READINGS IN MATTHEW'S GOSPEL (3)
READINGS IN MATTHEW’S GOSPEL (3)
JT In order to facilitate our consideration of this chapter it may be remarked that there are certain things that are outstanding in it. First, there are the temptations; then the changing of the position of residence by the Lord, then His gathering of material for His service, in the calling of disciples; and finally, there is the extraordinary result of His labours. It is as if these features are grouped in the chapter so that our understanding of it may be enhanced.
The results of the labours of the Lord are seen, beginning with verse 23: “And Jesus went round the whole of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every bodily weakness among the people. And his fame went out into the whole of Syria, and they brought to him all that were ill, suffering under various diseases and pains, and those possessed by demons, and lunatics, and paralytics; and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judea, and beyond the Jordan”. Stress is laid on the fact that everything is done that needed to be done. And we are reminded of the extent of toil, not necessarily levitical, but toil of every needed kind. We are reminded of results, also; evidently to stimulate us, that we should not be overcome with so much to be done. The chapter indicates what can be done. It is said, “Abounding always in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord”, 1 Corinthians 15: 58.
JTJr Healing, as well as teaching and preaching, is mentioned in the last paragraph.
JT Yes, everything that needed to be done was done, and well done. I thought it would be helpful to have that outline, for an outline in the service of God [p. 43] is important. It is said that we are to have an outline of sound words. When we have the outline we can deal with detail.
JHE As soon as the Lord Jesus is identified as the Son of God the devil seeks to nullify what He does. He says, “If thou be the Son of God”. He would dispute that. As we embrace Christ the deceiver seeks to take away what we have received. He raises a doubt here as he did in the garden.
JT Yes; and the stress is on man: “Man shall not live by bread alone”. This gospel brings out the truth that in Christ and the saints manhood and sonship are correlative. The tempter says, “If thou be Son of God ...” The Lord’s reply is, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which goes out through God’s mouth”, verse 4.
CN Is it necessary that the temptations should precede the service of the Lord?
JT The temptations are the main matter before us now. They are three-fold. Elsewhere it is said, “having completed every temptation”, Mark 4: 13, as if the enemy tried everything of this character against the Lord. Then we have the three-fold testimony to what happened. And we have the word tempter which is a thing to be noted. Satan is called the tempter in this chapter, so as to stress the idea of temptation. He is not a novice or a mere worker in the effort. He is the arch-tempter. He is really the tempter. He is called that.
ANW Does the opening word in this chapter intimate that the tempter might have had cognisance of the pronouncement in the last verse of the previous chapter: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”? The opening word, “Then” seems to follow on that. The tempter says, “If thou be Son of God”.
JT I would think that is right; but then, is the Spirit of God following that? Is He really taking that [p. 44] up as the point to be enlarged on? I think what we are remarking is true; that the Lord turns the matter to the question of man, and man in sonship. That is to say, He is not placing the matter within the range of the devil. He is taking the lead, really, in the position. That is, the Lord in His conflict selects His own battleground and His own subjects. He is not simply led by the devil.
AR It says that Jesus was carried up into the wilderness by the Spirit.
JT He was not carried up by the tempter, but by the Spirit, although the tempter is allowed to do certain things. The point is, the Spirit is doing it. The Lord is selecting His own battleground and the subjects that are involved. He is not simply taking up a suggestion. Ministry that is given merely on the basis of what is suggestive is a very weak kind of teaching.
AR Is He going into the wilderness as Man?
JT That is how the matter stands. The Lord turns the matter and takes it into His own hands. He is in charge of the conflict. We have in the days of David a battle fought in the wood of Ephraim. There were more destroyed by the wood, or forest, than there were by the sword. That was not a good selection of a battleground. The Lord selects His own battleground.
JS Man is the great battleground.
JT That is the point here. And the devil would seek to turn the matter on sonship, but the Lord turns it on man.
EAL Do we see a distinction in Matthew where the Lord says, “Get thee away. Satan, for it is written ...” verse 10, whereas in Luke it says that “the devil ... departed from him for a time”? In Matthew the Lord takes the initiative in dismissing him.
