"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."
Heart is a spiritual space and much more so for those who understand God as a Spirit rules over it as well. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."(6:21). Pure in heart is not a state of being but will of man under a state of grace. As Paul would say,"I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need."(Ph.4:12) In short he chose to abide in him who died for our sakes. Stephen chose rather to die than be silent when called upon to speak up. He was under the yoke of his salvation. Truth made the elders of the Sanhedrin and Stephen respond differently. They questioned Stephen, "Are these things so? and when he answered they were wroth!" When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth"(7:1:54-56) Stephen could not done otherwise. He was pure heart so it was totally sanctified to give glory to God."But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,/ And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God."
"Follow me" Jesus said and his life was an example. So all who have followed his words would have shared the same agony and the ecstasy as St Stephen in some measure. So we have a Club for the Pure of heart, and rules of admission are simple."forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto ... the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."(Ph.3:12-14)
" Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake./ Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.(vv.11-12)
Matt.5:49 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
God's ways are higher than of man. Yet Holiness of God is made manifest in absolute impartiality. Sinful man is as much in his care as His creation. Love a facet of his divine nature loved the world that He sent his word through his prophets and in these last days spoken unto us through his Son."Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly."(Ps.138:6a) and made himself the least. "Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord's servant?"(Is.42:19). Humility of Jesus made him self contained in a manner of speaking.He did no sin; neither did he know it. When he was asked to be a arbiter his answer was very forthright, "Who made me a judge or divider over you?"( Luke 12:14) He was among them as His suffering servant and not as their king. Such perfection brooked no excuses or long winded precedents to justify his actions. His saying," But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil,"(v.37) was his own manner of validating the holiness of his Father. "Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:"(1 Pe.2:23) He was blind so his eye of faith was ever fixed on his Father. So was he deaf that his ear was open to His will. 'Lo I have come to do thy will' he would have remain committed so his path to glory opened way beyond Golgotha.
Jesus set an example with his life. He taught us to take up their cross. But what do the Christian world say,"No Jesus only taught to follow his words." Literally Satan has in one fell swoop made away with seed sown in their hearts. Without Jesus setting an example, without the captain of their salvation what Christian Living amounts to? We see the warning 'the abomination of desolation in 23:15-16 taking shape in our time
"Blessedness of man is established by the divine Will and it freely given in his Son to the saints chosen before the foundation of the world. It is open for those who have no confidence in their flesh but nevertheless would learn of the Son who was also in human likeness." (Select)
Blessedness which Jesus spoke to the multitudes was in the will of the(Is.63 Father. Jesus in his human likeness addressed it in terms of the body God has prepared for him.(Ps.40:8). This being the case the hard sayings which he spoke cannot be understood without the two qualities of holiness he presented to the world. He was the word become flesh. So it is impossible to interpret it in any other manner than grace and truth that came by Jesus. Does anyone think being blind prevents one from imagining evil or lust for another. Force of nature inflame the body entire and only grace and truth in heart of man can help his case.
"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." (v.29)
Isaiah speaks of salvation in terms of "And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him."(Is.59:16;63:5) His right hand denotes his Son. It is thus this Psalm refers to it."His right hand and holy arm have gained Him the victory."(Ps.98:1)
Lust of the eye or flesh can only be handled by grace. St Paul's own case can help us understand it. "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me./Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, .... for when I am weak, then am I strong."(2 Co.12:7-10)
" Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." (v.17)
Blessedness of man is established by the divine Will and it freely given in his Son to the saints chosen before the foundation of the world. It is open for those who have confidence in their flesh but nevertheless would learn of the Son who was also in human likeness. 'For my sake' the heroes of faith learned to be meek.(He.11)
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth."(v.5)
Meekness of Moses for an example which we came across, and is set in the Scriptures 'for my sake." His faith was already set so he would dismiss great many things for the sake of the Son who declared "I am lowly and meek" "Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward./ By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible."(He.11:26-27) His eye of faith kept him all through.
Isaiah spoke some 600 years earlier, "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting./ For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed./He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me?"(Is.50:6-8) Jesus set an example and what he suffered was according to the Scriptures. "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake."
The Spirit instructs us in righteousness which was the portion for the Son in order overcome evil with love. "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."(5:39)
St Mathew's sense of reconciling the grand vision of kingdom of heaven in terms of the heart; of eternity in the now and holiness of God in the man become flesh is fit with the backdrop chosen for the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ. The high mountain chosen for this inaugural address is Zion laid before the worlds began. (Is.28:16) The eternal word forever settled in heaven and Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever shall only be complet when it descends from heaven as New Jerusalem. So the doctrine presented by the Son of man shall remain as it is as long as the day decreed for the Son shall remain.
We shall take each verse by verse, Parables of Jesus are flesh given to it so its eternal verity shall be recalled under every clime and generation men with renewed force. For example Jesus said," Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee throws light into the nature of poor in spirit and holiness of God is not above in rewarding them. While the Pharisee justified himself even his knowledge of the Law began smelling foul for he was shredding the sanctity of His presence in the temple."And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner./ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."( Luke 18:9-14)
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. The Life of Job is a lesson and we read thus,"So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning."( Job 42:12). Similarly so many saints who were blessed because tribulations became stepping stones for glory.
"And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:/ And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying"
The Evangelist Matthews introduces the doctrine of God, which has been made manifest by manifold ways by the holy men of old. His approach to the Son has been set as Matt.1:1 indicates. Generation Jesus Christ takes up the theme of man 'in our own image' narrowing down generations of the heaven and of the earth to his creation. "And God blessed them." These generations are further clarified to occur within the day which by a decree is put under the authority of the Son. So the Sermon on the Mount consists blessings of the Father in his Son.
For an example " Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." (v.11) the struggle a natural man faces because of his flesh and of his spirit. This dichotomy in our interaction with our generation becomes much more pronounced and unsettling. There may be persecutions formed from the ungodly and Jesus puts his finger on the cause, "for my sake". Each generation has had and Abel the righteous one paid with his life. Such strife is bound to occur because the law of sin is enmity towards the Law of Spirit. ("So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."
"For my sake"
God blessed man who is created in his own image sets a key principle of Similitude. Thus man either represents the Son or he is against him. This representation explains the fall of man. " For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Ro.5:17) God blessed Moses so his eye of faith saw this representation. "Now the man Moses was very meek," Or rather he made himself like Christ. "And the similitude of theLordshall he behold."(Nu.12:8)
Eye of faith is in lockstep with God because of the soul of man is his true and faithful witness, "For His eyes are on the ways of a man, and He sees his every step." Faith is one and it explains the heart as a spiritual space with which God is knowable. "He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works."(Ps.33:15; Job 34:21)
God is set in terms of light which explains this eye of faith in terms of the body. "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light./ But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!"
Satan tempted Jesus because he did not understand the holiness of God and of faith which is one. Answering the tempter was to no avail. So he rebuked him,"Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."(4:10)
God sent forth his word which has been preparing the ground so holy men of old did not speak their own piece but what the Spirit set before their eye of faith, "Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow."(1 Pe.1:11) By the same token when Jesus called out his disciples straightaway laid aside what they were engaged in and followed him.
