Isaiah 40:12-20 - Consider the Lord

When we consider our circumstances we so easily forget who the Lord is, we allow our thoughts to be concerned solely with whatever is facing us. The difficulties of the situation, how we got into the mess, why it is impossible to get out of it etc. We need to remind ourselves of who our God is. 

The whole earth is as nothing to God. He can hold all the seas in the hollow of His hand, or hold the dust of the earth in a basket.  This is, of course, figurative language, but the meaning is clear. God is infinitely greater than anything we face. 

The Spirit of the Lord is wiser than all the wisdom of the world. The world has nothing to teach God, despite what it might think! The Lord has complete understanding and needs no-one to instruct Him.

The nations, which opposed Israel, are as nothing to God. When it says God regards them as nothing and worthless it does not mean that He does not care for the nations, but when they oppose Him it is no contest. 

The nations had idols, but these were mere man-made things. They had no power of their own.

We need fear nothing, but should look to God in all circumstances.

Isaiah 40:6-11 - All men are like grass

"A voice ...". This is the second of three "voices". This voice tells Isaiah to cry out. Not surprisingly, Isaiah asks what he is to cry out. 

"All men are like grass .." Babylon was the superpower, she seemed to be totally dominant, and Israel certainly could do nothing against her. Israel was tightly held in captivity. But all human power is like grass. It will wither very quickly. Human faithfulness is equally fickle. Men can sometimes be united in a cause, but unless this is a godly cause the faithfulness will not last. At the start of the second world war Germany and Russia were allies, yet two years later they were seeking to destroy each other. 

And why does the grass wither? Because the Lord blows upon it. It is the Lord who has the last word, it is His will that prevails. It is only the word of God that lasts forever.

Now we get the third voice. This was to be proclaimed to Jerusalem. When Babylon would conquer Jerusalem many would be taken off into exile, the rest would be left behind in Jerusalem. Jerusalem would be a much reduced city, and under the authority of others.

"You who bring good news" Humanly the situation would seem hopeless, yet the good news is to be proclaimed loudly and clearly. The same applies today. 

Why can this be done? Because the Lord comes with power. He comes to reign and to restore the fortunes of His people. Yet this power is mixed with tenderness. This is what we need. It needs power to set us free and heal us. Yet our hearts are fragile and we need the tenderness to restore our souls.

Isaiah 40:3-5 - Prepare the way

When a king came to visit a place representatives were sent ahead to prepare the way. In those days this may have involved physically making the road smooth. Nowadays the same thing happens when advisers etc are sent ahead to check security arrangements and other details. In the New Testament John the Baptist is seen as preparing the way for Jesus with his call for repentance. 

This way is made in the wilderness, in the desert (which, incidentally, is where John did much of his preaching). We can seem to be totally lost. People we long to see saved can be seem to be totally lost, with no possible way of God breaking in to their lives. This is never true. No matter where someone is (physically or spiritually), if they repent and call upon the Lord then they will be saved.

When people repent the glory of the Lord is revealed. If we turn to God, His glory is revealed in our lives and this can utterly transform things. When Jesus came Israel was a spiritual desert, but whenever people put faith in Him, even the most despised people, miracles happened, restoration occurred. The glory of God was revealed.

Isaiah 40:1-2 - Comfort

Now we will start to look at the prophecies themselves. "Comfort, comfort my people". This sets the theme of the rest of the book. The first part of Isaiah contained much judgement upon Israel, with hints of salvation, both for Israel and further afield, woven into this. The overwhelming theme of the second part of Isaiah is salvation. In the same way as salvation was woven into the first part, so there are elements of judgement as well. 

Indeed this is the way the gospel works. The need for repentance is an essential part of the good news. Without a recognition of our need to repent, or our sin, the good news makes no sense. Jesus preached "repent for the Kingdom of God is near", Peter preached "repent and believe". When God tells us about our sin it is so that we can turn to Him and be healed. 

