Month: May 2023

“On the way, Jesus told them, “Tonight all of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭26‬:‭31‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The scripture in which Jesus is referring to is
Zechariah 13:7 and it says
““Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, the man who is my partner,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Strike down the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn against the lambs.”

Now when Jesus tells this to Peter he is telling him that once he is crucified all the disciples will scatter from each other


“But after I have been raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭26‬:‭32‬ ‭NLT‬‬
Jesus is letting them know that he will be raised from the dead and meet them in Galilee he’s telling them what will happen after he is crucified.

“The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭28‬:‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This is where Jesus is telling Mary Madeline and the other Mary to tell his brothers who are the disciples to start to leave for Galilee and they will see him there.

The parable about the three servants is one of many stories Jesus tells us that have to do with us being ready for his return.

““Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭25‬:‭14-15NLT‬‬

Jesus is the master in this parable and we are the servants he’s leaving from this world and going to heaven to be with his father and he’s leaving his servants gold.
Now what this means is that when Jesus leaves us to be in heaven he is leaving all of us with resources that we need.

The resources he’s leaving us with is wisdom, faith, good works, and his commandments. Now when he comes back to earth he wants to see how we used what he gave us , some people used what he gave them to grow in the spirit and become a better Christian than they was when Jesus left as well as to follow his instructions he left us with . But quite a few people don’t do anything with what he left them. Instead they just hold on to it and are afraid and too lazy to do any work to increase what he left them.

So when Jesus comes back and sees that his faithful servants have increased the gifts that he left them with , he will be so proud and he will celebrate with you and you will be able to be with him in heaven.

But when Jesus comes back and sees that some servants haven’t done anything with what he left them he will be furious because he gave you these gifts in order to make them more than what they are and yet you were to lazy to even invest in something good. You were to lazy to give someone a price of bread or l to lazy to even try to help someone in need instead you sat there and hid what he gave you as if you was scared to lose it . But because you don’t that our master is furious he gave you sacred gifts and you abused them so now Jesus will take what he gave you and throw you into the darkness which is hell.

“To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭25‬:‭29‬-‭30‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The lesson he is that we are Jesus servants and as Jesus’ servants we must work diligently for Him while waiting for His return, not wasting the talents and resources he has given us .

““A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭24‬:‭45‬-‭47‬ ‭NLT‬‬

A faithful and sensible servant will be someone who is faithful and does good works for the lord our master . While he is gone from earth, a faithful servant is suppose to take care of Gods other people and his household . He should clothe, feed, and shelter the other servants because when Jesus comes back and sees that we was good and faithful servants we will be rewarded and not rewarded as in worldly riches and treasures but we will be rewarded with spiritual riches and treasures in heaven . Jesus can come back at any moment so we need to always be ready and prepared. We can make sure we’re ready by doing what is right. We can help Gods people when they need help , whether they needs clothes, food, money, shelter , or even just a prayer, we need to help and when we help we need to do it whole heartedly and expect nothing in return other wise those good works are corrupt and now we are not ready for when Jesus returns.


“But what if the servant is evil and thinks, ‘My master won’t be back for a while,’ and he begins beating the other servants, partying, and getting drunk? The master will return unannounced and unexpected, and he will cut the servant to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭24‬:‭48‬-‭51‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Now a evil servant is someone who thinks they can do whatever sin and evil things they want because they think that Jesus will not becoming back soon so they believe they have all the time they need to be corrupt and do all the sins they can . They will also abuse Gods people by not helping them , cheating them, killing them, or even helping but for the wrong reasons. And when Jesus comes back and sees this ,these people will be sent to hell because they did not follow his rules or laws they did what they wanted and thought they could do unrighteous things because Jesus wouldn’t be back for a while.


We need to be like the faithful and sensible servant we need to be ready and do what is right because Jesus can come back at any second of any hour of any day it says here in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 5 Verse 2
“For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.”

We need to do what is right and not what is wrong . We need to help and not expect anything in return , we need to praise God and give our lives to him. When Jesus comes back we can’t be surprised and not ready.

When Jesus says ““Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’”
‭‭ he doesn’t mean literally swearing physically by the temple he means saying I swear by the temple I didn’t steal . Now that I cleared that up what Jesus is saying is that the Pharisees and religious leaders were teaching that it’s okay to swear by the temple but not swear by the gold that is in the temple and Jesus is telling them that the temple is what makes the gold sacred yet the Pharisees seem to believe that it is okay to swear by Gods temple but a sin and horrible act to swear by the gold in Gods temple meaning they value the gold more than they value Gods temple . He’s saying the same in the next verse when he says

“And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding.”
“How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred?”

