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bigmike

Luke 22:37 (NLT) 37 For the time has come for this prophecy about me to be fulfilled: ‘He was counted among the rebels.’ Yes, everything written about me by the prophets will come true.”
Was Jesus a rebel?
This is an interesting question. One that deserves our attention. So, let’s take a look and see what the word of God shows us.
First, let’s define rebel.
1. a person who is opposed to the political system in their country and tries to change it using force.
2. a person who does not like rules or authority, and shows this by behaving differently from most people in society.
We can determine without any doubt that Jesus was not a rebel as defined in definition #1.
Definition #2 also does not describe Him.
But here is what we know from God’s word.
Jesus opposed the incumbent Jewish religious leaders of His day. He vehemently disagreed with a large percentage of what they did, and He spoke plainly about it directly to many of them.
It is important to note that He did not oppose what they taught. They taught the Law correctly.
They did not, however, walk it out as they taught others to do.
And Jesus railed against them constantly for their hypocrisy, telling them bluntly that that they did not enter the kingdom of heaven, while also not allowing others to enter.
Matthew 23:13 (LSB) 13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
What did He mean?
He was referring to their constant insistence that people follow an increasingly impossible number of traditions to “meet God’s requirements.”
When, in fact, these were not God’s requirements at all. They were manmade requirements that even they did not abide by.
Let’s look at this more tomorrow as we work to determine whether Jesus was a rebel.
Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

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