Matthew 22

Jesus again spake another parable. This is the last week of Jesus’ life and He addresses the most important things in life: obedience, the judgment and God’s claim to obedience because of the amount of truth bestowed upon Israel. In this parable, Jesus shares once again how important it is to respond. This parable also has a similarity in Luke 14:15-24

 

There was a certain king who made a marriage for his son. The king sent servants to call people to the wedding, but they would not come. The call to the marriage is the union of humanity with divinity Ephesians 5:31-32; Revelation 19:7-8; 2 Peter 1:3-4 we are called to be partakers of divinity through the precious promises that are in God’s word to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. The king sent forth servants to call all to the wedding and people would not come. So he sent more servants saying that dinner is prepared and my oxen and fatlings are killed and all things are ready for the wedding, please come to the marriage.

 

People didn’t take it serious and kept doing their own thing. One went to farm and another to merchandise. Some people took the servants that the king sent and treated them wrong and even slew them. When the king heard it he was not pleased and sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers and burnt up their city.

 

But another call was made but to the highways and ask people to come and people did come, both good and bad and the wedding was packed with guest. Before the supper the king came in to see the guest and he saw a man which didn’t have a wedding garment on and he spoke with him and said "Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?" and the man was speechless. So the king had the man tied up hand and foot and he was taken away and cast into outer darkness where they will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many were called, but few are chosen. 

 

This parable represents God’s call to come to heaven and be with Him for eternity. But we have to respond and come to the marriage. God sends prophets and messengers to come to Him and receive His son. This was to Jerusalem. This wedding is for His Son Jesus Christ. All things are ready is Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, so we can come to the marriage. But people still didn’t respond and went their way. After a while it got pretty bad, because the God sent more prophets and messengers and they killed them, so the Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem. But the call was also to the Gentiles or others since the people of Jerusalem refused. 

 

So people did come and the gospel brought both good and bad into the wedding. The distinct people of God is not as peculiar and separate. The boundaries of christianity and the world are hardly seen. The church is being converted to the world COL 315.3. 

 

 Christ had made provision for everyone to receive His righteousness, but we have to put it on and cooperate. So the judgment or the investigative judgment will determined who is ready for the marriage supper. The wedding is before the supper, this is why the king comes in to see the guest or found out who is for Christ and who is not. So God will see who reflect Christ and He found a man who did not prepare and put on the righteousness of Christ and when asked about it, that man was speechless and will be cast into outer darkness. We must accept the garments of salvation.

 

How do we get this robe of Christ’s righteousness? 

 

In heaven it is said by the ministering angels: The ministry which we have been commissioned to perform we have done. We pressed back the army of evil angels. We sent brightness and light into the souls of men, quickening their memory of the love of God expressed in Jesus. We attracted their eyes to the cross of Christ. Their hearts were deeply moved by a sense of the sin that crucified the Son of God. They were convicted. They saw the steps to be taken in conversion; they felt the power of the gospel; their hearts were made tender as they saw the sweetness of the love of God. They beheld the beauty of the character of Christ. But with the many it was all in vain. They would not surrender their own habits and character. They would not put off the garments of earth in order to be clothed with the robe of heaven. Their hearts were given to covetousness. They loved the associations of the world more than they loved their God. COL 318.1

 

You believe, you take a step according to that belief. 

 

15-22 What happens next shows an example of motive and what prompted the Pharisees and Herodians to ask Jesus a question. The Pharisees took counsel on how will they entangle Jesus in His words. Their motive was wrong and they even got together with the Herodians so they can figure out a way to report Jesus. They start off with flattery and enticing words by saying

 

 "Master, we know that thou art true and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man; for thou regardest not the person of men." 

 

Here we see what they are saying is true, but their motive behind it is wrong. In Luke version, it says they wanted to appear like just men. The question was about paying tribute to Cesar or not. The Pharisees hated the Roman rule, but here we see them with the Herodians. The Herodians were of Herod, but now because of Jesus, they come together to try to trap Him. Jesus perceived (understand; know) their wickedness, in other words, He recognize their motive and says, "Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?" 

 

Jesus ask for the tribute money, this tells you He didn’t carry money with Him. It says they brought unto him a penny. The question was asked "Whose is this image and superscription?" they responded and said Cesar’s, Jesus said give to Cesar the things which are Cesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. Jesus still recognize government and also above anything God’s government. If the Jewish nation would have rendered to God they would not have been under the Roman rule. 

 

When they heard this simple answer, they marveled and left. Amazing!

 

"The Pharisees were rigid adherents to tradition. They were exact in outward ceremonies, diligent in washings, fastings, and long prayers, and ostentatious in almsgiving. But Christ declared that they made void the law of God by teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. As a class they were bigoted and hypocritical; yet among them were persons of genuine piety, who accepted Christ's teachings and became His disciples. DA 603.1"

 

23-33 After the Pharisees and Herodians left, the Sadducees also had questions for Jesus. Their questions was regarding the resurrection. In Acts 23:8, the Sadducees don’t believe in the resurrection, so why are they asking Jesus about the resurrection if they don’t believe in it. Once again, the motive of why they are doing it is wrong. Notice, Jesus doesn’t say you don’t even believe in the resurrection, why are you asking me this question. The devil doesn’t care how he traps you. He will use any means necessary to ensnare you. The devil knows there is a resurrection because he disputed with Michael the body of Moses Jude 1:9.  Jesus responds by saying, you are in error and then He says, you don’t know the scriptures and the power of God. Our motives are so wicked when we are set in doing wrong. Even when we read the Bible, we twist it and allow our own thinking and reasoning to be put above God.

