Daily Writing

Wednesday, 4 November 2026

A summary of Matthew Chapter 23.

Note: You can listen to today’s commentary courtesy of our friends at the “Bible in Ten” podcast. (Click Here to listen). 

You can also read this commentary, scrolling with music, courtesy of our friends at “Discern the Bible” on YouTube. (Click Here to listen), or at Rumble (Click Here to listen).

To read the CG Translation on YouTube (Click Here), or at Rumble (Click Here).

Daniel also did a link concerning the connection between Matthew 23, the Book of Isaiah, and Isaiah 23. That can be listened to (Clicking Here). His readable notes are (Click Here).

Each chapter of Matthew has provided a broad panorama of what is going on in redemptive history. Reviewing the last few chapters, we saw that Chapter 20 hinted at the transition from the dispensation of the law to the dispensation of grace. It presented the truth that God has made faith in what He has done the necessary condition for man’s salvation.

Chapter 21 continued that thought, dealing specifically with the object of that faith, Jesus Christ. Chapter 21 ended with the parable of the wicked vinedressers, revealing that the vineyard would be taken away from Israel and given to other vinedressers.

Chapter 22 began with the parable of the wedding feast. The symbolism was that the Father was preparing Jesus as a bridegroom. The invitation was made to Israel, but they rejected the offer. Because of this, they were destroyed and their city, Jerusalem, was burned, exactly what later occurred.

From there, the message went throughout the world, inviting anyone to come and share in the banquet. At the end of the parable, it was seen that only those who had the appropriate garments, signifying the righteousness of Christ, were welcome. All others would be cast into outer darkness.

The chapter continued, showing Israel what their true responsibilities are and where their proper doctrine should lie. Though they were destroyed and exiled, it did not mean that the nation was finished as far as God’s redemptive plans are concerned.

Chapter 23 focuses almost all of its attention on the scribes and Pharisees. They represent the spiritual leadership in Israel. Despite Israel being exiled, such leaders have remained among the people all along, in their synagogues and rabbinic schools of instruction.

The scribes and Pharisees essentially got Israel into the mess they were in. The rabbis have continued to mislead the people for the past two thousand years, rejecting Christ and looking to establish their own righteousness apart from Him.

Jesus warned the multitudes concerning such people in verses 1-12, explaining how they should handle such people and with whom their fellowship should be. He stressed the people’s need to focus on the teachings of the Christ and have their affections set on the Father. Verses 10-12 were shown to point specifically to the Christ. They are not merely general statements about followers of Christ.

From verses 13-36, Jesus pronounced eight woes upon the scribes and Pharisees, clearly demonstrating that it is their doctrine and teachings that led the people astray. Sheep follow their shepherds. The scribes and Pharisees were worthless shepherds. A good, comparable chapter in the Old Testament to see the Lord’s attitude toward such worthless leaders is Ezekiel 34. In many ways, the words of that chapter mirror the intent of Jesus in Matthew 23 concerning the scribes and Pharisees and now the rabbis and religious schools.

The final woe pronounced by Jesus went from verses 29-36, warning the scribes and Pharisees that they would be held accountable for all of the blood of the righteous, “from the ‘blood, Abel, the righteous’ until the ‘blood, Zechariah, son, blessed of Yah’ whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.” Jesus assured them that this reckoning would arrive upon that generation.

The conclusion stated in the commentary on verse 36 said, “As such, it would logically follow that the generation referred to by Jesus is the entire span of the time of those curses.” In other words, the reckoning of the blood of the righteous was not merely poured out on the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ time, but it continues to this day.

Any worthless shepherd in Israel who fails to proclaim Christ Jesus will be a part of that sure judgment. Verses 37-39 confirm this. Jesus wept over Jerusalem, the city led by these worthless shepherds who misdirected the people, telling the city that she would not see Jesus again until she (meaning the leaders within her) says, “Having been blessed, the ‘Coming in Name, Lord’.”

In other words, until the religious leaders of Israel acknowledge Christ Jesus and direct the people to Him, He will not return. When they do, He will return and save them, as indicated in Revelation 19.

