THE THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Think before you speak
“The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.”
Proverbs 15:28 (KJV)
Matthew 7
Do Not Judge
Our Saviour is here directing us how to conduct ourselves in reference to the faults of others; and his expressions seem intended as a reproof to the scribes and Pharisees, who were very rigid and severe, very arrogant and condescending, in condemning all about them, as those commonly are, that are proud and conceited in justifying themselves.
Matthew 7:1-2 (KJV), “Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”
These two verses use the word judge four times in a slightly different manner each time. But, in all instances, the root Greek word for each is the same Greek word recognized in Strong’s.
Strong’s Concordance (2919) – krinó: to judge, decide.
According to Brown-Driver-Briggs, Matthew 7:1 meant, in content, Christians subject the conduct of their fellows, passing censure upon them as the facts require; of those who judge severely (unfairly), finding fault with this or that in others.
According to Brown-Driver-Briggs, Matthew 7:2 meant, in content, of those who act the part of judges or arbiters in the matters of common life, or pass judgment on the deeds and words of others: universally, and without case.
We must judge ourselves, and judge our own acts, but we must not judge our brother, not commandingly assume such an authority over others, as we allow not them over us: since our rule is, to be subject to one another.
James 3:1 (KJV), “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.”
James 4:11 (KJV), “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.”
In this verse, James is referencing the word judgeth in much the same way Matthew 7:1-2 is used. The third judge used, a judge, is not the act of judging (to judge), as in the previous, but the actual judge.
Strong’s Concordance (2923) – krités: a judge.
How is ‘correcting’, often misrepresented with ‘judging’, a brother or sister acceptable?
Matthew 18:15-20 (KJV), “15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. 18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
The book of Proverbs teaches excessively on reproofing and chastening the evil or evil doer as a waste of time
Proverbs 9:8 (KJV), “Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.”
Proverbs 17:10 (KJV), “A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.”
Jesus is simply reminding us not to waste time correcting, reproofing, or chastening a fool
Matthew 7:6 (KJV), “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”
As a loving Father, God’s promise to us is to provide for all of our needs, even though we are all born evil in His eyes
Matthew 7:11 (KJV), “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
Genesis 6:5 (KJV), “And God saw that the wickedness [NKJV evil] of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
It is much easier to be of this world than not to be and rewarded with eternal life
Matthew 7:13-14 (KJV), “13 Enter ye in at the strait gate [eternal life]: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction [the world], and many there be which go in there at: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life [eternal life], and few there be that find it.”
Many times Jesus used references to good and bad fruit or good or bad grapes (or vines). This was because the Pharisees knew the prophets and understood the references
Matthew 7:19 (KJV), “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 (KJV), “7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”
Isaiah 17:10-11 (KJV), “10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: 11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.”
Do not practice lawlessness
Matthew 7:21 (KJV), “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”
Hosea 8:2 (KJV), “Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.”
Not all who just say a prayer of salvation or who are moved with emotion are truly saved
Matthew 7:26-27 (KJV), “26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”
Revelation 5
The Spirit of God had taken hold of John on Patmos, as the last surviving Apostle, to reveal to him of things to come. John was most assuredly very knowledgeable of the prophets including Ezekiel. This undoubtingly helped him to visually understand what God was presenting to him.
Revelation 5:1 (KJV), “And I saw in the right hand of him [God the Father] that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.”
Ezekiel 2:9-10 (KJV), “9 And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; 10 And he [God the Father] spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.”
In John’s vision, it became abundantly clear that Jesus was not only the Son of God but God Himself
John 3:16 (KJV), “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Revelation 5:9 (KJV), “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.”
The whole of all creation is pictured here to John as a [1]Prosopopoeia
Revelation 5:13 (KJV), “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.”
Jeremiah 22
Zedekiah was the twentieth and final King of Judah before the conquest of the kingdom by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon
Jeremiah 22:1-2 (KJV), “Thus saith the Lord; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word. 2 And say, Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates”
Shallum [Jehoahaz] is actually the name assigned to Jehoahaz, the fourth son of Josiah
Jeremiah 22:11 (KJV), “For thus saith the Lord touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither anymore.”
The people are directed to lament him rather than his father Josiah: “Weep not for the dead, weep not any more for Josiah.” Jeremiah had been himself a true mourner for him, and had stirred up the people to mourn for him
Jeremiah 22:18 (KJV), “Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!”
Jeconiah also known as Coniah and as Jehoiachin was the nineteenth and second to last king of Judah who was dethroned by the King of Babylon
Jeremiah 22:24-25 (KJV), “24 As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence; 25 And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.”
Proverbs 18 Read
Ezekiel 20
God established a covenant with Israel when He “raised His hand in an oath to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them”
Ezekiel 20:5-6 (KJV), “5 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the Lord your God. 6 In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands.”
The Israelites did not listen to God and defiled Him
Ezekiel 20:13 (KJV), “But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.”
God directed them to continue through the wilderness until the children only remained and gave them the same promise
Ezekiel 20:18-19 (KJV), “18 But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: 19 I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them.”
The children did not listen to God and defiled Him
Ezekiel 20:21 (KJV), “Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.”
God gave Israel His covenants because He knew that no human could follow all of them all the time
Ezekiel 20:25 (KJV), “Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live.”
Romans 3:20 (KJV), “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
[1] A figure in rhetoric by which things are represented as persons, or by which things inanimate are spoken of as animated beings, or by which an absent person is introduced as speaking, or a deceased person is represented as alive and present. It includes personification, but is more extensive in its signification.
Grow in the Word of the Lord 