MATTHEW CHAPTERS 17 & 18
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Mat 17,1-21
(112b) Thy kingdom come >>
Faith >> Light
>> Jesus’ light overcomes darkness >>
The light of His power
--
The power of God emanated from Jesus because He is the light of the world. He came to show us the way to the
Father.
Mat 17,1-5
(67a)
Authority >> Lordship of Christ >>
Jesus’ authority >> The glory of His authority –
Disciples of Jesus are witnesses of His Truth and light, as
Peter, James and John were witnesses of His transfiguration. We are the light
of Christ in the world, and Christ is the origin of all things,
who speaks the word of God and the Father
does His works through Him. This is the
hierarchy of authority in heaven. We are light bearers of His Truth, and we teach the creation about God.
One in authority need only speak, and the word of His power is delegated to
his servants. An emperor wields the
authority of a nation, as God wields the authority of His creation, and He does
all things through His word, and Christ has made us a link in the chain of His authority that
we disseminate
to His creation.
(140d) Temple >>
Temple made without hands >> Hiding place >>
Living in the spiritual revelation of the word
-- Peter wanted to build a house for Christ and His guests, but He already
had a dwelling place that Peter was unaware. Jesus was living in the revelation of God's word. He
was the tabernacle made without
hands, in the sense that He had no earthly father, and He was the embodiment of
all truth and wisdom from God.
Mat 17-2
(245c) Kingdom of God >>
Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >>
Literal manifestations >> Literal manifestation
of Jesus Christ >> Jesus is the light of the
world –
The Transfiguration was a literal manifestation of Jesus Christ as the
light of the world, as the divine source of Truth from God. In
eternity the Lord will shine like the sun because of the Truth that is in Him.
We could attribute light to His righteousness or to His holiness or to His
deity, but He shines as the embodiment of God’s Truth. A person can say something that corresponds with the
facts, such as 2+2=4, but it is not the Truth, suggesting that
there is a difference between facts and truth. Truth is greater than facts as
light trumps darkness. Technically, darkness does not have an existence of
its own, for it can only exist in the absence of light, and light is the epitome of all that exists,
and Satan is the antithesis of Christ. It says about Satan in Rev 17-8 that He “was and is not.”
This phrase describes the dragon as darkness. Darkness simultaneously is and is not. When we look at
darkness, we can see it, but we can’t see anything else (what we are really
seeing is the absence of light), but when we flip on the switch, light reveals
all things.
When a person finally understands a math problem the light bulb appears over his
head. He has been
transferred from ignorance to knowledge, as “from the domain of darkness…
to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col 1-13), but we can only know God’s
Truth as He gives ability. Truth is more than facts; Truth is
the life of God, as Jesus said in Jn 6-63, “The words that I have spoken to
you are spirit and are life.” An unbeliever can read the Bible and learn about God, but he cannot know the
truth until God enlightens him,
imbuing him with His Spirit. When he believes the facts to the point of
obeying them, the light turns on and he can see God (Mat 5-8). See also:
Satan is the accuser of the brethren;
Col 2-14,15; 9a
Mat 17,4-8
(237i)
Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >>
Transferring the kingdom >> The Church is
transferred to the kingdom >> The ascension >>
Believers’ spiritual ascension –
There is a popular teaching that Moses and Elijah will return in the last days
as the Two Witnesses; it won't actually be them but two other men who have
similar anointings and ministries. Elijah
never died; He was received into heaven in a chariot of fire, and though it
says Moses died, no one has ever discovered his bones. He walked up a
mountainside without an escort and died alone in an undisclosed location, and
Scripture speaks nothing more about the details of his death, except in Jd-9, "Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" Some
say that Moses too was taken alive into heaven, for they presume that he
didn't die as we understand death, they say which opens the door to the
possibility that He will return as one of the Two Witnesses of Revelation chapter
eleven, quoting Heb 9-27, “Inasmuch as it is
appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.” There is a
passage in Revelation chapter 11 that says the Two Witnesses will die and be raised
from the dead, supplying what Moses and Elijah need to be complete, but none of
these teachings hold water. If the Two Witnesses had to be two men who never
died, they would be Elijah and Enoch, and if people are going to be
dogmatic that every man must die, then what about the Rapture
that promises to take millions of people to heaven who never died? See also: Two
Witnesses (John the Baptist had the ministry of Elijah); Mat 17,10-13; 193d
Mat 17,4-6
(17g) Sin >>
Judging in the flesh >> Perceiving reality according to the flesh (Satanic world
view) – The disciples were used to
seeing Jesus as the person who had special abilities, but they hesitated to accept some of the ramifications
of His deity. In
order to see Him the way they wanted they had to dismiss many things
He said about Himself, but when His face shone so brightly they could not look
upon Him, it made them take a closer look at His true identity.
They misunderstood Jesus, much as they
misunderstood their own part in the advent. They wanted to participate in some
way, but their place was merely to witness His glory.
(175k) Works of the devil >>
The religion of witchcraft >>
Ignorant of what God means >> Ignorant of the
meaning of God’s works
--
It's a hard statement but a true one that much of what we do for God in ignorance
resembles witchcraft. Apparently, Jesus can
transfigure His body to the glory that is to come and we still wouldn't get
it, according to the example of the disciples. Peter didn't know what to do after
Jesus turned
into something so powerful that He could not look upon Him. His
understanding of the Old Testament was mostly what the
Scribes and Pharisees taught him before he met the Lord. The only thing he could think to do was
build Him a temple, but that was the wrong answer, because it was conceived from human
initiative and not from divine inspiration.
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Mat 17-4
(224ha)
Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >>
Description of heaven >> The joyful kingdom >>
We will recognize our family members in heaven –
If Peter recognized Moses and Elijah, two men he had never previously met, how
much more will we recognize our family members in heaven whom we intimately knew?
Somehow, Peter instinctively knew them, and we will instinctively know our
family members in heaven, though they may not appear the same as they did on
earth. We know that Moses and Elijah did not bodily meet with Jesus on the
mount, because the First Resurrection had not yet occurred. They remain in
heaven as disembodied spirits until then, and they were somehow made visible to the
disciples.
Mat 17-5
(79h) Listening to
the
Word (Key verse)
(79j) Thy kingdom come >>
Know the word >> Listen to the word >>
Listen to Jesus –
Jesus in the flesh was the Friend and Master of His disciples, but God in His
power and glory was someone to fear. The Father bore witness of His Son, who spoke
independently of Him and revealed that there are multiple aspects of God. Jesus came
as the exact representation of the Father, and the Father spoke in the cloud to
show the disciples that there was a person of God who was separate from
Christ. This was to prove that the Father sent His Son, that He did not come on
His own initiative (Jn 3-16). They heard the voice of God, a person they had never known,
except that they beheld Jesus (Jn
14-9). This suggests that the one who hears Jesus hears the Father, for He spoke
the words of God. We have in the Transfiguration a clear example of the Holy Spirit and the word of God
operating together to establish the power of God in those who heard. The Father
spoke, and it was the word of His Spirit they heard, testifying about the person
of Christ. All three members of the trinity
were working in tandem, which made it a powerful experience
for the disciples, and the message He brought was to simply listen to
Jesus, for listening to Him is to hear God. When the Father told the disciples to listen to Jesus, He was
telling us to do the same. We listen to Jesus in the Bible, and we do what He says
so His Spirit can speak to us as He spoke to them. Jesus taught many things and
His disciples interpreted most of what He said according to the religious beliefs of their
day, but God told them
on the holy mountain that they should abandon what they had previously known and
accept what Jesus was telling them and let His perspective on the Truth become
theirs. This was a daunting command, for unlearning
is much more difficult than learning. When
Jesus rose from the dead, they let go of all their previous beliefs and accepted the one Truth that
Jesus was trying to tell them for three years, that the gospel of eternal life
has come, written in God's own blood. When He ascended to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit
and anointed their understanding of Jesus, they recalled the things Jesus said and did over
their three-year journey with
Him, and they began to understand everything according to the Spirit they were
given, the same Spirit they heard on the holy mountain, the Spirit that was given to us who believe. See also: Trinity; Jn 6-46; 104f
Mat 17-6,7
(23l) Sin >>
Poverty (Oppression) >> Fear of the unknown >>
Fear of miracles
--
People in general are not good at accepting paradigm shifts. Peter, James and
John were frightened of Jesus after the transfiguration occurred, because it shattered their
perception of Him, and proved that He was truly not of this world. They perceived that He was a being from another dimension far greater than their
own to whom they could not entirely relate. All they knew for sure at this
point was that He did not fit the image they painted of Him in their minds.
