One of my favorite passages from the Bible is the sermon on the mount. Every time I come back to it, I discover something new there, thoughts that didn't come to my mind before. My interest in this sermon grew even more when I noticed a statement by Ellen White who wrote something very interesting about this sermon.
“In the Sermon on the Mount He sought to undo the work that had been wrought by false education, and to give His hearers a right conception of His kingdom and of His own character. Yet He did not make a direct attack on the errors of the people. He saw the misery of the world on account of sin, yet He did not present before them a vivid delineation of their wretchedness. He taught them of something infinitely better than they had known. Without combating their ideas of the kingdom of God, He told them the conditions of entrance therein, leaving them to draw their own conclusions as to its nature. The truths He taught are no less important to us than to the multitude that followed Him. We no less than they need to learn the foundation principles of the kingdom of God” (DA 299.3)
Let me start with the first sentence in this quote:
„In the Sermon on the Mount He sought to undo the work that had been wrought by false education, and to give His hearers a right conception of His kingdom and of His own character.”
We know that the Jews had a wrong conception of God's Kingdom because they believed that the Messiah would restore Israel to a position as a world power dominating other nations, a position similar to that of Israel in the days of David and Solomon. They considered themselves the chosen people, but did not understand why they were chosen. They believed that they were better than others, and God chose them because in God's eyes only they deserved to enter God's Kingdom. They were proud that only they lived according to God's law. They were also convinced that circumcision and scrupulous observance of all religious ceremonies and traditions was the only way to God. They saw no room in God's coming Kingdom for anyone who was not a Jew. In his sermon on the Mount, Jesus explained that entering God's Kingdom is not reserved for one nation and is not dependent on adherence to external religious forms, he showed his listeners a completely different way and completely different conditions of salvation.
The Jews also did not know the character of God very well because they ascribed certain qualities to Him that God does not have. It is shown, for example, by the story of the healing of a man who has been ill for thirty-eight years. It was at the pool of Bethesda.
„Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had” (John 5:2-4)
At first glance, this appears to be a symptom of God's power, sending angels to help the sick recover. However, what image of God is formed in our minds, if we accept that what was happening in this pool was a deliberate act of God? We perpetuate an image of a God that is good for those who are stronger or smarter than others; A God who thus does not care for the weak. The man, whom Jesus healed, spent thirty-eight years trying to regain his health in the pool. Do we believe in a God who, all these years, looked calmly at this man's efforts?
What Jesus did was a revelation that God wants to help everyone, but he can only do it when a person comes to God for help and does not try to help himself. The healed man has already lost all hope that he can recover by immersing himself in the water of the pond. This feeling of utter helplessness was not experienced by other sick people who, in various ways, tried to enter the water first after being moved by an angel. It was the only known for them way they could recover, and they were looking for no other.
Another example of ascribing to God such character traits that He does not have is what Job’s friends told him about God. They tried to show that Job had been punished by God for sins they did not know, but were sure that they had to take place. Eliphaz the Temanite said to Job: “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off? Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same”(Job 4:7-8). Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, said, "Take heed, do not turn to iniquity, for you have chosen this rather than affliction" (Job 36:21). The Jews were convinced that human misfortunes were a punishment for their sins. Jesus' disciples also thought similarly. When Jesus and his disciples met a man who was born blind in Jerusalem, his disciples asked him, “’Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’. Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned’”(John 9:2-3). Jesus' answer clearly indicates that we should not take our misfortunes as punishment for our sins. The story of Job shows it very clearly, because everything what happened to him was the result of Satan's actions.
The notion that God punishes people for their sins results in another error that could be seen in the Jews. Well, they believed that success in a person's life testifies not only to God's blessings, but above all it is a proof of the righteousness of this man. It is a confirmation that such a man is approved in the eyes of God and that his life is in harmony with God's law. If so, it would mean that God sanctions sin. Did not King Solomon have great power not only in Israel but among the surrounding countries? Has he not become a very rich ruler? „The weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, besides that from the traveling merchants, from the income of traders, from all the kings of Arabia, and from the governors of the country (…) All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon. For the king had merchant ships at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the merchant ships came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys. So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom” (1 Kings 10:14-15,21-23). If wealth and prosperity were the measure of human righteousness, Solomon would be the most just man on earth. Yet the Bible says about Solomon: „King Solomon loved many foreign women (…) Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded” (1 Kings 11:1.3-10). At the opposite extreme are, for example, God's prophets, who have often not only been not rich, but have been persecuted and killed. If wealth and prosperity were the measure of man's righteousness, then Jeremiah would be a very unjust man who could hear what Job heard: “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off? Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same”, "Take heed, do not turn to iniquity, for you have chosen this rather than affliction".
Now for the second part of Ellen White's opening statement about the sermon on the Mount:
„Yet He did not make a direct attack on the errors of the people. He saw the misery of the world on account of sin, yet He did not present before them a vivid delineation of their wretchedness. He taught them of something infinitely better than they had known. Without combating their ideas of the kingdom of God, He told them the conditions of entrance therein, leaving them to draw their own conclusions as to its nature”.
When reading the sermon on the Mount, it is easy to see what Ellen White wrote. Jesus did not fight false beliefs by proving to people that they were wrong. He did something else, revealed to them the conditions of salvation, and left them to draw their conclusions. He explained that salvation does not depend on origin but on the character of a person. Belonging to the Jewish nation, circumcision, or observing Judaic ceremonies cannot guarantee anyone entry into the kingdom of heaven. The door to Heaven can be opened by such character traits as love, patience, kindness, goodness, meekness, and temperance, these are the qualities the apostle Paul wrote about in his letter to the Galatians. Those who feel poor in spirit will be able to enter Heaven; those who look sadly at the effects of their sins and those who do not want to see the effects of their sins; those who are meek; those who thirst for righteousness; those who are merciful and finally those who are pure in heart.
