Alright, that subject one more
time for those on the videos and CDs. Son of God, greater
than the temple, Lord of the Sabbath. Matthew 12, 1 through
9. At that time, Jesus went on the
Sabbath day through the corn. And His disciples were in hunger. And they began to pluck the ears
of corn and to eat. When the Pharisees saw it, they
said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to
be done upon the sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have you
not read what David did when he was and hungered, and they
that were with him? How he entered into the house
of God, and did eat the showbread, which was not lawful for him
to eat, neither for them that were with him, but only for the
priest. Or have you not read in the law
how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane
the Sabbath and are blameless? But I say unto you that in this
place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what
this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not
have condemned the guiltless. for the Son of Man is Lord even
of the Sabbath day." Now, this is another of many of the controversies
that the Lord Jesus had raised against Him by the Jews during
that day, that is, during the earthly ministry of our Lord. They constantly accused him of
transgressing the law of Moses in some point or in some way. They ever followed and watched
our Lord. They ever peeled their ears that
they might hear something said by the Son of God whereby they
might catch Him in His words and have occasion to charge Him. You'll see that in Luke chapter
20 and verse 20. that they might have occasion
to accuse him. Matthew 12 and verse 10. Entangle him some way in his
talk or his doctrine. Matthew chapter 22 and verse
15. The strongest opposition against
our Lord Jesus Christ by the Jews, the scribes, and the Pharisees
of that day was when our Lord claimed to be of God, when our
Lord claimed equality with the Father. This so enraged them. that they would have taken the
Lord out and put Him to death as a blasphemer as we read in
John 10 and verse 30 through 33. But the present controversy
here in Matthew 12 concerns again the Jewish Sabbath day and something
which the disciples did on the Sabbath day gave rise to this
charge and this controversy. For did we not read that on a
certain Sabbath day, as Jesus and the disciples were out and
about, who knows, perhaps on their way to the synagogue, that
the Lord and the disciples came upon a field of corn or of grain,
And they passed through that field, and as the text tells
us, the disciples were hungry. Not just that they hadn't had
breakfast that morning, but that they were hungry from lack of
food. And so they plucked and they
rubbed in their hand, and they began to eat some of that out
of that ripened field, being without food for a while. The law of Moses allowed this. In Deuteronomy chapter 23 and
verse 25, they were allowed to pluck from a neighbor's field
to satisfy hunger. Now they could not go in with
a sickle and clear it down and take all, but they could glean
here and there that they might eat. And the disciples, being
hungry upon this occasion, plucked those ears of corn with their
hand and they began to eat. Luke chapter 6 and verse 1 is
the gospel that tells us that they rubbed them, as it were,
in their hand to get them out of the head, get the grain in
their hand, that they might eat it and satisfy their hunger. Now, what's the objection with
the Pharisees on this account? They probably considered that
this was manual labor and was forbidden to be done upon the
Sabbath day. So in the second verse, They
accused the disciples right before the Lord as being transgressors
of the law of the Sabbath, as doing what was unlawful to be
done upon the Sabbath day. If you compare Luke chapter 7,
verses 2 through verse 5, when some Pharisees there saw the
Lord eating, or rather saw the disciple eating without washing
their hand. You see, they were watching every
move. The Jew came back from the market,
he washed his hand. He might have contacted defilement
with a Gentile somewhere. before He sat down to eat, He
washed His hand. And the disciples sat down and
ate without washing their hand." Now concerning the Sabbath day,
Jesus worked many miracles on a Sabbath day. If you'll read
the Gospel, you will find that our Lord did many of His mighty
works on a Jewish Sabbath day. Here are some as an example. In John chapter 5, you realize
that that crippled man, that impotent man at the pool of Bethesda,
that it was a Sabbath day when the Lord made that man whole. In John 9 and verse 14, it was
upon another Sabbath day that He gave sight to that man that
was born blind and had been so all the days of his life. Here
in Matthew 12, 10 through 13, he cured a man with a withered
hand, and he did it on the Sabbath day and in the synagogue. Again, we read in Luke chapter
13, 11 through 13, it also was on a Sabbath day when the Lord
Jesus Christ healed that poor woman that was bent over double
and could not stand erect. Infirmity continued with her
another day. She had been there 18 years,
and on the Sabbath, our Lord set her free. Luke 14, He healed
one of the dropsy. And in each of these healings
and events, Each and every one of them, we notice the reaction
of the Pharisees and the Sadducees was one and the same. Because it was a Sabbath day,
they viewed it as a violation of the Sabbath day. They saw
it as a disregard of the law of Moses and the ceremonial law
and a transgression, and even considered putting the Lord to
death because He had done these things on the Sabbath day. In John 9 and verse 16, some
of the Pharisees said of the Lord, quote, this man is not
of God because he keeps not the Sabbath day, unquote. They totally ignore and they
totally set aside the miracles of this one who had done them
on the Sabbath day, even though such a thing was unheard of,
that a man gives sight to one who had never seen in his life. John 9 and 32 seems that this
should take precedent over the day in which the miracle was
performed, to tell them that one greater than the Sabbath
is here. that He that is Lord of the Sabbath
is among them. And convince them to consider
that this is Messiah and He is Lord over the Sabbath. Now we're
studying from Matthew 12 principally, but in Luke 13 and 14, the words
of the ruler of a synagogue where the Lord healed that woman all
bent over, from her infirmity, listen to what the ruler of the
synagogue had to say to the people who clamored for the Lord, who
was so powerful and could heal their diseases. The ruler said
to them, listen you people, there are six days in which work is
to be done and can be done. You come, O one of them, and
be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. As if to say, such has no
place on the Sabbath day. Such is a distraction of the
spirit and the purpose of the Sabbath. Even a violation of
the Sabbath, the Pharisees would say unto our Lord. So all you
sick people, all you suffering ones, all you in great agony,
get out of here, come back another day in one of the six and be
healed on those days. Now I think we have to greatly
suspect their motive as to whether They were motivated by a great
love and a zeal for the Sabbath, for the law of God, and for spiritual
purity, and to honor and to glorify God, or whether Their pretended
zeal for the Sabbath was only a cover for their hatred, envy,
jealousy against the Lord's Christ. They could not deny the miracles
which had been done by our Lord, and that before their very eyes. and seen by all of those that
were there and present. And so they give the appearance,
they the Pharisees, they give the appearance that they are
zealous for the institution of their religion. That they are
jealously fearful of God to uphold the institution of their religion. Now, the Lord, I think, confirms
that we are right to suspect their motive because He called
that ruler a hypocrite who would have them be healed on another
day. But let's go back to Matthew
chapter 12, our original text, and let's look at how the Lord
answered the charge brought against His disciple for gathering grain
and eating it on a Sabbath day. What they considered a desecration
of the Sabbath day, plucking and eating the ears of corn in
order to satisfy or to relieve their strong hunger. Notice in
the third and the fourth verse of Matthew chapter 12, the Lord
refers to an incident out of the Old Testament in the life
of David, and it's found in 1 Samuel chapter number 21. And it was
that occasion when David came to the priest, having fled from
Saul, David pretending to be on a secret mission from the
king, asked food and he asked weapons from the priest in the
house of God. The priest tells David, there's
no common bread here. There's no ordinary bread here
for the consumption of the people. There is no ordinary or common
bread in His hand. All there is is hallowed bread. Only hallowed bread. Verse 4. And showbread, He calls
it in verse 6. And this was only to be eaten
and given to the priest and his family. Leviticus chapter 24.