These events marked out in Chapter 23 occurred after Jesus completed His work, meaning during the time of the church age, but the chapter does not deal with the church. It deals with Israel’s responsibility toward Christ and the Father, something that has been almost wholly neglected by Israel for two thousand years.

Paul assures us in Romans 11 that there has always been a remnant of Israel according to the election as grace, but for the most part, the woes pronounced upon the scribes and Pharisees have come upon the leaders. In turn, they have come upon the people who have been misdirected by these wicked leaders. Much suffering is ahead for Israel because they rejected and continue to reject Christ Jesus.

Life application: Chapter 24 lies ahead. It is a mournful chapter of the woes coming upon Israel because of their rejection of Jesus, but before it arrives, the hope of Matthew 23:39 is that Jesus will, in fact, be called out to by the leaders in Jerusalem, and He will return to save them. Despite being mournful information about the state of Israel’s leaders and the nation as a whole, there is hope for this wayward nation. That hope is found in their long-rejected Messiah, Jesus.

Lord God, thank You for Your covenant faithfulness. Even when Your people are unfaithful to You, You remain steadfast and faithful to the word You have pronounced. Were it not so, heaven would remain barren of people. But because of Your goodness, grace, and covenant-keeping, it will be filled with the saints of all ages. Thank You for Jesus, who has made this possible. Amen.

Matthew 23

23 Then, the ‘Jesus’, He spoke to the crowds and to ‘disciples, His’. ²saying, “Upon the ‘Moses’ bench’, they sat, the scribes and the Pharisees.” ³All, therefore, as much if they might say to you to guard, you guard, and you do. According, also, to their works, not you do. They say, indeed, and not they do. ⁴They bind, indeed, burdens, weighty and oppressive, and they lay upon the ‘shoulders, the men’. The also ‘finger, theirs’, not they will to stir them. ⁵All, also, the ‘deeds, theirs’, they do to ‘see’, the men. They widen, also, the ‘phylacteries, theirs’, and they enlarge the ‘tassels, the cloaks, theirs’. ⁶They affectionate, also, the first-reclining in the suppers, and the first-sittings in the synagogues, ⁷and the greetings in the markets, and to be called by the ‘men’, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ ⁸You, also, not you should be called ‘Rabbi.’ One, indeed, He is of you the Guide: the Christ. All, also you, brothers – you are. ⁹And ‘father’, none you should call, of you, upon the earth. One, indeed, He is the ‘Father, yours’, the ‘in the celestial’.

¹⁰Not also you should be called guides. One, indeed, of you, He is the Guide: the Christ. ¹¹The ‘also Greater’ of you, He will be your Attendant. ¹²Who, also, he will elevate himself, he will be humbled, and who, He will humble Himself, He will be elevated*.”

¹³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you close the ‘kingdom, the heavens’ before the ‘men’. You, indeed, neither enter, nor those entering you permit to enter. ¹⁴Woe, also, to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour the ‘houses, the widows’, and pretense – lengthy praying. Through this, you will receive superabundant judgment.

¹⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you traverse the sea and the arid to make one proselyte, and when he might become, you make him ‘son, Gehenna’ two-fold yourselves.

¹⁶“Woe to you, ‘conductors, blind’! Those saying, ‘Who, if he should swear ‘in the temple’, nothing, it is. Who, also, if he should swear ‘in the gold, the temple’, he is obligated. ¹⁷Moronics and blind! Which, indeed, greater it is, the gold or the temple, the ‘having hallowed the gold’? ¹⁸And who, if he should swear ‘in the altar’, nothing, it is. Who, also, if he should swear ‘in the gift, the atop it’, he is obligated. ¹⁹Moronics and blind! Which, indeed – greater: the gift or the ‘altar, the hallowing the gift’? ²⁰The ‘therefore having sworn in the altar’, he swears in it and in all those atop it. ²¹And the ‘having sworn in the temple’, he swears in it and in the ‘dwelling, it’. ²²And the ‘having sworn in the heaven’, he swears in the ‘throne, the God’ and in the ‘sitting atop it’.

