The New Birth - Cross Reference

Topics Covered

Pharisees & Sadducees

Ezekiel and Vally of the dry bones

Moses and the Bronze Snake

Pharisees & Sadducees

Religion in the New Testament was definitly as diverse as we (the world is now)

There was definitly no shortage of religion

Especially when you factor in the pagan gods and those that the Romans brought to the table

And of course all of those differant religions influenced those around them

We see that throughout all of scripture

From the exodus and the plagues to

Jesus asking the disciples who he was on the very place known as the gate or hell or the worhsip place for the goddess pan

However, the most dominant in the 1st century Israel was that of Judaism

Within Judaism were the priests, the Temple, the synagogues, and the Sanhedrin

And within those the main sects were

the Pharisees

The Sadducees

and the Essenes (but we aren't going to get into them)

Honestly there were an estimated up to 7 different sects

But for our study and pertaining to Jesus etc

we are going to focus on the Pharisees

the Sadducees

and the Sanhedrin

2 of which Nicodemus was a member of

Briefly lets think of the Pharisees and and the Sadducees as two different sects

with the sanhedrin being a council if you will consisting of both parties

we can think of them as the republicans and democrates

with the sanhedrin being the senate or house (70 members) 71 with the high priest

Now, with that said lets dive in because Jesus has run ins with both of these groups

Its almost easier to compare and speak of their differences than the things they have in common

One thing they both had in common was the fact that they honored Moses and the Law quite a bit

And they both had political power as well as influence

Thats why together they formed the very powerful sanderin

That and the eventual collaboration to kill Jesus is about where the similarities end

Religiously the Sadducees were more conservative one doctrinal area

they insisted on the literal interpretation of the scriptures

The Pharisees on the other gave oral tradition equal authority to God word

remember this morning we talked about them making up more rules to help follow the rules

Given they had differing views of Scritpure its pretty obvious the argued over certain things

The Sadducees rejected a belief in the resurrection fo the dead

But the Pharisees did believe in the resurrecton

The sadducees did not believe in the afterlife, they thought the soul died when the physical body died

The Pharisees did believe in an afterlife, and they thought that in the afterlife you would recieve an appropriate reward or punishment for what you have done as an individual

The Sadducees rejected any type of unseen spiritual world

The Pharisees taught that angels and demons exist in the spiritual world

A good example of this is when Paul is being held up by the Sanhedrin in Acts 23 he mentions the resurrection of the dead

Which in turn caused a lot of arguing and thus he was able to get out of there

Just a couple more things before we move on

Socially, the Sadducees were more elite and well to do, more aristocratic if you will

They were typically more wealthy and thus able to hold more powerful positions

The chief priests and high priest were both sadducees

They also held more seats in the sanhedrin

the Pharisees represented the people probably more so than the sadducees

they were more of the common folk

they also held more respect from the masses than the sadducces

The sadducees focus of power was in the temple in jeruselm

while the pharisees controlled the synagogues

The Sadducees were friendlier with Rome

while the pharisees resisted Hellenization which is essentially the influence and culture of the romans or greeks

Strangely enough Jesus had more run ins with the Pharisees than with the sadducees

Probably because of their oral tradition

notably Mark 7:8 “Abandoning the command of God, you hold on to human tradition.””

among many more

The saduceess were more concerned with politics than religion

until, they began to fear and or notice the fact that Jesus may bring some unwanted attention from the romans and mess up the good thing they had going

Once this occured the decided to settle their differences and unite with the Pharisees in order to put christ to death

The Sadducees as a group ceased to excist after the destruction of the temple

but the Pharisees lived on for a few more centuries

**modern day rabbinic judaism**

Ezekiel and the Valley of the Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37

This and Ezekiel chapter 36 were eluded to this morning when Jesus explained the wind

In Ezekiel 36 - God announced, through the prophet, that Israel will be restored to her land in blessing under the leadership of “David, My servant [who] shall be king over them

Lets read 36:25-29

which is interesting considering the state of Israel at this time

see they had moved a long way away from God

The nation of Israel was dead

her land was essentially gone

she had no king

and the temple was essentially non existent

coming together as a nation seemed impossible

how would go do this

Well, God right

so to show how this would occur we get chapter 37

God transported Ezekiel—probably not literally, but in a vision—

to a valley full of dry bones and directed him to speak to the bones.

Ezekiel was to tell the bones that God would make breath enter the bones and they would come to life,

just as in the creation of man when He breathed life into Adam (Genesis 2:7).

Ezekiel obeyed, the bones came together, flesh developed, skin covered the flesh, breath entered the bodies, and they stood up in a vast army.

This vision symbolized the whole house of Israel that was then in captivity.

Like unburied skeletons, the people were in a state of living death, pining away with no end to their judgment in sight. They thought their hope was gone and they were cut off forever. The surviving Israelites felt their national hopes had been dashed and the nation had died in the flames of Babylon’s attack with no hope of resurrection. - The reviving of the dry bones signified God’s plan for Israel’s future national restoration.

The vision also, and most importantly, showed that Israel’s new life depended on God’s power and not the circumstances of the people.

Just like we spoke about this morning with the spirit and the wind

Putting “breath” by God’s Spirit into the bones showed that God would not only restore them physically but also spiritually. T

we know this will happen because of Christ

It is through him that our dry bones are made alive

Moses and the Bronze Snake

Numbers 21:8 “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake image and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover.””

Throughout the wandering within the wilderness God was constantly teaching them correct

teaching them things about himself as well as their own sinfulness

He took them to the same mountain that God revealed himself to Moses

Then to the promised land

Then when their faith failed (the spies report)

The didn’t thing that God could overcome the “giants” of the land

He sent them back into the wilderness until that generation died out

We can see that account in numbers 14

Now in numbers 21 they are discouraged again

and again mad at moses for bringing them into the wilderness

they had already forgotten it was their own fault that they got sent back

and now they were trying to blame it on Moses

As a judgment against the people God sent snakes into the camp

People began to die

they then recognized that they were the ones in sin and went back to moses asking for Gods Mercy

Moses prayed for them and God instructed him to do what we just read

Now this taught them something about faith

We all know that it wasn't the bronze image that healed them

but in faith they were to look at it believing that God could heal them

and it was an act in faith on Gods plan that any of them were healed at all

see the serpent on the stick reminded them of their sin which brought about the suffering they were currently experiencing

But it was in thier faith that God could heal that they were saved

There really to my best recollection, isnt any correlation to this being the snake in the garden of eden that deceived adam and eve

However I could see a possible correlation

What we saw this morning when Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus was him indicate to him that this bronze snake was a foreshadowing of Him

See the serpant was a symbol of sin and judgement

it was lifted upon a tree

it was a symbol of a curse

now lets look at

Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

The serpent lifted up on and cursed symbolized Jesus

who takes away sin from everyone that would look at him in faith

Paul here in galations is reminding us that Jesus became a curse for us

Even though he was perfect, sinless, and blameless,

the spotless lamb of God right…

2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Amen