Isaiah proclaims that her penalty has been paid. This is a reference to the Babylonian exile, declaring that her exile is coming to an end. Now we know that it is because of Jesus that we are saved, it is because He has paid the price that we are forgiven. So how does this work? Well, we are all paying the price of our sin. Our lives, to varying degrees, are a lot worse than they would be if we had never sinned. Without Christ we experience more and more of the consequences of sin (our own, and other peoples'). Without Christ we are on a downward spiral. These times have finished, they have come to an end. Now, we are in the restoration phase. 

We still experience the effects of sin (indeed we still sin, though hopefully less than we used to), but we need to remind ourselves that we are now on an upward spiral. We are now starting to receive the benefits of salvation.

Isaiah 40-66 - Authorship

We now move into the final section of Isaiah, chapters 40-66. No, we are not going to look at all twenty seven chapters at once, but at the question of authorship. The first thirty five chapters dealt with prophecies concerning the Assyrian threat, then we had the record of what happened when Assyria threatened Jerusalem itself. This demonstrated the authenticity of Isaiah's words. Now we are concerned with the Babylonian exile. Most of it is written as though the Babylonian exile has happened and is nearing its end, this has led many scholars to conclude that this part of the book was written by someone other than Isaiah. I do not believe this to be the case, for several reasons:

1. No convincing alternative author or authors have been found.
2. The rest of the Bible makes no distinction between the first and second Isaiah.
3. There are many linguistic similarities between first and second Isaiah, ie it looks as though it was written by the same person.
4. The argument I find most convincing is that the book makes perfect sense. As indicated above, and in earlier comments, the Assyrian part demonstrates the validity of Isaiah's prophecies. So the predictions of the future in second Isaiah can be taken seriously. Moreover, we need to remember that the release from Babylon is only a partial fulfilment of the prophecy. The main goal of the prophecy is Jesus Christ, and these events happened several hundred years later (and well over two thousand years later for the things that have not been fulfilled yet, relating to the second coming!). 

Psalm 101 - Dedicated to God

After several Psalms calling upon the nations and the earth to praise the Lord we come to a more personal one, and one that is designated as a Psalm of David.

David sings of the Lord's love and justice. He also dedicates himself to lead a blameless life. Love of the Lord makes moral demands upon us. Then he asks "when will you come to me?" Clearly David was in trouble of some sort (nothing unusual about that). 

Yet in the midst of this trouble David remains dedicated to the Lord. He lives his life in a way that is pleasing to the Lord and refuses to look upon anything vile. In an age when the internet makes vile images of various sorts so readily available we need to follow David's lead.

We are to hate what faithless people do. People who are "perverse of heart" are not to be any sort of example to us, they are to have no influence on the way we live.

David had authority, so he used this authority to advance righteousness. Authority is there to promote justice and righteousness.

Psalm 100 - The Lord is God, the Lord is good.

Yet another Psalm calling on all creation to praise the Lord. Note that again it is a shout for joy that is called for. The world continues to peddle the lie that God's aim is to make men miserable, and too often the church has colluded in this lie. Indeed this is the lie that the Devil told to Eve in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:1-4). Nothing could be further from the truth. Joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. 

The fundamental truth is that we were created by God and belong to Him. We are the sheep of His pasture. Ie it is He who looks after us and watches over us. See how vehemently atheism seeks to deny this truth. 

Instead we are far wiser to accept the truth and enter His gates with thanksgiving and praise. 

He is good, His love endures, and His faithfulness continues forever. What ever our situation we should seek the Lord and go to Him with praise. We will then be pleasantly surprised at what we find!

Psalm 99 - Exalt the Lord

The Psalm is directed towards the nations. The Lord reigns so they should tremble before Him. The main problem with the world is its refusal to acknowledge the Lord.

He is great in Zion and is exalted over all the nations. He is not just one god among many gods, He is the Lord of All, the only one true God. Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father, the only means of salvation. The nations do not merely need to acknowledge that there is a God, they need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord is mighty and loves justice. He has done what is right, and the supreme act of righteousness was the cross and resurrection which took place in Jerusalem.

The Psalmist reminds his readers that Moses, Aaron and Samuel were servants of the Lord. So they should look at the lives of these people and learn from them. The one true God is the God who revealed Himself in Israel, and then supremely in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

All nations care called to exalt the Lord.