„And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:28-29). People saw the difference between what Jesus taught and what the scribes taught. Jesus' words touched their hearts, and although they were shocked, many of them felt that Jesus was proclaiming truths from God, they felt God's power in His words.
„The multitudes were amazed at this teaching, which was so at variance with the precepts and example of the Pharisees (…) The people were silenced, and a feeling of fear crept over them. They looked at one another doubtfully. Who of them would be saved if this Man’s teachings were true?” (DA 305.1).
People asked themselves these questions and couldn't just ignore the teachings they heard. Although they were a contradiction of what they had believed so far, the impressions Jesus made on them prevented them from turning away from the truths they had heard and wanted to continue to listen to Him. „When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him” (Matthew 8:1).
Now let me move on to the last part of what Ellen White said about the sermon on the Mount.
„The truths He taught are no less important to us than to the multitude that followed Him. We no less than they need to learn the foundation principles of the kingdom of God”
Probably none of us have any doubts that the truths preached by Jesus were important to those who listened to him, because they did not really understand the basic principles of God's Kingdom. However, do we have the same belief about us? Do we think we need to learn these truths? Is it not that the vast majority of Christians think they know these truths? I want to emphasize that Ellen White is not talking about better understanding or knowing certain details. She talks about learning the basics. Someone who knows them doesn't have to learn them. In a word, Ellen White tells us that we do not know the proper meaning of Jesus' teachings. Is it true? Are we in a similar situation to the people who listened to Jesus 2,000 years ago?
Everyone has to answer this question for himself. I just want to point out some parallels between the views of the Jews in Jesus' day and the views of many Christians today.
The Jews believed that salvation was available only to Jews, and only to those who scrupulously followed religious ceremonies. Jesus showed that this was a false view. What does it look like today?
Among the many Christian denominations there are many who believe that salvation is only available to those who belong to the same church as them. There are also many denominations that attach great importance to religious ceremonies. And I am not talking only about typically religious ceremonies, such as a mass or worship service, but also various types of meetings, often combined with concerts of Christian music. I am not saying that they are evil itself, but if someone thinks that participating in all these ceremonies can save him and at the same time does not pay attention to what Jesus said in the sermon on the Mount about importance of character, he is making the same mistake which the Jews were doing. They, too, did not pay attention to the importance of human character and what a person holds in their own heart.
Even those who believe that church membership does not bring salvation often make the mistake of disregarding the need to have the right character. The poor in spirit finds nothing in himself that has any spiritual value, and a person with a pure heart is not only unattached to any wrong thing, but even dislikes and loathes them. Jesus said that "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit" (Matthew 7:18). Jesus did not say that most of the fruit on a good tree is good, but all of them. Jesus did not say that you can sometimes find bad fruit in a good tree, he said it was impossible. It is very important to understand that Jesus in his sermon on the Mount did not say how a person can achieve a state of purity of heart, how he can become poor in spirit, meek, humble, merciful or thirsty for justice. This is not in the sermon on the Mount, but there is a necessity to achieve this. How many Christians today believe that character defects are of minor importance and not an obstacle to salvation?
The Jews believed that by keeping outward obedience, they could be freed from the consequences of sin by offering sacrifices. They were convinced that the blood of sacrificial animals washes away their sins and that they were lifted from them. However, the act of making a blood sacrifice was very often not associated with repentance and the will to change one's life, consisting primarily of turning away from sin. Many Jews made sacrifices but were unwilling to change their way of life and were not about to give up some sinful practices. Do we not see a similar problem today? How many of us feel that the sin problem is solved because Jesus' blood washes away our sins, but at the same time we see no problem in our character defects being revealed from time to time. Do we crave justice as a dying man in the desert desires to reach an oasis to drink water? Jesus shed His blood for us, but does that blood change us into new creatures? „For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature” (Galatians 6:15). Jesus shed His blood for us, but did the awareness of His sacrifice make us newborn men and make us completely new people, of course in a spiritual sense? As new born Christians, have we forsaken all that is bad, and do we feel what Jesus feels for every kind of sin? If not, we are making the same mistake that the Jews did in Jesus' day and that many people did before and after. Jesus says to each of us: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). In the sermon on the Mount He showed who the newborn man is, a man who can not only see, but can also enter the Kingdom of God. And He also made it clear that whoever was not born again did not undergo a complete inner transformation, after which his heart became pure, not only would he not enter the Kingdom of God, but would not even see it.
Since being born again is so important, even crucial, how can a person be born again? Jesus explained to Nicodemus that this is only possible if a person wishes it and will allow the Holy Spirit to make all the necessary changes. There is only one way to earn this desire. "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:14-15). When the Israelites were attacked in the desert by poisonous serpents, the only way to avoid death was to look at the bronze serpent that Moses had made at God's command. And as the Israelites looked at the bronze serpent, we must look at Jesus to know the truth about God, about His character, to be amazed by this truth and to love God with all our heart. This knowledge of God leads to a new birth. „And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3).
Have I already met Jesus? If I see even the slightest attachment to sin in myself, I have not known Him yet. Have you already known him? What do you see when you look in the mirror?
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