²³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! Because you tithe the mint, and the dill, and the cummin, and you left the ‘weightier, the law’: the judgment, and the mercy, and the faith. These, also, it necessitated to do – those, not leave! ²⁴‘Guides, blind’! The ‘through-filtering the gnat’, the ‘also camel gulping’.

²⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! Because you cleanse the ‘outwardly, the cup and the side-dish’. Inwardly, also, they swell from pillage and unrestraint. ²⁶‘Pharisee, blind’! You cleanse first the ‘within the cup and the side-dish’ that it might be, also the outward of them, clean.

²⁷“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! Because you resemble tombs having been whitewashed, which outwardly, indeed, they appear beautiful. Inwardly, also, they swell – ‘bones, dead and all impurity’. ²⁸ Thus, also, outwardly – indeed – you appear to the men righteous. Inwardly, also, you are replete – hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! Because you build the ‘tombs, the prophets’, and you arrange the ‘sepulchers, the righteous’. ³⁰And you say, ‘If we were in the ‘days, the fathers, us’, not if we were ‘sharers with them’ in the ‘blood, the prophets’. ³¹Thus, you witness to yourselves that sons, you are – the ‘having murdered the prophets’. ³²And you, you must fill the measure, the ‘fathers, yours’. ³³Serpents! ‘Offspring, vipers’! How might you flee from the ‘judgment, the Gehenna’? ³⁴Through this, you must behold! I, I send to you prophets, and wise, and scribes. From them you will kill, and you will crucify, and from them you will flog in the ‘synagogues, yours’, and you will pursue from town to town. ³⁵That it should come upon you all ‘blood, righteous being outpoured upon the earth’, from the ‘blood, Abel, the righteous’ until the ‘blood, Zechariah, son, blessed of Yah’ whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶Amen, I say to you, it will arrive, these all, upon the ‘generation, this’.

³⁷“Jerusalem! Jerusalem! The ‘killing the prophets and stoning those having been sent to her’! How often I willed to upon-gather the ‘children, yours’, which way ‘upon-gathers, hen the chicks, hers under the wings’, and not you willed. ³⁸You must behold! It is left to you, the ‘house, yours’, desolate! ³⁹I say, indeed, to you, no, not Me you should see from now, until if you should speak, “Having been blessed, the ‘Coming in Name, Lord’.”

*Verses 10-12 – It is undoubtedly the case that Jesus refers to Himself in these verses. They explain the reference to “the Christ” in verse 8. Hence, the capitalization.

Tuesday, 3 November 2026

for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” Matthew 23:39

Note: You can listen to today’s commentary courtesy of our friends at the “Bible in Ten” podcast. (Click Here to listen).

You can also read this commentary, scrolling with music, courtesy of our friends at “Discern the Bible” on YouTube. (Click Here to listen), or at Rumble (Click Here to listen).

“I say, indeed, to you, no, not Me you should see from now, until if you should speak, ‘Having been blessed, the ‘Coming in Name, Lord’.’” (CG)

In the previous verse, Jesus told the city of Jerusalem, meaning its leaders within it, that its house was left to them desolate. Next, He finishes Chapter 23, saying, “I say, indeed, to you, no, not Me you should see from now.”

There should be no debate about the meaning. Jesus is set to be crucified. The leaders of Israel, of which Jerusalem is emblematic, would have their hand in what was coming. Their continued rejection of Him after the resurrection and growth of the church is what brought about their destruction, something they openly called for –

“When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, ‘I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.’
²⁵ And all the people answered and said, ‘His blood be on us and on our children.’” Matthew 27:24, 25

Jesus is speaking to this group of people. They are representatives of the nation in religious matters. Today, they are the religious elite in Israel, but this extends to the civil leadership as well. Together, they work to direct the nation. This is what leadership does. At this point in Israel’s history, they are in complete personal enmity with the message of Jesus. As such, they will not see Him until there is a change. That is seen in Jesus’ continued words, saying, “until if.”

