Friday, October 5, 2018

Parable of the Wheat and Tares - Part 3


What were they're traditions and origins of the Pharisees, and why did Jesus hate them?  


Scriptures:
  • Matthew 13:24-30
  • Matthew 13:36-43
  • John 8:42-44
  • Matthew 15:1-6
  • Matthew 5:17-20
  • Matthew 16:11-12
  • Matthew 23:13-15
  • Matthew 23:33
  • John 12:42-43
  • Acts 13:5-10
  • Revelation 2:8-9

Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds

Matthew 13:24-30
Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
25 "But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares [weeds] among the wheat, and went away.
26 "But when the  wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.
27 "The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?'
28 "And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this!' The slaves said to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?'
29 "But he said, 'No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.
30 'Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"
  • Tares are weeds
  • The Tares are already evident before harvest time
Matthew 13:36-43
36  Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."
37 And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,
38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one;
39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.
40 "So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.
41 "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,
42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43 "Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
  • When you reach your potential you will expose the weeds

Conclusions So Far

The Field Is the World

  • The field is not the church
  • The field is not the Kingdom
  • The weeds and the children of the Kingdom are both on the earth
  • But the weeds are not in the Kingdom
  • To enter into the Kingdom you must be born again
  • Jesus compared being a child of the kingdom versus a child of the evil one

The Enemy is Satan

  • Satan is not in the Kingdom yet he’s in the parable
  • Satan is the source of evil in the world
  • God or Jesus are not the source of the evil done by the children of the devil

The Harvest is At the End Time

  • Judgment and punishment from God doesn’t happen until the end time
  • The weeds will be removed first
  • The wheat will remain in the world after the weeds are removed
  • It doesn’t specify that you can’t tell them apart before the harvest
  • It implies that if you try to remove the weeds you may damage the wheat

Sons of God is used spiritually

  • It refers to Christians and those who believed Jesus was the Messiah
  • Sons of the devil is likely spiritual as well

Who Are the Weeds?

Popular Beliefs Include:
  • Believers who sin or backslide but look like “true” believers
  • Non-believers
  • Hybrid Humans
  • Nephilim -  offspring of women and angels
  • Satan’s literal descendents - sin in the garden was that Satan and Eve mated
  • Descendants of a specific evil human (Cain, Esau, Ishmael)
  • The Pharisees / False Prophets
  • A Unique View (revealed later)
What do we know about the weeds?
  • They are called children of the devil
  • They commit “lawlessness”
Who was called “children of the devil” in the Bible?
  • Jesus seemed to assume that the disciples knew who he was referring to
John 8:42-44
42 Jesus said to them [ the Pharisees], "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.
43 "Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.
44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
  • The Pharisees are not of God
  • They are children of the devil
Who are these Pharisees?

Jewish Sects

We will examine some of the Jewish sects that were in existence during the time of Jesus
All Jews believe in:
  1. Circumcision
  2. Laws of Moses
Most of these sects started during the Babylonian captivity (except Zealots)
  • Started in 2nd century BC
  • Ended before end of the 1st century

Pharisees

  • This was a lay (non-priestly) reform movement
  • They were not descendants of the Levites
  • They were the keepers of the oral Torah, i.e., oral interpretations of the Torah, which they believed were given to Moses at Sinai.
  • They emphasized domestic ritual and synagogue services that could be done apart from the temple in Jerusalem.
  • Rabbis were Pharisees
  • Shifted focus from temple worship to keeping the law
  • Were expecting a Messiah to come
  • Believed in the resurrection and judgment day
  • Parent of modern Judaism
By bringing Jewish religious life out of the Temple and into homes, synagogues, and the lives of everyday people, as well as advocating the continuing interpretation of the Torah, they helped preserve Jewish tradition after the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70.
Many traditions got added during the Babylonian captivity
  • There was most likely influence from the Babylonian religions

Sadducees

They saw their role as upholding traditional practices and beliefs, and they resolutely defended worship at the Jerusalem Temple as the action that maintained the covenant between God and Israel.
  • Only recognized the five book of Moses
  • Focused on the temple sacrifices
  • No Resurrection of the dead
  • The Torah doesn’t speak on it
  • Believed Rewards and punishment come in this world
  • Politically connected
  • Upper class
  • were on friendly terms with Rome when they took over.
  • Believed the authority was the Torah only
  • no oral interpretation
  • no prophets
  • nor other writings
  • Didn’t believe in the Messiah
  • They went away in AD 70 when the Romans destroyed the temple

Essenes

  • Lived in a monastic commune
  • the descendants of Zadok, the priest during David's time
  • Believed the Pharisees and Sadducees had been corrupted
  • They considered the temple impure
  • Believed in predestination and the mystical arts
  • Lived in the Dead Sea community
  • Thought to have been the owners of the Dead Sea scroll collection

