As Israel’s timeline progresses, there were pockets of hope, scattered here and there, when they would cry out to God because of the mess the human king had made. They would be called upon to repent, and they often did so. Sometimes, a king would arise who would do right in the eyes of the Lord, and through his efforts, the nation would turn to God through repentance. In a glimmer of hope, historians chronicling the stories would have the fortunate opportunity of writing about a happier occurrence in the timeline of Israel.
Unfortunately, however, those revivals were short-lived, and eventually, the nation found itself in captivity, first to sin, and secondly at the hands of the Babylonians and eventually the Assyrians. Their misfortunes would continue at the whims and wishes of the Medes and the Persians. Then, Alexander the Great and the Greek Empire. Then, finally, the domination of Rome.
Like water being drained from a bathtub, Israel spiraled out of control while losing itself at the same time. The leaders continued to hold fast to their belief that an earthly king would somehow be a better option than having God Almighty as their King. Even when God infiltrated human history in the form of an infant, miraculously born of the Holy Spirit, the leaders, entrenched in their self-righteousness, could only see this one born “King of the Jews” as a threat. A threat to their way of life and a threat to their human king, who wasn’t even Jewish. Therefore, in an attempt at keeping their power and prestige, they made an attempt at killing Emmanuel [which literally means, “The With Us (emmanu) God (El)].
So, as we have covered so far, the nation Israel rejected God in Ramah as their King (1 Samuel 8), and in Matthew 2, they tried to kill their King—the One born King of the Jews. And we need to note here that rejection is inherent in the act of attempted murder.
This brings us to the third rejection of the King. And as we will see, like from 1 Samuel 8 to Matthew 2, the stakes will rise.
During the years leading up to and including the earthly ministry of Jesus, the religious leaders of Israel continued to hold up the specific instructions and teachings of God’s Law (torah) that suited them, picking and choosing carefully those commandments that helped them survive politically and prosper financially, thus causing them to morally and societally capitulate to the powers that be.
By the time we get to the three-year-mark of Jesus’s earthly ministry, most of the water is gone. Israel is now circling the drain.
A good time for a Savior, wouldn’t you say?
However, as we will see, the people of Israel had become so spiritually blind and deaf, they wouldn’t have known the Messiah—God in the flesh—if He stood before them, face-to-face, and preached the truth.
How do I know that, you ask?
Because that is exactly what happened.
Self-Righteousness vs. The Righteousness of God
By this time in Jewish history, Jesus has been ministering in and around Jerusalem for three years. Enough time for anyone to get a strong sampling of His teachings and compare them with the Old Testament writings, and that’s exactly what the chief priests and teachers of the law did. In confrontation after confrontation, like a prosecuting attorney, they were building their case. They tried to punch holes in Jesus’s theology (e.g., Matthew 12:2, 24; 15:1-2; Mark 2:18; Luke 5:30, 33; 6:2; 7:39; 11:38, 53-54; 13:14; 17:20; John 8:13). They questioned witnesses who had dealings with Jesus (e.g., John 5:1-15; 9:13-34). They tried to catch Him off guard and get Him to misspeak so they could use it against Him (e.g., Matthew 12:38; 16:1; Mark 3:1-2; 8:11; 10:2; Luke 14:1; John 10:24).
After three years, the evidence was pointing in the wrong direction, and they were getting desperate. They realized the magnitude of the life of Jesus and His claims of being the Messiah.
In Luke 4, starting in verse 16, He entered the synagogue in Nazareth and read Isaiah 61 in the presence of all who were there. When he gave the scroll back to the attendant, He sat down—the formal posture of a teacher (think “department chair” in a college). Then, He stated to all who were in attendance that Isaiah 61, a Messianic prophecy, had just been fulfilled in their presence.
In John 4, Jesus confronts the Samaritan woman at the well. After a discussion, she states that when the Messiah comes, He will explain everything. To which Jesus replied, “I who speak to you am He” (v. 26, LSB).
In Matthew 16, beginning in verse 13, Peter declares Jesus as the Christ, and Jesus not only affirms it (He does not deny it), He tells Peter that those words were not his own. Peter received that revelation from God, thus confirming it as truth.
The teachers of the Law, the scribes, and Pharisees—all the religious leaders—understood who Jesus claimed to be. They just could not accept Him as such. He didn’t fit the “Conquering King” motif. He didn’t protect the religious elite and promise destruction to the Romans. Instead, He ate with tax collectors, who extorted money from the Jews and gave it to their oppressors. He healed someone, a person special to, of all people, a Roman Centurion, who represented everything about the Roman Empire that was evil. In addition to these “un-Messianic” acts, Jesus attacked the religious leaders of Israel every chance He got. In their minds, Jesus had it all backwards. He couldn’t be the Messiah. Could He?
