SEPTEMBER 10 THE JESUS QUESTIONS
JQ#28
“Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?” (Matthew 22:18)
LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer
JESUS, it is still a mystery to this sinner why such Divine Perfection
would be Sacrificed for my wretched soul — why would the Almighty
Creator God that is completely Self-Existent even bother to
expend so much effort to insure that creatures that He does
not need can be Redeemed from our self-made iniquities against
such a Gracious God??? Lord Jesus, that You would Suffer and Die
to Purchase my Pardon is indeed unfathomable but Lord I Praise You
for Your Mercy and Your Grace, for I know I have done nothing and
can do nothing to earn such Divine Favor except to accept the
Gift of God which is Salvation through Belief in His Only Begotten Son,
Jesus Christ. Lord, I do not need to know why any more, for
Your Grace is Sufficient and I pray that my Faith grows each day
as I learn to die-to-self daily and let Your Holy Spirit dwell in this
new vessel of Divine Regeneration — for now I am learning to pray
“The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want…”
Thank You Jesus for life, guide me throughout my day
that I can worship You and the Father in Spirit and in Truth!
AMEN
THE JESUS QUESTIONS
Jesus fulfilled prophecy when He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey,
then upon entering the city Jesus demonstrated that He was the
Messiah as He went immediately to the temple and put His Father’s
House in order which is what any Obedient Son and Heir would do
for His Father’s Kingdom. It is interesting to note that the actions of
Jesus were never questioned but that once
Jesus demonstrated His “Authority-from-God”
that all those that had previously been in “self-appointed authority”
who now were being exposed for their sins were trying to defend
themselves and their man-made doctrines which they had been
imposing on God’s chosen nation, Israel. Jesus cleansed the
temple which they had defiled (see Jeremiah 7:11-15) and then He
entered the temple and began giving sight to the blind
and the lame could walk again
for everyone was “healed” that “came to Him
in the temple”
(Matthew 21:14).
Again, if Jesus was an actual criminal and was guilty of any
punishable crimes against the temple then surely the temple guards
that were there on the premises would have arrested Him yet Jesus
“drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple”
and then
immediately Jesus sat down and began performing miracles
of healing that could only be accomplished through the
Power and Authority of ALMIGHTY GOD Himself,
hence there were no arrests. Even
“the chief priests and scribes [in the temple] saw
the wonderful things that [Jesus] did”
after cleansing the temple (den of thieves who were robbing God)
and returning its function back to
God’s Intended Purpose
which was to be
“A House of Prayer”.
None of the works that Jesus was doing could be questioned so
all the religious rulers probably got together and “plotted” how they
might make Jesus look bad in front of the multitude and regain
their positions of “self-appointed authority” where they had high
offices and lofty titles which Jesus was stripping away with every
Lesson He Taught this final week before culminating His earthly
ministry at the Passover with
His Sacrificial Death on the Cross as the Lamb of God!
We should also note that the common thing among all the “authorities”
was that they all used the same argument to try and trap Jesus
as they each asked in their own ways “Is it lawful?” which in reality is
the reason why Jesus was on earth in the first place, because man
had ignored the “commands of God [The Law]” because of their
“manmade traditions” [doctrines of men] and here they were facing
God in the flesh who was performing works that could only
be performed by God! These “self appointed leaders” who were not
being able to cast aspersions on the Works of God through
His Only Begotten Son Jesus tried to attack the Creator of the Law
with those things that are “lawful”??? We should look closely at
our own “arguments” against God, especially when our arguments
are based on things that are clearly
“things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21b) !
Jesus made it clear early on in His Ministry why He was here
on earth when He gave the Sermon on the Mount and then declared,
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.
I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say
to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or tittle
will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.”
(Matthew 5:18)
Jesus then expressed clearly why the “self-proclaimed authorities”
were in trouble as He continued on His fulfilling of the
LAW of GOD
as He said,
“Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments,
and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven;
but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great
in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your
righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you will by no means
enter the kingdom of heaven.”
(Matthew 5:17-20)
And yet, here in the temple of God where Jesus has just cleaned out
all who bought and sold in the temple, what makes these scribes and
Pharisees think that Jesus will not also clean up the “spiritual garbage”
as well??? — maybe we should remove the plank in our eye
so that we can see the
Truth of God
that Jesus came to Teach to all people and for every generation???
Review your life and see how it lines up with
God’s Truth
and not your “traditions” because
there are both “Blessings” and “Curses”
being taught in God’s Truth,
and He Teaches everyone,
it is our responsibility to “Listen and Learn”!!!
