AND WHEN HE
SAW THE MULTITUDES: Idon (AAPMSN) de tous ochlous: (Mt
4:25;
13:2;
Mark 4:1)
Spurgeon introduces this
section he titles "The King Promulgates the Laws of His Kingdom" with
these words...
This is the natural order of
royal action. The King is anointed, comes among the people to show His
power, and afterwards acts as a Legislator, and sets forth His statutes.
And seeing the multitudes, He
went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto
him. For retirement, fresh air, and wide space, the King seeks the
hill-side. It was suitable that such elevated ethics should be taught
from a mountain. A natural hill suited His truthful teaching better than
a pulpit of marble would have done. Those who desired to follow Him as
disciples gathered closely about the seated Rabbi, Who occupied the
throne of instruction in their midst; and then in outer circles "the
multitudes "stood to listen. (The Gospel of the Kingdom: A Popular
Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew)
There are a variety of opinions as to
what the Sermon on the Mount represents in terms of its theological
thrust but the Plymouth Brethren writer William Kelly had one of
the best assessments...
The sermon on the mount treats
not of salvation, but of the character and conduct of those that belong
to Christ—the true yet
rejected king.
I think Kelly has correctly summarized Jesus' Sermon, because it is
literally impossible for the natural man to fulfill His teachings. Only
one who is born by and filled with His Spirit has the supernatural
ability not just to hear Jesus' words regarding of the
moral/ethical principles of His kingdom but to act upon
those words (see note
Matthew 7:24).
Multitudes (3793)
(ochlos) means crowd or throng and refers to generally to a
multitude or a great number.
Spurgeon has an interesting
comment on "the multitudes" writing that Jesus...
waited until the congregation around
Him had reached its largest size, and was most impressed with His
miracles, and then He took the tide at its flood, as every wise man
should. The sight of a vast concourse of people ought always to move us
to pity, for it represents a mass of ignorance, sorrow, sin, and
necessity, far too great for us to estimate. The Savior looked upon the
people with an omniscient eye, which saw all their sad condition; He saw
the multitudes in an emphatic sense, and His soul was stirred within him
at the sight. His was not the transient tear of Xerxes when he thought
on the death of his armed myriads, but it was practical sympathy with
the hosts of mankind. No one cared for them, they were like sheep
without a shepherd, or like shocks of wheat ready to shale, out for want
of harvest-men to gather them in (cf Mt 9:36-38). Jesus therefore
hastened to the rescue. He notices, no doubt, with pleasure, the
eagerness of the crowd to hear, and this drew him on to speak. A writer
quoted in the “Catena, Aurea” has well said, “Every man in his own
trade or profession rejoices when he sees an opportunity of exercising
it; the carpenter, if he sees a goodly tree, desires to have it felled,
that, he may, employ his skill on it; and even so the preacher, when he
sees a great congregation, his heart rejoices, and he is glad of the
occasion to teach.” If men become negligent, of hearing, and our
audience dwindles down to a handful, it will be, a great distress to us
if we have to remember that, when the many were anxious to hear, we were
not diligent to preach to them. He who will not reap when the fields are
white unto the harvest, will have only himself to blame if in other
seasons he is unable to fill his arms with sheaves. Opportunities should
be promptly used whenever the Lord puts them in our way. It is good
fishing where there are plenty of fish, and when the birds flock around
the fowler it is time for him to spread his nets. (Matthew 5.1-12 The Beatitudes)
Here we find another example of not the best chapter break for "the
multitudes" described here are referred to in the immediately
preceding sentence as "great multitudes" (Mt 4:25). There
is no break with the description that begins most logically in Mt
4:23-25 and thus forms a prologue or introduction to Jesus' teaching.
