Friday, February 23, 2018

Matthew 4:1-4

 1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

Commentary
Vs. 1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”

The Lord Jesus having submitted Himself to the Will of the Father and been baptized by John, and thus the Holy Spirit descending upon Him, is now led up by the same Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (vs. 1). Now this testing of Christ precedes His Ministry. That said no one should ever try to emulate what took place here; for this is a very specific testing of God’s Son (according to the Will of God) by the devil for a very specific purpose. And so though God may permit the testing of our persons in various ways and too various degrees at different times, no one should either attempt to enter into such a battle with the devil, nor should they ever draw a parallel between the Lord Jesus Christ and themselves and what took place here. For Temptation the Lord Jesus Christ was called upon to endure here is unique to Himself.

Vs. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.”

Now the Lord Jesus Christ’s fasting for forty days before His first encounter with the devil is not for the strengthening of His Person but the weakening. Literally Jesus took Himself to the point of physical starvation, the implications of which are staggering given what Jesus is about to face, for if He fails in any area of temptation the devil will have supplanted God the Father in His Life.

Vs. 3-4 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

Notice that the devil comes to Jesus as a tempter when Jesus is at His weakest, tempting Him to move His trust away from obeying God and back onto Himself, by saying ““If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” Now Satan the tempter knows that Jesus is the Son of God, and so his saying as much to Jesus is not so much too question the authenticity of Christ’s Person, but rather he is subtly prompting Jesus to alleviate His serve hunger pains by listening to him rather than God who by His Spirit is sustaining Him. And so Jesus rather than disobeying the Father and listening to Satan and turning the stones to bread as He has the power to do, only replies to him by quoting Scripture, specifically the Scripture taken from passage in the Law where Moses declares to the Israelite's how God tested and sustained them for forty years in the Wilderness so that they would learn that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (See Deut. 8:1-5, vs. 3).
Again Jesus as the Captain of our Salvation is being tested here (in our place) to prove not that He is the Son of God, but that He can and will overcome each and every temptation that the devil could bring to Him. For only the Lord Jesus Christ will prove Himself to obey the Will of the Father, even unto death if necessary. Therefore only Jesus could be trusted to take on this monumental task of being qualified to restore to humanity all that was lost to us when Adam the first man God created, and whom He set over His creation, brought sin into all of His creation when he disobeyed the Will of God by giving in to the promptings of the devil by listening to his wife and eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (see Gen. 3). Therefore what takes place here is not for Christ’s sake as much as for ours. For if Jesus yields to any temptation by the devil than all of creation would lose any and all means of redemption and reconciliation with God.

Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.



Monday, February 19, 2018

Matthew 3:13-17

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” 15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. 16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”



Commentary
Vs. 13-15 It seems most fitting that after John’s rebuke of the scribes and Pharisees and then his declaration of the Holy Spirit’s baptism that comes to each and every believer, that the Lord Jesus Christ now goes out to be baptized by John. For the Captain of our salvation, and the Author and Finisher of our faith must always go before those whom He leads unto everlasting life. And so Jesus according to the Will of God goes out to be baptized by John. Not that Jesus needed to be baptized by John as John and the Lord clearly reveals (vs. 14-15), rather as Jesus says to John when John is adamant that he needs to be baptized by Jesus, and not the other way around: “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” For that is what the Lord Jesus Christ came to do not only die on the Cross for all our sins and transgressions, but also and very importantly to fulfill all righteousness for us, so that we who believe and trust in Him can have His righteousness imputed to ourselves (consider Acts 13:38-40; 2 Cor. 5:21). 


Vs. 16-17 16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Now when the Jesus had been baptized by John, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. Now in this beautiful scene there are a couple of things we should note, first John did not bring the Holy Spirit upon Christ, God the Father did. And this He did as His Son obeyed Him (consider Acts 5:32; Heb. 5:9). Second is the Nature of the Holy Spirit Himself He descended like a dove and alighted upon Jesus. Thus in the beauty, dignity, grace, love, gentleness and purity of God’s Holy Spirit a visible sign is seen by the Lord Jesus Christ of a dove gently descending and alighting upon Him, alighting meaning God’s Holy Spirit remained upon Him, just as He now does on one and all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so in this poignant moment in history between God the Father and His Holy Son, God Himself will now openly declare His great pleasure at His Son obeying Him and fulfilling all righteousness by being baptized by John, saying: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This then begins the Ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ who will go on and follow His Fathers will unto death on a Cross for us all. Similarly then when we are baptized by God by His Holy Spirit when we believe and receive Christ we too become ministers of His, being given Spirit gifts and talents at that time (though untested and unrefined they are given us to equip us to be ministers of God). The only question then is are we pursuing and doing the ministry and God given purposes God has assigned to us, just as Christ pursued and fulfilled His God given purposes here on earth, when being baptized by God’s Spirit He willingly went into God’s Service, how about us? (Consider Luke 9:57-61)


Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.