JT Yes. You would expect that. The saints are often dragged along and lowered into positions at the enemy’s will. That will not do. The Lord would [p. 45] have the setting out of the truth in His own hand.
Ques Would you explain what you have in mind in suggestive teaching?
JT I am afraid of it. I am afraid of the way the brethren sometimes take hold of things, and follow the subject up suggestively. The Lord does not here follow what Satan says. The Lord takes the thing in hand, and speaks of what man should eat. Teaching should be on higher ground than what the devil might suggest. John’s gospel is a leading part of Scripture in regard of teaching. And hence you have Mary Magdalene as naming the Lord, Rabboni, meaning, My Teacher. It is not simply that He was the Teacher, a general or public Man who teaches, but One that I value, that I see, and from whom I can get the truth; the truth that may be needed.
RWS Sometimes in meetings for prophetic ministry there is a suggestion that is carried forward. Is your point that there should be something different?
JT That is, in general, just what I think. Of course, there is such a thing as following up a remark, and so we have in the Scriptures the use of the word “and” as linking books, as in the beginnings of Exodus, Numbers and Leviticus, but it does not go very far; but there is enough to indicate that there is a connection throughout Scripture. Scripture follows up certain lines, but the Lord’s supper opens up fresh and new thoughts about the Lord each week.
APT “As they were eating” the Lord brought in something entirely new and different in instituting the supper, Matthew 26: 26.
JT The point there is that it was as they were eating. It was an advantageous time for them. Their constitution would be strengthened by that food, and so it is that in Mark, where we have the unbelief of the disciples in the most remarkable way in the last chapter, the Lord appears to them finally, as if the whole matter [p. 46] would be worked out with them. He would thus effect His thoughts with them. He rebuked them for their unbelief, as if at that time they were able to take a rebuke. Thus He proceeds with them, giving them their commission, Mark 16: 14 - 18.
ANW You mean that the revelation to one sitting by, 1 Corinthians 14: 30, would come direct from the Lord, the Head, rather than from the previous speaker?
JT Quite so; it is a revelation. A revelation is not what a brother, speaking just before you, said. That is not the idea of a revelation.
Ques Immediately preceding the temptations, the Lord fasted for forty days and forty nights. Would you say something about that?
JT It says, “Afterwards he hungered”. That is to say, the Lord allowed that. You might say, Is the devil having an advantage? We were just saying that the Lord would not give him an advantage, but then it is said, “And having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he hungered”. Then the tempter comes when He hungered. This is where you get the word tempter, as if it is the full thought of temptation. The enemy would seize the opportunity when the Lord was hungry. “The tempter coming up to him said, If thou be Son of God, speak, that these stones may become loaves of bread”, verse 3. Well, the Lord is ready for him. The Lord is ready for the conflict; He is not giving up the battleground. It was to be in the wilderness. The Lord is carried up into the wilderness by the Spirit. The Lord’s answer is not according to the tempter’s inquiry. It refers to the food that man should eat. There is light in it — light as to God and man. Thus the matter is settled.
TEH Is this the first gracious service by the Spirit after having descended? It must have been peculiarly delightful to the Spirit to lead this Man into [p. 47] the wilderness.
JT Well, the reference to the Spirit at the end of chapter 3 as coming on Jesus is not Pentecost; that was after the Lord was glorified. The coming on Jesus was personal, not consequent on redemption, as in the case of believers. Here the tempter came up, and said to the Lord, “If thou be Son of God, speak, that these stones may become loaves of bread”. We have been already remarking that the Lord did not accede to that, although sonship is one of the leading subjects in this gospel. But the Lord is leaving it for the moment, because there is something else that He would bring in and He would not take up what the devil would introduce. He would select His own battleground, and the subject, hence the Lord brings in manhood, and that by which man should live.
DP Did the devil discern that there was a different order of manhood now on the scene?
JT I would think that. The Lord is at least showing that it is a question of man. “But he answering said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which goes out through God’s mouth”, verse 4. It is man, and how he is to live.
JTJr The fasting clearly did not bring about any weakness, because it says, “Afterwards he hungered”.
JT The Lord is equal to any position, and if it be a question of the will of God requiring the position, then the Lord is equal to that, too; and of course, Gethsemane is the prime idea as to that; how the Lord went deliberately through it.
SM Is there a similar thought in the way Abraham met the king of Sodom in Genesis 14? It says, “I have lifted up my hand to Jehovah, the Most High God, possessor of heavens and earth, if ... I take anything ... that thou mayest not say, I have made Abram rich”, verses 20 - 23.
JT Quite so; Melchisedec had brought out bread and wine to meet Abram, as returning from the slaughter [p. 48] of the kings. Bringing out bread and wine was a provision of God. He is a type of the Lord in the millennium. He is bringing forth bread and wine. It is a provision of God for a servant in conflict, but the Lord did not need it. He was equal to the position. He did not need to prepare. He is ready even in Gethsemane.
RWS The circumstances seem to be designed externally to give the tempter an advantage, in that the Lord hungered, so that the devil brings up the matter of food.
JT Quite so; what seems to be may not be, you know. The Lord is over all that. He is greater than all that, because the principle is, He is stronger than the devil.
CAM Was there a verification of the truth of the Lord’s words, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which goes out through God’s mouth”, in the holy life of the Lord in this wilderness position? Was not hungering a demonstration that that was so? He lived, surely, by every word of God.
JT Yes.
FSC Would the forty days and forty nights link on with the experience of Moses, the lawgiver?
JT Yes; all these facts show that the Lord had part, in some sense, in all the afflictions of the testimony, but no one had part in what we have here. It is the Lord in His supremacy.
JHE Would John 4 help? When the disciples came back with the food, the Lord said: “I have food to eat which ye do not know”, verse 32.
JT Quite so; they thought that He would be dependent on the food that they had been buying for Him, but it was not so. We never can compass the Lord. We can never assume anything as to the Lord. We must learn that He is beyond all natural calculations.
JHE Jesus was carried up into the wilderness [p. 49] by the Spirit and if we are carried by the Spirit we will be in power.
JT It is wonderful that it should be said that He was carried. Why should we have that word? In Luke He is led of the Spirit in the wilderness; not into, but in; here it is that He was carried into the wilderness.
WFK In Mark He is driven; He is viewed as the servant in that Gospel.
JT Just so.
Ques In verse 4, it says, “He answering said, It is written ...” Does the allusion to what is written instruct us?
JT That is a very important matter. We are to go by the word of God, but when we come to Christ we cannot limit Him to the written word for He is God. We have to see what the thing is by what He does. I am not to assume there is just an ordinary man before me in the Scriptures.
JAP So that even a great man like Elijah lasted only one day in the wilderness in 1 Kings 19 before the angels fed him. Does that show our weakness in encountering the wilderness?
JT Yes; that scripture is wonderful and very encouraging. Elijah was in the wilderness, but he had two breakfasts that day, according to the record, which is very remarkable. He went in the strength of those breakfasts forty days and forty nights. That is not just what we get with Christ. We get something new with the Lord in all these matters.
RWS Are you looking at this as the Lord being unique in this position, or is there some way in which we are to experience something of this?
JT I think it is a question now of the uniqueness of the gospels. The gospels open up the truth as no other section of Scripture does. It is a question of placing yourself where you can learn from them. The gospels are [p. 50] unique.
ANW Is it the manna or is it something different? The angels are interested in this matter and ministered to him. I wondered whether there was something connected with that in the Psalm: “Man did eat the bread of the mighty”, Psalm 78: 25.
JT Well, when we come to Christ. He is the food Himself. So that it is what He brings in Himself. In the gospels we are to learn everything from Christ. The epistles, of course, are teaching based on gift, but the gospels are written by the Spirit of God as unfolding the life and ministry of Christ. Everything must begin there. So that we are not directed, in Acts 2, to Moses or others in the Old Testament. We are directed to the apostles and only to the apostles, because they are the authoritative witnesses of Christ. And so when we come to the gospels it is not a question of what the apostles wrote, but of Christ Himself. It was what was there in Him. From Him we are to learn everything.
