Matthew 11:7-15 Not a Reed
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: March 15, 2019, Matthew 11:7-15
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
(Understanding the Text) The people have seen John the Baptist’s disciples there with Jesus. The gossip about John’s question had surely made the rounds. Jesus’ answer might have been out there also. Jesus needs to deal with the doubts that John’s question has brought to the crowd. He does not want the crowd to be divided in its loyalties. Since He is healing them, they may side against John, so for John’s sake, Jesus confirms his position as a prophet. The Pharisees refused to do this later when Jesus challenged them, but Jesus has no hesitation. He reminds the crowd that John was a strong foundation who always followed the ways of God over the ways of men. He reminds the people that they had gone out to the wilderness to see John before his arrest. Jesus confirms their choice by telling them that John was a prophet, but not just any prophet. Jesus tells the people that John was the prophet that the scriptures had predicted who would prepare the way for the Messiah. John was Elijah to come and the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord. John may have been rotting in prison under Herod’s power now and may have expressed doubts, but he was still a mighty man of God and to be respected.
John had preached that the kingdom of heaven was coming. Jesus was preaching that the kingdom of heaven is here and now and that the people around Him were part of it. He was saying that no matter how great John had been and how great his message had been, it was little compared to the message that the people around Jesus were hearing. John was the last and greatest of the prophets who looked forward to the coming of Messiah. Guzik’s commentary says “Jesus reminds the people that John is God’s chosen herald of the Messiah, not a man-pleaser or a self-pleaser. He was in fact more than a prophet, because he alone had the ministry of serving as the Messiah’s herald. For that, he is the greatest of prophets and the greatest of men.”
(Revelation of God / Understanding the Text) Now, Messiah was here, and there would be a resolution to the sin problem. Jesus would be victorious over the devil and wrest the kingdom of earth away from him, thus, incorporating earth back into the kingdom of heaven. The people listening that day would see greater truths and actions than John had known. They would see the Savior of the world crucified and resurrected. The disciples who were listening would have a greater infilling of the Holy Spirit than John had ever experienced. John was the last and greatest of the old prophets, but he was the first and least of the new apostles sent out to testify of Jesus. John’s message was incomplete; whereas, the message of the twelve and the seventy and the hundreds who would witness Jesus’ ascension held hundreds of times the knowledge of heaven than John had. I like the way the Message paraphrase puts it “Let me tell you what’s going on here: No one in history surpasses John the Baptizer; but in the kingdom he prepared you for, the lowliest person is ahead of him.”
(Understanding the Text) I don’t understand this verse “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” I’ll have to see what the commentaries say. Barnes says that it is a reference to the way the crowds pushed around John the Baptist and Jesus, as if they would take the messages from them by force. Guzik says “Jesus’ reference to violence refers to both the intensity of spiritual warfare surrounding the ministry of Jesus and His herald, and also to the intensity required to persevere in following God and ‘taking’ the kingdom into our hearts. i. The kingdom will never be received passively. It is always founded on God’s work on our behalf, but God’s work will always produce a response in us.” The Message paraphrase says “For a long time now people have tried to force themselves into God’s kingdom.” I guess I shouldn’t feel too bad since the SDA commentary says that opinions are divided about the meaning. “Opinions differ as to the precise meaning of the statement. Some hold that it means that crowds were zealous to follow Jesus; others, that the kingdom of divine grace (see on ch. 3:2) experienced violence in the sense that a great many of those who thronged about John and Jesus did so with little or no real understanding of the true nature of the kingdom . . . Those who listened to John and to Jesus had more than enough zeal, but their zeal was ‘not according to knowledge’ (Rom. 10:2). Under any circumstances, the true kingdom was misunderstood and its purposes hindered by those who posed as its friends.” I sort of think it was Matthew again thinking that he was speaking directly to people who understood a whole lot more than we do today, and so not explaining in detail what he meant. None of the explanations that I read made much of an impression on me, so I’ll leave this verse until later. I think there may be two main problems to my understanding. What is the kingdom of heaven that they are trying to take, and what does Jesus mean by violence? Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven had come when He began His ministry. It was not coming, It was here. His ministry and death were part of a battle to take back the earth from the devil. The earth had become the kingdom of heaven because Jesus was standing on it staking a claim and creating a space where the kingdom was lived. I looked at the definitions of the Greek words, and I understand where the various ideas come from better, but I still can’t get a handle on the meaning and significance of what Jesus said here.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that the forerunners had great messages and are to be respected, but that God has been revealing great truths since then. At the end, we will know even more of who God is, so our forefathers will wish to know what we know. Yes, I can look back and admire the 1844 Adventists who Jesus used to raise a new church that would proclaim His truth, but I must also remember that their knowledge was limited to their times, and I live in a time of even greater light. The great truths that they were discovering for the first time are normal everyday truths to me so that in some ways I am greater in knowledge than the pioneers (although not greater in faith and love, which is what counts). On the other hand, their ignorance of this light was winked at and worked around. I need to incorporate this greater light into my life. I pray to integrate the knowledge of Your covenant love and Your character into my very being so that I can be transformed and reflect You to the world.