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FEBRUARY 6
6 Its rising is from one end of heaven,
And its circuit to the other end;
And there is nothing hidden from its
heat. 23:25 you cleanse the outside.The Pharisees’
focus on external issues lay at the heart of their
Proverbs 6:30–31
error.Who would want to drink from a cup that
30 People do not despise a thief had been washed on the outside but was still
If he steals to satisfy himself when he filthy inside? Yet the Pharisees lived their lives
is starving. as if external appearance were more important
31 Yet when he is found, he must restore than internal reality.That was the very essence
sevenfold; of their hypocrisy, and Jesus rebuked them for
He may have to give up all the it repeatedly.
substance of his house.
Matthew 23:23–39 vipers! How can you escape the condemnation
of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you
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23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hyp-
ocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them
you will kill and crucify, and some of them you
and cummin, and have neglected the weighti- will scourge in your synagogues and perse-
er matters of the law: justice and mercy and cute from city to city, that on you may come
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faith. These you ought to have done, without all the righteous blood shed on the earth,
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leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood
strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hyp- of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you
ocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup murdered between the temple and the altar.
36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will
and dish, but inside they are full of extortion come upon this generation.
and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first
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37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills
cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the the prophets and stones those who are sent to
outside of them may be clean also.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hyp- her! How often I wanted to gather your children
ocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her
wings, but you were not willing! See! Your
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which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but house is left to you desolate; for I say to you,
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inside are full of dead men’s bones and all you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed
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uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ ”
appear righteous to men, but inside you are
full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hyp-
ocrites! Because you build the tombs of the
prophets and adorn the monuments of the
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righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days 23:39 you shall see Me no more. Christ’s
of our fathers, we would not have been par- public teaching ministry was over. He with-
takers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ drew from national Israel until the time yet
31 “Therefore you are witnesses against your- future when they will recognize Him as
selves that you are sons of those who mur- Messiah (Rom. 11:23–26). Then Christ quoted
from Psalm 118:26.
dered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure
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of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of
DAY 6:What broke Jesus’ heart about His people?
Read Jesus’lament over Jerusalem in Matthew 23:37:“I wanted to gather your children together,...
but you were not willing!” God is utterly sovereign and therefore fully capable of bringing to pass
whatever He desires (see Is. 46:10)—including the salvation of whomever He chooses (Eph. 1:4,5).
Yet, He sometimes expresses a wish for that which He does not sovereignly bring to pass (see Gen.
6:6; Deut. 5:29; Ps. 81:13; Is. 48:18). Such expressions in no way suggest a limitation on the sover-
eignty of God or imply any actual change in Him (Num. 23:19). But these statements do reveal
essential aspects of the divine character: He is full of compassion, sincerely good to all, desirous of
good, not evil—and therefore not delighting in the destruction of the wicked (Ezek. 18:32; 33:11).

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