Come Follow Me LDS- Matthew 10-11 Part 1
Mar 05, 2019
'A Snitch, An Elias & A Yoke'
- How societies get family members to turn on each other.
- The Joseph Smith Doctrine of the Spirit of Elias and The Spirit of Elijah
- How Christ's 'Yoke' is 'easy'.
Raw Transcript
okay and this come follow me episode we
are going to talk about the family
snitch the Elias and the yoke here we go
alright so first opening up in Matthew
chapter 10 we get a transition from all
of the healing that Jesus was doing in
chapters 8 & 9 in last week's lesson and
this is a transition over to the
Apostles at this point in verse 1 of
chapter 10 in Matthew which we will
cover first it says and when he had
called unto him his twelve disciples he
gave them power against unclean spirits
to cast them out and to heal all manner
of sickness and all manner of disease so
this is a this is a concept of the
gospel which is a fluid hierarchy we'll
get into that in another episode but
basically Jesus first is established as
the healer he then calls his twelve
disciples and gives them the same charge
to go out and do what he has just been
doing so the Gospels here the writers of
the Gospels have in their narrative
created Jesus as the healer first he
brings in his twelve disciples
and then the author show him show these
twelve disciples where they are now also
healers so it's a duplication it is a
rule of proxy by some degree because how
are they doing these things they're
doing it the disciples are doing it in
the name of Jesus Christ right as they
as they exercise the priesthood from
their ordinations
so a fluid hierarchy that we see here
being initiated a very core gospel
principle that we'll get into later
another time and the idea of proxy that
that the priesthood is a power used by
proxy through
normal dudes and Jesus gives each of
these disciples of the charge of going
out first to the house of Israel to the
lost sheep of Israel and later we'd be
looking more at the Samaritans and the
Gentiles down the road that are
associated always with the McKissack
priesthood and he says as you go preach
saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand
so again as we've discussed previously
in previous episodes this is one of the
major messages of Jesus is that the
kingdom is at hand the kingdom being the
fullness of the gospel and the fullness
of the Melchizedek Priesthood moving
from just an ironic law that is in place
all the way up to a complete fullness of
the gospel that Jesus is restoring as
the head of his dispensation so his role
not just as the Savior here is being
marked by the authors but his role as a
restorer and as the head of this
dispensation of Melchizedek Priesthood
keys and truths and he goes on to tell
them in verse 9 here provide neither
gold nor silver nor brass in your purses
nor scrip for your journey neither two
coats neither shoes nor yet staves for
the work man is worthy of his meat I
like this principle I did to me what
this is saying is something very similar
to fasting get rid of the idea of
materialism that somehow the material
items around you are what sustain you
they're not it's not your food it's not
clothing it's not money what ultimately
should be sustaining you in your life is
the spirit and the truth and the gospel
and the core principles of the atonement
faith repentance etc not any kind of a
material provision so fast and gives us
that opportunity right where we have a
chance to stay away from something
physical that is a provision
physical provision for us and apart from
just sacrificing and apart from saying
where we are willing to go without what
we're really saying here or what we are
also saying here is physical things are
not as important for me as spiritual
things and then down in verse 16 he says
behold I send you forth talking about
the to the disciples I send you forth as
sheep in the midst of wolves this is a
throwback to a previous chapters where
we talked about sheep or wolves in
sheep's clothing here he's referring
again to sheep and a wolves but he's
saying that the disciples are actually
sheep and they're being thrown out into
the world into the world of wolves the
world is full of wolves and so he's
giving this imagery that is contrary to
the image of a wolf in sheep's clothing
and he follows up with that in verse 17
by saying but beware of men for they
will deliver you up to the council's and
they will scourge you in their
synagogues why why would this happen so
this gives us another idea of the state
of things in Judah and what is happening
they are in a position of it with a an
intense high-level ideological
possession that is driven by rules very
demanding specific rules that are added
on on top of the law of Moses and it's
done all in the name of God right and so
this power which we can easily see being
centralized in Jerusalem is easily
executed throughout the land of Judah
and throughout those that would be
followers or that are tied to the temple
at Jerusalem that it can easily be
actually keep this power is easily
executed through these these demanding
specific tasks and laws and rules that
everybody has to follow and this is what
Jesus is coming in saying he's saying
you are all slaves to this as you have
been focused on the lower law it has
gotten worse and worse to the point
where you are simply products of this
lower law and you are slaves to it and I
am bringing you freedom from this and I
am bringing you a higher law and a
higher level of thinking a higher level
of living a higher level of hoping and a
higher level of knowledge that will help
you escape out of these things but those
that have the power here are the wolves
and so they're not gonna like that
message right they don't they want to
hang on to the power that they have here
and Jesus is becoming a bigger and
bigger threat very early on to that
power structure that they have which is
based on what they are saying is a
religious godlike way of life so that's
hard to get out of right I mean if
that's if that's the belief that this is
