An exposition of The Gospel According to Matthew
by David L. Cooper, Th.M., Ph.D., Litt. D.
Installment ten

THE SECTION, Matthew 9:35—11:1, constitutes a literary unit and deals with the commissioning and sending forth of the twelve Apostles to the lost sheep of the house of Israel during the latter six months of the second full year of our Lord's ministry. As we saw in last month's installment, our Lord told the Apostles that the fields were white unto the harvest and that they should pray to the Lord to send laborers forth to reap the ripened grain. Of course He was speaking of a spiritual harvest, one of souls. It is altogether possible that they began to pray to this end. They being in this frame of mind were then called and commissioned by Him to go forth on this special mission to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. According to 10:1 our Lord gave them authority over unclean spirits, and power to cast them out and to heal all manner of diseases and sicknesses.

In the paragraphs constituting verses 2-4, we have the list of the Apostles. They are mentioned in pairs. Peter is named first and is linked with his brother Andrew. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, are mentioned next. From John 1:35ff we learn that one of the two disciples of John the Baptist, who followed our Lord, was Andrew. From the record it becomes quite evident that the other of the two was none other than John the Apostle. Andrew immediately went and found Peter his brother and brought him to the Lord, who looks into the very depths of the soul of every one, and He changed Simon's name to Peter, which means a stone. By giving this name to Simon, the Lord thus indicated the type of character into which he would eventually grow and develop. Naturally he was of a more or less impulsive type. After the coming of the Spirit upon him—from Pentecost on—he was an entirely different man. He developed into a stalwart defender of the faith.

Andrew, which name is derived from the Greek word meaning man, was one of the original disciples who heard John's testimony concerning Jesus and who followed Him. After realizing that Jesus was the Messiah of Old Testament predictions, Andrew went and brought his brother Peter to the Lord. It is quite likely that John, who, as suggested above, doubtless was one of these two disciples, also brought his brother James to the Lord at this time. I say this is quite likely, yet we cannot be dogmatic on this point. The next two mentioned in this list of the Twelve are Philip and Bartholomew. This Philip is also mentioned in John, chapter 1. He it was who brought Nathanael to the Lord, concerning whom He declared, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" From all the circumstances connected with the narratives, it is quite likely that Nathanael is here in the list of the Apostles called Bartholomew. For reasons leading to this view consult any good commentary. Thomas is next mentioned. We know little about him, except that he doubted our Lord's resurrection and would not believe unless he actually saw Jesus and handled Him with his hands. He is mentioned along with Matthew, the tax gatherer, the author of the first Gospel. We know practically nothing about James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus. Also our knowledge of Simon the Cananaean is most limited. The last on the list is Judas Iscariot, who betrayed our Lord. From all the facts we know that he was more or less under the influence of Satan and demonic powers.

Although Peter appears first in all the lists of the Apostles, we are not to accord to him any position of priority. He never assumed such an attitude; neither did anyone in apostolic times accord it to him. In his Epistles (I Pet. 5:1) he speaks of himself as being a fellow-elder with others. This shows that he was on an equality with, and not superior to, other elders.

A list of the Apostles is found in Mark 3:14-19; Luke 6:12-18; and Acts 1:13.

All who are familiar with the Gospel Records know that the great Galilean ministry lasted probably eighteen months, which covered the latter half of the first full year of our Lord's ministry and the second full year. On the first tour of Galilee, so far as our knowledge is concerned, only the first four or five disciples, whose call is found in John 1:35-51, accompanied our Lord.

Between the second and third tours Jesus appointed the Twelve to be Apostles, who accompanied Him on the second tour. But on the third evangelistic campaign of Galilee, Jesus sent the Apostles out two by two proclaiming the glad message. It appears from the brief account of this last tour that He did not accompany them. On the contrary, He sent them forth while He himself went to other places. Before sending them forth the Lord gave full and implicit instructions as to the preparation that they should make for their journey, what they should preach, what they should do while on the campaign, and where they should stay. The account of these instructions is found in Matt. 10:2-15, Mark 6:7-13, and Luke 9:1-6.

