Matthew 19:23-30: “Jesus Teaches His Disciples About How Hard It
Will Be For A Rich Man To Go To Heaven / Peter Asks Jesus What Reward His
Followers Will Have”
by
Jim Bomkamp
1.
INTRO
1.1.1.
In our study
last week we saw that a man known as ‘The Rich Young Ruler’ came to Christ
wondering what good deed he might do in order to inherit eternal life, and we
observed several things about him:
1.1.1.1.
This man was a
typical legalist trying to become accepted by God sight based upon his own
rightousness
1.1.1.2.
We saw that he
was self-deceived for he did not even come close to having an accurate view of
himself from God’s perspective
1.1.1.2.1.
He actually
thought that he had kept God’s commandments all of his life
1.1.1.3.
We saw that
Jesus tried to convict this man of his unrighteousness and inability to keep
God’s commandments, however the man never seemed to get what Jesus was telling
him
1.1.1.4.
Finally, we
saw that Jesus realized that what was keeping him from coming to eternal life
and becoming one of His followers was his love of riches, he loved his riches
more than he loved God
1.1.2.
In these
verses in this study we see that Jesus tells His disciples that it will be
difficult for a person who is rich to come to eternal life
1.1.2.1.
Jesus tells
them that God can bring a rich person to salvation however
1.1.2.2.
Peter then
asks Jesus what reward those who will have in His kingdom who have left
everything and followed Him?
1.1.2.3.
Jesus tells
His apostles that their reward is that they shall sit upon 12 thrones judging
the 12 tribes of Israel
2.
VS
19:23-24 - “23 And Jesus said to His
disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom
of heaven. 24 “And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the
2.1.
Jesus says, ‘Truly’,
here in His teaching to give emphasis to what He is saying, as He meant in the
gospels whenever He uses the word.
2.2.
When Jesus refers
to ‘the kingdom of heaven’ in His teaching He is referring to the rule of God
in men’s hearts, that rule that one day will be consummated when all of God’s
people will be together in His visible presence and serve and worship Him
forever as God over all.
2.3.
Now, over the
years that I have been a Christian I have heard various interpretations for
what Jesus was referring to when He said that ‘it is easer for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle’:
2.3.1.
Some have said
that it refers to a narrow gate in the wall of
2.3.1.1.
The problem with
this interpretation that John MacArthur and others have pointed out is that
there is no evidence that such a gate existed in Jesus’ time. It is a nice idea.
2.3.2.
I have heard that
others have believed that the word for ‘camel’ used here was a typo and that
the word that Jesus actually used was a word that meant ‘rope’, and thus
Jesus said that it would be like trying to thread a rope through a needle for a
rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
2.3.2.1.
John MacArthur
points out here the problem with this interpretation is that it would be rather
unusual that three of the gospel writers had the same typo made to their texts.
2.3.3.
John MacArthur
points out that the most probably interpretation of this verse is that the
phrase used by Jesus was a Jewish colloquialism for what is impossible. John writes, “It was probably a
modified form of a Persian expression for impossibility, “easier for an
elephant ato go through the eye of a needle”, that is quoted in the
Talmud. Being the largest animal known
in
2.4.
Regardless of
which interpretation that you make for this teaching of Jesus, the point that
He made does not change. He is teaching
His disciples that it is difficult for a rich person to get to the point in his
life where he is willing to submit himself completely to God in repentance and
trust in Jesus alone for his salvation.
3.
VS
19:25-26 - “25 And when the disciples
heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” 26 And
looking upon them Jesus said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with
God all things are possible.”” -
Based upon Jesus’ teaching about the difficulty of a rich man enter the
kingdom of heaven, the disciples ask Jesus, ‘Who then can be saved?’
3.1.
The disciples
‘were very astonished’ at this teaching of Jesus because the Pharisees taught
that a man with riches had many advantages spiritually and thus was more likely
to make it to heaven.
3.2.
In asking this
question, the disciples were probably concerned about what kinds of people they
should be willing to spend their time in preaching the kingdom of heaven to if
some would never be able to come to salvation due to their economic bracket.
3.2.1.
In other words, I
believe they wanted Jesus to give them some definite guidelines to use when
evaluating whether or not someone would ever be a potential candidate for
becoming one of Jesus’ disciples and therefore inheriting salvation.
3.3.
