CHAP. 11
We had the King's court in chap. 10; now in chaps 11, 12, we have the King's rejection. In chap. xi. the rejection of His Galilean ministry, and in chap. 12. His rejection by the religious leaders, and mostly at Jerusalem. In the early part of this Gospel John had said, “Whose fan is in his hand and he will throughly purge his floor.” John did not suppose the Lord's rejection with its consequence, the calling out of a new body, to be the Church, so that we cannot be surprised at the question he puts here. Wonderful prophet as John was, he as much as others needed the Lord's upholding care. Here he is not as he was before. In John 1 it is not “we,” but “I,” and his testimony at the end of John 3 is also very beautiful. But it is sweet to see how the Lord deals with him, and therein is a lesson for all of us. Verse 6 was a little rebuke to John, but how graciously given! He should not have stumbled or been offended, yet how the Lord praised him when the messengers were gone! We should be faithful to a person to his face, but ever ready to stand up justifiably behind his back. “John did no miracle,” we are distinctly told, so when he heard in prison the works of Christ he sent these messengers. Now he shall have testimony not only of that which was generally spread abroad, but of those things again which the two disciples he had sent both heard and saw. After all, the greatest thing was that the poor had the gospel preached to them. They heard that. If we turn to Isai. 35:5, 6, which no doubt John knew yell, we get the features of Messiah's day. “Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped; then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing.” These were to be the signs of Messiah's presence, and that is what they saw. John would know the meaning of the message. We ought never to allow a doubt of the truth. Nothing is more dishonoring to God's word, or to the work of the Lord Jesus; and our concern as Christians should be to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called.
It may appear on the surface as if John were a reed easily shaken, but he was no coward. If Herod feared John, John did not fear Herod. Of course those who go in for luxury will be found in king's palaces; there is nothing like that with John. He had a very distinguished place; he was indeed “more than a prophet,” for he was the subject of prophecy, both by Isaiah and Malachi. And further, he was the immediate forerunner of the Messiah.
I suppose verse 11 has puzzled a good many, and there have been all kinds of twisting to make it fit men's conceptions. You could reckon up many things that would show how the believer now has a greater place than even John. One can understand an O.T. saint reading the promises about the new covenant and with true faith looking forward to them; but now that Messiah had been here and redemption now accomplished, the blessing of the new covenant is not only secured for Israel's day, but a much fuller blessing is already ours. John 7 anticipates the Spirit to be given in the present dispensation after that Jesus was glorified, and Acts 2:33 gives its fulfillment. God is putting honor on His beloved Son in blessing us accordingly. Speaking of the Psalms, if we take up Psa. 32, which is quoted in Rom. 4 we must not think David's experience given there reaches to that of a saint now. The Psalm refers to a particular sin, which David had confessed, and he had the prophet's word that that sin was put away. Now all believers are entitled to the blessing of a purged conscience, to know that sin can never be imputed to them as guilt. This is little understood, but it is the privilege of all believers. If you take the disciples, who were so blessedly placed (for Matt. 13:16, 17 shows that they were in “a superior place” to the O.T. saints who looked forward to all this) the Lord says to them “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth,” showing that when the Holy Ghost came they would be in a far superior place still. Our great fault is that we don't appreciate it.
The kingdom of heaven is the rule of heavens on the earth. The kingdom of God would include the kingdom of heaven. There could not be the kingdom of heaven until the Lord was in heaven. Since His rejection it is in mystery; we shall have that before us in chap. 13. In the millennium the kingdom will be manifested. Now it is “the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ"; then it will be His kingdom and power. “The kingdom of his dear Son” implies that we are brought under the sway of His Son; we are not left to do our own will. This is a present thing for the Christian now, to love and obey Him. Paul woke up to it as soon as converted— “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Heaven is used in different ways in scripture. There is the heaven where the birds fly; the heaven where the stars are; the heaven where God's throne is. In the millennium heaven and earth will be brought together, men will be able to see heaven then.
