Matthew included in his record of Jesus’ teaching to a crowd, known as the Sermon on the Mount, a way of distinguishing between a false and true prophet. Matthew 7.15-20 It wasn’t by the strident nature of their voice, their popularity, their capacity to evoke emotion, the clothes they wore, the people who back them, the wealth they have, the family they belong to, the number of followers on social media or the academic qualifications they hold. It was by the fruits of their life. This would include their character and what they do.
He warned them then about false prophets and the warning is relevant today. False prophets were a common feature of life in the time leading up to Jesus and they didn’t go away either during Jesus’ ministry or during the time of the early church. Warnings against false prophets are found during the entire biblical period. They arose apart from the church and even more dangerously within the church. Peter gives a general warning with, ‘But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 Peter 2.1 Jesus took very seriously the threat to the church arising from false prophets, he called them ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing. The reference to sheep’s clothing is not primarily an allusion to vulnerability and innocence. The sheep are the people who hear Jesus voice as their shepherd and follow him. Jesus is warning that false prophets will come from within his people and their motivation is to lead God’s people astray. The principal means of doing this is to prevent them from hearing the Shepherd’s voice.
This then calls for great discernment on the part of the sheep or God’s people. One can tell a true and false prophet by their lives and what they seek to do. As Jesus says, ‘Every healthy tree bears good fruit.’ Mathew 7.17 Conversely, ‘the diseased tree bears bad fruit.’ False prophets will lead people away from Jesus. We are not talking here about disagreements within the church over minor matters. No human can know all things. Neither are we talking about living a perfect life as no human outside of Jesus can do that. But all prophets, teachers, evangelists, elders should be continually on the path of sanctification. The word of God should be active in their lives changing them progressively into the likeness of Jesus.
Jesus’ prime concern in Matthew 7 was to lay down a warning about those “prophets” who would divert them from grasping who he was. His advice is as relevant and pertinent now as then. Check their lives out and don’t be taken in by appearances or as Jesus put it, ‘Thus you will recognise them by their fruits.’ Matthew 7.20
How much care do you take to discern the difference between false and true prophets?
Robin Mark – Days of Elijah (Official Lyric Video)
My brother Lazarus, Mary and me, we were all very taken with Jesus. He didn’t come from the same village we lived in. He came from up north in Galilee but that didn’t matter. We had been out to see him, to listen to him and over time we all got to know him. We saw the things he did which were amazing. In fact, you could say all three of us not only got to know him, we became really close friends. Lazarus and Jesus had that male bonding thing going on but both Mary and I in our different ways felt very close to him as well. Anyway, Jesus wasn’t around when Lazarus became ill. We were home in Bethany which is really close to Jerusalem and it wasn’t safe for Jesus to be there because of all the plots to kill him from the big religious leaders. They really hated him. But I knew he was a good man, even more than that he was who we had all been waiting for. You wouldn’t believe how jealous the Sanhedrin was because he showed them up to be what they really are.
Lazarus got worse and Mary and I were so worried that we sent people from our village tofind Jesus. After all he had healed that son of Herod’s official without even going to see him. I’m told when they did find Jesus there was a bit of a row. First of all, Jesus didn’t come straight away. To start with when I heard that I was surprised and disappointed. I didn’t think that was like him, he isn’t afraid of people. Then two days later he seems to change his mind and says he is coming. His close disciples tried to stop him. They said if he comes to Bethany the Jewish leaders are bound to hear of it and they will try to stone him to death. They had already tried to do that more than once. But Jesus came and so did his disciples.
People around heard he was coming before he got to Bethany. The trouble was it all took too long and Lazarus by now had died four days before Jesus got here. Everybody was round the house. They were doing the usual things trying to comfort us. When I heard Jesus was outside the village I went to see him. Mary stayed back, but I had to see him. I went straight up to him. You see even then there was hope in my heart, I couldn’t explain it, there just was. I said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.’ I think I just needed something from him.
Jesus said, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ I know everybody, even leading Jewish Rabbis, don’t believe that but Jesus always taught it and I believe it. So, I told him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus did mean that but he meant more than that. He said, and I will never forget it, he said to me, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.’ Jesus then asked me if I believed that. I said I believe it and I believed in him. ‘You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world,’ I said. He asked me then where Mary was so I went back home.
The house was still full of people, so I whispered to Mary that Jesus was just outside the village and wanted her. That was it, Mary just went without a word. The people who were here to comfort us thought she was going to Lazarus’ grave but she went straight to Jesus. She said to Jesus the same as I did, if only he had been here Lazarus wouldn’t have died. When Jesus saw Mary crying he cried too. I had never seen him cry before.
Some of the people who had been round our house started to blame Jesus saying if he had healed other people why hadn’t he healed his good friend. Jesus though didn’t reply he went with us to the cave where Lazarus had been put in our usual way, carefully, tightly wrapped in linen strips. Jesus wanted the stone removed from the entrance. I told him the smell would be awful after four days. He turned, looked at me to remind me of our conversation earlier and said, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?’ Then they moved the stone, Jesus said a prayer, mostly I think for everybody else’s benefit and then he almost shouted, ‘Lazarus, come out.’
It was then my lovely brother, still wrapped up, came to the front of the cave. It was just incredible. What an amazing thing, it was so wonderful to see Lazarus. I realized then that Jesus was what he said to me, the resurrection and the life. I had been so filled with worry and grief about Lazarus I didn’t realize then that God had a plan for his glory.
What did Martha learn about Jesus’ priority?
How significant is it that Jesus chose Martha to tell, he is the resurrection and the life?
When Mary and Martha were anxiously deciding to send for Jesus because Lazarus their brother was seriously ill they were definitely not expecting Jesus’ initial response to be what he said to his disciples a few days later when the message got through. Their message was simple enough, ‘he whom you love is ill.’ John 11.3 They meant Lazarus is seriously ill, you love him, obviously you will want to come and heal him, simply because he is ill and will die otherwise. It must be about the most common form of prayer over all time. Go to any prayer board in a church or Cathedral and it will be covered in prayers for the sick. There is nothing wrong with that although all of us have to recognize our mortality and inevitability that in most cases some form of sickness will in the end be the cause of our death. Death of course for those who have responded to the gospel carries a different significance than for those who have not done so. Hence the compelling imperative for believers to spread the gospel and make disciples. Luke 24.47
In Lazarus’ case Jesus saw his illness differently. He said it’s purpose was to bring glory to God. ‘This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’ John11.4 Jesus did not get things wrong? Lazarus did die and Jesus pronounced him dead, v14 however Jesus was looking beyond that to the end of the whole episode where he was raised from the dead and the impact on the disciple’s faith of Lazarus’ resurrection.
The glory of God through the Son of God was not limited to the growth in faith of his disciples or the increased number of disciples. This was however an intentional outcome. ‘Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.’ vv14,15 Many but not all following their witnessing Lazarus’ resurrection did believe in Jesus. V45
It was how the evidence of the truth of Jesus words to Martha, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die’, that was going to bring greater glory to God.
Jesus’ delay in coming to Bethany did bring temporary mourning and distress for Lazarus’ family. Christian discipleship is frequently associated with difficulties and suffering. All this though hardly compares with the cost to Jesus of gaining our salvation. When we come to God in prayer is our first thought, “For your glory Lord?” Is it possible for us to consider it a blessing to share in his sufferings? I am not saying that all suffering or illness is to bring God glory, far from it. We live in a world deeply corrupted by sin, in a world that groans for God’s new creation. In Lazarus’ case his suffering did bring God great glory through bringing glory to Jesus. The consequences of Lazarus being raised from the dead have continued to this present day in directing people towards Jesus and his power over death. Whilst Mary and Martha’s desire to see Lazarus healed was loving and good, Jesus saw and sought even more in the situation. He sought to bring glory to God the Father.
How hard it can be to change the perspective from which we view our life and God’s purposes.
Jesus is back in Jerusalem. This time it is winter and he is there for the ‘Festival of Dedication’ we know as Hanukkah. The events remembered at Hanukkah are not part of the biblical text but they are of great importance in Judaism. In 165 BC Maccabees successfully defeated Seleucid (Greek) forces and expelled them from power in Judea, following their desecration of the second temple, as prophesied by Daniel. At the temple re-consecration when it became time to light the menorah only one small jar of oil could be found in the temple sufficient for one day only. It was eight days before new oil could be found but the small jar of oil lasted all eight days. This became known as the Chanukah or Hanukkah miracle. The symbolism of this festival would have been very powerful as the Jews would have been longing for another ‘Messiah’ to overthrow their current occupiers the Romans.
