The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 20

The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 20 - Christogenea on Talkshoe 11-09-2012

1 And it came to pass on one of the days of His teaching the people in the temple and announcing the good message, there appeared the high priests and the scribes with the elders 2 and they spoke, saying to Him “Tell us, by what sort of authority do You do these things? Or who is it who has given to You that authority?”

The Codices Alexandrinus (A), Washingtonensis (W) and the Majority Text have merely priests, rather than high priests. The text follows the Codices Sinaiticus (>א), Vaticanus (B), Ephraemi Syri (C) and Bezae (D).

3 But replying He said to them “I also shall ask you a question, and you must tell Me:

The word λόγος (3056) is rendered as question here, but it most literally means a word.

4 The immersion of Iohannes, was it from of heaven or from of men?”

The Pharisees had not gone to John because they thought of being baptized by him. They really went to see what he was doing, and why he thought he had such license to baptize. In Luke chapter 7, after Christ explains to the people that John was indeed a prophet, we see these words: “29 And all the people heard, and the tax-collectors deemed Yahweh just, being immersed in the immersion of Iohannes. 30 But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of Yahweh in regard to themselves, not being immersed by him.” Here Christ challenges them concerning this, which is also recorded in Matthew chapter 21and Mark chapter 11. From here we can also see that it is not improper to answer a question with a question in return, a rhetorical device eschewed by many today.

5 So they had reckoned together among themselves saying that “If we say ‘from heaven’, He will say ‘For what reason did you not believe him?’ 6 But if we say ‘from men’, all the people shall stone us. For it is believed that Iohannes is a prophet.” 7 And they replied not knowing from where. 8 And Yahshua said to them “Neither shall I tell you by what sort of authority I do these things.”

The Pharisees could not properly answer Christ, so He did not have to answer them! It is also evident that their authority over the people was built upon license and pretense, and not upon the substance of any true knowledge. Public exposure such as this must have greatly vexed the Pharisees.

From Paul's epistle to the Colossians, chapter 2: “8 Watch that there be no one captivating you through philosophy and vain deceit, in accordance with the tradition of men, in accordance with the elements of the Society, and not in accordance with Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Divinity bodily, 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all sovereignty and authority, 11 by whom you also are circumcised, with a circumcision not made by hand, in the putting off of the body of flesh, in the circumcision of the Anointed; 12 being buried together with Him in that immersion by which also you were raised up together through the faith of the operation of Yahweh who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in transgressions and in the foreskin of your flesh, you He made alive together with Him, forgiving us all those transgressions. 14 Having wiped out the handwriting against us in the ordinances which were opposed to us, even this He has taken out of the way, nailing it to the cross. 15 Stripping the sovereignties and authorities which He exposed publicly, triumphing over them in it.”

Here we see Yahshua Christ publicly exposing the priests and rulers for their folly, the “stripping the sovereignties and authorities”, as Paul later discusses in his epistle.

9 Then He began to speak to the people this parable: “A man had planted a vineyard, and he hired it out to husbandmen and departed the country for a considerable time.

The word ἐκδίδομι (1554) is literally “to give up, surrender”, but in this context “to hire out”, as Liddell & Scott attest that the word was also used in the classics “to give out for money, let out for hire”.

This parable closely resembles the ministry and mission of Christ, much like the one featuring the man who traveled to a distant land to receive a kingdom which is found in Luke chapter 19. However the key to understanding the real meaning of this parable lies in the identity of the husbandmen. Here we see that the husbandmen merely received control of the vineyard for hire. They were not appointed by the vineyard owner, but rather they were tenants, having no intrinsic connection to the owner.

However, as we shall see in the subsequent verses, the husbandmen received control of the vineyard but never paid the vineyard owner for its use. We then see in verse 14 that the husbandmen also have no share in the inheritance of the vineyard owner, unless they kill the rightful heir and usurp the vineyard. It is clear, therefore, that the husbandmen are not from among the children of Israel, but that they are outsiders having no part in the inheritance of Israel. This would accurately describe those Edomite jews who had usurped the Kingdom of Judaea and all of its stations and offices during the decades leading up to and during the time of the earthly life of Christ.