In the first place it is to be noted that the Lord gave them a strict charge not to go to the Gentiles but rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The gospel was first to the Jew and still is—as one sees from Romans 1:16,17. The lost sheep of the house of Israel are the Jewish nation, the twelve tribes. Those people whom we know as Jews today constitute the twelve tribes of Israel. It is a mistake to think of or to speak of ten of the tribes and of their being lost, for such is not the case.

The theme of their message was to be, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." John the Baptist broke the silence of the approximately four hundred years of the inter-biblical period by proclaiming in the wilderness that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. When Jesus began His great Galilean ministry, He took up the same theme, for in Mark 1:15 we learn that He proclaimed, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the gospel." A comparison of the account of Matthew with Mark and Luke reveals this fact: Matthew in all, except four, places uses the expression, the kingdom of heaven, whereas Mark and Luke speak of the same thing as the kingdom of God; but in four places Matthew himself uses the expression, the kingdom of God. Hence when Jesus began to preach that the kingdom of heaven, or kingdom of God, was at hand, he was sounding the same note which John the Baptist did. On this last tour of Galilee the Apostles were to proclaim the same message. What is meant by the expression, the kingdom of heaven? The answer is to be found in a study of the parables of Matthew, chapter 13. When one examines this passage, one sees that the expression is synonymous with Christendom. The parables of the sower and the wheat and tares, together with all the other parables of the thirteenth chapter of Matthew, present some phase of Christendom as we know it during the present age. In other words, our Lord, in these seven parables, was outlining the course that Christian history would take through the present age.

By some good, sincere, earnest brethren the expression, kingdom of heaven, as it was used by John, is taken to indicate the earthly kingdom that was foretold in the Old Testament when the Messiah should sit upon the throne of David and reign over the earth. These brethren tell us that the expression had this signification up until we come to the thirteenth chapter of Matthew—after the leaders of the Jews showed great hostility and plotted to kill Him, which record is found in Matthew 12:14. Then, we are told, in the parables our Lord made a new revelation and gave a different meaning to this expression from that which it had had prior to this time. Hence, according to this explanation, the term, kingdom of heaven, prior to the events of Matthew, chapter 12, meant the kingdom which will be established at the second coming of our Lord whereas after that event it signified Christendom.

The parables of the kingdom were given between the first and second tours of Galilee. If a change in the program was brought about when the Jews plotted to kill Jesus, then the kingdom, in the sense of the millennial reign of our Lord, was postponed and was not at hand. But full six months after this crisis, our Lord sent the Apostles out proclaiming the same message to the people that John the Baptist had proclaimed in the wilderness and that He had been preaching all along. These facts and many others lead me personally to the conclusion that the expression, kingdom of heaven, as proclaimed by the Twelve when they were on the restricted commission meant exactly what it signified when used by John and by Jesus and as is explained in Matthew, chapter 13.

When we study the redemptive career of Messiah as it is set forth in various Old Testament passages, such as Isaiah, chapters 42, 61, and 65, we see that the prophet foresaw the first coming of Messiah, His launching a preaching ministry, His being rejected, His return to heaven, and His session at the right hand of the throne of God during the present era. Following this age the judgments of the Tribulation come upon the earth. At the end of the Tribulation the Lord returns and sets up the kingdom which was foretold clearly by the Old Testament prophets.

From this little outline of Old Testament prophecy, we can see clearly the fact that the kingdom in its present phase—Christendom—was foreseen by the Old Testament prophets. This interpretation is confirmed by the Apostle Paul's quoting Deuteronomy 32:21 and Isaiah 65:1 and applying these passages to the church (Rom. 10:19,20). Thus it is clear from these statements that the prophets of the Old Testament did see the present era and also the gathering out from among the nations of earth a people for the Lord. The students of the Old Testament who heard John announce that the time was fulfilled and that the kingdom of heaven was at hand would naturally understand that He was talking about this spiritual phase of the kingdom which is known as Christianity. When Jesus preached that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, His auditors understood that He was speaking of the present Christian Dispensation—this Age of Grace. When the Seventy, in fulfillment of this charge which we are studying, proclaimed that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, their hearers understood naturally that they were speaking about this spiritual phase of the kingdom. When Jesus was at Jerusalem during the feast of Tabernacles, six months before the crucifixion, He declared, "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall become one flock, one shepherd" (John 10:16). This prediction clearly refers to the present phase of the kingdom of God, which, as we have already seen, was foretold by the Old Testament prophets and was proclaimed as being at hand by John the Baptist, Jesus, the Twelve Apostles, and by the Seventy during the latter Judean ministry.

According to Matthew 10:8 the Apostles were to perform miracles of healing, to cast out demons, and to raise the dead. These miracles were to attest their authority as ministers of the Gospel. When the Apostles began the proclamation of the truth from Pentecost and onward, they performed miracles which attested the genuineness of their message. But, as Paul shows in I Corinthians, chapter 13, those miraculous works were to attend the ministers of the truth for a limited time and then to cease—after they had served their purpose.

When one reads Matthew 10:9,10, he sees that there were negative elements in the instructions. The Apostles were not to take gold, nor silver, nor brass in their purses. They were not to take a wallet for the journey, nor two coats, nor extra shoes, nor a staff. The assumption was that those to whom they proclaimed the Word of life should support them in their ministry.

The Lord expected them to be entertained in the homes of the people wherever they went, but they were not to select the best, the nicest, and the most comfortable places in a locality for a temporary home. They were to accept an invitation for entertainment and remain at that place until they left the locality. Upon arrival at any home they were to pray God's peace upon that place, if there was a son of peace residing there, that is, if there was someone who wanted truth and was a servant of God. If, on the other hand, the home to which they were invited was not worthy, they were to let their peace return to them. If at any time they went to a place and their message was rejected, they were to shake off the dust of the place from their feet as a testimony against those who did not want truth—when they left the city. Whenever God gives people an opportunity to receive the truth and they will not embrace it, then the responsibility for their condition rests upon them and not upon the messenger. "It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for those cities whose people have had an opportunity to receive the truth, but have rejected it.

The Lord knows the human heart, which is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9). Jesus knew the character of the people to whom He was sending the Apostles on their mission. He therefore forewarned them saying, "Behold, I sent you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves" (vs. 16). The one thing that was to be the great concern with the Apostles was that they should be wise and discreet, giving no occasion for needless offense. During the last six months of the second full year of our Lord's ministry there is nothing in the Gospels to indicate that they were ever arrested and brought before any Jewish councils or synagogues, or before governors or kings of the Gentiles. When we note this fact we see that this commission—usually called the limited or restricted commission—cannot be limited to the preaching activity of the Apostles at that time, but that it reached out beyond Pentecost, at which time the Apostles were to begin preaching the gospel first in Jerusalem, then in Judaea, next in Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8). This commission, however, strictly speaking, was limited to the Jewish people and was not for the Gentiles.

When the disciples would thus be brought before governors and rulers, they were to consider those occasions as opportunities for them to testify and to proclaim the gospel. Moreover our Lord told them that, whenever they should be arrested, they were not to be disturbed and anxious concerning how they were to make their defense, for they would not have to depend upon themselves; but that the Holy Spirit would give them their message in the very hour and enable them to give the proper testimony.

This part of the promise was fulfilled by the coming of the Holy Spirit upon them at Pentecost, who did inspire them to give the infallible message to those to whom they ministered on all occasions.

