Matthew 22:18 - But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?
Jesus is not name calling. Hypocrite is a theater term, or an acting term. Every time an actor/actress would read their script, or perform according to the script, they were called HUPOCRISIS, hypocrites. It wasn't a bad word. But when applied to religious people, what you're saying is "you're just acting!" You're just acting out according to the script, but inside it's not true, it's not real. What the Lord is saying is that you actors come in here with all of this flattery, and all of your craftiness, and you're trying to set me up.
Matthew 22:37 - Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Two things I'd like to emphasize: First, the term "Thou shalt love" is not in command form. It is a Future Active Indicative in the Greek text. It's not a command. It's a factual statement. You will love!
Secondly, if you understand the concept, you can apply it to every teaching that applies to the church, and to believers today. For instance, believers are supposed to love one another. But, neither in the OT, nor in the NT, is it in command form. It's interesting that when the Lord quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, He quotes it exactly and says the first commandment is this: "You shall love the Lord your God."
But taking it a little further from a Greek perspective, notice the word "with." Love the Lord your God WITH all your heart and WITH all your soul and WITH all your mind. Well, it is the Greek word EN, which means in. All three prepositional phrases are "in." You will love the Lord your God in your whole heart, in your whole soul, and in your whole mind.
Do you see the location? I am not going to love with it. I am going to be in it. It is going to be in me, in my inner being. That is how it is literally translated in the Greek.
Matthew 27:50 - Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
The word yielded in Greek means to dismiss your spirit. He literally dismissed it. And the word ghost is spirit. He decided when He was going to die, and He dismissed His spirit.
Matthew 28:4 - And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
And for fear of him the keepers, that is, the soldiers, they did shake. It's interesting that this is the same word as earthquake, SEISMOS. The soldiers did shake, and they became as dead men. It is also interesting that the dead man rose, and the earth shook, and the keepers shook and became dead.
Matthew 28:19 - Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
He says, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations. Now the word "go," and you hear this quoted often, but the word go in all of the manuscripts, it is not a command. It is actually what is called an Aorist Participle.
It's translated "After having gone." It is not a command to go.
Well, that is all I have to share on Matthew. I may have missed some things, but what I've shared are places where I see differences in what our English bibles are saying and what is said in the Greek text. Some of this information I have shared is just general information, other things are words that I feel the translators may not have used the correct word or words.
I am currently working on Mark and will be posting soon with what I find (Lord willing!)
Matthew 26:65 - Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy.
Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying
You know, when I was a new Christian, I read this and I thought to myself "You know, the high priests can't even afford to buy their own clothes. They have to "rent" them!" But rent means to tear. You can imagine that when I first received Christ, that I had a tough time. I couldn't understand why he had to go out and rent some clothes, just to put Jesus on trial.
So, the High Priest tore his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy;
Matthew 26:69 - Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.
Peter sat in the courtyard, not the palace. The Greek text tells us that this was the courtyard outside the palace.
Matthew 27:3 - Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
When Judas saw that a sentence of judgment was passed against Him, it says he repented himself.
There are two words in the New Testament for repent. One is METANOEO, that shows true repentance, where a person makes a decision for change. That's what the bible calls for us to do if we want to receive Christ, we must make a decision to change the direction of our life and surrender our life to Christ.
This word in Verse 3 is METAMELOMAI, and it means to be sorry. METANOEO for repentance means you are repenting of the very life and lifestyle, and the actions that you've committed, and METAMELOMAI, for sorry, means that you feel bad about the consequences. Judas went out and felt sorry. He was remorseful.
Matthew 26:33 - Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.
Double negative, never! I think this is where the phrase "Never say never" came from. But Peter is saying I will never. The word offense is the word SCANDALIDZO, and it is where we get our word scandal from. It was a Greek word that denoted a trap. It was actually a trap that was set up to catch birds.
They would set up a box with a stick and it would have some kind of string or something on the ground, and when the bird goes into the box to get what was under it, they would pull the trap string. That was called a SCANDALIDZO.
So, to be offended means to set up a trap for somebody and lead them down the wrong road. And Jesus said you're going to be offended in me, because that is what the scripture says. In essence, what Jesus is saying here is prophecy, and Peter is saying you are wrong. That is basically what is happening. Peter says I will never be offended.
Matthew 26:53 - Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
That is 72,000 angels. Remember in the OT, where one angel wiped out the Philistines? Just think what 72,000 could do! Jesus says, don't you think that I could call angels down?
Matthew 26:59 - Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death;
So, it tells us that the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, meaning the Sanhedrin, they were seeking false witness against Jesus, to put him to death. You see, they have no charges! The Greek text says Sanhedrin, not council.
Matthew 26:22 - And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?
In the Greek text it expects the negative answer. What they're saying is "Lord, it's not me is it?" And they're looking for the Lord to confirm, "No, it is not you!"
An interesting point about this scene in all of the gospels, is that when Jesus said, "One of you will betray me," none of the other disciples knew, or at least had any sense that there was something wrong with Judas. No one knew that he was a thief. You would think that Jesus would say that one of you is going to betray me, and then one of the disciples would nudge one of the others and say "I knew that there was something wrong about that Judas guy!
At the end of John Chapter 6, Jesus says, "Have not I chosen you 12, and one of you is a demon." Judas was demonic. He was of the devil from the very beginning. Jesus chose him because He needed someone who was evil to carry out this plot as it was predicted in prophecy. He didn't make him evil. He chose an evil person to fulfill that purpose.
But the fact that Judas could go for three years, and no one would ever notice anything about him that would cause them to question, it's scary because he looked and acted on the outside just like everybody else!
Matthew 26:25 - Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.
The others said, "Lord, is it I?" In the KJB, it says "Master," but it's really RHABBI, rabbi, or teacher. Judas does not call Him Lord. It isn't me, is it? He's also expecting the negative answer. Jesus said unto him, Thou hast said.
Matthew 26:27 - And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
In the Greek text, it means all of you drink from it, not drink all of it. You'd be surprised how many people there are that interpret it that way.
Matthew 26:7 - There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.
John tells us that this is Mary, the sister to Martha. And she has a very precious ointment, and she poured it on His head as He was reclining. That is literal translation. They didn't sit at the table. They reclined at the table.
Matthew 26:8 - But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?
This word indignation in the Greek text literally means that they were so angry that they were pained.
Matthew 26:14 - Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,
Please know that Iscariot is not his last name. It is Judas Iscariot, and Iscariot is actually from two words. "ISH" is the word man, and "KARIOT" or "KARIOTH" is the name of the village outside of Jerusalem.
Matthew 24:34 - Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
The word generation itself has no association with years at all, unless you put the years with it. The word generation means race or kind of people. GENEA is the word, and it means a race or kind of people. Basically, what He saying here, is this kind or race of people (the Jews), shall not pass away until all these things be fulfilled. They are His elect. They are His protected people, His chosen people, and He will fulfill His promises to them.
Matthew 24:43 - But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
The word goodman is actually the house master in Greek. If the House master had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
Matthew 25:1 - Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
They had no lamps in those days. In those days it was a torch. It was a stick with cloth wrapped around it. And they would soak the cloth in oil, and they would light it. And they would bring an extra bottle of oil along and keep it lit.
Matthew 25:24 - Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
The word strawed means to scatter, DIASPORA. You gather together where you haven't even scattered anything. That is a hard man!
Matthew 25:27 - Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
He says to give your money to the exchangers, and then at my coming, I should have received mine own with interest. That is what usury means, with interest.
Matthew 24:28 - For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
A better translation would be "vultures be gathered together." This verse could not be fulfilled until the mid-1990s. There are now carnivorous birds in Israel, in order for that to be fulfilled. That will happen when Jesus comes and He defeats His enemies in the battle of Armageddon.
It's prophesied, the coming of Christ, and the prophecies of these carcasses. You can see it in Ezekiel 39:17, all of Chapter 34 of Isaiah, and as it happens in Revelation 19:17-21.
Matthew 24:31 - And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Just some technical information just to show you how good this passage is:
He is going to send His angels out with a great sound of a Shofar. It's a ram's horn. Now in the Greek text, the word "sound" is in brackets, which means it was added to the text by some unseen person who doesn't understand the fact that the word "great" modifies the trumpet. It is called a great Shofar.
The prophecy is in Isaiah 27:12-13. It says the great Shofar will blow, and the Lord will gather His people from the four corners of the earth. So that is very important because that's a prophecy that the Jews looked for. It says He is going to gather them together, his elect (that would be the Jews), from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other, north, south, east, and west.
Matthew 24:1 - And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
Verse 1 tells us that that Jesus went out and was Departing. Notice the literal translation. It shows an Imperfect Tense, was departing. He was in the process of leaving the temple grounds when the disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple.
Matthew 24:4 - And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
The word "deceive" in the Greek is not the normal word for deception. It is the word for misleading. Don't let anybody mislead you about what's going to happen in the last days. That is very important! Jesus gives the reason why in Matthew 24:5.
Matthew 24:8 - All these are the beginning of sorrows.
The word sorrows in Greek, is the word for birth pains, when a woman goes into labor. But Jesus calls them birth pains because they start out very light, further apart, and then the more a woman gets into the time of giving birth, the more intense it becomes, and the more frequent they become. So, Jesus said these are just the beginning.
Matthew 24:13 - But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
The literal translation from the Greek is, but the one who has endured, not the one who will, but the one who has endured unto the end, this one will be saved. The first thing is, because it is an Aorist Participle, it shows the proof of those who are saved, and it matches the rest of the teachings in the New Testament. The person who is saved WILL endure to the end.
Matthew 24:25 - Behold, I have told you before. Literally in the Greek, behold I'm telling you ahead of time, so that you know when it happens.
Matthew 22:38 - This is the first and great commandment.
Well, it is not a commandment. Some say that God commanded it, just like He said let there be light. He says in the OT, that my people WILL LOVE, because I will put my Spirit in them, and I will write my laws on their heart, and they will love me.
You see, God gives us the ability to love Him because in the natural, we do not have that capability. So, Jesus says this is the first commandment. Now, how many years have we gone thinking that the first commandment is a commandment? But the commandment is YOU WILL. There is no choice there! It is not an invitation like I hope you will, or could you, or should you.
You will, because God's Spirit is the one who has the love. He is the one who loves. And when you have God's Spirit in you, you are in God's love. Plus, we have to be sensitive to the fact that AGAPE love is not an action, it is a person.
Matthew 23:5 - But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
A phylactery is a small box. In the OT, God told the children of Israel to keep the commandments of God fresh in their minds, and fresh on their foreheads. So, what they did was they took a strap, and they took a little box, and they put the Hebrew Scriptures on a little tiny scroll, and they put it in a box.
And they closed the box, and they walked around with this little box on their head to keep reminding them to keep the commandments of God. Very interesting! Maybe you have seen some pictures? Orthodox Jews will do it today.
So, what He is saying is, and it is called a phylactery. They don't just have a little box here. The Pharisees have like "apple crates" you know? That is how spiritual I am, look at my phylactery!
Continuation in Matthew, (Part 28):
Matthew 22:18 - But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?
Jesus is not name calling. Hypocrite is a theater term, or an acting term. Every time an actor/actress would read their script, or perform according to the script, they were called HUPOCRISIS, hypocrites. It wasn't a bad word. But when applied to religious people, what you're saying is "you're just acting!" You're just acting out according to the script, but inside it's not true, it's not real. What the Lord is saying is that you actors come in here with all of this flattery, and all of your craftiness, and you're trying to set me up.
Matthew 22:37 - Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Two things I'd like to emphasize: First, the term "Thou shalt love" is not in command form. It is a Future Active Indicative in the Greek text. It's not a command. It's a factual statement. You will love!
Secondly, if you understand the concept, you can apply it to every teaching that applies to the church, and to believers today. For instance, believers are supposed to love one another. But, neither in the OT, nor in the NT, is it in command form. It's interesting that when the Lord quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, He quotes it exactly and says the first commandment is this: "You shall love the Lord your God."
But taking it a little further from a Greek perspective, notice the word "with." Love the Lord your God WITH all your heart and WITH all your soul and WITH all your mind. Well, it is the Greek word EN, which means in. All three prepositional phrases are "in." You will love the Lord your God in your whole heart, in your whole soul, and in your whole mind.
Do you see the location? I am not going to love with it. I am going to be in it. It is going to be in me, in my inner being. That is how it is literally translated in the Greek.
Matthew 27:50 - Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
The word yielded in Greek means to dismiss your spirit. He literally dismissed it. And the word ghost is spirit. He decided when He was going to die, and He dismissed His spirit.
Matthew 28:4 - And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
And for fear of him the keepers, that is, the soldiers, they did shake. It's interesting that this is the same word as earthquake, SEISMOS. The soldiers did shake, and they became as dead men. It is also interesting that the dead man rose, and the earth shook, and the keepers shook and became dead.
Matthew 28:19 - Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
He says, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations. Now the word "go," and you hear this quoted often, but the word go in all of the manuscripts, it is not a command. It is actually what is called an Aorist Participle.
It's translated "After having gone." It is not a command to go.
Well, that is all I have to share on Matthew. I may have missed some things, but what I've shared are places where I see differences in what our English bibles are saying and what is said in the Greek text. Some of this information I have shared is just general information, other things are words that I feel the translators may not have used the correct word or words.