The Sermon on the Mount reveals the true standard of righteousness which
Christ requires of all who belong to Him (Matthew 5:1). The
limitation of the Sermon on the Mount lies in the fact that our Lord
reveals His standards for the Kingdom life, without the full revelation
of the power by which this standard can be maintained. This fuller
revelation would come later. It is similar to the John 7:37-39 passage,
where Christ gives His promise of power and fruitfulness before the Holy
Spirit has come, through Whom this power is given. The Sermon on the
Mount is similar to a plumbline which shows the crookedness of a wall,
but does not rebuild it.
D Martyn Lloyd-Jones
introduces his monumental work noting...
There are certain general lessons, I
suggest, to be drawn from the Beatitudes.
First, all Christians are to
be like this. Read the Beatitudes, and there you have a description of
what every Christian is meant to be. It is not merely the description
of some exceptional Christians. Our Lord does not say here that He is
going to paint a picture of what certain outstanding characters are
going to be and can be in this world. It is His description of every
single Christian... We are all meant to exemplify everything that is
contained here in these Beatitudes. Therefore let us once and for ever
get rid of that false notion. This is not merely a description of the
Hudson Taylors or the George MacDonalds or the Whitefields or Wesleys of
this world; it is a description of every Christian. We are all of us
meant to conform to its pattern and to rise to its standard.
The second principle I would
put in this form; all Christians are meant to manifest all of these
characteristics. Not only are they meant for all Christians, but of
necessity, therefore, all Christians are meant to manifest all of them.
In other words it is not that some are to manifest one characteristic
and others to manifest another. It is not right to say some are meant
to be 'poor in spirit, and some are meant to 'mourn, and some are meant
to be 'meek, and some are meant to be 'peacemakers, and so on. No; every
Christian is meant to be all of them, and to manifest all of them, at
the same time. Now I think it is true and right to say that in some
Christians some will be more manifest than others; but that is not
because it is meant to be so. It is just due to the imperfections that
still remain in us. When Christians are finally perfect, they will all
manifest all these characteristics fully; but here in this world, and
in time, there is a variation to be seen. I am not justifying it; I am
simply recognizing it...It is impossible truly to manifest one of these
graces, and to conform to the blessing that is pronounced upon it,
without at the same time inevitably showing the others also. The
Beatitudes are a complete whole and you cannot divide them; so that,
whereas one of them may be more manifest perhaps in one person than in
another, all of them are there. The relative proportions may vary, but
they are all present, and they are all meant to be present at the same
time.
But the third is perhaps even
more important. None of these descriptions refers to what we may call a
natural tendency. Each one of them is wholly a disposition which is
produced by grace alone and the operation of the Holy Spirit upon us. I
cannot emphasize this too strongly. No man naturally conforms to the
descriptions here given in the Beatitudes, and we must be very careful
to draw a sharp distinction between the spiritual qualities that are
here described and material ones which appear to be like them. Let me
put it like this. There are some people who appear to be naturally `poor
in spirit'; that is not what is described here by our Lord. There are
people who appear to be naturally `meek'; when we deal with that
statement I hope to be able to show you that the meekness which Christ
talks about is not that which appears to be natural meekness in an
ordinary unregenerate person. These are not natural qualities; nobody by
birth and by nature is like this...There are some people who appear to
be naturally `poor in spirit'; that is not what is described here by our
Lord. There are people who appear to be naturally `meek'; when we deal
with that statement I hope to be able to show you that the meekness
which Christ talks about is not that which appears to be natural
meekness in an ordinary unregenerate person. These are not natural
qualities; nobody by birth and by nature is like this...The truth is
that the Christian and the non-Christian belong to two entirely
different realms. You will notice the first Beatitude and the last
Beatitude promise the same reward, 'for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.' What does this mean? Our Lord starts and ends with it because
it is His way of saying that the first thing you have to realize about
yourself is that you belong to a different kingdom. You are not only
different in essence; you are living in two absolutely different
worlds.
(Lloyd-Jones, D. M.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount) (Bolding
added)
A T Robertson states
regarding the Sermon on the Mount that...
