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Mat 17,1-21

(112b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Light >> Jesus’ light overcomes darkness >> The light of His power -- The power of God emanated from Jesus because He is the light of the world. He came to show us the way to the Father. 

Mat 17,1-5

(67a) Authority >> Lordship of Christ >> Jesus’ authority >> The glory of His authority – Disciples of Jesus are witnesses of His Truth and light, as Peter, James and John were witnesses of His transfiguration. We are the light of Christ in the world, and Christ is the origin of all things, who speaks the word of God and the Father does His works through Him. This is the hierarchy of authority in heaven. We are light bearers of His Truth, and we teach the creation about God. One in authority need only speak, and the word of His power is delegated to his servants. An emperor wields the authority of a nation, as God wields the authority of His creation, and He does all things through His word, and Christ has made us a link in the chain of His authority that we disseminate to His creation.

(140d) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Hiding place >> Living in the spiritual revelation of the word -- Peter wanted to build a house for Christ and His guests, but He already had a dwelling place that Peter was unaware. Jesus was living in the revelation of God's word. He was the tabernacle made without hands, in the sense that He had no earthly father, and He was the embodiment of all truth and wisdom from God. 

Mat 17-2

(245c) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Literal manifestation of Jesus Christ >> Jesus is the light of the world – The Transfiguration was a literal manifestation of Jesus Christ as the light of the world, as the divine source of Truth from God. In eternity the Lord will shine like the sun because of the Truth that is in Him. We could attribute light to His righteousness or to His holiness or to His deity, but He shines as the embodiment of God’s Truth. A person can say something that corresponds with the facts, such as 2+2=4, but it is not the Truth, suggesting that there is a difference between facts and truth. Truth is greater than facts as light trumps darkness. Technically, darkness does not have an existence of its own, for it can only exist in the absence of light, and light is the epitome of all that exists, and Satan is the antithesis of Christ. It says about Satan in Rev 17-8 that He “was and is not.” This phrase describes the dragon as darkness. Darkness simultaneously is and is not. When we look at darkness, we can see it, but we can’t see anything else (what we are really seeing is the absence of light), but when we flip on the switch, light reveals all things. When a person finally understands a math problem the light bulb appears over his head. He has been transferred from ignorance to knowledge, as “from the domain of darkness… to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col 1-13), but we can only know God’s Truth as He gives ability. Truth is more than facts; Truth is the life of God, as Jesus said in Jn 6-63, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” An unbeliever can read the Bible and learn about God, but he cannot know the truth until God enlightens him, imbuing him with His Spirit. When he believes the facts to the point of obeying them, the light turns on and he can see God (Mat 5-8). See also: Satan is the accuser of the brethren; Col 2-14,15; 9a

Mat 17,4-8

(237i) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Transferring the kingdom >> The Church is transferred to the kingdom >> The ascension >> Believers’ spiritual ascension – There is a popular teaching that Moses and Elijah will return in the last days as the Two Witnesses; it won't actually be them but two other men who have similar anointings and ministries. Elijah never died; He was received into heaven in a chariot of fire, and though it says Moses died, no one has ever discovered his bones. He walked up a mountainside without an escort and died alone in an undisclosed location, and Scripture speaks nothing more about the details of his death, except in Jd-9, "Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" Some say that Moses too was taken alive into heaven, for they presume that he didn't die as we understand death, they say which opens the door to the possibility that He will return as one of the Two Witnesses of Revelation chapter eleven, quoting Heb 9-27, “Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.” There is a passage in Revelation chapter 11 that says the Two Witnesses will die and be raised from the dead, supplying what Moses and Elijah need to be complete, but none of these teachings hold water. If the Two Witnesses had to be two men who never died, they would be Elijah and Enoch, and if people are going to be dogmatic that every man must die, then what about the Rapture that promises to take millions of people to heaven who never died? See also: Two Witnesses (John the Baptist had the ministry of Elijah); Mat 17,10-13; 193d

Mat 17,4-6

(17g) Sin >> Judging in the flesh >> Perceiving reality according to the flesh (Satanic world view) – The disciples were used to seeing Jesus as the person who had special abilities, but they hesitated to accept some of the ramifications of His deity. In order to see Him the way they wanted they had to dismiss many things He said about Himself, but when His face shone so brightly they could not look upon Him, it made them take a closer look at His true identity. They misunderstood Jesus, much as they misunderstood their own part in the advent. They wanted to participate in some way, but their place was merely to witness His glory. 

(175k) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorant of what God means >> Ignorant of the meaning of God’s works -- It's a hard statement but a true one that much of what we do for God in ignorance resembles witchcraft. Apparently, Jesus can transfigure His body to the glory that is to come and we still wouldn't get it, according to the example of the disciples. Peter didn't know what to do after Jesus turned into something so powerful that He could not look upon Him. His understanding of the Old Testament was mostly what the Scribes and Pharisees taught him before he met the Lord. The only thing he could think to do was build Him a temple, but that was the wrong answer, because it was conceived from human initiative and not from divine inspiration.

Mat 17-4

(224ha) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> The joyful kingdom >> We will recognize our family members in heaven – If Peter recognized Moses and Elijah, two men he had never previously met, how much more will we recognize our family members in heaven whom we intimately knew? Somehow, Peter instinctively knew them, and we will instinctively know our family members in heaven, though they may not appear the same as they did on earth. We know that Moses and Elijah did not bodily meet with Jesus on the mount, because the First Resurrection had not yet occurred. They remain in heaven as disembodied spirits until then, and they were somehow made visible to the disciples.

Mat 17-5

(79h) Listening to the Word (Key verse)

(79j) Thy kingdom come >> Know the word >> Listen to the word >> Listen to Jesus – Jesus in the flesh was the Friend and Master of His disciples, but God in His power and glory was someone to fear. The Father bore witness of His Son, who spoke independently of Him and revealed that there are multiple aspects of God. Jesus came as the exact representation of the Father, and the Father spoke in the cloud to show the disciples that there was a person of God who was separate from Christ. This was to prove that the Father sent His Son, that He did not come on His own initiative (Jn 3-16). They heard the voice of God, a person they had never known, except that they beheld Jesus (Jn 14-9). This suggests that the one who hears Jesus hears the Father, for He spoke the words of God. We have in the Transfiguration a clear example of the Holy Spirit and the word of God operating together to establish the power of God in those who heard. The Father spoke, and it was the word of His Spirit they heard, testifying about the person of Christ. All three members of the trinity were working in tandem, which made it a powerful experience for the disciples, and the message He brought was to simply listen to Jesus, for listening to Him is to hear God. When the Father told the disciples to listen to Jesus, He was telling us to do the same. We listen to Jesus in the Bible, and we do what He says so His Spirit can speak to us as He spoke to them. Jesus taught many things and His disciples interpreted most of what He said according to the religious beliefs of their day, but God told them on the holy mountain that they should abandon what they had previously known and accept what Jesus was telling them and let His perspective on the Truth become theirs. This was a daunting command, for unlearning is much more difficult than learning. When Jesus rose from the dead, they let go of all their previous beliefs and accepted the one Truth that Jesus was trying to tell them for three years, that the gospel of eternal life has come, written in God's own blood. When He ascended to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit and anointed their understanding of Jesus, they recalled the things Jesus said and did over their three-year journey with Him, and they began to understand everything according to the Spirit they were given, the same Spirit they heard on the holy mountain, the Spirit that was given to us who believe. See also: Trinity; Jn 6-46; 104f

Mat 17-6,7

(23l) Sin >> Poverty (Oppression) >> Fear of the unknown >> Fear of miracles -- People in general are not good at accepting paradigm shifts. Peter, James and John were frightened of Jesus after the transfiguration occurred, because it shattered their perception of Him, and proved that He was truly not of this world. They perceived that He was a being from another dimension far greater than their own to whom they could not entirely relate. All they knew for sure at this point was that He did not fit the image they painted of Him in their minds. 

Mat 17-9

(214k) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> God Has Good Timing >> God synchronizes events in His time -- There were so many miraculous things that happened in Jesus day, they didn’t report half of them. Jesus told His disciples to keep it a secret what they had just witnessed, having said this many times, sternly warning the people not to say a word, suggesting that there was a risk of too much popularity. Jesus knew He would be crucified making the great confession that He was the Son of God, so He didn’t want this getting around. He wanted people to believe it about Him, but He didn't want them to talk about it, because He didn't want to be killed before the time. He was on a schedule set by the Father with everything in its time. Our eternal God who has all the time in eternity is extremely time oriented when it comes to scheduled events.

