25 Aug (Matt 12 & Mark 2-3)

The Gospels: Jesus is Our Sabbath

Matthew 12

(v.6) As we see in John 2:12-21 Jesus is our Sabbath, and when He speaks of the temple being raised in three days, He means His body in the resurrection.

(v.8) The Law was given to convince all mankind, that we are imperfect sinners, and we need a Savior. We would not know how far we fall short of God's holiness, unless we had something to measure it by. Likewise, the Sabbath was consecrated for us to become closer to God. The Jews were instructed to spend that day in worship...getting closer to the Father.

We get closer to the Father, by our faith in His Son. Jesus is the LORD of the Sabbath, for in Him, we worship the Father, and we have peace with the Father. Mark 2:27

(v.12) The Pharisees were so focused on trying to follow the Law, that they forgot what it was for! God did not expect mankind to follow the Law perfectly. In fact, He had James tell us so, and remind us that if we failed at one moment in life on one commandment, we were guilty of all. James 2:10

(v.32) Speaking against the Holy Spirit is the Unpardonable Sin. What this means, is since it's the job of the Spirit to bring souls to the Son, when people reject the Son, they are rejecting the work of the Spirit. The rejection of what God did for us is what seals the fate of the unbeliever...it doesn't matter how "good" a person they were...it's all about Christ in the end.

(v.40) If you look on my study on Jonah a few months back, you'll see that Jonah was a failure at predicting the doom of Nineveh. So why does Jesus call Jonah a prophet? Because Jonah lived the prophesy of Christ, by dying and being brought back to life in three days, and saving souls! Jonah didn't want the people of Nineveh to be saved, but his actions got the same result. The "story" of Jonah is true, for Christ deems it so Himself!

(v.43) Here is an interesting point about this verse...demons seek dry places...why? If we go back to Genesis, the Nephilim were killed in the Flood of Noah, but their souls lived on. This is what we call a demon. They seek embodiment, and since they got in their state from the Flood, it seems understandable that they fear water!