Messiah’s Hypocrites

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Messiah’s Hypocrites

 

        

  The birth of the Messiah was about four-hundred years after the Malachi’s prophecies in B.C. 397.  Zechariah prophesied from B.C. 520 through B.C. 487 to the remnant that had returned to Jerusalem.  Haggai was also a prophet to the returned remnant in B.C. 520. 

Why are these facts important?  These three prophecies were the last times God spoke to the children of Israel until the coming of John the Baptist and the birth of the Messiah.  The substance of these last three messages from God to the faithful remnant of Israel would have been given great consideration.  The faithful remnant would have been very familiar with the substance of these prophesies. 

          Professing believers tend to generate and image of God, or an understanding of what He is going to do, from an inaccurate understanding of Scripture.  The most significant contributors to these misunderstandings are often false teachers.  The second most significant contributor to misunderstanding prophetic events is to misunderstand the chronology of those events.

This was certainly true of the first advent of Jesus.  The Jews almost completely ignored those prophesies that spoke of the “stone the builders rejected” (Psalm 118:22).  This is the text Jesus quoted to “the chief priests and Pharisees” in Matthew 21:42-46.  The statement of Jesus to “the chief priests and Pharisees” is the final straw in their decision to have Jesus killed.  Jesus threaten that the authority of the Kingdom rule would be taken from “the chief priests and Pharisees” and given “to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof” (Matthew 21:43). 

This “nation” would be the new priesthood of all believers from the Church Age BUILT UPON THE FOUNDATION OF THE FAITH WAY IN KING JESUS as the DOOR INTO THE KINGDOM AGE. 

“⁴² Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? ⁴³ Therefore say I unto you {the ‘chief priests and Pharisees,’ vs 45}, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. ⁴⁴ And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. ⁴⁵ And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. ⁴⁶ But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they {the multitude} took him for a prophet {not the Messiah}” (Matthew 21:42-46). 

          It is important to read this portion of Matthew chapter twenty-one because it gives us the immediate context of what happened immediately after Jesus rode into Jerusalem claiming to be the Prophet/Priest/King/Messiah of Israel.  Every Jew would have understood what Jesus was doing as He came riding into Jerusalem on “a colt the foal of an ass” (Matthew 21:5). 

Matthew chapter twenty-one is a very informative and important chapter in understanding the chain of events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus by the priesthood of Israel with a large portion of the Jews consenting because they were deceived by the corrupt priesthood corrupted with a lust for power and prestige.  This is the substance of the chapter. 

          A main emphasis of the prophesies of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi is the failure and pending removal of the Levitical priesthood of Israel from the leadership over Israel.  The chief priests and Pharisees to which Jesus spoke in Matthew 21:42-46 would certainly have been familiar with messages from God that these prophets had given about their pending removal from power of their priesthood. 

The chief priests’ and Pharisees’ great failure in understanding the prophesies of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi was the failure to see themselves as a part of the fulfillment of that prophecy.  Their self-righteousness blinded them from seeing themselves as the problem and enemies of God’s promised redemption offered by grace and received through faith in the Messiah’s death, burial, and resurrection.  They had become so preoccupied with ensuring that the remnant of Israel keep the Law to ensure no future captivity, they could not see themselves still under the Roman captivity prophesied by Daniel 2:31-45.

 

Jesus entered into this deadly nest of hypocritical vipers as recorded in Matthew 21:1-11 knowing full well what they were going to do to Him.  This event is often foolishly called the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem.  The ignorance of God’s people to what was happening made a debacle and farce out of Jesus’ coming to His Temple to be given authority to rule over His chosen people (John 1:11-12).  With their mouths they cried “Hosanna {save now} to the Son of David.”  In their hypocritical ignorance, they were crying out for Jesus to establish the Kingdom and for deliverance from Roman bondage while knowing nothing of their great need for their deliverance from their bondage to sin, death, and condemnation.  Self-righteous people know nothing of their wretchedness in the eyes of God and their offense against His holiness!  How quickly we are willing to create God in our image. 

