Luke 20  Leaders love pretense and importance

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Religious leaders cannot give a straight answer

It was the religious leaders who endlessly opposed Jesus as they strove to protect their position and their income.

LUKE 20:1   And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple, and preached the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes came upon him with the elders,

The Jewish leaders were upset with the teachings of Jesus. They wanted to stop Him from preaching.

They needed some technicality to disqualify Him.

Like all dictators, the Jewish leaders wanted to eliminate any opposition.

LUKE 20:2   And spake unto him, saying, Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? or who is he that gave thee this authority?

They asked, where did you get the authority to preach things that are different from what we preach?

LUKE 20:3   And he answered and said unto them, I will also ask you one thing; and answer me:

Yet all those Jewish leaders knew that Jesus had been introduced to the Jews by John the Baptist.

So, He asked an obvious question. Where did John the Baptist get his authority from?

LUKE 20:4   The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?

Was it God who gave John his prophetic authority, or men?

LUKE 20:5   And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then believed ye him not?

John had pointed out Jesus. Thus, if John was from Heaven, so was Jesus.

Then the religious leaders should believe what Jesus said.

LUKE 20:6   But and if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was a prophet.

But if the religious leaders denied that John was from Heaven, then the people would attack them because the common people had enough sense to realize that John was a prophet.

LUKE 20:7   And they answered, that they could not tell whence it was.

At this point, the religious leaders displayed their dishonesty. They refused to answer.

They refused to admit that the evidence was against them. The people could see what the leaders were denying. The people knew John was a prophet.

If you are unable to admit your faults and mistakes then you are not searching for the truth. You are just trying to win an argument by means of deception and evasive verbal gymnastics.

Being unscriptural is cheating your way to an empty victory.

Lying is deception. Not admitting the truth is another form of deception.

As a result, Jesus lost interest in their deviousness and terminated the discussion.

If you do not want to learn the truth, Jesus will not waste time trying to teach you.

LUKE 20:8   And Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.

Luke emphasizes the Jews rejecting the Plan of God

LUKE 20:9   Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.

This parable regards Palestine as God’s vineyard. Grapes make wine which represents the stimulation of revelation. The Jews were to draw their stimulation from being God’s chosen people. God would then guide them by means of prophets that He would send to them at certain times so that the Jews could focus on serving God.

LUKE 20:10   And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty.

But when God sent a prophet they rejected him and took no guidance from him.

LUKE 20:11   And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.

The next prophet got an even worse reception.

LUKE 20:12    And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out.

The Jews foolishly hurt the next prophet physically. The Jewish reaction against the prophets was getting worse.

LUKE 20:13   Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him.

The Son of God finally arrived to claim the reverence of the Jews.

LUKE 20:14   But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.

The Son of God would inherit the vineyard of Palestine from His Father. If the Jews killed Him, then He could not take over the rulership of Israel and the Jews would have Palestine for themselves.

LUKE 20:15   So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them?

Jesus knew that the Jews wanted to kill Him.

Consider two earlier episodes from John's Gospel.

JOHN 5:16   And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.

JOHN 5:18   Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

JOHN 7:1   After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.

Thus, Jesus included in His parable that the Jews would kill the Son.

So, Jesus closed with a warning. What would God the Father do to the Jews who would kill the Son of God in AD 33?

LUKE 20:16   He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.

God would send the pagan Romans under General Titus to destroy Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70. Over one million Jews would die. Then the Bar Kochba revolt of the Jews between AD 132 -135 would see a further 580,000 Jews being killed and the Jews being exiled from Palestine as they were scattered amongst the nations.

God then turned His revelation of salvation by grace through faith to the Gentile church. Salvation is based on the sacrifice of the Son of God Who died to pay for our sins. God even cut off the Hebrew language which was no longer used as the New Testament was written in Greek.

“God forbid”. The Jewish leaders totally refused to believe that such a set of events could happen to them. The Jewish leaders foolishly thought that they could get God to change His mind on these future events by refusing to believe that they could be wrong.

LUKE 20:17   And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?

