelief materializes Ø
If your heart is not with Him your deeds are against Him
· (225d) Kingdom of God Ø
Illustrating the kingdom Ø
Parables about wealth Ø Parables about a land
owner and his farm
Mat 21-38
· (17e) Sin Ø
Judging in the flesh Ø Based on greed –
This parable is about the insanity of the Jewish mind, who thought they
could kill Jesus and take His inheritance. Heaven was inaccessible; how
could they attain it? The thought of killing Jesus and taking his
inheritance resembles the thought of Lucifer, when he decided to take God’s
throne and was subsequently cast out of heaven. Satan was no more likely to
succeed in his mission than the Jews had access to the kingdom of God
without Christ.
Mat 21,42-44
· (137c) Temple Ø
Building the temple (with hands) Ø Jesus is the
foundation of the church Ø Jesus is the
cornerstone
Mat 21-42
· (141b)
Witness Ø Validity of Jesus Christ Ø
Old Testament bears witness to the new Ø It
bears witness to Jesus Ø Prophesy about
Jesus’ ministry Ø Jesus as head of the church
--
Without the Old Testament validating the New giving it perspective, a window
into the past to help properly interpret the present, Jesus would have looked
like He appeared from nowhere without reason to do something that no one could
have possibly understood. As it stands, however, He came by invitation; He
gave us fair warning, told us why He was coming and what He intended to do.
The world still doesn't know what He did, but the true church believes that
the one who came from heaven was God incarnate, sacrificed His flesh for a
people of His own possession, of whom He is the head. We know these things
mostly because of the Old Testament. The New Testament speaks of these things
too, but without the Old, there would be no legacy and therefore no occasion
to believe the New Testament. Consequently, the Old Testament is the
foundation of our faith in Jesus.
Mat 21-43,44
· (21e) Sin Ø
Disobedience Ø Unfruitful
· (49d) Judgment Ø
Those who are unfruitful in His kingdom are destroyed
-- There is a difference between falling on this stone and this stone falling
on you. If you fall on it, you may skin your knee, but if it falls on you,
well, we know what happens when boulders fall on people. The difference
is between the saved being broken of their sinful ways, and the unsaved dying
without faith in Jesus and facing a Christ-less eternity, whose life cannot be
recollected and continued, but blows away like dust in the wind.
Mat 21-43
· (157d) Witness Ø
Validity of the believer Ø Evidence of being
hell-bound Ø Being displeasing to God Ø
Leading a fruitless lifestyle
· (222b) Kingdom of God Ø
The elusive kingdom of heaven Ø Do not give
what is holy to dogs Ø God does not entrust his
treasures to dogs Ø God retrieves his treasures
when sheep revert to dogs
-- God took the kingdom away from the Jews (Israel) because of their unbelief,
but not the promises He had previously made to them throughout the Old
Testament. The promises are irrevocable. God never takes back what He says to
you, but He can make sure that what He promised will never come to pass in
your life. It is good to have the promises of God or to hear the voice of
His Spirit in your heart, but it is far better to see those promises come to
pass and blossom in our care. In this way every one can partake in what you
believe about the Bible and in what God says to you personally, as His
promises pass from pen and paper to fulfillment in the world. The Jews did nothing
to ensure this would happen with the things they heard from God, and for this reason,
the fulfillment of His promises were taken
away from them. Don't let this happen to you, but believe; never stop
believing in God.
Mat 21-44
· (47d) God Judges the world Ø
Hell is a place of destruction
-- To be scattered like dust is to be utterly destroyed. One of the
descriptions of hell is that it is a place of destruction. The nation of
Israel has been scattered throughout the world like dust in every corner. God has given us Israel as an example of what can happen to us if
we disobey Him. They are also our example in that God will again restore
Israel to their proper faith in the last days. God will never give up on you,
but He can make it hard on you if you resist Him beyond certain limits. However, if
you die in unbelief, there is no future in that.
Mat 22,1-14
· (21b) Sin Ø
Disobedient to the call
· (91i) Thy kingdom come Ø
The called Ø God’s calling transcends the
will of man Ø We are called by God through His
choice of us
· (198c) Denying Christ Ø
Man exercises his will against God Ø Man
withers when he is in control Ø Ungrateful
· (201a) Denying Christ Ø
Whoever is not with Jesus is against him Ø He
is against Christ who does not receive Him Ø
Whoever does not receive God’s word is against Christ
--
This is a parable about Jesus' gospel being rejected by those for whom it was
initially intended, prophesy was made against the future of the nation Israel,
and the gospel was given to a people of low standing in the world who would
receive His message. Notice in verse 7 it says that God sent His
armies (That army was Rome) to destroy the nation and people of Israel who
rejected Him. God worked with Israel throughout history to bring about His
vision and purpose to the world and they systematically rejected Him at every
juncture. Finally they rejected their own Messiah, so He sent Rome to destroy
them, a heathen nation that claimed no affiliation with the God of Israel. How
often do things happen in the world (whether things good or bad) where God is
directly in charge of the circumstances and consequences of men's actions? Is
it possible to reject God's word, His will and ultimately His ways and still
be in right standing with Him or remain outside His terrible judgment, or does
it happen that when we reject His word we are rejecting God Himself? Notice
also that the farmers and business men did not scream or cause an uproar when
invited to the wedding feast, but simply excused themselves from their duty to
the gospel, and that was enough to constitute rejection. Once more, if God
were willing to reject the nation to whom the promises were made, how much
more would He be willing to reject the nation that was grafted on to that
nation as a wild olive branch (Rom 11,17-21)? We are all invited to this
wedding feast; do not politely excuse yourself from it.
