Following the Lord includes believing in Him. No one follows Him unless he believes in Him. To believe in the Lord is to be saved (Acts 16:31), and to follow Him is to enter in through the narrow gate and walk the constricted way to participate in the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 7:13-14).

According to the record in this verse, it seems that this was the first time the Lord met Matthew. There must have been some attracting power, either in the Lord's word or in His appearance, that caused Matthew to follow Him.

This was Matthew's house (Luke 5:29; Mark 2:15). As the writer of this Gospel, Matthew purposely did not say that it was his house or that it was he who had made a great feast for the Lord. This displayed his humility.

Matthew was also called Levi (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27). He was a tax collector (10:3) who, after being saved, became an apostle by God's grace (Matt. 10:2-3; Acts 1:13). He was the writer of this Gospel.

The paralytic's rising and going proved that he was healed, and his being healed proved that his sins were forgiven.

This paralytic was brought to the Lord by others, but he went home by himself. This indicates that it is not that the sinner can go to the Lord, but that the sinner can go from the Lord by the Lord's salvation.

The Lord enabled the paralytic not only to walk but also to take up his bed and walk. Formerly, the bed had borne him; now he bore it. This is the power of the Lord's salvation.

To forgive sins is a matter of having authority on earth. Only this kingly Savior, who had been authorized by God and who would die to redeem sinners, had such authority (Acts 5:31; 10:43; 13:38). This authority was for the establishing of the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 16:19).

In the Lord's salvation He not only forgives our sins but also causes us to rise and walk. It is not that we first rise and walk and then are forgiven of our sins; such a salvation would be by works. Rather, we first are forgiven of our sins and then rise and walk; such a salvation is by grace.

The Lord did not ask, "Which is more difficult?" because to Him nothing is difficult. For Him to say, "Your sins are forgiven," was easier than to say, "Rise and walk."

Or, cogitations, inward reasonings. Evil surmisings with strong feeling or passion.

Some ancient MSS read, seeing. This was the Lord's perception in His spirit (Mark 2:8).

The scribes, confident that they knew the Scriptures, thought that only God had authority to forgive sins and that Jesus, who in their eyes was only a man, had blasphemed God when He said, "Your sins are forgiven." This indicates that they did not realize that the Lord was God. By uttering such a word they rejected the King of the heavenly kingdom. This was the first rejection by the leaders of the Jewish religion.

See note Matt. 2:4^1a.

This indicates that the paralytic was sick because of his sins.

They dug through the roof of the house where the Lord was (Mark 2:4). By this the Lord saw their faith.

Capernaum, where the Lord now dwelt (Matt. 4:13).

See note Matt. 5:46².

See note Matt. 3:7^1a.

This question indicates that the self-righteous Pharisees did not know the grace of God. They thought that God deals with man only according to righteousness. By asking this, they were exposed as dissenting from the heavenly King, and thus as those who had rejected Him. This was a continuation of the rejection of the heavenly King, begun in v. 3, by the leaders of the Jewish religion.

In calling people to follow Him for the kingdom, the King of the heavenly kingdom ministered as a Physician, not as a Judge. A judge's judgment is according to righteousness, whereas a physician's healing is according to mercy and grace. Those whom He made people of His heavenly kingdom were lepers (Matt. 8:2-4), paralytics (Matt. 8:5-13; 9:2-8), the fever-ridden (Matt. 8:14-15), the demon possessed (Matt. 8:16, 28-32), those ill with all kinds of diseases (Matt. 8:16), despised tax collectors, and sinners (vv. 9-11). If He had visited these pitiful people as a Judge, all would have been condemned and rejected, and none would have been qualified, selected, and called to be the people of His heavenly kingdom. However, He came to minister as a Physician, to heal, recover, enliven, and save them that they might be reconstituted to be His new and heavenly citizens, with whom He could establish His heavenly kingdom on this corrupted earth.

The Lord's word here implies that the self-righteous Pharisees did not realize that they needed Him as a Physician. They considered themselves strong; hence, blinded by their self-righteousness, they did not know that they were ill.