Jesus repeated His sayings many times
as all great teachers and preachers do, but this sermon has unity,
progress, and consummation. It does not contain all that Jesus taught by
any means, but it stands out as the greatest single sermon of all time,
in its penetration, pungency, and power. (Word Pictures in the New
Testament)
Alexander Maclaren states
that...
The Beatitudes, as a whole, are a
set of paradoxes to the ‘mind of the flesh.’ They were meant to tear
away the foolish illusions of the multitude as to the nature of the
kingdom; and they must have disgusted and turned back many would-be
sharers in it. They are like a dash of cold water on the fiery, impure
enthusiasms which were eager for a kingdom of gross delights and vulgar
conquest. And, no doubt, Jesus intended them to act like Gideon’s test,
and to sift out those whose appetite for carnal good was uppermost. But
they were tests simply because they embodied everlasting truths as to
the characters of His subjects. Our narrow space allows of only the most
superficial treatment of these deep words. (entire
sermon)
A. W. Tozer describes the
beatitudes as the opposite of those attitudes that the world most values
writing that..
“A fairly accurate description of the
human race might be furnished one unacquainted with it by taking the
Beatitudes, turning them wrong side out, and saying, ‘Here is your human
race.’ ”
Warren Wiersbe writes
that...
The first sixteen verses of Matthew 5
describe the true Christian and deal with character. The rest of the
Sermon on the Mount deals with conduct that grows out of character.
Character always comes before conduct, because what we are determines
what we do. In Matt. 5:1-16, Jesus shows us that true righteousness is
inward, and in 5:17-48, He points out that sin is also inward. Thus, He
exposed the false righteousness of the Pharisees, who taught that
holiness consisted in religious actions, and that sin was what you did
outwardly. How many people make these mistakes today! God looks upon the
heart, for there is life’s destiny decided.
There is definite progression in
these verses. They show how the person begins with his or her own sense
of sin and finally becomes a child of God and the results that then
follow. Note that these verses deal with attitudes—what we think in our
hearts, our outlook on life. “Beatitudes”—the attitudes that ought to be
in our lives if we are true Christians. (Wiersbe,
W. W. Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament. Wheaton, Ill.:
Victor Books)
Dwight Pentecost writes
that...
Many who had seen the miracles that
the Lord Jesus performed were persuaded He was actually the King God had
promised, who would institute a reign over the nation Israel. They
pressed upon Him with one question uppermost, “Are we righteous enough
to enter His Kingdom?” They knew well that the Old Testament demanded
righteousness as the basis of acceptance with God; and they knew well
the declaration of the psalmist that only those with clean hands and a
pure heart could stand in the King’s presence. And they came to inquire
of Him concerning the righteousness He required for entrance into His
Kingdom. Our Lord shocked the multitude, who were devotees of the
Pharisees and who zealously pursued Pharisaic righteousness, when He
said, “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
heaven” (5:20). If Pharisaic righteousness, which required a rigid
observance of 365 prohibitions and 250 commandments, was not sufficient
to bring men into Messiah’s Kingdom, what kind of righteousness was
necessary? The Sermon on the Mount was our Lord’s exposition of the
holiness of God, and the demands that a holy God made. It describes the
kind of righteousness that God expects of those who have come to know
Him by faith. In that well-known, well-loved, and oft-quoted—but little
understood—part of the Sermon we call the Beatitudes, our Lord described
the characteristics of a righteous man and laid the foundation of a
happy life. He showed what will characterize one who has been made
righteous by faith in God’s promise. He also gave us the basis upon
which God’s blessing comes upon those who have received Him as a
personal Saviour. We could well call the Beatitudes, “The Basis of a
Happy Life.” (Pentecost,
J. D. Design for living: Lessons in Holiness from the Sermon on the
Mount. Kregel Publications)
Daniel Webster instructed
that the following inscription be placed on his tomb
"My heart has always assured and
re-assured me, that the gospel of Jesus Christ must be a divine reality.
The Sermon on the Mount cannot be a merely human production."
Dave Guzik gives an
excellent introduction to the Sermon on the Mount...
1. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew
5-7) has been long hailed as the sum of Jesus' - or anyone's - ethical
teaching. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us how to live.
a. It has been said if you took all
the good advice for how to live ever uttered by any philosopher or
psychiatrist or counselor, took out the foolishness and boiled it all
down to the real essentials, you would be left with a poor imitation of
this great message by Jesus.
2. The Sermon on the Mount is
sometimes thought of as Jesus' "Declaration of the Kingdom."
a. The American Revolutionaries had
their Declaration of Independence. Karl Marx had his Communist
Manifesto. With this message, Jesus declares what His Kingdom is all
about.
b. It presents a radically different agenda than what the nation of
Israel expected from the Messiah. It does not present the political or
material blessings of the Messiah's reign. Instead, it expresses the
spiritual implications of Jesus' rule in our lives. This great message
tells us how will we live when Jesus is our Lord.
3. The Sermon on the Mount does not
deal with salvation as such, but it lays out for the disciple and the
potential disciple how regarding Jesus as King translates into ethics
and daily living.
a. It can't be proved, but in my
opinion, the Sermon on the Mount was Jesus' "standard" sermon. It was
the core of His itinerant message: a simple proclamation of how God
expects us to live, contrasting with common Jewish misunderstandings of
that life. It may be that when Jesus preached to a new audience, He
often preached this sermon or used the themes from it.
b. It is clear that the Sermon on the Mount had a significant impact on
the early church. The early Christians make constant reference to it and
their lives display the glory of radical disciples.
4. (Mt 5:1-2) Introduction to the
Sermon on the Mount.
And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was
seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught
them, saying:
a. When He was seated: As He preached
this message, Jesus was seated. He adopted the customary posture of
teaching, as any rabbi in His day - the preacher sat and the audience
stood.
b. His disciples came to Him . . . He . . . taught them: We notice that
Jesus primarily speaks to His disciples. The Sermon on the Mount is
directed towards disciples, though others may - and should - hear. By
the end of the Sermon on the Mount, people in general hear His message
and are amazed (Matthew 7:28).
The Beatitudes: the character of
kingdom citizens.
1. The first portion of the Sermon on
the Mount is known as the Beatitudes, which means "The Blessings" but
can also be understood as giving the believer his "be - attitudes" - the
attitudes he should "be."
a. In the Beatitudes, Jesus sets
forth both the nature and the aspirations of citizens of His kingdom.
They have and are learning these character traits.
b. All of these character traits are marks and goals of all Christians.
It is not as if we can major in one to the exclusion of others, as is
the case with spiritual gifts. There is no escape from our
responsibility to covet every one of these spiritual attributes.
c. If you meet one who claims to be a Christian but displays and desires
none of these traits, you may rightly wonder about their salvation,
because they do not have the character of kingdom citizens. But if they
claim to have mastered these attributes, you may question their honesty.
(Matthew 5)
HE WENT
UP ON THE MOUNTAIN: anebe (3SAAI) eis to horos: (Mt
15:29;
Mark 3:13,20;
John 6:2,3)
Went up (305)
(anabaino from aná = up + baíno = to go, come)
means to go up, climb, ascend from a lower to a higher place.
Some commentaries make what I think
is an absurd suggestion that Jesus "went up" to
avoid the crowds. Far more likely Jesus "went up" so that He might have
a proper "podium" upon which to address the great multitudes and thus
all could hear and see Him.
Spurgeon commenting on "the
mountain" says...
Of course, this would be mainly
because of the accommodation which the open hill-side would afford to
the people, and the readiness with which, upon some jutting crag, the
preacher might sit down, and be both heard and seen; but we believe the
chosen place of meeting had also its instruction. Exalted doctrine might
well be symbolised by an ascent to the mount; at any rate, let every
minister feel that he should ascend in spirit when he is about to
descant upon the lofty themes of the gospel. A doctrine which could not
be hid, and which would produce a Church comparable to a city set on a
hill, fitly began to be proclaimed from a conspicuous place. A crypt or
cavern would have been out of all character for a message which is to be
published upon the housetops, and preached to every creature under
heaven.