St Paul in his zeal persecuted the church and witnessed the beatific expression of the first martyr and his death. His conversion on his way to Damascus was foreknown. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God opened his eye of faith. He may never known other than the Law of Moses and related works. What he read with his new vision is the face of Christ the fulfillment of Law. The blessed whose delight in the law of the Lord shall have no difficulty is translating the old to the new.
vv.18-25
Jesus calling of his disciples were not happenstance but the light of the knowledge lending a hand to their faith.They instantly followed him as Evangelist Matthew did. In this connection here is a verse,"And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." (John1:51) This direct reference to the dream of Jacob is what the eye of faith revealing the word of God " which ye now see and hear." Simon Peter at Joppa saw it; so did Cornelius the centurion. (Ac.10:1)
Whe God commanded through Moses he said Love of God must be with whole heart."And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might./And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:"(De.6:5-8) This has to be a sign upon thine hand, empower your hands so faith is followed with works. So how do we see in thy light? (Ps.36:9)
"And they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes" so we knowing the times are bad shall conduct with circumspect and with lowliness of mind.
"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Heart is a spiritual space where knowledge of the holy serves as understanding which must learn to distinguish between the real and the worthless. In the Parable of the Rich Fool what he could store up was his riches. Jesus warns they are seen so temporal and very deceptive. Blessed as Psalm1 teaches is the one who by close reading of the word of God shall know how to apply it to his profit."That walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful./But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." Even our time we read of the simple foolish enough to step out with hammer with zip ties to root out 'undesirable' elements at the Capitol believing in every balderdash he read in the internet. The perpetrators of the hoax move on while fools are caught and put away possibly for life. In such times we are to be extra vigilant while Satan like a roaring lion are abroad freely sowing damage." Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"(Is.5:20) People perish where there is no vision. How can they when foolish shepherds have been sending them under their hand to facilitate the ungodly politicians without let up? They preach faith but their works are as those who call evil good?
"The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints."(Ep.1:18)
Jesus refers to eye as single. "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light."(6:22)
"Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness."( Luke 11:35)
"Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;/ And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim."
Light is knowledge that darkness cannot understand. So we learn from this verse,"Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father."( John 6:65) God is a Spirit and the truth in the inwards of man is to be known by his spirit. It is like a candle so no man may say it is beyond him. No he fools himself to deny God's grace. He sent his word and it is heard which darkness dismisses it as nothing. For man to benefit from it needs the Son whom he sent. "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."(2 Co.4:6). At the birth of Jesus circumstanced forced his father to settle down in Nazareth and now events forced the Son of man to leave for Galilee. It is thus as long as we are in the flesh, darkness shall conspire to change our circumstances but truth helps us learn of the holiness of God and what does it tell us? "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."(He.13:5) God let his Son be tempted of the devil but we read that, "And, behold, angels came and ministered unto him." It is thus with every child of God, "that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."(Ac.14:22) On our part we are called to continue in faith for his word of grace is sufficient to build up our lives in the sure foundation. "God knows who are his."
Life of Jesus was disrupted but helps the light of the knowledge of the glory of God spread 'Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.'(v.15)
God makes angels spirits. Satan whose credo "I will" challenged the holiness of God, With this in mind the tempter asking Jesus "If thou be" challenged the eternal nature. His advent in human likeness was bound up in fulfilling the will of his Father so the challenges he asked was basically faith against doubt. Law of Spirit against the Law of sin. Satan sins from the beginning so the appetites of the flesh loomed large in his eyes. Besides before him stood the Son of man vulnerable after fasting 40 days and forty nights. Jesus who was the Word become flesh would not go against his holiness. In the Father-Son relationship the sovereign hold of the word was the arbiter.
This episode tells his adversary well knew his scripture but without faith it was zero . Knowledge of the holy is understanding. How the serpent mouthed Satan's position with regards to the knowledge of good and evil is a case in point. "And ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" without truth was blind. We hear in our times," Justification makes the works unnecessary which is a travesty of Luther's position. It has been thus the eternal word of God has been debased into heresies without living it.
God provided all needful things for life and godliness. So man who dares to change the stone into bread was questioning His holiness. In the second challenge Satan would give man 'a bold initiative' by "If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down". Jesus rebutted him from his position of faith. Thirdly "if thou wilt fall down and worship me". Satan would never have understood the key to salvation so his last challenge addressing sentient nature of man shows the egregious folly in relying on the senses which only appealed him. "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.... and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie,he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it"( John 8:44)
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil./And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.(vv.1-2)
'Then' refers to the descent of the Spirit in the form of a dove in the preceding passage.(3:16) Lucan gospel informs us that Jesus was tempted for forty days of the devil.. St Matthew lays emphasis on the manner the tempter would try to trip him up. Mark merely mentions it as matter-of-factly as a anecdote. "And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness./And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him".( Mark 1:12-13). John left it out altogether. Before we go on with his ministry we present the four gospels relate to one another inextricably as the Logos aspect of the Son of man is bound with God which was with the Word. The "Word was God" ( John 1:1)
The Spirit uses 40 days to indicate the sovereignty of the Word as the Son of man handled. Four refers to cardinal directions and whether east or west south or north the Word of God stood on a firm foundation."Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his."(2 Ti.2:19) In the case of Jesus in his humanity needed preparation so he was led by the Spirit during 40 days (4x10). Before he began his ministry the same number of days as well as he was seen for 40 days by his disciples in his risen body. In short the number lays down it as a tag and applies to anyone who is taken into service. The life of Moses is tagged likewise."And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments." (Ex.34:28) Before Moses could serve the nation the number serves as a diploma of having been found adequate to serve. It is thus the Spirit led Jesus into wilderness.
John the Baptist was anointed from birth for his ministry. Meeting Jesus by the river Jordan was no mere coincidence any more than Simeon coming to the temple to meet infant Jesus. " And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ./ And he came by the Spirit into the temple. "( Luke 2:25-27). It is thus the eternal word forever settled in heaven has administered the upkeep of the kingdom of God.
By the same token the voice in the wilderness administering baptism by water was to meet the body in which it pleased the Father that his fulness should dwell. Moses Elijah and John are all associates with Christ the Head. Transfiguration of Jesus at the holy mount was a preview of the glory that was to be made manifest. So the River Jordan is a symbol for the river of time, holding them all as having labored to declare the eternal word of God.
After his transfiguration he reveals its significance of restoration 'of all things' by which what Jesus signified is that "that God may be all in all."(1 Co.15:28). "Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist." The glorious body of Jesus awaited his death and resurrection for which the river symbolized life eternal. As forerunner of the Son Elijah parted the river and the glory was "behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven."(2 Ki.2:11) It foreshadows the Ascension of Jesus Christ. "And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight."(Ac.1:9) Such events occurring in the Bible narrative is to instruct us we are all associates chosen before the worlds began and Moses, Elijah and John are many members of the same body. From the fulness of the head which is Christ we are preserved. "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."
