01.05 - Section 05. Mat_10:1-42; Mat_11:1-30; Mat_12:1-50.

Section 05. Matthew 10:1-42; Matthew 11:1-30; Matthew 12:1-50. The King’s Messengers, the King’s Message, and the King Himself Rejected

It is very important to be clear as to the teaching of this section of our Gospel in order rightly to understand the whole. It records the events that lead up to, and introduce the change of dispensations following the rejection of the Messiah. In the first place the King’s messengers go out with the King’s message. The nation rejects the messengers and refuse the message. John, the forerunner, is imprisoned. The people that rejected both John and the Lord are likened to children who would respond to the voice neither of mirth nor of mourning. The pride and worldliness of Tyre and Sidon would meet with a less severe judgment than the cities of Galilee which had seen His mighty works. But though rejected by the people and their leaders, yet the weary and heavy-laden would come to Him and find rest; and as the Sabbath was intended to be a sign of a kept law, He exposes the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who professed to keep the Sabbath and yet rejected the Lord of the Sabbath. Their only reply to His words of grace and acts of power was to hold a council against Him, how they might destroy Him. Henceforth it was all over with the nation. The new thing was announced according to prophecy. Judgment would go forth to the Gentiles who were outside the scope of Jewish promise, in the darkness of heathendom and the prison-house of the devil. The result would be the "new song to the Lord" and His praise to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 42:1-10). The Pharisees desire a sign, and get two, which showed them, could they only have seen it, that they would be condemned by the faith of those who had both less light and fewer privileges. Jonah did no signs, and Solomon’s wisdom was not to be compared with that of Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. But looking a little closer into details we find that Matthew 10:1-42 opens with the mission of the twelve. At the close of Matthew 9:1-38 they were instructed to pray for labourers to be sent forth, and here we find them being sent forth themselves. The disciples now become apostles — sent ones. Hitherto they had been following with the Lord, as disciples; now they go forth for the Lord, as servants, and the chapter is full of the deepest practical instruction for every servant, now, as well as then. In the first place we get a list of the names of the twelve, and here only Matthew is called "the publican"; it is as if the writer desired to express his appreciation of the grace that could take up a poor publican and number him among that select company — the Apostles of the Lamb. The Lord then instructs them as to: —

1 The sphere of their mission.

2 The persons to whom the message was sent, 3 The character of the message, and 4 Its evidences.

It was a purely Jewish mission of Jewish apostles to the Jewish people, and, this being so, neither Samaritan nor Gentile has any part in it. This should make it clear to all that this mission of the twelve had nothing in common with the present Gospel of the grace of God which goes out to all, world wide, without exception or distinction, consequent upon the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But here the apostles are instructed to go only to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." They were as sheep having no shepherd, or even in a worse position still, according to Zechariah 11:5, as a flock of slaughter The nation had reached the period when "their possessors (the Romans) slay them and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them (the Herodians) say, ’Blessed be the Lord for I am rich’: and their own shepherds (the Pharisees) pity them not." Such was Israel’s miserable plight when the Lord Jesus appeared, God come down in grace to deliver, proclaiming as "at hand" that Kingdom which had been so long promised through the prophets. But in spite of all He said, or did, or was, the King — the true Shepherd of Israel — was rejected, and what the prophet Zechariah had foretold now took place. "I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people" (Zechariah 11:10). The whole chapter is of great interest in connection with this portion of our Gospel. The character of the message and its evidences bear further testimony that it was the fulfilment of Jewish prophecy. That the Kingdom was near was evidenced by the powers of the coming age having been conferred upon, and now to be manifested by, the King’s messengers. Four things they were instructed to do: —

Heal the sick.

Cleanse the lepers.

Raise the dead.

Cast out devils (demons). In short, disease, death, and the devil would yield to the power of Jehovah exercised by His servants, as they will again do in a coming day, when Jehovah is Judge, Lawgiver, and King, and "the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick" (Isaiah 33:24). But to apply such a scripture to the present dispensation only betrays ignorance of the ways of God. The man who bases on this for so-called faith healing is equally bound to raise the dead; and his failure should convince him of his folly. But their mission would be in no wise accepted by the nation. Indeed, the Lord warned them that they would find themselves as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore their dependence was to be upon God Himself. Their Lord had been persecuted and rejected; so would they be. The Person of Christ, the people of Christ, and the Word of Christ, are three things that the world hates. Satan and the works of Satan it can tolerate; for, alas! the evil heart of man understands them; but, when One came from God with power to deliver, the only answer the world had was "crucify Him." The Master was called Beelzebub, so would the servant be.