Mat 17-9
(214k)
Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> God Has
Good Timing >> God synchronizes events in His time --
There were so many miraculous things that
happened in Jesus day, they didn’t report half of them. Jesus told His
disciples to keep it a secret what they had just witnessed, having said this
many times, sternly warning the people not to say a word,
suggesting that there was a risk of too much popularity. Jesus knew He would be
crucified making the great confession that He was the Son of God, so He didn’t want
this getting around. He wanted people to believe it about Him, but He didn't
want them to talk about it, because He didn't want to be killed before the time.
He was on a schedule set by the Father with everything in its time. Our eternal God who has all the time in
eternity is extremely time oriented when it comes to scheduled events.
Mat 17,10-13
(50dc) Judgment >>
Last Days >> Jewish Led
endtime revival >> Israel prophesied to restore the gentiles to salvation
(193d)
Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >>
Repent >> Turn from your evil ways >> Turn from sin to God –
John the Baptist’s purpose was to prepare the way for Messiah and to “restore all
things” (Mat 17-11). His ministry was to break the ice, so when Jesus came
they were already be expecting Him. John testified about the light so that all
might believe in Jesus through him. We know that Israel at the time was
spiritually in tatters; they got that way from many centuries of
disobedience. It wasn’t through their unbelief in the Law of Moses that led
them astray but by their disobedience, with the result that they interpreted the
law according to
the way they lived. This happened over a course of many centuries,
until their understanding of the law was skewed beyond remedy. Then John the
Baptist entered the scene with his message of repentance, and Israel’s understanding of the law
suddenly became clear again. Hundreds of years of misuse of the law was restored, so
when Jesus came, He didn’t have to start from scratch. The same thing will
happen in the last days through the Two Witnesses and the 144,000 Jews, who will
come to restore the Church to the obedience of faith in a Great Endtime Revival.
See also: Two Witnesses; Mat 17,10-12; 59a / Great Endtime Revival (John the Baptist had the ministry of Elijah);
Lk 7,24-28; 193d
Mat 17,10-12
(59a) Paradox >>
Two implied meanings >> Spirit of Elijah is
coming / John the Baptist was like Elijah
-- These verses are key to understanding end-time prophesy. The ministry of Elijah
is referring to the Two Witnesses in the book of Revelation. (Whether Elijah
is actually one of the Two Witnesses is doubtful.) A quick study on John the Baptist
reveals the ministry of Elijah, and add a figure like Moses and we develop a snapshot
of the Two Witnesses. One of them will have the ministry of Elijah, wielding
the power of God, fighting the devil incarnate and his false prophets, and the second of
the two will lead the Church into the wilderness. Jesus said about them that the goal of
their ministries is to restore all things. This suggest that things must not be going too
well for the Church in the last days if the Two Witnesses have a ministry of restoration. See
also: Two
witnesses (Moses and Elijah); Mat 17,4-8; 237i
Mat 17,14-21
(45m) Judgment >>
Spiritual warfare >> Subjecting your flesh >>
Satan VS the saints >> Demons are subject to the Church through Christ
(146f) Witness >>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear
witness of Himself >> Deliverance from demon
possession >> Casting out
violent demons –
Jesus told us to pray when casting out certain demons. Prayer literally communes with Christ,
which is something demons cannot endure for long. The
Bible teaches that demons actually rule of the
world, and Satan is ruler of demons; they are disembodied spirits that
possess people for the purpose of interfacing with the world while tormenting
their victims, and all they hope to accomplish is to steal, kill and destroy. They don't love the world; in fact, they are incapable of loving anything. Jesus’ disciples asked Him, why
they couldn’t cast out the demon,
and He said, “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
There are stubborn demons that don’t come out so quickly but bring
resistance, and their resistance is just another lie that says you don’t have authority to
exorcise them, which in fact we do. Jesus didn’t say we could cast out some
demons and not others but said there are some that won't obey us except
by prayer and fasting. Apparently, it depends on the power of the demon, yet how is stubbornness related
to its power, for every demon is stubborn? Jesus didn’t have to pray or fast to cast out
the most stubborn demons. In Mk 5,1-13 they upset
the entire town, being so strong that no one could bind them, breaking
their fetters and running among the tombs, but we must pray and fast to
exorcise these powerful demons because of the littleness of our faith.
Mat 17,14-18
(138b) Temple >>
Building the temple (with hands) >> Reproof >>
Jesus reproves His disciples for their unbelief
--
These were strong words against the disciples for their inability to
perform miracles, but this was Jesus' standard. They needed
to get used to performing miracles on a daily basis, until it became a normal
part of their lives, even as it was for their Master. Jesus knew that if they
were unable to perform miracles through the hand of God, their own hands in
a couple generations would pick up swords and spears in the name of God as
tools for spreading the gospel. "O unbelieving and perverted
generation," He said to them; what would He say of the generations
that followed, and what is He saying about us today?
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Mat 17,15-21
(241e) Kingdom of God >>
Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >>
Hindering the kingdom >> Obstacles in the way of
the kingdom >> Ask but don’t receive because of unbelief –
The Bible teaches that believing the wrong thing is the same as unbelief in
the truth. Although Jesus had been talking to His disciples for years about
His Truth, still He could not shake them from their preconceived notions. They were waiting
for Jesus to conquer the Roman government that enslaved Israel and the world
and set up His own kingdom, according to the teachings of the
Old Testament that the Scribes and Pharisees taught them from childhood, the
kingdom that is yet to come. They didn't realize that there must first be a
2000-year age of grace that must come first, and He could not make them see
it, because their hope of a coming kingdom had been so deeply engrained into their Jewish tradition. For this reason,
they weren’t particularly interested in preaching the gospel to every creature,
casting out devils and healing the sick by the authority of Christ. They
considered these things to be peripheral issues compared to the kingdom they were expecting Him to establish under the nose of Pontius Pilate, Herod and Caesar.
They were trying to taste apples in the orange juice Jesus was serving, and for this reason the
disciples were chronically conflicted between the kingdom they were expecting
and the age that was coming. See also: Expecting the Kingdom of God to appear
immediately;
Mat 17,15-18;
198j
Mat 17,15-18
(198j) Denying Christ >>
Man exercises his will against God >>
Frustrating the grace of God >> Frustrating
Jesus through unbelief –
The disciples had a problem believing in Jesus, and He considered their
unbelief to be perverse. They had everything they needed to believe in
Him: the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, signs, wonders and miracles,
and Jesus Himself, the very embodiment of God’s word. With all these
advantages the disciples still had difficulty believing in Him, but after the
resurrection and Pentecost all that changed. The resurrection tuned their world upside-down and actually righted it, so that they were finally
on the same page with Jesus, once their own ideas had been dispelled. After the
resurrection, for the first time they opened their mind to Jesus' plan that
was different from theirs. In lieu
of the Kingdom of God suddenly appearing (Lk 19-11), it never entered their
minds that He would be nailed to a cross, their secret hopes intensifying the
horror of it all. Bringing the problem home, we have the same flawed hope of the kingdom
of God suddenly appearing in the erroneous doctrine of the
pre-tribulation Rapture. See also: Expecting the Kingdom of God to appear
immediately;
Mat 17,15-21;
241e /
Lk 18,31-34; 177i
Mat 17,16-20
(203b) Denying Christ >>
Dishonor God by your unbelief –
The disciples were so distant from God’s plan; all their preconceived
notions were wrong, yet how are we any different from them? When are we going to abandon
our presumptions that get in the way of understanding God’s plan and purpose
for the Church in these last days? After the horrible whipping He received, blood streaming from deep wounds, the image of Him hanging on the cross exhaling His last
breath still vividly imprinted on their minds, the moment they saw Jesus standing in front
of them raised from the dead all their preconceptions
vanished like a lifting fog at first light. When He ascended to the
Father and sent the Holy Spirit and they received the anointing of Pentecost,
then they carried out
God’s purposes after He empowered them to
believe and obey the truth. Before the resurrection and Pentecost they could
hardly believe what Jesus told them, but afterward they understood the truth
by revelation, and by that revelation they performed miracles to establish a
spiritual form of God’s kingdom on the earth through the preaching of the
cross.
Mat 17,17-20
(20h) Sin >>
Doubt replaces faith
Mat 17-17
(69d) Authority >>
Righteous judgment (outcome of discernment) >> Righteous anger >> God is angry at sin
–
This statement depicts the fact that it was the Father’s love that brought
Jesus here, that it was not His own idea to be clothed in human flesh
wrangling with His disciples, His choice of words making that evident. His
disciples were constituents of an unbelieving and perverted generation, being
more inclined to obey their genetic predispositions and social background than
to believe in Jesus, and He was wearying of the disobedience and
unbelief that was all around Him. It must have been overwhelming at times,
though His disciples believed in Him more than
anyone.
In our day no one is expecting miracles.
Jesus couldn’t
wait to finish with this life so he could go back to heaven with His Father
in a resurrected body. This life is a pain in the neck compared to heaven.
See also:
Father sent the Son;
1Cor 13-3; 252j
(70e) Authority >>
Sin of familiarity >>
Familiarity-enemy of discernment >> Spirit
grieves over sin
--
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are one and the same in that Jesus responded
as the Holy Spirit would in every situation. We have heard the saying, "Familiarity breeds
contempt". This was the problem with the
disciples on the mountain during the transfiguration a few verses back and it
was their problem with curing the demoniac. The battle rages between spending
time with Jesus and that time breeding contempt. The Spirit grieves over our
contempt for Him after we have spent time prayerfully searching the Scriptures.
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Mat 17,18-21
(107b) Thy kingdom come >>
Faith >> Hearing from God >> Word creates faith >>
Jesus’ words create faith
Mat 17-18
(216a) Sovereignty >>
God controls time >> Suddenly >>
Being healed without delay –
God was starting the age of grace through His Son, and He had to get
people’s attention before He could communicate His will to mankind. Without
being a miracle-worker Jesus
could have talked until He was blue in the face, and people would not
have listened Him, but considered Him another would-be cult leader, attempting
to start a new sect, and He wouldn’t have gone beyond that point.
Conversely, had Jesus performed miracles all day, yet without ever speaking the
word of God, He would have become a carnival grandmaster of wild and unusual
entertainment, but nothing more. His miracles would have been mentioned a
few times in passing for a couple years and then faded into obscurity. Go to a magic show and see unexplainable things happening
before our eyes; it is amazing but forgettable.
However, when Jesus combined these two: the word of God and divine
power, He created something that would never be forgotten. He got their
attention to hear the word of God through of His miracles, requiring them to
seriously consider what He said. They could ignore what He was doing, and
they could ignore what He was saying, but they could not ignore what He was
doing and saying. See also: Spirit and the Word (Both must
be present); Jn 7-45,46; 30f
Mat 17-19,20
(162e) Works of the devil >>
Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >>
Bondage >> A slave to unbelief >>
Bondage to an inability to believe –
To say they needed faith the size of a mustard seed to perform miracles
suggests that the disciple didn't even have that much. Imagine what we can do
with a mustard seed of faith when it begins to grow. Their faith was diluted with disobedience. If we have faith and show disobedience at the same time, how
is it we have faith? Who’s to say which is real, our faith or our doubts? This is why
it is necessary to strain out the leaven so that we become a
single lump of unleavened dough (1Cor 5-6,7). The fact that Jesus accused His
disciples of having so little faith, indicates they were operating in a state
of unbelief in the wilderness of doubt. We need to remember that the
disciples then didn’t know Jesus’ purpose, which was to establish a covenant
upon which He could
establish His spiritual Kingdom before He came a second time to set up His physical kingdom. His disciples were unaware of this
until Jesus rose from the dead, and then they opened their mind to what God
was doing. He tried to explain it to them many times but
they couldn’t hear it over the internal chatter of their previous learning.
The disciples didn’t want a spiritual kingdom; they wanted a physical one.
Don’t we all? We groan in our flesh by the fact that God’s kingdom is
not yet physical, but one day we will get our wish.
Mat 17-20
(54c) Paradox >>
Opposites >> Weak faith
(213b) Sovereignty >>
God is infinite >> God is all powerful >>
All things are possible with God
-- Jesus set the carrot before the horse and told the Church to go after it, that if
we pursue it with all our heart we will find this level of faith. It is unattainable to one
person, but the Church as a whole can pursue it and we can all attain it together. What could one person do with
the faith that Jesus had, or what would society do to one person with that
kind of faith? They would do to him what they did to Jesus. As a Church,
though, we can confide in each other, and there is safety in
numbers. God is not interested in raising up one person; He wants to raise up
the entire Church to a level of faith that can relate to God where nothing is
impossible to them. This is His standard, and He expects us to seek it. See also:
Unity;
Act 4,29-31; 122b
(229b) Kingdom of God >>
God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Kingdom
grows by itself >> Growing In Numbers
Corresponds With Spiritual Growth >> Kingdom
grows in strength
Mat 17-21
(82d) Thy kingdom come >>
Three elements of prayer >> Our approach >>
How to pray
(189j) Die to self (Process of substitution) >>
Separation from the old man >> Masochism
(Self-made martyr) >> Fasting >> Fasting
simulates dying to self –
Fasting represents dying to self. It conveys that we
care less about food and our physical existence and more about the will of God. So fasting
was for the disciples to separate themselves from their earthly
existence, creating distance between them and the demons they were
trying to exorcize. While they
were fasting they were also praying and remaining in communion with God,
so when they cast out the demon, they had a recent session with
Lord, expressing their indifference to this life through
fasting. They became spiritual instead of earthly, thus had less in common
with the demons. They needed to make contrast between them
and the demons they were exorcizing, as opposed to the story of the seven sons of Sceva.
The demon said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but
who are you?” The demon-possessed man pounced on the men, and they ran for
their lives naked and wounded (Act 19,13-16).
They made no contrast between them and the demons, and for that reason
they could not tell them what to do.
