[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 5pm or Wednesdays at 7pm if you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, you can find us
[email protected] be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our Sermons podcast. Madison Church of Christ Sermons. Thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: We've got tonight and then two more weeks after this one, which is crazy to think that it's already come and gone.
And so what I'm hoping to do tonight is to get through the major and minor prophets that we didn't get through last week and granted to cover, what's that, like, 17 books in one night. Yeah, there's going to be a lot of hopping and skipping and jumping across the rest of the Old Testament as we do that. And I'd like to at least get through some of the mountains that Jesus finds himself on in the Gospel of Matthew.
We'll see how far we get on that. Maybe we'll get through all of them, but maybe we can get through the major and minor prophets, get through half of the Book of Matthew tonight, and then next week cover the second half of the Book of Matthew and cover Hebrews and Revelation, which kind of also bring in mountain motifs. And so my goal is, if this doesn't, if y' all don't just cringe at this, and if you do, then I can pivot and figure something out. But what I'm hoping to do is I can finish up all of my content by next Friday.
Next Friday. Next Wednesday.
You know, if y' all want to come in for an extra class period or something like that, that'd be great. But no, we'll try to finish up by Wednesday next.
Because the last week of the quarter, what I would like to do is just come in and I might have a few things prepared to get the discussion started. But I know I have raced through the entire Bible and we have covered very broadly and deeply many different topics. And so my hope is that in two weeks, the last night of the quarter, I'll just open it up and hear from you guys about what has been most meaningful to y' all in terms of the study and we can maybe hear what you picked out that because I was talking so fast and so long during most class periods that you picked some things out that I had missed and I would love for you guys to share that.
With that in mind, I've got a link to share here at the end of class.
You guys do not have to do this, but you do have to remember that I am an educator now, whether I can came into that trade willingly or kicking and screaming.
But I have made on Google forms a quiz for this class.
It's anonymous, so I'm not grading you on whether you got it right. In fact, most of these are more open ended questions anyway. But the reason that I did it was we talked about a lot of stuff. Most of the questions are just trying to draw you back in terms of what I feel like have been the most important topics and subtopics that we've covered. So if you guys would like to fill that quiz out, it is designed to get you guys to think about what we will be covering in that last class period and try to get you to at least understand a little bit or not understand, but at least have a vision of where I'm going for that last class in terms of having open discussion. So if you all would take a look at that quiz, we'll cover even stuff this week and next week that will be pertinent on that. And at the very end, the second page of the quiz is more of just a survey of what you felt like was good or not good and effective or not effective.
I appreciate the feedback and again it is anonymous so feel free to offer whatever you have to say. But most of them are just like did you appreciate the group me or did you not? Did you appreciate the Google Drive or did you not? Just those kinds of things. Because if it's good for you guys that I did all the Google Drive links and everything, I will continue to do that as I teach and if people didn't use it, it doesn't hurt my feelings. I just won't put it all on Google Drive going forward and just trying to make it all work. So just putting that out there. That link will be at the the very end. But in the meantime, so let's dive into the major and minor prophets we'll pick up and the ones that we're actually going to look at in detail are the first four there on the left. So. Or I should say five since Micah four is there as well. So if I can get somebody to Come into Isaiah chapter two and look that one up for us. Micah, chapter four, Isaiah, chapter 11, Isaiah, chapter 56 and Ezekiel 20.
We are going to at least read through these. We're just going to read through them in bulk, so pay attention. Open up your Bibles, follow along where people are, and we'll read each of these five main passages. I'll talk about the ones on the right there. But once we have read through these five passages, we will come back and discuss them. So whoever's got Isaiah chapter 2, verse 1 through 5, if you would, please read that for us.
[00:05:30] Speaker C: Now the word which Isaiah the son of Amon saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills, and all the nations will stream to it, and many peoples will come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He may teach us concerning his ways, and that we may walk in his path. For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and he will judge between the nations and will render decisions for many peoples, and they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and his spears in the pruning coats. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war.
Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.
[00:06:22] Speaker B: Thank you for Micah chapter four. Whoever's got that one, if you don't mind reading it for us. And for those of you who are just following along, pay attention. This is a mirror passage to the one that we just read, but there are some slight differences. So whoever has Micah chapter four, please turn and read that one there for us.
