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Week 19 — Day 1
1 And when Jesus finished all these words, He said to His disciples,
2 You know that after two days the 1Passover takes place, and the Son of Man is being delivered up to be crucified.
3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the courtyard of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas,
4 And they took counsel together to seize Jesus by craftiness and kill Him.
5 But they said, Not at the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.
It is not an easy matter to understand the doctrinal point Matthew conveys in his Gospel. Many of us were taught that the Gospel of Matthew was simply a storybook. However, Matthew is not a storybook, but a book on the doctrine of the kingdom of the heavens. In order to touch the depths of this book, we need to apply this point to every chapter. In chapters twenty-six through twenty-eight we cannot find the term the kingdom of the heavens. However, everything contained in these chapters is related to the kingdom of the heavens. If we spend time in the Lord’s presence to see the significance of these chapters in relation to the kingdom of the heavens, He will reveal it to us.
The word and at the beginning of verse 1 joins chapter twenty-six with chapters twenty-four and twenty-five, the prophecy concerning the Jews, the believers, and the Gentiles. Immediately after giving this prophecy of the kingdom, the Lord told His disciples that in two days the Passover was coming and that the Son of Man was being delivered up to be crucified. The significance of the Lord’s word here is that His crucifixion is the fulfillment of the Passover. This Passover was to be the last. The Passover had been observed for more than fifteen centuries. But now the Passover was to be terminated and, in a sense, replaced. By putting together the Passover and the crucifixion of the Son of Man, the Lord was implying that His crucifixion was the fulfillment of the Passover and that He Himself was the Passover Lamb.
As the Passover Lamb, Christ was a test to all the people. Throughout the centuries, Christ has constantly been such a test. We cannot be neutral regarding Him. Rather, whatever we are will be tested by Him. We must do something about Him, and we must react to Him. Our reaction will reveal our attitude toward this Passover Lamb.
Verses 3 through 5 indicate that Christ was hated by the religionists. The chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel together how they might seize Jesus by craftiness and kill Him. Can you believe that religion exercised craftiness in order to kill the Lord Jesus? Verse 5 says, “But they said, Not at the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.” Eventually, under God’s sovereignty, they did kill the Lord Jesus at the feast (27:15) for the fulfillment of the type. This indicates that Christ’s crucifixion was sovereignly under God’s hand to fulfill the Passover. By hating the Lord Jesus, the first class of people, the religionists, were exposed. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 783-785)
21 The Passover was a type of Christ (1 Cor. 5:7). Christ was made the Lamb of God that God may pass over us, the sinners, as portrayed in type by the Passover in Exo. 12. For the fulfillment of the type, Christ as the Passover Lamb had to be killed on the day of the Passover.
In the type, during the four days preceding the day of the Passover, the Passover lamb had to be examined in relation to its perfection (Exo. 12:3-6). Before His crucifixion Christ came to Jerusalem for the last time, six days before the Passover (John 12:1), and likewise was examined by the Jewish leaders for a few days (21:23—22:46). No blemish was found in Him, and He was proved to be perfect and qualified to be the Passover Lamb for us. See note 371 in Mark 12.
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 783-785; Hymns: #103, #196 (v. 2)
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 19 — Day 2
6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the 1leper,
7 A woman came to Him, having an alabaster flask of ointment of great value, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at table.
8 But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, Why this 1waste?
9 For this could have been sold for much and given to the poor.
10 But Jesus, knowing it, said to them, Why do you trouble the woman? She has done a noble deed to Me.
11 For the poor you have with you always, 1but you do not always have Me.
12 For in pouring out this ointment on My body, she has done it 1for My burial.
13 Truly I say to you, Wherever 1this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, 2what this woman has done shall also be told as a memorial of her.
14 1At that time one of the twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests
15 And said, What are you willing to give me, and I will deliver Him to you? And they weighed out to him 1thirty pieces of silver.
16 And from then on he sought opportunity to deliver Him up.
61 A leper signifies a sinner (8:2 and note 1). Simon, a leper, must have been healed by the Lord. Being grateful to the Lord and loving Him, he spread a feast (v. 7) in his house for the Lord and His disciples in order to enjoy His presence. A saved sinner would always do this.
