tprim24

The Prophecy Revealed In Matthew

Lesson Twenty-four: by Christina Farris

This morning lesson is a bit different train of thought. Though it is similar I am going at a different angle then what is traditional.
What we are looking at is the deeper meaning of what is being asked. It easy to understand that Jesus did not practice all the
traditions of the Old Testament. Yet He always had an answer to as why He broke a law of tradition. Traditions are probably the
hardest things to break. Everyone of us get set in a traditional pattern even to how we drive to work or to the store. However it
wise not to keep to a pattern. I can remember years ago when my husband was working, he hand me the paycheck and I would
go to the grocery store. It did not matter which store I went to all seem to be making the same circuit I was. Fact is people were
shopping for sales. If you were not on the right schedule you miss seeing the normal people you run into. It is called habits. One
day I ran into someone the exact same time as the year before in a plant store, they said exactly the same thing as the last time I
seen them. I did not know them. However what was odd, they were doing the same event as the year before, I was not. Point I
am making people are creatures of habit. Hopefully this time next year there be less snow and more activity, but snow is good it
kills bacteria, however bacteria increases in the home because of heat. Makes no sense. If people do not have something to
complain about then the world might come to end, some people say. However tradition or not one has to establish first if in
Matthew 9:14 if there was establish fasting period.

The world knows of Islam and their traditional fast, but seldom do you hear anything concern other religious groups and fasting
unless your with a group of Christians that believe in fasting for strong hold to be torn down. Some say it is a great way to diet. I
have to say, are you doing it to loose weight or to get closer to God. It called motives of the heart. Where is your heart when you
fast if you fast. Fasting was Jewish traditional concerning certain times of year. However it was not weekly or daily. Moses and
Elijah fasted forty days with out food or water. Some say that is impossible, but with God all things are possible. However I do
not recommend that type of fast, unless you do it under the power of God and according to His will. To do this God have a
purpose and I doubt you even realize it been that long if you did it. After all Elijah was given food for his journey. No doubt
Moses watching God carve out in stone the laws and talking to Him would of been enough not to worry about food. God provides
the strength to fast. It not something done because everyone else is doing so. It about purging of sin from the soul in most cases,
or praying in the heat of battle. It can be a total denial of substance or a partial denial of substance. Modern day fast includes
denial of something you enjoy doing, not necessarily food. However John the Baptist disciples were concern that Jesus disciples
did not fast as tradition. After all they fasted. John like Christ was part of the levitical family. John’s father Zacharias was a priest.
He would of been holding up traditions of the priesthood.

Matthew 9:14 KJV
(14) Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?

However what we have to do is establish Old Testament law for fasting. If one looks up the word fasting in the Bible it is not
mention in the law of Moses. However there is a phrase for it. Ye shall afflict your soul is the words for fasting in the book of
Leviticus part of the law of Moses that was about traditions of Israel. To afflict the soul is to inflict the body. To cause pain to
oneself, such in a fast.

Leviticus 16:29-33 KJV
(29) And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your
souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:
(30) For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before
the LORD.
(31) It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.
(32) And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest's office in his father's stead,
shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments:
(33) And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the
congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation.

Now that the law of fasting is established as what was tradition then we can move on to what is being said In Matthew 9:14-15

Matthew 9:14-15 KJV
(14) Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?
(15) And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the
days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

No doubt with Jesus response to John’s disciples He spoke of who He is. After all they had question Jesus several times on who
He was and if He was the one to come. Now with this in mind one has to ask why does Jesus have to keep reminding them who
He is. I think keyword is in the verse. They that question were John’s disciples not Christ. If you understood who Jesus was you
would not be fasting but celebrating that time with Him while He is physically on earth. And that exactly what the disciples and
Jesus were doing. However Jesus does fast in scripture as example to us to pray and fast. Something to note is that Jesus refers to
Himself as a bridegroom. The Jews were thought to be God’s bride. Jesus was a bridegroom the church His bride. However this
still has to do with tradition after all God established the law through Moses concerning traditions of the people. Is Jesus not
breaking His own laws. Of course not. If one celebrates it is a time of feasting not fasting. Jesus name Emmanuel means God with
us. Bridegroom was here.

Something more to note I began to search Old Testament for something concern these facts of tradition. After all the next few
verses about old and new wine in old wine skin, seems a bit odd, especially if you know nothing about wineskins.

Matthew 9:14-17 KJV
(14) Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?
(15) And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the
days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
(16) No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and
the rent is made worse.
(17) Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but
they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.

I am putting these four verses back together to explain this. They need to be looked at as a whole. Old wineskin is a reprehensive
of old traditions of the law and the new traditions is the new wineskin. Meaning that you can not take new people not use to the
old traditions and expect them to follow them or understand them. To force them upon a people who knows them not. However
you can take the old wine and the new wine in a new skin. The wine represents people. Meaning taking the old and new and
mixing them, but not together. It kind of like mixing all church denominations together into one group, it causes confusion.
Nobody’s traditions are the same. However all agree with the foundation of faith and that is Christ. What you do is take the
foundation of faith and combined it into one group. Creating new traditions with old and new. However what Christ is speaking
about is there Biblical prophesy concerning this?

Isaiah 62:1-5 KJV
(1) For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as
brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
(2) And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth
of the LORD shall name.
(3) Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
(4) Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called
Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
(5) For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall
thy God rejoice over thee.

God desires to put all on the same playing field. Meaning instead of separating us from the world to put us in the world. God
called us to be separate in faith, but not in society. Meaning living among those who do not believe, so that they to might one day
believe through the hope and miracles that take place in our life. Part of the failure of living in the world is people become
worldly, because they want what they can see and grasp. The next passage is at the time of Assyrians marching through Israel.

Isaiah 30:11-15 KJV
(11) Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
(12) Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and
stay thereon:
(13) Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly
at an instant.
(14) And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not
be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.
(15) For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence
shall be your strength: and ye would not.

What happens when people go through hard times often times, is falling away from the Lord. The book of Job is a good example
of the hardship and trusting God, however Job had a self righteous attitude during his trial that lead him to repentance before God.
In other words Israel had to fail to understand where people were coming from, they had to go through exile to when they
returned to the Lord they would know God’s mighty hand as will as His mercy for all people. God’s mercy is vast. In other words
there is always a time to step on the churches toes concerning their own unrighteousness meaning their sin, though they be clean
through the blood of the Lamb. However their garment gets spotted up. It okay. God uses this mud to show the world His
compassion. It does not mean we have a license to sin, however these spots shows the world He loves them. If they will only
hear and listen to the church say we are saved through grace not because of our worthiness to be saved. Grace meaning love.
Christians when you repent of sin that already covered it saying you recognize your unworthiness even today. Yet you recognize
God mercy and grace. Thank God when we die that our earthly nature is put away and we are given a new body one built for the
kingdom of God. Thank God for His grace and mercy.

2 Corinthians 5:1-5 KJV
(1) For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens.
(2) For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
(3) If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
(4) For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that
mortality might be swallowed up of life.
(5) Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.