[00:06:43] Speaker D: It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills, and people shall float in, and many nations shall come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the Lord of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore, but they will Sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid. For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: Thank you, Julie. Isaiah, chapter 11, verse 1 through 9.
[00:07:44] Speaker E: There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear. But with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat and the calf, and the lion and the fattened calf together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze their young shall lie down together. And the lion will eat straw like the oxygen. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy an all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the people of him, shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people. From Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.
[00:09:23] Speaker B: Thank you, Ethan. Isaiah 56, 6, 8. And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants. Everyone who keeps the sabbath and does not profane it, and hold fast to my covenant, these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar. For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.
And Ezekiel, chapter 40. Whoever, excuse me. Ezekiel 20, verse 40. Whoever has that one.
For on the holy mountain on the mountainside of Israel says the Lord God there, all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve me. There I will accept them, and there I will require your offerings and the.
[00:10:18] Speaker C: First fruits of your sacrifices together with all your holy things.
[00:10:23] Speaker B: Thank you, Austin. So a lot of passages, a lot of very poetic language happening here. In fact, to me, a lot of these ring very similar to the passages that we read in the Book of Psalms when we were reading about who can ascend the holy mountain, who can ascend the holy hill, who can live in God's tabernacle. And we're seeing a lot of these messages all coinciding in these passages again. And so my first question is, what motifs, what themes of the Bible? What do you see all coinciding here in these passages in Isaiah and Micah and Ezekiel? Don't forget one that we skipped, Ezekiel, chapter 28. That's the one that we read back in week two or week three when we were talking about you were in Eden, my holy mountain. So not to mention that that comes into play here in the prophets. All of these on the right hand side mostly fall into different patterns that you see over on the left hand side. And they're much shorter verses and not quite as dripping with cosmic holy mountain language, but they are still special in terms of God's mountain. But what do y' all like? What is all coming into play here in these passages about the mountain?
Or maybe a better question is what's the significance of God's holy mountain as far as the prophets are concerned?
[00:11:53] Speaker C: There's a motif of this big one, the holy, just establishing the holy and the profane.
It's repeated over and over again. There's a holy and there's a knot, and he's establishing you're one or the other.
[00:12:08] Speaker B: That one I didn't have picked out in my notes. But it calls to mind one of the profane mountains that we talked about early on was Babel. Right. So you have God's mountain, you can follow his statutes, or you can go up the way of Babel, more or less, even though they don't call name to that. Babylon is often referred to in the prophets. So yeah, absolutely.
I love the idea of I'm gathering my people, I'm gathering the nations, as other passages talk about. Like a hen gathers her chicks, I'm going to protect you. Under my wings I'm going to be.
In the Psalms, you've got the idea of rock or fortress tends to coincide with passages about mountain and so this is a stronghold.
Yes. This is a place where nothing can.
Nothing can touch you when you are with me on my holy mountain.
There are a couple of different future elements to it, with especially The Isaiah chapter 11 passage with the shoot of Jesse. Right. So this is the promised Messiah is coming, and the mountain is present there. And so we've got that. But then there's also the element too, that in those days and beyond those days, at the end of time, this is a kingdom that will be set up forever. In fact, some of these in Daniel here are coinciding with the images of the rock coming down onto the statue that represented the four kingdoms. And so you've got that present in Daniel here. So, yeah, there's the element of something is coming and it is going to be very different from what, you know now.
And that's what we're going to be looking at with Jesus and then next week in Hebrews and Revelation, because they really tie into and dig into that.
Any other themes, ideas, significances that you pick out here?
[00:14:05] Speaker E: It shows.
I've seen the word judge a couple times, like God establishing order on the tops of these mountains, rather than like man.
[00:14:16] Speaker B: Yeah. Going back to what Michael was talking about. You've got your two paths there, and God will judge as to whether you are one who is walking in the ways of his mountain or walking in the ways of something that is profane. And because of that, because these are the people who go up the mountain, but also because his order is there, a kid can play next to a cobra's hole and it's going to be okay.
