Matthew 13:47-51 “Once again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 51 Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked. “Yes,” they replied.
 
TO date, we have reviewed John the Baptist’s anointed ministry pointing to Jesus. God’s plan was to announce his presence on earth through John. John baptized Jesus, who then began his Kingdom ministry. Our readings have revealed some of the Kingdom’s characteristics, and we have focused briefly on the King’s character. There is much more that we have not covered. As you read and study the gospels and epistles, you will continually understand the substance of the Kingdom of God. Listen closely to God’s Word and  you will become increasingly aware of what is essential for the Kingdom to display God’s power.
   Now we come to the ultimate purpose of this series of lessons. We will look at Jesus’ ministry as he defined the end times and ultimate Kingdom of God to reign eternally. The study of the end times is called eschatology. Don’t shrink form the word. It is simply a word that defines the study of future teachings.
   Why do you need to know about the future? One reason is that it helps us examine our purpose in the Kingdom right now. Knowing the certainty of our heavenly destination should cause us to be more faithful to the One who calls us there. Eschatology also helps us understand there is salvation and there is judgment at the end of time. Believers are saved to the Eternal Kingdom. Unbelievers perish into eternal torment. All mankind must know this. This truth must empower our daily faith walk. “Who can we help know Jesus?” becomes an urgent question as we know our time is limited.
   Today’s “fish net parable” points to that salvation and judgment. It begins as a picture of bounty. A fisherman spreads his net over the water. He pulls up a net full of fish! Full nets meant great profit. And Jesus adds more reality to the fishing scene as he describes how the fisherman throws away the fish that do not measure up to his particular requirements. He keeps the good. He destroys the bad.
   And then Jesus formed a new fearful scene in verses 49-50. Suddenly the fisherman becomes the Lord of the Harvest. His angels come to throw the wicked into the fiery furnace. Jesus quickly turned his disciples’ minds from an abundant day of fishing to the reality that some will be saved to the Kingdom of Heaven and some will be judged into torment. Salvation is not for those who do not meet the Lord’s requirements. To many of us, this seems obvious. But to the world, it seems ridiculous and is even called hate speech. Many people, especially those who are comfortable in their own lives believe all they must do to reach Heaven is to die. They reject Jesus’ particular promise of salvation, unwilling to receive Jesus’ certain promise of judgment.
   Then Jesus asked the life-centered question, “Have you understood all these things?”  As the disciples replied, “Yes.” they would have also understood their work was to teach Jesus’ particular truths to point people to his certain end-time promises.  
   How about you? Have you understood these things? 

Matthew 12:31-32 “And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”
 
THE central focus of Jesus’ constant exchanges with the Pharisees is the question, “Is Jesus from God or not?” The Pharisees readily rejected Jesus’ divine nature. Jesus condemned the blasphemy of their sin-limited thoughts.
   The word “blasphemy” comes from a Greek word meaning “to speak stupid things against”. We then understand Jesus to say, “every sin and stupid thing spoken will be forgiven men, but the stupid things spoken against the Spirit will not be forgiven.”
   How would you feel if someone told you that you are speaking stupid things? No wonder Jesus’ words enraged the Pharisees. He directly attacked their prideful knowledge! That’s hard for a learned men to hear. Of course, they also accused him of blasphemy. Their only response to truth was to respond with accusations.
   That’s our spiritual battle, isn’t it? We pridefully hold to our opinions, wondering if we can believe all Jesus teaches - the promises, the hope, the forgiveness, and even the love. We find it easier to trust worldly pleasures than to trust Jesus’ righteous truth. Jesus knew such things would happen, and he graciously says he will forgive those sins.
   But he does draw a bottom line. That line is the unforgivable sin blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. To say, “It’s stupid to believe the Spirit and the Son are of God.” will condemn one.
   True wisdom is to confess Christ as Lord. Pray to the Spirit to deliver Jesus’ promise to you: “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26)
   Don’t let the world make you stupid. Allow the Spirit to make you wise.
 
 

Matthew 12:22-28 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” 25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his Kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.”
 
THIS and next two lessons are on Jesus’ deity.
 
