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Week 11 — Day 1
53 And when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there.
54 And He came into His own country and taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, Where did this man get this wisdom and these works of power?
55 Is not this the 1carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
57 And they were stumbled because of Him. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.
58 And He did not do many works of power there because of their unbelief.
551 In 12:24 the Pharisees opposed and rejected Christ to the uttermost. Here the Galileans knew Him according to the flesh, not according to the spirit (2 Cor. 5:16). They were blinded by their natural knowledge.
After we have seen the unveiling of the Lord Himself and the unveiling of the mystery of the kingdom of God, we as His followers need to know the way to follow Him….How we thank Matthew for including in his doctrinal book not only a diagram of the kingdom, but also a map of the pathway so that we may enter into the kingdom. From the end of chapter thirteen to the middle of chapter seventeen we have a clear map showing us how to walk on the pathway as we follow our beloved King into glory.
The first thing we face on this pathway is rejection. Because Christ is the rejected One, we must be rejected also. We have no choice. Do not expect to be welcomed, for no one will welcome you until the glory comes. Instead, you must be willing to be rejected….Many of us have experienced some measure of rejection by those who opposed our coming into the church. But I need to tell you that this rejection will not decrease; rather, it will increase. There will be rejection upon rejection. Be prepared for this.
The heavenly King was rejected first by the Jewish religionists. The religious leaders rejected Christ to the uttermost because they were fully occupied, possessed, and veiled by their religion….After the Lord had been rejected in Jerusalem, the religious center, He turned to a geographical area that was not so religious — Galilee, the place where He was born and raised….However, He was not even welcomed in Galilee. Although the Galileans did not oppose Him, they rejected Him because of their natural knowledge.
If we would know Christ and follow Him, we need to realize that religion and natural knowledge are both veils…. [These] are two great obstacles frustrating people from recognizing who Christ is.…According to natural knowledge, Christ was the son of a carpenter.…His countrymen knew all of His outward features, but they did not see that God was in Him.
As we follow the Lord in His recovery, we should not know people according to the flesh or estimate them according to the flesh. We should know them according to one thing — according to the measure of Christ. Knowledge, intelligence, and outward appearance mean nothing. Perhaps a certain brother cannot speak well and uses poor grammar. Yet whenever he opens his mouth, Christ comes out. Even when you are sitting in his presence, you realize that some amount of Christ is with him. In the church life in the Lord’s recovery we do not care for the outward appearance; we care only for the spirit within, where Christ is. This is the way to know Christ, the way to know other Christians, and the way to follow the Lord. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 505-510)
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 503-510; Hymns: #489, #594
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 11 — Day 2
1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report concerning Jesus,
2 And he said to his servants, This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and because of this these works of power are operating through him.
3 For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of Philip his brother.
4 For John had been saying to him, It is not lawful for you to have her.
5 And though he desired to kill him, he feared the crowd because they held him as a prophet.
10 And he sent men and beheaded John in the prison.
13 And when Jesus heard this, He 1withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place privately. And when the crowds heard of it, they 2followed Him on foot from the cities.
In 14:1-13 we see the rejection by the heathen tetrarch. Politics is always alongside religion and culture. According to Matthew’s presentation, after the rejection by religion and natural knowledge, there is the rejection by politics. Herod the tetrarch represents the rejection by politics. This is the basic principle of 14:1-13.
Herod had John the Baptist beheaded in prison. In 12:24 the Jewish religious leaders, representing the entire nation of the Jews, rejected the heavenly King to the uttermost. This forced Him to forsake His natural relationship with them (12:46-50). Then in 13:53-58 He was rejected by the Galileans also. Now in chapter fourteen, Matthew, in his arranging of events according to doctrine, unveils to us how Gentile politics treated the King’s forerunner. It was evil and full of corruption and darkness. To this point Matthew has given a full picture of the Jews’, the Galileans’, and the Gentiles’ rejection of the ministry of the kingdom of the heavens.
In chapter fourteen we see the darkness, rottenness, and injustice in politics. Our eyes need to be opened to see that in religion there is no welcome to our heavenly King. Neither is there a place for Him in natural knowledge nor in today’s rotten, dark politics. In this generation there is no place for the heavenly King. Religion, culture, and politics are all one in rejecting the heavenly King. How I thank the Lord for the record in the Gospel of Matthew. If you read the chapters prior to fourteen, you will see the deceitfulness in the Jewish religion. You will also see that natural knowledge has caused great damage to people. Furthermore, you will see the rottenness and darkness in Roman politics, which was the leading political system on earth at the time. But even in the best political system there is nothing but rottenness and darkness. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 510-511)
131 Because He had been rejected by the people in religious, cultured, and political circles, the heavenly King departed from them and withdrew to a deserted place privately. This indicates that thenceforth He would hide Himself in a deserted place, in a place without culture, away from the religious, cultured, and political circles. He did this by means of a boat, implying that He would do this through the church. Because He has been rejected by the civilized world, the Lord, through the church, has always hidden Himself in a realm without much culture, away from religious and political circles.
