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1. Religious leaders
The religious leaders of
Jews were questioned three times by Jesus Christ. These three questionings
were the visitation time of these leaders, so that they could become saved by
believing in Jesus Christ. God calls people to salvation in accordance with
his Word three times, Job 33: 28-30. These three calls happen in youth, adult
and old age. God also calls the religious leaders of today and all other
people to salvation, which is in the Jesus Christ. Jesus was taken from
Gethsemane to palace of Annas (former high priest) he was father in law, to
Caiaphas. From there, Jesus Christ was taken to the high priest, Caiaphas, He
was current high priest. At the palace there were also scribes and elders who
were the large council called the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin worked in
Jerusalem. The council had 71 members and a high priest. He was the chairman
of the Sanhedrin and he managed the temple of Jerusalem. On the day of
atonement once a year, only high priest, could go into ‘Holy of holies’ in
the temple to burnt incense and to sprinkle the blood in the mercy-seat for
offerings of sins of himself and the whole nation of Israel. There in the council were
assembled the experts of the Torah, who were those days theologians (Torah
means; teaching, advice and minor meaning also is law). They had a lot of
knowledge about the Scriptures, but they did not have faith in their hearts,
that they couldn’t understand and believe in Jesus Christ, so they were not
saved. They did not have in their orthodox teachings and in their human
wisdom the ability to believe in Jesus Christ. That's why they rejected Jesus
Christ and they held on very tightly to their traditional rules. Those who
have mere theoretical theology without faith in the heart towards Jesus
Christ always reject the real Jesus Christ and clothe the real gospel with
the clothes of the falsehood. They change by their lies The Word of God. This
lie Jesus spoke out against calling them the traditions of men. Real faith
clothes itself to serve love and truth, in which Gods influence will work
through His Spirit and Word, which gives us power for service in love. The
Scribes and Rabbis were examining the Scriptures. They explained and taught
the Word of God. They made alongside the Bible their own books, e.g. The
Talmud. The Talmud distracted people away from the Word of God, because in
these books they distorted the message of the Word of God. The Pharisees were the
religious national party of the Jews. The Pharisees party's main task was to
follow the traditional rules of the elders in daily life even in small
details. The Sadducees were the controlling officers and official positions.
They were so-called the clerical party. In the opinion of Sadducees, there
was too much emphasise on the law so they wanted to raise the people on
natural and earthly values, above the real teaching of the Scriptures. The
Sadducees concentrated their attention on earthly matters, such as how to
improve things in their human wisdom; they also did not know Scriptures,
although they thought that they understood them very well.
Petri Paavola from Finland |
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