Behold “The Seh!”

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.“— Matthew 7:21-23

“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

— John 6:40

Reflection:

Who is Jesus ultimately addressing when He utters those stomach dropping words of rejection: “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness”? The context of the scripture clearly reveals it. He is warning the people of “false prophets”.

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

— Matthew 7:15

And before He mentions false prophets, He teaches this:

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

— Matthew 7:13-14

From the overall context of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we see that Jesus is essentially contrasting Himself with the current leadership of Israel. They are the false judges - like actors in a theatre production - who love to judge the “specks” in other people’s eyes while having “logs” stuck in their own. They are the ones we see Jesus correcting over and over again with regard to their interpretation of the Law. After He mentions that His purpose is to “fulfill the Law”, not “abolish” it, He then declares this:

“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

— Matthew 5:19-20

There it is. Right in front of our faces. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is contrasting the “righteousness” which the religious leaders of Israel claim as their own, with the “righteousness” which is REALLY required, and which He came to fulfill. They claim to sit on the chair of Moses as the rightful interpreters of the Law, and of the justice according to the Law, and yet the “logs” in the eyes cause them to be completely blind to Jesus as “The Prophet” foretold by Moses in the Law!

“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.”

— Deuteronomy 18:15

Peter, James and John became three witnesses to this fact when they saw Jesus transfigured on the mountain and heard the Father’s voice thunder from heaven:

“This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!”

— Matthew 17:5

Jesus is not only “the Prophet” foretold by Moses who would come to the people of Israel, but He is also God’s only begotten Son! How much MORE should they “listen”!!

This is why the apostle John writes this about Jesus:

“For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”

— John 1:17

And Paul writes:

“For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.”

— Hebrews 3:4-6

Paul - who knew the Law very well as a former Pharisee - taught in his letters that the Law only brings condemnation. That was its purpose. But Jesus came bringing Justification for all who believe in Him.

This was (and is) the contrast. Jesus IS the (righteous) “narrow gate” that all Israel needed to pass through in order to be saved from the wrath to come against sin and rebellion. The “wide gate” which would lead to destruction was the current administration headed up by “the false prophets” of Israel. But. It is more acute and narrow than just a contrast between the teaching of religious leadership of Israel and the teaching of Jesus as “the Prophet” foretold of in the Law. The hard pill which all Israel (and the whole world downstream represented by Israel) had to swallow was Jesus’ work of atonement on the cross (on their behalf) as the complete fulfillment of the whole of the Law of Moses, yea - even the completion of all the Covenants and ALL of Scripture! Yea, even the fulfillment of all the “desire of nations”! In other words, Israel (and the whole world) had to accept Jesus as the end of the Old World of power and rule over others - for He is the rightful King which ALL rulers now must do homage to. For the Jews, He ends the entire Law, fulfilling it in His own person, and ushers in the New Covenant - and a new world - by the sheer, unmitigated grace of his sacrifice for our sins.

This proved to be TOO MUCH for many in Israel, especially the “wise and the learned one”. They could deal with a fiery Jewish prophet who spoke strongly for justice according to the Law. But this prophet had to at least uphold the “system” and grease” the parts to keep the “machine” tuned and running smoothly. But what they could NOT countenance was a prophet who would come “in the Name of YHWH” who would tear down the whole structure altogether! THAT was “the straw the broke the proverbial camel’s back”.

“And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

— Matthew 24:2

And it was this whole structure which became “the wide path” that would lead the nation Israel to wrath and destruction. (And correspondingly, every other nation and religion on earth which mirrors the same “model” revealed by Israel in the Scriptures.)

Why?

Because the whole “system” of purity, holiness and sacrifice - the “taste not, touch not” regulations of the Law (and of all religions on the earth) were only given to point to two things:

One: That man was under the wrath of God due to our “upward fall” to “be as God” in matters of power and rule over each other, yea - even over God Himself.

Two: That man needed a “righteousness” outside of ourselves - i.e. an “unblemished, sinless representative” - to shield us from eternal destruction which is the penalty for our rebellion.

