Denouncing the Pharisees
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been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye
be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them who
killed the prophets.” The Jews were very particular to beautify the
tombs of the dead prophets as evidence of their esteem for them; yet
they did not profit by their teachings, nor regard their reproofs and
warnings.
In the days of Christ a superstitious regard was cherished for the
tombs of the dead. This was frequently carried to the verge of idolatry,
and vast sums of money were lavished upon their decoration. The
same species of idolatry is carried to great lengths today, and especially
by the Roman Church. But the Christian world at large are guilty of
neglecting the widow and the fatherless, the poor and afflicted, to
erect expensive monuments in honor of the dead. Time, money, and
labor are not stinted for this purpose, while duties to the living are
neglected. The Pharisees built the tombs of the prophets and garnished
their sepulchers, and said one to another, If we had lived in those days
we should not have been partakers with those who shed the blood of
God’s servants. Yet at the same time they were planning to destroy the
Son of God, and would not have hesitated to imbrue their hands in his
blood if they had not feared the people.
This condition of the Pharisees should be a lesson to the Christian
world of the present day; it should open their eyes to the power of
Satan to deceive human minds when they once turn from the precious
light of truth, and yield to the control of the enemy. Many follow in the
track of the Pharisees. They revere the martyrs who died for their faith;
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and declare that, had they lived in the days when Christ was upon earth,
they would have gladly received his teachings and obeyed them; they
would never have been partakers of the guilt of those who rejected the
Saviour. But these very persons stifle their honest convictions at any
cost rather than yield obedience to God when it involves self-denial
and humiliation. In our day the light shines clearer than in the time of
the Pharisees. Then the people were to accept Christ as revealed in
prophecy, and to believe on him through the evidences which attended
his mission. The Jews saw in Jesus a young Galilean without worldly
honor, and, though he came as prophecy foretold he would come,
they refused to accept their Messiah in poverty and humiliation, and
crucified him, as prophecy foretold they would do.