Psalm 98 - All nations

Like in Psalm 96 we are told to sing a new song to the Lord. The Lord is a God of transformation. He transforms people and transforms situation.

Why are we to sing a new song? For He has done marvellous things. The Psalmist then refers specifically to God making His salvation known. This is what He has done on the cross. In Christ He has revealed His salvation. Jesus is the source of salvation for all peoples. And this has been revealed to the nations. So we see here the global nature of God's plan. When God called Abraham He said all people's would be blessed. For most of the OT this global applicability is hidden, but in Christ it is revealed.

So all the earth is called upon to praise the Lord.  Again we see reference to various musical instruments being involved in the worship. Then the call goes to all of creation to praise the Lord as well. 

Judging with equity and righteousness is one of the key features of God that He is praised for.

Psalm 97 - The Lord Reigns

Again we see the universality of God's reign. Even the distant lands are called upon to rejoice in the Lord. The whole earth is to be glad. Atheists would have us believe that God is bad news, but the truth is that it is good news that He reigns. For His throne is founded on righteousness and justice, if only we would turn to Him. 

Clearly the Psalmist was inspired by some mighty storm that was going on.

All of creation declares His glory, and the greatness of nature, such as the solidity of the mountains, is nothing to Him.

So we should worship the one true God, but those who worship idols are put to shame. Idols are nothings and it is pure foolishness to worship them. We may think we are above such things now, but those who believe in naturalism (ie that the observed universe is all that there is) are equally foolish. For how can something come out of nothing? How can matter give birth to intelligence?

Now we turn to the people of God. As the people of God we should rejoice, for we worship the true and living Lord. This has moral implications too, so we are to hate evil. Evil is not just something we should not do, we are to detest it in the same way that the Lord detests evil.

And we are to rejoice. For we do not worship an idol, we not trusting in a lie. We are trusting in the faithful and almighty God.

Psalm 96 - Let All Nations Praise the Lord

All the earth is called upon to sing to the Lord, and to sing a new song to Him. God's salvation is for all peoples, and all people's need to change their ways and turn to God.

His salvation and marvellous deeds are to be proclaimed among all peoples. 

The Lord is greater than all the ways of the nations. If your nation has a religion (Islam, Hinduism, or whatever) it will not save you, that nation needs to turn to the Lord. If your nation is secular it needs to stop having a superior attitude, for that attitude is not justified. Splendour and majesty belong to the Lord, strength and glory are in His sanctuary.

So all nations are to give God the respect and honour that He deserves. Faith matters, what we believe matters. It is not just a matter of personal choice, it is a matter of eternal significance. And the Lord is just. The world is stumbling like a blind man as it looks for justice.

And this salvation affects the whole of creation. The best thing we can do for the planet is to turn to God.

Psalm 95 - Sing for Joy

This Psalm is a call to praise the Lord. We are to sing with joy to the Lord. The Lord brings joy to His people. If we don't have joy in our life we should examine ourselves and seek the answer from God. Now having joy does not mean life is always easy, but we can have joy even in the midst of the most difficult of circumstances. Joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit, and it is our strength.

The reason we have this joy is that God is the Rock of our Salvation. He is the sure foundation of our lives, nothing that happens to us can destroy that foundation. So we are to sing gladly to Him and with music. Worship is to be vibrant.

The Lord is Lord of all. He is greater than any other so called god. Absolutely all of creation is in His hands.

So we are to bow down before Him. The start of worship is acknowledging His greatness and our utter dependency upon Him. We His people the flock under His care. 

Then comes a warning not to behave like the Israelites did in the desert. Note that in the incident referred to (Exodus 17:1-7) they were in the desert and there was no water. So even if we are in difficult circumstances just now we must still put our trust in God. Even if there is apparently no solution in sight we must still trust in God.

Trusting in God is the only way to enter His rest, ie to enter into the heart of His plans and purpose.

Matthew 28:16-20 - Great Commisison

Back in Genesis God said to Abraham "all nations on earth will be blessed through you" (Genesis 12:3). The Great Commission is part of the fulfillment of that promise. Jesus had said He would meet with the disciples (28:10) in Galilee, this was a meeting with a purpose.

