Matthew 24:36-51 - Did you get the date right?

If only some people would listen to what Jesus says in v36 then we could be spared those who are forever predicting when He will return. Look, when we are all called to give an account one question that God will not ask of us is "did you get the date right?"! He will ask did we love Him, He will ask did we love our neighbour, He will ask did we help the church fulfill the great commission.

Jesus says that in the time just before the end life will be going on as normal. Then Jesus tells is "because you do not know", keep watch. So we are told to be always ready for His return.

And how do we get ready? By looking for signs and trying to work out exactly when it will be? No! We get ready by doing the Lord's will. By caring for the poor, by preaching the good news, by building up the church, by being witnesses for Jesus, by doing His will.

We prepare for His return by doing His will today.

Matthew 24:15-35 - Abominations

"The abomination that causes desolation" is a reference to Daniel 9:25, 11:31, 12:11. It probably refers to the Roman standard that was placed in the temple during the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70. Jesus warns them that when they see this they should flee to the mountains. This was a very practical piece of advice for the people, and one which saved lives. When it came the disaster would come quickly and there would not be time to think about reacting. 

Jesus also tells them to pray that it will not happen on the Sabbath, so lessening the impact. So even when God has said something is going to happen it does not mean that we should not pray about it.

The destruction of Jerusalem is a "type" of the final destruction, ie it contains some of the elements of the final days. It will be a time of great confusion, with many false messiahs. Some will even perform apparent miracles., and it will be easy to be deceived. So we need to be on our guard. Jesus warns His disciples of difficult times ahead.  Nowhere does the New Testament say that life will be easy if we follow Jesus.

When Jesus returns it will be obvious to all, there will be no debate about, there will be no need for a theology degree, nor to be an obsessive about the last days. All will see. 

Jesus will return with glory, and is coming back for His own.

The end of this section closes with enigmatic verses about "this generation will certainly not pass away". What exactly does it mean? Some say it means the destruction of Jerusalem, others that it refers to all humanity (ie to the present age). I think it means both. The AD70 events did happen, and they prefigure the greater end.

Matthew 24:1-14 - Days of turmoil

Jesus drew attention to the temple. This was a magnificent structure, and the focus of religious activity in Jerusalem. Jesus tells them that the place would be completely destroyed. This is what happened in AD70. Even individual stones were prised apart from each other so that gold leaf could be recovered. Things that seem permanent are not. In a short while men would seek to destroy the true "temple" (Jesus), only to see it rebuilt (the resurrection). The stone temple would not be rebuilt. We need to focus on what is really important. Words like these probably contributed to the false accusations later made against Jesus about Him destroying the temple.

The disciples associated this event with end of the age. They expected some apocalyptic return of Christ. We do well to heed Jesus' words on this matter.

First we are not to be deceived. There will be lots of false messiahs, and there will be lots of momentous events. We are undoubtedly closer to the return of Christ than they were 2000 years ago, but just because there are earthquakes or wars does not mean His return is imminent. We are to see to it that we are not alarmed. We need to keep a cool head.

Along with the natural and political upheavals, disciples of Jesus will be persecuted. We will be hated by all nations and some put to death. People are sometimes very keen to see the return of Christ. Obviously this is right in one sense, but the events before His return will not be a Sunday school picnic, nor will Christians be raptured just before things get tough. All the teaching in the Bible on the end times prepares God's people for difficult times.

In the midst of all this turmoil the good news will be preached to the world. So in the midst of it the work of the kingdom will go on. This is what we should focus on.

Matthew 24 - General Remarks

A nice easy chapter! Mark and Luke also contain similar material. Some people get obsessed about the end times, this is not a wise move. Essentially with regard to this chapter the key question is how much of this chapter was fulfilled in the AD66-70 destruction of Jerusalem. At one extreme there are some who say all of it has been fulfilled. I am not going to beat about the bush here and will just say I consider such a view to be self-evident nonsense. It seems clear that all of it has not been fulfilled. At the same time, it seems equally clear that AD66-70 was a partial fulfillment of. Indeed, many Christians heeded Jesus' warning about escaping while they had the chance, and so saved their lives. 

This pattern of a partial fulfillment followed by a complete fulfillment later is repeated many times in the Bible. The exodus was a precursor of the real salvation that comes in Jesus. David was a type of the Messiah. The release from Babylon partially fulfilled some of Isaiah's prophecy, much more has been fulfilled in Christ, and all of it will be fulfilled in Christ when He returns.

