*THE HEART
*Our mission is to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ absolutely free. We do not want donation. We only want you to know the truth.
BY WILLIE WONG
It is amazing what the Bible says about the heart. Because it is such a big subject it would normally require a book. So we only select some New Testament Scriptures that deal with the subject matter.
1.) Mat 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
Starting with what Jesus says about the heart. The pure in heart will see God. This is the supreme authority telling truth about the heart. How few people in the world who have pure heart. Because the heart of man is contaminated and corrupted by money, power and pleasure. There is no absolute truth in nature, for nature is only the creation. The absolute truth is in Jesus Christ who is the Creator.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
- Pure in heart.—Here, as with the poor in spirit, the noun determines the region in which the purity is to be found—the “heart” as representing desires and affections, as the “spirit” represents the will and higher personality. The purity so described is not that which was the ideal of the Pharisee, outward and ceremonial, nor, again, was it limited, as the common language of Christians too often limits it, to the absence of one special form of sensual sin; but it excluded every element of baseness—the impurity of hate or greed of gain, no less than that of lust. Not without cause, however, has the evil of the latter sin so overshadowed the others that it has almost monopolised the name. No single form of evil spreads its taint more deeply than that which “lets in contagion to the inward parts.”
Shall see God.—Does the promise find its fulfilment only in the beatific vision of the saints in glory, seeing God as He is (1John 3:2), knowing even as also we are known (1Corinthians 13:12)? Doubtless there, and there only, will be the full fruition which now we wait for; but “purity of heart,” so far as it exists, brings with it the power of seeing more than others see in all through which God reveals Himself—the beauty of nature, the inward light, the moral order of the world, the written word, the life and teaching of Christ. Though we see as yet “through a glass,” as in a mirror that reflects imperfectly, yet in that glass we behold “the glory of the Lord” (1Corinthians 13:12; 2Corinthians 3:18).”
- ) Mat 5:28, “but I say to you that everyone
who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
The best of world knowledge says man commits sins in deeds. But Jesus says, everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Definitely there are more sins committed by heart than by deed.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
- To lust after her.—The intent is more strongly marked in the Greek than in the English. It is not the passing glance, not even the momentary impulse of desire, but the continued gaze by which the impulse is deliberately cherished till it becomes a passion. This noble and beautiful teaching, it has often been remarked, and by way of disparagement, is found elsewhere. Such disparagement is out of place. By the mercy of God the Light that “lighteth every man” has led men to recognise the truth thus asserted, and parallels to it may be found in the writings of Conlucius, Seneca, Epictetus, and even of the Jewish Rabbis themselves. The words of Juvenal closely express the general sentiment:—
“ Scelus intra se tacitus qui cogitat ullum,
Facti crimen habet.”
[“Who in his breast a guilty thought doth cherish,
He bears the guilt of action.”]
Our Lord’s words speak primarily of “adultery,” but are, of course, applicable to every form of sensual impurity.”
- ) Mat 6:21, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Heart is where the treasure is.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
- For where your treasure is—that which ye value most.
there will your heart be also—”Thy treasure—thy heart” is probably the true reading here: “your,” in Lu 12:34, from which it seems to have come in here. Obvious though this maxim be, by what multitudes who profess to bow to the teaching of Christ is it practically disregarded! “What a man loves,” says Luther, quoted by Tholuck, “that is his God. For he carries it in his heart, he goes about with it night and day, he sleeps and wakes with it; be it what it may—wealth or pelf, pleasure or renown.” But because “laying up” is not in itself sinful, nay, in some cases enjoined (2Co 12:14), and honest industry and sagacious enterprise are usually rewarded with prosperity, many flatter themselves that all is right between them and God, while their closest attention, anxiety, zeal, and time are exhausted upon these earthly pursuits. To put this right, our Lord adds what follows, in which there is profound practical wisdom.”
That is why Jesus tells believers to store our treasure in Heaven.
- ) Mat 11:29, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I AM gentle and humble
in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.”
Those who are gentle and humble in heart will find rest for their souls.
