The Life of Christ (38)

1. The Life of Christ (38) Jesus Rebukes (Scolds) The People and Their Leaders • Luke 11:29–30 (NASB95) • 29As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. • 30“For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. • Jesus has spent two years teaching the people of Israel and performing miracles but has not seen much real positive volition. • He calls them a “wicked generation” for this reason and because he knows the full extent of their spiritual depravity (corruption). • Jesus tells people the truth they need to hear, rather than worrying about possibly offending someone. • The sign of Jonah refers to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. • Just as Jonah’s deliverance was a sign to the people of Nineveh, so Jesus’ deliverance will be a sign to His generation. • The difference is the Ninevites repented (changed their minds) and went on as a nation for another 140 years while Israel did not repent and would be destroyed in less than 40 years in 70 AD. The Life of Christ (38)

2. Nineveh Joppa The Life of Christ (38)

3. The Life of Christ (38) Jesus Rebukes (Scolds) The People and Their Leaders • Luke 11:31 (NASB95) • 31“The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. • The Queen of the South refers to the Queen of Sheba who traveled a long distance to hear the wisdom of Solomon. • 1 Kings 10:1–9 (NASB95) • 1Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with difficult questions. • 2So she came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels carrying spices and very much gold and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. • 3Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from the king which he did not explain to her. • 4When the queen of Sheba perceived all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, • 5the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers, and his stairway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. • 6Then she said to the king, “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. • 7“Nevertheless I did not believe the reports, until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard. • 8“How blessed are your men, how blessed are these your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom. • 9“Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel; because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.” The Life of Christ (38)

4. The Queen of Sheba Visits King Solomon The Life of Christ (38)

5. Queen of Sheba’s Journey to King Solomon Nineveh King Solomon’s Kingdom Sheba The Life of Christ (38)

6. The Life of Christ (38) Jesus Rebukes (Scolds) The People and Their Leaders • Luke 11:32 (NASB95) • 32“The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. • Jesus tells them that the men of Nineveh shall condemn them because they repented (changed their minds) without seeing the Messiah or His attesting miracles. • This does not mean that the Ninevites became believers but they did believe the message of Jonah and turned from their evil, which averted God’s immediate judgment. • Jonah 3:7–10 (NASB95) • 7He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. • 8“But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. • 9“Who knows, God may turn and relent (change His mind) and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.” • 10When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it. The Life of Christ (38)

7. The Life of Christ (38) Jesus Rebukes (Scolds) The People and Their Leaders • Luke 11:33 (NASB95) • 33“No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. • In verses 33, Jesus introduces what is called a statement of convention; this is a statement that most people accept as being true because it is regularly practiced or observed. • The one use and purpose of a lamp is to enable those that come into the room where the lamp rests on its proper stand to see its light and be able to operate in that environment. • It would be silly to light the lamp and then place a vessel like a big basket over it or to put the lamp in the cellar where its light would serve no one and would leave the people in the room in the dark. • This statement itself does not indicate what use Jesus intends to make of this statement about the lamp but is a simple statement of how normal people normally operate. The Life of Christ (38)

8. The Life of Christ (38) Jesus Rebukes (Scolds) The People and Their Leaders • Luke 11:34 (NASB95) • 34“The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. • Verse 34 advances the thought about the light and the relationship between the lamp and the eye, which Jesus specifically equates. • If one’s vision is to be effective, it must be focused on what is important, which is seen in the two terms that Jesus uses to describe the eye. • The first eye is clear (ἁπλοῦς, haplous), which is the translation of a Greek adjective that means having a single purpose, without a hidden agenda of one’s own. • The second eye is bad (πονηρὸς, poneros), which comes from the Greek word for morally evil; this eye is not concerned with seeing the truth but represents the believer pursuing his own agenda in spite of the truth before him. The Life of Christ (38)

9. The Life of Christ (38) Jesus Rebukes (Scolds) The People and Their Leaders • Luke 11:34 (NASB95) • 34“The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. • This teaching must be understood in light of the fact that the eyes of those who were not seeking the truth but were seeking their own plans did not recognize that Jesus was far greater than those to whom he had just referred. Solomon and Jonah in Luke 11:31-32 • Since these people manifested (displayed) negative volition toward the light (the truth), their lives were full of spiritual darkness; if a person rejects the light when he sees it, darkness is all that will be left. The Life of Christ (38)

