James M. Gray · 62 of 93

Matthew · Chapters 10-12

The King has come, the code of His Kingdom is set forth, His credentials presented, and He now expands the testimony concerning Himself, with the result of increasing opposition. This expansion is connected with the commission of the twelve disciples (Chap. 10), and the opposition is revealed in various ways in the chapters following.

1. The Disciples Commissioned, 10.

Here we find "apostles" for the first time (v. 2), which means "those sent forth," an indispensable qualification for whose office was that of an eye-witness of the resurrection of Christ (Acts 1:22; 1 Cor. 9:1). The apostles were endued with miraculous powers as credentials of their ministry, and their work at this time was to announce to Israel only, that the Kingdom was at hand (vv. 6, 7). The Kingdom is the one promised to Israel on this earth, and through Israel to the other nations. This explains things in the chapter, which if rightly understood, will keep us from reading into it that which does not belong there.

For example, the power granted in verses 1 and 8 was in connection with this preaching of the Kingdom, and withdrawn when the Kingdom was finally rejected by Israel; although it will be renewed when the faithful remnant of the Jews again go forth during the tribulation to preach the same Kingdom. In the meantime, the preaching of the gospel of grace, especially committed to Paul, who was not of the twelve, is accompanied by gifts of another kind (Eph. 4:10-12). Look at verses 11 to 15, where the "worthy" mean those looking for the Messiah promised by the Old Testament prophets. The gospel of grace is not offered to the "worthy," but to "whomsoever" will accept it. Or, take verses 16-23, which speak of the way the apostles' message would be received, and compare the prophecy they contain with the persecution in the Acts of the Apostles; or look at these verses in the light of the second coming of Christ, to which verse 23 refers. We learned in Daniel and elsewhere, that time is not counted in the history of Israel when she is not in her own land. Hence the testimony here begun by the apostles and continued up to Israel's rejection of the Kingdom, is an unfinished testimony, and will be taken up again when the Church is translated during the tribulation.

From this point to verse 33 we find encouragement. The disciples are identified with their Lord (vv. 24, 25); therefore, they need not fear (vv. 26-28), for He cares for them (vv. 29-33). Then follows a description of the age in which we live, a time of war rather than peace (34-36); of separation on the part of Christ's followers (vv. 37, 38), and, yet with the prospect of a bright recompense (vv. 39-42).

Modern research throws light on a chapter like this. Take verses and 10. Upon a monument at Kefr-Hanar in Syria, during this same period, one who calls himself "a slave" of the Syrian goddess tells of his begging journeys in her services, and uses the word for his collecting-bag here translated "scrip." He boasts that "each journey brought in seventy bags." The contrast with the followers of Christ is marked, who were neither to earn nor beg as they went forth with speed to herald His coming. -- Habershon.

2. Anxiety of John the Baptist, 11.

We are not surprised that as the testimony of Christ thus expanded (v. 1), John the Baptist in his prison should wonder. "Why, if this be the Christ, does He not take the Kingdom, or why does He not deliver me? Have I been mistaken in my witness to Him?" John is told to reflect upon the evidence and to wait (vv. 2-6).

How our Lord defends John, lest this act should reflect upon him (vv. 7-15)! Verse 11 has reference to John's relation to the Kingdom. The least in the Kingdom of heaven when it shall be set up upon earth, shall be greater than John could be before that time. The words do not speak of John in the moral sense, in which he was as great as any man born of woman, but in this dispensational sense. Verse twelve is capable of two interpretations, an external and an internal one. In the first, the enemies of Jesus and John are the "violent" who are rejecting the Kingdom by force; in the second, the "violent" are those who in face of the opposition are pressing into the Kingdom.

A description of that generation follows as a foolish one (vv. 16-19), but there were some who believed and are referred to in the words "wisdom is justified of her children."