Verse 29. – Vers. 29, 30 have so much in common with both the language and the thought of Ecclus. 51:26, 27, that probably this passage was in our Lord’s mind. It is noteworthy that most of the other signs of acquaintance with Ecclesiasticus are found in the Epistle of St. James (cf. Edersheim, in the ‘Speaker’s Commentary’ on Ecclesiasticus, p. 22). Take my yoke upon you. For there is work to be done, therefore enter on it. The yoke is the service that Christ gives us to do, and therefore implies more than his teaching. This, however, is so important a part of his service, both in itself and as being the means of knowing what he wishes done, that Christ speaks of it as though almost identical with his yoke. (On the figure of the yoke, compare a note by Professor Ryle and Mr. James, in ‘Psalms of Solomon,’ 7:8, suggesting that our Lord was contrasting his yoke with the yoke of minute legal observance laid upon the people by the scribes and Pharisees. For a detailed description of the yoke and plough used now in Palestine, see an article by Dr. Post in the Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration for 1891, p. 112.) And learn of me. The figure of the oxen passes into that of the scholars. The “of” is slightly ambiguous, and may refer to Christ as the Example from which they may draw the lesson for themselves (Matthew 24:32), or as the Teacher who will himself instruct them (Colossians 1:7). The second meaning is more suitable here. (For the thought, comp. John 8:31.) For. The reason why they should learn from him and no other teacher. He alone was what he claimed to teach, therefore he alone could teach it properly, and therefore from him alone could they learn that type of character which they ought to develop. I am. Observe the claim. It is almost greater than that of ver. 27. Meek. Primarily, as regards God (Matthew 5:5, note). Receiving in my degree whatever yoke my Father puts on me. And lowly in heart. As regards men. Observe that meek and lowly correspond, though the order is reversed, to “He humbled himself and became obedient” (Philippians 2:8, where ἐταπείνωσεν ἑαυτόν does not refer to the Incarnation (ἐκένωσεν ἑαυτόν), but to his relation to others in this world). In heart (Matthew 5:8, note). “Lowly in heart” very nearly corresponds to “he that is of a lowly spirit.” Such a person as Christ’s experience shows (Philippians 2:9) “shall obtain honour” (Proverbs 29:23). And ye shall find rest unto your souls. In this learning and service. The words are taken from Jeremiah 6:16 (not the LXX.; cf. also Ecclus. 6:28), where they form the promise given to those that ask for the old paths and walk in the good way of the Divine commandments. But these roads were now more clearly made known in Christ. Observe the full force of the two expressions, I will give you rest (ver. 28), and Ye shall find rest. The tired comers are at once refreshed by Christ; these accept his service and teaching, and in performing it find further rest. The first rest may be termed the peace of justification; the second, that of sanctification. Both are obtained through Christ alone, yet they are not to be confused, much less identified, with one another. Matthew 11:29.”
- ) Mat 12:34, “You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, express any good
things? For the mouth speaks from that
which fills the heart.”
In a sense, you can know a man’s heart through his mouth.
Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
O generation of vipers,…. Though they boasted of their being the seed of Abraham, yet their immediate ancestors were no other than vipers, deceitful, hurtful, poisonous creatures; and they were exactly like them: for though they made a fair show in the flesh, and outwardly appeared righteous, yet were inwardly full of the poison of wickedness, envy and malice; and which their pestilential breath, their blasphemy against the Spirit, fully discovered; and gave just cause and reason for so severe a reproof, and such resentment, as here made by Christ.
How can ye, being evil, speak good things? This is not to be expected, nor is it commonly and constantly done; an evil man may sometimes speak good things, or which seem to be so; but these are not his common talk; as he is, so, for the most part, is his language; his speech betrays him: and since these men were by nature evil, were destitute of the Spirit and grace of God, had no good thing in them, how should any good thing come out of them? And since they were so full of wickedness, spite and malice, it is no wonder that they belched out such blasphemous expressions concerning the miracles of Christ;
for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh: a phrase much like this is used by the Septuagint, in Ecclesiastes 2:15. “I spoke abundance”, or “much in my heart”; “for the fool out of his abundance speaketh”: as there is abundance of folly in him, there is much delivered out by him; and where there is abundance of wickedness in the heart, if the grace of God is wanting to restrain it, much of it will come out by the lips; as is a man’s heart, ordinarily is his language.”
The mouth leaks out the secrets of the heart.
- ) Mat 12:40, “for just as JONAH WAS IN THE STOMACH OF THE SEA MONSTER FOR THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.”
Jesus Christ authenticates the story of Jonah.
Verse 40. – Matthew only. For as Jonas (Jonah, Revised Version) was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly. Verbally from the LXX. of Jonah 1:17 (2:1). So shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Since, so far as the balance of evidence goes (cf., however, Bishop Westcott, ‘Introduction,’ p. 344, edit. 1872), the Crucifixion was on Friday and the Resurrection on Sunday, the actual time between them was only one clear day and two parts of days (which might fairly be called three days) and two whole nights. The reckoning, therefore, here is, strictly speaking, inaccurate. The words are perhaps a mere adaptation of the phrase in Jonah, and are here used only to roughly mark the time of our Lord’s stay in the grave. Observe, however, that the addition of” nights” tends to emphasize the reality of our Lord’s stay there. It was a matter of days and nights; he spent both kinds of earthly time “in the heart of the earth” (cf. Matthew 4:2, note). It will be noticed that the inaccuracy of the wording would, if modern Western habits were alone to be considered, make it most unlikely that the phrase is a later addition; but in view of the early Christian and Jewish method of illustrating events by passages of Scripture which do not apply in all respects, the improbability is not so great as would at first sight appear. However, upon our present information, we must say that the phrase was spoken by our Lord himself, and that although the exact time of his stay in the grave was well known to the early believers, they continued to repeat the saying in the form in which the Lord left it. In the heart of the earth. The form of the expression is derived from Jonah 2:3 (4), “in the heart of the seas” (cf. Exodus 15:8), and would therefore appear to mean some deeper place than the rock-hewn sepulchre. Hence many commentators, beginning with Irenaeus (‘Adv. Haer.,’ V. 31.) and Tertullian (‘De Anima,’ Iv.), understand it as directly denoting the place of departed spirits. Ephesians 4:9 (“the lower parts of the earth”), on the contrary, probably refers to the earth as such in contrast to heaven. Matthew 12:40.”