And verse 9, only the priests that serve the temple would take
this bread when fresh was made and take it for their own personal
bread. Now the priest makes one condition,
they're giving David the bread and the weapons, and that is
is young men that they had not recently been with women. That's in verse 4 and in verse
5, 1 Samuel chapter 21. Now in Matthew 12 and verse 4,
Jesus reminds the Pharisees that David entered into the very house
of God and ate the shewbread. He ate that hallowed bread that
was there kept upon the altar. Spurgeon in his commentary on
Matthew in chapter 12, Jesus reminds the Jews that David,
he said, And even the priests broke the law of the tabernacle
and the law of the showbread out of dire necessity. Those are the words that are
key. Out of dire necessity. And this leads the Lord to tell
the Pharisees, the critics before Him, that works of mercy and
necessity are lawful to be done upon the Sabbath day. Even with
all of its legality, this still stands as we shall see in one
of our verses. The Lord refers them in Matthew
12 and verse 7 to a passage then found in the prophet Hosea chapter
6 and verse 6. If you are following, And it
reads thusly in Matthew 12, for I desired mercy and not sacrifice,
and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings, unquote. Now, it's interesting because
this is the second time that our Lord has quoted this very
scripture in Matthew's Gospel. You'll find it again back in
chapter 9 and verse 13. The Pharisees would leave the
disciples hungry and without food for another day. They would
leave a blind man in darkness. until a more convenient season. They would leave a woman all
doubled over and in discomfort and pain until another day, rather
than see these poor ones blessed and freed upon the Sabbath day
by the Lord. John Gill said on Matthew 12
and verse 7, in reference to Hosea 6 and verse 6, that God
prefers acts of humanity and compassion and mercy to the observance
of rites, or i-t-e-s, and ceremony. And in effect, the Lord accuses
the Pharisees of lacking compassion for the severe affliction and
miseries of others that sought help from our Lord. What did the prophet say to King
Saul in 1 Samuel chapter number 15 and verse 22. Remember when
Saul went out with a command, slay everything before you. And he came back with some of
the best animals and brought the king and so forth. And the
prophet of God said this unto Saul, Quote, has the Lord as
great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying
the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than
sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams. Back to Matthew
12, the sixth verse. I say unto you that in this place
is one greater than the temple. The Greek seems to say a greater
thing. In this place is a greater thing. Something better than the temple. First let's understand that the
Lord is speaking of Himself. when He said, One is greater. He is the greater One. He is the greater thing. He is
greater than that magnificent temple that the Jews so admired
so many years. This reminds us of the Lord's
words in Matthew 12 and verse 42, found again in Luke chapter
11 and verse 31, that when it comes to wisdom, A greater than
Solomon is here. People marveled at the wisdom
of Solomon. The Queen of Sheba came a great
distance to see and to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And yet the
Lord says of Himself, a greater one, greater wisdom than Solomon
is here. He is the wisdom of God. He's the Son of all wisdom in
the Son. Solomon had wisdom. He had attained
wisdom. But Christ is the embodiment
of wisdom. Wisdom is in Him innately because
He is very God. Now, as to the words of the Lord.
one greater than the temple is here. There are two mentions
here of the temple in Matthew chapter 12 verse 4 and verse
5, called the house of God in verse 4 and the temple in verse
5, and of course we are aware of how highly the Jews esteemed
their temple on Zion in Jerusalem. They held it in high esteem,
both for its design, for its construction, for the services
that were performed there in the name of God and the Law. In Matthew 24 and verse 1, Mark
13, Luke 21 and verse 5. The disciples, you remember,
showed their admiration for the temple. They said, look Lord,
look at these magnificent stones, how they're laid. And look at
the magnificent, these exquisite stones. It's costly adornments. It was the most favorite view
of building of all of Judaism. Spurgeon said, to them the appearance
was glorious, and that sums it up very well. Not only so, but
the practice of their religion was centered in and around this
temple. In there, God put his typical
presence. I said, typical presence. There
was the Ark of the Covenant containing the tables of stone. It was here that the priest had
come beyond the veil, sprinkled the blood of sacrifice and atonement. Here before this temple, they
came to pray. and to worship and to bring their
offerings unto the Lord their God. It was reckoned the most
important building and the most important place in all of Jewry. It was blaspheming in their ears
for any to speak out against it. Remember what they said when
in John 2, The Lord said, verse 18 through 21, destroy this temple
in three days, I will raise it up again. And the Jews considered
that Gentiles entering into the temple, Acts 21, 28, quote, polluted
this holy place, unquote. To bring a Gentile inside of
the temple was considered a pollution. You'll see it again in Acts 24
and verse 6. So that Jerusalem and the temple
were reckoned by Jews to be the holiest place upon the face of
all of the earth. Jerusalem having been the capital
city and the seat of the theocracy and the temple, the center and
the hub of the worship of God. And so we can see the impact
of our Lord's words. one greater than the temple is
here, one who is equal with God, in whom the fullness of God dwells
bodily, one come down from God, one who came from the Father,
who knoweth the Father, as He claimed again and again. And
for all of their attachment to that temple upon the earth, and
their worship about the temple, and for their deep veneration
of that temple, yet the Lord Jesus Christ said of Himself,
I, a greater one than the temple, literally something greater than
the temple is here, in Him the fullness of God, in Him was salvation
and redemption, His sacrifice, His body is the temple, and if
it were destroyed, He would raise it up again after three days
in the grave. He spoke of the temple of His
body, one greater than the temple, one greater than the Jewish temple,
was to be thrown down and totally destroyed was the Jewish temple
while the Lord Jesus Christ would conquer death and be alive forevermore. We can say of Him as did Paul,
in Him dwells the fullness of God bodily. In Him dwells the
glory of God. Then we come to the question
of the Sabbath day. Not only is He greater than the
temple, but we see that He is Lord of the Sabbath day. And here He makes the defense
for His disciples for plucking the corn and eating it on the
Sabbath day. First, would it seem reasonable
that if their actions were a violation of the Sabbath law, that the
Lord Himself would have handled the matter when it occurred?
Would He have not rebuked them? Uh-uh, don't do that. This is
a Sabbath day. It's not lawful to do that on
the Sabbath day. Would He not have corrected them?
Would it not have been an occasion for our Lord to teach them a
great lesson? Would He have stated the law
unto them? This is the Sabbath. Such things
are not to be done upon the Sabbath day. He did not do that. He tells
those who accuse His disciples in Matthew 12 and verse 8, the
Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day. We're going to say
more about that later in our study, but first let's see how
David's reaction What David did resembled what the disciples
did. The disciples did two things.
They plucked the corn and they ate it. And number two, they
did it on a Sabbath day. Now the point is this. David
and his companions were hungry, not just having missed breakfast
or not eaten that day, but hungry, without food, fleeing from Saul. Based upon the premise of mercy
and over-sacrifice, David and the priest, whose name was Ahimelech,
David's men transgressed the ceremonial law to relieve their
famish. They ate bread that was devoted
to the priest and the priest only. They ate the hallowed bread. that was found there and kept
in the house of God. Well, even so, our Lord's disciples
relieved their hunger by a breach of the Sabbath law. Again, based
upon the principle of mercy over sacrifice, compassion over law. Concerning the Sabbath day, the
Lord here uses two very sharp arguments against the strict
Jewish Sabbatarian. The first one we consider here
is in Matthew chapter 12 and verse 5, and let me read it again. Have you not read in the law?
Yes, they had. The law was read every Sabbath
in the synagogue. Have you not read in the law?
how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane
the Sabbath and are blameless? Now look at that very closely.