Since this pattern is so often repeated, I will approach this chapter with the view that 

1. Some of it was fulfilled in AD66-70. 
2. It contains general lessons that apply to us throughout history
3. There will be a complete fulfillment when Christ returns.

The partial fulfillment is important, as it demonstrates the authenticity and reliability of the prophecy as a whole, just as the Assyrian invasion and defeat validated the first part of Isaiah, and gives us confidence in believing the second part.

Isaiah 39 - Hezekiah's failure

Babylon would later become the dominant power in the region, and would conquer Jerusalem, taking many of them into captivity. However, at this time Assyria, not Babylon, was the major power.

Babylon sent envoys to Jerusalem. We are not told why they did this. Maybe it was totally innocent, maybe it was just seeking to make good relations, maybe it was with an eye to future domination.

Whatever the case, Hezekiah shows them all the wealth and riches that Jerusalem had. There was pride in the heart of Hezekiah.

Isaiah came to Hezekiah and told him the significance of what had happened. A time would come when Babylon would take away all the treasures of Jerusalem. Many people would also be taken away, including descendants of Hezekiah himself. 

Hezekiah's response is rather disappointing. He seemed only concerned that there would be peace and security in his own lifetime.

We will deal with the rest of Isaiah after finishing off Matthew and another foray into the Psalms.

Isaiah 38 - Prophecy is not final!

The events recorded in this chapter happened before those of chapters 36 and 37, for in verse 6 we get the promised deliverance of Jerusalem from Assyria which we have just read about. 

The chapter starts with a word from Isaiah to Hezekiah that he was going to die soon. Hezekiah was very ill and this would not exactly be encouraging! Now we know of course that death was not the final outcome of this, so this should teach us something about prophecy. Prophecy is not fatalism, it is a communication from the heart and mind of God to man looking for a response. We are in a relationship with God, if we respond in the right way to a prophecy events can change. Nineveh avoided destruction when they repented. So this incident should teach us to be careful about how we view prophecy.

Hezekiah had made many good changes to Judah and did not want to die. So he pleaded with God for mercy.

At this time Assyria would have looked invincible and invasion of the land would either have already started or would be imminent. Maybe God was seeing if Hezekiah would be glad to be spared living through the defeat. He wanted to live, so God granted him fifteen more years of life, and promised that He would deliver them from the Assyrians.

God also gave a special sign to Hezekiah. Maybe this was to help strengthen him in the coming trials. Hezekiah then sings a song of praise.

Isaiah applies a poultice of figs to the boil. So we see that diving healing and practical medicine can go together. Hezekiah's final words in this chapter are rather strange: the shadow went backwards, what more does he want?

Isaiah 37:9-38 - Hezekiah's response (2) - using his own faith

Assyria duly received word that there was an attack being launched again them by Cush. So they withdrew. However, Sennacherib, the Assyrian leader, sent a message to Hezekiah warning him not to think that all his troubles were over. he again reminded Hezekiah that the gods of many other nations had proved hopeless at protecting them.

This time Hezekiah reacts differently from the previous time. Instead of going to Isaiah, he goes directly to God and prays to Him. He sets out the situation to the Lord, praises the Lord, and declares his faith in God. He knows that the "gods" of other nations were not gods at all. 

So we see here a pattern we should learn from. Sometimes we do not have faith ourselves to handle a situation and may need to go to some other godly person for help. If we do not have faith ourselves, this is a sensible thing to do, but we are not to stay in this situation. We should seek to grow in our own faith, and learn to live out of our own faith. This is what Hezekiah did.

Then Isaiah sent Hezekiah a message. So when we live out of own faith, we will still receive help from others. However, because Hezekiah had exercised his own faith, he received a deeper revelation from God. This time instead of a partial relief from the situation, full salvation comes. The Lord reveals more of Himself and His plans to Hezekiah. We need to learn to build up our own faith.

Accordingly the angel of the Lord killed the Assyrian army, and then Sennacherib himself was killed.

Isaiah 37:1-8 - Hezekiah's response (1) - using other people's faith

Hezekiah was greatly troubled by the news. In one way he reacted badly, namely in thinking that this was a day of disaster. He probably feared that this was the Lord's judgement coming to pass on the nation. He would think this because he knew of the sins of the nation, and he had heard Isaiah's words. 

