In my last post, we talked about the belief biases that many of the Jewish religious sects had and how those caused them to miss recognizing Jesus as the Messiah to which Scripture pointed. Also, their disunity in their beliefs caused them to double down on their biases which caused them to become blinded toward what God was doing in their very midst. Is that true today as well?

I would advocate that this is true to a large extent. Some of this disunity was addressed in a previous post (Rapture-Receiving of the Bride). We have so many different denominations today and it seems there is much more controversy between many of these denominations than between Christian and non-Christian circles. What has this disunity led to? I think almost the same as it led to almost two thousand years ago. Back then they could not unite on what to expect from a coming Messiah and thereby missed him completely when he was right in their midst. Today, we have so much disunity about what to expect next from God that I’m afraid many of us may miss what God is going to do in our midst as well. There is so much dispute today about whether the next event will be a great revival or Christ returning for his bride. Rather than searching scripture to see the argument of each side, each side just buckles down on their emphatic belief that the other side is wrong.

Let’s not do that. Christ fulfilled Scripture at his first coming, but all sides missed it. God did not “perform” as they expected. Rather than searching the scriptures to see if any of it could be true, they totally rejected everything Jesus said. It seems the “prophetic” side of Christendom believes that God is going to flood the Earth with his Spirit which will lead to one of the greatest revivals of all time. The “conservative” side of Christendom says that the next event is the Rapture and that is the only hope Christians have before the world totally collapses.

Both sides have Scripture to back up their beliefs. Well, the Pharisees and Sadducees had scripture to back up their beliefs about the Messiah as well. Yet, that did not work out well for them. Therefore, we should at least be cautious about being adamant in our stance of what God will do next.

Now, I’m certainly not advocating that we ignore what Scripture says about what he will do next. Yet, shouldn’t the fact that Christians are not in unison indicate that something is amiss? If we are searching for truth, the Bible, which is the true source of all truth, can’t provide two events as the answer to the truth we are looking for. Who’s right, then?

Maybe we’re confusing some scripture of one event as part of that of another event. I mean, the Pharisees seemed to have done that. They were looking for Jesus, if he was the Messiah, to fulfill all the Messianic prophecies. They didn’t realize he was going to fulfill part then and part later. That scenario never occurred to them. Are we perhaps not doing the same? I refer you to an earlier blog about part of this (An M-Theory to End-Time Prophecy). God always reveals what he is going to do in Scripture, but the way he fulfills it is often very different than we expect. Let’s be ready for the unexpected and thereby drop our shields and flaming arrows against our fellow Christians. Now, of course, if a teaching is not Biblical, then it should be rejected. But can’t we look at all Scripture and see if perhaps God is going to do something unexpected? After all, that’s what Jesus did, didn’t he? So he already has that modus operandi. At the very least, why not prepare for either event to come? Either one would be a glorious event to be a part of. Wouldn’t it?

Now, there are some strange verses that don’t exactly fit with a coming Rapture. We have tried to make those refer to his Millennial reign, but if we look at them closely, we find they don’t exactly fit into that future time. I talked about this in a previous post (Kingdom Age). My point here is that all denominations have likely missed the mark to some degree. Perhaps those denominations with a Pentecostal bent have sort of idolized the experiences the Holy Spirit brings and made them greater than the work Christ himself did for us. That is a problem. And perhaps the more conservative denominations have gone too far the other way to ensure they do not make that mistake that they don’t allow the Holy Spirit to work as mightily as he could otherwise. That is also a problem.

Let’s pray that God will provide unity to his Church. When Paul was talking about unity and wanting to present a virgin bride to Christ, i.e., the Church, he was not just talking about one physical church body. He was referring to the universal Church. He wanted all Christians to be in unity. While, as humans, unity about everything may not be realistic, but we should become united around Jesus Christ, his virgin birth, his death on the cross for our sins, and his resurrection which gives us hope of our future resurrection. Then, can’t we pray for revival and simultaneously prepare ourselves for his return? If he does send his Spirit again for a grand revival, then we’ll be prepared for him to use us for such an event. If he instead returns for his bride, then he can retrieve a bride who is more united in him, being more pure and more ready to be received by him.

We all need more of God, a balance with each member of his Trinity. We need to recognize that God, the Almighty, oversees all. Even if we think we know what he is going to do, we should allow him to implement his actions in whatever way he chooses, and not think we know how he is going to act. But we should be ready to respond with him in whatever way he acts. We need to recognize that Jesus Christ is the one we should focus on because it is his actions that have saved us and made us equipped to be with him forever. Our role now is to help others recognize this important feat he has done on their behalf. We need to recognize that the Holy Spirit is the one who provides the power we need to implement all that Christ has for us to do. Far too few of us allow him to work though us without us impeding him.

We know that something wonderful is just around the corner. Let’s not argue about what that is, but let’s get ready for God to do whatever he desires to do and be sure that we are ready to be used by him. The apostles never knew what Jesus was going to do, even when he told them, but they went along with him regardless of what they thought about his actions as they knew they could trust him because he was their Messiah. Let’s do the same.

____________

Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

We seem to give the Pharisees and Sadducees a bad wrap when it comes to their acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Let’s see if we can understand what they believed and why. There were not only Pharisees and Sadducees but also Essenes, Hellenists, and Zealots. There were likely even additional groups that would be somewhat like these with some differences. So, what were the differences between these groups? Well, it gets even more complicated because there were graded beliefs within these groups. My purpose here is not to provide all similarities and differences between the beliefs of these groups but help us to see how each of these groups could have believed Jesus not to be their Messiah.

In general, the Pharisees believed in most of the Old Testament scriptures that we have in our Bible today plus the Oral Law of Moses. Yet, even here, there was a division between the Pharisees. You have those who were more liberal in their interpretation of Scripture and those who were stricter and more conservative in their interpretations. In general, they believed in angels, the resurrection of the dead, and in a coming Messiah. Most believed their coming Messiah would be someone with military clout and rid them from all oppressors (especially the Romans), return them to how things used to be before they were oppressed, and that Israel would be the head of a Kingdom of Peace with the Messiah as their crowned king. They believed the coming Messiah would uphold all the Jewish laws and customs and they would be prominent in his kingdom because this is what they tried to be: a devout Jew keeping all the laws prescribed in the Torah (the books of Moses, which are the first five books of our Bible) as well as those taught in the oral traditions as they believed they were also presented by Moses. While they tolerated Rome, they did not like Rome interfering in their lives. While they had less prominence in the Sanhedrin, that is, the Jewish Supreme Court, so to speak, they were quite influential because they typically had the backing of the common people.

The Sadducees, on the other hand, only believed in what was in the Torah. This led them to not really believe in angels, or a resurrection of the dead, or even in a coming Messiah (they were sad, you see). They were more aristocratic and kept more to the temple than with the common people. The high priest was typically always a Sadducee and they had ingratiated themselves with Rome to maintain their prestige and influence.

The Essenes had migrated out of the city of Jerusalem, with many being at Qumran, because they believed both the Pharisees and Sadducees were corrupt. They devoted themselves to the study of the Scriptures and their meanings. From their study, they believed there could be two possible Messiahs: one who would be more spiritual helping Israel to lead a spiritual kingdom and one who would be earthlier and free Israel from all oppressors setting up an earthly kingdom with Israel as its center.

The Zealots were all about freeing Israel from Roman oppression. They were looking for a Messiah who would do just that. For them, the spiritual aspects were not as important as being free from Roman oppression.

The Hellenists Jews were those who had adopted Greek influences: both its language and practices. Many had been raised outside Judea and had returned, bringing their Greek culture with them. Many found the two worlds a compatible lifestyle. They were likely more like the Sadducees and did not necessarily believe in a coming Messiah. This may be another reason that Sadducees were able to blend into the upper echelons of Greek and Roman society.

So, Jesus disrupted each of these groups’ thoughts about the Messiah they expected. To the Sadducees and Hellenists, Jesus was just a nuisance because he stirred up people and created crowds which made Roman officials nervous that a rebellion would be forming. This then made the Sadducees anxious because if the Roman officials were nervous, then these officials would hold them responsible for this uproar of the people and their sphere of influence could be taken away from them.

Jesus was a threat to the Pharisees as well. He did not fit into their ideal mold of a Messiah. They believed the Messiah would keep all the Laws of Moses and because they did that to the max, they were expecting to be praised for their efforts and not ridiculed for them. What Jesus tried to get them to realize was that if their hearts were pure, then their actions would be pure. God is concerned with not only what they did, but why they did what they did. Jesus often referred to the ancient prophets’ teaching as he told them what they did should not be undone, but they should not ignore the greater edict of God where they were to show mercy and kindness. They were to be teachers and not just moral examples without any compassion for the people.

Jesus didn’t really fit into the Essenes’ or Zealots’ view of a coming Messiah either. While Jesus claimed to be divine, he did not teach the kingdom the Essenes were expecting. He also did not become a military presence which irritated the Zealots. Therefore, Jesus was not fitting into any views these groups expected a Messiah to be like.

Yet, if the members of any of these groups truly listened to Jesus, his claims, and spent time with him asking him questions and truly listened to his responses, they would have understood who he really was. The way Pharisees and Sadducees taught was first to study the writings of prominent Jewish leaders and then go to the Scriptures themselves. This led to a promulgation of what was taught before and not necessarily fresh or illuminating ideas. Many scriptures were emphasized while others were not focused on which led to a narrative of what prior teachers had taught, and not necessarily what Scripture itself taught.

Jesus wanted to get the members of these groups to understand the meanings and intent behind the laws they taught and not have them follow rituals for rituals sake. It was not their actions which made them righteous but their faith. The intent of what they did was more important because if the intent was right then the correct action would come automatically. Yet, because Jesus did not act as they expected, they dismissed him rather than trying to understand what he was actually telling them.

No one ever asked Jesus where he was born. Again, they heard he was from Nazareth and dismissed him immediately because they knew Scripture stated the Messiah would come from Bethlehem. Plus, of course, there was a geographical bias. Those who lived in the area around Jerusalem were considered better than the country bumkins who lived in the north around Galilee.

Jesus performed miracles, signs, and wonders to get the people’s attention so they would listen to him. Yet, the Jewish leaders, rather than understanding that Jesus was showing them he was the Messiah who could bring in the kingdom they were expecting (the reign of the Messiah with the earth being fruitful and plentiful, and all its inhabitants being healthy and free from disease), tried to discredit him and prove he was false because Jesus did not fit into the Messiah-mold they expected of such a one. Jesus did not have a commanding presence physically, was not military minded, was not from the right geographical region, and did not revere the Jewish leaders and praise them for being so good at keeping all the nuances of the Law. This bias against him led them to make ridiculous claims as to how he could do what the people said he did (e.g., casting out demons with the authority of the prince of demons). They became so agitated against Jesus that they could only think of one thing that would solve their dilemma: death.

These religious biases led the Jewish leaders to miss the coming of their Messiah. Yet, have we become so much more enlightened than they? In many ways it seems that the religious biases of these groups are still alive and well today. Next time we’ll go into this in more detail and see if we have gotten better within the two thousand years that have passed.