Salvation
Matthew 23:33 “You
snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?”
THE “8 Woes” from Jesus to the Pharisees are finished, but
Jesus continues His hard words. His use of “snake” and “vipers” is to connect
their evil with the Evil One, who snake-like poisons and kills people. Jesus
said, “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is
no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar
and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)
As sons of sinful
leaders of Israel, it is the nature of these men to sin. Certainly they will be
condemned to hell. But we must not smugly judge the Pharisees. They had
inherited their sin nature from their forefathers, but so have we. We are all
born to sin with a nature to poison and kill God’s righteous truths.
But thankfully the
Pharisees did have a way out of hell, and so do we. He is Jesus, judge and
Savior. He is the one who tells us how bad we are, so we can understand He can
only make us good. Jesus judges His creation’s sin that we might see the need to
be a new creation in Him.
Acts tells us some of the Pharisees and
priests who opposed Jesus believed in Him after His resurrection. God’s power resurrected
their souls out of hell and into eternal life. Some didn’t listen. Some did. Listening
to Jesus is the only way to answer Jesus’ question.
Hebrews asks and answers the same
question: “How shall we escape if we
ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the
Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.” (Hebrews 2:3)
LIFE Link: Jesus saves.
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