VERSE 25:
“And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock.”
In this verse Jesus is giving a picture of the sudden violent storms and sweeping floods which are so common during the rainy season. The house founded upon the rock could not be undermined and destroyed, but would stand firm. So, says Jesus, shall it be with those who hear and obey His teaching. “They shall stand in the judgment” (Psalm 1:5).
AND: (Grk.–kai)–Notice the five times that “and” is used in succession:“and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon the house, and it fell not.”–This an eloquent polysyndeton, as grammarians call it. Again, I point out that whenever the Word of God repeats something, it is for emphasis.
Also note the rhythm of the sentence in which the war of the
is described:
1. Down came the rain,
2. Down rushed the rivers,
3. The blowing of the winds
4. The beating of the winds on the house.
5. The falling of the house.
BEAT: (Grk.–prosepeson)—Literally: “beat terribly; pounded on ithe house; hammered the house.”
VERSE 26:
“And every one that heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:”
“Heareth these sayings of Mine and doeth them not.”
Literally: “Hearing these words of Me and not doing them.”–The hearer who does not obey Jesus is likened to the foolish man who built his house on the sand, denoting a loose foundation; that is, an empty profession and mere external services. Again, we see that Jesus is placing the emphasis on doing, and not merely hearing.
FOOLISH: (Grk.–mōros)—The root word from which we get our word, “moron.”
Was there ever a stricter system of morality delivered by God to man, than in this sermon? He who reads or hears His Word, and does not look to God to conform his soul and life to it, and is still hoping to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, is like the fool who built his house on the sand. When the rain, the rivers, and the winds come, his building must fall, and his soul be crushed into the nethermost pit by its ruins. Talking about Christ, and His righteousness, merits, and atonement, while the person is not conformed to His word and Spirit, is no other than solemn self-deception.
Understand that knowledge only become relevant when it is changed into action; therefore, knowledge must become action, theory must become practice, and theology must become life. It is really a waste of your time if you go to a doctor but will not do what he tells us to do, but there are untold thousands of people who every Sunday listen to the teachings of Christ Jesus every Sunday, and they may even have a good knowledge of what He taught, but they make little or no attempt to put this knowledge into practice. We MUST be doers with the knowldge we have.
VERSE 27:
“And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
and beat that house”
Literally:“and beat aainst that house”—The builder had not thought of such an eventuality.
BEAT AGAINST: (Grk.–prospitō)—Literally: “beat against vehemently, upon, or against.”
“and it fell”—The house fell like a house of cards.
“and great was the fall of it”
“and the collapse of it was great.”–How lively must this imagery have been to an audience accustomed to the fierceness of Eastern storms, and the suddenness and completeness with which they sweep everything unsteady before them!
Jesus describes the thoughtlessness of the builder on the sand, the storm and the utter destruction of all he has built. How lively this imagery must have been to an audience accustomed to the fierceness of an Eastern storm, and the suddenness and completeness with which it sweeps everything unsteady before it! This is the same type of storm that came upon the disciples when they were out on the Sea of Galilee, and the storm hit them while Jesus was asleep in the boat (Mark 4:37-40). His disciples were so afraid that they woke Him up.
Every one knows how unstable and shifting is a sandy foundation. In Judea, and in all countries in that region, the rain sometimes falls in great torrents, producing rivers, which sweep away the soil from the rocky hills; and the houses, which are built of brick only dried in the sun, (i.e., what we would call, “adobe”) of which there are whole villages in the east, literally melt away before those rains, and the land-floods occasioned by them.
VERSES 28-29: TEACHER WITH AUTHORITY
VERSE 28:
“And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at His doctrine.”
“And it came to pass”
Literally: “and it happened”—This seems to be a characteristic transitional expression of Matthew’s (cf. 9:10; 11:1; 1 9:10; 11:1; 1:53; 19:1; 26:1).
“The people were astonished”
Literally: “The multitudes were astonished.”—They listened spell-bound to the end and were left amazed.
PEOPLE: (Grk.–ochloi)—Literally: “crowds; multitudes.” Vast crowds attended the ministry of this most popular and faithful of all preachers.