Now Jesus continues to explain why it is wrong to swear by Gods temple and the alter he says

“When you swear ‘by the altar,’ you are swearing by it and by everything on it. And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. And when you swear ‘by heaven,’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne.”
‭‭
So now we see that it’s wrong to swear by heaven , the alter, and Gods temple but for some reason the Pharisees and religious leaders and teachers believe that that was okay but very wrong to swear by the gold or gifts which was in and on the temple and alter

The Pharisees and religious leaders were teaching people wrong things this is one reason why Jesus tells the people not to follow their example.
Now These religious leaders cannot hope to lead anyone to the correct conclusions since they can’t see the truth themselves.

In Matthew 5 verse 34-37
Jesus already talks about making oaths and swears he says “But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne. And do not say, ‘By the earth!’ because the earth is his footstool. And do not say, ‘By Jerusalem!’ for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. Do not even say, ‘By my head!’ for you can’t turn one hair white or black. Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.”
‭‭
Jesus explains here and also in Matthew 23 that we shouldn’t swear by anything and the reason being is because we are mere humans beings we are prone to lying , and deceiving. So this is why we shouldn’t swear by anything because is we swear by the temple of God or the alter and we break that oath or promise we made that made us swear by those sacred things we lying not only to the person we made a promise to but we are lying on the sacred thing we swore on so we shouldn’t lie or swear on anything

“Then, surrounded by the Pharisees, Jesus asked them a question: “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They replied, “He is the son of David.””
“Jesus responded, “Then why does David, speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit, call the Messiah ‘my Lord’? For David said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies beneath your feet.’ Since David called the Messiah ‘my Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭22‬:‭41-45‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In this passage Jesus is asking the Pharisees a question which seems simple but takes a turn after they answer. They answer by going by scripture which says that the messiah is the son of David
Now in the beginning of Matthew if you read it all it does say Jesus is a descendent of David. This is why Jesus did not say they were wrong. Now the Pharisees said that the messiah is David’s son but Jesus questions that because how can he be the son of David when David calls him his lord ? After Jesus quoted David’s song in psalms the Pharisees didn’t ask him anymore questions because at this point they realized that their answer had made no sense.

Now In acts 2 verses 34-36 it says
For David himself never ascended into heaven, yet he said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.”’ “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!””

now in psalms 110 verse 1 when David says “The Lord said to my Lord”
He is meaning that the Lord the father which is God is talking to the Lord the son who is our messiah Jesus . David was before Jesus and yet this is what he said so this is why when Jesus asked them “Since David called the Messiah ‘my Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?””

Now Jesus’ question was how does David call his own descendent Lord? This had to mean that he knew Jesus which was his descendent would be more worthy and honorable than he is . He also knew that jesus would be the messiah. Another thing is that this passage and also psalms 110 verse 1 proves that the trinity is the right way to believe because it says the Lord said to my Lord . Meaning that the father said to the son . The father the Lord said to My Lord the son. Meaning there is 2 in this passage other wise if we was wrong and there wasn’t 3 (the father, the Son, and the Holy spirit ) then there wouldn’t be a conversation , there wouldn’t be this one said to this one . It would be more like The lord said not the Lord said to my Lord.

“When Jesus returned to the Temple and began teaching, the leading priests and elders came up to him. They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?”

The leading priests and elders was asking Jesus on whose authority was he performing all these miracles and teachings.
Back then when prophets was doing work of God they had to have either been chosen by God or by a leading priest or elder, so they were curious as to who gave Jesus authority to perform the miracles and teaching he was doing.


“I’ll tell you by what authority I do these things if you answer one question,” Jesus replied. “Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?”
They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask us why we didn’t believe John. But if we say it was merely human, we’ll be mobbed because the people believe John was a prophet.”

Now Jesus gave them a question that has a fault in either answer they chose. For if they chose to say he was given authority from heaven then they will be questioned as to why they did not believe John when he was doing his ministry . We are told many times that the Pharisees, Sadducees, and leading presets did not get along or believe in John the Baptist so if they was to say his authority came from heaven then they would be hypocrites but if they was to say that his authority was merely human meaning that a human gave him authority to do these thing , they would be attacked and mobbed by all of his followers and from Jesus’s followers because they believed that John the Baptist was a prophet of the Lord.
So now the leading priests and elders are in a bit of a grey area because either one of their answers will end up making them look bad.


So they finally replied, “We don’t know.” And Jesus responded, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things.”
‭‭
Jesus is telling them that since they cannot answer his question , then he cannot answer theirs. God gave authority to both Jesus and John to baptize, perform miracles and to preach the word of God . So by questioning Jesus they were questioning Gods authority.