Ver. 12: “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, etc.” John was cast into prison, and it is generally considered he was kept there 12 months, at any rate his ministry preceded the Lord's. He was sent to prepare the way for the King. What made them fit subjects for the kingdom was repentance. His testimony and that of the Lord was that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. And those who had faith in the Messiah were ready for the kingdom. Naturally there was a lot to hinder them, to break away from that which was Jewish. The Jews were far different from the Gentiles, for they knew they were God's people, and that their religion was of divine origin. So it was not those with very little interest who would get the blessing. This verse shows there must be real earnestness—the violent take it by force.
“For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John” (ver. 13). It is very transitional. It shows clearly you are on the verge of something new. John was the last of the prophets; when we get to the Epistles we get prophets there, but it is not “prophets and apostles,” but “apostles and prophets” —the prophets are after the apostles. So John Baptist finishes the list as far as the O.T. prophets are concerned. If you turn to 1 Cor. 14. it says, “Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.” That has not ceased. Tongues have ceased, as all the sign gifts have, but prophecy remains. We may all covet to prophesy. What the Lord says about the effect of prophesying here (in contrast to speaking with tongues) and what the woman in John 4 says, “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet,” shows that a prophet is one who brings the soul by what he says into the presence of God. In the Epistle to the Ephesians we are said to be “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,” viz., those who were inspired to give us the truth—Mark and Luke, for instance, who were not apostles but prophets, though alike inspired.
“If you will receive it, this is Elias which was for to come” (ver. 14). John came in the spirit and power of Elijah, and it laid the responsibility upon them. They could not say, this cannot be Messiah, because Elijah must come first. They were left without excuse.
“He that hath ears to hear let him hear” (ver. 15). You get this too in the addresses to the seven churches. It makes it intensely individual. They were individually responsible.
That generation (ver. 16) has not passed away. Sometimes the word “generation” is used of those living when the Lord was here, as “who shall declare His generation.” Then it is used of a class of people also, “this generation shall not pass, etc.,” a Christ-rejecting generation. John was too severe for them, and the grace of the Lord they could not understand.
“But Wisdom is justified of her children.” John was right and the Lord was right. John had justified Him and others had too. It is a true test. The dying thief very blessedly justified Him. In Luke 7 the Lord uses the same words (ver. 35), and immediately after you get the woman of the city coming to anoint Him.
At the close of this chapter we have the Lord's loving invitation, and, in the beginning of the chapter which gives that magnificient description of Wisdom (Prov. 8), you get her crying at the gates “Unto you, O men, I call.” But here is a better invitation, “Come unto Me!” and here we get His rejection, the rejection of His Galilean ministry. This fits in with Isa. 49. Most of the Lord's mighty works were done round the sea of Galilee, and He says there, “I have labored in vain, and spent my strength for naught and in vain.” That is just what we get here. So He upbraids the cities because they repented not, He upbraids His own because they believed not. This is the only place where Chorazin is named. Philip, Andrew, and Peter all belonged to Bethsaida. These verses are very solemn; we need to weigh them well. Repentance is real submission of soul to what God says in His word about me. There is a lot of subtle teaching about, about another chance deduced from that we have here. Let it be clear; everything about eternity is settled in this life. Nobody will be judged to see if they are saved or lost; the dead will be judged for their works. Condemned already (John 3:18), they are condemned then.
Why should the Spirit of God in 1 Peter 3:20 refer the believers to whom Peter was writing to that particular class that heard Noah preach? Why are they only singled out? Those to whom Peter wrote were comparatively few only, as in Noah's day there were only eight saved, whereas the many who then perished are here spoken of as now in prison. No, don't think you are wrong because you are few. There must have been a tremendous population on the earth then, yet only eight were saved!
So Tyre and Sidon had been visited in judgment by God; for instance, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed them, but God has not done with them. Temporal judgments are not eternal ones. They will have to be before the Great White Throne. It is then it will be more tolerable for them. They were a dissolute people, but their guilt was not so great, and their punishment will not be so great as those who rejected the testimony of Christ.
It is very solemn and very striking about Sodom. Those who rejected Christ will have severer judgment, severer penalty at the Great White Throne, than even the filthy Sodomites. God alone knows how to apportion the measure of guilt to each. So it will be more tolerable for Sodom itself than for those who rejected Christ. The greatest guilt that can rest on any soul is the rejection of Him.
