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Matthew 7:7-12
Jesus gives a command to ask, seek, and knock in Matthew 7:7. He then gives reason in Matthew 7:8 (NKJV) as He states, “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” In Matthew 7:9-10 Jesus gives two examples of simple knowledge in the common since of taking care of our children, and then follows it up in Matthew 7:11 commenting, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” But in Matthew 7:12 Jesus adds a twist to His teaching that narrows those to which are able to ask, seek, knock, and receive as He states, “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” This is reflective of His answer to the question in Matthew 22:36 given Him by the Pharisees, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” as He replies in Matthew 22:37-40 (ESV), “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
This is a command to ask of God.
This is a command to seek God’s will for your life.
This is a command to knock on the door that opens to God’s blessings.
This is a promise that the one who fulfills the Law and the Prophets is worthy to receive God’s blessings.
We must keep in mind that Jesus has not yet been crucified and paid the debt for all sin. During the time in which Jesus is teaching this lesson, the Law of the Old Testament was still the acting authority for all who believed in the Almighty God of heaven. The whole issue with the Pharisees is that they are striving to prove themselves more righteous than others in the eyes of man, not the eyes of God. As Jesus teaches His disciples to not be judgmental of others (Matthew 7:1-5) but to look to the issues of oneself, He reiterates the whole of the Old Testament Law in Matthew 7:12. But we know that no one is able to keep all the law because of sin, so how is it that anyone may receive the blessings that Jesus speaks of in asking of God, seeking His will, and knocking on the door to God’s blessings? Jesus is preparing His disciples for what is to come after His crucifixion. Jesus comes right out and declares it in John 14:6 (NIV), “Jesus answered , ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” We know that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Law as He tells us in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Dear LORD,
In this lesson of Matthew 7:7-12, we find Jesus teaching His disciples to put their faith in Him and to trust that He is the way, the truth, and the life; that He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Law and the Prophets. We have this information in the most reliable historical document of all time – the Bible – Your Holy Spirit inspired Word. Please help us to believe in the saving power of Your One and only Son Jesus, that we may ask, seek, and knock in Christ! In Jesus name I pray, amen.