APRIL 06 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?* “What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)

 

APRIL 06  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?*  

“What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)

         

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, let the Praise from my heart be acceptable in Your ear, Lord You have overwhelmed me again with Your Grace, overwhelmed because even in the worldly pain we must endure, if we endure it “for Your sake” then there is a Peace and Joy that cannot be explained. 

In this “healing” from my “physical” injury that You have granted, my Faith is growing and  I am experiencing the spiritual sensation that the scales are falling off slowly from my eyes of “little faith” and I am aware of the improvement of my “spiritual” sight. 

Lord Jesus, forgive me of those days when I allow the trials of this world to fog my vision of Your Truth.     

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus asked the root Who-decides-Legality Question of the “legalist” that had accused Him of “what is not lawful on the Sabbath” and this JESUS Question should leave us with no doubt that Jesus had a major point to prove about the “law” and those that had “usurped” the “authority” to “interpret” God’s Law for Him!?! 

Jesus is making the main point that

 God knows exactly what He’s doing at all times and God does not need anyone to “interpret God’s intent”, nor does there need to be any clarification to God’s instructions because God Himself had already directed the Holy Spirit to instruct chosen men called prophets to write down what God wants His people to know! 

We know this is true as we read statements from King David  (one of those “chosen ones” whom Jesus had referred to in His initial response to the Pharisees accusation that what Jesus was doing in the grain fields was “not lawful”, see Matthew 12:3) David writes in this Psalm: 

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.” (Psalm 19:1-3) 

David continues: 

“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making the wise simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” (Psalm 19:7-9) 

One cannot but ask anyone who “thinks” they “know” what God “meant” the same implied question Jesus asked the Pharisees: 

“Do you expect any reasoning person to accept from a created being their ‘interpretation” of what God said or should the person that reasons for himself as God intended accept God’s Own Words which are ‘clean’, ‘pure’, ‘true’, ‘righteous’ and ‘endures forever’ and have been declared by the Creator Himself as ‘perfect’?” 

There are numerous testimonies from those that God spoke to directly that say God knows what He’s doing so why should we put any faith in some third-party second-hand opinion from a socially or politically motivated source wishing to gain control over a group of individuals? 

The point Jesus is plainly making is that everyone, everywhere, has access to God and God’s revealed Word and it is our responsibility to listen not to man’s interpretation but to God Himself who is completely capable of making Himself understood! 

Jesus continues to prove this “deep Truth of God” and that we should concede that

 God is the Only Authority 

when after Teaching this Lesson verbally that Jesus “walked the walk” as He entered a synagogue on the Sabbath and healed a man with a withered hand which was His answer to the “officials” in the synagogue when they asked Jesus: 

“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” 

— talk about “In-Your-Face!” (see Matthew 12:9-13) 

How can we doubt both Jesus and God and have the audacity to think God needs our help in explaining what God “really meant”?   

APRIL 05 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?* “What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)

 

APRIL 05  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?*  

“What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Praise Glory and Honor to the One that is Worthy. Lord Jesus, without Your unselfishness, mankind would not know what unselfishness means for we are a truly selfish people, without your Patience with us we would not know what Unconditional Love looks like! Jesus, thank You for the Way of Grace that You have placed before me in this season of pain that I may walk before You in a manner that Glorifies the Father and brings Honor to Your Name, the Name Jesus. Forgive us daily as we seek to walk blameless before Thee!    

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus called out the Pharisees on the issue of “legality” in Matthew 12:4-5 but He was not only calling out the Pharisees for quoting blindly the Jewish law but Jesus was illustrating the deep “Truth of God” that all men tend to think God needs our help in explaining what He “really” meant to say! 

When Jesus asked the Questions of the Pharisees in verses 4 and 5 and by the words He used we can see the “Spiritual Lesson” and the “physical accusation” because Jesus immediately tied the words in the Question to specific words in the answer leaving no room for doubt that the Lesson Jesus was teaching the Pharisees was to address the bigger issue of “legalism” in general and 

“God vs man” in specific. 

In this series of Questions Jesus used the words “read”, “David”, “entered the house of God”, “ate the showbread”, “not lawful for him”, and “only for the priests?”, (Matthew 12:4  JQ#12a) which pointed out the “spiritual vs physical significance”,  Jesus used these words in His second question, “read in the law”, “Sabbath”, “priests in the temple profane the Sabbath”, and ends with the tongue in check question, “and are blameless?” (Matthew 12:4  JQ#12b) —

 then Jesus Teaches the 

Lesson on True Authority 

with His answers in the next two verses,

 “Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.” (Matthew 12:6-7) 

By asking the legalist to compare what they have “read in the law” which places “blame” on  breakers of laws written by man’s interpretation of the

 “True Authority” of the “One” 

who is greater than the manmade temple and thus greater than the manmade laws, Jesus is telling the legalists that they should be looking at 

“the spirit of God’s law” or the “intent of God’s law” 

instead of the “wording of the manmade law”.  

