One of the studies that will open so many new doors of truth is to consider how much the Jewish leaders knew before the beginning of the New Testament. They obviously had studied the Old Testament and found many truths. The problem was that these leaders taught the people these truths, but they taught them more than the truth. Consider the following and then make application about how we view highly respected religious leaders today.
It is obvious that the scribes and Pharisees knew many truths. In their day, and also in ours, they tried to determine what the future held. Throughout the Old Testament, there were hundreds of prophecies about how God would continue His impact on His chosen nation.
Peter said this about those Old Testament prophets and their message as it applied to the first century. “All the prophets from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days” (Acts 3:24). This does not mean that those who read the prophecies fully understood them (see 1 Cor. 2:8-10), but it is also true that the Jews of the first century had developed their own religious theology.
What did these Jews understand? They knew that someday a great king would come. Even Herod was aware of this truth. When the wise men spoke of the recent birth of the King of the Jews, Herod the Great asked the scribes as to where that King was to be born. The scribes knew the answer and said, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this it is written by the prophet…” (Matt. 2:5). The message of the wise men was known, not just by Herod, but by “all of Jerusalem” (Matt. 2:3).
The leaders also knew that there would be a forerunner to come before that King. The very last of the Old Testament prophecies said, “I will send My messenger and he will prepare the way before Me… Behold, I will send Elijah before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord…” (Mal. 3:1; 4:5). Even the apostles knew that the scribes were teaching this truth. They asked Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” (Mark 9:11).
These leaders clearly knew the Bible, but they did not understand what it meant. The King was to be born in Bethlehem, and He would have Elijah come as His forerunner. The leaders were teaching the truth, but they were teaching more than the truth. They taught their opinions about the meaning of the words and felt their opinions were equal in authority with what God said. The people followed these leaders and were like blind men following a blind man (Matt. 15:14). There is so much more to be said. We will continue with these thoughts in next week’s bulletin.