June 2011

Matthew Chapter 13 - 2011-06-24

Discussing Matthew chapter 12 last week, I think the principle lesson was the difference between Christ's interpretation of the Law, and that of the Pharisees. The Pharisees would claim to uphold the minute letter of the law to the greatest extremes, and often to the detriment of the common people. The examples set by Christ show that we first must have care for the predicament and needs of our brethren when they are in distress, and then we care for the law. Our brethren are more important than the letter of the law. The law is our ideal, but since we all fail to live up to it, we are grateful to have mercy in Christ. We must treat our brethren with the same mercy which we ourselves expect from Him. Therefore Christ, quoting Hosea, exclaimed that “It is mercy I desire , and not sacrifice”. [I hope to treat of this topic at length, from Paul's epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians, at Christogenea.net on my Open Forum program on Monday.]

This leads to another point which we saw Yahshua make last week, and that is at Matthew 12:31 where He said that “For this reason I say to you, every error and blasphemy shall be remitted for men, but blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be remitted.“ Last week I said, and I will elaborate again here, that there are people who claim to be Christian Identists, who deny the words of Paul where he says that “all Israel shall be saved”, or of Isaiah where he wrote Yahweh's promise that “all the seed of Israel shall be justified, and shall glory”. These same Pharisees, while they want to throw their own Israelite brethren into the lake of fire, they themselves do such things as engage in usury, enrich themselves by trading jewish securities, sell snake oil or engage and enrich beasts in business. They are no better than Judaean Pharisees or Romish Catholics. They need to extract the beams from their own eyes. Here Christ says, and I will quote the King James Version, that “All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.” Salvation is not for “good boys and girls”, but rather for the race of Israel only and entirely. That is the foundation of understanding the promises in Christ, because it is the express purpose behind His ministry and every promise of salvation made by God through the prophets. Yahweh promised to cleanse all of the sin of Israel, and makes no exception. Advocating integration and mingling of Israel with non-Israelites, one blasphemes the Holy Spirit. There is much more to the gospel, and to the responsibilities of the true Israel of God as a people, but we cannot proceed without first having a firm foundation in the racial covenants of our God. All Israel shall indeed be saved, whether the Pharisees and the Catholics like it or not. There shall indeed be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew Chapter 12 - 2011-06-17

XII 1 At that time Yahshua had gone through the planted fields on the Sabbaths, and His students hungered and began to pluck and to eat the grain. 2 Then the Pharisees seeing it said to Him: “Look! Your students do that which is not lawful to do on a Sabbath!” 

This account is paralleled in Mark 2 and Luke 6. The law which enabled the apostles to pick another's grain to feed themselves is found in Deuteronomy 23:24-25: “24 When thou comest into thy neighbour's vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel. 25 When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour's standing corn.”

The law which the Pharisees accused them by must have simply been the law of the Sabbath found at Deuteronomy 5:14: “But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.”

Matthew Chapters 10 and 11 - 2011-06-03

[Scriptures for Charles Giuliani, who was the subject of the pre-program discussion:]

Hebrews 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Last week discussing Matthew chapter 8 where Christ is recorded as having said “11 I say to you that many shall come from east and west and they shall recline with Abraham and Isaak and Jakob in the kingdom of the heavens, 12 but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outermost darkness. And there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” I first quoted Psalm 107 verses 1-3, which I will read again here: “1 O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; 3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.” As we see in Luke, at 1:71, part of the purpose of Christ was to bring us “preservation from our enemies and from the hand of all those who hate us”, just as we see it professed in Psalm 107. I also quoted Psalm 112: “10 The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.” We need to be bought back from the enemy, because it is clearly evident that in our sin, they rule over us! It is they who shall be gnashing their teeth. Therefore I remarked last week that “the 'sons of the kingdom' are those who pretend to have the law and the prophets, those in the seats of authority in Jerusalem, but they are not necessarily Israelites. Actually, many of them are not Israelites, they are usurpers. And that is why they would be put out. This passage should be cross-referenced to Revelation 2:9 and 3:9, which describe those who claim to be Judaeans, but are not, they are of the assembly of the adversary.”