Understanding The Bible
STUDY REFERENCE
Clarence E. Mason's "MATTHEW"
EXPOSITORY ANALYSIS:
I.  The Kingdom POSTPONED  12:46-28:20
(and the Church DISCLOSED)

 

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BY THE AUTHOR
Dr. Clarence E. Mason, Jr.
Philadelphia College of Bible
1971

  1. THE KINGDOM POSTPONED 12:46-28:20 (and the Church DISCLOSED)
    1. From the King's rejection to the King's return to earth 12:46-13:52
      (What will happen during the period of the King's rejection, through most of which period He will be away in heaven?)

      The bases and principles upon which the Kingdom in Manifestation will be governed, during His 1000-year reign on earth, are stated by our Lord in the great Manifesto of the Kingdom (or the Code of the Kingdom) in Matthew 5-7. This proffered kingdom was, however, rejected with blasphemy of the Holy Spirit by the responsible leaders of the Jewish people, as recorded in Matthew 11 and 12. As a result of this rejection, the kingdom was, for a time, put in abeyance. (It is said to have been morally rejected by these religious leaders of the Jews, as recorded in Matthew 12, and officially confirmed in the very fact of His crucifixion).

      By this we mean that the kingdom which Jesus offered, and which was then rejected, will be set up on earth in a day yet future (see 25:31; 19:28), when Christ returns to earth (24:3, 27, 30, 44; 25:19, 31). At that time there will be the repentance of a substantial remnant of Israel (23:37-39; Hosea 6:1-3; Zech. 12:10; 13:6, 8-9).

      During the present period of the King's rejection, a form of the kingdom, which had never been revealed in the Old Testament, is here revealed as running its course. It is called "the mysteries of the kingdom" (13:11). The word "mysteries" signifies "sacred secrets hitherto hidden." These things, not necessarily mysterious but previously unrevealed (w. 16-17, 34-35), are announced by our Lord here in Matthew 13 for the first time. From this point on in Matthew, while closing up His dealings with Israel, He is looking forward to His Church. The Church is not named as such here but is for the first time in this gospel in 16:18.

There are four portions of the notes on this chapter (plus Addendum IV, "Kingdom of Heaven" and "Kingdom of God" Synonymous"). They are: a Summary, an Exposition, General Principles, and a Chronological Preview of "the Kingdom in Mystery."

FIRST: A SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 13

  1. The SETTING: Christ's symbolic action 12:46-13:2
    He turns from fleshly ties ("family" and "house" of Israel) to spiritual ties ("whosoever" ... "multitudes" by the seaside, i.e., believers from all nations).
     
  2. The SERMON: Seven parables of the Kingdom in "mystery" form 13:3-50. Here is a form of the kingdom never before revealed. "Mysteries" = sacred secrets hitherto hidden of the "Kingdom of Heaven" (or God) which are revealed as taking place during the period of the King's rejection prior to His return to reign (which will be the "Kingdom in Manifestation," that form of the kingdom revealed in hundreds of Old Testament passages). The sermon is in two divisions. Our Lord addresses the parables:
    1.  
      To the multitudes 3-35 (four parables)
      SOILS
      TARES
      MUSTARD TREE
      LEAVEN
    2.  
      To the disciples 36-50 (three parables)
      HID TREASURE
      PEARL
      DRAGNET
  3. The SEQUEL: We are to be faithful stewards of "the mysteries" 13:51-52 (1 Cor. 4:1-2)

SECOND: AN EXPOSITION OF DETAILS OF THE SERMON 13:3-50

  1. To the MULTITUDE 13:3-35 (four parables) 3-23
    1. Parable One: Parable of the SOILS 3-23
      Varying reactions of hearts to the seed (Word of God) of Sower (Christ). The Sower and the seed are the same in each of these four instances. It is the soils that vary.
      1. The parable 3-9
      2. The parenthesis: (A question and answer) 10-17
        The key to the tremendous significance of the parables (17).
      3. The parable's interpretation (by Christ Himself) 18-23
        The four kinds of soils (hearts) represent: HARD-hearted;
        FAINT-hearted; HALF-hearted; and HONEST-hearted.
         
