Anew Creation

Ark of The Covenant

ARK

Anew Jerusalem

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THE FIVE

SCROLLS

From

Beginning to End

Festival Scrolls

or the Megillot

Almost everyone has heard of Megillat Esther

but not everyone knows that

Megillot refers to

Five

specific scrolls referred to

as the

Festival Scrolls

• Song of Solomon (Song of Songs) is read on the

Sabbath of Passover week

• Ruth is read on Shavuot

(Pentecost)

• Lamentations is read on

Tisha B'Av,

the ninth day of the month of Av, in mourning
for the destruction of the first and second temples
(586 BC and AD 70, respectively)

• Ecclesiastes is read on the Sabbath of the

week of Sukkoth

(Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths)

• Esther is read on Purim

The reason each book is associated

with a feast

is relatively straightforward, the phrase,

“the gantze megillah” means, “the whole scroll...”

“...the whole story”

an allusion, perhaps, to having to sit through a

complete and overly long

reading of Megillat Esther in order to hear

“the entire story” in all its details

Song of Songs – (Hebrew: Shir HaShirim)
Ruth – (Hebrew: Rut)
Lamentations – (Hebrew: Eicha)
Ecclesiastes – (Hebrew: Kohelet)
Esther – (Hebrew: Ester).

They appear in the third part of the Tanach

The Ketubim

(Writings or Hagiographa)

Originally, only Megalith Esther

was mandated to be read in public (on Purim)

and only it was mandated to be

Written on a Torah Scroll

But over time the word megillah came to be associated

with these other short books of the ketubim

As Well,

and by the Middle Ages it was common for

all of them to be

Written on separate Scrolls

Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs or Cantillations) is series of love poems. Taken literally they speak of erotic desire between a man and a woman. But, of course, the words are not interpreted literally by traditional Jewish sources (or Christian ones, for that matter) – but, rather, are taken as describing the love between God and His People. This allegorical reading of the work’s open eroticism is perhaps best exemplified by the (mis)translation in some Orthodox tanachim (bibles) of the verse: “Your two breasts are like fauns …” (4:5) into “Moses and Aaron are like fauns …” Authorship of Shir HaShirim is traditionally ascribed to King Solomon (though in reality it was probably composed in the mid second temple period.) Its purported authorship, its allegorical reading and its apparent popularity among the common folk are what drove the Rabbis to include it in the cannon - that and its beautiful and evocative poetry. Shir HaShirim is traditionally read in the Ashkenazi synagogues on Passover.

Rut (Ruth) is the story of the Moabite woman Ruth, her relationship with her mother-in-law Naomi, her becoming a Jew, and her eventual marriage to Naomi’s kinsman Boaz. The book ends with a list of the descendants of Boaz and Ruth, ending with King David. Yes! King David’s grandmother is the Moabite convert, Ruth. And that is probably the point of the book. But it is also a lovely lyrical portrait of the love and loyalty between Ruth and Naomi; about the hardships of being a widow in Biblical times; and about the rhythms of life in general in ancient Judea – driven by the agricultural cycle, the vagaries of weather and disease, and rescued by loyalty, love, family and traditions. Ruth is traditionally read in synagogue on Shavuot.

Eicha (Lamentations) is a series of dirges describing and bewailing the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple at the hands of the Babylonians in 585 BCE. The scenes of death and destruction are horrific and the pain and suffering palpable, as is the despair and anguish of the author – traditionally said to be Jeremiah the prophet. But the book also lays out a cornerstone of Jewish theology ever since: we were exiled, and suffer, because of OUR sins, but one day in the future God will redeem us and “renew our days, as days of old”. The book is read aloud in both Ashkenazi and Sephardi synagogues on Tisha B’Av (the Ninth of Av), the anniversary date of the destruction of the Temple.

Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) is a book in the genre of “wisdom literature” – or what we would call philosophical speculation. It is a meditation on the meaning (or meaninglessness) of life and of proper behaviour. Heavily influenced by Greek philosophy, it often sounds like 20th century existential angst – with lines like: “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity”, and “There is nothing new under the sun”. Why was such a seemingly amoral, even nihilistic, book included in the canon? Perhaps, because its authorship was ascribed to King Solomon? Or perhaps because of its ending, which states, that despite – or perhaps because of – the apparent meaninglessness of life, all that is left to us is to grasp onto a belief in God and His commandments: without that, there is only ennui and despair. Kohelet is traditionally read in Ashkenazi synagogues on Sukkot.

Esther is, of course, the original and prototypical megillah. It is the story of Esther – a Jewish girl who becomes queen of the Persian empire, her wise uncle Mordecai, her husband, the foolish and amoral King Ahasverosh, and his Prime Minister the arch-villain and prototypical anti-Semite Haman. Though we have often turned it into a children’s tale – and the book is full of gluttony, exaggeration, hyperbole, sexual allusion, and the humiliation of our enemy – it is also quite dark: with the threat of both genocide and revenge killings haunting its pages. Of course, all’s well that ends well, and Haman is defeated and the Jews survive. Which is why Megalith Esther is read in virtually every synagogue around the world on Purim.

Ark of the Covenant

The Temple of God

had
been completed under

Gods Timing

There are several parallels that the

Book of Ecclesiastes

has with the

Feast of Tabernacles

More than 150,000 men had labored for

Seven Years

in the building

of what became known as Solomon’s Temple

The finest wood, the purest gold and silver, and
the best materials had gone
into the construction of this house of worship.

At the dedication of the structure,

the place where the

shekinah glory of God

would reside,

“all the men of Israel assembled themselves before

King Solomon at the feast” (1 Ki. 8:2).

How significant that when God came to dwell with man in His Temple, it was inaugurated at the Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles),

the festival that

speaks of dwelling

This festival is known by many names: the Feast of Ingathering (Lev. 23:39), the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:34), and the Feast of Sukkot (1 Ki. 8:2). It was celebrated in the Hebrew month of Tishri (September/October). So preeminent was this festival in biblical times that when the people mentioned “the feast,” it was understood to be the Feast of Tabernacles.

It was incumbent upon all the males of Israel to appear before the Lord three times each year—at the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot or Pentecost), and the Feast of Tabernacles (Dt. 16:16), and everyone was required to bring an offering before the Lord.

During Passover and Weeks, it was often difficult for Jewish farmers from distant lands to leave their homes and journey to Jerusalem. Their crops still needed to be tended, and the cutting and threshing of grain were still in progress. The Feast of Tabernacles, however, took place after the fall harvest was gathered. The families who could not make the trip during the spring festivals traveled to Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles to present their offerings before the Lord at the Temple.

The people celebrated this festival with rejoicing. The branches were waved before God as the people rejoiced in His goodness. The Etrog was separated from the latter three. The conjunction “and” between the last three items resulted in their being tied together. Coupled with the Etrog, they were waved before God in rejoicing.

Ecclesiastes is the work of a Teacher who lived
and wrote in Jerusalem some time after 450 BCE—after the Hebrews
have returned from Exile in Babylon.

It's a time in which, according to the Teacher, people are allowing concerns about human existence to become more important than spiritual commitment—and, conversely, using their religious faith simply as a way of improving their human lives. "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," he begins (1:2),

and in this familiar passage he affirms a
universal Truth that remains constant
through all the conflicting experiences life might offer.

It's interesting to note that this passage consists of

seven sets,

each with

two pairs of opposites

From the opening pages of

Genesis

(and its seven days of creation)

through the multiple sevens

we find in the

closing

Revelation to John,

the Bible recognizes that there are seven stages involved in the process of expressing our spiritual truth in this human experience. Each stage is here represented by two sets of opposites.

The first stage involves birth and death, planting and reaping—the basics of coming into this human experience through one gate and leaving through another. The second stage involves killing, healing, breaking down and building up—a step of learning how this dualistic experience works. The third stage is weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing—incorporating our feeling nature into the physical experience. Fourth—throwing away stones and gathering stones, embracing and refraining from embracing—centers us in our heart chakra, teaching that love is not just gathering, but also releasing. In the fifth stage we seek and lose, keep and throw away—this is the power center, in which we begin to take ownership of our lives. The sixth stage involves tearing and sewing, silence and speaking—opposites involved in creating new possibilities by claiming our spiritual truth (“speaking the word”). And the final opposites involve love and hate, war and peace.

The important point, I think, is that both ends of each spectrum are intimately involved in the creative process we are here to accomplish. We embrace healing, and dancing, and embracing and love. We often judge ourselves negatively if we find ourselves experiencing death and weeping and losing and war. But to judge one extreme as “good”' and the other as “bad”

is to miss the essential

point that

the whole spectrum must

be involved if

we are to

Achieve

The kingdom

Among the most obvious and noteworthy connections between the two is that both have is the attitude that both have to the enjoyment of what the heart desires, given that this is an aspect of

both the

Feast of Tabernacles

and the

book of Ecclesiastes

in a prominent way

Deuteronomy 14:23-26 tells us: “And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lordyour God always.  But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses.  And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.” Strikingly, Ecclesiastes repeats this same point over and over again, one example being Ecclesiastes 3:10-13: “ I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied.

He has made everything

beautiful in its time

Also He has put eternity in their hearts,

except that no one

can find out the work that God does

From

beginning to end

I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.” Both the Feast of Tabernacles and the Book of Ecclesiastes affirm that it is good that everyone should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all their labor, something we all ought to

keep in mind and appreciate.

Another point of similarity between Ecclesiastes and the Feast of Tabernacles is the fact that both point to judgment. Ecclesiastes reminds us in its last two verses, Ecclesiastes 12:13-14: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.” We see the same reminder in Revelation 20:11-13: “ Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.

And I SAW the dead, small and GREAT,

Standing before God

and

Books were Opened

And another book was opened,

which is

The Book of Life

And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.  The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.” Here we see that our enjoyment and what our heart desires is to be a heart that is

directed according to God’s ways, for we will be held
accountable for what we do
and what we desire, whether good or bad.

Finally, it is important to note that there is a

complementary aspect to much of the material
in the book of Ecclesiastes and
the focus of the Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot

Over and over again,

Solomon in Ecclesiastes

points out what is the case

Under The Sun

He points out the futility of life for people, and the fact that
none of our deeds or achievements are lasting.

He points out the corruption of humanity, the favoritism that the wealthy receive, the way it is better to be with others than to be alone, and so on.

Solomon’s relentless repeating of this is a reminder that much of what Solomon experimented with related to this life and a life that is lived with attention to this world and this life, where no one knows if one’s achievements will last or be remembered, and Solomon had more cause than most to lament given the fact that the golden age under his reign ended so rapidly and so calamitously due to the folly of his son that many contemporary scholars doubt his very existence because his achievements were so evanescent.

The Feast of Tabernacles,

on the other hand, points to the world to come,

to the time when those who have believed in and

followed God during the course of their lives

are resurrected and have eternal life, and where

the memory of their lives or their deeds is no longer an issue

because they have eternity in front of them.

It is useful during the Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot to contrast
the way things are now with the way things will be
in the future as we are told in scripture.

In the connection between

Ecclesiastes and the Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot,

we see that both encourage us to eat and drink and enjoy life,
both remind us that we will be judged and
held accountable for our actions, and

Both Provide

complimentary purposes

by focusing on

This life in Ecclesiastes

and in the

World to Come and Eternal Life

for believers

in the

Feast of Tabernacles

Given these connections,

it is little wonder that Jews and Christians

over the centuries have connected the

book of Ecclesiastes with the

time of year of

the Feast of Tabernacles.

It would have been a greater wonder

if there had been no connection ever made between

this book and this time of year, and we would have

a lot more trouble understanding

This Time of Year

without

The book of Ecclesiastes

and a lot less ability to connect Ecclesiastes to

God’s ways

if we did not see its tie to the

Feast of Booths

Let us therefore connect both the book and the time

and profit by

the connection between the two.

Libation of Water

During the days of The Temple,

a ritual was introduced

that has no roots in the Bible

It was common during

the offering of sacrifices to offer

a libation of wine with the sacrifice.

It became a custom, during the

seven days

of the

Feast of Tabernacles,

to offer a

libation of water also.

This was done in the

morning after

The regular morning sacrifice

A priest went down to the Pool of Siloam and,
in an elaborate ceremony, withdrew
some water into a large gold pitcher.

He then returned to the Temple to the accompanying sound
of silver trumpets, shouts of joy from the crowds gathered around,
and the chanting of the other priests:

“with joy shall ye draw water

out of the

wells of salvation”

(Isa. 12:3).

The priest with the golden pitcher of water then ascended to the altar, above which were two containers made of silver—one for water and the other for wine. Together with the wine libation, the liquids were poured into their respective bowls. Each then flowed into tubes and mingled together on the altar, ultimately being deposited in an underground passage beneath the altar.

After the libation, the priests, who had procured palm and willow branches, marched around the altar. The Levites stood in choir formation and sang the Psalms of Praise. When they came to the words “We beseech Thee, O Lord, save now! We beseech Thee, O Lord, make us now to prosper!” everyone present raised the palm and willow branches in the air and joined the Levites in reciting those words.

The Torah Dance

The evening brought the most joyous part of the festival, the ceremony called “the festivity of the water drawing.” It was said that “He who has not witnessed it has not seen what real festivity is.”

The Court of the Women was crowded with people, and special galleries were built above the courtyard for the women, while the men assembled below in the courtyard. In the center of the court were four golden menorot built on bases fifty yards high. Each menorah had four branches terminating in huge cups into which oil was poured. The wicks were made from the worn-out garments of the priests. Throughout the night, the cups were kept full, and the light of these menorot was so intense that it is said to have illuminated all of Jerusalem.

What an awesome, joyous spectacle that celebration must have been. No wonder Tabernacles is known as the merriest of the yearly festivals.During the night, the men carried lit torches and danced while waving the torches, throwing them into the air, and catching them. Songs were sung and instruments played, and the festivities continued into the morning hours. In the morning after the sacrifice was offered, a priest made his way to the Pool of Siloam for the water libation.

What an awesome, joyous spectacle that celebration must have been. No wonder Tabernacles is known as the merriest of the yearly festivals.

Libation of Water

During the days of the Temple, a ritual was introduced that has no roots in the Bible. It was common during the offering of sacrifices to offer a libation of wine with the sacrifice. It became a custom, during the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, to offer a libation of water also. This was done in the morning after the regular morning sacrifice.

A priest went down to the Pool of Siloam and, in an elaborate ceremony, withdrew some water into a large gold pitcher. He then returned to the Temple to the accompanying sound of silver trumpets, shouts of joy from the crowds gathered around, and the chanting of the other priests: “with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation” (Isa. 12:3).
The priest with the golden pitcher of water then ascended to the altar, above which were two containers made of silver—one for water and the other for wine. Together with the wine libation, the liquids were poured into their respective bowls. Each then flowed into tubes and mingled together on the altar, ultimately being deposited in an underground passage beneath the altar.

After the libation, the priests, who had procured palm and willow branches, marched around the altar. The Levites stood in choir formation and sang the Psalms of Praise. When they came to the words “We beseech Thee, O Lord, save now! We beseech Thee, O Lord, make us now to prosper!” everyone present raised the palm and willow branches in the air and joined the Levites in reciting those words.

The Torah Dance

The evening brought the most joyous part of the festival, the ceremony called “the festivity of the water drawing.” It was said that “He who has not witnessed it has not seen what real festivity is.”

The Court of the Women was crowded with people, and special galleries were built above the courtyard for the women, while the men assembled below in the courtyard. In the center of the court were four golden menorot built on bases fifty yards high. Each menorah had four branches terminating in huge cups into which oil was poured. The wicks were made from the worn-out garments of the priests. Throughout the night, the cups were kept full, and the light of these menorot was so intense that it is said to have illuminated all of Jerusalem.

What an awesome, joyous spectacle that celebration must have been. No wonder Tabernacles is known as the merriest of the yearly festivals.During the night, the men carried lit torches and danced while waving the torches, throwing them into the air, and catching them. Songs were sung and instruments played, and the festivities continued into the morning hours. In the morning after the sacrifice was offered, a priest made his way to the Pool of Siloam for the water libation.

What an awesome, joyous spectacle that celebration must have been. No wonder Tabernacles is known as the merriest of the yearly festivals.
Until the time of the Second Temple, the Feast of Tabernacles was the greatest festival of the year. Passover became the greatest festival during the time of the Second Temple, but Tabernacles has remained the most joyful and the merriest, with its customs, ceremonies, dances, and songs.

With the destruction of the Temple almost two millennia ago, the observance of Tabernacles has centered on the local synagogue. The building of a Succah is still mandatory for each individual. It has become a widespread custom to build a Succah next to the synagogue, so that all the worshipers can use it and fulfill the commandment. Some Jewish people still construct Succahs in their own yards, but many cannot because of restrictions placed upon them by their communities.

Care is taken to construct the Succah according to Jewish law. Some meals are eaten in the Succah during the festival to fulfill the commandment to “dwell” in the Succah.

The big change in today’s celebration is in the emphasis of the festival, which now centers on the Torah A ninth day has been added, known as Simchah Torah (Rejoicing over the Law). On this day, the yearly cycle of reading the five books of Moses (the Torah) is ended and begun anew.

Rabbinical Teaching

Numbers 29:12–34 relates that a total of 70 oxen were sacrificed during the festival. On the first day, 13 were offered; on the second day, 12; and so forth until seven were offered on the seventh and last day.

The rabbis understand the number 70 to represent the nations of the world. They suggest that the diminishing number of oxen offered refers to the diminishing influence of the nations of the world as history winds down to the last days and the Messianic era.

The offering of these 70 oxen was for the benefit of the nations of the world. It ultimately looked toward their conversion to the God of Israel and their gathering under the shekinah glory of God.

The rabbis also interpret the Succah as a reminder that the suffering in the wilderness was only temporary. It reminds the people of God’s promise that redemption will come, along with the rebuilding of the Temple.
A passage in the Midrash says, “The Messiah will teach six mitzvot [commandments] to the nations of the world, among these the Succah and Lulav.” The Succah is seen as a picture of national independence and the Lulav a picture that Israel is free of the charges brought against her by the nations of the world. Thus, in the kingdom of the Messiah, Israel will be the head of the nations, and anti-Semitism will no longer exist.

Biblical Teaching

The Bible teaches a future role for the Feast of Tabernacles in the plan of God. Zechariah 12–14 tells of the final, climactic battle of the nations of the world against the nation of Israel. All the people of the earth will come against Jerusalem in battle. Zechariah 12:8–10 teaches that the Lord, the Messiah, will come and save Israel from destruction at the hands of the nations of the world. At that time Israel will recognize her Messiah when “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced.” At that time, Jesus will be proclaimed “king over all the earth” (Zech. 14:9).

The Bible teaches a future role

for the

Feast of Tabernacles

in the

Plan of God

In Zechariah 14:16–19, it is recorded four times that the nations of the world will then be required to go up to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. God will withhold rain from the nations that do not go and will send a plague upon the people of Egypt if they fail to keep the feast.

The Feast of Tabernacles speaks

prophetically of the

final ingathering of Israel,

as well as

the nations of the world

God, in the

Person of the Messiah Jesus,

will dwell

with the people in Jerusalem

Jesus and the Feast of Tabernacles

John 7:2 says that

“the Jews’ feast of tabernacles

was at hand.”

Jesus sent His disciples ahead to the feast
and shortly thereafter followed them to Jerusalem.
The people’s opinions concerning Him were divided.

They didn’t know what to make of this man Jesus.

Some thought He was good; others thought He was a deceiver.

The people searched for Him at the feast to get some answers.

In the midst of the festival, Jesus went into the

Temple and taught,

but His teachings further divided the people.

Many believed He was the

Promised Messiah

(Jn. 7:31),

but some thought he had a demon

(Jn. 7:20)

On the last day of the feast (Hoshana Raba),

Jesus stood up

and

proclaimed,

"If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said,

out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water”

(Jn. 7:37–38).

The effect of that statement must have been
momentarily paralyzing. A priest had already been
to the Pool of Siloam with

a golden pitcher

to get

water for the libation

The priests had chanted Isaiah 12:3,

“with joy shall ye draw

water out of the

wells of salvation.”

After the water had been poured into the silver bowls,

The Levites had sung,

in the presence of the entire congregation,

“We beseech Thee, O Lord, save now!

We beseech Thee,

O Lord, make us now to prosper!”

It was probably during a momentary silence in the
midst of this joyous procession and song that

Jesus made His statement.