John adds the personal witness detail of Jesus walking in Solomon’s Colonnade when he is challenged by the Jewish leadership to tell them if he, Jesus, is the Messiah they are longing for. The context indicates that their ambition is to find the next Maccabees who will liberate them from the Romans and establish their power in Judea. You may be thinking, hasn’t Jesus already made that clear in his words and actions? There was however a discontinuity between what Jesus was and is as Messiah and what the Jewish leaders were looking for. This same issue remains relevant today as people seek meaning and purpose in their life. What people start out looking for is not who Jesus is. Can that gap ever be closed and someone move from not recognizing who Jesus is to understanding that he is indeed the Son of God and one with the Father?
Jesus applies the teaching he gave in the Sermon on the Mount, which we looked at in the previous reflection in Mathew 7.15-20. He says my people recognize my voice and if you do not belong to me you will not recognize me for who I am. ‘You do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.’ John 10.26b,27 This is not new teaching in John 1.13, John states, ‘he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.’ Again, in John 6.44, Jesus says, ‘No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.’ It therefore takes an act of God to give them the ability to believe. This does not relieve each person of the responsibility for their own actions. It does however give a very clear focus for prayer for those who do not yet believe.
Jesus then says if you do not feel that spiritual compulsion which is God drawing you to me, look at the evidence. Ask yourself if the things you have seen me do are things of God or not and then make up your mind. ‘Do not believe me unless I do the works of the Father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I in the Father.’ John 10.37,38 Here then lies a significant responsibility of the church in our age. It is to make known the works of Jesus, both those recorded in the bible and also those he continues to do each day in our lives and the lives of others. This is to be in partnership with the Trinity of God; as he draws people to himself, we are to place in front of the world the evidence as to who Jesus is. If we only keep retelling the evidence to ourselves how will others be able to close the gap between their search for meaning and grasping that Jesus is the Son of God to be trusted for eternal life?
At this time Jesus’ Jewish opponents did not ‘hear his voice’ or recognize his works for what they were, evidence that he and his Father are one. They picked up stones with the intention of stoning him. John 10.31 Jesus then drew on Old Testament teaching to demonstrate that nothing he had said constituted blasphemy which further enraged his opponents and they tried to seize him. Jesus however, eluded them and withdrew to the other side of the Jordon. This would have evoked the memory of John the Baptist and his call to repentance. Many in the crowd who came to see him behaved in the opposite way to the Jewish leaders. They looked at the evidence of what Jesus did and believed in him. ‘They said, “Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true.” And in that place many believed in Jesus.’ John10.42 The people who believed in Jesus then share the same promise and reassurance that having believed in him we cannot be snatched from the Father’s hand. ‘I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me, is greater than all, no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.’ John 10. God secures his own with a double lock.
How does this passage give us confidence?
How does this passage encourage us to pray?
To live is Christ (Lyrics) – Sidewalk Prophets (I love this song.)
Jesus is back in Jerusalem. This time it is winter and he is there for the ‘Festival of Dedication’ we know as Hanukkah. The events remembered at Hanukkah are not part of the biblical text but they are of great importance in Judaism. In 165 BC Maccabees successfully defeated Seleucid (Greek) forces and expelled them from power in Judea, following their desecration of the second temple, as prophesied by Daniel. At the temple re-consecration when it became time to light the menorah only one small jar of oil could be found in the temple sufficient for one day only. It was eight days before new oil could be found but the small jar of oil lasted all eight days. This became known as the Chanukah or Hanukkah miracle. The symbolism of this festival would have been very powerful as the Jews would have been longing for another ‘Messiah’ to overthrow their current occupiers the Romans.
John adds the personal witness detail of Jesus walking in Solomon’s Colonnade when he is challenged by the Jewish leadership to tell them if he, Jesus, is the Messiah they are longing for. The context indicates that their ambition is to find the next Maccabees who will liberate them from the Romans and establish their power in Judea. You may be thinking, hasn’t Jesus already made that clear in his words and actions? There was however a discontinuity between what Jesus was and is as Messiah and what the Jewish leaders were looking for. This same issue remains relevant today as people seek meaning and purpose in their life. What people start out looking for is not who Jesus is. Can that gap ever be closed and someone move from not recognizing who Jesus is to understanding that he is indeed the Son of God and one with the Father?
Jesus applies the teaching he gave in the Sermon on the Mount, which we looked at in the previous reflection in Mathew 7.15-20. He says my people recognize my voice and if you do not belong to me you will not recognize me for who I am. ‘You do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.’ John 10.26b,27 This is not new teaching in John 1.13, John states, ‘he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.’ Again, in John 6.44, Jesus says, ‘No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.’ It therefore takes an act of God to give them the ability to believe. This does not relieve each person of the responsibility for their own actions. It does however give a very clear focus for prayer for those who do not yet believe.
Jesus then says if you do not feel that spiritual compulsion which is God drawing you to me, look at the evidence. Ask yourself if the things you have seen me do are things of God or not and then make up your mind. ‘Do not believe me unless I do the works of the Father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I in the Father.’ John 10.37,38 Here then lies a significant responsibility of the church in our age. It is to make known the works of Jesus, both those recorded in the bible and also those he continues to do each day in our lives and the lives of others. This is to be in partnership with the Trinity of God; as he draws people to himself, we are to place in front of the world the evidence as to who Jesus is. If we only keep retelling the evidence to ourselves how will others be able to close the gap between their search for meaning and grasping that Jesus is the Son of God to be trusted for eternal life?
At this time Jesus’ Jewish opponents did not ‘hear his voice’ or recognize his works for what they were, evidence that he and his Father are one. They picked up stones with the intention of stoning him. John 10.31 Jesus then drew on Old Testament teaching to demonstrate that nothing he had said constituted blasphemy which further enraged his opponents and they tried to seize him. Jesus however, eluded them and withdrew to the other side of the Jordon. This would have evoked the memory of John the Baptist and his call to repentance. Many in the crowd who came to see him behaved in the opposite way to the Jewish leaders. They looked at the evidence of what Jesus did and believed in him. ‘They said, “Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true.” And in that place many believed in Jesus.’ John10.42 The people who believed in Jesus then share the same promise and reassurance that having believed in him we cannot be snatched from the Father’s hand. ‘I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me, is greater than all, no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.’ John 10. God secures his own with a double lock.
How does this passage give us confidence?
How does this passage encourage us to pray?
To live is Christ (Lyrics) – Sidewalk Prophets (I love this song.)
The atmosphere was highly charged. The accusers kept probing trying to find a weakness in their opponent’s knowledge, logic and assertions. They were looking for the one weakness in what he said that would give them good reason to charge him with insurrection and heresy bringing about his death. The accused poured scorn on his accusers understanding of history, their inability to discern God at work, their leadership capacity and the validity of their lifestyle. The listening crowds felt pushed into taking sides and were confused by the conflicting arguments.
‘There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”’ John 10:19-21
What had excited the crowd so much? The answer is the simple gospel as the modern church understands it. Was what Jesus said then so new that one could expect the learned listeners to understand? Very definitely not, it was much more they did not want to understand, from their perspective there was too much to lose without understanding of what they had to gain. Jesus’ words had just opened up an area they found unacceptable because they felt it took away their specialness. To be fair even Jesus’ closest disciples did not really understand until God revealed to Peter through Cornelius in Acts 10 that all peoples had equal rights to salvation and thence equal standing in God’s kingdom.
Jesus words, ‘I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.’ v16 were taken to mean he was detracting from the Israelite status as God’s people. Israel however was always intended to be a blessing and light to all people leading them to worship God and be fully accepted. From God’s first promise to Abraham, ‘in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed,’ through the Mosaic law and in the prophets, there was always the statement that the Israelite people were God’s chosen people to bring all nations to the Lord. ‘Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.’ Isaiah 60:1-3 Now here was Jesus announcing himself as the fulfilment of this long line of prophetic messages.
Jesus however, placed this coded statement that he would be the means of salvation for all nations in the middle of twice saying it would cost him his life. vv15,17 There is no salvation without the cross. The sheep in other folds was not a coded message that other religions are acceptable or there are alternative ways to being in the kingdom of God. The only way is through faith in Jesus and his sacrifice on our behalf. This is the message that he then sent his disciples with after his death and resurrection and he sent them into the whole world or as it is termed in this passage other folds. The cross is the great leveller. There is no place for pride or birth right. No special status by race, colour, gender or social standing. The only way into the sheep pen is by the shepherd who chose to lay down his life for the sheep. v15
How does Jesus’ sacrifice change how we view and behave towards, people who culturally, racially and in appearance are very different to ourselves?
Lay Down My Life – Sidewalk Prophets [With Lyrics]
