Matthew Chapter 17
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Matthew Chapter 17 (Jesus’s divine authority)
Matthew Chapter 17 (Jesus’s divine authority)
Intro:
We ended chapter 16 in Matthew last week with Christ teaching about taking up your cross to the disciples. Giving up your worldly desires and working for Christ.
James did a great job explaining your works aren't what give you salvation, your salvation comes through faith in Christ, your works are that good fruit that comes from your faith in Christ.
again like a byproduct of great faith is good works.
So we are picking up in Matthew 17
The Transfiguration Matthew 17 1-13 (Mark 9 1-13, Luke 9 28-36, 2 Peter 1 16-21)
The same event taking place here are also documented in ^^^
Just a reminder of how this helps grounds us in our faith, these events taking place aren’t myths or fairy tails,
We have multiple eye witnesses each that are documented from their own points of view and we can see how they line up so well.
And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
Remember from chapter 16 verse 13 they are in Casarea Philippi, at the base of Mount Hermon,
They have been there now six days, there’s no indication of reference that Jesus and his disciples moved from this area,
Notice after six days Christ brings Peter James and John with him up the mountain apart from the other disciples.
Six in biblical numeric representing - weakness of man, evils of Satan, and manifestation of sin,
Do we remember what this area is known for?
Remember this is a Jewish territory, supposedly God’s “chosen” people, but was considered in multiple literature's as the gateway to the underworld, a lot of Idolatry, ties back to clans of Nephilim. The people in these areas would sacrifice babies to pagan god’s etc etc.
I feel like this is why Christ waited 6 days to bring these 3 disciples with him up the mountain, to give them enough time to fully see the corruption and weakness of man and the evils of Satan working in this area.
So again, Jesus waited six days and He took Peter, James, and John the brother of James, up on a mountain apart from the others.
And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
That word transfigured is translated to the Greek word Metamorphoo which is (G3339) if you have a Strongs, which means to transfigure or transform.
Christ has transformed His appearance in front of these men showing them His true divine image.
lets start with Jesus’s face shined as the sun, go look up at the sun and describe it, bright producing it’s own light onto everything around it, ETC ETC
Let’s take a look at Exodus 34 after God meets with Moses about Israels idol worship of the golden cafe.
And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.
And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.
Shone - H7160 (qaran) - to push or gore, derived from H7161 (qeren) - a ray (of light)
This is the same description from the children of Israel when Moses meets with God that the 3 disciples here give to Jesus once he transfigures on the mountain top with them.
This is a divine state and divine Transfiguration, divine image or body.
And then we see His raiment's being white as light
Let’s take a look at Revelations 3:5
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
This is Christ speaking here explaining how the ones who are believers and follower of Him will be given Eternal life, and they will then be clothed in White raiment.
White can be translated in this verse also to mean “light” or “Bright” Greek word 3022 in the Strong's.
But again just wanting to show how this was definitely a divine transfiguration of Jesus before these men, and it is described the same as other “divine” instances that have already came to pass, but also that have been prophesied.
And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
Remember Elias is Elijah,
We already went back to Exodus 34 and saw a quick example of Moses having a direct relationship with God.
and Moses had a relationship with God that was pretty much law based in the old testament, He was the lawgiver from God to the Israelite's, who then lead and delivered the Israelite's from slavery.
Elijah on the other hand was a divine prophet and also sort of the “head prophet” designated by God from the old testament who literally would challenge prophets of Baal just to prove the point of who's God was real and all powerful. in traditions he is known as the champion of faith.
In just a second your gonna see where we are going with this, “why Moses and Elias?”
These disciples are firsthand witnessing Christ in His divine body speak to 2 others in their divine body.
Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
Peter, again being the “spokesperson” for the disciples as we keep seeing, is explaining to Christ and answering to Him as THE Lord, about how great and amazing it is they are here witnessing this.
Tabernacles remember were like a half tent sort of thing. A worship dwelling that was portable.
Peter’s in a state of astonishment like “man we need to get you and these guys setup at camp were people can come and worship”
But why Moses and Elias? God’s designated Lawgiver and head prophet? Why and how are they able to be in this transfigured divine body.
So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord.
So according to the word of God Moses died in the flesh in the land of Moab.
