MATTHEW CHAPTER SUMMARIES

“… except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter

When Christ turns about thirty, everyone gathers together to hear what his laws will be for his kingdom here on earth (Matt 5-7).

The kingdom OF heaven is the kingdom FROM heaven. Christ brings his kingdom from heaven to earth. Look up the dictionary – the word ‘of’ means to ‘consist of’ and ‘from’.

Now the people were astonished (7:28)! They couldn’t believe their ears! These were impossibly strict rules. As the disciples exclaimed “Who then can be saved?” (19:25). Jesus answers “No-one, but it’s possible with me” (19:26)

1. When Moses gives the laws at Mt Sinai, they were to put Israel under the curse of God (Gal 3:10) as these laws were impossible to keep (Matt 22:39-40). The best they could was a daily temporary atonement with God with animal blood.

2. When Christ gives his laws with Sermon on the Mount, they were also given to put Israel under a curse, as these laws couldn’t be kept either. Furthermore, these laws are much stricter again in demanding internal obedience (thought-life, heart attitudes and motives).

Christ says “I’ll keep the law for you” – will you believETH in me that I can do it? ^“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believETH in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Anyone that believ - eth (a continuous daily keeping-on-believing, now and into the future) in Christ would have everlasting life. (John 3:16).

As Christ didn’t come to disobey the laws, he urged them to keep blood sacrifices. Reason? Sins need blood. Christ could not say “My blood is all you need.” Why? He hadn’t died. So it was a two part deal – constantly believing that Christ was fulfilling the law on their behalf plus animal blood sacrifices.

Why couldn’t they just believe on him once like Paul with the jailer (Acts 16:31)? Answer: They had to believ-eth that Christ was in the on-going process of fulfilling the law on a daily basis. However, after the cross, and with the law completely fulfilled, and Christ’s blood being shed, Paul says the jailer could simply believe. Christ’s blood was then perfect having fulfilled the law.

After the book of Malachi, God left Israel alone for 400 years. Christ then appears looking to set up the kingdom of heaven on earth. He is rejected. However he will return after Armageddon for a thousand year rod of iron reign with the rules as outlined above. This time they get free choice, next time they don’t.

This gospel is directed to Israel with Christ being a flesh descendant of Abraham and David, both fathers of the Jew (v1). Now, Matthew cites three groups of fourteen generations:-

Group 3: Babylon to Christ (v12-16) as 14 generations (v17)
But six kings are left out in Group 2. If you read the books of Chronicles and Kings, other kings are listed but not mentioned here. Why? God regarded intermarriage with the Northern kings and their three descendants as poison to the Messianic (Christ) line of the Southern tribes. The other three kings left out were Babylonian puppets.

Now, Matthew then tells of the birth of Jesus (v18-25) which was the fulfilment of prophecy (Isaiah 7:14) – yes, God with us (v23). For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6.

4. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost (v20) and was a child of the Holy Ghost (v18).

Solomon’s line ends with Joseph (Matthew’s account) and there was a curse on this line.

Nathan’s line ends with Mary (Luke’s account) but there was no curse on this line.

If any man had the right to sit on the throne of David, it was Joseph, the carpenter, who became the husband of Mary. We have And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom (Mary not Joseph) was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Matt 1:16

In looking at the genealogy of Joseph in Matthew chapter 1, we notice one name Jechonias (Jechoniah) (v11). If Joseph had been Jesus’ father according to the flesh, Christ could never have occupied David’s throne for God’s word stopped that from happening. There had been curse on this royal line of kings since the days of Jeconiah. There was the prophecy Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man (Jeconiah) childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah. Jer 22:30.

Joseph was in the line of this curse. If Christ had been the flesh son of Joseph, he could not sit on the throne of David. But as we know Christ will sit on David’s throne (Luke 1: 31-33), and this proves that Joseph was not Christ’s father.

Now Mary’s genealogy (Luke 3) goes back to David through Nathan not Jeconiah (Luke 3:31). There was no curse on this line as we have the following scripture

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

The question arises as to how Joseph could have both Jacob (Matt 1:16) and Heli (Luke 3:23) as his father? Easy. When Joseph took Mary to be his wife, he became the son-in-law of Heli, whose daughter was Mary. So according to the Law of Moses Joseph could be included in the genealogy as a son.

Jacob was Joseph’s physical father and Heli was Joseph’s father-in-law.

Unlike the Jews, it seems amazing that wise men from the East (v2,7,9) could work out that the prophesied King of the Jews would be born in Jerusalem, travel that far and turn up expecting to find Christ. This was indicative that future Gentile nations would also come to Christ first (Rom 9-11).

One of the downfalls of the Jew is his inability to judge times and seasons (Matt 16:3). The scribes and Pharisees could only pinpoint the place (v5). Of course, the wise men were divinely guided by God (v2, 7, 9), but this is only further evidence of the blindness and deafness of Israel (Matt 13:13).

2:13-15 Flight to Egypt An angel bringing a message to Joseph actually happened. Unlike today many assume an angel talked to them “Oh, I had an angel come to me last night.” No you didn’t. People use an ‘angel’ as an excuse to do what they want.

Christian being in Christ and having the indwelling Holy Ghost along with the Bible, Christians have no need for angels. Then again we have the misuse of the Holy Ghost “Oh, the Holy Ghost told me to do this and that!”. And they rush ahead to their embarrassment and shame. It then changes “Oh he told me to do that but now it’s changed to this.”

Was it in 4-5BC according to the history books or in 1BC according to the Bible?

Interesting to note that historians only guess at the date. They will admit they don’t know.

Christ starts his ministry around 30 years of age (Luke 3:23) which lasts for about 3.5 years.

We categorically know that Christ rides into Jerusalem on the 6^th April, 32AD.

So Christ would be about 1.5 years old in the year 1BC when Herod’s edict is given.

To make sure, Herod kills all the babies of two years & under (Matt 2:16) as Christ is a young child (2:11)

But the history books have the death of Herod at 4BC. The reason? The world, politicians, history books, the media hate the Bible and seek to discredit it at any opportunity.

Once again “Oh I had a dream” (22). Because Christians aren’t reading their Bibles much anymore, their ‘angels and dreams’ run their lives.

Here we have the first mention of the kingdom of heaven (v2) which is chalk and cheese to the kingdom of God (Rom 14:17) as pointed out above. Furthermore, the kingdom of heaven happens on earth and is not heaven where God lives. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN ≠ HEAVEN!

The kingdom of God is not a physical kingdom. It is a spiritual kingdom. And you can’t work to get into it! When you get saved today, you are placed into the death of Christ (1Cor 12:13; Rom 6) and are placed into the kingdom of God thereby having eternal security.

The phrase “..he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:” (v11) is completely misunderstood today, with a 2,000 year separation between these events, and the latter coming in the seven year tribulation culminating at Armageddon.

