March 5
Num 4:1-5:31 | PS 48:1-14 | Prov 10:26 | Mark 12:18-37
A skeptic questions or doubts accepted opinions. Rather than open mindedly seeking, the individual asks questions with the purpose to prove one's opinions. So goes the popular favorite concerning the existence of God, behind the question: "Could God create a rock so heavy He could not lift it?" The question is to the omnipotence of God, and the argument being posed is self-contradictory. This flawed question is based on a wrong assumption of what omnipotence is. This does not mean that God can do anything. It means that God has unlimited power. Therefore God can do whatever is possible to be done, but He cannot do the impossible by adding more power. There are things that God cannot do, because it is contrary to His divine nature. God cannot lie or deny Himself. So God cannot create a three sided square. Stringing words or thoughts together does not make the impossible possible. An infinite rock is a contradiction since material objects cannot be infinite, by definition. Only God is infinite. Yet this flawed question has been thrown around by those who deem themselves above God, by those impressed by their own logic and intellect. Karl Marx stated that anyone believing in God must have a mental disorder that causes invalid thinking. Sigmund Freud wrote that a person who believed in a Creator God was delusional and only held beliefs due to a "wish fulfillment" factor, which Freud considered unjustifiable. Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche stated that faith equates to not wanting to know what is true. These voices along with many others now fill our school textbooks and the halls of academia, producing many self-inflated atheists.
The teachers of the law did believe in God, but they had already determined in their minds that Jesus was not the Son of God, the promised Messiah. His teachings, His miracles, His command and authority of the Scriptures could not change these minds which had already been made up. So, as they launch their questions at Jesus, they were not honest questions to seek answers. They were asked with the intention to trip Him up, and validate themselves. So, the questions came. In Mark 11:28, we read, "“By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?”" Jesus asked them a question back exposing their hypocrisy. We then read in 12:13-15, "Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words. When they had come, they said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it.”" The Pharisees and Herodians were not allies, but came together to see if they could get Him to publicly go against Rome. The Sadducees believed that death was the end, and did not believe in a resurrection, so their question, as the ones before was not intended to seek , but to stumble Jesus, as we read in 12:18-23, " Then some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him; and they asked Him, saying: “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies, and leaves his wife behind, and leaves no children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife; and dying, he left no offspring. And the second took her, and he died; nor did he leave any offspring. And the third likewise. So the seven had her and left no offspring. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife.”" It was only one who had been observing who finally asked Jesus a question that showed that he was seeking in 12:28, "Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”"
We are not that smart, and sadly many fancy themselves a lot smarter than they are. In coming to faith, Jesus gave us step one in Matthew 5:3, "“Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Unless one sees who He is and who we are, the relationship with God cannot begin. He is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, and we are not. We are not in a position to debate God. Intellectually we must be at the level to sit at His feet and learn. The scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians thought they were sparring with an equal, and worse than that, with one inferior to themselves, not realizing they were trying to go toe to toe with God. Sadly, our educational system tends to puff up. Our children follow the likes of Marx, Freud, Nietzsche, and the generations of self-inflated "thought leaders" who have followed them. We read in Proverbs 1:7, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction." We have spent millions of dollars training modern day fools, rather than those endowed with wisdom. We need to pray for open eyes and open hearts, for clever arguments do not often break up the soil of a hardened heart. Seek Him, and you will find Him.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: