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Okay. Let’s wrap up chapter 11 – where Jesus finishes his WOES – three verses.
Luke 11.52
Meat
December 29th 2019
52 Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
53 And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things:
54 Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.
52 Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
Keys in that day were made typically to open doors. The key of knowledge therefore was a non-literal symbol that would open up knowledge to others.
By their false interpretation of the Old Testament they had taken away the true key (or method) of understanding it (or opening that door) therefore they hindered others from.
In this case they got in the way of people then knowing and understanding the Messiah – from receiving him and being free. And Jesus said to them:
“ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.”
So not only would they not enter into knowledge they ALSO, to the detriment of their character, hindered others from entering in themselves.
Many people read the Bible today and suggest that its themes cycle around again in the modern world, calling this view historicism. They may be correct.
I tend to see the themes as principles and that the principles will always manifest themselves in the human experience.
For instance, the principle that those in control will despise upstarts and try to put them to death. Of course we see this principle in Jesus life with the religious leaders of his time, with Ghandi, with JFK and in principle every day on the school yard when the new kid arrives.
I say this because what Jesus says here to these lawyers:
Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
Is alive and well in the faith today with our religious authorities seeking to “take away the key of knowledge,” and that they are not only not interested in “entering into it,” they hinder others from the same.
I’ve seen this in living color with men and women today taking control of other seekers and shutting them down to better interpretations of passages of scripture and theological definitions.
Clearly there is no new thing under the sun.
I also think its noteworthy to see that Jesus not only mentions “that while they themselves would not enter into knowledge,” they ALSO hindered others from doing the same.
There is something to this.
Some ideas are okay to reject ourselves but to step back and allow others to embrace them without interference.
Within the faith there is SO much, “this is the right way, all the rest is not,” that to me it seems to take on a form of what Jesus is criticizing the Lawyers for.
I have to tell you all as a warning: I have seen more parents destroy their children through dogmatism that I want to remember.
Children of Christian parents need the room to think and challenge and wonder – even from a young age, and dogmatism from the top only serves to create division in their little hearts.
My fingers and toes cannot tally the number of people I know who were raised in Christian homes and went to Christian schools who are not Christian today because of this approach.
Likewise with pastors and congregates. We all want to be free and to have the liberty to express our minds openly – to explore or not – when this is hindered the key to knowledge is taken away.
If there is any sin of peculiar magnitude, it is that of keeping the people in ignorance; and few men are so guilty as they who by false instructions prevent them from coming to a knowledge of the truth, and embracing it as it is in Jesus.
53 And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things:
Apparently, Jesus was striking a nerve, and in so doing the scribes and Pharisees, Luke writes, began to “urge him vehemently,” and to “provoke Him to speak of many things.”
Ever been in the midst of some like-minded people and you express an opinion that is counter to the accepted view?
If you haven’t you ought to try it sometime. Sit in the middle of round earth and mention flat earth, or in the midst of ardent political liberals and mention something conservative, or in the realm of Evangelicals and say something against the Trinity, or hell, or the second coming.
You’ll experience to some degree at least being “urged vehemently,” and questioned ad nauseum.
Why? The opposing forces want to trap you, make you look like a fool, and shut down your stance. And Luke adds:
54 Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.
In other words they were laying traps for him as a means to take his words and then accuse him of something worthy of death.
I suggest that this continues, in almost every walk of life, to be a living and reoccurring principle.
Okay, so let’s get into chapter 12 and read our text for today. Jesus was pretty much just accosted by the Scribes and Pharisees. And what He says next is in direct relation to them and their ways to THEM IN THAT DAY. This is the obvious setting. So, let’s read.
12:1 In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.
3 Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.
4 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
6 Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?
7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
8 Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:
9 But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.
10 And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.
11 And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:
12 For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.
Alright, back to verse 1
12:1 In the mean time, (meaning while, during and after this engagement with the Scribes and Pharisees had taken place in the last verses of the last chapter) when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Where the scripture here says “when they were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people insomuch they trode one upon another,” the original word is myriads, or ten thousands – which could be representational and not literal in the least.
