Hosea 2:14-16 - A doorway of hope

After all that Israel has done one might expect that God would just abandon her forever, a complete write-off. Nothing could be further from the truth. Instead He is going to allure her into the wilderness. He would lead her to a place where all the things she was trusting in were stripped away. There can be times in our lives when it seems that God it taking everything away from us. If He is doing this it is so that the only one we can turn to is the Lord Himself. Then He will speak tenderly to us.

This place of having everything stripped away, a place where we seem to be abandoned and without hope, seems like a valley of trouble (Achor means trouble), but in reality it is a valley of hope. For when we turn to the Lord restoration comes.

This all started with God calling her "loved" and "my people" (2:1). Now Israel will call God "my husband". It starts with God taking the initiative, and it results in a change in heart in the people. See how they change from calling God "my master" to "my husband". How do we view God? Is He just a strict master, a boss who we want to avoid, or just to make sure we keep out of trouble with? Or is He someone who we know loves us deeply, and whom we love in return? Our answer to this affects our whole approach to life. We start to get things wrong when we forget that God actually loves us.

Hosea 2:9-13 - What are we trusting in?

"I will take away my .." This emphasises an important truth, the grain and new wine belonged to God. Men make many complaints against God, but in all of these we forget that the world and everything in it belongs to God. He is the source of all good things. So there was no point in Israel going to all these other nations looking for assistance. They needed to go to the source.

Israel would be made to look ridiculous in the eyes of her "lovers", ie those to whom she had sought help from. All her plans would come to nothing. She would be punished for her sins and unfaithfulness.

The reason for all this was to bring Israel back to God.

There can be times in our lives when everything ends in frustration. We do well in those times to examine ourselves and ask if we are truly trusting God, or if we are putting our trust in something else.

Hosea 2:1-8 - Unfaithful Israel

The sin of the nation deserved judgement and received judgement. That is why Hosea had to give his children these terrible names. It is true of the whole human race, we all deserved judgement and received judgement (though not in full). But that is not the end. Now God tells Hosea to tell those who are "not my people" and " not loved" that they are indeed His people and are loved. There is judgement and restoration. Any understanding of God that neglects judgement is deficient.

We then get more of the judgement. God is addressing the children here. They are to tell their mother that she is no longer God's wife. It was essential for her to remove her unfaithfulness and adultery. Likewise, repentance is essential to becoming part of God's kingdom.

Israel had gone "after her lovers", instead of seeking God. This is a reference to Israel seeking to make alliances with other nations to help protect herself, instead of seeking help from the Lord her God.  Now the threats from these nations were real, nonetheless Israel should have turned only to God.

The allegory of adultery is used because the pressure and desire to make alliances was strong, just as emotions and lust can be strong. Israel could expect no blessing from God for the results of these alliances. We all too easily do something against God's ways, and then still expect Him to bless these projects.

God would force Israel to realise the futility of her ways, but this would be a long and tortuous path.

Hosea 1 - Unfaithfulness

When we read the prophets we get a very condensed view of what happened and what God revealed to the prophet. However, the opening verse here makes it clear that Hosea received his message over several years. We sometimes expect God to reveal things to us instantly, and sometimes He does this. But at other times He uses many experiences, many sermons, many Bible readings etc to reveal the full extent of His message to us.

God did not just speak to Hosea through his mind, but also through his emotions. When the Lord began to speak to Hosea, God told him to do a terrible thing. He was to go and marry a promiscuous woman. Why did he have to do this? Because Gomer, his wife, was representative of the nation of Israel. Several times in the Bible unfaithfulness to the Lord is likened to adultery. Belief is not just an intellectual assent, it is committing and entrusting oneself to the Lord. We must entrust ourselves to Him alone. To do otherwise, ie to entrust ourselves to someone or something else, is like committing adultery. Hosea needed to truly understand what Israel's unfaithfulness meant.

Hosea and Gomer had a son and he was named Jezreel. Jehu, an earlier ruler had committed a massacre at Jezreel and God would bring punishment on the land for this. 

Next they had a daughter, and she was to be called Lo-Ruhamah, which means "not loved". Israel was to be rejected by God. Israel, the Northern kingdom was about to be abandoned by God because of her unfaithfulness. Judah, the southern kingdom, still remained faithful, so she would be saved. Both nations were subjected to attacks by Assyria, the dominant power of the time. One would survive, one would fall, but it would not be because of military might or know-how, but because of faithfulness to the Lord. 