"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:/ And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
John as a messenger was sent to make straight the paths and is part of long line of prophets, ("God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,/Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son-He.1:1-2) Prophet Isaiah said,"O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!"Nahum also set it on high, "Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!"(Na.1:15) The reference to the mountain denotes Zion and all the good tidings have come from there without exception. Now at the baptism of Jesus we see the presence of Trinity there. The testimony of the voice from heaven which 'were opened unto him. The descent of the Spirit of God like a dove. The voice signifies the eternal word or the Law Which is God.(John1:1); the Spirit and the Man coming out of the water. Symbolically the river of time accredits him as Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. (He.13:8). Yes indeed he was the Word become flesh who shall taste death once for all men and shall alive forever. John the Baptist as the voice in the wilderness was validated as the greatest of all born of woman.(11:10-11)
The river of Jordan creates a switchover for a believer who as the Psalm says go from strength to strength. "Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them./...They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." (Ps.84:5-7)
"Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him./ But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?/And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him."
Jesus who knew no sin would have no need for baptism but his baptism goes beyond the significance of the sacrament carries. According to St Paul crossing the Red sea we are told that, "All our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea"(1 Co.10:1-2). Parting of the sea prepared them for a new beginning, the born again experience to which Jesus alludes ( John 3:5) St Paul also mentions the Spirit of Christ being present at that time. Crossing again under the command of Joshua we have the parting of the River Jordan signaling the entry into the Promised Land. Being born of water equipped an Israelite to be born of the Spirit. Sad commentary of the nation we have here," But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness."So the baptism by Spirit would wait.
Jesus would nevertheless take baptism by water under the hand of John so he identified it as a testimony to his humanity and before the Law he being the Word become flesh. The voice testified from heaven bearing testimony " And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."(3:17)
The river Jordan serves as the river of time and it is in this context we may examine the resurrection of souls to which this river serves as a symbol. The river parted ( Josh 3:13-16) when the priests stood with the Ark of the Testimony in the midst till the people passed over. We died to the world in order to alive in heavenly places and we became adopted in his Son even before the worlds began. (Ep.1:3-4)
If this is not the right way to do this please forgive me my son goes in the army and about 2 months he's going to Alaska he's only 19 my son to the grapevine said that I was overbearing and controlling I thought about calling some Churches in Alaska and putting him on the prayer list I wonder if anybody can tell me is that a bad idea or would that embarrass him or driving away I sold the seed of Jesus Christ but I don't think it's stuck with him his contract is 3 years but I don't think I'll ever see him again I just don't think he cares about me thank you very much
Here we shall consider the topics he as a messenger from God would introduce so the ministry of Jesus developed and laid out as doctrine. Jesus announced "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me." ( John 7:16-17) As the Person specific this doctrine was in his authority to lay down. As the visible image he and his Father were one. So only way to learn of it was to do his Will. Where does that place John the Baptist. As his voice preparing a highway to Zion! "No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him."( John 1:18)
Topic #1 Stone
"that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham."
Without faith Israel delude themselves to claim their lineage to Patriarch Abraham. New Jerusalem was founded on a sure foundation and their claims as God's chosen was consequently a self deception.
#2 Tree of life
"And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees." His message, "every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire," resonates with parables of Jesus and of being branches to the true vine. Jesus also spoke of being planted by God. "Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up."(15:13)
Evangelist brings them together at Jordan, "Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him."
What is Jordan but the river of time beginning at Ge.1:6-7? God sends his blessing after the creation of man.
#3 Fire
"he (Messiah) shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:/ Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."(vv.11-12)
Jesus also referred towards the end of ministry, " But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!" ( Luke 12:50)
"Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance."
Jesus spoke to the nation of Israel in parables. We are told why. "Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." Their ears were like highway they heard and the message without hinder went out through the other. Similarly they saw the signs of their times and understood nothing since ther eye of faith was shut. Jesus well knew what was in their minds and dared them to step out the vain traditions of their fathers for which they needed repentance. First they required a heart of flesh in the place of stony heart. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." (Ez.36:26) Their fruits of repentance prepared the way of the Spirit. So baptism by water was a sacrament and also an act of faith. We already discussed the manner multiplying loaves in each case was followed by specific number of leftover. "And they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full." The Spirit renders it as a memorial of the Son of man who came as bread from heaven and fed specific number who were his fruits. He gave glory to his father.
Similarly fruits of repentance invited the nation to turn away from their traditions, which they would not. They were offended and many left Jesus. "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him./ Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?" Who were disciples of Jesus? Peter said it for all,"Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." Those who stayed on showed promise.
In the case of John his ministry pointed to the prince of life and not to himself.
These may be teachers of law yet by the time they are done with they have done more harm.(23:19) " Hypocrites!" Jesus calls them. Do we not see in our times Bible preachers who similarly traduce God's children? They learn to rattle some verses without explaining the spiritual significance of the manner the Son fulfilled the will of his Father and serve him ill when they fail to engage their audience in a meaningful manner so they are in the dark to the spiritual blessings God has prepared for them. They waste their own time and of their hearers when they do not fully lived in the doctrine.
Parable of the Unforgiving servant (18:23-25) gives us the riches of glory ready for claim in heaven while servants of God are playing oneupmanship for some dubious celebrity status.
What prosperity theology misses out is far weightier glory of heavenly places and life everlasting. They cannot see beyond the reward in this life and the sewer through which they have to wade in order to be a celebrity preacher. Similarly nationalism sugar coated with pious humbug does not take you anywhere. Now we have a variant, Social gospel which is also distraction when one makes a theology of it. If the word of God does not produce result to create a just society the preacher is ill served by what he preaches and what his life is really as a messenger. John would not corrupt his personal life with superfluities of his generation."And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey." His speech also was direct and blunt. Where the body was malignant and a terminal case only a clean cut would cure the patient. Jesus also did not mince word seeing such hypocrisy and humbug among those who sat in the seat of Moses and pontificated to no purpose.
"O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?/Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance"
John was anointed before birth which we can understand as the case of being foreknown by God in his Son. St Paul speaks of being apprehended"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus."(Ph.3:12). "That I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended" when followed upon places you entirely outside the generation which here is compared to vipers and of adulterers. It speaks of the word as a good seed.
In the Parable of the Sower we have several kinds of heart, and from each what the word produces is quite different. "But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold." (13:8) John was apprehended for clearing the way, before the Advent of the Son."Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." Instead what do we find the Pharisees and Sadducees doing? They were at every turn putting stumbling blocks and tempting him in order to catch the Son of man , so they may discredit him. "The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven."(16:1). He pointed what drove them to seek one. He dubbed them "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. It was similar with John who called them out as generation of vipers. What is the quality of vipers? They are cannibals and from the Parable of the Sower they are the wicked one. "When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart."
With regards to wilderness where John resorted to has also a spiritual underpinning. Israel went whoring after foreign gods despite of God being with the mouth of Moses and as Hosea says, "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her./And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt."(Hos.2:14-15). This experience was to extend a door of hope to the reprobate.
What signifies the valley of Achor where Achan was buried,- a place to mark the sin of one caused the entire nation to lose a battle they were sure to win? "And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day."(Josh.7:26) Notice the usage of 'unto this day' in the verse? The Spirit as ever is tying to the Advent of the Son who was sure to come. Malachi sets John as well the Son of man, in this verse,"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts."Mal.3:1. This leads to the day of the Lord, for the disobedient.
