217. Does Jesus Really Say He Hasn't Come For Peace But To Bring A Sword?

[00:00:08] Hi friends, welcome to another episode of Making Disciples. My name is Cris Rogers and I am your host today on this episode number 217.

[00:00:19] 217, wow, that's a lot of episodes. So welcome to episode number 217. I hope that you are doing alright and that life is treating you well.

[00:00:29] Well, it's lovely to be back. We've had a great summer term off since our last episode in July. Now we're back with a bang.

[00:00:39] We received a question from a listener that in some ways answering the question puts into practice what we have looked at in past episodes.

[00:00:53] So in previous episodes, we've looked at different teaching techniques of Jesus.

[00:01:02] One that we talked about is Ramez, where Jesus might say one thing and it doesn't make any sense what he says.

[00:01:11] But then when you find it in the Old Testament and you find the verse before it or the verse after it,

[00:01:15] you realise that what Jesus is doing is answering a question by quoting a verse from the Old Testament

[00:01:22] where the following verse or the previous verse actually answers what he's really saying.

[00:01:26] It's a way of showing that you really knew the scriptures. Ramez.

[00:01:30] One of the other teaching techniques that we have looked at in the past is the teaching technique of illusion,

[00:01:36] where Jesus would allude to something else, an idea, a metaphor or a picture.

[00:01:46] The idea was that you would hear that allusion, that alluding to and you go,

[00:01:51] oh, OK, so I know that what you're talking about is that thing.

[00:01:56] So just a reminder, allusion would be something like you are such a good Samaritan.

[00:02:01] You're such a good Samaritan.

[00:02:03] Now, you and I might know the story of the Good Samaritan and how the outsider comes and helps the Jew

[00:02:11] and the outsider, the non-Jewish Gentile Samaritan helps the Jew

[00:02:20] and that this term is somebody who is helpful, that is kind to the stranger, to the other

[00:02:27] and actually is the caring one in the story.

[00:02:31] So you would allude to a story or an idea by using a phrase.

[00:02:35] And that's another one of the teaching techniques that we talked about in the past that Jesus used.

[00:02:40] So what we're going to do today is we're going to take one of those teaching techniques

[00:02:45] and show how we can answer a difficult question using that teaching technique,

[00:02:50] knowing that's what Jesus does.

[00:02:51] So, right, how do we apply that to this passage that we're looking at?

[00:02:54] Because it just doesn't make much sense.

[00:02:56] So we've got a question here from a listener about Matthew 10, 34.

[00:03:00] And so hopefully you'll go, right, I'm getting now how Jesus answers questions.

[00:03:05] I'm getting now how to tackle some of these difficult passages because I'm not quite sure what to make of this.

[00:03:11] So that's what we're going to do today's episode.

[00:03:14] Warm welcome to you if you are a new listener.

[00:03:15] It's lovely to have you with us.

[00:03:17] If you're an old listener, you've been around for a while.

[00:03:19] Well, again, warm welcome.

[00:03:21] Hope that you are doing okay.

[00:03:23] Let's dive into this episode 217 as we explore this question that has come to us about Matthew 10, 34.

[00:03:43] So here we go.

[00:03:44] The question that we've received is from a listener.

[00:03:48] And I think his name is Matthew.

[00:03:50] But actually, I don't know if that's just in repeating the Bible passage that it's quoting from Matthew 10.

[00:03:57] I don't know.

[00:03:57] So, Matthew, clarify your name for me and we can drop your name in if you want.

[00:04:01] But here we go.

[00:04:02] The question we received is this.

[00:04:04] I don't understand Matthew 10, 34.

[00:04:06] Jesus seems to be anti-violence in the Gospels.

[00:04:10] But then in this passage, he says that he's not come to bring peace.

[00:04:17] I don't understand help.

[00:04:20] And that's true.

[00:04:21] So in Matthew 10, 34, Jesus seems to say something that's in contrast to what we see Jesus saying in other parts of Matthew 10.

[00:04:31] Blessed are the peacemakers.

[00:04:33] So we approach Jesus as somebody who actually is pretty much anti-violence.