It was an irrefutable claim of

His Messiahship

It produced a further division among the people.

Many realized that He had to be the Messiah
(Jn. 7:40),
but others were not sure (vv. 41–42) or
vehemently denied it (vv. 47–49).

Probably on the next day, Jesus again used the background
of the Feast of Tabernacles to drive home another

Truth

The city of Jerusalem had been lit by the four huge menorot

for the entire feast.

The brightness in the city must have been

overwhelming at times.

The menorot were darkened as Jesus taught in the Temple
(Jn. 8:20), but they stood as a

vivid object lesson when Jesus proclaimed,

“I am the light of the world;

he that followeth me

shall not walk in darkness, but shall have

the light of life”

(in. 8:12).

Two of the most prominent aspects of

the

Feast of Tabernacles

during the time of

The Temple

were

light and water

Jesus used them to teach foundational

truths:

He alone is the one

who can illuminate man’s spirit, and

He alone can bring us from

darkness into light

He is the only one

who can quench man’s eternal thirst of the soul

The Feast of Tabernacles

stands as a

reminder of God’s provision

Jesus used this feast to speak to man’s greatest need

—forgiveness of sin--

and the

provision of God for that need—Himself,

The Messiah

of Israel

Fulfillment of the Law

Jesus

said unto him,

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,

and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind

[38] This is the first and great commandment.

[39] And the second is like unto it,

Thou shalt love thy neighbor

as thyself

[40] On these two commandments hang all

the

LAW and the PROPHETS...

“This is what I told you while I was

still with you:

Everything must be FULFILLED

that is

WRITTEN about ME

in the

Law of Moses, the Prophets

and

The Writings

The

Seven Sevens

Daniel 9:25 deals directly with the beginning of the

dividing up of Daniel's prophetic clock and the

490 years of this prophecy

It uses a measurement of time known as a heptad

a group or series of seven

"Seven Sevens"

is another way of saying seven groups of seven equaling 49.

Each seven is equal to a time frame of seven consecutive years.

This group of seven sevens equals 49 consecutive years.

After 49 years the first part

(seven sevens or 7 weeks)

of the

Prophecy

would be

Complete

The Davidic Covenant

refers to God’s promises to David through Nathan the prophet
and is found in 2 Samuel 7 and later summarized in
1 Chronicles 17:11–14 and 2 Chronicles 6:16.
This is an unconditional covenant made between
God and David through which

God promises David and Israel

that the

Messiah (Jesus Christ)

would come from the lineage of David

and the

tribe of Judah

and would establish a kingdom

that would endure forever.

The Davidic Covenant

is unconditional because God does not place any conditions of
obedience upon its fulfillment. The surety of the promises
made rests solely on God’s faithfulness and does not depend
at all on David or Israel’s obedience.

The Davidic Covenant centers on several key promises that are made to David. First, God reaffirms the promise of the land that He made in the first two covenants with Israel (the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants). This promise is seen in 2 Samuel 7:10,

“I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore.” God then promises that David’s son will succeed him as king of Israel and that this son (Solomon) would build the temple.
This promise is seen in 2 Samuel 7:12–13,

" I will raise up your offspring to succeed you,

your own flesh and blood,

and I will establish his kingdom.

He is the one who will build a house for my Name.”

But then the promise continues and expands: “I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (verse 13), and “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever” (verse 16). What began as a promise that David’s son Solomon would be blessed and build the temple turns into something different—the promise of an everlasting kingdom. Another Son of David would rule forever and build a lasting House. This is a reference to the Messiah, Jesus Christ, called the Son of David in Matthew 21:9.

The promise that

David’s “house,” “kingdom,” and “throne”

will be established forever is significant because it shows that

The

Messiah will come from the

lineage of David

and that He will establish a kingdom

from which He will reign.

The covenant is summarized

by the words “house,”

promising a dynasty in the lineage

of David; “kingdom,”

referring to a people who are governed

by a king; “throne,”

emphasizing the authority of the king’s rule; and “forever,”

emphasizing the eternal and unconditional nature of this

promise to David and Israel.

Other references to the Davidic Covenant are

found in

Jeremiah 23:5; 30:9; Isaiah 9:7; 11:1;
Luke 1:32, 69; Acts 13:34; and Revelation 3:7.

The Five-fold ministry

Ephesians 4:11,

"It was he who gave some to be

(1) apostles, some to be

(2) prophets, some to be

3) evangelists, and some to be

(4) pastors and

(5) teachers."

God has restored, or is restoring,

the offices of apostle and prophet in the church today.

Ephesians 4:12-13 tells us that the

purpose of the five-fold ministry is, "

to prepare God’s people for works of service,

so that the body of Christ may be built up until

we all reach unity in the faith

and in the knowledge of the Son of God

and become mature, attaining to the

whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

So, since the body of Christ definitely is not built up

to unity in the faith and has not attained to the

whole measure of the fullness of Christ,

the offices of apostle and prophet are still in effect

the church is

built on the foundation of the

apostles and prophets, with

Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone

What is the role of the apostles and prophets?

It is to proclaim God’s

revelation,

to teach the new truth the church would need to grow and thrive.

The apostles and prophets complete this mission

By giving us the

Word of God.

And the revelation of God.

The ongoing work of the apostles and prophets

is manifested in the Holy Spirit

speaking through and teaching us God’s Word.

Through the

The Five-fold ministry

Matthew 28:19–20 contains what has

come to be called

The Great Commission:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Jesus gave this command to the apostles shortly before He ascended into heaven, and it essentially outlines what Jesus expected the apostles and those who followed them to do in His absence.

It is interesting that, in the original Greek, the only direct command in Matthew 28:19–20 is “make disciples.” The Great Commission instructs us to make disciples while we are going throughout the world. The instructions to “go,” “baptize,” and “teach” are indirect commands—participles in the original. How are we to make disciples? By baptizing them and teaching them all that Jesus commanded. “Make disciples” is the primary command of the Great Commission. “Going,” “baptizing,” and “teaching” are the means by which we fulfill the command to “make disciples.”

A disciple is someone who receives instruction from another person; a Christian disciple is a baptized follower of Christ, one who believes the teaching of Christ. A disciple of Christ imitates Jesus’ example, clings to His sacrifice, believes in His resurrection, possesses the Holy Spirit, and lives to do His work. The command in the Great Commission to “make disciples” means to teach or train people to follow and obey Christ.

Many understand Acts 1:8 as part of the Great Commission as well:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,

and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The Great Commission

is enabled by the

Power of the Holy Spirit.

We are to be Christ’s witnesses, fulfilling the Great Commission

in our cities (Jerusalem), in our states and countries (Judea and Samaria),

and anywhere else God sends us (to the ends of the earth).

Throughout the Book of Acts,

we see how the

apostles began to fulfill the Great Commission,

as outlined in Acts 1:8.
First, Jerusalem is evangelized
(Acts 1 — 7);

then the Spirit expands

the church through Judea and Samaria

(Acts 8 — 12);

finally, the

gospel reaches into “the ends of the earth”

(Acts 13 — 28).

We have received a precious gift:

“the faith that was once

for all

entrusted to God’s holy people”

(Jude 1:3).

Jesus’ words in

The Great Commission

reveal the heart of God, who desires

“all people to be saved and to come to a

knowledge of the truth”

(1 Timothy 2:4).

The Great Commission compels us

to share the good news

until everyone has heard

“He called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds,
and said unto them, Occupy till I come”

(Luke 19:13, KJV).

The opening of John’s gospel

says,

“In the beginning was

the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the

Word was God

He was with

God in

The beginning”

(John 1:1–2).

These words and the concepts they express form the

foundation for John’s entire gospel, which was

written to prove that

Jesus Christ is God’s incarnate Son.

Isaiah 55:10–11 says,

“As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, . . .

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:

it shall not return unto me void”

God’s Word

will accomplish what I desire and

achieve the purpose for which

I Sent

Seventy Sabbaticals

PENTATEUCH AND FIVE SCROLLS

God decreed the seventy sevens

“to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for iniquity,

to bring in everlasting righteousness,

to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place”

Jesus said to them,

“This is what I told you while

I was still with you,

Everything must be fulfilled

that is

written about me in the

Law of Moses, The Prophets

and

The Psalms

God spends six days

creating the Heavens and the earth,

and then rests on the seventh day

This is our template for the seven-day week, observed
around the world to this day.

The seventh day

was to be

“Set apart” for Israel; the Sabbath

was a

Holy Day of Rest

(Deuteronomy 5:12)

Thus, right at the start of the Bible,

Seven

is identified as being

finished” or “complete

Ark of the Presence

A voice

Cries in the wilderness

Prepare the Way

of the

Lord, make straight in the desert

a highway for our God ...

and the

Glory of the Lord shall be Revealed

Inside the

Ark of the Covenant

also called the

Ark of Testimony

was placed the stone tablets of the Decalogue,

the

Ten Commandments inscribed

by Yahweh

and

Given to Moses on Mt. Sinai after the Exodus

from slavery in Egypt.

As such, the

Ark was believed by all of Israel

to be the

Tabernacle

of the

Presence of Yahweh.

The Ark was elaborately designed

according to specifications

issued to

Moses by Yahweh.

The acacia was covered inside and

out by gold plating.

At the four corners of the Ark were

Rings of solid gold

to permit gilded acacia poles to

carry the Ark

so human hands would not touch it.

Its lid was

a solid gold slab that formed

the “kapporet,” the seat of atonement

along with

two cherubim of beaten gold

facing each other

(Exodus 25: 17-22).

The two golden cherubim

formed a footstool for the Hidden Lord.

The Ark

was the place of the

Lord’s intimate presence

among his people,

and it became the most cherished object in Israel.

It was secured in the Holy of Holies,

the Tabernacle where Moses conversed

with the Lord

(Numbers 7:89).

The Ark was carried into the Promised Land of Canaan

appearing in the Books of Joshua

(3:3; 3:11), Judges (20: 27), and First Samuel (4: 3,11).

During a struggle with the Philistines, it was

captured and carried off (1 Samuel 4: 11).

The Philistines suffered

seven months of earthquakes and plague

before returning the Ark to the Israelites.

Out of fear of human contact with it,

the Ark was kept

in Kiriath-Jearim for 20 years in the

home of Abinadab and his son,

Eleazar, both consecrated with responsibility for the

Ark. Then, about 1,000 years before the

Birth of the Messiah,

it was returned to David

who placed it prominently in a

Tabernacle in his established capital,

Jerusalem

(2 Samuel 6:2ff).

Later, David’s son, Solomon, enshrined the

Ark in the Jerusalem Temple

where it remained for 400 years until the

Fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC.

The Second Book of Maccabees (2:5-7) refers to

the Ark saved from destruction by the

Prophet Jeremiah and

hidden on Mount Nebo “until

God gathers

His people together again, and shows His mercy.”

Mary,

the

NewArk of the Covenant

In the

Book of Revelation (11:19)

the

Ark of the Covenant appears again,

this time in the

Celestial Temple in fulfillment of the

prophecy of Jeremiah.

This vision of the Ark

leads

immediately in Revelation

to the vision of the

Woman Clothed with the Sun

who

Was with child

(Rev. 12:1).

The image is that of Mary,

presented as

Mother of the Messiah

and

Spiritual Mother of Israel,

the

New Ark of the Covenant

I alluded to this earlier in an Advent post,

To Christ the King

through the

Immaculate Heart of Mary

In the first two chapters of his

Gospel, Saint Luke

strings together some of the most beautiful traditions

from both Testaments (Covenants) about the

nature of the Ark of the Covenant.

In subtle language, he leads the careful reader

to a conclusion about

Mary herself

That she, as “Theotokos,”

the

Bearer of the Presence of God,

is thus the

Ark of God’s New Covenant

while the

Ark of the Old Covenant Prefigures a

More wonderful

Ark to come,

the

Mother of the Messiah

Luke draws upon a tradition from

the Old Covenant

setting up a subtle but

significant parallel

between Mary’s Visitation to Elizabeth

(Luke 1:30-45)

and

David's encounter

with

The Ark of the Covenant

(2 Samuel 6:2)

about 1000 years earlier. Consider these passages:

In Luke 1:39: “

In those days,

Mary arose and went with haste

into the

hill country to a city of Judah.”

In Second Samuel 6,

David arose and went in haste

to the same place

to receive

The Ark of the Covenant.

In Luke 1:41:

When Elizabeth heard

Mary’s greeting, the child leaped

in her womb.”

In Second Samuel 6:16,

David danced with joy in the presence of the Ark.

In the Gospel of Luke, Elizabeth asks of Mary,

Who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?

” (Luke 1:43).

In Second Samuel (9:8),

David, who prefigures the coming Messiah,

is then asked by the son of Jonathan,

Who am I that you should look upon someone such as me?”

In Luke,

Mary stays at the house

of Zechariah and Elizabeth

for three months. In Second Samuel (6:11),

David stays in the house

of Obed-edom three months.

These opening narratives from Luke have a multitude of such parallels

with which Luke draws faithful Jews of the Diaspora

who were familiar with the Old Covenant into the New.

Finally, in Luke’s sequel,

the

Acts of the Apostles, Mary

is present with the

Apostles at Pentecost as the

Holy Spirit

calls forth the newborn Church.

This provides a fulfillment

of the

declaration of Jesus

from the Cross establishing

Mary in the unique role

of Motherhood

over the whole Church:

“When Jesus saw his mother and the
disciple whom he loved, he said, ‘Woman, behold your son.’
Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold your Mother.’
From that hour, the disciple took her into his home.”

— John 19:26-27

An Immaculate ReceptionIn rabbinic lore, Gabriel stands in the Presence of God to the left of God’s throne, a position of great significance for his role in the Annunciation to Mary. Gabriel thus stands in God’s Presence to the East,  and from that perspective in St. Luke’s Nativity Story, Gabriel brings tidings of comfort and joy to a waiting world in spiritual exile East of Eden.
The Archangel’s first appearance is to Zechariah, the husband of Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth. Zechariah is told that he and his wife are about to become the parents of John the Baptist. The announcement does not sink in easily because, like Abraham and Sarah at the beginning of Salvation History, they are rather on in years. Zechariah is about to burn incense in the temple, as close to the Holy of Holies a human being can get, when the archangel Gabriel appears with news:

“Fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard, and your wife, ‘Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John . . . and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb, and he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God and will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah . . .’”
— Luke 1:12-15

This news isn’t easily accepted by Zechariah, a man of deep spiritual awareness revered for his access to the Holy of Holies and his connection to God. Zechariah doubts the message, and questions the messenger. It would be a mistake to read the Archangel Gabriel’s response in a casual tone. Hear it with thunder in the background and the Temple’s stone floor trembling slightly under Zechariah’s feet:

“I am Gabriel who stand in the

Presence of God . . .

and behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things come to pass.”I’ve always felt great sympathy for Zechariah. I imagined him having to make an urgent visit to the Temple men’s room after this, followed by the shock of being unable to intone the Temple prayers.
Zechariah was accustomed to great deference from people of faith, and now he is scared speechless. I, too, would have asked for proof. For a cynic, and especially a sometimes arrogant one,

good news is not easily taken at face value.

Then six months later “Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the House of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.” (Luke 1: 26-27). This encounter was far different from the previous one, and it opens with what has become one of the most common prayers of popular devotion.
Gabriel said, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” His words became the Scriptural basis for the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, that and centuries of “sensus fidelium,” the consensus of the faithful who revere her as “Theotokos,” the God-Bearer. Mary, like Zechariah, also questions Gabriel about the astonishing news. “How can this be since I have not known man?” There is none of the thunderous rebuke given to Zechariah, however. Saint Luke intends to place Gabriel in the presence of his greater, a position from which even the Archangel demonstrates great reverence and deference.
It has been a point of contention with non-Catholics and dissenters for centuries, but the matter seems so clear. There’s a difference between worship and reverence, and what the Church bears for Mary is the deepest form of reverence. It’s a reverence that came naturally even to the Archangel Gabriel who sees himself as being in her presence rather than the other way around. God and God alone is worshiped, but the reverence bestowed upon Mary was found in only one other place on Earth. That place was the Ark of the Covenant, in Hebrew, the “Aron Al-Berith,” the Holy of Holies which housed the Tablets of the Old Covenant. It was described in 1 Kings 8: 1-11, but the story of

Gabriel’s Annunciation to Mary draws on elements from

the Second Book of Samuel.

These elements are drawn by Saint Luke as he describes Mary’s haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea. In 2 Samuel 6:2, David visits this very same place to retrieve the Ark of the Covenant. Upon Mary’s entry into Elizabeth’s room in Saint Luke’s account, the unborn John the Baptist leaps in Elizabeth’s womb. This is reminiscent of David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant in 2 Samuel 6:16.

For readers “with eyes to see and ears to hear,” Saint Luke presents an account of God entering into human history in terms quite familiar to the old friends of God. God himself expressed in the Genesis account of the fall of man that man has attempted to “become like one of us” through disobedience. Now the reverse has occurred. God has become one of us to lead us out of the East, and off the path to eternal darkness and death.

In Advent, and especially today the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, we honor with the deepest reverence Mary, Theotokos, the Bearer of God and the new Ark of the Covenant. Mary, whose response to the Archangel Gabriel was simple assent:

“Let it be done to me according to your word.” “Then the Dawn from On High broke upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet on the way to peace.”
— Luke 1:78-79

The Hebrew word translated “tabernacle” is ohel, which means “a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance): a covering, (dwelling) (place), home, tabernacle, tent.” There are three main references to the tabernacle (or tent) of David: Isaiah 16:5, Amos 9:11, and Acts 15:16, in which the apostle James repeats the passage from Amos. The reference in Isaiah 16:5 refers to the tabernacle of David prophetically, pointing to One from the line of David who will someday sit on the throne and rule over all. This is referring to Jesus.

That leaves two other references to the tabernacle of David. In Acts 15:16, while speaking to the Jews, James uses Amos 9:11 to give credence to the recent conversion of the Gentiles in the early church. Many Jews were objecting to this because there was uncertainty as to how the Gentiles were to now keep the Law of Moses. The essential argument from Peter’s earlier experience with Cornelius, a Gentile, was that God was also calling Gentiles to Himself. The apostles were not to put on the Gentiles a burden that no one could ever keep (i.e. the Law of Moses).

From James’ words alone, it is clear that God’s promise through the prophet Amos—that He would “build again the tabernacle of David”—was related to what He was just then beginning to do, namely, visiting the Gentiles to take out from among them a people for His Name. After rehearsing what Simon Peter had just told the Jerusalem Christians—that God had chosen Peter as the instrument whereby He, for the first time, opened the way of salvation to the Gentiles—James plainly declared that God’s visitation of the Gentiles agreed with the words of the prophets (in general) and Amos (in particular). The “tabernacle” referred to in Acts 15:16, then, is the house of God open to all, both Jew and Gentile, who seek Him in order to worship in truth.

Amos 9:11 says, “In that day will I raise up again the tabernacle of David, that is fallen.” There seems to be reference here to a restoration of the Jewish nation to spiritual life in the end times. There might also exist, during that end time, or into the 1,000-year reign of Christ, a tabernacle like the one during David’s day. During David’s time the tabernacle (or tent) housed the Ark of the Covenant and was a precursor to the temple that Solomon would build. The temple was a rectangular house of worship made with elaborate design. Its presence and functionality, with priests, was a sign of God’s favor and presence. When Israel fell away from following the commandments of the Old Covenant, the temple was desecrated and needed to eventually be rebuilt, as described in the book of Ezra.

The tabernacle built by Moses and,

later, Solomon’s temple

were divided into the

Holy Place and the Most Holy Place

(or Holy of Holies).

To understand these places, it will help if we first understand the concept of “holy.” At its most basic meaning, holy simply means “set apart” or even “different.” God is holy because He is absolutely different, completely set apart from everything else. He is completely different from all other things that are called “gods.” He is also completely set apart from sin, which is probably the concept that most people associate with God’s holiness. This example may help explain the concept further: the word bible is simply from the Latin for “book.” Although the word Bible has become a technical (or semi-technical) term for the Word of God, the term itself just means “book.” There are many books in the world. That is why on the cover or the title page we often see the official title as “Holy Bible.” In other words, there are many bibles (books), but this Book (Bible) is holy; that is, it is different, set apart from all other books, because it is the Word of God.

The Holy Place and the Most Holy Place

were first and foremost places that were set apart. They were completely different from any other place on Earth, because the presence of God was uniquely present there. The Israelites were forbidden from making any images to represent God (Exodus 20:4–5). However, human beings are physical and visual, so God did give the Israelites an object that would help them sense His presence among them—the tabernacle (a tent that served as a portable temple), which was later replaced by a grand temple in Jerusalem.

The Holy Place and Most Holy Place

function the same in both settings.

The whole tabernacle was holy in that it was set apart for worship and sacrifices to God. However, the tabernacle was separated into 3 areas, the Outer Court, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place (or Holy of Holies). Priests and Levites ministered in the Outer Court as they offered sacrifices for sin and guilt as well as the other sacrifices. In the center of the Outer Court was a tent that only the priests could enter.

This place was set apart—it was holy.

The tabernacle had only one entrance. Upon entering, a priest would be in the Holy Place, where there were three articles of furniture. One was the golden lampstand, which was to be kept burning continually, giving light to the Holy Place. The second article of furniture in the Holy Place was the  table for the bread of presence (or the table of showbread). This bread was baked fresh every week, and only the priests were allowed to eat of it as it was holy as well. Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of both of these symbols as the Light of the World (John 8:12) and the Bread of Life (John 6:35). The final article in the Holy Place was the altar of incense. Special incense was to be burned each morning and evening as an offering to the Lord. The Holy Place was set apart (holy) because it was a special representation and reminder

of the presence of God.

At the back of the Holy Place was a smaller chamber called the Holy of Holies or Most Holy Place. In this smaller room was the  ark of the covenant. On top of the ark was a special area called the mercy seat. This was seen as the throne of God. While God is omnipresent, this location was seen as a special place for God to dwell in the middle of His people. This second chamber could only be entered by the high priest on one day of the year, the Day of Atonement, and only with a blood sacrifice. The high priest would enter the Most Holy Place with smoke (from the altar of incense) to help shield his view and sprinkle blood on the ark of the covenant to atone for the sins of the people. Anyone who entered this chamber when he was not supposed to would be killed.

The tabernacle and the temple emphasized the presence of God in the midst of His people. God was always there and accessible. At the same time, the Holy Place and Most Holy Place emphasized God’s holiness and His inaccessibility due to the sins of the people.

When Jesus died on the cross, three Gospels report that the curtain of the temple, that barrier between the Holy Place and Most Holy Place, was supernaturally torn in two (see Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; and Luke 23:45). The torn curtain symbolized that the way to God was now open to all through the death of Christ. The blood of an animal was no longer needed. Hebrews 10:19–22a explains, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings.”

The word shekinah

does not appear in the Bible, but the concept clearly does. The Jewish rabbis coined this extra-biblical expression, a form of a Hebrew word that literally means “he caused to dwell,” signifying that it was a

divine visitation of the presence

or dwelling

of the Lord God on this earth.

God spoke to Moses out of the pillar of cloud in Exodus 33, assuring him that His Presence would be with the Israelites (v. 9). Verse 11 says God spoke to Moses “face to face” out of the cloud, but when Moses asked to see God’s glory, God told Him, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live” (v. 20). So, apparently, the visible manifestation of God’s glory was somewhat muted. When Moses asked to see God’s glory, God hid Moses in the cleft of a rock, covered him with His hand, and passed by. Then He removed His hand, and Moses saw only His back. This would seem to indicate that God’s glory is too awesome and powerful to be seen completely by man.

The visible manifestation of God’s presence was seen not only by the Israelites but also by the Egyptians: “During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, ‘Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt’” (Exodus 14:24-25). Just the presence of God’s Shekinah glory was enough to convince His enemies that He was not someone to be resisted.

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the dwelling place of God’s glory. Colossians 2:9 tells us that “in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,” causing Jesus to exclaim to Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). In Christ, we see the visible manifestation of God Himself in the second person of the Trinity. Although His glory was also veiled, Jesus is nonetheless the presence of God on earth. Just as the divine Presence dwelled in a relatively plain tent called the “tabernacle” before the Temple in Jerusalem was built, so did the Presence dwell in the relatively plain man who was Jesus. “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). But when we get to heaven, we will see both the Son and the Father in all their glory, and the Shekinah will no longer be veiled (1 John 3:2).

Jesus is the Alpha and Omega,

the first and last,

the beginning and the end.

Only God incarnate

could make such a statement.

Only Jesus Christ is God incarnate.

Law and prophets

refers to the entire Hebrew Bible, what we call the Old Testament. Jesus spoke of “the law and the prophets” multiple times, such as when He listed the two greatest commandments (Matthew 22:40). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus pointed to His absolute perfection, saying, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).

On the Emmaus Road, Jesus taught two disciples

“everything written about himself

in the Scriptures,

beginning with the Law of Moses

and the

Books of the Prophets”

Luke 24:27, Clearly, all Scripture, indicated

by “the law and the prophets,”

pointed to Jesus.

The same passage also contains a three-fold division

of the Old Testament:

The

Law of Moses, the Prophets

and the Psalms”

(verse 44), but the two-fold division of “the law and the prophets”
was also customary

(Matthew 7:12; Acts 13:15; 24:14; Romans 3:21).

The books of the law, properly speaking, would comprise

The Pentateuch:

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,

and Deuteronomy.

The prophets, in the two-fold division, would include the rest of the Old Testament. Although it may seem strange that poetic books such as Job or Proverbs would be included in the “prophets” category, it was common for the Jews to see any writer of Scripture as a prophet. Further, many of the psalms are clear messianic prophecies.

When Philip invited his friend Nathanael to meet Jesus, he referred to the whole of Hebrew Scripture in its two-fold division: “

We have found

the one

Moses wrote about

in the law, and the prophets

also

wrote about--Jesus of Nazareth”

(John 1:45, NET).

Philip was right that all of Scripture has a common theme:

The Messiah, The Son of God,

who is Jesus

PENTATEUCH AND FIVE SCROLLS

Known also as the

Five Books of Moses or Pentateuch,

The Torah is one of the

Three

Main Divisions

of the Hebrew Bible

Written down by Moses at Divine Dictation

The Five books

making up the Torah are

Be-reshit, Shemot, Va-yikra, Be-midbar

and Devarim,

which correspond to

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers

and Deuteronomy

The Hebrew titles

derive from the first characteristic word

appearing in each book,

while the name used in Greek describe

the central theme

dealt within each book

Deuteronomy 18:15-19

The Lord your God

will raise up for you a prophet

like me from among you, from your brothers--

it is to him you shall listen—just as you desired of the

Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly,

when you said,

“Let me not hear again the voice of

the Lord my God

or see this

great fire any more, lest I die.”

And the Lord said to me,

“They are right in what they have spoken.

I will raise up

for

them a prophet

like you from among their brothers.

And I will put my words in his mouth,

and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

And whoever will not listen to my words that

he shall speak in my name,

I myself will require it of him.

(Deuteronomy 18:15–19)

'For I have come down from heaven

not to do my will

but to do

the will of him who sent me"

John 6:38

Three Days past Sunday

HE WILL

RISE

“But we all, with

unveiled

face, beholding as in a mirror

the

Glory of the Lord,

are being

transformed

into the same image from

glory to glory,

just as from the

Lord, The Spirit”

(2 Corinthians 3:18, NASB).

With those few words “from glory to glory”--

Paul

sums up

our entire Christian life,

from

redemption and sanctification

on earth,

to our

glorious eternal

welcome

into heaven

There is a great deal of content packed into those few words.

It’s all so important that

Paul

labors at great length,

from 2 Corinthians 2:14 through the

END of chapter

5,

to open his readers’ eyes to a great

TRUTH

Let’s see why that truth matters so much.

The same Greek word for “glory” is used twice in the phrase from glory to glory, yet each usage refers to something different. The first “glory” is that of the Old Covenant—the Law of Moses—while the second is that of the New Covenant, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Both have astonishing splendor.

The Old Covenant was given to Moses

directly from God,

written

by God’s own finger

Data Entry

(Exodus 31:18).

That root of our Christian faith is glorious indeed; it’s the glory we’re coming “from.” Yet the New Covenant, the glory we’re going “to,” far surpasses that of the Old.

The transformation is

from the

GLORY of the LAW

Like the stone it was written on,

the Law was inflexible and absolute, applying to all Israelites

without much regard

for

individual circumstances

(Hebrews 10:28)

Though holy, good, and righteous in itself (Romans 7:12), the Law was, for us sinners,

the letter that kills us

(2 Corinthians 3:6).

The Law was an external force to control behavior.

In addition, stone, despite its strength, is earthly and will eventually wear away.

The Law

was merely a temporary guardian

(Galatians 3:23–25)

until something better came along

The transformation is to the glory of the New Covenant, which far surpasses the Old in every way.

It forgives us of our sin and gives us sinners life

(John 6:63).

It is written on believers’ hearts by the

Holy Spirit

(Jeremiah 31:33; 2 Corinthians 3:3),

so our obedience to God

springs up

from within us by God-given desires

rather than by

threats of legal punishment

In place of a cold set of writings as a guide for pleasing God,

we now have

Father, Son and Holy Spirit making their home with us,

fellowshipping in loving intimacy, teaching us everything

we must know and do (John 14:23; 16:13). That position in Christ is as permanent, eternal, and spiritual as God Himself, rather than temporary and earthly.

Paul is intent on directing

Christians

to

focus on the spiritual glory

of

the New Covenant rather

than

physical glory of the Old,

as many Jews in his day refused to do. He compared the
two types of glory
by recalling how Moses absorbed and

reflected God’s glory for a time

after

being in his presence

(2 Corinthians 3:7–11, 13; cf. Exodus 34:29–35).

Though Moses’ glow had a spiritual cause,

there was nothing spiritual about the effect—any person,

regardless of his

relationship with God, could see the glow on Moses’ face,

which he

covered with a veil

Not so the

GLORY

of the

New Covenant

That can be seen only with a

believer’s spiritual eyes--

what Paul is doing his best to open,

so that we

discern

GOSPEL GLORY

So he writes, “For God, who said

Let

LIGHT shine

out of

darkness

made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

But, as we move from glory to glory, there’s something even more important about the glory of the New Covenant that Christians must understand: its supernatural power to transform us. And that brings us to God’s ultimate purpose and destination for every believer, to transform us into the image of his own beloved Son (2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 8:28–30; Philippians 3:20–21).

Before he finishes with

the topic of

being transformed from glory to glory,

Paul

presents yet

one more astonishing claim:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is

Anew Creation;

the old has gone, the new has come!”

(2 Corinthians 5:17).

This is the invitation the Lord makes to all Christians, to have our lives

radically transformed

here and now,

by

opening our eyes to see the glorious

JOURNEY

He is taking us on

from

glory to glory

For I KNOW

The PLANS I have for YOU,’

declares the Lord, ‘

Plans to PROSPER

YOU and not to harm you,

Plans to GIVE

YOU

Hope and a Future!

This verse or portions of it are very popular. Jeremiah 29:11 is often displayed on posters,

T-shirts, bumper stickers, etc.

This verse is often spoken as a promise of hope to people who are

grieving or discouraged.

However, before it can be applied, it must first be understood in context.

When interpreting Scripture, we must keep in mind the

distinction between a passage’s

interpretation

and the same passage’s

application:

a passage can have only one meaning,

but it may have many applications. Jeremiah 29:11 is no different.

The verse has only one meaning.

Jeremiah 29 is addressed to the exiles in Babylon.

As punishment for the sins of Judah,

God was going to send the Babylonians to destroy

Jerusalem And the Temple

and to carry away many of the people to Babylon.

(See Jeremiah 25:8–14 for one example.)

At the time Jeremiah wrote Jeremiah 29, Nebuchadnezzar had

already removed some Jews to Babylon (see verse 1),

although the total destruction of Jerusalem and the temple

was still to come.

Jeremiah writes to the exiles to tell them that

people would return to the land after 70 years (verse 10).

Then he reassures them in verse 11 that

God has not forsaken them.

They will be restored.

God’s plans

for His Chosen People were

“for good and not for disaster,

to give you

a future and a hope”

In the primary application, Jeremiah 29:11 has nothing to do with any person living today.

This verse applied only to the Jews who were

in exile in Babylon during the sixth century BC.

However, the sentiment expressed is so

beautiful and encouraging,

is there not any sense in which it applies today?

The answer is, yes.

Jeremiah 29:11 has other applications. In particular, this verse reflects a

more general principle of God’s grace and affections for those

whom He loves, including

the modern church.

This more general application can be made

because of the

unchanging nature of God.

God had promised to bring Israel back;

therefore, the exiles could be assured that they

had a future and a hope.

This promise was not made to all nations at the time,

but only to Israel.

Likewise, God has

promised believers in Christ

certain things

that are not applicable to the human race in general.

For those who are

In Christ,

God has promised

that

our sins are forgiven

and we stand before God

justified.

God has plans for those in Christ, and

Those Plans are Good!

Shades of Jeremiah 29:11 are seen elsewhere in Scripture, such as in

Romans 8:31–39:

If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare

his own Son,

but gave him up for us all—how will he not also,

along with him,

graciously give us all things?

Who will bring any charge against those whom

God has chosen?

It is God who justifies.

Who then is the one who condemns?

No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that,

who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and

is also interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from

the love of Christ?

Shall trouble or hardship or

persecution or famine or nakedness

or danger or sword?

. . . No, in all these things we are

more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I AM

convinced that neither death nor life,

neither angels nor demons,

neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in

Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Believers in Christ can be confident that all things

will work together

for our good and that God has a future planned for us.

We have hope that “does not put us to shame”

(Romans 5:5).

We have been given promises to rely on, just as Israel was.

So, if by quoting Jeremiah 29:11 we are

thinking of our security in Christ,

then the wording is appropriate, even if the historical context does not apply.

A word of caution, however, that Jeremiah 29:11 can be misused as well.

First, it is sometimes wrongly applied to humanity in general.

Strictly speaking,

the promise of Jeremiah 29:11 does not apply to every human being,

but only those who are

in Christ

Perhaps it could even be extended as part of the

invitation to receive Christ:

“If you come to Him, He promises you a future and a hope!”

Outside of Christ, the only Savior, there is no future and no hope

(see John 3:18).

Too often, Jeremiah 29:11, quoted without context and
applied universally,
is made to give the impression
that God is a doting grandfather who

just wants to spoil us.

The second danger of using this verse

without understanding the context

is the same as the danger of taking Romans 8:28

out of context.

Jeremiah 29:11 promised that the nation of Israel would be restored, but very

few

of the exiles lived to see

the fulfillment of that prophecy

70 years later.

Most of them died without

seeing

the future that God had planned.

Likewise, the future and hope we have in Christ

are not a guarantee that things

will go well

in this life.

For most believers throughout history and in the world today, the world is a cold and dangerous place.
In fact, the promise outlined in Romans 8:28 is specifically that, even though

believers will face all

sorts of

dangers and persecutions

in this life

(trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword—see verse 35),

Christ

will never abandon them.

In this life, believers have hope because of

the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts,

but the future and the hope and the prosperity

that God has planned for believers

will be fully realized only after this life of suffering is over.

To rebuke someone

is to criticize him or her

sharply

The Greek word most often translated

“rebuke”

in the New Testament is elegchó.

In its fullest sense, elegchó means

“To reprimand and Convict

by exposing

(sometimes publicly) a

Wrong

There are times when all of us need to be rebuked,

and there are times

when a believer needs to rebuke another believer.

We normally think of a rebuke in a negative sense, but Proverbs 27:5–6 says,

“Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” Paul instructs Titus, as an overseer of the church, to “speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority” (Titus 2:15), implying that all three activities are of equal importance.

We know we should always encourage each other and

speak the truth

(1 Thessalonians 5:11; Ephesians 4:25), but how do we know when to rebuke another believer?

Scriptural rebuke begins in the heart.

Before we confront anyone about anything,

we should first

examine our own motives.

First Corinthians 16:14 says, “Let everything be done in love.”

That includes rebuke.

There is a right way and a wrong way to rebuke someone.

Wrong rebuking

stems from

pride

anger, malice,

jealousy

or

another selfish attitude

The goal of an

unscriptural rebuke

is to injure, shame, or otherwise injure a

Christian brother or sister.

Often, hypocrisy is involved.

Most of the Bible’s

warnings against

judging others pertain to those

who condemn others

for the very things

they do themselves

(Matthew 7:3–5).

Paul wrote

“I discipline my body

and

make it my slave,

so that,

after I have preached to others,

I myself

will not be disqualified”

(1 Corinthians 9:27).

Jesus gave clear instructions for

handling situations

in which a brother or sister is

caught up in a sin:

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault,

just between the two of you.

If they listen to you, you have won them over”

(Matthew 18:15).

There is discernment implied in this verse.

We are Not

to be

watchdogs over

each other, because we

all sin

in many ways

every day

(1 John 1:8; James 3:2).

We all sin in thought, word, attitude, or motivation.

But when another believer is choosing sin

that harms himself, someone else,

or the body of Christ, we are to intervene.

A rebuke is necessary at times, as we must look out for each other. James 5:20 says,

“Whoever turns a sinner from the error

of their way will save them

from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”

Confrontation may be difficult,

but it is not loving to allow a professing

Christian to continue in a sin

that will bring

God’s consequences upon him or his family

or his church

Matthew 18 goes on to

clarify what is to be done in

church discipline

if a confronted believer refuses to listen to a loving rebuke. Jesus says, “But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector” (verses 16–17). This may sound harsh to our tolerance-saturated minds, but this is Jesus talking. The purity of His church is of utmost importance to Him. People who want to claim His name while defiling His reputation must be rebuked, not overlooked or excused.

If the church as a whole took Jesus’ words more seriously, our voice would be more respected in the world. When we neglect to address grievous sins in the church, we appear to take sin lightly. Skeptics can’t respect our claim to honor the Bible as God’s Word while we ignore those of our number who are overtly disobeying it.

Sometimes, believers are hesitant to rebuke those who need it because of abuses in the past. Some churches or pastors have been overly eager to rebuke others or have used Scripture to humiliate and ostracize those who disagreed with them. Such judgmental behavior has led some church leaders to forego the application of the Matthew 18 standards entirely.

A simple checklist can help individuals know when it may be necessary to rebuke a sinning Christian.
We should never be hasty or rash in a rebuke.

We should evaluate each situation carefully and prayerfully and ask ourselves these questions:

1. Is my life free from similar sin? (Romans 2:1)

2. Do I have a relationship with this person that allows me to speak into his life? (Galatians 6:2)

3. Is my motive that of restoration rather than condemnation? (Galatians 6:1)

4. Would I be willing to have someone rebuke me in the same way? (Matthew 7:12)

5. Do I understand Scripture well enough to know how and why this person is violating it? (2 Timothy 2:15)

6. Am I prepared to go to my pastor or elders on this person’s behalf if he refuses to listen to me?

7. Am I willing to commit to praying for this person’s healing and restoration before and after I confront him? (Matthew 26:41)

8. Is this offense truly a sin or simply an act of immaturity or preference? (Ephesians 4:2)

9. Am I acting in love? (1 Corinthians 13:1)

Galatians 6:1 tells us,

“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the

Spirit should restore that person gently.

But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.” When we are called to confront or rebuke a fellow believer, we must always do so in an attitude of humility, knowing that we too are prone to sin.

We can follow Jesus’ golden words in this and every other situation: “

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you”

(Matthew 7:12).

As Christians, we are commanded against following teachers blindly but are

told rather to “test everything; hold on to the good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

The Apostle Peter warns us in 2 Peter 2:1-3 that

there will be false teachers

in our day just as there were false teachers in his day.

Among their false teachings

is a denial of the sufficiency of the sacrifice of

Christ on the cross

to take away sin, which is a common theme among

cultists today.

Another characteristic of false teachers is the

greed

which motivates them in everything

they do.

Paul offers a similar warning to the Ephesian elders

in Acts 20:29-31,

calling the false teachers “savage wolves” who

mercilessly attempt to

destroy the faith of

the sheep

and draw them away from the Shepherd.

Paul warned the church continually,

pleading with them night and day to be on their

guard against such

deceivers.

From these passages, we see clearly that we are to

distinguish between true and

false teachers.

How then are we to do that? First, as Paul instructs the Ephesians, we are

to “no longer be infants,

tossed back and forth by the waves,

and blown here and there

by every wind of teaching

and by the cunning and craftiness

of men

in their deceitful scheming”

(Ephesians 4:14).

Rather, we are to “

become mature, attaining to the

whole measure

of the

fullness of Christ”

and we do this by “the knowledge of the Son of God” (v. 13).