- ) Mat 13:15, “FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR
HEART, AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.”
Interestingly, the heart of people can become dull.
Dull in Greek is pachynō which means metaph. to make stupid (to render the soul dull or callous); figuratively, stupefy or render callous; wax gross (Strong’s Concordance); — which occurs 2 times in the New Testament.
Verse 15. – For this people’s heart is waxed gross. There are two ways of understanding this verse as it comes here.
(1) It states the reason why God pronounced the judgment of ver. 14. The people’s heart had already become fat, lest (μή ποτε will then express the effect from the Divine point of view) they should see, etc.
(2) It merely enlarges the statement of ver. 14, expanding its meaning (for this force of γάρ, cf. Mark 2:15; Luke 18:32): their heart is waxed fat (by God’s judgment for preceding sins), lest they should see, etc. This second explanation is preferable, for it alone suits the imperative found in the Hebrew (cf. the transitive verbs in John 12:40), and is strictly parallel to the introductory vers. 11-13, which do not dwell upon the causes of God’s judgment. And their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest at any time (Matthew 4:6, note) they should see; perceive (Revised Version) – to recall the same word in ver. 14. With their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart. Bengel calls attention to the order; first came heart, ears, eyes; here, eyes, ears, heart. “A corde corruptio manat in aures et oculos: per oculos et aures sanitas pervenit ad cor.” And should be converted; and should turn again (Revised Version, ἐπιστρέψωσι); for “to be converted” has acquired too technical a meaning. And I should heal them (καὶ ἰάσομαι αὐτούς). The verb is still dependent on the lest (cf. Matthew 5:25; Matthew 7:6), but the future brings out the certainty of God’s healing them on their turning, etc. Matthew 13:15.”
- ) Mat 13:19, “When anyone hears the Word of the Kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one sown with seed beside the road.”
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
- When any one heareth the word.—The explanation has become so familiar to us that it is hard to place ourselves in the position of those to whom it was the unveiling of new truths—the holding up a mirror in which they might see, it might be, their own likeness. Our interest in it may, perhaps, be quickened if we think of it as reflecting what had actually been our Lord’s experience. The classes of hearers who had gathered round Him were represented, roughly and generally, by the four issues of the seed scattered by the sower, and all preachers of the truth, from that day to this, have felt that their own experience has presented analogous phenomena.
The ethical sequence described runs thus: The man hears “the word of the kingdom,” a discourse, say, like the Sermon on the Mount, or that at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-21). He does not “understand” it (the fault being moral rather than intellectual), does not attend to it or “take it in.” The “wicked one” (note the connection with the clause in the Lord’s Prayer, “Deliver us from evil,” or the evil one) snatches it away even from his memory. At first it seems strange that “the birds of the air” in their multitude should represent the Tempter in his unity; and yet there is a terrible truth in the fact that everything which leads men to forget the truth is, in very deed, doing the work of the great enemy. On the other hand, the birds, in their rapid flight and their gathering flocks, may well represent the light and foolish thoughts that are as the Tempter’s instruments. The “way-side” thus answers to the character, which is hardened by the wear and tear of daily life, what we well call its routine, so that the words of Truth make hardly even the most transient impression on it.
This is he which received seed.—Our translators try, unsuccessfully, to combine the parable with its interpretation. Literally, and far better, here and in the following verses, this man it is that is (the seed) sown by the way side.”
- ) Mat 15:8, “THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY
FROM ME.”
Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth,…. The preface to these words, or the form in which they are introduced by the prophet; “wherefore the Lord said”, is left out in this citation, being unnecessary here, though of the greatest importance there; partly to show, that what was about to be said, was not the prophet’s own words, but the words of the Lord, of which the Jews in Christ’s time made no doubt; and partly to give a reason why that judicial blindness, threatened in the context, should be inflicted on them, which is no part of Christ’s design here; but which is only to show, that the description here given exactly agrees with them, and so proves, and confirms the character he gives of them as hypocrites. They approached the ordinances of God, and drew nigh to him, and attended him in outward worship; they prayed unto him publicly, and constantly, in the streets, in the synagogues, and temple, and with much seeming devotion and sanctity:
and honoureth me with their lips: they owned him to be their creator and preserver; they made their boast of him, and of their knowledge of him, as the one only living, and true God, and as the God of Israel; they brought their sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, even the fruit of their lips, unto him, for their many peculiar mercies, privileges, and favours, as a nation, church, and people, and with much seeming sincerity and affection.
But their heart is far from me; they had no true love to God, nor faith in him, nor fear of him; they were not at all concerned for his presence with them, or for communion with him, or for his honour and glory; their hearts were in the world, and after their covetousness; they made religion a tool to their secular purposes, supposing gain to be godliness; sought the applause of men, and contented themselves with bodily exercise; having no regard to internal religion, powerful godliness, or where their hearts were, so be it, their bodies were presented to God in public worship; and what they did it was to be seen and approved of men, not caring what the searcher of hearts knew concerning them, or what he required of them.”
The God of the Bible cannot tolerate people with lip service. Jesus says, Jhn 4:23-24, “But the time is coming, and even now has arrived, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
- But the hour cometh.—Better, as in John 4:21, but there cometh an hour. He adds to this thought, what He could not add to the previous one, “and now is.” Local worship was not yet giving way to spiritual; but a band of true worshippers was being gathered, and some were then following Him.
The true worshippers.—Her distinction of place was of the accident, but the essence was the nature of the worship. What could any worship be to a God who saw the impurity of the heart, and the contradiction of thought and word? What could she know of the worship of which she speaks? Yes; and the temple at Jerusalem was a house of merchandise, instead of one of prayer; what did priest and Levite, scribe and Pharisee, know of true worship?
In spirit and in truth.—The link between human nature and the divine is in the human spirit, which is the shrine of the Holy Spirit (1Corinthians 6:19). All true approach to God must therefore be in spirit. (Comp. Romans 1:9, and Ephesians 6:18.) Place, and time, and words, and postures, and sounds, and all things from without, are important only in so far as they aid in abstraction from the sensible world, and in elevation of the spirit within. The moment they distract they hinder true worship. Ritual cannot be discussed without risk of spiritual loss. The words “in truth,” already expressed in true worshippers, and repeated in the following verse, are more than “truly.” Sincerity is not a test of acceptable worship, though it is a requisite. Bigots sincerely think they do God’s service. Worship which is “in truth” is in harmony with the nature of the God whom we worship. To think of God in hearing His truth, to kindle the soul by hymns of praise, to realise the earlier portions of collects and prayers which utter His attributes, are necessary to the truth of the petitions, and thanksgivings, and adorations of worship. The model prayer of Christianity brings home to the heart the Fatherhood of God in its first words.
For the Father seeketh such to worship him.—Better, for such the Father also seeketh His worshippers to be. The word “such,” i.e., of this character, is emphatic. The “also” expresses that the worship, on the part of the true worshippers, is in accordance with the divine will: “the Father also (on His part) . . .” The reader will not fail to note the emphasis in this reply on the word “Father” (John 4:21 and twice in this verse). This name of God, which we teach children to lisp in earliest years, came to her, it may be, now for the first time. He is not Vengeance to be appeased, nor Power to be dreaded, but Love to be received. (Comp. Note on John 3:16.) It is when men learn to think of God as Father that merely local and material worship must cease. The universal desire and practice of worship is the witness to a universal object of worship. The yearning of the human spirit is that of a child seeking the author of his being. The seeking is not human only. The Father also seeketh His child, and seeth him when he is a great way off (Luke 15:20).”
10.) Mat 15:19, “For out of the heart come
evil thoughts, murders, acts of adultery,
other immoral sexual acts, thefts, false
testimonies, and slanderous statements.”
Do you know the human heart is desperately evil?
Christ proceeds to state what does defile the man, or render him a sinner:
- “Evil thoughts” These are the first things – these are the fountains of all others. Thought precedes action. Thought, or purpose, or motive, gives its character to conduct. All evil thoughts are here intended. Though we labor to suppress them, yet they defile us. They leave pollution behind them.
- “Murders.” Taking the life of others with malice. The malice has its seat in the heart, and the murder therefore proceeds from the heart, 1 John 3:15.
- “Adulteries, fornication.” See Matthew 5:28.
- “Thefts.” Theft is the taking and carrying away the goods of others without their knowledge or consent. Thefts are caused by coveting the property of others. They proceed, therefore, from the heart, and violate at the same time two commandments – the tenth commandment in thought and the eighth commandment in act.
- “False witness.” Giving wrong testimony. Concealing the truth, or stating what we know to be false – a violation of the ninth commandment. It proceeds from a desire to injure others, to take away their character or property, or to do them injustice. It proceeds thus from the heart.
