Matthew 11:14

Matthew 11:14

In Matthew 11:14-15 Jesus said, "And if you will receive it, this is Elijah which was for to come. He that has ears to hear, let him hear." In speaking of John the Baptist in verse 14 Jesus said that this was Elijah which was to come. Evidently, Jesus was referring to the next to last verse in the Old Testament. Malachi chapter 4:5 says, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." The book of Malachi was written over 400 years before the birth of Christ, and the book of Malachi ended with this great prophesy about the coming of the Lord. Jesus said that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of this prophecy. When we look at the prophecy about Elijah and its fulfillment 400 years later in the person of John the Baptist, we learn several important lessons about prophecy. Prophecies are often symbolic in nature, and prophecies do not tell us all of the details of future events. Evidently, the Lord wants us to know some broad principles about prophetic events, but allows us to know only a few of the details. Beware of any teachers on prophecy who claim to be experts on the details. The Lord did not make it that way. No one would have been able to fill in the details about John the Baptist from reading the prophecy in Malachi. But now that the prophecy from Malachi has been fulfilled in the ministry of John the Baptist, we can put the prophecy together with the actual fulfillment of it, and therefore understand it a lot better. Other prophecies of the Bible that have not yet been fulfilled will probably have the same characteristic as this one from Malachi. Because of their symbolic nature, many of the details of prophetic events will not be understood until they actually take place.

Another thing about prophecy that is very common is the fact that the date and time that prophetic events will take place are usually not revealed. For example, the prophecy given in Malachi about Elijah being sent before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, turned out to be an event that was 400 and some years after the prophecy. The important thing to understand is that no one knew the time. Jesus demonstrated the same principle when He spoke to the disciples about prophetic events. In response to a question from the disciples about when the kingdom would be restored, Jesus said in Acts 1:7, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in his own power." If anyone who interprets prophecy puts dates or anything close to a date or timeframe to their interpretation, you can know right away that they are wrong and that they did not get their information from God.

A third thing about prophetic events that makes them difficult to interpret, and that makes the teachers on prophecy prone to error, is that some of the prophetic events have already been fulfilled. It is sometimes difficult to know which prophecies have already been fulfilled and which ones are in the future. For example, the prophecy in Malachi about John the Baptist was not fulfilled until 400 years after it was written; but for us it was already fulfilled 2000 years ago. The most recent Biblical prophecies that we have such as those in Revelation were written almost 2000 years ago. Beware of anyone who claims to have all the answers. They are probably wrong on many points.

The thing about Biblical prophecy that intrigues us and keeps us continually looking at it and trying to figure it out, is the fact that we know that it is 100% accurate and that it will be fulfilled. God has made both warnings and promises about future events. The wise person will take heed to the events that God has prophesied in the Bible, and will be comforted and reassured in knowing that everything is under control. Things are proceeding according to God’s timetable.

In Matthew 11:16-19 Jesus said, "But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, And saying, we have piped unto you, and you have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and you have not lamented. For John came neither eating or drinking, and they say, He has a devil. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children."

In these verses Jesus is talking about the differences between His ministry and that of John the Baptist. John was very much the aesthetic, and was a person who did without material possessions in a very noticeable fashion. In contrast to him Jesus was often invited to feasts and could be seen dining with other invited guests at various functions. Both were criticized by the religious leaders for their life styles. Jesus points out the hypocrisy of their critics. This is a good lesson about the danger of being critical and negative. If you are critical and negative, you will be apt to criticize anyone at any time, and you will be just like the Pharisees. The real reason that the Pharisees were critical is that they considered both John and Jesus to be their competition. In order to try and beat the competition, the Pharisees thought it necessary to be critical of them no matter what they did. We see a lot of this same kind of envious and power-hungry competition taking place in the political realm of our day. You should never be critical and negative towards people just because they are of a different political party than you. Learn to evaluate people as individuals, and avoid being negative towards them just because they are not a part of your group.

In Matthew 11:20-24 the Bible says, "Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto you, Chorazin! woe unto you Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And you, Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in you, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day." In these few verses Jesus mentions 3 towns that find themselves in big trouble. The three towns were all Jewish towns. They were situated very close together, and Jesus himself had probably visited all three of them many times. We know that Capernaum was a city that Jesus often visited because He had a home there during the time of his public ministry, and also several of the apostles were originally from Capernaum.

The warning that Jesus pronounced against these three towns were not heeded, and nothing of the three towns remains today. They have been so thoroughly obliterated from the earth that scholars still debate their exact locations. The failure of the three cities was that they did not repent. Repentance is of extreme importance to escape the judgment of God. To repent means to have a change of mind about your sins. It means to turn from your sins and to turn to God for forgiveness. Without real repentance (a real change of mind to turn to Jesus), you are doomed. Remember that Jesus said, "Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish."

