Head above all

Matthew 8:18-19 says,  “Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.
[19] And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest."

Jordan explains, “The man comes along and says, ‘I want to be your disciple; I want to follow you.’  This is in response to the first miracles. So He says to him in verse 20, ‘The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.’

“In other words, the issue there has to do with, ‘There’s going to be a price if you’re going to follow me. You’re not going to live in the Howard Johnson’s or the Holiday Inn. You’re not going to have a mansion. You’re not going to have a nice parsonage. You’re going to be in trouble.’

“ ‘Foxes have holes and birds have nests.’ Now that’s a literal reference, of course. But you know there’s an interesting thing about the way the Bible uses those terms.

“That term ‘fox’--you remember Christ over in Luke 13 talking about ‘Herod the old fox’? You remember over there in Luke 8?

“By the way, birds and the fowls of the air in the Bible are repeatedly used as types and pictures of demons; devils.

“When Alfred Hitchcock wrote that movie, you know, about the birds coming and all that stuff, he was playing off of some of that mythological typology that’s developed and trying to counterfeit what the Bible says about these things so you won’t believe what the Bible says when it says it; you’ll think it’s all mythology, see?

“Luke 8:4-5 says, ‘And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable:
[5] A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.'

Look down at verse 11: 'Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
[12] Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.'

“What’s verse 5 say come and took it away? The birds. Who does Christ say that represents in verse 12? The devil. Write down by that verse Revelation 18:2; you’ll see the same kind of thing. The verse says, ‘And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.’

“Matthew 13 over in that parable, the fowls lodge in the branches of that tree and all that business. Same kind of thing.

“Over and over in the Bible, you’ll find birds as a picture or a type of demons, and if you apply that understanding to Matthew 8:20, He’s just warning the guy that the devil and his crowd are treated better than the Son of man and His followers.

“You see, in Israel the influence of the Adversary gained more acceptance than the influence of the Son of man.

“Come to Revelation 14 and notice that expression 'the Son of man.' It’s a messianic title—you remember in Daniel 7 we saw Christ as the Son of man come to the ancient of days and receive the kingdom? It’s as the Son of man that He receives the crown over the whole earth.

“As the son of Abraham and the son of David, He gets the land and the throne of Israel, but my friend, it’s as the son of Adam that He gets the crown over the whole of the kingdom and, as the Son of God, He gets the crown over the whole universe. So His reign extends out over the whole thing.

“Notice the comparison between the first reference to the Son of man and the last reference in Revelation 14:14: ‘And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.’

“In Matthew 8:20, the son of man doesn’t have anywhere to lay His head. An empty head with nowhere to lay it.

“In Revelation 14 His head is mentioned again, and over there it’s in the context of having a crown upon it when He comes back in judgment.

“You see the contrast there? When He came the first time His head’s empty with nowhere to lay it and if you follow Him there’s a price to be paid. When He comes back the second time, He’s going to have a crown on it. You reckon if a fellow walked in with a crown on his head he could get a place to stay? You can get a place to stay if you own the motel.

“The idea there in Matthew is there’s a price that has to be paid if you’re going to follow Christ and you’re going to have to be willing to pay it.

“Luke 14:33 says, ‘So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.’ In Matthew 19 that rich young ruler comes to Him and he wants to inherit eternal life in the kingdom, and Christ says, ‘Well, keep the commandments.’ He says, ‘I kept them all,’ and Christ says, ‘There’s one thing you lack--go sell everything you got. Get rid of the house and car and everything else and come over here with me and walk around with me, and don’t have a place to lay your head.’

“Now, He’s not literally saying He doesn’t have a place to sleep at night. I mean, He can sleep out under the stars and the canopy of the heavens and it would be just as familiar to Him as the blanket you pull over you at night is to you. That isn’t the problem.

“The idea He’s telling that young fellow that wants to follow Him is: ‘There’s a price! And the price is rejection! You come and take the cross and follow me.’ ”