When God Says …
“Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.” (Luke 11:47-48 KJV).
The “woes to you” messages of the Lord Jesus against the religious leaders were directed at their focus on outward religious acts (like building tombs for dead prophets of the past) while inwardly rejecting God's living message in their now moment. The Scriptures reveal that God gave the law to show man's inability to keep it, exposing weaknesses and leading people to realize their need for a Savior (Galatians 3:19-22). The Pharisees, Priests, Sadducees and lawyers/scribes represent an "old wineskin" system of legalistic rules that could not contain the "new wine" of the grace of God (Mark 2:22).
These "woes to you" of the Lord Jesus highlight the hypocrisy of the scribes, Pharisees and religious people, who honored dead prophets with polished tombs while their fathers killed them, and they themselves planned to kill Him. It emphasizes that God looks at the heart and the need for a transformed life through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, not by outward display of morality or by phony charade of honoring the past.
The core message that we must, therefore, get hold on is that all sins (past, present and future) have already been punished in Christ Jesus on the cross. The judgment that the Lord speaks of for those who continue the cycle of rejecting God's truth in Him, points to the consequences of not accepting Him and His sacrifice. For believers under the new covenant, they are saved by grace through faith, and their sins are not anymore remembered. To Gentiles and (Jews) house of Israel alike (Romans 10:12), Scriptures affirm: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”” (Hebrews 8:10-12 ESV).
And I say, AMEN!
Daily reflections by:
F. A. Frias
PFC Ministries
When God says... I say, AMEN! is a provocative reflection of the Lord's holy Word. It intends to challenge every seeker of truth to dig deep into the core of the Word of Life to point every being to Christ Jesus - the author and finisher of our faith, and to draw revelations for change, for nourishment and for strength of every soul.
Partners For Christ Ministries, INC
P. O. Box 773716
Ocala, FL 34477
Touching lives in Cambodia, The Philippines, The Middle East, The USA, and... other countries.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment