Matthew 11:2a
All that is necessary is honesty - to honestly be the believer you are. It is this that will put one "on the side of" Mashiach. Even such a great prophet as Yochanan (John) honestly sought what he needed for his faith. This is always the way forward. This is always the way to serve God in coming up to and following after Mashiach. It is the only way to live even now in heavenly places with him in the company of his martyrs.
This is also Yochanan (John) seeking for the one promised by Moshe for the sake of leading toward him. That is to say, this is Yochanan fulfilling his calling to incarnate the spirit of Eliyahu (Elijah). He is seeking not only for his own sake but in doing so is seeking also for the sake of leading - preparing the way... We do the same, according to the measure of the grace of God, when we act in the same honesty of seeking faith.
Matthew 11:2b
"Or should we expect someone else?" The question as asked by Yochanan (John) is an expression of the perfect spirit of the perfect human relationship that must exist between Israel and the Redeemer of Israel - and therefore between all of us, all sinners, and Mashiach. This exchange could easily be transposed into the story of Moshe coming to be the redeemer of Israel in Egypt. Without this completely human relationship there can be no revelation of God.
Matthew 11:4
Yehoshua is not going to resolve the mystery of Mashiach for Yochanan or for Israel except by death and resurrection - and then only finally by the immersion of all Israel in his death and resurrection. For the time being, at that time, he will say prophetically to Yochanan, "the blind receive their sight...". By these prophetic acts of healing he is saying to Israel that the full revelation of God does not come as an appeal to the perceiving mind but comes to heal the mind that is utterly blind and does not know it.
Since Yehoshua comes to bring the revelation of God he comes to the blind, since he comes to seeing Israel, seeing Israel is blind because she does not see all that she thinks she sees, since he comes to the blind world, the blind world will not be able to remain safely blind but will have to risk seeing, the blind world will see, indeed, the whole world will be filled with the revelation of God. "Tell Yochanan what you hear and see...".
Yochanan's question, which allows for this perfect teaching of Yehoshua allows for it because it is a perfect question, (not a question of a doubting or failing prophet); we must be humble and honest and not imagine divinity but rather learn true humanity first through the Torah of the Mashiach of Israel, only in this way will we acquire the spiritual eyes required to receive the revelation of God through Mashiach. The generation of regenerating faith is through the natural human relationship of Jews or converts with the one bringing the word of God. Without the mediation of the natural human relationship regenerating faith does not occur.
Matthew 11:9
"More than a prophet..." This means that there is an aspect of Eliyahu (Elijah), and therefore of Yochanan, wherein the spirit of Eliyahu is the spirit of the Mashiach. As Moshe was a singularly anointed prophet, so was Elijah, that is to say, especially anointed by the Spirit of God. To say that Moshe, Elijah or John the Baptist had the Spirit of Mashiach is very much like saying that Joseph was a type of Mashiach, even though the one ultimate Mashiach must come from the tribe of Judah. Now all of these others named, except Yochanan, were not of the tribe of Yehudah (Judah). Now it is this background that informs us as to the deeper meaning of followers and students of Yehoshua the Mashiach being described as having the Spirit of Mashiach and as being called Messianic.
Matthew 11:11
"Kingdom of heaven..." That is to say, the Eden of God, which was the Grace of God's Goodness, the source of the river that came dividing into four and which watered the Garden of that Grace, the Garden of Eden, the place of Adam's beginning on Earth.
Behind this teaching is the mystery of the story of Leah and Rachel. Israel labored for Rachel but before he could take her fully unto himself it was necessary for him to be given Leah by God. For Laban the prosecutor of Israel, the adversary, had given Israel Leah in order to dominate and control him through condemnation. Now to Israel, Rachel clearly represented the kingdom, as promised to him and before him to Isaac and before Isaac to Abraham. Israel hoped that through Rachel he would receive the promise. Indeed, through Rachel he will receive the promise and the Kingdom of Heaven will belong to Israel, but this will only be through Leah being unified with Rachel, with Leah as the Grace of God toward Israel being rectified with Israel's natural love and hope and labor for Rachel, for the promise of the Kingdom.