Another lesson that we can learn from the warning given by Jesus to these three towns is that the measure of your opportunity will be the measure of your responsibility. You will be judged for what you could have done, but did not do. You will be held accountable for every truth that you have ever heard and how you responded to it. To hear God’s Word, and turn away from it will be the biggest mistake of your life.

Matthew 11:25-27 says, "At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in your sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knows the Son but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, except the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."

In verses 25 and 26 Jesus begins talking to God the Father. He talked to humans and then He also talked to God. If a small child were to say to you that they did not know how to pray, one thing that you might say to them is that since they know how to talk to a person, they also know how to pray because prayer is simply talking to God. We also see that Jesus thanked God. Thanking God was the purpose for the prayer.

There is a need for all humans to repent of sin and turn to God. Jesus had been talking about the need to repent in the warning that he gave to the towns of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. Jesus said to the Father that this great truth had been hid from the wise and prudent, and revealed to babes. Some humans are considered to be extremely intelligent because they have studied for years at a university and have earned degrees and honors. Unfortunately for some of these scholars and experts, many of them become proud of their own intellectual achievements. But because they do not know God, they misinterpret much of the information that they acquire. They miss out on the key element of the knowledge of truth, which is the knowledge of God through Jesus Christ. They gain the knowledge of some things but they do not gain true wisdom because according to Proverbs, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

In his letter to the Corinthians the Apostle Paul accurately described many of the philosophers and scientists of this world. He said in First Corinthians 3:18-20, "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He takes the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain." The universe is so vast and so little is known about it from a scientific standpoint. For example, it would be vain and foolish for a scientist or any human, no matter how intelligent or educated, to come to conclusions about the origin of the universe and leave out God. Our little brains and the few things that we have learned are so small compared to the vastness of this universe.

Let’s think of the size of the universe just for a moment and all that is out there and how little we really know about it from a scientific standpoint. The earth and the other planets in our solar system revolve around our sun. Our sun is an average sized star in the Milky Way, a galaxy of thousands of stars. Just to travel to the next nearest star is almost impossible to conceive. According to many scientists it is unlikely that we will ever be able to do it. I read recently in a highly acclaimed scientific journal, that even if we created a spaceship that could travel a million miles an hour, it would take it 3000 years to get to the nearest star. Every time we send a satellite that approaches a relatively close object such as another planet like Jupiter or Saturn in our solar system, we discover thousands of bits of data that we did not know before. The new information often disrupts scientific theories that had been held so confidently before by the same scientists who now so proudly declare to us their new data and their new theories.

Whatever theories that scientists come up with in the future about the nature and origin of the universe, if they do not include God, then they are dead wrong. Little children who are rightly related to God through faith in Jesus know more about the essential and true nature of the universe than the scientists who do not know Him, because the children know the Creator and sustainer of the universe. According to Jesus, you can’t know the most important things about the nature of life unless you know the Father. If you know the Father, then you will also know the Son.

In this 11th Chapter of Matthew Jesus had warned those who have a critical spirit like the Pharisees. He warned those who have not repented of the judgment to come. He warned those who think they are wise but who are in danger of being brought down for their foolishness because of not knowing the Father and the Son. But this is the age of grace. To everyone on the face of the earth, Jesus makes the same offer. There is still time for you. It’s not too late. He does not exclude anyone. It is not a private country club that Jesus established. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30, "Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

When God created us, He gave us a soul and a capacity for spiritual contact with Him. He also gave us a need for true spiritual contact with Him. No human will ever be complete without knowing and serving God through faith in Christ. No person will be able to properly face the trials and sorrows and burdens that this life can bring without help from God. We were meant to be partners with God. The cares of this life can crush a human. Jesus offers you a new ability to face life. The more that you learn about Jesus and how to trust in Him, the less that you will be overburdened by the pressures and sorrows of this life.

So many of the problems of this world can be traced to the inability of humans to handle their own lives without seeking help from God: drug and alcohol addiction, suicides, mental and emotional problems, stress related diseases, and some of the homeless who have given up on life. How much of this and more is caused because humans were not designed to face the difficulties and problems of life without help from God?

Jesus said, "Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He understands what we are going through, He has a solution, and He invites us all to come and enjoy the solution. Notice where you must go to find the solution to your problems. Do not go to another human being, nor to a religious organization, nor to a church. Go directly to Jesus Christ to find rest from your burdens and forgiveness from your sins.

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