 

Where did Jesus learn and understand the resurrection? The old testament. They didn’t have the new testament yet. Then Jesus gets specific into the resurrection by saying that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Even though Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were dead, they will be alive. God call things which are not as though they be Romans 4:17. 

 

God counts the things that are not as though they were. He sees the end from the beginning, and beholds the result of His work as though it were now accomplished. The precious dead, from Adam down to the last saint who dies, will hear the voice of the Son of God, and will come forth from the grave to immortal life. God will be their God, and they shall be His people. There will be a close and tender relationship between God and the risen saints. This condition, which is anticipated in His purpose, He beholds as if it were already existing. The dead live unto Him. DA 606.1

 

The old testament does speak of a resurrection, in Psalm 17:15; 16:10-11; 49:14-15; 85:6; Job 14:10-14; 19:25-27;  Isaiah 26:19; 25:8-9; Numbers 24:17; 23:10; Daniel 12:2; Ezekiel 37:12-14; Hosea 6:2; 14:7; Zechariah 3:7 the Lord will give us places to walk among these that stand by. Who are the these that stand by? Zechariah 6:2, 5 they are chariots and chariots are angels Psalm 68:17; RC 168.4

 

God of Abraham - Genesis 12:7; 15:5-7, 18 ; 22:16-18; 26:5

God of Isaac - Genesis 25:11; 26:2-6, 12, 24, 29

God of Jacob - 28:1-4, 13-15; 27: 6-8, 11-13 Rebekah caused Jacob to obey her voice. 28:1-5; 20-22; 31:3, 13; 32:9-12; 35:1-3, 9-12

 

The blessing is obeying the voice of God. When you obey God’s voice when living, you will obey God’s voice when it’s time to be resurrected at the first resurrection. God will resurrect the wicked at the end of the millennium, but they won’t know it was Jesus that called they forth because Satan will present himself like he was the one that brought them back to life. 

 

34-40 After Jesus answered that question for the Sadducees, the Pharisees heard that they were put to silence and they both got together and one of them which was a lawyer asked Jesus a question about the law, tempting him as well. He said, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus answered and said Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Jesus adds, this is the first and great commandment. The second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

 

The Pharisees exalted the first four precepts of the commandments, which is why they failed so miserably towards others. They had no practical godliness. They still didn’t love God anyway for exalting the first four. Jesus was charged with exalting the last six of the commandments above the first four. Which is why this was a question to ask Jesus.

 

Jesus answered his question by quoting from Deut 6:4-5. An example of this is found in 2 Kings 23:23-25 which is the story of Josiah and this is the first tablet of the commandments. The second Jesus said is like unto the first, thy shalt love thy neighbour as thy self. Which is quoted from Leviticus 19:18. 

 

To love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind is the first and great commandment and this is the first four commandments in the law, but the second, which is the last six is a outflow of the first. If you love God, you will also love others because loving God will result in loving your neighbour automatically.

 

The first four of the Ten Commandments are summed up in the one great precept, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." The last six are included in the other, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Both these commandments are an expression of the principle of love. The first cannot be kept and the second broken, nor can the second be kept while the first is broken. When God has His rightful place on the throne of the heart, the right place will be given to our neighbor. We shall love him as ourselves. And only as we love God supremely is it possible to love our neighbor impartially. DA 607.2

 

Why these three or four parts:

Heart - thoughts & feelings; Matthew 15:19; Hebrews 4:12; Psalm 139:23; Genesis 6:5

Soul - life; Psalm 26:9; Job 7:15; Job 33:18; Psalm 7:5; Psalm 66:9; Psalm 78:50; Psalm 143:3

Mind - Spirit; 1 Corinthians 2:11-16 no knows the things of a man except the spirit of man which is in him, so only the Holy Spirit knows the things of God. When we receive the spirit which is of God we receive freely the things we need to know of God, which the Holy Ghost teacheth us. As a result of being instructed by the Holy Spirit and receiving that instruction we  have the mind of Christ. Ephesians 4:23; Romans 12;2; Daniel 2:3, 28-30; Job 32:8; Ecc 3:21

Strength in the book of Mark - Ecclesiastes 9:10

 

God has claims upon every power of our being. His service demands the action of the whole man—all the heart, all the soul, all the strength, and all the mind. How to render this complete service to God is the only subject of any value in this life.—Manuscript 38a, April 1, 1905,

 

Those who would be worshipers of the true God must sacrifice every idol. Jesus said to the lawyer, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment." Matthew 22:37, 38. The first four precepts of the Decalogue allow no separation of affections from God. Nor must anything share our supreme delight in Him. We cannot advance in Christian experience until we put away everything that separates us from God. CT 329.2

 

FLB 220; 1T289

 

The bible is the truth and it can also read the innermost being of a person (Heb 4:12) which includes the heart, soul, and mind. 

 

41-46 The Pharisees came together and Jesus asked them a question. After all those questions that they asked Jesus and He answered them. Jesus had only one question, which is a very important one or a bottom line question. It boils down to believing and accepting Christ as personal Saviour.  The question was "What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?"  they said the Son of David. Jesus then says how then did David in spirit call him Lord by saying "The LORD said unto my Lord Sit thou on my right hand, till I made thine enemies thy footstool?" If David call him Lord how is he his son? 

 

The title the Son of David was a title given regarding the Messiah. Jesus asked this question to see if the Pharisees would recognize Jesus as such, but they did not want to believe. Others have called Jesus the Son of David (Matthew 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30; 21:9) and it was also prophesied in the book of Jeremiah 23:5; 30:5. The Pharisees were baffled and couldn’t answer a word, so they didn’t ask anymore questions.