Week 7 : Matt. 15:1 - 17:8

Far to the north of Jerusalem, the religious capital of Israel, close to the border of the Holy Land, is Caesarea Philippi. In Jerusalem, the holy city and site of the holy temple, the atmosphere of the old Jewish religion filled every man's thought, leaving no room for Christ, the new King. The Lord purposely took His disciples far away from this place to Caesarea Philippi, to reveal something new concerning Himself and the church, which was mentioned for the first time here.

Jesus began by asking them:

Who do men say that the Son of Man is? And they said, Some, John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them, But you, who do you say that I am? (Matt. 16:13-15)

This seemingly simple question is the most important question that we can ever be asked - who is the Christ? The disciples showed us that without a heavenly revelation, our view of who Christ is is limited. As a man, Chris was a mystery to that generation, as He is to people today. Surely He is the greatest of the prophets, yet none knew Him as the Son of the living God. Peter then received a revelation from the Father:

And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in the heavens. (Matt. 16:16-17)

The Christ refers to the One prophesied in the Old Testament and whom His saints through the ages looked for. It refers to the anointed One of God, of His commission, whereas the Son of the Living God speaks of His person. His commission is to accomplish God's eternal purpose through His crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and second coming, whereas His person embodies the Father and consummates in the Spirit for a full expression of the Triune God. The living God is in contrast to the dead religion. The Lord is the embodiment of the living God, having nothing to do with dead religion.

And I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. (Matt. 16:18)

The revelation of Christ is only the first half of the great mystery, which is Christ and the church. Therefore, the Lord needed to reveal the second half of the mystery to Peter, which is the church. This rock refers not only to Christ, but also the revelation concerning Christ that Peter had received. The church is built on Christ and on this revelation concerning Christ.

The Lord's building of His church began on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4, 41-42), yet the prophecy even now has yet to be fulfilled. In the original Greek of the New Testament, the word for church is ekklesia, which means an out-calling. This word is used in reference to a called-out congregation. That the Lord would call it My church indicates that the church is of the Lord, not of any other person or thing; it is not like the Christian denominations, which are denominated according to some person's name (e.g. Lutherans and Wesleyans) or according to some matter (e.g. Baptists and Pentecostalists). Instead, the church that Christ is building is inclusive and non-sectarian. If we see that the church is build on Christ and Christ alone, we will be saved from division.

Week 6 : Matt. 13:8 - 14:36

After His rejection by the Jewish religious leaders (Matt. 12:22-37), His own Galilean countrymen (vv13.53-58), and by the Gentile politicians (vv14.1-13), the Lord Jesus withdrew to a deserted place privately.This indicates that from then on, He would hide Himself in a deserted place, a place without culture, away from the religious, cultured and political circles. He did this by means of a boat (v14:13), implying that He would do this through the church.

In spite of His threefold rejection, there were still many who sought and followed the heavenly King. They did this by leaving their cities; the Lord did not come to them in their cities, but they left them to come to Him in the deserted place. Throughout the centuries, the true followers of Christ have left cultured spheres to follow their heavenly King outside the cultured world.

These followers spent much time in the Lord's presence, with their sick being healed. However as evening fell,

the disciples came to Him, saying, This place is deserted and the hour is already late. Send the crowds away that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves. But Jesus said to them, They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat. (Matt. 14:15-16)

The disciples' concept was that the followers should do something; this is wholly according to the principle of the law. However, the Lord's concept is to give people something to enjoy; this is the principle of grace. Actually, grace is just the Lord Himself coming to us to be our life supply, our enjoyment, and our everything. When we have the Lord, we lack nothing (Psalm 23:1). The Lord intended to show that what His followers need is the proper food to satisfy their hunger. All that they needed was Hs resurrection life, which would satisfy their spiritual hunger, as signified in this miracle. This corresponds with Matt. 6:31-33, where we are told that the kingdom people should not be anxious about what they will eat.

The disciples only had five loaves and two fish between them. John 6:9 tells us that the loaves were barley loaves. Barley, a crop which ripens before the wheat crop, signifies the resurrected Christ (Lev. 23:10); thus barley loaves signify Christ in resurrection as food to us. Both the loaves and the fish are small items, which indicates that Christ came to His followers not as a King to reign over them (which is what the Jews were expecting), but as small pieces of food to feed them.

The Lord took the food, and looking to the heavens, blessed it and broke it. This signifies firstly that the Lord took His Father in the heavenlies as His source, while the breaking of the food shows us that whatever we bring to the Lord must be broken, that it may become a blessing to others. Having broken the food, the Lord gave it to the disciples to distribute to the crowds, indicating that they were not the source of the blessing; they were only the channels by which the Lord's blessing reached the people for their satisfaction.

When everyone had fully satisfied themselves by enjoying the Lord's grace, there were twelve handbaskets full of broken pieces, indicating that not only is the resurrected Christ unlimited and inexhaustible, but that His provision is abundant, more than sufficient to meet all our need.

