SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/1/2023 10:09 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 "False Leaders Are Cursed For
Their Pretension"
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
23:29-33
Message of the verses: “29 “Woe to you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and
adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had been living
in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding
the blood of the prophets.’ 31 "Consequently you bear witness against
yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 “Fill up
then the measure of the guilt of your fathers. 33 “You serpents, you
brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of hell?”
This is the last of the curses that Jesus gives in
this section of Matthew, as we mentioned that there are actually eight listed
in Matthew’s gospel, but one of the, although it is mentioned in another gospel
was not actually put in by Matthew, thus we have only looked at seven while
studying Matthew. This curse by Jesus to
the scribes and Pharisees is for their pretension in presuming to be superior
to others, including their forefathers.
MacArthur
begins by writing “For many hundreds of years these leaders had been in the vanguard
of ventures to build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the
righteous saints and heroes of Israel.
They would have been on the speaker’s platform in ceremonies honoring
the great men of the past and would have voiced the loudest adulations.”
As
we have gone over this six plus curses that Jesus has proclaimed to the scribes
and the Pharisees I have to say that they remind me of many of the political
people in our country today, that is that they are full of hot air, have great
trouble in speaking the truth, and in the case of what is going on in our
country today have no trouble helping to put their rivals in prison or even
killing them if they think that they can get away with it. As you look at these verses these spiritual
leaders are speaking about how awful it was that the prophets were killed and
then in just a few short days will behind the killing of the greatest Prophet
that ever stepped on planet earth, in fact the One who made the planet. It is no wonder Jesus called them blind.
In
this curse we see that Jesus repudiated their pretension and exposed their true
character. I guess I could say that
Jesus washed His hand of their assertions.
He did this by declaring that “Consequently you bear witness against yourselves, that
you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.” As mentioned at that very time they were
plotting to kill Jesus, who was their Messiah and the Prophet of prophets,
proving they were even more wicked than their ungodly ancestors. I mentioned about the political climate in
our country today as one party determined to ruin our country are trying to do
the same to our former President and I am not saying that this man is a saint,
but I am saying that I believe him to be a good man with good intentions for
our country, and so in my mind I have compared to what is happening to Jesus in
this section of Matthew with what is happening with him. The circumstances are similar but what
happened to Jesus by these Jewish leaders is the worst sin ever committed by
any group of people and as we continue to look at Matthew 23 we will see that
the nation of Israel is still paying for what this generation did as in a sense
God has washed His hands of them as their cup of sin was filled up, thus He
turned His back on them. I am not saying
that people of Israel over the past two thousand years have not come to know
Christ as their Messiah and Lord, for there will always be a remnant of them
being saved, but as a nation in God’s favor that ended when the crucified their
Messiah and King. I want you to know
that there is still very good news for the people of Israel as in the future,
and I hope not too distant future God will give them their promised kingdom
which will last for one thousand years, but before that happens there will once
again be many of them die, and I am talking about the tribulation period even
though there is once again war going on in Israel this very day.
Lord
willing we will finish looking at these verses in my next SD, and I will try
hard to just stick to the subject.
11/1/2023
10:41 AM
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