    2. Parable Two: Parable of the TARES (i.e., darnel) 24-30
      (Compare Explanation, vv. 36-43)
      Sower (Christ);
      field (world -- not just Israel);
      good seed-wheat (believers);
      tares (children of devil);
      reapers (angels);
      harvest (end of age);
      furnace (Lake of Fire).
      Observe that all points of parable are interpreted as symbols and explained, except "fire"!
       
    3. Parable Three: Parable of the MUSTARD TREE 31-32
      Abnormal growth (Christendom's expansion under Constantine, etc.);
      tree (pride and pretension of men, Dan. 4:20-22, 27);
      birds (wicked men, mistaking Christendom -- the tree -- for a monstrosity, a pretentious worldly organization, and feeling at home in it).
       
    4. Parable Four: Parable of the LEAVEN 33
      Leaven -- see Scofield note (evil doctrine);
      meal (pure doctrine concerning person and work of Christ);
      woman (in this case, an evil woman representing an evil system, because she is assisting the spread of evil doctrine).

      Parenthesis: A further explanation concerning the method and content of His message to the multitude 34-35

       
  2. To the DISCIPLES 13:36-52 (three parables)
    1. Parable Five: Parable of the HID TREASURE 44
      Field (world);
      treasure (God's redeemed);
      a man (Christ);
      selleth all (He humbled Himself and gave all);
      buyeth field (by cross -- 1 pet. 1:18; 2 pet. 2:1; 1 Tim. 4:10).
       
    2. Parable Six: Parable of the PEARL 45-46
      Merchantman (Christ);
      seeking (Lk. 19:10);
      pearl of great price (Eph. l:18c);
      "sold," ... "bought" (see explanation in v. 44 notes above).
       
    3. g. Parable Seven: Parable of the DRAG-NET 47-50
      "Cast into the sea" (of nations);
      "every kind" (of mankind)
      "gathered" (by the net of Kingdom preaching);
      "when full" (when God's purpose is complete);
      "good ... bad" (saved possessors and unsaved professors);
      "sever wicked from just" (the opposite of the Rapture; this is Christ's coming to earth for judgment).


THIRD: SOME GENERAL TEACHINGS OF THE CHAPTER SHOWING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WHOLE PERIOD OF THE KING'S REJECTION

PARABLE LESSON TAUGHT
1, 2, 7 The Gospel will always save some but never all (varying soils, etc.)
2, 7 There will be true and false believers ("wheat" - "tares"; "good" - "bad fish")
1, 2, 3, 4 There will be constant opposition of Satan ("birds," "tares," "leaven," "an enemy")
3 The outward church will grow too large for its own good, materially rather than spiritually, becoming a monstrosity ("mustard tree")
4 The entire body of doctrine concerning Christ's person and work will Be permeated with error ("leaven")
2, 7 The world will not be converted; when the Lord returns, there will be judgment upon unbelieving professors ("bad fish" - "tares") who are children of the wicked one ("enemy")
5, 6 There is a true body of believers within the world for which Christ does not hesitate to give His life
2, 7 No unsaved will enter His Millennial Reign (for He will "gather out of His kingdom all things that offend," 41-42)
2 The righteous are rewarded; they reign with Him (43)

 

FOURTH: THE ORDER OF THE PARABLES SUGGESTS A CONSECUTIVE CHRONOLOGICAL PREVIEW OF THE WHOLE PERIOD OF THE KING'S REJECTION, similar to that given by our Lord in Revelation 2 and 3, in His messages to the Seven Churches. (The inner off-white box indicates the extent of the Church Age from Pentecost to the coming of our Lord to the air. Thus, the Church Age does not cover the whole period of the "Mysteries of the Kingdom," shown as the light blue box. The pink box covers the time from the change in the attitudes of the leaders of the Nation of Israel to His physical return to Earth, "From the King's Rejection to the King's Return.")  (This paragraph edited to reflect a different drawing style from the Mason Notes original. ed)