Forty years of wandering of the nation was like the blind stumbling all over unable to find the right way is contrasted with 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."
"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come."(1 Co.10:11-12) We are pilgrims and sojourners at present.
"In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,/And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand./For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."(Matt.3:1-3)
Firstly we have the voice in the wilderness, and it refers to the passage from the Book of Isaiah. "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." (Is.40:3). This we may track historically to the calling of a nation in bondage. God appeared to Moses while he was tending the flock, 'And he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb'. Can there be voice without one who speaks? In this case we have God himself the Cause. The same who framed the worlds with his word. He commands, "Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say."(Ex.4:12). It has been thus from the first which from the much quoted verse,"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."(2 Co.4:6)
The sound of the word has gone forth and it went into all the earth, it is the gospel of peace.(Ro.10:18) As with Moses so was with Ezekiel and Jeremiah. In the year King Uzziah died God commissioned Prophet Isaiah with it. Thus the entire history of the nation of Israel is bound with holy men of old speaking the same theme, of the coming of the kingdom of heaven, "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,/Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son."(He.1:1-2)
The ministry of John belonged to the same word as a herald "(Is.40:9)
The Generation of Jesus Christ sets names of places, persons and events all in the orbit of the only begotten Son who as the Word became flesh draws them into him, past present and future. So the three wise men from the east to worship 'the king of the Jews' and the queen of Sheba coming from the south to hear Solomon relate to him in their respective generations. "The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here."(12:42) Faith is like gravitational force holding each generation in his context. For this reason King Herod, the little horn, the beast stand condemned as enemies of Christ for their injury against the holiness of God.
Faith marks Jesus as the son of God so his kingdom bears no comparison to what apostate Israel may have labored under false expectations of a Messiah-King. "My kingdom is not of this world" and heavenly Zion bears no relation to what preoccupied in the minds of Orthodox Jewry. Mountain of the Lord is founded on the foundation stone, which is Zion (Is.28:16). Micah prophesied,"And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." ( Micah 4:2)
For the reasons mentioned above the significance of Bethlehem stands in context of the bread from heaven cast upon the waters before the worlds began and not with a literal place. Wherever bread is mentioned in the gospels as in the case of the Last Supper it is broken by Jesus and given about signifying his body broken for mankind.
Herod "and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under,"
Historical Herod was capable of this crime despits of this moniker as the Great, as Constantine the Great was. On a flimsy charge of suspicion he had his son murdered. They belong to enemies to Christ,"Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,/Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;/ Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."(2 Ti.3:3-5) Herod would have had many killed at his death for the sheer pervesity of spirit. Yet he was in his time revered by a section of Jews who called themselves as Herodians. Constantin was of the same stripe. When Satan takes over the worldly worthies and places a crown on them, one may be sure there shall be much blood letting. God does not apportion so many innocents slaughtered by so and so but it is part and parcel of the same sin that entered into the world because of man's disobedience.. All judgment s left to the Son for whom a day is decreed and each shall give account of their deeds. Till then the slaughter of innocents whether 15 or more does not merit any special mention.
Scholars who doubt the veracity of Matthew's account err for the simple reason that the numbers are provided by the Spirit who hold both worlds as one. "And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many."(Josh.11:4)
By Law of Gradation all the martyrs are grouped on one side within the frame of reference to the Son against those perpetrators of the crime. In the divine Will the emblem of the slain Lamb refers to the blood offering of his firstborn in fulness of time. Weigh against this the death of frstborn in Egypt. (Ex.12:29)
Let us significance of the house of bread from which he came on a divine Mandate. He came to fulfill the will of his Father. In multiplying loaves of bread as given in the gospel let us examine the leftovers. "And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full."(14:20) In John's Gospel, "When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost./ Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten." ( John 6:12-13) Number 12 signifies the Gospel of God. In fulfilling his Father's will the same Gospel is Gospel of Christ.
All four gospel records this 'miracle' and more significance in in the gathering of fragments that remained.
In the Gospel of Mark we read,"And they did all eat, and were filled./ And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes."( Mark 6:42-43) In Luke "And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets." ( Luke 9:17)
There are other instances in which 4x1000 has significance as the number Seven to mark the baskets. (Mark.8:8) (15:37-38)
According to principle of Similitude the symbol of bread in the House of God must match. The number 12 refers to the Gospel and 7 denotes fulfillment of the Will. In all these instances all those who partook were full.
Contrary to this we have an indictment against Israel. "Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword./.. that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people."( Micah 6:13-16) Bethlehem as a result has fallen into insignificance.
"He (Herod) demanded of them where Christ should be born./ And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,/ And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel."
This is a paraphrase of the Prophet Micah "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
The ruler in Israel whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting can only be the Word that became flesh. When God spoke through his prophet it can only be understood by the sign which man hears as well as sees. St Paul explains the true Light in terms of what is knowable. "The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ' has shined in our hearts. The word that was sent shall not return to God in void. The phrase 'unto me' makes makes clear what Isaiah meant.Is.55:11
The name Bethlehem of Judah gives historically the place name. It means the house of bread.
The Spirit annotates Jesus Christ as the bread from heaven. In Micah we have several puns or word-play and the name Bethlehem is one such.
"When he (Joseph) arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:/And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son."
Here we have quote from Prophet Hosea, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt."
The three wise men arrived in Jerusalem looking for the king of the Jews. Rightly so, the sign that they had seen in the sky settled the matter of his kingship.
God had commanded Moses in the case of a king who may in future have anything to do with Egypt in these words,"forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way." (De.17:14-16) Now Hosea's prophesy informs of his Egyptian connection. How do we resolve the apparent discrepancy of the two passages?
Moses asked Pharaoh to release Israel from their bondage, "Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn." In calling Israel they were called in his Son, who is the firstborn of all creation. As Hosea says,"When Israel was a child, then I loved him." In the v.2 we see the rupture, "As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images." God rejected the kings of Israel and let the temple ransacked until not a stone remained. (2 Ki.21:13)
For Egypt connection we need look elsewhere. Matt.1:1 sets Jesus Christ as the son of Abraham. Here we see his deity established. After blessing Abraham he sends him away," And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there." (Ge.12:10) Now Hosea makes a distinction between Israel and Jesus on the basis of faith.
Isaac is the heir of promise and there was a famine in his time and God forbade him,"And said, Go not down into Egypt" (Ge.26:2). Hosea makes faith as the touchstone whereby 'Out of Egypt I called him" refers Jesus Christ, the son of Abraham.
"Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared./And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also./When they had heard the king, they departed; "behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt
Herod was 'diligent' to enquire what time the star had appeared. He concealed his real intentions and so the wise men were put off. His travel plans however were merely part of his statecraft signifying nothing. He was a vassal king whose policies changed sharply according to shift in power play in Rome. Yet he is called Herod the Great by historians. It is thus we have had pomp and circumstance of moral lepers given titles which in the sight of God are filthy rags. Herod was a pagan and became a Jew. So his travel plans were continuously changed unlike the quiet lives of Abraham and his sons, who "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise/ For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."(He.11:9-10). His travel plan was such and prepared for him by God. For he is called the friend of God. "But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city."(11:16)
Joseph who stood in place of God as a father to babe Jesus was required to make his travel plans in haste. "behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt" For Joseph his plans were made in heaven before the worlds began." His safe return also was guaranteed for this reason.