According to verse 21 the message would not be received by all alike; but in a family one would receive it and another would reject it. Thus there would arise division within the family unit. They would not be welcomed by the unsaved. On the contrary, they would be hated. But the ones enduring to the end the same are to be saved. The same promise is found in Matthew 24:13, which is indeed parallel to this case. In the Olivet Discourse our Lord, speaking of the time of the Tribulation, said that many would stumble and would deliver one another up to death. Those stumbling and delivering one another to death are certainly not saved people. Of course there is no promise of salvation for such. Now in contrast with them the promise is made to those who enduring to the end shall be saved. Only those enduring the persecutions and standing true to Christ will be saved. But only those will stand true to Christ who are regenerated and who are strengthened by the Spirit of God to endure such persecution.

We are not to consider that the Saviour is promising salvation to the one who simply by grim tenacity and strength of character faces all opposition and remains true to the end. Such an interpretation would take salvation from the basis of grace through faith and put it upon one of works and merit. But the promise of salvation in both the passages under consideration is given in the spirit of those promises which are mentioned in the seven letters to the churches of Asia (Rev., chaps. 2,3). For instance, to him who overcomes the promise is made that he shall eat of the tree of life. One cannot overcome and thus upon that basis be granted the privilege of eating of the tree of life. Such doctrine is legalism, but in this and all the passages of Revelation, chapters 2 and 5, of this character are assurances that there are rewards awaiting the one who stands firmly and loyally throughout all opposition to the end. In the language of II Peter, chapter 1, there will be granted an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

According to verse 23 of our passage the Lord assured the Apostles that they would not have gone through all the cities of Israel until He, the Son of man, should be come. The coming of which He spoke was none other than that which we term the second coming and which occurs at the end of the Tribulation. When we recognize this fact, we see that the Lord blended the Apostles labors which they performed in Israel before and after Pentecost with the labors of His disciples in Israel which will be put forth by the faithful servants of the Lord in Israel in the end time. Here we see an application of the principle which Bible students recognize as the "law of double reference." The Apostles did not complete the evangelization of Israel during their day but were hindered by opposition from the Jews. This unfinished task will, however, be resumed in Israel in the closing days of this dispensation, but even then this task will not be completed prior to our Lord's coming in glory at the end of the Tribulation.

Who will take up this evangelization of Israel in the end time? Of course we Christians who are interested in Jewish evangelization are doing all that we can under present circumstances to give the truth to the Jew. From other scriptures we know that those who will evangelize the cities of Israel will be the 144,000 Jewish evangelists of whom we read in Revelation, chapter 7. But who will give these future evangelists the truth? The answer is this: Those who have it now and who see God's plan for Israel in the future and are willing to co-operate with God in the working out of His plan.

Jesus was persecuted by the religious authorities of His day. He therefore told the disciples that they need not expect any better treatment than He had received. They were to face the situation which confronted them with boldness, in the power of the Spirit. Moreover, they were to proclaim to the world that which He had spoken to them in private. They were to sound forth the message with no uncertain note. Moreover, they were not to fear those who would oppose them. The Lord gave assurance to the disciples that all who would confess Him before men He would confess before His Father. Those who deny Him before men would be denied before His Father in heaven. This is a general principle which obtains at all times.

In verses 34-39 our Lord again called attention to the fact that the gospel message would be received by some and rejected by others. In other words, certain members of a family would accept the message and be saved, while the others would refuse and become hostile toward even those of their own blood-kin who accepted Him. These divisions must come. If anyone will live godly in Christ Jesus, he must suffer persecution. The Lord does not promise to exempt anyone from trials, difficulties, and persecutions.

In verses 40-42 the Lord promised the appropriate reward to those of His disciples who went forth and served Him in the proclamation of the truth of the gospel. The Lord is a good paymaster. He will give rewards according to a person's work. Men are saved by the grace of God through faith, but they will be rewarded for the labors which they perform. When the Lord awards the rewards, He will take into consideration the spirit in which the service is rendered, the quality and the quantity of the work or the task accomplished. When Jesus had finished giving instructions to the disciples regarding their new task to which they were to go immediately, He went by himself, it seems, to preach and to teach in the cities of Galilee.