WERE ASTONISHED: (Grk.–exeplêssonto)—The literally rendering is that they were “struck out of themselves.” They were astounded; were amazed, at His teaching. No wonder they were astonished! The whole world still wonders as it studies this sermon. In addition to, “astounded,” other rendering have been offered, “dumfounded, amazed, filled with amazement; overwhelmed.”
The tense of the verb shows that this state of astonishment was not just a momentary experience, but lasted for some time. The multitude, which had been listening spell-bound, was left in a state of amazement. They were astonished at His doctrine. They had heard the Law defined in such a manner as they had never thought of before; and this sacred system of morality urged home on their consciences with such clearness and authority as they had never felt under the teaching of their scribes and Pharisees.
VERSE 29:
“For He taught them as One having authority, and not as the scribes.”
“As one having authority,”
|Literally: “As having authority.”–They felt a commanding power and authority in Jesus’ teaching, i.e. His doctrine. The English word “one,” which our translators erroneously have inserted, only weakens the statement.
Jesus spoke, not as a man, with human doubts and limitations, but as one who was omniscient. He came from God, and spoke as one divine; not as a human, hesitating, halting, limping expounders like the scribes, who were the interpreters of the Scriptures.
His statements were clear and easily understood; His exhortations were quite persuasive; His doctrine was sound and rational; and His arguments were irresistible. They had never felt like this in the trifling teachings of their most celebrated doctors who just consumed their own time and that of their disciples and hearers with frivolous cases of conscience, ridiculous distinctions, and trivial splittings of controversial hairs, and questions that did nothing to minister grace to the hearers.
“And not as their scribes”
Literally: “not as the scribes”–They had heard many sermons before from the regular rabbis in the synagogues. We have specimens of these discourses preserved in the Mishnah (An edited record of the complex body of material, known as oral Torah, that was given after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D.), and the Gemara (the Jewish Talmud).
The Talmud is the authoritative body of Jewish tradition comprising the Mishnah and Gemara. When both were completed, they contained the driest, dullest collection of disjounted comments upon every conceivable problem in the history of mankind. The scribes quoted the rabbis before them and were afraid to express an idea without bolstering it up by some predecessor. Jesus spoke with the authority of truth, the reality and freshness of the morning light, and the power of God's Spirit. This sermon which made such a profound impression ended with the tragedy of the fall of the house on the sand like the crash of a giant oak in the forest. There was no smoothing over the outcome.
SCRIBES: (Grk.–grammateus)–The scribes were the learned men and teachers of the Jewish nation, and were principally Pharisees. They taught chiefly the sentiments of their rabbis, and the traditions which had been delivered, and they consumed much of their time in useless disputes, “vain jangling.” Dr. David Stern, in his Jewish New Testament, translation of the N.T., refers to them as “torah teachers.”
Jesus was open, plain, grave, useful; delivering truth as became the oracles of God. He was not spending His time in trifling disputes, and debating questions of no importance. On the contrary, He was confirming His doctrine by miracles and argument and teaching as having power, and not in the vain and foolish manner of the Jewish Doctors of the Law. He showed that He had authority to explain, enforce, and to even change the ceremonial laws of the
He came with authority such as no man could have, and it is not remarkable that His explanations astonished them.
Jesus taught them as one having authority, like the most eminent and distinguished teacher, and not as the scribes and Pharisees, who had no part of that unction which He possessed. This ends a sermon the most strict, pure, holy, profound, and sublime, ever delivered to man; and yet so amazingly simple is its content that almost a child may apprehend it!
Here we see the difference between the teaching of scribes and Pharisees, the self-created or men-made ministers, and those whom GOD sends. The first may preach what is called very good and very sound doctrine; but it comes with no authority from God to the souls of the people: therefore, the unholy is still unholy because preaching can only be effective with the conversion of men, when the unction of the Holy Spirit is in it; and as such “preachers” are not sent by the Lord, therefore they shall not profit the people at all.
“Behold, I {am} against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them; therefolre they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord”—(Jer 23:32).