Text: "Matthew 16:21
21 ¦ From that time forth began Jesus to shew
unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many
things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and
be raised again the third day."
It is profitable for us to learn from the books of the Gospels what kind of persons become Jesus's disciples or what kind of person Jesus loved. Likewise, it is also profitable for us to learn what kind of person would persecute Jesus and kill him. The Bible tells us that they are neither Gentiles nor robbers, but the people of God including priests, scribes and Pharisees.
The Word of God is pure and right. But the vineyard which receives God word and should bear fruits has changed over the many years and has become wide apart from God. Jesus is the Son of God, and this is has not changed from the beginning. Therefore, the fact there arises a quarrel between Jesus and the priests, scribes, and the Pharisees indicates that there is a wide gap between God and them. The Gospels spend many pages about the disputes between the Pharisees, scribes and Jesus. If the Bible has spent so many pages about this, there must be something important here that God wants us to know.
From a human perspective, it seems difficult to understand why there is such a gap between Jesus and these religious leaders. Maybe it's because they are supposed to be the experts on religion and they feel they are conversant enough in the prophecies, contents and teachings of the old testament. However, they made a gross mistake in interpreting prophecies and ironically were unable to recognize the very person whom the Bible prophetised beforehand. And worse, they killed him. They did not just disagree as gentlemen, but became murderers. In addition, to our amazement, they were convinced that they were serving God during the entire process.
By the way, let me change gears for a second. In the Book of John, we can see the expression of "other helper" about the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is the "other helper," who is the "present helper"? Yes, He is Jesus Christ.
What is the reason we have these texts about the many quarrels held between Jesus and the elders, Pharisees, and scribes in scripture? One reason is this: God wants to teach us who is the enemy that stands against the helper who has come down to the earth to help people. The enemy is the priests, Pharisees and scribes. They are the big shots among God's people and keep the law and Sabbath. So, they do not repesent symbolically non Christians, but the leadership of God's people. God is telling us there lies problem with the leaders of God's people, not the Gentiles. Christ actually died before a Gentile named Pilate but he went through symbolical cleansing of responsibilty at this time. That is to say, he washed his hands and he declared he had no charge for Christ's death. Moreover, Jesus himself said he would "suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed"." These Jewish religious are the ones with the problem.
One aspect of the death of Jesus is the death of the Son of God. But, I think it also includes a prophetic meaning. Jesus is the "helper" and he called the Holy Spirit as the "other helper." When the Bible talks about them, it uses similar expressions. Through this similarity, there is something that God wants to make us realize. That is to say, the problem that happened at the time of first "helper" will happen again at the time of the "other helper." And the people who disturbed the work of the first "helper" would also disturb the work of the "other helper."
Of course, it is impossible that the Pharisees and scribes who had lived in the time of Jesus would survive until now and continue to disturb the work of the Holy Spirit. But, they represent the type or model of those resistant to the "helper."
When we read their stories in the Bible, we can find one outstanding fact. That is to say, when the Bible talks about the elders, Pharisees, priests, and scribes, it will not usually mention their individual names. Of course, the name of Caiaphas is described as the chief priest. But this is an exception rather than the rule. It typically describes the names of the evil doers against Christ as "the Pharisees and scribes." Therefore, the Bible does not talk about individual sin; instead, it talks about the sin related to ministry or work. More specifically, there is a problem related to their ministerial works. Jesus said "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Saducees." He warned us not to bring their teachings in to the church. These are prophetic words dealing with the end times. So, we can make an application of his word that the people who disturb the work of the Holy Spirit in the church are linked to the spirit of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Therefore, it is important for us to consider what kind of works done today would correspond to the works of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
According to the Bible the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead or in angels. They correspond to the people who apply only reason to the Word of God. They strongly correspond to those who would hold to liberal theology where reason is exalted and faith is downgraded as superstitious. The Pharisees would find a counterpart in the people who keep the law to the minutest of detail but they have actually surrendered to hypocrisy.
They disturbed the work of Jesus, quarreled with him, and persecuted him. And at last, they killed him joyfully. In this present age, there are some who disturb and quarrel with the work of the Holy Spirit. They are saying charismatic works are unbiblical. But I think we can now understand the warning for us correctly in light of this passage. Who must we be wary of? Who are the ones disturbing the work of the Lord? We must identify and know who they are. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.
Let's do the will of God in the end time.
end.
.