SEPTEMBER 18 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#29 “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” (Matthew 22:42)

 

SEPTEMBER 18  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, You are the Master Teacher, You use every circumstance

 in our lives to reveal the Father in Heaven to us and You demonstrate

 the Love of God because of Your concern for our daily lives. 

Lord, I pray that I will be open to the guiding of Your Holy Spirit that

 has been given the specific task to “teach us all things of God” 

through the divine appointments that You arrange daily for us. 

So Lord Jesus, my prayer is that I “listen” with all my heart, mind, 

and soul — for every lesson that I fail to learn is another glimpse 

of the kingdom that  I missed because I let the darkness of this 

world blind me to seeing Your Glory. 

Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Loving Father,

 Praise to the Holy Trinity and Your Mercy and Grace renewed daily

 that we may grow in Spirit and in Truth. Forgive me of those 

moments of blindness when my spirit is clouded with self-pity

 for my present circumstance and I am looking at the world in fear

 instead of letting Your Light of TRUTH open my blinded eyes 

and soften my hardened heart and reveal the circumstance 

as an opportunity to see Your Silver Lining 

and learn Your Intended Lesson —

 give me this day, my Daily Bread (of LIFE)!!!   

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus addressed the Pharisees “…while [they] were gathered together…” 

and when He had finished addressing them

 “…from that day on [no one] dared question Him anymore…” 

Jesus was able to return to Teaching the multitudes and His disciples 

in these last days before His crucifixion, now that Jesus was giving

 His final Lessons on “True Power and Authority” to the “hypocrites” 

that had been contending with Him. This “usurping of

 God’s True Power and Authority” 

was a very serious issue for Jesus now turns to the multitudes 

and expresses in direct terms “why” this is a major problem — 

mainly that if this problem of “True Authority” is not corrected

 that many will be deceived and will miss the “True Path” 

to the kingdom of God! (See Matthew 22:41-46) 

Jesus begins outlining the problem to 

“…the multitudes and to His disciples, saying, 

‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.

 Therefore what ever they tell you to observe, that observe and do,

 but do not do according to their works; for they say and do not do.’”

 (Matthew 23:1-3)  

Jesus always uses the Holy Scriptures to Teach His Master Lessons

 and one of the Truths of God Jesus Teaches us by using Holy Scripture

 to make His Point is that God has already addressed that problem before, 

God has demonstrated that He is the Unchanging Living God 

and that His Word WILL STAND! 

When Jesus states that

 “the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat” 

He is making reference to a passage from the prophet Ezra which

 is very significant to this Lesson for all Israel was familiar with 

the fact that God had called Moses and that the 

Law of Moses was in reality the Law of God given through Moses.

 Another relevant fact is that through Moses, God also had established

 the office of priests and had placed great responsibility on them 

to use their “God-given wisdom” to teach and to judge God’s chosen

 people according to God’s commands! The passage from Ezra has

 special relevance in this instance for Ezra could trace his lineage 

all the way back to Aaron for the Holy Scriptures record 

that Ezra’s lineage was through “…the son of Abishua, 

the son of Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of 

Aaron the chief priest —this Ezra came up from Babylon;

 and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, 

which the LORD God of Israel had given.” (Ezra 7:1-6) 

So this reference to the “seat of Moses” used by Jesus connected

 His Lesson all the way back to the Exodus, God giving the Law to Moses,

 and also the Israelites release from the Babylonians.

 Jesus also makes reference to what the problem is when He refers

 to Ezra through this reference as the scriptures record, 

“And you Ezra, according to your God-given wisdom,

 set magistrates and judges who may judge all the people …

 who know the ‘Laws of God’ and teach those that 

do not know them…

Whoever will not observe the [Law of God] … 

let judgement be executed speedily on him…” (Ezra 7:25-26) 

This is exactly what Jesus is saying to the scribes and 

Pharisees with the reference to 

“Moses’ seat” — “Your office and duties are to be used 

to teach and judge the people according to God’s Law  that 

was given to you by God Himself and because you have not

 faithfully executed the responsibility of your office according

 to the command of God, your judgement will be executed speedily”. 

Ezra was a contemporary with Nehemiah and Esther 500 years before

 this Lesson Jesus is Teaching in Jerusalem on Passover week 

which still 500 years later still sends the clear message that

 

God is the Supreme Source of  All Power and Authority 

and because the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob 

is the Eternal Almighty God, 

His Commands will NEVER be void! 

God is serious about us following His Commands because

 of His Great Love for us — 

all His Commands are the Path to Eternal Life 

and God’s Heart is for the GOOD of His people 

as He continually directs us to 

“Repentance” 

for that Path leads to 

“Remission of Sin, Salvation, and Life Everlasting!” 