The Son of God was rejected and crucified. He was lifted up as the Headstone between Heaven and earth.

As such Jesus is the Capstone that will eventually come down to rest on top of the Body of the Gentile church that He would build up over 2000 years. The Capstone will rest on the 7th church age when it returns to the beliefs of the first church age.

LUKE 20:18   Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

If we confess our sins and fall upon the mercy of God in repentance, then pride and self are broken as we realize our works cannot save us.

But if we do not repent and accept Jesus as our personal Saviour, then His Second Coming will see

Him catch up His Bride to Heaven. Then His deadly anger falls onto the sinful earth in the 3½ years of great Tribulation.

Daniel saw the Lord as a Stone that struck the Gentile image in the feet and destroyed the end-time Gentile kingdoms.

But there would be a preview of the awful great Tribulation when Titus and the cruel Roman soldiers destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70. Thus, the Jewish leaders of that day were simply leading the Jews to their doom by getting them to reject their Messiah.

The Jewish leaders try to trap Jesus but He traps them

The Jewish leaders behaved like dictators. They could not handle opposition.

Because Jesus disagreed with them, they set out to destroy Him.

President Putin of Russia in 2022 behaved the same way. Because Ukraine disagreed with his dictatorial rule, Putin set out to destroy Ukraine.

Such is the cruelty of dictatorships.

And do not forget that the Pope is the only dictator in Europe.

LUKE 20:19   And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.

The Jewish leadership was compromised. Many owed their positions to their friendly relationships with the Romans. In their blindness they now determined to kill Jesus and fulfill the parable which Jesus had spoken. But they were scared of the people who admired Jesus.

LUKE 20:20   And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.

"Spies" describe their deception and hypocrisy.

LUKE 20:21   And they asked him, saying, Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly:

This was phony pretense. They said that He was preaching truth but were going out of their way to trap Him.

LUKE 20:22   Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no?

If Jesus says that they must not pay their taxes to Caesar then the Romans would arrest Him as a traitor. A government cannot run a country without raising taxes.

If He says they must pay their taxes to Caesar then he would lose His popular support amongst the people.

The Jews were groaning under the cruel Roman rule and were anxious to rebel against the hated Romans.

LUKE 20:23   But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me?

This was a trick question to trap Him. He would either lose the good opinion of the people or draw down the wrath of the Roman government on His head.

LUKE 20:24   Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar's.

The head of Caesar had been cast onto the coin while it was molten. Thus it formed as a molten image.

Alexander the Great had been the first Western man to be declared a god. His four Greek generals who split up his kingdom called themselves god-kings. General Lysimachus as a god-king ruled the area around the city of Pergamos. The Babylonian priesthood in Pergamos later accepted the god-king of the kingdom of Pergamum as their Pontiff. Julius Caesar later bribed his way to being elected Pontiff. After his death, Julius Caesar was the first Roman to be declared a god. His family formed the first five Roman emperors who were also considered to be gods. The pagan Roman Emperors who called themselves Caesar kept the title of Pontiff.

Thus the one title on a typical Roman coin said Pontiff. That means Caesar was also the High Priest of the Babylonian mysteries. This was blasphemy to good Jews.

LEVITICUS 19:4    Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God.

No image of a man was allowed in the Temple. The Jews only had one High Priest, their own High Priest.

But the Temple leaders allowed the image of the Roman emperor into the Temple as long as it was on a coin of money that they were collecting.

This was total hypocrisy.

LUKE 20:25   And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's.

Jesus makes a stunning statement.

This coin with Caesar’s head cannot be rendered to God in the Temple.

Especially as the coin declares the pagan Caesar to be the High Priest or Pontiff.

Thus, the Jews should stop paying the idolatrous Roman money into the Temple. Then the Jewish religious leaders would lose a fortune.

Roman money was the main way of doing business in the Roman Empire. As a result, the Jewish businessmen had to pay their tithes with the Roman money that they had made. Remove the Roman money from the Temple and the Jewish leaders lost the tithes.

The Jewish leaders were trapped. Their income was threatened.

Their only response, which they dared not openly admit in front of the people, was to destroy Jesus.