I'm doing what's right to all these
tasks everything that I'm doing I must
do because I'm perfecting myself and I'm
I'm I'm doing what is obedient that's a
hard thing to change a very hard thing
to change but that's what Jesus is
attempting to do here and then Jesus
gives us a further idea of the dynamics
the power structure and of the fabric of
society in Judah
this is what he says in verse 21 and the
blood and the brother shall deliver up
the brother to death and the father the
child this is the family snitch and the
father the child and the children shall
rise up against their parents and cause
them to be put to death
how does this happen what kind of a
society does this happen in the only
place that this happens at this level of
what he's saying is in ain't and ideally
and ideologically possessed society and
that can happen in our day we saw this
especially in the twentieth century
throughout Europe and Asia where you
have on the right
you had Nazi Germany and to lesser
degrees and in in Italy and in Spain
where you had right-wing authoritarian
regimes and how do they gain power and
make sure that their ideology is
followed well it's kind of like what you
basically do is you show how bad and
evil anyone outside of your ideology is
and you make it worth even to a family
member even to a child or a father or
anyone else you threaten them with
horrendous consequences and you teach
them and indoctrinate them that anybody
that follows outside of this falls
outside of this ideology is worthy of
death or extreme punishment and once
you've gotten that into society once you
have inserted this into an ideological
position in the hearts and minds of men
and women and children especially then
you have a society of fear because you
don't know who's gonna say something to
you and who's going to snitch on you and
that's what's happening here in
Jerusalem and Judah is that hey if you
following something that Jesus is saying
if you're following him maybe even those
that may have even followed him at first
would have been tortured or would have
been shamed out of their villages or
would have been killed
would have been stoned to death or who
knows what else
and
that might have been a real big issue
for Jesus's crowds being able to grow
larger and larger and larger certainly
this is what they did to Christ and and
so to think that it didn't happen to
many others before that I think would be
a little naive and so he's saying that
what will happen
and he's forewarning them of course he's
gonna push forward with his message
anyway but he's for warning them that
children and parents and brothers and
sisters and others will turn on their
own and a say and in a society of fear
that's easy to do and in a society of
ideological possession that is easy to
do you have the Nazis where you know if
you started thinking saying something
that was against Hitler or against the
regime then you had a great fear of
being turned on and that could happen by
anyone because what would they do with
Hitler Youth and others they would take
the children they would go to the
children who have not had life
experience yet and they would teach them
that their parents were evil and then
they would have them turn on them if
they saw them do anything and they
became spies to their parents the same
thing happened on the left so if you go
to Lenin and and a lot of people said I
didn't have with Lenin it did happen
very fiercely with Lenin it especially
happened with Stalin later on it
happened with Mao in China it happened
with Pol Pot it happened with Castro
right where if you would if you were not
on board with things if you're not on
board with things then you're in trouble
and even your closest relatives might
turn on you and snitch on you so that's
what judy is about at this time and then
Jesus gives the principle down here in
verse 32 that we've talked a little bit
about before it's kind of like this
platinum
rural we we have the golden rule and we
discussed previously what we might call
the Platinum rule which is something
that is not to our fellow man but
something that has or we have a
relationship with God and correspondence
with God rewards through God he says
here whosoever their felt therefore
shall confess me before men right so in
this environment regardless if you stand
up for me
him will I confess also before my father
which is in heaven so again it's up to
us first to have the courage to stand up
for our values to stand up for the
values that Jesus Christ is going over
here and to hold them not just in our
minds that this is what we believe in
etcetera but to actually live it in
front of other people regardless of what
they might say and if we do if we do
that then he in return reciprocation
will go up the chain for us so we go up
to Christ professing hid confessing his
name standing by him and then he goes up
the chain and he talks to the Father and
he is then our advocate for him for the
father and that is another part of this
fluid hierarchy that we'll talk about
and he follows that up in verse 34
saying think not that I am come to send
peace on earth now he's the Prince of
Peace so what is he saying
he's the Prince of Peace well in order
to get there in order to get to a
position of peace you're going to have
to go through some problems and he says
I came not to send peace right that's
where he wants us all to get but because
of the environment that he is coming
into here has is his job is not to be
peaceful right that's not that's not
what he's doing his words are going to
be a massive disruption to Judah and to
those in power so he says I came not to
send peace but a sword so I think of the
imagery of the sword
right there's a couple of things that we
can look at one would be the cherubim
with a flaming sword what does that
sword represent what did the cherubim
represent they represent justice so he's
coming down with justice being laid on
the current society and the way that
they are living and what is being taught
and how the people are being enslaved
and frauded out of their existence