Now most churches erroneously promote baby and adult baptisms as following Christ’s example (3:16) but the significance of Christ’s baptism is that it was a public demonstration to the world, that a changing of the priesthood was taking place - from Aaron with the water and oil (Ex 29:4; Ex 29:21) to Christ with the water (v16) and the Spirit of God (‘oil’) (v16). Christ says “Aaron you’ve done your job. Now give me the baton, sit down there because I’m taking over.”

This highlights Christ resorting to the written word when tempted by the devil (v4,6,7,10). This is unlike today’s arrogance with it’s “We rebuke you Satan. We bind you up in the name of Jesus” and so on.

Jesus never said “Look Devil, do you know who I am? I created the heaven and the earth. I created you and I cast you out of heaven.” But he couldn’t, wouldn’t and didn’t. Why? Prophecy about the cross had to be fulfilled (Gen 22:13; John 8:56).

Furthermore, although being God (Phil 2:6), manifest in the flesh (1Tim 3:16), in the form of a servant, found in fashion as a man (Phil 2:7-8), he was still made a little lower than the angels (Heb 2:9).

Christ as a man, overcame Satan, although lower than him (Satan) in the ‘pecking order’, by recourse to the scriptures. Showing us, we can do the same today with our belief in and use of the word of God.

Following on, Christ also preaches the rules of the kingdom of heaven (v17, 23) and calls his disciples (v18-22). They are a wonderful example of immediately obeying the word of God without dispute or debate and spoken by Christ the Word.

As stated, the kingdom of heaven is not heaven. The kingdom OF heaven is the kingdom FROM heaven.

This chapter contains all the foundational beliefs of many ‘good’ people who have died and rocketed straight into the fires of hell. In fact, it is the misunderstanding of this chapter, has probably been responsible for more people going to hell than any other chapter in the Bible.

These are your unsaved volunteers, ‘charity’ workers, good and kind and helpful people that inhabit the suburbs eg pro-abortion, save the whales, fight pollution, save the planet, climate warmers and so on. They also include people who attend a church thinking they are saved. They fight for causes for the betterment of humanity hoping their ‘ever-so-small’ contribution may make a difference in leaving the planet a better place.

The next three chapters are the Sermon on the Mount. It is wrongly understood by the self-righteousness and pious do-gooders (Catholics, SDA’s, Mormons, the cults, people who think they’re Christians and most Christian churches today) who think that the kingdom of heaven is the same as the kingdom of God. It’s not.

All the unsaved showing off their voluntary humility and being vainly puffed up in their fleshy mind (Col 2:18) just adore and love these three chapters (c5-7).

The Christians’ rules of behaviour aka the commandments of Paul (1 Cor 14:37) aka Paul’s doctrine, are set out in the books of Romans to Philemon. Do Christians follow Christ? Absolutely! And Paul shows us how. We are to be followers of Paul as he follows Christ.

Now people get all upset that we follow Paul instead of Christ. They shouldn’t. The Christian today doesn’t directly follow Christ. Why? Christ was a Jew fulfilling the law. Here’s the thing, we become more like Christ in our character but not in our observance of Jewish laws and rules. Paul, the Christian, shows us how to follow Christ the Jew (1Cor 11:1)

These eight verses are a ‘warm up’ to the whole of chapters five to eight and have two purposes for those with ears to hear:

2. Disguised and hidden references to Jesus Christ himself as the solution.

We are to remember, some of the people on the mount would make the connection between their spiritual condition and believing in the man standing before them. But generally speaking Israel’s “… heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” Matt 13:15

In essence, Christ says “Here is your spiritual condition and I am the solution. Believe in me.”

In Column 4 the world makes no reference to Christ as their comforter, their liberty, their Word, their righteousness, their mercy, their God, their peace, their substitute for persecution.

Now the misunderstood people listed above in Column 4 are lied to and told they are the salt of the earth (v13) and shining lights of, and to, the world (v14-16).

5:17-19 Christ fulfils the law What a relief! God had placed all men under the curse to fulfil his law to the letter. All have sinned. By believing that Christ has fulfilled the law on our behalf we can have his righteousness put to our account just as if we had fulfilled the law.

5:20-26 Raca, Payment of debts We can’t apply these injunctions to us today. Why? Who goes around saying “Raca!” What’s that mean? What is ‘without a cause’? What is the council – your local city council? Who hasn’t said “Thou fool!” What is ‘the judgment’? What’s ‘the altar’ in a Christian church today? You see, you can’t apply this to today.

These were the absolute strict requirements for the Jew and breaking them meant hell fire. But Christ says 1. Believe that I will keep these for you 2. In the meantime go to the temple and sacrifice animal blood as the law requires.

5:27-30 Adultery That’s how strict Christ with his kingdom from heaven wanted the Jew to be. Origen (184-254 AD) cut off his male member obeying this.

(v32) But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

Now the first part is OK and everyone understands that if a wife fornicates she can be divorced. The second part is misread as follows: “If you have a divorced woman as your wife, you are committing adultery.” No, the meaning is “If you have sexual relations (marry) before taking her as your wife, you are committing adultery.”

Further misunderstood instructions include never get angry or you’ll go to hell (v22), agree with everybody like sodomites, Muslims, feminists (v25), never lust after a woman or you’ll have to pluck out your eye (v28-20), never marry a divorced woman as this is adultery (v31-32), no swearing (v36), turn the other cheek (39), be a door mat for everybody (v40-48)

The above is the ‘works-for-entry-into-heaven’ mantra and is generally spoken by people with prideful humility. It is “Look, I know I’m not perfect, but who is? Who can cast the first stone? But I have to tell you if anyone deserved to get to heaven it had to be Mother Teresa. Although not one to blow my own trumpet, you can probably see similar characteristics in me that you can in her. You must have seen the ray of sunshine (v14-16) I am to all those around?”

The absolute fear of not getting to heaven of those who take the mass is that they are not perfect. They think they have to be. You can see then how Rome controls, dominates, intimidates and manipulates unsaved people with ‘attend and give money’.

You won’t get into the kingdom from heaven if you show off in front of everybody.

6:9-15 The Lord’s prayer is not the Christians’ prayer. Why? Forgiveness of their sins was dependent on their forgiving others (v12). Yes, unforgiving Christians will be chastised and even die, but will go to heaven (1Cor 11:20-34)

Give us this day our daily bread (v11) is misunderstood as physical bread for the bakers. No, it refers to spiritual bread and not physical bread. The context of the prayer is all spiritual. Why? Christ is the bread from heaven (John 6:32-33, 57-58, 63) and he that believ-eth on him ha-th everlasting life (Jn 6:47)

‘No thought for tomorrow’ (v24-34) and ‘poverty is holy’ (v24) is the mantra often used by pious types who pretend to be spiritual.

Seek first the kingdom of God (v33) is explained best by Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. John 6:29

Like today we believe on the righteousness found in Christ for salvation. Back then, any sin meant animal blood for atonement with God.

7:1-5 “Judge not that ye be not judged…” (v1) is a greatly misused and misunderstood by those wanting to escape the ‘microscope’ of others. Satan knows which verses to bring to the mind.

