Search
Scripture Reading: Matt. 15:36-39; 17:19-21; 18:15-22; 19:13-15
II. The divine facts in the mystical human life of the first God-man in the record of the synoptic Gospels concerning the first God-man as the King-Savior in the kingdom of the heavens, the Slave-Savior in God’s gospel service, and the Man-Savior in God’s salvation:
F. In the performing of the miracle of feeding four thousand people with seven loaves and a few small fish (Matt. 15:36-39), He trained His disciples again to learn from Him that:
1. Before performing the miracle, He gave thanks (v. 36), indicating that:
а. He honored His Father as the source of the supply of the people’s necessities, standing on the position of One sent by His Father.
b. He trained His disciples to give thanks to God the Father for their necessities and in everything (1 Thes. 5:18; Eph. 5:20).
2. After performing the miracle, He left the crowd and went to the borders of Magadan (Matt. 15:39), indicating that He would not remain in the issue of the miracle with the crowd for the enjoyment of their appreciation.
G. In answering His disciples’ question concerning why they were not able to cast out a demon (17:19-21), He trained them that:
1. They should pray with faith — v. 20.
2. They should also pray with fasting — v. 21.
H. In dealing with one who is disobedient to the church (18:15-22), He trained His disciples:
1. To bind the disobedient one with their heavenly authority by two or three of them meeting together to pray for the disobedient one in harmony — vv. 18-20.
2. To forgive the offending one (this might indicate the disobedient one) up to seventy times seven times — vv. 21-22.
I. When people brought their children to Him that He might lay His hands on them and pray but His disciples rebuked them (19:13-15), He trained them:
1. By correcting them not to prevent the little children but to allow them to come to Him, indicating that the kingdom of the heavens is of such — v. 14.
2. By laying His hands on the little children — v. 15.
We have seen from Matthew 11 that the Lord Jesus told us we have to learn from Him (v. 29). He is our prototype and also our model. We have to be His reproduction and His copy. When the Lord fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish, as recorded in Matthew 14, He did that for the disciples to learn from Him, not just for them to see a big miracle. The Lord cares for the lessons of life.
In the performing of the miracle of feeding four thousand people with seven loaves and a few small fish (15:36-39), He trained His disciples again to learn from Him. This was the second time that He fed a great multitude. The first time, when He fed the five thousand, He blessed the loaves and the fish, looking up to heaven. His blessing was under the blessing from the Father who is in heaven. Before feeding the four thousand, He gave thanks to God (v. 36). I believe the Lord did this purposely for the training of the disciples.
His giving thanks indicated that He honored His Father as the source of the supply of the people’s necessities, standing on the position of One sent by the Father. This indicated to His disciples that His Father, not He, was the source of all the necessities of the people. Otherwise, people would give the glory to Him, thinking that He was the source. As the sent One, the Lord Jesus gave thanks to the Sender. He stood on the position of One sent by His Father.
Satan is the opposite of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus stood on His position as a sent One, a subordinate, not the source. But Satan rebelled against the source to exalt himself. That became a rebellion that caused the entire universe to become chaos. Not only are humans fighting on the earth, but also, according to Daniel, the angels are fighting (10:13, 20). The Bible shows clearly that there are two kinds of angels: the good angels standing with God and the bad ones following Satan. In Revelation 12 Satan is likened to a great red dragon whose tail drags away the third part of the stars of heaven (vv. 3-4). The stars of heaven here signify the angels (Job 38:7; Isa. 14:12). The third part of the stars of heaven are the fallen angels who followed Satan in his rebellion against God. There is war taking place both on the earth and in the heavens. Today the earth is full of rebellion and fighting. The United Nations attempts to keep the peace, but there is no way for them to do it. Even in the church, disorder appears, so according to the New Testament teaching, the Lord Jesus set up a model to keep a good order. He always stood on the position of a sent One from the Father.
When He performed miracles, He was also in the status of a man. During the three and a half years of His earthly ministry, He acted as a man submissive to God. This put Satan to shame. This is why the Lord said that in Him Satan had nothing (John 14:30b). Satan has nothing in Him because His submission to the Father cuts off Satan. Today in the Lord’s recovery, we must learn how to keep a proper order of submission in the Body. Brother Watchman Nee stressed this greatly. The Lord did not teach this much, but He behaved in this way to train His disciples. That was why He told His disciples to take His yoke and learn from Him. Today we have to follow the Lord’s pattern. We have to take Him as the model to copy, honoring the Father as the source of the supply of the people’s necessities, standing on the position of the One sent by His Father.
He also trained His disciples to give thanks to God the Father for their necessities and in everything. In both 1 Thessalonians 5:18 and Ephesians 5:20 Paul tells us to give thanks to God in everything. This is very important. We do not want to make anything a mere formality. But still in doing everything, even in common things, we have to say, “Lord, I thank You for this. Everything You have created has been prepared to meet my need by Your mercy and by Your divine provision.” We need to thank the Lord for all His physical and spiritual blessings.