They then had a third child, and he would be called Lo-Ammi, "not my people".

So in the first nine verse we have a foretelling of terrible judgement upon Israel. Before reading this we might think, "this can never happen", which is what the people of the time thought. After it had happened, one would think "there is no hope for this land", but this would be equally wrong. For a time would come when there would be numerous Israelites, and the two kingdoms would be reunited, and they would once again be God's people. The rest of the book will show how such a thing can happen.

We must never imagine that we have all of God's plans worked out, or fully understand His ways. A situation may seem hopeless and beyond redemption, but with God this is never so.

Hosea - Introduction

Hosea is the first of the minor prophets and one of my favourites. It is a book that encapsulates the main problem: how does a righteous and loving God love a sinful people? The problem is described in the context of Israel, but applies to the whole of humanity. People either say God is a god of love and cannot therefore judge people, or  they have a God of judgement but no mercy. In Christ there is not contradiction between a righteous and loving God. However, the answer cannot be given in a simple logical/academic answer. In Hosea, the prophet had to marry a prostitute and experience all the pain of betrayal in order to understand the heart of God. To truly see how God deals with the problem we need to look at the cross. 

The things that Hosea had to go through should be a lesson to us in how God speaks. He does not just speak through words, He uses His words and the experiences of our lives in order to communicate with us. Sometimes this will involve very tough circumstances.

Hosea was a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel, Israel was generally more unfaithful than Judea. He wrote this book sometime between 786 and 748 BC. At that time Jereboam II was king of Israel and economically the nation was doing quite well, but spiritually they were in a terrible state.

Tomorrow we will start to see how the message unfolds.

Psalm 63 - Praising God in the difficult times

David wrote this Psalm when he was on the run from Absalom and he was going through the wilderness. This is where the reference to thirsting for God comes from. The physical thirst that David felt reminded him of his spiritual thirst. His son has rebelled against him and had taken Jerusalem, David really needed to know where God was in all of this. We all go through times in life when we wonder what God is doing. 

David knew what it was like to worship the Lord, he had had many intimate times with God when he has sensed the glory and power of God. So, even now when God seems far off, he continues to praise God. Sometimes we praise God for what He is doing, at others we praise Him for what He has done, and for what He will do.

So despite going through difficult times David continues to trust and praise the Lord. He knows that the end result will be that his enemies are defeated and God will deliver him. We may be going through difficult times, and we may not be able to make sense of what is happening, but we can still be sure of the final outcome.

Psalm 62 - Trust in God

There is no particular occasion in David's life to which this Psalm relates, it is of more general application, and relates lessons that David has learnt from life.

We can often find that our souls are not at rest, there can be fear, anxiety, unhappiness. To find rest for our souls we need to go to God, He is the only answer. We need salvation in many ways, from sin, from danger, from weakness etc. All salvation comes from God. The Lord is our fortress, He is the only true place of security.

David then turns to address his enemies. So we have a pattern here that we can usefully follow. Turn first to God, then we can face our enemies. Christianity is sometimes described as escapism. It is nothing of the sort. We turn to Christ not to escape from life, but to find strength and wisdom to face life and to overcome. Note that David is under no illusions as to what his enemies were like.

David then turns again to God, repeating his earlier declaration, and then extending it. His honour also depends upon God, and God is not just his rock, He is his mighty rock.

Next David encourages the people to trust in God at all times. That means whatever the situation is that you are facing right now you should trust in God. 

We can also pour out our hearts to God. Trusting God does not mean pretending that we are coping fine with everything when we are not. In many of the Psalms we find David pouring our his heart to the Lord, we can and should do likewise.

All worldly power and wealth is transitory, in the end it counts for nothing. True riches are found in God alone.

Psalm 61 - The best place to be

Yet another cry for help from David. It is fair to describe David's life as a battle, yet he got to know the Lord in the midst of the battle and experienced many victories. There may be times when your life seems like a battle, but by turning to Christ we can get through it, and we can get through it wiser, stronger and more joyful than before.

David felt weakness within himself, his heart growing faint. So he desires to get to "the rock that is higher than I". There is One who is stronger than us, and a place where we can be stronger than our natural strengths. That place is one of trusting in the Lord. Sometimes it is not easy to get to that place, but we should seek to get there with all our might, and we should call upon the Lord to help us. Jesus is the great high priest, and part of the role of a priest is to bring people into the presence of God.

Dwelling in the presence of God is the best place to be, it is the most secure place to be.

"May he be enthroned in Gods' presence". This is a prayer for David to be enthroned in God's presence, ie to be king in the presence of God. We all have different roles in life, fathers' husbands, bosses, workers etc. Whatever that role is, may we fulfil that role in the presence of the Lord.

Psalm 60 - Victory lies only in God

David wrote this Psalm after the nation has suffered a severe defeat, possibly at the hand of Edom.

Because of the defeat it seemed that God had rejected the nation and had been angry with them. David knew that success and defeat depended on one thing alone, was God with them or not. If God was with them, then nothing could defeat them. If God was against them, then no amount of effort or military strategy would do any good. 

The same applies to our own lives. We all face various challenges and problems in life, sometimes having great success, sometimes facing terrible situations. The answer to all our problems lies in Christ. He is the Lord of All, He is greater than anything or anyone. So, like David, we must always turn to Him for help.

God had shaken the land, but for those who fear Him he has unfurled a banner. What does this mean? If we fear the Lord then we will hear the word of God, and it will bring strength to our bodies.

God has declared that He would bring victory to Israel, and her enemies would be defeated.

God had rejected them, but David knew that it was only with God that he could gain victory. And he knew that God return to them. No matter what we have done in life, or what our situation is, if we turn to the Lord with repentant and humble hearts we can be sure that He will not reject us.

Psalm 59 - You are my strength

Another Psalm written by David when he was in danger. In fact many of his Psalms were penned in adversity. None of us like going through tough times when disaster seems imminent, but it is in these times that we can really get to know God better. In the midst of these situations we know that we don't have the strength on our own to cope, so we turn more and more to God. The situation forces us to live by trusting in the Lord, living by faith rather than sight. As a result we realise the reality and strength of the Lord's love for us.

Men were seeking David's life, and he had done nothing to deserve this. So David tells God what is happening, tells Him that he has done no wrong, and calls on God to rouse Himself to action. To some this may seem presumptuous on David's part, but if we look at the Bible we see many instances when people make bold prayers.

There are times when we suffer because of our own fault or failings. In those times we need to repent, and this is what David did in Psalm 51. At others, we do not deserve the suffering. In those times we should call on God to act.

The enemies are vile and violent, but David knows that they are nothing compared to God. God is David's strength, so he watches for God's help to come. He wants God to act, to make His justice and righteousness clear to all.

Psalm 58 - Lord bring justice

David is challenging the rulers. Now this might seem quite strange as David was king. It may have been written before he assumed the throne, but also there were problems during his reign, such as when Absalom rebelled (2 Sam 15:1-4). 

Rulers should speak justly and judge with equity, but they failed to do this. Instead they planned injustice in their hearts and dealt out violence, rather than making the people safe. There are many places in earth where this is the case today.

The tendency for evil is there from birth, this is part of the doctrine of original sin. Sin is so inbuilt that no attempt to change their ways works. Again we can see examples of this on the world stage where we can be depressed at the reluctance of terror groups to "see sense". We can see it also on a much smaller scale with individuals that we know who seem impervious to change. If we are honest, there can also be facets of our own character that are like that.

David calls on God to deliver judgement upon them, and for God to bring about a day when the righteous are rewarded. We may react against this, but if we saw the results of injustice first hand we might understand David's sentiments better. Justice is a key part of God's character, and we should call upon God to bring justice on the earth.

Psalm 57 - Trusting in God

This Psalm was written by David when fled into a cave to hide from Saul. David declares in the Psalm that he is taking refuge in the Lord. He also hiding in a cave, ie he is taking practical steps as well. So this shows us that trusting in the Lord does not mean abandoning common sense, nor does it mean that taking sensible practical steps is somehow showing a lack of faith. An application of this would be going to the doctor when ill. This is a perfectly sensible thing to do. It is not true that if only we had enough faith we would not go to the doctor. The key thing is that the bottom line is that we are trusting in God. 

In many of the Psalms David says that he is crying out to the Lord. David was being unjustly treated. Instead of taking revenge, he trusted in the Lord to vindicate him. This was show most clearly on the couple of occasions when he refused to take the chance to kill Saul.

We can trust in the Lord, and when we do so He sends help from heaven. 

Now David did not deny the dangers that surrounded him, he was not living in unreality, but he knew that his God was greater than his enemies.

David's heart was steadfast and he praised the Lord. We need to develop steadfast hearts and a habit of praising God. Sometimes we will not feel like it, but even so we should command our souls to praise the Lord.

Matthew 12:43-50 - Occupancy

The dispute with Jesus originated over casting demons out. Now Jesus gives them a lesson which they need to learn on what happens when a demon is cast out. Being set free from a demon is a good thing. Jesus even refers to the house being "swept clean and put in order", but it was unoccupied. You can take weeds out of a piece of ground, but they will just come back again. Something needs to be out in its place. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to dwell within us.

God wants to fill us with good things, most of all with Himself. 

Jesus' problems did not just come from the Pharisees, but from his own family. His family was outside wanting to speak to Him. Jesus then refers to His disciples as His true family. Now it is important to realise that Jesus is not disowning His family here. Even when He was on the cross He made sure that Mary was looked after (John 19:25-27). Jesus' words are actually directed more to the people. They were effectively saying He should stop what He was doing because His family wanted to speak to Him. Jesus says that doing the will of His Father is the key thing.

Matthew 12:38-42 - Signs

The Pharisees demanded a sign, some dramatic proof that He was indeed the Messiah. Now they had already seen healings and demons being cast out, so one might think they had seen enough to at least realise that someone special was here. They were probably looking for a sign in the sky or something like that (Luke 11:16).

Here Jesus refuses to give them a sign. Of course later He did do various miracles such as feeding the 5000, and earlier He had calmed the storm. So there is a lesson here on miracles. If someone has a closed mind then no amount of evidence will convince them. Show them one thing and they will just produce another set of questions. If we go looking for miracles we probably be disappointed, but if we simply follow Christ then we will see them from time to time. God does not do miracles as a piece of showmanship, they are done to meet a need, to fulfil a purpose. 

Instead of giving them a sign, Jesus points to their history. The nation of Israel had already experienced quite enough to know the truth, if  only they recognised their need of salvation. Jesus points them back to Jonah, and uses it as an allusion to the resurrection. He also points out Israel's failings, and that they were worse than the nations around them. This would be very hurtful as they considered themselves superior to others. The Ninevites repented when they heard the word of God. The Queen of Sheba (Queen of the South) came to listen to Solomon because she recognised godly wisdom. Yet the Pharisees would not respond to the word of God, and refused to recognise the wisdom of Jesus. So they would be far worse off on the day of judgement that Nineveh or the Queen of Sheba.

Matthew 12:33-37 - Change from the inside

The religion of the Pharisees focused on externals, ceremonial washings, circumcision and the like. This is no different from society today. Think how many "procedures" there are at your place of work. Whenever there is a tragedy of some sort there is an inquiry and it usually results in more and new procedures being introduced. Now some of these procedures may be very good, but they never address the heart of the matter, which is the human heart. We produce bad behaviour because of an evil heart. We need to be changed from the inside.

The Pharisees themselves were bad. And, like John the Baptist, Jesus refers to them as a brood of vipers. There was no way they were going to produce anything good, for their hearts were evil.

With ourselves, it is what is on the inside that needs to be dealt with, and this will determine what our lives produce. Now this is not to say that procedures, habits, rules etc do not matter. If our hearts are good, then adopting some good practices can help us to get on the right track. But if our hearts are not inclined towards God nothing will work.

In all this there is a great emphasis on words, on what we say. There is a saying that "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words cannot do a thing". This is nonsense. People get hurt by words, people can be built up by words. Our words reveal what is on the inside. 

Matthew 12:29-32 - We are in a war

Having just pointed out that it was totally illogical for Satan to cast out demons, Jesus now goes on to say that it is totally reasonable to expect the Messiah to cast out demons. People are under the dominion of darkness, there needs to be regime change. People need to be rescued from this dominion. So there is a power struggle (admittedly a very uneven one!) So Jesus needs to bind up the enemy, then He can rescue the oppressed.

We are still in a power struggle today. The kingdom of God is advancing, that means it take territory from the enemy. So power is a crucial part of the kingdom. At the same time we need to remember that our struggle is not against people, but against principalities and powers. We use power against demons, not against people. The church has gone sadly wrong when it has seen people as the enemy.

