Been Thinking ..... A group of Pharisees, who were covetous because of the things they overheard Christ Jesus telling His disciples, began to deride Him, so He responded by saying unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. Immediately followed by this profound statement: The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it [Luke 16:15-16]. Pausing to contemplate whether there prevails some mysterious message hidden within the context of these statements,this question comes to the fore of my thoughts: Are these statement related, and if so, in what manner? A cursory reading of our Lords words generally leaves one with the thought that He was speaking of two different things, perhaps because theyre unduly influenced by His statement recorded in Matthew 11:12, wherein, speaking of a different matter, He said, And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, for the violent taketh it by force. However, following the investment of some time in contemplating all these things I have concluded that He was NOT speaking of any type of violent action, rather He was addressing an entirely different issue when He made this profound statement to the Pharisees (vs.#16). Permit me to explain ..... First, lets consider the last statement Christ Jesus uttered to His disciples before He spoke to the Pharisees: No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Luke 16:15). It was this statement that so infuriated the Pharisees, prompting them to become covetous and begin to deride Him. Why? What was Jesus Christ implying in uttering this statement that so infuriated the Pharisees that motivated them to deride Him? Simply because they realized He was NOT directing this comment to the disciples, but to themselves, so they were offended. This is why He said to them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth you hearts... The writer of Romans would later provide what is perhaps the best explanation of what Christ Jesus was saying to the Pharisees, when he penned these words: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:21-22). Simply stated, the Pharisees, by replacing the commandments of God with their many man-made traditions,were guilty of presenting themselves to others as being wise regarding spiritual things, they had instead become fools! When they perceived that the Lord was accusing them of acting foolishly they became angry at Him. No one takes it lightly when they perceive that another has just accused them of playing the fool! It was then that Jesus began to tell the Pharisees of the manner in which God had chosen to deliver His commandments to mankind. Initially, this was accomplished through the words spoken by selected individuals: the Law was given through His prophet Moses, and afterwards those teachings which clarified or expounded upon the various ordinances and decrees of the Law came through the words of His prophets. This is the manner of Gods relationship with sinful mankind UNTIL the arrival of John the Baptist, and since that time God chose to enlist every member of His kingdom to bear the responsibility of preaching the good news of the gospel which would be able to save those who heard and obeyed it. It continues to be accomplished in this same manner to the present day! I am persuaded to believe that what causes so many to fail to properly understand what Jesus was saying to the Pharisees, as well as to you and I today, can be found in the manner the word presseth is understood. The majority view is that it implies one must pray through, as if there exists some mystical barrier to break through or tear down in order to enter into the presence of God. But this is not true! No, it is not at all what the Lord was saying by using this word. We read in the words of Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38 & Luke 23:45 that when Christ Jesus exhaled His final breath while hanging upon the cross at Calvary and died, the veil of the temple was rent (literally, torn into two pieces) from the top to the bottom. Whereas previously only the high priest was authorized to enter that area which lay beyond the veil in the temple where the presence of God was, and even then ONLY once each year. NOW even the most vile sinner could present himself boldly before the very throne of God. No longer would God hear and take heed to the confessions of sinful men which had been presented to another mortal (the high priest) to be brought before Him, for Christ Jesus made it possible for all to present their own case before Him. That doesnt sound like one needs to do very much pressing, or undertake some type of forceful, violent action to gain access to the throne of God. The English word presseth, which we find in the King James Translation of the sacred writings, represents an obsolete archaic word, and rather than referring to entering the kingdom of God by pushing violently or with great force, it meant to force, compel, order, or command another to perform a specific action. Therefore we are made to know that when Jesus used this word, He was referring to a state of being pressured or commanded to perform a particular function, as it in this case, the preaching of the gospel. In essence, Christ Jesus was stating that rather than restricting the responsibility of delivering His commandments to a select few, such as Moses and the other prophets of olden times, NOW every member of His church would bear that responsibility! Jesus was NOT telling the Pharisees that only those who would exert great physical effort to enter the kingdom of God in spite of some type of alleged or supposed opposition would be able to do so, as is so commonly taught today.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 19:40:37 +0000