Words of Jesus Part 19

• Matthew 22:1 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
• 2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
• 3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

Many preach, "Come to Christ and be saved," but many do not come.

• Matthew 22:4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
• 5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:

Some make light of the gospel as if it is of no consequence. It is a deadly decision to make.

Jesus spoke in parable to teach a truth that only those who really desire to know the truth and stay faithful to what they learn from the truth, will understand.

Living a life for Christ is not easy from a human standpoint. Jesus promises us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. It is because He will not expect us to do anything more than we can possibly do by the power that is given to us. His Holy Spirit is with each and every believer to lead them on their journey. Yet another place says that, those that live godly will suffer persecution. If our walk with the Lord does not cause people to take notice, we must be hiding what we believe. If we compromise, we will not be the salt of the earth. To make an impact on society, we have to stand against political correctness and speak the truth. That is not always easy if not for the fact that if we are right, God is with us to strengthen us.

• Matthew 22:6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

We see here examples of different reactions to the message of the one bringing the tidings. Some get so angry that they kill. We see this in today's times. We see some ignore the gospel, some take it lightly and some react with violence.

• Matthew 22:7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

We see here that vengeance was taken by the king in this story. God's vengeance will be poured out on those that reject the message of the gospel and persecute His prophets and bearers of His message.

• Matthew 22:8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
• 9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.

If we reject the word of God, it will be sent to those who will receive it.

• Matthew 22:10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
• 11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
• 12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
• 13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
• 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

A wedding garment was furnished without any cost to those that attended the wedding. Our salvation was paid for us by Jesus by His death on the cross. To reject it is to reject our covering for sin. Without the covering of the righteousness of Christ, our sins are still within us to condemn us on the day of judgment. We will be judged for all our sins if we haven't allowed Jesus Christ to come into our lives and remove our sins from us.

• Matthew 22:15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.
• 16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.
• 17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?
• 18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?
• 19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny.

This was one cross Jesus had to bear continually. That cross being someone following Him around to catch Him at His words rather than following Him to really find out if what He was teaching the truth. There is a difference. We can hear someone with the attitude, "Is He for real, if so I want to hear Him" or have the attitude that it doesn't matter if He is for real or not, lets get rid of Him.

• Matthew 22:20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?
• 21 They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.
• 22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.

As long as we live under a government, we have to pay taxes and live according to the law in order to have law and order. The exception to this would be if the law of the land opposed the law of God like in the case of forcing someone to worship an image or idol.

• Matthew 22:23 The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,
• 24 Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
• 25 Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother:
• 26 Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.
• 27 And last of all the woman died also.
• 28 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

They thought they were going to trip up Jesus on this one.

• Matthew 22:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
• 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

As the angels do not marry, we will not marry in Heaven like we do on the earth. It is will be a different type of life that doesn't depend on marriage for fulfillment. I don't believe we actually turn into angels like it is sometimes portrayed but will be similar to them in that we will not marry as we did before the resurrection. 

• Matthew 22:31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
• 32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Meaning that when the body dies, the Spirit and Soul are still alive somewhere. They do not die. God is not a God of the dead. There is no soul sleep.

• Matthew 22:33 And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.
• 34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
• 35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
• 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Again we see that they didn't really want to know truth, they were only trying to find fault with the Lord.

• Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
• 38 This is the first and great commandment.
• 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
• 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Jesus chose to answer this question although in previous occasions like when they inquired about His authority, Jesus did not answer them. Here, we see Jesus taking advantage of their inquiry to teach a very important truth. The whole bible is centered on this truth. All the law can be summed up in just two commandments. If we could keep just these two, we would keep all that was necessary for salvation.

If we loved God with all our heart, we would not want sin to have dominion over us, we would not want anything to separate us from God, we would listen to all He had to say to us and we would accept the one who came to usher in God's plan of salvation. If we love someone, we would accept and be kind to anyone representing the one we love.

If we loved our neighbor as ourselves, we would not steal from them, kill them, lie about them, covet what they have and sin against them in any way. Thus the other commandments are contained in, "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

• Matthew 22:41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,
• 42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David.
• 43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,
• 44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?
• 45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?
• 46 And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

In that day they could not understand how the Son of David would be the Lord of David but we can see clearly now how that could be. Jesus spoke with them by using the words of someone they were familiar with. Jesus was with God the Father from the beginning but when He came into human flesh as a baby, He was from the lineage of David through His mother Mary. Mary ws from the line of David's son Nathan. He inherited the kingly line through Joseph who was from the line of Solomon also a son of David even though Joseph was only His step father. The Pharisees knew of Moses, David, Daniel and other writers of the Old Testament. 

Words of Jesus Part 20

Words of Jesus Index