MATTHEW 12
Rem Things seem to widen out in fresh fields here. This section ends with, “On his name shall the nations hope” (verse 21). The thought of feeding comes in after the end of chapter 11.
CAC It seems that the disciples, in keeping company with Jesus, had acquired liberty. They did not hesitate to take advantage of what God had provided.
Rem As if an impression had been gained of Him such as the children get. It is what nearness brings.
CAC I suppose the woman in Luke 7 hardly thought what she was doing, but she was exercising the most extraordinary liberty that had ever been known in the universe!
Rem The Lord is there to justify them.
CAC Would the sabbath and the cornfields put together give us a large view of things? The sabbath stands in relation to what goes before it; it comes after six days of work. It is like the winding up of the past. Sins, or Satan’s power, or the flesh, or the world — all that would be wound up and finished in the sabbath. In the cornfields something is springing up in the power of resurrection, introducing a new scene altogether, filled with the goodness that is provided by God. God’s rest in Scripture comes in relation to the time of unrest. We shall hardly enter into the new until all old questions are brought to rest. A certain boldness is required to acquire what is of God. The Spirit of God uses the word “boldness”.
Rem You were thinking of Ephesians 3: 12 for instance, “In whom we have boldness and access in confidence by the faith of him”?
CAC It was a very bold thing on the part of David to take the shewbread. If we want to please God we must appropriate boldly what He puts within our reach. The psalmist asks, “What shall I render unto Jehovah ... ?”. I have been struck that the answer is, “I will take the cup of salvation”, Psalm 116: 12, 13. If you want to render you must appropriate — that is the way to please Him.
Rem They would be full ears of corn.
Ques They took the whole ears, what would that mean?
CAC It implied that if the true David was in rejection, it deprived the whole legal system of its value. Really, all turns on our appreciation of Christ, and God is pleased if we boldly lay hold of what is in Christ in resurrection. The corn springs up out of death. God is well-pleased when we lay hold on it boldly. The shewbread was the ‘bread of the presence’, for God would have the whole of His people identified with the life of Christ, not with Adam. How wonderful to think we come together to approach divine Persons and things as identified with the life of Christ, not with the life of fallen Adam! Well, all that liberates. Our enjoyment of it depends on our exercise of faith. I suppose man turns everything that he takes hold of, even the gospel, into bondage. It takes the form of the principle of unworthiness, which is a very respectable form of bondage. Persons shrink from taking up thoughts of God in Christ, feeling unworthy to touch these great and wondrous things. It is like the man with the withered hand. But Emmanuel was there.
Rem The prodigal son in Luke 15 never said to his father, “Make me as one of thy hired servants”.
CAC Would you conclude that where that thought exists people have not the Spirit? The father “covered him with kisses”. God has received us in the fulness of His love in giving us the Spirit. And it liberates him; so that the [p. 84] son in the house would not hold back from anything. Would he say, ‘Give me only a small portion of the fatted calf’? He would not think of it! The Spirit would never give us any reserve in appropriating but He would give us liberty, otherwise we have a withered hand. That man could not have plucked the corn or rubbed it in his hands.
Rem He was in the synagogue.
CAC It was in the synagogue he got the withered hand! It was the contrast to the liberty in the company of the Lord.
Rem That is how things are going on in the world now all around us.
CAC It is good to see the energetic action of the Lord in the matter; He was not content to leave him in this state.
Rem There is a positive power in the believer by the Spirit to do things for God.
Rem A man with a withered hand that was healed would make a good gospel preacher. He would say, ‘See what He has done for me, He healed me’. It says that He would not crush a bruised reed or quench smoking flax till judgment is brought forth to victory.
CAC So good and evil will be perfectly resolved; no question is left without an answer.
The rabbi believed that opening the eyes of the blind man was a miracle reserved for the Messiah. So the question is asked, “Is this man the Son of David?”.
Rem 2 Samuel 5: 8 says, “They say, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house”.
CAC They came to Him in the temple and were healed of Him is what we have in connection with that. No case ever baffled Him. Our speech marks us off from the animal creation. It is a marvellous faculty given by God.
Rem “They ... so spake that a great multitude ... believed”, Acts 14: 1.
CAC The good man out of the good treasure brings [p. 85] forth good things. The power of speech is worthless unless it is used for the communication of good things. The assembly is the place for sanctified speaking. A fire in Jeremiah’s bones made him burn to speak. You could hardly think of any person having the Spirit of God and not being able to speak.
Rem The former dumb man would speak about the Lord, not himself.
Ques Why is it the kingdom of God in verse 28? It is one of the few instances mentioned in Matthew; it is generally the kingdom of the heavens.
CAC When it is a question of the power of God operating in man it is the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of the heavens. Christ was doing much that is being done by the Spirit now. The kingdom of God is “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit”, Romans 14: 17; that is, we act rightly in every sphere, walk in peace (being sons of peace) and have joy in the Spirit. It shows that a power has come in greater than that of Satan or sin. Righteousness is a very uncommon thing, not to be found at every street corner. It is very common in the kingdom of God!
