Faithful on Fridays Blog

Part Four

Both Christians and Pharisees agree there’s an invisible war in the heavenlies between Satan and God for the hearts of man. They called Satan the ‘ruler of demons’ acknowledging his limited power and authority insisting Jesus was in collusion with him, not empowered by God. As He delivered people from demons causing blindness, deafness, or muteness it was necessary to credit the power to Satan or admit Jesus was the Messiah sent by God. The authority over demons had to come from somewhere and it still does today: either Satan or God. The problem for the Pharisees was the people were beginning to recognize Jesus as the Son of David (Matt. 12:23), meaning, He’s the Promised King from the royal line. 

Why did the Pharisees feel the need to discredit Jesus? Well, let’s see:

• John the Baptizer compared them to a bunch of snakes and Jesus, as the Lamb of God.

• Jesus told them there’s no reward for outward righteousness, keeping the Law, when you’re hard-hearted.

• To prove that point Jesus quoted the Law and followed up with, “But I say to you …”, (Matt. 5:21-48) that had to be another nail in His coffin.

• Jesus had the audacity to claim He possessed the power and authority to forgive sins which they considered blasphemy; punishable by death.

• The Pharisees realized some of His parables, spoken to large groups of people, were indictments against them (Matt. 21:28-46).

• The Son of God also warned His disciples against the leaven (hypocrisy) of the Pharisees, meaning, their influence will puff up their hearts like yeast in dough (Luke 12:1-3). That lower and upper story remains true today; humble hearts will be lifted up but prideful hearts will be humbled.

• When asked about the timing of the Kingdom of God’s arrival Jesus said it’s already here (Luke 17:20-21), meaning, He’s inaugurating this victorious, invisible kingdom for those with faith in Him.

With all these strikes against Jesus the Pharisees began strategizing a plan to rid this influence among the people. It detracted from their teachings which stressed outward appearances and focused on the inward heart. Their conspiring centered on ways to accuse Jesus using ‘hot topics’ to test and eventually trap Him: A woman caught in adultery (John 8:3-11), divorce (Matt. 19:3-9), or wealth (Luke 16). 

How do we guard against being a Pharisee? First of all, being sure our opinions and perspectives line up with God’s Word since our enemy will use them against us. Beware of hypocrisy, meaning, believing the Bible yet acting contrary to it. Hypocrites are like masked actors; their outside actions say one thing and their heart says another. 

The Kingdom of God isn’t always easy, but sometimes hard as we strive to love everyone and walk in the light of Christ (1 John 2:9-11). That’s contrary to hating and walking in darkness blinding us to God’s truth. The Holy Spirit will help us do a heart-check … if we ask Him.