However the iniquity in Jerusalem goes back much further in time than that, and the servants sent by the vineyard owner certainly seem to represent the prophets of old. It is clear in the books of those prophets, that the iniquity of Judah in antiquity had sprung from the same source which it did in the time of Christ.

Malachi 2: “7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. 8 But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. 9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law. 10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god. 12 The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.”

Judah had a Canaanite wife. One of the tribes of Judah, the descendants of Shelah, descended from that wife. In Ezekiel chapter 16 we are given more explicitly the reason for much of the sin in Judah, where the words of the prophet say of Jerusalem: “1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, 3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.”

Now these words were not spoken of all of Judah, for most of the tribe had been taken away by the Assyrians, along with the rest of the tribes of Israel. However these words were spoken to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who were being forewarned that they would be taken away to Babylon. The prophet Jeremiah, in chapter 24 of his book, records two baskets of figs which Yahweh showed to him. One basket was good, and one basket was very evil. Jeremiah 24:8 tells us that the princes of Judah would be handed over to those evil figs, and therefore it is evident that the evil figs are not true Israelites. Once handed over to the evil figs, then the princes of Judah would become a curse, which we see in Jeremiah 24:9: “And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.” These are the jews of today, who descended partially from Judah, but also partially from the accursed Canaanites and Edomites of the Old Testament.

10 And in the proper season he sent to those husbandmen a servant, that they should give to him from the fruit of the vineyard. But the husbandmen flailing him sent him away empty-handed. 11 Then he proceeded to send another servant, but him also flailing and dishonoring they sent away empty-handed. 12 Then he proceeded to send a third, and also injuring him they cast him out.

These servants seem to represent the prophets of Israel. We are not informed of the ends of any of the prophets whose books appear in our extant Scriptures, except for perhaps a couple of apocryphal accounts. Yet where in the Old Testament we see the priests of Yahweh being slain, it is by Doeg the Edomite, as we see in 1 Samuel chapter 22, or Jezebel the whore-queen, as we see in 1 Kings chapter 18 (also see 2 Kings 9:7).

13 Then the master of the vineyard said ‘What shall I do? I shall send my beloved son, perhaps they shall respect him!’ 14 But seeing him the husbandmen reasoned to one another saying ‘This is the heir! Come now! We should kill him, in order that the inheritance would be ours!’ 15 And casting him outside the vineyard they killed him.

Now the nature of the husbandmen has not changed. If Edomite jews were primarily responsible for the murder of Christ, which the New Testament clearly establishes, then those who killed the prophets in the Old Testament must have been thus related.

Therefore what shall the master of the vineyard do to them? 16 He shall come and he shall destroy those husbandmen and shall hire out the vineyard to others!” But hearing they said “May it not be!”

The phrase μή γένοιτο when translated is in most places in the Christogenea New Testament rendered rather literally as “may it not be”. It is often used by Paul as an exclamation, and by the King James Version is usually rendered “God forbid!” This account relates that those hearing the parable made such an exclamation, and therefore they knew already that Christ intended the husbandmen of the parable to describe the rulers and priests whom He was addressing. The vineyard was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Paul described that destruction ahead of time in his epistle to the Romans, where he said to them “Now Yahweh of peace will crush the Adversary under your feet quickly.” The people of Jerusalem, those who were the Adversary, or Satan, who murdered Christ the appointed Son, and who had also killed the prophets of old, were not actual Israelites. These things are also made clear in Luke chapter 11 and John chapter 8 where in both places Christ relates them to Cain, a “murderer from the beginning”, and also in Revelation 2:9 and 3:9 where He tells us explicitly that they claim to be Judaeans, but are not, but that they are of the Adversary, or the “synagogue of Satan”.

