Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 71

March 12, 2018;      Matthew 21:23;       21/260(IV);        ‘Envy and Hatred’

Matthew 21:23 Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things?

We know from the account of Jesus before Pilate, that Pilate knew the religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus because of envy.  They could say anything else they chose to, but the reality was that Jesus taught powerfully, healed mightily and was followed by huge crowds and the envious religious leaders hated Him for this.  All kinds of things are happening in this chapter and the attention given to Jesus and the authority He flowed in drove their jealousy to the boiling point.  As Jesus entered Jerusalem, huge crowds welcomed Him like the Hero that indeed He was.  Then Jesus went into the Temple and drove out the money changers and those who sold animals for sacrifice.  Jesus tells everyone that the Temple is to be a house of prayer, but the religious leaders allowed it to become a den of thieves.  As soon as those who should not have been in the Temple were driven out, Jesus began to heal those in need.  Little children in the Temple were praising the Lord.  All of this was too much for the self centered Pharisees and scribes.  Religion hates the truth because religion is a lie and cannot do what biblical truth can do.  Rather than changing and following Jesus, they determined their only recourse was to kill the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Bible teaches that some of the Pharisees believed that Jesus was who He said He was, but they would not confess Him as Lord fearing their being thrown out of the Temple.  A few Pharisees actually began to follow Jesus, which is what they all should have done.  Pride leads to eternal destruction.  They had to know He was who He said and yet they denied Him.