 


THE SEVEN PARABLES APPEAR TO REPRESENT SEVEN PERIODS OF TIME (see numbering from chart above)
 

PERIOD ONE (1) SOILS Our Lord Himself began sowing gospel seed; He continued this later through His apostles in founding the Church.
PERIOD TWO (2) TARES The amazement of the apostles at the presence of tares (false teachers) in their midst, sown by "an enemy" (Satan, Gal. 1:6; 3:1; Col. 2:4; Acts 20:28-30; 2 Pet. 2:1). Compare the first Church Council at Jerusalem, AD 50, Acts 15; Gal. 2:1-5.
PERIOD THREE (3) MUSTARD TREE The abnormal expansion of outward Christendom under Constantine, when he made Christianity the state religion.
PERIOD FOUR (4) LEAVEN The setting aside of the Lord's teaching by the woman, the professed Bride of Christ (Roman Church), through the introduction of the leaven of false doctrine (cp. Rev. 2:20).
PERIOD FIVE (5) HID TREASURE The true Church with its true doctrine became hidden (buried) in the world (field) during the Dark Ages, as result of Constantine's union of the Church with the world (state) and due to Rome's false doctrine that the Church was then reigning over the world with the Pope as Christ's regent. Luther and other reformers recovered the biblical truth of redemption by faith in Christ's finished work, and thus the true Church -- Christ's blood-bought treasure -- which had been "buried" -- was brought to light again, beginning with 1517 (date of Luther's Reformation).
PERIOD SIX (6) THE PEARL This is the truth of the UNITY of the Church (it is one in God's sight). Christendom can be and is split; God's true Church (pearl) cannot be. Its separateness from the world is pictured by the fact that the pearl is in the sea (of nations) but distinct from it. There is also possibly an allusion to the Rapture of the Church, for a pearl is obtained only by taking it out of the sea. "So Christ will take the pearl (Church) out of the world (sea).

It was during this Sixth Period that God led many of His servants to a rediscovery of these Scripture truths, beginning with the Pietist Reformation on the continent and reaching articulate and systematic statement in the writings of many such men as John Nelson Darby in Great Britain around 1840. Darby and his contemporaries did not "invent" these emphases, as opponents have charged. They simply rediscovered something in the Scripture from the first century, namely, the unique place the Church holds in God's dispensational plan. They were joined by a host of men, in and out of the various denominations in many countries, who have increasingly refined the systematic position. A tremendous literature has been developed through the years. This position is emphasized by our College and summarized in the Scofield Reference Bible, edited by our first president, who did his research midway through the period from 1840 to the present.

A revision of the Scofield Reference Bible was issued by Oxford in the spring of 1967. Dr. Mason served on this Revision Committee. The New Scofield Bible affirms this position.
PERIOD SEVEN (7) THE DRAG NET This takes place, not at the Rapture of the Church, but at the return of Christ to the earthy at the end of the judgments of Daniel's 70th Week (see Dan. 9). It is distinguished from the Rapture in that the bad fish (cp. tares) are removed by judgment from the good fish (cp. tares taken from wheat), whereas in the Rapture the good are removed from the bad.