through a theological and ideological
sovereign over them tyrant over them and
bringing the truth into an environment
where fraud and deception and force are
the rule of the day is is like a sword
coming in right it's going to cut those
that are living by those things and then
down toward the bottom of the chapter
here Jesus says to his disciples again
something that has to go with that fluid
hierarchy and that Platinum rule he says
in verse 40 he that receiveth you being
the disciples receiveth me and he that
receiveth me receiveth him that sent me
or the father so we get again this
hierarchy this operation of proxy that
comes originally from the father down to
the son and then down to the disciples
of the Apostles and then down to others
eventually to others the seventy and
others and then eventually down to
everybody else and so this is kind of a
structure of the church where there is
this fluid hierarchy and this priesthood
of proxy that is given to us all the way
from the Father and Jesus gives us this
principle as he calls here in this
chapter he calls the Apostles and sends
them out to preach the gospel all right
then we move over to chapter 11 and here
in chapter 11 as the Apostles have been
called Jesus then transitions sends them
out and he then goes out and preaches on
his own as well going throughout the
cities mostly in Galilee and John the
Baptist hears about the
now John is now in prison and so he
sends two of his disciples out to find
out more about what Jesus is doing and
Jesus tells the disciples hey down here
in verse five verse chapter eleven the
plan received their sight and the lame
walk the lepers are cleansed and the
Deaf hear and the dead are raised up and
the poor have the gospel preached to
them so he is the Messiah that's what he
is saying yes I am the Messiah these are
the things that I am doing I am bringing
the kingdom of God here through these
acts and I am the healer and I am he who
the prophets have prophesied of because
this is what they had prophesied of so
that's what he's saying to these
disciples to carry back as a message to
John the Baptist and then Jesus speaks
of the disciples of all of those that
were followers of John the Baptist
saying you know who is it that you've
gone to see and he says that John there
is no greater prophet than John the
Baptist and yet and yet and here's
another insert by the authors here about
the higher and the lower law that we
oftentimes discuss and yet he says in
verse 11 verily I say unto you among
them that are born of women there hath
not risen a greater than John the
Baptist notwithstanding this is a point
in a lesson that he is giving
notwithstanding he that is least in the
kingdom of heaven is greater than he
what does that mean well again look at
the kingdom the kingdom of heaven as a
Melchizedek reference and he's not
saying that John is not worthy of the
kingdom of heaven
certainly what he's doing here if this
was maybe translated just a little bit
differently but what he is pointing out
here in this principal is that John
represents the Aaronic law and
regardless if somebody else is put out
as a Melchizedek priest or given the
ordinances of the Melchizedek Priesthood
in the temple they are greater than John
and what John represents because John
only represents the ironic priesthood
and so it's a lesson that Jesus is
putting forth about the higher in the
lower law he's incredible he John is the
greatest of prophets but he is not as
great as the least of those with a mock
ascetic priesthood very important point
that he makes here as he is bringing the
Melchizedek Priesthood out from the
darkness and into the light and then in
verse 12 a very important principle as
well here and from the days of John the
Baptist he says until now so matter of
yours the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth
violence so again this is a reference to
what is probably happening to some of
the disciples when I say disciples out I
mean just the twelve I mean everybody
some of the followers of John the
Baptist and some of the followers of
Jesus that they are probably being
persecuted quite a bit he says now the
Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and
the violence and the violent take it by
force isn't this an interesting
principle that whenever truth comes
through somewhere it seems that there is
certainly there is manipulation
certainly there is influence to try and
push it off by those that don't want it
but ultimately given time it seems that
the truth is going to win out and so
what do those who don't want the truth
do they resort to force and we can see
that in all examples I give the examples
of some of the regimes in the 20th
century they gain their power by force
and by violence ultimately that's how
you have to do it think of just how and
by the way this happened in in some of
Christian history as well this certainly
happened it happened coming into the
Americas it happened in a lot of these
instances but and there's probably you
could say some ideological possession
going on there even within Christianity
but think about how the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter day Saints operates
the church operates in a way that almost
exclusively converts are gained one by
one you'll have every once in a while an
example of some village in South America
that converts but for the most part
souls are converted through love they
are converted through teaching they're
converted through the spirit and it's
almost exclusively a one-on-one basis
that to me is something very special
and something that get rings very true
to me as to how the truth would work it
might take a lot longer than then
otherwise you'd want for your goals but
it works on an individual basis begin we
in that sense we are we are giving a an
enormous amount of respect to free
agency and an enormous amount of respect
to individuals and their choice and
having them actually convert internally
because they want to and it doesn't
always happen that way
of course nothing is perfect but that is
for the most part how the church
operates in trying to get the message of
the gospel out through the missionaries
and through member missionaries etc and
then after praising John the Baptist but
making sure he distinguishes between the
higher and the lower laws and the higher
in the lower priesthoods he follows that
up with this comment about the elias in
verse 14 then he says and if ye will
receive it this is Elias which was for
to come now in the Joseph Smith
translation if we go back to this it
reads like this and if he will receive
it verily he was the Elias making it
more specific he was the Elias who was
four to come and prepare all things now
you've listened to my previous episodes
especially going back to the first
episode that I did about John the
Baptist in the come follow me series
you'll know about the preparing of the
preparing of the way that John's role
fulfilled and how important that is here
Jesus calls him the Elias which is
interesting there is a doctrine that
Joseph Smith had discussed for a number
of years before his death but that he
had not finalized he had been thinking
about this he had been praying about it
he had been receiving revelation on this
but he had not really delved in to make
this concrete that that by the time of
his death but we hear about the Spirit
of Elias right which is the preparer so
John the Baptist is the preparer there
is always something that comes
beforehand to prepare the way for who
actually it's for the spirit of Elijah
we think of the spirit of Elijah and the
terms of the temple but that is only a
small portion of what that means we've
kind of used that as kind of a
catchphrase to rally us around doing
temple work and and good for us that's
great but the spirit of Elijah has more
to do with the Melchizedek Priesthood as
a whole of course which is centered and
sourced by the temple so the spirit of
Elijah is the one that actually will
come in other words Jesus here is the
Elijah and John is the Elias now
interestingly enough Elias is just the
Greek version of Elijah so it's the same
word it's the same person so there's a
lot there to work with that is a little
bit confusing but there's no question
that Joseph Smith had separated this
Greek version of the name being Elias
that the preparer the forerunner and
then Elijah who would be Christ
and a representative of the mckissick
priesthood so as we've discussed the
higher and the lower law here Joseph
Smith is solidifying that even more and
unfortunately he didn't get to put this
all pen this all down and make it
concrete but he's in the midst of doing
this at his death where he has Elias as
the lower law the forerunner and Elijah
as the higher law the Moluccas Adak law
that he had in place and he's to the
spirit of Elias the spirit of Elijah and
how those two things worked and how they
worked together and had and relied upon
each other so the spirit of Elias and
the spirit of Elijah are really
representations of the higher and the
lower law and then Matthew finishes off
here in the end of chapter 11 with the
following two verses and and a metaphor
he says in verse 29 take my yoke upon
you and you think of ioke what that is
is you know it is the harness basically
that you would put over for example in
ox or and really over the oxen so let's
say that there are oxen one by you know
next to each other two of them and you
would put the yoke over both of them
it's one piece typically that you would
put over both of them and I always have
the hardest time understanding this
principle because he says this he says
take my yoke upon you and learn of me
for I am meek and lowly in heart is an
interesting that he's saying this I am
meek and lowly in heart as we said
previously this might be that he's
obedient or he's a covenant keeper and
lowly in heart in contrast to all of
these words about force and violence and
snitching on other people he's saying no
that's not how this works this is this
is this is how it should work let me
give you an example of a yoke and how
that works right that's what he's doing
saying take my yoke upon you and learn
of me I am meek and lowly in heart and
ye shall find rest unto your souls I
used to think well how how is that
your yoke is pretty difficult I would
think right I mean you end up getting
crucified literally crucified and
suffering and spit upon and everything
you can imagine shamed beyond belief so
how is it the taking the yoke of Christ
upon us is something where we would find
rusted our souls I always had a hard
time with that because he says here in
verse 30 confirming what I just said he
says for my yoke is easy my yoke is easy
and my burden is light and the more I've
thought about this my take on this is
now that what I believe is that again
those oxen are side by side and if
there's one oxen and one auction that is
Christ and that harness that goes over
to people if you're under that with him
so that you're relying on his strength
pushing forward to plow for example then
his yoke is light because he's carried
all the weight and therefore if we can
rely on him then then that makes things
easier for us and gives us rust to our
to our souls and makes our burden
lighter because we have put and do put
and can put our burden on his back and
on his side of the yoke I'll talk to you
next time
Come Follow Me New Testament
LDS Mormon Bible
"I Take This Every Day!"
Learn more about why I accepted Cardio Miracle as a sponsor and why I take it every day!
- Greg Matsen
Cwic Study Group
Checkout our weekly Cwic Study Group!
Delve deeper!
Stay connected with Study Tips & Updates!
Donate
Be a part of our mission! Help us help others increase their understanding of the scriptures and increase their faith.
Cwic Merch!
Check out our Merch Store! Apparell and Accessories.
Cwic Audio Player
All of the Cwic Media podcast episodes on one page!
Recent Posts
What Happened To Exaltation? The Slippery Slope From Eternal Laws To A Prosperity Gospel
Mar 28, 2024
Isaiah Predicts Our Time With Precision
Mar 16, 2024