- “Blasphemies.” See the notes at Matthew 9:3. Blasphemy proceeds from opposition to God, hatred of his character Romans 8:7, and from a desire that there should be no God. It proceeds from the heart. See Psalm 14:1. Mark adds several things to those enumerated by Matthew:
- “Covetousness.” The unlawful desire of what others possess, this always proceeds from the heart.
- “Wickedness.” The original here means malice, or a desire of injuring others, Romans 1:29.
- “Deceit,” i. e., fraud, concealment, cheating in trade. This proceeds from a desire to benefit ourselves by doing injustice to others, and this proceeds from the heart.
(d) Lasciviousness. Lust, obscenity, unbridled passion – a strong, evil desire of the heart.
(e) “An evil eye.” That is, an eye that is sour, malignant, proud; or an eye of lust and passion. See Matthew 5:28; Matthew 20:15; 2 Peter 2:14, “Having eyes full of adultery, that cannot cease from sin.”
(f) “Pride.” An improper estimate of our own importance; thinking that we are of much more consequence than we really are. This is always the work of an evil heart.
(g) “Foolishness.” Not a lack of intellect – man is not to blame for that – but a moral folly, consisting in choosing evil ends and the bad means of gaining them; or, in other words, sin and wickedness. All sin is folly. It is foolish for a man to disobey God, and foolish for anyone to go to hell.”
After hearing what Jesus says, can you claim you have not sinned?
11.) Mat 22:37, “And He said to him, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.”
What are the distinctions and differences among your heart, your soul and your mind? That is a different topic. Suffice to have the following explanation:
Verse 37. – Thou shalt love the Lord thy God; Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου (Deuteronomy 6:5, from the Septuagint, with some slight variation). Christ enunciates the two great moral precepts of God’s Law, not, indeed, stated in these words in the Decalogue, but implied throughout, and forming the basis of true religion. Heart… soul… mind. The Septuagint has “mind, soul, strength.” The expressions mean generally that God is to be loved with all our powers and faculties, and that nothing is to be preferred to him. It is difficult to define with any precision the signification of each term used, and much unprofitable labour has been expended in the endeavour to limit their exact sense. “Quum,” as Grotius says, “vocum multarum cumulatio nihil quam intensius studium designet.” It is usual to explain thus: Heart; which among the Hebrews was considered to be the seat of the understanding, is here considered as the home of the affections and the seat of the will. Soul; the living powers, the animal life. Mind; διαμοίᾳ, intellectual powers. These are to be the seat and abode of the love enjoined. Matthew 22:37”
12.) Mar 3:5, “After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.”
Do you know man’s hardness of heart can grieve the Lord.
With anger – With a severe and stern countenance; with indignation at their hypocrisy and hardness of heart. This was not, however, a spiteful or revengeful passion; it was caused by excessive “grief” at their state: “being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.” It was not hatred of the “men” whose hearts were so hard; it was hatred of the sin which they exhibited, joined with the extreme grief that neither his teaching nor the law of God, nor any means which could be used, overcame their confirmed wickedness. Such anger is not unlawful, Ephesians 4:26. However, in this instance, our Lord has taught us that anger is never lawful except when it is tempered with grief or compassion for those who have offended.
Hardness of their hearts – The heart, figuratively the seat of feeling or affection, is said to be tender when it is easily affected by the sufferings of others – by our own sin and danger – by the love and commands of God; when we are easily made to feel on the great subjects pertaining to our interest, Ezekiel 11:19-20. It is hard when nothing moves it; when a man is alike insensible to the sufferings of others, to the dangers of his own condition, and to the commands, the love, and the threatenings of God. It is most tender in youth, or when we have committed fewest crimes. It is made hard by indulgence in sin, by long resisting the offers of salvation, or by opposing any great and affecting appeals which God may make to us by his Spirit or providence, by affliction, or by a revival of religion. Hence, it is that the most favorable period for securing an interest in Christ, or for becoming a Christian, is in youth the first, the tenderest, and the best days of life. Nay, in the days of childhood, in the Sabbath-school, God may be found, and the soul prepared to die.”
The Scritptures describe the state of unbelievers: Eph 4:18-19, “being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior
for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.”
13.) Mar 16:14, “Later He appeared to the eleven disciples themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reprimanded them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen from the dead.”