It is a conditional phrase. Leaving off the word an, if, as most translations do, damages the intent of what is said. Matthew Poole, relying on the word “till” alone, says, “For whereas some interpret the term till, & c. of the day of judgment, or the time when the Jews shall be converted, I take them to be strained interpretations.” Continuing, he says –

“Till here certainly is to be interpreted, as Psalm 110:1, Matthew 1:25; and this comports with the history, for after this time our Saviour appeared in the temple publicly no more. For the disputes raised from Matthew 23:37, about God’s secret will, whether he seriously willed the salvation of the Jews, &c., I take the affirmative part to have no foundation in this text”

It is incredible to think that people can read the Bible and think that God doesn’t will the salvation of the Jews. Further, it makes no sense to make a conditional statement, relaying it as an absolute assertion, just to deny what the conditional statement says. He will do this thing when they do what He says they must do, which is when, as He says to Jerusalem, “you should speak, ‘Having been blessed, the ‘Coming in Name, Lord’.’”

Jesus tells Jerusalem exactly when He will return. There is no ambiguity in His words. He is not speaking to the church (which didn’t exist at the time). If He intended permanent and complete separation from the Jewish people, His proclamation would have been completely different.

Israel, led by Jerusalem, which is led by its civil/religious leaders, must call out concerning Jesus the words of Psalm 118:26, “Blessed the ‘coming in name, Yehovah’.” (CG). In other words, whenever Jerusalem acknowledges Jesus as their Messiah and the One who was sent in the name of the covenant-keeping Lord they committed to at Mount Sinai, Jesus will return to them.

It is solely up to the nation for Him to deliver them. This is the point and purpose of the coming tribulation period, something that has nothing to do with the church. The church will not be here for that. Why? Because they have already called on Jesus as Lord. There is no need for them to enter into the tribulation. They are His.

Life application: There are two predominant positions on Jesus’ words of this verse. We have already heard from Matthew Poole. Here is one more aligned with Poole and then two that take the other view –

“There can be little doubt that our Lord points to the second Advent, and to the welcome that will then be given Him by all the true Israel of God. For that generation, and for the outward Israel as such, the abandonment was final.” Charles Ellicott

“Blessed be he that comes as the Messiah, to bring deliverance. This has not been yet accomplished, but the days will come when the Jews, long cast out and rejected, will hail Jesus as the Messiah, and receive him whom their fathers killed as the merciful Saviour, Romans 11:25-32.” Albert Barnes

“The time intended is that when Israel shall repent of its rejection of the Messiah, and in bitter contrition look on him whom it pierced, owning and receiving Jesus with glad ‘Hosannahs!’ Then shall they behold him coming in power and glory, and shall regain their old position as beloved of God (see Hosea 3:4, 5; Zechariah 12:10). Then ‘all Israel shall be saved’ (Romans 11:26).” Pulpit Commentary

Ellicott says the abandonment of “outward Israel”, meaning the Jews, is final. Barnes and the Pulpit Commentary assert that Israel, meaning the nation comprised of the Jewish people, will be saved when they call out to God through Jesus. Either one view is wrong, and the other is right, or they are both wrong, but they cannot both be right. Which do you think is correct?

If you are not sure, you should start reading your Bible more. Further, when you read the Bible, you should consider what God says as absolutely true at all times. And more, ignoring or mixing the boxes of dispensationalism inevitably leads to very crummy theology. Don’t have very crummy theology by ignoring or mixing dispensations.

If you get what God is doing with the nation of Israel wrong, your doctrine and theology in other areas will inevitably be wrong. Be sure to get what God is doing with Israel right. It really matters.

Lord God, Your faithfulness to Israel is beyond our imagination. They have rejected You continuously for over three millennia. Very few times have they pursued You as they should have during all that time. Mostly, it’s been lip service or completely ignoring You. And yet, You have remained faithfully faithful to them. Thank You for Your faithfulness to those You have covenanted with. Amen.