7:7-11 The injunction of ask, seek and knock is also greatly misused, particularly by the Pentecostals and Charismatics in addressing God as some sort of spiritual Santa Claus in the sky. Wanting him to pour out gifts of healings and money on them.

7:13-14 Strait is the gate This is not how one gets into the kingdom of God today. This implies that the person is still alive. No, entry into the kingdom of God is death in Christ.

7:15-20 Fruits Like today, watch and look and observe people. Back then no fruit meant hell fire. Misused today “You can’t be saved as there is no evidence of fruit in your life”.

7:21-23 “Depart from me …” is misunderstood by the Pentecostals and Charismatics as proof for loss of salvation. Were they doing the will of the Lord? What were their heart motives? Judas would have been doing all these things too.

7:24-17 Christ says “To hear all these things and do them is to be wise and not end up in hell.” No wonder they were astonished.

For those who would confuse Christ’s doctrine of the kingdom of (from) heaven (Matt 5-7) with Paul’s doctrine of the kingdom of God, build their house on the sand as well. Many people today aren’t saved like Catholics, SDA’s, Mormons, the sects, Buddists, Hindus and so on, but they insist they are getting to heaven by trying to obey the Sermon on the Mount. But they sin 500 times a day so where is their blood to get right with God? Animal blood was for then, it’s Christ’s blood today. You must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and his perfect works + his perfect blood.

8:1-4 The leper We see that Jesus advocates keeping the law of Moses, and never advocated anything else. Obey the law but not their tradition. The leaven of the scribes and Pharisees was their tradition that grew up alongside of the law and assumed greater importance. In equating the law with their own traditions, they had blurred the boundaries. Their traditions had become law. No, they couldn’t see that Jesus was not breaking the law, just their traditions.

That is not why they put him on the cross though (although it had something to do with it). It was because he said he was Jehovah God in the flesh! (John 8:58).

8:5-13 The Centurion’s servant highlights once again the faith the Gentiles have in coming to Christ before the Jew (Read Rom 9-11).

8:14-15 Peter’s mother-in-law Look dear Catholics, Peter had a mother-in-law! Mmmm! I guess that means he had a wife.

8:23-27 Tempest stilled. It makes sense that the sea would obey Jesus. He made it! Christ is the God of the earth but Satan is the god of this world – the system on this earth (2Cor 4:4). So why would Christians waste their time wrongly confronting Satan when cyclones, droughts and earthquakes happen with “We bind you Satan! We say no further!” They shouldn’t.

Yes, the earth is hotting up and there is less water, but not because of the reasons that ‘climate-changers’ would give. Jesus is the Sun (Mal 4:2) and he is the Word who wrote, and is, the water of the word (Eph 5:26).

Now, in the natural, no water and no sun means the withering and dying of plants and crops. Here we have it! Nations, indeed the whole world, that pass laws for sodomy, ‘marriage equality’ and every evil thing going, thumb their noses at God saying “We won’t have Jesus!” God says “Oh well, I’ll withhold the water! But let’s increase the temperature also - have some more burning Sun as well!”

Really, one has to shake the head in disbelief about the way of the world, and the so-called Christian churches, treat God. Want more rain? Oh, just pray and he’ll give he’ll send you plenty. Never mind all the sin going on, they think their happiness is God’s number one priority.

8:28-34 Gadarene demoniacs. Mistakenly following the example of Christ casting out devils and mixing it with ‘the greater works’ (John 14:12), the ‘clouds without water’ Pastors (Jude 12) make gain (1Tim 6:5) of the lay person with great displays of jumping up and down, wild arm and hand gestures and accompanied by the wrongly applied ‘binding and loosing’ verbals.

9:1-8 Palsied man healed. In the first few verses of the sin forgiven palsied man (v1-8), Christ shows he is God manifest in the flesh (1Tim 3:16) – fully man and fully God. If the Son of man forgives sins (v6) this proves he is God as only God can forgive sins (Mark 2:7). As it is said, Christ was the Lord, a lunatic or a liar.

9:9-13 Call of Matthew. For the Jew, old beliefs and habits die hard when eating with publicans and sinners (v9-13). Peter is still affected when Paul confronts him about 50AD (Gal 2:11-12).

9:14-15 Fasting question. Christ emphasizes fasting as necessary. As in casting out the devil (Matt 17:21), fasting and prayer was needed. Deluded Christian Pastors today woefully try to copy this with zero success. Not needed. Why? 1. Get the person saved first – dead in Christ with the indwelling holy Ghost. 2. Christians won’t judge themselves and leave windows open for the devil to come in. Now, the devil can in habit the person but can’t possess the Christian’s soul. “Clean your life up and there’s no food left lying around for the devil.”

9:16-17 Garments & bottles. One wonders why some Christian churches endorse the error of the holiness movement in going back into the old testament laws. Furthermore, promoters of the ‘Christian church has its roots in Judaism’ movement are to be condemned with the modern day celebrations of the Jewish festivals and so on. The two don’t mix. Alternatively, the opposite doesn’t work either in attempting to cram the Moses’ old testament doctrine of tithing and water baptism into Paul.

9:18-26 Jairus’ daughter healed. The ruler with the dead daughter (v18, 23-25) is a shadow of the transfiguration to come (Matt 17:1-2) where no scoffers and scorners are allowed (v25) with only the inner circle of Peter, James and John allowed (Mk 5:37; Matt 17:1). On the mount we also have a raising of a ‘dead’ Moses and Elijah (Matt 17:3). And of course, scoffers and scorners, those who are dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1) will never be raised to new life either.

9:20-21 Woman with blood. The healing of the woman with the blood issue has a prophetical application to Israel’s future troubles. Christ is the healer of blood problems – their wars and haemorrhaging can be stopped only by Christ not by all the world physicians and politicians of no value (Job 13:4).

Of course, touching the hem (v20) has given rise to the ‘magical and healing’ powers of Peter’s robe given to him by Christ himself, which he never did, but is wrongly depicted in the Roman Catholic backed film “The Robe”.

9: 27-31 healing of the two blind men. This was a sign to Israel, then and now, that the Jews were blind and that only Christ could heal them. Furthermore, they needed parables because they would not see (Matt 13:13-17). Furthermore, the two blind men, as indeed a few of the common folk, were starting to recognize that Jesus was the son of David but also God himself in the flesh as they call him Lord (v27-28) – he was a man but God at the same time.

9:32-34 The dumb man with a devil reminded Israel that Christ is in charge of speaking. Why? He is the Word (1Jn 5:7-8) with spoken words. Furthermore, Israel is also dumb in that it doesn’t have the word of the Lord to speak. They are just speaking their own words, and are in ignorance until Christ heals them. Yes you can have the dumb devil or you can speak the words of life in Christ.

9:35-38 Christ’s compassion. Like many a helpless, loving and compassionate parent who watches their son or daughter go off the rails, they can feel Christ’s compassion and frustration (Matt 23:37) as he pities them as shepherd-less sheep (v36). This is also echoed by his saying to them (John 5:39-40) that they would not come to him to have life. He is right there in the flesh yet they would persist in searching the scriptures for him and indeed waiting for another.