“¹ And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives {Zechariah 14:4}, then sent Jesus two disciples, ² Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. ³ And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. ⁴ All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, ⁵ Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass {Zechariah 9:9}. ⁶ And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, ⁷ And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. ⁸ And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. ⁹ And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. ¹⁰ And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? ¹¹ And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee” (Matthew 21:1-11).

          Ignorance often keeps people from seeing and perceiving the obvious.  The “multitude” could believe in Jesus as “the prophet.”  They cried out to Him “Hosanna to the Son of David.”  Therefore, they were knowledgeable of these two aspects of the coming of Messiah. 

Where then were they ignorant?  They were ignorant of the suffering Saviour of Psalm twenty-two and Isaiah fifty-three.  They were ignorant of the fact that Jesus had to become their Saviour before He would ever become their King delivering them into the Kingdom.  This reality is greatly different than delivering the Kingdom to them.  The Kingdom is ONLY for the Redeemed.  No one can have the Kingdom until he becomes one of the Redeemed “by grace through faith.”  To be part of Christ’s Kingdom, a person must be “born again” by receiving Jesus as Saviour and Lord before there is any significance to believing Him to be “the prophet” and the heir to David’s throne.  

          The Levites of Israel served God because that was their duty.  They had positions of power and prestige before the children of Israel.  These positions demanded certain practices and ways of life from them.  In most cases, these men served God because it was the only way to guarantee the continuance of their positions of prestige and power over the children of Israel. 

Herein is uncovered the fountain of hypocrisy –serving God to get the personal benefits of that service.  The truth is that a true believer will worship God and serve Him even if he was still going to Hell.  He would worship and serve God because he believes God deserves his worship and service because of Who God is and because he believes he really DESERVES HELL. 

Most people are quick to acknowledge they deserve nothing from God.  It is true that none deserve any grace from God for if we deserve grace, it is no longer grace.  However, few will worship God out of gratitude for grace in not receiving from Him what we all deserve.  We deserve the eternal fires and torments of Hell prepared for Satan and rebellious angels.  

Worship birthed from anything less is ignorant hypocrisy!  We do not want to talk about this because we want to feel good about ourselves.  We want to think we are pretty good people.  The fact is, apart from God’s marvelous grace, we are ALL hateful, wicked, deceitful monsters.  If we try to live one moment apart from God’s supernatural enabling grace, we will find ourselves oozing back into the slime pits of corruption out of which the grace of God dragged us.  Admit it!  Then, and only then, might genuine worship burst forth from your life. 

The Jews of Matthew 21:1-11 should have known from Zechariah 9:9 that the one upon which they looked was King Jesus the Saviour, not just another “prophet.”  The true spirit of loving forgiveness is the desire to deliver a person from your own anger and wrath.  It has been said, “God loves the sinner, but hates his sin.”  What foolish nonsense.  God hates the sinner and his sin and extends to that sinner the most extreme wrath imaginable -the torment of eternal Hell.  Yet, “God is love” (I John 4:8). 

God’s love extends God’s unsearchable grace to the sinner that God hates.  God’s love does not accept sinners as sinners.  God does not say, “I understand.  You are a sinner and you cannot help that you sin, so I forgive you.”  Redemption is God doing what He commands believers to do; “Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you” (Luke 6:27b-28).  Jesus Christ’s death burial, and resurrection mediates the wrath of an angry God and offers the only reconciling solution – the gift of God-kind righteousness imparted to the believer “through faith.”  That is love!

What did Jesus do immediately after the Jews hypocritically proclaim Him to be their prophet and restorer of the throne of David?  He went to claim the Temple they had built for His coming.  The Jews allowed Him to do what is recorded in Matthew 21:12-14 because the multitudes saw Jesus as having the authority of a prophet.  That means, they saw Jesus as having more authority than the “the chief priests and Pharisees.”  However, it is clear from Matthew 21:15-16 that the “the chief priests and Pharisees” did not believe Jesus to be their Messiah. 

“¹² And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, ¹³ And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. ¹⁴ And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. ¹⁵ And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, ¹⁶ And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? ¹⁷ And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there” (Matthew 21:12-17).

After Jesus purged the Temple of the money changers, Matthew 21:17 tells us He left Jerusalem and traveled about two miles to “Bethany.” He probably went to stay in the house of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha who lived in Bethany.  Jesus “lodge there” often.  The next morning Jesus and His disciples returned to Jerusalem to go back to the Temple and teach there.  Before the event of Jesus’ next confrontation of “the chief priests and Pharisees” with Who He is, a short lesson through an exhibition was necessary for the disciples.  The disciples needed to learn a lesson about faith and faithfulness.  Before you face the hypocrisy of the hypocrite, remember to confirm your faith in the faithful One!

“¹⁸ Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. ¹⁹ And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever {Jesus cursed the unproductive fig tree}. And presently {instantly or right away} the fig tree withered away {shriveled or dry up; it died}. ²⁰ And when the disciples saw it, they marveled {why did they marvel?}, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! ²¹ Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done {this miracle was nothing compared to the impact these men were going to have on the world ‘by grace through faith’}. ²² And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matthew 21:18-22).

We really cannot understand what is going on in the events of Matthew chapter twenty-one if we do not review the summary statement regarding it all in John 1:11-13. 

Jesus knew what was going on.  We can be quite sure that His disciples did not have a clue.  Jesus was presenting Himself as the Messiah/King/LORD of Israel.  THAT IS WHO HE IS!  The point of His presentation is His RECEPTION as MESSIAH LORD by the nation of Israel, including “the chief priests.”  We have already seen on two occasions in Matthew 21:11 and 46 that the “multitude” (majority) of the Jews believed Jesus was a prophet.  They did not believe Jesus was Messiah/King/LORD, and these three nomenclatures are synonymous.  If Jesus is going to be received as your Saviour, He must also be received as your LORD.

“¹¹ He came unto his own, and his own received him not. ¹² But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: ¹³ Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:11-13).

The four Gospels present Jesus as the King of the Jews (Matthew), Servant or Prophet (Mark), Man or Priest (Luke), and God or Jehovah incarnate (John).  It is not that each Gospel does not support what the other Gospels teach about Who Jesus is.  It is just that each Gospel writer has his own emphasis.  To deny any one of these four aspects of the character and nature of Jesus is to deny Jesus. 

To believe in Jesus as Messiah is to accept and believe in each of these four aspects of His character and nature with EQUAL VERACITY!

This is the point of Matthew 21:18-21.  Jesus interjects this miracle of the immediate withering of the fig tree upon His cursing it to present Himself as the Sovereign Creator with absolute authority over His creation.  What we do not have in Matthew chapter twenty-one is what John recorded that Matthew does not.  Therefore, reading all the Gospels together is critical to our getting the whole picture. 

“¹³ And whatsoever ye shall ask {the Father} in my name, that will I do {Jesus answers prayers in that He is the executor of God’s will or plan}, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14).

The Name of Jesus is more than a means to get His attention.  To ask in the Name of Jesus is to ask believing in all to which His Name connects.  If Jesus is the Messiah, He is Jehovah, the incarnate Word/Will of God in a human body.  If Jesus is Jehovah, He is the Creator of Heaven, Earth, and all that is therein.  If Jesus is the Creator, He has Sovereign authority (the power of life, death, blessing, and curse) over all that He has created. 

When professing faith in Jesus, understanding of all these connecting links are presumed.  Faith in Jesus is all of this or nothing.  To profess faith in Jesus is to proclaim to believe a cacophony of all that the Bible teaches about Who He is.  In other words, a person cannot just believe in one aspect of Jesus while rejecting ANY other.  To believe in Jesus is to believe in ALL that He is and ALL to which His Name connects Him.

Unbelief is often merely another word for ignorance.  To profess faith in Jesus without understanding to all that the Name Jesus connects is really an empty testimony and empty faith.  Therefore, it is important to understand that “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).  The more you understand of the Word of God’s teaching about Who Jesus is, the more your faith is increased. 

God created a perfect Adam, who was corrupted by Satan’s deception.  Adam became the progenitor of monsters of sin and all-consuming pride and selfishness.  Cain was the first that manifested the monstrous wickedness of which humanity is capable, but not the last.  However, we fail to see that Abel would have been a progenitor of monsters too, just like his daddy.  So are you and so am I!