"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."
Heart is a spiritual space and much more so for those who understand God as a Spirit rules over it as well. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."(6:21). Pure in heart is not a state of being but will of man under a state of grace. As Paul would say,"I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need."(Ph.4:12) In short he chose to abide in him who died for our sakes. Stephen chose rather to die than be silent when called upon to speak up. He was under the yoke of his salvation. Truth made the elders of the Sanhedrin and Stephen respond differently. They questioned Stephen, "Are these things so? and when he answered they were wroth!" When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth"(7:1:54-56) Stephen could not done otherwise. He was pure heart so it was totally sanctified to give glory to God."But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,/ And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God."
"Follow me" Jesus said and his life was an example. So all who have followed his words would have shared the same agony and the ecstasy as St Stephen in some measure. So we have a Club for the Pure of heart, and rules of admission are simple."forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto ... the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."(Ph.3:12-14)
" Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake./ Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.(vv.11-12)
God's ways are higher than of man. Yet Holiness of God is made manifest in absolute impartiality. Sinful man is as much in his care as His creation. Love a facet of his divine nature loved the world that He sent his word through his prophets and in these last days spoken unto us through his Son."Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly."(Ps.138:6a) and made himself the least. "Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord's servant?"(Is.42:19). Humility of Jesus made him self contained in a manner of speaking.He did no sin; neither did he know it. When he was asked to be a arbiter his answer was very forthright, "Who made me a judge or divider over you?"( Luke 12:14) He was among them as His suffering servant and not as their king. Such perfection brooked no excuses or long winded precedents to justify his actions. His saying," But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil,"(v.37) was his own manner of validating the holiness of his Father. "Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:"(1 Pe.2:23) He was blind so his eye of faith was ever fixed on his Father. So was he deaf that his ear was open to His will. 'Lo I have come to do thy will' he would have remain committed so his path to glory opened way beyond Golgotha.
Jesus set an example with his life. He taught us to take up their cross. But what do the Christian world say,"No Jesus only taught to follow his words." Literally Satan has in one fell swoop made away with seed sown in their hearts. Without Jesus setting an example, without the captain of their salvation what Christian Living amounts to? We see the warning 'the abomination of desolation in 23:15-16 taking shape in our time
"Right eye"
"Blessedness of man is established by the divine Will and it freely given in his Son to the saints chosen before the foundation of the world. It is open for those who have no confidence in their flesh but nevertheless would learn of the Son who was also in human likeness." (Select)
Blessedness which Jesus spoke to the multitudes was in the will of the(Is.63 Father. Jesus in his human likeness addressed it in terms of the body God has prepared for him.(Ps.40:8). This being the case the hard sayings which he spoke cannot be understood without the two qualities of holiness he presented to the world. He was the word become flesh. So it is impossible to interpret it in any other manner than grace and truth that came by Jesus. Does anyone think being blind prevents one from imagining evil or lust for another. Force of nature inflame the body entire and only grace and truth in heart of man can help his case.
"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." (v.29)
Isaiah speaks of salvation in terms of "And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him."(Is.59:16;63:5) His right hand denotes his Son. It is thus this Psalm refers to it."His right hand and holy arm have gained Him the victory."(Ps.98:1)
Lust of the eye or flesh can only be handled by grace. St Paul's own case can help us understand it. "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me./Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, .... for when I am weak, then am I strong."(2 Co.12:7-10)
" Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." (v.17)
Blessedness of man is established by the divine Will and it freely given in his Son to the saints chosen before the foundation of the world. It is open for those who have confidence in their flesh but nevertheless would learn of the Son who was also in human likeness. 'For my sake' the heroes of faith learned to be meek.(He.11)
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth."(v.5)
Meekness of Moses for an example which we came across, and is set in the Scriptures 'for my sake." His faith was already set so he would dismiss great many things for the sake of the Son who declared "I am lowly and meek" "Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward./ By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible."(He.11:26-27) His eye of faith kept him all through.
Isaiah spoke some 600 years earlier, "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting./ For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed./He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me?"(Is.50:6-8) Jesus set an example and what he suffered was according to the Scriptures. "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake."
The Spirit instructs us in righteousness which was the portion for the Son in order overcome evil with love. "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."(5:39)
St Mathew's sense of reconciling the grand vision of kingdom of heaven in terms of the heart; of eternity in the now and holiness of God in the man become flesh is fit with the backdrop chosen for the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ. The high mountain chosen for this inaugural address is Zion laid before the worlds began. (Is.28:16) The eternal word forever settled in heaven and Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever shall only be complet when it descends from heaven as New Jerusalem. So the doctrine presented by the Son of man shall remain as it is as long as the day decreed for the Son shall remain.
We shall take each verse by verse, Parables of Jesus are flesh given to it so its eternal verity shall be recalled under every clime and generation men with renewed force. For example Jesus said," Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee throws light into the nature of poor in spirit and holiness of God is not above in rewarding them. While the Pharisee justified himself even his knowledge of the Law began smelling foul for he was shredding the sanctity of His presence in the temple."And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner./ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."( Luke 18:9-14)
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. The Life of Job is a lesson and we read thus,"So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning."( Job 42:12). Similarly so many saints who were blessed because tribulations became stepping stones for glory.
"And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:/ And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying"
The Evangelist Matthews introduces the doctrine of God, which has been made manifest by manifold ways by the holy men of old. His approach to the Son has been set as Matt.1:1 indicates. Generation Jesus Christ takes up the theme of man 'in our own image' narrowing down generations of the heaven and of the earth to his creation. "And God blessed them." These generations are further clarified to occur within the day which by a decree is put under the authority of the Son. So the Sermon on the Mount consists blessings of the Father in his Son.
For an example " Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." (v.11) the struggle a natural man faces because of his flesh and of his spirit. This dichotomy in our interaction with our generation becomes much more pronounced and unsettling. There may be persecutions formed from the ungodly and Jesus puts his finger on the cause, "for my sake". Each generation has had and Abel the righteous one paid with his life. Such strife is bound to occur because the law of sin is enmity towards the Law of Spirit. ("So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."
"For my sake"
God blessed man who is created in his own image sets a key principle of Similitude. Thus man either represents the Son or he is against him. This representation explains the fall of man. " For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Ro.5:17) God blessed Moses so his eye of faith saw this representation. "Now the man Moses was very meek," Or rather he made himself like Christ. "And the similitude of theLordshall he behold."(Nu.12:8)
Eye of faith is in lockstep with God because of the soul of man is his true and faithful witness, "For His eyes are on the ways of a man, and He sees his every step." Faith is one and it explains the heart as a spiritual space with which God is knowable. "He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works."(Ps.33:15; Job 34:21)
God is set in terms of light which explains this eye of faith in terms of the body. "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light./ But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!"
Satan tempted Jesus because he did not understand the holiness of God and of faith which is one. Answering the tempter was to no avail. So he rebuked him,"Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."(4:10)
God sent forth his word which has been preparing the ground so holy men of old did not speak their own piece but what the Spirit set before their eye of faith, "Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow."(1 Pe.1:11) By the same token when Jesus called out his disciples straightaway laid aside what they were engaged in and followed him.
