Today’s Bible Reading: Malachi 4 – Matthew 4
by Bill Hood | September 30, 2010 | In Daily Reading | Comments Off
Let’s Stop Partying!
Malachi 4 – Matthew 4
Chapter 4 of Malachi is very short; only five verses. It draws the curtain on the Old Testament. The day of wrath is coming. Be in right relationship with God and rejoice. The final two verses of the Old Testament tell of the return of Elijah.
The Bible goes silent at the end of the Old Testament. It is four hundred years between the time of Malachi and the time of Jesus. A lot has changed in the world since then. Whereas the world was dominated by Medo-Persian Empire at the end of the Old Testament it was dominated by the Roman Empire at the birth of Jesus.
In returning from an exile brought on by wanton worship of foreign gods, the people of Israel turned to a frantic quest for legal holiness. Now, instead of worshiping foreign gods they worshipped the Law itself. They exchanged one form of idolatry for another. In this time two major parties arose in opposition to each other. They very much remind me of the two major parties in America today.
The Pharisees were the defenders of the Jewish way of life. They were strict legalists and were extremely nationalistic. They were a religious-political party. Today they would be called fundamentalists and far right politically.
The Sadducees were the other party and they were made up of the wealthy and more liberal minded. They were liberal in their theology and rejected any notion of the supernatural. They were seekers after physical pleasure as a way of overcoming them. It is interesting to me that these liberal types were made up of the rich. This is much the way it is in our country today.
Before we start taking sides here, remember that Jesus condemned both parties. Neither of them got it. The same can be said of the two parties in America today; neither of them get it. That is why there is a Tea Party today. The American people are rejecting both parties. But I digress.
I have done a lot of paraphrasing of our friend Dr. J. Vernon McGee in the material above but he provides an excellent couple of paragraphs on the Scribes and I will share that word for word at the end of this post.
The New Testament begins with a recap of the genealogy of Jesus the Christ. Matthew was written to a Jewish audience to prove that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. The genealogy would be important to this group as Jesus could not be the Messiah if He didn’t have the right pedigree. As Matthew builds his case for the messianic nature of Jesus he says “this happened and it fulfilled this prophecy concerning the Messiah; and this happened which fulfilled this prophecy”, and so on. There is a lot of Old Testament quoting going on in the first chapters of Matthew as he provides Jesus’ bona fides.
So much happens in these first four chapters of Matthew that it is hard to focus on one theme. Since we are all pretty familiar with much of the story I thought I would point out some things that occurred to me as I read today.
Matthew 3:8-10
“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
I have been quite taken with the book of John; the verses that deal with fruitfulness in particular (John 15). These verses above, spoken by John the Baptist, foreshadow exactly what Jesus says in John 15 as he prepares His disciples for His arrest and eventual departure from the earth. “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance”. I think this is an extremely important verse. If you have repented – and you must repent to truly receive Christ – then you will bear fruit. The fruit is the evidence of your repentance and salvation. Salvation does not come without genuine repentance.
The next thing that really caught my attention was the temptation of Christ. Take a look at this:
Matthew 4:5-10
“5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
As Satan would tempt Him, Jesus would swat the temptation away with a quote from scripture. The verses above show that Satan adjusted his approach and started quoting scripture as a way of justifying the temptation; fighting fire with fire if you will. I am a firm believer that we all should read the Bible from beginning to end just as God put it together at least once if not several times. I believe this because reading it this way you get the story as the Author intended.
It is very important that every Christian have a solid understanding of Scripture. There are those who read the Bible with an eye toward finding “Scriptural support” for whatever behavior they wish to perform. This is not reading the Bible to receive the message of the Author but to find a stick with which to beat back challenges to sinful behavior. The best example of this today might well be the defense of homosexuality.
Some will take the message of love that Jesus preached and say that it is not loving to condemn homosexuality. Of course it is God who condemns homosexuality in the very Bible from which they cherry pick their defense. Those same defenders of homosexual behavior completely ignore the fact that Jesus said that not one iota or dot would be removed from the Law until heaven and earth pass away (Matthew 5:17). That is the same Law that says homosexuality is an abomination before God. It is God who condemns homosexuality, not me. The proper response to such a blatant abuse of Scripture is to point the abuser back to Scripture. That is what Jesus did with Satan and it is an example for all of us to follow. You can only do what Jesus did, however, if you know ALL of Scripture and receive the message of the Author.
Finally, the entire purpose of Jesus’ earthly ministry, and the ministry He expects us to continue, is summed up in this final verse.
Matthew 4:17
“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Is the kingdom of heaven at hand? It was then, and it is today. You only get one life and this is it. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. The decisions and choices you make today determine your eternal destiny. There is no “do-over”. Accept Christ and live or reject Christ and die. It is just that simple. “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Say it loud and often; a desperate and dying world need to hear it before it is too late!
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
P.S. From “Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee”:
“SCRIBES—The scribes were a group of professional expounders of the Law, stemming back from the days of Ezra. They became the hair-splitters. They were more concerned with the letter of the Law than with the spirit of the Law. When old Herod called in the scribes and asked where Jesus was to be born, they knew it was to be in Bethlehem. You would think that they would have hitchhiked a ride on the back of the camels to go down to Bethlehem to see Him, but they weren’t interested. They were absorbed in the letter of the Law.
My friend, there is a danger of just wanting the information and the knowledge from the Bible but failing to translate it into shoe leather, not letting it become part of our lives. Through study we can learn the basic facts of Scripture, and all the theological truth contained in it, without allowing the Word of God to take possession of our hearts. The scribes fell into such a category. In our own day, I must confess that some of the most hardhearted people I meet are fundamentalists. They are willing to rip a person apart in order to maintain some little point. It is important to know the Word of God—that is a laudable attainment—but also we are to translate it into life and pass it on to others.”
McGee, J. V. (1997). Thru the Bible commentary (electronic ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