[00:04:38] When we see Peter cutting off the ear of one of the temple guards, Jesus says, no, that's not how we do it.

[00:04:44] If you live by the sword, then you'll die by the sword.

[00:04:46] So Jesus, quite clearly in other areas of the scriptures, speaks against violence.

[00:04:53] And then in Matthew 10, 34 to 36, it says this.

[00:04:57] And it's entitled, not peace, but a sword.

[00:05:02] So in verse 34, do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.

[00:05:07] I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

[00:05:10] For I have come to set a man against his father and against his mother, against his daughter.

[00:05:16] And a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

[00:05:20] And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

[00:05:25] So that's Matthew 10, 34 to 36.

[00:05:29] And particularly this opening verse, do not think that I have come to bring peace.

[00:05:35] Jesus says, don't think that I've come to bring peace to earth.

[00:05:37] It says, I have come to bring, I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

[00:05:45] Now, you reach that, you think, oh my gosh, like what do you do with that?

[00:05:49] It's a very stark, simple teaching from Jesus.

[00:05:55] And it seems to be very clear.

[00:05:57] You can't misinterpret what he's saying.

[00:05:59] I've not come to bring peace.

[00:06:01] I've come to bring the sword.

[00:06:04] So you think, gosh, so Jesus is promoting violence here.

[00:06:07] And then in verse 34, he says, I have not come.

[00:06:10] He said, I've come to set a man against his father, a daughter against a mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

[00:06:17] You know, I've come to set people against each other.

[00:06:20] I've come to kick off a fight, it seems to be saying.

[00:06:23] The person's enemies will be those of his own household.

[00:06:27] You're like, wow, Jesus, you know, everything that Jesus says, honouring your father and mother.

[00:06:31] You know, all of this, what Jesus, he just seems to now be so out of character that we struggle to know what to do with this.

[00:06:38] What do we do with, I've not come to bring peace, but I've come to bring a sword.

[00:06:43] What do we do with this?

[00:06:45] Now, the way we approach this is, I'm going to actually break the passage up into two pieces.

[00:06:50] Verses 34 and then verses 35 and 36.

[00:06:53] So the first verse is around the sword.

[00:06:55] And the second verse is around the family and how the family is going to be against each other.

[00:06:59] So I'm going to approach this as two bits.

[00:07:02] But what I'm going to do is, so the two teaching techniques we've looked at in the past is that of remez,

[00:07:09] where Jesus is actually quoting something from the Old Testament,

[00:07:11] but he's looking for the verse before it or the verse after it.

[00:07:14] Or it's this idea of illusion.

[00:07:16] Now, we just unpack illusion again, just in case you missed that episode.

[00:07:20] It's almost like another way of saying word association.

[00:07:22] I love to talk about the nudge, nudge, wink, wink,

[00:07:24] where Jesus is saying one thing, but he's actually referencing something else.

[00:07:28] He's actually talking about something that we already know or something we reference.

[00:07:31] Like the idea of you are a good Samaritan.

[00:07:34] He's referencing, say, the story of the good Samaritan.

[00:07:37] So Jesus is claiming in this passage, using the teaching technique of illusion,

[00:07:45] of alluding to something else.

[00:07:47] I would argue that Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah.

[00:07:51] And he wants you to see his sword as a sword that's located and associated with the book of Isaiah.

[00:07:59] So he's alluding to some teaching that's found elsewhere about the Messiah and his sword.

[00:08:05] And I would argue, friends, if you are ever stuck trying to understand Jesus,

[00:08:12] then it's really wise to head to the book of Isaiah.

[00:08:16] So I would argue the book of Isaiah is one of Jesus' favourite books to quote from in the Gospel,

[00:08:22] particularly in the Gospel of Matthew.

[00:08:25] I would argue that Jesus really knows Isaiah through and through,

[00:08:29] and he knows it as the prophetic text, the prophetic book.

[00:08:31] And he regularly uses language from the book of Isaiah to help the listener of 2,000 years ago,

[00:08:43] the Jewish listener, to know what he is saying by referencing ideas that go way back to the book of Isaiah.