 

Underneath the sanctifying grace of God in each of our lives, there is a wicked, sinful monster.  That monster is the real boogeyman under our beds and demon hiding in our closet.  That monster we simply call a sin nature is the real threat posed to our children and the influence we have upon the next generation of humanity.  Until we understand this reality, we will live under the deception of our own hypocrisy.  Unless we are willing to give Christ full surrender of our hearts, we WILL procreate spiritual monsters that will be just like we are underneath God’s enabling grace. 

“²³ And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? ²⁴ And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵ The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves {instead of just saying the truth, they start playing politics}, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? ²⁶ But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet. ²⁷ And they answered Jesus, and said {they give a politically correct answer, which is another phrase for side stepping the truth}, We cannot tell {simple translation of what they said: unbelief}. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things” (Matthew 21:23-27).

      Many, like “the chief priests and Pharisees,” fail to see what the Law of God really says in its summary of the Decalogue that we know as the Ten Commandments.  The message of the Law is simple.  All are sinners (Romans 3:23).  The Law says, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20).  The Law says, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). 

“²⁸ But what think ye {Jesus is speaking specifically to the chief priests and Pharisees}? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. ²⁹ He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. ³⁰ And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not {they would not repent of their works way}. ³¹ Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. ³² For John came unto you in the way of righteousness {the faith way, not the works way}, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him {the faith way}: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him {referring to John the Baptist pointing Jews to the faith way in Jesus Christ ‘the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,’ John 1:29}” (Matthew 21:28-32).

The “chief priests and the Pharisees” were looking for entrance into the Kingdom through the “works of the Law.”  They could see no other way because they had blinded themselves to the way of faith. 

They had completely and totally rejected the way of faith.  They believed God had removed the way of faith in the Abrahamic Covenant and replaced it with the way of works in the Mosaic Covenant.  Paul explains this all in great detail in Galatians chapter three.  Those of the works way hated John the Baptist and all the other Baptists who believed in the faith way into the Kingdom.  Those of the works way have always hated and persecuted those of the faith way. 

“¹⁷ And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise” (Galatians 3:17-18).

John the Baptist was the forerunner of Messiah.  He was a prophet, but not thee Prophet spoken of by Moses.  As a prophet of God, John the Baptist spoke with the authority of a prophet when he called the scribes and Pharisees coming to his baptisms “a generation of vipers” (Matthew 3:7).  Jesus exposed them as a “generation of vipers” in Matthew 12:24 and again in Matthew 23:33 adding on numerous occasions in addressing them with the label of “hypocrites.”  A viper has the sting of death in his mouth/bite.  Their propagation of the works way in their false teaching was what made them vipers.  The works way is Satan’s invention and his deception.  However, its way is the way of death.  “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).  The works way seems like it should be the right way, but it can never get a person to the destiny it promises!

“³³ Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard {the Kingdom of Israel promised to Abraham and delivered to the faithful of Israel under Joshua’s leadership}, and hedged it round about {God’s protection}, and digged a winepress in it {God’s provision for blessing}, and built a tower {for God’s stewards to watch over His vineyard}, and let it out to husbandmen {the priesthood of Israel}, and went into a far country {waiting for the harvest}: ³⁴ And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it {not the fruits which was the righteousness of the Law, but the heart fruits of genuine faith and the righteousness birthed through the New Birth; II Corinthians 5:21}. ³⁵ And the husbandmen took his servants {referring to the prophets that called the priests to repent of their works way}, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶ Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. ³⁷ But last of all he sent unto them his son {Jesus the Messiah}, saying, They will reverence my son. ³⁸ But when the husbandmen {those propagating the works way} saw the son {all they saw in the ‘Son’ was opposition to their false works way}, they {plotted His murder to kill the faith way once and for all} said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance {the Kingdom and its subjects of the faith way}. ³⁹ And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. ⁴⁰ When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? ⁴¹ They {the chief priests and Pharisees} say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. ⁴² Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? ⁴³ Therefore say I unto you {the chief priests and Pharisees}, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. ⁴⁴ And whosoever shall fall on this stone {see the fallacy of the works way} shall be broken {and through repentance of the works way come to faith in the faith way in Christ Jesus}: but on whomsoever it shall fall {because they refuse to repent of the works way believe in the faith way}, it will grind him to powder. ⁴⁵ And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them {they understood but refused to believe thereby sealing their destiny of eternal damnation}. ⁴⁶ But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet” (Matthew 21:33-46).