Distinction is always made in the gospels between the crowds and the Pharisees. The crowds always listened to Him, the Pharisees hated Him from the beginning. Nothing makes a man so blind as pretending to see. The Lord has really bound the “strong man” (see verse 29). He cannot do anything to hinder the Lord, who can spoil his goods and set his captives free.
Rem Verse 30 shows there is no neutrality.
CAC If we are for the Son of David, Satan cannot touch us. Every converted soul is more “plunder” for the Lord. We are all supposed now to have a hand in it. It is a fine commission, really, is it not? All this is only carried out if we treat the Holy Spirit with the respect that is due. The Lord had in mind that the Spirit would be greatly [p. 86] disregarded. It was the most awful evil to call what is of God, as being of the devil. It was a character of sin that would not be forgiven. A man said to me the other day, ‘Your God is my devil’. If he meant it, there is no forgiveness for that; it is pure wickedness, not that he was mistaken. Verse 27 says, “Your sons, by whom do they cast them out?”. God was making a testimony to His goodness in Israel in casting out demons by certain Jews in the midst of an apostate nation. It had nothing to do with Jesus. The angels stirring the pool at Bethesda had nothing to do with Jesus, but it was a testimony to God’s mighty power and goodness in the midst of His people who had so long despised Him. They would not like to say it of their sons. What is of God is always in goodness and mercy to men, and they know it. Jesus went about “doing good, and healing all that were under the power of the devil, because God was with him”, Acts 10: 38. God sent unto the children of Israel preaching peace by Jesus Christ. A demon is not peace. “From the fruit the tree is known” (verse 33) is a general principle. As to Christ there was plenty of testimony when they were seeking witnesses. Why did not they call Lazarus and the blind man of John 9?
Ques We did not remark on verse 36, men having to render an account for “every idle word” that they say. What are you to do when people say untrue things of others?
CAC You get out of the company of such people as fast as you can, do you not? Well, Solomon’s advice seems worth listening to; he says, “Go from the presence of a foolish man, in whom thou perceivest not the lips of knowledge”, Proverbs 14: 7. Let him know that you do not appreciate what he is saying. Our privilege is to move in the circle of the saints where we do not hear these things. You do not expect to hear things which have to be condemned among the saints, do you? Verse 37, 1 suppose, means that what [p. 87] we say gives a right impression of what we are. So if God undertakes to justify or condemn us by means of our words, it means my words express what I am. The Lord could say He was “altogether that which I also say to you”, John 8: 25, and that ought to be true of us, ought it not?
Rem He could say precious things and we ought to learn to say them, too. “As apples of gold in pictures of silver, is a word spoken in season”, Proverbs 25:11. How good it is!
Rem I wondered if the whole situation was governed by what is in the heart (verse 35), what is treasured there. It comes out in a following section, the man finds the house unoccupied. It is a question of what is stored up in a man’s heart.
CAC Why does it say the Jews seek for signs, in another scripture? It is easier to understand why the Greeks seek after wisdom. I would like help on it. The Lord’s own death was the great sign after all. I suppose the sign of the prophet Jonas was His own death.
Ques Would you say an “adulterous generation” had turned away from God?
CAC There was no answer to God. The Ninevites would stand up and condemn them, for they repented; and the queen of Sheba came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. In them there was some answer to it. He felt there was no answer to Him in the nation; there was in a tiny remnant.
Rem The Ninevites benefited from Jonas because he was a man in resurrection and could help them on that line; their hearts answered for they turned to God and repented. Here they were not ready to accept the principle of death and resurrection.
Ques Why does it say “more than” twice?
CAC It is put in that impersonal way to indicate the greatness of what was there which, if they had had eyes at [p. 88] all, they ought to have seen.
Rem We should understand something of the depths to which He has been and something of the glory which belongs to Him.
CAC Yes.
Ques What an opportunity for them to be adjusted to God by the presence of Emmanuel here and to have had hard questions answered.
CAC I suppose their dreadful state necessitated His being in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.
Rem And so with Jonah, before he could preach to the Ninevites.
CAC The very state of the Jews was exposed and their last state was worse than the first. Still, the Lord gets brothers and sisters and so on; it is very cheering, is it not?
Rem Emptiness is worse than anything, for he comes back with more. So it is important that our hearts should be filled with good treasure.
CAC Yes, with Christ! Christendom is tested in the same way, with Christ presented in death or with Christ presented in resurrection; and everyone is tested as to what place they are content to give to Christ in death or to Christ glorified. If He is not allowed in their hearts the seven demons are about to come in. I believe that apostate Judaism and apostate christianity will agree together presently because they see nothing in the testimony of Christ’s death and resurrection. They see nothing in it! God has nothing greater to present to man than the death of Christ and Christ glorified. If they see nothing in that, all the signs possible would be no good. So that this brings His kindred to light. All who see — for it is not natural — that they must be ended in the death of Christ, are taught by the Father and they become His kindred; and the one is necessarily before the other. So if Israel refuses Him, He does get a family and He breaks His links with the natural.
[p. 89] It is possible to appreciate Christ without understanding very much about Him. It is a comfort, is it not? Christ has come in to secure a new generation for Himself.