[00:08:50] The problem is we don't know the book of Isaiah as well as Jesus did other people at the time.

[00:08:54] So what Jesus is doing is using this idea of illusion to allude to something somewhere else.

[00:09:00] And once you know what that something somewhere else is,

[00:09:03] what he then says tends to make a lot more sense.

[00:09:06] So he's using this teaching technique of illusion.

[00:09:10] And I want to argue that Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah here,

[00:09:13] and he's doing it by referencing something found in the book of Isaiah.

[00:09:18] So let me tell you about the book of Isaiah.

[00:09:22] I'm going to read to us just three excerpts from the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 27, 34 and 66.

[00:09:30] And what you find through the book of Isaiah, riddled through the book of Isaiah,

[00:09:34] is the idea of the coming Messiah, the coming Jewish Messiah,

[00:09:38] the one that was going to liberate and bring justice for God's people.

[00:09:43] Because God's people had been oppressed.

[00:09:45] They'd been in slavery.

[00:09:46] They had then been in the exile to Babylon, Persia, come back to Jerusalem.

[00:09:53] But within this, there was a story that one day the Messiah will come and liberate the people of God.

[00:10:00] And the Messiah figure that's riddled through the book of Isaiah,

[00:10:06] that's kind of dribbled through prophecies of the Messiah,

[00:10:08] within the book of Isaiah, the Messiah has armor.

[00:10:15] And this is what I would argue that Paul is referencing when he talks about the armor of God.

[00:10:22] The armor that you find in the armor of God, the helmet and the breastplate, the shield,

[00:10:29] the feet, the sword,

[00:10:32] all of these items are actually items that were worn by Messiah in the book of Isaiah.

[00:10:39] So when Paul says put on the armor of God, I would argue he's inviting us to put on the armor of Messiah.

[00:10:46] And then when we're wearing the armor of Messiah, the attacks of the evil one are defended because of the armor of Messiah.

[00:10:53] Now what Jesus does with the armor of Messiah in the Gospels is he talks about certain items at certain points,

[00:11:03] drips it in.

[00:11:04] And what he's doing is alluding to that he is the one that uses the weapon of Messiah.

[00:11:12] So the Messiah in the book of Isaiah, he had a sword and the sword was a sword of justice and a sword of judgment.

[00:11:23] And the Messiah would yield the sword, that's not what I mean,

[00:11:29] but I would use the sword to do two things,

[00:11:33] to bring justice for God's people and judgment against those that are oppressing God's people or withholding justice.

[00:11:42] So the Messiah sword is throughout the Old Testament.

[00:11:45] So let me just read to you a couple of bits where these things appear.

[00:11:49] So Isaiah 27, 1, it says,

[00:11:51] In that day the Lord will punish with his sword,

[00:11:57] his fierce, great and powerful sword.

[00:12:03] The Leviathan, the gliding serpent,

[00:12:06] the Leviathan, the coiling serpent,

[00:12:09] he will slay the monster of the sea.

[00:12:12] So what you have here is this idea that the Messiah will have a sword.

[00:12:17] And it was a sword, it was a powerful sword,

[00:12:20] that would come and wreak judgment against this creature called the Leviathan.

[00:12:27] And this monster of the Leviathan,

[00:12:29] the monster that comes out of the sea,

[00:12:30] actually the sea in Jewish thinking was the abyss.

[00:12:35] So I would argue that actually the creature here that is being talked about,

[00:12:39] the Leviathan, I think it's alluding to Satan.

[00:12:41] And that the Messiah will come with his powerful sword,

[00:12:44] he's going to slay the Leviathan,

[00:12:45] he's going to slay the demonic powers,

[00:12:47] the evil powers,

[00:12:49] slaying Satan,

[00:12:50] the serpent.

[00:12:53] So Isaiah 27 is about the Messiah who will wield a weapon against the gliding serpent,

[00:13:00] the Leviathan,

[00:13:01] the sea monster.

[00:13:02] So it's about,

[00:13:03] the sword was about power,

[00:13:05] and it was about justice and judgment.