· (224e) Kingdom of God Ø
Illustrating the kingdom Ø Description of
heaven Ø The joyful kingdom Ø
The marriage supper of the lamb
--
The marriage supper of the lamb is scheduled to take place between the end of
this age and the beginning of the millennium. This is a wedding feast to
celebrate the long awaited joining of Christ with the church, which will
consist of all the people of faith from both the old and new
· (225k) Kingdom of God Ø
Illustrating the kingdom Ø
Parables about the wedding feast
Mat 22,1-6
· (201j) Denying Christ Ø
Man chooses his own destiny apart from God Ø
Running from God Ø Man’s will over God Ø
God permits man to go his own way
Mat 22-2,3
· (14f) Servant Ø
Ministry of helps Ø Helpers obey Christ
Mat 22,3-6
· (18i) Sin Ø
Twisted thinking Ø God’s purpose is evil
Mat 22-3,4
· (67n) Authority Ø
Doing God’s work under His authority Ø
Ministry of helps Ø Help God
Mat 22,4-7
· (48m) Judgment Ø
Jesus’ enemies are destroyed Ø Enemies of His
grace -- These verses go with verses 11-14
Mat 22-6
· (242a) Kingdom of God Ø
Opposition toward the kingdom of God Ø
Persecuting the kingdom Ø Persecution to the
death Ø Killing God’s prophets
Mat 22,7-14
· (64a) Paradox Ø
Anomalies Ø Limits of God Ø
God cannot tolerate sin Ø He cannot allow
unbelief in His presence
· (218a) Sovereignty Ø
God overrides the will of man Ø God’s will
over man Ø You cannot control the judgment of
God Ø You cannot control how God responds to
rejection
Mat 22-7
· (69d) Authority Ø
Righteous judgment (outcome of discernment) Ø
God is angry at sin
Mat 22,8-10
· (150a) Witness Ø
Validity of Jesus Christ Ø Works of the church
bear witness to Jesus Ø Evangelism Ø
Invitation to the kingdom of God
Mat 22-9,10
· (51i) Judging the Church with the world Ø
Do not show partiality to one another
Mat 22,10-14
· (172d) Works of the devil Ø
Manifestations of the devil Ø Tares among the
wheat Ø Communion between the world and the
church Ø Worldliness in the church
· (193j) Die to self (Process of substitution) Ø
Turn from sin to God Ø Repent Ø
Consequences for not repenting
Mat 22,11-14
· (48m) Judgment Ø
Jesus’ enemies are destroyed Ø Enemies of His
grace -- These verses go with verses 4-7
Mat 22,11-14
· (90i) Thy kingdom come Ø
Keeping the law Ø Righteousness of the law Ø
All righteousness is covered by the law -- These verses go with verses
36-40
·
(113c) Thy kingdom come
Ø
The anointing Ø Heaven’s clothes Ø
Clothe yourself with good works --
The anointing is perhaps the most talked about and least understood subject of
the Bible in the sense that it is implied many times and in many ways, for
example in this case when it is referred to as wedding clothes. Rev
19-8 is the key verse for this concept, "And to her [the church]
was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the
fine linen is the [righteous acts] of saints."
· (158i) Counterfeit
(Key verse)
· (159c) Works of the devil Ø
Counterfeit godliness Ø Counterfeit Christian
--
The wedding clothes in this parable, representing the anointing, and consisting
of the righteous acts of the saints is not optional to entering heaven.
Do I mean you must have an anointing as a prerequisite to enter heaven? No! Do I
mean you must clothe yourself with the righteous acts of the saints as a prerequisite
to enter heaven? Yes! Or do you embrace the demon-generated doctrines of
easy-believism to think you can be a Christian but not produce the fruit of the
Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness...? Remember, those righteous
acts are the anointing, and be sure to distinguish between the works of
the Spirit and mere self-righteousness. It is the Spirit of God Himself that
makes the distinction, we must discern between flesh and Spirit, hint: one is
sweet and one is bitter.