Just as Christ replaces Aaron with full water baptism and Holy Ghost (Matt 3:16) and not just the poured water and oil (Ex 29:4,7), the twelve tribes of Israel are to be ‘replaced’ with the twelve apostles of Christ (v2-4).

Are there errors about the names of the apostles? No. Moses’ father in law was also called by different names - Jethro, Reuel, Raguel. Lebbaeus is Thaddaeus is Judas the brother of James.

You will notice that these apostles are sent to preach the kingdom of heaven only to Jews and not the Gentiles (v5-7).

Many well-meaning Christian pastors are Israel robbers as they attempt to do the impossible by their confusing the two kingdoms (v8) resulting in their leaving the ministry or re-doubling their efforts by getting ‘filled’ with another spirit. As with Mark 16:17-18, they think they are required to have signs and wonders.

Baptist pastors little realize that reaching back into the great commission (Mk 16:15) is a misappropriation, as this is Christ’s gospel preaching the kingdom of heaven. The Christian commission today is that of Paul’s reconciliation (2Cor 5:18) of the kingdom of God.

Interesting to note that the penalty for the Jews’ rejection of Christ’s kingdom is worse than the penalty for being a perverted sex-sodomite (v15).

Now Jesus bringing a sword (v34) is a great astonishment to all and sundry including most Christians.

11:1-19 Messengers from John the Baptist. John may have had some doubts about Jesus, not that he was God manifest in the flesh, but in the bringing in of Christ’s kingdom. No-one knew that there would be a space of about 2,000 years for the church age in the interim. John might have become a little restless had he known. John didn’t realize that Christ would have to go to the cross. However, Christ would not listen to those that would bring John down and belittle him (v7-12).

Just as John and Jesus were standing alone in starting up a ‘new venture’, and are rejected, it’s similar to the way that other Christians get upset that King James Bible Believing Christians won’t forgo their beliefs, water them down and jump in the swamp with everybody else (V15-19).

11:20-24 Upbraids cities for rejection. Christ then upbraids and rebukes the cities that reject him (v20-24) saying their punishment will be greater than the sex perverts of Sodom. Wow!

11:25-30 Come unto me. Like today, as then, unsaved people think that coming to Christ will be a burden and hard to take but in fact it’s the opposite (v28-30). Jesus is glad that simple-minded common people received him. Paul says the same thing (1Cor 1:26-28). It’s hard for intellectuals in their mental pride, to humble themselves enough to acknowledge their need of a Saviour.

12: 1-14 Lord of the Sabbath. We notice that Christ doesn’t break any of the law, but it’s the ignoring of the tradition of the scribes and Pharisees that upsets them (v1-8). He informs them without any apologies that he made the Sabbath and the Sabbath is subject to him (v8). He eats and heals on the Sabbath and there is no law against that. Like today the greenies also have their traditions that elevate the rights of cattle and sheep over men (v10-14).

12:15-21 Many miracles. Yes Christ was showing them again and again that he was a man approved of by God with miracles, signs and wonders (Acts 2:22).

12:22-23 Blind and dumb man. Yes, all men may see and speak but they are blind and dumb and only Christ releases all from their blindness and inability to speak. When we are able to ‘see’ our sin and come to the knowledge of the truth (1Tim 2:4), then he gives us his words to speak not the world’s.

12:24-37 Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Misused and misunderstood by Pentecostals and the deluded ‘spirit filled’. The Jew was saying that Holy Ghost was a devil and that Christ had a devil. Can’t happen today. Why? Christ as a man is no longer on the earth and so this can’t be said about him.

12:33-37 Now listen to man speak and you’ll soon determine what’s in his heart.

12:38-42 Jonah. Was Jonah a mythical figure? Christ says not (v40). How long would Christ be “dead’ – three days and three nights. This is not your dying on Friday and rising on Sunday. No, Christ dies on the cross on Wednesday afternoon just as the men all over Israel were sacrificing their Passover lambs. No coincidence!

He rises just after 6pm on Saturday night – three full days of Thursday, Friday and Saturday and three full nights of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

12:43-45 Returning devils. A practical illustration of devils leaving and coming back is like giving up a bad habit and to substitute it with something good. If you take a dangerous toy from a baby, make sure you give it a rattle or something as a substitute. If you give up smoking, put some tracts in your pocket to give out as you reach for the absent cigarette packet.

If you ‘leave’ Hinduism make sure you get saved, otherwise you’ll just jump out of the frypan into the fire with something worse like living in a feral bush commune with dope heads, having matted hair, not washing for days on end, nose infections from rings and your children being exposed to paedophiles. Or vice versa I suppose, depending which way you look at the thing – going from the bush to Bhudda.

12:46-50 Mother and brothers. And what a slap in the face to our biological mothers but isn’t that the way, that often being with other Christians is just so much better company than unsaved relatives, even your own mother.

Because of Israel’s bad history with God (about 2,000 years worth) God gets fed up (read Isaiah 1:2-6 for a little insight). So he follows his own advice of not casting pearls before swine (Matt 7:6) in saying “Right, I’m going to tell my people some stories with a double meaning. Now, I realise there are three types of people – those that will be amused by little stories (fools), the proud who will stumble (intellectuals) and a group that will catch on (these might come from group1 like the thief on the cross or group 2 like Nicodemus).” As Christ says if they have an ear or want to see (Matt 13:13-16). These are like the diligent ones who will be rewarded (Heb 11:6).

13:1-23 THE SOWER is the start of 12 kingdom of heaven parables which Christ considers a good number eg 12 tribes and 12 Apostles.

Once again we see that the kingdom of heaven is a parable (v10) about works to get in and to stay in. Stay in? Yes, see the endings of “-eth” require present, continuous and ongoing application and diligence as Christ goes on to explain the meaning in following verses.

The first three candidates struggle to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

1. Heareth, understandeth, cometh catcheth (v19) for the ‘way side’ people (there is also Way Side Chapel in Sydney Australia set up originally by the Methodists but morphed into a Uniting Church outreach. It too looked promising to start with but like all stony places, lapsed and degenerated into a structure of form with no content, as the wicked ones of feminism, sodomy, ‘any faith will do’ and Rome (v19) came in and stole any seed that was sown.)

2. Heareth, receiveth for the ‘stony’ people (v20) is followed by hath, dureth and ariseth (v21)

4. The ‘good ground’ people eventually beareth (Hooray! But no letting up folks. You have to keep bearing today, tomorrow and the next day and so on) after having heareth and understandeth (v23).

Good seed, not ordinary seed, is sown and so there will start to bear fruit. They start out the right way and these people try persevere in the kingdom of works. Christ warns about the wolves (Matt 7:15) who look authentic (v30) as they look like real wheat. Result? The good wheat goes into the barn and the tares gets burned.