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
14–18. The Appearance to the Eleven
14. Afterward] That is on the evening of the day of the Resurrection, when the two disciples returning from Emmaus had recounted their tale of joy, and the others had told them of the appearance to St Peter.
as they sat at meat] On this occasion, when they were terrified at His sudden appearing (Luke 24:37), and thought they were looking at a spectre or phantom, He calmed their fears by (a) bidding them take note of His Hands and His Feet, by (b) eating in their presence of broiled fish (Luke 24:41-43), and by (c) reiterating His salutation, “Peace be unto you” (John 20:21).
and upbraided them] Their new-born joy still struggled with bewilderment and unbelief (Luke 24:21), and one of their number, St Thomas, was absent altogether, having apparently thrown away all hope.
hardness of heart] Compare His words (a) after the feeding of the Five and Four Thousand, and (b) to the disciples journeying towards Emmaus, Luke 24:25.
them which had seen him] Of the five appearances after the Resurrection vouchsafed on the world’s first Easter-Day four had already taken place before this interview. (i) To Mary Magdalene, (ii) to the other ministering women, (iii) to the two journeying to Emmaus, (iv) to St Peter.
Unbelief is related to hardness of heart.
14.) Luk 2:19, “But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.”
Mary set a good example to treasure all the things said about Jesus and ponder them in her heart.
Mary kept all these things – All that happened, and all that was said respecting her child. She “remembered” what the angel had said to “her;” what had happened to Elizabeth and to the shepherds – all the extraordinary circumstances which had attended. the birth of her son. Here is a delicate and beautiful expression of the feelings of a mother. A “mother” forgets none of those things which occur respecting her children. Everything they do or suffer – everything that is said of them, is treasured up in her mind; and often she thinks of those things, and anxiously seeks what they may indicate respecting the future character and welfare of her child.
Pondered – Weighed. This is the original meaning of the word “weighed.” She kept them; she revolved them; she “weighed” them in her mind, giving to each circumstance its just importance, and anxiously seeking what it might indicate respecting her child.
In her heart – In her mind. She “thought” of these things often and anxiously.”
The same things about the Scriptures which we must treasure them and ponder them in our hearts.
15.) Luk 8:15, “But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the Word with a good and virtuous heart, and hold it firmly, and produce fruit with perseverance.”
The good seed needs the good soil. For
believers to produce fruit who have heard the Word of God, they must have a good and virtuous heart and hold it firmly and with perseverance.
Verse 15. – But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. In this portraiture of the fourth class of our Lord’s great life-picture of hearers of and inquirers concerning religion, the Greek words rendered in the Authorized Version “honest” and “good” (“in an honest and good heart “) were words well known and in familiar use among the widely spread Greek-speaking peoples for whom especially St. Luke’s Gospel was compiled. Professor Bruce (‘Parabolic Teaching of Christ,’ ch. 1.) remarks that “the man who united the two qualities expressed by the term ‘honest’ (better rendered ‘noble’) and ‘good,’ represented the beau-ideal of manhood. He was one whose aim was noble, and who was generously devoted to his aim. The expression rendered ‘honest’ (better translated ‘noble,’ καλός) has reference to aims or chief ends, and describes one whose mind is raised above moral vulgarity, and is bent, not on money-making and such low pursuits, but on the attainment of wisdom, holiness, and righteousness. The epithet rendered ‘good’ (ἀγαθός) denotes generous self-abandonment in the prosecution of lofty ends; large-heartedness, magnanimous, overflowing devotion.” Mary of Bethany, with her devoted love and her generous friendship; the centurion Cornelius, with his fervent piety and his noble generosity towards a despised and hated race; Barnabas, with his splendid liberality, his utter absence of care for self, his bright, loving trust in human nature, his true charity, “bearing all things, hoping all things;” – are good examples, drawn from different sexes and from varied races, and out of diverse paths of life, of these true inquirers, who not only hear the Word, but keep it. Luke 8:15.”
16.) Luk 24:25, “And then He said to them, “You foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!”
According to Jesus, a man is foolish because he is slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.
O fools – The word “fool” sometimes is a term of reproach denoting “wickedness.” In this sense we are forbidden to employ it in addressing another, Matthew 5:22. That, however, is a different word in the Greek from the one which occurs here. The one there used implies contempt, but the one employed in this place denotes “weakness or dulness.” He reproached them for not seeing what he had himself so clearly predicted, and what had been foretold by the prophets. The word used in the original does not imply as much “reproach” as the word “fool” does among us. It was not an expression of “contempt;” it was an expression denoting merely that they were “thoughtless,” and that they did not properly “attend to” the evidence that he must die and rise again.
Slow of heart to believe – Not quick to perceive. Dull of learning. They had suffered their previous opinions and prejudices to prevent their seeing the evidence that he must die and rise from the dead.
All that the prophets have spoken – Respecting the character and sufferings of the Messiah. See the notes at Luke 24:27.”
Why? Luk 24:44, “Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things that are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the
Psalms must be fulfilled.”
ACCORDING TO :
It might help you to place Major Prophets and Minor Prophets:
17.) Jhn 13:2, “And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him.”