Mat 17,10-13

(50dc) Judgment >> Last Days >> Jewish Led endtime revival >> Israel prophesied to restore the gentiles to salvation

(193d) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Repent >> Turn from your evil ways >> Turn from sin to God – John the Baptist’s purpose was to prepare the way for Messiah and to “restore all things” (Mat 17-11). His ministry was to break the ice, so when Jesus came they were already be expecting Him. John testified about the light so that all might believe in Jesus through him. We know that Israel at the time was spiritually in tatters; they got that way from many centuries of disobedience. It wasn’t through their unbelief in the Law of Moses that led them astray but by their disobedience, with the result that they interpreted the law according to the way they lived. This happened over a course of many centuries, until their understanding of the law was skewed beyond remedy. Then John the Baptist entered the scene with his message of repentance, and Israel’s understanding of the law suddenly became clear again. Hundreds of years of misuse of the law was restored, so when Jesus came, He didn’t have to start from scratch. The same thing will happen in the last days through the Two Witnesses and the 144,000 Jews, who will come to restore the Church to the obedience of faith in a Great Endtime Revival. See also: Two Witnesses; Mat 17,10-12; 59a / Great Endtime Revival (John the Baptist had the ministry of Elijah); Lk 7,24-28; 193d

Mat 17,10-12

(59a) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> Spirit of Elijah is coming / John the Baptist was like Elijah -- These verses are key to understanding end-time prophesy. The ministry of Elijah is referring to the Two Witnesses in the book of Revelation. (Whether Elijah is actually one of the Two Witnesses is doubtful.) A quick study on John the Baptist reveals the ministry of Elijah, and add a figure like Moses and we develop a snapshot of the Two Witnesses. One of them will have the ministry of Elijah, wielding the power of God, fighting the devil incarnate and his false prophets, and the second of the two will lead the Church into the wilderness. Jesus said about them that the goal of their ministries is to restore all things. This suggest that things must not be going too well for the Church in the last days if the Two Witnesses have a ministry of restoration. See also: Two witnesses (Moses and Elijah); Mat 17,4-8; 237i

Mat 17,14-21

(45m) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Subjecting your flesh >> Satan VS the saints >> Demons are subject to the Church through Christ

(146f) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Deliverance from demon possession >> Casting out violent demons – Jesus told us to pray when casting out certain demons. Prayer literally communes with Christ, which is something demons cannot endure for long. The Bible teaches that demons actually rule of the world, and Satan is ruler of demons; they are disembodied spirits that possess people for the purpose of interfacing with the world while tormenting their victims, and all they hope to accomplish is to steal, kill and destroy. They don't love the world; in fact, they are incapable of loving anything. Jesus’ disciples asked Him, why they couldn’t cast out the demon, and He said, “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” There are stubborn demons that don’t come out so quickly but bring resistance, and their resistance is just another lie that says you don’t have authority to exorcise them, which in fact we do. Jesus didn’t say we could cast out some demons and not others but said there are some that won't obey us except by prayer and fasting. Apparently, it depends on the power of the demon, yet how is stubbornness related to its power, for every demon is stubborn? Jesus didn’t have to pray or fast to cast out the most stubborn demons. In Mk 5,1-13 they upset the entire town, being so strong that no one could bind them, breaking their fetters and running among the tombs, but we must pray and fast to exorcise these powerful demons because of the littleness of our faith.

Mat 17,14-18

(138b) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Reproof >> Jesus reproves His disciples for their unbelief -- These were strong words against the disciples for their inability to perform miracles, but this was Jesus' standard. They needed to get used to performing miracles on a daily basis, until it became a normal part of their lives, even as it was for their Master. Jesus knew that if they were unable to perform miracles through the hand of God, their own hands in a couple generations would pick up swords and spears in the name of God as tools for spreading the gospel. "O unbelieving and perverted generation," He said to them; what would He say of the generations that followed, and what is He saying about us today?

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Mat 17,15-21

(241e) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Obstacles in the way of the kingdom >> Ask but don’t receive because of unbelief – The Bible teaches that believing the wrong thing is the same as unbelief in the truth. Although Jesus had been talking to His disciples for years about His Truth, still He could not shake them from their preconceived notions. They were waiting for Jesus to conquer the Roman government that enslaved Israel and the world and set up His own kingdom, according to the teachings of the Old Testament that the Scribes and Pharisees taught them from childhood, the kingdom that is yet to come. They didn't realize that there must first be a 2000-year age of grace that must come first, and He could not make them see it, because their hope of a coming kingdom had been so deeply engrained into their Jewish tradition. For this reason, they weren’t particularly interested in preaching the gospel to every creature, casting out devils and healing the sick by the authority of Christ. They considered these things to be peripheral issues compared to the kingdom they were expecting Him to establish under the nose of Pontius Pilate, Herod and Caesar. They were trying to taste apples in the orange juice Jesus was serving, and for this reason the disciples were chronically conflicted between the kingdom they were expecting and the age that was coming. See also: Expecting the Kingdom of God to appear immediately; Mat 17,15-18; 198j

Mat 17,15-18

(198j) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Frustrating the grace of God >> Frustrating Jesus through unbelief – The disciples had a problem believing in Jesus, and He considered their unbelief to be perverse. They had everything they needed to believe in Him: the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, signs, wonders and miracles, and Jesus Himself, the very embodiment of God’s word. With all these advantages the disciples still had difficulty believing in Him, but after the resurrection and Pentecost all that changed. The resurrection tuned their world upside-down and actually righted it, so that they were finally on the same page with Jesus, once their own ideas had been dispelled. After the resurrection, for the first time they opened their mind to Jesus' plan that was different from theirs. In lieu of the Kingdom of God suddenly appearing (Lk 19-11), it never entered their minds that He would be nailed to a cross, their secret hopes intensifying the horror of it all. Bringing the problem home, we have the same flawed hope of the kingdom of God suddenly appearing in the erroneous doctrine of the pre-tribulation Rapture. See also: Expecting the Kingdom of God to appear immediately; Mat 17,15-21; 241e / Lk 18,31-34; 177i

Mat 17,16-20

(203b) Denying Christ >> Dishonor God by your unbelief – The disciples were so distant from God’s plan; all their preconceived notions were wrong, yet how are we any different from them? When are we going to abandon our presumptions that get in the way of understanding God’s plan and purpose for the Church in these last days? After the horrible whipping He received, blood streaming from deep wounds, the image of Him hanging on the cross exhaling His last breath still vividly imprinted on their minds, the moment they saw Jesus standing in front of them raised from the dead all their preconceptions vanished like a lifting fog at first light. When He ascended to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit and they received the anointing of Pentecost, then they carried out God’s purposes after He empowered them to believe and obey the truth. Before the resurrection and Pentecost they could hardly believe what Jesus told them, but afterward they understood the truth by revelation, and by that revelation they performed miracles to establish a spiritual form of God’s kingdom on the earth through the preaching of the cross.

Mat 17,17-20

(20h) Sin >> Doubt replaces faith

Mat 17-17

(69d) Authority >> Righteous judgment (outcome of discernment) >> Righteous anger >> God is angry at sin – This statement depicts the fact that it was the Father’s love that brought Jesus here, that it was not His own idea to be clothed in human flesh wrangling with His disciples, His choice of words making that evident. His disciples were constituents of an unbelieving and perverted generation, being more inclined to obey their genetic predispositions and social background than to believe in Jesus, and He was wearying of the disobedience and unbelief that was all around Him. It must have been overwhelming at times, though His disciples believed in Him more than anyone. In our day no one is expecting miracles. Jesus couldn’t wait to finish with this life so he could go back to heaven with His Father in a resurrected body. This life is a pain in the neck compared to heaven. See also: Father sent the Son; 1Cor 13-3; 252j

(70e) Authority >> Sin of familiarity >> Familiarity-enemy of discernment >> Spirit grieves over sin -- Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are one and the same in that Jesus responded as the Holy Spirit would in every situation. We have heard the saying, "Familiarity breeds contempt". This was the problem with the disciples on the mountain during the transfiguration a few verses back and it was their problem with curing the demoniac. The battle rages between spending time with Jesus and that time breeding contempt. The Spirit grieves over our contempt for Him after we have spent time prayerfully searching the Scriptures.

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Mat 17,18-21

(107b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Word creates faith >> Jesus’ words create faith

Mat 17-18

(216a) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> Suddenly >> Being healed without delay – God was starting the age of grace through His Son, and He had to get people’s attention before He could communicate His will to mankind. Without being a miracle-worker Jesus could have talked until He was blue in the face, and people would not have listened Him, but considered Him another would-be cult leader, attempting to start a new sect, and He wouldn’t have gone beyond that point. Conversely, had Jesus performed miracles all day, yet without ever speaking the word of God, He would have become a carnival grandmaster of wild and unusual entertainment, but nothing more. His miracles would have been mentioned a few times in passing for a couple years and then faded into obscurity. Go to a magic show and see unexplainable things happening before our eyes; it is amazing but forgettable. However, when Jesus combined these two: the word of God and divine power, He created something that would never be forgotten. He got their attention to hear the word of God through of His miracles, requiring them to seriously consider what He said. They could ignore what He was doing, and they could ignore what He was saying, but they could not ignore what He was doing and saying. See also: Spirit and the Word (Both must be present); Jn 7-45,46; 30f

Mat 17-19,20

(162e) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> A slave to unbelief >> Bondage to an inability to believe – To say they needed faith the size of a mustard seed to perform miracles suggests that the disciple didn't even have that much. Imagine what we can do with a mustard seed of faith when it begins to grow. Their faith was diluted with disobedience. If we have faith and show disobedience at the same time, how is it we have faith? Who’s to say which is real, our faith or our doubts? This is why it is necessary to strain out the leaven so that we become a single lump of unleavened dough (1Cor 5-6,7). The fact that Jesus accused His disciples of having so little faith, indicates they were operating in a state of unbelief in the wilderness of doubt. We need to remember that the disciples then didn’t know Jesus’ purpose, which was to establish a covenant upon which He could establish His spiritual Kingdom before He came a second time to set up His physical kingdom. His disciples were unaware of this until Jesus rose from the dead, and then they opened their mind to what God was doing. He tried to explain it to them many times but they couldn’t hear it over the internal chatter of their previous learning. The disciples didn’t want a spiritual kingdom; they wanted a physical one. Don’t we all? We groan in our flesh by the fact that God’s kingdom is not yet physical, but one day we will get our wish.

Mat 17-20

(54c) Paradox >> Opposites >> Weak faith

(213b) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> God is all powerful >> All things are possible with God -- Jesus set the carrot before the horse and told the Church to go after it, that if we pursue it with all our heart we will find this level of faith. It is unattainable to one person, but the Church as a whole can pursue it and we can all attain it together. What could one person do with the faith that Jesus had, or what would society do to one person with that kind of faith? They would do to him what they did to Jesus. As a Church, though, we can confide in each other, and there is safety in numbers. God is not interested in raising up one person; He wants to raise up the entire Church to a level of faith that can relate to God where nothing is impossible to them. This is His standard, and He expects us to seek it. See also: Unity; Act 4,29-31; 122b

(229b) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Kingdom grows by itself >> Growing In Numbers Corresponds With Spiritual Growth >> Kingdom grows in strength

Mat 17-21

(82d) Thy kingdom come >> Three elements of prayer >> Our approach >> How to pray

(189j) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Masochism (Self-made martyr) >> Fasting >> Fasting simulates dying to self – Fasting represents dying to self. It conveys that we care less about food and our physical existence and more about the will of God. So fasting was for the disciples to separate themselves from their earthly existence, creating distance between them and the demons they were trying to exorcize. While they were fasting they were also praying and remaining in communion with God, so when they cast out the demon, they had a recent session with Lord, expressing their indifference to this life through fasting. They became spiritual instead of earthly, thus had less in common with the demons. They needed to make contrast between them and the demons they were exorcizing, as opposed to the story of the seven sons of Sceva. The demon said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” The demon-possessed man pounced on the men, and they ran for their lives naked and wounded (Act 19,13-16). They made no contrast between them and the demons, and for that reason they could not tell them what to do.

(206i) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Conditions to promises >> Conditions to doing the works of Jesus

Mat 17-22,23

(168i) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world has deaf ears to God >> Deaf to the word of God from a lack of understanding – The disciples were deeply grieved, meaning they actually heard what Jesus said, yet the next day they acted like they never heard Him, and when the time came for Him to die, it came to them as complete surprise, as though He never forewarned them about it. Although Jesus force-fed them the word of His suffering, it never resonated with them, and they shortly afterward forgot what He said. It goes back to the parable of the seed sower when it says that some seed fell beside the road and the birds of the air ate it (Mat 13-18,19), birds referring to demons. They didn’t want to believe it, and so the devil came and stole it from their hearts. 

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Mat 17,24-27

(1f) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> become all things to all men >> Conform without compromise -- Jesus was a native of the land and was therefore exempt from the tax, but to keep from arguing with the people He just paid them. He conformed to their view of Him without compromising the truth of His identity to avoid an unnecessary confrontation. He kept the door open for those He may have otherwise offended by defending His legal status as a son of Israel; perhaps Jesus was fishing for more tax gatherers.

(9b) Responsible >> Prevent being blamed for something you did not do >> Prevent the appearance of evil – Jesus paid the tax for Peter and Himself, but what about the other disciples? They weren't concerned about it, and apparently the tax gatherers weren't either, because they didn't raise the issue with them. This suggests that the tax gatherers were interested more in trapping Jesus and His disciples in a debate than collecting taxes. Jesus did this to ease Peter's mind, not to pay taxes. Jesus along with His disciples were citizens of heaven first, and for this reason the people did not recognize them as citizens of Israel. Had Peter not paid the tax, He may have been thrown in jail; had He argued with them, He would have offended God, so He paid the tax, not with His own money, but with God's money. See also: Christians are strangers on the earth; Mat 17,25-27; 217j

(35j) Gift >> God gives Himself to us >> Gifts from the Holy Spirit >> Spiritual gifts >> Knowing the mind of God – Unfortunately, the vast majority of people in the Church are not open to the gifts of the Spirit; in fact, there are some whole denominations that completely shun the gifts as a matter of their religion. They don’t even want to talk about them; in fact, they avoid reading First Corinthians chapters twelve and fourteen, but readily focus on chapter thirteen, the Love chapter. There are hoards of ministers who would love to have a dynamic ministry, and would do almost anything to achieve it, except believe in God for the gifts of the Spirit, which involves a highly intimate relationship with Him. This is the kind of relationship that God would love to have with us all, but most of us are unwilling. God expects us to obey Him but leaves it to us whether or not we will walk in the gifts of the Spirit. However, walking in the fruits of the Spirit is not a prerogative. Many a Christian has lost his soul resisting the Holy Spirit on the level of bearing fruit, but no one has lost his soul refusing to walk in the gifts. See also: Miracles; Mat 17-24,25; 70b

Mat 17-24,25

(70b) Authority >> Righteous judgment (outcome of discernment) >> Sensitivity to the Spirit – Jesus was highly sensitive to the Holy Spirit, which made Him appear as all-knowing. Although He was God in human flesh, He laid aside His infinite power and knowledge and dwelt among us in finite limitations. Jesus only knew what the Holy Spirit told Him, who informed Him about the conversation Peter had with a tax collector. Most of us are not this sensitive to the Holy Spirit. If we are open to Spiritual discernment, He will enable us to effectively operate in this realm when needed. The gift of discernment is just one of many gifts that God would like us to add to our arsenal of ministry tools. See also: Miracles; Mat 17,25-27; 78e

(152f) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Jesus is a prophet >> Jesus prophesies to the Church

Mat 17,25-27

(78e) Thy kingdom come >> Sincerity >> Taking God to heart >> Having pure motives and desires – There are magicians nowadays who can do some pretty amazing things. Most admit they have no special powers, calling themselves illusionists. Would it be possible for a magician to recreate this situation, use a bare hook, a line and a pole to catch a fish with money in its mouth? David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear, but Jesus could raise a known dead person back to life. If one of Jesus’ miracles were a hundred percent valid, it would validate all his miracles, for why would a miracle worker use trickery? Jesus said to His disciples, “nothing will be impossible to you” (v20). See also: Miracles; Mat 17-27; 147d

