SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/25/2023 8:47 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-4 “The
Approach”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 22:23
Message of the
verse: “23
On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to
Jesus and questioned Him,”
Before the Monday that Jesus came into Jerusalem,
the Sadducees had little interest in Jesus, even though He was very popular
with the people. I suppose what He did
to the Temple captivated their interest in Him as they had a lot to do with the
Temple “worship.”
Another thing that peaked their
interest was the fact that Jesus was called the Son of David when He rode into
Jerusalem earlier in the week. It was
because the Sadducees were pro-Roman this caused a problem for them for they
knew since He claimed to be King this would cause a problem with the Romans. I really does not matter what they thought
about Jesus He was going to do what He came to earth to do and that was die for
the sins of the world and they could do nothing about it, but I suppose that
once that happened they would be happy about it, however after His resurrection
from the dead more trouble would be coming for them and the Pharisees.
There was a meeting among the
leaders of the Jews a few days earlier “the chief priests and the Pharisees
convened a council, and were saying, ‘What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let Him go on like this, all men will
believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our
nation.’ But a certain one of them,
Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at
all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man
should die for the people, and that the whole nation should perish’” (John
11:47-50; cf. Mark 14:1-2). John then
noted “From that day on they planned together to kill Him” (v.53).
It is common knowledge that the Church began on the day of Pentecost and since the
Lord was back in heaven the Jews began to take out their wrath on His followers
because He was not there. “1 And as they
were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard,
and the Sadducees, came upon them, 2 being greatly disturbed because they were
teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3
And they laid hands on them, and put them in jail until the next day, for it
was already evening. 4 But many of those who had heard the message believed;
and the number of the men came to be about five thousand (Acts 4:1-4).”
MacArthur concludes this section by writing “After
the Pharisees had failed through their disciples to trick Jesus into making a
traitorous statement against Rome, the Sadducees attempted to make Him
discredit Himself in the eyes of the Jewish people. By asking Him what they
thought was an unanswerable question, they planned to make Him look the fool,
as they perhaps had succeeded, on occasions, in doing with the Pharisees.”
Lord
willing in our next SD we will begin to look at 22:24-28 which is entitled “The
Absurdity.”
8/25/2023 9:13 AM
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