It's Day 29 and we're in Matthew 22.
A scary thought: the Bible is "able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). That can be frightening, but know that God loves you the way you are, but too much to leave you that way.
Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verses 24-28 - They had their little ironclad theological puzzle, yet they didn't understand the larger truths that rendered their point moot. We can get too full of ourselves and all our theological knowledge. A little humility is much needed.
Help:
- Verses 1-14 - The overall analogy is about salvation.
- Verses 5-6 - They weren't just apathetic toward what the king wanted - they were in active, murderous opposition.
- Verses 11-12 - We have to be "dressed" in the righteousness that comes from Christ.
- Verse 17 - This was intended as a trap for Jesus. Two groups had come to Jesus (see verses 15-16). If Jesus said, "Don't pay the tax," the Herodians (who were in sympathy with King Herod) would have taken news of that to Herod and they could have arrested Jesus as inciting rebellion against the king. If Jesus said, "Pay the tax," the Pharisees (who were in opposition to the Roman government) would have gone to the people and said, "Jesus is just a patsy for the hated Romans!"
- Verse 24 - This way of doing things was how things were handled in the Old Testament times. Marriage back then was rarely for love. We consider marriage for love to be the only option, but that's been the minority opinion throughout history.
- Verses 42-46 - This is a puzzle Jesus gives to them. The gist: David calls the promised Christ "Lord"; but David was older (i.e. lived before) than the promised Christ, so the Christ should have called David "Lord" (out of respect toward an elder); why doesn't David do that? It's because the Christ wasn't just an ordinary descendant - it was the Son of God. The puzzle revealed that the Pharisees didn't understand all the Old Testament prophecies about who the Christ would be.
If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.
If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.
Your Questions and Comments:
- "The current people of Israel....are they part of the Old Testament teaching or New Testament teaching? The 144,000 seems to be a small amount of people from the tribes that will enter heaven. Am I looking at this with the wrong lens?" - Good questions. Those are big questions but I'll try to give short answers. Question 1: is the current nation of Israel part of the OT or NT teaching? When Israel became a nation again in 1948 many Christians looked at it as a huge prophetic sign. But none of the big prophetic events have happened since then (many, for instance, thought big things would happen in 1988 - 40 years after the reconstitution of Israel). It could be that they are still to come. It could also be that the nation of Israel created then was a modern nation made up of both believers and non-believers and so it may be that it is not a fulfillment of prophetic promises the way many had hoped. It could be, though, that the current nation of Israel develops into that. Question 2: 144,000 seems a small number to enter in. It needs to be remembered that this is not the number of all the Jewish people who will enter in. This is the number entering in during this particular stage of the prophetic timeline. So it's not saying that is the total number of Jewish believers in all times - just at that point.
