MATTHEW 10
Rem This chapter is preceded by the thought of the harvest, and the disciples are to supplicate the Lord to send forth workmen into His harvest. Then in this chapter the Lord calls the twelve and sends them out.
CAC So that the harvest in view is limited to Israel (verses 5, 6). Is it not important to recognise that the gospels, specially the gospel of Matthew, set forth Christ as Emmanuel in the midst of Israel?
Ques Why is the name Emmanuel brought in?
CAC Because of its former link with the ways of God as found in the Old Testament.
Rem Very early the branches grow over the wall; especially in Matthew we see it.
CAC Yes, and I suppose the harvest widens out in its appearance when you come to John’s gospel. The Lord speaks of the fields being already white to harvest (John 4: 35), and there it is in distinct connection with Samaritans coming in. It is important that we should take account of Christ’s service here as being for Israel; Christ after the flesh has never been presented to us as He was to Israel. John begins his gospel by showing the end of that order of things.
Rem Romans 9: 4,5 says, “Who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the law-giving, and the service, and the promises; whose are the fathers; and of whom, as according to flesh, is the Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen”.
CAC So that we see God taking up a people and choosing them for Himself in the Old Testament, giving [p. 68] them His law and His service, and sending His prophets to them, keeping up His link with the people, never giving them up, in spite of their unworthiness and unfaithfulness. And the very presence of Christ here was a proof that He had not cast off His people whom He foreknew. It is God keeping up His link with Israel in spite of their unfaithfulness. It gives us an insight into the very character of God.
Rem In Romans 9 it goes on to others who were to be secured, “For not all are Israel which are of Israel” (verse 6).
CAC Therefore the twelve were to look out for that. But we find a selection has to be made here in Israel. It is helpful to ourselves. They were to make enquiries as to who was worthy, and this was among the people of God! Their commission was to look out for the remnant. Now that is exactly our position today; we are to look out for the remnant. The testimony of Christ was rejected, so the kingdom of the heavens is brought in and the assembly takes the place of Israel. The gospels are the most difficult parts of Scripture to understand; we have to keep that in mind in reading the gospels. The principle of serving among a people nominally in relationship to God is applicable to us today. The business of the twelve was to find out the remnant who were prepared to welcome the Messiah when He was presented. Those who received them, received Him; and that is true of us if we are truly representative of Him, and if not we are nothing. Well, we are here to find out those who fear God. Of course, there is a difference because we are not out to heal the infirm, cleanse the lepers, and so on. This was all literal, the fulfilment of Old Testament promises, and this in addition that Emmanuel was there and the promises fulfilled.
CAC The thought was that the Gentile was to be blessed through Israel; that is the point in the Old Testament, so it is, “Shout for joy, ye nations, with his people”, Deuteronomy 32: 43. It is instructive to understand the ways of [p. 69] God, and this testimony in Matthew 10 is not for the Gentiles, it is for Israel. Luke has the Gentile in view from the beginning; he was one and was writing to a Gentile lover of God; but Matthew is written for Israel.
Ques To the Jew first and also to the Gentile — is that the principle?
CAC As far as Acts 28 it was the principle Paul acted upon. There is no preaching of the gospel is this chapter; it was a wonderful testimony to God in the midst of His own people. It is God’s favour and His clinging to His people in spite of their departure. So He would not stop short of coming as Emmanuel amongst His people Israel in faithfulness to His promises in the Old Testament to them. Israel has forfeited her place as the centre of blessing, so the Lord has now from heaven sent a servant, the apostle Paul, to be apostle to the uncircumcision. So it is an entire change in God’s way. We must not think that it links on with all we have here in Matthew because it does not.
Ques Did you say they were not sent to preach the gospel? Would there not be gospel in, “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh”?
CAC No doubt there was gospel in that but I mean they did not announce the forgiveness of sins or of being justified from all things; they did not speak of the grace of God as set forth in a risen and glorified Man. The glory of grace shining in the face of Jesus was not yet brought out. It is God’s faithfulness to His ancient promises to His people Israel. The rejection of Christ by Israel is the very thing that has opened up blessing for the Gentiles.
We were seeing last week that the testimony was limited to Israel and they rejected it.
Ques Is it literal in verse 23?
CAC Yes, it is literal.
Ques Then it has not happened?
CAC No, it has not happened. It supposes Israel [p. 70] in their cities in their own lands. There will be a testimony to Israel yet in their own land. The true character of Israel was that they had become haters and destroyers of what is of God; but there were a few lost sheep of the house of Israel to whom the apostles were sent. It was necessary to beware of men because of the fearful character of things that would be found among the people of God. It is not the world at all.
Ques Is there an idea here of their being under a Gentile power?
CAC Yes. Christ came to them in that position of subjection to Gentile power. The prophets show that they were His own flock notwithstanding, in spite of what they had become.
Ques Why are serpents prudent?
CAC Serpents have very wise ways in securing what they are after, and the servants of Christ have to be prudent. “The serpent was more crafty than any animal of the field”, Genesis 3: 1.
Rem They would not call attention to themselves.
CAC It was the very opposition that would call attention to them. So often things have been brought into public view by opposition.
Ques What would be the position for us today?
CAC We are not quite in their position and in accepting that we get the instruction of it. This is instruction for the twelve apostles for the special service they rendered in the midst of Israel; and they were specially qualified for the service. So they were not to be careful how they should speak, “For ye are not the speakers, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you” (verse 20). They were in a peculiar way the vessels of the Spirit of their Father. That was a remarkable testimony.