Monday, 2 November 2026

See! Your house is left to you desolate; Matthew 23:38

Note: You can listen to today’s commentary courtesy of our friends at the “Bible in Ten” podcast. (Click Here to listen)

You can also read this commentary, scrolling with music, courtesy of our friends at “Discern the Bible” on YouTube. (Click Here to listen) or at Rumble (Click Here to listen).

“You behold! It is left to you, the ‘house, yours’, desolate!” (CG)

In the previous verse, Jesus spoke to the city of Jerusalem (with the intended meaning that He was addressing its leaders) concerning His desire to have cared for it, gathering her as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but she was not willing. Next, He says, “You behold! It is left to you, the ‘house, yours’, desolate!”

Jesus refers to the temple as “your house.” It was the House of the Lord, but He is about to depart the area for the last time (Matthew 24:1). It is no longer the House of the Lord, but an empty structure that bears no life in relation to the God of Israel. From there, He will go to the Mount of Olives to instruct His disciples (Matthew 24:3). Saying the house is desolate means that destruction lies ahead for the temple.

It is no longer an edifice suitable for ministering to the Lord. Like the temple when destroyed by Babylon, so will this temple be destroyed by Rome.

Notice the symbolism. Jesus is in the temple complex. In Ezekiel 9, the Lord is in His temple. In Ezekiel 9, a mark, a tav (a cross shaped letter) is placed on the forehead of those who follow the Lord while the rest are slain. In Matthew, Jesus will die on the cross. Any who look to the cross will be saved. The rest will be judged and destroyed.

In Ezekiel 10, the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple, standing over the cherubim. In Matthew 24, Jesus departs from the temple accompanied by His disciples. In Ezekiel 11:23, it says that the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain which is on the east of the city. In Matthew 24:3, Jesus is said to have sat on the Mount of Olives, the same mountain referred to in Ezekiel.

The symbolism is clear. Jesus is showing by His movements that what happened in the past is happening again. He is the same Lord who departed from the temple at the time of Ezekiel, but He has now come in human flesh as a tangible, visible manifestation of the Lord for all to see. His traversal from the temple to the Mount is like a signature proclaiming His deity.

Life application: Jesus’ words and movements are intentional, setting a clear pattern that He is the Lord and that what happened in the past is set to be repeated. Just as Babylon came and destroyed the temple and exiled the people, so will Rome (called Babylon by Peter in 1 Peter 5:13) come, destroy the temple, and exile the people.

The temple after the Babylonian exile was rebuilt and continued to be a place of mediation between the people and the Lord until the coming of Jesus. However, the temple will never again be considered an appropriate place of mediation between God and man.

Jesus clearly revealed this in the cursing of the fig tree. There is only one suitable point of mediation between God and man, that is the Man, Christ Jesus, as Paul explicitly states in 1 Timothy 2:5. Today, Christian teachers around the world actively support Israel’s Temple Institute. They excitedly teach about the coming temple and its sacrifices, as if these are good things.

But this is just the opposite of what should be. The temple is the antichrist’s temple. The people will be following the devil, not the Lord. They will have set themselves at complete enmity with the God of the Bible. It will take the antichrist appearing in the temple for the people to begin to wake up from their apostasy.

Instead of supporting this unholy temple, pastors, preachers, and teachers should be preaching the gospel, speaking against what is being prepared in Israel, and warning those who believe that observing Moses is acceptable that it is rather a path to perdition. The book of Hebrews sets this warning out in clear and precise terms for the Hebrew people to know this and to turn to Jesus.

Be sure to not get caught up in the hype of what is going on in regard to the building of the temple in Israel. It is sadness heaped upon thousands of years of sadness because it is a sign of the people’s continued rejection of the Lord Jesus.

Lord God, help us to have our thinking caps on as we consider what is going on in the world. May we hold fast to what is right, sound, and proper in regard to our relationship with You through Jesus Christ our Lord. Yes, help us in this, O God. Amen.

Sunday, 1 November 2026

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Matthew 23:37

Note: You can listen to today’s commentary courtesy of our friends at the “Bible in Ten” podcast. (Click Here to listen)

You can also read this commentary, scrolling with music, courtesy of our friends at “Discern the Bible” on YouTube. (Click Here to listen), or at Rumble (Click Here to listen).