St Paul in his zeal persecuted the church and witnessed the beatific expression of the first martyr and his death. His conversion on his way to Damascus was foreknown. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God opened his eye of faith. He may never known other than the Law of Moses and related works. What he read with his new vision is the face of Christ the fulfillment of Law. The blessed whose delight in the law of the Lord shall have no difficulty is translating the old to the new.
vv.18-25
Jesus calling of his disciples were not happenstance but the light of the knowledge lending a hand to their faith.They instantly followed him as Evangelist Matthew did. In this connection here is a verse,"And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." (John1:51) This direct reference to the dream of Jacob is what the eye of faith revealing the word of God " which ye now see and hear." Simon Peter at Joppa saw it; so did Cornelius the centurion. (Ac.10:1)
Whe God commanded through Moses he said Love of God must be with whole heart."And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might./And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:"(De.6:5-8) This has to be a sign upon thine hand, empower your hands so faith is followed with works. So how do we see in thy light? (Ps.36:9)
"And they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes" so we knowing the times are bad shall conduct with circumspect and with lowliness of mind.
"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Heart is a spiritual space where knowledge of the holy serves as understanding which must learn to distinguish between the real and the worthless. In the Parable of the Rich Fool what he could store up was his riches. Jesus warns they are seen so temporal and very deceptive. Blessed as Psalm1 teaches is the one who by close reading of the word of God shall know how to apply it to his profit."That walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful./But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." Even our time we read of the simple foolish enough to step out with hammer with zip ties to root out 'undesirable' elements at the Capitol believing in every balderdash he read in the internet. The perpetrators of the hoax move on while fools are caught and put away possibly for life. In such times we are to be extra vigilant while Satan like a roaring lion are abroad freely sowing damage." Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"(Is.5:20) People perish where there is no vision. How can they when foolish shepherds have been sending them under their hand to facilitate the ungodly politicians without let up? They preach faith but their works are as those who call evil good?
"The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints."(Ep.1:18)
Jesus refers to eye as single. "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light."(6:22)
"Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness."( Luke 11:35)
"Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;/ And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim."
Light is knowledge that darkness cannot understand. So we learn from this verse,"Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father."( John 6:65) God is a Spirit and the truth in the inwards of man is to be known by his spirit. It is like a candle so no man may say it is beyond him. No he fools himself to deny God's grace. He sent his word and it is heard which darkness dismisses it as nothing. For man to benefit from it needs the Son whom he sent. "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."(2 Co.4:6). At the birth of Jesus circumstanced forced his father to settle down in Nazareth and now events forced the Son of man to leave for Galilee. It is thus as long as we are in the flesh, darkness shall conspire to change our circumstances but truth helps us learn of the holiness of God and what does it tell us? "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."(He.13:5) God let his Son be tempted of the devil but we read that, "And, behold, angels came and ministered unto him." It is thus with every child of God, "that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."(Ac.14:22) On our part we are called to continue in faith for his word of grace is sufficient to build up our lives in the sure foundation. "God knows who are his."
Life of Jesus was disrupted but helps the light of the knowledge of the glory of God spread 'Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.'(v.15)
God makes angels spirits. Satan whose credo "I will" challenged the holiness of God, With this in mind the tempter asking Jesus "If thou be" challenged the eternal nature. His advent in human likeness was bound up in fulfilling the will of his Father so the challenges he asked was basically faith against doubt. Law of Spirit against the Law of sin. Satan sins from the beginning so the appetites of the flesh loomed large in his eyes. Besides before him stood the Son of man vulnerable after fasting 40 days and forty nights. Jesus who was the Word become flesh would not go against his holiness. In the Father-Son relationship the sovereign hold of the word was the arbiter.
This episode tells his adversary well knew his scripture but without faith it was zero . Knowledge of the holy is understanding. How the serpent mouthed Satan's position with regards to the knowledge of good and evil is a case in point. "And ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" without truth was blind. We hear in our times," Justification makes the works unnecessary which is a travesty of Luther's position. It has been thus the eternal word of God has been debased into heresies without living it.
God provided all needful things for life and godliness. So man who dares to change the stone into bread was questioning His holiness. In the second challenge Satan would give man 'a bold initiative' by "If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down". Jesus rebutted him from his position of faith. Thirdly "if thou wilt fall down and worship me". Satan would never have understood the key to salvation so his last challenge addressing sentient nature of man shows the egregious folly in relying on the senses which only appealed him. "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.... and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie,he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it"( John 8:44)
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil./And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.(vv.1-2)
'Then' refers to the descent of the Spirit in the form of a dove in the preceding passage.(3:16) Lucan gospel informs us that Jesus was tempted for forty days of the devil.. St Matthew lays emphasis on the manner the tempter would try to trip him up. Mark merely mentions it as matter-of-factly as a anecdote. "And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness./And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him".( Mark 1:12-13). John left it out altogether. Before we go on with his ministry we present the four gospels relate to one another inextricably as the Logos aspect of the Son of man is bound with God which was with the Word. The "Word was God" ( John 1:1)
The Spirit uses 40 days to indicate the sovereignty of the Word as the Son of man handled. Four refers to cardinal directions and whether east or west south or north the Word of God stood on a firm foundation."Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his."(2 Ti.2:19) In the case of Jesus in his humanity needed preparation so he was led by the Spirit during 40 days (4x10). Before he began his ministry the same number of days as well as he was seen for 40 days by his disciples in his risen body. In short the number lays down it as a tag and applies to anyone who is taken into service. The life of Moses is tagged likewise."And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments." (Ex.34:28) Before Moses could serve the nation the number serves as a diploma of having been found adequate to serve. It is thus the Spirit led Jesus into wilderness.
John the Baptist was anointed from birth for his ministry. Meeting Jesus by the river Jordan was no mere coincidence any more than Simeon coming to the temple to meet infant Jesus. " And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ./ And he came by the Spirit into the temple. "( Luke 2:25-27). It is thus the eternal word forever settled in heaven has administered the upkeep of the kingdom of God.
By the same token the voice in the wilderness administering baptism by water was to meet the body in which it pleased the Father that his fulness should dwell. Moses Elijah and John are all associates with Christ the Head. Transfiguration of Jesus at the holy mount was a preview of the glory that was to be made manifest. So the River Jordan is a symbol for the river of time, holding them all as having labored to declare the eternal word of God.
After his transfiguration he reveals its significance of restoration 'of all things' by which what Jesus signified is that "that God may be all in all."(1 Co.15:28). "Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist." The glorious body of Jesus awaited his death and resurrection for which the river symbolized life eternal. As forerunner of the Son Elijah parted the river and the glory was "behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven."(2 Ki.2:11) It foreshadows the Ascension of Jesus Christ. "And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight."(Ac.1:9) Such events occurring in the Bible narrative is to instruct us we are all associates chosen before the worlds began and Moses, Elijah and John are many members of the same body. From the fulness of the head which is Christ we are preserved. "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."