What we can say is the number was really big, so much so people were stepping on each other.
At this time Jesus takes the opportunity to compare the threats and words of the scribes and pharisees to other things the people should be aware of and here Luke says that he first spoke to His disciples.
It does not appear that this means his disciples needed to hear the message on hypocrisy first, but that he simple shared what he had to say to them first.
And what did he share with those disciples:
“Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”
Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, which Jesus calls hypocrisy. In other words, the product of the Pharisees that invades and corrupts and puffs up the people is hypocrisy.
We all know that the purpose and product of yeast is to cause flour to rise and get airy, right? And of course we also know that God hates puffed up human beings.
The proud look. His adoration of man falls upon the meek, lowly, humble, contrite.
Well the opposite attitude of such things was that of the Pharisees, whose leven (the thing that puffed them up) was based in hypocrisy – something I think it is safe to say Jesus hated.
Most of the woes Jesus spoke against them in the past chapter was based on them forcing or saying one thing and they acting or doing the opposite. What was particularly bad about the Pharisees and scribes is they were puffed up by it – they saw themselves superior and acted arrogant in the face of their hypocrisy. So, as an example, they appeared to love to place burdens on other peoples backs but were proud of the fact that they did none of the work they demanded of others.
That is pretty vile, when we think about it. The dangers of the Pharisees hypocrisy were also found in the fact that
Like yeast, it often existed without being immediately detected. Leaven mixed in flour is not known until it produces its effects.
So it is with mixing in with Pharisaical types. They may seen really good and holy (at first) but in the end, they are proven to be vain.
Additionally, these attitudes of pride and hypocrisy are insinuating, meaning they will ultimately invade everything around you.
I’ve met people who have rubbed shoulders with some of the top brass of a few major religious institutions and all three of them attest that the spirit of what
Is present at the top is very different than they spirit in the masses.
Of course the results is something or someone filled or infiltrated with pride and vanity – as represented by the air pockets in leavened bread.
When Jesus cautions them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, he means that they should be cautious about imbibing their spirit and becoming like them.
Why? His ways is one of sincerity, transparency, humility, of the entire lack of disguise. It is humble and real and what Jesus says next play right into this idea of disguise, saying to them/then:
2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.
What is Jesus talking about? He has just described the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees being hypocrisy.
The Greek origin of this word comes from their theater as we have said a number of times – the smiling masks and the frowning – where a single actor takes them and standing before the audience reflects the image he holds before his face. But when he switches the masks, he then embodies the expression of the other!
Two me walking on the road on a very cold morning. The one man
(tell story here)
So intrinsic to hypocrisy is hiding or covering one position and promoting another. In some ways, perhaps Jesus hates hypocrisy because that is the primary form that Satan worked, how Judas worked, and how the Jews who killed him worked.
So, after speaking to their hypocrisy Jesus explains to his disciples:
For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.
He was speaking directly to that day when all things would be revealed – what day – that approaching day when all things of that age would be revealed and made plainly known. And he adds, continuing to speak of the end of that age and says:
3 Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.
Matthew flips this verse around and has Jesus says, “And what I tell you in darkness.” The meaning is, in that day whatever was said in secret, in private, in confidence – whatever private instructions I have given you will become public knowledge, as if proclaimed from the house top.
According so some modern sociologists the middle east practice of announcing things from the house tops, the flat roofs common to the area, continues to this very day.
The point Jesus is making is that whatever the Pharisees and scribes kept hidden (meaning their hypocrisy) would be revealed – he promises this.
See, at that time the power of the Pharisees and scribes was formidable and the people were frightened by their threats. But they would be leveled to the ground in the coming years.