“Jerusalem! Jerusalem! The ‘killing the prophets’ and ‘stoning those having been sent to her’! How often I willed to upon-gather the ‘children, yours’, which way ‘upon-gathers, hen’ the ‘chicks, hers’ under the wings, and not you willed.” (CG)

In the previous verse, Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees that all the things He said would come upon “this generation.” The meaning of “this generation” was not detailed in that verse, but an explanation of it begins to be seen in this verse. Jesus starts with, “Jerusalem! Jerusalem!”

This is a standard type of Hebraism where repetition forms a strong stress. Calling out the name of the city in this manner sets an unambiguous definition of whom He is referring to. The form of the name is different than that used eleven times already in Matthew. Rather, this is probably the exact term Jesus used. It is the transliterated Aramaic form of the name, Ierousalém. It is the form commonly employed by Luke.

Jerusalem is the seat of power within the nation. Those who rule from Jerusalem, then, are the focus of what Jesus will say. Of this city, meaning those who rule from it, He says, “The ‘killing the prophets’ and ‘stoning those having been sent to her’!”

Jesus personifies the city, using it as emblematic of those within her who actually do what He ascribes to it. The people of Jerusalem had rejected the words of the prophets. They had treated them shamefully and resorted to killing them. Some of this is highlighted by the author of Hebrews –

“Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword.” Hebrews 11:36, 37

Although the author of Hebrews is not specifically speaking of only Jerusalem, his words describe the general treatment that faithful followers of the Lord faced. The words of Jesus mirror what He said in the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers found in Matthew 21.

Jerusalem, being the capital and place of the king, was the key city in which such treatment took place. Despite their treatment of the people of God, Jesus continues His address to the city, saying, “How often I willed to upon-gather the ‘children, yours’.”

A new word is seen here, episunagó, to upon-gather. It is derived from epi, upon, and sunagó, to lead or gather together. Thayer’s says, “to gather besides, to bring together to others already assembled.” One can think of gathering together and then heaping more into the gathering.

Jesus clearly indicates preexistence, and thus deity, with these words. How could He otherwise have been present to desire such a thing? But His words indicate that He is the Lord, Yehovah of the Hebrew Scriptures, having come in human form.

One can see Him having pled with the city for eons, sending prophets with messages and petitions for them to turn and call out to Him. Continuing, He describes the manner in which He willed to upon-gather them, saying, “which way ‘upon-gathers, hen’ the ‘chicks, hers’ under the wings.”

Three more new words are seen. The first is tropos, a turn and thus, by implication, a manner, mode, way, or style. The next word is ornis, a bird, especially a hen. It will only be seen here and in a comparable exclamation in Luke 13:34. The third word is nossion, a birdling. In this case, it refers to the chicks of a hen. The last word is pterux, a wing, coming from petomai, to fly.

A hen will gather her chicks under her wings to keep them safe, protect them from predators and the elements, etc. Jesus states that this is how He desired the people of Jerusalem to be to Him, again, clearly indicating preexistence. The Lord of the Hebrew Scriptures had reached out to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, begging them for a right and loving relationship. However, Jesus next says, “and not you willed.”

No matter how many times the Lord sent prophets to correct the people, they went about their evil ways, rejecting His word, ignoring Him except through lip service, and they greedily lived their lives as they saw fit, regardless of His care for them.

In His incarnation, He came to them, more perfectly expressing the love of God than had ever been done before. The Lord was willing to suffer the indignity of wearing the garments of humanity, coming in the likeness of fallen man to demonstrate the pure love of God for His children. And yet, they rejected Him, crucified Him, and continue to deny Him two thousand years later.

Life application: Who can truly understand the magnificence of what God has done in sending Jesus? And who can truly understand the blackness of the human heart to ignore what He has done, speaking against it, spitting on the thought of it, and condemning God with our lips for His having humbled Himself through the incarnation and Christ’s death on the cross?