This is the severance of LIVING rejectors of the message concerning the coming King (preached by Christ’s brethren -- who are doubly His brethren: nationally, Jews; spiritually, saved), from the LIVING acceptors of their call to repentance during the reign of Anti-Christ (cp. 25:31-46). This judgment takes place at the close of the period of the King's rejection and signalizes His return and reign (13:39-43; 25:31-32).
  1. THE CHURCH ANTICIPATED 13:53-16:20
    1. THE King in "His own country" 13:53-58
    2. A king's (Herod's) troubled conscience 14:1-14
    3. The King and two crowds 14:15-36
    4. The censure of the King 15:1-20
    5. The King and the Canaanite woman 15:21-28
      (Key: a Gentile had no claim on Him as "son of David.")
    6. The King's concern for the crowd 15:29-39
    7. Criticism of and comments by the King 16:1-12
    8. THE KING'S QUESTION AND KEPHAS'S (Peter's) CONFESSION '16:13-16
      Peter's confession--Peter distinguished our Lord as being more than a prophet and more than a man indeed. He is God manifest in the flesh ("Son of living God") with an original revelation, not merely rehearsing Moses and the prophets.
    9. THE KING AND HIS CHURCH 16:17-20
      Christ's reply -- "Peter, you did not arrive at this conclusion by human shrewdness but by divine revelation. My Father revealed it to you."

      Here we have the first mention in the N.T. of the word "church," from the Greek word pronounced "eccla-see-ah," meaning "a calling out," hence, "called out ones" or "those gathered by calling out, a congregation, an assembly" (Souter). The Church is "called out ones" from the world (hence, the world will not be converted, else there would be nothing left from which the Church could be called out!). The Church is called out to the Person of Christ, around whom they meet as an assembled congregation.

      The Church is founded on the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (His person and work-death and resurrection) There is a play on the word for stone here: “Simon, you are a stone", Petros, masculine, an ordinary rock), but "I will build my Church upon this massive ROCK," as it is sometimes used in the Greek classics (Petra, feminine, i.e., the truth about me which you have just announced with supernatural help, vv. 16-17). This will be a process ("build") First Corinthians 3:10-11, 16 makes it plain that Christ is the ONLY foundation) and that the Church is the structure built on Him. First Peter 2:5 shows that believers are pictured as the "living stones" which form the spiritual temple-God's Church of this age (Eph. 2:19-22).

      "And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against her." Satan is not in hell and is not the king of hell. (That conception is Miltonic, not scriptural.) The phrase "the gates of hell will not prevail" does not mean that the Church will never fail or be overcome by Satan. Rather it means that the one (Satan), who held the power of death in the OT times, was judged at the cross (Heb. 2:14-15), and that Satan will no longer be able to usher any of Christ's own (Church) into an intermediate state in Hades (the place of all departed spirits before Christ's death and resurrection, cp. Lk. 16). Now, since Christ has been victorious over death and founded the Church, believers do not go to Hades at all, but go immediately upon death into the presence of the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6-8, where they are said to be "at home with the Lord").

      Finally, the phrase "the keys of the kingdom" means that Divine authority accompanies the preaching of the gospel. By the very terms of that gospel, the humblest believer declares that all who reject its offer are "bound" in their sin. Likewise, all who receive its message are given the right of glad release, of forgiveness from sin. The emphasis is not upon the authority of the representative (which Rome says is the priest) but the authority of the gospel. The messenger is relatively unimportant; the message is all-important. The Lord authorizes the messenger simply because he is the bearer of the Divinely authenticated message!

      At this point, carefully read ADDENDUM V, "Who Is the Stone?"

       
  2. THE WAY TO THE CROSS 16:21-27:39
    1. The crucifixion of the King foretold 16:21-27
    2. The (second) coming of the King foretold 16:28-17:18
      Here is an incident which is also plainly a dispensational picture. First, the cross (16:21); then the believer's self-judged life in this Church age in the light of our union with Christ in His cross (16:22-26); then the second coming (16:27-28), prefigured by the Transfiguration (17:1-6), which scene is declared later by Peter to be a miniature and prophecy of the second coming of Christ (2 Pet. 1:15-17).

      Had Israel been willing to repent. God would have been willing to accept John the Baptist's ministry in lieu of Elijah's (17:10-13; Lk. 1:17).
       