81 The disciples considered Mary’s love offering to the Lord a waste. Throughout the past twenty centuries thousands of precious lives, heart treasures, high positions, and golden futures have been “wasted” upon the Lord Jesus. To those who love Him in such a way He is altogether lovely and worthy of their offering. What they have poured upon Him is not a waste but a fragrant testimony of His sweetness.
111 We must love the Lord and grasp the opportunity to love Him.
121 Mary received the revelation of the Lord’s death through the Lord’s words in 16:21; 17:22-23; 20:18-19; and v. 2 of this chapter. Hence, she grasped the opportunity to pour upon the Lord the best that she had. To love the Lord with our best requires a revelation concerning Him.
131 In the foregoing verse the Lord spoke of His burial, implying His death and resurrection, accomplished for our redemption. Hence, in this verse He called the gospel “this gospel,” referring to the gospel of His death, burial, and resurrection (1 Cor. 15:1-4).
132 The story of the gospel is that the Lord loved us, and the story of Mary is that she loved the Lord. We must preach both — the Lord’s loving us and our loving the Lord. One is for our salvation, and the other is for our consecration.
141 At that time indicates that while one of the disciples was expressing her love to the Lord, loving Him to the uttermost, another was about to betray Him. One was treasuring the Lord, and at the same time another was delivering Him up.
151 I.e., thirty shekels of silver, the worth of a slave (Exo. 21:32).
Along with Simon, Mary also probably thought that this was her last chance to do something over the Lord’s body to anoint Him for burial. In a very real sense, Mary buried the Lord Jesus before He was crucified.…I believe that the others like Peter, James, and John did not receive the Lord’s prophecy concerning His crucifixion properly. According to the Lord’s testimony, Mary certainly received His word regarding this, for the Lord testified that in pouring out the ointment, she had done it for His burial. This was a sign that Mary understood what the Lord had prophesied concerning His crucifixion. (Life-study of Matthew, p. 786)
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 785-787; Hymns: #1159
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 19 — Day 3
17 Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the passover?
18 And He said, Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, The Teacher says, My time is near. I am keeping the passover at your house with My disciples.
26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it, and He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat; this is My body.
27 And He took a cup and gave thanks, and He gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you,
28 For this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
29 But I say to you, I shall by no means drink of this product of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of My Father.
30 And after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
In verses 17 through 30 we see the keeping of the passover and the establishing of the table.…The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a feast of seven days (Lev. 23:6). It is also called the Passover (Luke 22:1; Mark 14:1). Actually, the Feast of the Passover was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exo. 12:6, 11, 15-20; Lev. 23:5). The table mentioned in [Matthew 26:20] refers not to the Lord’s table, but to the table of the Feast of the Passover.
Verses 21 through 25 reveal that the Lord established the table at the time of His betrayal.…After Judas had gone,…[the Lord established the table with the eleven real believers.] Thus, Judas participated in the Passover feast, but he did not partake of the Lord’s table.
Beginning at verse 26, the Lord’s table is established. The Lord and the disciples first ate the passover (Matt. 26:20-25; Luke 22:14-18). Then the Lord established His table with the bread and the cup (Matt. 26:26-28; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26) to replace the Feast of the Passover because He was going to fulfill the type and be the real Passover to us (1 Cor. 5:7). Now we are keeping the real Feast of Unleavened Bread (Matt. 26:17; 1 Cor. 5:8).
The bread of the Lord’s table is a symbol signifying the Lord’s body, which was broken for us on the cross to release His life that we may participate in it. By participating in this life we become the mystical Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27), which also is signified by the bread of the table (1 Cor. 10:17). Hence, by partaking of this bread we have the fellowship of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 10:16).
The Lord’s blood redeemed us from our fallen condition back to God and back to God’s full blessing. Concerning the Lord’s table (1 Cor. 10:21), the bread signifies our participation in life, and the cup, our enjoyment of God’s blessing. Hence, the cup is called the cup of blessing (1 Cor. 10:16). In it are all the blessings of God and even God Himself as our portion (Psa. 16:5). In Adam our portion was the cup of God’s wrath (Rev. 14:10). Christ drank that cup for us (John 18:11), and His blood constitutes the cup of salvation for us (Psa. 116:13), the cup that runs over (Psa. 23:5). By partaking of this cup we have the fellowship of the blood of Christ (1 Cor. 10:16).
