In the fifth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel we find that, multitudes of people having followed Jesus out of Capernaum, He has gone to the top of a mountain. As the multitudes listen, He speaks to His disciples–not the multitude–about the kingdom of heaven (the soon-to-be-established Church). For the next several minutes He lays out the rules of engagement for becoming part of that church which will be called the Church of God (Acts 20:28/ 1 Cor. 1:2; 10:32; 11:22; 15:9/ 2 Cor. 1:1/ 1 Tim. 3:5. Notice in the above references that ALL OF THE CHURCHES WERE TAUGHT THE SAME TRUTH AND WERE CALLED BY THE SAME NAME–“THE CHURCH OF GOD.” There were no divisions, denominations, faiths, sects, cults, etc. in God’s church. In referring to all of the churches as one entity, the Apostle Paul called them the “churches of Christ” because they all, as one entity, had one Head–Jesus Himself (Rom. 16:16). Nothing has changed. God’s true church is still one entity with one Head. All others (Catholic and Protestant) are counterfeit, each having its own head (2 Cor. 11:4).

In 5:3-11 we find the “blessed Rs” which tells us which people in “the church” are blessed by God and are in the kingdom of heaven (the Church of God) now. Conversely, they also tell us which church people are not blessed. The blessed include the humble, those who mourn over the sins of the people, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart (mind), the peacemakers and those who are persecuted for believing and obeying God’s Law.

In verse 13 Jesus calls His disciples “the salt of the earth.” In my youth we would kill animals and “salt down” the meat in order to preserve it over the coming months as we consumed it. Jesus was applying the salting principle to the work of the disciples (followers), who would become apostles (sent ones) following His death. The disciples would preach the Word/light of God and those who sought God’s Truth, believed it and obeyed it would have their souls preserved (salted) until the return of the Messiah, at which time they will be resurrected. But note that the disciples were guaranteed eternal life ONLY if they retained their “saltiness”–if they lived (“walked”) God’s pure, unaltered Word/Truth as did Jesus of Nazareth. Read First John 2:6 and Revelation 3:21 to remove any doubt as to the “salty walk” we all must navigate in this life in order to join Jesus in the Kingdom of God upon His return.

In verses 14 through 16 Jesus tells the disciples that they are not only the salt of the earth, they are also the “light of the world.” Let us conduct a “fine print” study to determine exactly what He had called them. Jesus said that He was the “light of the world” as long as He was in the world. But here He is applying the “light” title to the disciples. These were 13 totally different individuals. How could they all be THE (singular) “light of the world?” Obviously there had to be something that they all shared that made these 13 very different men the exact same thing–THE SINGULAR, ONE AND ONLY LIGHT OF THE WORLD. That “something” was God’s WORD, HIS TRUTH–HIS LIGHT. The disciples would become what they embraced, learned, believed and walked before the world in which they lived. THEY WOULD BECOME GOD’S LIGHT.

In the material realm we literally become what we consume physically. In the spiritual realm we literally become what we consume spiritually. The proverbist noted this Truth, writing that, “As a man thinks in his heart (mind), so he is” (23:7). In the eyes of God we become what we think about the most. What we think about the most becomes the focus of our lives. Notice how many people are addicted to their social media gadgets. How long can a nicotine addict go without lighting up. Porn addicts spend hours each day watching illicit sex films. Conversely, God addicts must have a Scriptural “fix” every so often. Like hunger and thirst for the physical, their minds cry out for the spiritual. For this reason the Apostle Paul tells us to think on just, holy and good things (Phil. 4:8), which is how he characterized the Word of God in Romans 7:12).

In verses 14 through 16 Jesus talks about the disciples being the light of the world because they would be sharing with others “the LIGHT of the glorious GOSPEL” (2 Cor. 4:4). Now notice in verses 17 through 19 that He continues on the LIGHT theme using another term–LAW. Without changing His subject, He tells the disciples that He has not come to destroy the Law (Light) or the writings of the prophets, which together comprise the entire Old Testament. Rather, He came to fulfill the Lae and the words of the prophets. He came to fulfill them, to live (“walk”) what had been written and preserved by them. Their words were to be used to teach the end-time church (1 Cor. 10:11).

Jesus knew that the church He would soon establish would remain in existence from time of her founding on the Day of Pentecost 31 A.D. (about 3 1/2 years in the future) until His return to earth. He knew that His apostles would teach the church the words of the Law that had been recorded by the prophets, the same Law He came to “honor and magnify” (Isa. 42:21), the same Law that contained God’s promises to the Israelite fathers–Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which He came to confirm (Rom. 15:8).

He also knew that future generations would reject the Law and the writings of the prophets, that they would even accuse Him of destroying them. This in spite of Him saying that He had not come to destroy them (Rom. 15:8). He had known before coming to earth that the cross was His fate, and that future salvation seekers would reject His Father’s Law in favor of a more user-friendly set of behavioral options from which they could choose. This was the same ruse by which the Serpent had deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden many generations earlier. Solomon was right when he said that there was nothing new under the sun. Jesus knew that Satan would continue to pull people into his religious web. And he would use the same lure–rejection of God’s Law while promising eternal life to the Law rejecter.

Jesus warned the disciples of those Truths in verses 17 through 19. For that reason He went into detail about what men would try to do concerning the Law. For example, He warned about altering even a jot or tittle–like our comma or period–in the Law. In verse 19 He tells us that both Law keepers and Law breakers (sheep and goats/ wheat and tares) would be in the kingdom of heaven (the church). As He would later warn His sermon on the mt., many of the people in the church would be goats/tares (7:13,14). For those who find this hard to believe, recall in the parable about the “virgins” in the kingdom of heaven (Mat. 25), half of them were “unwise” (disobedient) and were therefore not allowed to enter His presence. Rather, He told them that He did not know them (vs 12). Jesus does not “know” (intimately) those who refuse to obey His Law. For example, Sunday Sabbathers defile God’s 7th day Sabbath (Saturday)–the ONLY day he “blessed” and “sanctified” (set aside for holy use)–Gen.3:3. The 7th day of the week is also the ONLY day He called “My holy day” (Isa. 58:13). Sabbath rejecters commit a double sin by 1) defiling God’s holy, blessed and sanctified day, then 2) honoring the sun god on his day–sun day.

In verse 20 Jesus reminds the disciples that in order to enter the kingdom of heaven (God’s church) they had to prove their righteousness by obeying God’s Law. They could not be like the Pharisees who rejected God’s Law and obeyed the Talmud which the Apostle Paul referred to as “the traditions of the (Pharisaical) fathers” (Gal. 1:14). He noted that he, a Pharisee, had excelled far above his fellows in obedience to those traditions. The Talmud was a collection of the writings and sayings of the Jewish elders that had been written during the 70 years of Babylonian captivity. I have read part of that evil tome. God-commanded righteousness is not part of its offerings. L.J.