Exposition of the Gospel of Matthew 15:39-16:12

July 23, 2021 

(Jesus’ last days of earthly ministry)

Questions to be answered in this study

1. What was Jesus teaching His disciple in the latest miracles, the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000?
2. Matthew and Mark give different names for where Jesus ns His disciples went in today’s study. How is that explained?
3. What was the pharisee’s belief concerning earthly miracles and a sign from heaven?
4. Why do educated college professors teach things contrasting with the truth of the Bible?
5. How is the only way anyone can know the truth?
6. What is God’s means of choosing to whom to reveal the truth?
7. Why is there so much spiritual illiteracy today among Christians?
8. What is the only sign that Jesus said would be given to the Pharisees?
9. What does Levin refer to in Scripture?
10. I what way did the Sadducees and the Pharisees seek the Kingdom of heaven?
11. What was the Pharisee’s primary purpose in their religion?
12. What was the two-fold purpose of the miracles of Jesus?
13. What do the numbers 12 and 7 represent in the Bible?
14. What is our responsibility towards truth?

Introduction

It was the late President Richard Nixon who stated, “Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth to see it like it is, and tell it like it is, to find the truth, to speak the truth, and to live the truth.” – EDITORIAL — All Presidents’ Day.  Most would agree with that, but if the truth is only forthcoming when it best suits our needs, as it was in the case of Nixon, then it is not the kind of truth Jesus is teaching His disciples in today’s study. It is easy to stand for the truth until it harms something we want to accomplish. If truth falters when it comes in conflict with our wants and needs, truth is only falsely what we decide it should be. Defining truth to suit their needs is what the enemies of Jesus and even His disciple was facing. That is brought out in today’s study as we approach Matthew chapter 16.

The disciple’s lack of knowledge at the beginning would be humorous if it were not so severe. The miracles Jesus had been performing were, in essence, to teach His disciples the true nature of ministry in the future church and the Kingdom, but so far, the disciples had failed miserably to learn the purpose. It seems to be a miracle in itself that Jesus was able to pull these ordinary, ignorant men of the truth to the point of being great Spirit-filled leaders of the church. On the other hand, it is an encouragement to us when we realize how insufficient we are with the hope God can also make us usable in His Kingdom.

Our story resumes in today’s study as Jesus enters a boat with His disciples and sails to the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, back where that had been just a few days before:

Matthew 15:39-16:1-4, “And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala. Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.2He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.3And in the morning, It will be foul weather today: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?4A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.”

Skeptics are forever trying to find discrepancies and contradictions in Scripture. There seems to be an apparent contradiction here. Leaving Chapter 15, Matthew tells us that Jesus came to a region of Magadan, but Mark says Jesus went to the district of Dalmanutha. It was both; Dalmanutha was the name for Magadan’s harbor where Jesus would have disembarked before entering Magadan. So, which is it?  My wife, Margaret, and I visited Magadan, which lies in ruins today. It was the hometown of Mary Magdalene. It lies directly across the Sea of Galilee, just up a hill from the ancient Port of Dalmanutha.

A delegation of the Pharisees met Jesus and the disciples when they landed. They had met Jesus earlier and denied Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah before He and His disciples went to Diaspora. They stayed behind because they did not want to go into Gentile territory. Now they are ready to confront Jesus again. The Pharisees had walked for three hours to get to this location from Jerusalem. They were determined to discredit Jesus in any way they could. The Pharisees pretended in public to be something they were not; they were hypocrites, as is evidenced in this passage.

To prove His claims to be Messiah, they ask Jesus to perform another miraculous sign. Their request was not to honor Jesus but to test Him and to discredit Him. In verse 1, They tell Jesus to achieve a particular sign, a sign from heaven. The Pharisees knew that Satan could perform miracles concerning signs on earth in the physical realm, such as counterfeit healing, but they believed God could only do a sign from heaven. We may wonder if there is a difference between a sign that comes from heaven and one that comes from the earth. The Pharisees were ambiguous to distinguish between heavenly signs and earthly ones when it took the same Devine power in both instances. The healing Jesus performed met earthly needs; therefore, the Pharisees thought this was easy for Satan to duplicate. Their objective was a devious one, to discredit Jesus and accuse Him of doing miracles through the power of Satan as they did in chapter 12. 

Jesus knew their intentions and revealed their lack of knowledge in verse 2. Using the common weather signs where people would consider a red sky in the evening meant a fair tomorrow, and a red sky in the morning told a storm was coming. Nevertheless, they could not understand His miracles though they saw them with their own eyes as they took place. The weather is brutal to predict even today with all the modern equipment. It was even more difficult in those days, but the Pharisees used ambiguous means to predict the weather and ironically failed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. How absurd they were with such overwhelming evidence through the signs of His miracles before their very eyes. They indeed were blind guides. Jesus declared them for what they were: “O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?”

It was true that these Pharisees were educated, intelligent men but void of spiritual truth and understanding. They knew nothing of the God they professed to represent. It was strange and ironic that these men knew and memorized the Bible and yet could not recognize the Messiah when He stood right in front of them. They were inconsistent in asking Jesus for a sign from heaven when they had trouble understanding the signs of the times right before them.

This same thing is present in our day when college professors deny the existence of God and instead teach the foolishness of evolution. Many so-called religious people today are just like these Pharisees of old, blind to the truth. They are educated and knowledgeable but have no actual conception of the spiritual truth of God the creator, heaven and hell, judgment, salvation, and eternity. The comprehension of these truths is beyond them, while a little child can hear, understand, and receive spiritual truth through the Holy Spirit.

