SERIES OVERVIEW
Springboarding off of the Apostle Paul’s life focus, clearly expressed in 1 Corinthians 2:2, Pastor Greg launched an “open-ended” message series on January 12th, 2020 – focusing on “Just Jesus.” He is walking us through the entire New Testament, pulling passages from the Old Testament for context, and keeping us focused throughout the year on “Just Jesus.”
This is Just Jesus, Week 75, Matthew, Part 73. This week Pastor G covers Matthew 23:23-24:3. Jesus continues judging the Pharisees with a series of “Woes.” Jesus points to the 70AD destruction of the Temple as well as to the ultimate judgment day when He comes again.
MESSAGE NOTES
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. ~ Matthew 23:23
Keep tithing but also practice these other traits that are even more important than the tithe. Don’t throw money at a problem and think you are done. Get some skin in the game too. Don’t just do kind things for people but hoard all your wealth for yourself. Honor God with the tithe and make a positive difference in the lives of other people with your time, energy and talents.
You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! ~ Matthew 23:24
‘Now every swarming thing that swarms on the earth is detestable, not to be eaten. ~ Leviticus 11:41
So these Pharisees were very meticulous to strain all of their drinks to make sure they did not accidentally ingest even the tiniest of bugs, the gnat. Jesus often uses hyperbole, grandiose comparisons, and says at the same time they willingly swallow a camel, the largest animal of their culture in Israel. In other words, you are so proud of yourselves for keeping the tiniest of laws, meanwhile, you are willingly breaking and ignoring far more important laws along the way.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. ~ Matthew 23:25-26
In other words, these men, these hypocrites, these two-faced posers, were more concerned about looking holy and righteous than they were about actually being holy and righteous. They are meticulous in cleaning up the outside, looking the part, but meanwhile, they are full of sin on the inside.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. ~ Matthew 23:27-28
Of all the smackdown terms Jesus uses for the Pharisees, whitewashed tombs is one of the most powerful word images. Imagine a grave, a tomb, full of a decaying, stinking body of a dead person. That’s the picture of the souls of these sinful men. Rather than clean out the inside, they leave it alone and dress up the outside.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ~ Matthew 23:29-30
These men claim that if they had been living in the days of the prophets they would have received them, honored them, and obeyed the word of God coming to them through these men of God. That’s their claim. They actively pay lip service to them and honor them with their mouths but their hearts are far from what they claim. Jesus points out that they, like their forefathers, are still rejecting the prophetic words and teaching of God that is coming to them, first in the prophet John the Baptist and now coming to them directly through Jesus, the Son of God, God in the flesh Himself, the prophet of all prophets. Yet they are standing radically opposed to the greatest prophet of all time now. Jesus again points out their hypocrisy and then levels this withering judgment upon them.
So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? ~ Matthew 23:31-33
Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, ~ Matthew 23:34
Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. ~ Matthew 23:34-36
Jesus is saying these wicked men are guilty by association with all the other wickedness of their ancestors and all the wickedness of their future descendants. It is a generational curse of sin that they refuse to break.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! ~ Matthew 23:37-38
For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” ~ Matthew 23:39
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. That is a messianic song. That is a messianic greeting. Those who welcomed Jesus at the gate earlier in the week were singing and shouting it. They were publicly shouting their belief, their faith that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, prophesied by many prophets down through the ages. Jesus has also repeatedly made it clear that He will come again on some future day to fulfill the other Messianic prophecies about Him.
And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. ~ Matthew 24:30
For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” ~ Matthew 23:39
Jesus is coming again! He promised it and He always keeps His promises! None of these people of ancient Israel who rejected Him will be alive when that day comes, and they won’t acknowledge Jesus as Messiah with celebration when He comes again. But living and dead alike will finally acknowledge Him as the one who comes in the name of the Lord, the Son of Man, sent by the Ancient of Days, the Messiah. Those who rejected Him and screamed for His death will finally acknowledge Him, not with celebration and joy, but with regret and fear over their previous rejection and crucifixion of Him.
And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth (under the earth, all who are dead and buried) and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” ~ Revelation 5:13
For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” ~ Matthew 23:39
Jesus tells those listening to Him, soon, the day of your mercy will be gone. The Temple will be left desolate, devoid of the Spirit, presence, and glory of God. I have repeatedly offered you grace, mercy, forgiveness, healing, protection, and salvation, and you have rejected it. You are about to crucify me. Therefore, I will remove my glory from you. I will remove my blessing from you. Soon, your city and your temple will both be destroyed. As a nation, you will again be given up to long and dreadful suffering. For many years to come, you will not see me as a merciful Savior. But I am coming again. And when I do, you will all recognize Me. Repent and turn to righteousness while you have time.
Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.” ~ Matthew 24:1-2
Erémos (GREEK)
deserted, desolate, abandoned, laid waste, a barren desert
As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” ~ Matthew 24:3
They have been shook to the core by this pronouncement of judgment. They want to know when these things Jesus has talked about will happen? When will the temple be destroyed? When will Jesus come again? When will the end of the age, when will judgment day happen? How long do they have? It’s really a two-part question from Jesus’ perspective though the disciples probably think all of this is going to happen at the same time. The destruction of the Temple happened just forty years later but the return of Jesus is something we’re still waiting on almost 2,000 years later.
Jesus’ long and involved answer to these questions is referred to as the Olivet Discourse. In it, He focuses on future events for the disciples and Himself. Beginning in the next verse, the rest of Matthew 24 and all of Matthew 25 is devoted to Jesus’ words and His answer to these questions. We’ll start digging into all of that next week.