132 In spite of the rejection by all kinds of people, there were still a large number of people who followed the heavenly King. They did this by leaving their cities. It was not that the King came to their cities to visit them, but that they left their cultured cities to follow Him in a deserted place. Through all the centuries the true followers of Christ have left cultured spheres to follow their heavenly King outside the cultured world.
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 510-512; Hymns: #460, #473
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 11 — Day 3
14 And going forth, He saw a great crowd.…
15 Now when evening fell, the disciples came to Him, saying, This place is deserted and the hour is already late. Send the crowds away that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.
16 But Jesus said to them, They do not need to go away. You 1give them something to 2eat.
17 And they said to Him, We do not have anything here except five 1loaves and two 1fish.
18 And He said, Bring them here to Me.
19 And after commanding the crowds to recline on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds.
20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, 1twelve handbaskets full.
21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, apart from women and children.
161 …The disciples’ concept was to ask people to do something; this is the principle of the law. But the Lord’s concept is to give people something to enjoy; this is the principle of grace.
162 In this record of the miracle, the Holy Spirit’s intention in His inspiration is to show that what the followers of the heavenly King actually need is the proper food to satisfy their hunger. The disciples of Christ did not know this, nor did the crowds who followed.…All that they needed was His resurrection life, which would satisfy their spiritual hunger, as signified in this miracle.
What the heavenly King did indicates strongly and clearly that He provides for the necessities of His followers while they follow Him in this rejecting world. This corresponds with His word in the heavenly constitution saying that the kingdom people need not be anxious about what they will eat (6:31-33).
171 John 6:9 tells us that these five loaves were barley loaves. Barley is a type of the resurrected Christ (Lev. 23:10). Thus, the barley loaves signify Christ in resurrection as food to us. Loaves are of the vegetable life, signifying the generating aspect of Christ’s life, whereas fish are of the animal life, signifying the redeeming aspect of Christ’s life. For our spiritual hunger to be satisfied, we need Christ’s generating life as well as His redeeming life. Both aspects are symbolized by small items — loaves and fish. This indicates that in this age the heavenly King came to His followers not as a great King to reign over them but as small pieces of food to feed them. See note 92 in John 6.
201 …Twelve handbaskets full of broken pieces indicates not only that the resurrected Christ is unlimited and inexhaustible but also that the Lord’s provision for us is abundant, more than sufficient to meet all our need.
Although you may say that you do not have anything to offer to the Lord, you at least have yourself.…Let us give whatever we are to Him. The Lord needs our consecration. If what we have is kept in our possession, it will be nothing.…Whatever you are and whatever you have must be offered to the Lord. If you do this, in His hand nothing will remain whole. Rather, everything will be broken.…If we are not broken, our consecration does not mean anything, and it is not effectual.
No doubt there has been great blessing in the Lord’s recovery in this country. Nevertheless, we must realize that some dear ones have offered themselves to the Lord. In the Lord’s hand, they all have been broken, and those broken pieces have brought in the blessing. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 516, 518)
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 513-520; Hymns: #379, #749
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 11 — Day 4
22 And immediately He compelled the disciples to step into the boat and to go before Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away.
23 And after He sent the crowds away, He went up to the mountain privately to 1pray. And when night fell, He was there alone.
24 Now the boat was already in the midst of the sea, being battered by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
25 And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, 1walking on the sea.
28 And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.
29 And He said, Come. And Peter, coming down from the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
30 But 1seeing the strong wind, he became frightened; and as he began to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me!
31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him and said to him, You of little faith, why did you doubt?
32 And when they got up into the boat, the 1wind ceased.
231 Standing in the position of man (4:4), the heavenly King, as the beloved Son of the Father (3:17), needed to pray privately to His Father who was in the heavens, that He might be one with the Father and have the Father with Him in whatever He did on earth for the establishing of the kingdom of the heavens. He did this not in the deserted place but on the mountain, leaving all the people, even His disciples, that He might be alone to contact the Father.
251 While His disciples were distressed by the waves, the Lord walked on the sea. This testifies that He is the Creator and the Ruler of the universe (Job 9:8).
301 Peter came down from the boat and walked on the water by faith in the Lord’s word (v. 29); however, when he saw the strong wind, his faith vanished. He should have walked by faith in the Lord’s word, not by looking at the circumstances (i.e., by sight). In following the Lord we should walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).
321 This miracle testifies not only that the Lord is the Ruler of the heavens and the earth but also that He takes care of the hardships endured by His followers as they follow Him on the way. When we have the Lord in our boat, the wind ceases. The record of the two miracles in this chapter implies that during the time that Christ was being rejected by people in the religious and political circles, He and His followers were in a deserted place and on a stormy sea. Whatever the situation, He was able to provide for their need and carry them through the hardships.