Besides, mountains have
always been associated with distinct eras in the history of the people
of God; Mount Sinai is sacred to the law...Calvary was
also in due time to be connected with redemption, and the Mount of
Olives with the ascension of our risen Lord. It was meet, therefore,
that the opening of the Redeemer’s ministry should he connected with a
mount such as “the hill of the Beatitudes.”...Thank God, it was
not a mount around which bounds had to be placed; it was not the mount
which burned with fire, from which Israel retired in fear. It was,
doubtless, a mount all carpeted with grass, and dainty with fair
flowers, upon whose side the olive and fig flourished in abundance, save
where the rocks pushed upward through the sod, and eagerly invited their
Lord to honor them by making them his pulpit and throne.
May I not add that Jesus was in
deep sympathy with nature, and therefore delighted in an audience
chamber whose floor was grass, and whose roof was the blue sky? The open
space was in keeping with his large heart, the breezes were akin to his
free spirit, and the world around was full of symbols and parables, in
accord with the truths he taught. Better than long-drawn aisle, or tier
on tier of crowded gallery, was that grassed hill-side meeting-place.
Would God we oftener heard sermons amid soul-inspiring scenery! Surely
preacher and hearer would be equally benefited by the change, from the
house made with hands to the God-made temple of nature. (Matthew 5.1-12 The Beatitudes)
AND AFTER HE
SAT DOWN: kai kathisantos (AAPMSG) autou:
Sat down (2523)
(kathizo from katá = down + hizo = sit) means to
seat down, to tarry (not something most of us want to do), or to settle.
It is interesting to compare
this (Mt 5:1) first use of kathizo with the last use of kathizo
in Scripture as recorded by John in the Revelation...
And I saw thrones, and they
sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls
of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and
because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or
his image, and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon
their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand
years (The
Millennium).
(Revelation 20:4)
I agree with John MacArthur's
assessment of who "they" are that "sat" on the thrones...
"Tribulation believers, along
with the redeemed from both the OT and NT eras, will reign with Christ
(1 Cor. 6:2; 2 Tim. 2:12) during the 1,000 year kingdom." (MacArthur,
J.: The MacArthur Study Bible Nashville: Word Pub)
Sitting was the common mode of
teaching among the Jews (Luke 5:3; John 8:2; Acts 13:14; 16:13)
Spurgeon has an interesting
comment on "after He sat down" writing that...
The Preacher sat, and the people
stood. We might make a helpful change if we were sometimes to adopt a
similar plan now. I am afraid that ease of posture may contribute to the
creation of slumber of heart in the hearers. There Christ sat, and “his
disciples came unto him.” They formed the inner circle that was ever
nearest to him, and to them he imparted his choicest secrets, but he
also spoke to the multitude, and therefore it is said that “he opened
his mouth,” as well he might when there were such great truths to
proceed from it, and so vast a crowd to hear them
(Spurgeon adds in a sermon) We
incline to the belief that, when he became a pleader with the sons of
men, he stood with uplifted hands, eloquent from head to foot,
entreating, beseeching, and exhorting, with every member of his body, as
well as every faculty of his mind; but now that he was, as it were, a
Judge awarding the blessings of the kingdom, or a King on his throne
separating his true subjects from aliens and foreigners, he sat down. As
an authoritative Teacher, he officially occupied the chair of doctrine,
and spake ex cathedral, as men say, as a Solomon acting as
the master of assemblies or a Daniel come to judgment. He sat as a
refiner, and his word was as a fire. His posture is not accounted for by
the fact that it was the Oriental custom for the teacher to sit and the
pupil to stand, for our Lord was something more that a didactic teacher,
he was a Preacher, a Prophet, a Pleader, and consequently he adopted
other attitudes when fulfilling those offices, but on this occasion, he
sat in his place as Rabbi of the Church, the authoritative Legislator of
the kingdom of heaven, the Monarch in the midst of his people. Come
hither, then, and listen to the King in
Jeshurun,
the Divine Lawgiver, delivering not the ten commands, but the seven, or,
if you will, the nine Beatitudes of his blessed kingdom. (Matthew 5.1-12 The Beatitudes)
The Bible Knowledge Commentary
writes that...