HERE is faith, and here is doubt. Here is sight, and here is blindness. They – likely the Pharisees – brought to Jesus a demon-possessed man born both blind and mute. You could easily say he was living in Hell’s grasp. But the Savior Jesus immediately cast out the demon to release the prisoner, to heal the man who then both spoke and saw.
   Some of the Jews were beginning to see, too, and they began to speak, “Is this the Son of David?” But then the jealous Pharisees tried to turn the work of God into a work from Hell. They charged the holy God with the most abusive and abase language to accuse him as the Lord of demons. Beelzebub is the “fly god” - “Lord of the Flies” - worshiped by Israel in Elijah’s day. Ultimately Beelzebub was viewed as the supreme god in apostate Israel. And the name would represent Satan. Accusing the Son of God to be the Evil One was a horrible blasphemy! The Pharisees had brought the blind man, but they were the blind ones. And their spoken words should have remained mute in Hell. They did not see the one who commanded the demons as the true Lord of Heaven and earth, the One who could command all things at his will.
   What’s your view of Jesus? Do you have faith he drives out demons by the Spirit of God? Do you see with your heart the Kingdom of God has come upon you? Are you able to speak of his holiness, righteousness, power and authority? Do you hear his love? Can you speak his truth? Is there any way you might be blind to his teachings, mute to teach others? Then pray for the Lord to cast his favor upon you, so your eyes will open to a more complete faith, a more true vision in the Lord of the Kingdom.
 
Jesus Teaches: Our Lord God reigns.
 

Luke 13:22-23a Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
 
DO you think this is an odd question to ask Jesus? Wouldn’t a better question have been, “Lord, how many people are going to be saved? How large will be God’s rule on earth?” After all, this was a question directed at the Word of God, who was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:2b-3) Yes, Lord! How large will your Kingdom become?
   What are your thoughts, though, when you consider Jesus’ church today? Does it seem that “few” is the number of Christians in your community, village, city, state, nation and the world? Too few are in church. Even fewer have an active faith, living into Jesus’ commands. Yes, the Kingdom looks minimal in our world, doesn’t it?
   Perhaps the questioner is correct in his limited approach. He may not have been seeing people faithfully receiving Jesus’ teachings. After all, many were rejecting the Son’s identity, purpose and teachings. He’s wondering, “Will only the Twelve with you and the several women who care for you and your disciples be in your Kingdom?” He must have thought Jesus was developing some kind of new cult.
   But then what would have the questioner (likely a Pharisee) asked if he were in Jerusalem on that Pentecost Festival when the church began? Acts 2:41 Those who accepted (Peter’s) message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. Or did he see the Spirit’s further empower Peter’s teaching several weeks later? Acts 4:4 But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.  Here’s a mega church in a few months!
   And there is more. Did the questioning man possibly see or hear what happened in Samaria? Acts 8:5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.
   Yes, perhaps one would still classify these numbers as “few” in contrast to the general population. But those who were saved would certainly rejoice Jesus salvation! Out of Nazareth came the Messiah, who had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2b-3)
   This was the church’s small, unstoppable beginning in the manner Jesus had taught. The Twelve became thousands. The thousands became millions and now estimated to be billions of souls God has welcomed into the Kingdom of God. Many expansive ministries in the world exist today because God faithfully began with a few.
   Please, then, do not look at Jesus today and say, “Too few are in your church, Lord.” Instead, consider each person saved is God’s resurrection miracle into the human soul. Each Kingdom citizen carries the cost of the cross to live into the restored, revived and renewed image of God into Heaven. The gospels and Acts teach us of revival to transform multitudes into salvation. God will act when he determines to act. No such word as “few” exists in the church. All who are saved are of extreme value, purchased with Jesus’ blood in the Father’s grace. Rejoice if you are one of those. Be diligent to pursue the unsaved and pray for Kingdom growth in your family, community and region. 

Luke 13:20-21 Again he asked, “What shall I compare the Kingdom of God to? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
 
THIS is the first of two lessons regarding growth as an essential substance of God’s Kingdom.
   Jesus’ Kingdom parable of the yeast seems straightforward to us. Yeast makes dough rise and expand. But this may have been especially difficult, even confusing for the Jews. Our culture and background have a great effect on our understanding of Scripture. For centuries the Jews’ culture had formed around the Passover. The Lord had commanded the Passover to begin with the sweeping of all yeast (leaven) from the home. Leaven symbolized sin, so it was a ceremonial cleaning of  the home. A flat bread without yeast is the bread of the Passover. In the Old Covenant then, unleavened bread represented God’s grace to deliver the Jews from sin. Additionally, the daily manna God delivered to the Jews for 40 years was also bread without yeast. Bread without yeast also became a symbol of God’s “dally bread” – his provision. Why then would Jesus compare the Kingdom of God to yeast?
   Simply put, this was a different illustration. Yeast was in every household, and every person would understand its effects. God’s plan for your salvation was moving forward as yeast moves through the dough. Once the yeast begins its work, none can stop it until it is complete. The dough will rise to greater size to feed many that the unleavened bread would not feed. Yeast illustrates the Kingdom is a planned process to enlarge God’s Word. No force can stop the gospel’s worldwide redemptive work.  
   Yes, it was with unleavened bread in his hands, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19) Yet this began a Kingdom-rising process. As yeast courses through the dough, the Holy Spirit has added Jesus’ redeeming body and blood into dead souls to raise them up to life. “Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass.” (2 Kings 19:25)
   Daily we must eat of Jesus, the Bread of Life, as we partake of God’s Holy Bible. We must pray for the Holy Spirit’s power to stir Jesus’ redemptive work into hungry souls to expand the gospel. Consistently, you must consume the Lord’s Supper to remember God’s promise and sacrifice. Be leaven to a culture flat in soul and mind because they do not know Jesus life-giving food.  
 
