Saturday, September 27, 2008

The Last Resort is the Only Hope

LORD, my heart is not proud;
my eyes are not haughty.
I do not get involved with things
too great or too difficult for me.
Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself
like a little weaned child with its mother;
I am like a little child.
(Psalm 131:1-2, HCSB)
David comes before God like a little child. He is not trying to figure out everything — or anything. He has weaned himself away from all that. He is coming simply to be with God, to sit calmly and quietly with Him. He has come to the place in his life where that is more than enough for him.

That is how we each must come before God, like little children. Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). It is a position of utter dependence. Just as a little child is helpless apart from his parents, we must realize that we are completely helpless apart from God alone.

The pervading delusion is that we have any viable option beside God. That was the lie the serpent sold Adam and Eve. God had already created them in His own image, and to be like Him (Genesis 1:26-27). But the devil conjured up an “alternative” before their eyes: If they would take the forbidden fruit for themselves, they would be gods in their own right. So they “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25).

They thought they had options, but came to realize, to their great sorrow, that what they had chosen led them only to emptiness and despair.

After years of wantonness and waste, and a life of exercising his “options,” St. Augustine came to this profound conclusion, recorded in his Confessions: “God, You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in You.” He had come now to the last resort and discovered, joyfully, that it was his only hope, and more than enough.

David, king of Israel, calmed and quieted his heart from all other matters apart from God. His heart and his eyes are no longer full of himself; his hand does not reach for things that did no belong to him. He is satisfied in God alone, and from that place of quietness and contentment, he gives this wise counsel to his people:
Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
both now and forever.
(Psalm 131:3)
The joyful discovery in life is that your last resort is the only hope you will ever need. Put your hope in the LORD, both now and forever.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Enlarge Your Expectation

I am Yahweh your God,
Who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
(Psalm 81:10 HCSB)
What is your expectation, your anticipation, your hope? Is it set on God? In this verse, God declares who He is, what He has done and what He will do.

I am Yahweh your God. This is who He is. Yahweh is the name by which He reveals Himself in covenant with His people. It is the name by which He promises to always take care of us and show us every kindness. It is the name of His favor toward us.

Who brought you up from the land of Egypt. This is what He has done. The great salvation event of the Old Testament was when He delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt. The phrase “brought you up” translates a Hebrew verb which refers to ascent. God not only brought them out, He brought them up into a higher way of life, the land of promise He gave to their fathers. He also graciously cut covenant with them whereby He they would be His people and He would be their God. As great as this salvation was, though, it was but a foreshadow of the ultimate act of deliverance and redemption. In the New Testament, Jesus, whose name in Hebrew is Yeshua (“Yahweh saves”) purchased salvation, not just for Israel but for all the world. He instituted a new covenant for us in His blood (Luke 22:20).

Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. This is what God will do. It is the promise of provision and satisfaction. “Bless the LORD,” David says, “who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:1, 5). In the New Testament, Paul encourages us with the promise that “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have abundance for every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). This is not just enough but more than enough.

What is your expectation? Is it big? Remember the widow in 2 Kings 4. She was deeply in debt and her creditors were about to makes bondservants of her sons. She went to the prophet of God, Elisha, for help. “What do you have in the house?” he asked. She said, “Just a jar of oil.” He directed her to go and borrow as many vessels as she could, shut herself up in her house and begin pouring out the little jar of oil into all the other vessels. So that is what she did. When she filled the last vessel, and there were no more, the oil stopped. It was a miracle of multiplication that was as large as her expectation. If she had expected only a little, and borrowed only a few jars, that would have been all she would have received. But her expectation was large and she received enough oil to completely pay all her debt. In fact, she had more than enough—she and her sons were able to live on what was leftover. God made His grace abound.

Paul tells us that God is “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or thing, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20). So enlarge your expectation, open your mouth wide, and God will fill it with good things.

How large is your expectation and in whom is your trust?

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Reward Now, in This Time

Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?”

So Jesus said to them, "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Matthew 19:28-30)
Some people believe that this passage is all about the next life and the rewards Jesus has there for His followers. But a closer look at this passage and its counterparts clearly shows that He is speaking of this present life. For example, in the parallel passage, Mark 10:29-30, Jesus states that the hundredfold return is “now in this time." Since it is about now and this time, it is temporal reward. Jesus also adds, “with persecutions,” which is another indication that this is not for the eternal state, since there will be no suffering or persecution for the saints in glory (praise be to God!). It is only afterwards that, in Mark’s account, Jesus speaks of the eternal state: “And in the age to come, eternal life.” Both temporal reward (“this life”) and eternal life (“in the age to come”) are in view.

The way to receive the temporal reward is not by seeking after it, but by seeking after the eternal one. It comes for those who give up house, brothers, etc., “for My sake and the gospel’s.” The consideration of temporal rewards as well as eternal ones is not wrong — we are promised both — but they must be kept in proper focus and given proper priority. If we seek after the temporal rewards, we will miss out on eternal rewards; but if we seek after eternal things, we will be well-compensated for whatever we leave behind for the sake of Jesus and the gospel. It is as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

One of the important things to notice in Jesus’ response to Peter’s question is that, not only will those who leave all for His sake and the gospel’s receive a hundredfold return, but they will also inherit eternal life. That is exactly what the rich young man had earlier come seeking (Matthew 19:16). However, he was so attached to the things of this life that he did not understand the value of eternal life. If he persisted in trying to hold on to his many possessions, he would eventually lose them anyway. Ironically, it was Peter and the other disciples who, having left all to follow Jesus, would be amply compensated in this life, and inherit eternal life in the age to come (notice that eternal life is an inheritance — a gift — not a reward).

Jesus ended with, “But many who are first will be last; and the last first” (Matthew 19:30). How ironic for the rich young man! He tried to be first by keeping what he had; he would be last and lose everything. On the other hand, the disciples, though they might have considered themselves the least and the last, would end up the first-place winners. They gave up everything for Jesus, but would receive back so much more than they could have imagined.

The world tries to win by being first and holding on to what you have. Jesus’ way is by loving, giving and serving. All who leave all for His sake and the gospel’s will come out the winners, not only in the next life, but also in this one.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

The Table of Divine Forgetting

I, even I, am He who blots our your transgression for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.
(Isaiah 43:25)
This is a matter of covenant. “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant” (Jeremiah 31:31). It is a new covenant, and not like the old one He made with Israel, “Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers … My covenant which they broke” (v. 32). The old covenant depended upon human behavior and was broken because of Israel’s disobedience. The new covenant is different:
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. (vv. 33-34)
The new covenant is a better one based on better promises (Hebrews 8:6). It is not a law engraved on tables of stone but one implanted in the heart. In this covenant, we can each know God personally and intimately. It is a covenant in which God not only forgives all our iniquity, but also forgets them — He remembers them no more. What He forgives, He forgets, and no longer responds to us according to sin. He does away with it.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
(Psalm 103:10-12)

He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins
Into the depths of the sea.
(Micah 7:19)
God’s forgiveness does not mean that our sin is overlooked, but that it has been dealt with. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, but He did deal with Jesus according to our sins. Jesus lifted them from us and carried them far away. This happened at the cross, where He suffered the cost of our iniquity in our place. There He “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us” and has “taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14). He was prosecuted in our place, and the judgment that stood against us because of sin was wiped out and taken out of the way. Gone and forgotten.

When we come to the Table of the Lord, Jesus has no recollection of our sin. He does not rub our noses in the wrongs we have done: “See what put Me on the cross and caused Me to shed My blood.” It does not figure into His thinking. No, His Table is the Table of Divine Forgetting. There we see only Him, and ourselves in Him, and He sees only us, clean and righteous in Him.

As we approach the Table of the Lord, there may be many things that trouble us, and a great awareness of sins we have committed. Confess them to the Lord. That is, agree with Him that they are wrong and ought not to be in our lives. The promise is that He is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Not just forgiven, but also cleansed of it all. Forgotten.

The Table of the Lord is also a place where we learn to forgive and forget those things that have been done against us by others. This is not an option, but a requirement, as the Lord Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that our Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25). This may seem a hard thing for many, but if we are in Jesus, and He is in us, then if He can forget, we also can forget.

It is important to forget those things that are behind, whether sins we have committed or wrongs done against us, so that we may move forward into the destiny God has for us. Paul said, “One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

The Table of the Lord is the Table of Divine Forgetting.

Monday, August 25, 2008

The Table of Wisdom and Revelation

Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. (Ephesians 1:15-17)
The apostle Paul realized there is much believers need to understand, but as eloquent a teacher as he was, he knew such skills would not be enough. It is one thing to grasp a theological point with the mind, quite another to know a spiritual truth with the heart. It requires wisdom and revelation from God, the Holy Spirit teaching these things to the inner man of the heart. So that is what Paul prayed, that the Father of glory would grant us wisdom and revelation by the Holy Spirit, so that we would know Him more and more, deeply and intimately.
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. (Ephesians 1:18-21)
The “eyes of your understanding” refers, not to intellectual knowledge, but an experience of the heart. Some early Greek manuscripts even have the word for “heart,” kardias, here. It is an understanding mediated to our spirit by the Spirit of God. He gives us light so we can see, to know who we are in Jesus Christ and what we have in Him.
  • The Hope of His calling. What it is God has called us to — the positive expectation, the joyful anticipation we have in Him. God reveals a mystery to us, which is Christ in us, the “hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
  • The riches of the glory of His inheritance. We are “joint-heirs” with Jesus Christ (Romans 8:17). Whatever He receives for the Father, we receive with Him. We have received “every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies” (Ephesians 1:3), which is the basis for every other blessing.
  • The greatness of His mighty power toward us. We have the benefit of God’s power at work on our behalf. This is the same power by which God raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies—and us there with Him (Ephesians 2:6) — far above every other power in heaven and earth. God is able to do “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20). This divine power is now at work in us.
The Table of the Lord is a place where God gives us understanding of these things by His Spirit. It is a revelation of the Lord Jesus, and the Lord Jesus is the revelation of the wisdom of God. “You are in Christ Jesus, who became for us the wisdom from God” (1 Corinthians 1:30). In this Supper, we experience the joyful anticipation of the Lord Jesus Christ and the divine mystery of the glory we have in Him. With the bread and the cup, we partake of the inheritance we have in Him who gave His body and blood for us. Seated at His table, we taste the divine power that raised Him from the dead and seated Him in the heavenlies, and us there with Him. As we come, the Father reveals His glory to us, that we may know Him more and more intimately, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

The Table of the Lord is the Table of Wisdom and Revelation.

Friday, August 22, 2008

The Table of Favor

Remember me, O LORD,
With the favor You have toward Your people.
Oh, visit me with Your salvation,
That I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones,
That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
That I may glory with Your inheritance.
(Psalm 106:4-5)
When we take the bread and the cup at the Table of the Lord, it is a sign that God has answered this request. He has remembered us and shown us the favor He has for His people, for Jesus has given His body and shed His blood on our behalf. In Him we have become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). God now looks upon us just as He looks upon Jesus.

