children of hell and heaven’s king

Matthew 23.  Jesus pronounces judgment upon the religious professionals in Jerusalem and warns his disciples not to follow their hypocrisy.  With seven prophetic woes, he condemns them for seven sins:

1. They shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces (13-14),
2. They make their converts children of hell (15),
3. They are blind guides (16-22),
4. They major in the minor things, and neglect the weightier matters (23-24),
5. They appear clean on the outside, but are inwardly defiled (25-26),
6. Their outward beauty covers deadness (27-28),
7. They celebrate the righteous of the past but do not live it in the present (29-31).

He concludes his prophetic condemnation by predicting three things that he will elaborate on in the next chapter: the persecution of Christians, the destruction of the Jerusalem temple, and his second coming.

LORD, grant us the courage to be genuine in a world of counterfeits.  We want to be servants of heaven’s king, not children of hell.

“Woe to you”  (23:13)