Jews Look For Judgment

I won’t spend much time here because what Jesus says is not at all hard to understand is it? Jesus says this generation, the people of this day and time are like spoiled children because Jesus won’t act like they want. He isn’t the Messiah they demand him to be.

And because he won’t play their game they not only reject him but they revile Him as a person possessed of a demon. The rejected John because he did not touch wine and they reject Jesus because he dared to eat and drink with publicans and sinners who were drinking wine.

Listen to his response to this generation in Matthew 11:19 But wisdom is justified of her children. He is saying, the choices and the consequence will show wisdom, both in John’s ministry, Jesus’ ministry and in the generation that rejected and blasphemed God’s chosen ones, “wisdom is justified of her children” The proof of wisdom is seen in what it produces.

Jesus then upbraids the cities where He had done the most miracles. The word upbraid means to defame, i.e. rail at, chide, to cast in teeth, to reproach, to revile. His words are fiery and filled with doom. “Matthew 11:21-23 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. … And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell:… it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.”

What these verses tell us is that Jesus was the sole pivot point of judgement. Jesus in his coming go earth and doing what He did became the one and only charge that will be laid before those at the Great White Throne Judgment. “What did you believe and do about Jesus?”

Jesus put it this way in John 15:22-24 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

Yes, the lost will be judged according to their sins and the degree of their punishment will be set accordingly but their dwelling place for eternity is not based upon what they did, but upon what they believed about Jesus.

Going With Reassurance, Recognition or Rebuke

As you look back on this chapter, you are left with three distinct categories of people and their connection to Jesus.

Feeling Reassurance -Today I may be like John and I need to come to Jesus with my doubts, my fears and my failures. The fact that you come to Him despite those things is proof that you believe in Him. You know that you need reassurance and only one person can give you that which you need. Come to Jesus and rest.

Finding Recognition - You know what category I pray we can all be in, the second one that Jesus dealt with that day. The people that Jesus recognizes as his own. His faithful servants. His loyal disciples. His missionaries carrying out the great commission. One day I pray I’ll hear in heaven, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” And if its not said in KJV English it won’t sound right. No matter how its uttered the fact that it comes from the lips of my Lord and Savior will mean it was all worth it. That no sacrifice, no suffering, no slight was too great. As the song says, “It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus.”

Fearing Condemnation - The final category is the one I pray no one here or no one I’ve ever known will be in. The category of the damned, those who cross that line of decision at death and did not choose Jesus, did not believe His message, did not accept His works, did not receive the Gospel. I cannot think of a more heart-breaking words to hear from the lips of Jesus than “Depart from me, for I never knew you.”