PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 23:29-36
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?” (Matthew 23:33)
Jesus uses the word ‘gehenna’ (translated as hell) to describe the final judgment.
This was a valley near Jerusalem known for child sacrifice (2 Kings 23:10).
Jeremiah named it “the valley of slaughter” (Jeremiah 7:30-33).
In Jesus’s day it was a garbage dump, and where the worst of criminals were buried.
Worms ate the decomposing waste, and it always smoldered with fire (Mark 9:48).
To be told you were going there was to be called the worst of human beings.
To be called snakes and brood of vipers was to be called servants of Satan.
These religious leaders were not harmless seminary professors or church deacons.
They were guilty of oppressing and crushing the weak, just like child sacrifice.
They abused their power with cruelty yet cloaked their crimes in sanctity and piety.
The answer for ‘how will you escape’ is the same as for everyone else: REPENT.
They could change like Nicodemus, also a religious leader (John 3:1-21, John 19:38-42).
This ‘gehenna’ warning is used here for dramatic impact, to make these leaders think.
Jesus does not say this to everyone, but to those so hardened they need shock therapy.
PRAYER
Lord, You do not want anyone to experience gehenna judgment. Help me to see any behaviours in me that hurt the weak and vulnerable. If necessary, shock me into changing!
I’m no better than someone else or my parents or grandparents! Neither am I better than the people on the street. I may think I am, but I’m a sinner just as much as they are. They need the grace of forgiveness through Jesus just as much as I do! We are the same. They need to know about Jesus – the Good news – to be spared from eternal damnation and instead find life as a child of God – for they too are image bearers of God.
A hardened heart. That is true for all who go their own way, not listening to the voice of the Lord like the religious leaders of Jesus’ time or like pharaoh or like many kings or like many people today. Because their hearts were hardened they listened to their own voice. I need to listen to His voice and be like Samuel saying, Speak Lord for Your servant is listening.
Lord, speak to me, that I may speak
In living echoes of Thy tone;
As Thou hast sought, so let me seek
Thy erring children lost and lone.
2
O lead me, Lord, that I may lead
The wandering and the wavering feet;
O feed me, Lord, that I may feed
Thy hungering ones with manna sweet.
3
O strengthen me, that while I stand
Firm on the rock, and strong in Thee,
I may stretch out a loving hand
To wrestlers with the troubled sea.
4
O teach me, Lord, that I may teach
The precious things Thou dost impart;
And wing my words, that they may reach
The hidden depths of many a heart.
5
O give Thine own sweet rest to me,
That I may speak with soothing power
A word in season, as from Thee
To weary ones in needful hour.
6
O fill me with Thy fulness, Lord,
Until my very heart o’erflow
In kindling thought and glowing word,
Thy love to tell, Thy praise to show.
7
O use me, Lord, use even me,
Just as Thou wilt, and when, and where,
Until Thy blessed face I see,
Thy rest, Thy joy, Thy glory share!