(217j) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> I never knew you >> Because you are not of His sheep -- Since the tax gatherers did not recognize Jesus and His disciples as citizens of Israel, how could God recognize those tax gatherers as citizens of heaven? Obviously Jesus walked in all the gifts of the Spirit, and then He turned to his disciples and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also” (Jn 14-12). However, we almost never see the gifts in practice because of gross disobedience and unbelief, not just with individuals but with the Church as a whole, like Israel in Jesus' day. When it comes to manifesting the Kingdom of Heaven, an entire infrastructure of faith and obedience must be present. See also: Christians are strangers on the earth; Mat 17-27; 30b

Mat 17-27

(1a) Avoid offending Man (Key verse)

(30b) Gift of God >> God is our source >> His creative ability supplies our needs – Peter was a fisherman, so Jesus had Peter solve his problem according to his profession, and He addressed Peter’s concern. Should Christians pay taxes, or should we fight for exemption? The Lord’s answer was that we should pay our taxes (Rom 13-6). Note that this was a tax on strangers. Jesus and His disciples were Jews, legal citizens of Israel; they weren’t strangers; the poll tax didn't apply to them. What was this tax collector thinking when he demanded a foreigner tax on Peter, a citizen of Israel obvious by his hook nose? He wasn’t required to pay the tax, so why did Jesus have Peter pay it? He wasn’t going to argue with the tax collector; instead, He gave him what he wanted, and he undoubtedly pocketed the money. The fact that this tax collector considered Jesus and His disciples to be foreigners says something about Christians in this world. Heb 11-13 says we are “strangers and exiles on the earth,” so this tax collector actually made an interesting observation. Although they were Jews, they appeared to be foreigners; they looked like Jews but they didn’t act like citizens of any country of this world. See also: Christians are strangers on the earth; 62c

(62c) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Being clever >> Responding with wisdom to your enemies >> Cheat them -- Essentially, the Spirit of God broke the laws of men when He had Jesus say to Peter, ‘In order not to offend them pay the tax, but don’t give them our money. Instead, give them money that came from a fish.’ Jesus had Peter go fishing to ease his mind, not to pay taxes. God paid the tax; therefore, God was the stranger. Normally, Jesus never performed miracles to flaunt His power or to feed freeloaders. In this case, though, Jesus made an exception; He performed a miracle without really needing to (He could have paid the tax gatherers out of their treasury, or just not paid them at all). The purpose of this miracle, among other things, was to secretly scoff at the people who did not recognize them as citizens of Israel, and thus did not recognize Jesus as their Messiah. See also: Christians are strangers on the earth; Mat 17,24-27; 9b

(119a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Freedom >> Law of the spirit >> Freedom from the law -- Jesus no doubt was a law abiding citizen of Israel, yet He didn't live by the law of the land, but by the law of the Spirit of life (freedom); read Rom 8,1-4. Living by the law puts you in bondage to the law, but living by the Spirit put you in bondage to the Spirit, while inadvertently fulfilling the law. Jesus in a way was demonstrating His freedom from the law by paying taxes without any cost to Himself. He drew the money from the storehouse of His Fathers infinite reserves. 

(147d) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> God exercises authority over every living thing – How did this happen? First, the shekel was dropped in the ocean at some point; then the fish scooped it up with its mouth; then Peter went fishing, hoping to catch that particular tax-paying fish. There was no mention of any bait; Peter went fishing for a fish with the pica eating disorder, presumably a northern pica. It decreases the odds all the more that he used no bait. Through this miracle we can see God in charge of many miniscule details. Is this the God we serve, someone deeply involved in tiny facets of life? According to this miracle, so it seems, though we see an awfully lot of randomness in the world. The next question, did Jesus order this miracle or did the Father speak to Him that this was prearranged? The Bible teaches that Jesus was not in control but the Father, and Jesus was merely followed orders. Jesus didn’t cause these things to happen; He only told Peter to dip a hook in the ocean and pull a shekel from a fish’s mouth. It was His Father behind the scenes who caused the miracle. See also: Miracles; Mat 17,24-27; 35j