The Exposition of Matthew 11:20-24

Written by Jimmie Burroughs

(Why Israel Rejected Jesus)

Questions to be answered in this study:

1. What were the three reasons Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah?
2. Why do people reject Jesus today?
3. Why did the Jews believe they were already a part of the kingdom of heaven and did not need to trust in Jesus?
4. Upon what three cities did Jesus specifically pronounce judgment?
5. In what way did Jesus compare these cities to the pagan gentile cities of Tyre, Sidon and Sodom, famous for their depravity and idolatry.
6. What about Tyre? According to Ezekiel 26, wasn’t it not to ever be rebuilt after God’s judgement on it? How is that to be explained?
7. According to Jesus, what is the worst possible sin a person could commit?
8. There are only four generations that witnessed the miracles of God, who were they?
9. Thomas was one of the disciples of Jesus. What was his big problem?
10. In what way did the gentiles benefit from Israel’s rejection of Jesus?
11. God is not through with Israel. When will He turn once again to Israel to deal with them?
12. How is the sovereignty of God and the free will of man pictured in Israel’s rejection of Jesus?
13. What did Jesus talk more about than heaven?
14. Why are there degrees of punishment in hell?
15. Why are some sins far worse than others?
16. There is only one unpardonable sin. What is it?
17. What is the major difference in our relationship to God and that of the Old Testament saints?
18. What is the one great advantage we have over the New Testament saints of the first century?
19. What is God’s greatest expectation of us today?

Introduction

In our last Bible Study, we talked about the three reasons Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah: First, because of their hard hearts. Second, because of the leaders and their false teaching. Third, because Jesus rejected the false teachings of the rabbis.

Another consideration is, why do people today still reject Jesus? I suppose there are as many reasons as there are people, but primarily it is because they are more concerned with the present world and the things that it has to offer, which are more appealing to them than eternal things.

For Israel, they were caught up in the false teaching of the rabbis, the system of Pharisaic Judaism, which depended on the works of the law, that is their concept of the law. They believed because they were the children of Abraham, they were already included in the kingdom of heaven and did not need to trust in Jesus.

We, Margaret and I, talked to a lady some time ago who believed Jesus should not have had to die for her and that she was going to heaven on her on merits. She was like the people of Jesus’ day whose hearts were hardened to the truth. She was insulted when we told her that the only way she would ever go to heaven was by accepting Jesus and what He did for her.

Some of the most hard-hearted people are in the church, lost but refusing to hear about their lost condition and still worse refusing to do anything about it. Even those in some of the Eastern religions are more open to knowing more about God than lost church members. I have a friend who has been to China a number of times as a missionary, and he told me that the Chinese are ready to hear the gospel and be saved.

The people in Jesus day were not open to listening to the truth and making a change. Ask yourself the question, “Am I too set in my ways to be open to change?” If you think you are, it is time to make a change. You are probably not taking advantage of changes that could make your life better and more meaningful.

The message John came preaching and Jesus followed up on was, “Repent and believe.” Apparently, it was too hard for most of them to turn away from that which they had been taught and believe and turn to Jesus and receive the kingdom of heaven. They could not accept that they were sinners in need of a savior. They could not see themselves as they really were.

In chapter 11, Matthew has been revealing that situation and now he turns to showing the judgement coming on the people because of their rejection of their own Messiah:

Matthew 11:20-24, ²⁰“Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: ²¹Woe unto thee, Chorazin! (Co-razin) woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²²But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. ²³And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. ²⁴But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.”

Jesus names three cities in Galilee where He had been preaching and performing most of His miracles along the western side of the Sea of Galilee: They were Bethsaida, Capernaum and Chorazin and now He pronounces judgement on them.

So, Jesus uses these three prominent settlements as representative of all of Israel, which He denounces. Capernaum was Jesus’ adopted hometown during His ministry. It was on the northwestern shore of the lake where He had performed many miricles. Chorazin (Co-razin) was a short distance away to the north of Capernaum and a little distance from the water. Bethsaida was to the northeast at the edge of Jewish settlements. The Jewish settlement were along the Western side of the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus, in no uncertain terms, condemns the Galileans for not repenting. They had witnessed a great many miracles that Jesus performed. They committed the worst possible sin; they had an unrepentant heart toward Jesus their Messiah, unwilling to accept Him as Lord and savior.

God will not accept us the way we are regardless of how hard we may try to be good. There must be a change brought about by justification only through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

The message John and Jesus were giving out was, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In order to validate His message Jesus performed a lot of miracles in the areas He mentioned. So, there was no excuse for their unbelief and rejection of Him as the Messiah. Today we have only a record of the miracles Jesus preformed; Israel witnessed them firsthand. Israel had not only the prophesies of the Word of God but also the presence of the Messiah and all the miracles He performed to convince them of the truth.

Only four generations in the history of time witnessed or will witness the miracles of God, (1) the Exodus, (2) the ministry of Elijah and Elisha, (3&4) those of Jesus’ first and second arrivals, and the rest of time and history men accepted Jesus by faith based only by the recorded Word of God.

Jesus said to Thomas…”Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29. Thomas’s problem was his lack of faith. What about you and I? Are we able to still trust God when troubles come our way.

Israel lived in an exceptional dispensation of the revealed grace of God and yet shamefully rejected Jesus. Today we know Jesus by His word alone, which is in itself all we need because his Word is proven to be true. Israel chose to remain in spiritual ignorance, which resulted in Jesus pronouncing great judgement upon them.

Today those very cities show the marks of the judgement. They are abandoned and lay in ruin. These cities incurred Jesus’ condemnation. He said, “Woe to you, Chorazin!” Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! Their people did not accept his teachings and repent. The people of Chorazin lived in the close proximity of Bethsaida and Capernaum; together they have become known as the “evangelical triangle”, because most of Jesus teachings and miracles occurred there.

The towns were condemned to being uninhabited and in the centuries that followed, they were eventually abandoned.  Today, they are all in ruins apart from tourists who flock there. Jesus compares these disobedient Jewish towns to three notorious Gentile cities, Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom famous for depravity in the story of Lot.

Jesus visited Tyre, in Phoenicia, which was north of Israel, spoken of in Mathew, Mark and Luke’s gospel. He was on a retreat and did not want to be known. However, a Syrophoenician women found Him and wanted him to heal her daughter who was demon possessed. Jesus healed her daughter after proving her faith; this is the only miracle that I know of that He performed there.

The question that arises from this is, according to Ezekiel chapter 26, the city of Tyre was destroyed because of God’s judgement and was never to be rebuilt. Nevertheless, there it is in Jesus’ time. Today it is the second largest city in Lebanon with a population of around 200,000.

Ezekiel Prophesy said Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, would come down on Tyre and destroy it and it would never be rebuilt. That it would be like the top of a flat rock where fishermen lay their nets and that even the dust of it would be scraped up and cast into the sea.

The residents of Tyre got news of Nebuchadnezzars plans and moved out on a nearby Island out of Nebuchadnezzars reach. So, Nebuchadnezzar did destroy the mainland city but could not reach the Island. It would be another 500 years when Alexander the great, who had captured the Medo-Persian empire, was on a quest to conquer the known world in his day, came to Tyre. Seeing the city had moved to a nearby island presented a challenge. Unknowingly, he was about to fulfill the final part of Ezekiel’s prophesy. He used the rubble of the ancient city, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and even scraped up the dust to build a causeway out to the Island and therefore capture it and destroy it.

 The big question is, how come there is a modern day Tyre if it was not supposed to ever be rebuilt? Agnostics have ceased on this saying that Ezekiel’s prophesy did not come true; therefore, the Bible could not be trusted. The test for a true prophet was that they were never wrong in their prophesy’s and if one was, they were to be stoned.

Some think the Bible is to be read like a newspaper. Not true, the Bible is to be read within context. Some prophesies had a fulfillment that stretched out over years. Another thing is, understanding the culture of the day. A city in those days was considered a city state and was more than its infrastructure. It was the people, like the church is not the buildings but the people.

Alexander Killed 8,000 of the Phoenicians. The 30,000 remaining were transported to other places and sold into slavery; thus, the city of Phoenicians was never rebuilt although another city by the same name was built in another location, and indwelled by those other than the Phoenicians and still exists today. Modern day Tyre has no relationship to the Phoenician city destroyed by Alexander the Great.

The comparisons Jesus is making is, even these wicked cities, Tyre, Sidon, including Gomora, which had already been destroyed, would have repented if they had the message and evidence, He gave these three cities.

What a contrast Jesus is making: Even though they did not have the benefit of Scripture and the prophecy of the messiah and even knowing what Messiah meant, and despite their sin and depravity, these people would have repented had Jesus centered His ministry there rather than in Galilee and had given them the opportunity He gave Israel.