There is no neutral ground in the battle. We are either for or against Jesus. Then we get the "unforgivable sin". Now this causes problems for some people. One of the best bits of advice I have heard on this is that if you are worrying about whether or not you have committed the unforgivable sin, then that is a pretty good sign that you have not! Look at the context. Jesus is speaking primarily against the Pharisees for accusing the work of the Spirit as being the work of the devil. Jesus is speaking about people who are working directly against the kingdom.

Notice also the high status given to the Holy Spirit. People can be forgiven for blaspheming Jesus (just as well given today' age!). This is not excusing blasphemy, but the vast majority of people who blaspheme Jesus do not have a clue what they are doing. Remember Jesus even forgave those who crucified Him. But if, knowing the Spirit, we rebel against Him, then we are knowingly rebelling against God.

Matthew 12:22-28 - Driving out demons

The people brought a man who was blind and mute, and this was caused by demon possession. Jesus healed him, and the man was completely recovered. Physical ailments can sometimes be linked to demon possession. Earlier Jesus had told John's disciples to tell John that the blind see, and the crowd here take this as evidence that Jesus might be the Messiah. Son of David was a term used for the Messiah, they expected one like David to come.

True to form, the Pharisees react in completely the wrong way and blame it all on the devil, claiming that Satan gave Jesus the power to drive out demons. Notice that they could not deny that Jesus had the power to drive out demons.

Jesus points out the contradiction in their argument. A divided kingdom is one that is bound to fall, and so if Satan is driving out his own demons, then his kingdom has truly had it. Then the religious leaders believed in exorcism themselves, so Jesus asks by what power they claimed to cast out demons? Either they had to admit they were very ineffective, or they too were using demonic power. Attacks from critically natured people will always be full of contradictions. 

The truth is that it was by God's power that Jesus could drive out demons, and so the exorcisms were a demonstration that the kingdom of God was truly among them. A sign of the kingdom is that demonic power is shattered.

Matthew 12:15-21 - God's chosen servant

Jesus knew that the Pharisees were planning to kill Him, so He withdrew from that place. When it was time for Him to die he went willingly to the cross. When His time had not yet come, He avoided capture. As it says in Ecclesiastes there is a time to live and a time to die. 

It is not clear whether He was seeking solitude at this point or not, but He didn't get it. Large crowds followed Him and He healed all who needed it. Again He warned them not to tell others. So we see that Jesus was not using healings as a publicity stunt, at the same time He healed all who were ill.

Matthew then quotes from Isaiah 42:1-4, one of the servant songs. Jesus was God's chosen servant and God delighted in Him. Jesus was filled with the Spirit and He proclaimed justice. He did not seek conflict for its own sake. He was not cruel or heartless. He was determined to bring justice through to victory, and people will put their hope in Him. The servant of Isaiah is what Israel was meant to be, but failed. Jesus came as the perfect servant, the fulfilment of all that Isaiah spoke of. He is continuing to fulfil that prophecy. For Jesus is the risen Lord, He is reigning now, actively working to fulfil the mission. We, the church, are the body of Christ and Christ works through the church to fulfil His mission.

Matthew 12:9-14 - Healing on the Sabbath

The battle over the Sabbath continued. Rather than trying to learn from what Jesus has told them, the Pharisees just tried all the harder to find fault with Him. What they did not appreciate is that they were actually playing right into Jesus' hands and that it is they who would end up being shown to be more guilty. When under attack we should remain calm, and continue to do the will of God.

They brought a man with a shrivelled hand to Jesus asking if it was legal to heal the man on the Sabbath. Under the rabbis teaching it was lawful to take action if a man's life was in danger, which was not the case with the man here. Jesus again uses the Law to point out the error of their ways. Under the Law it was allowed to rescue a sheep on the Sabbath, and the Pharisees would have no hesitation in doing this. Jesus then asked them who was worth more a sheep or a man?

Legalism inevitably ends up with us disregarding human life, and becomes a travesty of the very thing we may start out claiming to protect or promote. Jesus saw the Sabbath as a day on which to set people free. So He healed the man.

Rather than learning their lesson, or rejoicing in the blessing that the man had just received, the Pharisees went off to plot how they might kill Jesus.

Matthew 12:1-8 - Don't be legalistic

Under the Law farmers were to leave grain at the edges of the field and people could eat this (Deuteronomy 23:25), especially the poor (Leviticus 19:9,10). So this was not what upset the Pharisees, rather it was the fact that the disciples were doing this on the Sabbath. Notice that Jesus did not seem to be bothered by this.