FHL Are there features of manhood here which are completely equal to every test?
JT He is more than equal, because He is stronger than the strong man.
AAT I notice that in the section of Deuteronomy 8 from which the Lord quotes, “Man doth not live by bread alone”, it says of the Israelites that God had humbled them and suffered them to hunger and fed them with manna. Is that in contrast to what we have in Matthew 4?
JT We are on Deuteronomy ground now as we are considering the temptations in Matthew. But what I am endeavouring to impress the brethren with is that we are to begin with Christ. It is not something happening in Him that has happened before, exactly. In principle, all is new, and all begins with Him.
AR Deuteronomy stresses the thought of the man Moses throughout.
JT Quite so. It is what he unfolded. So that he [p. 51] is a type of Christ, in Deuteronomy: “Began Moses to unfold this law”. He began to do it. It was an unfolding in Deuteronomy. In this sense, Moses is a type of Christ. Besides, quotations in the gospels from the Old Testament have a new setting beginning with Christ.
ABP Would the Lord be seen here as taking His place in relation to the human race? His answer to the tempter is, “Man shall not live by bread alone”.
JT Well, quite so. What I think we have to see first, is that the Lord turns to the subject of man; but then, we are to think of Him first. How are we to take account of Him in the matter? What view am I going to get of Him in this position? Therefore, we learn that He is being tempted but He is in charge. He is the stronger, and whatever is done He takes the initiative. We have to wait and see just what will be unfolded, and it is clear that the Lord is not taking on the enemy’s suggestions. He is bringing in what is His own. That is, it is what He is saying, Himself.
SM Has He begun to spoil things here? He binds the strong man and spoils his goods. Did the first man fail on this line of temptation?
JT Just so. But then, to bring in Adam as a comparison is not great enough. We want to get something out of what the Lord is going to say and what He is going to open up. “But he answering said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which goes out through God’s mouth”. It is not simply that He is going to live by what God says in a general way, “but by every word which goes out through God’s mouth”. That is what is to be noted. It is every word; not simply the general idea, but every word.
CAM You are pressing the thought that now we have a view of manhood that we never had before.
JT Yes, we are now where we can get things that we have never [p. 52] heard before.
JHE The apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5: 17, says, “So if any one be in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away”. Do we have to arrive at that position? In Corinth they were applying the old things to Christ after the flesh.
JT Just so; there is such a thing as new creation. It is not exactly for us to say what is new creation, but there is such a thing as that: “If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation”.
CAM We know we are approaching perfection when we approach Christ and it is learning everything from Christ that you have been stressing. Is not one of our weaknesses that we are so liable to bring in our experiences?
JT Quite so. I am sure of that. Of course, we are not to ignore what we have already learned; but really, to get the full position, you have to sit down, as it were, and say, I have to learn everything. I suppose that is what Mary implies when she says, “Rabboni”, which means, ‘My Teacher’.
RWM “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and died”, John 6: 49. Is that in contrast to what we are saying?
JT The Jews had referred to that in John 6: 31, in speaking to the Lord. They brought up one thing, but He said something else. We have just to see the something else in the gospels, and sit down, as it were, and listen to what that something else may mean, because we may be sure that we need experience. “... began Moses to unfold this law”, is the same idea. It is the unfolding of things.
Ques Would ‘every word’ call attention to this Man?
JT I think it is right to bring that in, because that is how the matter would go — what God would say would refer to Christ. It is remarkable that in Numbers 7 we have 89 verses relating to the dedication of the [p. 53] altar, and a prince from each tribe has his day of service. It is the unfolding of what was needed for the dedication of the altar. Every man had the same thing to offer. And yet, every man’s offering is opened up and unfolded because God is pleased with the things that are presented. He is, as it were, occupied with it for the moment, and presently. He will say something about it. Following the offerings of the princes it is said that Moses went in to speak to God, and he heard a voice speaking to him. That is the point. It is not what Moses will say, but what God will say, and every thing after that is, “And Jehovah spoke to Moses saying ...” Chapters 6 and 7 end the first section of the book of Numbers and thus what we have been saying as to divine speaking fits in there.