 

Luke 13:18-19 Then Jesus asked, “What is the Kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? 19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches.”
 
IT is interesting that Luke puts this Kingdom description just after Jesus’ Sabbath healing. We examined how Sabbath healing and care demonstrate God’s restoring, creative work. Now Jesus extends the Sabbath day teaching with a picture of our eternal Sabbath in the Kingdom of God.
   Jesus first pointed to the Kingdom’s small beginning on earth. Few seeds are smaller than a mustard seed. But then the seed grows into a “tree” about 10-15 feet tall. To many of us, this isn’t much of a tree, but the point is that this tree will be the home for much life.
   The many birds illustrate the people of the earth who come to faith and rest in the Kingdom. Note, too, the seed grows out of a garden. This takes us back to Eden and the tree of life (Genesis 3:22) and forward to the bountiful land of the New Heaven and earth recorded in Revelation 22. God’s purpose is to restore Eden to a greater glory as he, not his creation, will rule forever. Even more, Jesus is the seed of life who came out of the garden tomb of his resurrection into Heaven’s glory.
   This mustard seed parable from our Lord Jesus illustrates his plan and promises for all who will come to believe in Jesus. Remember, the Kingdom is formed in Jesus Christ. He will deliver a New Jerusalem that comes from Heaven as a bride beautifully dressed. The Kingdom also has substance. It’s substance in Heaven is the Light of the Father and the Son. The Kingdom has time. Eternity is its unlimited time for God’s people to enjoy the glorious Sabbath of joy, praise, worship and love under the Lord’s rule.
   Yes, this life promise is for all who believe. In Christ, you become a new seed of life rooted in fertile ground. In Christ’s teachings, you will grow to shelter many in his love, grace and forgiveness. In Christ, you will find rest in his eternal Garden.
 
Prayer: Thank you, Holy Spirit, for planting me new and fresh in Jesus’ eternal salvation. Grow me strong to shelter the brokenhearted. Grant to me joy in your heavenly kingdom. Amen. 

Luke 13:10-17 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. 14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” 15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” 17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.
 
JESUS judges, “You hypocrites!” to the Jews condemning his healing work on the Sabbath. “You care for an ox but ignore this crippled woman?” The Pharisees and synagogue rulers had locked the Jews into a severe system restricting many activities on the Sabbath. Jesus’ healing was considered a doctor’s work. So it should be done another day!
   Yes, the Lord commands us in Exodus 20:8-11 to stop our labors and obey the Sabbath he established on creation’s seventh day: Genesis 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Note God blessed the day. And God’s commands are a blessing to guard and enrich our lives. That means the LORD gave the Sabbath rest to mankind as a benediction – a blessing – to his creation, and it is to be a day to remember the week’s blessings. He did not, however, give the Sabbath to restrict God’s life-giving work for his children in desperate need.
   That’s why Jesus did not keep his healing “at rest” on the Sabbath. Just as he had spoken the universe into existence, he spoke the woman’s body to re-creation. The Sabbath is an essential substance of God’s Kingdom on earth. Healing is an expression of shalom, which is an absence of conflict. Disease is a conflict against God’s creation. Jesus spoke shalom into the woman’s conflicted body, so she could be “good” in God’s sight just as his creation is good. Consider how she could truly enjoy shalom in her body for the first time in decades! The Sabbath was made for man as a time to remember and enjoy God’s shalom. Man was not made for the Sabbath to be subject to peace-breaking rules.
   When God spoke and healed in the synagogue that day, the Jews should have fallen down in worship and praise to exclaim, “The LORD God is still creating!” What marvelous celebrations could have occurred in response to the woman’s new body. In Christ she became a new creation!
   I hope you enjoy the Sabbath each week. I pray it is a restful, restorative day for your heart, mind and soul as your body rests from your weekly routines and labors. Perhaps one way to find shalom is to do good for someone who needs to know peace in God’s creation.
   This is Kingdom living. See Part 2 for Jesus’ Kingdom Sabbath illustration.
 