As the judge of that generation our Lord now speaks (vv. 20-27). "Woe," is heard for the first time. In the coming day there will be different degrees of punishment (vv. 2.2, 24), responsibility being gauged by privilege. From the "wise and prudent" in their own eyes, i. e., the self-righteous Pharisees, these things were hidden, but were revealed unto "babes," the poor in spirit conscious of their need (v. 25). Our Lord now turns toward these in verses 28-30, in which he offers no longer the Kingdom, but rest and service to them that come to Him. Practically He has been rejected by the nation, and is approaching the turning point in His ministry, when the proclamation of the Kingdom shall cease.

3. Opposition Expressed, 12.

The enmity is coming to a head. In 1-8, the Lord of the Sabbath is unjustly accused of Sabbath-breaking, and answers His accusers by facts of Holy Writ. David, as the rejected king in his time, ate the shew-bread, and "Great David's greater Son" in His rejection is correspondingly guiltless. Next comes the temptation of 9-14, with the result that the opposition now becomes organized (v. 14), and the Lord withdraws Himself for His hour is not yet come. As He is departing, the incident of 22-30 takes place, when He is again charged as the representative of Satan (v. 24, compared with 9:34). The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost consists in attributing His work to Satan (vv. 31, 32). "A word against the Son of Man" might be forgiven, for the Holy Spirit still remained to convict one of that sin by testifying to Christ. But when the testimony of the Holy Spirit to Christ was rejected as in this case, there was no hope left.

The opposition increases by the demand for a sign (vv. 38-42). Had He not given sufficient signs? Jonah is a type of His own death and resurrection and He will give him as a sign. The Queen of Sheba is another sign. But Israel is like a man out of whom a demon had gone of his own accord, and comes back to find the place unoccupied and brings seven other worse spirits to fill the former abode. The nation, in other words, had been cured of idolatry by the Babylonian captivity, but now it was boasting of forms and ceremonies, traditions and self-righteousness. It was empty so far as the fear of Jehovah was concerned, and by and by the evil spirit would return, and the end of Israel, i. e., the period of the tribulation, would be worse than the first.

The Lord is rejected even by His family, as we judge by comparing the closing verses of this chapter with the reason in Mark 3:21. He declines to see them, and intimates the formation of a new family of faith.

Questions.

1. What is an essential qualification for an apostle?

2. What is the limitation of the apostles' commission at this time?

3. How does that limitation affect the teaching of chapter 10?

4. How may "violent" be interpreted in chapter 11?

5. On what principle will future retribution be rendered?

6. What is the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost?

7. How would you explain verses 43-45?

8. How would you explain Jesus' reference to His mother and His brethren?

THE TURNING POINT

Chapter 13

From the dispensational point of view, there is no chapter of the New Testament more needful to be understood than this. It contains seven parables, which now that the practical rejection of the Messiah by Israel has taken place, set forth the result of the gospel in the world down to the end of this age, when He shall come again. It is symbolic that our Lord now goes into a ship on the sea, the latter a type of the Gentile nations as compared with Israel; and also that He talks about sowing the seed in a field which is the world, as distinguished from laboring in a vineyard which is Israel (Isa. 5:1-7).

The parables are divided into two groups, the first four spoken before the multitude, and the last three in the presence of the disciples only. The first again may be divided in two -- the sower, and the tares and wheat -- referring more especially to the earlier history of Christendom; and the mustard seed and leaven describing its further progress and development.

1. The First Two of the First Group -- The Sower and the Tares and the Wheat.

The Lord explains them, but prior thereto answers the question of the disciples (v. 10), in which He speaks of the "mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven. A "mystery" in Scripture is a previously hidden truth, now divinely revealed, but in which the supernatural element remains despite the revelation (Scofield). The "Kingdom of heaven," or, the "Kingdom of the heavens" as used here means that Kingdom which is to be set up on the earth, the truth concerning which is "left in the hands of men" while the King is absent, in other words, it stands for Christendom. It is given to true disciples to know the mystery of Christendom, but to others it is not given (vv. 11-17).