And a child can lead a lion and a fatted calf together, and it's going to be okay. And a wolf and a sheep can lay down together, and it's going to be okay.
It's a beautiful picture of what that future is going to look like. Maybe even tying back to one of the things that we said was a lot of pre.
A lot of mountains that happened before the prophets in the Old Testament tend to look back towards Eden. And a lot of mountains after the prophets tend to look forward to the New Zion.
Both of these are present here. You've got Eden and New Zion are coinciding here to say, listen, what the end is going to look like when the king comes.
That was promised back in the Psalms and back in other passages, even as far back as Genesis 3.
We get to go back to where that's normal.
Right. Like those very picturesque versions of, I think of like Narnia and that kind of Stuff the talking animals and all, like, we're just gonna.
This is going to be very normal. That peace is what reigns. Not chaos, not the dragon, not the serpent, but the Lord reigns.
So here. One of my favorite elements of what we're talking about is that, yes, the two roads will be divided, the future is coming. There's elements of safety and stronghold. But what I like is if you'll turn back to Isaiah chapter two, or if you want to look at Micah chapter four, Isaiah chapter two, I'd like to skim through that again.
Many nations. So the Gentiles. This is Isaiah 2. 2 Many nations will flow to it, so the Gentiles will ev.
So this is reminiscent of another passage in Isaiah. The exact reference escapes my mind right now, where Isaiah says, it's too small a thing for you to just be my messenger to Israel, but you are also to be my messenger to the nations, to the Gentiles, to all the lands, is one way to translate it. So you've got that here, that because Israel is meant to be the messenger to all the nations, all the nations in turn are from flowing up the mountain. And so this idea of God's holy cosmic mountain, one of the passage or one of the books that I looked at for this one said, makes this an exclusive statement that there is one singular mountain that stands above all mountains. That's the beginning of verse two. And yet it is wholly inclusive in that anyone is welcome to come up the mountain. It is not just about the Hebrews, it's not just about the Jews.
They were meant to be the new Adam and the Moses, the Noah, to bring God's deliverance, to pave the way back up the mountain.
And so people say in verse three, let's go up the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, so he can teach us, so we can have this peace, this refuge.
We know where that comes from. And we recognize that the God of all, he can tell us how to live. This is going back to. We read passages in the Psalms of talking about, how great is your law, how great is your Torah, how great is your instruction?
What we crave is the instruction for living well from God, so that way we may walk in his paths. And what is interesting here, that while the nations are streaming up, what is coming back down is for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And so if you read this only in the context which there's value in that, only reading it in the context of the prophets, it can be understood in two ways. In the sense that God's word flows down. Or it could also be read in the people who go up the mountain. Once they receive the instruction, they carry the law back down the mountain. But when you read the latter, in light of the New Testament, in light of one of the mountains that we're going to talk about that Jesus ends up on, where he tells people, go into all the world, preach the gospel, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe everything that I have commanded you and I'm with you forever. That traveling up the mountain is what we are supposed to do. But it's not this cosmic sense of some glad morning when this life is o', er I'll fly away.
And we hope in some sense that for me to live is Christ, but to die is gain. So, yes, we anticipate and we wait for the day where we are on top of the mountain forever with God. But in the meantime, let us go up the mountain of the Lord. Let us take time when it's almost time for bedtime in the middle of winter, after the sun has gone down, to spend time with the community of the Lord, to learn the instruction of the Lord.
Let us sit in this space that is sacred. Not because Madison Church of Christ building is a sacred space, but because where two or three are gathered, we find ourselves on the mountain with God. We find ourselves back in his temple, in his throne room. That's what the temple was all about, was re entering Eden, the throne room of God, his footstool.
So we find ourselves there.
I mean, I know we as Westerners don't tend to get overly spiritual, but to think that there are heaven's walls and gates around us even as we speak, as we spend this time together learning about the instruction of the Lord. But it is not enough on this side of eternity for us to stay up on the top of the mountain of the Lord that we, following the passage here in Isaiah and also following the instruction of Christ, we go up the mountain. So that way we can help bring the law back down the mountain.