· (222h) Kingdom of God Ø
The elusive kingdom of heaven Ø Do not give what
is holy to dogs Ø God shares no intimacy with
dogs Ø God does not let dogs in His house
Mat 22-13,14
· (47g) God Judges the world Ø
Hell is a place of darkness
Mat 22,15-46
· (178k) Works of the devil Ø
The religion of witchcraft Ø Hypocrisy Ø
Jesus rebukes the Pharisees Ø Rebuked for
accusing Jesus of Sin
Mat 22,15-22
· (7h)
Responsible to defend God’s cause Ø
Protecting the church --
There is something in Jesus' response to the Pharisees that is largely
overlooked. When Jesus said, "Render to Caesar the things that are
Caesar's and to God the things that are God's," nearly everyone
understands that He concurred with paying Caesar's poll-tax, but what did
Jesus mean by, 'Render to God the things that are God's?' Most people
interpret this statement as Jesus advocating to 'pay your tithes,' and perhaps
He was in fact suggesting this. He was talking to the Pharisees and told them
to "render to God the things that are God's," that is, render your
heart and render to God the people who would believe in Jesus. Luke 11-52
says, "Woe unto you, lawyers! [Pharisees and lawyers are in one basket] for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered."
If you don't want God or heaven, that is your business, but to get on God's
bad side persecute the truth and hinder those who want to believe.
· (62a) Paradox Ø
Anomalies Ø Responding cleverly to your enemies
Ø Outwit them -- These verses go with
verses 31-46
· (179b)
Works of the devil Ø The religion of witchcraft
Ø Hypocrisy Ø
Jesus rebukes the Pharisees Ø Rebuked for
loving money
Mat 22-18
· (68i) Authority Ø
Discernment Ø Judging truth and error Ø
Perceiving wicked motives
Mat 22,29-32
· (39b) Judgment Ø
Jesus defeated death Ø Characteristics of the
resurrection
--
the world says they don't want to go to heaven just to pick up a harp and
stand on some cloud playing boring music, but they "are mistaken, not
understanding the Scriptures or the power of God. We are saddened when we read
this portion of Scripture to learn that in the next world there will be
neither male nor female, where the union between a man and a woman no longer
exists. Our fist impression is that it would be an inferior existence.
However, we were not there with God nor did we help Him make decisions about
how to create man and woman; He did it on His own, and we think He did a great
job. Why then don't we trust Him again to make another creation that He
promises to be better than the first? Ps 16-11 says, "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is
fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."
· (224a) Kingdom of God Ø
Illustrating the kingdom Ø Description of
heaven Ø Describing the kingdom after he makes
all things new Ø Description of the
resurrection
Mat 22-29,30
· (136c) Temple Ø
Your spirit is the temple of God Ø The body of
Christ Ø Similarity in the body Ø
No distinction between male and female
Mat 22-29
· (79l) Thy kingdom come Ø
Know the word as a sword in spiritual warfare Ø
To defend yourself from religion
· (109j)
Thy kingdom come Ø Spirit and the word Ø
Spirit the teacher Ø Spirit of truth is our
teacher
· (177g) Misunderstanding
(Key verse)
· (177i) Works of the devil Ø
The religion of witchcraft Ø Presumption Ø
Misunderstanding the word of
God
· (182f) Works of the devil Ø
The origin of lawlessness Ø Deception Ø
Three causes of interpreting Scripture falsely Ø
Because they do not understand the Scriptures
--
Jesus told the Sadducees there were two reasons they were mistaken: They didn't
understand the Scriptures and they didn't understand the power of God. They
didn't understand either one because they work together as a teem. The
Scriptures bring understanding to the power of God and (when experienced) the
power of God reinforces the Scriptures. The Scriptures work to lead you in the
dark while the power of God act as milestones to the Scriptures, concrete events
affirming the will of God. Jesus naturally used these tools symbiotically
throughout His ministry, since He was the word of God Himself in bodily form and
the power of God come from heaven.
Mat 22,31-46
· (62a) Paradox Ø
Anomalies Ø Responding cleverly to your enemies
Ø Outwit them -- These verses go with
verses 15-22.
Mat 22-31,32
· (239k)
Kingdom of God Ø Pursuing the knowledge of the
kingdom Ø Teachers Ø
Let not many of you become teachers Ø Dividing
accurately the word of truth -- Jesus interpreted these well known
verses, and brought them to light in a way that no one before Him ever did, accentuating
the idea that God does not rule over dead people, and suggesting that the patriarchs
of ancient times are still alive. He did not go over a long, blown-out dissertation,
but spoke a few small words about one of the most popular verses of the Old
Testament and it caused them to take a new, fresh look at the God they served
and helped them realize what they have been overlooking for centuries
regarding their most fundamental beliefs. The word of God is full of epiphanies
such as that, lost knowledge just waiting to be re-realized as did other
generations before them. An example of this is Luther with His revelation of
faith. One of Jesus' advantages to
interpreting this scripture was that He Himself saw Abraham in heaven. Perhaps
a better word for Advantage would be Experience. We may not have
the advantage of seeing heaven, but we can experience the things of the God
through the word of God and prayer.
Mat 22,36-40
· (90i) Thy kingdom come Ø
Keeping the law Ø Righteousness of the law Ø
All righteousness is covered by the law -- These verses go with verses
11-14
Mat 22-44
· (67b) Authority Ø
Jesus is at the right hand of the father Ø He
is above all other authorities
See
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