Servant of the Lord
Matthew 12:15-29
Harry Stoliker
March 22, 2009 EBC
Listen
We sing a hymn called "More About Jesus" that fits well in today's sermon.
"More about Jesus would I know, more of grace to others show, more of His saving
fullness see, more of His love who died for me. More about Jesus on His throne,
Riches in glory all His own, More of His kingdom's sure increase, More of His coming
Prince of Peace." This last verse fits Matthew well. We have been seeing
that our Lord Jesus Christ in on His throne, after inaugurating His
kingdom at His first coming. We saw last week in Daniel 7:13-14 that he was
given by the Ancient of Days a kingdom authority and dominion that
was everlasting and could not be destroyed. A clear proof of his deity.
This week we are introduced to a couple more names for Jesus that further
reveal his "saving fullness" and the riches of His glory. Let's just
walk carefully through this text and marvel at our Lord with trembling joy.
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God's Chosen Servant
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V.15 The setting is the withdrawal of Jesus from the Pharisees
who are plotting to kill him. He leaves the area. He isn't running, but rather managing
the situation so that His death is on God's timetable and not theirs. This
small phrase: "Jesus withdrew from that place" indicates that He is in control
of His own life and destiny. He comes and goes in the wisdom of the Spirit.
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Another small but significant phrase is in V.15 "And many followed
him, and he healed them all…" We have seen many mobs of people always
surrounding our Lord. Matthew notes that he healed 'all' of the sick in this
particular group. This is another indication of his omnipotence and mastery
of all the evil Satan had brought upon the people. We'll see in a moment
why it was that Jesus was able to heal "all" of these people. MacArthur puts it nicely
by saying: "In all of OT history there was never a time or a person who
exhibited such extensive healing power. Physical healings were very rare in
the OT. Christ chose to display His deity by healing, raising the
dead, and liberating people from demons. This also showed God's compassion
toward those affected by sin."
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Why did Jesus tell them not to tell anyone who he was in V.16?
Turn back to 8:4; 9:30. Now forward to 16:20; 17:9. Aren't we
supposed to tell people who Jesus is? Throughout His ministry, Jesus carefully
avoids stirring up a frenzy over healings. "Although miracles
attest to the authenticity of his message concerning the kingdom's arrival, he does
not want to draw crowds who come simply for the sake of miracles." ESVSB
The message of the Kingdom is what is central. The Word of God has to be
central in our lives, then all other experiences of God's power are
put into proper perspective.
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What key word do we see in V.17? "Fulfill"! V.18-21
is a quote from Isa. 42:1-4 and is the longest OT quote that Matthew uses.
It comes from a section in the Isaiah known as the Servant Songs
in which the "servant" represents alternately the nation of Israel and the
gentle, Spirit-enpowered, suffering servant, whose mission is to bring justice
to the nations. We know the Servant of the Lord to be Jesus, the Messiah.
The NT interprets the OT and clearly tells us that this was Jesus here in
Mt. by saying what Jesus did was the fulfillment of Isaiah 42.
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Let me highlight just 4 of the stunning characteristics of this servant
of the LORD. (1) He is the chosen servant of the LORD, (2)
He is the deeply loved servant of the LORD, (3) He is the
compassionate, merciful servant of the LORD, and (4) He is the
victorious servant of the LORD.
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God's servant is Chosen: Matt. 12:18 "Behold, my servant whom
I have chosen." This tells us that Jesus Christ is the Ultimate Elect
One, the Ultimate Chosen One. When Luke writes about the
transfiguration he focuses in on Jesus as the Chosen One. Luke 9:35 "And
a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen
to him!" Again, at the end of the life of Jesus, Luke focuses
in on Jesus as the Chosen Servant of God. Luke 23:35 "And the people
stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let
him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!" Peter
also says in 1 Peter 2:4 "As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men
but in the sight of God chosen and precious…you also are being built into
a spiritual house." Jesus was chosen by the Father because He was the Only One
who could become the Perfect Lamb of God to take away the sins of God's
people.
When we talk about us being chosen, it is always "chosen in Christ."
Everything we have comes from being in Christ, because
of Christ and for Christ. That includes our salvation, our faith, our
repentance and every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Ephesians 1:3
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in
Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." Jesus
Christ is God's Chosen Servant to accomplish the Father's plan to
bring glory to Himself through salvation.
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God's servant Jesus, is loved and delighted in by God.
We cannot begin to imagine the intensity of the Father's love and pleasure
in His Son. At Jesus' baptism, in Matthew 3:17 we read "…and
behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I
am well pleased."We hear the same thing at the Mt. of Transfiguration
in Matthew 17:5 "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." Peter remembers being there on
that mountain and mentions it in 2 Peter 1:16-18 "For we did not
follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received
honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic
Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,"we ourselves
heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain."
If we could only grasp a little bit of the infinite love the Father
has for His Son, we would be amazingly transformed. We would hate sin more
and love other people more and love Christ more ourselves!
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God's servant Jesus is compassionate and merciful.
Matt. 12:20 "…a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will
not quench." This is amazing! Matthew has been telling us about the power
of Jesus in word and deed. In the next section he is going to revisit that
by telling us that Jesus has tied up Satan and is plundering his house. But
now, we see the meek, unassertive, gentle and kind heart of our Lord. The
idea behind the bent reed and the smoldering wick is that there are
people that the world thinks are useless, good for nothing,
total failures, but Jesus isn't harsh on them. Reeds were used for
measuring, so when it was bend, cracked or lost its straightness,
it wasn't any good any more. Wicks were to give off light, smoldering ones
were useless. Jesus is merciful to people who are bend by life,
barely smoldering because they've been stepped on. Jesus is extraordinarily
willing to encourage damaged or vulnerable people giving them further
opportunity and hope, rather than cast them into the junk heap and
judge them harshly. "He came not to gather the strong for a revolution, but to show
mercy to the weak." (MacArthur) This doesn't refer to the arrogant, proud or stubborn,
but to the humble who are beaten down by life and by weaknesses of all kinds. One
of my favorite songs we sing here: "Wonderful, Merciful Savior, Precious Redeemer
and friend, who would have thought that a lamb could rescue the souls of men!"
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God's servant Jesus is victorious. V.20-21
say He will lead justice to victory and in his name the nations will put their
hope. Jesus never quit in his mission to bring the cause of God
to victory. This makes me think of Thomas Paine's famous speech during the
American Revolution: "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer
soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis shrink from the service
of his country; but he that stands now deserves the love and thanks of men
and woman. Tyranny like hell is not easily conquered yet we have this consolation
with us, the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we
obtain too cheaply,, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that
gives everything its value." Jesus was no summer soldier and sunshine
patriot for God! He led Justice to Victory and will continue to do so
through eternity. He has conquered the devil, conquered death and
conquered hell! God's righteous justice on sin has been executed fully.
These are 4 simple yet power traits of God's Chosen Servant, our Lord Jesus.
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Jesus Against Beelzebub V.22-29
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V.22-23 tell us of yet another miraculous demonstration of Jesus power
over demons. The description of the healing is brief so much time could be
spent on the responses of the people and the Pharisees. Demons have the
power to take away sight and speech in non-believers.
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The people's response gives us another Name for Jesus: Son of David!
The people were expecting an end-times, powerful, Son of David figure to arrive
for Israel's deliverance. Two blind men in Mt. 9 had called him this. "Have
mercy on us, Son of David!" This was a messianic title from used
in Mt. 7 times. The NT accepts Jesus Davidic origin as a certainty
(Peter in Acts 2:29-31 "Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the
patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this
day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn
with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne,
31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ,
that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.) Again
in Acts 13:22-23 "And when he had removed him, he raised up David
to be their king, of whom he testified and said, 'I have found in David the son
of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.' 23 Of
this man's offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as
he promised."
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The Pharisees couldn't take all the messianic interpretations that the
people were putting on everything Jesus did. They counterpunched with some very nasty
accusations of where Jesus supposedly got all his power…he was in league with
the devil. He was the devil's crony. They couldn't deny
Jesus had just done a powerful deed so they say his exorcism was just a magic
trick of the devil, Beelzebub! Beelzebub likely means "lord
of the house" which fits perfectly with V.29 which tells
us that Jesus has tied up the strong man whose house is getting plundered!
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V.25-26 Jesus supernaturally knows what they are thinking and embarrasses
them by showing how absurd their logic is. Satan's kingdom would
fall, like any human kingdom, if it was divided against itself by internal civil
war! "If Satan drives out Satan he is divided against himself."
They didn't even have commonsense going for them as they opposed Jesus!
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V.27 "And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast
them out? Therefore they will be your judges." There were Jewish exorcists
around in the 1st century. We see some who totally failed at it in Acts
19 called the "sons of Sceva." The Pharisees seem to have had some associates
or disciples that attempted to cast out demons in God's name,
and they weren't ready to say their disciples were cronies of Beelzebub!
If they did, they would have made themselves quilty of opposing the work of
God through their own exorcists.
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V.28-29 "But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast
out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone
enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong
man? Then indeed he may plunder his house." It wasn't by Beelzebub
that Jesus cast out demons, it was by the Holy Spirit! Jesus' entire ministry was
empowered by the Holy Spirit, which is what we just say in V.18!
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Notice that Jesus is saying that he is far superior to Satan. He has entered
Satan's kingdom, bound Satan up, and is plundering his goods!
Satan's kingdom is the sinful world where he reigns as the prince of the power of
the air (Eph. 2:2). Jesus can expel demons and win souls into His
kingdom because he has tied Satan up and made him powerless to prevent the
advance of the gospel. Jesus is now rescuing people from the kingdom of darkness
and bringing them into the kingdom of light and Satan can't do a single thing
about it! Jesus takes anyone He wants out of Satan's kingdom, anyone at all.
Jesus is taking millions and millions out of Satan's evil empire into God's
glorious kingdom!
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"Kingdom of God" occurs only five times in Matthew, compared
to 32 occurrences of "kingdom of heaven," (which occurs in none of
the other Gospel accounts.) We see in V.26 that Satan has a kingdom
and in V.28 that God has a greater Kingdom.
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All this is happening NOW. "The Kingdom of God has come upon you…"
The coming of Jesus was the beginning of the end for Satan. The last days
have begun. Donald Hagner says it beautifully: "The main point is christological:
Jesus is stronger than the strong one and is hence able to raid his kingdom at will
and deliver those who are oppressed in a variety of ways. In this basic sense
the ministry of Jesus is the beginning of eschatological deliverance, the
turning point of the aeons!"
Conclusion: God's Chosen Servant, Jesus, defeats and destroys Beelzebub
so that we, true Christians, can live our lives in the victory of the Holy
Spirit! "Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world." "Therefore,
submit yourselves to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you!" It's
time for us to leave here with joy and confidence in our hearts that we can
live for Christ in this world, at this time,
no matter what the circumstances are! Amen!
Let's pray,
H.