What most people often fail to see in Matthew chapter twenty-one is that because the priesthood of Israel rejected Jesus as Messiah/King/LORD, the Kingdom Age was postponed.  Jesus said; “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).  The Kingdom was within the reach of the Jews if they would simply repent of their works way into the Kingdom and trust in the faith way into Kingdom through faith in Christ’s gift of God-kind righteousness. 

Of what did these Jews need to repent?  They certainly were not the Jews that were immersed in the paganism of old Israel.  These were the Jews that were the descendants of the faithful remnant that had returned to rebuild the Temple and Jerusalem under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah four hundred years earlier.  However, in overemphasizing the works of Law to ensure that Israel not go back into captivity, they made the way into the Kingdom the works way. 

Secondly, they failed to see, or refused to see, the continuum of captivity in the succeeding earthly empires revealed in Daniel 2:31-45.  Repentance of the works way by the nation of Israel was necessary before Jesus would usher in His Superior Kingdom through the faith way.  Therefore, Jesus calls Israel to “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).  There is no room or allowance in the “Kingdom of heaven” for people refusing to repent of the works way. 

“³⁰ What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. ³¹ But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. ³² Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone {faith in Jesus}; ³³ As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed” (Romans 9:30-33).

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Numerous studies and series are available free of charge for local churches at: http://www.disciplemakerministries.org/ 
Dr. Lance Ketchum serves the Lord as a Church Planter, Evangelist/Revivalist. 
He has served the Lord for over 40 years.

IV. The Church and Biblical Zionism

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Zechariah

Chapter Seven

IV. The Church and Biblical Zionism

         

There is much talk about grace these days.  Unfortunately, most of it distorts what the Bible teaches.  Grace is God’s undeserved supernatural enabling to the faithful, yielded believer to live the Christ-life.  Therefore, with that supernatural enabling comes accountability and culpability for its use – “stewards of the manifold grace of God” (I Peter 4:10).  Faithful stewardship of grace results in Kingdom rewards.

“¹⁷ Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. ¹⁸ For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. ¹⁹ Whosoever therefore {application} shall break {luo loo'-o; literally loosen; the idea is to teach a more relaxed, broader, more liberal interpretation} one of these least {in size or importance; i.e.; seemingly insignificant} commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰ For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees {Jesus is referring to the imparted righteous in the indwelling Spirit, or salvation by grace, and the practical righteousness produced through the infilling of the Spirit, or sanctification by grace}, ye shall in no case {double negative in Greek text; not at all or not by any means} enter into the kingdom of heaven {this is not referring to the final eternal state of existence, but is referring to the Kingdom Age because God-kind righteousness is required; i.e., justification ‘by grace through faith’}” (Matthew 5:17-20).

What decisions do we need to make and keep regarding Jesus’ statements about rewards? 

1. Salvation is a gift, but rewards are earned for faithful service in the “work of the ministry.

2. God has not lowered or lessened His standard of righteousness.  In fact, He has redefined His expectations to living His communicable attributes.

3. We have already been given everything we need to live the Christ-life in the Person of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God.

4. The believer will ONLY be rewarded for the “fruit” produced through the supernatural enabling of the Holy Spirit (Grace).

5. We are individual stewards of this supernatural enabling of the Holy Spirit (Grace); meaning we will be held accountable for how we use it and for the “fruit” God desires to produce through our lives.

6. Our positions in the Kingdom Age will be determined by the degree of our faithfulness to the stewardship of Grace.  This is what the parable of the “talents” details in Matthew 25:14-30.  Some will live in glorified bodies throughout the Kingdom Age but live in disgrace and shame because they were irresponsible “stewards of grace.”