JTJr We have God’s voice in Matthew 3 to correspond with what you are speaking of in Numbers.
JT Just so. I hope I am not saying anything to divert the brethren because I quite understand that others have something to say; only I wish to impress the brethren with the fact that it is a question of God in the gospels. It is not what Paul writes, or what Peter writes; it is what the gospels unfold. John and Matthew and others may be used in writing them, but the Spirit of God is the direct Author. What God is in Christ is directly presented in the gospels, and we have, as it were, to sit down there and learn everything.
AMcN The Lord is Master of the situation here; it is vastly different when applied to us, because only He could say, “The ruler of the world comes, and in me he has nothing”, John 14: 30. He was not subject to him in any way. He was superior to him in everything.
JT I suppose we may proceed with the temptations, because it is the first part of our subject in this reading. It says, “And the tempter coming up to him said, If thou be Son of God, speak, that these stones may become loaves of bread”, verse 3. This is the devil.
[p. 54] And now we are to listen to what the Lord says. If we listen to the devil, we will be diverted and darkened: “But he answering said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which goes out through God’s mouth”. What that meant to Him!
JTJr Do you think the apostle would have something like this in mind when he said that every scripture is divinely inspired?
JT Quite so. “And profitable”, 2 Timothy 3: 16.
APT In view of what you have said, the officers in John 7 are to be credited. They were sent to take Jesus, and when they came back, they said, “Never man spoke thus, as this man speaks”, verse 46. Does it fit into what you are suggesting as to that which comes out of God’s mouth?
JT Yes. They were affected by what they saw and heard in Christ, and what affected them was that there never was a Speaker like Him. “Never man spoke thus, as this man speaks”. It is a question of what He is saying, and also how He says it.
WWM The Lord says, in John 6, “As the living Father has sent me and I live on account of the Father, he also who eats me shall live also on account of me”, verse 57. Is there any correspondence?
JT Well, there must be, because John 6 is eating to live and here it is living by every word of God. The Lord says much in John 6 about food, and we are now dealing with food. So it says, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which goes out through God’s mouth”. Now the Lord speaks of the living Father: “As the living Father has sent me and I live on account of the Father, he also who eats me shall live also on account of me”. There must be something in that as to the Lord living by the Father, to correspond with what we are saying. So, “He also who eats me”. We have to see what the eating of the food in John really means, that it is Christ’s flesh and the drink is Christ’s blood. So we have to follow that up and see whether it does not enter into the teaching of christianity. Of course it does. It is John’s gospel; and undoubtedly, as suggested, the eating there would help us as to what we are dealing with here, only it is a question of God’s mouth, and what goes out through it; every word that goes out through God’s mouth. Man shall live by that.
DP Does Luke 4 have any bearing on what you were saying? “And all bore witness to him, and wondered at the words of grace which were coming out of his mouth”, verse 22.
JT Quite so. Words of grace in Christ’s mouth! That is characteristically Luke’s gospel. But now it is a question of the word that goes out through God’s mouth and how man is to live by it.
JS What does that convey to your mind?
JT Well, it is our being brought into touch with God; of our getting what He says, and every word that He says. What a theme there is thus opened up! Think of the extent of it for man and how the Lord would rob the devil of his material. He takes away the armour in which he trusts. That is what the Lord did here.
Rem God’s word is food.
ABP Peter tells us in his epistle about the voice that was heard from the excellent glory. It would seem as though he lived in the enjoyment of those words which were heard on the mount of transfiguration.
JT Just so. That opens up something that is most interesting — the touch which we get from Peter on the sonship of Christ. The Lord is not being led into the thought of sonship at this point. He is guarding against that here. He has something else in mind and He is keeping to that. It is what God says and what man is to eat. It is what comes out of the mouth of God. What you have referred to is the only word we get about the sonship of Christ from Peter in his ministry, which is a remarkable thing.
[p. 56] Ques Is it right to say that the Lord takes the initiative in saying, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which goes out through God’s mouth”?