God’s plan will be accomplished with or without Israel as Isaiah proclaimed: Isaiah 55:10-11 ¹⁰“For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: ¹¹So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

God’s Word is on a mission when it is shared or sent out, a mission that will not fail. So, when you share God’s Word, whether it is by handing out a Bible track or leaving one where someone will find it and read it, you also are on a mission to fulfill the great commission given to the church by Jesus, and you can be assured that God’s Word will accomplish its purpose. As God said, “It will not return unto me void.”

Why then is Israel such an exception concerning responding to the good news of God’s Messengers. God did not make Israel reject His Son, but He allowed it to become part of His plan and purpose from the beginning. Israel, by their rejection of Jesus, played right into God’s purpose for Israel. Because of Israel’s rejection, Jesus would end up on a cross, which is where He was supposed to be in the end of His life on earth in order to pay the price for humanities sin.

Paul explains, the riches of the Gospel could come to the Gentiles because of Israel’s rejection of Jesus. God is not through with Israel, according to Scripture, eventually, the Israel will receive their Messiah and this will happen during the tribulation period that will come upon the world in the last days.

Then, was Jesus right in condemning Israel because of their rejection? Yes! It comes down to the sovereignty of God and the free will of man. Although the outcome lies in the hands of God and His will and purpose, man is still responsible for his actions. While this may not make sense to us now, we will one day share God’s perspective, and everything will make sense. Now we see through the glass darkly, but then face to face we shall see clearly.

When man stands before God someday, he will not be able to refer to God’s sovereignty or election as an excuse for rejecting Jesus. Man is responsible for his own actions; this is free will. The judgement for rejecting Jesus is eternal hell, as pronounced by Jesus Himself. Although it is impossible to understand the concept of eternal punishment, it is a Biblical reality. Jesus said more about hell than He did about heaven.

In v.22 and v.24 Jesus says judgement for Tyre, Sidon and Sodom will be more tolerable than it will be for that generation of Israel. This tells us there are degrees of punishment and some won’t experience as much as others depending on their circumstances. God is merciful, but He is also completely just. Therefore, those who die without trusting in God’s provision of salvation through Christ will suffer an eternity of punishment. There is a parallel, just as the righteous shall receive their rewards on the bases of how they served God in life, the lost will receive their punishment according to their sins during life.

Some reduce the severity of some sins by saying sin is sin in God’s sight; this is not so; some sins are far worse than others because they are more aggressive against what God values. Christians often judge homosexuality, idolatry and greed as being the most depraved. However, all these things were prominent in Sodom, yet the sins of Sodom weren’t judged as bad as Israel’s rejection of Jesus.

There is only one unpardonable sin and that is against the Holy Spirit’s invitation to receive Jesus. In other words, the rejection of Jesus as savior is the only unpardonable sin. The Scripture refers to this as the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.” Matthew 12:31

It is not hard to understand the principal Jesus is making: To whom much is given, much is required. In Israel’s case, they received immense grace. They had God’s Law to guide them, the prophets, the covenants, the temple service. They had Jesus Christ revealed in the flesh and witnessed His great miracles and were offered the kingdom of heaven. Because they received so much but rejected it all, their judgement was severe, even more so than Sodom whose sins were gross. God gave Israel every opportunity to know and obey yet they refused.

Now the practical point is, what have Christians been given above everything else, Christians have received grace in Jesus Christ and are now free from eternal judgement. It no longer matters, in consideration of your salvation, what you have done or will do, or how far you stray from Christ, you will never again be faced with condemnation. You have been made righteous or acceptable before God through your faith in Christ. Your sins, though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool, although once as scarlet, they are made white as snow by the blood of Jesus.

We are highly blessed today to have God’s completed Word, which those of the Old and New Testaments only had a part. They lived out their lives only seeing pieces of the council of God but still many believed. Today we have the indwelling Holy Spirit to inform us and to guide us through life as well as to comfort us, which sets us apart from the Old Testament saints.

We can know God and His will more than any other age in history if we only take advantage of it. We have such advantage over first century Israel because they did not have the completed Word of God early on. What are we to do with it? We can’t afford to be complacent like so many church members today. More is required of those who have received more. So, I suspect God is requiring much from His church today, but I’m afraid He is getting little.

We must wake up and realize that God expects us to make our life a living sacrifice, constantly seeking His will on how we are to spend our lives every hour of everyday in His service. We read in Matthew 16:24, “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” This life is our only opportunity to honor God by seeking to glorify His name in everything we do. Don’t we owe Him that for all He has done for each of us?