Matthew 10:27,28 - Do not be afraid of those who kill the body

10:27

These verses 27-30 give a very important lesson. We have just been told not to be afraid, even though we are in a dangerous situation. Now we are told (obviously, it was the disciples who were told, but the principles apply to all of us) to make known what Jesus tells us in private. God reveals things to us, this is primarily through making us aware of His written word, and opening our minds to understand it, to have “eyes that see and ears that listen”. This is made known to us in private, but we are to proclaim it in the open. 

10:28

But what about the fear? What about the threats? What about the real persecution? We are not to be put off by this. Notice that Jesus does not diminish what the opposition can do. They can destroy the body, and there are many instances of this happening, throughout history, and throughout the world today. But we are to have an eternal perspective. They cannot kill the soul. Instead we are to have a greater fear of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell. See the way in which Jesus is “encouraging” His disciples. Again there is none of the “people will think you are really nice and then see the truth of the gospel” stuff.

Jeremiah 22:24-30 - Hear the word of the Lord!

22:24-27

The signet ring was a sign of authority, and the actions talked about here represent the total rejection of Jehoiachin by the Lord. The practical outworking of this would be the handing over of Jehoiachin to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. This was the person Jehoiachin feared, for his life was in danger. He and his mother were “hurled” into exile in Babylon, and he would never return. There is a very clear message from the whole of Scripture, and that is that God is quite capable of rejecting people.He cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden. He rejected Saul, and Esau. He has rejected Judah. If ever we think “God loves me, He will never do anything like this” we are on very shaky ground.

22:28-30

These poetic verses are a kind of lament. A terrible thing is going to happen to Jehoiachin and his family, as spoken of in v28. V29 is the key. “Hear the word of the Lord”. Judah refused to hear the word of the Lord, nor to pay any attention to it. Some might say or think “God should not do this”, the correct response is “man should not reject God”. If we reject God and His ways we should not be surprised if this has dire consequences.

Matthew 10:24-26 - So do not be afraid of them

10:24,25

Jesus states clearly here that part of our relationship to Him is as students to a teacher, and servants to a master. We always need to keep in mind that any aspect of our relationship to Jesus is just part of that relationship. So Jesus is our teacher, our master, our friend, our brother. But if we focus only on one of these we will have a skewed picture of that relationship. So if we just see Jesus as our friend we are missing it, He is also our Lord. So if Jesus was called Beelzebub (a pagan deity), then the disciples should not be surprised if they are similarly accused. In Aramaic there is also a word play here, for Beelzebub literally means “master of the house”.

10:26

Having given all these serious warnings about the nature of the mission He has sent them on, Jesus draws an interesting conclusion: “So do not be afraid of them”. Jesus has not given these severe warnings to scare us, but to make us aware of the nature of the battle, to prepare us. Contrast how Jesus prepared His disciples for mission, and how we in our churches today often prepare people for evangelism! It is completely different, and maybe that is part of the reason why we are so ineffective. Jesus then gives the reason why we should not be afraid. It is because everything that is hidden will be made known. Persecutors act as if they have all the power and authority, and in the immediate context it may seem to be true. But there will be a day when all will answer to the Judge, and the Judge knows and sees all things. So we must remain faithful to Christ.

Jeremiah 22:20-23 - But you said "I will not listen"

22:20,21

Lebanon, Bashan and Abarim are mountainous regions. The whole nation was to hear the message. Judah thought she could make herself secure by alliances with various nations, she felt secure. But God had warned her against declaring “peace, peace” when there was no peace. When a nation is in rebellion against God there is no peace. A nation or a people may deceive themselves for a while and feel ok, but in the end it will do no good. Likewise, for the West we will find no peace as long as we turn away from God. Judah would see all her allies defeated, every escape route a failure. And this was not a one off, but had been her way since childhood. 

22:22,23

The wind would drive all her allies and shepherds away. Events would arise that would prove them all to be utterly useless. At that point there would be no escaping facing up to the reality of her wickedness. “Lebanon” in v23 actually refers to the palace in Jerusalem which was made of cedars of Lebanon. She gloried in her wealth, but would soon come to nothing and would wail in agony.

Matthew 10:22,23 - Everyone will hate you because of me

10:22

“Everyone will hate you because of me”. Now we do need to appreciate the hyperbole here. Jesus does not mean that literally everyone would hate us, for that would mean we were the only Christian left in the world! But He does mean that there will be times when people from many sectors of society do hate us. We do need to take this seriously. Christians in many part of the world today face very serious persecution from governments and from society in general. In the West countries were roughly based on Christian values, now despise Christian values, especially when it comes to sexual morality. So what are we to do? It is definitely not to along with the flow of society, which sadly is the so-called wisdom of many parts of the church! We are to stand firm to the end. We need to listen to Jesus’ advice.

10:23

Standing firm does not always mean staying in the place where persecution is happening. Sometimes it means fleeing to another place. This is a quite Biblical practice. “You will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes”. This is a difficult phrase, for which no one seems to have a really satisfactory explanation. It is also preceded by “truly I say to you”, so Jesus meant it to be taken seriously. Some take it as referring to the second coming, but that seems a bit of a stretch, others take it as referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

Jeremiah 22:15-19 - Your heart is set on dishonest gain

22:15-17

These verse point out the difference between what a real king is like, and what an imitation of a king is like. The former focuses on doing what is right and just, the latter focuses on the trappings of being a king. When a king focuses on what matters to God he will have all he needs and more. Things will go well with him as he defends the needs of the poor. This is consistent with Jesus’ teaching when He said “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you” (Matt 6:33), and Jesus taught about true leaders and truly great people being those who served others.

Conversely, the recent rulers of Judah had eyes set only on dishonest gain, on feathering their own nest.  And they were prepared to shed innocent blood in order to get that and were quite happy to use oppression and extortion.

The immediate comparison is between Jehoiakim and Josiah. 

22:18,19

People still mourned for Josiah, for he had been a good king, one who sought to restore righteousness to Judah. Jehoiakim was far from being a good king, and he would not be remembered, certainly not with any fondness nor admiration. Instead the people would be glad when he was gone. He would have the “burial of a donkey” rather than the burial of a king.

Matthew 10:19-21 - When they arrest you, do not worry

10:19,20

We continue with the theme of the disciples being God’s witnesses. If we were to appear before some powerful leader, even for a good reason, we would wonder what we would say. If we were to be hauled up on some criminal charge we would worry all the more. Jesus tells them, and us, not to worry. For we are not there on our behalf, but on God’s behalf, and the Holy Spirit will give us the words to say. We can expect supernatural help. Needless to say, this promise here has nothing at all to do with normal preaching! We are God’s witnesses and we are involved in His work. This is the perspective that we need to have, but one that our human nature will work against.

10:21

There is absolutely no sugar-coating of the life of an apostle or disciple! Brother will betray brother. Parents will betray children, and children their parents. And this will be done even involving death. Our relationship to Christ, and our relationship to Christian brothers and sisters is more important than family relationships. Now we need to fully understand this and take it on board, but we also need to properly understand it. Jesus is not saying that every family relationship will break down, but that some will go the way He is describing here. Moreover, we must observe the commandment to honour our father and mother. But if we are betrayed by a close family member it will be exceedingly painful, but nothing out of the ordinary is happening.