Do you know God well enough to know Jesus when He returns?

Basically, who were the religious leaders when Jesus walked the face of the earth? The Gospel refers to the Sadducees and the Pharisees. They comprised the ruling class of Israel. There are many similarities between the Sadducees and the Pharisees but important differences between them as well.

The Sadducees were of the “wealthy” ruling class. Many of them compromised the priesthood that controlled the temple in Jerusalem in addition to the Jewish legal council. In some ways they were more conservative than the Pharisees. They only recognized the Torah as the inspired word of God while the Pharisees gave oral tradition equal authority as the written word of God. The Sadducees preserved the authority of the written Word of God, especially the books of Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy).  While the Sadducees could be commended for this, they definitely were not perfect in their doctrinal views.

The Pharisees were mostly middle-class businessmen. As middle-class businessmen they were more in contact with the ‘common’ man. The Pharisees were held in much higher esteem than the Sadducees by the common man.  The Pharisees had great zeal for God. The average Pharisee fasted two days per week as well as them paying their ‘tithes’ to the penny. They examined the law down to the smallest detail but they entirely missed what the law was saying. In accordance to God’s word, Jesus was God’s word made manifest. Simply put, Jesus was Torah in flesh. Yet, the Pharisees stood in the physical presence of the perfect revelation of Torah AND they did not know Him.

Jesus, on numerous times, rebuked both the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Definitely the best lesson we can learn from the Pharisees and the Sadducees is to NOT BE LIKE THEM. (I will personally add for those that today are unknowingly acting and believing as the Pharisees and/or the Sadducees to Stop being like them. Open your eyes and ears to God!) Unlike the Sadducees, we must believe EVERYTHING the Bible says, including the miracles and the afterlife. Unlike the Pharisees, we are not to treat traditions as having equal authority as Scripture and we are NOT to allow our relationship with God to be reduced to a legalistic list of rules and rituals (the LAW).

Ironically, the religious leaders, both the Sadducees and the Pharisees who claimed to have known God to the fullest, who were suppose to be leading the people in accordance to God’s way, who were suppose to be teaching the people in accordance to God’s way, who were suppose to be leading the people closer to God, were so blinded by their observances and the minute details that they completely missed their own Messiah when He had appeared in Israel. Those that who were suppose to be closest to God, those that who were suppose to know God fully, missed God completely.

How well do you know God? How well do you know and understand Jesus? Who are you following? Are you following the “well known” religious leaders? Are you following the religious leaders that are teaching and pushing religion (the law) instead of the grace of God? 

Do you completely know, understand and follow the grace of God….. Jesus Christ? Again, in capital leaders…. DO YOU KNOW GOD WELL ENOUGH TO TRULY KNOW JESUS WHEN HE RETURNS???  The Pharisees and Sadducees thought they did but missed Him. Do you think you do or do you know that you know that you will know Him when He returns?

Resolutions vs. Grace of God

Year after year after year I have made, and I have seen others make resolutions only to break them within weeks, days, and even within hours. Resolutions are "laws" made by ourself to follow to make things and/or life better. Just as the LAW of the Old Testament was given to give the people as a resolution to their position, we give ourselves resolutions year after year to better ourself and our life. Just as the LAW could not be kept by "Man", why do we feel we are so much better at keeping the "personal laws" we make by stating resolutions each new year? Even-though, as Christians, so many say without God they are nothing and can do nothing, they still try to do it themselves because they do not fully understand the full grace of God through the new covenant He made with us! 

Romans 11:27
27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”

Ephesians 2:8
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

Instead of making resolutions year after year after year, all we have to do is to turn to God and live in accordance to the grace He has given us. Instead of resolutions fir us to do it ourselves, make a commitment to God to allow Him to change us in accordance to His covenant with us. Nothing is impossible for God. Without Him, we are nothing.

Luke 1:37
For with God nothing will be impossible.”

John 9:33
33 If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

We can not do it by making resolutions or laws to try and uphold or stand by. We, through our own actions, can not keep the resolutions we make, no matter how many we make. Yet, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!

Philippians 4:13
13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

If, instead of making resolution (I pledge to go to church at least twice per month) after resolution (I pledge to go to church at least once every month), we start to live with a full understanding of the grace of God, we would no longer need to make resolutions! We would live through the new covenant that God has made with us! God"s covenant to us is a formal, solemn, and binding agreement under a seal (Christ) between God and us. It can not and will not be broken as resolutions and laws are broken. Throw the resolutions out the window and start living in accordance to the grace of God as given to us through Jesus Christ!!!

Happy New Years - let this be a new beginning of livening through God's grace!