All authority has been given to Jesus. We need to remind ourselves of this. We are not serving an idea nor a philosophy, but we are serving the King. 

It is because Jesus has all authority that we are to make disciples of all nations. It was always God's plan that all people's be blessed, Jesus is the fulfillment of that plan.

Disciples are baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and they are taught to obey all that Jesus has commanded. We need God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Jesus is with us always. Note that this promise is tied in to the Great Commission. The more we do for Jesus the more of His presence we will experience.

Matthew 28:11-15 - Where is the Body?

The guards went to tell the chief priests what had happened. This presumably involved telling them about the angel that had appeared. True to form the chief priests ignore any possibility of the tale being true, and devise a plan to carry on with their scheme. So they bribed the soldiers to say that the body had been stolen by the disciples. Note that the priests were not above bribery, something that is contrary to the Law.

The notion that the disciples stole the body does not hold water. Why would the disciples risk their lives (and in most cases lose their lives) for this lie? Why did none of them admit to the "lie" later? Why were their lives transformed by a lie?

The soldiers would have been in big trouble, so the priests promise to square it with the Governor.

This lie was widely circulated among the Jews for some time. This further diminishes its authenticity. It means they were never able to produce a body. 

Matthew 28:1-10 - Risen

Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" went to the tomb on the Sunday. This is further evidence for the authenticity of the gospels. If they were making it up they would not have women as the first witnesses of the resurrection, as in the culture of the time female witnesses were very much second-rate. Matthew is reporting what happened.

They went to the tomb just to pay their respects. The gospels put a great emphasis on the role of women in the life of Jesus. He had a great influence on them because He put value on their lives. 

An angel of the Lord appeared to them. He rolled back the stone and sat there waiting. Often angels appear as normal men, but this angle appears clothed in light. Not surprisingly, the guards were terrified. The angel's message to the women was not to be afraid, and that Jesus was no longer dead but was risen. 

The angel asked them to view the empty tomb. Then they were to go and tell the disciples. 

They were afraid, but this was also mixed with joy. On the way, Jesus met them. They can touch His feet. The risen Christ is no mere "spiritual" resurrection, but a bodily resurrection. He reiterates the message of the angel that He will appear to the disciples in Galilee.

Matthew 27:57-66 - Dead and Buried

Jesus was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man. So we see a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:9 which says:


"He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence,    nor was any deceit in his mouth". 


Jesus died with the two thieves, and yet was buried in the grave of a rich man. Joseph did all this with full permission from Pilate.

The priests remembered that Jesus had said He would rise again. They feared that the disciples might try to steal the body and try and pretend that Jesus was risen. Clearly they knew full well what Jesus meant when He had talked about this, though they did not believe Him.

So the tomb was secured and guarded.

Therefore at this point we have a two key facts. Jesus was dead, and He was buried in a secure place. This gainsays two common objections to the resurrection. One, that He did not really die in the first place; and secondly the body was stolen. Neither of these objections is supported by an evidence.

Matthew 27:45-56 - The Death He came to Die

For three hours darkness came over the land, this was an unnatural darkness, and in keeping with the momentous events that were taking place. Jesus then cried out "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me". The religious leaders, the Roman authorities and the crowd thought that Jesus was being condemned. Yes Jesus was being condemned, but only because our sin was laid upon Him. This was a judgement on man. Jesus took upon Himself the judgement that should have been ours, resulting ultimately in the Father rejecting Him because of our sin.

The Aramaic for "My God" was "Eli", hence some people thinking Jesus was calling upon Elijah. One of the crowd offered Jesus a drink of wine vinegar. The crowd thought Jesus was finished.

Jesus then cried out and gave up His spirit. Jesus was dead.

Then the curtain that separated man from God in the temple was torn in two, signifying that the dividing wall between man and God had been broken. Also the bodies of many holy people were raised to life. Matthew says this happened after the resurrection of Jesus and appeared to many people. Quite frankly many find this verse embarrassing. My study Bible has no comment on verses 52 and 53, which is ridiculous. Matthew clearly presents this as an attestable fact. It is strange that none of the other gospels refer to it. It also raises questions as to what type of resurrection it was. Was it like Lazarus, and they then died a "normal" death later. Or did they ascend to heaven at some point later?