    3. The comments of the King 17:19-27
    4. Children and the King 18:1-14
      Observe that our Lord's comments proceed from children (as such) to "one of these little ones which believe in me" (v.6), which refers to a recently born-again believer, whether young in physical years or not.
    5. Conduct of the converted in the King's Church (during the period of His rejection by Israel) 18:15-20:28
      1. Forgiveness, prayer, and worship 18:15-35
      2. Sanctity of marriage and children 19:1-15
      3. The true riches of faith 19:16-30
      4. Service of the saints evaluated 20:1-28
        1. Heart willingness makes service valid 20:1-16
          Quality not quantity determines reward. The parable teaches that God gauges our service by our relative opportunity to serve.
        2. Jesus again announces His death and resurrection 20:17-19
        3. Sacrificial service is true greatness 20:20-28
          The "baptism" referred to here is Christ's death. (Cp. Mt. 3:15 and notes there.)
    6. The kindness of the King 20:29-34
    7. The crux of the King's final presentation: The challenge of His authority 21:1-22:46
      1. The colt that carried a King 21:1-11
      2. The King censures 21:12-41
        (1) Their desecration 12-17
        (2) Their unbelief 18-22
        (3) Their inconsistency 23-27
        (4) Their disobedience 28-32
        (5) Their rebellion 33-41
      3. The King concludes His censure by reiterating the kingdom's postponement 21:42-22:14
        (1) It is taken from them (Israel) and given to those spiritually fit 21:42-46 (cp. 12:47-50)
        (2) God's grace assembles those whom Israel considers outcasts 22:1-14
    8. The King curbs and criticizes His critics 22:15-23:30
      1. Herodians answered on tribute to Caesar 22:15-22
        (The party of political expediency)
      2. Sadducees answered on resurrection 22:23-33
        (The party of skeptical religionists)
      3. Pharisees answered on greatest commandment 22:34-40
        (The party of dead tradition)
      4. Jesus stalls the Pharisees with question about David's greater Son 22:41-46
      5. The marks of a Pharisee 23:1-12
      6. Jesus pronounces woes upon the Pharisees 23:13-30
    9. The King voices His verdict 23:31-36
    10. Yet cries out with compassion 23:37-39
      The city (v.37a), temple (v.38), and people (v.37b) are set aside (v.39) until repentance is forthcoming.
       

D. THE KING ANSWERS QUESTIONS CONCERNING HIS COMING TO EARTH 24-25 OLIVET DISCOURSE)
 



  1. The circumstances 24:1-2
    A visit to the temple and prophecy of its destruction.
     
  2. The two questions: when and what? 24:3
    There are two, not three, questions here:
    1. "When shall these things be?" 23:3a
      (i.e., the destruction of the temple, v.2b) Matthew does not here record our Lord's prophecy concerning the near-view destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70. That near-view destruction prophecy detail is recorded by Luke (21:12-24). Matthew deals only with the distant time of trouble associated with armies surrounding Jerusalem, which details are also given in the parallel passages of Mark 13 and Luke 21:8-11, 25-36.

      It seems clear that certain features of Luke 21:12-24 refer to both near and far view, particularly vv. 12-23. Luke 21:24 plainly predicts the AD 70 destruction and age-long Gentile domination of Jerusalem, which coincides with preparing for God's ultimate purpose, as also stated in Mt. 23:38-39.
       
    2. "WHAT shall be the SIGN of Thy Coming, EVEN OF the end (or completion) of the age?” 24:3b
      This coming is not the Rapture of the Church, but our Lord's return to THE EARTH "immediately after the tribulation of those days" (24:29; 25:31; Dan. 9:26b-27).
       