The knowledge of Christ

can only be obtained through the

Word of God,

and it is by that Word that we

distinguish between the

true and the false.

In Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus offers some critical advice in discerning who is a false prophet: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruits you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruits you will recognize them.” Plainly stated, is the teacher’s life marked by a progressive conformity to the likeness of Christ? Is the teacher bearing the fruits of the Spirit? Just as only good trees produce good fruit, so do only true teachers of Christ display the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23), whereas false prophets and teachers display the acts of their sinful natures (Galatians 5:19-21). By these fruits, we recognize true and false teachers.

Second, does the teaching that is being presented conform to the message as proclaimed by the early church and the apostles? As Paul writes to the church in Galatia, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” These are harsh words indeed that Paul has for the false teachers, but eternal condemnation is what they store up for themselves until the day of God’s wrath (Galatians 1:6-9).

The Apostle John tells us in his first epistle (1 John 4:1-6) how we are to discern which spirits are from God. “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.”

It is of utmost importance that Christians are well grounded in the Scriptures so that they are able to discern which teachers speak from God and which are false in their proclamation. Only then can we reject what is false and “hold on to the good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

False Teachers Will Be Destroyed

But there were also false prophets among the people. In the same way there will be false teachers among you. In secret they will bring in teachings that will destroy you. They will even turn against the Lord and Master who died to pay for their sins. So they will quickly destroy themselves. 2 Many people will follow their lead. These people will do the same evil things the false teachers do. They will cause people to think badly about the way of truth. 3 These teachers are never satisfied. They want to get something out of you. So they make up stories to take advantage of you. They have been under a sentence of death for a long time. The God who will destroy them has not been sleeping.

God did not spare angels when they sinned. Instead, he sent them to hell. He chained them up in dark prisons. He will keep them there until he judges them. 5 God did not spare the world’s ungodly people long ago. He brought the flood on them. But Noah preached about the right way to live. God kept him safe. He also saved seven others. 6 God judged the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He burned them to ashes. He made them an example of what is going to happen to ungodly people. 7 God saved Lot, a man who did what was right. Lot was shocked by the evil conduct of people who didn’t obey God’s laws. 8 That good man lived among them day after day. He saw and heard the evil things they were doing. They were breaking God’s laws. And the godly spirit of Lot was deeply troubled. 9 Since all this is true, then the Lord knows how to save godly people. He knows how to keep them safe in times of testing. The Lord also knows how to keep ungodly people under guard. He will do so until the day they will be judged and punished. 10 Most of all, this is true of people who follow desires that come from sin’s power. These people hate to be under authority.

They are bold and proud. So they aren’t even afraid to speak evil things against heavenly beings. 11 Now angels are stronger and more powerful than these people. But even angels don’t speak evil things against heavenly beings. They don’t do this when they bring judgment on them from the Lord. 12 These people speak evil about things they don’t understand. They are like wild animals who can’t think. Instead, they do what comes naturally to them. They are born only to be caught and destroyed. Just like animals, these people too will die.
13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to have wild parties in the middle of the day. They are like dirty spots and stains. They enjoy their sinful pleasures while they eat with you. 14 They stare at women who are not their wives. They want to sleep with them. They never stop sinning. They trap those who are not firm in their faith. They have mastered the art of getting what they want. God has placed them under his judgment. 15 They have left God’s way. They have wandered off. They follow the way of Balaam, son of Beor. He loved to get paid for doing his evil work. 16 But a donkey corrected him for the wrong he did. Animals don’t speak. But the donkey spoke with a human voice. It tried to stop the prophet from doing a very dumb thing.
17 These people are like springs without water. They are like mists driven by a storm. The blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 They speak empty, bragging words. They make their appeal to the evil desires that come from sin’s power. They tempt new believers who are just escaping from the company of sinful people. 19 They promise to give freedom to these new believers. But they themselves are slaves to sinful living. That’s because “people are slaves to anything that controls them.” 20 They may have escaped the sin of the world. They may have come to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But what if they are once again caught up in sin? And what if it has become their master? Then they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 Suppose they had not known the way of godliness. This would have been better than to know godliness and then turn away from it. The way of godliness is the sacred command passed on to them. 22 What the proverbs say about them is true. “A dog returns to where it has thrown up.” (Proverbs 26:11) And, “A pig that is washed goes back to rolling in the mud.”

In the wilderness of Judea, John the Baptist began his ministry of preparing Israel to receive her Messiah, Jesus Christ. Enormous crowds went to hear John (Matthew 3:5) as he traveled through the region “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:3). Many people received John’s message, confessed their sins, and were baptized (Matthew 3:6; Mark 1:5). These baptisms stirred up such a commotion that the Pharisees and Sadducees went out to investigate. Aware of their insincerity of heart, John said, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:7–8).

John spoke severely, challenging these religious leaders’ spiritual pride and hypocrisy head-on. They needed to know that God’s judgment for sin was coming. Baptism is an outward symbol of true heart change. John’s baptism was a “baptism of repentance.” Repentance is the act of changing one’s mind that results in a change of actions. Sincere repentance involves turning away from sin both in thought and action. When the crowds came to John for baptism, they were showing their repentance and identifying with a new life. The Phariseesand Sadducees were detached observers at John’s baptism. They claimed to have repented of their sins—sins they eagerly pointed out in others—yet they lived as sinners, all the while denying their own guilt.

The religious leaders of

John’s day

had refused to submit themselves to

God

They thought they were good enough

by way of association

with Abraham through their Jewish

heritage

(see Matthew 3:9; John 8:39).

But their religious rituals and

spiritual “pedigree” were

not enough to please God.

The only way

for sinners to enter a relationship with God is

through

genuine repentance and faith

These religious leaders should have been setting an example and taking the lead. Instead, they lived in self-righteous, hypocritical denial of their spiritual condition.

John the Baptist warned, “The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 3:10). The tree represents Israel. If Israel did not repent, it would be cut down and destroyed (see Luke 13:6–10). Only those who genuinely repented and began to produce good fruit would be prepared for the coming of Jesus Christ.

Luke’s gospel gives further insight into what it means to

produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

John told the people,

“Prove by the way you live

that you have repented

of your sins and turned to

God

Don’t just say to each other, ‘

We’re safe, for we are descendants

of Abraham.’

That means nothing, for I tell you,

God can create

children of Abraham

from these very stones’”

(Luke 3:8, NLT).

John’s baptism of repentance

was meant to be the start of a brand new, continuous life of producing fruit in keeping with righteousness. Our family tree won’t earn us a place in heaven or give us an automatic claim to God’s promises. John told the Sadducees and Pharisees who took pride in their lineage to take a more humble view: just as God had made Adam from the dust of the ground, God could raise up children of Abraham from the stones of the wilderness.

At John’s preaching,

the people began to ask, “What should we do?”

(Luke 3:10)

In other words, What is the fruit in keeping with repentance?”

John answered, ‘

Anyone who has two shirts

should share with the one who has none, and anyone who

has food should do the same’” (Luke 3:11).

He told the tax collectors in the crowd,

“Don’t collect any more than you are required to”

He told the soldiers,

“Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely--

be content with your pay” (verse 14).

Such actions were the “fruit” of repentance

in that they showed the genuineness of the change of heart

When the apostle Paul began his preaching ministry,

he, too, spoke of good deeds

as proof of genuine repentance:

“I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea,

and also to the Gentiles, that all must repent of their sins

and turn to God—and prove

they have changed by the good things they do”

(Acts 26:20, NLT)

The believer’s spiritual life and

growth

are often compared

to a

fruit-bearing tree in Scripture

Just as fruit production is proof of life and health in a tree, so are good actions the evidence of spiritual life in Jesus Christ and the presence of God’s Spirit dwelling within a person. Jesus said, “A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions” (Matthew 7:17–20, NLT).

Fruit in keeping with repentance represents the good deeds and changed behaviors that naturally flow from a truly repentant and transformed heart. In James 2:14–26, James teaches extensively on the subject, explaining that “faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless” (verse 17, NLT). James concludes, “Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works (verse 26, NLT).

Paul prays for the Philippians to be “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:11). He gives examples of good spiritual fruit: “The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23, NLT; see also Ephesians 5:9; Colossians 1:10; James 3:17).

The believer’s ability to produce fruit in keeping with repentance depends wholly on our intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ, who said, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4–5, NLT). The root will naturally produce fruit. Fruit in keeping with repentance is the evidence (as well as a result) of a changed mind, transformed life, and ongoing communion with Jesus.

Proverbs 3:5-6 is a familiar passage to many: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths." Verse 5 is a complementary pair of commands. We are told, positively, to trust the Lord and, negatively, not to trust our own understanding. Those two things are mutually exclusive. In other words, if we trust in the Lord, we cannot also depend upon our own ability to understand everything God is doing.

First Corinthians 13:12 says, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." We only see part of the picture God is painting. If we are to truly trust Him, we have to let go of our pride, our programs, and our plans. Even the best-laid human plans cannot begin to approach the magnificent sagacity of God’s plan. “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:25).

Most of us have a desperate desire to understand, but in so many areas we must acknowledge that we cannot understand. We must approve of God’s ways, even when we can’t comprehend them. Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us why we often don’t understand what God is doing: "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" God sees the whole picture, while we only see our tiny corner of it. To trust in the Lord with all our heart means we can’t place our own right to understand above His right to direct our lives the way He sees fit. When we insist on God always making sense to our finite minds, we are setting ourselves up for spiritual trouble.

Our limited understanding can easily lead us astray.

Proverbs 16:25 says,

"There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death."

When we choose to direct our lives according to what seems right to us, we often reap disaster (Judges 21:25). Every culture has tried to get God to approve of its definition of right and wrong, but God never changes and His standards never change (Numbers 23:19; James 1:17; Romans 11:29). Every person must make a decision whether to live his or her life according to personal preference or according to the unchanging Word of God. We often will not understand how God is causing "all things to work together for good" (Romans 8:28), but when we trust Him with all our hearts, we know that He is. He will never fail us (Psalm 119:142; Philippians 2:13).

Galatians 3:26-28 gives us insight into the phrase “in Christ” and what it means.

"In Christ Jesus you are all children of

God through faith,

for all of you who were baptized into Christ have

clothed yourselves with Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Gentile,

neither slave nor free,

nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

Paul is speaking to the Christians in Galatia,

reminding them of their

New identity

since they placed their faith in Jesus Christ.

To be "baptized into Christ"

means that they were

Identified with Christ,

having left their old sinful lives and fully embracing the

new life in Christ

(Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23).

When we respond

to the

Holy Spirit’s drawing,

He "baptizes" us into the

family of God.

First Corinthians 12:13 says,

"For we were all baptized by

One Spirit

so as to

Form One Body

—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free--

and we were all given the

One Spirit to drink

Several places in Scripture refer to the believer’s being "in Christ" (1 Peter 5:14; Philippians 1:1; Romans 8:1). Colossians 3:3 says, "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." God is perfect justice. He cannot simply overlook or excuse our sin; that would not be just. Sin had to be paid for. All the wrath God holds toward evil was poured out on His own Son. When Jesus took our place on the cross, He suffered the punishment our sin deserves. His last words before He died were, "It is finished" (John 19:30). What was finished? Not merely His earthly life. As He proved three days later, that was not finished (Matthew 28:7; Mark 16:6; 1 Corinthians 15:6). What He finished on the cross was God’s plan to redeem His fallen world. When Jesus said, "It is finished," He was stating that He had successfully paid in full for every act of rebellion, past, present, and future.

To be "in Christ"

means we have accepted

His sacrifice

as payment for our own sin.

Our rap sheets contain every sinful thought, attitude or action we have ever committed. No amount of self-cleansing can make us pure enough to warrant forgiveness and a relationship with a holy God (Romans 3:10-12). The Bible says that in our natural sinful state we are enemies of God (Romans 5:10). When we accept His sacrifice on our behalf, He switches accounts with us. He exchanges our list of sins for His perfect account that is totally pleasing to God (2 Corinthians 5:21). A Divine Exchange takes place at the foot of the cross: our old sin nature for His perfect one (2 Corinthians 5:17).

To enter the presence of a holy God, we must be hidden in the righteousness of Christ. To be "in Christ" means that God no longer sees our imperfections; He sees the righteousness of His own Son (Ephesians 2:13; Hebrews 8:12). Only "in Christ" is our sin debt cancelled, our relationship with God restored, and our eternity secured (John 3:16-18, 20:31).

Open and honest communication is characteristic of faithful and loving relationships. Solomon addressed the subject in Proverbs 27:5–6: “Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (KJV 1900).

Nineteen proverbs identify one thing as “better than” another. In Proverbs 27:5, open rebuke is better than secret love. Open rebuke speaks of straightforward, direct correction of another person’s wrongs without reserve or secretiveness. Such a rebuke may sting at first, but a healthy reprimand can be a genuine expression of love: “For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights” (Proverbs 3:12, NLT; cf. Hebrews 12:6; see also Revelation 3:19).

Throughout the book of Proverbs, open rebuke is presented as a good and valuable form of instruction. Those who respond correctly to it are “on the pathway to life” (Proverbs 10:17, NLT). They are considered “wise” and “understanding” (Proverbs 9:8; 15:5; 17:10). But those who scorn and reject rebuke are on a path to poverty, disgrace, destruction, and death (Proverbs 1:23–26; 15:10).

Open rebuke is better than secret love because “in the end, people appreciate honest criticism far more than flattery” (Proverbs 28:23, NLT). For this reason, the psalmist prayed, “Let the godly strike me! It will be a kindness! If they correct me, it is soothing medicine. Don’t let me refuse it” (Psalm 141:5, NLT). We can trust a rebuke from a godly person because we know the motivation is heartfelt concern for our welfare. “Rebuke the wise and they will love you,” declares Proverbs 9:8.

Secret love refers to love that is unknowable, invisible, closed off, ignored, or withdrawn. Such love has given up and doesn’t even bother to tell a friend his faults. Even unpleasant, disciplinary interaction is preferable to no communication or an apathetic attitude that doesn’t care enough to express concern for our well-being. It takes courage and genuine love to speak plainly to a friend who needs correcting. A true friend shows love through time and attention, even if that attention sometimes takes the form of a rebuke.

Secret love lacks the courage to speak out or act and instead allows a friend to go on sinning. But God’s love calls us to intervene compassionately (Job 6:14; Proverbs 3:27; 17:17; Romans 12:9–10; Galatians 6:2; Philippians 2:3–4). James explained, “My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins” (James 5:19–20).

Jesus also made it clear that, among believers in Christ, open rebuke is better than secret love: “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over” (Matthew 18:15). The apostle Paul reiterated the principle: “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself” (Galatians 6:1, NLT).

Open rebuke is better than secret love highlights the need for honest communication and meaningful interaction with the people God has placed in our lives. Few things will destroy a relationship faster than apathy and being ignored.

Paul’s Greeting to Timothy

(2 Timothy 1:1–2)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus

by the

command of God our Savior

and of

Christ Jesus our hope,

To Timothy, my true child

in the faith:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and

Christ Jesus our Lord.

Correcting False Teachers

(Titus 1:10–16)

3As I urged you on my departure to Macedonia, you should stay on at Ephesus to instruct certain men not to teach false doctrines 4or devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculation rather than the stewardship of God’s work, which is by faith.

5The goal of our instruction is the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith. 6Some have strayed from these ways and turned aside to empty talk. 7They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not understand what they are saying or that which they so confidently assert.

8Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. 9We realize that law is not enacted for the righteous, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for killers of father or mother, for murderers, 10for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave tradersb and liars and perjurers, and for anyone else who is averse to sound teaching 11that agrees with the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.

God’s Grace to Paul

12I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, that He considered me faithful and appointed me to service. 13I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man; yet because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief, I was shown mercy. 14And the grace of our Lord overflowed to me, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

15This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. 16But for this very reason I was shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His perfect patience as an example to those who would believe in Him for eternal life. 17Now to the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
18Timothy, my child, I entrust you with this command in keeping with the previous prophecies about you, so that by them you may fight the good fight,

holding on to faith and a good conscience,

which some have rejected and thereby shipwrecked their faith.

Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander,

whom I have handed over to Satan

To be Taught Not to

Blasphemy

"The Last Supper"

Restoration

Is one of the great Renaissance painter

Leonardo Da Vinci's

most famous and

fascinating masterpieces

and the subject of

many legends and controversies.

One of those controversies involves the figure

seated at the table

to the

Right of Christ.

Is that St. John

or

Mary Magdalene?

The History of 'The Last Supper' Although there are multiple

reproductions

in museums and on mousepads,

The Original

of

“The Last Supper"

is a fresco

Painted between 1495 and 1498, the work is enormous,
measuring
15 by 29 feet (4.6 x 8.8 meters).

Its colored plaster covers the entire wall of the

refectory (dining hall) in the Convent of Santa

Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy

The painting was a commission

from Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan and Da Vinci's
employer for nearly 18 years (1482-1499).

Leonardo, always the inventor, tried using

new materials for

"The Last Supper."

Instead of using tempera on

wet plaster

the preferred method of fresco painting,

and one which had worked successfully for centuries

Leonardo painted on

dry plaster,

which resulted in a more

varied palette

Unfortunately, dry plaster is not as stable as wet, and the painted

plaster began to flake off the wall almost immediately.

Various authorities have struggled to restore it ever since.

https://creationtonewcreation.com/the-skull-crushing-seed-of-the-woman-inner-biblical-interpretation-of-genesis-315-by-james-hamilton/

7

The Tabernacle,

The

Dwelling Place of God

 (Exodus 36:8-39:43)

The importance of the chapters in Exodus

which deal with the tabernacle has been stated well by Witsius:

“God created the whole world in six days, but he used

FORTY

to instruct Moses about

The Tabernacle

Little over one chapter was needed to describe the structure of the world, but six were used for the tabernacle.”

Although most evangelicals would readily acknowledge the importance of the tabernacle,
throughout the history of the church there has been

little agreement

concerning its interpretation

ONE ACCORD

I would recommend that the reader make an effort to survey the
history of the interpretation of the tabernacle,
which is the subject of our study.
Through the centuries many have sought to find the meaning of the

tabernacle in terms of its

symbolism

Already in the Hellenistic period … the attempt had been made to understand the function of
the Old Testament tabernacle as basically a symbolic one.
It is immediately apparent from the biblical language why this interpretation seemed a natural one.

First, the dimension of

the tabernacle and all its parts

reflect a carefully contrived design and a

harmonious whole

The numbers 3, 4, 10 predominate with proportionate cubes and rectangles.

The various parts—the

separate dwelling place, the tent, and the court

are all in exact numerical relation

The use of metals—gold, silver, and copper—are carefully graded

in terms of their

proximity to

the

Holy of Holies

In the same way,

the particular colors

appear to bear some

inner relation to their function,

whether the white, blue, or crimson.

There is likewise a gradation in the

quality of the cloth used.

Finally,

much stress is placed on the

proper position and orientation,

with the easterly

direction receiving the place of honor

Mercy Seat

Characteristics of the Tabernacle

(1) The tabernacle was a very functional facility.

The tabernacle served as a meeting place between God and men, and was thus

as the

“tent of meeting”

(cf. 35:21) This was no small task, for having God in close proximity was a very dangerous thing. When Moses plead with God to dwell in the midst of His people (Exod. 34:9), God warned him that this could prove fatal to such a sinful people: “For the Lord had said to Moses, ‘Say to the sons of Israel, “You are an obstinate people; should I go up in your midst for one moment, I would destroy you”’”

(Exod. 33:5a)

The tabernacle

solved

the problem of having a

HOLY God dwell

in the

Midst

of

A Sinful People

he solution includes two provisions.

The tabernacle solved one problem with its portability.

God had revealed Himself to His people from

atop Mt. Sinai

When the people left Sinai for the promised land of Canaan,

they would need some

portable place for

God’s

presence to be manifested

Since the tabernacle was a tent,

the problem of portability was solved

The

tabernacle also solved

the

problem of

a

HOLY GOD

DWELLING in the MIDST

of a

SINFUL people

The tent curtains, and especially the

thick

VEIL

served as a separator,

a

dividing barrier,

between God and the people.

Beyond this,

The tabernacle was sanctified

and

SET APART

as a

HOLY PLACE

This spared the people from an outbreak from God which would have destroyed them

(cf. 33:5).

Also, the tabernacle was a place of sacrifice,

so that the sins

of the Israelites could be atoned for.