The centurion and other soldiers saw that something amazing and terrifying had happened. This was no ordinary crucifixion. So much so that it convinced them that Jesus was indeed the Son of God. Many women were watching the events from a distance.

Matthew 27:32-44 - Crucifixion

We now come to the crucifixion itself. It is quite amazing that all of the gospels focus so much of their time on the events of the last week. This is a measure of the fact that they saw it as the most important event in Jesus' life, indeed being absolutely central to it.

With the Romans the cross was a sign of their power. To the nations they dominated it was a sign of what they would do to anyone who resisted them. Jesus made it a symbol that signifies the giving of new life.

After the beatings Jesus may well have been unable to carry the cross, and Simon of Cyrene was enlisted to help. 

Jesus was offered wine mixed with gall, but refused to drink it. Maybe He was remembering His words about not drinking wine again until He came into His kingdom.

The soldiers cast lots for Jesus' clothes, and above His head they had placed a sign saying "Jesus, King of the Jews". They may have meant this mockingly, but in reality it was an indictment of those who had crucified Him.

Two criminals were crucified with Him. The crowds now mocked Him and insulted Him. The criminals also insulted Him, though elsewhere we read that one of them saw in the end who Jesus really was.

Matthew 27:27-31 - A Crown of Thorns

The Roman soldiers continued the humiliation of the Son of God. Jesus was stripped and then mockingly dressed in a scarlet robe. This was followed by a crown of thorns being put upon His head. This reads as though this was gently put upon His head, but the truth is that the thorns were long and it would be painfully placed upon His head.

Then they mockingly hailed Him as the king of the Jews. Then repeatedly they spat upon Him and beat Him. Then they took the robe off Him and replaced it with His own clothes. He was then led away to be crucified.

Remember that these are the same soldiers that Jesus would later forgive. All of us should be eternally grateful to Jesus for what He has done for us.

Matthew 27:11-26 - A murderer or a saviour?

The governor was Pontius Pilate. "Are you the king of the Jews?". The Jewish leaders would have tried to make out that Jesus was a revolutionary, or in danger of causing civil unrest. The governor would fear any unrest, for that would make him less than popular with his superiors. So, they hoped this would cause Pilate to have Jesus put to death.

The religious leaders brought all sorts of accusations against Jesus, but He remained silent in the midst of it all. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to remain silent, but it can also be the most powerful thing to do.

Pilate knew what the Jews were up to, but he was not willing to face them down directly, so he tried to find an indirect route out of the dilemma. So he gave the people a choice, they could free Jesus, or free Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a well-known trouble maker.

Pilate's wife had a dream about Jesus and warned her husband not to have anything to do with Him. 

The crowd demonstrate their fickleness in choosing Barabbas over Jesus. Just contrast this with their response a few days earlier when Jesus entered Jerusalem.

Then they compounded their sin by calling for Jesus to be crucified. Pilate knew there was no justice in this, but was unwilling to take a stand. So he infamously washed his hands of the matter. The people foolishly accept the blood of Jesus upon themselves, not realising what they are doing.

Matthew 27:1-10 - Hanging

Thing were going according to plan as far as the chief priests and religious leaders were concerned. So Jesus was bound and led away to Pilate, whom they hoped would have Him killed.

Judas saw what was happening and was filled with remorse. One wonders what he thought would happen when he betrayed Jesus. Maybe he thought it would be some easy money. Sin blinds us,our hearts and minds become clouded over, unable to see clearly. They twist and distort things so that we can justify what we do, but at some point an awakening happens and we realise the sordidness of what we have done. This is what happened to Judas.

Judas sought to make amends, or at least to assuage his conscience, by returning the silver to the priests. They were not interested. So Judas threw away the money and hanged himself.

The hypocrisy of the priests is shown by their sudden concern about what is proper and right. They put the money to a "good cause", while continuing to put their plan to have Jesus killed put into operation. We too can act in the same way sometimes. We can do some little thing right, to try and ease our conscience when we have done something wrong.