And that brings peace and stronghold. It brings people who are ready to be gathered under the wings of God on his strong, peaceful mountain. We have that peace here at our disposal. And so peace, safety, communion, instruction, they're all present and coinciding here on the the mountain of God in the prophets. And they anticipate what we are about to jump into in the book of Matthew, and they anticipate What Jesus even anticipates at the end of his life, when this is a blending that is going to be wholly unrecognizable to anyone, you will have new bodies where you can live on the holy mountain.
And that's what we're waiting for. Before we jump to the book of Matthew, though, any other thoughts or commentaries on mountains and the prophets?
Yeah. One of the commentaries that I looked at put it in terms of what's happening here is I think we might have talked about this a little bit back in week two, but Mount Zion, where the temple is, is.
Is shorter than the Mount of Olives, which is across the ravine. Right. Like, it's not tall place. Yabalakkara, where BAAL lived and all of these other places, whatever God you could place on Mount Everest, Right. They are much higher up, at least in elevation, than Mount Zion is. But, you know, it's any way that you wrap the cliche up, but it's not the mountain that makes the God, it's the God that makes the mountain. Right. That's what Isaiah is definitely throwing shade at these other ancient Near Eastern gods.
All right, let's look at Matthew, chapter four, then if you'll jump ahead a few books in your Bible to Matthew, chapter four in Matthew, chapter four. If you've ever been to a vacation Bible school class, you've probably had some class on Matthew, chapter four. Matthew four, as tends to happen, comes right after Matthew three, where we have John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus. Thank you. I'm glad you appreciated that.
So we've got the baptism of Jesus, but right after the baptism of Jesus, we have the temptations of Jesus where he is sent into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. That's chapter four, verse one. And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, which calls back to Elijah and to the Hebrews as they fled Egypt, or after, excuse me, the 40 years that they spent wandering in the wilderness after. After Mount Sinai. Excuse me. But Jesus, this time, he fasted.
He was hungry. I probably would be too. And the. The tempter came to him and said, if you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he answered, it is written, man will not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God, the devil.
Notice now because we've been studying the mountain. Every scene here that we are participating in goes up a little bit further in elevation. So instead of being out here in the wilderness, now we are in the holy city, the Temple Mount. Right. So Mount Zion set him on the pinnacle of the temple. So you're on the top of God's house, on top of his holy mountain.
And the tempter said to him, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, he will command the angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against the stone. But Jesus said, again, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.
So this is coming back to what we talked about with Elijah. Whether he was testing God on that mountain or not, I'm not supposed to test him. This is my test, and I recognize that. And I'm not going to test God in this way. I'm not going to push him beyond what is my calling at this time. Verse 8. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain now and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all their glory.
Book that I just finished reading, just reference that Bible verse.
And he said to him, all these things I will give you if you fall down and worship me. But Jesus said, begone, Satan. It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.
So what is Jesus doing here on the mountain? Or maybe I should say we talked about with Abraham was taken and tested on the mountaintop. Elijah was taken to the mountaintop and tested. Israel at Mount Carmel, was taken to the mountaintop and tested. So now Jesus is being taken to the mountaintop to be tested.
And what happens?
He flees.
What we read here in conjunction with Satan's flight is Hebrews 4:15. Abraham passed the test on the mountain. Elijah passed the test on Mount Carmel.
But these people ultimately ended up failing in some way or another throughout the course of their life, that they were not worthy every day of their life to rise up to the top of the mountain and stay on the mountain of the lord.
But Hebrews 4:15 reads that Jesus was tempted in every way that we were, but was without sin. So this test that we see here is just a broader picture, or excuse me, a narrow image of a broader picture of Jesus life in the sense that Jesus doesn't just pass the test on this day or during the 40 days of temptation, he passes the test every day.
So we've got conjunctions or coincidence with Abraham, Elijah, Israel.
We also have what is anticipated in Psalm chapter 15. Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who can live there? Who can live in his tabernacle?
I think we found the guy, right?
These are what we as Jews waiting for the Messiah, not the person who's going to come and destroy the Roman Empire, at least as far as we're concerned, and set up a kingdom here that is like every other kingdom that has gone before it.
But there's something wholly different about this guy Jesus, that he can ascend the mountain, and he can ascend the mountain on our behalf, and he can live there.