(206i) Salvation >>
God makes promises on His terms >> Conditions to
promises >> Conditions to doing the works of
Jesus
Mat 17-22,23
(168i) Works of the devil
>>
Manifestations of the devil >> The world has
deaf ears to God >> Deaf to the word of God from
a lack of understanding –
The disciples were deeply grieved, meaning they actually heard what Jesus said, yet
the next day they acted like they never heard Him, and when the time came for Him to die, it came to them as complete
surprise, as though He never forewarned them about it. Although
Jesus force-fed them the word of His suffering, it never resonated with them,
and they shortly afterward forgot what He said. It goes back to
the parable of the seed sower when it says that some seed fell beside the road
and the birds of the air ate it (Mat 13-18,19), birds referring to demons. They didn’t want to
believe it, and so the
devil came and stole it from their hearts.
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Mat 17,24-27
(1f) Responsibility >>
Avoid offending God >> become all things to
all men >> Conform without compromise --
Jesus
was a native of the land and was therefore exempt from the tax, but to keep
from arguing with the people He just paid them. He conformed to their view of Him without
compromising the truth of His identity to avoid an unnecessary confrontation. He kept the door open for those He may have otherwise offended by defending His legal status as a son
of Israel; perhaps Jesus was fishing for more tax gatherers.
(9b) Responsible
>> Prevent being blamed for
something you did not do >> Prevent the appearance
of evil –
Jesus paid the tax for Peter and Himself, but what about the other
disciples? They weren't concerned about it, and apparently the tax gatherers
weren't either, because they didn't raise the issue with them. This suggests
that the tax gatherers were interested more in trapping Jesus and His
disciples in a debate than collecting taxes. Jesus did this to ease Peter's
mind, not to pay taxes. Jesus along with His disciples were citizens of
heaven first, and for this reason the people did not recognize them as citizens of
Israel. Had Peter not paid the tax, He
may have been
thrown in jail; had He argued with them, He would have offended God, so He paid the tax, not with His own money, but with
God's
money. See also: Christians are strangers on the earth; Mat 17,25-27; 217j
(35j) Gift
>>
God gives Himself to us >> Gifts from the Holy
Spirit >> Spiritual gifts >> Knowing the mind of God –
Unfortunately, the vast majority of people in the Church are not open to the
gifts of the Spirit; in fact, there are some whole denominations that completely shun the
gifts as a matter of their religion. They don’t even want to talk about them; in fact, they
avoid
reading First Corinthians chapters twelve and fourteen, but readily focus on
chapter thirteen, the Love chapter. There are hoards of ministers who would
love to have a dynamic ministry, and would do almost anything to achieve it,
except believe in God for the gifts of the Spirit, which involves a highly
intimate relationship with Him. This is the kind of relationship that God
would love to have with us all, but most of us are unwilling. God expects us
to obey Him but leaves it to us whether or not we will walk in the gifts of the
Spirit. However, walking in the fruits of
the Spirit is not a prerogative. Many a Christian has lost his soul resisting the
Holy Spirit on the level of bearing fruit, but no one has lost his soul
refusing to walk in the gifts. See also: Miracles; Mat 17-24,25; 70b
Mat 17-24,25
(70b) Authority
>> Righteous judgment (outcome of discernment) >> Sensitivity to the Spirit
–
Jesus was highly sensitive to the Holy Spirit, which made Him appear as
all-knowing. Although He was God in human flesh, He laid aside His infinite
power and knowledge and dwelt among us in finite limitations. Jesus only knew what the Holy Spirit
told Him, who informed Him about the conversation Peter had with a
tax collector. Most of us are not this sensitive to the Holy Spirit. If we are open to Spiritual
discernment, He will enable us to
effectively operate in this realm when needed. The gift of discernment is just one of many gifts that God
would like us to add to our arsenal of ministry tools. See also: Miracles; Mat 17,25-27;
78e
(152f) Witness >>
Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the
father >>
Jesus is a prophet >> Jesus prophesies to the Church
Mat 17,25-27
(78e) Thy kingdom come
>>
Sincerity >> Taking God to heart >>
Having pure motives and desires –
There are magicians nowadays who can do some pretty amazing things. Most admit
they have no special powers, calling themselves illusionists. Would it be
possible for a magician to recreate this situation, use a bare
hook, a line and a pole to catch a fish with money in its mouth? David
Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear, but Jesus could raise a known
dead person back to life. If one of Jesus’ miracles were a hundred
percent valid, it would validate all his miracles, for why would a
miracle worker use trickery? Jesus said to His disciples, “nothing will
be impossible to you” (v20). See also: Miracles; Mat 17-27; 147d
(217j) Sovereignty >>
God overrides the will of man >> God’s will
over man >> I never knew you >>
Because you are not of His sheep
-- Since the tax gatherers did not recognize Jesus and His disciples as
citizens of Israel, how could God recognize those tax gatherers as citizens of
heaven? Obviously
Jesus walked in all the gifts of the Spirit, and then He turned to his
disciples and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the
works that I do, he will do also” (Jn 14-12). However, we almost never see
the gifts in practice because of gross disobedience and unbelief, not just with individuals but
with the Church
as a whole, like Israel in Jesus' day. When it comes to manifesting the Kingdom of Heaven, an entire
infrastructure of faith and obedience must be present. See also: Christians are strangers on the earth; Mat 17-27;
30b
Mat 17-27
(1a) Avoid
offending Man (Key
verse)
(30b) Gift of God
>>
God is our source >> His creative ability
supplies our needs –
Peter was a fisherman, so Jesus had Peter solve his problem according to his
profession, and He addressed Peter’s concern. Should Christians pay
taxes, or should we fight for exemption? The Lord’s answer was that we
should pay our taxes (Rom 13-6). Note that this was a tax on strangers. Jesus and His disciples were Jews, legal citizens of
Israel; they weren’t strangers; the poll tax didn't apply to them. What was this tax collector thinking when he demanded a foreigner
tax on Peter, a citizen of Israel obvious by his hook nose? He wasn’t required to pay the tax, so why did Jesus have
Peter pay it? He wasn’t going to argue with the tax collector; instead,
He gave him what he wanted, and he undoubtedly pocketed the money. The fact
that this tax collector considered Jesus and His disciples to be foreigners
says something about Christians in this world. Heb 11-13 says we are
“strangers and exiles on the earth,” so this tax collector actually made
an interesting observation. Although they were Jews, they appeared to be
foreigners; they looked like Jews but they didn’t act like citizens of any
country of this world. See also: Christians are strangers on the earth; 62c
(62c) Paradox >>
Anomalies >> Being clever >> Responding
with wisdom to your
enemies >> Cheat them --
Essentially,
the Spirit of God broke the laws of men when He had Jesus say to Peter, ‘In
order not to offend them pay the tax, but don’t give them our money.
Instead, give them money that came from a fish.’ Jesus had Peter go fishing
to ease his mind, not to pay taxes. God paid the tax; therefore, God was the
stranger. Normally, Jesus never performed miracles to flaunt His power or to feed
freeloaders.
In this case, though, Jesus made an exception; He performed a miracle without
really needing to (He could have paid the tax gatherers out of their treasury, or just not paid them at all). The purpose of this miracle, among
other things, was to secretly scoff at the people who did not
recognize them as citizens of Israel, and thus did not recognize
Jesus as their Messiah. See also: Christians are strangers on the earth; Mat 17,24-27;
9b
(119a) Thy kingdom come >>
Manifestations of faith >> Freedom >>
Law of the spirit >> Freedom from the law
--
Jesus no doubt was a law abiding citizen of Israel, yet He didn't
live by the law of the land, but by the law of the Spirit of life (freedom);
read Rom 8,1-4.
Living by the law puts you in bondage to the law, but living by the Spirit put you
in bondage to the Spirit, while inadvertently fulfilling the law. Jesus in a way was demonstrating His freedom from the law by
paying taxes without any cost to Himself. He drew the money from the
storehouse of His Fathers infinite reserves.
(147d) Witness >>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear
witness of Himself >> God exercises authority
over every living thing –
How did this happen? First, the shekel
was dropped in the ocean at some point; then the fish scooped it up with its
mouth; then Peter went fishing, hoping to catch that particular tax-paying
fish. There was no mention of any bait; Peter went fishing for a fish with the
pica eating disorder, presumably a northern pica. It decreases the odds all
the more that he used no bait. Through this miracle we can see God in charge
of many miniscule details. Is this the God we serve, someone deeply involved
in tiny facets of life? According to this miracle, so it seems, though we see
an awfully lot of randomness in the world. The next question, did Jesus order this miracle or did the
Father speak to Him that this was prearranged? The Bible teaches that Jesus
was not in control but the Father, and Jesus was merely followed orders. Jesus
didn’t cause these things to happen; He only told Peter to dip a hook in the
ocean and pull a shekel from a fish’s mouth. It was His Father behind the
scenes who caused the miracle. See also: Miracles; Mat 17,24-27; 35j
_________________________________
MATTHEW CHAPTER 18
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Mat 18,1-4
(56f) Paradox >>
Opposites >> Humble yourself for the right
motives –
In this day and age some children are not very humble, so we can’t very well
look to them for examples of heaven. Jesus chose an obedient child who minded
his parents and respected adults. In the last days as society continues to
disintegrate, it will fulfill
Isaiah 3-12, “As for my people, children are their oppressors, and
women rule over them.” Generations ago, children were taught to be seen and
not heard, and they were expected to attend family visits and listen
to conversations of adults without shifting attention to themselves. In that way
they learned discipline and knew their
place. They didn’t have the same freedoms that adults had; they were
instructed to mind their manners and be polite. This is the kind of child
Jesus chose to represent the Kingdom of Heaven, someone who was humble in
heart and whose place
in life was to learn and grow to become upstanding
adults. They were recently babies; their parents worked around the clock
feeding them and changing their diapers, and they are still serving their
children, providing a roof over their heads and food on their plates and
teaching them right from wrong and valuable attitudes and priorities, caring for their needs just as God
cares for us. We are to model our lives around a child like that, so we can
relate to our heavenly Father. He is greater than us, and our place is to humble ourselves
and learn discipline and become a blessing to Him and to those around us. The more we humble
ourselves and serve others, the more privileges and authority God will bestow on
us, and the
more He will reward us in heaven. If children want to be the boss, they will
probably grow into adulthood with no discipline and may never see the
Kingdom of Heaven, and if they do manage to get there, God will probably show them the last
seat, and they
will
be least of all because they sought to be greatest.
Mat 18,3-5
(33d) Gift of God >>
God is our Father >> Kingdom belongs to the
children of God
(192c) Die to self (Process of substitution) >>
Result of putting off the old man >> Gain by
losing >> Life for life >>
Losing your identity to gain God’s identity
-- The
Kingdom of God belongs to children, not to adults. Children are born with
faith in God. The definition of an adult is someone who has forgotten his
origin. Adults come from childhood and children come from God. Forget
everything you learned in the world as an adult and remember how you once
believed. We were closer to the truth at the beginning of our lives without seeking it than
must adults after long pursuing what they assume to
be reality.
(224i) Kingdom of God >>
Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of
heaven >> The people of heaven >>
Traits of the people who make it to heaven
Mat 18,6-10
(5f) Responsibility >>
Discipleship tested >> God tests your faith
through hardship –
God has no intention of removing stumbling blocks in this life, but He will permanently remove them in the next life. Stumbling blocks are
inevitable because of the sheer number of them, like going into the woods in
summer and getting bit by mosquitoes. Most of us would prefer that
God removed the stumbling blocks of this life, but God wants us to face them to see how we will react. He wants to
use them to prove how much we love Him. He wants to give us an opportunity
to struggle in our faith, because in the life to come there will be no sin to
test us and no way to prove our love for Him. Why should God remove
stumbling blocks if they accomplished the very objectives He has in mind for us? He
wants us to obey Him in the face of adversity! We are fulfilling His vision and serving His desires, but
there are many so-called Christians these days who have it backwards; they
want God to serve them. See also: God allows suffering and evil to
test us; Jn 6,16-21; 212a
(28i) Gift of God >>
God is our advocate >> God crushes those who
make us stumble –
Jesus was talking about stumbling blocks,
referring to unbelievers in the world and in the Church who would cause us to stumble. We know there are stumbling blocks in the
world, and we know that a true Christian would do anything to
avoid causing others to stumble, but there are plenty of people who don't seem
to mind at all offending the saints. They ought to have care, for there is
hell to pay, and it has a lake made of fire, and God casts those into it who
make His children stumble. Crude as it sounds to cut off his own hand or
pluck out his eye, if a
person committed himself to this extreme to avoid hell,
he would repent long before this. See also: Hell; Mat 18,8-10; 47c
Mat 18-6
(241f) Kingdom of God >>
Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >>
Hindering the kingdom >> Obstacles in the way of
the kingdom >> Obstacles that keep you from
Jesus
Mat 18,8-10
(47c) Judgment >>
Hell is a place of sorrow >> Hell is to be
avoided at any cost –
God has the power to stop those who would hurt His people, but He often allows
travesty to continue, knowing that eternal judgment is just up the road for
them. God is intimate with His people and
intently watching the activities of men and is recording everything that
happens. When
this life is over and mankind enters into judgment with God, He will pull out
their book of deeds and address every time they caused one of His little ones to
stumble, and He says in verse 6 that it would be better if a heavy millstone were tied
around their necks and drowned in the depths of the sea!
When we add up all the cases that they caused His little ones to stumble, imagine the judgment that will befall
them. If a hundred times, it would be better to be
drowned, brought back to life and drowned again a hundred times with a millstone
pulling them into the depths of the sea. Hell and eternal damnation is even worse than this, far worse.
See also: Hell; Mat 18-8,9; 21d
Mat 18-8,9
(21d) Sin >>
Disobedience will condemn you to hell
–
Salvation
is a free gift, but what if someone couldn’t stop watching pornography and
plucked out his eyes; wouldn’t that constitute
sacrificing a body part for his faith in Jesus? Salvation wouldn’t seem so
free after that, yet how many people have actually done this? If a person
were to make such a commitment to this degree, by the time he poised the ice pick
in front of his eye or drew
the sword to remove the appendage, he would have long repented of the sin. It
goes back to the story of Abraham and Isaac. God told him to take Isaac to
Mount Moriah and there sacrifice him to God. Abraham didn’t know what else
to do, so he took Isaac and a bundle of sticks and
got situated, and he took out his knife and was about the plunge it into his
only son when the angel of the Lord stopped him just as he learned that
Abraham would have gone through with it. God wanted to know if Abraham loved
Him more than His gifts. Jesus was saying that this was the level of
commitment God wants from us, only not to do ourselves any harm, for to
pluck out our eyes and cut off our hands would sabotage God’s plan for our
lives, for He could use us whole in His service. See also: Hell; Mat 18-9,10;
135g
(63e) Paradox >>
Anomalies >> Sarcasm >>
Exaggerate the truth to make a point
--
Anyone who was committed enough to cut off his arm or gouge out
their eyes for the sake of abstaining from sin would be committed enough
to simply quit sinning. Jesus was serious about
abstaining from sin, but whether He was actually advocating dismemberment is doubtful. He was more
trying to slam home the seriousness of sin and its consequences.