Ques Would the opposition be progressive? There are three stages, in a sense, in verses 17 and 18.
CAC [p. 71] Yes. There is the Jewish opposition before the council, then it is “before rulers and kings”, and the opposition of “the nations” would cause the testimony to be heard in a way that it would not have been. So it was with Paul, the Gentiles heard the testimony as they never would have heard it. It was really seen in the Lord Himself; it was exemplified in Him. He was brought before the council and they handed Him over to the rulers. It was what the apostles were to experience, and it goes on to the end. When the church period is over there will be those who will have a distinct testimony as the apostles had and they will not have gone over the cities of Israel until the Son of Man be come. It spreads out through the opposition it meets with in Israel. Though they were not sent to rulers and kings, these get the testimony in an individual way. All this is helpful in seeing the setting of the thing. It is not at all the preaching we have at the present time. The testimony to the Jew was finished by the killing of those who rendered it. All the apostles but one, that is John, were killed, as far as we know.
Ques Would Romans 11: 15 fit in here? “If their casting away be the world’s reconciliation ...”.
CAC Yes, it is in keeping. It was a special moment; the Spirit had not been given, so they were not quite responsible for what they said, for it was the Spirit of their Father. Now I should have to answer according to my spiritual wisdom and power.
Rem Some of us have had comfort from this scripture recently.
CAC You may have had comfort from it but you are not entitled to it! The value of Scripture lies in taking it in its setting. I cannot take all the Lord promised to the apostles. There is no special testimony to Israel now, and if people go on that line now it is not on the line of the Spirit of God. If believers had to make public confession [p. 72] now I think they would be helped, but would give their own intelligent testimony. Some think they have to wait to be led of the Spirit before taking part in a meeting. It is the person who is formed by the Spirit who takes part. The Spirit acts through the persons. A spiritual man is ready to take part always; he knows what to do at any particular time. It is really the result of walking in the Spirit and being led by the Spirit in his affections and thoughts. Taking part in a meeting is really a question of wisdom. A young man whose name was ‘David’ came before a tribunal and the judge was surprised to see him there as he understood David had been a great man of war. ‘Yes’, the young man replied, ‘but afterwards when he wanted to build a house for the Lord he could not because he had shed so much blood. And I want to build a house for the Lord!’. Our answers should be with wisdom.
Ques The testimony was not completed then, so will it be afterwards?
CAC Yes, exactly. It is good to see the ways of God with Israel. The testimony is here limited to Israel, and there will be a special testimony to them by and by; this is how those who render it must expect to be treated. There is to be no fear of those that kill the body; those who are testifying are under the Father’s care. “Fear not therefore; ye are better than many sparrows” (verse 31). There is peculiar encouragement in the intensity of the difficulty. We have very small difficulties, so if they had support we can certainly count upon it for ourselves. All this gives a knowledge of God. That is God! If He had only counted one person’s hairs, that is my Father! “Every [p. 73] one therefore who shall confess me before men, I also will confess him before my Father who is in the heavens” (verse 32). It is carrying that precious name in testimony and confessing that. We may have a very small place in the testimony but we can all come into that. It spreads out to all. “Every one therefore who shall confess me before men”. It is the public ground we stand upon; we are all confessors of that name. To value that name and confess it brings conflict and difficulty, and that is true at all times. It is not a question of opinion but of a Person — it is God. There can be no compromise there; you cannot ‘agree to differ’ on anything about Christ.
Christ is the supremely worthy One so that all natural claims must give place to Him. It is the time of His rejection, a time of perpetual conflict. Christ is not here personally but representatively in His people. There are three grades of representatives — a prophet is one such. The prophet is the highest grade for he presents things in testimony; secondly, there is the righteous man, he is faithful to what he knows and is not active in testimony but manifests a testimony in his moral character and ways; and thirdly, “in the name of a disciple” (verse 42). He is not of much prominence but he is characterized by learning from Christ. “A little one”; he may not have taken on any moral features markedly. We are tested by how we receive anything that is Christ. Do we receive it? “Receive ye one another”, the apostle says (Romans 15: 7). They are representative of Christ, not all on the same level, not all prophets, but some are little ones who are disciples, learners and who want to learn. It is interesting to watch. Those who do are representative of Christ and it is very good to give such a cup of cold water; we want to look out to refresh these. We must all come in. I am not a prophet but I would like to be a righteous man; or if I am not that, I would like to be a learner.
Ques Why are those in verse 42 not included?
CAC Oh, because it is a speciality. We can never have that place. The apostles were spiritually and officially representative of Christ; they are here no longer. We fix on what is representative of Christ in a brother or sister and [p. 74] receive it into our affections. We could not think that the Lord would not make room even for a little one! “There is not arisen ... a greater than John the baptist. But he who is a little one in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he”, the Lord says (Matthew 11: 11). He is greater because of the place that he has dispensationally — not greater morally but dispensationally. It is the same principle in the body. This is to intensify our appreciation of one another. It is good to accept the divine grading. It is all a question of representation. Not only is it good and suitable but there is a reward; we gain by it. John was one who was tested by the character the testimony was taking; he was a herald of One who was to be rejected; he introduced One who was to be rejected. The truth of the kingdom of the heavens depends on that. Like today, people do not see that Christ is rejected; it is undeniable, He is denied His rights and that He should be above all. It is an outstanding harm that Christ has been rejected here. John is quite satisfied now with the position the Lord gave him.