The American Wisdom Series

Presents
Matthew 14

Promised with an oath? Well now, here's an opportunity for old Satan to go work.

The Parable of Sower which contains the explicitly detailed yet simple explanation of the Parable of the Tares by Jesus Christ Himself, separates those few Christians who have eyes to see and ears to hear from the multitudes of Christians who do not. In fact, the Parable of the Tares itself separates the two churches of Philadelphia and Smyrna with whom Christ finds no fault at all, from the other five churches in Revelation chapters two and three that have at the least some major doctrinal problems to overcome (To see what they are missing read Rev. 2:9 & 3:9). To wit, the hour is getting late in this final generation of the fig tree and the time has come for our brothers and sisters to either to "wake up", as in open their eyes to the simplicity of our Father's Word and begin seeking His precious truth and pearls of wisdom instead of blindly following after the traditions of men, or face having the door to the wedding feast slammed in their faces when the true bridegroom comes (Mat. 25:10). A word to the wise virgin is sufficient.

That bring us to the 14th chapter of Matthew, whose name means "Gift of Yah", and in today's study we are going to see the inner workings of the subtle way in which Satan orchestrated the death of John of the Baptist, bringing to a close that great ministry which would have been counted as Elijah's had the people not rejected the King of kings and His dominion. It is important that we know how the enemy operates behind the scenes so that we are better prepared to be on guard against the cunning devices of the wicked one.

Matthew 14:1
At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus,

* Note: Tetrarch technically means "the ruler of a fourth (tetra) part" of the country but by this time it was applied liberally to simply denote a regional or subordinate king or governor.

[2] And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.

Mark 6:20
For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.

Matthew 14:3
For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife.

Some insight as to her lustful character and motive (gold digging) might just be that which Dr. Smith records in his Bible Dictionary concerning Philip:

"He was excluded from all share in his father’s possessions in consequence of his mother’s treachery, and lived afterward in a private station."

Here is what John told Herod regarding taking his brother's wife!

Matthew 14:4
For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.

[5] And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.

Mark 6:19
Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not:

Matthew 14:6
But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.

Mark 6:21
And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee;

[22] And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.

Oh yeah, baby! Big sugar-daddy will give you anything your little old heart desires! Everybody got that? Whatsoever this beautiful damsel asks of me, up to half my kingdom, I promise with my sworn oath to give it her without fail!

Matthew 14:7
Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask.

However, this boast of an oath is going to backfire on him big time because Satan is going to take full advantage of the opportunity to have a righteous man of God killed! According to proverbs, it is not a wise thing for a king to partake of strong drink.

Matthew 14:8
And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger.

[9] And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her.

[10] And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.

[11] And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother.

[12] And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

As far as John was concerned, he lived long enough to learn from Christ Himself that there would be a second advent, meaning that he, John, would not be counted as Elijah, and when Christ told his disciples to tell him he is blessed and to "not be offended" as if to say "hang in there", he knew that his days were numbered. The following is an excerpt from our study in Mat. 11:1 to 11:15 where Christ adds to the answer He has already given to John's question, "Art thou He that should come, or do we look for another?"

"Matthew 11:6
And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

offended = skandalizo, skan-dal-id'-zo, Greek 4624; ("scandalize"); from Greek 4625 (skandalon); to entrap, i.e. trip up (figurative stumble [transitive] or entice to sin, apostasy or displeasure) :- (make to) offend."

Matthew 14:13
When Jesus heard of it, He departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed Him on foot out of the cities.

[14] And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their sick.

Next we will find when evening comes that this great multitude will still be in the wilderness, in the desert place, where there are no restaurants nor fast food chains to get something to eat. Just wait until you see how Messiah uses this to teach us!

Christ performs two miracles for the purpose of teaching His disciples (students), those of the brethren with eyes to see and ears to hear.

Next we are going to observe Jesus Christ perform two miracles for the purpose of teaching His disciples (students), those of the brethren with eyes to see and ears to hear who have been instructed in the kingdom of heaven (Mat. 13:52), concerning what they are to do in these last days.

Are you one of His disciples, meaning one who is disciplined in His Word?
If so, then surely you know that Christ did not bring forth miracles just to show people that He could perform supernatural feats. He did however, use both that which is natural along with that which is supernatural to teach us things which are spiritual, things which are not visible to flesh eyes but can be easily understood by the things which are visible.

Paul explains this teaching tool in Romans 1:20:

Romans 1:20
For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

John 6:33-35
For the bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

[34] Then said they unto Him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.

[35] And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

Matthew 13:52
Then said He unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.

To that end, you may recall that Jesus Christ had departed into a desert place following the news of John the Baptist's death and a great multitude upon whom He had compassion to heal their sick followed after Him. Now it is "getting late in the day" and all the multitude are in the wilderness with nothing to eat and no place nearby to purchase food. What to do? What to do?

Here is what the disciples suggest:

Matthew 14:15
And when it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.

Amos 8:11-12
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

[12] And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

Again, the 8th and last part of the Parable of the Sower is that if you understand the kingdom of heaven and His plan, then you are to bring forth and share that precious truth and those pearls of wisdom from His Word. So the question is, "If you are a true disciple of Jesus Christ, and you know you are in a desert place with the multitude, what are you going to do... send the people away?" No, give them some bread and meat to eat!

[16] But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.

[17] And they say unto Him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.

[18] He said, Bring them hither to me.

[19] And He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, He blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to His disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

Another thing we need to take careful note of is the Biblical numerics involved here. For instance, the number "5" denotes "grace" while the number "2" represents "witness", as in when two agree (See appendix 10 in the Companion Bible). Fishes are symbolic of Christianity and you "see", during this period of grace in these last days, even during this period of the fifth trump when the teaching and sealing of the "12 Tribes" in Rev. 7:4 and the "great multitude" in Rev. 7:9 takes place, there are only two Christian churches who agree together in what they teach (i.e. feed the people). In fact, they are the only two churches who understand the Parable of the Tares and therefore know who those are who claim to be of our brother Judah, i.e. the sons of Cain, but are liars and are of the synagogue of Satan. They are the "2" churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia, the only two out of the seven churches in Revelation chapters two and three, with whom Jesus Christ found no fault. Read Rev. 2:9 & 3:9 to learn what they both know and teach that the other churches do not.

So... Jesus Christ blessed the bread and the fishes that the disciples brought to Him as per His command, and it became more than sufficient to feed the entire multitude. However, not everyone was able to handle all that they were given and so there were "twelve baskets full of fragments" remaining when the feeding of the entire multitude was completed.

[20] And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.

[21] And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.

It is getting late in the day! A word to the wise!

A wise person would therefore pay close attention to Christ's instructions.

The feeding of the five loaves of bread and the two fishes to the 5,000 men besides women and children and the gathering of the 12 baskets full of fragments has now been accomplished by the disciples, those who are disciplined in the Word of God, those who know Him and love Him enough to receive His instructions and obey His commands (Jn. 14:15). And so it is that immediately (straightway) following their serving and gathering they were given further instructions from the Lord.

Here is what He told them to do:

Matthew 14:22
And straightway Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a ship, and to go before Him unto the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.

By the way, here is the apostle John's vision of the One World Political System, aka the New World Order, rising up out of "the sea".

Rev. 13:1
And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Rev. 17:15
And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

And fitting to the terminology of "sea and waves" in today's study, Dr. Luke describes the distress of nations as being with perplexity which means in a "quandary" where there is no way out, with the "sea and the waves roaring"! In other words, all this movement by the powers of the beast as it rises causes the sea (peoples) and the waves (actions upon the people) to roar!

Luke 21:25
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring*;

* The deeper student might refer to Jude 13 concerning the "raging waves of the sea".

Let us return to Matthew 14 where Christ now sends the multitudes away and goes up into a mountain by Himself to talk to the Father, i.e. pray.

Matthew 14:23
And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, He was there alone.

[24] But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.

tossed, basanizo, bas-an-id'-zo, Greek 928; from Greek 931 (basanos); to torture :- pain, toil, torment, toss, vex.

wind, anemos, an'-em-os, Greek 417; from the base of Greek 109 (aer); wind; (plural) by implication (the four) quarters (of the earth) :- wind.

contrary, enantios, en-an-tee'-os, Greek 1727; from Greek 1725 (enanti); opposite; figurative antagonistic :- (over) against, contrary.

Matthew 14:25
And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

[26] And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

spirit, phantasma, fan'-tas-mah, Greek 5326; from Greek 5324 (phantazo); (properly concrete) a (mere) show ("phantasm"), i.e. spectre :- spirit.

cried out, krazo, krad'-zo, Greek 2896; a primary verb; properly to "croak" (as a raven) or scream, i.e. (genitive) to call aloud (shriek, exclaim, intreat) :- cry (out).

fear, phobos, fob'-os, Greek 5401; from a primary phebomai (to be put in fear); alarm or fright :- be afraid, + exceedingly, fear, terror.

[27] But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying,Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

cheer, tharseo, thar-seh'-o, Greek 2293; from Greek 2294 (tharsos); to have courage :- be of good cheer (comfort).  Compare Greek 2292 (tharrheo).

(3.) "Be not afraid". This we are instructed many times in the scriptures because the Spirit of God is NOT the spirit of fear which is faithlessness!

2 Tim. 1:7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Matthew 14:28
And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

Do you think that you could step out and take on the raging sea driven by the "anemos" from vs. 24 above?

[29] And He said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

If you let the "beast" intimidate you, you will surely begin to sink like a rock (actually "Peter" means rock). Here then is what happened to Peter whom I am sure is more than happy to open himself up and lay bare his experience to help his brothers and sisters learn and understand what we need to know in these last days to have peace of mind and the victory over the beasts of Rev. 13. Then too, never forget that this is the man to whom Christ said in Matthew 16:18 "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

[30] But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

boisterous = ischuros, is-khoo-ros', Greek 2478; from Greek 2479 (ischus); forcible (literal or figurative) :- boisterous, mighty (-ier), powerful, strong (-er, man), valiant.

[31] And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

doubt, distazo, dis-tad'-zo, Greek 1365; from Greek 1364 (dis); properly to duplicate, i.e. (mental) to waver (in opinion) :- doubt.

[32] And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

[33] Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped Him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

Mark 6:51-52
And He went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.

[52] For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.

Nevertheless, in as much as today's lesson has to do with His power over the waters and our focus on His glory and strength, it is fitting that we read the great 29th Psalm which needs no commentary other than a reminder to say that His voice is His Word.

Psalm 29:1-11
A Psalm of David.
Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength.

[2] Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

[3] The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.

[4] The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

[5] The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.

[6] He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.

[7] The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.

[8] The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.

[9] The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.

[10] The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.

[11] The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.

Matthew 14:34
And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret.

[35] And when the men of that place had knowledge of Him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto Him all that were diseased;

[36] And besought Him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.

Well, what a day in the life of a disciple! And to think some believe Christians lead dull and boring lives! Go figure!