Another word for “favor” is “grace.” The Table the Lord Jesus has prepared for us is a deep revelation of His grace. In Him, God comes to us with His “salvation.” The Hebrew word there is yeshuah, which speaks of deliverance, healing, prosperity and victory. The name form of this word is Yeshua, the Hebrew name of Jesus.

At His Table, we can experience the benefit of His chosen ones, the intimacy of His presence. The HCSB has “That I may enjoy the prosperity of Your chosen ones.” This is the prosperity of soul that comes from knowing Him, the prosperity from which all other prosperity comes (3 John 2).

At His Table, we can celebrate with the delirious joy of His people, as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation — His own special people. Once we were not a people; now we are the people of God. Once we did not receive mercy; now we have received the mercy of God (1 Peter 2:9-10).

At His Table, we can glory in the inheritance we have in Him, for we are “heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). He has made us partakers of His inheritance with all His people (Colossians 1:12), an inheritance that will never perish or fade away, and cannot be corrupted or defiled (1 Peter 1:4).

The Table of the Lord is the constant sign of the favor God has toward us in Jesus Christ.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

The Table of Declaration

It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
To declare your lovingkindness in the morning,
And your faithfulness every night.
(Psalm 92:2)
The Hebrew word for “declare” is nagad. It means to report conspicuously, to announce boldly, to declare, proclaim, and make known with certainty. The Hebrew for “lovingkindness” is chesed. It is the steadfast love and mercy of God, which He has promised always to show to His people. The word for “faithfulness” is emunah and is based on the word for “faith.” It speaks of God in His trustworthiness, that He will always keep His Word to us.

The Table of the Lord is a table of declaration. It makes the Lord Jesus Christ known to us. It is, as Paul said, a proclamation. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). It declares His death and affirms that His body and blood were given for us. It announces that He is coming again and promises that He will drink the new wine with us in His Father’s kingdom (Matthew 26:29).

It boldly affirms His victory over all our enemies, in whose presence it is prepared (Psalm 23:5), and that in Him we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). It drowns out the accusations of the evil one and of all who speak against us, for the blood of Jesus has a voice and it declares loudly on our behalf, speaking better things of us (Hebrews 12:24). It is a banner that loudly announces to all His great love for us (Song of Solomon 2:4). It is a wondrous work that makes conspicuous the nearness of His presence (Psalm 75:1).

When we partake of this table, we also are making declaration. By receiving the bread and the cup, we are announcing that He is our refuge and fortress, our God in whom we trust, and by it, we proclaim His lovingkindness and His faithfulness.

The Table of the Lord is a Table of Declaration.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

The Sons of the Kingdom are Free

Then the sons are free. (Matthew 17:26)
When Jesus and His disciples arrived back at Capernaum, men who were in charge of collecting the double-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Does your Teacher pay the double-drachma?” (Matthew 17:24). Peter said, “Yes.” When he went into the house, Jesus anticipated what he was going to say and stopped him short, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?” (v. 25).

“From strangers,” Peter answered.

Jesus agreed, concluding, “Then the sons are free.”

In this little exchange is an amazing teaching about the kingdom of God. The sons of the kings of the earth are exempt from paying taxes, though strangers may still be required to do so. Likewise, the sons of the kingdom of God are not obligated to the Temple. Before the kingdom of God arrived on the scene, the Temple had a specific function as the place of sacrifice and the manifestation of God’s presence on earth. Now that the kingdom was at hand, in the person of the King, that function was fulfilled and the sons of the kingdom were not bound by it.

Jesus was not against the Temple, but it had served its purpose. Jesus came as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. The Temple had been a type and a shadow, but now that the fulfillment was at hand, the shadow no longer served. The author of Hebrews draws the contrast between the earthly Temple and the Tabernacle not made with hands:
We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. (Hebrews 8:10-2)

Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:11-12)
Also implied in Jesus’ statement is that those who were obligated to the Temple were not sons of the kingdom, but strangers to it. This would refer to the religious leaders and teachers who rejected Jesus — they would have no place in His kingdom. In Matthew 21, after clearing the Temple courts of the moneychangers, Jesus came back into the Temple and confronted the chief priests and elders on the nature of true repentance and their rejection of God’s Messiah. He concluded, “Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it” (Matthew 21:43). Though they were servants of the Temple, because of their unbelief they were not sons, but strangers to the kingdom of God, and to the Temple which foreshadowed it.

In Matthew 24, Jesus predicts the demise of the Temple and the destruction of Jerusalem within a generation (fulfilled in AD 70). But in the meantime, although He and Peter were not required to pay the double-drachma, they would do so anyway, so that know one would think He despised the Temple itself:
Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; that that and give it to them for Me and you. (Matthew 17:27)
The Greek for “piece of money” is stater, a coin which was equal to two double-drachmas, precisely enough to pay for Him and Peter, because Jesus the Son of God and Peter was a son of the kingdom.

In the kingdom of Heaven on Earth, the sons are not bound by types and shadows, or religious systems. We are free to follow the King alone and live fully under His provision.



The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth

The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth
Keys to the Kingdom of God
in the Gospel of Matthew

by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

The Kingdom Where Nothing is Impossible

Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. (Matthew 17:20)
Jesus had just come back down the mountain with Peter, James and John when a man came up to Him, pleading for his son, a demon-possessed boy who suffered with severe epileptic seizures. He had brought the young man to Jesus’ disciples, but they were unable to heal him (Matthew 17:14-16).

Jesus responded to the situation with this: “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me” (v. 17). Jesus located the problem as one of faithlessness, a generation that had turned away. But who was He speaking about?