On the other hand he reacted well in sending his officials to the man of God, Isaiah. Even though he was very distraught, he still turned to God in his weakness. Ideally we would always respond with great faith to whatever circumstances we encounter, but being realistic we will not always manage to do this. So, it is vital that when we feel distraught we still turn to God, rather than panicking or turning to some other "source" of help. 

Hezekiah also recognised that the Assyrian Commander had blasphemed God and was unlikely to get away with this.

On receiving the news Isaiah reacted with calmness and authority. We are not to be alarmed at words that seek to instil fear. Isaiah told Hezekiah what would happen. Remember that Isaiah had prophesied that things would work out this way. The army would be called to go back to their own country and would be destroyed there.

Isaiah 36:13-22 - An anatomy of fear (3)

Next the enemy seeks to deter us from believing those who would encourage us to trust in the Lord. The commander exalts the Assyrian king and belittles God. 

Then the enemy uses seduction again, offering each of them their own "vine and fig tree". This was a symbol of a good life. The land he would take them to, if he had the chance, would be a land of slavery. So we see the pattern here: cast doubt on God's ability or willingness to rescue us, then offer a supposed means of escape. We must not be deceived by such ploys.

Next he points out to the fact that the gods of all the other nations had failed to deliver them. Now again we see the mixture of truth and lies. It was true that all these other "gods" had proved futile, but then they were not true gods, just idols. Our Lord is the one true living God. We need not listen to the taunts of anyone else.

Wisely Hezekiah had commanded the people to remain silent. There is nothing to be gained by engaging in dialogue with the enemy, nor with fear. We are so easily prone to arguing with fear in our minds. We are better just to ignore fear and remain silent.

Isaiah 36:8-12 - An anatomy of fear (2)

Next comes the seductive offer. The commander offers to make a bargain and give them horses. The enemy seeks to discourage us, then he makes an offer that seems to offer an easy way out. We must never be fooled be this. If they had given in to this offer they would only have been slaughtered or put into slavery. 

Then the commander says he had been sent by the Lord. Now this claim was true. Isaiah himself had said that Assyria was the Lord's instrument. Yet it was only partially true. The enemy will use bits of scripture and half-truths. The Lord had also said that Assyria would not succeed. Moreover, the answer was for Judah to turn to the Lord and trust in Him. Whatever situation we are facing, the solution lies in turning to the Lord.

The Jerusalem officials then asked the commander to speak only in Aramaic, not Hebrew, for they did not want all the people to hear the enemies taunts and become afraid.

Not surprisingly the commander refused, he wanted all the people to hear, then he made the taunts worse, telling the people what lay ahead for them. We need to understand that the enemy will speak to us in a language that we understand. For each of us there are different things that will press fear buttons. One person will fear financial ruin, but not illness, another will have complete trust in the area of money, but will fear sickness. The enemy knows which buttons to press. We can spend our lives hoping that the enemy will not press these buttons, or we can just accept that he will press them at certain times and learn to overcome. Just because the enemy says something is going to happen to us does not mean that it will happen. 

Isaiah 36:4-7 - An anatomy of fear (1)

This chapter gives us a lesson on how the enemy uses fear against us. Now we need to remember the situation. Hezekiah had done many good things, like removing idols (2 Kings 18:4), and re-instituting proper worship (2 Chronicles 29-31). He was now making preparations to resist the invasion (2 Chron 32). In the past Judah had made overtures to Assyria, and had sought help from Egypt.

All of us are a mixture of good and bad. When we make a decision to repent and turn to do things God's way, it is still true that we have done wrong things in the past. The enemy will use this to sow doubt into our mind. Here Assyria reminds them that they have sought help from Egypt. Assyria mocks at this. Note that they were right to do so, for Egypt would be of no help at all. Some of the things the enemy accuses us of, or ways in which he seeks to put fear in our hearts will contain an element of truth.

Then he turns to the good things that Hezekiah had done (getting rid of the idols).  He mocks him, saying how will God help them now. So the enemy will accuse us for the wrong we have done, and for the good we he have done. When we give up depending on something that God has told us to get rid of we can feel vulnerable for a time. The enemy will feed upon this vulnerability. 

We need to recognise the strategies that the enemy uses, for fear is a nasty game, and things will not be pleasant. We will continue this analysis of his fear strategy tomorrow.