(248l) Priorities >>
God’ s preeminence >> Values >>
The Highest Values >> The life to come is more
important than this one
-- There are countless instances in the New Testament that encourage
us to sacrifice this life for the life to come. In these verses,
Jesus was referring to a more literal manifestation of that sacrifice.
However, when the Bible speaks more literally about sacrificing our life, He
would prefer that we simply denied our sinful passions
and desires.
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Mat 18-9,10
(135g) Temple >>
Your body is the temple of God >> Sins of the
body >> Abortion >>
Consequences of abortion >> Do not despise one
of these little ones
-- People do just the opposite of what Jesus said. He told us to cut our body parts and throw them from us, so
they cut from a woman her fetus and throw it from her. Instead of denying her
sinful passions and desires before pregnancy to avoid hell, the act of
abortion plunges her further into its bowls. Instead of maintaining the hope
of eternal life, man hopelessly distorts
every commandment of God and destroys everything that is beautiful for the
hope of
personal gain. The angels of those fetuses, "continually behold the face
of God in heaven." Too bad their parents are unaware of
it. See also: Hell; Mat 18-14; 206j
Mat 18-9
(22i)
Sin >>
Lust (craving pleasure) >> Lust of the eyes
Mat 18-10
(15c) Servant >>
Ministering spirits >> Angels give help in
time of need –
Every
child of God has at least one angel assigned to him or her. Jesus described angels as
having the capability of ministering to
people and seeing the face of God at the same time. This implies
that heaven is here, all around us; we just can’t perceive it. This eliminates the notion that heaven is
on the other end of the universe; rather, heaven is simply in another
dimension, similar to being unable to perceive some colors of the light
spectrum. There
is a great chasm between us and the spirit realm, but that chasm does not
exist for those in heaven; they can see us but we can’t see them. This also
paints a far more
vivid picture of man sinning directly in the face of God, just as the Bible
says. The context of this verse is the persecution of God’s children.
Jesus graphically states that whatever the wicked do to His elect will
be done right under His nose.
See also:
In heaven and on earth
at the same time; Jn 5-19; 117ga
(73d) Authority >>
Respect Positions Of Authority >> In the Church
Mat 18-11
(207l) Salvation >> Salvation verses >>
The kindness of God >> God is kind to sinners >> He seeks and saves that
which was lost –
Anybody who feels lost in this world is a candidate for heaven, but those who
don’t feel lost cannot be saved. Many condemn the Bible, arguing that it is not the
word of God, but we remind them that the world is
disintegrating before our very eyes because in the Church there are too many people
just like them who don’t believe in God. He commands us to love one another, to humble
ourselves and become like children. If everybody did this, the world
would be a better place. We need to be the salt of the earth and influence those around
us, so the wicked won't feel free to misbehave, but when so-called believers become disobedient,
unbelievers become lawless to the point of self-destruction. Man’s biggest problem is his
unwillingness to see his need to be saved, and his biggest obstacle keeping him
from God is a sense of belonging in the world. That is, he doesn’t feel lost, and this is
his downfall. Psalm 69-22 says, “Let their table
become a snare before them, and their well-being a trap.” They
feel comfortable in their skin, like the family who sits to a
well-prepared meal; they have everything they need and feel
happy.
Mat 18,12-14
(161a)
Wandering (Key verse)
(161g) Works of the devil >> Satan
determines the world's direction >>
Wandering >> Wander from the fold of the sheep
–
Sheep
are not wild animals; they have been domesticated and cannot survive in the wild
without a shepherd to care for them. Likewise, Christians cannot live in the
wild; God has made us civilized, and now we belong to the kingdom of heaven and are no longer of this world.
(207d) Salvation >>
God makes promises on His terms >> Eternal
security? >> You can get lost again --
These verses go with
verses 23-35
Mat 18-14
(206j) Eternal
Security? (Key verse)
– Eternal security is a hot topic in
Christendom. Mostly embraced by the Evangelical and Baptist communities, this
easy-to-believe doctrine has a chance in hell of being
biblical. For starters, what about the person who decides he no longer wants to
be saved (yes, some cases do exist). Maybe they changed their mind and now don't
want to spend eternity in heaven with a lot of born again
Christians who can’t think of anything better to do than worship
God, and decides he would be happier in hell? Would God trap him in salvation against his will? God never does anything against our
will, yet many believe we cannot lose our salvation even if we wanted to. Can you imagine God saying, 'Too late you already made your decision; you are mine now and there is nothing you can do about it!'
That sounds more like something the devil would say to us. There are many Scriptures to support eternal security, but there are
far more verses to support the opposite. The fact that there is no such thing as
eternal security should not alarm the person who intends to live for Jesus to the very
end. God is not a heavy handed tyrant, wielding His mallet at the first sign of weakness, but He did make man with a will, and man can do
what he wants with it. If
we no longer want to be saved, God will accommodate us, but we cannot be born again, again. See also: Hell;
Mat 18,21-35; 120e
Mat 18,15-20
(116d)
Thy kingdom come >> Faith
>> Working the grace of God >>
Through worship >> Through His authority –
This passage is well known in circles that focus on spiritual warfare, and so we
are binding the strong man and loosing the power of God to fulfill His plan and
purpose for our lives. This goes back to the Lord’s prayer, “Your kingdom
come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mat 6-10). We all
interpret this verse the same way, and it’s not wrong, but it isn’t
complete. ‘We should behave in this life as we will in heaven,’ is a proper
interpretation; however, we should treat this verse like an equation that is
equal on both sides. When we behave the way we will in heaven, we have solved
the equation. We don’t want to live one way in this life and another way in
the next. What is beautiful about this passage in relation to Matthew 18-18 is
that the same holds true from heaven to earth. We are always thinking from earth
to heaven, but there are things in heaven that God wants replicated in His
people, and we are partly in control of it. Heaven is our goal, and we want to
emulate whatever is there. We bind our flesh in order to gain access the power
of God for the purpose of dying to self. If we bind our nature through the
weakness of sinful flesh, heaven will get involved and bind our sinful nature by
the power of His coming kingdom. Once we develop this kind of relationship with
God where we are receiving His power to obey Him, we can begin to loose our
ministry in this life and see the power of heaven loosed to fulfill our calling
from God.
Mat 18,15-18
(138d) Temple >>
Building the temple (with hands) >> Reproof >>
Reprove your brother in the right spirit
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Mat 18,15-17
(10a) Responsibility
>> Bring order to the Church >> Dealing with problems in the Church – There are some people who think they believe
in God without showing any evidence of their faith. For this reason Jesus has given us a
method of discipline in a sequence of
increasing severity by which we should approach our brother in
regard to his sin. Each level of severity pertains to heightened public attempts to
correct his behavior, if not to shame him into compliance. If he listens and
repents, we have won our brother, but if he doesn’t listen, then we are to advance
with a second more public approach to bring our brother to repentance, so that every fact may be confirmed (Deut 19-15).
Finally, if he will not listen, we should tell the whole Church and warn them
of his unrepentant state. This is to see if he
has any reverence for God; if he shows no respect for the Church, then neither does he fear God.
Therefore, we are to treat him as a gentile or
a tax collector, someone who is “of no account in the Church” (1Cor 6-4). This does not mean to ostracize
him but to shun him, and he will probably leave on his
own accord. The biblical concept of shunning is to physically allow the person in
the church doors, but not give him the right hand of fellowship.
Unfortunately, a person who deserves this treatment is probably not
open to the gospel, and is well on
his way to a reprobate mind.
