NT Framework - Kingdom Offered, Kingdom Refused

The Kingdom is announced and is “at hand” for those who heard the announcement. It was proven by miracles that leave the crowds astonished. And yet the leaders explain away a uniquely messianic sign by calling it satanic, and thus the physical rule of Christ on earth is delayed.

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Transcript

Words, Works, And The Kingdom Offer

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament framework. Today, the full lesson from Jeremy Thomas. Here's a hint of what's to come.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

It was just very straightforward, crisp, clear, orthodox teaching. Then he starts doing miraculous works. You've got to have the words, but you've got to have the works too. And he's doing miracles to authenticate that indeed he is the Messiah.

Praying For The Right Kingdom

SPEAKER_00 0:24

You remember the model prayer where Jesus instructs us to pray that his kingdom come and that his will would be done. And yet, the people that heard that model prayer, heard that instruction, did not do that. They were looking for a kingdom of their own making, to be free from Roman rule, to be set free from tyranny, and to rule themselves. They weren't looking for a change of heart. They weren't looking for spiritual life. They were looking for physical freedom. And so, although they were looking for the kingdom to come, they were looking for the wrong kingdom. And therefore, when Jesus offered it to them, they rejected it. They didn't want a restoration of spiritual life, they wanted physical freedom and prosperity. For in the millennial kingdom it will be perfect. But what are we struggling for now? Are we at all like that generation? Well, in one way we're very different. We will never be under such a curse because we have not rejected. So today, as we look at the ascension of Christ and what it means for our future, consider how this generation responded to the offer of the kingdom. And as we look forward to the kingdom, we should be preparing our hearts to be with Christ there.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Background to the ascension and session, which is really the background to the church. So we have to back up and get a little explanation. Let's turn to Acts chapter 1.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Acts chapter 1. It may take us a couple weeks.

