Matt 10:24 " A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! 26 Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.
27 " Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father 's will. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
I put in bold the most striking parts. Reading this straight through, Jesus seems to contradict Himself. This always puzzled me. I know enough to know that He'd never do that. The only answer was that I had to be reading it wrong. Let's take a look at His commands here regarding fear:
- v26 "Do not fear them"
- v27-28 "Preach Me and don't fear them"
- v28 "Fear God"
- v31 "Don't fear"
Huh? Ok, so the "them" here are those who would persecute a Christian for being a Christian. I believe this also extends to men in general. But I also believe He's making a general statement about fear. At the time of Jesus' earthly ministry, there wasn't anything more frightening than being found to be a blasphemer in the eyes of the community. It was an offense punishable by death.
In verses 24 through 26 He's telling them that since men regarded Him to be a liar, they will also regard His disciples (you and me) as liars. But He says, "Therefore do not fear them". Why? I don't get it. Don't fear them because they wanted to kill Jesus before they wanted to kill me? He goes on in the rest of verse 26 to explain that it was always the religious who were under a lie, not Jesus and not us. "There is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known." or in other words: the gospel will be proven true. Those who persecute us for claiming Jesus as the truth will find out one way or another that they were wrong. But there is another meaning here as well.
I believe Jesus is directing our vision to eternity. He wants us to see that while we are persecuted for truth now, it's just a blip on the radar of time. We have to learn to see the big picture. We ought to regard The Father and the truth about His Son with greater weight than anything a mortal man can do to us. Our nature as born-again eternal beings will be "revealed" and "known". It's from this perspective that He wants us to evaluate whether we should fear something or not.
He goes on to make this plain in verses 27 and 28. He commands us to preach what He tells us. But not just preach. No, He wants us to ensure everyone hears us by preaching it from the tops of houses, in plain view of everyone! No doubt this command stung the disciples a bit. I mean, if you're already afraid of the religious stoning you to death for blasphemy, you'd find it a bit troublesome to preach Jesus from the most visible point in the entire town. Then it appears as if Jesus addresses this fear of men by saying, "Don't fear men. They can't destroy your soul. Fear God. He can destroy your soul in HELL!!!!!"
For years that one bothered me. Why would the physical embodiment of love suddenly switch to fear tactics to get us to follow His commands? I mean, that's clearly what He's saying, isn't it? Do what I say so you don't go to hell? A fear-based method of teaching does not mesh well with the character of Jesus revealed in the rest of scripture.
Recently God has been speaking to me about context in scripture. I've heard it said that if a particular verse confuses or bothers you, read the seven verses before it and the seven after it. This will give you a clear picture of the verse that confused you. Funny how true that is. Look at verses 29 through 31. Right after Jesus makes a statement about how we should fear God because he has the power to destroy our very soul he continues to tell us how much attention God gives a sparrow. Not a single bird dies without God noticing it. Then he points out that we are infinitely more precious to God than a sparrow. If God pays that much attention to a bird, imagine how much attention He pays to us. He caps off the entire conversation by saying, "Do not fear, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."
I believe Jesus was making a point, here, by purposely being dramatic. Jesus understands our propensity to fear things, especially things that have the power "to destroy the body". We have trouble seeing past the physical. He combats that carnal perspective by saying, "Look, guys, don't fear men. They can't touch the real you. If you are dead-set on living with fear, you may as well fear the One who has the power to blott out your existence!! But that would be just plain silly since God loves you so much that He would never do that to you. So don't fear anything, ever, you knuckleheads." Keep in mind that Jesus is speaking to those who are His. Having accepted Jesus and resolved to preach Him from the rooftops, they are far from the fires of hell. Please hear Him.
A man can injure you, kill you even, but no man can destroy you. Only God has that kind of power. Notice that Satan isn't even mentioned in this passage. That's because he doesn't have the power to destroy you either. The only entity in either the spiritual or natural realm that has enough power to warrant a fear response from you is Your Father who loves you so much that He would rather die a horrific death than harm a hair on your head. Therefore, do not fear.
In verses 24 through 26 He's telling them that since men regarded Him to be a liar, they will also regard His disciples (you and me) as liars. But He says, "Therefore do not fear them". Why? I don't get it. Don't fear them because they wanted to kill Jesus before they wanted to kill me? He goes on in the rest of verse 26 to explain that it was always the religious who were under a lie, not Jesus and not us. "There is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known." or in other words: the gospel will be proven true. Those who persecute us for claiming Jesus as the truth will find out one way or another that they were wrong. But there is another meaning here as well.
I believe Jesus is directing our vision to eternity. He wants us to see that while we are persecuted for truth now, it's just a blip on the radar of time. We have to learn to see the big picture. We ought to regard The Father and the truth about His Son with greater weight than anything a mortal man can do to us. Our nature as born-again eternal beings will be "revealed" and "known". It's from this perspective that He wants us to evaluate whether we should fear something or not.
He goes on to make this plain in verses 27 and 28. He commands us to preach what He tells us. But not just preach. No, He wants us to ensure everyone hears us by preaching it from the tops of houses, in plain view of everyone! No doubt this command stung the disciples a bit. I mean, if you're already afraid of the religious stoning you to death for blasphemy, you'd find it a bit troublesome to preach Jesus from the most visible point in the entire town. Then it appears as if Jesus addresses this fear of men by saying, "Don't fear men. They can't destroy your soul. Fear God. He can destroy your soul in HELL!!!!!"
For years that one bothered me. Why would the physical embodiment of love suddenly switch to fear tactics to get us to follow His commands? I mean, that's clearly what He's saying, isn't it? Do what I say so you don't go to hell? A fear-based method of teaching does not mesh well with the character of Jesus revealed in the rest of scripture.
Recently God has been speaking to me about context in scripture. I've heard it said that if a particular verse confuses or bothers you, read the seven verses before it and the seven after it. This will give you a clear picture of the verse that confused you. Funny how true that is. Look at verses 29 through 31. Right after Jesus makes a statement about how we should fear God because he has the power to destroy our very soul he continues to tell us how much attention God gives a sparrow. Not a single bird dies without God noticing it. Then he points out that we are infinitely more precious to God than a sparrow. If God pays that much attention to a bird, imagine how much attention He pays to us. He caps off the entire conversation by saying, "Do not fear, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."
I believe Jesus was making a point, here, by purposely being dramatic. Jesus understands our propensity to fear things, especially things that have the power "to destroy the body". We have trouble seeing past the physical. He combats that carnal perspective by saying, "Look, guys, don't fear men. They can't touch the real you. If you are dead-set on living with fear, you may as well fear the One who has the power to blott out your existence!! But that would be just plain silly since God loves you so much that He would never do that to you. So don't fear anything, ever, you knuckleheads." Keep in mind that Jesus is speaking to those who are His. Having accepted Jesus and resolved to preach Him from the rooftops, they are far from the fires of hell. Please hear Him.
A man can injure you, kill you even, but no man can destroy you. Only God has that kind of power. Notice that Satan isn't even mentioned in this passage. That's because he doesn't have the power to destroy you either. The only entity in either the spiritual or natural realm that has enough power to warrant a fear response from you is Your Father who loves you so much that He would rather die a horrific death than harm a hair on your head. Therefore, do not fear.
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