And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.
remember Sepulchre, we learned this from Abraham, buying the cave of Machpelah for a burying place for his family.
And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
We will read when we get here that Elijah’s ascension to heaven was witnessed by Elisha who was his one of his own disciples, but also many others searched for his body and it was never found.
Moses’s body was attended by God but there was never traces of a body or burying place.
and Elijah was physically witnessed being ascended to heaven by a whirlwind. And also searched but no flesh body was ever found.
These two men; their bodies didn’t go back to the earth the way all of ours do, they were transfigured into their spiritual bodies just like Christ just did here.
But again, What is Christ leading to with this.
I keep catching myself finding humor in this and the same thing in Matthew 16 verse 7 where Christ is telling the disciples to “beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducee's” and the disciples are like “ Oh crap we forgot to bring the bread”
To now here, Jesus is trying to show Peter, James and John another sign of how this is going to play out with His death, and the first thing Peter says is “how awesome it is they are witnessing this and they should build some pop up worship tents for people to worship them?”
Again, “oh yea of little faith” They are missing the depth of what Christ is showing them
Also this shows the full patience of Jesus,
After the 1st time of me being like “dude I'm trying to speak to you on multiple levels to give you signs, don’t think so shallow minded” I would've just been like, “ alright dude at this point your on your own dude”
But instead look what happens.
While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
Yahweh, The Father now speaking directly to them.
Where have we saw this same thing happen before?
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
This is Yahweh, God Almighty speaking on behalf of what is taking place here. Telling the disciples to listen to what Christ is telling them.
And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
This was a typical response to first time divine encounters
We can reference Ezek 1:28, Dan 10:9, 15-19, and Rev 1:17)
God is all powerful, the first divine encounter with Him first hand is like none other.
Take a look at what Jesus does here,
And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.
This is the same first response we see from God in
Gen 15:1, of God coming to Abraham in a vision)
Dan 10 when a divine being comes to Daniel and he falls to his face and a the divine being (angel) tells him to“fear not” for they were sent by God
Luke 1:13 the angel tells Zechariah that his prayer is heard and his wife shall bear a son who is “John the Baptist”
Looking at these 3 examples and then what we are seeing in Matthew 17 verses 6 and 7
This helps better understand God.
We have The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, but yet it is the Same God who has different roles. I like to call it “extensions” of God.
Notice in the other examples it is the divine beings being feared and the same divine beings responding with “fear not” giving them peace
But yet here is God “The Father” speaking to these men and then Jesus “The Son” responding with “be not afraid” giving them peace.
I really feel like They are giving us a metaphor here with that.
This shows just how all powerful Yahweh, The Father is, encountering His presence first hand causes these men to fall to the ground, His power is overbearing for man.
but yet, Jesus Christ, The Son, His presence brings peace and comfort,
a lot of people depict old testament God as fire and wrath, and in the new testament God is peaceful and comforting,
We have to remember The Father and the Son are the same One in different roles,
God doesn’t change, He never has,
The reason God seems more “fire and wrath” in the Old testament was because mankind kept disobeying His commandments to the point He sent Jesus, who was an extension of Himself in the flesh to give the opportunity of eternal salvation to ALL.
I think what we are seeing take place here, and what Peter, James, and John are seeing take place first hand, is an example of how The Father and The Son, Yahweh and Jesus are the same ONE but two different extensions of the ONE.
I hope I’m not causing more confusion than understanding with what we just went over, but to simplify seeing this moment where The Father and The Son are together working both these roles at the same time with their own eyes
There is no other description of this moment other than overall DIVINE power and authority.
And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.
They saw Jesus by himself witnessing and hearing firsthand from Yahweh the Almighty that He is the Son of God.
And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.
Pay attention to that word “until”
It is a subordinating conjunction telling us “when”
There is a greater plan at hand here, in which it has to take place in a specific way and in a specific order, and if they didn’t understand from the first 2 examples, Christ makes it a simple as possible here,
“Tell no one what you have witnessed here until AFTER the Son of Man is risen from the dead”
And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
What are they referencing here?
Malachi prophesied that Elijah would come BEFORE the Messiah,
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
Christ is telling them “most definitely Elias shall come first, you are exactly right”
But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.
So what is Christ talking about here?
For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.
