FutureMan
03-13-2010, 11:00 PM
Here is a post from my perspective.
First I will quote these scriptures.
(Matthew 23) [LITV]
1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowd and to His disciples,
2 saying, The scribes and the Pharisees have sat down on Moses' seat.
3 Then all things, whatever they tell you to keep, keep and do. But do not do according to their works, for they say, and do not do.
4 For they bind heavy and hard to bear burdens, and lay them on the shoulders of men, but they do not desire to move them with their finger.
5 And they do all their works to be seen by men. And they make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their robes.
6 And they love the first couch in the suppers, and the first seats in the synagogues,
7 and the greetings in the markets, and to be called by men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
8 But do not you be called Rabbi, for One is your Leader, the Christ, and you are all brothers.
9 And call no one your father on earth, for One is your Father, the One in Heaven.
10 Nor be called leaders, for One is your Leader, the Christ.
11 But the greater of you shall be your servant.
12 And whoever will exalt himself shall be humbled, and whoever will humble himself shall be exalted.
13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of Heaven before men; for you do not enter, nor do you allow those entering to go in.
One of the first things we notice in these verses is that "the Pharisees have sat down on Moses' seat".
Now having said that Jesus now says to obey the law covenant that they teach their flock, which in this setting was of course the Jewish people.
The next thing that Jesus discusses is how these leaders create heavy burdens for their people, but do not try to carry any of this burden themselves.
Jesus also goes on to say that the works they do are to please men.
These men also dress in away to show how important they are.
These same men also love the prominent places at the suppers.
They also loved to be called by their title befitting of their position such as "Rabbi" or teacher.
Now one other negative that Jesus presented here about these men, is the fact that they do not enter the "Kingdom of the heavens" themselves and also prevent there own people from doing so as well.
Now (Luke 11) elaborates on this a little bit more and so we get a better picture of what Jesus was talking about.
52 Woe to you, lawyers! Because you took the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you kept out the ones entering.
Here Jesus was actually saying that they took the key of "knowledge"
So how would they have taken the "key of knowledge" back then, and is their a lesson for all would be teachers of God's Word today?
Well back then as I understand, the scrolls that contained "the law" and the writings of the prophets, were not readily available to everyone as the Bible is today.
No they did not have printing presses that pumped out so many Bibles a day.
A scroll was painstakingly hand written by the scribes back then.
So by large these scrolls would mostly have being accessible in such places as the Temple and the Synagogue.
As these scrolls were considered to be precious, they most likely would not have been allowed to leave these places of worship for fear of these scrolls being lost or damaged and most likely it was the teachers that mostly handled these scrolls.
Though we do have example of certain ones such as the "Ethiopian Eunuch" who possessed at least one copy of these scrolls, but he was a prominent member of the queens court.
Jesus was handed the scroll of Isaiah to him at one of these synagogues, of which he read and taught from. (Luke 4:17)
So what am I'm saying here?
That by large the people could only go on the information, that was taught to them by these prominent and corrupt teachers and they had actually prevented by large the people of Israel "God's special property" from being part of the Kingdom as heirs of that Kingdom, yes the Kingdom of the heavens was indeed stopped up for most of the Jewish people, because of the teachings of the pharisees, most of the Jewish people would not accept the teachings of Christ.
Yes they had the "key of knowledge" that would have allowed the people to enter the "Kingdom of the heavens"
Now of course we know that Jesus apostles and his disciples and eventually quite a number of the Jews did become Christians and from Pentecost 33 CE and thereafter had access to God's Holy Spirit which was given to them by the Lord Jesus himself and therefore these ones became prospective heirs and members of the Kingdom of the Heavens.
So at this time the "Kingdom of the heavens" was wide open to these ones.
But sometime after the "Kingdom of the heavens" was beginning to be stopped up for certain members of the congregation, particularly certain prominent members of the Jewish Christian community and those who listened to these ones.
In fact by their very actions they were actually making the covenant that Jesus had made with his apostles and all Christians thereafter as invalid, because of them still adhering to the Mosaic law, and the apostle Paul in his writings alluded to this.
This New covenant was the means for these ones to enter into the "kingdom of the heavens".
But still as yet the key of knowledge was not yet withheld from these ones.
But when did the "key of knowledge" really got a start in being withheld from the early Christians?
Well the apostle Paul warned these early Christians back then with this admonition, saying in (Acts 20) 29 " For I know this, that after my departure grievous wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
30 and out of you yourselves will rise up men speaking perverted things, in order to draw away the disciples after themselves.
31 Because of this watch, remembering that I did not cease admonishing each one with tears night and day for three years.
32 And now, brothers, I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build up and to give you inheritance among all those being sanctified. [LITV]
So here in his warning the apostle Paul alluded to the fact that their "kingdom inheritance" would be at stake.
So it would be these men (grievous wolves), that would be holding back the "key of knowledge" that would prevent these ones from entering into the "kingdom of the heavens".
So here the apostle Paul said that after his departure, this would start to occur.
And down through the ages, since then we have seen examples of where so-called Christian religions, under the influence of these wolves in sheep's clothing who have presented themselves as ones who are in authority as teachers of God's word, but who have been withholding the "key of knowledge" and therefore preventing these ones from entering the "Kingdom of the heavens'.
Today we see it all around us, where these prominent ones are withholding the "key of knowledge", (true knowledge) from there members in their particular religion and also preventing these ones from having direct access to God's Holy spirit and as a result, they are prevented from entering, the "Kingdom of the heavens".