The self-righteous Pharisees were confident that they knew all things concerning God. In order to humble them, the Lord told them to learn more.

Mercy is part of the grace that man receives from God. (See note Heb. 4:16^2b.) But self-righteous men do not like to receive mercy or grace from God; they prefer to give something to God. This is contrary to God's way in His economy. Just as God desires to show mercy to pitiful sinners, so He wants us to show mercy in love to others (Micah 6:6-8; Mark 12:33).

There is none righteous, not even one (Rom. 3:10). All the righteous" are self-righteous, as were the Pharisees (Luke 18:9). The kingly Savior did not come to call these, but sinners. "

Verses Matt. 9:10-13 record the Lord's dealing with the question from the Pharisees, who were of the old religion. Here in vv. 14-17 the Lord dealt with the problem of John's disciples, who were of the new religion. John the Baptist had dropped the old religion and had begun his ministry in the wilderness, outside religion. (See note Matt. 3:1^2b and note Matt. 3:4^1a.) However, after a short time his disciples formed a new religion that frustrated people from enjoying Christ, just as the Pharisees of the old religion had done. John the Baptist's ministry was to introduce people to Christ that Christ might become their Redeemer, their life, and their all. However, some of John's disciples drifted away from his goal, Christ, to some of his practices, and made those practices a religion. To be religious is to do something for God, without Christ. To do anything, even if it is scriptural and fundamental, without the presence of Christ is to be religious. Both John's disciples, who were of the new religion, and the Pharisees, who were of the old religion, fasted much, but without Christ. Meanwhile, they condemned the disciples of Christ, who did not fast but had Christ with them and lived in His presence.

See note Matt. 6:16^1a.

Some ancient authorities omit, much.

The self-righteous Pharisees, who were of the old religion, were bothered when Christ made Himself a companion of tax collectors and sinners, whom the Pharisees condemned (v. 11). The fasting disciples of John, who were of the new religion, were troubled by the feasting of Christ and His disciples (v. 10).

The disciples of the Lord. In the transitional period of the Lord's ministry on earth, His disciples were the sons of the bridechamber. Later, they will become the bride (John 3:29; Rev. 19:7).

The old garment signifies the good behavior, good deeds, and religious practices produced by man's old, natural life.

The Greek word for new means new in time, recent, newly possessed. The new wine here signifies Christ as the new life, full of vigor, stirring people to excitement. The kingly Savior is not only the Bridegroom to the kingdom people for their enjoyment but also their new garment for them to be equipped outwardly that they may be qualified to attend the wedding. Furthermore, He is their new life to stir them up inwardly to enjoy Him as their Bridegroom. He, as the heavenly King, is the Bridegroom for the kingdom people's enjoyment, and His heavenly kingdom is His wedding feast (Matt. 22:2), at which they will enjoy Him. To enjoy Him as the Bridegroom in the kingdom feast, they need Him as their new garment outwardly and their new wine inwardly.

The old wineskins signify religious practices, such as the fasting maintained by the Pharisees, who were of the old religion, and by the disciples of John, who were of the new religion. All religions are old wineskins. New wine put into old wineskins bursts the wineskins by the power of its fermenting. To put new wine into old wineskins is to put Christ as the exciting life into any kind of religion. This is what the so-called fundamentalists and Pentecostalists are practicing today. They attempt to squeeze Christ into their different modes of religious ritual, formality, and practice. The kingdom people should never do this. They must put the new wine into fresh wineskins.

In dealing with the self-righteous and dissenting Pharisees, who were of the old religion, the kingly Savior indicated that He was a Physician who had come to heal the sick (v. 12). In dealing with the fasting and dissenting disciples of John, who were of the new religion, He revealed Himself as the Bridegroom who had come to take the bride. John the Baptist had told his disciples that Christ was the Bridegroom who had come to take the bride (John 3:25-29). Now Christ, the kingly Savior, reminded some of them of this. Both a physician and a bridegroom are pleasant persons. The kingly Savior first healed His followers, and then made them the sons of the bridechamber; eventually, He will make them His bride. They should have laid hold of Him not only as their Physician, that their life might be recovered, but also as their Bridegroom, that they might have the enjoyment of living in His presence. They were with Him at a joyful wedding, not without Him at a mournful funeral. How then could they fast and not feast before Him? The dissenting question from John's disciples indicated that some of them had fallen into a new religion and had rejected the kingly Savior.

