Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

– Matthew 7:15

Thoughts on Today’s Verse…

In this verse, the Lord Jesus taught us to learn to discern people, not from their exterior, but from their substance. Some people externally serve the Lord and preach the Bible to others all day, but they never act according to the word of God, but deliberately oppose God. Such people do not genuinely believe in God. This makes me think of hypocritical Pharisees: They purposely prayed in the synagogue and on the street corners; when they fasted, they’d purposely have a sad expression on their faces to let people know they were fasting; they purposely donated on the street, making sure that other people saw them do it; they even followed many of the traditional rules such as, “Do not eat unless you’ve washed your hands thoroughly,” etc. From the outside, they were very devout. However, when the Lord Jesus came to work, in order to save their own positions, they flagrantly made up lies and bore false witness to condemn and resist the Lord Jesus. In the end, they even colluded with the prefect to crucify the Lord Jesus. This shows that they were ravening wolves and had the essence of hating the truth. Therefore, we must diecern people according to the word of God, and observe whether this person accepts and loves the truth, instead of just looking at his appearance.