Matthew 26:69-75 - In denial

Now we see Peter's predicted denial coming to pass. Peter was in the courtyard and a servant girl came to him. She said she had seen him with Jesus. Peter denied it. It is particularly poignant that it was a servant girl to whom he denied Jesus. There was no immediate threat, he was not being accused by a soldier or some official. Of course, the whole situation was shot through with danger. Even so, his earlier words of commitment proved to be hollow. I think most of us know that there are times when we are no better. Jesus knew Peter better than Peter did, and He could accept the truth. Moreover, He knew that He was going to change Peter by the power of the Holy Spirit, and a few weeks later this same Peter would be standing up before thousands in Jerusalem declaring the Lordship of Jesus. We need the risen Christ, and we need the Holy Spirit if we are going to be and do what we are supposed to be and do.

Peter went out of the gateway and then denied Jesus again to another servant girl. After that several people said he was one of the disciples, Peter's Galilean accent giving him away. Yet again Peter denied it, this time all the more vehemently, throwing in a few curses and swearing for good measure.

Then the rooster crowed. At this point Peter realised what he had done, realised how right Jesus was about him, realised how weak and fickle he was. So he wept bitterly.

Matthew 26:57-68 - Before the Sanhedrin

Remember that all this was happening at night. There was a first a trial before the religious leaders, but they were under Roman authority. So in order to "get a result" they needed then to go to the Roman authorities for a second trial.

Jesus was taken before the high priest, Caiaphas, and Peter followed at a distance.

The priests wanted an excuse to have Jesus put to death. One wonders why they thought this would work, or was necessary. If Jesus was just a charlatan, then why worry about Him so much. If He was indeed the Son of God, then their actions were so clearly stupid and wrong.There are probably two factors at work: (i) they feared Him causing trouble with the Roman authorities, which could then threaten their nice accommodation with the Romans; (ii) the deceptiveness that sin always brings.

They tried their best to find evidence against Jesus, but failed, despite the "help" of many false witnesses (directly against the Law, by the way).

Then they got people who misquoted Jesus' words on the temple being destroyed. The priests demanded a reply from Jesus, but got none. The truth of the matter is that it was not really Jesus who was on trial, but all of mankind.

Then they bring the direct charge that He was claiming to be the Son of God. Jesus says that this is so, combining verses from Psalm 110:1, and Daniel 7:3.

This outraged the priests. However, this was possibly partly put on, for they would have been glad that they now had their justification for killing Him. For Jesus had equated Himself with God. So they they strike, mock and spit upon Jesus. This is no way for a court of law to act.

Matthew 26:47-56 - The Arrest

Now the arrest occurs. Judas came with a large crowd, armed with swords and clubs. Judas had arranged a signal, though one wonders why this was really necessary as Jesus would be well known, having hardly kept a low profile. Moreover, Jesus would have made Himself known anyway.

Jesus was in complete control of Himself, and invited Judas to do what he had come to do. Jesus was then arrested. One of the disciples, who elsewhere we learn was Peter, struck one of the soldier's ears off. Evidently  it was normal for the disciples to carry swords. 

Jesus rebuked Peter (not for the first time). Jesus was leading a different kingdom, and human swords will not help advance it. Jesus could have called upon countless numbers of angels if He so wished. But He had come to fulfil His scriptural purpose. 

Jesus then addresses the crowd, pointing out the ridiculousness of the situation. There was no need for the "kiss", no need for the swords. Jesus was not being taken against His will, but in accordance with Scripture. He was not leading a rebellion. He was completely open about what He was doing. 

Then in accordance with Jesus' earlier prediction, the disciples all fled.

Matthew 26:36-46 - Gethsemane

This is one of the most intense passages in the gospels. The name Gethsemane means "oil press". Despite knowing their failings, Jesus took Peter, James and John with Him. 

Jesus then began to pray. This time illustrates the full humanity of Jesus. He was troubled and sorrowful. Jesus knew exactly what He was about to go through. He knew the physical and psychological suffering that was about to befall Him. Most of all, He knew the rejection and judgement from His Father that He was about to take on our behalf. We see here a model of what fulfilling the Father's will can mean on occasions. There will be times when our whole being cries out against doing what the Father has commanded, but if we turn to Him then we can find the strength and resolve to carry on.