While the solution was not permanent

it did facilitate communion between God and His people.

(2) The tabernacle was a facility which displayed fabulous wealth and beauty.

It does not take more than a casual reading of the

text to learn

that the tabernacle

was a

very costly project

The most recent study of Hebrew weights by R. B. Y. Scott
(Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, London and New York 1962, sect. 35)
reckons the talent at about 64 lbs. (29 kg.)
and the sanctuary shekel 1/3 oz. or 9.7 gr. According to this calculation ther
e would be some 1,900 lbs. of gold, 6,437 lbs. of
silver, and 4,522 lbs. of bronze.

The project involved not only very expensive materials, but these materials were

fashioned in such a way

as to

create great works

of

ART

“… God … commanded Moses to fashion a tabernacle in a way which would
involve almost every form
of

representational

art

that men have ever

known

The tabernacle and its furnishings

were provided for the Israelites for both

“glory” and “beauty,”

(3) The building of the tabernacle involved all of the people. All of the people would benefit from the tabernacle, and thus all were permitted to participate in its construction, either by their donations of materials, or of skilled labor, or both.

4) The tabernacle testified to the character of God. The excellence of the tabernacle, both in its materials and its workmanship, was a reflection of the excellencies of God. The tabernacle was also a holy place, because abiding in it was a holy God (cf. 30:37, 38):
The tabernacle testifies in its structure and function to the holiness of God. Aaron bears the engraving on the diadem, ‘Holy to Yahweh’ (28:36). The priests are warned in the proper administration of their office ‘lest they die’ (30:21), and the death of Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10.1) made clear the seriousness of an offense which was deemed unholy to God.

(5) The tabernacle was composed of various elements, but the unity of all, in design, function, and purpose, was emphasized. “And he made fifty clasps of gold, and joined the curtains to one another with the clasps, so the tabernacle was a unit” (Exod. 36:13).
“And he made fifty clasps of bronze to join the tent together, that it might be a unit

” (Exod. 36:18).

What Schaeffer has written about the temple can also be said of the tabernacle:

We should note that with regard to the temple all of the art worked together to form a unity. The whole temple was a single work of architecture, a unified unit with free-standing columns, statuary, bas-relief, poetry and music, great huge stones, beautiful timbers brought from afar. It’s all there. A completely unified work of art to the praise of God.

Not only was there unity in architecture and structure, but there was also a unity in the function of the tabernacle. The purpose of the tabernacle was to provide a place where God may dwell in the midst of men. All of the furnishings facilitate ministries and ceremonies which contribute to this one place of providing a “tent of meeting.”

(6) The tabernacle was designed as a permanent facility. Repeatedly we find
expressions such as, “perpetual” and “throughout your generations”

(cf. 30:8, 16, 21, 31).

The tent was used daily for much more than

40 years,

and it would seem as though

God had designed it to be used throughout Israel’s history.

The tabernacle was not only

“built to last,”

to mimic an automobile manufacturer’s claim,

but it was designed to last.

(7) The tabernacle was God’s idea, God’s initiative, God’s design.
Where did the pattern come from? It came from God. … God was the architect, not man. Over and over in the account of how the tabernacle is to be made, this phrase appears: ‘And thou shalt make …’ That is, God told Moses what to do in detail. These were commands, commands from the same God who gave the Ten Commandments.

The tabernacle was made after the divine pattern shown to Moses (25.9). The … instructions emphasized that every detail of the design was made by explicit command of God (35.1, 4, 10, etc.). Bezalel and Oholiab were equipped with the spirit of God and with knowledge in craftsmanship (31.2ff.) to execute the task. For the Old Testament writer the concrete form of the tabernacle is inseparable from its spiritual meaning. Every detail of the structure reflects the one divine will and nothing rests on the ad hoc decision of human builders. … Moreover, the tabernacle is not conceived of as a temporary measure for a limited time, but one in which the permanent priesthood of Aaron serves throughout all their generation (27.20f.).

The Temple

as the Dwelling Place of God

Once Israel possessed the land of Canaan, there was no need for a portable facility to house the ark of the covenant and the other furnishings of the tabernacle. The ark, you will recall, had been used by the Israelites as a kind of giant “rabbit’s foot,” which they took with them when they fought against the Philistines, under the leadership of King Saul and his son Jonathan.

The Israelites lost this battle and the ark was captured by the Philistines.

After repeated difficulties directly related to the ark, the Philistines sent the ark back to Israel.

The return of the ark and David’s dwelling in a lavish house seems to have prompted him to

propose the construction of a different place for the ark to be kept:

“And it came about, when David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet

, ‘Behold, I am dwelling in a house of cedar,

but the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under curtains’”

(1 Chron. 17:1)

Nathan quickly (and apparently without consulting God)

encouraged David to build a temple

(1 Chron. 17:2).

God had different plans,

however, for

David had been a man

of war and had shed

much blood.

God would indeed allow a temple to be built, but it would be built by Solomon, David’s son, a man of peace.

While David wanted to build God a house,

God promised to give David a house, and so it is in the context of David’s request to
build a temple that God proclaims what has become known as

the Davidic Covenant, the promise that David’s seed will rule forever,

and so it became known that

Israel’s Messiah would be the

“Son of David”

(1 Chron. 17:4-15).

Like God’s victory over the Egyptians, David’s military victories over the surrounding (hostile) nations provided many of the materials needed for the construction of the temple (cf. 1 Chron. 18-21).

Although David is not permitted to build the temple, he does make extensive preparations for it. In chapter 22 of 1 Chronicles David began to gather the materials needed for the temple. Solomon was given instructions concerning the construction of the temple. The people were encouraged to assist in this project. Those who would minister in the temple were designated as well (chapters 24-26). The plans which David gave to Solomon were inspired by God (1 Chron. 28:11-12, 19), and were thus divinely provided, as were the plans for the tabernacle.

David generously gave materials needed for the construction of the temple, as did the people when they were invited to do so

(1 Chron. 29:1-9).

In celebration, sacrifices were offered and all the people ate and drank in the presence of God
(1 Chron. 29:21-22), in a way reminiscent of the ratification of the Mosaic Covenant

(Exod. 24:5-11).

After David’s deat

h (1 Chron. 29:28),

Solomon reigned over Israel (2 Chron. 1), and constructed the temple
(2 Chron. 2-4).

It was elegant

in materials and in workmanship,

just as the tabernacle was

(2 Chron. 2:7; 3:8-17, etc.).

When it was completed, the nation was assembled and the ark was brought into the temple (2 Chron. 5:2-10). Like the tabernacle (Exod. 40:34ff.), the cloud descended on the temple and the glory of the Lord filled the place (2 Chron. 5:11-14). The temple was dedicated, and Israel was instructed about the purpose of the place, paramount among which was that it was to be a place of prayer (2 Chron. 6). After Solomon had finished speaking, God spoke to the people, promising both blessing and cursing, depending upon Israel’s faithfulness to the covenant which God had made with them (2 Chron. 7). If Israel was not faithful to their covenant, the temple would be destroyed, and the people would be scattered.

Nevertheless, if Israel repented and praye

d (in the direction of the temple),

God would hear and would restore them.

Israel’s history bears out the truthfulness of God’s words.

The people did not remain faithful to God and they were driven from the land and the temple was left in ruins. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah describe the return of the faithful remnant from their captivity to the land of Canaan, where they rebuild the temple and the city of Jerusalem, guided and encouraged by the minor prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. When the temple was rebuilt, it did not have the splendor of the first temple, and thus some of the “old timers” wept at the sight of it (Ezra 3:12). The prophet Haggai, however, speaks a word of encouragement, assuring the people that the temple is glorious because God is with them, that His Spirit is dwelling in their midst (Hag. 2:4-5), and that in the future

God will fill His house

with even greater splendor and glory

The temple is also spoken of in the future tense by the prophet Ezekiel (chapters 40ff.).
The promise of the future return of the nation Israel to the land of Canaan and their spiritual restoration are assured by the
description of the millennial temple which is measured and described in great detail by Ezekiel.

God’s Dwelling Place in New TestamentIn the Gospel of John the Lord Jesus Christ is introduced as the Son of God who tabernacled among men (John 1:14). The Lord Jesus was thus the dwelling place of God among men during His earthly sojourn. He could thus tell the woman at the well that there was a time coming when the place of worship is not the principle concern (John 4:20-21).

From the time of Christ’s coming to earth to the present,

the dwelling place of God

among menis not conceived of in terms of buildings.

As a momentary aside, the physical building (the temple) had become a kind of idol to many of the legalistic, unbelieving Jews of Jesus’ day. The presence of the temple was proof to them that God was with them and that they were pleasing in His sight. Even the disciples were impressed by the beauty of the temple building, yet Jesus cautioned such enthusiasm, knowing that the temple would soon be destroyed (cf. Matt. 24:1-2). You can well imagine how upset the scribes and Pharisees would have been when our Lord spoke of destroying God’s temple (not knowing, of course, that it was He who was that temple). The destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. was a fulfillment of the warnings of the Old Testament Scriptures, proof of Israel’s disobedience and of God’s chastening hand on the nation, once again.
After our Lord’s crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, Stephen was put on trial by those who put our Lord on the cross.

One of the charges against him

was that he spoke against the temple

(cf. Acts 6:13).

Stephen’s response, given in his own defense, made it clear, as the Old Testament Scriptures had already done, that God did not dwell in man-made places (Acts 7:47-50; cf. 2 Chron. 2:5-6; 6:18, 30).

The New Testament epistles

go on to teach us that the

dwelling place of God is now the church,

not the

church building,

but the people who comprise

The body of Christ

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow-citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit (Eph. 2:19-22).
And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. … But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:4-5, 9).

There are a number of ways in which the construction of the tabernacle is applicable to our lives, even though we are separated from the Israelites of Moses’ day by many centuries and at least one dispensation.

First, I believe that we can legitimately learn the value of art from the tremendous artistic contributions of this structure. Many are those who have pointed out the various forms of art that are to be found in direct connection with the tabernacle. It is very likely true that we have become far too utilitarian, viewing only those things as important which have some great usefulness. Art has a definite value in our worship and in the expression of our devotion to God. This theme has been well developed by various Christian artists and is well worth our serious consideration. Nevertheless, I do not think that this is the principle thrust of our text.

Second, we should learn that God should not be thought of as dwelling in buildings made with hands, but rather in terms of dwelling within the church, within the body of those who truly believe in Jesus Christ. We are wrong in telling our children to “hush” when they enter the church building, because “this is God’s house,” which suggests to them that God lives in a building, and we visit him once a week.
If God indwells the church corporately, as the Scriptures teach, then the way we conduct ourselves as members of the church is vitally important. If God is holy, then His church must be holy as well (cf. 1 Pet. 1:16). This gives us a very strong reason for exercising church discipline (cf. Matt. 18; 1 Cor. 5, 11), for the church must be holy if God indwells it.

Further, if God indwells the church and manifests Himself in and through the church, then the way in which we conduct the church is vitally important to the adequate representation of God. It is for this reason that the apostle Paul wrote, “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed

I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the

household of God,

which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth”

(1 Tim. 3:14-15).

It is in this first epistle to Timothy that Paul speaks about doctrinal purity in the church (chapter 1), about public ministry (chapter 2), about church leaders (chapter 3), about false and true holiness (chapter 4), about the responsibility of the church for the widows and others (chapter 5), and about the pursuit of prosperity in the guise of seeking greater piety (chapter 6). How we conduct ourselves in the church is vitally important, my friend, for God Himself indwells the church today.

Let us be as careful in the way we build up the church as the Israelites of old were in the building up of the tabernacle, so that the glory of God might be made manifest to men.

There are several reasons it is significant

Jesus was dead for

three days

before His resurrection

First, resurrection after three days of death

proved to Jesus’ opponents that He truly rose from the dead.

Why? According to Jewish tradition, a

person’s soul/spirit remained with his/her dead body for three days.

After three days, the soul/spirit departed.

If Jesus’ resurrection had occurred on the same day or even the next day,
it would have been easier for His enemies to argue He had never truly died.
Significantly,
Jesus waited several days after Lazarus had died before

He came to resurrect

Lazarus so that

no one could deny the miracle

(John 11:38–44).

A second reason it was important for

Jesus to be dead for

three days was to fulfill biblical prophecy.

Jesus personally claimed He would be dead three days
(Matthew 12:40; 16:21; 27:63; John 2:19).

Also, some point to Hosea 6:1–3 as a

prophecy of the

Messiah’s resurrection after

three days:

“Come, let us return to the LORD.

He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us;

he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.

After two days he will revive us; on the third day

he will restore us,

that we may live in his presence.

Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on

to acknowledge him.

As surely as the sun rises, he will appear;

he will come

to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that

water the earth.”

This may also be the passage Paul refers to in

1 Corinthians 15:4

Jesus “was raised on the

third day

according to the Scriptures.”

The three days were significant in other ways

as well.

Jesus died on a Friday, Nisan 14, the day when the

Passover lamb was sacrificed.

His death represents the

death of a perfect,

unblemished sacrifice on

our behalf.

His resurrection on the third day

took place on the first day of the week,

illustrating

anew beginning and anew life

to all who trust in Him.

So, why was it important for Jesus to be dead for three days before His resurrection?

(1) So the unbelieving Jews could not deny that Jesus had truly been dead.

(2) Because three days is what Jesus Himself prophesied.

The phrase

“sign of Jonah”

was used by Jesus as a typological metaphor

for His future

crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.

Jesus answered with this expression when asked by

the Pharisees for miraculous proof that He was indeed the

Messiah.

The Pharisees remained unconvinced of

Jesus’ claims about Himself,

despite His having just cured a demon-possessed man who was

both blind and mute.

Shortly after the Pharisees accused Jesus of

driving out demons by the power of Satan,

they said to Him,

“Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

He answered, “

A wicked and adulterous

generation

asks for a sign!

But none will be given it

except

The sign of the prophet Jonah.

For as Jonah was three days and

three nights in the belly of a

huge fish,

so the Son of Man

will be

three days and three nights

in the

heart of the earth.

The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment

with this generation and condemn it;

for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now

something greater than Jonah

is here”

(Matthew 12:38–41)

To fully appreciate

the answer that Jesus gave, we must go to the Old Testament

book of Jonah.

In its first chapter, we read that God commanded the prophet Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh
and warn its people that He was going to destroy it for its wickedness.
Jonah disobediently ran from the Lord and headed for the city of Tarshish by boat.
The Lord then sent a severe storm that caused the crew of the ship to fear for their lives.
Jonah was soon thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish where he remained
for “three days and three nights” (Jonah 1:15–17). After the three-day period,
the Lord caused the great fish to vomit Jonah out onto dry land

(Jonah 2:10).

It is this three days

that Jesus was referring to when He spoke of the

sign of Jonah.

Jesus had already been producing miracles that were

witnessed by many.

Jesus had just performed a great sign in the

Pharisees’ presence

by healing a deaf man who was possessed of a demon.

Rather than believe,

they accused Jesus of doing this by the power of Satan.

Jesus recognized

their hardness of heart and

refused to give

them further proof of

His identity

However, He did say that there would be one further sign forthcoming,

His resurrection from the dead

This would be their final opportunity to be convinced.

Jesus’ paralleling

of the Pharisees with the people of Nineveh

is telling.

The people of Nineveh repented of their evil ways

(Jonah 3:4–10)

after hearing Jonah’s call for repentance,

while the Pharisees continued

in their unbelief

despite being eyewitnesses to the

miracles of Jesus

Jesus was telling the Pharisees that

they were

culpable for their unbelief,

given the conversion of the people of Nineveh, sinners who had received
far less evidence than the Pharisees themselves

had witnessed.

Interestingly, from the time of Jonah’s preaching, the people of Nineveh had

40 days to repent,

and they did, sparing their city from destruction.

From the time of Jesus’ preaching, the people of Jerusalem

had 40 years,

but they did not repent, and Jerusalem was destroyed.

But what are we to make of the phrase

“three days and three nights”?

Was Jesus saying that He would be dead for three full 24-hour periods before

He would rise from the dead?

It does not appear so. The phrase “three days and three nights” need not refer to a literal 72-hour period.

Rather, according to the Hebrew reckoning of time, the days could refer to

three days in part or in whole.

Jesus was probably crucified on a Friday (Mark 15:42). According to the standard reckoning,
Jesus died at about 3:00 PM (Matthew 27:46) on Friday

(day 1).

He remained dead for all of Saturday

(day 2)

and rose from the dead early on Sunday morning

(day 3).

God would often use signs(or miracles)

in the Bible

to authenticate His chosen messenger

The Lord provided Moses with several miraculous signs
in
order to prove to others that he was appointed by God

(Exodus 4:5–9; 7:8–10;19-20).

God sent down fire on Elijah’s altar during Elijah’s contest with the
prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:36–39).

He performed this miracle to
prove that the God of Israel was the

one true God

Jesus Himself

would perform many miracles (or “signs”)

to

demonstrate His power over nature

(Matthew 4:23; Mark 6:30–44; Luke 8:22–24; John 6:16–24).

The “sign of Jonah” would
turn out to be Jesus’ greatest miracle of all.

Jesus’ resurrection from the dead

would be God’s chief sign

that Jesus was Israel’s long-awaited

Messiah

(Acts 2:23–32)

and establish Christ’s claims to

deity

(Romans 1:3–4).

The “seventy weeks” prophecy

is one of the most significant and detailed

Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament.

It is found in Daniel 9.

The chapter begins with Daniel praying for Israel,
acknowledging the nation’s sins against God and
asking for God’s mercy.

As Daniel prayed, the angel Gabriel
appeared to him and gave him a
vision of Israel’s future.

The Divisions of the 70 Weeks

In verse 24, Gabriel says, “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your

people and your holy city.”

Almost all commentators agree that the seventy “sevens” should be
understood as seventy “weeks” of years, in other words, a period of 490 years.

These verses provide a sort of “clock” that gives an idea of
when the Messiah would come
and some of the events that would accompany
His appearance.

The prophecy goes on to divide the 490 years into three smaller units:
one of 49 years, one of 434 years, and one 7 years. The final “week”
of 7 years is further divided in half. Verse 25 says,

“From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem

until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes,

there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’” Seven “sevens” is 49 years,
and sixty-two “sevens” is another 434 years:

49 years + 434 years = 483 years

The Purpose of the 70 Weeks

The prophecy contains a statement concerning God’s six-fold purpose
in bringing these events to pass.

Verse 24 says this purpose is

1) “to finish transgression,”

2) “to put an end to sin,”

3) “to atone for wickedness,”

4) “to bring in everlasting righteousness,”

5) “to seal up vision and prophecy,” and

6) “to anoint the most holy.”

Notice that these results concern the total eradication of sin and the
establishing of righteousness.

The prophecy of the 70 weeks
summarizes what happens before

Jesus sets up His millennial kingdom.

Of special note is the third in the list of results: “to atone for wickedness.”

Jesus accomplished the atonement for sin by

His death on the cross

(Romans 3:25; Hebrews 2:17)

The Fulfillment of the 70 Weeks

Gabriel said the prophetic clock would start at
the time that a decree
was issued to rebuild Jerusalem.

From the date of that decree to the time of the

Messiah would be 483 years.

We know from history that the command

to “restore and rebuild Jerusalem”

was given by King Artaxerxes of Persia c. 444 B.C. (see Nehemiah 2:1-8).

The first unit of 49 years (seven “sevens”) covers the time that it took to

rebuild Jerusalem,

“with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble” (Daniel 9:25).

This rebuilding is chronicled in the book of Nehemiah.

Converting the 360-day year used by the ancient Jews, 483 years becomes 476 years on our solar calendar. Adjusting for the switch from B.C. to A.D., 476 years after 444 B.C. places us at A.D. 33,

which would coincide

with

Jesus’ triumphal entry into

Jerusalem

what a coincidence!

(Matthew 21:1–9).

The prophecy in Daniel 9 specifies that, after the completion of the 483 years,

“The Anointed One will be

cut off

(verse 26).

This was fulfilled when Jesus was crucified.

Daniel 9:26 continues with a prediction that, after

The Messiah is killed,

“The people of the ruler who will come

Will

Destroy the city and the sanctuary.”

This was fulfilled

with the destruction of Jerusalem

in A.D. 70.

The “Ruler who will come” is a reference to

The Antichrist,

who, it seems,

will have some connection with Rome,

since it was

The Romans who destroyed Jerusalem.