Perhaps the man. In Mark’s account, we find the man saying to Jesus, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24). More likely, though, it was His disciples. After Jesus rebuked the demon and healed the boy, His disciples asked, in private, “Why could we not cast it out?” (Matthew 17:19). Jesus put it on them: “Because of your unbelief” (v. 20). The Greek word used for “unbelief” is the same root used for “faithlessness” in verse 17.

The problem was that they were not operating in faith, as they should have been. Eugene Peterson puts it this way in The Message, “Because you’re not taking God seriously.” They still had too much of the world’s way of thinking, too much of the world’s unbelief at work in them.

Then Jesus showed them the potential of faith, of taking God seriously: “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20).

Faith is like a seed. It does not have to be big to get a big result, but it does have to be used, to be planted. When you have faith, even a little bit, the exercise of it is simple: You say to the mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move. However, if there is unbelief going on inside your heart, it will hinder your faith—you have to make a choice to go with one and not the other.

Jesus added, “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (v. 21). This kind of what? Many people think it refers to the kind of demon that was in the boy. But Jesus did not engage in a lot of praying and fasting when He cast that demon out; He simply rebuked it and it left (v. 18).

The purpose of praying and fasting is not so we can get rid of demons, but so we can get rid of unbelief. We know that Jesus had already done a lot of praying and fasting in His life and ministry. He had already dealt with any issues of doubt that tried to creep in (see Matthew 4-11). Ultimately, unbelief is a tool of the devil, a seed he is always trying to plant in our hearts. Praying and fasting helps us focus on God and hear His Word. That is how faith comes, and how it is strengthened in us (Romans 10:17). When we let faith in God fill our hearts, we will leave no place for the doubts of the devil to have a foothold. It gets crowded out. Then nothing will be impossible.

In the kingdom of Heaven on Earth, nothing is impossible when we take God and His promises seriously.



The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth

The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth
Keys to the Kingdom of God
in the Gospel of Matthew

by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

The Kingdom of the Cross

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)
Peter had just voiced the amazing revelation — directly from the Father — that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. Because of that, Jesus gave him authority to bind and loose on earth what had already been bound and loosed in heaven. But Peter still needed to understand something else, something very important, about this revelation and authority.

After this remarkable exchange, Jesus gave His disciples strict orders not to tell anyone that He was the Messiah (Matthew 16:20). Then He began to talk with them about how He must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from the elders, scribes and chief priest, and then be killed — and raised again the third day (v. 21).

Now they were really confused. Wasn’t the identity of Jesus as the Messiah to be made known to all? Didn’t the coming of Messiah signal that God’s triumph was now at hand? Then why such suffering and death, and what did this mean for the kingdom of heaven?

It was more than Peter could take. He said, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” (v. 22). Moments earlier, Peter was acknowledging Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God; now he was openly contradicting Him.

Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get behind Me, satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (v. 23). These were very strong words, but well-deserved. Earlier, Peter had spokes a word directly from heaven, from the mind of God. How quickly he slipped back into the way the world thinks, and suddenly he became the mouthpiece of satan.

God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways — they are higher (Isaiah 55:8-9). The Jewish expectation was that Messiah would come as a conquering king, a political ruler and military leader; Jesus spoke of across and losing one’s life.
If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 16:24-25)
A cross is not the reception the world offers a king and his entourage. But Jesus requires that we each embrace the cross, not just His, but our own. We must disown ourselves in order to follow Him. We must set aside our priorities and interests and seek His. We must give up everything — the whole world—if we would possess His kingdom. We cannot know His life when we are still holding on to our own.
For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. (Matthew 16:26-27)
The time would shortly come for finding life and rising again, for the glory of God to be revealed and Jesus proclaimed as Messiah. Jesus is makes reference here to a prophecy in Daniel:
I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)
Jesus said, “The Son of Man will come in the glory.” A literal rendering of the Greek text is, “about to be coming” (Analytical-Literal Translation). Notice the tenses: “Coming” speaks of a continuous action. “About to be” indicates that it would soon begin. In the next verse Jesus told the disciples that some of them would even get to see it: “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Matthew 16:29: see The Son of Man Coming in His Kingdom).

The kingdom of Heaven on Earth requires a cross for each one of us, that we lose our life for Jesus’ sake in order that we may find it. But He also promises great reward, for His kingdom has already begun and will increase until it is here in the fullness of His glory when He returns.



The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth

The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth
Keys to the Kingdom of God
in the Gospel of Matthew

by Jeff Doles

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Saturday, August 16, 2008

The Table of the Blameless

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
Jesus came the first time so that we may be kept completely blameless — spirit, soul and body — when He comes again. He is preparing His Church, His people, as His bride to be holy, set apart for Him and wholly His.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27)
When we come to the Table of the Lord, we do not come bearing any sin. Neither does Jesus. He has already borne it all in His body and nailed it to the cross, where He declared “It is finished!” (John 19:30). The Greek word is tetelestai and means “Paid in full!” The transaction has been completed and the promise fulfilled. Everything that stood between us has been nailed to the cross where it was taken care of completely.
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14)
There may have been a long list of charges against us. They are all gone, and we are now clean before Him.
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
Paul tells us that God made Jesus “who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ that you may be married to another — to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God” (Romans 7:4).

The author of Hebrews teaches us, “Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation” (Hebrews 9:28).

With His body and blood, Jesus carried our sins to the cross — and left them there. Now we meet Him at His Table holy and blameless, cleansed of all sin. And as often as we do we proclaim that purifying work until He comes again and presents us to Himself as His glorious Church and spotless Bride.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The Kingdom of the Committed, Not the Curious

While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.”