After He fed the five thousand, He left the crowd to go to the high mountain privately to pray (Matt. 14:23). After feeding the four thousand, He also left the crowd and went to the borders of Magadan (15:39), indicating that He would not remain in the issue of the miracle with the crowd for the enjoyment of their appreciation. This is a pattern to us. Whenever we speak and have a good meeting, we want to stay with the crowd to enjoy people’s appreciation. That is fleshly. In the first feeding, the Lord left and went to the mountain privately. The next time He left the appreciating crowd and went to the locality of Magadan.
The disciples were not successful in their attempt to cast out a demon, so they asked the Lord why this was so. In His answer to their question, He trained them that they should pray with faith (17:19-20). In the early years in China among us, there were a number of cases of casting out demons, but not in recent years. If we try to cast out demons, they will condemn us. When they condemn us, we can lose our assurance, causing us to pray without faith. This is why we have to declare, “Satan, you are defeated. You are the defeated enemy, and the Lord Jesus crossed you out on the cross. We have the blood of the Lamb that covers us and that overcomes your accusation.” This is the word of our testimony, which defeats the devil (see Rev. 12:11 and footnote 3, Recovery Version). This gives us the assurance to pray with faith.
The Lord also said that we need to pray with fasting (Matt. 17:21). Sometimes the demons are very persistent to struggle and not go away. This is why we need to pray with faith and also with fasting. These two things — faith and fasting — put down our natural being, our flesh. If we are in the flesh, we can neither have faith nor fast in a genuine way. To pray with faith is to contact God and to be saturated with God, resulting in having faith in God for the exaltation of God, and to fast is to deal with the self, putting down ourselves.
In dealing with one who is disobedient to the church, the Lord trained His disciples to bind the disobedient one with their heavenly authority by two or three of them meeting together to pray for the disobedient one in harmony (18:18-20). Matthew 18:15-22 describes the case of a brother who is disobedient first to someone who wants to shepherd him. Because he will not listen, this shepherding one takes one or two more with him. If he still rebels, they tell it to the church. If he will not hear the church, he will lose the fellowship of the church and will be like the Gentile and the tax collector, those who are outside the fellowship of the church.
The Lord Jesus told the disciples to bind such rebellious ones with the authority from the heavens. What we bind will be bound in heaven. The elders especially have to learn how to bind the rebellious ones. We should not bind someone outwardly in a fleshly way. We have to bind with the authority of the heavens by two or three coming together in the principle of the Body, not by ourselves. Two or three represent the cooperation of the Body.
These two or three do not come together to discuss things but to pray in harmony. There is the need of the harmony among men to have the heavenly authority. To pray in harmony is as musical sounds are in harmony. Whatever we say in binding a rebellious one must be like music to God and also to the enemy Satan for him to be defeated. If we are inwardly opinionated and dissenting, the devil knows our hearts. It is very difficult for husbands and wives to be in harmony. Even in the church life, it can be the same among the saints. As long as the elders are not in harmony, the eldership is lost. They will not be able to exercise the Lord’s authority.
Whoever is not in harmony to the extent that he rebels in the church life will suffer loss. The Lord Jesus set up an example, which is a real shame to Satan, who is the great rebel. In the universe there is one person by the name of Jesus Christ who submitted Himself absolutely and continuously to His Father, standing in His own position to keep the harmony among the Trinity.
Matthew 18:21 and 22 say, “Then Peter came and said to Him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not say to you, Up to seven times, but, Up to seventy times seven.” According to the context of these verses, the offending one might be the disobedient one in the previous section. It might be that Peter was offended at a disobedient brother. Because he was strong and outspoken, Peter asked the Lord how many times he should forgive his brother. The Lord said that if we are going to forgive a disobedient brother, we have to forgive him seventy times seven, that is, four hundred ninety times. To bind is easy; to forgive is hard. The wives and the husbands should not bind each other but forgive each other. The ones who live the kingdom life in the heavens do not have the feeling of being offended. The more we live in the kingdom, the less we feel that some have offended us, even though they may have done many wrong things to us.
People brought their children to the Lord that He might lay His hands on them and pray, but His disciples rebuked them (19:13-15).
The Lord trained the disciples by correcting them not to prevent the little children but to allow them to come to Him, indicating that the kingdom of the heavens is of such (v. 14). All the kingdom people should be like children. For the disciples to rebuke the children coming to the Lord indicates that they felt that they were mature and special. We should never be proud in this way. We should never reject the weaker ones, the fallen ones, the mistaken and backsliding ones, or the ones whom we feel are not growing. In the service of the Lord, we have to take care of such ones. Paul in Galatians 6 charges us to restore in a spirit of meekness the ones overtaken by sin (v. 1).
The Lord also trained the disciples by laying His hands on the little children (Matt. 19:15). The Lord’s blessing goes with His hand. His laying His hands on the little ones indicates that He would never reject any weaker ones, mistaken ones, or defeated ones, who are like children. The Lord would not forget them; He would still give them the blessing. All these points are very instructive and show how we should deal with people and be among them for the Lord’s interests.