Jesus prayed for the cup to be taken away from Him if there was any alternative whatsoever to the way of the cross, but only if there was another way. If the cross was the way it had to be, then so be it. Jesus did not deny the feelings and emotions that He had, but He put obedience to the Father above these feeling and emotions.

Jesus asked Peter, James and John to pray with Him. We too need to watch and pray. Peter in his first letter counsels his readers to prepare their minds for action. Here the disciples failed. Despite their earlier protestations of commitment to Jesus, they could not even stay awake when it mattered.

Having prayed, having taken His inner conflict to the Father, Jesus was now prepared for the task ahead.

Matthew 26:31-35 - In Denial

As well as knowing that Judas would betray Him, He also knew that the rest of the disciples would desert Him. Jesus is under no illusions about our human frailties. Matthew saw this as a fulfilment of Zech 13:7. 

Jesus also knew that although He would die, He would also rise again from the dead, and He speaks to His disciples about what would happen then. Notice that this also implies that although the disciples would fail, He would restore them.

Jesus was a far better judge of human nature than Peter was. Peter boldly, and foolishly, declared that even if everyone fell, he would remain faithful.

Jesus countered that before the rooster crows three times Peter would have disowned Him three times.

Peter still refused to accept this, making his declaration of allegiance even stronger. The rest of the disciples followed Peter's lead.

Matthew 26:14-30 - The Last Supper

Judas infamously goes to the chief priests and asks for money in return for handing Jesus over to them. Now it might seem strange that they needed someone to do this for them, for Jesus was not hiding in a hole, but was regularly appearing in public. What they wanted was for someone to hand Him over, someone they could blame, so that they would not have to take responsibility.

Jesus ate the Last Supper with His disciples, this took place the day before the crucifixion. So again it is amazing how calm Jesus was. Again, He knew exactly what was going to happen, and He was preparing His disciples for all that would happen afterwards.

All this did not come as a surprise, things had been set in order for all this from the beginning of time. It is fitting that it is the Passover that was celebrated. The Passover remembered the exodus from Egypt. A much greater release from captivity was about to occur, the captivity from sin, from death, from this "evil age". 

Jesus knew that one of them would betray Him, and even knew which one it would be. There were no surprises for Jesus in all of this.

Strangely, Judas expresses surprise and says "surely not I", knowing full well that it was indeed him. Deception had entered his heart. There is a lot of nonsense spoken about Judas. Jesus says quite clearly here that it would have been better for Judas if he had not been born.

Then Jesus explains the meaning of the supper, and of what was about to happen. The bread which would give them true spiritual food was His body, and the blood of the true covenant was His own blood.

Then they went to the Mount of Olives, one can only imagine what thoughts were going through the disciples' minds at that point.

Matthew 26:1-13 - Preparing for the cross (1)

The events now start to move on again, heading inexorably to the cross. Notice that Jesus gave some very detailed and profound teaching just a few days before the cross. This demonstrates His composure. He knew full well what was going to happen, yet He continued to serve God and to carry out His mission.

The religious leaders gathered to plot to have Jesus killed. They wanted to avoid the festival, as they knew the people were supportive of Jesus and wanted to avoid a riot. A riot would have brought the Roman authorities down on them.

At Bethany a woman anointed Jesus with oil while He was at the house of Simon the Leper. This made the disciples indignant because the perfume was very expensive.

So the religious leaders did not understand the times, the disciples did not understand the times (despite Jesus making it pretty clear). A despised woman and Jesus did understand the times. It is quite likely that the woman did not fully understand what she was doing, but she felt led to anoint Jesus. We do not need to fully understand something for it to be useful and significant. Jesus knew the significance of her actions and commended her. In the midst of all circumstances we should remain devoted to Jesus.

Jesus' statement on us always having the poor with us is a warning against an overly austere attitude. 

Matthew 25:31-46 - Helping the needy

This is the last parable in this series, and again it emphasises the importance of how we live now, and draws a link between this and the final day of judgement.