Some manuscripts insert the word new before the word covenant in [Matthew 26:28]. The Lord’s blood, having satisfied God’s righteousness, enacted the new covenant. In this new covenant God gives us forgiveness, life, salvation, and all spiritual, heavenly, and divine blessings. When this new covenant is given to us, it is a cup (Luke 22:20), a portion for us. The Lord shed His blood, God established the covenant, and we enjoy the cup, in which God and all that is of Him are our portion. The blood is the price that Christ paid for us, the covenant is the title deed that God made for us, and the cup is the portion that we receive from God. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 787-789, 791)
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 787-792; Hymns: #221, #224
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 19 — Day 4
31 Then Jesus said to them, You will all be stumbled because of Me this night, for it is written, “I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.”
32 But after I have been raised, I will go before you into Galilee.
33 Then Peter answered and said to Him, If all will be stumbled because of You, I will never be stumbled.
34 Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you that in this night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.
35 Peter said to Him, Even if I must die with You, I will by no means deny You. And all the disciples said likewise.
36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to the disciples, Sit here while I go over there and pray.
39 And going forward a little, He fell on His face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this 1cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.
40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And He said to Peter, So were you not able to watch with Me for one hour?
41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The 1spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
[Matthew 26:31-75 is] a long section in the Gospel of Matthew that is also related to the kingdom.…This record reveals that no one can follow Christ on the pathway of the cross by the natural life. The King can take this pathway, but we in our natural life cannot. Therefore, the Lord must die for us and enter into resurrection for us. Through His death our negative situation is settled, and by His resurrection He is able to be taken in by us and even become us.
What was Matthew’s main intention in 26:31-75 — to unveil the victory of Christ or to expose the defeat of Peter? I believe that his intention was to present both — each in vivid contrast to the other.…In the light of the contrast between Christ’s victory and Peter’s failure, let us now consider verses 31 through 75. [Notice that the Lord warned the disciples in verse 31 that they all would be stumbled because of Him.] The Lord was the Shepherd, and the disciples were the sheep who were to be scattered. However, all the disciples said that they would not deny Him. All of them, especially Peter, had the assurance and the confidence that they would follow the Lord to the end, no matter what the pathway might be.
In His warning the Lord promised that He would be raised up and go to meet with them in resurrection in Galilee (v. 32). He also predicted that, on the night of His betrayal, Peter would deny Him three times (v. 34).
After warning the disciples, the Lord went with them to Gethsemane (v. 36). Gethsemane means oil press. At Gethsemane the Lord was pressed so that the oil, the Holy Spirit, could flow out. After taking Peter, James, and John aside, the Lord went to pray alone. When He returned from praying the first time, He found the disciples sleeping (v. 40). The Lord Jesus had told them seriously that His soul was “exceedingly sorrowful, even to death,” and He had asked them to watch with Him (v. 38).…When the Lord came back after praying the third time, the disciples were still sleeping. In verses 36 through 46 we see a contrast between the life that is absolutely able [to be] for the kingdom and the life that is completely unable.…The life we have by our natural birth is completely unable to be for the kingdom.
In the garden of Gethsemane, the Lord was pressed to be sorrowful and deeply distressed, even unto death. After praying to the Father three times, He took the Father’s will and was prepared to be crucified for the fulfillment of the Father’s will. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 793-794, 796-797)
391 Referring to His death on the cross.
411 In spiritual things we are often like this.
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 793-797; Hymns: #673, #593
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 19 — Day 5
49 And immediately he [Judas] came to Jesus and said, 1Rejoice, Rabbi, and kissed Him affectionately.
50 But Jesus said to him, Friend, 1what are you here for? Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him.
51 And behold, 1one of those with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and took off his ear.
52 Then Jesus said to him, Return your sword to its place, for all those who take up the sword will perish by the sword.
53 Or do you think that I cannot beseech My Father, and He will provide Me at once with more than twelve legions of angels?
54 How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled which say that it must happen 1this way?
62 And the high priest stood up and said to Him, Do You answer 1nothing? What is it that these testify against You?
63 But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to Him, I charge You to swear by the living God to tell us 1if You are the Christ, the Son of God.
64 Jesus said to him, You have said rightly. Nevertheless I say to you, From now on you will see the 1Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.
491 A word of greeting, here and in 27:29. Both greetings were false (cf. 28:9).
501 This word is equivalent to: “What are you doing here? You are betraying Me!” This word was spoken to expose Judas’s evil intention to betray the Lord.
511 This was Peter (John 18:10, 26).
541 This way refers to His death on the cross, which was prophesied in the Scriptures. These prophecies had to be fulfilled.
621 The Lord, standing before the Sanhedrin like a sheep before its shearers, would not say a word to vindicate Himself, fulfilling Isa. 53:7.
631 This is the same question that the devil asked in tempting the Lord before He began His ministry (4:3, 6).
641 The high priest asked the Lord if He was the Son of God, but He answered with the “Son of Man.” In His temptation He had answered the devil in the same way (4:4 and note 2). The Lord was the Son of Man on the earth before His crucifixion, has been the Son of Man in the heavens at the right hand of God since His resurrection (Acts 7:56), and will be the Son of Man even at His coming back on the clouds. To accomplish God’s purpose and to establish the kingdom of the heavens, the Lord had to be a man. Without man, God’s purpose could not be carried out on earth, nor could the kingdom of the heavens be constituted on earth.
Judas kissed the Lord Jesus affectionately as a sign that He was the one to be seized. If it had been a stranger who had led the crowd to the Lord, it would not have been so painful to Him. But the one who led the crowd in arresting Him was one who had been so close to Him for three and a half years. Humanly speaking, this hurt the Lord Jesus.
Once again we see here [vv. 51-54] a contrast between two persons in the light of the kingdom. Peter resisted the Lord’s arrest, but the Lord was willing to accept it for the fulfillment of the Scriptures.…Our life simply cannot withstand the events and environment related to the kingdom. We all must come to realize this. If we did not have this record of Peter’s failure, defeat, and denial, we might think that our natural life could succeed in being for the kingdom, and we would want to be bold like Peter. However, our natural life is not adequate. Here in chapter twenty-six we see a natural Peter, but in Acts 2, 3, and 4 we see a resurrected Peter. Following the Lord Jesus on the pathway for the kingdom can only be done in the life of resurrection. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 797-798)
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 797-800; Hymns: #1130
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 19 — Day 6
69 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a 1servant girl came to him and said, You also were with Jesus the Galilean.
70 But he denied it before all, saying, I do not know what you are talking about!
71 And after he had gone out to the porch, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, This man was with Jesus the Nazarene.
72 And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man!
73 And after a little while 1those who were standing there came to Peter and said, Surely you also are one of them, for your speech also makes it clear that you are.
74 Then he began to 1curse and to swear: I do not know the man! And immediately a rooster crowed.
75 And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly.
691 Peter could not withstand even a fragile little female!
731 Under God’s sovereignty the environment would not let Peter go until he had been tested to the uttermost, that he might realize that he was absolutely untrustworthy and should no longer have any confidence in himself.
741 In his first denial Peter spoke words only (v. 70); in his second denial he replied with an oath (v. 72); in his third denial he cursed and swore.
Peter is our representative. As far as our natural life is concerned, we are all Peter. For the kingdom of the heavens to be established, there was the need of a man like Jesus. Throughout chapter twenty-six, the Lord Jesus stood in the position of a man, not in the position of the Son of God. In order for the kingdom of the heavens to be established, He stood as a man, a successful man, a victorious man, as a man that could withstand any hardship, defeat, opposition, and attack.
As we consider this picture of the Lord Jesus, we should receive the clear impression that in our human life it is impossible for us to be the kingdom people. The twelve disciples had been under the Lord’s teaching and training for three and a half years.…The Lord took special care to train Peter in a particular way.…Time and time again, Peter was adjusted. It is difficult to believe that such a qualified and trained person could take the lead in denying the Lord.… Not even Peter himself believed that he would do this [v. 35].