I am currently working on Mark and will be posting soon with what I find (Lord willing!)
God Bless!!!
Matthew 26:65 - Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy.
Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying
You know, when I was a new Christian, I read this and I thought to myself "You know, the high priests can't even afford to buy their own clothes. They have to "rent" them!" But rent means to tear. You can imagine that when I first received Christ, that I had a tough time. I couldn't understand why he had to go out and rent some clothes, just to put Jesus on trial.
So, the High Priest tore his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy;
Matthew 26:69 - Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.
Peter sat in the courtyard, not the palace. The Greek text tells us that this was the courtyard outside the palace.
Matthew 27:3 - Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
When Judas saw that a sentence of judgment was passed against Him, it says he repented himself.
There are two words in the New Testament for repent. One is METANOEO, that shows true repentance, where a person makes a decision for change. That's what the bible calls for us to do if we want to receive Christ, we must make a decision to change the direction of our life and surrender our life to Christ.
This word in Verse 3 is METAMELOMAI, and it means to be sorry. METANOEO for repentance means you are repenting of the very life and lifestyle, and the actions that you've committed, and METAMELOMAI, for sorry, means that you feel bad about the consequences. Judas went out and felt sorry. He was remorseful.
Matthew 26:33 - Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.
Double negative, never! I think this is where the phrase "Never say never" came from. But Peter is saying I will never. The word offense is the word SCANDALIDZO, and it is where we get our word scandal from. It was a Greek word that denoted a trap. It was actually a trap that was set up to catch birds.
They would set up a box with a stick and it would have some kind of string or something on the ground, and when the bird goes into the box to get what was under it, they would pull the trap string. That was called a SCANDALIDZO.
So, to be offended means to set up a trap for somebody and lead them down the wrong road. And Jesus said you're going to be offended in me, because that is what the scripture says. In essence, what Jesus is saying here is prophecy, and Peter is saying you are wrong. That is basically what is happening. Peter says I will never be offended.
Matthew 26:53 - Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
That is 72,000 angels. Remember in the OT, where one angel wiped out the Philistines? Just think what 72,000 could do! Jesus says, don't you think that I could call angels down?
Matthew 26:59 - Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death;
So, it tells us that the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, meaning the Sanhedrin, they were seeking false witness against Jesus, to put him to death. You see, they have no charges! The Greek text says Sanhedrin, not council.
Matthew 26:22 - And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?
In the Greek text it expects the negative answer. What they're saying is "Lord, it's not me is it?" And they're looking for the Lord to confirm, "No, it is not you!"
An interesting point about this scene in all of the gospels, is that when Jesus said, "One of you will betray me," none of the other disciples knew, or at least had any sense that there was something wrong with Judas. No one knew that he was a thief. You would think that Jesus would say that one of you is going to betray me, and then one of the disciples would nudge one of the others and say "I knew that there was something wrong about that Judas guy!
At the end of John Chapter 6, Jesus says, "Have not I chosen you 12, and one of you is a demon." Judas was demonic. He was of the devil from the very beginning. Jesus chose him because He needed someone who was evil to carry out this plot as it was predicted in prophecy. He didn't make him evil. He chose an evil person to fulfill that purpose.
But the fact that Judas could go for three years, and no one would ever notice anything about him that would cause them to question, it's scary because he looked and acted on the outside just like everybody else!
Matthew 26:25 - Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.
The others said, "Lord, is it I?" In the KJB, it says "Master," but it's really RHABBI, rabbi, or teacher. Judas does not call Him Lord. It isn't me, is it? He's also expecting the negative answer. Jesus said unto him, Thou hast said.
Matthew 26:27 - And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
In the Greek text, it means all of you drink from it, not drink all of it. You'd be surprised how many people there are that interpret it that way.
Matthew 26:7 - There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.
John tells us that this is Mary, the sister to Martha. And she has a very precious ointment, and she poured it on His head as He was reclining. That is literal translation. They didn't sit at the table. They reclined at the table.
Matthew 26:8 - But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?
This word indignation in the Greek text literally means that they were so angry that they were pained.
Matthew 26:14 - Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,
Please know that Iscariot is not his last name. It is Judas Iscariot, and Iscariot is actually from two words. "ISH" is the word man, and "KARIOT" or "KARIOTH" is the name of the village outside of Jerusalem.
So, this is Judas, a man from Kariot.
