In Matt. 8:19-20 we read these words: "A
certain scribe came, and said to him,
‘Master, I will follow you wherever you go.’
Jesus says to him, ‘The foxes have holes, and
the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man
has no where to lay his head." How ridiculous
to think that the very incarnate Lord of Glory was
talking only about not having a place to live or
sleep while walking this earth. This was
certainly true. He had no place He could call
His own, but we must constantly keep in mind that
"The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of
prophesy." (Rev. 19:10). Therefore every word
which He spoke can be distilled into prophetic
patterns to show truths for future ages and
generations. Think not that Jesus wasted His time
just talking about the physical conditions in
which He found Himself. He was using these incidents
and circumstances to portray something far more vast
and important than that which first meets the eye.
Let us look and BEHOLD the footprints of the
majestic Son of God.
In Matt. 8:16 we notice that it says when
evening was come "They brought
to him many that were possessed with devils;
and he cast out the spirits with his word, and
healed all that were sick." WHY does it mention that
this occurred in the evening? Just to fill in space?
Is it not to show that Jesus was picturing things
that would happen at the close (evening) of
this age when His Body would be ministering in power
and doing the works that He did? In verse 18, we
read that Jesus gave commandment to the disciples to
"depart to the other side." Even so is the
Body of Christ to depart to the other side
(heaven) after finishing the work that has
been given to it for this end time. It is in THIS
SETTING that we have the words of the scripture with
which we begin. It was a certain scribe who said to
Jesus, "I will follow you wherever you go."
The scribes were the scholars and teachers of that
day, comparable to the theologians and ministers of
our day. Thus we see portrayed in this end time
those who are asking what is required to follow the
Lord all the way. In Jesus' criptic answer is
couched the enigma that He saw would prevail in this
end time. WHAT did He see? "The foxes have holes,"
said He. In Ezekiel 13:4 we read: "O Israel,
your prophets are like the foxes in
the deserts." Also in Luke 13:32 Jesus refers to
Herod as "that fox." Thus we see that Jesus was
referring to certain kinds of humans when He
used the term "fox." If you will read Ezekiel 13 you
will see that the Lord was rebuking the
prophets of Israel because they were speaking out of
their own hearts and following their own foolish
spirits. Of them He says, "You have not gone
up into the gaps (breaches), neither made up the
hedge (wall) for the house of Israel to stand in the
battle in the day of the Lord." (Ezek. 13:5). Thus
he is describing a type of religious leader or
preacher that is interested only in his own ways and
seeking to promote that which serves his own
interests. "The foxes have holes (lairs)," said He.
The LAIRS are the modern denominational systems
which have become the holds and strongholds of those
who, like foxes, have made a place for themselves to
"lie down" in to promote their own welfare and
security. And with them they hold captive the people
of God to the traditions and customs of their
particular approach to God. These, in turn, are not
willing to follow the Lord to the point where their
primary concern is not where THEY are going to
find a "lair for security," but rather in finding a
place for the LORD to lay His head. The above
is not meant to be an indictment against the many
sincere and conscientious ministers who are doing
the best they know how with the understanding they
have. But it is an apt description of the religious
systems and the many who know what the score is, but
who refuse to "forsake all" to follow
Him.
Jesus could have used some
other term of expression to denote His lack of an
abiding place on the earth. But again, every word
was designed to portray truth. He does not in these
days have a place to LAY HIS HEAD. The Bible teaches
that the church is the BODY of Christ, and that He
is the HEAD of the Body (Ephes. 1:22-23,4:15).
"Laying down His head" denotes a place (or
people) where His HEADship is the primary concern.
In other words the Lord portrays that time when many
scribes, teachers, etc. would come with feigned
words about following Him all the way, and yet
refuse to recognize HIS HEADSHIP OVER HIS CHURCH.
The Lord has no people in this day who are willing
to let Him "lay His Head" down to where He is in
complete charge of everything that is done in His
Body, and where everything is directed by Him
through the Holy Spirit. But NOW has the day dawned
for this people to come into being. The
beginning stages are evident in many
places.
Jesus also said "the birds of the air have
nests." He was picturing those conditions which
would prevail in the end time when the religious
systems would become like that described in Rev.
18:2, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and
is becoming the habitation of devils, and the hold
of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean
and hateful bird." Thus every kind of religious
"bird" can find a roost somewhere in the religious
systems of today, but the Son of Man has no place to
lay His head; for His Headship is not welcomed or
sought for by the religious leaders of
today.
Immediately following the words we have just
been dealing with, we find in Matt. 8:21 that
another disciple said to Jesus, "Lord, allow
me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said
to him. Follow me; and let the dead bury
their dead." The Berkeley version renders this
passage, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead."
Again Jesus was using a contemporary situation
to portray a prophetic truth. When the disciple said
that he wanted to go and bury his father, he did not
mean that his father had already died. This was
merely a way of saying, let me stay with my father
and take care of him until he dies, and then I will
follow you. Jesus said in effect, "Let the
spiritually dead take care of their own, you follow
me NOW." Letting His words be the spirit of prophecy
for our day we can see that there are those who say
they want to follow the Lord, but first they want to
remain with the spiritually dying denominations
which have fathered them until they feel
their usefulness there has been completed. But Jesus
is saying, let the spiritually dead take care of the
spiritually dying denominations, YOU FOLLOW ME. He
wants us to leave that which is dying and
forsake all to follow
Him.