"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:/ And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
John as a messenger was sent to make straight the paths and is part of long line of prophets, ("God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,/Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son-He.1:1-2) Prophet Isaiah said,"O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!"Nahum also set it on high, "Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!"(Na.1:15) The reference to the mountain denotes Zion and all the good tidings have come from there without exception. Now at the baptism of Jesus we see the presence of Trinity there. The testimony of the voice from heaven which 'were opened unto him. The descent of the Spirit of God like a dove. The voice signifies the eternal word or the Law Which is God.(John1:1); the Spirit and the Man coming out of the water. Symbolically the river of time accredits him as Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. (He.13:8). Yes indeed he was the Word become flesh who shall taste death once for all men and shall alive forever. John the Baptist as the voice in the wilderness was validated as the greatest of all born of woman.(11:10-11)
The river of Jordan creates a switchover for a believer who as the Psalm says go from strength to strength. "Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them./...They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." (Ps.84:5-7)
"Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him./ But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?/And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him."
Jesus who knew no sin would have no need for baptism but his baptism goes beyond the significance of the sacrament carries. According to St Paul crossing the Red sea we are told that, "All our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea"(1 Co.10:1-2). Parting of the sea prepared them for a new beginning, the born again experience to which Jesus alludes ( John 3:5) St Paul also mentions the Spirit of Christ being present at that time. Crossing again under the command of Joshua we have the parting of the River Jordan signaling the entry into the Promised Land. Being born of water equipped an Israelite to be born of the Spirit. Sad commentary of the nation we have here," But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness."So the baptism by Spirit would wait.
Jesus would nevertheless take baptism by water under the hand of John so he identified it as a testimony to his humanity and before the Law he being the Word become flesh. The voice testified from heaven bearing testimony " And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."(3:17)
The river Jordan serves as the river of time and it is in this context we may examine the resurrection of souls to which this river serves as a symbol. The river parted ( Josh 3:13-16) when the priests stood with the Ark of the Testimony in the midst till the people passed over. We died to the world in order to alive in heavenly places and we became adopted in his Son even before the worlds began. (Ep.1:3-4)
Here we shall consider the topics he as a messenger from God would introduce so the ministry of Jesus developed and laid out as doctrine. Jesus announced "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me." ( John 7:16-17) As the Person specific this doctrine was in his authority to lay down. As the visible image he and his Father were one. So only way to learn of it was to do his Will. Where does that place John the Baptist. As his voice preparing a highway to Zion! "No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him."( John 1:18)
Topic #1 Stone
"that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham."
Without faith Israel delude themselves to claim their lineage to Patriarch Abraham. New Jerusalem was founded on a sure foundation and their claims as God's chosen was consequently a self deception.
#2 Tree of life
"And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees." His message, "every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire," resonates with parables of Jesus and of being branches to the true vine. Jesus also spoke of being planted by God. "Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up."(15:13)
Evangelist brings them together at Jordan, "Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him."
What is Jordan but the river of time beginning at Ge.1:6-7? God sends his blessing after the creation of man.
#3 Fire
"he (Messiah) shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:/ Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."(vv.11-12)
Jesus also referred towards the end of ministry, " But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!" ( Luke 12:50)
"Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance."
Jesus spoke to the nation of Israel in parables. We are told why. "Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." Their ears were like highway they heard and the message without hinder went out through the other. Similarly they saw the signs of their times and understood nothing since ther eye of faith was shut. Jesus well knew what was in their minds and dared them to step out the vain traditions of their fathers for which they needed repentance. First they required a heart of flesh in the place of stony heart. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." (Ez.36:26) Their fruits of repentance prepared the way of the Spirit. So baptism by water was a sacrament and also an act of faith. We already discussed the manner multiplying loaves in each case was followed by specific number of leftover. "And they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full." The Spirit renders it as a memorial of the Son of man who came as bread from heaven and fed specific number who were his fruits. He gave glory to his father.
Similarly fruits of repentance invited the nation to turn away from their traditions, which they would not. They were offended and many left Jesus. "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him./ Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?" Who were disciples of Jesus? Peter said it for all,"Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." Those who stayed on showed promise.
In the case of John his ministry pointed to the prince of life and not to himself.
These may be teachers of law yet by the time they are done with they have done more harm.(23:19) " Hypocrites!" Jesus calls them. Do we not see in our times Bible preachers who similarly traduce God's children? They learn to rattle some verses without explaining the spiritual significance of the manner the Son fulfilled the will of his Father and serve him ill when they fail to engage their audience in a meaningful manner so they are in the dark to the spiritual blessings God has prepared for them. They waste their own time and of their hearers when they do not fully lived in the doctrine.
Parable of the Unforgiving servant (18:23-25) gives us the riches of glory ready for claim in heaven while servants of God are playing oneupmanship for some dubious celebrity status.
What prosperity theology misses out is far weightier glory of heavenly places and life everlasting. They cannot see beyond the reward in this life and the sewer through which they have to wade in order to be a celebrity preacher. Similarly nationalism sugar coated with pious humbug does not take you anywhere. Now we have a variant, Social gospel which is also distraction when one makes a theology of it. If the word of God does not produce result to create a just society the preacher is ill served by what he preaches and what his life is really as a messenger. John would not corrupt his personal life with superfluities of his generation."And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey." His speech also was direct and blunt. Where the body was malignant and a terminal case only a clean cut would cure the patient. Jesus also did not mince word seeing such hypocrisy and humbug among those who sat in the seat of Moses and pontificated to no purpose.
"O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?/Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance"
John was anointed before birth which we can understand as the case of being foreknown by God in his Son. St Paul speaks of being apprehended"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus."(Ph.3:12). "That I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended" when followed upon places you entirely outside the generation which here is compared to vipers and of adulterers. It speaks of the word as a good seed.
In the Parable of the Sower we have several kinds of heart, and from each what the word produces is quite different. "But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold." (13:8) John was apprehended for clearing the way, before the Advent of the Son."Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." Instead what do we find the Pharisees and Sadducees doing? They were at every turn putting stumbling blocks and tempting him in order to catch the Son of man , so they may discredit him. "The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven."(16:1). He pointed what drove them to seek one. He dubbed them "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. It was similar with John who called them out as generation of vipers. What is the quality of vipers? They are cannibals and from the Parable of the Sower they are the wicked one. "When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart."
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"Behold your God"
With regards to wilderness where John resorted to has also a spiritual underpinning. Israel went whoring after foreign gods despite of God being with the mouth of Moses and as Hosea says, "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her./And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt."(Hos.2:14-15). This experience was to extend a door of hope to the reprobate.
What signifies the valley of Achor where Achan was buried,- a place to mark the sin of one caused the entire nation to lose a battle they were sure to win? "And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day."(Josh.7:26) Notice the usage of 'unto this day' in the verse? The Spirit as ever is tying to the Advent of the Son who was sure to come. Malachi sets John as well the Son of man, in this verse,"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts."Mal.3:1. This leads to the day of the Lord, for the disobedient.
Forty years of wandering of the nation was like the blind stumbling all over unable to find the right way is contrasted with 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."
"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come."(1 Co.10:11-12) We are pilgrims and sojourners at present.