The Final Week of the 70 Weeks

Of the 70 “sevens,” 69 have been fulfilled in history.

The final “seven” of Daniel is what we usually
call the tribulation period.

Daniel’s prophecy reveals some of the actions of the Antichrist,

the “ruler who will come.”

Verse 27 says,

“He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’”

However, “in the middle of the ‘seven,’ . . .

he will set up an abomination

that causes desolation” in the temple.

Jesus warned of this event in Matthew 24:15.

After the Antichrist

breaks the covenant with Israel, a

time of “great tribulation” begins

(Matthew 24:21, NKJV)

Daniel also predicts

That the Antichrist will face

judgment.

He only rules “until the

end

that is decreed

is poured out on him,

like a cup

(Daniel 9:27)

God will only allow evil to go so far,
and the judgment
the Antichrist will face has already been planned out.

Seventy has a sacred meaning in Scripture
that is made up of the factors of two perfect numbers,
seven (representing perfection) and ten (representing completeness and God's law).

As such, it symbolizes perfect spiritual order
carried out with all power.
It can also represent a period of judgment.

Seventy (70) elders were appointed by Moses (Numbers 11:16).

After reading the covenant God gave him to read to the people,
Moses took 70 elders, along with Aaron and his sons,
up Mount Sinai to have a special meal with God himself (Exodus 24:9 - 11)!

Ancient Israel spent a total number of
70 years in captivity in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:10).

Seventy is also specially connected with Jerusalem.

The city kept 70 years of Sabbaths
while Judah was in Babylonian captivity (Jeremiah 25:11).

Seventy sevens (490 years) were determined upon Jerusalem
for it to complete its transgressions, to make an end for sins and for everlasting
righteousness to enter into it (Daniel 9:24).

“Now Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran,”
that Abram (also known as Abraham; cf. Genesis 17:5)
was Terah’s firstborn, and that
he was born when Terah was 70.

Israel in Egypt had its beginnings
with
Joseph rising in power in Pharaoh's court

and Jacob migrating his entire household into the land.

A total of 70 Israelites started a nation
within another nation that would
grow to more than two million
by the Exodus.

Seventy elders (not counting the High Priest)
composed Israel's great tribunal (Exodus 24:1, Numbers 11:16) which was
eventually called the Sanhedrin.

It was this body of elders that

hated Christ so much

that they were the driving force in

the New Testament to have

Jesus killed

by whatever means available

(e.g. by betrayal, lying witnesses,

false accusations, lying

to the Romans

that he broke Roman laws, etc.).

Seventy disciples were sent out by Christ on

a 'training mission'

to preach the gospel to the surrounding area

(Luke 10).

The book of Matthew

1. Salt of the earth (5:13)
2. Light of the world (5:14)
3. Birds of the air are fed by God (6:25 - 26)
4. Consider the lilies and amazing flowers God has created (6:28 - 30)
5. They will be known by their fruits (7:16 - 23)
6. House built on a rock (7:24 - 27)
7. The good physician (9:12 - 13)
8. Friends of the Bridegroom (9:15 - 17)
9. New cloth on old (9:16)
10. New wine in old bottles (9:17)
11. Children in the marketplace (11:16 - 17)
12. Wisdom justified by children (11:18 - 19)
13. Kingdom divided against itself (12:25 - 29)
14. The unclean spirit that wanders and returns home (12:43 - 45)
15. The Sower (13:3 - 23)
16. Shine your light before the world (5:15 - 16)
17. The mustard seed (13:31 - 32)
18. Kingdom of God like leaven (13:33)
19. Treasure hidden in a field (13:44)
20. The costly pearl (13:45 - 46)
21. Kingdom of God like a net (13:47 - 50)
22. Scribe is like man who brings out old, new things (13:52)
23. The blind religious leaders of the blind (15:14 - 20)
24. Become as little children (18:3 - 6)
25. Offensive hands and eyes spiritually speaking (18:7 - 9)
26. The lost sheep (18:12 - 14)
27. The unforgiving servant (18:23 - 35)
28. The workers in the vineyard (20:1 - 6)
29. One faithful and one rebellious son (21:28 - 32)
30. The evil servants in God's vineyard (21:33 - 46)
31. The wedding feast (22:1 - 14)
32. Vultures and the carcase (24:28)
33. Fig tree seasons like seasons of prophecy (24:32 - 35)
34. The watchful servants (24:42 - 51)
35. The Ten Virgins (25:1 - 13)
36. The talents (25:14 - 30)
37. Separating Sheep and Goats (25:31 - 46)
The book of Mark
1. The growing seed (4:26 - 29)
The book of Luke
1. Creditor owed by two people (7:40 - 47)
2. Good Samaritan (10:30 - 37)
3. A friend needs food at midnight (11:5 - 8)
4. Ask and it shall be given (11:9 - 10)
5. The giver of good gifts (11:11 - 13)
6. The rich fool (12:16 - 22)
7. Life is more than food and the body more than clothes (12:22 - 24)
8. Barren fig tree (13:6 - 9)
9. Narrow gate of salvation (13:24)
10. Master refuses to open door of those who knock (13:25 - 30)
11. Be humble (14:8 - 14)
12. Cost of discipleship (14:26 - 33)
13. The lost coin (15:8 - 10)
14. Prodigal son (15:11 - 32)
15. The Unjust Steward (16:1 - 9)
16. Lazarus and the Rich man (16:19 - 31)
17. Mustard seed faith (17:6)
18. Unprofitable servant (17:7 - 10)
19. The widow and the Judge (18:2 - 8)
20. The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (18:10 - 14)
21. Nobleman pays his ten servants (19:12 - 27)
The book of John
1. The wind is like Holy Spirit (3:8)
2. Fields are white for harvest (4:35 - 38)
3. The Son follows the Father (5:19 - 20)
4. Servant of sin freed by repentance and forgiveness through Jesus (8:35)
5. The Good Shepherd (John 10:1 - 18)
6. Make the most of your twelve waking hours of daylight (11:9 - 10)
7. Wheat must die to live (12:23 - 25)
8. Walking in the light (12:35 - 36)
9. A place prepared (14:2 - 4)
10. Christ is the True Vine (15:1 - 8)
11. Weeping and rejoicing (16:20 - 22)
More Info on Biblical Meaning of 70The prophet Ezekiel was taken by God, in vision, to Jerusalem to be shown 70 elders of Israel defiling themselves by offering incense to their idols (see Ezekiel 8).

Mentioning 146 times in Scripture,
the number
40 generally symbolizes a period of testing, trial or probation.

During Moses' life, he lived forty years in Egypt
and forty years in the desert
before God selected him to lead his people out of slavery.

Moses was also on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights,
on two separate occasions (Exodus 24:18, 34:1 - 28), receiving God's laws.

He also sent spies,
for forty days,
to investigate the land God promised the Israelites as an inheritance
(Numbers 13:25, 14:34)

The prophet Jonah
powerfully warned ancient Nineveh, for forty days,
that its destruction would come because of its many sins.

The prophet Ezekiel laid on His

right side for 40 days

to symbolize Judah's sins (Ezekiel 4:6).

Elijah went 40 days
without food or water at Mount Horeb.

Jesus was tempted by the devil
many times during the 40 complete days he fasted just
before his ministry began.

He also appeared to his disciples
and others for 40 days after his resurrection from the dead.

The children of Israel
were punished by wandering the wilderness for 40 years
before a new generation
was allowed to possess the Promised Land.

Jesus, just days before his crucifixion, prophesied the total destruction of Jerusalem
(Matthew 24:1 - 2, Mark 13:1 - 2).

Forty years after his crucifixion in 30 A.D.,

the mighty Roman Empire destroyed the city

and burned its beloved temple to the ground.

The book of Exodus, with its
40 chapters and 1,213 verses,
is the seventh longest book.

The longest is the Psalms.

From the time they entered the Promised Land,
to the time of King Saul,
Israel was sporadically governed by a number of individuals
known as Judges.

Though they did not rule like a king,
they nevertheless had a tremendous influence on the people,
as they represented God and were inspired to

execute his will.

Judges who served 40 years
include
Othniel, Deborah and Barak, Eli and Gideon.

The first three human kings over the children of Israel,
Saul, David and Solomon,
each ruled for forty years (1050 to 930 B.C.).

After the united kingdom split into
two separate pieces,
King Joash served forty official years (39 actual years) as
one of Judah's better kings.

Abraham tried to bargain with God to
not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if forty righteous people were found
(Genesis 18:29).

Both Isaac and Esau
were forty years old when they were first married

(Genesis 25:20, 26:34).

God flooded the earth
by having it rain for forty days and nights (Genesis 7:12).

After the patriarch Jacob (Israel)
died in Egypt,
the Egyptians spent forty days
embalming his body (Genesis 50:3).

God allowed the ancient Israelites, from time to time,
to be harassed and dominated by certain enemies in order to
chastise and humble them for their sins.

The Philistines, in the southern and western parts of Israel's land,
harassed them from 1105 to 1065 B.C. God's resolution to the harassment was Samson
(see Judges 13:1, 1Samuel 7:13, 15 - 17).

The Bible was written by forty different people.

Those called of God

are now under probation, or judgment, based on

how they live

by every word of God.

The rains fell in Noah’s day for 40 days and nights (Genesis 7:4)
Israel ate manna and wandered in the wilderness for 40 years(Exodus 16:35)
Moses was with God on the mountain, 40 days and nights, without eating bread or water (Exodus 24:18, 34:28)
The spies searched the land of Canaan for 40 days (Numbers 13:25)
40 lashes (stripes) was the maximum whipping penalty (Deuteronomy 25:3)
God allowed the land to rest for 40 years (Judges 3:11, 5:31, 8:28)
Abdon, a judge in Israel, had 40 sons (Judges 12:14)
Israel did evil; God gave them to an enemy for 40 years (Judges 13:1)
Eli judged Israel for 40 years (1 Samuel 4:18)
Goliath presented himself to Israel for 40 days (1 Samuel 17:16)
Saul reigned for 40 years (Acts 13:21)
Ishbosheth (Saul’s son) was 40 years old when he began to reign (2 Samuel 2:10)
David reigned over Israel for 40 years (2 Samuel 5:4, 1 Kings 2:11)
Solomon reigned the same length as his father, 40 years (1 Kings 11:42)
The holy place of the temple was 40 cubits long (1 Kings 6:17)
Elijah had one meal that gave him strength for 40 days (1 Kings 19:8)
Ezekiel bore the iniquity of the house of Judah for 40 days (Ezekiel 4:6)
Joash reigned 40 years in Jerusalem (2 Kings 12:1)
Egypt to be laid desolate for 40 years (Ezekiel 29:11-12)
God gave Ninevah 40 days to repent (Jonah 3:4)
Jesus fasted 40 days and nights (Matthew 4:2)
Jesus was tempted 40 days (Luke 4:2, Mark 1:13)
Jesus remained on earth 40 days after the resurrection (Acts 1:3)

God gives us types and shadows (or symbols)
presented as precursors and warnings
of the real deal
for current and later generations.

For example, the Israelites wandered in the desert for

40 years after being

given the Law (Old Covenant) by God to Moses,

who himself was exiled for 40 years and then was

alone with God for

40 days

prior to coming down

the mountain with the Commandments/Law.

God judged their disobedience

(3000 were killed for worshiping the golden calf).

The sinful Fig-tree generation

was allowed to die before their children were allowed
entrance into the Promised Land.

Likewise, 1500 years later,

Jesus the Messiah,

who spent 40 days in the wilderness prior to the
start of his ministry and fulfillment of the Law (New Covenant)
in his atoning death on the cross at Calvary, spent

40 days on earth after the resurrection.

Then God

blessed the new believers

(3000 received

the Holy Spirit at Pentecost

Given 40 years to accept the
gift of grace,
judgment came upon
the disbelieving Jews in the
Roman destruction
of Jerusalem and the

Temple in AD 70.

The “end of the age” had come;

The old

was replaced by the

new,

spiritual temple

(Christ/Holy Spirit)

In the hearts of all the nations,

now

both believing Jews and the Gentiles.

The promise to Abraham had now

been fulfilled.

It’s a fascinating story, but not a mystery.

The symbolic parallels are real, not imagined.

Not one that

can’t be understood and acknowledged

for its

supernatural and awe-inspiring power.

Now with

humbled and aging wisdom,

the number ’40’ in any context,

reunions or otherwise, is

taking on a

Whole New Light

The current heavens and earth

have long been subject

to God’s curse because of mankind’s sin.

All creation

“has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth”

(Romans 8:22)

as it awaits

the fulfillment of

God’s plan

and

“the children of God to be revealed”

(verse 19).

Heaven and earth will pass away

(Mark 13:31),

and

they will be replaced

by

Anew heavens and anew earth.

At that time, the Lord,

seated on His throne,

says,

“I am making everything new!”

(Revelation 21:5).

In the new creation,

sin will be totally eradicated, and “there shall be no more curse”

(Revelation 22:3, NKJV)

The new heaven and new earth

are also mentioned in Isaiah 65:17, Isaiah 66:22, and 2 Peter 3:13.

Peter tells us

that the new heaven and new earth will

be “where righteousness dwells.”

Isaiah says that

“the former things will not be remembered,

nor will they come to mind.”

Things will be completely new,

and the old order of things,

with the accompanying sorrow and tragedy, will be gone.

The new earth will be free

from sin, evil, sickness, suffering, and death.

It will be similar to our current earth, but without the curse of sin.

It will be earth

as

God originally intended

it to be.

It will be Eden

restored

A major feature of the new earth will be the New Jerusalem.

John calls it

“the Holy City . . . coming down out of heaven from God,

prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband”

(Revelation 21:2).

This glorious city,

with its streets of gold and pearly gates, is situated

on anew, glorious earth.

The tree of life will be there

(Revelation 22:2)

This city represents the final state of redeemed mankind,

forever in fellowship with God:

“God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.

They will be his people, and God himself
will be with them and be their God. . . .
His servants will serve him.

They will see his face”

(Revelation 21:3; 22:3–4).

In the new heavens and new earth, Scripture says,
there are seven things notable for their
absence—seven things that are “no more”:

• no more sea (Revelation 21:1)
• no more death (Revelation 21:4)
• no more mourning (Revelation 21:4)
• no more weeping (Revelation 21:4)
• no more pain (Revelation 21:4)
• no more curse (Revelation 22:3)
• no more night (Revelation 22:5)

The creation of the new heavens and new earth

brings the promise that God

“will wipe every tear from their eyes”

(Revelation 21:4).

This event comes after the tribulation,
after the Lord’s second coming,
after the millennial kingdom, after the final rebellion,
after the final judgment of Satan, and

after the Great White Throne Judgment.

The brief description of the new heavens and new earth is the
last glimpse into eternity that the Bible gives.

Acts 14:17
Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness."

James 5:7
Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil--how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.

Leviticus 26:4
I will give you rains in their season, and the land will yield its produce, and the trees of the field will bear their fruit.

Deuteronomy 28:12
The LORD will open the heavens, His abundant storehouse, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations, but borrow from none.

Joel 2:23
Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, for He has given you the autumn rains for your vindication. He sends you showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.

Deuteronomy 11:14

then I will give you the rain for your

land in its season,

the early rain and the latter rain,

that you may gather in your grain,

your new wine, and your oil.

Faith is so vital to the Christian life that Scripture tells us that,
without it, it is impossible to please God

(Hebrews 11:6).

Yet faith is such a powerful gift from God

(Ephesians 2:8–9)

Christ told His disciples that, with just a tiny measure of it,
the size of a mustard seed,
they could move mountains.
So, what does it mean to have

“mustard seed faith”?

We see the reference to “mustard seed faith” twice in Scripture.

First, in Matthew 17:14–20, we see
Christ’s disciples unable to exorcise a demon from a young boy,
even though Jesus had previously given them

the authority to do this very thing (Matthew 10:1).

When they inquired of Jesus why they were not able to drive the demon out, the Master replied,

“Because you have so little faith.

I tell you the truth,

if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain,

‘move from here to there’ and it will move;

Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:14–20).

Next, in Luke 17:6, Jesus tells His disciples,

“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘

Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’

and

it will obey you.”

By using the uncommonly small mustard seed as an example,

Jesus is speaking figuratively about the

incalculable

power of God when unleashed in the

lives

of those with true faith.

We know that this statement about moving mountains
and
uprooting trees by faith is not to be taken literally.

The key to understanding

the passages is the nature of faith, which is a gift from God.

The power of faith

reflects the omnipotent nature

of the God who bestows faith on His own.

The mustard seed is one of the tiniest seeds found in the Middle East, so the conclusion is that the amount of faith needed to do great things is very small indeed. Just as in the parable of the mustard seed
(Matthew 13:31–32),

Jesus uses rhetorical hyperbole to make the point that little is much when it comes from God.

The mustard seed in the parable
grows to be a huge tree,
representing
the tiny beginnings of Christianity
when just a few disciples
began to preach and teach the gospel.

Eventually,
the kingdom grew to huge proportions,
encompassing
the entire world and spreading over centuries.

So, too, does the tiniest bit of faith,
when it is true faith from God,
grow to immense proportions in the lives of believers
and spreading out to influence all they come into contact with.

One has only to read histories of the great men of the faith,
such as Foxe’s Book of Martyrs,
to know that superhuman feats were performed by those whose

faith was, at one time,
only the size of a mustard seed.

Mark 8

records Jesus’ healing of a blind man at Bethsaida.

After the first stage of the two-stage miracle,
the man looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking”

(Mark 8:24, ESV)

The man had been brought to Jesus by some men who were begging Jesus to just touch the blind man
(Mark 8:21).

It seems they had great faith, knowing that Jesus had the
power to heal this man who was afflicted with blindness.

Perhaps they were aware that many had been healed by Jesus (see Mark 3:10).

In answer to their request, Jesus took
the blind man by the hand
and led him outside of the village.

Jesus had used this approach earlier when a deaf person
had been brought to him to be healed (Mark 7:32).

In that instance also, Jesus brought the man away from the crowd.

It seems Jesus
wanted to interact with the man on a personal level
rather than heal
the man in an impersonal or showy way (Mark 7:33–35).

Again, similar to how Jesus healed the deaf man,
Jesus used His saliva as part of His healing of the blind man.
Jesus applied the saliva, laid His hands on the man, and asked him if he could see (Mark 8:23).

The blind man at first saw people “like trees walking around” (verse 24).

A second time Jesus put His hands on the man,
and this time the man’s sight was fully restored, and he could see clearly (Mark 8:25).

Jesus then told the formerly blind man not even to go back into the village (Mark 8:26).

This instruction is similar to what the formerly deaf man received.

At this early stage in Jesus’ ministry,
it seemed He wanted to delay the inevitable trajectory
of His popularity so that
He could fulfill the entire ministry before Him.

Jesus demonstrated
His

Messianic identity through His healing ministry

(see Isaiah 29:18)
and by showing great compassion and kindness
(Isaiah 61:1).

He had much to do before
His ministry culminated with His crucifixion.

Jesus often healed with a single word or act,
but in this case, He healed the blind man in two stages.

After the first stage, the man could only see people

“like trees walking.”

There is no reason given in the text for the two stages.

Perhaps it was to show the man that
He was healing him deliberately and personally.

Perhaps it was to test the blind man’s faith.

After all, Mark doesn’t record that the blind man asked Jesus to heal him.

That request was made by those who brought the blind man to Jesus.
Perhaps Jesus wanted the man to demonstrate his own

personal faith in Jesus.

Because Jesus doesn’t explain Himself and Mark doesn’t give us any additional

insight,

we cannot be certain why at first the man only saw the

“walking trees.”

What we can be certain of, however, is that
Jesus healed the man entirely and that as a result of miracles
like this many people

recognized that Jesus was no ordinary man.

Jesus was indeed

the Messiah

and the One who is worthy of our faith.

PARABLES AND

DUAL

PURPOSE COMINGS

https://www.theshepherds.church/blog/tale-of-two-fig-trees

When it comes to the comings of Christ,

the parables

shed much light on why the

Son of God came.

Contrary to the prevailing evangelical notion, Jesus came for

more than to simply save sinners.

He came to a specific people, at a specific time,

in a specific context,

for a

specific and dual-functioning

purpose

That purpose was to

bring judgment upon His enemies

and

salvation to His people,

which can be demonstrated throughout the

parables of Christ.

For instance,

when Christ comes,

He will identify two groups

of people in

His incarnation.

One that will be prepared for judgment.

And the other who will be

prepared for His blessings.

Like the

Wise virgins, or Mary and Martha.

These two themes show up

in the vast majority of parables and give us

insight

into Jesus’ conception of

His incarnation.

For instance, in one parable you have

The righteous Man

building his house upon The rock, while the

wicked

builds in hubris upon The sand

(Luke 6:46-49).

In that story,

the righteous man survives

the near-term calamity and experiences

ongoing blessings while the

wicked man undergoes sudden destruction when the

storm appeared.

Truth

from parables like these can be applied in spiritual and universal ways
since all who build their life on Jesus Christ will be ultimately and eternally spared,
whereas building on anything else will warrant eternal calamities forever.

But, spiritualized interpretations often miss the

poignant reality

this would have conveyed to the

original audience.

Jesus is warning that a first-century storm is coming and

only those who

were with Him would

survive it,

which gained terrifying clarity in the events of AD 70.

This kind of dualism between

the

imminent doom of the wicked and the

near

blessing of the righteous

is

too overt to ignore.

For instance,

the sheep will be brought into

blessing,

whereas the goats will be

set apart for destruction

(Matthew 25:31-36).

The wheat

is to be stored in Christ’s heavenly barns

while the tares

will be thrown into the flames

(Matthew 13:24-30).

The branches

that bear fruit will be pruned for

greater fruitfulness,

and all those who are

fruitless

will be burned for their worthlessness

(John 15:1-11).

The king

will bring new guests

into the joy of

His wedding

while

sending his armies to destroy the

ones who were

found

unworthy

(Matthew 22:1-14).

On and on we may go.

CLARIFYING PARABOLIC TIME

Some of these parables helpfully add a clarifying element of time, which let us know more will be going on in the first century than a hyper-spiritual application can account for. In the spiritual application, the parables were written for me, my benefit, and concern the things going on in my world. Jesus’ parables, however, clearly address events that apply to His contemporaries and things that will be happening in their world even while we still find comfort and application in them as

well.

For instance,

Christ the master will go

on a

long journey

When He returns,

He will bless The

Slave who is found

doing what

He commanded

(Luke 12:35-44).

But, to the one who is lazy, wicked, and evil,

He will bring violence, death, and destruction

(Luke 12:45-48).

This happened in AD 70.

The temptation today is to read a multiple thousand-year gap into texts like these, supposing that its contents apply to us or some future generation. Beyond breaking the most basic rules of Biblical hermeneutics, this is not how the story world of a parable works. In the parable, a human master goes on a human journey that seemed especially long to his human servants. When he returned, those same servants were still alive. Some were rewarded for their faithfulness while their master was away. The others were punished and even killed for their wickedness.

Had the master in the story left on a two-thousand-year journey, both he and his slaves would have to be near immortal to survive until he returned, which cannot be Jesus’ point. But, if

Jesus was preparing His disciples for

the

forty-year gap

that existed between His ascension and judgment coming on Jerusalem in AD 70, the parable would make great sense. Jesus’ return would bring blessing to the ones who were committed to following Him. But, death and destruction for those who remained in their rebellion, such as the Jews.

One triad of parables makes this blessing / judgment coming of Christ undeniably clear. In Matthew 21-22, Jesus tells three successive parables, one right after the other, where one group will gain tremendous blessings and the other awful judgments. In the first, Jesus interprets the parable of the two sons, telling the Pharisees that the prostitutes and tax collectors will get into heaven ahead of them (Matthew 21:28-32). In the second, He interprets the parable of the landowner, warning the Jews that God’s kingdom will be taken away from them at His coming, and given to a people who will produce His fruit (Matthew 21:33-46).

And in the third,

Jesus reveals that the Jews were

found

unworthy to participate

in

His coming Kingdom

so they are

thrown out where there

is weeping and gnashing of teeth

(Matthew 22:1-14).

In each of these parables, the coming of the

Son of Man

is accomplishing a dualistic purpose.

For the elect,

Jesus’ coming will usher them

into all the

salvific blessings

and eschatological joys available in

God’s newly inaugurated Kingdom,

The Church.

For those who reject Him,

there will be

suffering, weeping, gnashing teeth, and

imminent destruction.

To the Jews, this happened during their lives,

when their city was set on fire, their temple was devoted to destruction,

and the Old Covenant kingdom of

shadows and types came to a sudden cataclysmic end.

The parables Jesus taught

prepared the discerning disciple for this

apocalyptic outcome.

THE PROPHETS AND DUAL PURPOSE COMINGS

This same theme of salvation and judgment at the Messiah's coming shows up in the prophetic writings as well. For instance, in Joel 2, God promises to blow a trumpet of war, empowering a Northern army to bring swift and awful judgment against the Jews of the first century (Joel 2:1-11). But, His coming will also provide a way of salvation for the elect who will repent (Joel 2:12-17). In case we doubt the first-century timing of this prophecy, Joel cites Pentecost, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as the sign that will identify when his prophecy will occur. Here again, we see that Messiah’s first-century coming will be good news for some and terrifying for others.

Perhaps nowhere says it more clearly than Malachi,

who tells us that

The coming of Christ will be

an event

that few will endure

(Malachi 3:2).

His coming will be like a

great fire

that will purify some and destroy others

(Malachi 3:3).

Some will be accepted in

His coming

and others will be

severely judged

(Malachi 3:4-5).

The nations

will call those who belong to

the

Messiah blessed,

while the

Jews who rejected Him will be under a

curse

(Malachi 3:8-12).

Malachi 4:1-3 tells us:

“For behold,

the day is coming, burning like a furnace;

and all the arrogant

and every evildoer will be chaff;

and the day

that is coming will set them ablaze,”

says the Lord of hosts, “

so that it will leave

them

neither root nor branch.” “

But for you who fear My name, the

sun of righteousness

will rise with healing in

its wings;

and you will go forth and skip about

like calves from the stall.

You will tread down the

wicked,

for they will be

ashes

under the soles of your

feet

on the day which I am preparing,”

says the Lord of hosts.

Some were destroyed at the coming of Christ. Some were brought into His blessings. Both of these things happened in that first turbulent century of Church history.

The elect were brought into salvation

by the finished work of Christ

and adopted into an eschatological

Family called The Church,

who has continued to advance

in

every generation in obedience to Christ.

Jesus’ coming secured eternal and eschatological

blessings for

His bride!

But for all those who rejected the messiah,

their portion was judgment and doom.

Those first-century Jews were ejected from their homes and their land, they had their capital city reduced to ash by the Roman armies, they were carried off in chains on ships to be mocked up and down the streets of Rome, and they were scattered about - under the curse of God - into all the nations. Even more, God Himself canceled their religion, He brought an end to their sacrificial system, He annulled the Aaronic line of priests, and He repealed their unique position among the nations with all the accompanying blessings.

As Malachi promised, the Jews were the chaff prepared for the fire and everything they owned became the ash on the soles of Christ’s feet. They were the ones left without root or branch, which brings us back to the Gospel of Matthew.

THE JERUSALEM

FIG TREE OF MATTHEW 21

Most of the fireworks in Matthew’s Gospel occur In chapter 21. If we were standing in the crowds on that day, we would have seen Jesus triumphantly riding into a withered city that only offered Him leaves. No fruit. By afternoon, we would have witnessed Him overthrowing tables outside the rotten temple and chasing out the rebels with a hand-braided whip. No fruit. The next day, He is pronouncing some of the sharpest parables He had uttered denouncing them for bearing no fruit. In the midst of all this fruitlessness, He curses a local fig tree for bearing Him no fruit, which would have been a curious thing to see. This is what the text tells us:
Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered. Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” -

Matthew 21:18-22

At that moment, we could assume Jesus was hangry about not getting His breakfast fig bar, or we could simply remember what we saw the day before. Jesus pronounced judgments on a city and a temple that offered Him no fruit. They were dead in their trespasses and sins. They were withered and fruitless branches on God’s vine that were destined for removal and fire (John 15:6). Along with that, we would be right to remember how Jerusalem had been compared to a fig tree in various Old Testament passages (Jeremiah 8:1-13; 24:1-11; 29:16-18; Hosea 9:10) as well as Malachi’s prophecy that this same people would be left fruitless, with neither root nor branch (Malachi 4:3).

Knowing these things, as Jesus approached the fruitless city of Jerusalem that morning, and as He cursed a common symbol for Jerusalem, which was a fig tree, we would have understood the point. Jerusalem was the fruitless tree that was about to be removed by God. Jesus’ coming would not be good news for them. They were sitting aloft the mountain, thinking that they were secure, but they would be cast into the sea. Jesus was acting out a parable that signaled His coming would necessitate their imminent demise.
If you would like more information on Jesus cursing this fig tree, you can check out two additional articles I have written (here and here) which dive into this event much deeper.

For now, let us look at a

second fig tree that Jesus uses in Matthew 24.

THE OLIVET FIG TREE OF MATTHEW 24

Just a few chapters later, Jesus uses another fig tree to tell a tale of blessing. Unlike the fig tree, representing Jerusalem, which is destined for curse and devastation, Jesus uses a parabolic fig tree in Matthew 24 to describe the blessings He will bring to His people. This is what Jesus says:

“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. -

Matthew 24:32-35

We must remember who Jesus is speaking to.

These are the men

Jesus warned not to follow

after

false Christs and counterfeit messiahs

(Matthew 24:3).

These are men who will see and experience

wars during an era of unparalleled peace

(Matthew 24:6)

and

increased famines and earthquakes

as signs that

Jerusalem’s fate was nearing

(Matthew 24:7-8).

These are the men who would be delivered over to the Jews,

who would terrorize them,

persecute them, and kill them for following Jesus

(Matthew 24:9).

These are the men who would

lead churches

during an era where many would

abandon their faith

because the fires of persecution were

burning far too hot

(Matthew 24:10).

These are then men who would

see Judah descend into

lawlessness, disorder, factions, chaos,

and

tyranny

(Matthew 24:12).

These are the men who would fill

the world full of the Gospel message before the end of the Jewish age would come

(Matthew 24:14).

Some of them would see the

abomination of desolation,

which Luke describes as

Jerusalem being surrounded by armies

(Matthew 24:15; Luke 21:20).

Some would be fleeing to the Judean mountains for safety because Jesus had already warned them when to flee (Matthew 24:16). Perhaps some remained in the city, and saw the multiple signs that Josephus records, the walls tumbling down, the poverty in the streets, the depravity in the hearts, the cannibalism of mothers, the tribalism of the fleeting Jewish leaders, and the idolatrous sacrifice of the Romans while the bodies were piled up high

(Matthew 24:21-28).

These are the men who would understand Jesus’ sign in the heavens.

They saw Him raised from the dead, ascended from earth on the clouds of heaven, to sit down at the right hand of God the Father to rule over His blood-bought Kingdom (Daniel 7; Matthew 24:29-30). These are the men who wrote of Christ who will put all His enemies under His feet (1 Corinthians 15:25; Ephesians 1:22; Hebrews 2:8), beginning with Jerusalem and Judah (James 5:1-8).

To these men, Jesus promised a different outcome than what would be happening to the Jews.

They had become a cursed fig tree.

The Church would be blessed and they would be a blessing. The Jews had borne no fruit for their God. The Church would become like a fig tree in summer, ready at any moment to burst forth with the most luxuriant blooms to feed the nations. The Jews of that first century, all who rejected Christ, would be thrown into the fires. The Church, in that very generation, would see all these things happen and would lay the Kingdom foundation for all subsequent generations.

Today,

we are a part of that

fruitful church.

The Lord is still

pruning us, shaping us,

and sharing our fruit with the nations.

Over the last 2000 years,

the Church has continued to grow and will continue to grow until all the world is feasting on the blessings of Christ. Jesus uses a tale of two fig trees to show us the point.

His coming would bring one kingdom to an end. And in Christ, God would bring His blessings to the earth, through Christ’s militant advancing church.

Genesis 3:15The Seed of the WomanThe salvation of every soul begins with God. As soon as Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden we hear the Shepherd’s voice calling out for His lost sheep, “Adam, where are you?” It is the Father searching for the prodigal (Genesis 3:8–13).

Genesis three is not a place where we would expect grace. It is in the context of judgment after the Fall that the LORD God curses the serpent. Adam and Eve hear God speaking to the “shining one.” It is not a direct promise to Adam and Eve, but a word of judgment to Satan (Rev. 12:9; 20:2). He says to the serpent, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel” (Gen. 3:15).

God created enmityThere will be an undying opposition between Satan and the generations to follow. No doubt Adam and Even were so impressed with the message of hope that they reinforced it in the minds of their children and their children passed it own from generation to generation. Then came the day centuries later when Moses under the guidance of the Holy Spirit penned this great promise against the darkest day in human history.

The promise of salvation was given before anyone died physically. Here is the first word of grace in the Bible at a time when least expected. It is also the first messianic prophecy.

At the time of the giving of this promise no child had been born to Adam and Eve. Probably with the birth of every male child there was the hope that he would be the one who would overthrow the evil that had been unleashed on the new world.

The promised one will “bruise you on the head.” There will be a head wound. The idea is there will be a deathblow. Satan would have this eternal dread hanging over him that with the birth of every male child this could be the very one who would be his end.
In the battle, Satan would “bruise him on the heel.” The promised seed would suffer, but he would not suffer a destructive blow.

It is true that we do not have a great deal of information at the on set of this promise in Genesis. Hindsight is great for the sincere student! We have the advantage of looking back over time and seeing the One person who fulfilled this growing hope in the heart of sinful man.

Christ crushed SatanJesus Christ went to the cross and died on our behalf to crush Satan (Hebrews 2:9–15).
Satan was crushed at Calvary. He was defeated when Jesus rose from the dead. The final blow will be the submission of Satan to Jesus Christ when Jesus returns in glory (Revelation 20:1–15).

The Apostle Paul saw this great promise being fulfilled in the salvation and sanctification of God’s people. He alludes to this promise in Romans 16:20, “And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.” The word for “crush” is literally to rub together and so to shatter, to crush, to trample underfoot, break in pieces by crushing, “to grind,” “to crush,” “to smash,” “to break,” “to destroy.” Paul reminds believers to draw daily strength from the blessed promise of final victory over Satan. We are not on the loosing team! The image of smashing Satan in Romans 16:20 (cf. Gen. 3:15; Ps. 91:13) suggests both present victory over the powers of darkness and the imminent eschatological destruction of Satan.

God uses some strange words when He pronounced the undying opposition between Satan and the woman. He describes it as “between your seed and her seed . . .” (Gen. 3:15).

The apostle Paul observed, “When the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law” (Galatians 4:4).

It is impossible to see the fulfillment of this promise without reflecting on and seriously considering Isaiah 7:14 and Luke 1:30–35. It is completely impossible without a miracle from God. Ever since the Fall of Adam and Eve the sin nature has been transmitted from parent to child from generation to generation. We are all born in sin and this included Joseph and Mary. As King David reflected on his sin nature he concluded, we are all “shapen in iniquity” (Psalm 51:5). We sin because we are sinners by nature. Mary was a sinner born to sinful parents who came from sinful parents. If Jesus had received a corrupt sinful nature from either Joseph or Mary He could not have been our sinless substitute dying for our sins. He would have been in the need of a redeemer like all other sinful men.

Jesus’ sinless natureHow did Jesus then have a sinless nature? Mary’s hymen was broken from within. She was a virgin. Mary knew this when she questioned, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34; cf. Matt. 1:23; Gal. 4:4; I Tim. 2:15). The angel explained, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). The Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary. Luke uses the figure of a cloud, the symbol of divine presence coming upon Mary. The Holy Spirit came upon Mary and overshadowed her with His power, through which she became pregnant. The overshadowing presence of God causes Mary to become pregnant. It was a miracle.
Jesus was born of God, not by humans. The entire operation from the creation in the fetus, the daily development in the womb for nine normal months was the work of the Holy Spirit.

Because He was the “seed of the woman” Jesus was God Incarnate. He was God–man. He was human just like you and me, but he was not fallen sinful humanity. His humanity and divinity were so woven together that you could not have seen the difference except when His deity shown forth at the Transfiguration. The Apostle Paul said, great is the mystery of the incarnation. I Timothy 3:16.
The virgin birth points back to the promise in the protoevangelium or the first glimmer of the gospel of redemption.

The child of promise is “the seed of the woman”

who is the branch of David, the Eternal Word made flesh.

For further study spend some time reflecting on

Christ as the fulfillment of the promise of

the “seed of the woman”

in Matthew 1:18; Galatians 3:16, 19; 4:4; Genesis 12:7; II Samuel 7:8, 12; Romans 1:1, 3; 16:20

The undying opposition is further seen in the bruising or crushing of Satan’s head in Genesis 3:21; Luke 1:26–35; John 8:44; Matthew 1:18; Isaiah 53; Galatians 3:16, 19; John 19:30; Revelation 20:10.

Christ was made a curse for us. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law,

having become a curse for us--

for it is written,

‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’—”

(Galatians 3:13).

Death symbolized the wounding of the heel by Satan and takes place before the smashing of the head of Satan by the seed of the woman. The wounding appears to be the death on the cross, since Christ identified His executioners as the seed of the serpent. Jesus said, “You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.

He was a murderer from the beginning,

and

does not stand in the

truth,

because there is

no truth in him . . . ”

(Jn. 8:44).

This preceding death makes mandatory the resurrection of the

seed of the woman to

perform the smashing of the serpent’s head.

This promise was no doubt the cause of Abraham greeting

the “day of Christ”

with glad assurance in John 8:54.

Genesis 3:15 is the

first shining

light

on the horizon of eternal life.

It is the root of Abraham’s obedience to the Lord to offer Isaac as a burnt offering.

Why else would he make such a sacrifice if he did not have the hope before him that God would raise the son of the promise from the dead? Abe probably believed the seed of the woman was the promise of a seed through Isaac. Hebrews 11:19, Abraham “considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him back as a type.” Jesus said, “

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56).

Partakers of GLORY

Genisis is more than a story. It is the record

of

God’s work

on

behalf of the redeemed.

It is the history

of

God’s redemptive work.

Romans 16:20, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” That crushing certainly includes all the labor of Jesus the Messiah. The hope of the resurrection is as old as sinful men and is mighty to support them in all their pilgrimages to heaven.

Genesis 3:15 has become the most important verse in the entire Bible because the central message of the whole Bible are the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The greatest commentary on Genesis 3:15 is John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Satan thought that he had won in the battle over the Son of God at Calvary, but the full weight of the crucifixion came down on him three days later when Christ rose from the dead. The all wise sovereign God fulfilled His eternal purpose of redemption.

The resurrection faith is at the center of God’s provision of salvation for sinners. In the crushing of the head of the serpent, deliverance was promised. Moreover, to effect that deliverance, the redeemer had to be able to conquer death. Christ rose from the dead triumphantly. He is alive! The “seed of the woman” took upon Himself the consequences of the serpent’s sting and rose from the dead.

No doubt, the “seed of the woman” is referring to the virgin birth of Christ. The virgin born Son of God conquers death, hell and the grave. Christ will give the deathblow to Satan when He returns.

Genesis 3:15

The Seed of the Woman

The salvation of every soul begins

with God.

As soon as Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden we hear the Shepherd’s voice

calling out for His lost sheep,

“Adam, where are you?” It is the Father searching for the prodigal

(Genesis 3:8–13).

Genesis three is not a place where

we would expect grace.

It is in the context of judgment after the Fall that the LORD God curses the serpent. Adam and Eve hear God speaking to the “shining one.” It is not a direct promise to Adam and Eve, but a

word of judgment to Satan

(Rev. 12:9; 20:2).

He says to the serpent, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel” (Gen. 3:15).

God created enmityThere will be an undying opposition between Satan and the generations to follow. No doubt Adam and Eve were so impressed with the message of hope that they reinforced it in the minds of their children and their children passed it own from generation to generation. Then came the day centuries later when Moses under the guidance of the

Holy Spirit

penned this great promise against the darkest day in human history.

The promise of salvation was given before anyone died physically.

Here is the first word of grace

in the Bible at a time when least expected. It is also the

first messianic prophecy

At the time of the giving of this promise no child had been born to Adam and Eve.

Probably with the birth of every male child

there was the hope that he would be the one

who would overthrow the evil that had been unleashed

on the new world.

The promised one will “bruise you on the head.” There will be a head wound.

The idea is there will be a deathblow.

Satan would have this

eternal dread hanging over him that with the

birth of every male child

this could be the very one who would be his end.

