What is the meaning of Matthew 23:34? Because of this • “Because of this” points back to the woes Jesus has just pronounced on the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23:29-33). • Their ancestors murdered prophets; they maintain the same hardened posture, “filling up the measure of your fathers” (v. 32). • Jesus ties responsibility for future bloodshed directly to their present rejection—Luke 11:49-51 confirms the same verdict. • 2 Chronicles 36:15-16 shows the pattern: God sends messengers, people mock them, judgment follows. I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers • Jesus speaks with divine authority—He, not merely God in heaven, is the One “sending.” This underscores His deity and lordship (John 20:21; Ephesians 4:11). • “Prophets” include men like Agabus (Acts 11:28), “wise men” those gifted with Spirit-given insight such as Stephen (Acts 6:10), “teachers” men like Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:1). • The Lord keeps raising voices of truth even to those determined to silence them, fulfilling His promise of ongoing witness (1 Corinthians 12:28). Some of them you will kill and crucify • The prophecy is literal: – Stephen stoned (Acts 7:59) – James the son of Zebedee killed by Herod (Acts 12:2) – Tradition records Peter, Andrew, and others crucified. • John 15:20—“If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also”—is realized. • Hebrews 13:12-13 calls believers to bear reproach outside the camp, just as these martyrs did. And others you will flog in your synagogues • The apostles were flogged after the Sanhedrin’s ruling (Acts 5:40). • Paul recounts, “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one” (2 Corinthians 11:24; cf. Matthew 10:17). • Synagogue discipline, meant to uphold covenant faithfulness, becomes an instrument of hostility toward the gospel. And persecute from town to town • Saul hunted believers in Damascus (Acts 9:1-2), illustrating mobility of persecution. • In Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, Jews stirred up opposition, forcing Paul onward (Acts 13:50; 14:6, 19). • 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 notes the same pursuit, “hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved.” • Yet Acts 8:4 shows persecution scatters seed: “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.” summary Jesus foretells a continuing pattern: hard-hearted leaders will reject the messengers He personally sends, escalating from flogging to murder, and chasing them across the landscape. This prophecy, fulfilled throughout Acts and early church history, proves both the reliability of His word and the accountability of those who resist it. At the same time it reveals God’s unrelenting commitment to make the gospel known; opposition cannot silence the truth, it only spreads it further. |
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