All those are very good reasons for following God 

instead of our selfish desires that lead to destruction, 

don’t you think?!?!?!?

SEPTEMBER 17 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#29 “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” (Matthew 22:42)

 

SEPTEMBER 17  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, O the joy of calling on the Name of all names, 

for You are the Living, Loving, Redeemer and Lover of my soul. 

You are the Way, yeah the only Way to Live, for we spend our days

 in death when we do not turn to Thee for our Daily Bread. 

Lord, I praise You, the Father, and the Holy Spirit for the Grace

 and Mercy in the Plan of Salvation!!!  We, Lord, are deserving 

of death, yet even though we reject you time and again, 

You always extend Your Love and Forgiveness 

to us if we but Repent and turn to Thee. 

Lord, I am a chief sinner for I will lay my sins at the foot of Your cross

 but I do not let go of them and end up picking them up again 

with my selfish desires?!? O Lord Jesus, You are Loving and Forgiving 

and each time I return to Your Grace You receive me 

with open arms — so Lord I return yet again, forgive this sinner daily!   

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is now addressing a group of Pharisees and scribes

 that “were gathered together” and after they had responded

 that Christ was “The Son of David” to the Question Jesus had

 asked them about 

“Whose Son is [the Christ]?” (Matthew 22:42),

 Jesus asked them a final Question from a Psalm of David (Psalm 118)

 but the Pharisees and scribes were unable to answer His Question

 from the Holy Scriptures which they were supposed to be “the authority” on!

 Their inability to answer the Question Jesus asked them proved 

that Jesus knew more about the Scriptures than they did

 so the Pharisees from that day on 

“did [not] dare question [Jesus] anymore.” (Matthew 22:43-46) 

But Jesus had more to say about the problem Israel had because 

they were following the “doctrines of [the] men” that had defiled 

their “offices” for the sake of self-promotion. These “leaders” had

 “usurped the power of God” for themselves by imposing their 

false doctrines on God’s chosen people. Jesus had previously

 Taught His own disciples this Lesson about seeking positions of 

high office for Jesus had responded to a similar situation when He

 was asked to give special consideration to a couple of His disciples,

 Jesus stated about “True Power and Authority” : 

“…but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, 

but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.” 

(Matthew 20:23) 

and then Jesus elaborated further about the problem with our

 assuming “power” without it being given by God when Jesus said,

 “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,

 and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it 

shall not be so among you…Whoever desires to be first 

among you, let him be your slave — 

just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, 

but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” 

(Matthew 20:25-28).

 It is interesting to note that this Lesson on “True Power and Authority” 

and submitting to the will of God and being obedient to the 

Father’s Plan for our lives came just after Jesus had told His disciples,

 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man

 will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; 

and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him 

to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. 

And the third day He will rise again.” (Matthew 20:18-19) 

So it should have been no surprise that in this last week of His life

 on earth that His disciples would see that the events were unfolding 

just as Jesus had prophesied and that Jesus would expend so 

much of His energy Teaching about the abuse of power.

 What we as children of God should be aware of in our lives is mainly that

 God has a Plan for Salvation 

and that the 

Plan of Salvation includes “repentance and the remission of sin” 

and that our eternity is determined by how obedient we are 

to the Purity and Holiness of the Commands of God 

and His Plan of Salvation 

and not on the “defiled doctrines of men”!!! Jesus had taught

 “…no one is good but One, that is, God. 

But if you want to enter into life, 

keep [God’s] commandments.” (Matthew 19:17) 

The fact that Jesus continues teaching the multitudes about the 

abuse of power and seeking high office for self promotion can 

be understood as an extension of Jesus Teaching an earlier

 Lesson on humility “Assuredly, I say to you,

 unless you are converted and become as little children, 

you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. [but] …

whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin,

 it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck,

 and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:3-6) 

So now Jesus is going to conclude His Lessons on

 “True Power and Authority” 

as we read “Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes 

and to His disciples, saying…” (Matthew 23:1) 

and Jesus calls out the “scribes and the Pharisees” by name 

and pronounces 7 “Woes” on them

 and on those who seek to “lord” their God-given “authority” 

over those under their rule!!! Surely it is obvious that this Lesson

 is not a “knee-jerk” reaction by Jesus, He has been addressing 

this problem all along and now He concludes by announcing 7 "Woes" 

on those that are guilty. 

Let each of us stop and consider this simple logical question:

 “If this subject is so important to Jesus that He would be

 this thorough in His Teaching this Lesson throughout His 

entire ministry, then shouldn’t we give it a proportional

 amount of our attention as well?!?!?!?!”