7. The believer must decide each day, and each moment of each day, to allow Christ to live through us; completely and totally yielded to doing God’s will in every moment of life to win souls and make disciples to the glory of God.

          Paul’s next reference to an Old Testament prophecy in his statement in Romans 9:27-28 is Isaiah 10:20-23; “²⁷ Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: ²⁸ For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth” (Romans 9:27-28). 

“²⁰ And it shall come to pass in that day {equivalent to the ‘day of the Lord’}, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay {rest/trust/rely} upon him that smote them; but shall stay {rest/trust/rely} upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. ²¹ The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. ²² For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption {the consummation in the judgment of the Gentile nations} decreed shall overflow with righteousness. ²³ For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land” (Isaiah 10:20-23).

          Genuine repentance is the necessary precedent to all true and genuine revival.  Repentance is a change of mind, attitude, and heart about two things:

1. What constitutes sin in the eyes of God?

2. What constitutes holiness in the eyes of God?

          Repentance is the desire to abandon all that constitutes sin in the eyes of God and pursue all that constitutes holiness in the eyes of God.  The degree to which a person has repented is measured by the passion a person has and the effort he exerts to abandon all that constitutes sin in the eyes of God and pursue all that constitutes holiness in the eyes of God.  The person with this passion to abandon all that constitutes sin in the eyes of God and pursue all that constitutes holiness in the eyes of God diligently and passionately searches the Scriptures to know the will of God in the matters of sin and holiness. 

     David speaks of God’s common intimate omniscient knowledge of every aspect of a person’s life in Psalm 139.  He concludes the Psalm by expressing his will to God for the greatest level of intimacy possible; “²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: ²⁴ And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  These words reflect the character of a genuinely repentant heart because the words reflect a genuine desire for change.  The repentant heart is the heart of the genuinely spiritually revived person. 

          Again, a Complimentary Hermeneutic must be applied in understanding Isaiah 10:20-23 and Romans 9:27-28.  Paul is providing new revelation in Romans 9:27-28 regarding the interpretation of Isaiah 10:20-23.  Isaiah 10:21 and 22 says, “the remnant shall return” and “a remnant of them shall return.”  In Romans 9:27 Paul says, “a remnant shall be saved” and applies this to saved Jews and Gentiles of the Church Age. 

     Although there was a great harvest of Jews in the early years of Christianity after the Day of Pentecost recorded in Acts chapter two, there will be another great harvest of Jews during the seven-year Tribulation.  The saved Jews that survive the Tribulation will enter the Kingdom Age in physical bodies to marry and produce children.  The saved Jews that are martyred from the Tribulation will be resurrected and glorified at the second coming of Jesus (Revelation 20:4-6).  These glorified resurrected martyrs will reign with Christ and the church age believers throughout the Kingdom Age as priests of God (Revelation 20:6).

“⁴ And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. ⁵ But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is {completes} the first resurrection. ⁶ Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4-6).

On the Day of Pentecost, a new host of Messengers of Grace were saved, baptized with the Holy Spirit into the “body of Christ,” indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and sent into all the world to preach the wonderful Gospel of Jesus Christ.  This was the formation of a new Priesthood of all believers, “born again” of the Spirit of God, and sent forth as Ambassadors of Jesus Christ, as Ministers of Reconciliation, and given the “words of reconciliation.”

“¹⁷ Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature {Gal. 6:15}: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become {perfect tense} new. ¹⁸ And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us {Church Age believers} to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us {Church Age believers} the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us {Church Age believers} the word of reconciliation. ²⁰ Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: {the following words define the Ambassadorship of all believers “in Christ” and their appeal to salvation “by grace through faith” to the lost of the whole world, not just the Jews} we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God {the Ambassadorship extends beyond helping people understand the Gospel and respond in faith to teaching them to ‘observe’ the teachings of Jesus}. ²¹ For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him {progressive transfiguration to Christlikeness; Romans 12:1-2}” (II Corinthians 5:17-21).

          Because so many professing Christians misunderstand the Biblical continuity within the Abrahamic Covenant, they lack the understanding of the overwhelming nature of the beginning of the transition within the Abrahamic Covenant in the setting aside of the Mosaic Covenant and the beginning of the unfolding (already, not yet) of the New Covenant “in Christ.”  Because many professing Christians do not understand this transition, they do not understand their stewardship within the Age of Grace and exactly for what God will hold Church Age believers accountable. 