Jesus' reply is to remind them of something that David did. He chose David because David was a highly respected figure in the Bible. There was a time (1 Samuel 21:6) when David was on the run, and the priests gave him and his men some of the consecrated bread because it was all that was available. Under the Law the consecrated bread was meant to be eaten only by the priests (Leviticus 24:5).  Then Jesus points out that the priests themselves break the Sabbath in the course of their duties on the Sabbath.

As humans we have a horrible tendency to get legalistic about things. This incident should be a warning to us about any legalistic interpretation we put on parts of the Bible, for we will find that God is not as legalistic as we are! Moreover, we then find that we put ourselves in the position of judge and start considering ourselves better than others, and using the "law" to achieve our own ends, which is what the Pharisees were doing.

Then Jesus gives them two key principles. First, He is greater than the temple and is Lord of the Sabbath. We need to focus on the person of Jesus Christ above all else. Then there is the principle that mercy is better than sacrifice. They needed to see the spirit of the Law.

Matthew 11:25-30 - Make life easy for yourself

After these rather severe words of warning we get a seemingly sudden change in tone. Now Jesus is praising God that He has revealed the kingdom to children, and calling on the weary to come to Him. Jesus was strict when He needed to be strict, He was encouraging when He needed to be encouraging, and He came into the world to save the lost, to bring life to people. We need to be wary if we find we are always focusing on the judgemental side of the gospel. Equally, we need to be wary if we totally ignore the judgement side. Throughout the Bible, throughout the life of Jesus, God is very serious about sin, He is equally (in fact more so) strong on salvation.

God has hidden the truth from the "wise and learned". Now this does not mean it is wrong to be wise or learned, the book of Proverbs is a book in praise of wisdom. But we do need to be wary of becoming proud in our wisdom. As it says in Proverbs, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Men so often make anything else other than God the "beginning of wisdom". When we do that we do not become wise, we become fools.

We then learn how one can truly know the Father. It is only through the Son. Now immediately many people will object that this unfair, why cannot someone come to God by some other way, Islam or Hinduism or some other route? Verse 27 answers this, the Father has committed all things to the Son. Neither you nor I have any right to decide how God should reveal Himself to us. God has chosen to reveal Himself through Christ, and that is the end of the matter. You can argue as much as you like, but it will get you nowhere. Jesus is the only way to know the Father, to know God. And Jesus chooses to whom He will reveal the Father. Now this does not mean we have no part to play. What it does mean is that we must repent and turn to Christ, trust in Him. Then He will reveal the Father to us.

Indeed, this is what Christ calls us to do in the next verse (28). Now look at this. Jesus chooses to whom He will reveal the Father. So man in his stupidity and arrogance argues that this is unfair and gets all uptight about it. But Jesus calls the weary and burdened, He calls us to come to Him, and then we will find rest. Man accuses God of being unfair and harsh, but it is the heart of man that is unfair and harsh.

When we ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil we took upon ourselves a heavy yoke. We tried to make out that we were gods, but cannot bear the burden. If we turn to Christ and take His yoke upon us far from finding it burdensome, we will find great rest and relief for our souls.

When we make Christ Lord of our life we make things an awful lot easier!

Matthew 11:20-24 - We must respond

Jesus had told John's disciples to remind John of the miracles. The people in the towns Jesus had visited had seen the miracles first hand, yet they had failed to learn the lesson.

Note that the primary lesson was the need to repent. It was not "Jesus can heal", it was "I need to repent". Miracles and healings should be a part of the church's ministry, but the goal is that people repent. Any man or woman's greatest need is to repent and turn to Christ.

So how should miracles help lead someone to repentance? Miracles and healings demonstrate very clearly that Jesus is greater than anyone or anything else. They demonstrate that we do not understand or control everything. They demonstrate that we need God. They demonstrate God's love  and compassion for us. So they should cause is to realise how foolish we have been in living life on our own terms instead of on God's terms. 

Tyre, Sidon, and especially Sodom, were places that in the Old Testament were regularly associated with severe judgement. Jesus tells the people in no uncertain terms that they are in a worse position than these places because of their failure to respond properly to Jesus. 

When God does anything He is looking for a response from us. This applies to miracles, it also applies to less dramatic events. We might hear an excellent sermon, but whether or not we liked the sermon, found it interesting or amusing, or thought provoking, really is neither here nor there. What matters is how or if we respond to what God is saying.