Isaiah 36:1-3 - Validation of the prophecies

A short trip back to Isaiah, where we will cover chapters 36-39. These chapters are paralleled in 2 Kings 18-20, sometimes verbatim. One might ask why they have been included again here. There is a very important reason for this, and for the nature of the whole book of Isaiah. The first part of Isaiah has contained various prophecies about how Assyria would conquer much, but would fail to defeat Jerusalem. These chapters show that this is exactly what did happen. Thus these chapters demonstrate the authenticity and validity of the prophecy. The second part of Isaiah contains prophecies, many of which pertain to many years in the future. In particular they refer to the Babylonian captivity, and the eventual release from there. So the validity of the prophecies in the first part demonstrate that we can also trust the prophecies in the second part. This counters the widely held view that chapter 40 onwards were written be someone other than Isaiah, and at a much later date.

Hezekiah had made overtures to Assyria, but this had proved futile (as Isaiah had said they would). So Sennacherib attacked Judah, capturing all the fortified cities. Next an large army was sent to Jerusalem. Various officials from Jerusalem went out to meet the field commander. Maybe they were hoping for some sort of accommodation. As we will see, any such hopes would be dashed.

Psalm 94 - Make the Lord your fortress

The Psalmist knows that the Lord is the one who brings justice, He is the One who ultimately puts wrongs right. Yet now he sees the wicked flourishing. So he calls on God to do something about it. There are times in all our lives when there is some attribute of God's character that we know to be true, yet the circumstances seem to show that He is doing nothing about it when His character says that He should be doing something. We may see injustice as the Psalmists did here, or we may see suffering.

The proud and wicked were full of arrogance and boasting, denouncing God, crushing God's people and oppressing the poor.

Then the Psalmist addresses the evildoers. They are the ones who are actually senseless. The Psalmist is convinced that God will act. 

Those who learn from the Lord are truly wise, those who are disciplined by the Lord. The Lord is the One who makes the final judgement, and this judgement is based on righteousness. 

Then the Psalmist recalls his own testimony. He was in great difficulty, but the Lord rose up on His behalf. Notice that he felt as if he was slipping, as if he was about to fall, and there was anxiety within him. Yet the Lord brought him joy.

In the midst of difficulties he could have chosen to give up on God, instead he chose to make the Lord his refuge. He chose to live by faith, knowing that in the end the Lord would bring salvation and justice.

Psalm 93 - The greatness of our God

This is a Psalm of praise to the Lord for His pure majesty and awe. Unlike many of the Psalms, there is no reference to any individual situation here. We need to have an intimate conversation with God about our lives, but we also need to have times when we forget about ourselves and just worship God purely for who He is. 

The Lord reigns and is robed in majesty and strength. Whatever is going on in your life today, these things are still true. The Lord existed before time, He has always been, He is outside of and beyond time. The world is dependent upon the Lord, He is not dependent upon the world. Atheists look to the material world to seek to understand how the universe works, and to understand it's reason. This is futile, for they are looking in the wrong place. They are not looking at the source. 

Nature is wonderful and awesome, but it is a reflection of the Lord's wonder and awesomeness. And the Lord is infinitely greater.

But it is not just the physical attributes that declare the greatness of God. The moral attributes of the Lord are to be praised as well. The commands of the Lord are reliable and trustworthy. A country that seeks to make them its foundation will prosper, a nation that abandons them (as we are doing) will founder.

Knowing Jesus (2)

Galatians 3:17-4:7
Paul's teaching on the purpose of the Law and applying the principles to our lives.

Knowing Jesus (1)

Paul - The Man and His Message (1)
The importance of knowing Jesus, and how this motivated and energised the apostle Paul

Arguments against atheism

Acts 17:16-32 Paul in Athens - Arguments against atheism

Psalm 92 - Praise the Lord

This Psalm is entitled "For the Sabbath Day", it is about how to praise God on a day set aside for praising Him.

We proclaim His love in the morning, then at the end of the day we proclaim His faithfulness, for we will have seen the results of His looking after us. We also see the using of music to accompany our praise. It is clear from the Psalms that music is an essential element of praise.

"You make me glad by your deeds". Sometimes we say we should praise God for who He is, not for what He does for us. This is well meaning, but well-meaning nonsense. Our God is a God who acts on our behalf. He makes us glad by His deeds. God displays His greatness, His faithfulness, His love by what He does.

There are many who say there is no God, or who mock God. Such people are actually senseless and lack understanding. They will not succeed.