Jesus’ reponse to
the disciple’s question indicates that God is powerful enough to bring any man
or woman to salvation, and that though man is limited to his own resources that
God is able to do that which is impossible in any situation.
3.4.
Jesus
then teaches His disciples an important principle, that there is nothing that
the Lord is not able to do, for ‘all things are possible’ when it comes to the
working of His power.
3.4.1.
Sometimes we
Christians don’t have the faith to trust that the Lord can deal with certain
types of situations or problems, and thus we either don’t bring them to prayer
at all, or we pray about these things but then we don’t trust that the Lord
will answer our prayers.
3.4.1.1.
Women tend to be
worriers and fretters, and doing this they are allowing unbelief to be in their
life as they just seem to never be settled or a peace. When confronted with their unbelief women who
worry or are fretters sometimes will say that you just don’t understand what
they are going through or the situation itself, yet the cause of their behavior
is just unbelief.
3.4.1.2.
Men tend to often
get angry or go off on some weird tangent, and though they may not be willing
to admit that what they are really struggling with is the fact that they are
living in unbelief, never the less this is the cause of their behavior.
3.4.2.
We Christians can
take heart that when it comes to praying for our lost loved ones or friends
that seem so far away from the Lord, that God can do the impossible and bring
the lost one to salvation, and thus we must never give up praying and trusting
God to work in their life in a mighty way.
4.
VS
19:27-28 - “27 Then Peter answered
and said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then
will there be for us?” 28 And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you
who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His
glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve
tribes of
4.1.
I believe though
Peter didn’t realize the benefits of being in the grace of God, this was a very
important question for Peter to have asked and for Jesus to have answered,
because we must realize that Jesus’ disciples have been following Him and
listening to His teaching for these 3 ½ years and yet we also know that they
grappling with the same questions that the general populace was concerning
Jesus, namely, “If Jesus was to be the Jewish Messiah, why wasn’t He
building up His army and making plans to go and to conquer the nations and rule
over them?”
4.1.1.
Ever since Jesus
revealed to His disciples that He was in fact the Messiah the Son of the Living
God, it seems that the disciples’ expectations for Jesus have being severely
tested.
4.1.2.
We will see in
chapter 20 verse 17 that Jesus now determined that He was to go to
4.1.3.
Since Jesus was
not fulfilling the disciples’ expectation in becoming a political Messiah, and
we can guess that their hopes of being His right hand men and cabinet members
in His new kingdom were being all but dashed completely, it was important for
them to know what in fact they would be receiving as a reward or compensation
for their following and obeying Jesus.
4.2.
This question was
also inappropriate however, for the believer in Christ is now in the grace of
God, and what he really deserves, namely hell, he doesn’t get. Rather, he receives so many blessings and
mercies all of which are undeserved. If
God merely gave each believer pardon for his sins and eternal life with Him,
this alone is a gift that is too great even to fully comprehend.
4.3.
Jesus tells His
twelve apostles that the reward that they will have for following Him in this
life is that when He entered His Millenial Kingdom that they would, ‘sit on
twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel’.
4.3.1.
We don’t have a
lot of details given to us about life in the during Christ’s Millenial Kingdom
upon the earth after His ‘Second Coming’ which will occur at the end of the
Seven Year Tribulation of the book of Revelation, however we do see that there
are people and nations living all over the world, however Jesus tells us here
that the reward for the Twelve Apostles involves their being made ‘judges’ or
rulers over the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
4.3.2.
The question that
I have is how about all of Christ’s other followers on earth, what shall they
be reward with? I believe that it is
possibly the case that we also will be given responsibility over cities, for in
Luke 19:12-19 Jesus taught His disciples the ‘Parable of The Talents’,
and in that parable which pictures symbolically the rewards that Christ’s
followers will have, Jesus shows that being a good steward with the salvation
and gifts that the Lord has given us will result in Him one day giving us
charge over an appropriate number of cites based upon the degree to which we
were faithful, “12 He said therefore, “A certain nobleman went to a
distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. 13 “And he
called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do
business with this until I come back.’ 14 “But his citizens hated him, and sent
a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ 15
“And it came about that when he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he
ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him in
order that he might know what business they had done. 16 “And the first
appeared, saying, ‘Master, your mina has made ten minas more.’ 17 “And he said
to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little
thing, be in authority over ten cities.’ 18 “And the second came, saying, ‘Your
mina, master, has made five minas.’ 19 “And he said to him also, ‘And you are
to be over five cities.’”