Ascension Preview And Big Questions

Acts 1 And The Return Promise

What Is The Church And Why It Matters

Israel And The Church Compared

From Limited Mission To All Nations

Kingdom Hopes And Acts 2 Shock

Is The Church The Kingdom

Postmillennial And Amillennial Claims

Mapping Matthew’s Turning Points

John The Baptist And The At-Hand Kingdom

SPEAKER_01 2:32

We'll have to see how far we can get today. This was a lot of questions that we have to answer. Acts chapter 1, verses 9 through 11. After the resurrection, the Lord was on the earth for forty days and forty nights, teaching things concerning the kingdom of God, Acts 1 3. And in verse 9, after these things, uh, he was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received him out of their sight, and as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven. So that is one of the central texts on the ascension of Christ. But before we can actually look at the purpose of the ascension and the outworking of it, we have to back up and ask a series of questions. And uh if you track in the gospels, you'll see that these are the most controversial section in scripture is the gospels. This reason is because they're super complicated. It's not a simple section of scripture. There are three major things going on in the in the gospels. We're not going to talk about all three of those things, but you will see as we move through why they're somewhat complicated and why people have such disagreement in the Gospels. Um here's some questions as we move into the book of Acts and the idea of the church, and these are what are going to stimulate us to go back into the Gospels to try to understand the progression in the plan of God at this point. So, what is the nature of the church? Uh, what is our purpose? Once we defined our nature, that will help us understand our purpose. Just like understanding the nature of a human being, who we truly are, as image bearers of God, gives us purpose. We then begin to understand that we are here for Him because we're made in His image. So if you understand the nature of something, whether it's a watch, a person, or anything, you also begin to see the purpose of it. These are related ideas. Another question is: how is the church different from Israel? How is it different from Israel's purpose? Israel's a nation. This is obviously one very clear difference between Israel and the church. The church is not a nation. We're composed of people from all nations. But Israel was a nation, an individual ethnic group in the world. So is there a difference? And is there a difference in our purpose? Why did Jesus say in Matthew 10, 5 through 6, do not go in the way of the Samaritans, do not go to the Gentiles? This is a commission for the 12, right? But then at the end of Matthew, Matthew 28, 19 to 20, he says, Go to all nations, make disciples of all nations. So this seems to be something very different. On one hand, do not go in the way of the Samaritans, do not go to the Gentiles. And now it's go to all nations. Something has radically changed. And most believers can see that Matthew 28 does not seem to align with Matthew chapter 10. So why did things change? Everything in the Bible up to this point, at least beginning in Genesis 12, has been Israel, Israel, Israel, which is probably 70% of the Bible, right? And then suddenly, what happens? Something in Acts 2, this thing called the church. So what is has gone on? What has happened so that things seem to have changed course? That's some of the questions that are forcing us to go back into the Gospels and understand what happened so we can understand what is happening in the book of Acts. So, in the framework, what we've done, this is a series if you're visiting with us, it's called the New Testament Framework. We did Old Testament framework a couple years ago. In the New Testament framework, what we're doing again, just like Old Testament, is taking the major events. And what we've covered in the New Testament so far is the birth of the king. Talk about his incarnation, the virgin birth, these doctrines, right? We talk about the life of the king, where we're going to talk about his temptations, concept of kenosis, and things like that, these complicated doctrines. Because, I mean, Jesus, for all intents and purposes, is the most complicated complicated person or subject that anyone can ever investigate. And then, of course, the death of the king, where we looked at the issue there, which is justice. What is really going on on the cross? Is this just an example? You know, he's laying down his life as an example for his followers to follow. Uh, or is there something much deeper than that that's being dealt with? And there is, of course, it's the nature of God is at stake, and his justice is being uh met in Christ's substitutionary blood atonement work. So we've dealt with the birth, the life, the death, and the resurrection, of course. And there we deal with the doctrine of glorification, which is the resurrection. Not just, we talk about the resurrection body and Christ is the first resurrected from the dead. But when we look at that doctrine, we are reminded that if he's resurrected from the dead, he's the first fruits, then that's a surety of more to follow. So we will also be resurrected. But it's not just the resurrection of man, is it? That there's actually a resurrection or what the Bible calls a regeneration of nature as well. And we looked at that in the Messianic kingdom as well as in the new heavens and new earth. So we developed all these things. The next great event is the ascension and the session of Christ at the right hand of the Father on high, and then you know, we begin to look at the origin of the church. So having come to the ascension, Acts 1, 9 through 11, um, it's strange because he came and um preached the kingdom. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Right? He's making some kind of offer of the kingdom to Israel. And then there's a rejection, and something happened in the wake of all this, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and now he's gone. The king is gone. So John preached this message, right? Uh Jesus preached this message, the twelve preached this message, and of course, uh the nation of Israel rejected their king. Probably the best summary I think of the gospels, just if you want to summarize all four gospels, is a verse that says, He came to his own, and his own received him not. Familiar with that? And you're probably also familiar with uh in the midst of the trials and the crucifixion, the people saying, No, we have no king but Caesar. So there's a Roman background to the crucifixion in that the Jewish leadership were more concerned really with the political implications and their well-being in life than they were about their Messiah. In fact, even when he's on the cross, what do they say? They're saying, well, if you are who you are, just take yourself down off the cross. Because they had a vision or concept of Messiah that he was the one who would conquer Rome. And so what are they saying? They're saying, well, if you are who you really are, obviously you can take yourself off that cross and you can take out the powers of Rome and establish your kingdom on earth, right? That's what they're thinking. But of course, if he hadn't stayed on the cross, then of course the sin problem would still remain. And so he stayed on the cross for you and for me and for everyone in the world, right? To deal with the sin problem. So you you've got these issues in the Gospels, and I think that's a good summary. He came to his own, his own received him not. He's crucified, risen, ascended, and the question is, where did he go at that point? Um, and we know that as Hebrews says, he passed through the heavens, meaning the dwelling places of the angelic host, and he went to a higher place, what we would call the third heaven, and he sat down at the right hand of the Father, right, in the supreme position of privilege in the universe. And he is there right now in his resurrection body, awaiting uh his return. Right? We're awaiting his return. But um what happened the questions are what happened to the kingdom? I mean, it was offered, right? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The concept of something being at hand, in which is the Greek word engizo, okay, in the perfect tense meaning uh perfect tense means past completed action with standing results. Um he had the kingdom was at hand, meaning it was ready to come, it was in a position of standing readiness. What we sometimes is another reference to the concept of immanence. Okay, like something that's just waiting to fall. And so the king was here, right? Jesus is the king. Uh he's got the credentials of the king, as we'll see, he's got the miracles of the king, the words and the works of the king. But the kingdom has not come, it's at hand, it's like ready to come. This is the concept of being at hand or imminent. Um and then they reject their king. And so uh you can't have well, it's a question more maybe than a response, a statement. Can you have a kingdom without a king? Um, I mean, the king can go away, but from his kingdom for you know diplomatic relations, but can you truly have a kingdom without a king? Um then this concept in the book of Acts, suddenly then this church thing begins. So the gospels have been all this stuff about king, kingdom, okay, and all that. And then you come to the book of Acts. And just look, we're here, right? We're in Acts 1. We might look in verse 6. Uh, Acts 1, 6. Jesus has just told him, hey, stay here in Jerusalem, you know, wait for what the Father promised, which is the baptizing work of the Spirit, right? In verse 6, when they'd come together, they were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you're restoring the kingdom to Israel? See, they're still thinking in terms of this offer of the kingdom that had been given during the gospel period, right? And they're wondering, hey, is this it? I mean, you're sending the baptizing work of the Spirit, is that the work that's going to be initiatory to the kingdom? And what does Jesus say in verse 7? It's not for you to know the times of the epics, which the Father has fixed by his own authority. Times are epics. This is coming directly out of Daniel chapter 2, Daniel 2, 20 or so. Um, when you have the vision of the statue, the gold head, the silver and arms and breast, you've got the waist of bronze and the legs of iron and the feet of iron mixed with clay that Nebuchadnezzar saw, right? Charting the four great Gentile kingdoms that would rule, being Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. And um, when those come to completion, those what Jesus called the times of the Gentiles, then you have a fifth kingdom come, and that's the kingdom pictured in Daniel 2 by the stone. And the stone cut out without hands. Is Daniel's, this is what he would see, and this is what Nebuchadnezzar saw. And this stone that's cut out without hands, in other words, it's miraculously in order, miraculous in origin, supernatural. It strikes this statue at the base, and the whole thing obliterates, right? And then this stone grows to fill the whole earth, and it's a picture of the coming kingdom of God. And that's what they're asking here. Is that at this time you're restoring the kingdom to Israel, right? And Jesus says it's not for you to know the times of the epics. That is, the large-scale kingdom changes that bring about the stone kingdom in Daniel chapter 2, which is the kingdom of God on earth. He says it's not for you to know the time when when this will happen, but he says the Father has fixed this by his own authority. So it is a fixed reference point in history that this will actually occur. The kingdom of God will come. He says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses. So something is different, right, from what was going on in the Gospels. In the Gospels, this kingdom thing, and now he's severing the baptizing work of the Spirit from the kingdom, and he's saying something else is going to happen. Stay here in Jerusalem, and then Acts 2 happens, right? The event where you first see uh tongues, which is xenoglossia, foreign languages, not babbling utterances or something like that, pagan tongues. So we've been following this whole story, and um this church begins in Acts 2, and of course they don't really understand exactly everything that's going on. Um it takes some time for them to begin to grasp what was taking place. So the questions become in Acts, the book of Acts become, well, I mean, is the church the kingdom? Or is is the church has it replaced Israel or has the church superseded Israel in the plan of God? And now all the covenants are going to be fulfilled to the church. At least this is the way that all millennialists go and post-millennialism, right? They both go this way. That the church is the kingdom or all the kingdom that there ever will be. And um this can have strong political uh repercussions. For example, um post-millennialism uh in its uh stronger forms is uh very dominion oriented. You know, Christians will take over the world and will Christianize every country on earth and Christians will sit in all the high places of rule, whether they're monarchs or presidents or whatnot, and it will spread the kingdom of God themselves from sea to sea. And there will be a period where