The enemies of God will be defeated, and He will exalt the horn of His people. We will see the defeat of our enemies. Conversely the righteous will flourish. We flourish when we are planted in the house of God. This goes back to what we saw in the last two Psalms about God being our dwelling place. We will bear fruit on our old age. As we get older we know the Lord better because we have walked with Him for longer. This makes us more fruitful.

We have a great future in God!

Psalm 91 - My Dwelling Place

The previous Psalm had declared that the Lord is their dwelling place. The problem was that the nation was constantly putting its trust in anything and anyone but the Lord. This Psalm declares the benefits of dwelling in the shelter of the Most High.

Why did the nation (and why do we) so easily run to other sources? It is because we seek security, yet the Lord is the only one who provides true security. We are called to make Him our refuge and fortress, the One who provides us with strength.

If we do this He will save us from unforeseen traps and deadly disease. These are things we can do very little about, but the Lord can protect us. His faithfulness is our shield, our protection against various dangers. It is not all up to me or all up to you. The Lord acts to defend and protect us.

Then we need not fear the danger that comes at night, nor the danger that comes during the day. We may look around and see others fall prey, but this should not alarm us, for they are not trusting in the Lord. Now, this is not grounds for looking down on others, it is saying that just because others fall prey to certain things, it does not mean that that will happen to us as well.

The solution is not to worry, but to trust in the Lord. The Lord commands His angels to protect us. Angels are real, and they have a real effect on life. There are things that happen that we do not know about.

The Lord protects us because we love Him. We need to realise that the fact that we love the Lord makes a difference. It makes a difference in the Lord's attitude towards us, and to what He does in life.

Psalm 90 - You are our dwelling place

The Lord is our dwelling place. The physical and other circumstances of our life change all the time, but the Lord is our dwelling place. Our nature is to try and find security in our material circumstances, where we live, our job, etc. If we do this we will be disappointed. But when things change we can feel unsettled. This is natural, but the solution is to look to the Lord, it is only in Him that we will find security.

The Lord is eternal and has always been, even before creation. Time is completely different to God than it is to us. He lives beyond time and is not constrained by time in the way that we are.

Clearly the Psalmist was experiencing judgement at the time of writing. The sins of the nation were before the Lord. His response is to seek the Lord and to call upon Him to show favour to the nation.

Psalm 89:19-52 - Covenant and Judgement

Now the Psalm speaks of David, and the way in which David was anointed as king by the Lord. He was a man who was strengthened by the Lord and he was anointed with oil. He was sustained by the Lord, and so no one would defeat him.

David is a prototype of the Messiah, he is also a picture of what our life can be like. We are to be people who live in the Lord's strength.

From verse 24 onwards to 29 the references to Jesus become clearer. The New Testament refers to Jesus as the firstborn. Then we get warnings of judgement. Promises from God are never a cause for complacency. No one should ever think or say that because they are blessed by the Lord they can do what they like and the Lord will protect them. Disobedience always has consequences. 

Verse 30-37 have both the judgement upon sin, and God's faithfulness to His covenant. In a sense this is the great drama of the Bible. How can God's faithfulness and love deal with the sin of the people (including yours and mine)?

The end of the Psalm makes it clear that this was written at a time when Israel was experiencing the judgement, and the writer despairs. Even so, he ends with a declaration of praise to God.

Psalm 89:1-18 - The foundations of the Lord

The Psalm was written by Ethan the Ezrahite, who was probably a Levite. 

The Psalm begins by declaring God's praise, His praise is to be declared through all generations. God's love stands firm and He is completely faithful. And He has made a covenant with the house of David, to establish the throne for ever. This is the foundation on which everything else is built.

Then God's greatness is praised on a cosmic scale. There is no one else like the Lord, neither in the physical or spiritual realms. Everything was created by God and everything belongs to the Lord.

His throne is established in righteousness and justice. And those who walk in faithfulness and trust in the Lord are blessed. We rejoice in the Lord, and He is our glory and strength. There is a great split in humanity between those whose glory and strength is in themselves, and those whose strength and glory are in the Lord. We need to be a people who gain out strength from the Lord.

Psalm 88 - A cry for help

Yet another Psalm where the writer cries out to God for help. So if you sometimes think that an awful lot of your prayer life involves crying out to God, then according to Psalms that is perfectly normal!

He was overwhelmed with troubles, and had been written off by everyone.

It seemed as though God had caused him all this trouble, putting him in an isolated position. Even so, he calls out to God. Then he asks God if the dead offer any praise to Him? There are at least two important points here. One is that we were created to praise the Lord, the second is that death is not our intended end. 