17 Then looking upon them He said “So what is this which is written, ‘The stone which the builders have rejected, this has come to be for the head cornerstone’?

The Greek word γωνία (1137) is literally only “a corner, angle” (Liddell & Scott), where since λίθος (3037, stone) is already the subject, cornerstone is inferred from the context. The quote is from Psalm 118:22.

Psalm 118: “19 Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD: 20 This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter. 21 I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. 22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. 23 This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.”

Isaiah 28: “14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. 15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: 16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” We shall read the subsequent verses of this passage after reading the next verse in this chapter of Luke.

18 All falling upon that stone shall be broken in pieces, and upon whom it may fall, he shall be scattered like chaff!”

Isaiah 28: “17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. 18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. 19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.”

The children of Israel are promised redemption and deliverance in that stone, for Yahweh says “and your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand”. His salvation as promised for Israel is unconditional, it shall not fail regardless of their sin. All Israel, as the Scripture says, shall indeed be saved. Yet in regards to the enemies of Christ, to the Edomite jews, who are those who rejected Him, “All falling upon that stone shall be broken in pieces, and upon whom it may fall, he shall be scattered like chaff!”

19 And the scribes and the high priests sought to lay hands upon Him at that hour, yet they feared the people. For they knew that He spoke this parable concerning them. 20 And watching closely they sent spies, pretending themselves to be righteous, in order that they may intercept His speech, so as to hand Him over to the office and the authority of the governor.

The Greek word ἐπιλαμβάνω (1949), most literally “to receive upon” is to intercept here, but at verse 26 of this chapter and in a somewhat different context it is to object to. Generally “to lay hold of, seize, attack” (Liddell & Scott), perhaps in both cases the sense is to capture [the words of Christ] for the purpose of objecting [to them]. In their Greek-English Lexicon Liddell & Scott offer several examples of the word’s use as it is found both here and in verse 26.

When, in the time of Herod Archelaus, Judaea was reduced from the status of a Kingdom to a Province, under Roman law the local authorities could no longer try capital offenses. They were required to bring anyone charged with such a crime before the Roman authority, which was at this time Pontius Pilate, the Proconsul. The only capital offense that could be imagined for which the rulers of Judaea could bring Yahshua Christ before Pilate was treason against Rome, and for that reason they later made a point of accusing Him of claiming to be King. Here in the account which follows they are looking for any treasonable offense they can use to charge Him.

21 And they questioned Him saying “Teacher, we know that You speak and You teach correctly and You do not receive one’s stature, but with truth You teach the way of Yahweh.

The word πρόσωπον (4383) is most literally face, but also appearance. Here in this context it is stature or status. James chapter 2 makes it quite clear that such is the meaning of the phrase, which is literally to receive one's face.

22 Is it lawful for us to give tribute tax to Caesar or not?” 23 But perceiving their villainy He said to them 24 “Show Me a denarion. Whose image and inscription does it have?” And they said: “Caesar’s!”

There are various additions, or embellishments, to the text of verse 24 which are found among various of the oldest manuscripts. Some of them are seen in the King James Version.

25 So He said to them: “Accordingly you render the things of Caesar to Caesar, and the things of Yahweh to Yahweh.” 26 And they were not able to object to the saying before the people, and being astonished by His answer they were silenced.

The word ἐπιλαμβάνω (1949) is to object to here, where at verse 20 it is rendered to intercept.

There are many patriots on the Christian Right, for want of better terms, who are tax protestors or who are otherwise enraged by the modern tyranny which we see our White nations suffer today. Some of these people put their rage into action, and end up in prison if not even worse off than prison. There were also tax protestors in the time of Christ, as the story of Judas the Galilaian is told by Flavius Josephus, and they too failed. Where these people all especially fail is in not realizing that a tyrannical government is a trial from Yahweh our God imposed upon a sinful people. There is no overthrow of the tyranny. The only Scriptural escape which is offered is a repentance of the people, and as long as the people remain sinful, they shall be oppressed. Here Christ recognizes that if Caesar's name is on the coin, then Caesar has a valid claim on the coin. Likewise the Federal Reserve Notes of today. However if we pay Caesar what Caesar requires, Christ tells us that we shall be free to give the things to God that He is also due. So doing, then that is where the Christian reward is found.