          Prior to the Day of Pentecost, the physical descendants of Abraham were God’s chosen people through which the Seed (Messiah; i.e. JEHOVAH incarnate) would be born into humanity (the “last Adam” and the “Firstborn” of the New Genesis). 

“¹⁵ And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, ¹⁶ And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: ¹⁷ That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; ¹⁸ And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice” (Genesis 22:15-18).

          Paul tells us in Galatians 3:16 that the “seed” of Genesis 22:18 does not refer to the many physical descendants of Abraham, but to One Individual; the Christ of God that we know as Jesus.  When we read the Messianic Psalm 72, we should understand that every Jew should have known that the Messiah was the Seed to which God refers in the Abrahamic Covenant.  Paul tells us in very specific words in Galatians 3:16 that this is God’s intent.

“His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed” (Psalm 72:17).

“¹¹ But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. ¹² And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. ¹³ Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: ¹⁴ That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. ¹⁵ Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. ¹⁶ Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made {plural; refers to the Palestinian and Davidic Covenants as part of the Abrahamic Covenant}. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. ¹⁷ And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after {the Abrahamic Covenant}, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise {the Abrahamic Covenant of salvation gifted by grace through faith} of none effect. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance {Kingdom Age promises to national Israel} be of the law, it is no more of promise {gifted by grace through faith}: but God gave it to Abraham by promise {by grace through faith}” (Galatians 3:11-18).

          Essential to our understanding of Romans 11:11-32 is to exactly understand what Romans 11:11 says, “I say then, Have they {national Israel} stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.”  The problem in most English translations lies in the use of the same word “fall” to translate two different Greek words.  The first word translated “fall in the opening question is from the Greek word pipto (pip'-to).  The second word translated “fall” is from the Greek word paraptoma (par-ap'-to-mah).  These two Greek words are not referring to the same thing.  That is why the translation as we read it does not make much sense. 

In the question, “Have they stumbled that they should fall,” the answer is emphatic in the negative; “God forbid.”  It corresponds with the opening question and answer in Romans 11:1, “Hath God cast away his people? God forbid.”  The opening question of Romans 11:11 consents to Israel’s stumble.  The question is, did Israel fall completely and for good[1].  The “God forbid” is Paul’s inspired response to such a foolish notion.  The facts of the existence of both the Palestinian Covenant and the Davidic Covenant would emphatically refute the very idea of such a question. 

The second use of the word “fall” translated from paraptoma (par-ap'-to-mah) could be translated side-slip referring to a lapse or deviation[2] from the right pathway.  A more common term for this would be backsliding.  The text is not referring to the salvation of individuals or even the backsliding of individual Jews.  The text is referring to corporate Israel, or the nation of Israel collectively and primarily as represented in the priesthood of Israel.  The fact that the spiritual condition of the Levitical Priesthood of Israel was thee representation, not merely a representation, of the spiritual condition of the nation of Israel is critical to our understanding of what Paul is saying in Romans chapter eleven. 

“¹ Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. ² By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. ³ Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. ⁴ Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. ⁵ Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother. ⁶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. ⁷ As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame. ⁸ They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity. ⁹ And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings” (Hosea 4:1-9).

“¹³ Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: ¹⁴ Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. ¹⁵ Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? ¹⁶ Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding (Isaiah 29:13-16)?

          The priesthood of Israel’s side-step, referred to by the second use of the word “fall” in Romans 11:11, was the priesthood leading the nation of Israel away from salvation “by grace through faith” to salvation by “works”; i.e., Moralism and Ritualism.  Because of this side-step of the priesthood of Israel, God would call a new priesthood of all believers during the Church Age and test that new priesthood throughout everyone’s lifetime.  God would prove that new priesthood by individual faithfulness to discipleship and the Great Commission with the intent that those proven faithful will be installed (consecrated) over national Israel at the beginning of the Kingdom Age as the new Melchisedecan Priesthood, then ruling with Christ in glorified bodies. 