It is a terrible thing that the devil can put into the heart of a person to do evil. I have good news for you. If you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, the devil cannot put an evil thought into your heart. The evil spirit is afraid of the Holy Spirit.
Verse 2. – A supper having commenced; or, being then in progress – without doubt the meal in which our Lord terminated the Old Testament dispensation and introduced the New, and which John discriminates, therefore, from the Passover proper referred to in ver. 1. The evangelist now reverts to the diabolic design which had been injected into the heart of Judas. The devil having already cast into the heart (of Judas) that he – Meyer’s suggestion that the devil put this design into his own heart, does not lighten the construction, and encumbers the passage with ideas which are foreign to the Bible – (even) Judas, (the son) of Simon, the Iscariot, should betray him. The idea came from the devil, but the purpose of the devil was not irrevocable. The evangelist looked through his tears of love to the traitor’s face as he sat at meat, and felt how the very excess and uttermost and hyperbole of love was reached and scaled by the contact between the treachery of the one and the Divine humiliation of the other. The contrast between these two mental states is one of the most striking antitheses in the Gospel. But how should John know that Judas had already plotted the betrayal of his Master? Hengstenberg makes the wise suggestion that the fourth evangelist was acquainted with the synoptic tradition of the priority of Judas’s bargain with the chief priests (Matthew 26:14-16; Mark 14:10, 11; Luke 22:3-6). John 13:2
18.) Jhn 14:1, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.”
An unrepentent heart will give you most trouble, because the righteous judgment of God will cast you to eternal suffering in Hell.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
XIV.
- Let not your heart be troubled.—The division of chapters is unfortunate, as it breaks the close connection between these words and those which have gone immediately before. The prophecy of St. Peter’s denial had followed upon the indication of Judas as the traitor, and upon the announcement of the Lord’s departure. These thoughts may well have brought troubled hearts. The Lord had Himself been troubled as the darkness drew on (John 12:27; John 13:21), and He calms the anxious thoughts that He reads in the souls of the disciples.
Ye believe in God, believe also in me.—It is more natural to take both these clauses as imperative—Believe in God, believe also in Me. Our English version reads the first and last clauses of the verse as imperative, and the second as an indicative, but there is no good reason for doing so; and a sense more in harmony with the context is got by reading them all as imperatives. As a matter of fact, the present trouble of the hearts of the disciples arose from a want of a true belief in God; and the command is to exercise a true belief, and to realise the presence of the Father, as manifested in the person of the Son. There was a sense in which every Jew believed in God. That belief lay at the very foundation of the theocracy; but like all the axioms of creeds, it was accepted as a matter of course, and too often had no real power on the life. What our Lord here teaches the disciples is the reality of the Fatherhood of God as a living power, ever present with them and in them; and He teaches them that the love of God is revealed in the person of the Word made flesh. This faith is the simplest article of the Christian’s creed. We teach children to say, we ourselves constantly say, “I believe in God the Father.” Did we but fully grasp the meaning of what we say, the troubles of our hearts would be hushed to silence; and our religion would be a real power over the whole life, and would be also, in a fulness in which it never has been, a real power over the life of the world.”
There are many things in this world to trouble your heart. You know how bad is the human heart: Jer 17:9, “The heart is more deceitful than
all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” Just the hardness of heart alone is sufficient to send a man to eternal suffering in Hell.
It is not enough to believe in God, you must also believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of mankind. You can repent of your sins and believe in the great God and Savior who died for your sins and my sins and rose again from death so that we may be justified before God. Do not neglect so great a salvation, there is no one under the Heaven that you might be saved. You can do it now; for now is the day of salvation.
WILLLIE WONG THOUGHT
WILLIE WONG
November 9, 2025
Copyright © 2018 – 2025 by Willie Wong
How to advance China’s modernization:
- Legally, Taiwan has been restored to China from Japan. In fact, the two parties (KMT and People Progressive Party) have rebelled against China for 80 years, raped by Japan and America or simultaneously. China can give Taiwan one last chance: conduct referendum to determine which is larger in population; if those who want to return to China are greater, then they can overthrow the current regime and set up a provisional government waiting for China to take over.
If those who want to be Independent are greater, they can leave Taiwan. China shall use force to liberate Taiwan and publicly execute those traitorous party leaders. Undoubtedly, PPP has done the greatest harm by ditching Chineseness in everything. I think their past and present leaders will escape fast to America. Enogh is enough, 80 years of rebellion are enough.
- Learning from black criminals, black pimps, black population in America and Africa, no blacks in whatever capacity may enter China.
- To pump major investment into Africa and other undeveloped, unmotivated, insolvent and lazy peoples is like to throw away money into a black hole. Global problems are not China’s problems. Many nations enjoy themselves by conning and consumming China’s resources so that China will be behind India. China has aided more than 100 nations, not one has shown any tangible gratitude.
