Matthew 12:14-21
Notes
Transcript
Read Matthew 12:14-21
“14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. 15 Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all 16 and ordered them not to make him known. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: 18 “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. 19 He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; 20 a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; 21 and in his name the Gentiles will hope.””
The Key is found in verse 18.....
Matthew 12:18 (ESV)
18 “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
The title that was given by God through the prophet Isaiah which pointed 700 years into the future to the Messiah. My beloved Servant.
He says this is my chosen, the one whom I am pleased....my beloved servant.
Chosen, pleased....words that point us back to what was heard from heaven when John the baptist baptized Jesus in the wilderness. Do you remember what God said from heaven? Matthew 3:17 “17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.””
And this wonderful identification of Jesus being the beloved servant lands right in the middle of some tough circumstances.
You will remember that in chapter 11 and the early part of chapter 12 there s a rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. There is a rejection that he truly is the one that the Old Testament had promised. And in the middle of all of this, including what we see in verse 14, as they conspire to get rid of him, he quietly goes about the purpose for which he had been sent… change lives. How does he do that? Miracles? yes. Teachings that point to the coming Kingdom of God? Yes. But eventually, others would point to his death and resurrection.
So Matthew gives us this beautiful picture of the beloved servant, and there are some Characteristics of Christ.
The Beloved Servant of God...
He is condemned by false servants
look at verse 14… Matthew 12:14 “14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.”
Notice that in that moment they didn’t just kill him right there… but they began to talk about HOW to kill him.
Now the reason they did not just kill him right there 1/ there was a crowd there at that time, and the crowd had just come from inside the synagogue where Jesus had just performed the miracle of the man with the withered hand. They couldn’t do anything right here, or the crowd would have come against them. 2/ The Romans were now in charge, they had taken over, and only they could put someone to death by execution. SO they need to someone plot or plan how they could kill him in a way that would go around these two areas. So the council was not going to decide if he should be kill, but they were simply trying to find a way to kill him.
Think about this… the Pharisees…they religious people of that day…the protectors of the Word of God.... set out to kill the Servant/Son of God.
DO you remember the Parable of the Tenants. (Mar 12:1-12) A man rented out his place to people and after a while he sent his servants to gather the things that were his, and the people who where the renters rejected everyone who came and killed them, so finally the man sent his own son and they did the same. This is a picture of God sending his prophets to the nation Israel and ultimately rejecting everything they sad…in other words rejecting God. So God then sends his Son, and ultimately they will reject him as well.
The false servants condemned the Beloved Servant. But he didn’t surprise Jesus. He said in John 1:11
11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
His life was under a constant attack
The Beloved Servant of God...
He is condemned by false servants
He sticks to God’s plan
Do you realize that Jesus knowing what they were trying to do, could have killed them. He could have shut them up. But that is not what he did. He was to carry out God’s divine plan.
Matthew 12:15-16
“15 Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all 16 and ordered them not to make him known.”
Jesus knew that there was a divine plan in place by the Father, and when that plan was ultimately put into action the Pharisees would see, but for now, it wasn’t the time, so he withdrew from them, he continued to do what he was called to do… heal people…and show his glory.
Some believe that at this time, it could have been 2 years before he would go to the cross, but still he knew it wasn’t his time.
And as we continue through Matthew there is a constant cycle:
Going into a city to preach and teach and heal
Good response
then opposition
Withdraw to a new area and do the same.
Look now at verse Matthew 12:16 “16 and ordered them not to make him known.”
Why would Jesus say that?
Sometimes when stories are passed from one person to another and another, things change. He wanted people to see and to hear first hand.
He didn’t want to been known as only a miracle worker. He wanted people to understand that he was there to point them to the Kingdom of God.
He knew that if people only concentrated on the miracles, they would make his a King and want to have hm over throw the Roman government. That was not what he came for.
He didn’t want to raise the rage of the Pharisees and the Scribes. Now that time would come, but it wasn’t time yet. God’s timing was perfect.
This wasn’t the time of his exaltation…this was the time of his humiliation.
The beloved Servant sticks to God’s Plans.
The Beloved Servant of God...
He is condemned by false servants
He sticks to God’s plan
He has a heart for the needy
Matthew 12:15 “15 Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all”
Do you realize that Jesus healed people who did not believe in him? It’s true. …HE HEALED THE ALL...
Luke gives the account of the 10 lepers who called out to Jesus from a distance to heal them. Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priests and Luke says that on their was they were healed. Then he goes on to talk about one of the lepers: (Luke 17:15-19)
English Standard Version Chapter 17
15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
One of the ten showed that he had faith, the other nine didn’t.
Back in Chapter 11 Jesus pointed out all of the miracles that were recieved in Chorizin, Bethsadia and Caperneum and yet people still didn’t believe.
The heart of God is towards the hurting people, those with deeps needs. The ones who are ignored by everyone else. The Pharisees didn’t care about those people, just like we saw last week, they didn’t care about the man with the withered hand, they were just using him to try to make a point. They didn’t care, but Jesus is concerned for those who hurt and the needy. (Lawful? Good?)
In chapter 9 Jesus looks out on the multitude and has compassion on them because he sees them as sheep without a shepherd. Who had done that? The false servants, the Pharisees, putting burdens on them they were never meant to carry.
The Beloved Servant of God...
He is condemned by false servants
He sticks to God’s plan
He has a heart for the need
SO as you look as these first three characteristics, if you were living as a Jew in that day, you might question that he is the Messiah. After all the religious people had a problem with him, he was constantly withdrawing and going to a different place, he didn’t stand up like a true King would, and he was always with the lowly, he didn’t hang out with the important people.