It is important to note that this mission is looked upon as continuous, right on "till the Son of Man be come" (Matthew 10:24). No doubt it was interrupted at the Cross, and from then until the Church period is over, it will continue to be so. But when the Church is rapt to the glory, Messiah’s messengers will again go forth with the Kingdom Gospel, and Messiah Himself will appear to establish His Kingdom in power, as we shall see more fully in Matthew 25:1-46. But in the meantime, and until that day of power, the disciples would be in the place of testimony for a rejected Lord, and therefore hated by the world, and it is beautiful to notice how He fortifies their hearts against the world’s opposition. In the first place: —

They were the objects of the Father’s care. If that care extended even to the unimportant sparrow, how much more to the confessors of Christ? And so intimately are they known to Him that even the very hairs of their heads were numbered — nothing could really harm them. Again: Their faithful testimony here would ensure honourable mention in the day of glory. It is one of the ways of God with His children here, that we are often delivered from occupation with present things, by having the light of the future turned upon them. So Paul reckoned that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed (Romans 8:18). For if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him (2 Timothy 2:1-26). The Cross-bearer here is going to be Crown-wearer by and by. But there is further encouragement for them of a different character at the close of the chapter. only one Servant was ever able to go on in a path of unceasing rejection, and that was the Master Himself. He had to say: "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain; yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God" (Isaiah 49:4). His path, uncheered by earthly smiles, led only to the Cross. But for these servants, if some rejected them, there would be those who would receive their testimony, and the receivers would be blessed of the Father and inherit the Kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:1-46).

We can see clearly, as we study these chapters, how Israel was now on her last trial. In her past history she had turned to idolatry, from the living and true God. Elijah’s accusation was a true one when he said: "The children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword." Bitter captivity, as they had been forewarned, had followed fast upon their sin; but grace had again intervened, and a remnant of the nation was once more in Israel’s land. Now, it was no more a question of broken laws, neglected altars, or persecuted prophets; but a question as to Messiah Himself. Jehovah — Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us — become, in grace, the Servant, although the very King of Glory. He was in their midst; and, if He was rejected, there only lay before them the last Roman captivity, as foreshadowed by Daniel’s devouring "beast" (Daniel 7:1-28), Jerusalem’s desolation, as foretold by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, the Kingdom of God taken from them, and, finally (Messiah having been rejected), the Antichrist would be accepted, and so bring upon the nation the great tribulation, the time of Jacob’s trouble, before the Lord returned in power and glory. The study of this chapter is of the utmost importance, in order rightly to understand the ways of God with men.

Matthew 11:1-30 lays bare the springs of evil in the heart of man, that could reject both the grace and power of Messiah, as shown in Matthew 10:1-42 by His messengers, and His own gracious ministry (Matthew 11:1). The wicked king, the "idol shepherd" — Herod — had imprisoned the faithful and fearless Forerunner. In the gloomy dungeon of Macherus, John, brooding alone in his bondage, would seem to have questioned whether, after all, his own mission had not been a failure. Where was the Kingdom he had announced, and what proof was there that the King was really present? Hence the questionings of his spirit found utterance in the inquiry, "Art Thou He?" The Lord replied to His dying witness by acts of power and words of comfort. When the disciples of John had departed, the Lord praises the devoted constancy of His servant. John was no weakling — no "reed shaken with the wind." King’s courts were not familiar places to him, and the smiles and frowns of kings were matters of equal indifference. lie was "more than a prophet," for he was honoured by being the immediate messenger of Jehovah. Himself. But the Lord marks the change of dispensation by announcing that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven, as sons of God, had a nearer relationship than even John — "no greater" servant of woman born. Prophetic testimony had been since Abel downwards: that was now ended, and Messiah Himself was present, of whom all the prophets had spoken: and this fact made the sin of the age — the rejection of Jesus — the greatest it was possible for man to commit. Tyre’s worldliness and Sodom’s immorality were eclipsed by the unbelief of the cities of Galilee.