But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:46-50)
The scribes and Pharisees witnessed Jesus healing sicknesses and casting out demons. When they objected because He did these things even on the Sabbath, He firmly rebuked them as a “brood of vipers” who spoke evil words because their hearts were evil. But some of them answered, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” They were not talking about the miraculous works He had already performed. They wanted a special sign from heaven just for them, a command performance to confirm to them His authority. Jesus told them,
An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. (Matthew 12:39-42)
Jonah was like Jesus in that he spent three days and nights in the belly of the great fish just as Jesus would be in the heart of the earth for three days and nights. But it was the message of Jonah that caused the men of Nineveh to repent. Likewise, it was the wisdom of Solomon that caused her to believe God (1 Kings 10:1-9). But someone greater than Jonah and Solomon was now on the scene, and if the scribes and Pharisees were not receptive to His message, they probably would not believe His sign either.

In another place, Jesus said, “My doctrine is not Mine but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority” (John 7:17). It is not about signs for the curious but about commitment to do God’s will. In other words, it is about faith, for without faith it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6). When asked, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” (John 6:28-29).

If the scribes and Pharisees did not believe in Jesus for who He was and the message He brought, nothing else mattered, no matter how many healings and how many exorcisms He performed. Indeed, the end result would be even worse for them, as Jesus showed them next.
When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation. (Matthew 12:43-45)
This would be their lot if they refused to believe in Him and let their house be filled with the truth about the kingdom of God.

It was while He was still addressing them that His mother and brothers came, desiring to speak with Him. When informed of this, He said, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?” Then He answered His own question. He pointed to His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

The condition of the idly curious will go from bad to worse, and the judgment upon them will be all the greater because of their persistent unbelief. But the disciples of Jesus, who believe on Him, commit themselves to Him and learn from Him, He will embrace as intimate family.

Whoever does the will of the Father is the brother or sister of Jesus, for His kingdom is all about the will of the Father being done on earth as it is in heaven, and the will of the Father is to believe on the Son.
He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. (John 1:12)

He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. (John 3:18-21)
The kingdom of Heaven on Earth is not for the curious but for those who have made the commitment of faith in the King.



The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth

The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth
Keys to the Kingdom of God
in the Gospel of Matthew

by Jeff Doles

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Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Monday, August 11, 2008

The Table of Divine Partaking

By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature. (2 Peter 2:4)
Peter reveals a startling truth: In Jesus Christ, we are partakers of the divine nature. One who partakes is one who takes part. The Greek word is koinonia, and refers to partnership, participation, fellowship. See how it is used in the following passage:
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion [koinonia] of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion [koinonia] of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of the one bread. Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers [koinonos] of the altar? (1 Corinthians 10:16-18)
Here, communion refers, of course, to the Table of the Lord—the bread and the cup. It is the sign of our participation in the body of Christ, our union with the Lord Jesus. We are identified with Him; He is identified with us. We are part of Him; He is part of us, even as the bread and wine we consume at His Table becomes a part of our body and blood.

What does it mean to be a partaker of the divine nature? The Greek word for “divine” is theios, and literally means “god-like.” The early Church understood Peter’s phrase, “partakers of the divine nature” as theosis: deification, being made divine, or “becoming god.” Athanasius of Alexandria, a fourth century Father of the Church, said, “For He has become Man, that He might deify us in Himself … that we may become henceforth a holy race, and ‘partakers of the Divine Nature,’ as blessed Peter wrote.” (Personal Letter 60:4). “For He was made man that we might be made God” (On the Incarnation, chapter 54). “Therefore He was not man, and then became God, but He was God, and then became man, and that to deify us” (Discourse 1 Against the Arians, chapter 11). Ireneaus, an important Christian theologian of the second century, speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, “who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself” (Against Heresies, Book 5, Preface). The Church has long embraced this understanding as part of the orthodox Christian faith.

What does it mean to participate in the divine nature? First, we need to understand that there are some aspects of the divine nature in which we could never share. For example, God is all-powerful, all-knowing and everywhere present. These are attributes which cannot be communicated to us. That is, we are incapable of experiencing them; they belong to God alone. But there are other divine attributes in which we may share with Him. Peter tells us that the divine power of the Lord Jesus Christ has given to us “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). He then lists some of these gifts in verses 5-7: faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. Paul offers a similar list, which he calls “the fruit of the Spirit”: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). These are all attributes by which we are participants in the divine nature.

The Incarnation is not just about redemption from sin, and reconciliation with God. It is the restoration and fulfillment of God’s purpose for us in creation, when He said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth” (Genesis 1:26). That is why, as Paul says, “the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19). “Sons” speaks of like nature. Just as sons of men share in the nature of men, sons of God share in the nature of God.

As we take the bread and the cup at the Table of the Lord, we partake of the divine nature. We partake of Jesus Christ, His body and His blood. As Jesus partook of our human nature, we partake of His divine nature. For we are being conformed to the likeness of Jesus, just as Adam was created in the likeness of God, and we receive His divine spirit, the Holy Spirit, just as Adam received the breath of God.

The Table of the Lord displays the Incarnation of Jesus, His participation in our human nature and our participation in His divine nature, and shows us to be the sons of God. All creation is waiting for this revelation.

Friday, August 8, 2008

The Table of Reconciliation

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight. (Colossians 1:19-22)
“It pleased the Father.” What wonderful words! It was the gracious will of God that all His fullness should dwell in the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the mystery of the incarnation—God in human flesh. It was His desire to reconcile everything in heaven and on earth to Himself through the blood of Jesus shed on the cross, and it was His pleasure to reconcile us to Himself by the body of Jesus given in sacrifice. This is the mystery of redemption, and it has pleased the Father to do so.

To reconcile means to bring back into alignment, to restore to proper relationship. Eugene Peterson translates it this way in The Message Bible: “All the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe — people and things, animals and atoms — get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of His death, His blood that poured down from the cross” (Colossians 1:20).

Reconciliation requires a settling of accounts, a setting to rights, an atonement. That is why Jesus came. Because of sin, we were once enemies of God, alienated from the Father. But Jesus, Son of God, came in human flesh and offered Himself as an atoning sacrifice for our sin. In Him, through faith in Him, we are restored to proper relationship with the Father. Now we walk in the newness of life, His life. “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10).

By His body, we are presented before God as holy, blameless and faultless. By His blood, we are reconciled with God and have peace with Him. The life we now have is of heaven, though we live it out on earth, for heaven and earth are themselves now reconciled in Jesus Christ. All creation now waits for this to be revealed. It is the revelation of glory Paul talked about in Romans 8:18-21.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
The Table of the Lord is a manifestation of this glory, this liberty, this reconciliation. It reveals Jesus is His flesh and His blood, the fullness of God in human form, and us in Him as the children of God restored to fellowship with the Father.

We come to the Table or the Lord as friends, not as enemies, for we have been reconciled to God by the sacrifice of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf. Our fellowship with Him at this Table of Reconciliation is the revelation of the glory for which all creation is now waiting.



The Focus of Our Faith
The Focus of Our Faith
Paul’s Letters to the Jesus Believers at Colosse
Bite-Size Studies Through Colossians
by Jeff Doles

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Monday, August 4, 2008

Faith is Reality

Faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.
(Hebrews 11:1 HCSB)
Last week a bought a new little pocket Bible (it was on sale). I got it, not only because it was a handy size and with a comfortable font, but also because it was a version I did not have, the Holman Christian Standard Bible. I flipped through it a bit, checking out how it rendered some of the passages I am very familiar with, and I was impressed with how it translated Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.”

Faith is the reality. Other versions have it as
  • Faith is the substance. (KJV)
  • Faith is being sure. (NIV)
  • Faith is the assurance. (NASB, ESV)
  • Faith is a well-grounded assurance. (Weymouth)
  • Faith is … a confidence. (Young’s Literal Translation)
  • Faith is … the firm foundation. (The Message)
  • Faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed). (AMP)
  • Faith gives substance. (Revised English Bible)
The Greek word is hypostasis, a compound of hypo (“under”) and stasis (“state”). The English word “substance” captures this well: sub (under) and stance (position); what is positioned underneath. Hypostasis, substance, is the underlying stance or state of a thing, or as I have called it elsewhere, the underlying reality of a thing.

The HCSB picks up on “reality,” and I think captures the Greek word very well. “Assurance” and “confidence” and “being sure” are all pretty good, but they seem to have more of a subjective element to them. But “substance” and “reality” speak of something more objective. Faith is not just about how I think about something or the sense of confidence I might have toward it. Faith is about that which is substantively real quite apart from what I might think or feel.

In biblical terms, faith is about the Word of God. As Paul said, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Faith is believing what God has said. The Word is true, not because I believe, but because God has spoken it.

Faith is based on reality, and reality is based on the Word of God. “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen has been made from things that are not seen” (Hebrews 11:3). Everything that exists exists because God has spoken it into existence.

Reality is not based on what can be seen or experienced with the senses, but on what cannot be seen or felt. With out natural senses, we can see the manifestation of reality, but the reality itself lies beneath the manifestation we experience in the natural realm, in the Word of God. It is because God says it is, and faith is believing what God says.

Faith taps into the reality of what God has said. Because it is real, we can expect it to manifest. Faith is the proof, or evidence, of what cannot be seen. That is, faith is not about what can be seen, but about what God has said. Faith is the reality, and that brings great assurance.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

The Table of Righteousness

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Paul said that Jesus was “made to be sin for us.” He was identified with our sin so thoroughly that it no longer belongs to us. Then He dealt with it at the cross, nailing it in His own body to the tree and cursed the curse of it. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’)” as Paul says in Galatians 3:13. In his letter to the Colossians, he puts it this way:
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14)
The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that a great exchange has taken place: He took our sin upon Himself and gave us His righteousness. This reality changes us, for we not only have our sins taken away, we also receive the righteousness of God. We do not just receive it but, in Paul’s words, we become the righteousness of God.

When we come to the Table of the Lord, we do not come as sinners but as saints. The bread and the cup speak of His body given for us, made to be sin for us, but washed clean by the blood He shed for us. There we fellowship together in His divine righteousness, for the Table of the Lord is the Table of Righteousness.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

An Undivided Kingdom

Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Matthew 12:25-28)
Jesus healed a man who was demon-possessed, blind and mute. He cast out the demon so that the man could see and speak (Matthew 12: 22-23). When some of the Pharisees heard of this, they came and accused Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebub (literally, “Lord of the Flies”) whom they considered the ruler over demons (v. 24).

Now, if it had been just one or two demons that Jesus expelled, they might have been able to make a good argument that satan was causing a few demons to retreat in order to gain some sort of advantage. After all, satan is a schemer. But this was far more than a few. Everywhere Jesus went He was casting out demons from the multitudes that followed, doing major damage to the kingdom of satan. Indeed, this was one of the reasons He came: to destroy the works of the devil (Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8).

Jesus answered their charge with a spiritual logic that turned the table on them. First, He pointed out that a kingdom or house divided against itself cannot stand. That being so, He then asked, if satan drives out satan, how can the kingdom of satan possibly stand. The Pharisees’ accusation was logically incoherent — it made no sense.

Second, if Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, then by whose power did their “sons,” their own exorcists, manage to cast out the few demons they were haphazardly able to expel? A small handful of exorcisms might be a demonic strategy, but Jesus was the one who was casting them out wholesale, running roughshod over satan and all his works. The Pharisees were being hypocritical, as Jesus pointed out by adding, “Therefore they [the “sons”] will be your judges.”

Third, if Jesus cast out demons by the Spirit and power of God (as indeed He did), then it was a sign that the kingdom of God had come into the world, for the Jews believed that when Messiah came, satan would be bound. Now here it was happening before their eyes, but in addition to the Pharisees being incoherent and hypocritical, they were also faithless.

Jesus was casting out demons everywhere He went, and He did it by the Spirit of God, as Peter later proclaimed: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). This was a demonstration that the kingdom of God had now come into the world.

The kingdom of God is an undivided kingdom. Though it would be a losing strategy for satan to divide his own kingdom, as Jesus pointed out, the kingdom of God not only has the power to divide it but was doing just that. Jesus added,
Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. (Matthew 12:29)
By the Spirit of God, Jesus came into the “house” of the “strong man,” and binding him, was able to “plunder his goods,” that is, to destroy the works of the devil and loose his captives. In this way, Jesus divided the kingdom of satan.

Having answered their charge, Jesus then addressed the Pharisees with sobering words about the undividable nature of the kingdom of God:
He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matthew 12:30-32)
The implication was clear. If Jesus was casting out demons by the Spirit of God, and the kingdom of God had now come upon them, then a dividing line was clearly drawn. We must embrace Jesus and His gospel of the kingdom, or else we will be working against both. They cannot be divided. To reject Jesus is to reject the kingdom of God as well.

Jesus also cannot be divided from the Spirit of God. To attribute His works to the “Lord of the Flies,” is to blaspheme, or speak evil against, the Spirit by whom those works were done. To reject Jesus, as the Pharisees were doing, was to reject the Spirit of God, and there would be no place for them in God’s kingdom. With such a stern warning, it was now time for the Pharisees to make a decision. There was nothing halfway about it; it was either all in or all out.
Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. (Matthew 12:33-37)
Up to this point, the Pharisees had shown themselves to be a “brood of vipers” who could not speak anything good about Jesus and the kingdom He preached because their hearts were full of evil. If they did not change their words, they would soon have to give account for them, and would be condemned by them. To change their words, they would need to change their hearts and do as Jesus preached from the beginning: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:17).

The kingdom of Heaven on Earth is an undivided kingdom. It cannot be separated from Jesus and the Spirit of God. The kingdom of satan is broken. The Lord Jesus has bound him and destroyed his works, and is loosing his captives.



The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth

The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth
Keys to the Kingdom of God
in the Gospel of Matthew

by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

The Kingdom of Quiet Revolution

But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. Yet He warned them not to make Him known. (Matthew 12:15-16)
Jesus had so angered the Pharisees with His claim to be Lord over the Sabbath, they went out scheming how they might bring Him down. When Jesus learned of this, He departed. His kingdom is forceful, and those who enter in are passionate for it, but it is not about violent physical conflict.

As He left, large crowds followed after Him, many of whom were sick, for Jesus had just demonstrated that healing is a good thing and it is the Father’s will to heal even on the Sabbath. They came because they believed. Matthew notes the result very simply: “He healed them all.”

Jesus healed the multitude, then strictly admonished them not to make it widely known. He wanted to avoid the additional publicity, perhaps because He did not wish to exacerbate the situation of the Pharisees and confirm them in their hardness of heart, for there were still some among them who were open to His message. Matthew sees in this reticence a fulfillment of what Isaiah foretold:
Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen,
My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased!
I will put My Spirit upon Him,
And He will declare justice to the Gentiles.
He will not quarrel nor cry out,
Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.
A bruised reed He will not break,
And smoking flax He will not quench,
Till He sends forth justice to victory;
And in His name Gentiles will trust.
(Matthew 12:18-31, quoting Isaiah 42:1-4)
Though that passage may also have had a reference to Israel, the Servant whom God chose, in whom He was well pleased and upon whom He put His Spirit is the Lord Jesus (see Matthew 3:16-17). He was not a political agitator. He did not come as a rabble-rouser or one who stirs up treason. He did not get into shouting matches. He did not treat harshly those who were brokenhearted or fading into despair, the “bruised reeds” and “smoking flaxes.” He came for a larger purpose: to declare justice and set things right, not just for Israel, but for all the nations. He not only declared justice, He has been bringing it forth, and His cause will be victorious.

His conquest does not come by military combat or political maneuverings, but by the preaching of the gospel. Before He ascended to heaven, He declared that all authority in heaven and earth had been given to Him. Then He commissioned His disciples to go and “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:18-19). This commission will not fail but be fulfilled, and justice shall come to all the nations through the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ.

The kingdom of Heaven on Earth does not come by political manipulation or military conquest, but by quiet revolution — the preaching of the gospel.



The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth

The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth
Keys to the Kingdom of God
in the Gospel of Matthew

by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The Kingdom of Sabbath Rest

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30).

For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. (Matthew 12:8)
Early Jewish tradition spoke about taking on the “yoke” of the Law of Moses. However, this was a hard yoke that no one was able to bear. When a group of legalistic Jewish believers wanted to impose the law on Gentile Christians, Peter rose up at the Jerusalem council and said, “Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” (Acts 15:10). In Romans 7, Paul details his own desperate struggle — and ultimate failure — to bear this bondage and uphold the law, finally finding deliverance in Jesus Christ (v. 25). The centerpiece of his letter to the Galatians is found in 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”

Jesus calls us to a different yoke. Not the yoke of Moses, which He came to fulfill (Matthew 5:17), but His own. To take His yoke means that we must set aside all other yokes. Formerly, the law was a “tutor” whose purpose was to bring us to Christ. Now that He has come, we take His yoke and learn of Him. The yoke of the law was heavy and difficult; the yoke of Jesus is easy and light. It is a yoke of freedom, not of bondage, and the promise of Jesus is that by taking His yoke, we will find rest for our souls.