Matthew 24:34 - Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
The word generation itself has no association with years at all, unless you put the years with it. The word generation means race or kind of people. GENEA is the word, and it means a race or kind of people. Basically, what He saying here, is this kind or race of people (the Jews), shall not pass away until all these things be fulfilled. They are His elect. They are His protected people, His chosen people, and He will fulfill His promises to them.
Matthew 24:43 - But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
The word goodman is actually the house master in Greek. If the House master had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
Matthew 25:1 - Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
They had no lamps in those days. In those days it was a torch. It was a stick with cloth wrapped around it. And they would soak the cloth in oil, and they would light it. And they would bring an extra bottle of oil along and keep it lit.
Matthew 25:24 - Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
The word strawed means to scatter, DIASPORA. You gather together where you haven't even scattered anything. That is a hard man!
Matthew 25:27 - Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
He says to give your money to the exchangers, and then at my coming, I should have received mine own with interest. That is what usury means, with interest.
Matthew 24:28 - For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
A better translation would be "vultures be gathered together." This verse could not be fulfilled until the mid-1990s. There are now carnivorous birds in Israel, in order for that to be fulfilled. That will happen when Jesus comes and He defeats His enemies in the battle of Armageddon.
It's prophesied, the coming of Christ, and the prophecies of these carcasses. You can see it in Ezekiel 39:17, all of Chapter 34 of Isaiah, and as it happens in Revelation 19:17-21.
Matthew 24:31 - And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Just some technical information just to show you how good this passage is:
He is going to send His angels out with a great sound of a Shofar. It's a ram's horn. Now in the Greek text, the word "sound" is in brackets, which means it was added to the text by some unseen person who doesn't understand the fact that the word "great" modifies the trumpet. It is called a great Shofar.
The prophecy is in Isaiah 27:12-13. It says the great Shofar will blow, and the Lord will gather His people from the four corners of the earth. So that is very important because that's a prophecy that the Jews looked for. It says He is going to gather them together, his elect (that would be the Jews), from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other, north, south, east, and west.
Matthew 24:1 - And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
Verse 1 tells us that that Jesus went out and was Departing. Notice the literal translation. It shows an Imperfect Tense, was departing. He was in the process of leaving the temple grounds when the disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple.
Matthew 24:4 - And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
The word "deceive" in the Greek is not the normal word for deception. It is the word for misleading. Don't let anybody mislead you about what's going to happen in the last days. That is very important! Jesus gives the reason why in Matthew 24:5.
Matthew 24:8 - All these are the beginning of sorrows.
The word sorrows in Greek, is the word for birth pains, when a woman goes into labor. But Jesus calls them birth pains because they start out very light, further apart, and then the more a woman gets into the time of giving birth, the more intense it becomes, and the more frequent they become. So, Jesus said these are just the beginning.
Matthew 24:13 - But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
The literal translation from the Greek is, but the one who has endured, not the one who will, but the one who has endured unto the end, this one will be saved. The first thing is, because it is an Aorist Participle, it shows the proof of those who are saved, and it matches the rest of the teachings in the New Testament. The person who is saved WILL endure to the end.
Matthew 24:25 - Behold, I have told you before. Literally in the Greek, behold I'm telling you ahead of time, so that you know when it happens.
Matthew 22:38 - This is the first and great commandment.
Well, it is not a commandment. Some say that God commanded it, just like He said let there be light. He says in the OT, that my people WILL LOVE, because I will put my Spirit in them, and I will write my laws on their heart, and they will love me.
You see, God gives us the ability to love Him because in the natural, we do not have that capability. So, Jesus says this is the first commandment. Now, how many years have we gone thinking that the first commandment is a commandment? But the commandment is YOU WILL. There is no choice there! It is not an invitation like I hope you will, or could you, or should you.
You will, because God's Spirit is the one who has the love. He is the one who loves. And when you have God's Spirit in you, you are in God's love. Plus, we have to be sensitive to the fact that AGAPE love is not an action, it is a person.
Matthew 23:5 - But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
A phylactery is a small box. In the OT, God told the children of Israel to keep the commandments of God fresh in their minds, and fresh on their foreheads. So, what they did was they took a strap, and they took a little box, and they put the Hebrew Scriptures on a little tiny scroll, and they put it in a box.
And they closed the box, and they walked around with this little box on their head to keep reminding them to keep the commandments of God. Very interesting! Maybe you have seen some pictures? Orthodox Jews will do it today.
So, what He is saying is, and it is called a phylactery. They don't just have a little box here. The Pharisees have like "apple crates" you know? That is how spiritual I am, look at my phylactery!
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