The Lord warned His hearers "NOT TO GIVE THAT WHICH
IS HOLY UNTO THE DOGS" (Matthew 7:6)
and to "NOT CAST YE YOUR PEARLS BEFORE SWINE ... LEST THEY TRAMPLE THEM ... AND REND YOU" (Matthew 7:6)
- note the Lord's DEALING WITH THE CANAANITE WOMAN, which also served as a REBUKE TO HIS DISCIPLES (Matthew 15:21-28)
This was a PAINFUL LESSON for King Hezekiah TO LEARN (Isaiah 39:8)
AFTER HAVING SHOWN ALL OF ISRAEL'S TREASURES TO THE PRINCE OF BABYLON (Isaiah 39:1-4)
It was the Prophet Isaiah's PAINFUL DUTY TO INFORM King
Hezekiah that ALL OF ISRAEL'S TREASURES would be CARRIED OFF TO BABYLON and that SOME OF THE KING'S SONS would
be EUNUCHS IN THE PALACE OF THE BABYLONIAN KING (Isaiah 39:5-7)
This PROPHECY was FULFILLED WHEN THE BABYLONIAN KING,
NEBUCHADNEZZAR, CARRIED THE TREASURES "OF THE HOUSE OF GOD ... TO THE HOUSE OF HIS GOD" (Daniel 1:1-2;II Chronicles 36:7,17-18) and COMMANDED "THE MASTER OF HIS EUNUCHS" TO SELECT CERTAIN
OF ISRAEL'S ROYAL CAPTIVES, which were able, "TO STAND IN THE KING'S PALACE" (Daniel 1:3-4)
- "NOW AMONG THESE were of the CHILDREN OF JUDAH", i.e. DANIEL AND HIS THREE FRIENDS who were GIVEN BABYLONIAN
NAMES (Daniel 1:6-7)
When the DISCIPLES ASKED the Lord, "WHY SPEAKEST
THOU TO THEM IN PARABLES?" (Matthew 13:10) - HE RESPONDED by saying to them, "BECAUSE IT IS GIVEN UNTO YOU
to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, BUT TO THEM IT IS NOT GIVEN" (Matthew 13:11)
The Lord revealed that the REASON for His SPEAKING IN
PARABLES TO THE MULTITUDES was to CONCEAL TRUTH FROM THE UNBELIEVING MULTITUDES (Matthew 13:12)
The Apostle Peter warned his readers that in "THE
DAY OF THE LORD" (II Peter 3:10) - there will be "FALSE PROPHETS" and "FALSE TEACHERS"
(II Peter 2:1) - "BY REASON OF WHOM THE WAY OF TRUTH SHALL BE EVIL SPOKEN OF"
(II Peter 2:2)
The Apostle Paul warned his readers that "THE TIME
WILL COME WHEN ... THEY heap to themselves teachers, HAVING ITCHING EARS ... THEY SHALL TURN AWAY THEIR EARS FROM
THE TRUTH, AND SHALL BE TURNED UNTO FABLES" (II Timothy 4:3-4) - he counsels his readers, "FROM SUCH WITHDRAW THYSELF"
(I Timothy 6:5)
The Lord PROMISED His hearers that SEEKING they shall FIND
and that ASKING they shall RECEIVE (Matthew 7:7-8)
The SEEKING (Matthew 7:7-8) is in reference to what the Lord told them earlier in His sermon to
SEEK for: "SEEK ye FIRST the KINGDOM OF GOD and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Matthew 6:33)
This KINGDOM was to be established by the Lord - He being
the KING Who "shall REIGN ... and shall EXECUTE JUDGMENT and JUSTICE in the EARTH" (Jeremiah 23:5)
and WHEN ISRAEL and JUDAH shall ACKNOWLEDGE Him as "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jeremiah 23:6)
This DIVINE RIGHTEOUSNESS will be granted to ISRAEL and
JUDAH WHEN God shall establish His NEW COVENANT with them (Jeremiah 31:31-33), which will result in their CONFESSION of POSSESSING THE LORD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS
(JIsaiah 45:23-25)
The Lord told His hearers that IF EVEN THEY WHO ARE EVIL
know how to GIVE GOOD GIFTS TO THEIR CHILDREN (Matthew 7:9-10) - how much MORE SO will THEIR HEAVENLY FATHER GIVE GOOD THINGS TO
THEM THAT ASK HIM (Matthew 7:11)
It was by THE HOLY SPIRIT that the Lord VISIBLY MANIFESTED
the POWER associated with the establishment of His EARTHLY KINGDOM (Matthew 12:28;Luke 4:14,18)
The Lord PROMISED His EARTHLY KINGDOM BELIEVERS that "GREATER
WORKS THAN THESE" SHALL THEY DO (John 14:12)
in BEARING TESTIMONY of the GLORY of His RESURRECTION (John 14:13-14)
This PROMISE OF THE FATHER (Acts 1:4),
i.e. to "RECEIVE POWER, AFTER THE HOLY SPIRIT IS COME UPON YOU" (Acts 1:8)
was FULFILLED AT PENTECOST (Acts 2:1-4)
- "the Lord WORKING with them, CONFIRMING the Word WITH SIGNS FOLLOWING" (Mark 16:20
cf.Mark 16:17-19)
ISRAEL comiited "THE UNPARDONABLE SIN" of BLASPHEMING
THE HOLY SPIRIT (Matthew 12:31-32) WHEN THEY STONED STEPHEN (Acts 7:57-60) - "a MAN FULL OF FAITH and FULL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT" (Acts 6:5)
- he being "a MAN FULL OF FAITH AND POWER, DID GREAT WONDERS AND MIRACLES (SIGNS) among the people" (Acts 6:8)