St. Matthew, Chapter 23, verses: 35c; Between the Temple and the Altar.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Their persecution of religion) Part 13.  

How could they escape the damnation of hell, the doers of evil who in cooperation with Satan's minions were the perpetrators of the murders of the prophets and the messengers of God.  They refused to repent.  They refused to believe.  They refused to open their eyes and see the evil that was within them.  Instead they agreed to go along with that which influenced them.  They agreed to believe that they were right in what they were doing.  

They continued to believe that they were right in persecuting the religion of God and suppressing the messengers and the prophets he sent.  They were lost and could not see.  They were blind and had no understanding of who they were, even though the opportunity was given them to change.  They could not change.  They continued to scourge and persecute from town to town, to pursue from village to village every messenger sent to proclaim the good news.  They even pursued Zacharias: "Whom you killed between the temple and the altar."

They were blind in their sight.  They had no understanding of what they were doing.  Evil led they to commit murder in the most sacred of places.  The evil within led their blind rage to commit sin in the Temple before the altar without thinking of what they were doing.  And yet they will suffer the consequences of their actions and have the blood of all the just to pay.  These words were spoken by Christ from his father God upon the Scribes and the Pharisees to the evil generation of spirits that influenced them. 

What a heavy burden to bear to be a part of such a group that must carry such a sin to pay such a price.  Adam and Eve made the ultimate sin that stained all mankind with mortal sin that no man could pay the price to lift.  It took the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, to come down from heaven to save mankind from the stain of mortal sin.  We now have an opportunity to become new.  We can now have new life because before we were dead with mortal sin but Christ paid the price for our sin and gave us the chance to have new life.

To have new life all we have to do is believe in him.  All we have to do is believe that he is the Son of God and that we have a Father in heaven who is our creator.  Belief opens the door for us.  Belief creates the spark of life.  Belief gives us a new soul that allows us to have eternal life instead of continuing to be dead.  Do you believe?  Do you know?  Do you understand who you are?  The Bible says seek and you will find, knock and it shall be opened to you, ask and it shall be given.  Believe!  Ask for your new life and receive it.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.

St. Matthew, Chapter 23, verses: 35b; The Blood Abel to the BLood of Zacharias.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Their persecution of religion) Part 12.  

The pronouncement of judgment continues upon the Scribes and the Pharisees of the crimes they have committed against the just.  The list of the blood they have spilt is long.  Yet that list can only include those evils they have done during their lifetime.  God speaks of the blood that was shed long before they were born and how that blood will be accounted to their list of crimes.  How can this be?  How is it that the Scribes and the Pharisees are responsible for those evils before they were born, before they were conceived, at the beginning of the history of mankind?

God speaks beyond the physical to the spiritual evil that is within them.  He speaks to the evil that has taken over the Scribes and the Pharisees to posses them to do the murders.  He speaks to Satan's minions.  They are the ones who will suffer the wrath and the judgment for the blood that has been shed since the beginning of time.  He tells them upon their heads will come all the just blood shed on the earth:  "From the blood of Abel the just unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias."   

What gives life to the body?  Is it the blood that pumps through our veins?  is it the heart that pumps the blood through the veins to all parts of the body such that if it stops life ceases to exists?  Or is it the electrical impulses that comes from the brain that tells the heart to pump the blood, that tells our muscles to work, that causes our eyes to see, that allows us to feel sensations and taste food?  What gives life to the body?  In all of this is it the soul that comes from God that starts the entire process of life as we know it that allows us to experience reality.

We live through the experience of life.  We have knowledge of the world around us.  We explore it.  We dissect it.  We seek to know it and control it to make it our own.  But this is life for us, this is how we come into this world and how we will leave it.  We are given a history and a reality that tells us there is good and there is evil in our experience.  We can choose either to know as our own.  Where does that take us?  We are led to search for a deeper knowledge of either experience which will reinforce our belief systems of who we are and who we will become.  We will either have good experiences or evil experiences and produce lifestyles that result from those. 

Christ came that we might know the truth of who we are in him.  He came that we would see, that we would hear, that we would have real life experiences to follow.  His was the way of enlightenment, the way of knowledge, the way of belief, the way of hope and faith, that opens the doors to a new way of life.  He came to show us that we are not just the physical but also the spiritual.  He also let us know that there is also the real evil that wants to posses and lead us astray.  

God is ever-living.  He is the God of the living and not of the dead and we have the opportunity to live beyond the flesh if we believe.  Call upon Christ and he will come.  Believe in Christ and he will hear.  Open your heart to Christ and he will fill it with his love. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.

St. Matthew, Chapter 23, verses: 35a; All the Just Blood.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Their persecution of religion) Part 11.  

And now comes the pronouncement of judgment against the Scribes and the Pharisees and all their kind who have persecuted religion throughout the ages.  They have massacred the prophets, slain the messengers, crucified the holy ones sent by God, and scourged those who spoke against them in the temples of the synagogues.  The evil within them has taken over and used them to commit sins against God to prevent the people from believing in the one true God.

Anger, pride, lust, slander, false witness, greed, all the sins of man have come upon the leaders of the religious sect to prevent them from seeing or feeling the sorrows of their people.  And God speaks through Christ Jesus to pronounce judgment upon them saying:  "That upon you may come all the just blood that has been shed on the earth."

They were offered the opportunity.  They were given the chance to change.  The door was opened for them many times but they refused to believe, they refused to see, they refused to go through.  Their anger, their pride, their desires, their blind ambition, led them to follow that which was given them from their lust from within, their desire for power.  They thought that they knew.  They thought that they understood.  Little did they know that they were being led down the path of destruction.  Little did they see that they would be required to do more and more evil to demonstrate their loyalty, until there was no turning back, until they had reached the point of no return and their souls were fully committed to evil.  The slippery slope of evil.  If there is no internal compass to guide one then all hope is lost and deceit will eventually play a part in the downfall.

God help us.  God guide us.  God protect those who fear him and those who love him.  Fear not for the events of the day for he has a plan that will always work to his advantage even if evil seems to win the day.  Our Father watches over us and provides and protects us.  We are in his hands and no one or nothing can take us away.  Today is our day to rejoice and be glad.  For we are protected by our Father in heaven and it is his love that will watch over us day in and day out.  Sleep well and be at peace.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.

St. Matthew, Chapter 23, verses: 34b; Scourge and persecute.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Their persecution of religion) Part 10.  

In the previous part God speaks to the Scribes and the Pharisees through Christ Jesus to let them know his judgment upon them.  God and Christ are one.  But we know that God speaks simply through the use of the pronoun I.  He says " I send you."  Christ does not speak this but God speaks this through Christ to the Scribes and the Pharisees.

Christ has offered them opportunities to repent of their ways.  He has opened the door for them to repent of their persecution of their religion but they are not open to the idea of repentance.  They are set in their ways, completely possessed of the evil within them.  This is why Christ calls them a brood of vipers.  They cannot change.  God tells them that the prophets and the wise men he will send them:  "And some you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from town to town."

How did he know what they would do?  How did he foresee their actions?  Would they fight and continue to persecute the spread of God's religion from town to town?  Were they that zealous in their beliefs against the spread of God's love for his people?  

Christ came to establish a new covenant with man.  He came to build his church on earth, to teach his disciples how to love, how to live, how to spread the words of the kingdom of heaven.  In order to do that he had to suffer the sacrifice for our sins and pay the price for our deliverance.  The Lamb of God shed his blood for us.  He died, was buried, and rose again on the third day declaring his deliverance over death and the grave.  And God took him into his arms up into heaven where he sits at his right hand waiting for the coming of judgment day.

Do not be afraid Christ told his disciples many times.  His last words were that he will be with us always, even until the end of the world.  Let us remember that we have a Father in heaven who is the creator of all things who is in control.  When things do not go the way that we expect or would like and we get disappointed, always remember that God is in control and it is he who has the ultimate say.  It is his plan that will work out and not ours.  We must be thankful that he is in control and not us.  Thank you Father for the blessings that you have given us this day.  Keep us in your grace. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.