But, Matthew then moves us towards the prophecy of Isaiah as he talks about the Beloved Servant, and in the next few characteristics we will see that he is the Messiah and these characteristics define him.
Look at Matthew 12:19-20 “19 He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; 20 a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory;”
This is a great description of the Messiah. Now this comes from Isaiah 42:1-4 and Matthew does not write it here, word for word, like it is written in Isaiah, but interprets it as it is written.
The Beloved Servant of God...
He is condemned by false servants
He sticks to God’s plan
He has a heart for the needy
He is exalted by the Father
Matthew 12:18 “18 “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.”
We talked earlier about what God said when Jesus was baptized, but what about in the transfiguration. In Matthew 17 when Jesus goes up on a high mountain and there he is with Moses and Elijah and John and Peter are seeing this. A voice comes down from the heavens...
Matthew 17:5
Matthew 17:5 (ESV)
5 He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”
Then when Jesus rose from the grave, he ascended into heaven where he is exalted and sit at the right hand of the Father.
Doesn’t that show you how far off the religious leaders were? The one they were condemning, the Father exalted. The one they were trying to kill, would bring life.
(18) Behold, my servant whom I have chosen…He is the chosen one…exalted by the Father
The Beloved Servant of God...
He is condemned by false servants
He sticks to God’s plan
He has a heart for the needy
He is exalted by the Father
He is anointed by the Spirit
Matthew 12:18 “18 “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.”
That was a promise from Isaiah 41 that when the Messiah came the Spirit would be upon him. Now we know that that happen at his baptism because we read the the Spirit descended on him like a dove, but I believe that the Spirit was with him from the time he began to grown inside of Mary.
++John the Baptist++
Luke 1:15
Luke 1:15 (ESV)
15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
Now if the Spirit was inside of John the Baptist from the beginning, the certainly he was inside of Jesus from the beginning as well.
(Jospeh)
It also says in Matt 1:20
Matthew 1:20 (ESV)
20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
So what does this mean?
1. It was a granting of power to his human nature. Just like us he was tempted. He was hungry. He was thirsty. He was happy, even sad, and even cried. His humanness needed the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to help him in his humaness and his diety.
2. But also the Lord put his spirit on him for his royal service. For 30 years he had lived a somewhat normal life, but now as he entered his public ministry he was given a special declaration by the Father and anointed with the Holy Spirit for the task he was set out to do.
The Beloved Servant of God...
He is condemned by false servants
He sticks to God’s plan
He has a heart for the needy
He is exalted by the Father
He is anointed by the Spirit
6. He preaches the Message
Matthew 12:18 “18 “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.”
There are a lot of messages floating around out there today. Not only today, but for all of history. In India, the Hindu religion worships over 1,000,000 gods. They will tell you that this is the message you should follow. Islam points to a man that came 700 years after Jesus who says that the Muslim faith is the only way. ANd there are more, Buddhists, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons....there are so many messages out there.
But the prophet Isaiah pointing to the Messiah say that he will proclaim justice…the good news....the truth..the gospel…salvation TO THE GENTILES.
This tells us that from the beginning the truth would be for everyone, not just the Jews. They were the starting point of the gospel, but it was not the end, the goal was for anyone to hear, every tribe of every nation.
Do you remember the first woman who he revealed that he was the Messiah? Was she a Jew? no. A Samaritan sitting by the well.
He was given to communicate the right message to the world.
The Beloved Servant of God...
He is condemned by false servants
He sticks to God’s plan
He has a heart for the needy
He is exalted by the Father
He is anointed by the Spirit
6. He preaches the Message
7. He was commited to humilty
Matthew 12:19 “19 He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;”
He will not quarrel or cry… so does that mean that tears never flowed from the eyes of Jesus? No. We know the Scripture says that Jesus wept when Lazarus died. What this is pointing to is that Jesus is not going to come screaming and yelling, making a scene, arguing, shouting or anything like that. Jesus came with humility and dignity, and love, wanting people to know that what he said was true.
Ecclesiastes 9:17
17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.
In giving the truth he was humble and showed dignity. He exhibited gentleness and meekness which was opposite of what the Pharisees showed.
The Beloved Servant of God...
He is condemned by false servants
He sticks to God’s plan
He has a heart for the needy
He is exalted by the Father
He is anointed by the Spirit
6. He preaches the Message
7. He was commited to humilty
8. He comforted the weak
Matthew 12:20 “20 a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory;”
What does this mean?
+a reed was a long piece grass, and once a reed was bruise or bent it wouldn’t stay straight
+Smoldering wick- the wick is the part of a candle that you light and when the wax finishes the fire begins to go out and the wick almost loses all of the fire
What is this picture? This picture is of the hurting people. The people that some throw away, don’t care about, or don’t even think about. The weak, the powerless, the helpless, those who are held down by their sin…hurting people. The kind of people that the Pharisees didn’t care about, those are the people Jesus looks to strengthen. he’ll take that bent reed and make it strait, that wick where the flame is about too die out and give it a new fire.
That is the heart of God.
The Beloved Servant of God...
He is condemned by false servants
He sticks to God’s plan
He has a heart for the needy
He is exalted by the Father
He is anointed by the Spirit
6. He preaches the Message
7. He was commited to humilty
8. He comforted the weak
9. He will win the victory
Matthew 12:20 “20 a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory;”
What that is saying is that Jesus will win. In spite of all the condemnation of the Pharisees, and the execution from their hands.... Jesus wins.
If you are in Christ, you are on the winning team. All of the struggles that life will bring, all of the heartaches of loss and disappointment that this fallen world may bring upon you, when it is all over, if you are in Christ, you will claim the victory.