SEPTEMBER 16 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#29 “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” (Matthew 22:42)

 SEPTEMBER 16  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#29  “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”  (Matthew 22:42)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord I thank You for those times that You make Your Presence “Known” when we least expect it, which in retrospect I see that it is those times that I need you most for I have drifted off the path and had You not given me a “course correction” I would have wandered off into the world and all its dangers. Lord, I better understand the necessity of “chastisement” and why David wrote of the Good Shepherd, “…Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me…” for You Lord know when to use Your “rod” and when to use Your “staff” and You always use them in “TRUTH” and in “LOVE” — Lord, I pray that my spirit yields itself completely to Yours and that my heart is always receptive to Your Love for I know that Your Plan for my life is to give me a “Hope” and a “Future” — Forgive me of my daily shortcomings and keep me forever on Your Path.   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has been “questioned” by the “legalists” as they have sought to prove that their “doctrines of men” and their “authority” was the ruling power in Zion and Jerusalem but they were blinded to the Truth of God that Jesus IS the Messiah and that God has sent Him to bring “repentance and salvation” to those that follow the “doctrines of men” instead of the “Commands of God”. The Pharisees and the scribes had been the loudest in their contentions with Jesus and had “questioned” Him on more occasions than any of the other ruling groups! Jesus had put the Pharisees in their place on more than one occasion, but now in His final week before the Passover in Jerusalem (where Jesus will complete the Father’s Work and fulfill all the Law and the Prophets), Jesus answers all the “questions” posed by each group and then Jesus, as the Master Teacher, Teaches the Final Lesson to the “legalists and power mongers” with a couple of Final JESUS Questions back-to-back — “While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying,” (1) “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” and when the Pharisees answered, “The Son of David” Jesus quoted the Holy Scripture from a Psalm (Psalm 110) that King David had written about the Messiah and then Jesus asked the Pharisees this followup question: (2) “If David then calls Him ‘LORD,’ how is He his Son?”  (Matthew 22:41-45)  The Pharisees were the ultimate authority in Israel on the Law of Moses and the Holy Scriptures and yet with all their combined knowledge they were unable to answer Jesus and Matthew records: “And no one was able to answer [Jesus] a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.” (Matthew 22:45) Now that there would be no more questions taking up the precious last hours of His earthly ministry, it would be reasonable to assume that Jesus would move on from Teaching Lessons on “True Power and Authority” and leave the Pharisees to face the “judgement” that had already been assigned to them and to all that follow the “doctrines of men” as consequences to their disobedience to the Commands of God and the defiling of their Holy Offices: “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whom it falls, it will grind him to powder.” (Matthew 22:43-44)   However, once Jesus had finally silenced all the contention and confrontation from the “legalists/power mongers” He did not move on to another Lesson but Jesus gives one final summation to the problem and pronounces “Seven Woes” on the “scribes and Pharisees” as He once again calls them, “hypocrites”! Our common sense should tell us that if Jesus continues to Teach on this subject of the “hypocrisy” of “following the doctrines of men " and “defiling Holy Offices” and “usurping the Power of God” for themselves that this must be a Very Important Topic that Jesus wants to make very clear to all that “have an ear” to hear what the Spirit has to say about being “obedient to God” as the Number One Priority in our daily lives!  Before looking at this “Final Summation on True Power and Authority” that Jesus is about to deliver on the subject, it is prudent for us to stop and consider the “gravity of the situation” in our own lives as we let the “doctrines of men” creep into our daily lifestyles ——— we must realize that those in power, regardless of their gender, generation or nationality, succumb to their own selfish desires as they gather unto themselves more and more power and these power mongers defile their respective offices and the fruit of their labor is “defiled doctrines" which Jesus is telling us as God told Adam and Eve in the garden, “…for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) Remember also that Jesus had just Taught us “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” (Matthew 16:6) Perhaps since Jesus commands us to “take heed” that we should at least try to understand what the consequences of not listening to Jesus might be — or you can turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the Truth of God and consume the “leaven” and the “forbidden fruit” but then you must accept the consequences of your choice to ignore God’s Son Jesus whom God the Father has sent to bring “repentance and salvation” to us and Who has personally given us so many warnings by His Holy WORD!?!?!?