Matthew 7:7-12

The Means By Which the Law and the Prophets Will Be Fulfilled In The Coming Of The Messianic Age Through The Prayers Of His People (7:7-12).

Having outlined in some depths the Messianic interpretation of the Law and some of the ‘holy teachings' connected with it, Jesus now explains to His disciples how they can obtain the means by which to fulfil it. He had made clear that their righteousness had to exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20). To some extent how they can exceed the righteousness of the Scribes (the teachers of the Law) has been explained in Matthew 5:20 by His reinterpretation and expansion of the Law, and how they can exceed that of the Pharisees (those rigid if often hypocritical adherents to that Law) has been explained in Matthew 6:1 to Matthew 7:6. It was, however, one thing to receive guidance as to how they should live, it would be quite another for them to actually achieve it. So Jesus will now show them how to do that. It will be:

By constant prayer to their heavenly Father for what is holy.

By themselves treasuring the pearls that He has sent them, and will give them, as gifts from their Father.

By their constantly spending time in His presence, asking, seeking, knocking.

And by the subsequent reception of the good things of the Messianic age into which they have entered, which will all come from God as He provides for them as a Father provides for His children.

In terms of Luke 11:13 this includes the power of the Holy Spirit, Who along with Jesus Christ Himself is the greatest gift of all. And later we will also learn that it will include the power of the risen Christ (Matthew 28:20). It is true that the Holy Spirit is not mentioned here, but Matthew has already made clear that the drenching with the Holy Spirit is an essential part of Jesus' Messianic ministry (Matthew 3:11; compare Matthew 12:18; Matthew 12:28), and that as an introduction to what follows in his Gospel. So His presence within them can be assumed, for it was that that John the Baptist had promised that the Messiah would do. Thus Matthew's emphasis is on the presence of Jesus with His people as the baptiser in the Holy Spirit. That is why in Matthew 28:20 it is the continuing presence of Jesus with His disciples, as the baptiser in the Holy Spirit (note the connection with what is probably the institution of baptism into the Name, which itself emphasises the gift of the Holy Spirit), that he mentions.

So the purpose of this small section is to offer His disciples something beyond price (Matthew 13:45). They have learned much about their heavenly Father's goodness (Matthew 5:45; Matthew 5:48), and how they can pray to Him (Matthew 6:9), and come secretly into His presence (Matthew 6:6), and trust Him for full provision as they seek His Kingly Rule and the working of His righteousness (Matthew 6:26; Matthew 6:32). But that has all been building up to what He will now reveal. For having spoken of not giving ‘that which is holy' to the wrong people, He will now explain how that which is holy' can come as a gift to them, and at the same time He will deal with something that is most holy of all, and that is that as sons of their heavenly Father they are privileged to enter right into His presence, that is, into Heaven itself (Isaiah 57:15).

We should note in this regard how this passage, which at first appears to be a command disconnected from the context, does in fact directly connect back to Matthew 7:6 as the antecedent to ‘it'. There He had spoken of ‘what is holy' (which in fact summed up Matthew 6:1 to Matthew 7:5), now He tells them that while it is true that their antagonists will reject such things when they are offered, they themselves are to seek what is holy with all their hearts. They are to go on asking that it might be given to them, they are to go on seeking until they find it, they are to go on knocking until the door is opened to them. For it is ‘what is holy' that will enable them, both in their lives and in their witness, to be what they ought to be. And in asking, they can be absolutely sure that they will receive because they are His sons.

We might see this more clearly if we select from Jesus' words and present them together, for the danger of splitting up His teaching into passages is that we can sometimes lose the continuity between passages. Thus Matthew 7:6 reads, ‘do not give (dowte) what is holy to dogs -- ask and it will be given (dothesetai) to you', for as He will then point out, it is such good things that their Father wants to give them. (This abrupt use of a command without a conjunction is typical of this last part of the Sermon. See Matthew 6:19; Matthew 7:1; Matthew 7:6 and compare the first part of the Lord's Prayer with the second). So what they must not offer to dogs because it is so holy is precisely what they themselves must seek to receive from their heavenly Father.

And in speaking of this, something of what He has spoken about all too briefly will now be emphasised and brought home to them so that they might have the confidence to go forward in fulfilling His will as laid down in the Sermon. For they will now be made aware of their great privilege, that they can, as it were, enter right into His Dwellingplace.

We should note that we again have here the ‘divine Passive', for ‘It shall be given you' means, ‘your Father will give you it', and so on. Thus the idea here is that they can ask of Him the things He delights to give them, they can seek His presence continually and find the holy things that He has for them, they can knock on His door, and be sure that He will open His door to them and invite them into His heavenly presence (compare Luke 11:5 in a similar context). They can enter into His holy place (Isaiah 57:15), where He will provide to them what is holy. And they can thus be confident of a Father's response, a Father Who desires only to do them good and give them what is ‘good' and what is ‘holy'.

(How pleased we should be that He does not always give us what we ask. How wrong of Him that would be. For He wants only to give us what is eternally for our good, and we so often want what is eternally for our harm).

And the result will be they can know that all the good things which He has promised to them, will be freely bestowed on them.

