What is the meaning of Luke 11:47? Woe to you! • Jesus declares, “Woe to you!” (Luke 11:47), the same solemn warning He used earlier in Luke 6:24–26 and later in Revelation 8:13. • A “woe” is not mere frustration; it is a divine verdict announcing coming judgment. Compare Isaiah 5:20, where God’s woes expose deep-seated rebellion. • Here the warning falls on the experts in the law (Luke 11:46). Their public piety masked hearts resistant to God’s voice—just as in Matthew 23:13-36, where Jesus repeats seven woes against the scribes and Pharisees. • The accuracy of Scripture assures us that every pronounced woe will unfold exactly as God intends (Numbers 23:19). For you build tombs for the prophets • They financed and decorated memorials to men like Isaiah, Amos, and Zechariah—prophets whose graves still attracted reverence centuries later (2 Kings 21:18, 2 Chronicles 24:22). • Outwardly, this looked like honoring God’s servants; inwardly, it was spiritual posturing. Acts 7:47-51 shows how people can celebrate religious history while resisting the God who authored it. • Their monuments implied, “Had we lived then, we would have listened.” Jesus exposes the pretense (Matthew 23:29-30): “You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them.’” • True honor for prophetic voices is seen in obedience, not stonework (John 14:23; James 1:22-25). but it was your fathers who killed them • The same lineage that erected memorials had a history of silencing God’s messengers—Elijah hunted (1 Kings 19:10), Jeremiah beaten (Jeremiah 20:2), Zechariah stoned in the temple courts (2 Chronicles 24:20-21). • Jesus insists the present generation inherits that guilt because they share the same unbelieving spirit (Luke 11:50-51). The pattern culminates in their rejection of “the Prophet” Himself (Acts 3:22-23; John 1:11). • By distancing themselves from their fathers’ crimes while repeating them, they confirmed Amos 5:21-24: religious ceremony cannot cover injustice. • Luke 11:48 adds, “So you are witnesses that you approve of the deeds of your fathers; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.” Agreement with sin—whether past or present—invites the very woe Jesus announced. summary • Jesus’ warning unmasks the hypocrisy of honoring dead prophets while ignoring the living God. • Building tombs did not absolve them; it highlighted agreement with a lineage of unbelief. • Scripture’s literal record of prophetic persecution stands as a sober reminder: God desires obedience over empty memorials. • The call remains: receive God’s Word today, lest the woes pronounced become the woes experienced (Hebrews 3:7-15). |
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