Now a mustard seed is associated with faith (17:20). What are the characteristics of this seed? The smallest seed of any that can grow into the biggest of trees. Faith can be like this as well. Christ warns however that in spite of having great faith watch for the birds (devils). Birds can quickly fly in or fly out and likened to the devil (Mark 4:4-5). Just as birds come and nest in trees, then Satan and devils can intrude on your faith to snatch it away. In this kingdom of heaven, this meant loss of salvation unlike with the kingdom of God, where there is eternal security.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with leaven. It makes cakes and bread rise. And this is the analogy used here – it puffs up! Wrong doctrine puffs a person up. They are proud of their extra leaven knowledge, deeper leaven knowledge or wrong leaven knowledge. But here’s the thing – as in bread it works on the flesh. As with bread that is puffed up, then wrong doctrine puffs up the flesh nature.

Three measures? Of course, as Paul warns us against false teachers (2Tim 4:3) coming into the kingdom of God consisting of the Godhead (Col 3:9) of the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost (1 John 5:7-8). Wrong doctrine infects the good food, the meal, and puffs it up. Why is this wrong? Well, the Christian is dead in Christ and shouldn’t be puffed up.

The treasure is Israel, the field is the world, the selling man is God, the buying is done by Christ.

Hideth (v44)? Yes, God keeps on hiding, and protects and keeps Israel all the time for ever and ever – never ceasing and never letting them go.

All that he hath? Christ is all God ha-th – now and forever more – nothing more and nothing less.

The merchant man is God, the pearl is Israel, great price is Christ, selling done by God, buying done by Christ

Pearls are worthless if cracked or damaged and can be thrown away. Israel is worthless and damaged. But they started off intact and will also finish in this condition.

The scriptures say so as God says they (Judah and Ephraim) will be one in my hand (Ezek 37:16-19). Yes, God can do the impossible, he can take a fractured pearl (the Northern and the Southern tribes, Jerusalem and Samaria – the two sticks) and make them one, whole and just-as-if-they-had-never-been-separated.

Magicians try to copy this act – ever seen them with two bits of rope they join together as one? “How did they do that?” we ask in amazement. The difference is that God doesn’t use slight of hand.

Furthermore, the Gentile will cry ‘Abba father’ in one family with the Jew (Gal 4:6; Rom 11:11-26).

There will be one church and not two which is the theme of the book of Ephesians.

As echoed by the astonished ‘sincere’ (Matt 7:21-23), the frauds will be detected, the goats with their prophesy, devils and works (Matt 25:32-33) and cast into hell during the seven year tribulation and Armageddon.

Not having understood a thing, you can almost hear the multitudes mouthing off in parrot like fashion what they thought Jesus wanted to hear. “Have you understood all these things? “Yes Lord” they mindlessly and obediently reply (v51).

Christ says “If any of you scribes would believe Christ is the Messiah, you would have the knowledge of the old (Moses) with your new found knowledge of me “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.” (John 5:46)

Ever heard the saying about the new and old testaments? “The old is in the new revealed and the new is in the old concealed.” Yes, the old testament is all about Jesus in shadow form, concealed, who is revealed in all his glory in the new testament.

If a man can understand the old testament he can interpret the new testament and vice versa. As the scripture says both are glorious treasures (2Cor 3:7-11).

Now moving on, dear Catholic Reader did Christ ever have any earthly brothers and sisters? (v55-56). This means that Mary didn’t remain a perpetual virgin as she had other children with Joseph.

Now, was Christ powerless in the face of popular unbelief? Was the ‘spiritual’ scepticism of the crowd enough to dampen Christ’s power to perform miracles? Was it necessary for all to combine their power of believing, you know like holding hands in circle and chanting ‘Om’, to enable Christ to overcome any demon/bad spirits of resistance? No! He just went away because he wouldn’t throw his pearls before swine (Matt 7:6) to be trampled on. (v58). Like a stage performer, with an unappreciative audience who don’t like his act, “Bye Bye! You’re a tough crowd! I won’t be back here again.”

14:1-12 Beheading of John. This signals the end of an era as his job was to herald in Christ (Matt 3:1-3). Furthermore, Christ’s fame had spread far and wide such that Herod was now hearing of him (v1-2).

14:13-21 The feeding of the 5,000. This is a forerunner to the feeding of the 4,000 (Matt 15:38). We note that God can speak twice and man still not notice (Job 33:14). Christ feeds the people twice and they still didn’t know who he was. Christ is showing that he is the true bread from heaven (John 6:32), the true manna from heaven (John 6:31, 49, 68). As in the old testament they knew not what the manna was (Ex 16:15), so in the new testament, they still don’t know who the true manna from heaven was.

Note: After feeding the five thousand from 5 loaves and 2 fishes they pick up 12 baskets.

After feeding the four thousand from 7 loaves and a few fishes (15:38), they pick up 7 baskets.

There is still plenty over. A practical demonstration that Christ will feed the gentiles also.

22-33 Christ walks on water. Are we to be amazed? Yes and no. He made the stuff! He calms it as well (v32; Matt 8:26). Furthermore, he can walk through walls – he made them too (John 20:26). A good reminder that Christ never forgets us. The disciples had gone to sea and with the waves had forgotten about Jesus. But he hadn’t forgotten them. He just turns up. He’s just there when they need him. He will never leave us or forsake us either.

But here’s the puzzle, why would the Catholics want to champion Peter, when Christ calls Peter

4. A receiver of the keys to the kingdom of heaven and not to the kingdom of God

But hold on, it probably is appropriate that the Catholics would want Peter as their head as they both have much in common. However, the big difference is that Peter calls out to Christ to “Save me!” If only the Catholics would do that as well.

14:36 Touching the hem. Now to get into the kingdom of God, Pauls’ gospel, we do better than just touch the hem (v36) - we get put right into Christ (1Cor 12:13; Rom 6).

Of course this gets misused. Christians with prayer cloths from TV evangelists. “Put your hand on the TV, reach out and touch the TV” and so on.

15:1-20 Pharisees and defilement. Now the Scribes and Pharisees were having a go at Jesus’ disciples for not washing their hands, which was not a law but a tradition. But Jesus responds by saying “You have broken law number five by not honouring your father and mother and thereby cursing them” by a tradition they had invented (v6).

The Jews had devised a very clever, but evil way, of not to look after their aging parents, by saying ‘Corban: It is a gift to the temple’ (v5) (Mk 7:11). Thereby they could avoid all responsibility for caring for them. It went something like this ‘Sorry Mum and Dad, we have promised the money needed to look after you in your old age, to the temple and the priests” (Mark 10:7-13).” They then went and gave the priests some money and they kept the rest. Yes, the promoters of this scheme were the priests.

Jesus calls them hypocrites (v7), quotes Isaiah (v8-9) and calls them blind leaders of the blind (v14). Furthermore, he says their dietary rules mean nothing as far as cleanliness goes, because what goes into the mouth simply passes out through the body (v11, 17-20).

15:21-28 Canaanite woman. So then an outcast Canaanite woman cleverly and persistently asks for healing for her daughter with devil. The purpose here is to shame Israel, that those they despised, had access to, and indeed, more faith than them.

15:29-39 Feeding the 4,000. Again a practical display that the true bread from heaven can feed them.

