I

Do you wish to know the root of why the Pharisees opposed Jesus?

Do you wish to know the essence of the Pharisees?

They were full of fantasies about the Messiah,

and believed only that the Messiah would come,

yet did not pursue the life truth.

So, even today they still await the Messiah,

for they have no knowledge of the way of life,

and do not know what the way of truth is.

How, say you, could such foolish,

stubborn and ignorant people gain God’s blessing?

How could they behold the Messiah?

II

They opposed Jesus

because they did not know the direction of the Holy Spirit’s work,

because they didn’t know the way of truth spoken by Jesus,

and, furthermore, because they did not understand the Messiah.

And since they had never seen the Messiah

and had never been in the company of the Messiah,

they made the mistake of clinging to the mere name of the Messiah

while opposing the essence of the Messiah by any means possible.

These Pharisees in essence were stubborn, arrogant, and did not obey the truth.

The principle of their belief in God was:

No matter how profound Your preaching,

no matter how high Your authority,

You are not Christ unless You are called the Messiah.

III

Is this belief not preposterous and ridiculous?

Is it not easy for you to commit the mistakes of the Pharisees,

given that you have not the slightest understanding of Jesus?

Are you able to discern the way of truth?

Can you truly guarantee that you will not oppose Christ?

Are you able to follow the work of the Holy Spirit?

If you don’t know whether you will oppose Christ,

then God says that you are already living on the brink of death,

living on the brink of death.

from The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. By the Time You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus, God Will Have Made Heaven and Earth Anew