First I will quote these scriptures.
(Matthew 23) [LITV]
1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowd and to His disciples,
2 saying, The scribes and the Pharisees have sat down on Moses' seat.
3 Then all things, whatever they tell you to keep, keep and do. But do not do according to their works, for they say, and do not do.
4 For they bind heavy and hard to bear burdens, and lay them on the shoulders of men, but they do not desire to move them with their finger.
5 And they do all their works to be seen by men. And they make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their robes.
6 And they love the first couch in the suppers, and the first seats in the synagogues,
7 and the greetings in the markets, and to be called by men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
8 But do not you be called Rabbi, for One is your Leader, the Christ, and you are all brothers.
9 And call no one your father on earth, for One is your Father, the One in Heaven.
10 Nor be called leaders, for One is your Leader, the Christ.
11 But the greater of you shall be your servant.
12 And whoever will exalt himself shall be humbled, and whoever will humble himself shall be exalted.
13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of Heaven before men; for you do not enter, nor do you allow those entering to go in.
One of the first things we notice in these verses is that "the Pharisees have sat down on Moses' seat".
Now having said that Jesus now says to obey the law covenant that they teach their flock, which in this setting was of course the Jewish people.
The next thing that Jesus discusses is how these leaders create heavy burdens for their people, but do not try to carry any of this burden themselves.
Jesus also goes on to say that the works they do are to please men.
These men also dress in away to show how important they are.
These same men also love the prominent places at the suppers.
They also loved to be called by their title befitting of their position such as "Rabbi" or teacher.
Now one other negative that Jesus presented here about these men, is the fact that they do not enter the "Kingdom of the heavens" themselves and also prevent there own people from doing so as well.
Now (Luke 11) elaborates on this a little bit more and so we get a better picture of what Jesus was talking about.
52 Woe to you, lawyers! Because you took the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you kept out the ones entering.
Here Jesus was actually saying that they took the key of "knowledge"
So how would they have taken the "key of knowledge" back then, and is their a lesson for all would be teachers of God's Word today?
Well back then as I understand, the scrolls that contained "the law" and the writings of the prophets, were not readily available to everyone as the Bible is today.
No they did not have printing presses that pumped out so many Bibles a day.
A scroll was painstakingly hand written by the scribes back then.
So by large these scrolls would mostly have being accessible in such places as the Temple and the Synagogue.
As these scrolls were considered to be precious, they most likely would not have been allowed to leave these places of worship for fear of these scrolls being lost or damaged and most likely it was the teachers that mostly handled these scrolls.
Though we do have example of certain ones such as the "Ethiopian Eunuch" who possessed at least one copy of these scrolls, but he was a prominent member of the queens court.
Jesus was handed the scroll of Isaiah to him at one of these synagogues, of which he read and taught from. (Luke 4:17)
So what am I'm saying here?
That by large the people could only go on the information, that was taught to them by these prominent and corrupt teachers and they had actually prevented by large the people of Israel "God's special property" from being part of the Kingdom as heirs of that Kingdom, yes the Kingdom of the heavens was indeed stopped up for most of the Jewish people, because of the teachings of the pharisees, most of the Jewish people would not accept the teachings of Christ.
Yes they had the "key of knowledge" that would have allowed the people to enter the "Kingdom of the heavens"
Now of course we know that Jesus apostles and his disciples and eventually quite a number of the Jews did become Christians and from Pentecost 33 CE and thereafter had access to God's Holy Spirit which was given to them by the Lord Jesus himself and therefore these ones became prospective heirs and members of the Kingdom of the Heavens.
So at this time the "Kingdom of the heavens" was wide open to these ones.
But sometime after the "Kingdom of the heavens" was beginning to be stopped up for certain members of the congregation, particularly certain prominent members of the Jewish Christian community and those who listened to these ones.
In fact by their very actions they were actually making the covenant that Jesus had made with his apostles and all Christians thereafter as invalid, because of them still adhering to the Mosaic law, and the apostle Paul in his writings alluded to this.
This New covenant was the means for these ones to enter into the "kingdom of the heavens".
But still as yet the key of knowledge was not yet withheld from these ones.
But when did the "key of knowledge" really got a start in being withheld from the early Christians?
Well the apostle Paul warned these early Christians back then with this admonition, saying in (Acts 20) 29 " For I know this, that after my departure grievous wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
30 and out of you yourselves will rise up men speaking perverted things, in order to draw away the disciples after themselves.
31 Because of this watch, remembering that I did not cease admonishing each one with tears night and day for three years.
32 And now, brothers, I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build up and to give you inheritance among all those being sanctified. [LITV]
So here in his warning the apostle Paul alluded to the fact that their "kingdom inheritance" would be at stake.
So it would be these men (grievous wolves), that would be holding back the "key of knowledge" that would prevent these ones from entering into the "kingdom of the heavens".
So here the apostle Paul said that after his departure, this would start to occur.
And down through the ages, since then we have seen examples of where so-called Christian religions, under the influence of these wolves in sheep's clothing who have presented themselves as ones who are in authority as teachers of God's word, but who have been withholding the "key of knowledge" and therefore preventing these ones from entering the "Kingdom of the heavens'.
Today we see it all around us, where these prominent ones are withholding the "key of knowledge", (true knowledge) from there members in their particular religion and also preventing these ones from having direct access to God's Holy spirit and as a result, they are prevented from entering, the "Kingdom of the heavens".