Temple, Pharisaical Practices and Jesus, Unable to Co-exist
Written by Elinor Montgomery – em*********@****co.ca
January 08, 2003
The temple was a system that could never co-exist with Jesus. As a twelve-year-old, He was accepted in the temple, as the priesthood marveled at His knowledge and teaching, for one so young was no threat to their positions. They would have assumed that He would become one of them, fitting into their religious practices, and like them, would take up a position, which would give Him recognition within the system, but not Messiahship. The Jewish rabbis could imagine nothing else from an ordinary Jewish carpenter’s son. They never could understand that a simple man from the Galilee, who tramped the countryside with followers tramping along with Him, might denounce the system of the priesthood and their practices, while at the same time claim to be the Son of God. They were looking for God Himself to come down in all His glory proclaiming His Kingship over the enemies of Israel. He did just that and they missed Him because it did not happen according to their understanding. Will the Institutional Church miss it a second time, because God’s move will not fit their understanding?
To start with, John the Baptist, who pointed to Jesus’ Messiahship, was a rebel and a thorn in their sides. I believe because of his father’s position in the local temple that they were well aware of his Levitical high priest lineage. In as much as he prepared the Way for Jesus, like all the other prophets had done, the system of priesthood did not like him. Why did he not speak smooth talk that their ears liked to hear? Who was he to rattle Herod’s cage, for the priesthood was in cahoots with Rome at this time in Israel’s history. In fact, the Levitical authority was not theirs any longer. John was the last in the Bible that could be directly identified as a descendant of Aaron’s high priestly line. John, dressed in his animal skins and eating locust in the wilderness, must have been as a sore point for them, as he called all of Israel to repentance, prophesying of One to come after him. Baptism and repentance for sins would not sit well with a puffed-up priesthood who liked to be seen praying in the marketplace in their priestly robes, appearing to be pious.
When Jesus’ ministry began, He spoke in the synagogue in Nazareth where the first clash with the system took place. He quoted Isaiah, saying, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4:18-19). When He had finished, He then stated, Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing (Luke 4:21). He continued on to speak to them about prophets not being accepted in their own country, and the disbelief of the local people with regard to them. The wrath of the people in the synagogue was aroused, and they thrust Him out of the city, taking Him to the brow of a hill to throw Him over a cliff. Yet, He passed through the midst of them and went away.
The disbelief of Israel, Jesus’ own people, was established here. His relationship with the synagogue was also established, being prophetic of the relationship of the bride with the priesthood of the institutional church. The call of the bride for the true apostolic church to come out of the system called Christianity, will meet with as much resistance as did Jesus when He said to His followers to not be like the Pharisees. None of them would want to equate Jesus with the scriptures pointing to the Messiah. And what was at the root of the problem? The question asked by them gives us the answer. Is this not Joseph’s son? They must have asked themselves how it was possible that He could come from God and yet be an ordinary carpenter’s son, a simple man of poverty from the Galilee. Who was in authority over Him? Where was His Kingship? Where were His kingly robes? Where was His military power to free them from Rome? Where was His crown that would make Him a King like David? “No,” said the synagogue and its people to themselves, “this man is not for us.”
We all have this nature built into us that is capable of echoing the disbelief of the Pharisees. The more we give way to the system of institutional church, the more we become blinded to the truth, just as the Pharisees were blinded by their religious temple practices. Was the keeping of the Sabbath not just such a religious practice, which was more important than the salvation of a lamb or the healing of a blind man? They would rather have the practice than the light, or sight of man restored. Satan always wants to keep us in darkness. What does this tell us about his attitude toward religious practices? He loves them and will never disturb a man or a woman who is comfortable in his or her inactive pew, or too busy to take time for the Word and moments in his or her own private prayer closet. They are so lulled by the system that they no longer know how to worship any other way than at church assemblies and conferences, submitted to a local authoritative figure of priest or pastor, instead of to Jesus. They are comfortable with the rules and doctrines of denomination that keep them captive and unable to see the light when God sends His messengers with the message of truth, firmly rooted in the Word as opposed to denominational teachings.
What were the by-products of the Pharisees’ annoyance with Jesus’ healing the blind man on the Sabbath? They missed the prophetic message of the miracle, that He was taking the world out of spiritual darkness and into spiritual light. Jesus’ testimony is the testimony of prophecy, and they failed to see His mission. They liked the status quo of their authority over the religious matters of Israel. This led to another characteristic of the Pharisaical nature, which is to contend with the teaching of Jesus and try and trick Him into making a mistake. What fools they were to think they could trap Jesus in their schemes. His truth, His understanding, and His perfection made them look more the fools, and this they could not stand.