Some see this passage as not connected with what has gone before, but that is to miss the connection with, and change of direction from, Matthew 7:6 that we have described above. For the whole emphasis here is that while what is holy must not be given to dogs and pigs, it is certainly to be sought most earnestly by those who love Him. And the sudden abrupt change of emphasis forcibly brings home the distinction. It is in fact putting the cap on all that He has said about their heavenly Father. ‘Do not give -- ask and it will be given to you'. Here is what can actually happen when they enter their inner room (Matthew 6:6). Here is the recompense that they can receive. And once they have received all the ‘good things' that He has for them, they will then be enabled to do to others what they would have them do to them, thus fulfilling the Law and the Prophets.

These verses also conclude the central portion of the Sermon which can be entitled the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17; Matthew 7:12). And because they are so important as capping the whole, before we look at the verses in detail, we must first briefly recapitulate the whole portion.

Recapitulation of THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS.

a Jesus declared that He had come to fulfil the Law or the Prophets, and in view of His Messianic appearance as the Coming One, which was part of their fulfilment, He called for the total fulfilment of the remainder, in all its aspects, in the lives of His disciples, and this as against the limited and distorted fulfilment required by the Scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:17).

b He outlined five expansions and fuller explanations of the Law, each following the pattern ‘you have heard that it was said --- but I say to you --', stressing the inner meaning of each Law, and calling for their fulfilment. He was not describing rules to be obeyed, so much as a way of life to be followed, and by it He was exhorting His disciples to be true sons of their Father, and be perfect as He is. And this leads up to His stress on the benevolence of their Father, and His perfection in love (Matthew 5:17).

b He outlined seven warnings concerning men's outlook on life, the first four relating to the need for their religious observance, connected with almsgiving, prayer and fasting, with a stress on the need for them to be genuinely Godward so that they might know their Father's presence. And these were followed by the next three which were related to the need for a positive approach towards the use of wealth, which they must store in Heaven, in their Father's holy place; a positive approach towards the Kingly Rule of God and the experiencing of His righteousness as they enjoyed provision from their Father; and a positive approach towards helpful judgment which will result in assisting family members to achieve His aims, ending with the exclusion of outsiders (who have no place in the Kingly Rule of Heaven).

a The promise then is that if they seek their heavenly Father with all their hearts with a view to receiving what is holy, so that by that means they might be enabled to achieve His aims - persistently asking, seeking and knocking so as to enjoy His presence - then they can be sure that their heavenly Father will grant them the ‘good things' (the Holy Spirit - Luke 11:13) necessary in order to achieve all that He requires, for it is His delight as their Father that they should receive all the good things that He has for them. This is finally how the fulfilment of the Messianic aims will be achieved, as they go out as their Father's sons (Matthew 5:9; Matthew 5:45; Matthew 7:9), in order to do to others what they would have them do to them, thus fulfilling the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 7:7), and by it pleasing their Father as Jesus had (Matthew 3:17).

Note that in ‘a' He promised the fulfilment of the Law or the Prophets, and in the parallel He explains how it will be fulfilled as they enjoy their Father's presence, while in ‘b' and its parallel are outlined what is involved for them in terms of that fulfilment under His hand.

As well as demonstrating the means by which the Law and the Prophets will be fulfilled, these verses must also be seen as connecting back to the Lord's Prayer. It is difficult to see how Jesus could have exhorted prayer in this context without it being intended that His disciples should refer back to that (in the same way as similar words in Luke 11 similarly refer back to the Lord's Prayer). Here He has in mind that they are to pray for ‘what is holy', that is, for what is included in the Lord's Prayer; the hallowing of God's Name by His effective working in men's hearts, the coming in of the Kingly Rule of God by His establishing His righteousness within men (Matthew 6:33), and the bringing in of the doing of His will, which would result from both. These are some of the things for which they are to ‘ask, and go on asking, until they receive, seek and go on seeking until they find, and knock and go on knocking until it is opened to them'.

As seen above ‘asking' in order to be given looks back to Matthew 7:6. We may then also refer ‘seek and go on seeking' not only to their seeking their Father's presence, but also to their ‘seeking first His Kingly Rule and His righteousness' in their prayers as in Matthew 6:33. For both go together. They seek their Father and they seek His Kingly Rule. In finding One they find the other. He is only Father to those who come under His Kingly Rule. Thus what Jesus is exhorting here is that they learn to enjoy His Father's presence in the same way as He Himself has, and that they engage in unceasing and continuing prayer for the establishing of their Father's Rule and the exaltation of God and His will, just as He does. In other words that they seek with His divine assistance, and in oneness with Him, the successful establishment of the Messianic age (Matthew 28:18).

Analysis of Matthew 7:7.

a Ask, and it will be given to you, seek, and you will find, knock, and it will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7).

b For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened (Matthew 7:8).

c Or what man is there of you, who, if his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone (Matthew 7:9).

c Or if he will ask for a fish, will give him a snake? (Matthew 7:10).

b If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children (Matthew 7:11 a).

a How much more will your Father who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him? (Matthew 7:11 b).

Note how in ‘a' we have the call for persistent prayer and seeking of their Father's presence, while in the parallel is the certainty of their heavenly Father's reply in the giving of good things to His ‘sons'. In ‘b' we have the assurance of a reply to their requests and to their seeking, which can be paralleled with their generosity towards their own children. Centrally in ‘c' we learn of the impossibility of a good father refusing reasonable requests for true sustenance.