(21f) Sin >>
Disobedience opposes unity in the Church --
Sin has a corrosive effect on the Church that erodes unity. The Church is meant to be a place that offers
protection and safety from the world and its evil influences; therefore, it is important to arrest sin within the body of
Christ before it causes any damage to the people who
are trying to serve God. See also: Unity; Mat 18-19,20; 67k
(172b) Works of the devil
>>
Manifestations of the devil >> Tares among the
wheat >> Devils among the saints >>
Unrighteous among the righteous
– Jesus told us to treat the sinning brother like a gentile or a tax
collector, a common sinner. Paul taught that every believing gentile is a spiritual
Jew. In their flesh they may be Germanic or Norwegian, etc., but
their faith is Jewish. Therefore, anyone who believes in Jesus is a Jew at
heart, and anyone who would persecute the Jews cannot be a Christian. That is,
any so-called Christian who would persecute the Jews is attacking the basis of his own faith, proving that he doesn’t know God, that he
is a liar of the worst kind, and we are
not to respect his beliefs.
See also: Israel (Gentiles are spiritual Jews);
1Cor 9,16-27; 6c
Mat 18,18-20
(83b) Thy kingdom come >>
Receiving from God through prayer >> Ask and it
shall be given
Mat 18-18
(60b) Paradox
>>
Two implied meanings >> Going from the flesh to
the Spirit / Going from bondage to freedom –
Many prosperity teachers showcase this verse, and the devil whom they think they
are binding is actually their teacher, who has converted these concepts into a
road to riches, because they are lovers of money. If we took the focus off money
and their goals of prosperity, and put in place the things God wants us to have,
such as bearing the fruit of the Spirit and reaching the world with the gospel
of Christ, we would hardly need to change a thing these charlatans teach,
because in many respects they are right about much of what they say. It is their
goals that are skewed. Isn’t that the way the devil works? Add a little poison
to the stew! The devil says these verses are his, because he used them to
support false doctrine, and we can’t use them now, as though they are off
limits. Many people think we should relinquish these passages to the devil
because he has as it were contaminated them. No, just because the devil has
misappropriated the Bible doesn’t mean we can’t properly interpret it to
fulfill our ministry. Instead of the goal being money, the goal that Jesus had
in mind was freedom. We bind the things that hold us in bondage and loose the
things that are conducive to freedom, like Paul said in Eph 6-13,14, “Having
done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore.” If we have bound the
devil, then walk in the power that God avails to us. We can access His power
only through freedom. By this we know that many prosperity teachers are wrong,
because they are slaves of money. 2Tim 3,1-9,13 is a direct affront to the
biggest prosperity teachers of our time. They cannot own a fleet of jets, an
airport and mansions without being lovers of money, and they cannot be lovers of
money without being in bondage to it; and if they are in bondage, they are not
free; and if they are not free, then they are not walking in the power of God.
Freedom is the only avenue that God uses to convey His power to His people.
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Mat 18-19,20
(67k)
Authority >> Jesus delegates authority >>
Praying in Jesus’ name –
The group that is in agreement with God will receive their answer to prayer
according to their unity. Moreover, Jesus said that
those who gather in His name, “I am there,” meaning that He will not be
present in name only,
but also in person via the Holy Spirit. See also: Unity; 129n
(129n) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Unity >>
Being in one accord >> Having one mind –
There are no promises that Jesus made that don’t involve unity at its root. We need to be unified in the
truth as God sees it, not as we see the truth.
Without unity God is unwilling to do anything for anybody, but where there are two
or three in agreement, Jesus is among them. Most people interpret this as
coming into agreement about our request, regardless of what each member of the
group believes, but Jesus is saying that He wants us to come into agreement
with the Truth in our behavior and theology, as Paul said in 1Cor 1-10, "Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment."
The problem today though is that everybody believes something different about
the Bible, so when we get together in prayer, we are divided in heart. Who can we find that will agree with us
about anything nowadays? This promise seems almost tailor made for married
people, because the husband and wife are more likely to be in agreement with
each other than anyone else. Perhaps, then, what Jesus was saying was not so much about
agreeing about the request as much as the premise of unity. We must be in agreement with the truth before we can expect
God to answer our prayers (Jm 1,6-8). See also: Unity; 206g
(206g) Salvation
>>
God makes promises on His terms >> Conditions to
promises >> Conditions to the gifts of God >>
Conditions to the promises of God –
Unity also happens to be the method of cult leaders forcing their members to
agree with them about their version of the truth, and it is very effective. If
he can get the group to believe in his ideas, he can exploit them. He can demand their money; he
can demand that they re-mortgage their houses and give him the proceeds, and
on and on the list goes of what cult leaders can do once they get their
congregation in a state of unity upon his version of truth. Jesus is trying to
accomplish the same thing, only to glorify His Father and benefit the people.
He wants us to agree on His Truth. He says that if we are willing to do this,
then He will give us whatever we want as a group. Consequently, the lack of
unity accounts
for all the false doctrines and denominations that are in the world today. The
devil knows that if God’s people agree around
God’s Truth in a state of unity, they will be unstoppable, but if he
introduces confusion, they will flounder. See also: Unity; Mat 18-20; 254k
Mat 18-20
(254k) Trinity >>
Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >>
Jesus is equal with the Holy Spirit >> Power of
Jesus’ Spirit
--
The
Father will answer our prayers with the presence of Christ
among us in the Holy Spirit. This accounts for all three members of the
trinity working together to reveal Himself in His people to answer their
prayers. It is a wonderful thing that our prayers are answered from heaven as we
pattern our lives around Him. A touch from heaven can be seen
and felt right here on earth as God personally receives our request. However, Jesus bodily can be in only one place at a time, so what if two pairs of
people are praying in different regions of the world? Jesus cannot be in both
places at once? He spiritually shows-up when we pray together, for He and the Holy Spirit are one and the same person, though
they occupy different
offices and have different ministries. See also: Unity; Mat
18,15-17; 21f
Mat 18,21-35
(120e) Thy kingdom come >>
Manifestations of faith >>
Forgiving your brother >> Don’t forgive your
brother and God won’t forgive you – In
verse 24 it says that the slave owed his master 10,000 talents, which was more money than a person could repay in a
lifetime. So, the slave fell down and begged forgiveness, and the slave owner
was gracious and forgave him the debt and basically set him free; but then a
fellow slave owed him nearly a third of a year’s wages, which is
a significant amount, but only a tiny fraction of the larger debt that God had
forgiven him. His
friend entreated him for mercy, but his hands found his fellow slave’s neck
and threw him in prison. It is ironic to throw someone in prison for owing a
debt; how can we expect him to pay? The slave owner was enraged and said to
him, ‘Why are you treating your fellow
slave this way after I graciously forgave you?’ and the slave owner recanted His
forgiveness and re-imposed the debt, so he had to repay that monstrous sum to
his master, not only in this life, for there is not enough time in the day,
but also in
the life to come.
See also: Hell; Mat 18,23-35; 207d
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Mat 18,23-35
(24k) Sin
>>
Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Anger >>
Unforgiveness – This
is by far the strongest warning the Bible gives about unforgiveness. We
don’t have a choice but to forgive those who offend us. If we choose not to forgive, we
will live to regret it, so what choice is there, really? Sometimes forgiveness
can feel nebulous; how do we know when we have truly forgiven somebody? If our
version of forgiveness can be reduced to mental calisthenics (believing we
have forgiven someone when maybe we haven’t), the acid test of forgiveness
is how easy it is to be kind to the offender. If Jesus put in
practical terms, the slave choked his fellow and threw him in prison, then our forgiveness
should also have a tangible value. Love is
the proof. There is always room and opportunity for kindness. If the person
who offended us is no longer alive, we can be kind to his family members. “Love covers a multitude of sins” (1Pet 4-8).
