Mateus 21
A.T. Robertson · Citado em PreceptAustin
Mateus 21
Robertson says that the deliberate conduct of Jesus here could have but one meaning, namely, that this was His formal presentation of Himself as the Messiah. The crowds realized this and entered into the spirit of the occasion. The people, however, expected the Lord to set up His rule in opposition to that of Rome, and deliver the Jews from the yoke of their oppressors. And others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading (stronnuo - imperfect tense - again and again) them in the road (hodos) - John 12:13+ tells us they were PALM TREES, which had nationalistic implications for they were connected to prominent Jewish victories in the past (cf 1Macc 13:51). And so the crowd is throwing the palm branches on Jesus' path. John seems to suggest that the crowd was also waving the palm branches (although waving is not definitely stated) as they were shouting "Hosanna!" (which means "Save Now" or "Save, we pray.") Take a moment of respite to play and worship the coming King as you sing Hosanna. John
Mateus 21
Robertson says, "It is a vivid picture of internal doubt." We must not only believe God, we must believe we believe God. Like the silly habit of going back to see whether you really did lock that door, an unsettled state of spiritual indecision is developed by doubting souls. They never "close the gate" behind them, they are forever reconsidering their decisions. They are never sure of their conversion or their consecration. They are ever learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. When you have made any covenant with the Lord consider it final. If you did it honestly in the light you had you insult Him and your own intelligence by going over it all again. It becomes a vicious habit, and you can never be sure of anything. You never stand firmly on any point for fear you may be wrong. Close your gates behind you and move on, "nothing doubting," "for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." (Vance Havner) Mark 11:23 - "Nothing Wavering" But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. James 1:6+. The man who lacks wisdom is promised it, but he must ask in faith and not be like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. Our Lord said we could move mountains if we commanded them to move and did not doubt in our hearts (Mk. 11:23). The positive side of that is in the next verse, which says, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye recveive them, and ye shall have them." Abraham "staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith." There we have the negative and positive again (Rom. 4:20). Some are saved from sin but not from staggering. "Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." Positive and negative! Are you walking by faith or wobbling in doubt? "We lie to God in prayer when we do not rely on God after prayer." James is very clear: "Let not that man think he shall receive anything of the Lord." Asking without believing marks a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (Vance Havner) Faith Moves Mountains? Of these sayings, or varieties of an original saying, emphasizing the limitless possibilities open to faith, Mark’s form (followed in Mt 21:21) has a life setting in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, during Holy Week; Luke’s form may be from the Q collection, in which case the form in Matthew 17:20 (an amplification of Jesus’ words to the disciples after the healing of the epileptic boy at the foot of the mountain of transfiguration) combines features from Mark and Q. In any case, Jesus illustrates the power of faith by analogies from the natural world. If faith is present at all, even if it is no bigger than a mustard seed, it can accomplish wonders: think what a large plant springs from something as tiny as a mustard seed. “We are not afraid when the earth heaves and the mountains are hurled into the sea”—so Psalm 46:2 (NEB) describes a convulsion of nature that leaves men and women of God unshaken because he is their refuge and strength. It may be that Jesus is using such a form of words figuratively to describe the incalculable effects of prevailing faith. But in Mark’s account there may be some more explicit point in the form of words. In that account the words are addressed to the disciples after the incident of the cursing of the fig tree. There may not seem to be much to connect that incident with a lesson on the power of faith. The connection, however, may be provided by the place where, according to Mark, the words were spoken. They were spoken in the morning, as Jesus and his disciples made their way from Bethany to Jerusalem, crossing the Mount of Olives. So, in Mark’s account, “this mountain” in the saying would be the Mount of Olives. Now, in current expectation regarding the time of the end, the Mount of Olives played a special part. It would be the scene of a violent earthquake on the day of the Lord. “On that day,” said one of the prophets (referring to the day when the God of Israel would take final action against the enemies of his people), “his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south” (Zech 14:4). If Jesus had this and related Old Testament prophecies in mind on his way across the Mount of Olives, his meaning might have been, “If you have sufficient faith in God, the day of the Lord will come sooner than you think.” (Walter Kaiser, et al - Hard Sayings of the Bible) The Sea and the Mountains - Henry Morris "For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith" (Mark 11:23). On the third day of redemption week, the sight of the withered fig tree led to an instructive lesson on faith in God, the Lord Jesus assuring the disciples that real faith could even move mountains into the sea. In parallel, on the third day of creation week, He had literally called the mountains up out of the sea (Gen. 1:9-10)! It was also on this day that the Lord had to severely rebuke the Pharisees and Sadducees, beginning with two parables about a vineyard (Matt. 21:28-43). He reminded them that they had been placed in charge of God's vineyard on the earth, and had failed. Like the fig tree, there was no fruit for God from their service, and they must be removed. Likewise, on day three of creation, the entire earth had been prepared as a beautiful garden, with an abundance of fruit to nourish every living creature (Gen. 1:11-12). It has been placed in man's care (Gen. 1:28-30; 2:15), but he has failed. Before the earth can become a beautiful garden again (Rev. 22:2), it must be purged, and the faithless keepers of the vineyard banished. This third day of Passion Week was climaxed with His great discourse on the Mount of Olives, in which the Lord promised He would come again some day in power and great glory (Matt. 24). It was appropriate that He should then spend the night with His disciples there on the mountain, for the mount would call to memory that far-off third day of creation week when He had drawn all the mountains out of the sea. Also, the little Garden of Gethsemane—on its slope—would bring to mind the beautiful Garden of Eden and the verdant world He had planted everywhere that same day. Now, because of what He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem, the ground would some day be cleansed of its Curse and the world made new again. (Days to Remember) Better Than Moving Mountains - Mountains were once regarded as symbols of the steadfast and unmovable, but not any more. With his monster bulldozers, man can level peaks into plains. But, great as are his feats in moving the mountains of earth, he is not doing too well in the realm of the spirit. There he is playing with molehills. Our Lord would have us see miracles in mountain-moving. He said: "For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith" (Mark 11:23). Evidently our Lord expected believing prayer to do wonders. Moving a mountain is a mighty feat, any way you look at it. We glory in what our machines can do but the church sits today before a range of obstacles and studies ways to tunnel through or climb over or detour around. It does not seem to occur to some of the brethren that there is another way to clear a path—by faith and prayer. Of course the collective body of believers fails because we fail as individuals. Have you come to a halt before a forbidding wall? Have you become reconciled to limitations that could be removed? Are you studying ways to circumvent the mountain when God says you can consign it to the sea? At any rate, we are trying to drill our way through by clever ingenuity or climb over by sheer determination or go around by dodging the issue. It is time for a miracle. One sits in religious gatherings and hears all kinds of clever schemes for moving mountains with ecclesiastical machinery. He hears little about going to our knees in prevailing prayer. We pay respect to prayer and coin pious phrases about faith, but the mountains are not moving. If only some of our convocations would turn in desperation to the Saviour's formula! The history of the church abounds in records of mountain-movers who faced the impossible and ordered the mountain into the sea. They did not accomplish it with bulldozers. The weapons of their warfare were not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Having said all this, let me remind you that, wonderful as moving mountains may be, it is not the supreme accomplishment. "... though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity [love], I am nothing" (I Corinthians 13:2). We Americans glory in the spectacular and sensational but there is something better than getting into headlines, even because of mighty faith. The greatest mountain-mover, without love, is nothing. Here is another scale of values. The manifestations of love outlined in I Corinthians 13 sound very homely: Love is longsuffering, kind, does not envy, is not proud; love behaves itself, is not easily provoked, not self-seeking, keeps no account of evil, does not rejoice in iniquity but in the truth; love bears all things, believes, hopes, endures all things. These are plain virtues the lowliest may practice in the home, the shop, at work or play. Love looks commonplace beside throwing mountains into the sea, but it rates high with God. One may do both of course, but we are suffering most today not so much from the presence of mountains that ought to be moved as from the absence of love that ought to be manifested. Our Saviour wrought miracles, but what means most to us today is His love. His love shed abroad in our hearts will mean more than all the mountains we move. (Vance Havner) Matthew 21:22 “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” Mt 7:7,11 Mt 18:19 Mk 11:24 Lu 11:8-10 Joh 14:13-14 Jn 15:7 Jn 16:24 Jas 5:16 1Jn 3:22 1Jn 5:14-15 Related Passages: John 14:13-14+ “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. John 15:7+ (CONDITIONS FOR ANSWERED PRAYER) “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 1 John 3:22+ (THE ROLE OF OBEDIENCE IN ANSWERED PRAYER) and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. 1 John 5:14-15+ (CONDITIONS FOR ANSWERED PRAYER) This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. ASKING, BELIEVING RECEIVING And all things you ask (aiteo) in prayer (proseuche), believing (pisteuo - present tense), you will receive (lambano) - What's the key to answered prayer (all things you ask)? Believing is the conditional particle, but don't misunderstand. Jesus is not telling us to have faith in faith. That is a false, very deceptive teaching. Jesus is not espousing name it and you can claim it if you believe hard enough or have enough faith (see also Word of Faith, Joel Osteen). The reception of what you ask is conditioned by “Whatever you ask in My name." In other words asking in My Name is asking for those things that are in the will of God and in keeping with the purpose of God. The believer who wants what God wants can ask from God and receive it. --John MacArthur As John