  3. The comments of the King on the SECOND of these two questions 24:4-25:46
    1. The TIME "and SIGN’S)" of Christ's return to "earth 24:4-42 (namely, at the end of the tribulation age)
      1. The whole seven years of Daniel's 70th "week" sketched 24:4-14 (cp. Dan. 9:24-27)
        1. The first half (3 1/2 yrs.) of the "week" = "The beginning of birthpangs" 24:4-8
          This is our Lord's own name for this period (v.8). The seals of Revelation 6 correspond exactly with our Lord's words here. "The end (of the age) is not yet" (v.6); bad as things are, only half the "week" has transpired. The worst is yet to come.
        2. The last half (3 1/2 yrs.) of the "week" = "The Tribulation the Great" (21) 24:9-14
          Details are not discussed here, other than to state that intense hatred of God's Israel (cp. 25:41-46a) will characterize this period of Jacob's trouble. The majority ("many") of Israel will follow the false Christ(s), but God's Israel will be delivered ("saved" in that sense) by the return of the Lord at the end (of the age), i.e., end of the 70th "week" (Dan. 9:26b-27). When Christ returns, they will be preaching (again) "the gospel of the kingdom" (3:2; 4:17; 10:7, 22-23).

          After sketching the whole 70th "week, " our Lord goes back in detail over the last 31/2 years, starting at the middle of the "week."
           
      2. The middle of the 70th "week" = "The Abomination of Desolation" 24:15 This is the defiling of the restored temple by the setting up of an image in it (Rev. 13:14-15), thus breaking the covenant "in the midst of the week" (Dan. 9:27). This precipitates that awful period of persecution known as the Great Tribulation (v.21).
         
      3. "The Tribulation the Great" = the last half of the 70th "week" (further details) 24:16-24
        Cp. Rev. 13:7,15-17; Dan. 9:27--read Mt. 24:21 with v. 9; w. 23-24 with vv. 10-12; vv. 21-22 with w. 13-14. Observe the 70th "week" is definitely associated with "thy people" and "thy city" (Dan. 9:24), i.e., Daniel's people, the Jews, as is the emphasis of this passage (e.g., 24:20 "sabbath day"). Satan's subtlety will be prominent (e.g., 2 Thes. 2:6-12).
         
      4. The CLOSE of the 70th "week" = with the suddenness of lightning 24:25-31 "The end" of vv. 13-14 = vv. 27-31; cp. 2 Thes. 1:6-10; 2:8.
        "Shortened" (v.22) may mean simply "terminated" = not prolonged, although most expositors understand an actual reduction of days, something short of 7 years. Hence, no man can know the day nor hour of His return.

        The close of that age will be accompanied with the repentance of those Jews who compose God's Israel, Zech. 12:10; 13:6-7. Verse 31 refers not to the Rapture of the Church (which includes a resurrection of dead saints, 1 Thes. 4:16-17) but to a supernatural gathering of God's living Israel on earth when the Lord suddenly comes to earth. God's "elect" is a term describing His chosen in any age; in this age it means the Church; in the 70th "week" the elect will be the believers (Jew and Gentile) anticipating the King's return.
         
      5. The SIGN signalizing the chief event of the 70th "week" 24:32-35.
        (i.e., the "end time" of the age, at the close of which Christ will come back to earth again)

        Most Bible scholars see in the fig tree the REBUDDING of NATIONAL ISRAEL in the sense of her political rebudding, as per the reconstitution of national entity in May, 1948. Her spiritual rebudding is yet future. Israel, though temporarily set aside during the Church age, is not permanently rejected, but will be revivified (Ezk. 37), will yet inherit the OT promises associated with Christ and the Kingdom (Ezk. 36:19-38; 34:11-26; 21:26-27), after God has purged out the rebels who follow Satan's Beast and False Prophet (Ezk. 20:33-38).
      6. The UNEXPECTED character of His coming to earth 24:36-42

        The time of the coming is kept in the Father's counsel (v.36; Acts 1:6-7). In the days of Noah (vv. 37-39) the wicked were "taken" in judgment and the righteous, in the ark, were "left" to enter the new earth. So it will be at the close of the 70th "week." The wicked are "taken" in judgment ("purged out" -- cp. bad fish and tares severed from wheat, good fish, 13:30, 41-43, 49), while the righteous are "left" to enter the millennial kingdom, 25:32-34, 46. This is the opposite of the Rapture, when the righteous are "taken" to heaven, and unbelievers are "left" on earth to the judgments of the 70th "week."
         
    2. The JUDGMENTS on those living through the tribulation 24:43-25:46
      1. Judgment on surviving JEWS 24:43-25:30 (cp. Ezk. 20:34-38)
        This is taught indirectly by our Lord through three parables:
        1. The test of LOYALTY 24:45-51
          "Waiting up" for the Lord's return.
        2. The test of LOVE 25:1-13
          The setting for this parable of the wise and unwise virgins is important. The wedding banquet has already taken place (Lk. 12:36 R.V.) before He returns (here) to those "watching" for Him (25:1-13; Lk. 13:35,40; cp. Lk. 12:42-48 with Mt. 24:45-51). Hence, the virgins are not the true and false in Christendom, but the true and false in Israel, for Christ comes back to earth with His bride (the Church) from the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (wedding feast), Rev. 19:7-9; Lk. 12:35-37a.
        3. The test of LABOR. 25:14-30
          Investing for the absent Lord; "occupying till" He come.
           
      2. Judgment on surviving GENTILES 25:31-46.
        (i.e., when He returns to earth in glory, v.31)
        1. The throne set 31-32
        2. The decision given 33-45
          1. Faith proved in risking all for "the brethren" 33-40 (cp. Rev. 13:14-17)
          2. Unbelief proved by neglect of "the brethren" 41-45
        3. The eternal results to those individuals 46
          NOTE: This judgment should be called "The Judgment of Gentiles" rather than "The Judgment of the Nations," because nations do not have souls and this is plainly a judgment of individuals (w. 45-46).

          Thus, it is the judgment of the Gentiles as individuals (v. 32) at the end of the 70th "week" when Christ returns to earth (v.31).

          Two kinds of Gentiles are here seen: (1) Sheep (believers); (2) Goats (unbelievers). The works of the "sheep" are an evidence of their faith in the message of "the brethren." The ignoring of "the brethren" by the "goats" is the evidence of their unbelief in the message of "the brethren."

          "The brethren" are converted Jews witnessing to the coming King and Kingdom, being doubly Christ's brethren, by flesh (Jews) and by the Spirit (believers).

          Obviously, the usual interpretation is wrong, for if all men are being divided between "sheep" and "goats," no one would be left to be the "brethren." Also, this judgment opens the millennium, whereas the Great White Throne Judgment closes it. Further, there is no resurrection here. This judgment is of living men before the 1000-year reign of Christ, while the judgment of the Great White Throne is of the unbelieving dead after the 1000-year reign (Rev. 21:11-15).

 

E. THE KING'S TRIAL, CRUCIFIXION, AND RESURRECTION 26-28

  1. Events leading to His trial and the sentence of death 26:1-27:26
    1. The consultation 26:1-5
    2. A supper 26:6-13
    3. The conniving 26:14-16
    4. The Supper 26:17-29
    5. The cockcrowing 26:30-35
    6. The agony 26:36-46
    7. The kiss 26:47-56
    8. The King before Caiaphas 26:57-68
    9. The cursing of Kephas 26:69-75
    10. The cowardly criminal 27:1-10
    11. The quandary of Pilate 27:11-26
       
  2. The events of the crucifixion 27:26-66
    1. The cruel crown 26-31
    2. The crucifixion 32-50
    3. The consequences of the crucifixion 51-66
       
  3. The resurrection and commission 28
    1. The King's conquest of death 1-10
    2. The conspiracy to deny His resurrection 11-15
    3. The King's commission to go to all nations 16-20

 

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