16:1-12 Pharisees leaven. The doctrine (leaven) of the Pharisees had blinded them to not recognizing Christ as the Messiah (v1-3). The only sign Christ gives them is this: “The Son of man will be like the resurrection of Jonah after the death of three days and nights. And then you still won’t believe who I am after my resurrection.” They were not like the Gentile nation of Nineveh who did believe.

Now today, like then, there are all sorts of opinions as to the identity of Christ (v13-23).

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matt16:18. A comma followed by an ‘and’ means separate topics.

3. Peter is not the only one to receive the keys (18:18) to the kingdom of heaven. Other apostles get them as well (Matt 18:18; John 20:23).

5. Peter can’t forgive sins but is allowed to tell others how to get into the kingdom of heaven and the terms of forgiveness.

16:24-28 Works. Dreadfully misunderstood by many today that works are necessary to get into heaven. Catholics love carrying ‘their cross’ around with fastings, whippings and so on.

17:1-13 transfiguration. Two of the foremost characters of the old testament are present – Moses (representing the law) and Elijah (representing the prophets). Christ, on top of a mountain, is showing the world he is the fulfilment of the law and prophecy.

They are also the two witnesses in the Book of Revelation with Moses (rivers turned blood) and Elijah (no rain) (Rev 11:6).

17:14-20 Lunatic boy. Christ again displays his authority over the devil. Misguided Charismatics and Pentecostals also think they can do this.

17:24-27 Fish with tax money. Now, what odds would a betting man take on catching a fish with the coin in its mouth? Answer? He wouldn’t even touch it! Think about it:

1. A man has to drop a coin (a fisherman perhaps? But what would a man in a boat on the sea want with money?)

3. He then goes to the edge of the water and pulls in the first fish with a hook.

4. This all happens at one point in history. Never to be repeated again at the say so of one man.

No man, sane or otherwise, lays odds at 1,000 trillion trillion trillion gazillion quadrillion googolplex : 1

- that is infinity to one. Moral of the story? “I, Christ, created the heaven and the earth and all livings things, and I, Christ, am in 100% total control, all the time and every second of the day over all things!”

18:1-14 Who is the greatest. Greatness in this world is the not the same as greatness in the kingdom of heaven (v1-14) as the smallest, weakest and least may come, and not be despised, into the kingdom of heaven. Humility is the key. Once again, the religious put on all sorts of false show in this regard. Furthermore Christ is not willing that any, the smallest or weakest, should perish (v12-14).

18:6-10 Eye and hand removal. Christ is not advocating body mutilation, but emphasizing the 100% sinlessness required in the kingdom of heaven. Hell fire awaits those who will sin just once. Upon misunderstanding these verses, Origen (184-254 AD) stumbled badly by removing his male member from his body. Why? He equated the kingdom of heaven with the kingdom of God.

18:15-35 Forgiveness. A forgiving king and unforgiving servant (v23-35) is a practical illustration of the Lord’s prayer (Matt 6:9-13) that God will not forgive your sins if you don’t forgive others in the kingdom of heaven (seventy times seven v22). See how this is not the model prayer for a Christian to pray?

19:1-12 Marriage and divorce. It is a great misunderstanding to equate ‘to marry’ with having a ‘husband or wife’ (v9), with the former being the physical act of flesh with flesh and the latter being the government legal requirements of documentation.

It’s understandable that the disciples exclaim who can be saved after finding out that the rich man (v16-39) wasn’t entering into the kingdom of heaven despite him having kept all the commandments (v17-29). Why? He wasn’t perfect. The disciples failed to understand the entry requirements. “Look there’s no way in the world we can keep your kingdom of heaven rules.” said the disciples. Christ says “They’re impossible with men (v26), but possible with me because I will do it for them on your behalf.”

The teaching of the story with the vineyard labourers is firstly obedience and secondly to keep your eyes on yourself and not compare yourself with others.

20:20-28 Mother with request. James & John’s mother totally misunderstood the reward system in the kingdom of heaven. You want to be great? Then serve. 20:29-34 Blind man. The practical example given here of two blind men given sight is spiritually similar for entry into the kingdom of God, with a heart-felt plea to Christ to save them. Then it was physical but now it’s spiritual. When your eyes are opened today to see who Christ is then you will be saved into the kingdom of God.

21:1-11 Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. On the minds of the people, was the thought that Jesus had come to restore political independence for their country rather than their personal salvation. The teaching of this story is the eventual fickleness of supporters. Praising one day and crucifying the next. As Paul says that the more he loved people the less he was loved (2Cor 12:15).

There are two animals used (Zech 9:9), with Christ being on the ass for most of the journey, but on entry, he changes to the colt (v1-7).

21:12-17 Jesus cleanses temple. The scribes and the Pharisees were sore displeased. As the scriptures say “Who can stand before envy (Prov 27:4)”. Also what is shown here is the purity and wholeheartedness of little childrens’ prayers and praise (Psalm 8:2).

21:18-22 Fig tree withers The fig tree symbolises that Christ had come down from heaven to Israel expecting some fruit that would come from their receiving him, but instead found only the leaves of their self-righteousness and rejection of him, they also are cursed and their ‘tree’ also withers.

21:21-22 Ask in prayer believing. With misunderstanding the difference between the two kingdoms of God and heaven, modern day Pentecostals and Charismatics believe all things are possible. In fact great pain and suffering are experienced by ill, disabled and diseased people as they are accused of not having enough faith (v21-22). Of course ask what you will, but always “Thy will be done.” (26:42). Paul teaches us how to pray (Phil 4:6).

21:23-27 By what authority? Jesus was the master of asking questions to shut mouths.

21:28-32 Parable of the two sons. This parable illustrates that eventual entry into the kingdom of God (v31) comes about by believing and obeying.

Firstly, while Christ was on earth, those that would believe in him and obey, if they died, would go to Abraham’s bosom. Secondly, after Christ rises, they would then be taken to heaven which is the kingdom of God. The self-righteousness of the chief priests and elders (v23) would not get them in but the harlots and publicans depending on Christ’s righteousness could enter (32).

In summary, for the Jew, they couldn’t just enter into the kingdom of God, they must first pass through Abraham’s bosom.

21:33-46 Parable of the vineyard. The householder is God, the husbandman is Israel, the servants are the prophets and the son is Christ. Christ ends up with saying that the Gentiles would be the nation that would have access to the kingdom of God (v43). Furthermore, Christ is talking of himself (v44) not Peter (16:18). Imagine that? “Whosoever shall fall on Peter shall be broken, but watch out if Peter falls on you!” Fancy the Catholics believing that falling on Peter is the key to everlasting life or he, Peter, will grind them into powder.

22:1-14 Parable of the marriage feast. The king is God, the son is Christ, the first lot of invited people are all of Israel, the murdered ones are the rejecters who made light of Christ’s righteousness, the second lot of invited ones are still Israel, but are the unworthy ones with no righteousness of their own (harlots and publicans). The uninvited guest was a rejecter who tried to sneak in as many will say on that day “Lord, Lord haven’t we done this and that?” (Matt 7:21-23).

