All throughout the gospels Christ is in a seeming never-ending dispute with the Pharisees, Sadducees and other Jewish religious leaders over their final destiny. The Pharisees, scribes and teachers of the law in the day of Christ enjoyed a relatively secure and powerful position with the Jewish population. As experts on the law, they were able, in their own eyes, to judge the world. They judged and condemned most people if they were unable to meet the standards set by their own customary laws and traditions — some of which were obviously man-made. When Christ came along, He challenged their piety and judged them by their own standards. Incidentally, they themselves were unable to keep the letter of the law. Eventually, the experts of the law proved what was on their hearts and plotted to kill Christ.
What separated the Jews from Christ then was their attempts to justify themselves by condemning others. By keeping the law exactly, at least so it seemed, they set a standard higher than common people. Those that didn’t keep the law were unfit to worship in the temple. Interestingly enough, those that kept the law received the most honorable places in the community. However, Jesus proved in many of His parables and rebuttals that the Pharisees were not keepers of the law because the law was not kept by the Holy Spirit, that is, in a way that honored God (Mark 7:10-12).
I had a Jewish man write me a venomous email that contested Jesus’ divinity. When I read the email I felt as if I’d been thrown back in time two-thousand years. What separated this man from believing in Christ was the same thing that separated the Pharisees from believing in Christ during His life on earth: power. With the key to salvation comes power. In the time of the Pharisees, they held the keys to the temple. To this day, some churches still try, wrongly, to retain this power. By holding the keys to heaven, one can guarantee his or her own eternal destination — theoretically.
By judging, people mistakenly believe that they are judging themselves righteous. The problem is we all stand on level ground in front of God. God pays no mind to status and political power. We are all earthlings He created. God wants justice and only He, a perfect being, can administer it. That is, only God can be an unbiased judge of humanity. When the Pharisees tried to judge Jesus, His disciples, the tax collectors and sinners of the world they tried to usurp the Christ. They tried to take the power of the divine, as judges, and make it their own. This scenario played out to its full end when they were able to send Jesus to suffer on a cross. Three days later, God reclaimed His seat and authority, although it was always His, by raising Christ from the dead thereby nullifying their unqualified judgment.
"Satan" is actually a name that means accuser. Like Satan, the Pharisees wanted to accuse and condemn the world, taking the place of the ultimate judge — God. The power that the teachers of the law tried to claim wasn’t theirs. They didn’t understand the meaning of God’s laws because they didn’t have the Holy Spirit. They didn’t have the Holy Spirit because they refused to believe in Christ. Therefore, in all of their self-made righteousness, they were unable to keep the law and retain God’s favor.
I don’t want to say that I know the eternal destination of the Jews. Obviously, I don’t. To discern that was not the intent of this posting. I do know that by following the law we are not saved because without Christ we cannot follow the law. James 4:17 says, "anyone that knows the good that he ought do and does not do it sins." According to Paul in Romans, no one is righteous (Romans 3:10). And according to Matthew 22:16, God is not a respecter of persons. In order to follow the law one has to know what it is. In order to know the law one has to be familiar with it — it must be written on a person’s heart. God promised to do this with the gift of the Holy Spirit (Jeremiah 31:33). The Holy Spirit is only given to those that believe in God’s power and authority as demonstrated in the resurrection of the Christ. Those that don’t believe in God’s power and trust in their own ability to follow the law and be judges on the law are self-proclaimed potential usurpers.
I challege you today in your own walk to look at fellow believers and even non-believers with love and not in judgment. In this way we can fulfill the law by living like Christ and believing in His authority to be a sound judge over all creation.