the world enters into great righteousness, and then after all of that, Christ will return. This is post-millennial in its more uh strenuous forms. And um so you've got things today like the new apostolic uh revolution movement. Uh this is a post-millennial uh oriented uh thing going on in in Christianity and so forth. Um so you have to be careful because I mean if postmillennialism is true, then yeah, Christianity is gonna basically triumph in the world. It may take a thousand years or more, but anyway, it it will happen. Uh-millennialism is much more pessimistic, right? I mean, it's basically the same thing as post-millennialism, it's just not on steroids. Um, it just thinks basically, you know, you you hardly have any food to eat, and so you're gonna it's just gonna weaken. Christianity will just weaken over time. But they also see the kingdom as now, and that the church is the kingdom. Um Christ just rules through his saints. That's what they would say on earth. So um there are big questions about what happened to the kingdom, right? And Acts 2 becomes very important because we have this thing that begins that seems to be quite different from the kingdom, but we do have to wrestle with these issues. Um I'm gonna go back now and try to answer all these questions that we brought up, which are innumerable. I mean, you could come up with 150 questions that are all on these lines, and just deal with the plan of the Gospels, primarily from Matthew, because it's it's it's basically sequential, except chapters 8 through 10, which are thematic, but the rest of Matthew is basically sequential. Um Matthew 1 through 11, I'm just gonna give you the outline, is gonna be the kingdom offer period in the Gospels. Matthew 12 is gonna be the pivotal chapter, it's where the king is rejected. We'll look at it. Chapter 13 is also pivotable, pivot pivotal, not pivotable. I don't think pivotable is a word, is it? Or does that mean able to be pivoted? I don't know. Um, but chapter 13 is the kingdom is postponed. And we have to deal with postponement language because a lot of theologians hate this. A lot of Christians do not like the idea of postponement because they think that sounds like that sounds like you're saying God's plan got interfered with, and so he had to postpone something till later, till he can bring it about. That's not what we mean, but some people think that's what is meant. So postmo postponement language has to be talked about a little bit. And then Matthew 14 through 28, the kingdom uh isn't a period of preparation, and we'll talk about that. And that's probably as far as we'll get. So let's look at the plan of the Gospels. Uh, Matthew 1 through 11, the kingdom offering. Let's go to Matthew chapter 3, and you can see there was this guy who was the forerunner of the king. He's predicted by Isaiah, Isaiah 40, the one who would come to herald or prepare the way for the king. There is always in the Old Testament the prophet precedes the king. The prophet precedes the king. Remember, all it was the prophets who anointed the kings, right? And the kings were quote-unquote little messiahs. Okay, that's the concept of anointing. When they anointed them, it's the concept of messiahs. It's a word that means to rub, right? And they would take the oil, they would anoint the prospective king, the one who's going to be king. And so the prophet precedes the king. And this is why the prophets were super powerful in the Old Testament, right? Now we have a new prophet come on the scene. They haven't had one for over 400 years during the intertestamental times, right? And John the Baptist is that prophet. In fact, the idea was that maybe he's Elijah, right? Because Elijah is also predicted to come in the very last verses of the Old Testament. Micah 4, 5 and 6. The very last two verses predict uh Elijah's return. And so there's a big question in the Gospels, right? Is John Elijah? You know, you remember all this? And Jesus goes into it, and um he basically says, Hey, if you receive me, then John is Elijah. Well, did they receive him? Then he's not Elijah, and Elijah is still too But it's perspective, it presents it like um John's true identity is contingent on the nation Israel's response. Which is super interesting. God builds contingencies into his plan. We don't have a lot of time to go into contingent prophecies, but they're all over the Old Testament. Now, looking at Matthew 3 1, here we see this one who came to prepare the way. His name is John the Baptist. Well, his name's just John. They called him, his nickname was the Baptizer, not the Baptist. He was not Southern Baptist. He wasn't anything like that, but it's technically the baptizer. They nicknamed him the baptizer because he was doing something very odd. He was baptizing people. You say, that's not odd. We baptize people all the time. Yes, they do. We do, but Israel didn't do that. The type of baptism that they experienced was just a ritual bath. You just walked into what was called a mikveh, which was basically had steps going down into water that was considered pure, a purification ritual. You would walk down into this water and uh you would walk out of the water, and then you had undergone a baptism. But it was a self-baptism. Nobody touched you. In fact, you weren't supposed to touch anybody. The whole point is if you've gone into the bath, you're now purified ritually. And when you walk out of the bath, if somebody touches you, now you're ceremonally unclean again, possibly. Because why? Because they're unclean going in. To get what? To get ritually clean. So they're unclean and you touch them, well, now you're unclean. Okay, so the whole point was not to touch anybody during the baptism. Okay, and these are called mikvas, and they're all over the land of Israel. If you go, you can you'll see them everywhere. Um, so they didn't know about someone baptizing other people. So they said, What's this? Let's let's go out there in the wilderness. This is a weird thing. This guy's baptizing people. So they'd actually make the trek from Jerusalem down to the Jordan River, which is uh quite a ways down. You've got to walk back, don't forget, you've got to walk back uphill, too. Um so they were going out, right? So he's going out, he's preaching verse one in the wilderness of Judea saying, and here's the message repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. There it is, this at-handedness, this concept that the kingdom is about to come, okay, or is in the position or standing position where it can come. So that's his message. And what does the nation of Israel need to do? I mean, who's he preaching to? Gentiles, Syrians, Romans? No. He's preaching to Israelites, right?