Contention with the Word will always lead to apostasy. Contention with the messenger will surface when long studied lessons and deep commitments to denominational teaching get in the way of the message. We are of the New Testament covenant, they will say, and the Old Testament is done away with. Yet Jesus never said such a thing. He constantly referred to the authority of the leaders and prophets of Israel. They do not understand the transfiguration, where Jesus appeared with Moses and Elijah. They will refuse to see the message of the wine and the changing of the waters. They will not understand the government message of the garden, or the importance of Joseph’s blessing on Benjamin, being totally different to that of the older brothers. They will not see the significance of the three crossover blessings of the Fathers of Israel. Worse still, the Word and its prophetic messages will not be as important as the religious institutional church within whose walls they will seek their salvation.
What is the Jesus seminar, if nothing more than the Pharisaical spirit alive and well today? Would they not like to kill the divinity of Jesus every bit as much as the Pharisees wanted Him dead? Does the denomination of the United Church of Canada not seek to put Jesus as Savior to death over again? They can accept Him as a nice do-gooder, but they cannot accept the truth of the Word that declares Him to be the way, the truth and the life. They cannot accept that they need a Savior anymore than the Pharisees could see themselves as anything but righteous keepers of the law, earning their place in heaven. Some denominations think that the rules and regulations can save them as they mutter such statements as ‘never on Sunday’, ‘Saturday the true Sabbath’, ‘never in sandals, only in the trappings of the systems church with its appropriate attire’, and ‘grape juice, not wine’.
The echo of the Pharisees can be heard down through the centuries of the institutional church, as Christianity and its systems replaced or consumed the apostolic church. There just wasn’t room for the real Jesus in it. They wanted a stained glass Jesus for their cloudy, stained glass windows that kept out the glare of the light upon them. They wanted their practices, positions, their liturgy, and their robes, and most of all, for centuries, they wanted the word to be the exclusive possession of the priesthood, which was deemed the only group capable of understanding it. Thus, they kept their apostasy under control.
Yet, the apostolic church continued to burn in its midst. There was always a Nicodemus, or a Joseph of Arimathea within the body. The Lord did have, and always will have, a remnant of Israel preserved. Now is the time for the bride. As the harlot comes to destruction at the hands of the beast, the Word of God will be fulfilled (see Revelation 17:17). Revelation 17:18 And the woman whom you saw, is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth, Babylon the Great, mother of Harlots, mother of spiritual religious harlotry. But in contrast, what is the holy city – New Jerusalem? What are her pillars – the bride, the apostolic church? What is her foundation – the apostles? What is the gateway – the twelve tribes of the children of Israel? The woman of Revelation birthing is the bride, the chosen and faithful of Rev17:14 who must come out of the systems of religion, as the true sons of God, just as the world system is the revived Roman Empire, Satan’s long-sought-after One World Order under his rulership, ridden by the harlot, the united One World Religion.
The bride must follow her bridegroom, for He will lead her every step of the Way out of the temple, or institutional church system. Revelation 18:4 – And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. Revelation 18:23 – And the light of a lamp will not shine in you anymore. And the voice of the bridegroom and the bride shall not be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery, all the nations were deceived.
Make sure you do not become a victim of the system. Are your rules of “no wine” and “never on Sunday” so important, that you miss the message of the testimony of Jesus? Should you not be more concerned about the sorcery and witchcraft of Satan, by which all the nations are being deceived? Perhaps the rigidity of the denominational rules, like the rigidity of those of the Pharisees, is keeping the people in bondage today, so that Jesus is unable to bring light to the blind. Are you preventing the hearts of the children from being returned to the Father as you ignore the presence of witchcraft in their lives? Make sure you are not a victim of your own Pharisaical nature that will always contend with a move of God to bring you to the light. Be sure you do not become a victim of the system of temple that never could, and never will, co-exist with Jesus. For there is no temple in the holy city. God Almighty and the Lamb is its temple. Jesus said, Destroy this temple and in three days, I will raise it up. (John 2:19).
Only the temple of Jesus will survive, as all of the systems of temple will finally be brought to destruction. There will be nothing but broken hand-hewn stones left in one giant pile of rubble.