29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?” (Matthew 23:29–33 (ESV)
In the context of Matthew 23:13-36, Jesus heralded seven woes against the scribes and the Pharisees. Luke 11:37-54 records an earlier lamentation of six woes. Rather than an oracle from a prophet of God, these woes are an oracle from the God of the prophets; Jesus Christ.
” What really counts, as far as God is concerned, is what a man is on the inside, morally and spiritually (cf. 1 Sam. 16:7). The “lawlessness” here mentioned is not the condition of being without law but that of despising God’s law,” explains Dr. William Hendriksen.
As Matthew recorded in today’s text, Jesus uttered the final and most fervent of His seven woes against the scribes and Pharisees. His concluding statement in vs. 33 is an example of speaking the truth in love, which we may find hard to understand or even like. In our postmodern culture, to call anyone a snake or condemn them to hell is a sign of bad taste or a lack of decorum. I mean after all, church growth experts instruct fellow pastors to be seeker sensitive and to not offend.
However, Jesus was concerned with truth. To communicate how things really are was more important to Him than making people feel good. The condition of the religious leaders’ souls was at stake.
Jesus acknowledged the many monuments the scribes and Pharisees erected in honor of the Old Testament prophets. He heard their affirmations they would never have martyred these OT heralds of God as did their predecessors.
Jesus was not having any of it. He accused them of being the sons of those who murdered the prophets. He called them a brood of vipers, echoing the words of John the Baptist (Matt. 3:7-11). He identified their destiny to be hell (γεέννης; geennes) The name geena was taken from the valley near Jerusalem where trash and garbage continually burned. It ultimately referred to the place of lamentation and punishment for evil.
“The seventh woe shows that in spite of their inner perversity these men boast about their superior goodness. But their murderous designs against those who warn them prove that they are the opposite of what they claim to be,” concludes Dr. Hendriksen.
Jesus did not tell people, especially those facing eternal punishment in hell, what they wanted to hear. Rather, He told them what they needed to hear; the truth. May each believer in Christ be found faithful by God to do the same.
Soli deo Gloria!
His Word Today 
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