[00:13:08] Isaiah 34,

[00:13:10] 5 to 7.

[00:13:12] Now this is entitled judgment against the nations.

[00:13:14] So here we have the Messiah being prophesied as someone that was going to come and bring judgment

[00:13:19] against the nations that did not worship Yahweh as the great king,

[00:13:27] as God.

[00:13:28] It says this,

[00:13:28] For my sword has struck its till in the heavens.

[00:13:34] Behold its descendants for judgment upon Edom.

[00:13:39] Upon the people I have devoted to destruction.

[00:13:45] The Lord has a sword.

[00:13:47] It is sated with blood.

[00:13:49] It is gored with fat.

[00:13:52] With the blood of the lambs and goats,

[00:13:54] with the fat of the kidney of the rams,

[00:13:56] the Lord has a sacrifice in Bosra,

[00:13:59] a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

[00:14:03] Wild oxen shall fall with them.

[00:14:06] The young steers with the mighty bulls.

[00:14:10] Their land shall drink its fill of blood.

[00:14:14] And their soil shall be gored with fat.

[00:14:17] So what you have here is a group of people that live in Edom.

[00:14:21] And this group of people,

[00:14:23] God is going to bring judgment against them because of what they have done to his people.

[00:14:30] And the Messiah has come with this sword,

[00:14:34] this great and powerful sword,

[00:14:36] that has in Isaiah 27 fought the serpent Satan.

[00:14:41] Now is being used to bring judgment upon Edom.

[00:14:47] To actually do away with those that have oppressed God's people.

[00:14:54] So the sword of Messiah was to come and bring justice for the oppressed

[00:14:59] and judgment for the oppressor.

[00:15:01] Isaiah 66 verse 16 says this,

[00:15:16] So again,

[00:15:18] the Messiah has a sword.

[00:15:20] And the sword is to bring judgment and it is to bring justice.

[00:15:25] Justice to the oppressed.

[00:15:26] So therefore,

[00:15:28] in the Old Testament,

[00:15:29] Messiah would have a sword.

[00:15:31] And this sword would be coming to bring judgment and justice.

[00:15:35] Judgment on the oppressor.

[00:15:37] Justice for the people of God.

[00:15:39] Judgment upon the one that is oppressing.

[00:15:42] And justice for the oppressed.

[00:15:44] So justice and judgment.

[00:15:47] The sword of Messiah.

[00:15:48] So therefore,

[00:15:49] friends,

[00:15:50] when Jesus says,

[00:15:50] Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.

[00:15:53] I have not come to bring peace,

[00:15:55] but a sword.

[00:15:57] What he's saying there is,

[00:15:59] he has come to bring justice and judgment.

[00:16:04] He is to bring justice and judgment.

[00:16:07] What we would call justice and judgment,

[00:16:09] we call this whole idea of him bringing justice and judgment,

[00:16:12] as bringing the gospel,

[00:16:13] the good news.

[00:16:14] A gospel of judgment against the sinner,

[00:16:18] but justice because of his blood.

[00:16:21] The grace of God that brings freedom.

[00:16:24] So when Jesus uses this idea of the sword,

[00:16:28] he's talking about coming to dice up,

[00:16:35] cut up,

[00:16:36] destroy injustice,

[00:16:39] and to bring judgment on the things that oppress.

[00:16:43] So Jesus,

[00:16:45] therefore,

[00:16:45] is not saying that he's coming to bring war.

[00:16:49] Well,

[00:16:49] well,

[00:16:49] if he is saying he's coming to bring war,

[00:16:51] he's coming to bring it against the Leviathan,

[00:16:53] the serpent,

[00:16:54] and he's also coming to bring justice over people like Eden,

[00:17:00] who are oppressing his people.

[00:17:01] But what he's not saying here is,

[00:17:03] he's not talking about violence,

[00:17:04] he's talking about,

[00:17:05] he is coming to bring justice and judgment.

[00:17:09] How does Jesus do that?

[00:17:10] Because the disciples all thought he was going to do the sword,

[00:17:13] but he doesn't,

[00:17:14] does he?

[00:17:14] Jesus does it with his death on the cross.

[00:17:18] So for Jesus,

[00:17:20] justice and judgment was outworked by the death on the cross,

[00:17:26] his own death.

[00:17:27] So that's how we,

[00:17:29] therefore,

[00:17:30] using illusion,

[00:17:31] can understand two things.

[00:17:32] Firstly,

[00:17:33] what does Jesus mean?

[00:17:34] That he's not come to bring peace,

[00:17:35] but he's come to bring sword.

[00:17:36] Well,

[00:17:37] he's not come to bring peace,

[00:17:38] but he has come to bring justice and judgment.

[00:17:41] That's kind of what,

[00:17:42] so he's alluding,

[00:17:43] the sword alludes to this idea of justice and judgment.

[00:17:47] The second thing is,

[00:17:48] by saying this,

[00:17:49] he's saying that he's using the sword of Messiah.

[00:17:53] He's claiming to be Messiah,

[00:17:56] which is really significant.

[00:17:57] He is setting himself up as the Jewish saviour.

[00:18:02] So that's how we understand that verse.

[00:18:04] Now,

[00:18:04] Matthew 10,

[00:18:05] 35,

[00:18:06] 36,

[00:18:06] as we go on,

[00:18:08] you know,

[00:18:09] for I have come to set a man against his father,

[00:18:12] daughter against his mother,

[00:18:13] and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,

[00:18:15] and a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

[00:18:19] So he's talking about households here,

[00:18:21] fighting and falling out.

[00:18:22] So Jesus says,

[00:18:23] I have come so that households would fall out.

[00:18:27] Is that really,

[00:18:28] does that fit with everything else that Jesus says?

[00:18:29] No,

[00:18:31] honour your father and mother.

[00:18:32] Therefore,

[00:18:33] he must be doing something else here.

[00:18:35] So I think to understand this,

[00:18:37] we have to do a few things.

[00:18:38] We need to understand the context.

[00:18:40] We do need to look at the literal meaning.

[00:18:42] How do you literally understand it?

[00:18:44] I think we need to understand the deeper intimation

[00:18:47] of what Jesus is trying to say in this.

[00:18:50] He's trying,

[00:18:52] we need to understand what he's trying to challenge.

[00:18:54] I think we need to understand the cultural context

[00:18:57] and the broader perspective.

[00:18:59] to really get our head around this.

[00:19:01] So let's do this.

[00:19:01] What about the context?

[00:19:03] This passage in context is a passage

[00:19:05] where Jesus is instructing the disciples

[00:19:10] as he sends them out to preach.

[00:19:12] So in other words,

[00:19:13] he's telling disciples something

[00:19:17] as he sends them out.

[00:19:19] So he's preparing them

[00:19:20] for the challenges that they're going to face ahead.

[00:19:23] In other words,

[00:19:24] this gospel of justice and judgment,

[00:19:27] when it comes,

[00:19:29] people are going to fall out over it.

[00:19:31] Some are going to accept it

[00:19:32] and some are not going to accept it.

[00:19:34] And households will fall out.

[00:19:36] People won't agree,

[00:19:38] is what Jesus is saying.

[00:19:39] The context of it is he's teaching disciples.

[00:19:42] The literary meaning,

[00:19:43] I would say,

[00:19:43] is this.

[00:19:44] Jesus is stating that

[00:19:46] this gospel message,

[00:19:47] justice and judgment,

[00:19:48] will cause division

[00:19:50] even amongst families.

[00:19:52] So he's not advocating

[00:19:54] for family conflict.

[00:19:55] He's not saying it's okay

[00:19:56] for families to have conflict,

[00:19:57] but he is predicting

[00:19:59] the consequences

[00:20:00] of those that follow him.

[00:20:01] That families will fall out.

[00:20:03] There will be disagreement here.

[00:20:05] What is the deeper intimation?

[00:20:08] I think the deeper intimation

[00:20:09] for us would be this.

[00:20:10] Loyalty to Jesus

[00:20:11] may supersede family ties.