27 Then coming forth some of the Sadducees, those saying that there is not a resurrection, questioned Him

As we did in the discussion of this same account as it appeared in Matthew chapter 22, from which the following notes are copied, at this point it may be meet to see in detail the beliefs of the Sadducees, and even to contrast some of the beliefs of the Pharisees, although the Pharisees will not be discussed at great length presently, from the pages of Josephus and then from statements which appear in the Book of Acts.

Josephus, Antiquities 13:173: “And for the Sadducees, they take away fate, and say there is no such thing, and that the events of human affairs are not at its disposal; but they suppose that all our actions are in our own power, so that we are ourselves the causes of what is good, and receive what is evil from our own folly. However, I have given a more exact account of these opinions in the second book of the Judaean War.”

Josephus, Antiquities 18:12-17: 12 Now, for the Pharisees, they live lowly, and despise delicacies in diet; and they follow the conduct of reason, and what that prescribes to them as good for them, they do; and they think they ought earnestly to strive to observe reason's dictates for practice [a glimpse of humanism]. They also pay a respect to such as are in years; nor are they so bold as to oppose them in anything which they have introduced; 13 and, when they determine that all things are done by fate, they do not take away the freedom from men of acting as they think fit; since their notion is, that it has pleased God to make a temperament whereby what he wills is done, but so that the will of man can act virtuously or viciously. 14 They also believe that souls have an immortal rigor in them, and that under the earth there will be rewards or punishments, according as they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life; and the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but that the former shall have power to revive and live again; [so we see where the Catholic ideas of punishment and reward originated] 15 on account of which doctrines, they are able greatly to persuade the body of the people; and whatever they do about divine worship, prayers, and sacrifices, they perform them according to their direction; insomuch that the cities give great attestations to them on account of their entire virtuous conduct, both in the actions of their lives and their discourses also. [So we see a little about the Pharisees, who did not have it all wrong, although it is clear from the Gospel alone that they made many errors.] 16 But the doctrine of the Sadducees is this:--That souls die with the bodies [understanding this, we now have an understanding of Christ's interaction with them as recorded in the Gospel here in this chapter of Luke]; nor do they regard the observation of anything besides what the law enjoins them, for they think it an instance of virtue to dispute with those teachers of philosophy whom they frequent; 17 but this doctrine is received but by a few, yet by those still of the greatest dignity [the Sadducees were the party of the wealthy]; but they are able to do almost nothing by themselves [alone there were not enough of them to administer government]; for when they become magistrates, as they are unwillingly and by force sometimes obliged to be, they addict themselves to the notions of the Pharisees, because the multitude would not otherwise bear them [there was not enough of them to force their convoluted opinions on the majority – since the Sadducees were the high priests at the time of the Passion, understanding this is important when it comes to scrutinizing who should bear the responsibility for the crucifixion of Christ].

Josephus went on to describe the Essenes – who seemed in many ways to most closely represent the true path of the Word of God and the common and simple people of Judaea, but they also had some errors, and he also described a fourth sect, very vehemently anti-Roman, founded by Judas the Galilaian some decades before the time of Christ. I am convinced that it is this sect which was responsible for what has become known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, but that is a topic for another time.

Josephus, Wars of the Judaeans 2:164-166: 164 But the Sadducees are those who compose the second order, and take away fate entirely, and suppose that God is not concerned in our doing or not doing what is evil; and they say, that to act what is good, or what is evil, 165 is at men's own choice, and that the one or the other belongs so to everyone, that they may act as they please. They also take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades. 166 Moreover, the Pharisees are friendly to one another, and are for the exercise of concord, and regard for the public; but the behaviour of the Sadducees one toward another is in some degree wild; and their conduct with those who are of their own party is as barbarous as if they were strangers to them. And this is what I had to say concerning the philosophic sects among the Judaeans.

Acts 5:17 shows that the high priests at the time, who were also the high priests who condemned Christ, were of the Sadducees: “Then stood up the high priest and all those with him, being of the sect of the Sadducees, filled with jealousy”. It is, however, obvious from the testimony of Josephus, that the Sadducees would not have had the ability to condemn Christ if it were not for the approval of at least many of the Pharisees.

At Acts chapter 23 we see that Paul was able to cause strife and a division between the Pharisees and the Sadducees at the council by loudly asserting that he was being tried for contention over the resurrection of the dead. 23:8 says: “For indeed the Sadducees say that there is not to be a resurrection, nor are there messengers nor a spirit, but Pharisees confess both things.”

Now that we have a fuller understanding of the beliefs held by the Sadducees, and to some degree by the Pharisees also, it may be evident why Yahshua is never found consorting with Sadducees, while there are many times where He consorted with the Pharisees. Evidently, many Pharisees were indeed redeemable Israelites, while the Sadducees were absolutely beyond redemption! But here it is described, that they accosted Him in order to entrap Him.

27 Then coming forth some of the Sadducees, those saying that there is not a resurrection, questioned Him 28 saying “Teacher, Moses had written for us ‘If one’s brother should die having a wife, and he should be childless, that he should take the wife of his brother and raise up offspring for his brother.’ 29 Therefore there were seven brothers, and the first taking a wife died childless. 30 And the second, 31 and the third had taken her, and in like manner even the seven not leaving children then died. 32 Later the woman also died. 33 Therefore the woman, in the resurrection, of which of them would she be a wife? For those seven have had her for a wife!”

This custom was observed in practice in Genesis chapter 38, of the first two Canaanite sons of Judah. The law itself which the Sadducees refer to and make their example from is found at Deuteronomy 25:5: “If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.”

34 And Yahshua said to them: “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those deemed worthy to obtain that age and the resurrection from the dead neither shall marry nor be given in marriage. 36 Indeed neither are they able to die thereafter. For they are like the messengers and are sons of Yahweh, being sons of the resurrection.

Here it may be evident that one must be a son of Yahweh in order to be a son of the resurrection, and a son of Yahweh must be a son of Adam, as can be told from Deuteronomy 14:1, Luke 3:38 and other Scriptures. The descendants of Noah were comprised of one race only, that being the White or Caucasian (Adamic) race, and not all of the world’s races. The veracity of this statement can be established not only by examining the meaning and use of variants of the Hebrew word for adam, but also by comparing the list of the nations of Genesis chapter 10 to the historic and archaeological records.

Yet nowhere, at least nowhere that I have seen in the Old Testament as we know it today, can this saying of Yahshua Christ's be found in Scripture. However there is a place where it is found, in writings that the Dead Sea Scrolls help to prove that at least a large portion of them as we know them now were indeed extant, read, and accepted in Judaea at the very time of Christ, and which the apostles themselves both quoted from directly or alluded to frequently in their epistles, and those writings are contained today in the book known to us as 1 Enoch. Here I shall quote from 1 Enoch 15:1-9, from the translation by R.H. Charles:

“1. And He answered and said to me, and I heard His voice: 'Fear not, Enoch, thou righteous man and scribe of righteousness: approach hither and hear my voice. 2. And go, say to ⌈⌈the Watchers of heaven⌉⌉, who have sent thee to intercede ⌈⌈for them: "You should intercede"⌉⌉ for men, and not men for you: 3. Wherefore have ye left the high, holy, and eternal heaven, and lain with women, and defiled yourselves with the daughters of men and taken to yourselves wives, and done like the children of earth, and begotten giants (as your) sons? 4. And though ye were holy, spiritual, living the eternal life, you have defiled yourselves with the blood of women, and have begotten (children) with the blood of flesh, and, as the children of men, have lusted after flesh and blood as those ⌈also⌉ do who die and perish. 5. Therefore have I given them wives also that they might impregnate them, and beget children by them, that thus nothing might be wanting to them on earth. 6. But you were ⌈formerly⌉ spiritual, living the eternal life, and immortal for all generations of the world. 7. And therefore I have not appointed wives for you; for as for the spiritual ones of the heaven, in heaven is their dwelling. 8. And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and on the earth shall be their dwelling. 9. Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men, ⌈⌈and⌉⌉ from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin; ⌈they shall be evil spirits on earth, and⌉ evil spirits shall they be called.”

Now we must be careful with the Enochic literature, especially since we have only a few copies of fragments that can be shown to be of great antiquity, which are those found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and also because 1 Enoch is not even a single book, but several separate books which were written at diverse times and concatenated at a later time. Yet here it is clear as to what Christ was referring to. The angels in heaven do not cohabit and multiply, even though they obviously have the ability, and they once made a conscious decision to use that ability on earth – which led to sin because they were not supposed to do what they did - cohabiting with the daughters of Adam, the same events which were described in Genesis chapter 6 although our Biblical records there also have some imperfections. Here, according to the words of Christ, it is evident that those of the resurrection may also have that ability, as the angels do, but will not use it. Or at least, they will not use it in heaven. (Here it may also be argued that Adam and Eve were indeed virgins in their own pre-fallen state, which other Scriptures indeed demonstrate.)

37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses had made known at the bramble-bush as he calls Yahweh the God of Abraham and the God of Isaak and the God of Jakob. 38 Now Yahweh is not of the dead but of the living, for they all live by Him.”

This challenge by the Sadducees and the response given here by Christ is also attested to in the Gospels of both Matthew (chapter 22) and Mark (chapter 12). Yahweh professes to be “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” in Exodus chapter 3 at verses 6 and 15. We have seen from Josephus that the Sadducees believed that the soul died along with the body, Here we see that they were wrong. If Yahweh is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, it naturally follows that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not dead, but living – and living in the spirit! We will not find it expressed in this manner, as Christ said, that Yahweh “is not God of the dead, but of the living”, in the Old Testament as we know it. Yet we do find similar statements in the apocryphal book known as 4 Maccabees, which I will offer here from my own translations of the Greek:

4 Maccabees 7:18-19: “18 But they who have thought for piety with all their heart, these alone are able to master the emotions of the flesh; 19 they who believe in God do not die; likewise neither do our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, for they live with God.”

4 Maccabees 16:25: “And then they also saw this, that they who die on account of God, they live with God; just as Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs.”

Likewise we have the event known as the Transfiguration on the Mount, which shows us this same thing, and the profession by Enoch which the apostle Jude quoted, that “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.” Yet those who are not of the White Adamic race do not have that Spirit, and these are those who are “twice dead”, as Jude calls them, and they have no hope to see the Kingdom of Heaven, as Christ explains in John chapter 3, because they are not born from above, where He states that unless a man is born from above, he shall not see the Kingdom of Heaven. We White Adamic people have life because we have that Spirit which is from of heaven which Yahweh imparted to Adamic Man, and which according to Paul's enigmatic description in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and according to John in the third chapter of his first epistle, is a part of our genetic heritage, which is what distinguishes us as being born from above. If one is born from above, he cannot die in the Spirit, because he has that Spirit of the Almighty God within him!

39 Then replying some of the scribes said “Teacher, You have spoken well!” 40 Therefore no longer daring did they inquire anything of Him.

The Sadducees could not answer or argue with Christ. However they still maintained their errors, as can be told from Acts chapter 23 where over 25 years after the crucifixion, Paul exclaims that he is being tried for a belief in a resurrection thereby creating a division and a tumult between the Pharisees and Sadducees who were present to try him.