SPEAKER_02 24:24

And the message is repent. Meaning what? Have a change of mind, right?

Righteousness Beyond The Pharisees

Jesus Identifies With John’s Message

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Metanoiah, have a change of mind about the type of righteousness that a person needs to enter the kingdom of God. The nation of Israel had to be ready for their king. John is the one who would prepare them. He's preparing the way for the king. When a king would come to a city, just for some historical background, when a king would come to any city, it would be announced in advance that he's coming. Then everybody would do this clean up their lawns, place some flowers outside, and prepare to stand along the way as he made his march into their city. And this was the welcome. This is how they would welcome a king, right? And that's John's role is to prepare the nation to receive their king. So they've got to have a change of mind about the type of righteousness that they need that will be fitting with the Messiah's arrival. So this is what the nation needs to do. And people are coming out and they're getting baptized, you know. And verse 6, if I can read, they're confessing their sins because obviously, you know, they've thought that if we just follow the Pharisees and do whatever the Pharisees say, we'll be fine. But evidently that's not true. And we know that. The Pharisees were not living righteous lives. Jesus will say later, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will not see the kingdom of God, right? Matthew 5.20. So that was not the type of righteousness that you needed. Not a Pharisaic type of righteousness. You needed the Messiah's righteousness. It's the same righteousness that Abraham accessed by faith, right? It says, Abraham believed, Genesis 15, 6, and God credited it to him as righteousness. It's faith credited as righteousness. That's the type of righteousness a person needs. So they're coming out, they're confessing their unrighteousnesses, right? Then the Pharisees and the Sadducees in verse 7, they're coming out, and he says, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? I mean, they're not, he knows they're not there on a legitimate motives. But that's the message. Okay, the kingdom is near, people need to prepare. What was uh, by the way, did Jesus come out and get baptized? Yeah, in uh verse 13, 313. What's going on here? Actually, this is one of the most disputed sections of scripture as well. Like, what's the purpose of Jesus' baptism? Why is he getting baptized? He doesn't have any sins, right? Well, I hope not. If he does, well, we're of all men most to be pitied because we're still in ours. We're in deep trouble. Baptism was an identification. Okay. He was identifying with John and his message. In other words, what Jesus was saying by getting baptized by John is John and I are on the same team. And his message is the one that I also identify with. And what message was that? Well, Jesus tells us in chapter 4, verse 17, because here he is saying it himself. 4 17. From that time Jesus began to preach and say, What? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Is that the same message that John preached? Absolutely. And he's already identified with him in baptism. So these two are in ministry together. Then, of course, they're going to choose the twelve, and the twelve are going to do what? They're going to preach exactly the same message. Jesus is going to teach them how to do that there in 419. And he said to them, Follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. I'll teach you how to attract men. These people knew how to attract fish. I can't attract fish. I have to go with someone who knows where the fish are personally. And then maybe I can get one on the hook that'll stay. But it takes time. You have to know where the fish are. And Jesus obviously is one who knows men and knows how to attract men. He's going to make them fishers of men. So they're all going to carry this same message.

Commission To Israel Only

SPEAKER_02 28:32

Let's go over to chapter 10.