It was this one little pesky question that kept them coming back to Jesus again and again. Even though His actions were completely the opposite of what they envisioned for the Messiah, His words made them often retreat and regroup. Jesus’s words were so different, and spoken with such authority, even the “uneducated peasants” noticed a difference (Matthew 7:28-29). Jesus so often used the Old Testament against the religious elite, often asking them, “Have you not read?” Thus, the implication was, “If you’re supposedly the religious teachers and leaders of Israel, how can you be so ignorant of what God said and meant?”
This back and forth between Jesus and the religious elite came to a head in Matthew 21. That’s when everything changed. After being denounced publicly again, this time in the Temple in verses 23-44—about Jesus being the Messiah, mind you—the chief priests and Pharisees decided it was time to issue the warrant for Jesus’s arrest. Verses 45-46 tell us: “And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to seize Him, they feared the crowds, because they were regarding Him to be a prophet” (emphasis added; LSB).
Hidden Agendas
John 11:47-53 gives us the actual transcript of a subsequent emergency meeting of the Sanhedrin that occurred shortly after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Some of the Jews who witnessed the event believed in Jesus, but others raced back to Jerusalem and reported what had happened to the religious leaders, thus prompting the subsequent meeting:
Therefore, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Sanhedrin together and were saying, “What are we doing? For this man is doing many signs. If we let Him go on like this, all will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and out nation.”
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was
high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you take
into account that it is better for you that one man should die for the people,
and that the whole nation not perish.”
Now, he did not say this from
himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to
die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might
also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
So, from that day on they planned together to kill Him (emphasis added; LSB).
Did you hear what they said? Many of the religious leaders were concerned. About what? That Jesus may be the Messiah. And heaven forbid, if everyone believed in Him, it would bring destruction upon them.
Was that true? No. Exactly the opposite was true.
Had the religious leaders accepted Jesus as the Messiah, and had they urged all of Israel to believe in Him and follow Him, God would have blessed the nation and used her to reach the world with the gospel message. This is evidenced in Jesus words in Matthew 23:37, where He laments to Jerusalem about how He would have taken Israel under His care and protection, like a hen does with her chicks. He wanted to protect Israel so many times, throughout the Old Testament times and now into the beginning of the New Testament era. However, they rejected God as King. They rejected Him and His message. They killed His messengers (i.e., the prophets). They killed the Messiah’s herald, John the Baptist. And now, they were about to kill God’s most powerful messenger, His Messiah, the One and Only Son of God (John 3:16).
Ironically, what Caiaphas said Jesus’s death would prevent (the destruction of the Temple and Israel) actually caused it, for when God removed His hand of protection from Israel in Matthew 23:37, in less than one generation later, in 70 A.D., Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.
Israel has never recovered from that day in history. And the history of Israel is one sad episode after another of how neighboring nations have mistreated the Jews, first because of religious hatred, and then because of racial hatred.
Thought for the Week:
Before we cast stones at the Sanhedrin, particularly Caiaphas, we must first examine our own hearts. How many times do we choose not to believe God’s Word and obey it, because we are afraid of the plight such obedience may bring upon our lives?
That was really the litmus test for Caiaphas and the religious leaders of Israel. They knew, deep down, Jesus was the Messiah. Or better said, they feared He might be. They knew no one could do what He could do if He were not sent from God. They even said so much (Mark 12:28-33; John 3:2; 9:31-33). However, to admit that Jesus is who He said He is, and acknowledging that truth meant the religious leaders must submit to Him, as King. And as you can see, we are right back to the central issue.
God is the King of Heaven, and we live in that realm now, as that Kingdom is at hand (Matthew 3:2; 4:17). Jesus taught us time and time again what “The Kingdom of Heaven is like.” It is there, in black
Yet, do we not succumb to the “fear of the crowds,” like the Sanhedrin did? We’re afraid of what someone might say and do to us, if we stand up for Jesus and proclaim Him as King? Or we’re afraid the oppressive government might step in and take everything we have? Maybe even imprison us? Even have us executed for our faith (maybe not in the United States—although it’s heading in that direction)?
Do you see? The sins of the Sanhedrin are the sins of any person who is not committed to Jesus wholeheartedly. That’s why Jesus said the road to glory was narrow (Matthew 7:13-14).
And when these two kingdoms clash, the Kingdom of Heaven wins out every time because it is the Kingdom of Truth.
The kingdom of men is full of lies and deceit, as the nation Israel found out.
NEXT WEEK:
We continue this section
by looking at how self-righteousness can be so spiritually minded but be no
earthly good.
Pictures courtesy of Pixabay and Unsplash and the following photographers/artists:
Wasteland - Unsplash by Valentin Salja
Scroll - Pixabay by falco
Wailing Wall - Unsplash by Sergio Rodriguez Portugese del Olmo
Bible - Unsplash by Timothy Eberly
Broad Road - Pixabay by Islandworks
Narrow Road - Pixabay by Tama66
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