There are those who take up Luke 16, and say Lazarus was the Gentile, and the rich man the Jew! But then it would teach it were impossible for the Jew to be saved, and that would make God a liar! To the Jew first and also to the Gentile. No. It shows that the believer enters into blessing and the unbeliever into misery, as soon as he departs, though it may be long before they get their resurrection bodies.
Ver. 25. In these verses, 25 to 30, what evidences we have that it is a divine Person! His looking up to the Supreme Who does as He will. His Father is sovereign Lord of heaven and earth; it must be always right if it be good in His sight. And if He was rejected by man “the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand.” “No man knoweth the Son but the Father.” In that sense it will always be true, inscrutable, and incomprehensible. We know Him as Savior, but there is that in His Person which is unfathomable. There is an aspect of the death of Christ that is wholly for God, the burnt offering. Then the meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil, corresponding to Luke 1:35; unleavened wafers anointed
With oil, corresponding to His baptism; but all the frankincense was for God. There was that which God alone could enter into; that is what we get here. But it is not that we don't value it all. It was all necessary, a perfect life that was given up, that which God could accept. But His life is not our righteousness. Paul could glory and rejoice in having a very excellent knowledge of Christ, but although he had that he had an earnest desire to have a better; yet he would never be able to get to the end. The Father alone knows the Son. We have some apprehension but
“The Father, only Thy blest name
Of Son can comprehend”
or take it all in. The Son revealed the Father. “The Father” always carries with it the thought of grace. “The Father judgeth no man.”
We get something very similar when the seventy come back in Luke 10. The Lord could fall back on what the Father did as absolutely perfect. There was an adoring acquiescence in the Lord. It is well to remember that this was the close of His Galilean ministry, but from Isa. 49 we learn that He could fall back on God's approbation and care, “My judgment is with Jehovah and my work with my God.” Then to His Father He speaks of His absolute sovereignty—Who does as He will. He never Himself addresses the Father as Lord, though He calls Him Lord of heaven and earth. But it was a divine person speaking. This almost reminds us of John's language. When He asks He demands; a different word is used about others.
“Wise and prudent,” i.e., self-sufficient ones. “Wise” according to its use in the N.T. would be those who are educated, trained, such as we find among the Greeks; “prudent” would be shrewd. In both cases it implies self-sufficiency. “Babes” not the reasoners but receivers. “Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” It is a principle that is laid down here. All human pride is banned by God, and no flesh can glory in His presence. Man gets the blessing, God the glory, in doing things this way.
“All things are delivered unto me of my Father” (ver. 27). In John 3 we read “The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand''. There is far more than omnipotence in the statement “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth,” —there is authority too. So in John 13 when taking the low place, it was as knowing that the Father had given all things into His hand. That which is deepest in the cross of Christ can only be fathomed by God Himself.
“Mystery” does not of itself necessarily mean something very difficult; its general meaning is something secret; but “the mystery of godliness” (1 Tim. 3:16) can never be fathomed; great it is, “without controversy.”
The Son objectively makes the Father known, the One Who was always without a break in the bosom of the Father. It is not “the Father” who forsook the Son, but God, “My God.” On the cross He was never more than then the Father's delight. “God” forsook Christ, not the Father forsook the Son. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is far sweeter than even our Father. Jews never knew Him in that way. And we Gentiles should never have had this knowledge but by the Son who hath told Him out. There were some whose eyes were opened to behold the moral beauties of Christ, as it says, “We beheld His glory” yet
“Only those His glory saw,
To whom Thou gavest sight.”
The “labor” and “heavy laden” correspond to the “yoke” and the “burden.” Animals draw, in places, with the yoke, but a burden is carried on the back. We must connect this with what precedes. If the Lord here is rejected as the King by the people among which He had been pleased to dwell, yet is there blessing for an even wider circle than Israel— “Come, unto me all ye that labor,” etc. He has rest, blessed be His name, for any who will but come to Him. “I will give you rest.” It is all of grace.
What a blessed thing to be bound up with Him. “Take my yoke” (ver. 29). Naturally, the very opposite to Him, yet if His meekness and lowliness be produced in us, this is how we get it; and the one in whom it is produced will be himself unconscious of it.