The Lord appeals to the law or to the scripture of a case where
the Sabbath was profaned, profaned by the priest of Israel, And
yet they were without blame. They suffered no penalty for
it and incurred no guilt. In fact, they were obeying God
in what they were doing. The Lord is referring to Numbers
chapter 28 and verse 9 and verse 10. And it says this, And on
the Sabbath day, two lambs of the first year without spot and
the tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with
oil and the drink offering. This is the burnt offering of
every Sabbath beside in addition to the continual burnt offering
and the drink offerings. The work of sacrifice involved
strenuous labor. It was strenuous labor to make
sacrifices, but they were to sacrifice a lamb on the Sabbath
day, morning and evening. Continual burnt offerings were
to be kept up on that altar. of incense and the lamp was to
be trimmed and the show bed was to be break, not even on the
Sabbath day were they to refrain from these activities and works. Jesus said clearly, in that the
priest profaned the Sabbath and that right in the temple and
yet are blameless. They incurred no guilt. One greater than the temple is
here, my brother and sister." Now how does he mean that these
priests profaned the Sabbath? Did they go out and pick up sticks
or seats for manna? or plow their fields? How is
it that the Lord says that they profane the Sabbath? And the
answer is by doing what some consider servile work. Lest we forget, much physical
exertion went into the work of the high priest and of the priest,
as if the Pharisee considered plucking and rubbing corn together
to be servile labor, what would they say of the priest wrestling
a lamb, splitting its throat, splitting it open, stoking the
fire, and making a sacrifice of it on the Sabbath day? Stoking the wood on the very
Sabbath day, that by the command of God, by the way. Now the Lord
gives us another example, it's not found in Matthew 12, but
it's found in John's Gospel, chapter 22 and 23, and I think
you might find this one very interesting if you want to flip
to John 7, 22 and 23. It involves a case where the appointed day for circumcision
fell on a Sabbath day. Let me say that again. It involved
a case where the day for circumcision fell on a Sabbath day. And Jesus uses this example in
answer to all the criticism that has been heaped upon him for
healing a man on the Sabbath day. John 7 and verse 23, referring
no doubt to the man in John 5 healed at the pool of Bethesda. Here is the Lord's argument in
John chapter 7, as He turns the issue of the Sabbath, what may
be done upon it, back upon their own head. In other words, did
they perform circumcision on a Sabbath day? was circumcision
performed upon a Sabbath day. The Lord vindicated His healing
a man upon the Sabbath by a parallel act of which they approved themselves
and even did it on the Sabbath day. They circumcised on the
Sabbath day that the law of Moses not be broken. They circumcised
on the Sabbath day that the law of circumcision be kept. Because
you see, circumcision was to be done on the eighth day after
birth. Genesis 17 and verse 12. As was the Lord Jesus on the
eighth day. Luke 2 and verse 21. As was Paul,
as he says. In Philippians 3 and verse 5,
on the Sabbath day, they received circumcision. And get this point,
that circumcision predated the Mosaic Law or the Ceremonial
Law. It was instituted before the
Ceremonial Law was given. Circumcision, the law of it,
stood before the Ceremonial Law did. Is this what is meant then
in John chapter 7 verse 22? Moses gave you that circumcision,
that is, included it in the ceremonial law, and as a result you circumcised
on the Sabbath day. But look at the words in brackets
or parentheses in John 7 and verse 22, not because it is of
Moses but of the fathers. Now this phrase in the NIV reads
this way, quote, though actually it did not come from Moses but
from the patriarchs Unquote. That's what the Lord means there.
