Matthew 9: 14-17
Story & Lessons
Some of the disciples of John the Baptist and of the Pharisees saw the happiness and feasting at the house of Matthew.
They were puzzled that the disciples of Jesus did not fast.
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They asked Him, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?"
He replied that fasting was inappropriate for His disciples, comparing His presence on earth with a wedding feast.
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A Jewish wedding in Bible times was a very festive time.
The couple who were married did not go away for a honeymoon but stayed at home.
An open house was kept and the bridegroom and his bride were treated like royalty as their closest friends shared all the joy and feasting of the week.
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The Lord Jesus was comparing Himself to the bridegroom and His disciples to the bridegroom's closest friends.
How could they fast and mourn?
They were with the Almighty Son of God.
... They were seeing corrupt tax officials like Matthew coming to faith in Christ and their lives completely transformed.
... There was daily rejoicing over sinners repenting.
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The Lord Jesus went on to speak of the bridegroom being taken away (15).
He was speaking of His death on the cross.
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Jesus said that a new cloth patch would soon pull away from an old garment as it shrunk in the wash.
New wine would burst an old wineskin as it fermented because the old wineskin could not stretch like a new one.
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We are not saved by patching up our lives with good works.
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When a man or woman is saved by grace, they are a new creation in Christ and the old things have passed away.
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The garments of the old life are replaced with the garments of salvation.
*******
The new wine of salvation must be poured into the new strong wineskins of joyful thanksgiving and sacrificial service which glorifies God.
Story & Lessons
Some of the disciples of John the Baptist and of the Pharisees saw the happiness and feasting at the house of Matthew.
They were puzzled that the disciples of Jesus did not fast.
*******
They asked Him, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?"
He replied that fasting was inappropriate for His disciples, comparing His presence on earth with a wedding feast.
*******
A Jewish wedding in Bible times was a very festive time.
The couple who were married did not go away for a honeymoon but stayed at home.
An open house was kept and the bridegroom and his bride were treated like royalty as their closest friends shared all the joy and feasting of the week.
*******
The Lord Jesus was comparing Himself to the bridegroom and His disciples to the bridegroom's closest friends.
How could they fast and mourn?
They were with the Almighty Son of God.
... They were seeing corrupt tax officials like Matthew coming to faith in Christ and their lives completely transformed.
... There was daily rejoicing over sinners repenting.
*******
The Lord Jesus went on to speak of the bridegroom being taken away (15).
He was speaking of His death on the cross.
*******
Jesus said that a new cloth patch would soon pull away from an old garment as it shrunk in the wash.
New wine would burst an old wineskin as it fermented because the old wineskin could not stretch like a new one.
*******
We are not saved by patching up our lives with good works.
*******
When a man or woman is saved by grace, they are a new creation in Christ and the old things have passed away.
*******
The garments of the old life are replaced with the garments of salvation.
*******
The new wine of salvation must be poured into the new strong wineskins of joyful thanksgiving and sacrificial service which glorifies God.
Visitors
In Jeremiah 25, it says: "' Then it will come to pass, when 70 years [or 2520 prophetic days ]are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon [ The Ruler over The European Union ] and that nation, the land of The Chaldeans [ Rome ], for their iniquity,' says The Mighty One; ' and I will make it a perpetual desolation. So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations. ( For many nations and great kings shall be served by them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands. )'
ReplyDeleteFor thus says Yahweh, The Mighty One, of Israel to me: 'Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. And they will drink and stagger and go mad - because of the sword that I will send among them....
Therefore you shall say to them, ' Thus says The Mighty One Of Heaven and The Mighty One Of Israel: Drink, Be Drunk, and Vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I send among you. ' And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ' Thus says The Mighty One Of Heaven: You shall certainly drink! For behold, I begin to bring calamity upon The City Which Is Called By My Name [ Paganized Christianity ], and should you go utterly unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I will call a sword upon all the inhabitants of earth,' Says The Mighty One Of Heaven. Therefore prophesy against them all [ All Of The World's: Beastly Nations, and Harlot Churches ] these words, and say to them:
'The Mighty One will roar from on high, And utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will roar mightily against His own fold [ Those who falsely profess to serve Him ]. He will give a shout, as those who tread the grapes, Against all the inhabitants of the earth [ even against those who claim to not know Him ]. A noise will come to the ends of the earth - For The Mighty One has a controversy with the nations [ for they have broken His Everlasting Covenant ]; He will plead His case with all flesh [ through His great actions of judgment ]. He will give those who are wicked [ those who still ignore His: Commandments, Judgments, and Statutes ] to the sword, Says The Mighty One. - Jeremiah 25:12-31.
Meanwhile, That 2520 Prophetic Days is now swiftly expiring! What shall we do? I would advise reading Malachi Chapter 4 and The Other End Time Prophecies concerning: "The Wedding Garment" - His Judgments and Statutes - which were given: "For All Of Time" and, "For All Of Israel...."