PAGE 44 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (THE FIG TREE)

The Word of Yahweh,  the Torah and the Prophets, has a simple and straight message: it all points to the sacrificial system, which is ultimately fulfilled by the Messiah Yeshua.  The sacrifice is what brings humans close to Yahweh and brings salvation and life to all those who sincerely believe it.  The message of God's Word that humans can't get close to God by their own works and without his help.  Righteous works then follow those who have salvation; they are the fruits of the Spirit.  Satan wants to obfuscate this simple message and keep people from it.  The Pharisees were willing participants in Satan's strategy because of their greed and lust for power. Jeremiah prophesied about them:


"...all are greedy for unjust gain; prophets and priests alike; all practice deceit."  Jeremiah 8:10


Yeshua, Jesus, called the temple in Jerusalem a "den of robbers."


The Pharisees, with the prompting of Satan, changed the salvation message of the torah by changing the torah; they granted salvation to those who obeyed their rules and traditions.   The sacrificial system was just another ritual of many and it lost its significance. God warns against anyone changing his Word. He says:


"See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it." Deut 12:32


Yeshua speaks to the Pharisees about the change they made to the Word of God:


"And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, 'Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?' He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men." And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'But you say, 'If a man tells his father or his mother, "Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban (that is, given to God), then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.  Mark 7:5-14


Jeremiah prophesies about these Pharisees and the Scribes:


"How can you say, 'We are wise,  for we have the law of the Lord,' when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely."  The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the Word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have?" Jeremiah 8:8-9


The Prophet Isaiah speaks a prophecy about the Pharisees at the time of Yeshua and how their rules are a lie and falsehood that only leads to death :


"...to whom he said, 'This is the resting place, let the weary rest'; and, 'This is the place of repose'--but they would not listen. So then, the word of the Lord to them will become: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there--so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured. Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem. You boast, 'We have entered into a covenant with death, with the grave we have made an agreement.  When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.'" Isaiah 28:10-15


The Apostle Paul speaks about them:


"For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own,  they did not submit to God's righteousness." Romans 10:2-3


The Pharisees and Scribes masqueraded as religious men having the oracles of God but in reality created an entirely different concept of God based on their made up traditions.  They introduced rites in the Temple which were without foundation in the law.  They declared that priests were but deputies of the people and that the High Priest was just a messenger of the Sanhedrin.  They wrested the power of atoning for the sins of the people from the High Priest and transfered it to the day itself.  They said that people could get close to Yahweh, God, without sacrifice and the priests as long as long as the people followed their rules and traditions.