Moses included it then in the ceremonial law in Leviticus 12,
1 through 3. And when the eighth day after
birth fell on a Sabbath day, the Jews administered circumcision
to that eight-day old child. And in so doing, they were giving
precedent to the law of circumcision over the law of rest connected
to the Sabbath day, doing work on the day of the Sabbath, though
it might not seem so to them until the Lord pointed it out. Listen to this dilemma and hear
it carefully. In keeping one law, they violated
another. Now, if that isn't something
for our Lord to use, against the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
In keeping one law, that of circumcision, they violated another, that the
ceremonial and the Sabbath. They were doing the same thing
they condemned the Lord for doing. And in both cases, the priest
sacrificing in the temple on the Sabbath day and circumcising
the young on the Sabbath day, the one broke another law. It
was the law itself that required the priest to sacrifice upon
the Sabbath as well as it was the law requiring circumcision
on the eighth day, even when it fell upon the Sabbath. This being the case, Jesus asked
his critics in John 7, 23, the last part, Why are you angry
with me? Because I have made a man And
the Greek says, completely, absolutely whole on the Sabbath day. Now besides these, the Lord gives
other examples of Sabbath behavior. How about Luke 13 and verse 15? Did they not on the Sabbath go
to their stall, take their beast, their ox or their ass, and lead
that animal to watering on the Sabbath day? This took some effort. How far did they have to walk?
Did they have to draw water when they got there to give that beast
a drink? And yet they did that on the
Sabbath day. And Jesus said, Are you angry
with me because I made a man all every whit hole upon the
Sabbath day? Now besides these, the Lord gives
other examples such as Luke 13 and 15. They led their beasts to water.
In Matthew 12 and 11, in Luke 14 and verse 5, they would rescue
one of their prized animals from a pit if it fell in on the Sabbath
day, and that involved a lot of labor if it occurred on the
Sabbath day. How often have I heard people
say over the years, I wasn't in church Sunday, preacher, the
ox was in the ditch. And yet they call the Lord a
transgressor for healing on the Sabbath day. Hypocrites, he called
them. Self-righteous, witted supplicant,
straining at gnat and swallowing camel, seeing a splinter in another's
eye, ignoring the two-by-four beam that is in their very own
eye. Now, let's finish up with a couple
of points of emphasis. I should have reversed them,
but I didn't think about it at the time. Number one, Jesus calls
himself Lord even of the Sabbath day. That's Matthew 12, 8, Mark
2, 28, and Luke chapter 6. And verse 5, the Son of Man is
greater than the Sabbath, and had authority over it, to observe
it in its true spirit of the Sabbath, to reckon His disciples
and the priests without fault for their behavior on the Sabbath
day. And I'll add this, the Lord even
had the authority to abolish the Sabbath day, the old ceremonial
Sabbath day, which he did at his death. And the New Testament
saints began to worship upon the first day of the week. Now
here's another one, and I'll close with this. And this has
always given me problems. I don't know if I understand
it yet. But you listen. In Mark chapter 2 and verse 27,
the Lord said to them concerning this issue, the Sabbath was made
for man and not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath came in regard to
man, not vice versa. The Sabbath was a benefit to
man, not the opposite. And by the way, I agree with
Gil that the Sabbath day pertained only, only to the Jews. You can see that clearly in Exodus
31, 16 and 17. None but Jews were ever charged
with a violation of the Sabbath. And in the New Testament, in
all those catalogs of sin, All manner of filthy sins that are
charged against the Gentiles, not once is Sabbath desecration
named among those great catalog of sins. Modern Sabbatarians
have made Sunday to be the Christian Sabbath, that it is changed from
the seventh day to the first day of the week, yet they've
dropped some of the requirements of it, and each one seems to
pick what they will keep and what they will not keep. So some Sabbatarians are yet
among us and some of them are judgmental and some are self-righteous
and to a degree have made the Sabbath a day of bondage again
and a day of legalism, binding, tying up, legalistic is how they
come at that. We do not have time to develop
it. But the New Testament Christians began to meet on the first day. And you find that in the book
of Acts. You'll find it in some of Paul's epistles as well. And our worship and our communion
with God is not in and by and through a day, but in the person. of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I close by saying, you cannot get from a day what you can get
from fellowship and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ and
His Word. A day cannot give you what fellowship
with Christ is able to give. And so our Lord is greater than
the temple and is Lord of the Sabbath. Thank you for your attention.