Death of man only came in because of sin against God, but Christ came to save us from death. He defeated death on the cross and resurrection. 

We might expect the Psalm to finish on a note of triumph, but it doesn't. He continues to cry to God, but is still surrounded by all his troubles. Sometimes prayer is like that. Sometimes we do not receive an immediate answer, sometimes we do not find an immediate change in our attitude.

Psalm 87 - Zion

This Psalm follows a theme that is found in several others, namely the special place of Zion (Jerusalem) in the heart of God. 

There will come a time when glorious things are spoken of Jerusalem, even if now the world derides the city and considers it just to be a source of trouble.

There is debate about how verse 4 should be translated. In the main translation in TNIV it speaks of other nations being counted amongst God's people. In the alternative translation, the nations are being addressed by God and being told by Him that Jerusalem is His treasured possession.

Whatever the case, the key theme is that Jerusalem is special, and a time will come when all the world will recognise this.

Psalm 86 - The Lord who is faithful

We are back to a Psalm of David, and as was often the case he is crying out to God in his distress, "... answer me for I am poor and needy". Jesus said "blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs". When we see someone achieving great things for God, it is more than likely that behind it all is much crying out to God, and crying out to God out of their weakness. Paul said that God's power is made perfect in weakness. So if we feel "poor and needy" we should cry out to the Lord.

David asks God to guard his life and bring him joy. He also relies on the fact that he trusts God and serves Him. We need to be people who believe and who serve the Lord.

David calls on the Lord for he knows who the Lord is, and that the Lord will answer him. 

The surrounding nations had many idols, but none were like the Lord. The Lord is unique, and one day all nations will come and worship Him. Paul says the same thing in Philippians. 

David asks for God to strengthen his spirit, his innermost being. He wants to know the ways of the Lord, so he can rely on God's faithfulness. He wants an undivided heart so that he may fear the Lord. Then he will praise the Lord with all that he has.

David was surrounded by many enemies, but he expected God to demonstrate and display His goodness in the presence of these enemies.

Psalm 85 - The nature of forgiveness

The Psalmist is calling on God to once again restore the fortunes of Israel. He reminds himself of the times when God had restored the nation in the past. He had shown favour to Israel, and had forgiven them their sins. Forgiveness of sins is an essential ingredient of restoration.

In our own lives we can be very reluctant to face up to our sin. This is not just a matter of being reluctant to admit that we have done wrong, but not believing that God will forgive us. God's forgiveness is central to His plans.

At the same time as believing that God will forgive us, we also need to face up to the fact of His anger against our sin. We find it difficult to believe that God can both be angry against our sin and at the same time forgive us. But God's forgiveness is not Him saying "it doesn't matter", but rather of Him saying "it does matter, but I forgive you". It is because sin really does matter that Jesus had to go to the cross.

Receiving His forgiveness and restoration is not the end of the matter. We need to be faithful, not to return to folly and to fear the Lord. There needs to be a transformation of our lives.

When there is the Lord's forgiveness and the faithful response of the people there is an amazing outpouring of blessing. On the cross God has offered His forgiveness, we need to believe.

Matthew 23:27-39 - Listen to the prophets

The theme of outward appearance against what is inside continues. To touch a grave made someone unclean, so graves were whitewashed to make them easily visible. So a grave looked fine, but inside was rotting flesh and dead bones. The Pharisees were no different.

The Pharisees venerated the prophets of old, but refused to listen to John or Jesus. They claimed they would have listened where their ancestors had failed to do so, but in reality they were no better. We need to be wary of this one. While we need to be discerning about anything claiming to be a "new move of God", we also need to be aware that whenever God does anything new, people usually react against it. 

Throughout the ages, including the present one that the Pharisees were in, men had killed and persecuted the servants of God. So judgement would come upon them. 

The tragedy was that if only Jerusalem had listened to the prophets she would have been saved.

Matthew 23:23-26 - What really matters

The woes continue. The Pharisees were very careful to ensure that they gave 10% of their income, even down to the least little bit of "income" from herbs and spices. Yet they neglected the more important things like justice, mercy and faithfulness.

It is easy to find some aspect of our life where we are obeying God, and to go to great lengths to stress and keep that obedience, yet at the same time we can be using this as an excuse for neglecting some other area of our life. It is also easy to get engrossed in the minutiae of life, while neglecting the really important things. Notice that Jesus does not say we should not tithe, but only that we need to keep things in perspective. 

