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TEMPLE
TEACHINGS
MATTHEW
CHAPTER 22
MARK 12:13-44
LUKE 14:16-24
& LUKE 20:20-47 &
21:1-4
Welcome to the Temple of God in Jerusalem, where
Jesus taught in His last days before His Last Supper, Death and
Resurrection. Don’t forget that the parables that Jesus taught 2000
years ago, still apply to our lives today just as they did back then.
I’ll show you what I mean in just a moment.
While the Pharisees were determined to find some way
to convict Jesus of something, Jesus continued teaching in the Temple.
This is the parable of the wedding feast that He told:
The Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king who
planned a marriage feast for his son. He sent out his servants to call
those who were invited to the wedding, and they wouldn’t come. Again,
he sent out other servants, saying, Tell those who are invited that
the feast is ready, my oxen and my fatlings are killed and everything
is prepared, so come now to the marriage. But it didn’t matter to
them, and they went their ways, one to his farm, and another to his
business, and the rest took his servants and slew them. When the king
heard
about it, he was angry and he sent
out his armies and destroyed the murderers and burned up their city.
Then he said to his servants, The wedding is ready, but those who were
invited weren’t worthy. So go into the streets, and as many people as
you can find, invite to the marriage. So the servants went and
gathered as many as they found, both bad and good and the wedding was
furnished with guests. When the king came in to see the guests, he saw
a man who didn’t have on a wedding garment, and he said to him,
Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment? The man was
speechless. Then the king said to the servants, Tie him up and take
him away and throw him into outer darkness, there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.
For many
are called, but few are chosen.
Remember I told ya I was gonna tell you how Jesus’
parables apply to our lives today? How many times have you gotten an
invitation from the Lord to join Him for an occasion, but were too
busy with other things to accept His invitation? Think of it this way:
God sends out invitations to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. You have
a little reply card that you’re supposed to send back, telling Him if
you’re gonna attend. You never find the time to respond, because,
well, you have a busy life, y’know. (This little reply card represents
the time that you spend with God, your faithfulness, your praise, your
thankfulness, your serving Him, etc.) Now, later, when the celebration
day has arrived, you dig through your papers and find the little card
and go to the wedding . . . but . . . your place has been given to
someone else. It doesn’t matter if you have the little paper card. You
didn’t respond to Him. Here’s the good news. He sends you an
invitation every day!
Okay, back to our story. Now, the Pharisees went and
conspired with the Herodians (Herod’s people) and sent men to pretend
they were just good people so they could find some fault in Jesus’
words and then turn Him over to the governor. They said to Jesus,
Master, we know that you’re
righteous and you respect no man more than another, but that you teach
the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to give tribute to Cæsar or not?
Should we give or not? But Jesus was one step ahead of them and knew
their hypocrisy. He said to them, Why do you test me? Bring me a penny
so I can see it. And they brought Him a penny. Whose image and
superscription is on it? Jesus asked them. They answered, Cæsar’s. So
Jesus replied,
Give to Cæsar the things that
are Cæsar’s and give to God the things that are God’s. They were
surprised at Jesus’ words and went their way.
The same day, the Sadducees, who say there is no
resurrection, came to Jesus and asked, Master, Moses said, If a man
dies having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up
children to carry on his brother’s name ( Deuteronomy
25:5-10).
What if there were seven brothers, and the first married a wife and
died with no child, leaving his wife to his brother. The same happened
with the second and the third all the way to the seventh. Last of all,
the woman died too. In the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the
seven, because she was the wife of them all. Jesus
answered,
You’ve made a mistake not knowing the scriptures, or the power of God. In the resurrection, people
don’t marry and aren’t given in marriage, but they’re like the
Angels of God in Heaven. (The
angels are heavenly and spiritual, not fleshly and have no need of
spouses.) But concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you
read what God said, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
(That means that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are living, which
means there is a resurrection.)
The people heard this and they were astonished at
Jesus’ doctrine. But when the Pharisees heard that He answered the
Sadducees well, one of them who was a lawyer asked Jesus, testing Him,
Master, what is the greatest commandment of all? Jesus said to him,
The first of all the commandments is, Hear O Israel;
The Lord our God is one Lord: And you shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your strength. This is the first
and most important commandment. And the second is like it,
You shall love
your neighbor as
yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. All the
law and the prophets are fulfilled in these two commandments.
The man said, Master, you have spoken the truth, for
there is one God and there is none other but Him, and to love Him with
all the heart, and with all the understanding and with all the soul,
and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself is more
than any burnt offering or sacrifice. When Jesus saw that he answered
discreetly, He said to him, You aren’t far from the kingdom of God.
After that, no man dared ask Jesus any question.
While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus
asked them a question. Why do you think they say that Christ is
David’s son? David himself said in the book of Psalms by the power of
the Holy Spirit, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until
I make your enemies your footstool ( Psalm
110:1). If David
called him Lord, how can He be David’s son?
Then in the audience of all the people, Jesus said
to His disciples,
Beware of the scribes, who like to walk
in long robes, and love greeting in the marketplace, and the highest
seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts, who devour
widows’ houses, and for a show make long prayers. They will
receive greater damnation.
Then Jesus looked up and noticed the people putting
their gifts into the treasury, and many that were rich put in a lot.
Then a poor widow came and threw in two mites, and Jesus called His
disciples and said to them, I tell you honestly, that this poor widow
has put in more than they all have. Compared to their riches, they’ve
put in just a small portion to the offerings of God, but she of her
poverty has put in all the living that she had.
Wouldn’t you have loved to be there while Jesus
taught in the Temple? To hear the emotion that He spoke with and to
see the heartfelt expressions as He spoke words that would be engraved
in your mind forever? Don’t forget to imagine that kind of fervor when
you read the Word, because the Holy Spirit is in the words that you
read and He wants them remain in your heart and become a part of you.
CONTINUE
TO NEXT STUDY
WOE UNTO YOU
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