The fact that this problem still exists today is evident as one can pick up any modern dictionary and read a similar definition to this: 

“The letter of the law verses the spirit of the law is an idiomatic antithesis. When one obeys the letter of the law but not the spirit, one is obeying the literal interpretation of the words (the “letter”) of the law, but not necessarily the intent of those who wrote the law.” —Wikipedia. 

Jesus 

makes it clear that 

God is the Supreme Authority 

and that 

His Spirit should be followed 

over man’s “interpretation” of what God “meant to say” because in the very next statement Jesus summarizes clearly that 

God is the “First and Final Word” 

as Jesus proclaims: 

“For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:8) 

No one can deny that today’s modern world is still dealing with this “God vs man” issue and since government is full of lawyers and is all about “control” it comes as no surprise that all the problems we see in our modern society stems from the government imposing their “interpretation” of the law and are making it clear that they believe the government alone can declare what is “legal”. 

They declare their belief in the same breath that they declare their “authority” that there should be “separation” between God and government! Perhaps you would agree that

 this modern day  “spirit of separation” sets the groundwork for a Godless government? 

Do you want to be ruled by a set of laws written by “legalists seeking control” over you

 or by the 

One True God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that desires mercy for you?

APRIL 04 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?* “What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)

 

APRIL 04  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?*  

“What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily  Prayer   

JESUS, Lord I thank You for this ongoing “physical trial” for it is making me more aware of just how much we depend on things we take for granted when we are “healthy”.  

Jesus, I thank you mostly today for the immediate answer to my prayer for “spiritual healing” as my wife and I awoke to our usual “honeymoon” attitude and Lord You know I have never taken that “special blessing” You have bestowed on our “God-honoring  marriage” and I know it was Your Spirit that quickly resolved the issue. 

Lord I do not pray for You to take my pain away but I do pray that You will grant me healing and keep me aware of these wonderful blessings that I see already as a result of my situation, like being able to “share Jesus” with the medical help you have surrounded me with during my physical ailments whom I lift up to You in prayer today and ask Your blessings as they are Your healing hands 

for those You place in their paths.     

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus, being All-Knowing and the Master Teacher asked this most important Question because one can easily see that it is the most important Question that any society can ask of the government which the society elects to rule them. 

History reveals that government always rises from or eventually becomes the “elite ruling” class in any society. It is either kings and queens or presidents or governors but there are very, very few large societies that are not ruled by a set of officials normally called the “government”. 

We all know that the single purpose of “government” is to “govern” and we all know “who” they govern. In the United States of America our “government” was established as a symbolic “Trinity” with three main branches, each having a specific responsibility but all all three deal with laws and legality as the three branches are known as the Judicial, Legislative, and the Executive. The fact that Jesus confronts the Pharisees on issues of “legality” should get our attention and we should pay close attention because Jesus addressed “government” and “legalism” several times in His Teachings. 

Jesus, as always, is consistent in His Teaching of Lessons that are universal and timeless so that all societies, all races, all nations, and all peoples of the world can benefit from studying the Lessons Jesus puts forth, especially when He Teaches on such an important issue such as is addressed in Matthew Chapter 12 where Jesus calls out the “ruling judicial class” of the Jewish community that called themselves Pharisees. 

We can easily demonstrate that Jesus was asking the specific root Question of

 “Who decides what is legal, God or man?” 

because  the Pharisees were declaring that the actions of Jesus and His disciples were “unlawful” according to the Jewish religious law called the Halakha and referring specifically to the Jewish Sabbath called the Shabbat laws. 

First of all the Jewish nation is a nation founded by God through a man named Abraham, who had a son named Isaac, who had a son named Jacob and Jacob had 12 sons who became known as Israel. We know of this man named Abraham because God of the Bible called out Abraham to 

“go to a land that I [God Himself] will show you” 

and later God promised Abraham that He would give the land to Abraham’s descendants as a “possession”. Further evidence that proves the point of the “legality” Question asked of the Jewish law by Jesus is that

 (1) God called Abraham (2) God gave Abraham sons whom God said would inherit the land God gave them (3) God changed the name of Abraham’s grandson Jacob to “Israel” and Jacob’s twelve sons became known as “the twelve tribes of Israel” thus firmly establishing the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the God of the land and nation of Israel and the Jewish people. 

Add to the fact that the Halakha is called Jewish law (but of “legal note” here: all the laws in the Halakha are “man’s” interpretation of “God’s Law”) and then it becomes obvious that Jesus is asking the Pharisees, 

“What takes precedent — what ‘God’ declares as ‘Right’ or what ‘man’ says is ‘legal’?”  

the Question Jesus asked the Pharisees over 2000 years ago should be asked today, or do you think the US government can “legally” take God out of our schools, our public places, and out of government itself