The heart of the problem with the Pharisees was that they focused on externals, while neglecting the root of the problem. They focused on outward appearances, but neglected the sinful heart within. We can all do this, and it isn't always done for bad motives. It can seem easier to change the externals, it can seem like something we can do in our own strength. But to effect real change, we need to change the inside, and we can only do this with the help of the Holy Spirit.

We need to beware of thinking that seeking the help of the Holy Spirit is a matter  of Him helping us to do things. This is a danger, for it still leaves us in control. No, receiving the help of the Holy Spirit is a matter of us co-operating with Him, doing things His way. To be set free we need to submit to the lordship of the Holy Spirit and to trust in Him.

Matthew 23:13- 22 - Woes

Jesus now issues a tirade against the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. Hypocrisy is the root of His condemnation of them. True religion is about reality, and we always need to be on our guard against hypocrisy. Every one of us, and every branch of the church is prone to this. It does not matter whether you are charismatic, evangelical, catholic, reformed, baptist or whatever. We need to watch ourselves.

The fruit of their hypocrisy was that they stopped others entering the kingdom, and would not enter themselves. Hypocrisy is a serious matter.

The tragedy was that they put great effort in, they would travel far and wide to find a convert, but then the convert was worse off than before they found him.

One aspect of their hypocrisy was that they developed a ridiculous system of oaths. God's "system" is very simple, speak and live the truth. The Pharisees system was very complicated and resulted in a lie. God's ways are straightforward, and if things start getting convoluted it is a sign that we are straying off the path.

Matthew 23:1-12 - Humble yourself before God

Jesus has been addressing the religious leaders, but the crowds have apparently been observing and listening too. When we see someone else being criticised it is easy to feel self-satisfied, but Jesus has a lesson for the people as well.

The people still had to obey the Pharisees. There may be many things about our political leaders that are reprehensible, but we still have to give them proper respect.

"They do not practice what they preach". This is one of the many sayings that are common parlance and originate from the Bible. When we see someone else being hypocritical it is easy to think, "well there is no point me following the law or doing right either". This is the wrong reaction. The Law the Pharisees were being hypocritical about was God's law, so they still had to follow the Law.

Jesus then proceeded to point out more of the hypocrisy of the leaders. They put heavy burdens on the people, but then proceeded to ignore them themselves. The Pharisees wanted to be seen to be religious.

In contrast, Jesus instructs us to remember that there is only one true teacher, one Father, one source of all good things. We are to have a servant attitude, humbling ourselves before God.

Matthew 22:41-45 - Whose Son?

Now Jesus turns the questioning on to the Pharisees, asking them whose son do they think the Messiah is. The Jews all had an expectation of a Messiah whom God would send to rescue His people. Beliefs that we hold can easily become just words, without us thinking about what they mean, or we get wrong impressions of what they mean. 

Almost every Christian would say that they believe in eternal life, but for many this means "we will go to heaven when we die". It means far more than this. It is about a whole new level of life, a whole transformation. Tom Wright has written a very good book on the subject, called "Surprised by Hope".

The Pharisees reply "the Son of David". Jesus then quotes from Ps 110, a well known messianic Psalm (ie one talking about the messiah). Jesus points out that David refers to the Messiah as his lord. This means that the Messiah must be greater than David, he must be more than the son of David (ie a human descendant of David).

All of us need to read the Bible more, and think about what it says more. Don't just skim over passages thinking, "yes, I know what this says". There can be passages we have read many dozens of times, yet suddenly we can realise something new and exciting in them.

Matthew 22:34-40 - Keep it Simple Stupid

On hearing that the Saducees had come a cropper, the Pharisees thought that they could do better.

They asked him what the most important commandment is in the Law of Moses. It seems a little odd that they thought this would work. Indeed, since Jesus had a had a hand in inspiring the Old Testament there was no way it could work. In fact, we see this same principle at work in nature. Atheists are keen to claim that science shows that there is no need for God. However, the whole universe was created by God and so reflects His glory. So in the end they will just find out how great God is. 

Jesus told them that the greatest commandment was to love the Lord with all that we have, and that the second is equally important, namely to  love your neighbour as yourself. Everything else flows from these. 

Jesus often took them back to first principles. When asked about divorce, He took them back to the original purpose of marriage. We need to ensure that we always focus on the spirit of the Law and God's commands, and not become bogged down in legalism.