People put too much trust in the educated and influential when the fact is, they often miss the truth, as was the case with the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the most educated, compelling, and religious people in Jewish society, yet they completely missed Jesus as the Messiah. Quite ironic, the uneducated, untrained, and simple Jews recognized and received Jesus as Messiah and savior. You May wonder how that was possible. We only receive the truth of God through the unction of God’s Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit reveals the truth to those the Lord chooses. What is God’s means of determining who will receive the truth? He gives truth to those who seek the truth. The Pharisees were not seeking the truth; they were seeking self-aggrandizement and power.

That’s still true today… God’s Word, the Bible, is the source for learning the truth about God and His kingdom program. The Holy Spirit enlightens those who understands it, but not all are open to His leading; therefore, there is widespread spiritual illiteracy. Even the disciples struggle with this issue, and they had Jesus firsthand as their teacher. The Apostle Peter was one of the disciples who sometimes had trouble understanding, but he did understand who Jesus was. In verse 15 of this chapter, Jesus asked the disciples who they thought He was, and Peter said, “You are Christ the Messiah.” Peter had seen the miracles Jesus performed and heard his sermons and figured it out. However, it was more than human reasoning; the Heavenly Father revealed it to him, as we shall see later. That is the same way you and I receive the truth of God.

I like to write articles for my website that goes out to the world and tell as many as possible about the gospel, but it is not my responsibility to persuade or convince anyone. I can only inform; it is the Holy Spirit of God who does the persuading and gives the invitation to come to Jesus for salvation. The Lord commissions all believers to be messengers sharing the gospel, but it is the Lord who reveals himself to each person. Without that revelation, the Bible will make no sense to the unbeliever.

In v.4, Jesus turns down the Pharisees’ request for more signs saying that there would be no more signs except given by the sign of Jonah, which is a picture of the resurrection of Jesus after three days in the grave. Jesus is no longer trying to prove Himself as the Messiah to these unbelieving Jews. God sent His Son to reveal Himself to the world. Paul says in Romans chapter 10 (KJV) that we don’t have to search for God; we already have the evidence of His presence in His Word. Paul gives us the simple truth of the gospel in Romans 10:9 (KJV): “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

We don’t need to search for signs; signs are not the means of the truth. We have today the complete Word of God that reveals the truth. Now we come to the second part of today’s study:

Matthew 16:5-12, “And when his disciples came to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. 6Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. 7And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. 8Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? 9Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets ye took up? 10Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? 11How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees? 12Then understood they how he bade them not beware of the I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees? 

In verse 5, Jesus and the disciples set sail, and Mark tells us they land at Bethsaida; this was the exact location where Jesus fed the 5,000 earlier. The disciples realized they did not have enough food with them for the trip. According to Mark, they had only one loaf of bread. As they were considering this, Jesus tells the disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. We know that levin in Scripture refers to the sin of all types. Jesus was more specific by applying it to the Pharisees and Sadducees who sought the Kingdom through self-righteousness and legalism. Pharisaic Judaism was an outward form of religion void of any inward godliness. To them, Jesus was a threat to their ways and was also against the Mishnah they revered. The Pharisees lived in worldliness abscessed by power and money. Their purpose was to exalt and enrich themselves under the guise of religion. They rejected the new Kingdom Jesus represented in favor of their self-made Kingdom.

Jesus is warning His disciples not to substitute earthly things for spiritual things and miss the purpose of the Kingdom or depend on legalism instead of the grace offered by the Lord. We see that happening in America today, where there is a drive on social justice and building a world out of reach that we will only find in the world to come when God’s Kingdom comes on earth. However, while Jesus is Instructing the disciples and warning them of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, the disciples think about something entirely different. In verse 7, they believe He is referring to them not preparing enough food for the trip. As they argue over whose fault it is, Jesus becomes disgusted with their ignorance. Mark gives more information on this:

Mark 8:16-21 (KJV), “And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread. 17And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? 18Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? 19When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. 20And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven. 21And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?”

Perhaps we relate more to the disciples than we care to admit. Sometimes we are more concerned with the trivial everyday wants and needs than we are in our involvement in the Kingdom. Like the disciples who had witnessed Jesus feeding the multitudes, we forget how God has already provided for us. Would to God, we were more involved in caring out the great commission assigned to us by Jesus himself than we are about ourselves and our desires and needs.

The disciples showed their lack of faith and were guilty of the same things as the Pharisees. The miracles had a two-fold purpose: They proved Jesus was who He claimed to be, and they also showed His provision for His followers. The disciples were slow to understand and believe because of the hardness of their hearts. It is understandable when you consider they were new at receiving spiritual truth after a lifetime of being subjected to the false teaching of the Pharisees. 

Jesus reminds the disciples of their lack of discernment in verses 9-11. How did they fail to notice how one of the two miracles ended with 12 baskets left over, one for each of them? As I said earlier. Numbers have meaning in Scripture, and the number 12 represents God’s rulership through human government. In the other miracle, only seven baskets were leftover, which the disciples shared. 7 represents perfection or completion, which indicates God’s perfect plan. Sometimes we forget that God has an ideal project for our lives, which is not forced; we must align with it rather than abide by our flawed plan. When we allow God to be in charge, things work as they should. Think about it; after feeding thousands, what was the chance that there would remain 12 and 7 baskets, respectively. That was not a coincidence; it was a result of God’s providence.

God has given us His Word as a guide and a revelation of His plan. Our responsibility is to discern and hear spiritual truth and not let other distractions, as was the case with the disciples, lead us away from our goal of resting in God’s truth and yielding to His plan for our lives.