Then having talked about them and the exposure they would face, Jesus says
4 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Who or what can kill the body and the body only? While there are a number of things out there that can kill our bodies (disease, accident, animals, etc) Jesus is talking about other men (in reference to the Pharisees and scribes who were seeking to kill him).
“Don’t be afraid of those who can kill the body” (because, Jesus adds,) “after that there is no more that they can do.”
All of our bodies are going to die. They are not made to last and if someone is threatening you with physical death, don’t fear them. The extent of their power is causing you physical body to shut down – which its going to do anyway.
I love this. Men and their impact on our existence is really limited in the eternal spectrum. But then at verse five he says:
5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Three times in this verse Jesus uses the term fear toward them/then. In verse four he tells them not to fear men who can kill the body, then he reiterates, as a forewarning, whom they should fear, and says
“I forewarn you whom you should fear,”
Then
“Fear him. . .”
Then again,
“fear him.”
The passage best reads in the first line,
“But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, after the killing, hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.”
This might mean either someone else does the killing of the body OR that the God, after He kills the body. In Matthew Jesus says to fear him that can kill BOTH body and souls, so that gives us some good insights.
Are we to fear God, the Father, whom Jesus describes to them as to be feared?
Unquestionably. But the fear ought to be seen in one of two ways. As an unbeliever as terror – yes, even still. As a believer, in terms of awe and utmost respect.
God’s character has not changed nor His makeup. He continues to be a consuming fire and Jesus came to reveal him to us.
As His children we certainly approach him by faith saying papa, but from what I can tell this by no means allows us to call him dude.
The transparency, and humility and contrition in those who are His somehow enables us, by the shed blood of His Son, to enter His presence, but the awe remains.
To me, those who are not his, who are filled with darkness and lacking the regenerative light of the Spirit, at death, will not, cannot approach Him or His glory, and will in fear hid from his fiery presence in realms consistent to their spiritual state.
However, to these passages given in that day to them, I am convinced that these words are direct – don’t fear those who can just kill the body but him who can do that AND then cast you (meaning your soul because your body is dead) “into Gehenna.”
Now, Gehenna is the actual word used here, not hell, but Jesus appears to use Gehenna as a symbol for afterlife punishment awaiting those who were rebellious or unwilling to receive Him as the Messiah.
Gehenna is a transliteration of Ge-Hinnom, meaning, the “Valley of Hinnon” where children (as reported in 2nd Kings 23) were thrown on to the red-hot arms of the brass idol Molech. And even though Josiah abolished that abominable practice it became the actual where the people in Jesus day and Jerusalem would toss their dead animals, trash and gross refuse. Because it burned endlessly Jesus appears to use it as a symbol for afterlife punishment of the wicked.
I am convinced, however, that since the victory over sin, satan, hell and the second death, that the imagery of purging fire comes from the Father and all who seek to enter His presence without faith in the Son.
Just my view. The point of this hear was Jesus was telling them to fear Him who had the power to cast them into such an insufferable place.
It’s interesting that at this very point Jesus describes for them somethings about this one who has such power, and says
6 Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?
Matthew’s account says:
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
This seems to be an encouraging remark after the frightening comment about God having the power to put souls into Gehenna. It’s the other side of the coin of God – the caring and intimate side of Him and His being. And the encouragement appears to come in two forms:
First, in the fact that God took care of sparrows, the smallest and least valuable birds which were used for food among the poorest of Jews and were an image of sorrow, solitude, and wretchedness. For example the writer in Psalms 102:7 says “I am as a sparrow alone upon the house top,” to describe his state of sorrow.
The second why he encourages his listener about God is to say
7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
The living God knows when a poor little sparrow falls to the ground, and “even the very hairs of your hear are all numbered.” And then he says (LISTEN)
“Fear NOT therefore, YOU are of more value than many sparrows.”
In verses 4-5 he told them to fear the one who could put their souls in hell, but here He backtracks on this and says, FEAR NOT.