John 4:16-20 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is true.” 19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
 
RECALL Jesus taught Nicodemus, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.”  He is about to demonstrate God’s life-giving born again power through a Samaritan woman at a well.
    What do you think? Was Jesus loving or accusing the woman at the well in Sychar, Samaria? Surely he could condemn her sin to make an example of her before the entire village. After all, the Bible records God’s deadly judgment on many who sin.
   Yes, Jesus does want to make an example of her! But his example will be a testimony to her, Sychar and his disciples of God’s born again purpose. His rich forgiveness, love and mercy pour over tender, broken souls. Living water will cleanse the soul when the Spirit causes one to confront and confess her sin.
   But let’s ask, “Why are the woman’s multiple marriages an issue for her?” After all, she has a mix of foreign and Jewish blood in her ancestry. Why would God’s law against divorce and re-marriage matter to the woman, or to the village in Samaria? Or the question today is, “Why does God’s law matter to anyone who isn’t a Christian?”
   The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from Heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities –  his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
   To the point, each of us knows when we sin. Even if one hasn’t heard God’s word directly, there is a level of knowledge called natural law in the human heart that understands right and wrong.
   There was a basic knowledge of God in this Samaritan village. The woman was at the well because her marital infidelities did not permit her to mix with married women. She had been taught some level of God’s law and history. If she knew of Jacob’s well, she knew of his deceit. She also learned of God transforming Jacob to become “Israel”, the One who Overcomes. Jesus went to Sychar for the same reason he went to Jacob to wrestle with him to transform his life (Genesis 32). Whether he is in Jerusalem, Galilee or Sychar, the Lord will demonstrate what it is to be born of water and the Spirit. In love, the Lord called out the woman’s sin, so he can prepare the woman’s heart to be born again.

John 3:31-34 “The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from Heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.”
 
JOHN the Baptist identifies three aspects of Jesus and his ministries. First, John, for a second time, affirmed Jesus’ deity. Jesus is “The One who comes from above is above all.”  The prophet contrasted this with his own identity as a man from the earth. Yes, God gave to John and all the prophets before him Spirit-powered ministries. But their work was not as great as Jesus’ soul-transforming ministry. 
   Second, John condemned our hard hearts. Jesus has come to testify all he has seen and heard. Imagine! This is referring to all of God’s knowledge: Proverbs 3:19 By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; 20 by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew. How can we not accept God’s testimony? What so severely divides our minds from God?
   Be urgent to follow Proverbs 3:21 My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight. Jesus, too, often testified that he spoke what the Father had given him to say. John 8:28b “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.”
   Third, John taught Jesus’ ministry is empowered in the Spirit without limit. This contrasts to the Baptist and all Old Testament prophets who were anointed with the Holy Spirit only when they were speaking for God. In other words, the Spirit of God did not bestow unlimited power to the prophets. Jesus, though, is fully under the Spirit’s anointing. Every move he makes, and each word he says is conveyed in the ever-present, active Spirit. 
   Jesus would later speak of the Christian life in the Spirit’s power. John 14:12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” Jesus also confirmed this with his testimony of John’s life in contrast with the church in Matthew 11:11 “I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” Jesus Christ of Nazareth is God. Listen to him. 

John 3:29-30 “The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less.”
 
JOHN the Baptist continued to speak to his disciples about the Kingdom’s movement forward. They are
frustrated for two reasons. The Jews are speaking against John’s baptism. Plus, they seemed jealous of Jesus’ growing following. John has reminded them of his own calling that he is “not the Christ” (verse 28). How wonderful it is to know that John’s attitude is “That joy is mine and it is now complete.”  
   As we have seen in Jesus’ Cana miracle, a wedding was a week-long celebration. The bridegroom’s friend, one we call the “best man” today, would oversee many of the activities. He looked after the groom. He paid attention to the refreshments and wine distribution. He kept the feast in order to point to the groom.
   John the Baptist describes himself as Jesus’ “best man”. He enjoyed seeing Jesus honored and was eager for all to look to the groom. John knew his role was to be the “best man of God” to prepare for the Son of God to become the Bridegroom to his church. Two times in two chapters John has used the wedding to illustrate the gospel. This affirms the high role of marriage in creation and the New Creation. Of all relationships on earth, God designed marriage to be the most committed, sacrificial and joyful union. See the commitment in Genesis 2:23-24 “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman’ for she was taken out of man. 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”  Focus on the bridegroom’s sacrifice in Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Then realize the bridegroom’s celebration joy in Revelation 19:7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 
   Isn’t it fascinating to see how often joy is expressed in John? Could it be the good news really is joyful news?
 
Prayer: May I awaken each day to joyfully know the Bridegroom is committed, sacrificial and joyful toward me. May I be the same to him. In Jesus’ name, amen.