Who is Luke speaking about here? John the Baptist
And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.
And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
John the Baptist came in the spirit and authority of Elijah,
But how is that possible when John clearly states he isn’t
And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?
And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.
John clearly states he is not the Messiah which we know,
And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.
John clearly states that he is NOT Elijah,
So since John clearly states he is NOT Elijah then either Christ or Luke are lying and the bible contradicts itself.
We are gonna look at one more place, and we just covered this.
For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.
IF (there's that conditional word again) IF man would have received John the Baptist they would have known he was in the spirit of Elijah,
But man didn’t received John what did they do? They beheaded him. They murdered him. They did to him what they wanted, and Christ says the same will happen with the Son of Man,
Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.
They got it, they understood Christ.
Christ healing a boy of a demon Matthew 17:14-21 (Mark 9:14-29, Luke 9:37-42, Luke 17:5-10)
Again, this same event being documented in ^^^
We are going to kind of see a theme with this section that we have seen all through the book of Matthew.
And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
So Jesus, Peter, James and John are headed back to the other disciples and the multitudes that followed,
Still in Caesarea Philippi.
As their coming back there is a man approaching them, kneeling down saying,
Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
Lunatick, means to be moonstruck, a madman, usually a descriptive word for people with epilepsy.
vexed meaning to suffer
This man is describing his son as completely out of his mind.
And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
He is telling Christ “I took him to your followers and students but they couldn’t cure him”
Remember Christ gave His disciples the power over evil spirits and to heal sickness and disease.
And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
So why couldn’t the disciples cure this mans son?
Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
We see a pattern here, but this time Christ calls the disciples faithless and a perverse generation,
Perverse meaning distorted or corrupted,
And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
Christ healed the epileptic boy and rebuked the devil out of him.
This story here is also described from Marks POV in Mark 9 verses 14-29, and also Luke’s POV in Luke 9 verses 37-43
Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
Pay attention to this next verse, its highly quoted but we are going to really dig into it to break it down.
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Christ clearly says, because of their unbelief, their lack of faith,
It is a repeated issue we see all throughout Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 14, 15,16, this chapter, and later in chapter 22
Read (“ If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed...)
Now this part here is such a common referenced verse,
Alot of times we see it commented as “see all you need is faith the size of a mustard seed to be able to move mountains,” All it takes is a little bit.
There are 2 things I would like to point out,
The first one being sort of blunt, but don’t be so shallow minded to read this verse as “all we need is this tiny bit of faith and we will be alright”, obviously the disciples had some faith, they are literally walking with Christ, they have seen and witnessed miracles for a while now but yet still couldn’t perform the way Jesus gave them the power to perform.
Christ compares our faith as a grain of mustard seed, What and how does a seed work?
You take this little bitty seed and you plant it in the dirt, you water and feed and take care of it, and when you do so and with the help of the Almighty what does that seed turn into,
A wonderful healthy plant that is much larger than the seed it started from.
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
Seeds are meant to be planted, in order to grow into something greater.
I somewhat disagree with how this verse is commentated alot of times,
It isn't about “ see all you need is “this” much faith to move a mountain”
I believe what Christ is saying to the disciples is that if you can start with this tiny amount of faith, and you plant it and take care of it, it will grow into something much larger and more powerful and much more divine.
That’s why the disciples couldn't perform these miracles that Christ gave them the power to perform, because their seed of faith wasn’t planted and taken care of.
They obviously had to have some amount of faith, but it wasn't growing past the seed phase.
Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
So a couple of things here,
Some new translations don't have this verse written, They literally go from verse 20 to 22. I want us to take a look at a verse.
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
We use the King James version bible because it is as far back as we can comfortably read and believe it is as close to accurate as we can get,
Many people when they look at newer translations that have removed Matthew 17:21 say “see that’s why you have to stick to the King James.”
That isn’t the case here at all.
This is something we REALLY need to make note of and pay attention to.
This verse was not actually in the original Greek manuscript of Matthew,
Looking back at the Codex Sinaiticus - which is the oldest still in tact complete new Testament that is from the 4th century. Based off it’s age and origin it is believed to be the most accurate and important manuscript for establishing the original text of the Christian Bible.
That being said, this verse here in Matthew 17 does NOT exist in that manuscript OR in the Codex Vaticanus which is the other original Greek manuscript.
Now, when we get to Mark 9 and read through this story from Marks description, we are going to see that this verse in Matthew was most likely added to help mirror what is said in Mark during this event.
Being that what it is, the briefing over this verse just indicates that Christ is telling the disciples that sometimes there are spiritual opportunities that require more spiritual discipline. Prayer and fasting combined,
So like I said, be that what it is, after the service today if anyone has any questions about this verse being added or taken away, We will gladly have open discussion about it because this is a big topic in itself.
And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men:
So kind of a switch up in context here, Jesus is again predicting and describing His death and resurrection just like he did in Chapter 16 and earlier in this chapter.
And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.
they here at the end of this verse are the disciples, they are distressed over this matter.
None of them questioned the matter like they did back in 16.
They knew that this was prophecy that had to be fulfilled.
And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?
So closing out this chapter, these last 4 verses are addressing whether the Jews should continue to pay the temple tax.
Jewish males over 20 years old were required to pay the temple tax, This is what is written in Exodus 30
Priests were exempt. and by Jesus’s time period on Earth some rabbis were except as well.
Notice again they ask Peter, I don’t want to say the “leader” of the disciples, but sort of like the front man. We keep seeing him being the one on the front lines even questioning things on behalf of the disciples.
He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?
“basically” Christ saying, Let me ask you something Simon, Simon Peter,
Kings of the earth take up tax from their children or strangers?
Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free.
That is a statement from Christ to Peter, “then are the children free”
What are we seeing here?
If Christ is the King of kings then what sets them apart and free from strangers?
The Truth,
The Truth is what sets apart His children to freedom.
We see this in John chapter 8 where Christ is speaking to the Jews and explaining how continuing His word makes them His disciples.
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Following and teaching the true word of God is what makes you one of Christ’s children.
if you keep reading in this chapter you will see how they told Christ, “but we are of Abraham’s seed” and Jesus tells them “that doesn’t matter” He knows they are Abraham's seed but they seek to kill Him.
Ive been reading through the book of John a lot this week, and I know we have talked about it recently some,
A pretty big topic circulating right now on social media is “are Jews still God’s chosen people” and “if you don’t support Jews you might just be antisemitic”
But the gospel of John does a good job at laying out where Christ kinda stands on what happened in the past.
But anyway, to close out this chapter,
How Christ handles this tribute tax situation.
Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.
That word money here translates to “Statair” which means a certain coin or standard value,
Which was a half ounce of pure silver Roman coin, it was the legal tender at this time and these were the only coins accepted by the temple in Jerusalem, and it so happened to be the right amount to cover the tax for Peter and Christ.
But again, Peter was told to cast a hook and he finds it in the fishes mouth,
Christ kind of giving him the option to do this to keep the peace, not to offend them,
Conclusion,
So reading through Matthew 17, we see Christ transfiguring His image and He brings Peter James and John up the mountain and they witness Him and Elijah and Moses in these divine bodies,
Then afterwords we see how the disciples while they were gone couldn’t heal this boy or cast out the evil,
And I think that is kind of the big hitter here for me,
We keep seeing a pattern with the disciples, not that they didn’t have faith, they are literally living and following Christ perform these miracles,
But Christ keeps describing them as “those of little faith” and compares faith to a mustard seed
Like we have spoken about before, mustard seeds were a very common unit of measurement in this time,
But like we read in Matthew 13 comparing the mustard seed to the kingdom of Heaven, you plant the mustard seed and it will grow into a great tree or bush,
Our faith isn’t meant to be stagnant, just like a seed, that seed will NEVER produce without being planted and watered,
and going back our faith, we have to water it, fertilize it
WORK IT.
So how do we work our faith?
God tests it all the time, but the best way to work your faith is to STUDY and understand the word of God ,
this is called the living word because here in John 1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Skip down to verse 14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
The more we read and study and understand this, the more we understand Jesus Christ.
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
And like we went over for verse 26 in Matthew 17, the truth is what sets us free, Jesus Christ brought grace and truth,
We are inherited into the children of God through Him , Grace and truth.
Matthew Chapter 17 (Jesus’s divine authority)
Matthew Chapter 17 (Jesus’s divine authority)