Thursday, February 8, 2018

Matthew 3:7-12

 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Commentary
Vs. 7-9 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

With the flood of people coming out to John’s baptism there was also many of those of the Pharisees and Sadducees (the two main religious factions of ancient Judaism at that time) who also came out to John’s baptism. Now when John the Baptist saw them coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” For John the Baptist wasn’t fooled by their outward appearances and all of the religious trappings that they wore. No John saw through all of that right to their hearts, and what he saw was a brood of vipers, snakes that slither into positions of power, privilege, and influence so that they might due and pursue their own evil desires. Therefore unlike the repentant sinners who were coming out to John, who believed his word and whom John received and baptized to prepare them for the Lord. These though looking their most “pious” when they came to him did not believe, and so they don’t submit themselves to the Will of God and get baptized with the people, instead they only question John’s legitimacy for doing so (see John 1:19-28).

Now when John said to them: “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” It’s doubtful that any of them would’ve thought themselves as objects of God’s wrath, for they sat in Moses seat, as Jesus would later say of them (see Matt. 23), and thus they wielded all of that God given authority to rule His people. However instead of using it to serve and establish God’s people in His truth, they would lay aside His Word, commandments and truth for their own when God’s Word contravened theirs. And so they were the worst of all men because though they knew and had been entrusted with God’s truth they only used it to keep people in bondage to themselves (consider Matt 16:5-12; Gal. 4:17). Therefore John the Baptist’s rebuke of them, calling them “a brood of vipers” was fully justified, for if they thought they could do so simply because they sat in the Moses seat (i.e. the seat of power), or that they being the descendants of Abraham, they were somehow entitled to an assured place with God, then they needed to seriously reconsider, for as John warned them, (and warns us all) God is able to raise up children from Abraham from stones if He so desires, and so trusting in one’s ancestry is pure folly if ones is living contrary to God’s commandments and Word (consider Matt 5:19-20). For God does not approve of people based on the positions, privileges and power they hold and wield in this life, God receives and accepts as His own each and every repentant and believing individual regardless of where they came from (see Acts 10:34).

Vs. 10 “And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

The metaphor that John the Baptist invokes here to warn them (and us all) Means with the Lord Jesus Christ’s arrival on the scene (in one restricted sense) all that the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees had done to establish themselves was soon to be toppled! For men may establish for a season their own religious works, ways, and decrees, but ultimately nothing that contravenes God’s Word will remain (consider Matt 15:1-9). Now in a more encompassing and fuller sense I believe that John’s word here means that every individual and nation that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire! For the Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t uphold unjust nations, regimes, or individuals (Consider Matt 25:31-46). Therefore Johns warning is not just to them, but to us all, because all Authority, Power and Judgment has now been committed to the Son of God and so nothing at His Judgment Seat nothing that does not pass His scrutiny will remain when He sets up His everlasting Kingdom (consider Matt 5:20).
  
Vs. 11-12 “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

John the Baptist now makes it clear that both his person and baptism does not bring eternal life, for the water baptism done by him (or anyone else) does not bring God’s Holy Spirit and His regeneration of everyone who repents and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ through the Gospel. Therefore John in order to make sure that no one who is baptized by him puts their faith in him now warns the people, all people everywhere, not to look to him, but rather to Christ alone, for as he says: “He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” vs. 11 Therefore John is very clear that all people must not to look to him for redemption and salvation, but only to Christ! For it is only the Lord Jesus Christ whose Person and Baptism that brings eternal life to everyone who repents and believes in Him, therefore John absolutely distinguishes his own person and baptism from Christ’s, because the lesser must always give way to the greater (consider John 3:30). Now John mentions two distinct “baptisms” that the Lord Jesus Christ does. The first is the Lord Jesus Christ’s baptism by His Holy Spirit to each and every believing and repentant individual. That is the Holy Spirit baptism of our person that brings us into Spirit union with God and Christ, (Rom 6:3-4; Gal. 3:27) as well it is His Holy Spirit baptism of our persons into His Body (1 Cor. 12:13), and of course it is His Holy Spirit baptism that brings us to Spirit life (i.e. our being born-again by His Spirit) the moment we believe in Him. And so all these things, and so much more, all happen to us by the Lord Jesus Christ who baptizes us with His Holy Spirit the moment we believe in Him. Again John’s water baptism (or anyone else’s) does not bring remission of one’s sins and everlasting life, for this only comes by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ whose Holy Spirit then “baptizes” each and every believing individual into His Body, and so it is the Holy Spirit who then seals us in His Person and for His Salvation for all eternity (Eph. 1:13-14; Titus 3:4-7).
  