Turning from them, the Lord in Matthew 11:25-30 reveals the divine purposes and counsels whereby "the babe" (the true disciple) is instructed into the deep things of God. Here our Gospel touches on the main subject developed in the Gospel of John — the revelation of the Father and the Son. The Lord returns, as it were, back to the eternal purposes of God. If the throne of David was denied Him by the nation, all things were given Him by the Father, and He alone could reveal the Father to His own. The ineffable Godhead glory of the Father could only be revealed by the Son. But that He could reveal it, proved His own Personal Deity, for who but God could reveal God? Further, a knowledge of the mystery of the divine Son of God incarnate — His Being and Person — very God, and yet a true Man upon the earth, could be known only by the Father alone. This One then calls to Himself the weary of every class, and clime, and nation, in order to give them rest. Here only was rest to be found, for He alone could lay the foundation upon which every purpose of God in grace to the world was to be established. Not only was rest of conscience to be given there was also rest of heart to be found but the last is only promised upon the ground of discipleship. To learn of Him: to be yoked with Him: to be meek and lowly like Him — is there a power in earth or hell that can disturb or distract the soul that has entered, in a practical way, into these sublime and heavenly truths? In Matthew 12:1-50 we find Messiah’s messengers an hungered, even in Messiah’s land, so thoroughly had their Master been rejected. Walking by the side of the corn-fields, the disciples pluck the ears of corn and eat them, which was allowed by the law (Deuteronomy 23:25). The Lord then uses the opposition the Pharisees made to this, to show them, both in teaching and practice, that every link with God, for that generation, was now completely severed. What were mere forms of godliness, when the Son of God Himself was despised? In the nation’s history, in days gone by, there had been a time analogous to the present. David, the true king, was rejected and fleeing for his life. The people’s king, Saul, was on the throne, and God’s king was an exile. On the Sabbath day (compare Leviticus 24:1-23 with 1 Samuel 21:1-15) David and his followers did eat of the shewbread, which pertained only to the priests, and were blameless. But what the Pharisees did prove by their opposition was their own inconsistency and guilty rejection of divine power, made manifest before all. And this would ultimately be the cause of their own rejection by God Himself, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Following upon the next miracle of healing the man with the withered hand — apt picture of Israel who should have been strong for God, and was not — the Holy Spirit directs attention to the true Servant, and His beautiful characteristics as described in Isaiah’s glowing page.

1 He was the Chosen One.

2 The Beloved.

3 Filled with the Spirit.

4 The One who would show judgment to the nations.

5 Patient and Tender.

6 Finally Victorious, and 7 The One in whom the Gentiles would trust (Isaiah 42:1-25).

Henceforth it is no longer a question of blessing to Israel only; the gracious service, in the hands of the Perfect Servant, the "Son of Man," now assumes a wider aspect, and there is final blessing for the whole earth. In Isaiah 5:1-30 the prophet describes what God had done for the nation, and what the nation had failed to be for God. The six "woes," in the same chapter, describe the sad result "because they had cast away the law of the Lord of Hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel" (Isaiah 5:24). But the True Servant "shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law" (Isaiah 62:4).

One other miracle the Lord works about this time, as if to show conclusively His divine authority: There was brought unto Him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and He healed him insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. We have had blind eyes opened and deaf ears unstopped, but here both together, in one subject, are brought before us as a picture of where the nation now was, led on by their blind guides, refusing either to see or confess their own Messiah in their midst. The people might say, "Is not this the Son of David?" but the foes of Christ charge Him with being the minister of satanic power, and thus commit the sin of sins by blaspheming the Holy Spirit of God.

Even after the Cross, the first martyr, Stephen, had to charge home upon their conscience the same terrible guilt, "Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost" (Acts 7:51). The Lord goes on to show: — That Satan did not war against himself. That the Kingdom of God was among them. That the "strong man," Satan, had been bound, and That "his goods," the souls of men, could now be set free.

However, that generation was judged. It was a corrupt tree and could not bring forth good fruit. Being evil, their words were idle and evil, and for every idle word they would come into judgment. Their fathers in the wilderness had spoken against Jehovah in their midst in power, and His anger was kindled. Here Jehovah was in their midst in grace, and as their fathers had done, so did they.

It is remarkable, how that after all the mighty works the Lord had done among them, the Pharisees should still demand a sign, and it is also well to notice that out of the forty-six recorded miracles of our Lord, no less than thirty-three were wrought in Galilee. No further sign would convince them, but the Lord gives them two that would condemn them. Jonah, up from the depth of the sea, type of Christ risen from among the dead, and preached in grace to the Gentiles, was the first. But if Messiah was cut off, what hope for that generation? And the fact that the men of Nineveh received and bowed to the voice of the prophet, while the men of Israel refused the voice of One greater than Jonah, would add tenfold to their condemnation. The second sign was the attractive power of the wisdom of Solomon for the heart of the Queen of Sheba. The fame of this wisdom (1 Kings 8:1-66) produced something in her heart beyond the mere repentance of the Ninevites. It had the effect of bringing her into the presence of the king; and the result was that every desire of her heart was satisfied. How much greater was the One in whose presence they were? The One who had given to Solomon his wisdom, and his riches, and his glory, was in their midst, but they saw no beauty in Him that they should desire Him. And then the Lord passes to the end, and with sad and solemn words, in parabolic language, describes the present and future history of the nation. Of all the various forms of evil with which Satan has sought to lead men from God, no form seems to have been so successful as idolatry. We do not know that it was in the world before the flood. Then the devil wrought through the unbridled passions of men, left to the freedom of their own lusts. When the sword of justice was put into the hands of Noah and his sons, restraint was put upon physical violence, but moral evil thereupon blossomed unchecked. Because men did not like to retain the knowledge of the true God, and because they must have a god of some kind, at the instigation of Satan, they made gods for themselves, and attributed to these idols all the evil passions that filled their own hearts. Soon idolatry had filled the whole known world; and God, in electing grace, had to call Abram entirely out of his father’s house, in order to become the "father of the faithful." Yet how successfully the "unclean spirit" carried on his operations, even amidst the chosen seed, may be seen when we find idolatry tacitly allowed even in Jacob’s household, in the wilderness openly indulged in, and publicly provided for under the reign of Israel’s wisest king, until God, through His prophet, had to warn, in the days of Manasseh, what the result would be. And very soon afterwards Jerusalem was "wiped as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down" (2 Kings 21:13). From that day till the present moment idolatry has been unknown among the Jews. The "unclean spirit" went out, and the house was left empty, swept, and garnished. It was not that evil under other forms was not among them, but idolatry was not there. Nevertheless, the Lord says that in a coming day, a sevenfold spirit of evil — idolatry and worse — will take possession of the guilty generation. Man himself will usurp the place of God, and demand and receive that adoration and worship which is only due to God alone. Both "the beast" and his "image" will be worshipped, and that by men and by a nation of the highest intelligence upon the face of the earth. There is no form of evil that men, in spite of all their boasted civilisation, will not indulge in, if left to the control of Satan and the desire of their own wicked hearts. But when man has reached his lowest, God comes in, and He will take a hand in the affairs of Israel, and of the earth, in judgment, and "destroy the men who destroy the earth" (Revelation 11:18).

Matthew 12:1-50 should be studied in connection with that beautiful section of Isaiah 49:1-26, Isaiah 50:1-11, Isaiah 51:1-23, Isaiah 52:1-15, Isaiah 53:1-12. In Isaiah 48:1-22 Israel, who should have been the servant of Jehovah, is charged with obstinacy and treacherous dealing, and formally set aside. In Isaiah 49:1-26 the True Servant is announced, and after His mission to Israel, He has to say, "I have laboured in vain, and spent my strength for nought and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God. . . . And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 49:4-6). There would then be blessing, not for Israel only, but for all nations. This was now beginning to be fulfilled, but the Cross had to come in before there could be blessing for any.

Isaiah 50:1-11 deals with the Blessed One upon the earth: His life of obedience to God and suffering at the hands of men. "The Lord God hath opened mine ear and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiter, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting" (Isaiah 50:5-6). In Isaiah 51:1-23 the day of redemption has come, and there is a threefold call to the remnant to "hearken," and the promise that the days of mourning are ended and those of joy and gladness begun. The cup of trembling is taken out of her hands, and Jerusalem is exhorted (Isaiah 52:1-15) to awake and put on her beautiful garments. Then Jehovah turns (Isaiah 53:1-12) to contemplate His perfect Servant, upon the earth, in all His wonderful pathway of dependence and devotedness to the will of God: of rejection and suffering at the hands of men. But there was still a deeper depth. Expiation, atonement, and propitiation could only be through blood-shedding and death, and He became obedient unto death, "wherefore God also hath highly exalted him" (Php 2:1-30). His work is above every work: His name above every name. As one result of that work, Israel’s blessing is secured upon the ground of sovereign grace, and, in the bright millennial day (Isaiah 54:1-17), she is invited to break forth into singing. She is no longer Lo-Ami (not my people), but her Maker is her husband, the Lord of Hosts is His name.

It seems hardly necessary to add that the prophet, after describing "the sufferings of Christ," goes on to describe "the glory that should follow." He necessarily passes over the Church, which was a mystery then hid in the counsels of God, but to be revealed after the Lord had taken His seat on high. But all this was consequent upon the rejection of the Messiah, and coming back again to the close of Matthew 12:1-50, we find (verse 46) that the Lord now, in figure, breaks the last earthly link with Israel after the flesh. Everything of the old economy was over. The Jews might boast of having Abraham for their father, being Moses’ disciples, having the law, and the prophets but prophets, priesthood, law, or kingdom was now of no account before God. The abuse of these privileges only rendered their guilt the deeper. In short, this chapter brings us to the close of the moral history of the nation. But new relationships of a spiritual character were about to begin, and these would be manifested by: —

1 Following Christ.

2 Hearing the Word of God.

3 Doing the Father’s will.