22:15-22 Caesar tribute. Christ says to pay taxes and reinforces separation of church and state. This is summarised in Paul (Rom 13).

22:23-33 The resurrection. How can we remember what a Sadducee believed? As taught in all Sunday Schools, children are told “They were Sad-You-See because they didn’t believe in resurrection from the dead. To those who would state that “When you’re dead you’re dead!” God says “That’s not right because Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are living. They are not dead as they live with me.” (v32). What has happened is that all those living in Abraham’s bosom have been taken into heaven and are living there.

22:35-40 The great Commandment. Now there are several verses that Christians quote as the foundation on how they should live. These two commandments are the law and the prophets. Some mistakenly believe that because they attempt to keep these, they will get into heaven. However, the ten commandments, minus number four, are summarised in Paul in Romans, Ephesians and Colossians. Now if Christians are wanting some rules to live by, there are more than enough to be found in Paul from Romans to Philemon.

Today the focus is on man not God and so the 2^nd commandment gets elevated over the 1^st.

22:41-46 The son of David. They were trying to trick Jesus with “How can a man call his own son Lord?” Of course the conclusion is that the Lord must be David’s God who has come down to earth in the flesh as one of David’s descendants, but this was totally unacceptable to them.

23:1-39 Woe to scribes and Pharisees. Now with a merciless scathing, Christ unleashes upon the scribes and the Pharisees as they have stopped men from entering into the kingdom of heaven (v13) and made them more suitable for hell than themselves (v15). They strain at gnats but swallow camels (v24). He calls them white washed tombs (v27). And much much more. It’s not that how will they escape hell, but how can they ie it is a fact that their destiny is already determined in hell (v33).

24:1-51 Second coming signs. This chapter is not for Christians as they are not present in it. It is entirely for the tribulation Jews. It describes the seven year tribulation after the rapture of Christians takes place. A warning of false Christs (v5), wars and famines (v6-7), false prophets (v11), the emergence of the antichrist setting himself up in the temple (v15) and warning people they should flee (v16-20). Then Christ shall come at Armageddon (v27) and there will be dead bodies everywhere for the birds to eat (v28). The Revelation chapter 19 takes place as the Son of man, physical, appears (v30).

All these signs are not before the rapture. Christians mistakenly quote ‘not the day or the hour’ with reference to the rapture (v36) but it’s for the 2^nd coming.

Two in the field and one taken, and two grinding and one taken, are a gathering up/a ‘rapture’ of the five wise virgins, before the second coming (v40-41).

25:1-13 Ten virgins parable. This parable concerns the coming of the Son of man for Israel toward the end of the seven year tribulation, and not the church which has been caught up seven years previously by the Son of God.

In a nutshell, Israel are to watch for the 2^nd coming of Christ (Matt 25:13)

This parable of the ten virgins describes the coming of the Son of man as in the days of Noah (Matt 24:37). What was happening then? Correct! Eating, drinking, partying and getting married, with a few rescued in an ark (a type of Christ) and then the flood came.

Now, the same situation happens again, they were “…eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage…” (Matt 24:38) and Christ suddenly appears at the end of the tribulation and only a few in Israel are watching.

Christ catches up/raptures the ‘five wise virgins’ who are prepared for him, before the battle of Armageddon (Rev 19). Interesting to note, these are the common working people, in the field and in the mill (24:40-41), who simply believed that Christ was who he said he was.

The following may help with understanding (v1-13). Keep in mind – they are not actual virgins or women and there are thousands and thousands of them – not just five. The words ‘ten’ and ‘virgins’ represent two other things.

1. “Ten” represents the number for Israel. Throughout scripture, there are scores of references connecting the number ten with Israel eg ten commandments (Deut 4:13) ten curtains, ten cubits, ten pillars, ten sockets in the temple; Joseph, a type of Christ (Gen 37:9), has ten brothers (Gen 42:3) who are to bow down to him. A molten sea of ten cubits with ten bases of brass (1Ki 7:23, 27). The shadow goes back ten degrees (2Ki 20:10). Israel are to sing praises unto God on an instrument of ten strings (Ps 92:3; 144:9). Christ wants the ten virgins (ten strings) to be singing praises when he returns. What a disappointment when he returns – only half are singing to him.

2. “Virgins” represent all of Israel as it’s plural. Now a virgin has never been joined to a man. In this case, Israel has never been joined to Christ. Are they virgins? Not as such, as they have been joined to many gods, but never to Christ. However when their eyes are opened to see who they have pierced (Zech 12:10), their sins are forgiven, and are justified as virgins.

3. “Five wise virgins” represent those in Israel who are watching and prepared to be joined with Christ the bridegroom, with two will be grinding and one taken, along with two in the field and one taken

4. “Five foolish virgins” represent those in Israel not prepared for the coming Christ.

5. “No oil” represents not having the Holy Spirit, and therefore, these virgins are not holy and not sanctified, and as a result, not fit for the bridegroom.

6. “The bridegroom” is the Son of man, the physical Christ, at his 2^nd coming.

7. “Tarried” represents “the day and hour knoweth no man” about the timing of the 2^nd coming

8. “Slumbered and slept” are code words for “they all got bored and lost patience, so they ate, drank and some got married”

10. “Couldn’t borrow oil” represents not being able to borrow the Holy Spirit off someone else, it’s a personal thing.

11. “Going out and buying oil” represents works to get the Holy Spirit but one cannot borrow it from someone else or buy it. They come back (v11) and ask to be let in despite not having any oil!

12. “They went out to buy” represents repentance but it’s too late – it’s midnight. Christ said he didn’t even know them. Why? They couldn’t and didn’t buy any oil but they turned up anyhow.

13. “The door was shut” represents being barred from having the bridegroom Christ.

25:14-30 The parable of the talents. This parable has been shamefully misused by some to support their wrong doctrine of loss of salvation for those in the kingdom of God, the Christian.

25:31-46 Sheep and goats. Some say there are sheep are the good nations and the goats are the bad nations (v31-46). Is this correct? No, this gathering of sheep and goats is not the separation of the nations but of individuals. What does the Lord say? All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. Is 40:17. There have never ever been any good sheep nations.

26:1-5 The plot to kill Jesus. Yes, the word ‘subtility’ meaning insidious and crafty (v4) is first used in the Bible with reference to serpent in the garden (Gen 3:1). Very appropriately used to describe the chief priests and scribes as workers of Satan.

26:6-13 The anointing at Bethany. This alabaster woman (v-13) could truly sing “All on the altar we lay…” without being a hypocrite. What gospel (v13)? Paul’s gospel? No, this was the kingdom of heaven gospel. Many mistakenly believe that just because the whole world hasn’t heard of Paul’s gospel, then the rapture cannot take place.

26:14-16 Judas’ contract. Why would he do it? The Bible says Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy? Prov 27:4. It was pure envy. He wasn’t one of the big three of Peter, James and John. Perhaps he didn’t get the recognition of the other disciples. I suspect Jesus loved him the most. Why? He was trusted with the money bag. Furthermore, a loving parent has a special love and place in their heart for their wayward son. As Paul says the more he loved the less he was loved (2Cor 12:15). Judas has free reign with the money and got greedy for more. I’m sure the reader knows of such cases.