The question from John's disciples seemed to relate to doctrine. However, the Lord answered not with a doctrine but with a person, the most pleasant person, the Bridegroom. The religious people always care for their doctrine, asking "why" in a doctrinal way. But Christ cares only for Himself. The living and walk of His followers should be regulated and directed only by Himself and His presence, not by any doctrine.

This took place when the kingly Savior was taken up from the disciples into heaven (Acts 1:11). After that, they fasted (Acts 13:2-3; 14:23).

Or, new, raw, unwrought. The Greek word is formed with not and to card or comb wool. Thus, the word means uncarded, unsteamed and unwashed, unfinished, unfulled, untreated. The unfulled cloth signifies Christ from His incarnation to His crucifixion, as a piece of new cloth, untreated, unfinished; whereas the new garment in Luke 5:36 signifies Christ as a new robe after He was "treated" in His crucifixion. (The Greek word for new in Luke 5:36 is the same as for fresh in Matt. 9:17.) Christ first was the unfulled cloth for making a new garment, and then through His death and resurrection was made a new garment to cover us as our righteousness before God that we might be justified by God and be acceptable to Him (Luke 15:22; Gal. 3:27; 1 Cor. 1:30). A patch of unfulled cloth sewn on an old garment pulls away from the garment because of the strength of its shrinking, thus making the tear worse. To sew a patch of unfulled cloth on an old garment means to imitate what Christ did in His human life on earth. This is what today's modernists are attempting to do. They only imitate Jesus' human deeds to improve their behavior; they do not believe in the crucified Jesus as their Redeemer or in the resurrected Christ as their righteousness that they may be justified by God and acceptable to Him. Their imitating of Christ's human living "pulls away" from their "old garment," their behavior produced by their old, natural life. The kingdom people would not do this; they take the crucified and resurrected Christ as their new garment to cover them as their righteousness before God.

Lit., was roused.

The Greek word for fresh means new in nature, quality, or form; unaccustomed, unused; hence, fresh. The fresh wineskins signify the church life in the local churches as the container of the new wine, which is Christ Himself as the exciting life. The kingdom people are built into the church (Matt. 16:18), and the church is expressed through the local churches in which the kingdom people live (Matt. 18:15-20). They are regenerated persons who constitute the Body of Christ and become the church (Rom. 12:5; Eph. 1:22-23). The Body of Christ as His fullness is also called "the Christ" (1 Cor. 12:12), referring to the corporate Christ. The individual Christ is the new wine, the inward exciting life, and the corporate Christ is the fresh wineskin, the outward container that holds the new wine. With the kingdom people it is not a matter of fasting or any other religious practice, but a matter of the church life with Christ as their content. Christ came to establish not an earthly religion of rituals but a heavenly kingdom of life. He is establishing such a kingdom not with any dead religious practices but with Himself, the living person, as the Savior, the Physician, the Bridegroom, the unfulled cloth, and the new wine to His followers for their full enjoyment, that they may be the fresh wineskin to contain Him and may become the constituents of His kingdom.

Verses Matt. 9:18-34 give a brief picture of this age and the coming age. Hence, the record in this section has a dispensational significance, as did the record in Matt. 8:1-17. The daughter of the ruler of the synagogue represents the Jews, and the woman with the hemorrhage represents the Gentiles. When the daughter died, the woman was healed. After the woman was healed, the daughter was revived. Subsequently, two blind men and one dumb man were healed. This is a type, showing that when the Jews were cut off, the Gentiles were saved, and that after the fullness of the salvation of the Gentiles, the Jews will be saved (Rom. 11:15, 17, 19, 23-26). After that, the millennium will begin, in which all the blind and dumb will be healed (Isa. 35:5-6).

Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue (Mark 5:22; Luke 8:41). His name means he will enlighten, or enlightened, signifying that the Lord will enlighten the Gentiles (Acts 13:46-48) and that the Jews also will be enlightened.

A bloody flux, a flow or issue of blood (Lev. 15:25). The life of the flesh is in the blood (Lev. 17:11). Hence, this disease signifies a life that cannot be retained.

The woman had been sick for twelve years, the age of the ruler's dead daughter (Luke 8:42).

The woman here and the centurion in Matt. 8:5-10, both representing the Gentiles, came to contact the Lord in the same way — with faith. The woman was healed while the Lord was on the way to the ruler's house. This signifies that the Gentiles are saved while Christ is on the way to the house of Israel.

Christ's garment signifies His righteous deeds, and the fringe signifies the heavenly ruling (Num. 15:38-39). Out of Christ's heaven-ruled deeds issues the virtue that becomes the healing power (Matt. 14:36).

This was her faith.

Or, saved. So in the next verse.

The daughter here and Peter's mother-in-law in Matt. 8:14-15, both representing the Jews at the end of this age, were healed in a house by the Lord's coming and His direct touch. This indicates that at the end of this age all the remnant of the Jews will be saved in the house of Israel by the Lord's coming and His direct touch (Rom. 11:25-26; Zech. 12:10).

In His ministry the Lord never cared to have a crowd. See note Matt. 8:18¹.

The opening of the blind men's eyes signifies the recovery of inward sight, by which we see God and spiritual things (Acts 9:18; 26:18; Eph. 1:18; Rev. 3:18).

Dumbness caused by demon possession signifies man's inability to speak for God (Isa. 56:10) and praise God (Isa. 35:6) because of his worshipping of dumb idols (1 Cor. 12:2).

The dumb man's speaking signifies that our speaking and praising ability is recovered by our being filled with the Lord in the spirit (Eph. 5:18-19).

Blindness signifies the lack of inward sight, the inability to see God and the things related to Him (2 Cor. 4:4; Rev. 3:18).

In the millennial kingdom, that is, in the restored tabernacle of David (Acts 15:16), the Messianic kingdom, the Jews will recognize Christ as the Son of David, and their blindness will be healed. This is typified by the two blind men recognizing Christ as the Son of David.

Like the ruler's daughter (v. 23) and Peter's mother-in-law (Matt. 8:14), the two blind men were healed in the house by the Lord's direct touch (v. 29).

I.e., to participate in His harvest.

The ruler of the demons is the devil, who was called Beelzebul (12:24). This blaspheming word by the Pharisees was a strong continuation of the rejection of the heavenly King by the leaders of Judaism.

See note Matt. 4:23^2b.

Every disease and every sickness signifies spiritual illness.

In Greek harassed refers to the sheep's being skinned by a cruel shepherd and thus suffering pain. Cast away refers to the sheep's being abandoned by a wicked shepherd and falling into a distressed condition in which they are homeless, wandering from place to place, and helpless. The Lord Jesus' word here depicts a situation in which the pitiful Israelites were afflicted and in anguish under the hands of the chief priests and scribes, the evil shepherds.

This indicates that the heavenly King considered the Israelites sheep and Himself their Shepherd. When Christ came to the Jews the first time, they were like lepers, paralytics, the demon possessed, and all manner of pitiful persons because they had no shepherd to care for them. Now in His kingly ministry for the establishing of His heavenly kingdom, He ministered to them not only as a Physician but also as a Shepherd, as prophesied in Isa. 53:6 and Isa. 40:11.

The heavenly King considered the people not only sheep but also the harvest. The sheep needed shepherding and the harvest needed reaping. Although the leaders of the nation of Israel had rejected the heavenly King, there were still a good number among the people who needed reaping.

First, in His economy God has a plan to accomplish; then there is the need for His people to beseech Him, to pray to Him, concerning it. In answering their prayer, He will accomplish what they have prayed concerning His plan.

The King of the heavenly kingdom considered Himself not only the Shepherd of the sheep but also the Lord of the harvest. His kingdom is established with things of life that can grow and multiply. He is the Lord who owns this crop.