JT Yes. The next thing is, “Then the devil takes him to the holy city”. The devil is attacking here and we have to see how the Lord meets this attack. It goes on to say, “... and sets him upon the edge of the temple, and says to him, If thou be Son of God cast thyself down; for it is written, He shall give charge to his angels concerning thee, and on their hands shall they bear thee, lest in anywise thou strike thy foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, It is again written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God”, verses 5 - 7. The Lord is not allowing Himself to be diverted by the devil at all. He chooses the battleground. He is meeting him, and He is overthrowing him. That is what He is doing.
FHL Is the enemy using deception here in taking the Lord to the house of God and misquoting Psalm 91: 11?
JT Quite so. Moreover the devil is seeking to keep the idea of the Son of God prominent, whereas the Lord is not making that the issue. He is not going to be diverted at all. What we are saying is most important for all of us. If we are carrying on in the testimony we are in the conflict, and we are not to be diverted by what the enemy is doing or saying, and we are to meet him by the truth and not by what he is saying.
AMcN Hence the importance of the emphasis you put on what “goes out through God’s mouth”. It is a present thing. We are to be careful and earnest about heeding what the Spirit says.
JT Just so. We want to keep with God and listen to what is coming out through His mouth. It is not simply the idea of an address which we may hear at some time, but what is current, what goes out through God’[p. 57] s mouth.
RWS Would that be like the prophetic word, “He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the instructed”, Isaiah 50: 4? Morning by morning the Lord would have something fresh from God’s mouth.
JT That is very suggestive.
JTJr That section of Isaiah brings in the conflict. He asks who the opposer is and says, “who is mine adverse party? let him draw near unto me. Behold the Lord Jehovah will help me”.
ANW Do you think that in the corresponding section in Luke’s record the Lord gives the truth special force? Twice, He says, It is written, but the third time, He says, It is said. The enemy is defeated at that point.
JT Yes; that is to be noted, as giving the scripture quoted immediate force. The Lord can do that.
AR Why does Matthew put the religious side before the political in the temptations?
JT Because it is a feature of Matthew. In Luke Satan brings forward the kingdoms of this world first; but in Matthew it is a question of the Jews and what was in the temple. So that verse 5 says, “Then the devil takes him to the holy city, and sets him upon the edge of the temple, and says to him, If thou be Son of God cast thyself down”. Now, the next temptation is, “Again the devil takes him to a very high mountain, and shews him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory, and says to him, All these things will I give thee if, falling down, thou wilt do me homage. Then says Jesus to him, Get thee away, Satan”, verses 8 - 10. The Lord is done with the matter. It is finished from His point of view. The last thing brought in here is the kingdoms of this world; the political side; the glory of the world. So that it would seem as if in Matthew the enemy is attacking the position, first by the temple, what the religious men would be occupied with, and then what would occupy a worldly man; that is, the kingdoms of this world, which would be a political [p. 58] matter. That is the last thing. The devil has to go when that fails. If we were out on the street tonight, we would see what is in mind in this third temptation, for it is Election Day. The kingdoms of this world are in the minds of the politicians. But the Lord at this point tells Satan to go. He says, “Get thee away. Satan”, meaning that he is now an out-and-out enemy of God. Thus we must disregard him. The Lord is showing here that the matter is finished. “Love not the world, nor the things in the world. If any one love the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father”, 1 John 2: 15, 16. That is the finish of the temptations in this gospel.
WFK Satan offers Him the kingdoms but they are not his to give.
JT That is just what Satan will do. He presumes to have them. Then it says, “Then the devil leaves him”. The Lord resists him here, and he flees from Him. “And behold, angels came and ministered to him”, verse 11. That is another touch. They came; it is not said that the Lord asked for them.
ABP Would it be noteworthy that each temptation leads to some fresh disclosure of God through the Lord’s words? It is not merely that the enemy is met, but there is some positive disclosure of God.
JT That is just what I think we should keep before us in all that we are being occupied with in the gospels. We have Christ before us in the gospels, not simply Christ in relation to christianity, but Christ in relation to everything. The epistles, of course, are more limited. They are occupied with the assembly, generally, but the gospels are the broadest ground we can get on to. They include the millennium, at least in principle, and the eternal state of things, too.