WHAT are we to think? Its all context. If they were like the Pharisees and their leaven they ought to fear the one who, like he was going to do with the Pharisees in the end day, cast them into Gehinnom.
However, if they were His children by faith in his Son, they have a God who not only knows when a sparrow falls to the ground but even the count of the hairs on their head – and therefore, because they are of greater worth than many sparrows, THEY SHOULD NOT FEAR.
Why? Our answer comes in the very next verse as Jesus now says:
8 Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:
Confess and profess are used interchangeably in scripture and both means to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just to confess his name? Just to walk around saying Jesus? No. The word conveys more that an expression but a dependence on him for salvation, an attachment to him, a reliance upon Him and no other.
It is not a single act or profession as the literalists like to make it, tying it to saying the sinners prayer but mo-betta speaks to a true allegiance, relationship and walk.
Not one act but all our actions and life once He has made Himself known. I think that this is pretty reasonable and understood. Then Jesus adds at verse 9:
9 But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.
This line is directly tied to those times and them/then. The pharisees and the scribes were policing everyone, seeking to see who embraced Jesus as Lord before that great and dreadful day.
Jesus – to his disciples makes the fact plain – if you profess me in your life I will profess you before angels (as he says in Luke) and before my father (as he says in Matthew).
But (however) he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.
And at this point Jesus teaches something really important relative to confessing and denying him.
What he had just said sounds pretty dire – but what he adds here shows that there is grace for those (like Peter who would deny Him) in context. Ready? Verse 10
10 And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.
The context of these passages help us understand what Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit really means.
And we will wrap today up talking about it. Jesus is speaking to human beings in flesh and blood. He has been warning them about the threats and perils of the Pharisees.
He has told them TO FEAR, and then he has told them NOT TO FEAR.
He has told them that if they CONFESS Him before men that He would CONFESS Them before God and angels.
And then he added that if they DENIED them before men then He would DENY them before His Father and the Angels.
But now he gives us yet another paradoxical view, and says, after saying that He would deny whoever denied him,
10 And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.
Matthew’s account includes the line:
“neither in this age nor in the age to come.”
Jesus, the man, was housed in flesh and to speak against him was an act of the flesh. We have opinions about people. And I am sure that there were some people who simply didn’t like Jesus of Nazareth the man. What I mean by this is that they could have resisted his dress or manner or eye color or whatever.
That could all be forgiven, he says. Because it was against the Son of Man.
But, he adds,
“but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.”
Why would this be – and what is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? Well, let’s ask ourselves, what is the job of the Holy Spirit? What does it do? What is its purpose?
And we have Jesus actually tell us in John 16, saying at verse 7:
John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
8 And when he is come, he will
reprove (convince) the world (kosmos) of sin,
reprove (convince) the world (kosmos) of righteousness,
and reprove (convince) the world (kosmos) of judgment:
And then he adds
9 Of sin, because they believe not on me
So, the Holy Spirits purpose is to convince people that they are sinful in faithlessness.
10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more
So the Holy Spirit’s purpose is to convince the world that Jesus was righteous (since he ascended up to His Father)
11 And of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
And the Holy Spirit’s final purpose is to convince the world that Jesus has made righteous, justified all things as evidenced by the fact that Satan has been judged himself.
Ready for this? Therefore, to resist and go against these stated purposes of the Holy Spirit, in that age, and in the age to come (ours) is blasphemy and will not be forgiven (Jesus says) which to me means, will not be forgiven until a person submits.
I say this because most people resist the Holy Spirit and its purpose when it initially comes into our lives. To forever do this is unforgivable in this world and the world to come, but once someone allows the Holy Spirit to convince them of sin, and of Jesus righteousness, and judgement, these stipulations are forgiven and forgotten – here, and in the world to come.
That is how I understand all of this to be.
We will stop here and continue on next week in 2020!
Questions/Comments
Prayer
{u} “him will I confess” Re 3:5
33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
