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Excerpts from Life-study of Matthew, Message 31 THE RESULT OF THE KING’S MINISTRY Bible Verses: Matthew 11:11 Truly I say to you, Among those born of women there has not arisen one greater than John the Baptist, yet he who is least in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he. 11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I extol You, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. 11:26 Yes, Father, for thus it has been well-pleasing in Your sight. 11:27 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one fully knows the Son except the Father; neither does anyone fully know the Father except the Son and him to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. [LEARNING THE LESSON OF NOT BEING STUMBLED] In chapter eleven we see that three ministries are rejected: the ministry of John the Baptist, the ministry of the King, and the ministry of the King’s sent ones, the twelve apostles. John was rejected, the Lord Jesus was rejected, and according to His charge to the twelve apostles, their ministry also was to be rejected. In chapter eleven we see how the King deals with this rejection. The main point in this chapter is how we should face rejection. In verses 2 and 3 we see that the patience of John the Baptist, the King’s rejected forerunner, was exhausted. Thus, John “sent by his disciples and said to Him, Are You the coming One, or should we expect someone else?” John the Baptist’s word here does not mean that he was in doubt concerning Christ. He questioned Christ in this way in order to provoke Him to deliver him. He knew that Christ was the coming One, and he had strongly recommended Him to the people (John 1:26-36). After that, he was put into prison (Matt. 4:12) and waited, expecting that Christ would do something to deliver him. However, although Christ did much to help others, He did nothing for him. For this reason, John was in danger of being stumbled (v. 6). Hence, he sent his disciples to Christ with such a stirring question. There was no doubt in John’s mind that Christ was the Messiah. He did not send his disciples to ask the Lord whether or not He was the Messiah. He was trying to provoke Christ to rescue him from prison. In verses 4 through 6 we have the Lord’s answer to John. Verses 4 and 5 say, “Go, report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” In these verses the Lord seemed to be saying to John, “There is no doubt that I am the Messiah. My being the Messiah does not depend on whether or not I do something for you. I have healed the blind, the deaf, and the sick. I have even raised the dead. But I don’t choose to do anything for you. Do not expect anything from Me. I will leave you in prison until you are beheaded. Blessed is the one who is not stumbled in Me.” In the Lord’s recovery we need to learn this lesson. Whenever the Lord does something positive for us, we are excited. But many times the Lord will not do anything for us. The reason He did nothing to rescue John from prison was that if John had been released from prison his ministry would have been in competition with the Lord’s ministry. After the recommending work had been done, his ministry should be terminated. Therefore, God sovereignly terminated John’s ministry by imprisoning him. [BEING GREATER DEPENDING ON OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST] In His public appraisal of John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus vindicated him. The Lord testified that John was much more than a prophet. He was a great prophet, greater than all the prophets who had gone before him. Although John was greater than all the prophets, he was not in the kingdom of the heavens. Compared to the Old Testament prophets, John was greater; but compared to the New Testament people, he
was smaller. John was in a transitory period, greater than those who preceded him, but smaller than those who were to come after him. All the prophets prior to John prophesied only that Christ was coming, but John testified that Christ had come. The prophets were looking forward to Christ, but John saw Christ. Hence, John was greater than all the prophets. Although John saw the incarnated Christ and introduced Him to people, he did not have the resurrected Christ indwelling him. But the kingdom people do. John could only say, “Here is Christ,” but the kingdom people can say, “For to me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). Hence, the least in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he. Whether anyone is greater or lesser depends upon his relationship to Christ. Christ is the deciding factor. The closer anyone is to Christ, the greater he is. We need to realize in what age we are living. Peter, John, and even Paul were in the beginning of the kingdom age, but we are in the closing of this age. Where would you rather be—in the beginning, in the middle, or in the conclusion? Martin Luther was in the middle, but we are neither in the beginning nor in the middle, but at the end. Great men like Martin Luther stood on the shoulders of the early apostles, but now we are on the shoulders of Martin Luther and other great ones. Hence, we are higher than all of them. Even the smallest among us is able to give a strong testimony on being justified by faith both objectively and subjectively. Do not regard this day as an insignificant day. When I was seeking the Lord fifty years ago, the situation was quite poor. We spent much money on books, and we traveled to see certain people. There is no comparison with the situation of today. Today you are all buried with riches. My only concern is that you do not have the adequate appetite. We are feasting every day. We are not in the transitory period, neither are we in the beginning nor in the middle of the New Testament age; we are in the conclusion of this age. At the conclusion everything is better, higher, and richer. [THE GATHERING OF THE REMNANT] Verse 26 says, “Yes, Father, for thus it was well pleasing in Your sight.” It was well pleasing in the Father’s sight that the Son was rejected. The Father was glad to see the Son’s rejection. It is very difficult for us to believe this. Verse 27 says, “All was delivered to Me by My Father.” “All” refers to all the remnant whom the Father has given the Son (John 3:27; 6:37, 44, 65; 18:9). This word implies that the wise and intelligent rejected the Son because the Father was not pleased to give them to the Son. However, all the remnant has been delivered to the Son by the Father. Peter, John, James, and Andrew were some of those given to the Son by the Father. The Lord Jesus said, “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and him that comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). It is absolutely of the Father’s sovereign mercy that we are in the Lord’s recovery today. We need to worship the Father for this. Month after month, the Lord brought His remnant from various cities, states, and countries. That was a real gathering of the remnant. All those who were gathered together can testify that we were delivered by the Father. The Lord’s recovery is not a common Christian work; it is the gathering of the Lord’s remnant to recover God’s kingdom in the church life. The Lord is still doing the work of gathering His remnant today. In verse 27 the Lord says, “No one knows the Son except the Father, neither does anyone know the Father except the Son and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” The Greek word translated “wills” means to deliberately exercise the will through counsel. “These things” mentioned in verse 25 are difficult for the natural man to understand. The Lord’s recovery is absolutely against the enemy’s kingdom of darkness. No doubt the evil one is not willing to let people know the things of the Father, the Son, and the Lord’s recovery. Thus, there is the need of the Father’s sovereign mercy. It is sovereign of the Lord that we have seen certain things and have been brought into them. Although others condemn them, we rejoice over them because we have seen them. Our seeing is not due to our intelligence; it is due to the mercy of the Father. The Father has shown us all these things. Read the verses and footnotes online: http://online.recoveryversion.bible/ Read the complete message online: http://www.ministrybooks.org/life-studies.cfm