Then we have: “But having heard that John was [p. 59] delivered up, he departed into Galilee: and having left Nazareth, he went and dwelt at Capernaum, which is on the sea-side in the borders of Zabulon and Nepthalim, that that might be fulfilled which was spoken through Esaias the prophet, saying, Land of Zabulon and land of Nepthalim, way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations — the people sitting in darkness has seen a great light, and to those sitting in the country and shadow of death, to them has light sprung up. From that time began Jesus to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh”, verses 12 - 17. So that we have the Lord, and the testimony, maintained in every respect; the devil being, as it were, disposed of.
Now, we have the Lord being affected by hearing that a servant, John the baptist, was put into prison. Verse 12 says, “He departed into Galilee”. He moves as being affected by the circumstances. He also takes up another local position. Then we have the idea of light springing up. It is not simply light coming from heaven, but “the people sitting in darkness has seen a great light, and to those sitting in the country and shadow of death, to them has light sprung up”. That is to say, it is the subjective side of things; the Holy Spirit producing things, and there is light, so that the Lord is in that position.
WFK He is preaching the kingdom now, in contrast to the kingdoms of the world.
JT Yes. It says, “From that time began Jesus to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh”. Notice it is “from that time”. His own position is changed; it is not stationary. He moves to a certain place. It says, “And having left Nazareth, he went and dwelt at Capernaum”, which has a greater place than Nazareth in this gospel; in fact, generally, Capernaum was the external centre of the Lord’[p. 60] s operations.
JS He enlarged His borders.
JT Quite; no doubt to enhance His position, in circumstances suitable for the testimony, because a great deal happened at Capernaum; and thus, of course, it is more responsible. The Lord refers to it later in that way; but what I think we ought to see here, is the grouping of things in this chapter. We should see how the Lord moves His position and what happens after that; especially the light springing up. It is light springing up, not coming down from heaven.
ABP “In him was life, and the life was the light of men”, John 1: 4.
JT Just so.
AR In Capernaum we get material for the assembly.
JT Yes. But the chapter ends in recounting the great works of Christ and their extent. The Spirit of God is impressing us, at this point, with how great and extensive the works of Christ had become. His fame had spread abroad. The passage, beginning with verse 23, reads thus: “And Jesus went round the whole of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every bodily weakness”. At the present time there is much of the latter, and much death too, and it is intended to affect us. “And his fame went out into the whole of Syria”. The fame of Christ is to be noted. Think of that as a theme! But the chapter has the idea of grouping. Matters are being stated rapidly and events are closing up quickly, because the Lord is going on to a point. They bring to Him “all that were ill, suffering under various diseases and pains, and those possessed by demons, and lunatics, and paralytics; and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judea, and beyond the Jordan”. We get a similar statement to this in chapter 9, but the Spirit of God is hastening on so that we might be impressed with the greatness of the Lord’s work. How much can be done by one Person!
RWS This involves great continuation.
JT That is the word that may be used, and what can be done by one person. Of the dear servant whom we so often quote, someone said, ‘Set the world right by one man’. His father said that to him. It would give him something to do and give him some idea of what had to be done.
TEH On the third day God said, “Let the earth cause grass to spring up”, Genesis 1: 11. It would be a mighty work of God to cause light to spring up, as is mentioned in verse 16.
JT Matthew is to impress us with that; the magnitude of the work that the Lord Jesus had undertaken and how it is all now centred in the assembly, and that the assembly is to be preserved and kept in view of the end.
JTJr When the Lord came into Capernaum things started to move.
JT Quite so.
ANW “And he healed them”, verse 24, says. That would indicate there was nothing unadjusted.
JT No doubt we all love to think of the work of God, and perhaps feel how small we are in it when we compare it with this marvellous undertaking that the Lord is presented as accomplishing in this section of Matthew’s gospel. We shall meet the same thing in chapter 9, but the Spirit brings it in here at this early stage clearly that we may see what the work of God implies, and be stimulated in it, “abounding always in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord”, 1 Corinthians 15: 58. That is the idea.
RWS The passage speaks of “various diseases and pains”. But then it mentions “those possessed by demons, and lunatics, and paralytics”, the most impossible people, but He healed them. It is marvellous!
JT One has often thought of lunacy; there is so much of it and we have, alas, to contend with [p. 62] it. But how encouraging is what is said here! He healed them!
APT Verse 23 refers to “the whole of Galilee”, and verse 24 speaks of “the whole of Syria”. It is a tremendous undertaking.
JT Very good. Someone was speaking to me the other day about missionary work and why we are not doing it. But this is the idea. It is the whole of the thing and the completion of it. That is what the Lord performed. Who can question it? It is very stimulating. But while we have the light and stimulation of the glorious work of Christ thus seen in Matthew, we have to accept humbly that we are in the day of small things, the truth is generally so disregarded that the Holy Spirit is grieved and quenched and that the work of God is reduced. Still, He is encouraging His people to continue, knowing that our labour is not in vain in the Lord.
WWM Is it important to notice that “they brought to him all that were ill”. Is that the point?
JT It is indeed. It says, “and he healed them”. Elsewhere a man says to the Lord that he brought his son to the disciples and they were not able to heal him, but the Lord says, “Bring him here to me”, Matthew 17: 17.
SF We have referred to Galilee of the nations and the Lord’s fame going abroad into Syria. The word in Malachi is, “My name is terrible among the nations”, chapter 1: 14.
JT Yes. Romans helps further. The apostle’s epistles are specially confirmatory of the service of Christ in the gospels. And so Romans 15 tells us about Paul’s ministry and how wide it was, from Jerusalem round about to Illyricum. He had fully preached the glad tidings of Christ there.
EAL The Lord’s word, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh” is a repetition of what John says. Is that the Lord confirming the work of the servant?
JT Just so. The Lord would do that, because [p. 63] He said, before He left the disciples, that they should do greater works than He did, “because”, as He said, “I go to the Father”, John 14: 12. And, of course, He would bring that out. But the gospels are what He did, and that is what we are engaged in now.
TEH How do we bring persons who need help in a locality to the Lord?
JT We begin with the smallness of things, and then others may be saying, Well, what are you doing? What is the result of the work? And of course, there will be plenty of reproach. But after all, there is something going on, something being done in the power of the Spirit. Our little meetings on the Lord’s day evenings accomplish something. That something is not to be despised, and you will find, if you follow it up, whatever there is, it is in some way in keeping with what the Lord does.
RHS Do you think we can have any effect on these serious cases you referred to by prayer and fasting today?
JT We have had such cases. We have had the most remarkable physical recoveries. There is one even now that is in question; a case that seemed beyond the doctors. We cannot say very much, but at the same time if there is a little it is well to take account of it. So James says, “Is any sick among you? let him call to him the elders of the assembly”, chapter 5: 14. Note that the elders of the assembly are to be called. The sick person is to send for them.
AR The prayers of the saints can do much.
JT That is what the passage says: “And the prayer of faith shall heal the sick”. If a man even has sinned this need not stand in the way. He shall be forgiven. There are such things — forgiveness of sins and healing of diseases too. There is something being done, and let nobody say it is not so; because what we are saying is the truth. What is done may be only a very little but even a little [p. 64] is something.
AR The gospel is preached involving light and God blesses it. That there are not many converts is true, but continual work is being done; a great deal is the result of the prayer meeting.
JT Much is happening in the way of freshening the saints, saving them in that way.
TEH We are reminded of the incident in Luke 8: 26 - 39. The people came out and saw the man out of whom the demons had gone sitting, clothed and in his right mind, at the feet of Jesus.
JT Yes. And then, as we were saying, there is that which is being done now. Some of us who go about more than others may see something of what is happening. There are conversions; there are changes in men’s lives; men and women are coming into the assembly. They are leaving the world and are coming into fellowship, and in considerable numbers, and a good many, even now, are being restored who turned away years ago. We are not to ignore these things. It would be a discredit to the Lord if we did ignore them. We are to take account of all that He is doing, thankful indeed that we have any part in it.