Matthew 11:7-19 - Beware of always finding fault

Maybe the crowd thought that Jesus was just talking about John the Baptist, and maybe felt some strange kind of comfort in that John was being rebuked. We can often feel better when others get in trouble! However, things tend not to work that way with Jesus, and He now turns to the crowds. In fact He does this on a number of occasions, the focus will be on one person, then He will turn the matter on to the crowd.

John knew what he was doing, what he was hoping for, believing for. The crowd, for the most part, were just onlookers, not really knowing what they wanted, not wanting to commit to anything. Those who commit themselves to Jesus and to following His plan will fail and struggle from time to time. In those times we may need to receive discipline from the Lord, but we will not receive rejection. And we had better be careful about our reaction to others when they stumble, making sure there is no gloating on our part.

The crowd had gone to see a prophet, they knew John was a prophet. So they should treat His words as they would those of a prophet. John came proclaiming the king and the kingdom. They needed to get into the kingdom. We can always find all sorts of excuses and reasons for not doing something. 

Instead of heeding the word, the people found fault. John was very austere, and so they complained that he was too strict, too severe. Jesus was very different, so they complained that He was too keen on enjoying life. In neither case did they listen to the message. 

We really do need to beware when we find ourselves always finding fault in others. It is rarely a sign of true wisdom.

Matthew 11:1-6 - Proof of the pudding

Jesus had sent the disciples out, and continues to do His own teaching and preaching, this time in the towns of Galilee. So while the disciples were out working, so was the Lord. We do well to remember this, for we easily get so obsessed with what we are doing, forgetting that God is doing a whole host of other things as well. Isaiah 9 tells us that God would honour Galilee, and we see an example of that here. Indeed Jesus did much of His work in Galilee, an area counted as second rate by many Jews because of the high Gentile population.

John the Baptist had been put in prison by Herod. When we are in difficult circumstances because of our faith we can easily begin to doubt, as John did here. He needed reassurance that Jesus was indeed the Christ, and that his efforts were not in vain. 

Jesus sends John disciples back, not with a theological argument, but with the evidence of what He was doing. Earlier in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus had said that you can recognise a tree by its fruit (Matthew 7:20), and He applies this to Himself. 

Often when a sportsman or sportswoman is out of form there are all sorts of silly debates about whether they are good enough or not, or should be back in the team. Most of these debates are pointless. Alastair Cook demonstrated this winter in Australia the best way to answer an argument about whether or not he is good enough. Similarly, there is only one way for Andy Murray to answer the question about whether or not he will win a grand slam event. So it is with the gospel. We need to produce fruit. So Jesus pointed to the miracles that He was doing, and also that the good news was preached to the poor. The evidence of God at work is that those in need are hearing and receiving the Good News.

Things do not always work out the way we expect, God does not always work in the way we expect. We need to make sure that in those times we do not blame God, saying that He is doing things the wrong way!

Matthew 10:34-43 - Friend and Foe

Jesus is the Prince of Peace, but He did not come to bring an easy or superficial peace. The ultimate conflict is between man and God, true peace only comes when man repents and submits to God. Jesus quotes from Micah 7:6.

Jesus has come to reclaim what belongs to God, to bring the Kingdom of God. Now if we welcome this kingdom then all is well, but if those who are in rebellion insist on remaining in rebellion then there will be conflict. And this conflict will involve even families. For the most fundamental relationship is that between a man and God. If we are in right relationship with God, then other relationships will function better. If we are in rebellion against God, then all sorts of things will go wrong.

Moreover we must love God more than even our closest relatives. Now we need to be fully aware that the most common failing is not loving our relatives enough, and there are numerous commands to love our wives, children, parents. But if push comes to shove, then we must love God more than all others. When faced with such a conflict we can fear losing our life. Not in the literal sense, but in the sense of losing something so precious. The temptation can then be to hold on to it. The result of this will be to lose our life, we end up losing what we sought to save. If, however, we are prepared to lose something for Christ's sake, then we will find that we gain so much more, even what we thought we would lose.

We need to remember the context of all this teaching. It is Jesus preparing us for extreme difficulties, and it needs to be understood in that context.

The passage closes on a happier note. While there will be those who oppose us, there will also be those who help us. For just as those who oppose Jesus will oppose us, those who welcome Jesus will welcome us. And such people will receive a reward for all the help they give to Christ,  no matter how small it may seem to be.

Matthew 10:32-33 - Acknowledging and Denying Christ

The greatest privilege is to be acknowledged by the Lord of All, and of we acknowledge Him, then He will acknowledge us. But if we disown Him, He will disown us. 

The first of these takes faith, and demonstrates the reality of our faith. For to acknowledge Jesus in the world means we believe that He is indeed the Son of God and the One with all authority, more authority than whatever or whoever would seek to put fear in our heart. 

Peter, of course, did disown Jesus. So this poses a question, what does Jesus really mean here? Is He saying that our salvation depends upon whether or not we acknowledge Him before men? Or is He saying something else? Given the example of Peter I am inclined to rule out the first suggestion. This passage is on how to cope in the midst of fierce opposition. In such circumstances the temptation is to deny Christ, but if we do this we will find that we are then without God's help in the situation, and this is indeed what Peter found to be the case. If instead we acknowledge Christ, then we will find that we receive direct help from God. This does not necessarily mean we will be rescued. In Acts there were times when Peter was rescued. Stephen, on the other hand, was killed, but he received a vision of God in the midst of his suffering. 

Matthew 10:24-31 - Being Christians in a hostile environment

We should expect to experience the same things that Jesus experienced. Jesus is the head of the church, and so if He is accused of being Beelzebub, then we should expect no different. In fact Jesus says it is even more likely that we will be accused of such things.

"So do not be afraid". This is an interesting instruction. All that Jesus has said is "these things will happen", and "they will happen because of Me". So we are to accept them as normal and are not to be afraid. What it means is that these attacks are not things that cannot be dealt with, we can overcome them.

"There is nothing concealed.." As well as not being afraid we are to openly declare the truth. The things that Jesus reveals to us are not to remain hidden, they are to be preached to the world. In the West the world is doing its best to try and shut the mouth of the church. We should resist all this and shout all the louder.

"Do not be afraid". Another injunction not to be afraid again making no bones about the matter that we will be in danger. But those who attack cannot destroy the soul, there is a limit to their power. In Nazi Germany they killed Dietrich Bonhoffer, but could not destroy his soul. Moreover, our Father in heaven is looking after us. This does not mean we will never suffer, but He is aware of absolutely everything, and if we walk with the Spirit, then when we do suffer we suffer with Christ. 

Matthew 10:21-23 - Facing opposition

The theme of things being far from easy continues. There will be rebellions within families with siblings betraying each other, parents their children, and children their parents. Now we again see an important point in understanding the Bible here. Jesus is not giving a law saying that this will happen in all families! There are often arguments about taking the Bible literally or not. A lot of these arguments (both from atheists and some Christians) are stupid. The Bible is absolutely true in what it intends to say, not in what it does not intend to say. So here Jesus is warning that these sorts of things can happen and sometimes will happen. He is not saying they always will happen. For there is much else in the Bible that talks about harmony and unity within families, and examples of this in practice. 

"Everyone will hate you". Again this does not "literally" mean everyone (for that would mean there were no other Christians!), but we will be subject to hatred. There are places in the world where this means severe persecution.  In the West there is an increasing hatred of Christians by new atheists, though this has not yet reached the level of serious persecution for the most part.

This hatred will happen because of Jesus. Jesus is Lord, and He is in the business of extending His kingdom (Isaiah 9:6,7), so the kingdom of this age is objecting violently. In the midst of opposition we must stand firm, and if we do we will be saved.

So there will be opposition, sometimes horrendous opposition, and we have to face up to this, but this does not mean that we suffer for the sake of suffering. Jesus tells them to flee from one place to another. As before, this is not an absolute law, there are times when you cannot flee, there are times to stay in the place. But fleeing is a perfectly legitimate option and a sensible thing to do in many cases, because Jesus said so!

No one knows exactly what the last bit of verse 23 means. Some take it as referring to the second coming,  others as referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70. Here is a thought (and it is just a thought). Perhaps Jesus is saying that when we embark on a task at some point it seems incredibly difficult, even impossible, facing apparently insurmountable opposition. Our tendency is to give up, thinking it impossible. Perhaps Jesus is saying that we should carry on, because we can be sure that Jesus will "show up" before we have time to complete the task, and that will change everything. As I say, just a thought.