This profound passage can unfold a wealth knowledge for every student of God's Word. It puts the four Gospels into an orderly context, magnifies the truth about the Kingdom of Heaven, and unfolds great depth concerning God's Promise of restoring the land given to the Hebrew nation. Above all... Christ is magnified as our promised Messiah!
God bless you all as I look forward to this great teaching!
In order to understand this passage it's necessary to understand what the Kingdom of Heaven is. After all the Kingdom of Heaven is what Jesus is commanding His disciples to preach to the lost sheep if Israel. John the Baptist preached the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus himself preached the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven was promised by God to Israel.
The Kingdom of Heaven was Christ's physical reign on Earth as the Promised Messiah. God's Promised Kingdom of Heaven would begin in Israel where Israel would be restored as promised in Old Testament Prophecy. Christ's reign would be an earthly and visible Kingdom and would begin in Jerusalem. The land that flowed with milk and honey promised of Old would be restored by God. Humanity would be restored morally. The plant life would be restored, the animal life would be restored, and the Garden of Eden would begin in Israel and spread throughout the world by the obedience of Israel to the law of God. Christ would rule on the throne of His father David as promised in Old Testament Prophecy. Any Jew could understand this teaching!
Why did Jesus command his disciples to preach this message to the lost sheep of Israel only? The Kingdom of Heaven was promised by God in the Law of Moses! The Kingdom of Heaven was promised by God in the Psalms! The Kingdom of Heaven was promised by God and given to the Prophets! Gentiles knew absolutely nothing about God's Prophets. Gentiles knew absolutely nothing about the Jewish Priesthood. Gentiles knew absolutely nothing about God's Promises of the Kingdom given to Israel! That's why Christ openly forbid the disciples to preach the Kingdom of Heaven message to the Gentiles. The Kingdom of Heaven was never preached to a Gentile in Jesus' day nor should it be preached to Gentiles today!
Why? First, you rob Israel of God's Old Testament Promise of restoration to the land which by the way has not been fulfilled yet. Second, you're taking the four Gospels out of their proper context given to Israel and applying these wrongly to the Church now. Thirdly, you're causing confusion in the personal study of students of God's Word which has caused many to have a shipwrecked faith years down the road in their Christian walk.
When the Gospels are put into proper context a foundation is laid (for any man) that can be built upon for a lifetime! This foundation will stand throughout life's trials! It will stand because its built by rightly dividing God's Word! There will be no confusion! There will be no frustration! There will be no spiritualization! It will fortify your faith! It will give you something to cling to everyday of your life until the Rapture of the Church or until you die and go the Heaven!
Matt 10:5-8... Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Learn it! Understand it! Rightly divide it! Build upon it! God bless you all! Ask your questions! More to come on this beautiful subject...
Rick, I got so much from this message; we need ot hear it so much. Could you also give examples of what you mean by "entertaining the mind?" Not sure what you are referring to.
ReplyDeleteGod bless you!
Abby Boeke
Imaginary religious concepts based on spiritual principles (from mixing up Bible doctrines such as, spirtualizing the parables, binding and loosing, spiritual warfare, casting out demons, seed faith, sowing and reaping, positve confession, name it and claim it, etc.) These entertaining doctrines are rampant in the religious world and sometimes even mixed with music to make them more enchanting ...without scriptural basis or authority when keeping the Bible in proper context.
ReplyDeleteOpinions of man have added to the Word of God for centuries. Human opinion has taken the authority of God's Word from its original meaning centrally focused on Christ and His supremacy. Man's opinions are found to be religious concerning works and even entertaining for many religious bodies. For instance the Talmudic teachings in the Jewish World, Philosophy in the Grecian world, the New World Translation of the Bible for Jehovah's Witnesses, The book of Mormon, the Koran, etc. All written by men in effort to "add to or change" the authority of God's Holy Scriptures. Many of these teachings are even found to be appealing to the masses.
Emotionalism, dreams, and visions can be God but they can also be out of order and become very entertaining to the religious mind...especially when mixed with music. Music itself can be very entertaining in our modern religious world. As a matter of fact certain large ministries put more emphasis on music than on the preaching of the Gospel message. Some ministries even use music as a means of deliverance from sin, demons, and worldly lusts rather than Christ Himself. This concept is not the Biblical order of things in the New Testament nor does Christ get the glory that He's entitled to! Why? Prideful men get in the picture...and move the authority of Christ out.
Religion, opinions, imaginations, traditions, Emotionalism...all can be found to be somewhat religious and entertaining. Have you ever noticed the snake charmer with the flute?
Another I've found to be very entertaining in the modern religious world is the prosperity message or the spirtual principle that teaches people to give $10.00 with expectation they will get a $100.00 back in return. Like buying a lottery ticket. Society teaches and accepts this concept...so does the religious world. Note I said religious world not the Christian faith.
I'll close for now (and elaborate more on this subject when I have more time) As Brother Lindsey always stated, "We at the Churches on Trial do not teach spiritual principles or money and it multipled, we teach Christ and him crucified". Glory!
We appreciate your questions and comments! The intention of this Blog is to bring clarity to the truth of God's Word and take away confusion caused from religious and/or philosophical teachings...