We should not read this account merely as a story about Peter, for it reveals that it is impossible for our natural life to enter into the kingdom. Because we all are the same as Peter, we should not try to follow the pathway into the kingdom by our natural life. No matter what kind of mind or will we may have, we cannot succeed. The test will come that will fully expose us. Sooner or later, all of us on the pathway to the kingdom will face the same tests. Praise the Lord that there is still the way of repentance, weeping, and confessing that brings in the Lord’s forgiveness and His further visitation. For the kingdom, we must have another life and be another person. Only after we have passed through all the tests and have suffered all the defeats and failures will we realize our need for another life.
Praise the Lord for the strong contrast presented in this chapter! In Peter we see the black, and in the Lord Jesus we see the white. All the way from the garden to the cross, Peter and the other disciples were defeated. Only one man, Jesus, was victorious. Actually, He was not even arrested; He handed Himself over to those who came for Him. Thus, His death was not a matter of compulsion, but a voluntary fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning His crucifixion. Truly, only the life of Jesus is good for the kingdom. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 794-795, 800-801)
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 794-801; Hymns: #499
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 19 — Prophecy
IV. The King’s being rejected (12:1—27:66)
F. The completion of rejection (26:1—27:66)
1. The fourth unveiling of the crucifixion (26:1-2)
2. Plotted against by religion (26:3-5)
3. Loved by the beloved disciples (26:6-13)
4. Betrayed by the false disciple (26:14-16)
5. Keeping the last passover (26:17-25)
6. Establishing the King’s feast (26:26-30)
7. Warning the disciples (26:31-35)
8. Pressed in Gethsemane (26:36-46)
9. Arrested by religion (26:47-56)
10. Judged by the Sanhedrin (26:57-68)
11. Denied by Peter (26:69-75)
After the prophecy of the kingdom, the Lord told His disciples that in two days the Passover was coming and that the Son of Man was being delivered up to be crucified. The significance of the Lord’s word here (Matt. 26:1-2) is that His crucifixion is the fulfillment of the Passover.
Matthew 26:3-5 reveals that the Lord Jesus was plotted against by religion. The chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel together how they might seize Jesus by craftiness and kill Him.
Although the religionists hated the Lord Jesus, His disciples loved Him (vv. 6-13). We must love the Lord and grasp the opportunity to love Him. The story of the gospel is that the Lord loved us, and the story of Mary is that she loved the Lord. We must preach both — the Lord’s loving us and our loving the Lord. One is for our salvation, and the other is for our consecration.
In verses 14 through 16 we see that the Lord Jesus was betrayed by the false disciple. The idea of betraying the Lord Jesus did not originate with Judas, but with the enemy, the devil (John 13:2, 27).
The keeping of the Passover and the establishing of the table are revealed in Matthew 26:17-30. The Lord and the disciples first ate the passover (vv. 20-25; Luke 22:14-18). Then the Lord established His table with the bread and the cup (Matt. 26:26-28; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26) to replace the Feast of the Passover because He was going to fulfill the type and be the real Passover to us (5:7). When we see the bread at the Lord’s table, we need to realize that it is a symbol both of the Lord’s physical body and His mystical Body. For this reason, when we break the bread and eat it, we have the fellowship of the Lord’s Body (10:16). Concerning the Lord’s table (v. 21), the bread signifies our participation in life, and the cup, our enjoyment of God’s blessing. Hence, it is called the cup of blessing (v. 16). In this cup are all the blessings of God and even God Himself as our portion (Psa. 16:5). Moreover, the product of the vine (Matt. 26:29) within the cup of the Lord’s table also is a symbol, signifying the Lord’s blood shed on the cross for our sins. His blood was required by God’s righteousness for the forgiveness of our sins (Heb. 9:22). The Lord’s blood, having satisfied God’s righteousness, enacted the new covenant. The blood is the price Christ paid for us, the covenant is the title deed God made to us, and the cup is the portion we receive from God.
Following the establishing of the table, the Lord warned the disciples that they all would be stumbled because of Him. Then He was pressed in Gethsemane, arrested by religion, judged by the Sanhedrin, and denied by Peter. Because we all are the same as Peter, we should not try to follow the pathway into the kingdom by our natural life. No matter what kind of mind or will we may have, we cannot succeed. Only after we have passed through all the tests and have suffered all the defeats and failures will we realize our need for another life. Truly, only the life of Jesus is good for the kingdom.
Composition for prophecy with main point and sub-points:
