Previews of the Kingdom

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/1/2022 8:41 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  Previews of the Kingdom

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 15:29-39

 

            Message of the verses:  Now as I listened to the sermon that MacArthur taught on this subject I found out that he did not really go into the details of the feeding of the 4000 because it was so similar to the feeding of the 5000 with a few exceptions.  Now when I get to his commentary there is one long section without any of his normal breaks of what I call sections and sub-sections.  It is for this reason that I will not quote all of these verses as we continue looking at things that relate to these verses and things that are also different from the two feedings that Jesus did.  We certainly know that one of the differences is in the people who He is feeding, and in this section He is feeding Gentiles.  Of course the number given is different, but there could have been just as many total people here as there were in the first feeding.  Right now I want to talk about some different things that we find Jesus did while on earth in order to preview His coming kingdom, after all that is one of the great themes of Matthew’s gospel, the Kingdom.

 

            The transformation, something we have already looked at was certainly a picture of His coming kingdom as in that He previewed His return in great glory at the second coming to establish the millennial kingdom on earth.  Jesus would not come back like He came first as a humble baby born, and then walking around as a human being, no He will come in power and in great glory in a body like was previewed in the transformation.  Next we know that He chose twelve disciples which represent the twelve tribes of Israel, over which these apostles would one day reign as seen in Matthew 19:28.  His healing of all who came to Him represents or prefigured His ultimate external “healing of the nations” as found in Revelation 22:2.  Next His teaching about the kingdom prefigured the fulfilled kingdom when “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” a quote from Isaiah 11:9.

 

            We have been looking at Jesus ministry of several months in Gentile land which prefigures the coming kingdom that would embrace Gentile and Jew alike.  MacArthur adds “On these and other occasions, Peter had therefore been repeatedly and dramatically exposed to the truth that the gospel was for all men—long before his vision of the unclean animals and his encounter with Cornelius, through which he was finally convinced ‘that God is not one to show partiality’ (Acts 10:1-34; cr. vv. 45-47).”

 

            In his commentary MacArthur gives a description of where Jesus was ministering to the people that He would eventually feed.  “The region of Decapolis, where Jesus had just arrived, was on the southeast side of the Sea of Galilee, directly south of the modern Golan Heights.  Decapolis means ‘ten cities’ (from the Greek, deka, ‘ten,’ and polis, ‘city’) and derives its name from the ten city-states located within its boundaries.  This somewhat independent territory was wedged between the region to the north ruled by Philip the tetrarch and the regions to the south and west ruled by Herod Antipas.  In and around these ten cities, archaeologists have discovered the ruins of elegant amphitheaters, forums, and countless pagan statues and monuments honoring the various gods of the Greek pantheon—including Zeus, Aphrodite, Athene, Artemis, Hercules, Dionysus, and Demeter.”

 

            Now it is not really know exactly how long that there was between the feeding of the 4000 from the feeding of the 5000.  We have mentioned some differences between the two feedings, and now we want to look at some more.  When Jesus fed the 5000 He had the people set on the grass as seen in 14:19; however He instructed the multitude in Decapolis “to sit down on the ground as seen in 15:35.  The grass in that part of Palestine doesn’t last too long because of the heat so we know that there was some time between those two feedings, perhaps as much as a few months.

 

            We have mentioned in an earlier SD that the purpose of Jesus in going into Tyre and Sidon was not really for ministering, but He was immediately recognized there and certainly was eager to help those who came to Him, as He healed many, many people there, doing it for three days, and this all began with the Canaanite women we just looked at last week.  MacArthur writes “When He arrived in the region of Decapolis, He was also recognized, because from the earliest days of His ministry, people from the area had come to hear Him speak and to be healed (Matt. 4:24-25).  Therefore, when word spread that Jesus was actually visiting their own territory, great multitudes came to Him.”

 

            Lord willing we will continue talking about this very wonderful event in our next SD.

 

8/1/2022 9:18 AM