Zealots

A political movement which sought to incite the people of Judea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy Land by force of arms
  • Similar to the Pharisees but they worshipped no king other and God alone
  • Also known as the 4th philosophy
  • Zealots started in 6 AD
  • Simon the Zealot was a disciple
  • Killed themselves in a mass suicide at Masada (73 AD)

Significant Roles

Chief/High Priests

  • Members of the high priestly families or those acting with the authority of the high priest
  • Levites - descendents of Aaron

Scribes

  • Interpreted Jewish law
  • They could read and write
  • Came to be known as smart and knowledgeable of the law
  • Bible scholars, lawyers, judges
  • Most were Pharisees

Jewish Traditions

Matthew 15:1-6
1 Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,
2 "Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."
3 And He answered and said to them, "Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
4 "For God said, 'HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,' and, 'HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.'
5 "But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,"
6 he is not to honor his father or his mother.' And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
  • The Pharisees are not accusing the disciples of breaking the Old Testament laws
  • They are accusing them of breaking traditions that they have in addition to the law
  • Hand washing was a recent tradition
  • Apparently, the Pharisees had a tradition that you could tell your parents that you gave all of your money to God and not help them
  • Jesus is criticizing them for this practice
  • They had an overemphasis on the giving of money

Oral Tradition

The Pharisees held to a belief that in addition to the written Laws of Moses there was an Oral Law
  • Moses received the written and oral law from God
  • There were laws, statutes, and legal interpretations given to Moses that were not recorded in the Five Books of Moses
According to Jewish tradition, the Oral Torah was passed down orally from Moses in an unbroken chain from generation to generation until its contents were finally committed to writing following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, when Jewish civilization was faced with an existential threat.
Oral traditions
  • What work can’t you do on sabbath
  • Can you eat chicken (Moses didn’t have chicken)
  • Understanding the spirit world
  • Angels roles and names
  • The devils function
  • Resurrection of the dead for judgment
Sabbath Examples:
  • You can eat fruit if half the basket is out the door
  • Women can’t wear jewelry made by skilled craftsman
Giving Thanks
  • Specific blessings to recite before and after eating food

Oral Interpretations

  • Why did Cain killed Abel
  • Why would God choose the sacrifice of one brother over another
  • Did Isaac know that Abraham intended to sacrifice him

Mishnah and Talmud

Their oral Torah became the Mishnah and Talmud of modern-day Judaism.
  • They are the foundation of Rabbinic Judaism.    
The Mishnah compiled the oral interpretations and traditions of the Pharisees and later on the Rabbis into a single authoritative text, thus allowing oral tradition within Judaism to survive the destruction of the Second Temple.
—Wikipedia
Talmud = oral traditions + oral interpretations
Talmud = Mishnah + Gomorrah
The Gemara is an elucidation of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the Hebrew Bible.

Modern Christian Traditions

What are some traditions that we currently have in Christianity that aren’t necessarily based on the Bible?
  • Hail Mary’s
  • Praying to saints
  • Praying to Mary
  • Confession
  • Praying before you eat
  • Saying “bless you” when someone sneezes
  • Sinner’s prayer
  • Long prayers to impress men
Traditions are only bad when they come in conflict with the Bible.

Jesus and the Law

We see in the gospel that the Pharisees and Sadducees often at odds with Jesus. They are the main people who are opposing him.
  • The number one opposition to Jesus Christ wasn’t sinners it was the religious leaders.
  • Jesus never condemn sinners he condemned the religious leaders.
  • The self righteous and the religious were the ones in opposition to God‘s kingdom not the sinners
The Pharisees accused Jesus of breaking the law.  
  • Jesus seemed to deemphasize some of the laws of the Pharisees
  • Yet elsewhere he said he didn’t come to change the Law
So was Jesus for keeping the law or not?
Matthew 5:17-20
17“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19“Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
      20“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
  • The scribes and Pharisees won’t get into the Kingdom of Heaven
  • Jesus wasn’t against the law
  • Jesus disagreed with the interpretation of the law of the scribes and Pharisees
  • Jesus disagreed with the traditions they introduced
  • Their traditions made the law of “no effect”

Issues with the Pharisees

Issues of the Pharisees
  1. Their traditions made the Word ineffective
  2. Exalting man’s tradition above God’s laws
  3. Sought to impress people more than impressing God
  4. They were hypocrites
  5. Misinterpreting the Word - Bad Doctrine
  6. Didn’t accept Jesus as the Messiah
  7. Preventing people from entering the Kingdom of God
Jesus calls them
  • Children of the devil
  • Sons of hell
  • Brood of vipers
Matthew 16:11-12
11 "How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
12 Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
  • Jesus said to beware of the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
  • They had bad teaching (bad doctrine)
Matthew 23:13-15
13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
14 [" Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.]
 15“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
  • They are hypocrites
  • They won’t accept Jesus
  • They are keeping other people from the Kingdom
  • Take money from the widows
  • Make long prayers for show - trying to impress men
  • They are “sons of hell”
Matthew 23:33
33 "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?
  • Jesus calls them serpents, and a brood of vipers
  • Sentenced to hell
John 12:42-43
42 Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue;
43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
  • People didn’t get saved because of the fear of the Pharisees

False Prophets

Who else was called “sons of the devil”?
Acts 13:5-10
5 When they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had John as their helper.
6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus,
7 who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.
8 But Elymas the magician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
9 But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him,
10 and said, "You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?
  • Elymas was a false prophets
  • Paul calls him a “son of the devil”
  • He intentionally turned people away from Christianity
  • He intentionally opposed the Kingdom

Conclusion

Jesus wasn’t against the Pharisees because they were legalistic about the Torah
  • He was against them because they had laws and traditions that were in opposition to the Torah
Jesus didn’t  call regular sinners sons of the devil or snakes or  vipers.  Jesus rarely spoke harshly about sinners...He forgave them.
Jesus spoke harshly about the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes.
The religious leaders who:
  1. Didn’t accept Jesus as the Messiah
  2. Prevented other people from entering the Kingdom of God
They act and talk as if they are of God but they are counterfeits
  • Jesus said beware of wolves in sheep's clothing
Revelation 2:8-9
8“To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
  • There are people claiming to be Jews but are not
  • There are people pretending to be Christians, but are not
  • They are of the synagogue/church of Satan
The sons of Satan are not those who teach bad doctrine because they mis-understand the bible.  The sons of Satan are those who intentionally oppose Jesus but pretend to be Christians.
They are false prophets and false teachers who look like children of the Kingdom of God, but are really of the Kingdom of Satan.
So now we know who the sons of Satan are.
But are these the only people who will be gathered and destroyed at the end time?
To be continued...

Instructor: Michael Leadon



References

3534 Origin of the Pharisees - The rabbis of Babylon synagogue
Who Are the Pharisees
TheTrithGroup
13a Jewish Groups and Doctrines - Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, Karaites, Kabalists, Hasidics

Extra

Predestination

Romans 9:
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;
7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: " THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED."
8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.
9 For this is the word of promise: "AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON."
10 And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac;
11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would fnstand, not because of works but because of Him who calls,
12 it was said to her, "THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER."
13 Just as it is written, "JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED."
14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!
15 For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION."
16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH."
18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
19 You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?"
20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?
21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,
24 even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.
25 As He says also in Hosea,
"I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, 'MY PEOPLE,'
AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, 'BELOVED.'"
26 "AND IT SHALL BE THAT IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, 'YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,'
THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD."
27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, "THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED;
28 FOR THE LORD WILL EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE EARTH, THOROUGHLY AND QUICKLY."
John 8:41-44
41 "You are doing the deeds of your father." They said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God."
42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.
43 "Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.
44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks it is a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
  • They claimed that God was their father
  • Jesus claimed that Satan was their father

John the Baptist

Matthew 3:5-12
5 Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan;
6 and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8 "Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance;
9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father'; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.
10 "The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 "As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
12 "His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
  • John the Baptist also uses the wheat analogy
  • He called both Pharisees and Sadducees vipers
  • He alluded that they will be destroyed by fire

Problems of the Pharisees

  1. Hypocrisy
  2. Entitlement
  3. Self righteousness
  4. Not knowing the scripture
  5. Misapplying God’s law
  6. Profaning the Sabbath
  7. Demonizing God‘s power
  8. Highly esteemed things that are in abomination to God
  9. Exulting man’s tradition over God’s Law
  10. Causing others to stumble
  11. Rejecting the witness of God

Hypocrisy

Matthew 23:1-5
1 ¶ Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples,
2 saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses;
3 therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.
4 "They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.
5 "But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.
  • Pride
The fruit of hypocrisy comes from the root of pride
Jesus despised hypocrisy of the Pharisees

Self Righteousness

Luke 18:10
10 "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 "The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 'I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.'
13 "But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'
14 "I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Matthew 23
"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
14 [" Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.]
15 ¶ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
16 ¶ "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the fntemple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.'
17 "You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the fntemple that sanctified the gold?
18 "And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the fn offering on it, he is obligated.'
19 "You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
20 "Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it.
The Pharisees were never accused of obeying the law of God
Matthew 12:34-36
34 "You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.
35 "The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.
36 "But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.
  • Brood of vipers
  • Evil

Misinterpreted the Word

Matthew 19:3-5
3 Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?"
4 And He answered and said, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE,
5 and said, 'FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH'?
  • Misinterpreting the Word

False Prophets

2 Corinthians 11:26
26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren;
  • False brothers are not just a danger to themselves they are purposely a danger to the members of the body
Acts 20:29-30
29 "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
  • Jesus warns of those within the flock who will turn men away from the truth
2 John 1:7

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