Jesus instructed them in view of
His announcement of the coming kingdom (Mt 4:17). Natural questions on
the heart of every Jew would have been,
“Am I eligible to enter
Messiah’s kingdom?
Am I righteous enough to qualify
for entrance?”
The only standard of
righteousness the people knew was that laid down by the current
religious leaders, the scribes and Pharisees. Would one who followed
that standard be acceptable in Messiah’s kingdom? (cf Mt 5:20)
Jesus’ sermon therefore must
be understood in the context of His offer of the kingdom to Israel and
the need for repentance to enter that kingdom. The sermon did not
give a “Constitution” for
the kingdom nor did it present the way of salvation. The sermon showed
how a person who is in right relationship with God should conduct his
life. While the passage must be understood in the light of the offer of
the messianic kingdom, the sermon applies to Jesus’ followers today for
it demonstrates the standard of righteousness God demands of His
people...
The qualities Jesus mentioned in
this list, “the poor in spirit,” “those who mourn,” “the meek,” etc.,
obviously could not be products of Pharisaic righteousness. The
Pharisees were concerned primarily with external qualities, but the
qualities Jesus mentioned are internal. These come only when one is
properly related to God through faith, when one places his complete
trust in God. (Walvoord,
J. F., Zuck, R. B., et al: The Bible Knowledge Commentary. 1985. Victor
or
Logos
(Bolding added)
HIS DISCIPLES
CAME TO HIM: autou proselthan (3PAAI) auto hoi mathetai autou: (Mt
4:18-22;
10:2-4;
Luke 6:13-16)
Disciples (3101)
(mathetes from mantháno = learn - see
Disciple) describes a person who
learns from another by instruction, whether formal or informal.
Discipleship
includes the idea of one who intentional learns by inquiry and observation
(cf
inductive Bible study)
and thus mathetes is more than a mere pupil. A mathetes describes
an adherent of a teacher (eg, of of John Mt 11:2; Mk 2:18; Lu 5:33;
7:18; Jn 3:25 , of the Pharisees Mk 2:18 Jn 9:28 and here of Jesus).
Paul gave a description of discipleship in his very last recorded words
in his exhortation to young Timothy...
you (Timothy) followed
(accompanied him side by side, followed him closely, attended to his
belief and behavior carefully) my teaching (first sound doctrine),
conduct (next - sound behavior that backs up what one says they
believe!), purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance (see note
2 Timothy 3:10)
Mathetes in itself does not
include idea of salvation in it, nor is it a guarantee of the fact that
the person called a disciple is a saved person.
The Lord’s Great Commission was to go
into all the world and “make disciples... teaching them to observe all
that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20). That means that the mission of
the church and the goal of evangelism is to make disciples. "Disciple"
in the book of Acts (Acts 6:1-2, 7 11:26 14:20, 21-22 15:10) virtually
always refers to a saved person. Therefore it seems that "disciple" is
not restricted to some higher level of believers, as a number of
commentaries conclude.
Thus it is important to examine the
context (and as in the case of Judas his entire life) for the most
accurate interpretation. Judas is the most notorious example of a
disciple who was never saved. Another case in point is that of those
individuals who rejected the teaching of salvation through atoning
blood, John recording...
Many therefore of
His disciples, when they heard this said, "This is a difficult
statement; who can listen to it?"...As a result of this many of His
disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore.
(Jn 6:60, 66)
Jesus warned all who thought of
becoming disciples to count the cost carefully. (Lu 14:28-30). The call
to discipleship explicitly demands full commitment, with nothing
knowingly or deliberately held back.