Which if he ascends the mountain on our behalf, then maybe we can live there too.
So Matthew, for a bit of context, don't forget that each of the different gospels were written under different context. Mark was likely written to a Roman audience, and it's very short and action packed.
Matthew is dripping with references back to the Old Testament, both explicit and implicit. And this is likely one of those implicit statements.
Jesus can do what we anticipated in Psalm 15, Jesus can do what we anticipated in Psalm 24. Jesus can be Abraham on Mount Moriah every day.
And the very next chapter which comes after chapter four is chapter five where we find our next mountain.
Jesus, seeing the crowds, went up on the mountain and he sat down with his disciples who came to him and said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, so they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
And it goes on for the next two and two thirds of a chapter where he says, you've heard that it was said, don't murder.
And that's right, but I'm telling you, don't even be angry with your brother.
You've heard, don't commit adultery.
Don't even look lustfully at a woman. Listen, if someone even comes and slaps you on the right cheek, turn to the other. Also, don't pray in such a way that you're trying to be caught on the street when it's time for prayer. So that way people can see all of the many things that you say in your prayers.
But go into your closet and pray There. And this is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, holy is your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we also forgive those who trespass against us. And don't lead us into the time of testing, but deliver us from the evil one.
Also, don't judge people, because you might see a speck in their eye, but in turn you have a plank in your own eye.
And don't be anxious. Don't be worried about what you will eat and drink, but seek first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness and everything else that will be coming to you.
And everything else will be given to you.
And he wraps it up with everyone. This is chapter 7, verse 24. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Again, rock tends to be a synonym for mountain or hill.
The rain fell and the floods came. Think of Noah back in the day when the flood swept the earth and the winds blew and beat on the house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock on God's holy mountain.
And everyone who hears these words of mine but does not do them is like a foolish man who builds his house on the sand. And the rains fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. When Jesus had finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had had authority, not as one of their scribes.
So what's going on? I mean, in terms of the whole scope of the Bible that we've looked at so far, what's going on here in Matthew 5, 6, 7, or maybe another way to say it is, at least in a symbolic way, where are we?
What other mountain did the people of God find themselves at? Where the instruction of the Lord came down?
This is Mount Sinai again. I mean, it starts if only the Beatitudes. And not trying to claim any issue with the Bible, but there are nine Beatitudes. If only there were 10, like, I feel like even more, there would be some real re enlivening of the Torah, because Jesus says right after the Beatitudes, don't think that I came to abolish that.
I didn't come to abolish it, I came to fulfill it.
So where are we? We're back at Sinai.
We're back at the place where the law came down.
And now we have the Son of God, Immanuel God with us.
Instead of being in some cloud, instead of some earthquake, instead of some still small voice, we have God made flesh, the whole of him in body.
And yet God there giving the instruction of life to live on the holy mountain. If you want to know what it looks like to live in God's mountain community now, this is your starting place. Matthew 5, 6, 7 are your starting place. And what does it look like for those who are part of that community?
Even when you're poor in spirit, you are blessed because yours is the kingdom of heaven. Even when you mourn, even when you can't wake up, get out of bed because of whatever is going on in your own life or in the lives of those around you, you'll be comforted on God's holy mountain. And when you're hungry and thirsting for the righteousness, you'll be filled.
This is what happens on God's holy mountain. And so here we've also got psalms intersecting. Because Psalms repeatedly talks about how great is the instruction of the Lord. It is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths. It shows me the way back up the mountain.
So the psalms are intersecting here.
It's like Isaiah chapter two. We've got Jesus on the mountain. That was foretold in Isaiah chapter 2, that from the mountain the instruction of the Lord will come down. Well, people left that mountain.
And I gotta imagine that if they said that, wow, something's different about him, that they left the mountain talking about it, whether like Paul in Philippians chapter one, where he talks about, hey, listen, people are instructing, and sometimes their hearts are. But if Christ is preached, then to God be the glory.
Like, even if they didn't fully understand, they left there fulfilling Isaiah, chapter two.