[00:20:15] Loyalty to Jesus,

[00:20:16] committing to Jesus

[00:20:17] as the way,

[00:20:19] the truth and the life

[00:20:19] it may mean that you fall out

[00:20:22] with members of your family

[00:20:23] because they just don't

[00:20:24] want to hear it.

[00:20:25] And I think what Jesus is saying,

[00:20:27] loyalty to him

[00:20:28] may cause you

[00:20:30] to supersede

[00:20:31] your family ties.

[00:20:32] There may be points

[00:20:33] where you need to let go

[00:20:33] of family members

[00:20:34] who are in conflict with you.

[00:20:36] Choose Jesus

[00:20:37] over the family member

[00:20:38] is essentially what

[00:20:40] I think he's saying here.

[00:20:41] It's going to cost you.

[00:20:43] And I think he's saying

[00:20:45] that actually conflict

[00:20:46] is a byproduct of faith.

[00:20:49] That actually,

[00:20:50] if you have faith in Jesus,

[00:20:51] people are really not,

[00:20:51] some people are really

[00:20:52] not going to like this

[00:20:53] because it challenges

[00:20:53] everything about themselves

[00:20:55] and the way they see the world.

[00:20:57] And I think it's going to cause

[00:20:58] family members

[00:21:00] to disagree.

[00:21:02] Let's just think about

[00:21:03] the historical context

[00:21:04] for a second.

[00:21:04] Second, I think the historical context

[00:21:06] looks something like this.

[00:21:07] In the first century Judaism,

[00:21:09] religious choices were often made

[00:21:11] as a whole family unit.

[00:21:13] Whole families did something.

[00:21:15] This is why Paul says

[00:21:16] if a member of the household

[00:21:18] comes to faith,

[00:21:18] baptise the whole household

[00:21:20] because whole households

[00:21:21] made decisions.

[00:21:24] I think what Jesus is saying

[00:21:26] is Jesus' message

[00:21:27] sometimes leads individuals

[00:21:29] to make faith decisions

[00:21:33] independent of their families.

[00:21:35] And this is going to cause conflict.

[00:21:37] Because remember,

[00:21:37] in the first century,

[00:21:39] it was whole household units

[00:21:40] did the same.

[00:21:42] Within this household,

[00:21:43] this is how we do faith.

[00:21:45] This is how we worship

[00:21:46] the God Yahweh.

[00:21:49] So the historical context is

[00:21:51] whole families

[00:21:52] would need to convert.

[00:21:53] Actually, when that didn't happen,

[00:21:55] families did fall out.

[00:21:57] So I think to understand

[00:21:58] that historical context

[00:21:59] is really, really important.

[00:22:02] Now, I would say

[00:22:03] this passage does not justify

[00:22:07] needly being divisive

[00:22:09] in your household.

[00:22:10] He is not saying it is okay

[00:22:12] to be rude to your family members.

[00:22:13] It's not okay to say

[00:22:14] you disagree with your family members.

[00:22:16] Wind up your family members.

[00:22:17] That's not what he's saying.

[00:22:19] But it's just about saying,

[00:22:20] look, prepare yourself

[00:22:22] for potential conflict

[00:22:24] with people

[00:22:25] that don't like

[00:22:26] what you're now signing up to.

[00:22:28] Some people are not

[00:22:29] going to like this.

[00:22:30] So as Jesus sends out

[00:22:32] these disciples,

[00:22:33] he's saying

[00:22:35] this gospel that comes

[00:22:36] is a gospel

[00:22:37] of justice

[00:22:38] and judgment

[00:22:39] and it's coming

[00:22:40] as the Messiah's sword.

[00:22:43] The Messiah that comes

[00:22:45] to fight for justice

[00:22:46] and judgment.

[00:22:48] And the second bit

[00:22:49] about the families

[00:22:49] falling out

[00:22:50] is simply, look,

[00:22:51] be aware.

[00:22:52] Some people will accept,

[00:22:53] some people won't.

[00:22:54] This is not going to be

[00:22:55] an easy thing

[00:22:56] that everybody just accepts.

[00:22:57] Be aware that households

[00:22:59] will end up

[00:23:00] falling out

[00:23:01] and disagreeing

[00:23:02] because this is going to be

[00:23:03] challenging

[00:23:04] and difficult.