The storm in chapter fourteen indicates that on the pathway where we follow the rejected King there will always be troubles.…Because our destiny is in the Lord’s hand, there is no reason for us to be afraid of anything. The contrary winds and the opposition are under His feet. The Lord is on a high mountain praying for us and interceding for us.…He laughs at the wind and seems to say, “Little wind, you mean nothing to Me. What are you trying to do? You can’t do anything with My church. Those in the boat are My followers. In fact, they are just Me. Although I am here in the heavens, I am also with them.”
In being quick and bold to step out of the boat and walk on the sea, we must take care of four things: first, that we act upon the word of the Lord, not without hearing a word from Him; second, that our direction is toward the Lord Himself; third, that we get into the Lord’s presence; and fourth, that we come back to the boat. If we take care of these four things, we will be right, even if we appear to be wrong. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 521, 523, 528-529)
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 521-530; Hymns: #812, #576 (tune #791)
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 11 — Day 5
1 Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying,
2 Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.
3 And He answered and said to them, Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?
4 For God said, “1Honor your father and your mother,” and, “He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.”
5 But you say, Whoever says to his father or his mother, Whatever you would have been profited by me is now a gift to God,
6 Shall by no means honor his father or his mother; and you have deprived the word of God of its authority because of your tradition.
Although the Lord forsook the rejecting religionists, they still would not cease troubling Him. They came to Him from their religious center, Jerusalem, in order to find fault with Him. However, their troubling afforded Him another opportunity to reveal the truth concerning genuine cleanness (vv. 10-11, 15-20). The Pharisees and scribes asked the Lord Jesus why His disciples transgressed the tradition of the elders. This reveals that the disciples did not keep the old traditions in following the Lord. They cared only for the heavenly King’s presence, not for anything else.
In the past, some of those who claimed to be for God had certain practices, and their practices eventually became the traditions that were observed by the Jews when the Lord Jesus was on earth.…However, [these traditions were not commandments]…in the Bible. Nothing commanded by God could ever become a tradition, for God’s word is always fresh. A tradition, on the contrary, is something invented or initiated by man.
The Jewish religionists accused the Lord’s disciples of transgressing their tradition, but the Lord condemned the religionists for transgressing the commandment of God because of their tradition. They cared for their tradition, but they ignored God’s commandment. In principle, the religious people today do the same thing. The Roman Catholic Church and most Protestant denominations make void the word of God because of their traditions.…In Christendom many still insist on the traditions, and in the so-called churches these traditions are very prevailing. But the Lord has raised us up to come back to the pure Word. We do not care for man’s tradition, teaching, or practice.…The Lord Jesus and His followers were accused by the traditionalists, and today we are accused by the religionists. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 531-534)
41 The Lord’s dealing here with the Pharisees and scribes not only condemned them for making void the word of God because of their tradition but also implied that man should honor his parents. God in His government among men has ordained that man should honor his parents. He has made this the first commandment among the ten commandments that concerns human relationships (Exo. 20:12). Fallen human nature, however, always prompts man to ignore his parents, that is, to rebel against God’s government. In order to bring man back to God’s government, the Lord as the heavenly King emphasized that man should honor his parents. This corresponds with His word in the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens concerning the fulfillment of the law (5:17-19). Hence, the apostle also emphasized this matter strongly (Eph. 6:1-3; Col. 3:20). We, the kingdom people, must honor our parents and not excuse ourselves as the Jewish religionists did. To make any excuse indicates that we are not under the heavenly ruling but are following our fallen nature and the rebellious trend of today’s generation.
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 531-535; Hymns: #814
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 11 — Day 6
8 “This people honors Me with their lips, but their 1heart stays far away from Me;
9 But in 1vain do they worship Me, teaching as teachings the commandments of men.”
11 It is not that which enters into the mouth that defiles the man; but that which proceeds out of the mouth, this 1defiles the man.
12 Then the disciples came and said to Him, Do You know that the Pharisees were stumbled when they heard this word?
13 And He answered and said, Every plant which My heavenly Father has 1not planted shall be rooted up.
14 Let them be. They are 1blind guides of the blind; and if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.
18 But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart, and those defile the man.
19 For out of the heart come 1evil reasonings, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnessings, blasphemies.
20 These are the things which defile the man, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile the man.
81 The heavenly ruling of the kingdom requires inward reality, not mere outward practice. Such ruling deals with the real condition of the heart, not with the expression of the lips.
91 This reveals that some worship offered to God may be in vain. The main cause of this is to consider as teachings the commandments of men. We must worship God according to His word, which is the truth.
111 I.e., makes the man common, unclean (Acts 11:8). So in vv. 18 and 20. In the kingdom life, defilement is not an outward matter but an inward matter.
131 This word from the heavenly King indicates that the hypocritical Pharisees had not been planted by the heavenly Father. Because of their rejection of the heavenly King, they were uprooted from the kingdom of the heavens.
141 The self-righteous and arrogant religionists thought that they were clear concerning the way to serve God, not realizing that they were blind guides of the blind. Their eyes were veiled by their religion with their traditions; hence, they could not see the reality of God’s economy and thus were not able to enter into the kingdom of the heavens. Their blindness led them to “fall into a pit.”
191 In the kingdom of the heavens, defilement is not related to material things but to moral matters. Material things have nothing to do with the heavenly ruling, but moral matters do. That so many evils issue from our heart proves that we are not under the heavenly ruling.
The problem between the Pharisees and the Lord Jesus and His followers was that the Pharisees cared only for outward tradition, ritual, and practice, for example, the washing of hands. They cared nothing whatever for inward reality. Therefore, the Lord Jesus pointed them to the inward matter of the heart. The Lord seemed to say, “Don’t care for this outward practice of washing of hands. The dirt that needs to be cleansed away is within you.” In the Lord’s recovery today we likewise do not care for outward things; rather, we care for inward reality.…It is an insignificant matter whether our hands are dirty; it is the condition of our inward parts that is important.…If we speak without reality, we are more than pitiful. Tradition is a matter of utterance from the lips without reality in the heart.…Those who follow the traditions are blind guides of the blind. This is true today.…They may claim to know the Bible, but actually they are completely blind and have no light at all.…I feel very sad about all those who are being misled.…They have missed the blessing and enjoyment. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 537-541)
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 537-541; Hymns: #744
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 11 — Prophecy
IV. The King’s being rejected (12:1—27:66)
C. The increase of rejection (13:53—16:12)
1. Rejection by His countrymen (13:53-58)
2. Rejection by the heathen tetrarch (14:1-13)
3. The miracle of feeding five thousand (14:14-21)
4. The miracle of walking on the sea (14:22-33)
5. Healing by the fringe of the King’s garment (14:34-36)
6. The accusation by the traditional religionists (15:1-20)
From the end of chapter thirteen to the middle of chapter seventeen we have a clear map showing us how to walk on the pathway as we follow our beloved King into glory.
The first thing we face on this pathway is rejection. Because Christ is the rejected One, we must be rejected also. We have no choice. Do not expect to be welcomed, for no one will welcome you until the glory comes. The heavenly King was rejected to the uttermost first by the Jewish religious leaders because they were fully occupied, possessed, and veiled by their religion. Then the Galileans — thinking they knew everything about Him — rejected Him because they were blinded by their natural knowledge. They knew Him according to the flesh not according to the spirit (2 Cor. 5:16). If we would know Christ and follow Him, we need to realize that religion and knowledge are both veils, even two great obstacles, frustrating people from recognizing who Christ is. As we follow the Lord in His recovery, we should not know people according to the flesh but according to the measure of Christ, not caring for the outward appearance but only for the spirit within.
In Matthew 14 we see the darkness, rottenness, and injustice in politics. Politics is always alongside religion and culture. Herod the tetrarch represents the rejection by politics. This is the basic principle of vv. 1-13.
The Lord’s miraculous feeding of the crowds in the wilderness portrays our situation after we have experienced and passed through rejection. We will be in want and have certain needs. But the Lord has a way to meet our need. We should simply offer what we are and what we have into His hand, let Him break the offering, and let the broken offering feed the hungry ones. If we do this, we will enjoy satisfaction, and there will be a surplus remaining.
The storm in chapter fourteen indicates that on the pathway where we follow the rejected King there will always be troubles. Do not be troubled by any storms, for we are in the boat, the Lord’s church. Whether the Lord is on the mountain interceding or on the waves walking toward us, we should not be disturbed. With the Lord’s word we may walk to meet Him, even walking through all the opposition and upon it. This is faith. It was a miracle that Peter could walk on the water. He walked on the waves by faith. Faith simply means that, although we may be very weak, we dare to act upon the Lord’s word.
The Jewish religionists accused the Lord’s disciples of transgressing their tradition (15:1-2). But the Lord condemned the religionists for transgressing the commandment of God because of their tradition (v. 3). In this way He brought them back to the pure Word. Those who follow the traditions may claim to know the Bible, but actually they are completely blind and have no light at all. The Pharisees cared only for the outward tradition, ritual, and practice, for example, the washing of hands. Therefore, the Lord Jesus pointed them to the inward matter of the heart (vv. 8, 18-20). In the Lord’s recovery we treasure the pure Word and the inward experience of Christ, the inward reality. Tradition is a matter of utterance from the lips without reality in the heart.
Composition for prophecy with main point and sub-points:
