[Live Broadcast from Medan]
Peace and grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Matthew 28 refers to shekinah glory or the light of glory. There is glory light behind the experience of death or cross.
Matthew 28 consists of three parts as follows.
We are learning the second part, namely the spread of the darkness.
Matthew 28:11-15
28:11. Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened.
28:12 When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
28:13 saying, "Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’
28:14 "And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure."
28:15 So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
The spread of the darkness is the spread of the false news or testimony that rejects the death and resurrection of Jesus.
The spread of the darkness or false teaching is encouraged by these two powers.
We will learn the first part, namely the spirit of selling-buying.
Matthew 21:12-14
21:12. Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
21:13 And He said to them, "It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’"
21:14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.
[verse 12-13] The spirit of selling and buying makes the church of God become marketplace where all matters are cheap and free as well as the den of thieves.
[verse 14] The spirit of selling and buying makes the church of God become blind and lame or have spiritual defect. In such condition, the church will be left and perish when Jesus comes a second time.
The meaning and cause of the spiritual blindness are as follows.
Thus, being blind means rejecting the Word (without the moon), Holy Spirit (without the stars), and the love of God (without the sun). It happens because of the hardness of heart.
The consequence is as follows.
It there is no help for the blind, such life will be cast into the sea of fire and brimstone.
The solution is eating the bread broken on the fourteenth day.
Acts 27:22, 33-36
27:22 "And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.
27:33 And as day was about to dawn, Paul implored them all to take food, saying, "Today is the fourteenth dayyou have waited and continued without food, and eaten nothing.
27:34 "Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival, since not a hair will fall from the head of any of you."
27:35 And when he had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat.
27:36 Then they were all encouraged, and also took food themselves.
It means the Passover.
Exodus 12:5-7
12:5 'Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
12:6 'Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth dayof the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.
12:7 'And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houseswhere they eat it.
Now it means eating the bread of the teaching Word and Holy Communion in Bible Study Service. In addition, the blood is put on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses, meaning the blood of Jesus is put on the door of our heart to sanctify our heart and mind.
The meaning of the hard heart is as follows.
The blood is put on the hard heart until it is meek, able to believe in God, and peaceful. In such condition, the heart is strong and of good courage.
Acts 27:35-36
27:35 And when he had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat.
27:36 Then they were all encouraged, and also took food themselves.
Being strong and of good courage means holding fast to the true teaching Word whatever risk may come. We only see the Lord.
Psalm 16:8
16:8. I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
The result of being strong and of good courage is as follows.
God blesses you.
Peace and grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Matthew 28 refers to shekinah glory or the light of glory. There is glory light behind the experience of death or cross.
Matthew 28 consists of three parts as follows.
- Matthew 28:1-10 is about the resurrection of Jesus or renewal.
The glory light shines the dark heart to become meek, so there is renewal from carnal man to spiritual one. - Matthew 28:11-15 is about the lie of the council or the spread of the darkness.
- Matthew 28:16-20 is about the commandment to preach the Gospel or the spread of the light.
We are learning the second part, namely the spread of the darkness.
Matthew 28:11-15
28:11. Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened.
28:12 When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
28:13 saying, "Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’
28:14 "And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure."
28:15 So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
The spread of the darkness is the spread of the false news or testimony that rejects the death and resurrection of Jesus.
The spread of the darkness or false teaching is encouraged by these two powers.
- The power of money or mammon, namely the spirit of selling-buying. It is same as the spirit of antichrist.
- The power of lying spirit or the spirit of false prophet.
We will learn the first part, namely the spirit of selling-buying.
Matthew 21:12-14
21:12. Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
21:13 And He said to them, "It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’"
21:14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.
[verse 12-13] The spirit of selling and buying makes the church of God become marketplace where all matters are cheap and free as well as the den of thieves.
[verse 14] The spirit of selling and buying makes the church of God become blind and lame or have spiritual defect. In such condition, the church will be left and perish when Jesus comes a second time.
The meaning and cause of the spiritual blindness are as follows.
- Not being able to see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ or the true teaching Word. It means not understanding, even rejecting the true teaching Word.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4
4:3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
Consequently, one cannot see Jesus as the Son of God. It means there is no redemption or deliverance from sins but one lives in sins and enjoys them up to the peak, namely sins concerning eating-drinking and marrying-being given in marriage. In such condition, there is no moon under the feet of the Bride of God.
Why does the blindness happen? Because of the god of this age.
Moses goes up on the Mount Sinai to receive two things, namely two tablets of stone, referring to Bride Tidings, and tabernacle, referring to tabernacle teaching, while the house of Israel is worshiping the idol and rejecting Moses. The idol is the golden calf, referring to the idol of mammon or money and the hardness of heart.
Exodus 32:9
32:9 And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people!
The golden calf develops from one to two.
1 Kings 12:28
12:28 Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!"
2 Kings 10:28-29
10:28 Thus Jehu destroyed Baal from Israel.
10:29 However Jehu did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin, that is, from the golden calvesthat were at Bethel and Dan.
It develops and remains until the end of age.
There are many sons of God who have been saved on the last days but they reject the Bride Tidings because of the idol, namely the golden calf or the mammon and the hardness of heart. - Forgetting the forgiveness or not being firm in it, so one falls and rises in sins or repeats them.
2 Peter 1:9
1:9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
John 16:7-8
16:7. "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
16:8 "And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins. Repeating sins means rejecting Holy Spirit. In such condition, we cannot see the star or there is no star.
Acts 7:51
7:51. "You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
Why does the blindness happen? Because there is the hardness of heart. - Not loving other people, even hating them without any reason.
1 John 2:11
2:11 But he who hates his brother is in darknessand walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
It means there is no love to God.
1 John 4:20
4:20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
Moreover, it means rejecting the love of God. In such condition, there is no sun.
Loving God and other people means being obedient, even we can love our enemy. Not being obedient, one must hate other people, beginning from the nearest ones in marriage or household and in shepherding.
Zechariah 7:11-12
7:11 "But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear.
7:12 "Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the LORD of hosts.
Why does the blindness happen? Because there is the hardness of heart.
Thus, being blind means rejecting the Word (without the moon), Holy Spirit (without the stars), and the love of God (without the sun). It happens because of the hardness of heart.
The consequence is as follows.
- Facing the windstorm in the sea of the world.
Acts 27:20
27:20 Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up.
The windstorm means as follows.- Temptations or problems in all aspects of life, even the impossible one we cannot predict.
- Sins up to the peak, namely sins concerning eating-drinking such as smoking, getting drunk, drugs abuse and marrying-being given in marriage such as sexual sin with all its kinds, sexual deviation, and false marriage.
- False teaching that remains until this day.
- Temptations or problems in all aspects of life, even the impossible one we cannot predict.
- Hopelessness until one leaves God forever.
- Not eating.
Acts 27:21
27:21. But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, "Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss.
Meaning there is physical economic crisis, even one falls in spiritual famine. It begins from there is no satisfaction and joy but tears until one enters the persecution of antichrist.
It there is no help for the blind, such life will be cast into the sea of fire and brimstone.
The solution is eating the bread broken on the fourteenth day.
Acts 27:22, 33-36
27:22 "And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.
27:33 And as day was about to dawn, Paul implored them all to take food, saying, "Today is the fourteenth dayyou have waited and continued without food, and eaten nothing.
27:34 "Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival, since not a hair will fall from the head of any of you."
27:35 And when he had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat.
27:36 Then they were all encouraged, and also took food themselves.
It means the Passover.
Exodus 12:5-7
12:5 'Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
12:6 'Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth dayof the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.
12:7 'And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houseswhere they eat it.
Now it means eating the bread of the teaching Word and Holy Communion in Bible Study Service. In addition, the blood is put on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses, meaning the blood of Jesus is put on the door of our heart to sanctify our heart and mind.
The meaning of the hard heart is as follows.
- Evil unclean heart.
Mark 7:21-23
7:21 "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, (1)adulteries, (2)fornications, (3)murders,
7:22 "(4)thefts, (5)covetousness, (6)wickedness, (7)deceit, (8)lewdness, (9)an evil eye, (10)blasphemy, (11)pride, (12)foolishness.
7:23 "All these evil things come from within and defile a man."
It is full of twelve evil unclean lusts causing the heart to be hard. It must be sanctified to become meek heart on which there are two rows of loaves, six in a row, referring to the Bible, whose books are sixty six. It means the heart is filled with the true teaching Word. - Doubtful heart.
James 1:6-8
1:6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
1:7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
1:8 he is a double–minded man, unstable in all his ways.
It can happen because of being driven and tossed by the wind of false teaching. Consequently, there is total failure because one cannot receive anything, even there is nakedness. His life is weary and heavy laden until he is drowned in the sea of the world to perish forever.
The blood must be put on the doubtful heart until he can believe and entrust himself fully to God. - Anxious heart.
Philippians 4:6-7
4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
4:7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Anxiety about something in the world makes human unfaithful and unrighteous.
The blood must be put on the anxious heart until it becomes peaceful heart.
The blood is put on the hard heart until it is meek, able to believe in God, and peaceful. In such condition, the heart is strong and of good courage.
Acts 27:35-36
27:35 And when he had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat.
27:36 Then they were all encouraged, and also took food themselves.
Being strong and of good courage means holding fast to the true teaching Word whatever risk may come. We only see the Lord.
Psalm 16:8
16:8. I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
The result of being strong and of good courage is as follows.
- The hand of God’s mercy holds usuntil we can pass through the windstorm in the midst of the sea of the world, so we safely reach the land without a hair falling from our head. There is miraculous preservation and protection of God until we are perfect.
Acts 27:34, 44
27:34 "Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival, since not a hair will fall from the head of any of you."
27:44 and the rest, some on boards and some on parts of the ship. And so it was that they all escaped safely to land. - The hand of God’s mercy is stretched to shut the lions’ mouths.
Daniel 6:20-22
6:20 And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?"
6:21 Then Daniel said to the king, "O king, live forever!
6:22 "My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you."
Daniel faces the windstorm of false teaching and worship. He also must face the den of the lions, referring to impossible problems, but he is strong and of good courage. He keeps on worshiping and seeing God. He is not blind.
Daniel 6:10
6:10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.
The hand of God’s mercy shuts the lions’ mouths means as follows.- The hand of God’s mercy is able to wonderfully preserve our life.
- The hand of God’s mercy is able to help us from all problems, even the impossible one. He is able to destroy all enemies and hindrances. He is also able to give us beautiful successful joyful future life.
- The hand of God’s mercy is able to sanctify and renew our lifeuntil we are perfect and glorious as Jesus is. We become God’s Bride who is worthy of welcoming Jesus’ second coming.
- The hand of God’s mercy is able to wonderfully preserve our life.
God blesses you.