Credentials Of The King: Words And Works

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Here's where he's verse 2, he's just, there's the 12 apostles, right? And he's going to send them out two by two. And you can see there in verse 5, very interesting commission. These 12 Jesus sent out after instructing them. And here's what he instructed them. Do not go in the way of the Gentiles. Do not enter any city of the Samaritans. Does that sound like the Great Commission that we follow in Matthew 28, 19? Does it sound the opposite? Yeah. Something has to happen between this point in Matthew 10 and that point in Matthew 28. Right? I mean, something serious has to happen for the change. Do not. And then verse 6, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach saying what? Kingdom of heaven is at hand. I mean, essentially the same exact message, right? So we're on board with during this period of time, this is what I call the kingdom offer. And the message was to the nation Israel, alone. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The nation needed to have a change of mind about source of righteousness. It's not from doing good works like the Pharisees and the scribes, it's by believing in the Messiah. And so the rest of these chapters here, between Matthew 3 and 11, are where you see the credentials of the king laid down. I mean, is he really the Messiah? If he's the Messiah, he has to have the credentials of the Messiah. Well, the Messiah would have orthodox teaching, his words, and he would have miraculous works. So the words and works would be his credentials. In fact, Dwight Pentecost wrote a book called The Words and Works of Jesus Christ. Well titled, because what it's doing in the Gospels, he's making doing a harmony, teaching a harmony of the gospels in that book, and focusing on his credentials, the Messiah's credentials. What is Matthew 5 through 7? It's a famous section of scripture. It's the most famous sermon in the history of the world. Sermon on the Mount, right? Why is that in Matthew 5, 6, and 7 and not Matthew 28, you know, 5 or something? The reason is because it's it's teaching, it's showing that Jesus has orthodox teaching.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

He's orthodox.

John’s Doubt And Jesus’ Answer

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That's what it's there for. So the people can compare his teaching to the teaching of the Pharisees and say, now wait, which one is true teaching? Oh, what Jesus taught. And the end of that ceremony, or not ceremony, sermon, what does he say? The people, it says they were amazed because Jesus was teaching as one having authority and not as their scribe. There was a contract contrast between the way Jesus taught and as well as what he taught and what the scribes taught. And people saw it. They were, what were they seeing? Oh, this guy is orthodox. Guess what? The Messiah is supposed to be orthodox. Then you also start seeing him do miracles. And this is when he's going around teaching publicly. You know, you see him at the Sea of Galilee, you know, and there's large crowds come and he feeds the 5,000 and things like that. That's this early period in his ministry where he's gaining popularity. He's teaching straightforwardly. There's no parables or anything like that. I mean, the Sermon on the Mount is there's no parables. It's just straightforward teaching, right? No hidden ideas, like what does he mean by that? It was just very straightforward, crisp, clear, orthodox teaching. Then he starts doing miraculous works. You've got to have the words, but you've got to have the works too. And he's doing miracles to authenticate that indeed he is the Messiah. Now, something happens though, because in chapter 11, look at what John, what is happening with John. John, who brought the king, presented the king, forerunner of the king. And while Jesus has gained popularity and so forth, something's not right. Something is not right. And John senses it. Here's John. He's in prison, right? 11 2. Now, when John, while in prison, heard of the works of Christ, meaning his miraculous works, right? He sent word by his disciples and said to him, Are you the expected one, or shall we look for someone else? Now you're all thinking, What? What why do you think he's not the one? John, what's wrong with you? Why are you doubting that Jesus is really the expected one, the Messiah?

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The King of the universe. Real simply, the kingdom hadn't come.

