As part of a prayer that Jesus prayed to the Father, He prayed this, “Just as You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, so that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I am not asking on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I also have given to them, so that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and You loved them, just as You loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
It is this phrase “through their word” that is the subject of this essay. This phrase as been greatly underestimated. To grasp the meaning of this request is to come to the door of understanding how to see and interpret the message of God.
Generally, people think this phrase simply means that the apostles would teach the very same message with the very same meaning that their Teacher Jesus taught. Of course, due to the personalities of the apostles, there would be different emphasis through different distinctions, but these would be slight and would be in full verbal agreement with the words of Jesus. This seems like this is the way to understand the meaning of the phrase because this looks like the meaning lies on the surface. That is logical and normally is the case until you see and understand how the apostles further fashioned the message of Jesus – by Divine intention.
Matthew is the prime example. Matthew was a great apostle with a deep spiritual mind. Not only was his narrative masterfully written to Israel to declare that Jesus was the Messiah, the chosen seed of David, but the way he fashioned God’s Word in the Holy Spirit is very instructive for understanding the Scriptures and worshiping God aright.
Matthew’s teaching, “his word”, at once highlights fulfillment and also enlightens regarding the promises and message of God. His message is so outstanding that Bible “experts” have gone to great lengths to try to find explanations for its outstanding meaning. They have fallen short, but their endeavors are noble of a sort because they feel compelled to explain what they think are the true connections and meanings to the factual and fulfillment of the law statements that he made. They are endeavoring to protect the message. However, the message, the word as given, needs no such kind of protection. When we understand the Scriptures as written by Matthew, that they are outstanding as rendered by God’s Spirit, we stand fully enlightened and give God the glory that is due to Him.
I will give some examples. This first one has been received by very many in a traditional way and because of this it is not readily perceived as one of Matthew’s illuminations. Yet, when you consider it, it is not the apparent or obvious meaning. When Joseph and Mary returned to the land of Israel after Herod’s death, Matthew states that this was “to fulfill that which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, ‘Out of Egypt did I call my son’”. This historical statement was made by Hosea about the nation of Israel being delivered from Egypt in the Exodus. It had nothing to do with Jesus returning to Israel with His parents after the death of King Herod. If someone explaining the Bible had put forward this interpretation without anything being stated by Matthew, people would rightly consider it a mystical and far-fetched interpretation that had no proper basis in the Scriptures. It would have been written off as fanciful. However, the Apostle Matthew declared that this interpretation was the fulfillment of the prophet and it was in the child Jesus that the Scripture was fulfilled! Furthermore, the fulfillment of God calling His Son out of Egypt occurred by the actions of His parents in transporting the child from Egypt to Galilee in Israel. The child did not answer the call. Through a dream his father was directed by God’s angel to return to Israel.
The very next statement that Matthew makes follows this same development line. When Herod realized he had been mocked by the magi who returned to their homeland by another route without informing him of the whereabouts of Jesus, Matthew states this, “he became very enraged, and sent and killed all the boys who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she would not be comforted, because they are not.’” Jeremiah did speak this word. However, it had nothing to do with the historical situation that Matthew applies it to. It was the prophecy of the event that occurred when Israel was taken captive to Babylon in the exile. Ramah was a town north of Jerusalem where the captive Jews were held and processed by the Babylonians on their way into captivity. It was, accordingly, a place of great grief and lamentation. Matthew declared that this prophecy was fulfilled in the slaughter of the boys of Bethlehem and its vicinity by Herod the Great. Bethlehem is south of Jerusalem by about the same distance that Ramah is north of it. Both the prophet and the apostle were correct. Matthew declared that the prophecy of Jeremiah was fulfilled in the slaughter of the boys. Without the word of the apostle, the interpretive fulfillment would be seen as another fanciful application of the Scripture. Matthew’s word manifests the mind of the Spirit in emphasizing all fulfillment of all things in the life of Jesus.
Matthew then immediately continues in the apostolic teaching, “But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, ‘Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.’ So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, and came and settled in a city called Nazareth so that what was spoken through the prophets would be fulfilled: ‘He will be called a Nazarene.’” This prophecy, “He will be called a Nazarene” is not documented anywhere. It was not written down by any prophet under the Law. That fact, of course, does not necessarily mean that it was not spoken by prophets and held in oral tradition. In my judgment, this was not the case, but was rather another of Matthews words. Eleven times he states that a prophecy that was fulfilled in Jesus was spoken by the Lord and/or through the prophets. In all but one time the prophet is either named or the quote reveals who the prophet was. Thirteen times he stated that a prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus. In all but one time the prophet is either named or the quote reveals who the prophet was. This is the one exception prophecy of both instances – “He will be called a Nazarene.”
What is the significance of this? I think that the truth lies plainly on the surface. Jesus, while born in Bethlehem, was raised in Nazareth, a town of no reputation. The interpretation that Nazareth was a despised city, and therefore signified the despised life of Jesus, is pure church myth. The fountain head of this myth got its beginning in interpreting the simple question by Nathaniel about Jesus of Nazareth being the Messiah as an implied question-statement that Nazareth was despised. There is no evidence for this anywhere outside of church interpretation. This is another of the many cases of begging the question. Rather, Nazareth was a small town or even smaller community. Nathaniel’s question should be viewed like this: Can the Messiah arise from such a lowly place?
Matthew is bringing out the prophets’ messages that Jesus would be submissive and lowly, and raised in a normal holy way. It is here that Matthew develops his word further as holding forth the prophets as prophesying that the Messiah would arise from no significant place in Israel and without man-approved credentials and pedigree. Rather, He would be brought forth by God from obscurity as the Chosen One, the Messiah, and the Redeemer of Israel! “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
This next statement of fulfilled prophecy puts greater wings to Matthew’s word. The prophecy which Matthew declares was fulfilled when Judas had remorse for betraying Jesus was actually a combination and a remake of Zechariah and Jeremiah. It was mainly taken and refashioned from Zechariah with Jeremiah supplying the mere wording of the field. This last refashioning was a total one.
The prophecy was attributed to Jeremiah since he was the greater prophet. That was a teaching method in ancient Israel.
The event with the prophecy was as follows.
Matthew states, "Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.' But they said, 'What is that to us? You shall see to it yourself!' And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and left; and he went away and hanged himself. The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, 'It is not lawful to put them in the temple treasury, since it is money paid for blood.' And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: 'And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the One whose price had been set by the sons of Israel; and they gave them for the Potter’s Field, just as the Lord directed me.'"
The original word of Zechariah applied to the Lord judging the sinful kings of Israel for their brutal, treacherous, and self-centered dealings with the people of Israel. Zechariah took the part of the Lord in the demonstrated judgment. The focal point that Matthew used was the meager valuation in monetary terms that Israel placed on their true shepherd, the Lord, as enacted by Zechariah. When the Lord saw that He was mocked by Israel in His devaluation, He told Zechariah to throw the money to the potter. Zechariah obeyed and threw the miserable price to the potter in the house of the Lord. Zechariah makes no mention of a field in this word. He does mention a field one time in all the book of his oracles. That one place declares that it is the Lord Who gives showers of rain and plants of the field to everyone. There is no connection, strictly speaking, prophetically or historically between the Lord's interaction with Israel and the betrayal money paid to and rejected by Judas.
Likewise, Jeremiah mentions a field or fields 28 times in his book. Nowhere are any of those mentions even remotely related to Matthew's fulfilled prophecy! Jeremiah's references are so different from Matthew's application that had Matthew not declared that the purchase of the Potter's Field was the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy, no one would have even ventured to make any connection. The connections, that is, the Scriptures that have been put forward as the reference to Jeremiah are all utter failures. It is mystical fantasy to see any of Jeremiah's field references as the prophecy waiting for the Potter's field fulfillment!
Here Matthew does what Jesus implied that he would do. He gives the word of God and the meaning to that word. By God's design and purpose, the apostle is greater than the prophets in that he takes the prophets' words and shows them to be the word of Christ, Who is the fulfillment of all things. To that end he combined Zechariah with the greatest emphasis of the field found in Jeremiah and shows that they found their ultimate meaning in the events surrounding Jesus Christ. The greatest emphasis of the field in Jeremiah concerns his purchasing his uncle's field as a sign that the exiles would return from captivity in Babylon and once again prosper in the land of Israel.
Judas threw the price of Jesus to the treacherous priests, and they purchased the field of the blood of Jesus in which to bury the poor. In the death of Jesus the ultimate purchase price and restoration from captivity has been accomplished. This is the word of Matthew. This is the word of Christ. This is the word of God.
Other telling revelations of the word of Matthew are obvious in his narrative. I will touch two of these without lengthy comment because they are apparent. The third one will have its own essay page because it is preeminent.
Matthew arranged his material in five great teaching groups. More than likely he did this to show that Jesus Himself was both the Lawgiver and the Law. He was greater than and the fulfillment of Moses.
Moses gave the Torah in the administration of condemnation. Jesus IS the Torah and the administration of Life!
Andrew (so-called Mark) stated that Jesus withered the fig tree with a day occurring between His curse and the actually withering. Matthew stated that the withering was instantaneous. Can both of these apostles be right? Yes, they are both right! Andrew reported the chronological event. Matthew reported it as transcendentally spiritual, teaching the absolute and instantaneous authority of Jesus Christ. Both underscored the spirituality and authority of Jesus. Matthew reported it as in full measure! Immanuel! God is with us! That was (and is) his word to the Jews.
The third word of Matthew concerns the resurrection of Jesus and all of the attending events of that day. Four apostles, Matthew, Andrew, John, and Paul together with Luke all report the event in detail. The details vary greatly. This subject will have its own essay.
Next, consider John and his word. John gives the word of God out of his own apostleship from Jesus. The most outstanding feature is his narrative of the resurrection of Jesus. As just mentioned, that will have its own dedicated essay. Exceptional among his writings is the fact that he moved the cleansing of the temple by Jesus from the end of His ministry to the beginning. Bible teachers have struggled with this from old times. The struggling itself reveals that teachers are actually a long way from teaching. Remember Jesus’s word to Nicodemus. “You are a teacher in Israel and do not understand these things?” The teachers need to be taught. One common “remedy” is to declare that there were two cleansings. This defies spiritual sense. If there were two cleansings of this momentous event, we should rightly expect witness to this in the narratives themselves. John, like Matthew with the withered fig tree, is emphasizing the utter and transcendent spirituality of Jesus. Unlike his fellow apostles and Luke who report the life of Jesus, John had at the very beginning of his narrative declared Jesus to be God, the Word of God, the Life of God, and the Light of God! Now he declared Him to be not only the Lord of the House of God, but also the very Temple of God!
Paul: This great apostle to the gentiles often gave his word from Christ to build the faith of the believers. We know that Paul covered topics not covered by his fellow apostles. I am not talking about those subjects. We are looking at the immortal and transcendent words of the apostles. Paul said to the Corinthians, “For I do not want you to be unaware brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and they all passed through the sea; and they all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and they all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.”
This method of interpretation was not foreign to the ancient Jewish mindset. It is called Midrash Pesher, the application of Scripture to later events which seeks to draw out theological or moral lessons from biblical narratives rather than strict legal interpretations. It was a method practiced by Second Temple Jews, including the Pharisees, the Qumran community (the producers of the Dead Sea Scrolls), and Hellenistic Jews like Philo of Alexandria. Be all of this is it may, it was uniquely Paul who applied the Rock following Israel in the wilderness and providing water to them to Christ.
Had he not said this, and instead a Bible teacher had made the remark, that person and his teaching would have been seen as going too far. The teaching would have been written off as hyper-spiritual. Yet, it is taken as it should be, the immortal word of the Apostle Paul, that is, Christ’s word through him.
Other immortal interpretations and applications that Paul made were Hagar and Sarah, representing the two covenants and symbolizing earthly Jerusalem and heavenly Jerusalem; the first Adam, Adam himself, the living soul and the second Adam, Jesus, the Life-giving Spirit; and Esau and Jacob, representing the rejected people and the chosen people.
Paul also said, “He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the holy ones for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full-knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” The apostles stood first among the gifted ones in the assembly of the holy ones for the very end just spoken.
Preeminently among all apostles, the word of the twelve apostles are collectively the one word of Jesus Christ! Jesus prayed that these very words would be used of God to gather people to Himself through believing these very words!