In other words, all of the “works” of the “system” of purity, holiness and sacrifices which kept God “present” among the people in the Tabernacle and Temple were only prophetic pointers of “the Lamb” that God would ultimately provide on THAT holy mountain who would end the penalty of exile so that God could be “just” AND “justifier” all at the same time, thus revealing His righteousness to judge evil and reward the good. Every Israelite knew this from the Scriptures. For example, when Abraham took his “miraculous” son Isaac - the son of promise - up to THAT mountain to sacrifice him as a whole burnt offering to God, and when an angel of God stopped him before the knife slit Isaac’s throat, it was THEN made known that EVERY animal sacrifice offered from that point forward was only a temporary “measure” until the coming of the true son of promise, the “true lamb” who WOULD HAVE TO DIE for the people. We see this in the Hebrew language used describing the event.

“Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb (SEH) for the burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb (SEH) for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

— Genesis 22:7-8

Notice that Isaac asks where the “seh” (little lamb) is for the sacrifice. Abe then responds that God will provide the “little lamb”. Now notice what happens when the angel of God stops Abe from killing Isaac.

“Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram (AYIL) caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram (AYIL) and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.”

— Genesis 22:13-14

The “AYIL” (ram) replaces Isaac. But an “AYIL” is NOT a “little lamb”, (a “SEH”), but a mighty, mature adult ram. This reveals that “the SEH” will come later - - provided by God. Isaac is NOT that provision. Again, every Israelite knew this from the story.

Now, fast forward to the prophetic call of John the Baptist, the “a voice crying in the wilderness”:

“Behold, the Lamb (“SEH”) of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

— John 1:29

John the Baptist saw the “SEH” that was promised on the Mount of the Lord coming. And THAT “SEH” was Jesus - God the Son enfleshed. The whole entire Covenant was coming to a head. All the promises were going to be fulfilled by this coming “little lamb” who would finally “take away the sins of the world”!

I submit that this is “the narrow way”, the “gate” that Jesus was talking about and which the “false prophets” rejected in favor of the status quo of self-righteousness and power (rewarded by “religion” and “politics”) which paved ”the broad way”.

So, when Jesus confronted those who have “skin in the game” with regard to ‘the system of works” which they loved to boast in, He mentions only “one work” which mankind (represented by the priesthood of Israel) had to do which will finally and definitively save from the holy wrath to come:

“Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

— John 6:28-29

The false prophets may claim Jesus as mighty “Lord”, “Lord” and use His mighty name to cast out demons and perform miracles, but if they do not accept Him as the “little lamb” who came to “take away the sins of the world” - ending the whole system of Old Covenant sacrifices and kosher laws, as well as all other religious systems which turn man inward on himself - then they will not “be saved” from the coming wrath. To accept Him as the “SEH”, the true Son of promise, the “Prophet” foretold by Moses whom they were to “listen to”, was to accept God’s “new wine” which needed “new wine skins”. This they could not do because of their self-righteousness and pride as those who has “the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises”. In the end, it was pride in “the flesh” and their national boast as “Jews” that caused them to reject YHWH their God. And the scene of this rejection was His death on the cross. Their priestly and representative hands laid hold of their God YHWH, and they killed Him as the ultimate sacrifice, the final Passover SEH to end all sacrifices. They killed Him unwittingly for the good of the “gentile dogs”, which caused them to gnash their teeth! Yea - they killed Him for the good of whole world of fallen men and had no idea! And it was this - which YHWH predestined and orchestrated THROUGH the Law and their “priesthood” - which they could not admit or confess to. In the end, all of their “law-keeping” paradoxically became “lawlessness” resulting in Jesus’ terrifying words: “I never knew you”!

The “will of God” is easy.

“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life.” (John 6:40)

And in the end, THAT is what the world rejects. God put the cookies on the bottom shelf for us to eat, but we want to perform a “tightrope” act to keep people away from the “cookies”, and boast “in the flesh” for those who succeed in walking the “tightrope” of religion! This “game” reveals a hatred for God and His promises and a desire to “rule” (eat the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil) in His stead.

That is what ALL “religious (and political) activity” is in the end if we have eyes to see. It is a “boast” in our flesh that “we have done it” instead of boasting that “God has done it!”