The Long Day: Rising Opposition

Messianic Miracle And Public Astonishment

Blasphemy Against The Spirit Explained

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He did not intervene in the Roman Empire and totally defeat it and establish his kingdom on earth yet. He hadn't done that. And so John is wondering. And Jesus answered in verse 4 and said to them, Go and report to John what you hear, that's the words, the orthodox teaching. And what you see, that's the miraculous works. Right? The words and the works. And here's the works, verse 5, as he quotes from the Old Testament the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at me. So is Jesus the Messiah? Is he the expected one? Well, absolutely. The words and the works prove it. That's what Matthew 1 through 11 is essentially laying out. That argument. But John was not sure because these things weren't happening on his timetable. Like, come on, let's get this. I'm in prison. Can you get me out of here? Destroy the Romans. Get me out of prison. Let's go into the kingdom, see? Now we come to Matthew chapter 12. And this is the second step in the plan of the gospels. The first is the kingdom is being offered, right? And then in chapter 12, what we have is called the informal rejection of the king. The informal, or I just call it the king is rejected. Now there's a several things that happen in this chapter, and this is known as the long day, because there's more information about this one day than any other day except the crucifixion. So it's known as the long day. Let's look at 1122. You know, they're trying to accuse him early on about the Sabbath. Oh, you did this, oh, you did that. He always throws scripture back at them, and they have nothing to say. In verse 14, you can see the Pharisees went out, they conspired against him as to how they might destroy him. Here was the problem. The problem was he was gaining popularity, right? A lot of people were following after him. They're dealing with Rome, Roman rule over them. They wanted to get along with the Romans. They did not want any more control by the Romans. They wanted as much freedom as they could from the Romans. Jesus is causing a stir. If the people go after him, then we're going to have a big problem on our hands. And we don't want an uprising of Rome against us, so we need to get rid of Jesus. And so you can see it's in their minds and their hearts right here, the plot, the conspiracy to destroy him. Now in verse 22, we have a what is known in the Old Testament in Judaism, they had a term for, in Old Testament Judaism, for the miracles that the Messiah would be able to do. I mean, obviously he did a lot of miracles. But there were some miracles in the Gospels that he does that outclass all the others. And these were to be known as messianic miracles. Because, I mean, we know, like uh there were Jewish exorcists and things like that that could cast out demons. Jesus mentions them later in the chapter. So that was a possibility, the thing that they could do, okay, it was well known. But there were some demons that they could not pass could not cast out, the Jewish exorcist. For a Jewish exorcist to cast out a demon, they had to gain, they could, they had to have a discussion. They could talk with the person who was indwelt with the demon. Okay? They could talk with the demon. And that was the only way they could cast the demon out. They had to gain this communication link. The problem with this scene, as you'll see in verse 22, is there's a demon who is indwelling a man and the man is mute. So there cannot be any communication. If you don't understand this Jewish background to this context, it won't make any sense to you why the people respond the way they do. But so with that background, look in verse 22. It says, Then a demon-possessed man, and then it says, What? Who is blind and mute. So we say this guy has three problems. Number one, he's demon-possessed. Number two, he's blind, and number three, he can't speak. Well, I thought that you had to be able to have a communication link with the demon in order to pass uh to cast it out. And so they bring this man to Jesus, and it says he healed him so that the mute man spoke and saw. And verse 23 is their response. All the crowds were what? Yeah, Thalmondzo. They were this Greek word for astonished.

SPEAKER_02 38:13

They were marveling. Why?

SPEAKER_01 38:16

And they were saying, This man cannot be the son of David, can he? What did they pick up from Jesus being able to cast out a demon and heal a man who was both blind and mute? That this guy was the Messiah. Why did they think that? Because only the Messiah would be able to do this type of miracle. The Jewish exorcists couldn't do anything about it.

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So they were like, whoa, this can't be the Messiah. Can it? And of course, they're right. They're dead on.

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I mean, that's why Jesus did the miracle. To show them I'm not just another Jewish exorcist, I am the man. I am the Messiah. And they're seeing it, so the Pharisees are worried. Oh, great, more people are going to go after him, right? Now we're really going to have a problem with Rome. We've got to stop this. So verse 24. But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, No, no, no, that's not the right explanation. He's not the son of David, he's not the Messiah. This man casts out demons only by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.

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This was their attempt to explain away what he had just done, right? Who is the ruler of the demons?

An Evil And Adulterous Generation

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Satan. Okay, so what are they saying? They're saying that Satan had done this miracle through Jesus to cast out this demon, heal his blindness and his muteness. That's what their explanation is. And knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, Any kingdom divided against itself is laid to waste, and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan just cast out Satan in what I just did, then he Satan is divided against himself. How then is his kingdom gonna stand? In other words, see, Jesus just used uh logic. He took their premise and he followed to the logical conclusion and he said, basically, you guys are idiots. That's not a good explanation.

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That's not gonna fly.

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Um now in verse uh 30, 301, 31, this this what they had just done there by attributing to Satan what Jesus had done actually by the Holy Spirit, right? This miracle. By attributing it to Satan, they had done what is called the unpardonable sin, which again, a lot of Christians and people in church history have struggled over what is the unpardonable sin, right? Well, I mean, we're told what it is, it's what just happened here. It's attributing Jesus' miracle to Satan rather than the Holy Spirit. So let's see in verse 31. Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against who? The Spirit shall not be forgiven. Now, did Jesus cast that demon out by the Spirit? Well, what does it say in verse 28? I mean, we're here just to read the Bible and learn it together. What does it say in verse 28? If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you, meaning it's right here on the verge of entering. What is Jesus going to do when he sets up the kingdom? One of the things that's described in Revelation 20 when he sets up the messianic kingdom is who is going to be cast out? Satan. Do you see the connection when Jesus makes a statement like he does in verse 28? And he says, Hey, if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Meaning, can't you see that the work I'm doing by casting out a demon is the work of the king when he comes in his kingdom?