Behind this teaching is the mystery of the story of Leah and Rachel. Israel labored for Rachel but before he could take her fully unto himself it was necessary for him to be given Leah by God. For Laban the prosecutor of Israel, the adversary, had given Israel Leah in order to dominate and control him through condemnation. Now to Israel, Rachel clearly represented the kingdom, as promised to him and before him to Isaac and before Isaac to Abraham. Israel hoped that through Rachel he would receive the promise. Indeed, through Rachel he will receive the promise and the Kingdom of Heaven will belong to Israel, but this will only be through Leah being unified with Rachel, with Leah as the Grace of God toward Israel being rectified with Israel's natural love and hope and labor for Rachel, for the promise of the Kingdom.
Matthew 11:13
"...until John..." That is to say, until that very moment, and so it would be until the death and resurrection of Yehoshua.
Matthew 11:17
"We played the pipe...we sang a dirge..." You did not dance, you did not mourn because of the bias of your attitude. Otherwise our playing and singing would have influenced you. So also, it is the bias of sin that prevents human beings from hearing the beautiful voice and the sorrowful sigh of Yehoshua.
Matthew 11:25
"...You have hidden these things..." Yehoshua sets up a picture of Little Children vs. Wise Teachers, and it is the little children and not the wise teachers who first realize that they are in need of eye surgery by God. The true prophet, Yochanan, the one greater than a prophet is like a little child and asks a little child's humble question. Those who are wise and know their orthodox theology and would never sound like an ignorant child or a heretic would not ask the prophet's question.
Acts 2:36: Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made that same Yehoshua, whom you have executed, both Adonai and Mashiach.
Acts 4:11: This is the stone which was set aside by you builders, which now has become the cornerstone.
12: And there is salvation in no other person: for there is no other name under heaven given among the human race by which we must be saved.
This alludes to the eternal relationship of God and His Word but is not immediately about this. The Word become flesh and lived among us. This is the testimony of Holy Scripture. It is a man who is made Lord/Adonai of heaven and earth in being raised from the dead and thereby made the Anointed one of the God of Israel, the King Mashiach of his people Israel. It is in this that the revelation of all things for salvation is given to us.
Acts 2:36 is not simply stating that Yehoshua is now being revealed as who he really is, as if his humanity were a disguise. Since the time when these Scriptures were written it has become possible for these things to be considered directly by the natural mind. When anyone reads these words in Acts and jumps to the idea that Yehoshua is Lord because he is the eternal Son of God they have effectively blocked the conversion of their mind from the natural understanding to the revelation of God and of all things brought in the Word himself. If the Son of God was knowable by the natural mind he would not have needed to become flesh and live among us. He would not have needed to make an atonement for Israel and be raised from the dead. The Holy Scripture has no argument with those who deduce from it by the power of the natural mind that he is the Son of God and that there is an eternal relationship between God and His Word. The Holy Scripture differs with the natural mind in the way it states this and therefore in the way this is made known, in other words, what it means to say this.
Acts 2:36 begins, "Therefore…: This "therefore" can be understood to say in effect, "Do not imagine that you can understand the relationship between the Father and the Son by your natural mind or in any way except through this Good News of Israel and Her Messiah. Do not imagine that you can understand the relationship between the Creator and His creation in any way except through this Good News of Israel and Her Messiah." It is clear, just as in 4:11, that Peter/Kefa is addressing the leaders of Israel and the nation corporately. He is telling them their Good News. John/Yochanan records Yehoshua speaking about this very thing, saying, John 5:19: "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise." This is the true and only principle of revelation. Yehoshua taught how this principle would be made clear in the Good News of Israel through him: John 8:28: "When you have lifted up the Son of Adam, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me." It is not our natural mind that knows these things but the mind given to us through regeneration by the Holy Spirit, who comes to us by virtue of the death, resurrection and concealment in Heaven of a unique human being, Yehoshua, the Lord/Adonai and Mashiach of Israel. In order to come to the great high level of knowledge of the relationship of the Father and the Son we have our knowledge humbled to the lowest level of our own death and regeneration through him. Because of this we have that word in 1st Corinthians 12:3, "No one can say that Yehoshua is Lord/Adonai except by the Holy Spirit."
All of this teaching, this truth and this reality was foretold by prophecy in Israel, as it is written: "
As one cannot say that their knowledge of the Good News is certain and complete unless it is according to the Torah, so one cannot say that their knowledge of the Torah is certain and complete unless it is according to the Good News. This is Yehoshua's message to the teachers of the Torah. This is the message of Matthew 11:27: "All things are delivered unto me by my Father: and no one knows the Son, but the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son will reveal Him."
Matthew 11:30
The light burden of light... The light burden is only to listen to Jesus/Yehoshua without bias...
