Behold, I Send Unto You Prophets

Matthew 23: 27-31:  “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.   Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.   Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,   And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.   Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.”

Matthew 23:  34-35:  “Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:   That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.”

I have always been curious about this scripture:  “. . . because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous.”  And also this scripture:  “Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.”  That is quite a leap from someone who builds a tomb to someone who kills a prophet—especially when they are separated by hundreds of years.  How can a tomb-builder and a prophet-killer be related?

False Christians are overly concerned about external things like man-made organizations, rituals and the traditions of men.  A man-made building (e.g. tomb of a prophet) is not the temple of the Holy Ghost.  The human body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.  So if someone is unduly concerned about man-made things, then how can they truly be concerned about the things of God?  We are not here to serve two masters.

If we are about our Father’s business, we can only be full of the Light and Life of Christ.  If we are about external things, appearances, self-righteousness, we can only lead people toward spiritual death—and we would be just as guilty as those who killed the prophets.  We worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth.

Matthew 23: 37:  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem [American churchianity], thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”

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