SECTION 10: THE REJECTION OF THE KING
cHAPTER 54
EIGHT WOES UPON RELIGIOUS RULERS
OR
THE HOPE OF CHRIST’S COMING
Scripture To Consider:
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore, you will receive greater damnation. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”
“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore, he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.”
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law; justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.”
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ Therefore, you are witnesses against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” Matthew 23.13-33
A Few Words Of Warning:
No more terrible denunciations ever fell from the lips of Jesus than these eight woes which are recorded in this Scripture to consider. It may be imagined how His enemies must have boiled before these burning words of righteous indignation. There is, however, no trace of malice, no suggested loss of self-control. The scene forms a necessary complement to the more familiar picture of the meekness and gentleness of Jesus.
Jesus is not to be suspected of showing any weak tolerance of sin. He was great enough to be angry with evil. And yet, He was brave enough to denounce hypocrisy and corruption in high places and even among the religious rulers of the people of Jesus’ day. There is such a thing as the wrath of the Lamb. Even in these stern judgments, however, there is some suggestion of pity and sorrow.
Yet, these solemn statements of Jesus are of great interest not merely for the light they throw upon the character of Christ, nor because they form the last words of the public ministry of Jesus which began with the Beatitudes and now ends with rebuke; but because they furnish for all coming ages a necessary warning against pretense and unreality in religion. These stern statements of Jesus also warn against all harsh ecclesiastical tyranny and proud proselytizing bigotry and against all insincerity and religious shams.
Something To Consider:
The first of these woes was against religious leaders who actually make men, women, and young people irreligious. The picture is that of a great company moving toward the open gates of the kingdom of God, led by the scribes and Pharisees, but the latter so-called religious rulers refuse to enter the kingdom, but rather obstruct the way and endeavor to close the gates.
The enemies of Christ are really thus deceiving their followers by refusing to receive John the Baptist and by rejecting Jesus, both of whom came preaching repentance that men, women, and young people of all nations and of all ages, might be ready to enter the kingdom of God through Jesus, the straight and narrow gate. Are we helping or hindering individuals in their journey to Jesus?
In like manner, there are those today who profess the name of Christ Jesus, and who even preach the gospel, who however, live so inconsistently and so contrary to the Word of God, and who are so uncharitable in their judgments, so narrow in their prejudices, and so bitter in the hatred of Christ, as to turn others away from following Jesus and becoming a productive spiritual link within the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The second of these woes reveals the hidden nature of greed in that these so-called religious leaders swallow up the financial substance of those less fortunate in their lack of understanding of spiritual and biblical matters. Therefore, these false pretending rulers according to Jesus, are easily able to wrongfully devour the living of widows and probably others unaware. The pretending motives are somewhat concealed by religious appearing petitions offered to be seen by many onlookers.
The third woe presented by Jesus rebuked the fanatical party spirit which masquerades as zeal for religion. The Pharisees of then and also of recent spared and spares no effort to win converts not to Judaism then or Christianity now, but to their own sect or denomination. And in doing so, they show such bitterness and selfishness that those whom they win become more truly deserving of condemnation than they were before.
So many today that press some peculiar religious propaganda and win adherence to their own narrow party imagine that they are serving God, whereas in reality their bigotry and spiritual pride infect and corrupt as well as debase those whose support they secure. Jesus warned in Matthew 24.4, “Take heed that no one deceives you.” He followed up by stating in the very next verse, “For many will come in My name [in the name of Christ and Christianity], saying, ‘I am the Christ [saying Jesus is the Christ],’ and will deceive many.”
Something Else To Consider:
The fourth woe accuses the Pharisees of spiritual blindness and of pitiful moral ignorance. It exhibits the absurdity of their clever and yet unsound reasoning which distinguishes between oaths which are binding and those which need not be regarded because differing slightly in form; as though one could break a promise to which he or she had sworn by one oath but was bound to perform the same promise if he or she swore by another even less solemn oath.
The fault includes the perversion of conscience which is too prevalent at the present day, according to which it is felt that actual wrong can be affected by circumstances and that things absolutely sinful are justified under certain conditions. How foolish and how sinister is this kind of thinking and assumed justification given by the sinful conjuring of those in total opposition to Christ and to the written and preserved Word of God.
The fifth woe brought by Jesus rebuked a fault both in precept and in practice. It still warns against the loss of moral perspective. The Pharisees were in some particulars even more scrupulous than the law required. Tithes were exacted from all who reaped the harvest of corn and of fruit, but the Pharisees extended their concept of tithing to small herbs like mint and cumin.
Jesus does not rebuke them for their excessive zeal in the tithing of herbs, but that they left out the more important matters undone; such as mercy, justice, and true faith in God and not in their position of power. To be most scrupulous is not wrong in itself, but when it is combined with indifference to the broad principles of morality, then it is monstrous and forms the truest badge and proof of insincerity and religious hypocrisy.
The sixth woe is a warning against mere external appearing purity. It is a folly to cleanse the outside of the cup or bowl in order to insist that they are ceremonially clean, when the contents of these vessels have been defiled by dishonesty, cruelty, and wrong precepts. It is surely wise to maintain a proper demeanor and to, preserve a fair reputation among men, women, and young people, but what is far more necessary is the maintaining of a clean heart and being pure in thought, motive, and desire.
The seventh woe was a severe rebuke to all those who maintain merely an outward display of morality, while their inner lives are impure and full of uncleanness. It was the special fault of the Pharisees, who outwardly appeared righteous to others, but who were like the sepulchers which were painted white that they might be clearly seen so that men, women, and young people might avoid the pollution which contact with these graves might cause.
And yet, Jesus somewhat alters the figures and suggests the peril which the Pharisees caused to all who approached them, who, instead of being warned against the impurity, were only deceived, and therefore, the more endangered by the outward show of false holiness and ceremonial false purity. Could there be some advice and or warning within the words of Jesus for us as well in our 21st century? And if so, how will we respond?
The last woe declared by Jesus rebukes those who were and who are self-deceived, or those who falsely profess to surpass their forefathers in righteousness. According to Jesus, they build the tombs of the prophets who were dead, even at the time they were plotting to kill a more than a prophet who was living in their midst, Jesus. While professing themselves to be so superior to the ancient murderers, they showed that they were of the same moral character even as they were children by physical descent.
It is always easy to feel we are superior to others simply because our faults are of a different kind and our sins are committed under different conditions. And yet, how sad for us to attempt to escape the condemnation that awaits others when we are under the same weight of condemning judgment, though we choose to look the other way. Will we be found as guilty as these original scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ day? And if so, we too will face the same final judgment as they will.
Something More To Consider:
Our Lord follows these eight woes with a stern word of judgment. He insisted that the crimes of the fathers had been shared by their sons, and that God would visit upon them the punishment due because of their sins. The rulers whom Jesus denounced would be responsible for the faults of the people whom they misguided and falsely represented. They could not escape the sentence of condemnation which rested upon them.
Jesus summed up the guilt of the past generations as it is recorded from the first to the last book of their Scriptures, from the murder of Abel recorded in Genesis, to the murder of Zacharias recorded in Chronicles. Therefore, Jesus declared that the judgment was hastening, and that it was about to come on that very generation.
It is with this doom in view that Jesus pronounced His matchless lament over the city which He loved. His heart seemed to be breaking as He remembered how long God had sought in vain to secure the repentance of His people and how He Himself had pleaded with them to receive Him and His salvation. It is but the pathetic cry of rejected love. It is the prediction of the approaching penalty and destruction of the sacred city of Jerusalem.
Yet, the last word contains a note of hope. As Jesus was finishing His public ministry, He clearly foresaw His own rejection and the consequence of the desolation of Jerusalem; but He looked forward to a time when He would return in glory, and when His people would look in repentance upon Him who they pierced. At that moment, according to Jesus, they would cry, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD.” The hope of Israel and of the world centers in the coming of King Jesus.
A Few Final Words:
According to Jesus, He and His heavenly Father divinely ordained the sending of the prophets, wise men, and spiritual scribes in times past to attempt to influence the wicked so-called religious ruling leaders of previous generations. And yet, they were all persecuted, some scourged even in the religious meeting places of so-called worship, and others crucified and killed for the privilege of heralding a heavenly message which was terribly and foolishly rejected.
Though God’s overwhelming love, His fatherly desire to protect, and His continued attempts to communicate His grace and mercy, for the most, the religious ruling establishment of every generation deemed it more important to protect their positions of power and influence than to submit to God’s love and supreme authority based upon the Scriptures.
Therefore, also according to Jesus, these eight woes upon these religious rulers culminated in Jesus pronouncing judgment upon them as He declared, “Behold, your house is left to you desolate.” And spiritually speaking, the nation of Israel has greatly lacked God’ protection from a historical point of view in past generations. Yes, God has protected the nation of Israel from the total removal from the earth because God is not through with Israel.
In Closing:
If those ruling over you claim God will have nothing to do with Israel in the future of these end times, then they are not reading their bibles. For according to Jesus, the day is coming, when the nation of Israel will indeed declare, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD.” Yes, the only hope for Israel, the only hope for America, the only hope for every nation, country, state, city, town, village, family, and individual, is the blessed hope of Christ Jesus coming back to earth as He has promised. Are we ready? Are we watching? Are we anticipating the coming of Jesus Christ?
Let’s Pray:
Our Father in heaven, thank You for the recording of the eight woes pronounced by Jesus upon the false and pretending religious leaders of His day. Thank You Father that this declaration extends to our 21st century and is a warning to other pretending so-called spiritual leaders due to their false messages of untruth. Make alive within us a deepening hope in the coming of Christ Jesus and yet, also instill within us the truth concerning the coming of the Anti-christ prior to Christ’s coming. Prepare our hearts and our homes to not be deceived. Help us to be found looking unto Jesus, our only hope in this wicked world. In Him Always, Amen!
According to Jesus 