When you threaten a church leader's income then you make an implacable enemy.

LUKE 20:26   And they could not take hold of his words before the people: and they marvelled at his answer, and held their peace.

Dishonest people always remain silent when they are caught out.

Churches remain silent on the fact that a pastor was never put in charge of a New Testament church.

They also remain silent about the fact that no New Testament scripture says that the tithes belong to the pastor.

The religious leaders had tried to trap Jesus into saying that the people should stop paying taxes to Rome. Then the Romans, who were greedy and brutal tax collectors, would arrest and kill Jesus.

Meanwhile, Jesus had exposed to the people that paying Roman money into the Temple was blasphemous as it had the Roman emperor’s image as well as a title on the coins claiming that the pagan emperor was the High Priest because he was Pontiff.

There can only be one High Priest.

If the Roman Emperor was Pontiff or High Priest, then the Jewish High Priest was not the High Priest.

Such was the blasphemous error of allowing Roman coins into the Temple.

There is no sex in Heaven

LUKE 20:27   Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection; and they asked him,

The Sadducees were an unscriptural group of aristocrats who maintained the Temple. They made up a story about marriage in order to try to prove their belief that there is no resurrection from the dead.

A man marries a woman and then dies without producing a child. His brother then has to marry the woman in order to produce a child. But he too dies before a child is born. The next brother has to marry her but he also dies. Seven brothers ended up, in turn, marrying one woman and then dying.

Whose wife will she be in Heaven?

This problem cannot be solved in terms of a woman who can only live with one husband. This argument was used to prove that there can be no resurrection.

They were assuming that resurrected people would still have sex in order to live married life as we know it.

LUKE 20:28   Saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any man's brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

LUKE 20:29   There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died without children.

:30   And the second took her to wife, and he died childless.

:31   And the third took her; and in like manner the seven also: and they left no children, and died.

:32    Last of all the woman died also.

:33    Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? for seven had her to wife.

If one woman had seven husbands, who would be her husband in Heaven?

LUKE 20:34   And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage:

Jesus points out the error of their thinking. They did not know what the original sin was.

We have blood-filled bodies that can only produce children by means of sex.

It is impossible for eternal life to be passed on to children by means of the sex act.

In Eden, Eve was supposed to produce the virgin birth. Jesus would have grown up and as there would be no sin to die for, He would have spoken His saints out from the dust in bloodless immortal bodies. That is spiritual multiplication. No sex would ever have been involved. Jesus would create just the right number of people to inhabit the earth.

But Eve chose physical multiplication through sex. She was punished for having a conception.

GENESIS 3:16   Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;

Sin saw the introduction of childbirth through sex.

LUKE 20:35   But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:

There is no blood and thus no marriage in Heaven.

I CORINTHIANS 15:50   Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;

LUKE 20:36   Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.

Angels have no blood. The Holy Spirit flows through their veins and thus they never die.

When people have resurrected bodies, the Holy Spirit will flow through their veins. Thus they will never age nor die.

LUKE 20:37   Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

At the burning bush, God said, “I am the God of Abraham”. That means Abraham was alive in some higher dimension that we cannot see as we only live in a 3-Dimensional world.

EXODUS 3:6   Moreover he said,

I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham,

the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

LUKE 20:38   For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.

Thus, those who have died live on in a higher dimension.

LUKE 20:39   Then certain of the scribes answering said, Master, thou hast well said.

The Sadducees knew nothing about original sin nor did they know about life-after-death in Heaven.

Certain scribes knew that they were now right out of their depth as far as Scripture is concerned, so they wisely stopped questioning Jesus.

The Pharisees were desperate to trap Jesus and could not admit their mistake.

The scribes had enough sense to see that Jesus was very Scriptural in His wisdom. They acknowledged the fact.

LUKE 20:40   And after that they durst not ask him any question at all.

The Jewish leaders learned the hard way that if they tried to catch out Jesus then they merely ended up with eggs on their faces because He simply exposed their vast ignorance on these topics. They were hopelessly unable to fit all the Scriptures together on a topic.