(Is.52:7) (Nah.1:15)
"In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,/And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand./For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."(Matt.3:1-3)
Firstly we have the voice in the wilderness, and it refers to the passage from the Book of Isaiah. "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." (Is.40:3). This we may track historically to the calling of a nation in bondage. God appeared to Moses while he was tending the flock, 'And he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb'. Can there be voice without one who speaks? In this case we have God himself the Cause. The same who framed the worlds with his word. He commands, "Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say."(Ex.4:12). It has been thus from the first which from the much quoted verse,"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."(2 Co.4:6)
The sound of the word has gone forth and it went into all the earth, it is the gospel of peace.(Ro.10:18) As with Moses so was with Ezekiel and Jeremiah. In the year King Uzziah died God commissioned Prophet Isaiah with it. Thus the entire history of the nation of Israel is bound with holy men of old speaking the same theme, of the coming of the kingdom of heaven, "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,/Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son."(He.1:1-2)
The ministry of John belonged to the same word as a herald "(Is.40:9)
The Generation of Jesus Christ sets names of places, persons and events all in the orbit of the only begotten Son who as the Word became flesh draws them into him, past present and future. So the three wise men from the east to worship 'the king of the Jews' and the queen of Sheba coming from the south to hear Solomon relate to him in their respective generations. "The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here."(12:42) Faith is like gravitational force holding each generation in his context. For this reason King Herod, the little horn, the beast stand condemned as enemies of Christ for their injury against the holiness of God.
Faith marks Jesus as the son of God so his kingdom bears no comparison to what apostate Israel may have labored under false expectations of a Messiah-King. "My kingdom is not of this world" and heavenly Zion bears no relation to what preoccupied in the minds of Orthodox Jewry. Mountain of the Lord is founded on the foundation stone, which is Zion (Is.28:16). Micah prophesied,"And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." ( Micah 4:2)
For the reasons mentioned above the significance of Bethlehem stands in context of the bread from heaven cast upon the waters before the worlds began and not with a literal place. Wherever bread is mentioned in the gospels as in the case of the Last Supper it is broken by Jesus and given about signifying his body broken for mankind.
Herod "and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under,"
Historical Herod was capable of this crime despits of this moniker as the Great, as Constantine the Great was. On a flimsy charge of suspicion he had his son murdered. They belong to enemies to Christ,"Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,/Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;/ Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."(2 Ti.3:3-5) Herod would have had many killed at his death for the sheer pervesity of spirit. Yet he was in his time revered by a section of Jews who called themselves as Herodians. Constantin was of the same stripe. When Satan takes over the worldly worthies and places a crown on them, one may be sure there shall be much blood letting. God does not apportion so many innocents slaughtered by so and so but it is part and parcel of the same sin that entered into the world because of man's disobedience.. All judgment s left to the Son for whom a day is decreed and each shall give account of their deeds. Till then the slaughter of innocents whether 15 or more does not merit any special mention.
Scholars who doubt the veracity of Matthew's account err for the simple reason that the numbers are provided by the Spirit who hold both worlds as one. "And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many."(Josh.11:4)
By Law of Gradation all the martyrs are grouped on one side within the frame of reference to the Son against those perpetrators of the crime. In the divine Will the emblem of the slain Lamb refers to the blood offering of his firstborn in fulness of time. Weigh against this the death of frstborn in Egypt. (Ex.12:29)
Let us significance of the house of bread from which he came on a divine Mandate. He came to fulfill the will of his Father. In multiplying loaves of bread as given in the gospel let us examine the leftovers. "And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full."(14:20) In John's Gospel, "When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost./ Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten." ( John 6:12-13) Number 12 signifies the Gospel of God. In fulfilling his Father's will the same Gospel is Gospel of Christ.
All four gospel records this 'miracle' and more significance in in the gathering of fragments that remained.
In the Gospel of Mark we read,"And they did all eat, and were filled./ And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes."( Mark 6:42-43) In Luke "And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets." ( Luke 9:17)
There are other instances in which 4x1000 has significance as the number Seven to mark the baskets. (Mark.8:8) (15:37-38)
According to principle of Similitude the symbol of bread in the House of God must match. The number 12 refers to the Gospel and 7 denotes fulfillment of the Will. In all these instances all those who partook were full.
Contrary to this we have an indictment against Israel. "Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword./.. that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people."( Micah 6:13-16) Bethlehem as a result has fallen into insignificance.
"He (Herod) demanded of them where Christ should be born./ And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,/ And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel."
This is a paraphrase of the Prophet Micah "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
The ruler in Israel whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting can only be the Word that became flesh. When God spoke through his prophet it can only be understood by the sign which man hears as well as sees. St Paul explains the true Light in terms of what is knowable. "The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ' has shined in our hearts. The word that was sent shall not return to God in void. The phrase 'unto me' makes makes clear what Isaiah meant.Is.55:11
The name Bethlehem of Judah gives historically the place name. It means the house of bread.
The Spirit annotates Jesus Christ as the bread from heaven. In Micah we have several puns or word-play and the name Bethlehem is one such.
"When he (Joseph) arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:/And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son."
Here we have quote from Prophet Hosea, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt."
The three wise men arrived in Jerusalem looking for the king of the Jews. Rightly so, the sign that they had seen in the sky settled the matter of his kingship.
God had commanded Moses in the case of a king who may in future have anything to do with Egypt in these words,"forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way." (De.17:14-16) Now Hosea's prophesy informs of his Egyptian connection. How do we resolve the apparent discrepancy of the two passages?
Moses asked Pharaoh to release Israel from their bondage, "Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn." In calling Israel they were called in his Son, who is the firstborn of all creation. As Hosea says,"When Israel was a child, then I loved him." In the v.2 we see the rupture, "As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images." God rejected the kings of Israel and let the temple ransacked until not a stone remained. (2 Ki.21:13)
For Egypt connection we need look elsewhere. Matt.1:1 sets Jesus Christ as the son of Abraham. Here we see his deity established. After blessing Abraham he sends him away," And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there." (Ge.12:10) Now Hosea makes a distinction between Israel and Jesus on the basis of faith.
Isaac is the heir of promise and there was a famine in his time and God forbade him,"And said, Go not down into Egypt" (Ge.26:2). Hosea makes faith as the touchstone whereby 'Out of Egypt I called him" refers Jesus Christ, the son of Abraham.
"Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared./And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also./When they had heard the king, they departed; "behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt
Herod was 'diligent' to enquire what time the star had appeared. He concealed his real intentions and so the wise men were put off. His travel plans however were merely part of his statecraft signifying nothing. He was a vassal king whose policies changed sharply according to shift in power play in Rome. Yet he is called Herod the Great by historians. It is thus we have had pomp and circumstance of moral lepers given titles which in the sight of God are filthy rags. Herod was a pagan and became a Jew. So his travel plans were continuously changed unlike the quiet lives of Abraham and his sons, who "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise/ For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."(He.11:9-10). His travel plan was such and prepared for him by God. For he is called the friend of God. "But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city."(11:16)
Joseph who stood in place of God as a father to babe Jesus was required to make his travel plans in haste. "behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt" For Joseph his plans were made in heaven before the worlds began." His safe return also was guaranteed for this reason.
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