SPEAKER_02 42:09

Of course that's what he's saying.

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But they're rejecting that, and so this has been called in verse 31 the blasphemy against the spirit. And he says it's not going to be forgiven. I mean, it's an unforgivable sin. It's unforgivable. He's not going to ever forgive it. It says in the next verse whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. That one's forgiven. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. So there's one unpardonable sin, right? It's the blasphemy against the Spirit. And the blasphemy against the Spirit is what? It is slandering the Spirit's work by saying that the work that Jesus did of casting out demons and other miracles was the work of Satan and not the Spirit. Now, this was what I call a generational sin. In other words, it could only be committed by one generation. How many people have seen Jesus Christ walking around in our world? I don't know, walking around like he did the Lake of Galilee around Lake Ponderé. And you went up there and you saw Jesus give the Sermon on the Mount, you heard his orthodox words, you went around, you followed him around, you saw him do miracles. Did you see all this? Anyone, anyone, anyone, anyone, anyone in the world? No. Nobody in the world today has ever seen anything like this. So can anybody today see Jesus do a miracle like cast out demons, blind, heal a blind man and a mute man, and then say, You didn't do that by the Holy Spirit, you did that by Satan, the Lord of the flies, the Lord of the dung hill, the Elzebul. No, nobody can do this today because nobody is seeing him do these miracles. So this is a this is a generational sin. You say, Well, yeah, okay, that sounds somewhat convincing, but I need more. Great. Let's look at some more. Um, same chapter. Verse 38. Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, the same day, right? It's a long day. Teacher, we want to see a sign from you. I mean, as if that wasn't enough. All the people already said, This can't be the son of David, can it? We need to see a sign. He answered and said to them, What? An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign. See, that generation was particularly evil and adulterous. I mean, because they were in bed with Satan. That's why they're called adulterous. What did John call them earlier? You brood of vipers. Well, I mean, that kind of smacks of Satan, you know. So it was an evil and adulterous generation. You say, well, yeah, but I need more. Okay, fine. Chapter, uh, same chapter, verse 45. Then it goes and it takes along with seven other spirits, more wicked than itself. They go in and they live there in the last state of that man. He's talking about Israel, becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this what? This evil generation. It's the generation that actually saw the Messiah. I mean, okay, back away for a minute and actually put yourself in the first century in Judea and in the Galilee. And imagine that you're actually tracking with the ministry of this so-called man named Jesus, right? And you're actually going around, you're hearing him teach. It's amazing. You're like, wow, we've never heard anything like this before. Our rabbis and scribes and Pharisees, they all, who are they? This guy's the stuff. And then he's doing miracles like that are un nobody's ever seen anything like this. And then you actually say that when he casts out a demon, that he's doing it by Satan himself. See, do you see how evil you'd have to be to see the king of the universe, the God of all creation, incarnate, and then reject him. That that level of rejection is so intense that Jesus Christ nicknamed that whole generation an evil and adulterous generation. And it's that generation that committed the unpardonable sin. And that sin would not be forgiven in that age, he said, or in the age to come. Meaning, those who in the nation, which was the bulk of the nation, who engaged in this sin and claimed that he did these things by Satan will never ever enter the kingdom of God.

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They're totally rejected. This sin can't be committed today.

Closing And Where To Find Visuals

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I mean, it's not possible. He's not here. It was a particular generational sin. Now that introduces us to the third part of the plan, and that's of the gospels, and that's Matthew 13, where the kingdom that had been in the state of being offered, right? John, Jesus, the 12, do not go in the way of Gentiles, do not go to the Samaritans, right? Then we have the rejection in chapter 12, the unpardonable sin. At this point, we would say, in hindsight at least, we'd say, well, I mean, he's going to the cross. I mean, they're going to reject him, they're going to crucify him. I mean, they're going to they're going to get rid of him. They have to for their own political stability, at least in their mind. Right? They're going to get rid of him.

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Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app. And until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.