[00:23:06] So there you go.

[00:23:08] Matthew 10, 34.

[00:23:10] I hope,

[00:23:11] talking about illusion

[00:23:12] and applying it

[00:23:13] and seeing how you apply.

[00:23:14] So let me just say,

[00:23:15] how do you do this

[00:23:15] and how do you do

[00:23:16] the illusion thing?

[00:23:17] Well, I usually

[00:23:20] do simple word searches

[00:23:22] and I use something

[00:23:25] on my computer

[00:23:26] that I've always found

[00:23:27] super helpful

[00:23:28] called Accordance.

[00:23:29] It's an old Bible software.

[00:23:30] But I can go into that

[00:23:31] and say, right,

[00:23:32] Book of Isaiah,

[00:23:32] tell me wherever

[00:23:33] the word sword comes up.

[00:23:35] Tell me wherever

[00:23:36] breastplate comes up.

[00:23:38] Tell me wherever

[00:23:40] shoes come up

[00:23:42] in the Book of Isaiah.

[00:23:43] So you can look

[00:23:44] for specific words

[00:23:46] and see where those

[00:23:46] words come up.

[00:23:47] That's a great way

[00:23:48] of trying to see.

[00:23:49] And there is this

[00:23:50] particular teaching

[00:23:52] model

[00:23:53] in the Bible

[00:23:54] of first use.

[00:23:57] How a word

[00:23:57] is first used

[00:23:59] then sets a tone

[00:24:01] for the rest of the Bible

[00:24:01] of how to understand

[00:24:02] that word sometimes.

[00:24:04] So that can be

[00:24:05] really helpful as well.

[00:24:07] How was this word

[00:24:08] first used?

[00:24:09] What did it apply to?

[00:24:11] And then I'll use that

[00:24:11] to understand the passage

[00:24:12] that I'm looking at

[00:24:13] right now.

[00:24:14] So that's how I

[00:24:15] have researched

[00:24:18] these allusions

[00:24:19] that you find

[00:24:20] in the New Testament

[00:24:21] where you find a passage

[00:24:21] that does not make sense.

[00:24:23] I look for a key word.

[00:24:24] Is there a key word

[00:24:25] in here like the word sword?

[00:24:27] That's a problematic word.

[00:24:28] Can I see how that's used

[00:24:29] in the Book of Isaiah

[00:24:31] and see how that

[00:24:32] might help me

[00:24:33] understand this passage?

[00:24:34] And Isaiah is really key

[00:24:35] for understanding Jesus.

[00:24:36] He uses Isaiah a lot.

[00:24:39] So I hope that's

[00:24:40] really helpful

[00:24:41] as a way of just saying,

[00:24:42] look, there are ways

[00:24:43] to help us understand

[00:24:44] some of these difficult passages

[00:24:46] without us just writing it off.

[00:24:48] So I hope that's

[00:24:49] really interesting to you.

[00:24:50] Now if you've got

[00:24:51] other examples

[00:24:51] like this Matthew 10.34

[00:24:54] about I've not come

[00:24:55] to bring peace

[00:24:55] with the sword.

[00:24:56] You go,

[00:24:57] I don't get this passage.

[00:24:58] Help me understand

[00:24:58] this passage, Chris.

[00:24:59] Then I'm very happy

[00:25:00] to do that

[00:25:01] and show how

[00:25:02] remez,

[00:25:03] illusion,

[00:25:03] or other Jewish

[00:25:04] teaching techniques

[00:25:05] may be really helpful

[00:25:06] to understand

[00:25:07] what Jesus has to say.

[00:25:08] There you go.

[00:25:09] I hope and pray

[00:25:10] that's been really helpful

[00:25:11] to you.

[00:25:11] I hope you've enjoyed it

[00:25:12] and found it to be something

[00:25:14] that has really equipped you

[00:25:15] as you look at some

[00:25:16] of these passages yourself.

[00:25:17] Friends,

[00:25:18] until next time,

[00:25:19] grace and peace.