Week 5 : Matt. 11:2 - 13:7

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered Him, saying, Teacher, we want to see a sign from You. But He answered and said to them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. (Matt. 12:38-40)

Of all those who opposed the Lord Jesus during His life on earth, none opposed Him more than the religious establishment, the scribes and Pharisees of Judaism. Matt. 12:1-14 show that while they cared only for religious ordinances and practices, He cared only for His members, firstly by leading His disciples to pick grain to eat on the Sabbath, and then by healing a man with a withered hand, again on the Sabbath, a day on which, according to Jewish ritual, no work was to be done. Jesus did not care for such rituals - if He saw one of His children in need, He went to them to help them.

The climax of their rejection of the very One who had come to save them was their asking for a sign. A sign is a miracle with some spiritual significance. 1 Cor. 1:22 confirms this word that the Jews continually seek for signs. Today, many unbelievers challenge God, saying, "If God is real, why does He not give us a sign, to prove He exists? Then we would believe." They are no different to the stubborn unrepenting unbelieving Jewish religionists who opposed the Lord Jesus in that day.

The Lord's answer was to reveal to the whole universe something further concerning Himself. Jonah was sent by God to preach the gospel of repentance to Nineveh; Jonah feared God, and tried to escape by sea; he was cast into the water, and swallowed by a great fish, which, after three days and nights, spewed him up onto the land near Nineveh, after which Jonah went to the Gentile city and preached the gospel to them, and the Ninevites repented, and were spared God's judgement. Here the Lord, as the greater Jonah, clearly was prophesying concerning His coming death and resurrection, when He would be interred in the earth for three days, before coming forth in resurrection to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles. (Remember, in my previous posting, I covered the matter of the signs of dispensational significance, showing how the Lord would turn from Israel to the Gentiles, before finally returning to Israel at the close of the age).

The Lord then gave them a second sign, the sign of Solomon. King Solomon's two main achievements were to build the temple of God in Jerusalem, and to speak the words of wisdom. As the greater Solomon, Christ is the One who is building the real temple, the church, and speaking the real word of wisdom, the gospel of grace. To Him, the Gentile seekers (signified by the Queen of Sheba) come "from the ends of the earth"

These two signs are interesting because they are seemingly out of sequence; according to history, Solomon preceded Jonah, yet here the Lord deliberately mentions Jonah first. This is because these signs have spiritual significance, which is serious and very meaningful. Jonah is mentioned first because he signifies Christ in His death and burial, while Solomon typifies Christ in His resurrection. Christ must die first before He can be resurrected; then He builds the church and speaks the word of wisdom.

If the Pharisees had taken in the Lord's word, they would have recognised the first sign when He was crucified, buried and resurrected, and they would have repented and believed. Even in His answer to their provoking question, Jesus was merciful, giving them the opportunity to yet receive Him, by giving them such signs. His death and resurrection are the unique sign given to that generation, and they remain the unique sign to this day. The Pharisees, that "evil and adulterous generation" did not care, and they rejected the King-Saviour. From this point on, having been rejected by Israel, the Lord forsook the Jews, and instead turned to the Gentiles.

Week 4 : Matt. 8:18 - 11:1

After delivering the decree of the kingdom's constitution in the "Sermon on the Mount", the Lord performed several miracles (Matt. 8:1-17): healing a leper, a paralysed servant, and His disciple Peter's mother-in-law. Taken on their own, these cases may appear to be simple stories showing His compassion for us, but dig below the surface for a moment, and they take on great dispensational significance.

The first class of people saved by the King to be the people of His kingdom is represented by the leper. Leprosy signifies rebellion and disobedience (e.g. Miriam in Num. 12:1-10 and Naaman in 2 Kings 5:1, 9-14). All fallen human beings have become leprous in the eyes of the Lord, but in His mercy and compassion, He came to save us, even being willing to touch us when no other would. Since the leper worshipped Him and called Him, "Lord", this shows us that the leper signifies more specifically the Jews. The Lord came first to the nation of Israel.

After healing the leper by His touch, He healed the servant of a Roman centurion. The centurion and his servant represent the Gentiles. While the Jews were rebellious and disobedient, the Gentiles are paralysed, dead in function because of their sinfulness. The Lord came first to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles. The believing Jews were saved by His direct touch, while the believing Gentiles are saved through faith in His word. Since the centurion recognised the Lord's authority, he asked only for His healing word, demonstrating such faith that Jesus,

marvelled and said to those who followed, Truly I say to you, With no one in Israel have I found such great faith." (Matt. 8:10)

After bringing full salvation to the Gentiles, the Lord then comes to the third case, represented by Peter's mother-in-law, who was stricken with fever. She represents the Jews living at the end of this age. The Lord will come back again to save them in the house of Israel. Once healed by His direct touch, as was the leper, they will serve Him. Finally, after healing her, He cast out demons and healed many other ill people, in fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4. This healing signifies the power that will be manifested in the millennial kingdom.

So, in isolation, these cases are just examples of miraculous healing, but together, they show in miniature the coming kingdom of the heavens. These cases are reinforced by vv. 9:18-34; the Lord comes first to Israel, represented here by the a ruler of the synagogue and his daughter, to save them with His direct touch (their faith is still insufficient for them to receive their salvation through His word); then to the Gentiles, represented by the woman with a flow of blood, who are again saved by faith (v9:22), and then returns to the house of Israel again, before healing the blind, the dumb and the demon-possessed in the kingdom age.