The rest we find in the Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the law and the Sabbath rest it required. The Sabbath was a type; Jesus is the full realization to which the Sabbath could only point. Indeed, Jesus called Himself the “Lord of the Sabbath.”

One day, as Jesus was walking through a field of grain, His disciples helped themselves to a little bit of it and ate. This was on a Sabbath. A group of Pharisees witnessed this and were upset. Not because of what they did — that was quite acceptable by law and custom — but by when they did it. They complained to Jesus, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” But Jesus said to them:
Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. (Matthew 12:3-8)
Jesus vindicated the act of His disciples by comparing it with three examples from the Law and the Prophets:
  • It was not lawful for David to eat the sacred bread, which was a special offering to the Lord to be eaten only by the priests. Yet the necessity of hunger prevailed. How much more would this be true of Jesus, who was recognized with the messianic title Son of David (Matthew 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30-31; 21:9)? He accepted this designation, and even argued later that, not only was He the Son of David but He was also greater than David was because He was David’s Lord (Matthew 22:41-46).
  • It was not lawful to work on the Sabbath, and yet the priests of the Lord did not refrain from their work on that holy day. If the service of the Temple was exempt, then how much more would this be true of Jesus, who was greater than the Temple? On another occasion, He even compared His body to the Temple: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:18-22).
  • God desires mercy more than sacrifice. That is what the Lord said by the prophet Hosea: “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6). There is a principle that is greater than the requirement of the law and that is the mercy of God.
As if the Pharisees were not already scandalized enough by what Jesus said, He concluded with this declaration: “For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Here was another designation with messianic implication, for “Son of Man” spoke explicitly of the humanity of Jesus, but it also implied His divinity. As Messiah and Lord, Jesus was greater than the Sabbath.

Jesus then went into their synagogue where, seeing a man who had a withered hand, the Pharisees asked, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” (Matthew 12:10) They were still looking for a way to entrap Him. Turning the table on them, Jesus asked, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?” (v. 11).

No one answered; it was an accepted practice to rescue one’s livestock, even on the Sabbath. Then Jesus answered them, while at the same time revealing the hypocrisy of their question. “Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” (v. 12). Then to prove the point, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” The man stretched out his hand and it was healed (v. 13). The Pharisees were livid, and went out, plotting how they might destroy Jesus.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Sabbath, the Temple, the Law of Moses and the promise God made to David. He calls us to set aside all other yokes and take up His, for it is easy and His burden is light, and we shall find rest for our souls. For the kingdom of Heaven on Earth is a kingdom of Sabbath rest.



The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth

The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth
Keys to the Kingdom of God
in the Gospel of Matthew

by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

A Kingdom That Divides

Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out. And when you go into a household, greet it. If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. (Matthew 10:11-14)
Jesus sent the disciples out to preach the kingdom and manifest the signs of it, but He cautioned them that not everyone would receive it. There would be persecution ahead. Some would be hospitable to them and believe their message; others would reject it. Those who received would have a blessing of peace given to them; for those who turned away the message, and the messengers, there was no blessing to offer. We will see Jesus talk about this again in Matthew 25:31-45, where He speaks of the division of the sheep and the goats based on how they receive His disciples. The principle, implied here but much more explicit there, is found in Matthew 25:40, “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me.” (See Those Who Will Inherit the Kingdom)

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves,” Jesus said, “Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). They would need to have great prudence and be innocent of evil. He warned them that they would be brought up and accused before Jewish councils, and flogged in the synagogues (v. 17). They would be betrayed to Gentile governors and kings, but the Holy Spirit would show them what to say (vv. 18-20). They would be widely hated in Israel because of Jesus’ name, and persecuted from city to city for being His disciples. Just as their Master would be despised, so they would be, too. It would be a comfort to be in such good company as His (vv. 21-25).

“Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known” (v. 26). The true nature of things would be made manifest. What was now being revealed to them in secret, they would soon preach abroad (v. 27). Though men may put to death the body, they cannot touch the soul (v. 28). The God who takes care of the sparrows, which are of very little value in the marketplace, knows the number of hairs on our heads, because we are of far greater value to Him (vv. 29-31).

“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven” (vv. 32-33). Here is the great dividing line: Whoever believes and confesses the gospel of Jesus Christ openly on earth will be acknowledged before God in heaven by the Lord Jesus. Whoever rejects Him on earth will be denied by Him in heaven. It is a sobering judgment, a sword that will even separate family members from one another. But if one chooses Jesus as King, he must love Him even more than father, mother, daughter and son (vv. 34-37).

All these things awaited the disciples as they fulfilled this great commission, and came to pass within a generation, after Jesus went to the Cross. His Cross became a cross each of us must bear (v. 38). It is the cost of following Jesus (was the scribe who promised to follow Him everywhere really ready for this?). It is the difference between losing life and finding it. “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it” (v. 39).

Now Jesus returned again to the reward for those who receive the ministry of the disciples:
He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward. (Matthew 10:40-42)
The kingdom of Heaven on Earth is a reward for those who believe the message of the gospel brought by the disciples. The cost for confessing the Lord Jesus may be great, but the cost for rejecting Him is infinitely greater.



The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth

The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth
Keys to the Kingdom of God
in the Gospel of Matthew

by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.