Now Christ’s Holy Spirit Baptism of each and every believer which began at Pentecost (see Acts 2) will continue until the Lord Jesus Christ returns for us all who believed in Him, and thus have been baptized by His Spirit because we believe in Him; being then born-again (i.e. regenerated) by His Spirit we are now new creations In Christ and thus united with Christ forever (2 Cor. 5:17). Now the outward Spirit gifts and signs of the Lord Jesus Christ’s Holy Spirit baptism which were so prevalent during the beginnings of God pouring out His Spirit at Pentecost, and later in the early church are not so prevalent today because they were done to fulfill the Word of God and reveal the fulfillment of God’s Word and Promise to the early believers and church about this. And so as they grew in their understand of this, and thus their and now our being established in this truth and reality of remission of sins and everlasting life for everyone by God’s grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ there no longer needed to be these visible signs to reveal this to them and us all, for we all now “walk by faith, not by sight” 2 Cor. 5:7

And so that is the first baptism mentioned by John that the Lord Jesus Christ does to each and every believing individual, (whether visible Spirit gifts and signs accompany this or not), because all of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ have been baptized by one Spirit, one time, for all eternity into His Body (Eph. 4:4-6, 30). For Christ’s death on the cross having paid for all our sins, His resurrection from dead then paved the way for us to all have the same Holy Spirit as He. And so those who hold that one must speak in tongues as evidence of having this baptism should remember that the Lord Jesus Christ never did!

Now the second “baptism” that John mentions that the Lord Jesus Christ will do is by fire! Now that is not a “baptism” that believers will experience (or would want to experience) for that has been reserved for every unbelieving and unrepentant individual who rejects the Word of God for themselves, and thus did not receive the love of the truth for themselves so that they would be saved (2 Thess. 7-12). And so that baptism of fire will take place at the Lord Jesus Christ’s Great White Throne Judgment (see Rev. 20:11-15), after His Second coming, for it will be then that the Lord will execute His eternal judgment here described by John as a “baptism by fire” on everyone who did not repent and believe. Now there will also be a judgment of each and every believer the Lord Jesus Christ will do before He sets up His everlasting Kingdom, at which time each and every believer will be rewarded or suffer loss according to the things that they did in the body (see 2 Cor. 3:12-17; 5:9-11).

And so John’s dire warning is given not just to the scribes and Pharisees, but to us all, to do the Will of God for as John says, the Lord Jesus Christ’s winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire (also consider Matt. 13:24-30, 31-32, 36-43, 47-50). Therefore I urge you to be reconciled to God while you can, for God Himself in the Person of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ and by His Holy Spirit has made the way possible for you to be redeemed from every sin and transgression and be reconciled back to God, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.2 Cor. 5:21 For the Work of God and the Will of God is that you and I believe in His Son (John 6:29) and then follow Him in discipleship (Matt. 28:19-20). Therefore if you believe, please receive the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart and life asking Him to be your Lord and Savior (John 1:12), for anyone who comes to Him will not be turned away by Him (John 6:37). Therefore don’t wait any longer according to His Word and Promise be reconciled to God today! (John 3:16). 

Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Saturday, February 3, 2018

Matthew 3:1–6

1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’ ” 4 Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. 