41 Then He said to them “How do they say that the Christ is to be a son of David? 42 For David himself says in the book of Psalms: ‘Yahweh has said to my master, sit at My right hand, 43 until when I shall place Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet.’ 44 Therefore David calls Him ‘master’, yet how is He his Son?”

The quote in verses 42 and 43 is from Psalm 110:1, and the Greek text of Luke, except for minor variations in a few manuscripts, is virtually identical to that of the Septuagint. The first few words of the Greek phrase in the quote from the Psalm in verse 42 is εἶπεν κύριος τῶ κυρίῳ μου, which is rendered in the King James Version as “The Lord said unto my Lord”. In both the Greek and English versions it is the same in Psalms and here in Luke. However to render the phrase so that it makes sense in English while maintaining the sense of what was apparently the original Hebrew, I have resorted to the Masoretic Text. The first occurrence of “Lord”, the Greek κύριος, in the Masoretic Text is from the Strong’s Hebrew #3068 which is the Tetragrammaton, Yahweh, and the second is from the Strong’s Hebrew #113, adon, and so here it is rendered Master. The context surely supports the rendering. It must also be noted that the continued use of the Greek word κύριος referring to Christ shows that Yahshua was not uncomfortable with the Septuagint usage of the term, which was so often applied to Him by the apostles.

Here Yahshua is not claiming for Himself to be the Christ, although of course He is the Christ. Instead, He is using the concept of the Christ as it is found in the Scriptures to again challenge the Sadducees' denial of the unseen spiritual world. Here is the Christian paradox: How could Yahshua Christ be the Lord, or Master, of David His father, contrary to all Hebrew Biblical protocol? But that is not the only such paradox relating to Christ. How could Christ be the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, if Yahweh in Isaiah makes that that same claim in reference to Himself? (Compare Isaiah 44:6 and 48:12 with Revelation 1:11, 1:17, 2:8 and 22:13.) How could Christ be both the root and the offspring (or branch) of David's father Jesse? (See Isaiah 11:10, and Revelation 22:16.)

Isaiah 11:1, 10: “1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots ... 10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.” How could a root of Jesse exist far future to the time of Jesse?

There are other such Christian paradoxes in reference to Christ, however they can only be understood by the discernment of one basic fact: Yahshua Christ is Yahweh God Himself come as a man, one of His Own children. He is the Father, and He is the Son. There are many New Testament passages which make such assertions. Any other understanding is basically a denial of the Gospel, the Law, and the Prophets.

45 Then with all of the people hearing, He said to His students: 46 “Beware of the scribes who wish to walk about in robes and love the greetings in the markets and the first benches in the assembly halls and the best seats at the dinners. 47 They devour the houses of widows and in pretense they pray at length. They shall receive much greater judgment.”

The professional priesthood is a parasitical class which devises lies for the people in order to maintain their own control and their lavish lifestyles. We see the same thing throughout history, unto this very day, no matter the religion or the denomination. When I was a younger man, I lived in the parish called Saint Henry's in downtown Bayonne, NJ. The parish continually led an active campaign for many years, to get local Catholic widows to bequeath their property to the church. For that reason, in the early 1980's, they were by far the largest landlords in the area. When I was a child, in the third grade, I was sent on an errand in the mid-afternoon to the rectory. The woman servant allowed me entrance to stand inside the vestibule, and from there I could see the dining room, where the priests ate their meals. It was Saint Aidan's parish in Jersey City. Never since have I seen a dining room adorned so exquisitely, with rich wooden walls and ceilings and furnishings with engraved and beveled glass, or a table set so lavishly, with silver and crystal. At a young age I became ambivalent towards such people who were always looking for money from others yet living far above those who supported them in a working-class neighborhood. Many widows' houses were devoured so that the Catholic Church could obtain its riches. The ancient Pharisees were no different, and neither are the rabbis, imams, or most Protestant preachers in the modern world.