10. The Life of Christ (38) Jesus Rebukes (Scolds) The People and Their Leaders • Luke 11:37–38 (NASB95) • 37Now when He (Jesus) had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table. • 38When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He had not first ceremonially washed before the meal. • In verse 37, when Jesus is finished teaching, He is asked to have lunch with a Pharisee. • In verse 38, Jesus sits down to lunch without performing a ceremonial washing that was required by Jewish tradition. • This was a washing that was not a part of the Mosaic Law but was part of the expanded traditions of mencreated by the Pharisees. • Jesus is under no compulsion to follow these “made up” ceremonies designed by religious men under the influence of their old sin natures. • He uses this opportunity to rebuke their hypocrisy. • They (Pharisees) are concerned about cleanliness of the outside of their cups and plates but not about the filth in their souls. The Life of Christ (38)

11. The Life of Christ (38) Jesus Rebukes (Scolds) The People and Their Leaders • Luke 11:39 (NASB95) • 39But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness. • They were engaged in evil and oppression toward their fellow man; Jesus specifically accuses them of robbery and wickedness in Lk. 11:39 • Luke 11:42–44 (NASB95) • 42“But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. • 43“Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places. • 44“Woe to you! For you are like concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.” • He accuses them of being unjust and arrogant in Verses 42-43. • He compares them to concealed tombs which people walk on and become ceremonially unclean in Verse 44. • The Law said that if a person touched a tomb or a corpse, that person became ceremonially unclean. • Therefore, the Jews whitewashed the tombs so they would be easy to see. The Life of Christ (38)

12. The Life of Christ (38) Jesus Rebukes (Scolds) The People and Their Leaders • Jesus is saying that the people become spiritually unclean by being associated with the evil, legalistic (adding to the WOG) doctrine of the Pharisees. • In verse 45 below, the term lawyer refers to one who was an expert in the Mosaic Law; they were to study and interpret it, teach it to the young men, and decide cases based on it. • Luke 11:45-46 (NASB95) • 45One of the lawyers said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too.” • 46But He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers. • When Jesus pronounced his woes on the Pharisees, one of the lawyers present realized that His words indicated that the lawyers were as guilty as the Pharisees. • The lawyertells Jesus this in such as way as to indicate that Jesus should not be speaking these truths since they offended many people in Verse 45 • Jesus then accuses the lawyers of not following the laws which they force the people to follow in Verse 46. The Life of Christ (38)

13. The Life of Christ (1) The Isagogics of The Time of Christ Two Types of Jewish Reversionism Sadducees Pharisees WOG Take away from the WOG Add to the WOG The Life of Christ (1)

14. The Life of Christ (38) Jesus Rebukes (Scolds) The People and Their Leaders • Luke 11:47 (NASB95) • 47“Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. • The background to verse 47 is that these people knew that their ancestors killed many of the prophets of the Old Testament. • In order to show that they were not like their ancestors, they built great tombs to honor the prophets and to let everyone know how godly they were. • Jesus tells them that they are not godly but that they are just like their ancestors; although they try to appear righteous, He knows they are not. • The outward actions of these Jews, which looked good, were in contrast to their inward attitude toward the Word of God. • All of the prophets that their fathers killed spoke of the coming of Christ; now they will show their true nature by killing the One sent as their Messiah (Christ). The Life of Christ (38)

15. The Life of Christ (38) Jesus Rebukes (Scolds) The People and Their Leaders • Luke 11:52 (NASB95) • 52“Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.” • In verse 52, Jesus indicates that they have taken away the truth about the Bible from others; they did not correctly interpret the Old Testament, particularly as it applied to Messiah, and were leading others astray with their views. • The job of the Pharisees and Lawyers was to lead the people in the truth of God’s word; however, since they had rejected the truth about Jesus being the Messiah, they were teaching others their false doctrine. • Luke 11:53–54 (NASB95) • 53When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects, • 54plotting against Him to catch Him in something He might say. • In verses 53 and 54 we see the hostility of the religious leaders towards Jesus, which has been going on since the first year of His ministry; now, it intensified to the point that they were constantly listening so they could catch Jesus in some mistake that would allow them to bring legal charges against Him. The Life of Christ (38)

16. The Life of Christ (38) Jesus Rebukes (Scolds) The People and Their Leaders • As Jesus approaches the cross, He has become increasingly demanding that people exercise faith in Him and His message; if they do not, He expresses His rejection of them in no uncertain terms. • There is a time and place for allowing people to figure out the truth; however, once it becomes clear that they are not pursuing the truth, harsh language about their negative volition may be in order. The Life of Christ (38)