26:17-25 The Last supper. Were the other disciples not listening when Christ says Judas would betray him?

Was it Jesus’ actual flesh of his body (v26)? If so, what part? fingers? arm? ankle? After they ate, was Jesus’ body intact, or did he hobble out the door bleeding from being chewed upon? No, this was merely a figure of speech. Is grape juice blood? Yes, grape juice is referred to as blood Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: Gen 49:11

It was not fermented wine either. The scripture says it was ‘fruit of the vine’ (26:29) which is newly pressed grapes. Christ blood was pure and sinless and not to be represented with wine with bacteria in it. But the bread was leavened bread. Why? Leaven stands for sin as Christ’s body would become sin for us.

The remission of sins (v28) is for past sins only (Rom 3:25) - forgiven, covered and but not washed away.

The redemption of sins is for future sins as well as past (Col 1:14) – forgiven and washed away.

Christ is simply saying that all the previous sin sacrifices (Rom 3:25) were now obsolete with his coming sacrifice taking their place.

Wouldn’t you just love to know what the words were of the hymn they sang (v30)?

Imagine Judas’ pain and sorrow (v4) at knowing he’d betrayed Christ. But he had previous form – he continually robbed Christ all along with stealing from the bag.

Jeremy the prophet (v9)? But there’s no written recording in the book of Jeremiah? Correct, he spoke it but it wasn’t written down.

27:11-25 Trial before Pilate How true, how true, how true! (v18). Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy? Prov 27:4

Pilate had the mistaken belief that a bodily washing is sufficient to wash away sins (v24) like Hindus in the Ganges today.

27:27-31 Jesus mocked. Could you imagine suffering in the everlasting fires of hell knowing you were one of the soldiers who mocked Jesus?

27:33-56 Jesus is crucified. The mistaken belief of the Jehovah’s Witnesses that Christ was crucified on a torture stake with hands over his head (v37) is shown to be false – as the sign was set up over his head not his hands. Furthermore, God never sent Christ for torture.

Christ was not expressing a weakness of his faith but the fact that God had forsaken him (v46).

The curtain being rent in two signified that there would be one church (v51) and that Gentiles could now have access to God the Father.

27:57-61 Burial. Mary the mother of James and Joses (v56) and the other Mary (v61) are one and the same - Christ’s mother (Matt 13:55).

Is the shroud of Turin a fake showing that the dead body, supposedly Christ’s, was imprinted on one piece of cloth (v59)? A little study explodes this myth as there were two pieces used in the tomb (John 20:7). The napkin is bound about the head first followed by a clean linen cloth (Matt 27:59).

Furthermore, highly accurate digital facial analysis has now revealed that face on the shroud was a concocted fraud, being Michelangelo’s face ‘sweated’ onto on a piece of cloth centuries later. Indeed, the Mona Lisa is also Michelangelo’s face as he managed to paint himself.

27:62-66 Tomb sealed. There was great fear that the disciples would steal Christ’s body (v64) as Christ had said he would rise bodily from the dead (v63). After the event, they were paid large money (28:12) to lie and say the disciples had stolen the body. They had to prove Christ wrong.

28:1-10 The women visit the tomb. The other Mary was Christ’s mother (v1). Fear and joy (v8) is a good combination for Christians to have today. There’s plenty of joy, although you wouldn’t think so with most Christians, but not much fear of the Lord though. Yes, there’s plenty of fear but it’s the wrong kind – financial failure, fear about the world’s condition, fear of loss of a job and so on. No joy for what the Lord has done and plenty of worldly fear.

This is not Paul’s gospel (v19-20) of believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31). This water baptism gospel is given to the disciples before Paul comes on the scene with no baptism less the cross of Christ be made of none effect (1Cor 1:17). Do we follow Christ? Absolutely, and Paul shows us how to as Christians not as Jews.

This gospel is directed to Israel with Christ being a flesh descendant of Abraham and David, both fathers of the Jew (v1). Now, Matthew cites three groups of fourteen generations:-

But six kings are left out in Group 2. If you read the books of Chronicles and Kings, other kings are listed but not mentioned here. Why? God regarded intermarriage with the Northern kings and their three descendants as anathema and poison to the Messianic (Christ) line of the Southern tribes. The other three kings left out were Babylonian puppets.

1. Ahaziah, Joash and Amaziah were the ‘illegitimate’ offspring resulting from the marriage of the southern king Jehoram with the blood-thirsty and very wicked Athaliah from the North. She was the daughter of the wicked Jezebel and her husband, the weak northern king Ahab. After killing all heirs (except Joash) to the Southern throne, Athaliah managed to reign for six years in the South before she was killed.

2. Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah were puppets kings installed by Babylon

Matthew writes the book of Matthew around 37 AD. His former name was Levi and was a collector of taxes when called by Jesus to follow him (Luke 5:27). Back then they were called publicans and collected tax for the government. Today, publicans are in a different line of work, but still collect taxes for the government.

What is the significance of Christ calling to Levi with “Follow me”? (Matt 9:9).

Levi is the name of the 3^rd tribe which was the tribe of the Levites and priests responsible for the law.

The significance of the calling of Levi is as follows as Christ says “Levi you are from the tribe of law (the tribe of Levi), and just as you have collected tithes off others, you will now pay your tithes to me. The scriptures say that the tribe of Levi was in the loins of Abraham when he tithed to Melchisedec, and I am of the order of Melchisedec, so you, Levi, will then bless me as Abraham (with Levi still in his loins) blessed Melchisedec with his tithes.” (Heb 5:6-10; 7:1-21)

“Furthermore, you have been collecting taxes from people but you have not given them any relief. The situation is now changed in that I will give them relief because I will keep the law on their behalf.”

“In addition, I will now give you a new name Matthew which means ‘A gift of God’.”

GROUP 2 Matthew 1:7-11 (New Testament spelling)		The godly line of 19 Southern kings
1	Solomon		Solomon
2	Roboam (v7)	1	Rehoboam
3	Abia (v7)	2	Abijah
4	Asa (v8)	3	Asa
5	Josaphat (v8)	4	Jehoshaphat
6	Joram (v8)	5	Jehoram marries Athaliah (Northern)
		6	Ahaziah - rejected
			Queen Athaliah reigns 6 years
		7	Joash - rejected
		8	Amaziah - rejected
7	Ozias (v9)	9	Uzziah
8	Joatham (v9)	10	Jotham
9	Achaz (v9)	11	Ahaz
10	Ezekias (v10)	12	Hezekiah
11	Manasses (v10)	13	Manasseh
12	Amon (v10)	14	Amon
13	Josias (v11)	15	Josiah
		16	Jehoahaz - rejected
		17	Jehoiakim - rejected
14	Jechonias (v11)	18	Jehoiachin
		19	Zedekiah - rejected
Taken to BABYLON

MATTHEW

Jesus Christ the Son of man