Before the parable itself, verse 31 contains an awful lot about the person of Jesus Christ and His return. There are still many who regard Jesus as "just a good man", but this verse so clearly contradicts this. As has been said by many, if He is not actually the Son of God, He is a deluded fool. He speaks clearly of returning on glory with many angels, and sitting on a glorious throne. Jesus knew exactly who He was, and that is the Son of God. 

At the last judgement all peoples will be gathered before Him and He will pronounce judgement upon them. He is much more than a good man.

Those who are accepted will take their inheritance in the kingdom of God. This inheritance has been ready since before the creation of the world. So what did they do? They fed  Jesus, gave Him water, welcomed Him as a stranger, cared for Him, visited Him in prison. The "righteous" (ie those declared right in the court of God) will wonder when they did all this, for they had never physically met Jesus. Jesus tells them that they did this whenever they did this for "one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me". There are various interpretations of who exactly "these brothers of mine" are, ranging from the Jews, Christians, to everyone. I do not think it is necessary to get bogged down in this. Jesus calls us to help many people, and if we are following Him helping all sorts of people will be part of that following.

The second group are sent to the eternal fire. This is the place prepared for the devil and his angels. No man is meant to go there, but sadly many will. Note that it seems that these people here are not overtly anti-God, but they did not obey God. They did not help the needy in any way. 

Matthew 25:14-30 - Bags of Gold

I have made the point before, and will make it again. The way to be ready for Christ's return is to serve Him today. Jesus teaching on the destruction of the temple and the end times are followed by three parables that all make it very clear that what will make a difference on the last day is how we live now. The "end times" is not just a single event. I believe there will be cataclysmic events at the end, but it is also about ongoing life. This age is coming to an end, there will be a final judgement, and Jesus is the judge. So if we are wise we will listen to Jesus, and we will order our lives in line with His priorities, His desires, His commands.

So here we come to the parable of the talents, or the "parable of the bags of gold" as modern translations put it. A man was going away on a journey and left his servants with five, two and one bags of gold. The ones with five and two bags put the money to good use and made a profit. The one with only one bag hid it in the ground.

Given the closeness of all this to Jesus death on the cross, it is clear that the parable is a lesson in how we are to live in the time before His return. When He does return He rewards and praises the first two servants, but castigates the last one.

This last servant seems in some ways to be humble, but it is not a Biblical humility. So this man is thrown into "outer darkness".

There are many lessons to be drawn from this well-known parable. 

• We are to put to good use the talents (abilities, money, etc) that we have. 
• We do not own the things we have, we are stewards of them. They all belong to God
• It is very dangerous to adopt a false humility
• There is a reward at the end

In some ways it seems "unfair" that the ones who had the most were given even more, and it was the poorest one who suffered the most. This should be a warning against certain attitudes about gifts and money. We so easily fall into one of two errors. On the one hand we can end up worshipping money and being greedy, as some forms of prosperity teaching tend towards. On the other we can despise success and money (and despise those who are successful). Both are equally wrong. What counts is what we do with what we have. We are to use the things we have for the glory of God.

Matthew 25:1-13 - Take responsibility for yourself

This parable continues Jesus' teaching on how to be ready for His return. It is a warning that we need to be prepared to wait, and that we need to take provision. The foolish virgins had lamps, but did not take any oil with them. They were not prepared for the long haul.  The wise virgins did take oil.

All of them fell asleep waiting for the bridegroom, that was not a problem. What was a problem was whether or not they had oil.

The foolish virgins asked the others for oil, but they refused because there was not enough. We do need to help each other, but there is a limit to how much we can do. There are some things that you cannot do for others, there are some things that others cannot do for you. We need to have our own faith, we need to develop our own perseverance. 

The groom came while the foolish virgins were going to get oil. By the time they returned the groom had arrived. They asked to be let in, but the groom denied knowing them.

This is in many ways quite a harsh parable. The wise virgins refuse to lend them oil, then the groom refuses to let them in. It is a warning against thinking that we can get away with anything. We need to be prepared and to take responsibility. We should heed this warning.