(184f) Works of the devil >>
The origin of lawlessness >> Abusing the grace
of God >> Spending His grace on your pleasures >>
Trying to take advantage of God’s kindness
(198c) Denying Christ >>
Man exercises his will against God >> Man
withers when he is in control >> Ungrateful
(207d) Salvation >>
God makes promises on His terms >> Eternal
security? >> You can get lost again --
These verses go with
verses 12-14.
In this parable we have a picture of a person getting saved (his sins forgiven) and then losing his
salvation. The Bible teaches that forgiveness is a
wonderful thing and that bitterness is proportionately terrifying, indicating that the stakes are high. We
know how the story goes; he ran down one of his debtors and threw him in prison. The master of the slave
leaned about it and said, 'I forgave you; why can't you forgive him?', and then
the Lord handed him to the torturers until the debt was paid in
full... in hell. Since God forgave our debt, He expects us to forgive our
debtors (Mat 6-12). Jesus said that if we cannot forgive, God would change His
mind about letting us into His heaven. To the degree that there is not enough time to
repay our debt to God in this life, so neither is there time in eternity to
fully repay our debt in
hell. If we continue in sin, bitterness and disobedience will erode our faith until we no
longer believe in God. Note that in both cases (Lk 17,3-5 & Mat 18-26) the
offender asked to be forgiven, and for that reason we are obligated to forgive
him for his sake, but in this case the offender continued to sin without remorse
or repentance, and God rescinded His grace, but the story ended on the note that
we should still forgive the offender for our own sake. God had forgiven Him on
the cross, but that doesn't mean everyone is welcome in heaven, for those who
hate God would disturb the peace and eventually, like Lucifer, their rebellion
would try to supplant His throne. See also: Hell; Mat 18,25-27; 120a
(225e) Kingdom of God >>
Illustrating the kingdom >> Parables >>
Parables about wealth >> Parables about a king
and his kingdom
Mat 18,25-27
(120a) Thy kingdom come >>
Manifestations of faith >> Curse of God is
broken >> Curse of God’s judgment is broken –
The slave owed his master ten thousand talents. A talent was a measure of
weight used for precious metals representing about 75 pounds, so assuming the
metal was gold, ten thousand talents times 75 pounds times 16 ounces times
about 1500 dollars an ounce, approximates to $18 billion dollars in today's
money! The offender could never repay his debt, meaning that Jesus was speaking
in terms of eternity, so when he ordered his servant and his family to be
sold, He was referring to hell, but then the man begged God for mercy and
received it. Had God not been merciful, the story goes that the man's
bitterness would have dragged his family down with him. Look what the man said to his Master, “Have patience with me and I will
repay you everything.” This is a story about a person getting saved, yet
even while he prostrated himself and begged for
mercy, he wasn’t being honest with God; instead, he asked for
a deal that he could never keep. He didn’t beg God for forgiveness, which
was his only real option, for there
wasn’t enough time in the man’s life to earn that much money to pay off
the debt, and if interest were compounded on
the debt, by the time he paid 18 billion dollars, he would have owed $18
trillion! This is how God feels about sin; there is nothing we can do to gain his favor, hence the
reason Jesus died for our sins. Without His blood sacrifice, we
would all be going to hell! Forgiveness was the Lord’s deal, but apparently
the man thought he still owed Him. See also: Hell; Mat 18,29-35;
47h
Mat 18-25
(3f) Responsibility
>> To the Family >>
Divorce because of your hardness of heart -- This verse goes with
verses 32-35.
We see over a 50% divorce rate in the world today; in the Church it is very close
to the same! Jesus said it is because people won't forgive each other. He lost his wife and children and everything he owned, including his
soul, and still he owed his Master,
all because he would not forgive his debtors.
Mat 18,28-35
(175h) Works of the devil >>
The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance >>
Dodging the issue (willful ignorance) >> Dodging
the issue to get what you want
Mat 18,29-35
(47h)
Judgment >> God Judges the world
>>
Hell >>
Prison of the bottomless pit – It
says that he was moved with anger and handed him over to the torturers until he
should repay all that was owed. Everybody who is bitter understands torture,
because bitterness is torturous. The question is, who are the torturers,
and what actually happened to this guy? Did he go to hell? The slave handed his
fellow slave to prison guards. We know that the Bible describes hell as a
prison, where many of the demons are held. We know that demons are much bigger and
stronger than humans. We also know that 10,000 talents is a considerably larger
sum than a measly 100 denarii. Jesus chose that vast amount because it was more
than the man could ever repay, and this is the case of everyone who goes to
hell. See also: Hell; Mat 18-34,35; 65i
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Mat 18,32-35
(3f) Responsibility
>> To the Family >>
Divorce because of your hardness of heart --
These verses go with verse
25
(21e) Sin >>
Disobedience does not understand God --
The man (a fool) in the parable didn't gain any insight about God after being
forgiven or showed any gratitude toward Him, but acted entitled to
a pardon as though he deserved it. Somehow in his self-centered reasoning the
person who owed him a couple dollars by comparison didn't deserve to be pardoned though his
debt was far less. He
couldn't see himself in the man who now needed his mercy. His mind was too cluttered with
worldly concerns to stop and consider how gracious His Master was to him. God's forgiveness didn't change his life!
(73e) Authority >>
Respect Positions Of Authority >> Respect Jesus’
Authority
Mat 18-34,35
(51g)
Judgment >> Judging
the Church with the world >>
No partiality between saved and unsaved
(65i) Paradox >>
Anomalies >> Satan Glorifies God – The
torturers are demons. Jesus said in Mat 25-41, “Depart from Me, accursed
ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his
angels.” They were placed among demons in the same hell, because they
committed the same sin of rebellion. There is a large debate whether demons
can torture people in hell. The question is not whether their sin
is the same (rebellion in both cases), but whether their level of sin
is the same. God gave Lucifer and his angels the
creation, the entire universe, by evidence that it is now cursed. It is not under
man’s curse, for God never offered the universe to Adam and Eve, only the
earth with the commandment to subdue it, that is, the curse. However, after Jesus shed His
blood and God
has offered His throne to mankind through Christ, it seems likely that demons would be
allowed to torture human souls in hell, because man has rejected the free gift of
salvation and eternal life. He has been offered to sit on God’s throne
with Christ, whom the demons were never offered; in fact, that was the devil's sin in the first place: they tried to
supplant God’s
throne. In other words, God's throne was the devil’s temptation, his Tree of Knowledge of Good and
Evil. Ultimately God has given more to mankind than He gave to Lucifer,
which makes man’s sin worse than the devil’s. For this reason, man’s
punishment in hell will be worse than the devil’s, and what makes man’s
punishment worse in hell is the fact that demons can torture mankind. See also: Hell;
104a / Presence of God is worse than hell to the wicked;
Heb 1-1,2; 50c
(104a) Thy kingdom come >>
Purifying process >> Purified by circumstances >>
Purified through judgment – As a
very plain message of this parable, bitterness can keep us out of heaven. If
we do not forgive those who offend us, we cannot go to heaven, simply because
it is not possible to hold bitterness and faith in our heart at the same
time. They are virtual opposites. The product of faith is the
fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, etc. In contrast, observe
bitter people, that they do not exhibit any of these fruits, and without faith
it is impossible to please God (Heb 11-6). Without faith we can’t go to
heaven; faith is the
stipulation of salvation (Eph 2-8,9), and bitterness erodes faith. The
fact that Jesus died for our sins will make their judgment in hell far worse, because He offered us a way to avoid hell through His blood. See also: Hell; Mat 18,6-10;
28i
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