Commentary
Vs. 1-3 1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’ ” 

Mathews Gospel having revealed to us the origins, purpose, and the birth place of the Lord Jesus Christ, and how as an infant and young child Jesus was moved about by Joseph and Mary in fulfillment of the Word of God before they settled in Nazareth (again according to the Word of God) where He grew up until His Manifestation (see Luke 2:21-52 for Christ’s circumcision and early years). Now moves forward to the time when John the Baptist as Christ’s forerunner came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!” Now John the Baptists going out into the Wilderness and preaching such was done in fulfillment of the Word of God which foretold that before the Christ God would send His Messenger before His face to prepare the way for Him, as the prophet Isaiah foretold (vs. 3 see Isaiah 40:3). And so Johns preaching to one and to all to “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!” was so that people would set their hearts and lives right and prepare themselves to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as God’s King and the Savior of the world who will rule on throne of David forever, for it is through the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone that the King and the Kingdom of God comes into each and every repented and believing persons heart and life (consider Luke 17:21). Bringing to us who believe in Him through His Word, Holy Spirit regeneration, and thus eternal salvation and Spirit union with God through Christ, transferring us then out of the realm of sin and darkness and into the Kingdom of God the moment we believe! And thus the Kingdom of God is both a literal realm, the realm where God rules and reigns, as well as a state which one enters into when the Lord Jesus Christ comes to dwell in them, and ultimately live through them by His Spirit, manifesting the Person of Christ and Kingdom of God through us all who believe in Him. That is what Jesus means when He says that we are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14-16). 

Vs. 4-6 4 Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. 

Now unlike the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees whose apparel and appearances made their position and stature within the Jews religion and community readily apparent to all who observed them (consider Matt 23:1-11, vs. 5). John the Baptists appearance hearkened back to the days of Elijah the prophet of whom the Lord Jesus Christ said He was (see Matt. 11:13-15). Now John the Baptist was not Elijah incarnate, just as he himself said (John 1:21-23), rather as Jesus meant John came in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17), in the fulfillment of God’s prophecy about him, therefore John the Baptist was: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight”. And so John the Baptist came in the fulfillment of the Word of God before the Christ so as to turn people back to God through Christ (see Malachi 4:5-6; Luke 1:16-17). Now the effect of John preaching in the Wilderness was that multitudes of people from Jerusalem, Judea and the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan confessing their sins. For though they were all steeped in religion, they were all hungry not for more religion, (i.e. the aimless traditions of their fathers that could never bring them near to God or God near to them) but God Himself through the Word of God Himself! For religion (like everything else in this life) can never satisfy the soul. Only when one comes know God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ whom He sent to save us, lead us, and guide us into an everlasting relationship with God our Father does ones whole person find true peace and rest, when they believe and rather than striving through “religion” receive the Lord Jesus Christ for themselves (Matt. 11:28-30). And so just as John’s preaching in the Wilderness was a move of God to prepare the way for His Son, so too was the multitudes of people who came to hear His Word for them through His messenger John the Baptist, who was preparing the way for the Lord Jesus Christ to come not only to them, but to us all, so that we all would receive Him for ourselves and have Him, God’s Son, Savior and King who brings us remission of all our sins and into the Kingdom of God forever.


Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.





Thursday, February 1, 2018

Matthew 2:19-23

19 Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.” 21 Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. 23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

Commentary
Now with Herod’s death an angel of the Lord again appears to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.” Vs. 20 Joseph then arises and takes the Child and His mother and returns to the land of Israel (vs. 21). However upon arriving there Joseph hears that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, and he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee (vs. 22). And so with Joseph’s fears God again directs Joseph, this time into the region of Galilee, to what was then an obscure city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.” (vs. 23)
Now unlike Judea which was located in the south, which was considered the epicenter of the Jews religion and national life; Jerusalem and the Temple being there; Galilee was a land in the northern most territory in Israel, historically being a land of Jews and Gentiles, with Nazareth itself being a rather obscure “frontier town” with a certain “reputation”. And so Jews from Galilee not only bore their own easily recognizable accent (consider Mark 14:70), but also the “reputation” that came with being from that place (1 Kings 9:10-14; John 1:46). Thus Galilee was a land generally not thought of as being “clean” by the “devout” Jews of Judea in the south, and yet it would serve as the Childhood home of our Lord and Savior. Now it should be stated that both the Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples whom He called would be from that very region, and in spite of its “reputation” they were in fact very devout men, the Apostle Peters own testimony reveals that (see Acts 10:9-15). And so in spite of its “reputation” it would be in Nazareth of Galilee that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself would not only choose to grow up in; far away from the institutionalized religion of the Jews with all of its traditions and trappings; but also He would call all of His disciples from Galilee, *the sole exception being Judas Iscariot, Nazareth being then a perfect local to not only fulfill the Word of God, but also keep the Lord Jesus Christ in a low profile until the time of His Manifestation.

Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Additional Resources Consulted
*Gleaned from Nelsons Bible Dictionary