Abram had been in Canaan for ten years, and he and his wife Sarai still had no children. God had promised Abram that he would have a real heir and he had even reassured him of that promise. However, the years spent waiting were leading to despair and not hope. Impatience can result in imprudent actions and instead of seeking discernment and direction, Sarai took matters into her hands.
There are times that success is followed by depression and disappointment. Instead of seeing what God has done and is doing, we can only see the things he has yet to accomplish. Abram had just attacked superior forces and conquered kings, and it may be that fear and regret are setting in as Abram reflects on what he has done. God comes to comfort Abram and appears to him in a vision.
Abram retraced his journey and sojourned in the Negeb. He continued to move until he reached Bethel and rebuilt the altar. It was wealth that caused dissension in Abram's family as herdsmen quarreled with one another over the land. Abram proposed a voluntary separation so that the strife might cease. Although Lot was younger and the inferior in rank, Abram gives him the choice of the land. Abram's actions were not only generous, but they also demonstrated his faith in the Lord to fulfill his promise.
God's call requires Abram to leave his homeland. Leaving your country and people is a tall order. We must resist the temptation to reduce this to a rather small undertaking. The call was to leave his culture, relatives, comfort, and safety and follow me. Make sure you gather together all your possessions because you won’t ever be coming back. Oh, and by the way, I’m not telling you where we’re going until we get there. The task was monumental, and it sounds a lot like what Jesus would later say to those that he called to follow him.
Humanity flourished once again as God blessed Noah and his family. The population increased and the human family enjoyed one language. The descendants of Noah migrated east and settled in Shinar. The reasons for settling instead of continuing to move on are not entirely clear, but they ceased their nomadic practice and sought to stay put. This vibrant community was clever, and they devised a way to make bricks. This advancement would provide them the necessary materials auto build a city and a tower.
The story of Noah is another Genesis. Noah is the second Adam. They shared the same occupation, sinned, and had their nakedness exposed. Sin is the curse and the promise to Adam is further outlined. The rescue would come through the line of Shem. The curse of sin would be eliminated but not through a flood. It would come from the offspring of a woman and through the line of Shem.
Death was needed for new life. The old world had been buried in the flood so that the new world might rise from its watery grave. God in grace would both judge and save his creation.
This judgment is the complete and utter extinction of everything with the breath of life in it. The wrath of a holy God cannot be imagined no matter how vivid the description. Finally, it is solemn, desolate, and silent. The ark floats safely protected from the carnage that took place. The inhabitants of the ark received God's mercy and found favor. God had provided everything necessary for their salvation. Salvation always belongs to the Lord.
The account of Noah is a frightening story that should shake us into a sober awareness of the truth that sin brings judgment, wrath, and death. This part of the story begins with the pain, regret, and heartache of the generous God that leads to destruction. Some do not believe that the account of Noah is to be taken literally, but Jesus spoke of Noah in Matthew 24:37-38. So think of the story without cartoon giraffes poking their heads out of a cartoon ark and see the disturbing and comforting truth behind the events that took place.
Adam is not dealing with just an animal that he had previously named; he is dealing with greater intelligence and an adversarial relationship. The serpent uses his abilities in sinister ways. This inventor of lies begins a conversation that will bring about an unimaginable disaster.
The story begins with God. As the universe begins, there is only one character because God is the ultimate cause and reality of all things. God created all things, therefore all things have their being in God. God did not create due to loneliness. God does not need anything. God exists in perfect unity, harmony, and community. He is one in being and three in subsistence, namely the Father, Son, and Spirit. God created and creation itself is an act of love and grace.
The risen King declares his absolute sovereignty over all things. Jesus has authority over everything in heaven and on earth. Every enemy is defeated, and King Jesus reigns. He commissions his servants to go and make disciples of all nations. Jesus' directive is not a suggestion or an option. The king with all authority commands his servants to go and make disciples.
Darkness covered the land and at three o'clock in the afternoon and Jesus cries out in agony. His suffering is misunderstood, and some think he is calling Elijah. They offer him sour wine on a sponge and wait to see if Elijah will come. Elijah would not come, and the king yields his spirit. Jesus death sets off a string of events that will capture and defy the imagination.
Jesus knows what he has come to do, and he knows that his hour is near. He has been teaching and confronting the religious establishment. There is enmity between Jesus and these religious leaders that will end in murder. Jesus continues to tell the disciples what will take place and yet they are slow to understand. Jesus tells his disciples that he is only hours away from his crucifixion.
The Son of Man will not come in humiliation as he did at his first advent, he will come in glory. People will see his revelation and acknowledge his glory. He will not be an infant living in obscurity; he will be a king ruling in power. Jesus will judge the nations and like a shepherd, he will separate the sheep from the goats.
Only God knows the time of the end. When Jesus returns, it will be like the days of Noah. People ignored the warnings until it was too late. Jesus' return will take place during the ordinary activities of life and will cause both disruption and division.
This is a solemn section of Matthew's gospel as the back and forth between Jesus and the religious leaders finally provokes clear and painful rebukes from the king. The scribes and Pharisees have their motives laid bare, and they are denounced by Jesus. They lived for attention and self-exaltation. These leaders would preach, but they would not practice.
“And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.” ’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away. The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. So too the second and third, down to the seventh. After them all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.” But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet” ’? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.” (Matthew 22:1–46, ESV)
Jesus continues to use stories that sting the Jewish religious leaders. In this parable, a king gives a wedding feast for his son, and he sent servants to call the guests but they would not come. The king sent even more servants to implore them and to tell them what arrangements had been made for the celebration. The invited guests paid no attention and some even seized the servants treated them shamefully and killed them. In his anger, the king sent troops who destroyed the murderers and burned the city. The king tells his servants that those who were invited were not worthy, and so they should go to the roads and gather all they could find whether good or bad. The wedding hall was filled, but as the king went through the hall greeting the guests, he found someone who dod not have a wedding garment. The king had him thrown out into a place of terrible suffering. These stories continue to address the fact that the Jewish religious establishment had despised the grace of the King, and others made it in dressed in the appropriate garment.
The Pharisees scheme about how they might entangle Jesus in his words. They sent their disciples and the Herodians to Jesus, and they begin with flattery about the way Jesus teaches. They ask Jesus the question that they had contrived, "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?" The question is meant to trap him between the Romans and the Jews. Jesus is aware of their malice and calls them out for their hypocrisy. He then asks for a coin, and when they bring it to him, he asks a simple question, "Whose likeness and inscription is on this coin?" They replied that it was the image and inscription of Caesar, and he instructed them to render to Caesar what was his. Defeated, they marveled at his answer and went away.
The Sadducees decide to try and trap Jesus. They come to him with a question about the resurrection. This is ridiculous because the Sadducees do not believe in the afterlife. It would have been apparent to the crowds that they had devious intentions. They seek to trap Jesus with an extreme case of Levirate marriage and who the woman would belong to in the afterlife. Jesus corrects them and chides them for their insolent behavior. These Sadducees do not know the scriptures or the power of God. Jesus affirms the resurrection and explains that marriage which was given for human flourishing would not be necessary because the God of the living will sustain his creation. When Jesus said this, the crowd was astonished at his teaching.
The Pharisees hear that the Sadducees had failed just as they had and so they regroup to try and snare Jesus again. A lawyer stands to test Jesus. The crowds may have been excited to see Jesus confront another test. This teacher os the law wants to know what Jesus believes is the great commandment in the Law? Jesus answers him without a rebuke. The great commandment is to love God with everything. However, Jesus goes on to offer what is second after the great commandment: love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus explains that all the Law and all the prophets depend on these two commandments. Jesus flips the script on these Pharisees and asks them a question that they quickly answer about the Christ. Jesus continues and asks them to explain how the Son of David would have been called Lord by David? The Pharisees are unable to reconcile this relationship, and they stopped asking questions to avoid further embarrassment.
Jesus made his way into the city on his mount and the crowds gathered. They spread their cloaks on the road, cut branches to lay on the road, and shouted as Jesus made his entrance. The entire city is tired up by all the commotion, and when asked about Jesus the people replied that this is the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. The city is nearing a fever pitch, and there is still confusion about Jesus' identity. This is all a part of God's redemption and although it will unfold in ways that would have been difficult to foresee God is saving man.
Jesus says to them that they would drink his cup, but that he would not grant the places of position. The rest of the disciples are offended, and Jesus once again has to describe kingdom greatness. The greatest is the servant to all and Jesus, the Son of Man would exemplify this by serving all the way to death.