Just like the church leaders of today.

Sadducees unknowingly had a deeper truth to their 7 men

The Sadducees were the unscriptural religious leaders in the Temple.

A woman speaks of the church, the Bride that came through seven church ages.

The seven brothers represent the angels or messengers to the seven church ages that had to guide each age back to the Bible truth as best they could.

But none of those brothers, those seven messengers, could give life to the church.

Eternal Life comes from one Person only, Jesus Christ.

The messengers could guide people to Christ but it is Christ alone Who can give those people Life.

Only one Person can be elevated or lifted up above the people, and that is the crucified Jesus.

JOHN 12:32   And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

The mistake that churches make is to elevate their leaders.

Nicolaitan means to elevate a holy man above the laity or congregation so that he conquers the congregation. The people believe what the church leader says, not what the Bible says.

REVELATION 2:6   But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

This was the first church age. They hated the idea of elevating a man up to be the leader of the church.

God also hated that idea.

REVELATION 2:15    So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

This was now the third church age. At the time of the Council of Nicaea when the Trinity entered the church.

God still hated the idea of an elevated man as the church ruler or head. But the church was holding to that idea. Each church wanted a human head to be elevated above the people first as a Priest, then as a Bishop in charge of many priests, then as a Pope in charge of all the Bishops.

But no man, however elevated, can give eternal life to anyone.

The New Testament had local churches that were ruled by local elders, not by one man.

ACTS 20:17    And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.

ACTS 20:28   Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

One man as the head of a church is wrong.

No man can stand in the place of Christ

The mark of the beast sees a man elevated to stand in the place of Christ, the Son of God.

VICARIVS  FILII  DEI         Latin for “In place   of the Son   of God”

V = 5    I = 1   C = 100   L = 50   D = 500

These letters stand for numbers and add up to 666.

“VICARIVS  FILII  DEI” was invented by Pope Stephen around AD 754 and applied very fraudulently to Saint Peter. If you gave money or land or protection to the Pope (who claimed to be the successor of Peter) then Peter would open the Door to Heaven for you. Jesus had given the keys of Heaven to Peter. Pope Stephen falsely claimed that Peter only opens the Door to Heaven for people who are in submission to the Pope.

By opening the Door to Heaven, Peter stands in the place of the Son of God, Jesus.

A man standing in the place of Jesus is a Roman Catholic spirit.

Peter cannot be blamed for this as he never made that claim.

The mark of the beast is thus elevating a man to stand in the place of the Son of God.

Message people who follow William Branham have made the same mistake by elevating William Branham to be the Voice of God so that his quotes can replace Scripture.

Message people claim that saying, “I have a quote” is closer to the truth than saying, “It is written”.

The Voice of God was never promised in the New Testament. Thus, it is unscriptural.

Then Message people also claim that the prophet William Branham is the Son of man. Only Jesus is the Son of man. A prophet is a son of man.

65-0725 THE  ANOINTED  ONES  AT  THE  END  TIME

"In the very day that the Son of man is revealed." Revelations 10:1 to 7, read it when you get home, "the seventh angel's Message, opening up the Seals." What is it?

Not the angel is the Son of man; but the messenger is revealing the Son of man.

Can you get it separated now?

That's where it seems to be so hard for you, you see.

Not the Son of man, Himself;

but the seventh angel, the seventh messenger, is revealing to the public the Son of man, because It's left the shuck. He can't organize It. It's the Grain, Itself, again.

The Roman Catholic spirit also infiltrates the Message groups via their unscriptural one-man-is-the-head-of-a-church doctrine. In the New Testament, a local church was ruled by a group of local elders.

I PETER 5:1   The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

I PETER 5:2   Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

Religious leaders do not understand the Godhead

LUKE 20:41   And he said unto them, How say they that Christ is David's son?

Jesus asked the religious leaders how Christ could be called the Son of David.

LUKE 20:42   And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,

Here David says that Christ is called his Lord.

LUKE 20:43    Till I make thine enemies thy footstool.

The fate of elevated leaders is to be trampled underfoot on Judgement Day by the true believers.

LUKE 20:44   David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son?

The Jewish leaders, just like today’s church leaders, had no idea about the truth of the Godhead.

Jesus is the human Man (the Son of God) that God the Father dwelled in.

COLOSSIANS 2:9   For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

God is a Spirit. God is not a Man of flesh and blood.

Thus, the Bible never says “God the Son”. Then God would be a Man.

The Old Testament never says “God the Father” because that would mean that there had to be a

Man Who was the Son of God.

So, when the fulness of the Spirit of God (Who is David’s Lord) indwelled the perfect Child that God created in the womb of Mary, then that Child was the Son of David as Mary was in the line of David from David’s son Nathan.

Then by adoption, Joseph took Jesus as his Son. Thus Jesus was also in the kingly line of David as Joseph was a descendant of Solomon, the kingly son of David.

Jesus is the Head of the church because the fulness of God dwells within Him thanks to His virgin birth.

No other man can compare with that.

Thus, no other man can ever be the Head of the church.

EPHESIANS 5:23   For the husband is the head of the wife,

even as Christ is the head of the church:

and he is the saviour of the body.

Only Christ can save the body of believers that forms His church.

No other man could do this.

LUKE 20:45   Then in the audience of all the people he said unto his disciples,

Then Jesus gave the people a brutal warning about the deception of elevated religious leaders.

They are self-absorbed and need to be noticed.

LUKE 20:46   Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts;

Their entitled self-importance requires visibility. They need to show that they are superior to the people and they crave having the people look up to them and admire them.

LUKE 20:47   Which devour widows' houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.

Power is a drug. Church leaders, like all leaders, are addicted to money and crave having power over people, especially the power to take people’s money.

“Damnation”. The Jewish leaders were in serious trouble.

History repeats. What about today’s church leaders who have developed 45000 different kinds of denominations and churches? They are not guiding the churches back to the New Testament pattern of the early church. Each leader is focused on establishing his own church empire that he can rule by getting rid of any dissenters.

If we cannot read the King James Bible with understanding then we do not qualify as the wise virgins of Matthew Chapter 25.

DANIEL 12:9   And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

The truth will only be revealed at the end.

DANIEL 12:10   Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand;

but the wise shall understand.

The wise virgins have the oil which represents the Holy Spirit that burns with fire and sheds the light of understanding on the written Word.

JOHN 16:13   Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:

The proof of the Holy Ghost baptism is the ability to understand the truth of the written Word of God.

JOHN 6:63   It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing:

the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Believing the Word of God is the key to eternal Life.

Submission of the congregation to the rule of a single man grew the church in numbers and wealth but this unscriptural cure was in itself a sickness that would finally ruin the church as they increasingly criticized the King James Bible.

63-1110  HE  THAT  IS  IN  YOU

Believe all the Message. Believe That. If it isn't,

if it isn't written in the Bible, then don't you believe it.

The Bride checks the message of William Branham with the Bible.

53-0614  EARNESTLY CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH THAT WAS  ONCE DELIVERED TO THE SAINTS

Elders is what is the head of the church, every church.

Elders is plural. It is not one man.

57-0908   HEBREWS  CHAPTER  FIVE  AND  SIX.1

Show me by the Bible what's greater, in the Bible, than a local elder to a local church?

That's right, yes, sir, the sovereignty of the local church, each church in itself.

60-0804  AS  THE  EAGLE  STIRRETH  UP  HER  NEST

We know the Bible is right; that's not my voice; that's God's voice, speaking.

65-0429  THE  CHOOSING  OF  A  BRIDE

But the Word of God attracts the Bride of Christ.

...  While, the true Bride attracts the attention of God, by keeping His Word.

A two-sided relationship.

We are attracted to the Word because of our love for Scripture. As we keep the Word and believe the Word so we attract the attention of God.

God is looking for people who love the King James Bible and regard It as perfect.

63-0630   THE  THIRD  EXODUS

for they can hear plainly the God's Voice, calling, through His Word

...  Listen to the Bible, the Voice of God calling to you in this day.