And more, Jesus rose again, proving that it is God who had done it. Despite this, the world continues to speak against God, refusing to accept the marvelous gift of grace that has been poured out on us.

Even in churches around the world where people claim Jesus’ name, they deny Him and His work by relying on observing the Law of Moses to obtain God’s favor. It is as if what Jesus did is reprehensible to them. And so they ignore it and set about to establish their own righteousness before God.

May we learn to trust God, holding fast to what He alone has done in the giving of Jesus. Let us take ourselves and our pitiful attempts to merit His favor out of the salvation equation. May we rest solely and completely in the merits of Jesus Christ for our righteousness before God.

Lord God, help us to set aside any thought of meriting Your favor. May we place our full trust and hope in the work of Jesus Christ, knowing that it alone can restore us to You. May it be so, to Your glory. Amen.

Saturday, 31 October 2026

Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. Matthew 23:36

Note: You can listen to today’s commentary courtesy of our friends at the “Bible in Ten” podcast. (Click Here to listen)

You can also read this commentary, scrolling with music, courtesy of our friends at “Discern the Bible” on YouTube. (Click Here to listen), or at Rumble (Click Here to listen).

“Amen, I say to you, it will arrive, these all, upon the ‘generation, this’.” (CG)

In the previous verse, Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees that all the righteous blood shed on the earth would come upon them. He then mentioned the blood of righteous Abel to that of ‘Zechariah, son, blessed of Yah’. He next says as a solemn declaration, “Amen, I say to you, it will arrive, these all, upon the ‘generation, this’.”

Jesus is the Lord. He has solemnly proclaimed that the punishment for the guilt of these men of Israel would come upon them, meaning all of “this generation.” But that must be defined. What does “this generation” mean? Most tie this in with the destruction of the temple in AD70. And it is true that took place as prophesied by Jesus in His words concerning the sign of Jonah.

But a generation is simply a period of time. It can be the span of a man’s life, or it can be a set period or designation without regard to time. For example, in Matthew 17, it says –

“Then Jesus answered and said, ‘O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.’” Matthew 17:17

His words identify them as a “generation of unbelief.” In Philippians 2, Paul does something similar, saying –

“Do all things without complaining and disputing, ¹⁵ that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.” Philippians 2:14-16

Paul speaks of the entire church age, whatever its duration is, as being surrounded by those of a crooked and perverse generation. As to what Jesus is referring to, the words must extend beyond the destruction of the temple. The temple was destroyed as a part of the punishments of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.

As such, it would logically follow that the generation referred to by Jesus is the entire span of the time of those curses. Indeed, this will be seen to be exactly what Jesus is referring to in the final verses of Chapter 23.

Life application: In Hebrews 3, the author calls those who perished in the wilderness “that generation.” It was an entire period of time that covered from their rejection of entrance into the land in Numbers 14 until the nation entered Canaan by passing through the Jordan in Joshua 3 & 4.

The period typologically refers to the generation that rejected Christ, from the time of the resurrection until the time that they, as a nation, enter into the New Covenant by faith in Christ. This typology is exact, and it covers the present time, which has gone on for two thousand years. Someday, that generation will end, replacing their unbelief with faith in Christ.

To understand the words of Jesus in the gospels, one must understand the entire panorama of what God is doing in typology in the Old Testament. And more, one must understand and stick to the dispensational model. Mixing dispensations will cause confusion in one’s theology.

Jesus is speaking to Israel under the law in Matthew 23. There is not a hint of the Gentile-led church age in what He says. This is true with Matthew 24 as well. If you get this wrong, then of course your entire understanding of eschatology will be wrong. It is why there are those who hold to mid- or post-tribulation rapture. They have mishandled God’s word.

Be careful not to mix dispensations. In this, you will do well. Check the context and stick within the parameters as they are laid out in that context. This is the sweet spot in understanding what is going on in Scripture.

Lord God, may our doctrine be in accord with Your word. Help us to keep things in their intended context. By doing this, we won’t be leading people down odd paths of biblical interpretation. May we always strive to honor You by properly interpreting Your word. To Your glory, we pray. Amen.