And you also have what it's like to be in the temple community. And so, I mean, just there are so many things intersecting here in terms of how one is to live and to enter and be a part of the community of God, that it's not just about 637 rules, 634 rules, however many they counted in the Torah. But your heart has to belong to God if you were to be one that lives on this mountain.
The next one that I would like to go to is Matthew chapter 15, if you will go there. Matthew chapter 15, starting in verse 29, Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on a mountain and sat down there.
The great crowds came to him, bringing with him their Lame, their blind, their crippled, their mute, and many others. And they put him at his feet and he healed them.
So the crowd wondered when they saw the mute speaking and the crippled healthy and the lame walking and the blind seeing, they glorified the God of Israel.
Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way. And the disciples said to him, how are we going to feed them?
Even if we had all of this money or food, we couldn't do it. And Jesus said, how many loaves do you have? And they said, seven and some fish, which calls back to the feeding of the 5,000. So he had people sit down and they ate and were satisfied.
There were 4,000 men besides women and children. And after sending the crowds away, he got up from a boat and went to the region of Magadan.
So again, we have, just like Isaiah, that something special happens on the mountain of God.
I don't know. We were there.
And I don't know how to describe it to you, but we got a glimpse of heaven's gates because that guy has been sitting at the gates of the temple all his life. And he walked.
And then this guy who I'd known forever, he's never seen before, but he can see now.
And this woman that I saw, who has never been able to speak, she could speak. And the people who were hungry, quite literally, Luke being the physician, maybe the scientist of the group of the Gospel writers, tends to put very concrete lenses on what Matthew puts very cosmic lenses on. So we've got hungering and thirsting for righteousness. When Luke recounts the Beatitudes, he just says that Jesus said, if anyone is hungry, well, blessed is that person, because he will be fed.
So people are being fed.
We've got. In Luke chapter four, if you'll turn there.
I know I said we'd be in the book of Matthew, but in Luke chapter four, one of the really interesting accounts in terms of Jesus talking about his own fulfillment of what is happening in his own life. So Luke chapter 4, verse 16.
Jesus is in Nazareth and it is his turn to read in the synagogue on Sabbath day. He stood up to read verse 17, and the scroll of the prophet of Isaiah was given to him. And he unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovering the sight of the blind and liberty to those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. That is his year of Jubilee, the 50th year in the Hebrew calendar where all debts are forgiven. And Jesus rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And all of the eyes of the people in the synagogue were upon him. And he began to say to them, today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.
And they marveled at his gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, we know this guy. He grew up here. This is Joseph's kid.
Who are you to do this? And they try to throw him off a cliff.
But the main thing that we're trying to point out here is that what is Jesus doing in his own life? Like, what is Jesus life all about?
He is fulfilling the role of Israel. He is fulfilling the role of Noah. He's fulfilling the role of Adam. He's doing it, which is what the book of the epistles of Paul come back to, fulfilling the role of Adam and Abraham. And then you've also got Moses thrown in there in the book of Hebrews. I think it is. So all of these figures that were supposed to do it, God himself has now descended upon humanity. He is with us.
And what happens when God comes to this earth?
Those who are ready to see can see the scene from the movie Amazing Grace, where John Newton, the writer of the song Amazing Grace, can't see out of his eyes. He tells a young William Wilberforce, I once was, excuse me, I am blind, but I see. Didn't I write that once? And William Wilberforce affirms that. And John Newton says, well, now at last it's true, right?
Even being blind, I can see that God is fulfilling everything that Israel was supposed to fulfill to bring the instruction down to the nations. And when that happens, people aren't oppressed anymore.
This is a message of liberty.
How many people do you know, maybe even yourself, just needs to be reminded that God. God gives a breath of fresh air to those who follow him.
That the oppression that you feel, that burden is ready to be lifted at Calvary. As one of the songs we sing that you can walk, you can see all these things that have ever plagued you. Jesus is doing right here in Matthew, chapter 15.
He is fulfilling the purpose of Israel. In Matthew, chapter 15, the bell is probably about to ring, if it hasn't already. So are there any closing thoughts before we wrap up for tonight and then try to wrap this class up next week.
We will try to wrap up next week with the second half of Matthew and then look at Hebrews and Revelation and then the final week.
We will come back to this and I will see you all next week, Lord willing.