4. To use AI to program robots to run, to fight, to dance– do not shape intelligent economy and socety. Too many ignoramuses have been given platform to speak. UN is a useless and worthless organization
5. Discard old belief of superstition, old practice of religion, old outlook of self-satisfaction, and old values of traditon by embracing new concept, new perspfective and new values of innovtion and technology.
6. Stop all foreign aid because China does not have enough resoources to do modernized vital projects of its own.
7. Restrict entry of all undersiable peoples and welcome the influx of overseas Chinese and their investment.
8. Improve manufacture with only high qualify products and penalize fake goods and poor quality products.
9. Eliminate corruption, organized crime, counterfeit currency, rumor, smuggling of any sort and monopoly and overchages of hospitals and doctors.
10. Democracy is the greatest fraud perpetrated by the West in the world; China must not immitate the West but go its own way.
11. Recruit 6-footers who have graduated from college into a new military school like West Point to be trained to become military leaders.
12. Overhaul CGTN with respect to its ideology, personnel, programming and commercials. No liquor, cigarette, Western fake goods are allowed on TV.
13. Ban uncivilized sports such as boxing, fencing, grand prix, and all intentionally body-hurt games.
14. China has no need to save any underdeveloped, unmotivated, impoverished, insolvent and useless nations; China has need to save itself.
15. Enhance nuclear weapons so that China in a superior position not threatened by any country.
16. Improve military position toward neigboring hostile nations.
17. Revitalize rural areas not only liberating from poor and backward situations but able to be independent economically, financially, and productively.
18. Overhaul CGTN: scrap Africa, Latin America and Arab programs; forcus on China, Asia, America and Europe.
19. October 25, on Taiwan Restoration Day, I advocate to move China’s national treasures which amount to $100,000 trillion dollars and priceless from Taipai Palace Museum back to Beijing without delay or hitch.
19. I want to tell you, the Chinese people and peoples of the world, under leadership of Chinese government, Chinese engineers, scientists, technicians and workers have achieved and surpassed many nations in the fields of space, transportation, agriculture, industry, manufacture, AI, infrastrutures, etc.
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The fake claim and biggest black lie is black Jews. Abraham was not a Negro, the twelve tribes of Israel were not Negroes. David was not a Negro. Jesus was born a Jew, not a Negro. There are no black Jews. Merriam Webster defines Negro as a person of Black African ancestry. The Biblical Jews are neither black nor African.
Note: Enemies of truth habitually attack my website by distortion, elimination, addition and misspelling; or create so many technical problems to prevent me from editing and revising my articles. If you see something is wrong, the enemies did it! I could not find an absolutely free website with complete freedom of expression. I need a free website because we do not make money, it costs me money to develop and maintain a free website. The costs include a computer, annual fee of broad band, printer, electricity, papers, repairs, etc.
The fake claim and biggest black lie is black Jews. Abraham was not a Negro, the twelve tribes of Israel were not Negroes. David was not a Negro. Jesus was born a Jew, not a Negro. There are no black Jews. Merriam Webster defines Negro as a person of Black African ancestry. The Biblical Jews are neither black nor African.
The two-state proposal is not the two-state solution. For God gave the Promised Land to Abraham and his descendants some 4,000 years ago. The Chosen People rebelled against God and they were scattered all over the world. During the British colonial rule, the Holy Land was known as Palestine, illegal Arabs moved in to occupy the Holy Land without payment. The illegal Arabs were latter known as Palestinians. Palestinians, Arabs and Hamas have no claim to the Holy Land and no resettlement right in the Holy Land. They do not own one inch of the Jewish land, they now illegally occupied the Promised Land; Palestinians, Arabs and Hamas must at once leave the Jewish land for good. The leaders of the United Kingdom could tell them so. Palestinians could never establish a Palestinian state in the Holy Land. The United Nations or any agency has no authority to give the Jewish land to Palestinians, Arabs and Hamas. Jerusalem is forever the capital of the great King David. It is high time for Palestinians, Arabs and Hamas to get out of the Holy Land in peace; or they will be evicted by force. God will fight for Jerusalem, for God is the Protector of Israel. Palestine only existed in British colonial rule, so Palestinians are not free in Israel; they must be expelled from Jerusalem and the Jewish land, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. They are free to go to Arab nations. Palestinians and Hamas must withdraw from the Jewish land that God gave to Abraham and his descendants without delay. Any strategy to bargain away the Jewish land is wrong.
Leaders and politicians of some 50 nations, in spite of CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC and high inflation, send their taxpayer money and heavy weapons to the Ukraine nincompoop and puppet, in order to prolong the war with Russia. Scandinavia hopes for security, instead joins death camp. NATO is the Western terrorism and war machine to target Russia in Europe; and expands to Asia to target China. The world has no peace because the West misleads the peoples by distortion and death and destruction.