Text: Luke 11:49-52
"49 Therefore also said the wisdom of God,
I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay
and persecute:
50 That the blood of all the prophets,
which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this
generation;
51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood
of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I
say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.
52 Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken
away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that
were entering in ye hindered."
Today, I'd like to present a message entitled "About lawyers."
The Scripture makes the seemingly bodacious claim that "lawyers have taken away the key of knowledge." But, since the Bible says it, we need to be cautious about them. If scripture says "You have to obey lawyers without doubt," we would have to do so, but that's not what it says.
What persons in the world today corresond to the biblical characters of lawyers or scribes in Jesus' age? The original Greek transliteration of the word for scribes is "grammateis." This word means etymologically "to write, a letter, a book". So, the scribes had the job of writing out the scriptures and therefore, they were considereds experts of the written Bible. So, a scribe could correspond in our day to biblical scholars, commentators and theologians. Even though the lawyers and scribes in the age of Jesus had made a mistake long ago, does that give us grounds to be wary of their counterparts in our day?. I think it does. Because the scripture says, "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." Romans 15:4
If the legal scholars had "taken away the key of knowledge" in the age of Jesus, we ought to think there is also the same possibility to repeat itself in this age. By saying we have to be cautious about our teachers' teaching, it may sound "rude," but we should follow the Lord's warning. At first, we have to judge everything. After judging something, we know whether it is doctrinally sound and if we can accept it.
By the way, what was their problem? They were supposed to be the experts in the law and the scriptures. People usually ask their doctor about their medical problems. They ask their teacher about any mathematics problem they might have. Likewise, people ask professors and commentators about the meaning of scripture. If an expert makes a mistake, there arises a problem. If a doctor makes a mistake and prescribes medicine for diarrhea instead of a cold, this could cause a big problem and bring confusion on the patient. Likewise, when biblical scholarship offers false solutions, it will cause much loss and confusion to God's people.
Of course, no scholar would deliberately theologize error. But, the great spiritual enemy, Satan, concentrates his attack at this level. As a result, many scholars are deceived by Satan., The Bible itself is the uncompromiseable unchangeable inerrant infallible God's holy word. But, when scholars apply their filters of interpretation its message is polluted and adulterated and sometimes they will offer a completely different book. For example, the heretical so-called scholars of the Jehovah's Witnesses in the Watch Tower Society do so. They have their own Bible translation. They vant it as "the most correctly translated Bible." When a devout "witness" believer reads this Bible and hears its doctored up message according to their specialized readings, he accepts and believes their teaching without realizing it. As a result of their re-worked text, he believes Jesus is not God, and salvation comes from good works. It's the same story in Catholicism. Both Protestants and Catholics read similar versions of the Bible. But, when a Catholic believer listens the church's teaching faithfully, he usually receives the false teaching such as the sinless nature of the pope and the immaculate conception of Mary. But, the Bible says all have sinned. Only Jesus Christ who was born with the blood of the heavenly Father in his veins is a pure and sinless human being, the God-man.
Personally, I know some Jehovah's witnesses. They are all courteous people. And their efforts toward preaching their version of "the gospel" may be more earnest than real Christians. They are serious minded and could hardly be counted as immoral people. But, they are heretics believing damnable doctrines of devils. As long as these friends of mine work for their salvation according to the Witness way, they are going against God's revealed will. What is wrong with their views? For one, their scholarship is built on mistruths and what they teach about the Bible is false. They are False Witnesses, Jehovah's False Witnesses, teahcers who teach error. Therefore, because their scholarship is faulty, the whole organization is wrong. We should see how when the seed of scholarship is wrong, then the entire practice of the wrong will be wrong. What a tragedy!
When the Bible warns us about "lawyers" or scriptural leadership as we find in scholarship, how should we react? Is our age any different from the age of Jesus? Should we neglect this warning? No, we should be cautious about it. The enemy knows the most effective ways to attack us such as this insidious method. The Lord also foreknew it beforehand and prophetised concerning it in scripture. We had better not remain in ignorance!
What does the phrase mean "taken away the key of knowledge?" The Lord wants us to be full of knowledge about him. For example, suppose there is a library full of books. But, if someone takes away the key to the door, no one could ever enter and read its books. The Bible is like the library, only it is a book full of knowledge. In Bible, there is not a only superficial meaning, there are also parables, mysteries, and encrypted things which are hidden within the wisdom of God. But, if the key is taken away and is prohibited, no one could enter within. And "lawyers" or scholars really do this very thing. Is that possible in this age? Yes, it happens today.
One example of this concept of having "taken away the key of knowledge" is the believer of the Watch Tower. They have taken away the key to salvation. So, no matter how work they hard or attend their meetings faithfully, they can not reach salvation. Worse, they don't even know the fact that the key to proper biblical interpretaion has been taken away.
This goes for Roman Catholics as well. How does Satan take away the key from them? He has several ways. For example, by abusing the phrase "private interpretation" from Second Peter. Catholic commentators traditionally teach this word as a prohibition against any interpretation except for the official papal interpretation. As a result, no one can interpret the Bible outside of the church's guidelines. Their dogmatic interpretations teache the innocence of the pope and Mary. If some Catholic brother receives the right teaching from the Holy spirit, he has no way to appeal it in the church. Because they have actually "taken away the key of knowledge" and closed the door to new movements of the Spirit.
Likewise, concerning the understanding of parables, only church given interpretations are accepted, all others are prohibited. If any brother dares to follow Christ's Spirit in a new way, he will be persecuted as a heretic. They have really "taken away the key of knowledge" and have "entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered."
In light of this text, we know the people who will persecute the prophets and the apostles are "the lawyers." How do they persecute prophets? I think this may be done in the same way they persecuted the prophet Jesus. They criticized the light from Jesus's word and accused him, and then persecuted him as demon possessed full of heresy. If God's word is true, these "lawyer" types will persecute apostles and prophets. Therefore, from the above, we can say that if someone is sent from God, he must know that he will receive persecution from "the lawyers." Therefore, if we live as servants of God in this age, we face a choice before us.
Let's do the Lord's will in the end time.
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