We have now come to Matthew’s fourth book in his Gospel narrative (chapters 14 through 20). Jesus began by preaching to large crowds, telling them he was the Messiah, and he explained what it would be like to live in God’s Presence or Kingdom. The Kingdom was a spiritual place where healing took place. There, men would find forgiveness and mercy. They wouldn’t be judged, and they would learn to become like their Father in heaven. The problem is that many of the Jewish authorities would not accept Jesus’ message, and even some righteous people, like John the Baptist, had reservations. Therefore, Jesus began to withdraw from the public and teach his disciples privately, and when he did speak publicly, he taught the people in parables, so they couldn’t understand, because that is how Kingdom life is, vis-à-vis life in the Presence of God. Only believers are able to be healed of their spiritual infirmities. Outsiders are blind to the truth, because they won’t submit to God and let him define good and evil for them. Only believers are able to see the Kingdom and experience the power of the Presence of God in their lives.
In his fourth book, Matthew explores the different expectations men had about the Messiah and the Kingdom of God. Jesus’ disciples can be divided into two different classes of people. First, we have people like Peter, who are ready to declare that Jesus really is the Messiah, but no one at this point really understands Jesus’ description of his Kingdom, not even his Apostles! Nevertheless, Jesus’ closest disciples like Peter, are willing to be wrong and allow Jesus to be correct, even though they don’t understand what this would mean. Thus, we are able to see the difference between these two classes of Jesus’ disciples. Some believers are unwilling to be wrong. Now, no one really likes admitting error, but for the sake of understanding the truth, honest folks are willing to be wrong, so truth can become known. On the other hand, we have folks who trust only in what they believe to be true, and are unwilling for their “truth” to be contradicted.
This kind of reaction to the truth is similar to an earlier study of mine in the Book of Job. Both Job and his friends shared a worldview, but Job came to understand that worldview was wrong. He became confused about who God is and what he is like. He decided death, itself, was more welcome than the chaos of holding to a wrong worldview. The friends, on the other hand, rejected the chaotic premise of being wrong, and clung to the false truth of a wrong worldview. They, like Jesus’ unwitting disciples clung to the “truth” they thought was correct instead of allowing God to bring them into a new understanding.
The third group of people, who reacted to Jesus’ declaration of the Kingdom of God, were the Jewish authorities. They had visions of a victorious Messiah, with whom, in one way or another, would be sympathetic with their interests. They completely and categorically condemned Jesus as the Messiah and rejected his Gospel of mercy, forgiveness and peace with their enemies. These folks had a worldview of a great physical kingdom, where the Jews would assume their place in the kingdoms of the world, as the leading and most powerful nation. They shared the same worldview as Jesus’ unwitting disciples, who couldn’t allow Jesus to contradict their own understanding and followed him no more (John 6:66). The difference between these former disciples of Christ and the Christ-rejecting Jewish authorities is that Jesus’ former disciples were still in a place, where they could repent and receive him as their Messiah once again. This is part of what occurred after Pentecost, following Jesus’ crucifixion (Acts 2-6). These former followers of Jesus became part of the “many thousands” of believing Jews who made up the first century Jewish church (Acts 21:20). Nevertheless, it was also these Jews who became susceptible to the skeptics that Peter mentioned in his second epistle (2Peter 3:3-4) and it was concerning these Jews that the epistle to the Hebrews was written (Hebrews 4:1, 10-11; 10:24-30).
What Matthew tells us in his fourth book is that at some point in our decision to follow Jesus, he will bring us to the point where our worldview, vis-à-vis the truth we’ve been taught and accepted as correct, will be turned upside-down. Everything we’ve trusted and believed in will prove false, and before we can go on, we will need to admit we’re confused but willing to let Jesus define truth for us and bring us into a new worldview, and this chaotic event occurs in the Presence of God. No man really knows God (John 1:18a), because we must be brought back from a state of rebellion (Genesis 3), a state of spiritual darkness, where no one knows God. Only Jesus knows God, and to come to a good understanding of who God really is, we must allow Jesus to declare him to us (John 1:18b), and this requires our being given the Spirit of God (John 14:26), which in essence is Christ in us (Colossians 1:27; Luke 17:21) vis-à-vis being brought into the Presence of God. [EB1]
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