The criteria for testing and proving of this new Priesthood of all believers are found in two phrases in the Scriptures:  saved “by grace through faith” and “the just {those saved} shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38).  Many get saved “by grace through faith,” but few of those that get saved “live by faith” (the grace-life).  The grace-life is the Christ-life that becomes available to every believer in the indwelling of the believer and is manifested through the filling of the Spirit. 

“¹ O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? ² This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? ³ Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? ⁴ Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. ⁵ He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith” (Galatians 3:1-5)?

          It is to this outcome that the phrase “but rather through their {national Israel’s} fall {side-slip} salvation is come unto the Gentiles {ethnos; foreigners to national Israel and by implication all heathen ethnicities}, for to provoke them to jealousy” refers in Romans 11:11.  Therefore, God has two purposes in this:

1. That this new Priesthood of evangelists could lead both Jews and all other (“whosoever” of Romans 10:13) ethnicities to salvation “by grace through faith” in the “finished” work of redemption in the death, burial, and resurrection/glorification of Jesus Christ.

2. So that the nation of Israel would be provoked to “jealousy” and repent, turning to faith in Jesus as the Christ themselves one day.  This will happen during the last half of the Tribulation through the miraculous witnessing of the two witnesses and the 144,000 sealed Jews who all will preach Jesus as the Messiah and redemption “by grace through faith” in Him. 

          This is all important in the sense that, during the Church Age, national Israel is set aside and exists in the very place to which they have slipped.  Although still God’s chosen people, they presently are viewed by God as common sinners like everyone else in the world and need to get saved the same way any Gentile needs to be saved. 

“⁶ And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. ⁷ And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. ⁸ And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; ⁹ And put no difference between us {Jews} and them {Gentiles}, purifying their {Gentiles’} hearts by faith” (Acts 15:6-9).

“¹⁹ Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. ²⁰ Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. ²¹ But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; ²² Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: ²³ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; ²⁴ Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: ²⁵ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; ²⁶ To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. ²⁷ Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. ²⁸ Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. ²⁹ Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: ³⁰ Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. ³¹ Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law” (Romans 3:19-31).

“¹² For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. ¹³ For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:12-13).

          From this contextual continuity, we can transition into the statement of Romans 11:12, “Now if the fall {paraptoma; same as the second use of “fall” in verse 11} of them {national Israel} be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them {national Israel} the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their {national Israel’s} fullness {referring to the restoration and salvation of national Israel during the Tribulation time}?” 

When the priesthood of national Israel side-slipped away from the pathway, or the faith-way, of salvation and the blessings God’s, the riches of God’s grace were extended into every ethnicity in the world through the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by those sent into the world through the Great Commission. 

The “riches of the Gentiles” does not refer to material wealth or material blessings.  The phrase refers to the “riches of grace” in the new Priesthood of all believers of the Church Age.  This corporate election is the substance of the epistle to the Ephesians. 

Zionism means Jesus will physically rule over a literal worldwide Israeli Empire from Jerusalem during the Kingdom Age.  Jesus will share His rule with faithful believers from throughout the Church Age.  Church Age believers will constitute a new Melchizedecan priesthood under their Great High Priest Jesus. 

The metaphor of Jesus as the Bridegroom and the “church of the firstborn” as His Bride is integral to our understanding of the Kingdom relationship of Christ to His Church.  The espoused Bride becomes the wife of the Bridegroom when the Bridegroom brings the Bride home to His Kingdom.  The “marriage supper of the Lamb” takes place in Heaven during the seven years of Tribulation on Earth.  Obviously, if the “marriage supper of the Lamb” takes place in Heaven before the Bridegroom brings His Bride to His Kingdom to reign with Him, the Bride must be in Heaven for the “marriage supper of the Lamb.”

[1] A.T. Robertson’s Word Pictures, Romans 11:1, SwordSearcher Software 4.8

[2] Strong’s Greek Dictionary, SwordSearcher software 4.8

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Numerous studies and series are available free of charge for local churches at: http://www.disciplemakerministries.org/ 
Dr. Lance Ketchum serves the Lord as a Church Planter, Evangelist/Revivalist. 
He has served the Lord for over 40 years.