4.3.2.1.
We know for sure
that we who follow Christ in this life shall also reign with Him, for in
Revelation 3:21, Jesus gave the church in Laodicea a promise that is
really for all believers, and the promise is that if we overcome in this life
for Him that we will sit with Him on His throne, “21 ‘He who overcomes, I
will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat
down with My Father on His throne.’”
5.
VS 19:29 - “29 “And everyone who has left houses or
brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s
sake, shall receive many times as much, and shall inherit eternal life.””
- Jesus makes a promise to all who
follow Him that we shall receive back many times as much of whatever it is that
we give up for Him
5.1.
In Mark
10:29-30, there is a promise that is very similar to this one, and it may have
been given by Jesus at a different time and location, “29 Jesus said,
“Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s
sake, 30 but that he shall receive a hundred times as much now in the present
age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along
with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.”
5.1.1.
In comparing
Jesus’ promise given to Mark with this one in Matthew, we notice that the
things that are mentioned that a follower might leave, ‘house or brothers or
mother or father or children or farms’, is identical, as is the reason that
these were left, ‘for My sake’. However,
the reward or reciprocation that will be given for leaving these things is
defined a little bit more clearly:
‘You’ll receive back a hundred times as much ‘in the present age’
5.1.1.1.
This then reveals
that the rewards and reciprocation for following Jesus in this life are not
just to be received in the by and by, so to speak, but that we shall reap
blessings in this life.
5.1.1.2.
I remember when I
gave up my life of sin and rebellion against God and began to follow Him, that
though before I had thought that if I truly followed the Lord that my life
would be wholesome and holy but extremely mundane and boring, that I suddenly
found myself being a member of a new family and that suddenly I had more
friends in the fellowship that I began attending than I had ever had in my
entire life, and these friends were not the fair-weather friends who were
friends only when it was convenient and we had some things in common, these
were friends who loved me unconditionally and not in a fickle manner.
5.1.1.2.1.
This is how God
gives us a hundred-fold of everything that we leave behind to follow Him.
5.2.
Note also here
that Jesus promises to the one who leaves all to follow Him that He promises
that He will give to him ‘eternal life’:
5.2.1.
Vines Expository
Dictionary has the following entry for defining what ‘eternal life’ consists
of, “Eternal life is the present actual possession of the believer
because of his relationship with Christ, John 5:24; 1 John 3:14, and that it
will one day extend its domain to the sphere of the body is assured by the
Resurrection of Christ, 2 Cor. 5:4; 2 Tim. 1:10. This life is not merely a
principle of power and mobility, however, for it has moral associations which
are inseparable from it, as of holiness and righteousness.”
5.2.1.1.
John 5:24, “24
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent
Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of
death into life.””
5.2.1.2.
1 John 3:14,
“14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the
brethren. He who does not love abides in death.”
5.2.1.3.
2 Cor. 5:4, “4
For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we
do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal
may be swallowed up by life.”
5.2.1.4.
2 Tim. 1:10,
“10 but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus,
who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the
gospel.”
5.2.2.
Eternal Life is
more than just physical life after the grave, more than life that will last
forever, rather it is a quality of life also that God places within believers through
the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, however believers in Christ must learn now
to live within this realm as their present experience by growing in the
knowledge and experience of walking after the Spirit and not the flesh.
6.
VS 19:30 - “30 “But many who are first will be
last; and the last, first.”” - Jesus
teaches His disciples that many who are first will be last, and visa versa
6.1.
In the gospels we
constantly see that the disciples were always vying for prominence in Christ’s
estimation and in His kingdom, wondering who would be the greatest in His
kingdom, etc., and here we see that Jesus tells them that ‘many’of those who
might have begun to follow Him from the first will end up being last in the
line for rewards and reciprocation in His kingdom.
6.2.
We can see from
verses in the bible such as these that there are going to be a lot of surprises
in heaven when it comes to who ends up there as well as who receives what
rewards.
6.3.
What really
matters then as far as the eternal rewards that will be received for following
Christ is what He thinks of us, and whether or not we have been faithful and
obedient to Him in our life.
6.4. Because we Christians are living in the grace of God,
all of the rules are modified, for everything that we receive from God is a
gift that is undeserved.