The parable of the sower needs no comment other than emphasis on the fact that all the seed sown does not bear fruit. The devil in the first case, the flesh in the second, and the world in the third, prevent it. In other words, all men will not be converted to Christ before the end of this age. This is brought out with more force in the second parable (vv. 24-30 and 36-43). The good seed here is not the gospel of the first parable, but that which the gospel produces, "the children of the Kingdom." These are sown among men, and Satan sows his seed with them. The children of Satan look as much like the children of God as tares look like wheat. Only the angels can separate them. Scofield says: "Mere unbelievers are never called the children of the devil, only religious unbelievers are called so," i. e., those who profess the name of Christ, and do not hold the truth of Christ (Matt. 13:38; 23:15; John 8:38-44, and other places).

2. The Second Two of the First Group -- The Mustard Seed and the Leaven.

The mustard seed shows the rapid but abnormal development of Christendom to a great place in the earth. The fowls of the air mean unbelievers of various classes, who, for selfish reasons embrace Christianity and find shelter in its branches (Compare Dan. 4:20, 22 and Rev. 18:2). "Leaven" represents "a principle of corruption working subtly" and is used in Scripture invariably in a bad sense (Gen. 19:3; Matt. 16:11, 12; Mark 8:15; 1 Cor. 5:6-8, etc.). The teaching of the parable is that the gospel would be mingled with false doctrine, the latter increasing to the end of the age. (Compare here 1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 2:17, 18; 4:3, 4; 2 Pet. 2:1-3.)

3. The Third Group -- The Hid Treasure, The Pearl, The Dragnet.

The multitude is dismissed, the Lord and His disciples have entered the house, and He is explaining the parable of the tares. After this He says, "the Kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field" (v. 44). The "field" was previously defined as the world. The hidden "treasure" is Israel (Exod. 19:5; Ps. 135:4). Christ is the "man who hath found" it. It is now hidden. Who knows where the "lost tribes" are? And even the Jew as we know him is in the world, and is in a sense lost there (Rom. 11:25). Christ has sold all that He had to buy the field. He gave His life for the world (1 Pet. 1:18), but He died in a special sense for that nation (John 11:51). What joy He will have when He takes His treasure to Himself (Deut. 30:9; Isa. 49:13; 62:4-7).

Christ is the "merchantman" of the next parable (v. 45), and "the pearl of great price" is the Church, for which He gave Himself (Eph. 5:25-33). "Ye are not your own but are bought with a price." There is beauty in the thought of the Church as a pearl whether we consider its origin, form, appearance or value. It comes into existence not mechanically but vitally, just as Christ forms His church by communicating His life to it. The pearl comes from the sea as the Church comes from the nations symbolized by the sea. A grain of sand imbeds itself between the animal and the shell and creates a wound in the side of the animal in so doing. In the healing of the wound the animal deposits a thin crust of a bright aspect around this grain of sand, repeating the process till the pearl is formed, blending the colors of the rainbow. Eve was taken out of the side of Adam, and the side of Christ was opened that out of it He might build His Church, to which He addeth daily such as are being saved (Acts 2:41-47; Eph. 2:21; Col. 2:19, etc.).

The Dragnet

Is not the gospel net, but a picture of that which takes place in Christendom at the end of this age, i. e., after the Church is taken up into the air (1 Thess. 4:13-18). -- Gaebelein.

The foregoing interpretation is unusual to those coming freshly upon it, but to others who have perused the lessons in the Old Testament prophets, it will appear perfectly consistent, and furnish a corroboration of the unity and divinity of the Bible.

Questions.

1. Name the parables in their order.

2. What is the scope of their interpretation?

3. What is meant by "the Kingdom of the heavens" as employed in this chapter?

4. What is a "mystery" in a scriptural sense?

5. What inference is clear from these parables?

6. Who are "the children of the devil," scripturally interpreted?

7. How is "leaven" invariably used in Scripture?

8. Give the interpretations of the "hid treasure" and the "pearl."

9. What four features give beauty to the pearl as a type of the Church?