In the battle, Satan would

“bruise him on the heel.”

The promised seed would

suffer,

but he

would not suffer a destructive blow.

The Tower of Babel

(Hebrew: מִגְדַּל בָּבֶל‎, Mīgdal Bāḇel)

narrative in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth and parable meant

to explain why the world's peoples

speak different languages.

According to the story, a united human race speaking a single
language and migrating eastward, comes to the land of Shinar (שִׁנְעָר‎).

There they agree to build a city and a tower with its top in the sky.

Yahweh, observing their city and tower,
confounds their speech so that they can no longer understand each other,

and scatters them around the world.

Some modern scholars have associated the Tower of Babel with known structures,
notably Etemenanki, a ziggurat-dedicated to the

Mesopotamian god Marduk in Babylon.

While the archaeological record is incompatible with this identification, many scholars believe that the biblical story was inspired by Etemenanki. A Sumerian story with some similar elements is told in
Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta.
Narrative

German Late Medieval (c. 1370s) depiction of the tower's construction1

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.

And as they migrated from the east,[a] they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

And they said to one another,

"Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly."
And they had brick
for stone and bitumen for mortar.

Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens,
and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon
the face of the whole earth."
The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.

And the LORD said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language,
and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose
to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their
language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech."

So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth,
and they
left off building the city.

Therefore it was called Babel,

because there the LORD confused (balal)

the language of all the earth, and from there the LORD scattered them

abroad over the face of all the earth.

An artist's depiction of

the construction of the Ark,

from the Nuremberg Chronicle

(1493)

A woodcut of Noah's Ark

from Anton Koberger's German BibleThe First Epistle of Peter

composed around the end of the first century AD

compared Noah's salvation through water to Christian salvation through baptism.

Hippolytus of Rome(died 235) sought to demonstrate that "

the Ark was a symbol of the Christ who was expected",

stating that

the vessel had its door

on the east side--

the direction from which Christ would appear at the

Second Coming--

and that the bones of Adam-were brought aboard,

together with gold, frankincense, and myrrh

(the symbols of the Nativity of Christ).

Hippolytus furthermore stated that the Ark floated to and fro in the

four directions on the waters,

making the sign of the cross, before eventually landing on Mount Kardu

"in the east, in the land of the sons of Raban,

On a more practical plane, Hippolytus explained that

The lowest of the

three decks was for

wild beasts, the middle for

birds

and domestic animals,

and the

top for humans.

He says male animals were separated from females by

sharp stakes to prevent breeding.

The early Church Father and theologian Origen (circa 182–251), in response

to a critic who

doubted that the Ark could contain

all the animals in the world,

argued that Moses, the traditional author of the

book of Genesis,

had been brought up in Egypt and would therefore have used

the

larger Egyptian cubit.

He also fixed the shape of the Ark as a truncated pyramid,

square at its base, and tapering to a square peak one cubit on a side;

only in the 12th century

did it come to be thought of as a rectangular box with a sloping roof.

Early Christian artists depicted Noah standing in a small box on the waves,

symbolizing God saving the Christian Church in its turbulent early years.

Augustine of Hippo (354–430),

in his work City of God,

demonstrated that the dimensions of the

Ark

corresponded to the dimensions of the

human body,

which according to Christian doctrine is

the

body of Christ and in turn

the

body of the Church

"foul bird of wickedness"

expelled by baptism;

more enduringly, the

dove and olive branch

came to symbolize the

Holy Spirit

and the hope of salvation and eventually, peace.[40]

symbol of peace today.

Psalm 23

is

well known

and

well loved

And with good reason. There are a few words in

Hebrew however,

which don’t come through in their fulness when expressed in English.

I’d like to tell you a bit about what I see in those words.

א  מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד:    יְהוָה רֹעִי, לֹא אֶחְסָר.

First of all, the song is written by

King David,

who changed career from being a

shepherd to a king,

with a good few years

as a wandering fugitive in between.

David’s life was in constant danger as the previous
king, Saul, burned with envy against him and wanted him dead.

David was a wanted man on the run, ducking and diving through the Judean hills and deserts, in search of escape, and safety. So that’s the important context. The first two Hebrew words sum this up: “Mizmor l’David” – a psalm (song) of David.

The next two words tell us that the Lord, YHWH, is his shepherd.

The Lord’s name there is very profound and unique, yet here we see this awesome God, the One who just “IS” and who called all existence into being, is David’s shepherd. David understood that role well, and knew what it meant. He knew how he used to feel about the sheep in his care, and the lengths he would go to for them. More than that, the Hebrew word for Shepherd shares a root with the word for companion, or close friend. This is also in the name of Ruth, who refused to leave her mother in law, Naomi.

The Lord is my shepherd, “Adonai Roh-i”, are

powerful words.

The next two words (לֹא אֶחְסָר) can easily be misunderstood when translated into English: “I shall not want”. I heard someone talking about how wonderful it was to not want anything, to be free of desire. But that’s more like Buddhism. It’s not what the Bible means.

In Buddhism there’s a value on getting rid of all desires, so that you don’t mind the suffering so much. ‘Don’t expect anything and you won’t be disappointed’ type philosophy. But the God of Israel does not encourage such thinking. He created us to experience desires and passions. We experience the fullness of life, the good and the bad, the highs and the lows. The challenge is to deal well with with our desires, our passions, and our wants, to submit them to God in the right way. Rather than saying we’ll be free from desires, the Hebrew here refers to lack: I shall not lack anything. I shall not be in want. This is a promise of God’s provision—He gives us what we need, rather than taking away our desires. He works with us, in our hopes, dreams and longings… not to say we get all we want, but we will not lack anything, even as we seek God for the desires of our hearts. David was in danger, wanting safety—and sometimes food and water--

yet God provided for him and protected him through it all, and ultimately

gave him a life far greater than his

wildest dreams.

Whatever happens in the future, good or bad, God will be there to look after me.

I shall not lack anything—“lo achsar”

(לֹא אֶחְסָר).

ב  בִּנְאוֹת דֶּשֶׁא, יַרְבִּיצֵנִי;    עַל-מֵי מְנֻחוֹת יְנַהֲלֵנִי.

The next verse of Psalm 23 has two phrases with lovely meanings—pleasantness, restoration and comfort. It says in pleasant grass or pastures he causes me to stretch out and lie down. (He makes me lie down in green pastures – ESV). The word translated as green has connotations of pleasantness, loveliness, something to be enjoyed. The idea of being “made” to lie down can sound a bit harsh or controlling, but it’s just the Hebrew verb structure in which cause is involved, not necessarily with compulsion.

Saying that our Good Shepherd “lays us down” is similar to the idea that He invites us to lay down in lovely places, just as we might say a waiter “seats us” at a table.

The next phrase says that He leads us beside restful waters (He leads me beside still waters – ESV). The word translated “still” has the Hebrew word for “comfort” in it, so restful, comforting waters. It reminds me of Isaiah 8 and the gently flowing waters of Siloam (v.6). God’s good intentions for us, wishing us good, not evil, come through powerfully. This is the context of Isaiah 6:8, where God is saying He wanted gently flowing waters of Siloam for His people, but that they refused. This also brings to mind the heart of Jesus is looking over Jerusalem at the end of Matthew 23, when He wished to gather them under His wings, as a mother hen gathers her chicks. It’s a powerful metaphor of a mother’s love. But they would not have it. So we are invited to lay down and rest, we are led by restful waters, and it’s a good idea to take God up on His offer of the good He invites us into.
ג  נַפְשִׁי יְשׁוֹבֵב;    יַנְחֵנִי בְמַעְגְּלֵי-צֶדֶק, לְמַעַן שְׁמוֹ.

Next verse starts with the words, “He restores my soul”, or my soul comes back to me. You might ask where David’s soul had gone, that it would have to return! But we can say in English, “I feel like myself again” perhaps after recovering from a period of great stress, or illness. There is a Jewish prayer that is said upon waking: “I offer thanks before You, living and eternal King, for You have mercifully restored my soul within me; great is Your faithfulness.” However, this is a different Hebrew word for “restore” (הֶחֱזַרְ). This prayer was devised in the sixteenth century when the idea of reincarnation of souls entered Jewish thinking, and is based on the idea that your soul leaves your body when you sleep and God returns it to you when you wake. There is no biblical basis for this at all – in fact, quite the opposite. The word in the Psalm here is different (יְשׁוֹבֵ֑ב) and has connotations of something going around. This makes more sense in light of the next phrase…

In English it reads, “He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” – ESV).

However, the word for paths is very unusual.

There are many different Hebrew words to choose from if you want to talk about paths or roads, but David chose a Hebrew word that means circle (מַעְגְּלֵ). It looks, in some ways, as if he says God is leading him round in circles! But there is some profound truth in this.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but many times in life, things seem familiar,
as if you’re going round in circles. Patterns repeat.

If we are walking with God, under His care and supervision,

we are going up in a

spiral of growth

Sure, you might think you’re back in the same place sometimes,

but you’re not.

You’re up a level.

The view looks familiar,

but

you’ve grown.

Sometimes God has to take us several times round the block in order for us to

learn something He’s trying to teach us, and other times we observe

life cycling to bring

closure and completion to unresolved issues. The

Hebrew says that God

leads us

in

circles,

or

cycles of righteousness,

for

His name’s sake.

He is committed

to our growth, and

our

journey with Him,

so that

He gets the glory.

He wants us to grow in righteousness as

He gradually conforms us to the likeness of

His Son,

from one degree of glory to the next, for

His name’s sake.

ד  גַּם כִּי-אֵלֵךְ בְּגֵיא צַלְמָוֶת, לֹא-אִירָא רָע–    כִּי-אַתָּה עִמָּדִי;

The phrase “the valley of the shadow of death” is a poetic phrase, mentioned in other
places as well as Psalm 23, and is talking about total blackness.
The kind of pitch black where you can’t even see
your hand in front of your face.

According to biblical scholar, Carissa Quinn,

Psalm23 is a Messianic Psalm,

parallel

to Psalm 162 in which David writes,

“For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,

or

let your holy one see corruption” (v.10).

This valley of the shadow of death is like Sheol, the grave. It must be passed through before coming out the other side, into resurrection. But just as Jesus knew where He had come from and where He was going, just as He was able to endure the cross, for the joy set before Him, so we too can take great encouragement in the face of suffering and even death. Even there, we do not need to fear. If we are in the Messiah, we have eternal life and nothing can take it away. We are, in fact, indestructible! We will live forever with our Good Shepherd, the One who cares so much for our souls that He died in our place—and gained victory over death. We need not fear for He is with us. In fact, David suddenly shifts from talking about God here at this central point of the psalm, apparently becoming aware of God’s presence as he starts talking to God directly:

“YOU are with me”.

שִׁבְטְךָ וּמִשְׁעַנְתֶּךָ,    הֵמָּה יְנַחֲמֻנִי.

“Your rod and your staff they comfort me”… You might be forgiven for thinking that sticks and rods don’t sound very comforting, but wait! They speak of authority and discipline, yes, but when in the right hands, there is great comfort to be found.

Meditating on the sovereignty of our good God

in lawless times like these brings

great relief to the anxious soul. Our God reigns!

The word for rod (שִׁבְטְ) is translated as scepter,

and signifies our Good Shepherd’s right to rule—He is King.

It appears in this key messianic prophecy given to the

tribe of Judah:

The scepter [שִׁבְטְ] shall not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;
    and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Genesis 49:10)
Similarly, there is comfort even in the Lord’s discipline, as it confirms that we are truly His children.
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
    nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
    and chastises every son whom he receives.” (Hebrews 12:5-6)
He will not, as some fear, just let us wander off and shrug His shoulders any more than a shepherd would his sheep. Trust me, I’ve tried! Of course God does respect our free will but He cares for our souls and there is great comfort in knowing that He is willing to reprove and discipline us to keep us on track.

ה  תַּעֲרֹךְ לְפָנַי, שֻׁלְחָן–    נֶגֶד צֹרְרָי;

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies”… God is not only our provider, giving us what we need to survive, but He is a generous God, lavishing His love on us. Rather than leaving a food package by the door, He’s set the table and laid out a feast. It’s all ready, and prepared for us. This speaks of honor, and of rest. We are invited to come and sit at the table, to tarry, spending time in fellowship together with Him rather than grabbing a bit to eat on the go. In Jewish thought the table is like an altar, like with the showbread in the temple. It’s a point of meeting with God. Moreover, God gives us this V.I.P. treatment in front of our enemies. We can sit and relax at the banquet table under His protection, while the enemy can only look on. David is noting the great contrast between the destiny of the righteous and the unrighteous, His people and His enemies. While the wicked are excluded from the great banquet, yet they have to look on and can only gnash their teeth and as God rolls out the red carpet for His loved ones.

דִּשַּׁנְתָּ בַשֶּׁמֶן רֹאשִׁי,    כּוֹסִי רְוָיָה.

“You anoint my head with

oil”…

David was literally anointed on his

head with oil

by the prophet Samuel, who had been

sent by God.

David was chosen and favored by God.

He was destined to be king, with God’s sanction and approval.

The word “messiah” means

anointed one,

one anointed for a purpose.

However, despite the fact that this is a messianic psalm, a different Hebrew word used in this case (דשן instead of משח). Instead, it sounds like the Hebrew word for grass, in keeping with the theme of green pastures, and is often used of the fat / oil found in the ashes after burnt sacrifices elsewhere in Scripture.3 Given that Psalm 23 follows the pivotal Psalm 22which describes, almost blow for blow, the suffering and crucifixion of the Messiah and His sacrifice for us, it could be that an allusion to the oil of the post-sacrificial ashes is quite fitting. David, another anointed one, also suffered greatly in different ways as the Psalms fully testify. He was chosen for a purpose and a destiny that was not easy. But he enjoyed the favor of God, and reveled in that chosenness.

The next phrase

is “

my cup overflows

The idea of the cup also features in our

parallel psalm:

“The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup”

(Psalm 16:5a).

In Psalm 23 David

is talking about his great satisfaction with

all God has given him, to the

point of overflowing.

He is delighted with God’s kind and abundant

provision for his life.

Again, David’s life wasn’t easy.

He had a high calling

with a high cost,

but he was delighted

with the amazing life God had given to him.

The idea of the

cup

also reminds us of Jesus talking about the

cup of suffering He had to drink

(Matthew 10:22),

the

new covenant in His blood,

as well as the promise of

drinking wine anew in the

kingdom of God

(Matthew 26:29).

Both oil and wine are made through crushing, but produce such good results.

This overflowing cup speaks of the calling, the challenge,

and the blessing that God gives us in this life and the next--

that which is apportioned to us. It’s not just satisfying,

but abundantly overflowing!

ו  אַךְ, טוֹב וָחֶסֶד יִרְדְּפוּנִי–    כָּל-יְמֵי חַיָּי;

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life”, writes David. Except it doesn’t really say they will follow me… more like goodness and mercy will chase me—they will hunt me down. The root word used is the same for persecution even—so it’s saying that goodness and mercy, or loving kindness (חֶסֶד – chesed) will chase me down… and with considerable enthusiasm! Not just meandering behind, dragging along somewhere in the background, but passionately pursuing with a high level of determination. It’s a great picture isn’t it? We can often feel like we’re plagued by troubles and that difficulties seem to follow us around, but Psalm 23 here says the opposite. For those in God’s flock, under the care of the Good Shepherd, it’s goodness and mercy that’s doing the hounding, eager to capture us and surround us with good things. And not just for a short period, but David expresses faith that it will continue throughout his entire future: all the days of his life. We can also have that same expectation. God is the same, yesterday, today and forever. He’s there in our futures too, waiting to chase us some more with his goodness and love. Weeping may come at night, but joy catches up with us in the morning.

וְשַׁבְתִּי בְּבֵית-יְהוָה,    לְאֹרֶךְ יָמִים.

“…And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Here when it is translated

“I will dwell”,

it’s more like “I will sit”. Like sitting at the table laid with a feast again.

It speaks of rest, and of belonging.

Given that so much of the theme in this collection of Psalms is messianic, it fits that

Jesus is described as being sat down at the right hand of the Father

(Hebrews 1:3, 12:2).

His work is done, it is finished, and now

He can sit down.

He rose to greet Stephen while he was being martyred (Acts 7:55-56),

and perhaps

He stands for all the

saints murdered for standing for their faith,

but in general

He is seated

in the highest place of honor.

David also sees his destiny as sitting down in the

house of God.

In Hebrew the

house of God always means the

temple,

but this concept is wide-ranging throughout the Bible. Essentially,

David knows he will dwell

with God in God’s dwelling place for the

rest of his days.

No one will ever ask him to leave.

No wonder he’s so happy with his lot.

Despite all the danger and trouble he experienced,

David knew

God as his shepherd

who would always take great care of him forever.

And you can know Him too.

Day 3

FIG TREE

Three Days past Sunday

HE WILL

RISE

The Fig Tree

Generation

The

BARREN FIG TREE

represents

the people of the world; and its being

"barren"

represents

SIN

This idea of the FIG TREE being barren, and the fact

that

it is expected to produce

FRUIT

reinforces the idea of

repentance

being a

complete change

in

actions & thoughts

(by no longer SINNING)

“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

— Mark Mark 4:3–9

The explanation given by Jesus.

And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parable, so that

“‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand,

lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”

And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable?

How then will you understand all the parables?

The sower sows the word.

And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown:

when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.

And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”.

— Mark 4:10–20

Psalms 89:4

I have made a covenant with my chosen,

I have sworn unto David my servant,

Thy seed

will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations.

Root of Jesse is a metaphor found in Isaiah 11:10: “In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.” The term root of Jesse figuratively stands for the Messiah.

The “root” of a family is its progenitor. Jesse was King David’s father. We know from the genealogical records (Matthew 1:1–17 and Luke 3:23–38) that Jesus was descended from the line of Jesse and his son David. In Isaiah 11:10, the Hebrew word used for “root” (sheresh) implies a root that remains alive and sends up a shoot or branch; thus, the root of Jesse was a root from which more descendants could come.

When Isaiah began to prophesy, there was a current hope among the people that a glorious earthly king—the Messiah—would assume the throne of David. Through the prophet Samuel, God had promised David that his offspring would establish an eternal kingdom: “When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. . . . Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:12–16). The messianic title “Son of David” traces back to this prophecy.

Isaiah’s use of root of Jesse expresses the promise of a messianic king who would be born of David’s family line and focuses Judah’s expectation of survival on a sparse, leaderless remnant. The prophet uses a similar metaphor—“a shoot from the stump of Jesse”—in Isaiah 11:1 to describe their future hope. This “stump” signifies the remnant of Jesse’s family that would barely survive. God’s judgment was coming on Judah, and the nation would be left with nothing but a seemingly lifeless “stump,” but there would be life yet. God promised to retain a remnant to carry on His work and the bloodline of King David. What seemed to be a dead, decaying stump would bring forth new life in the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Quoting from the Septuagint, the apostle Paul referred to Isaiah’s prophecy in Romans 15:8–13. Paul specifically acknowledged Jesus Christ as the root of Jesse in whom the Gentiles put their hope: “And again, Isaiah says, ‘The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope’” (verse 12). And in the book of Revelation, Jesus states, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star” (Revelation 22:16).

Isaiah’s use of the phrase root of Jesse calls into focus the humanity of Jesus. The Messiah would possess human ancestry. It also underscores Christ’s humble origins. As a shepherd from Bethlehem, Jesse occupied a relatively humble station in life. King Saul often used the phrase the son of Jesse to refer to David in a derogatory manner (1 Samuel 20:27, 30–31; 22:7–8). The Jesse Tree is an Advent custom that originates from Isaiah’s prophecy of the root of Jesse. Instead of perishing, Jesse’s family grew into a branch that bore fruit in the form of Messiah: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit” (Isaiah 11:1). During Advent, some use a Jesse Tree to represent the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

The Jesse Tree tradition dates back to the Middle Ages. Tapestries and stained-glass windows depicting a tree with Jesse at the roots and Jesus at the top branch were prevalent in the earliest displays. As pictorial representations, they allowed unschooled people to learn the stories in Scripture from the time of creation until the birth of Jesus Christ.

Today, families often use a Jesse Tree in place of an Advent calendar to teach their children about the Bible and the story of salvation at Christmastime. Each day of Advent, symbolic ornaments are placed on the tree, an act followed by a short devotional to explore and reinforce the biblical significance of each ornament. Several variations of Jesse Tree themes exist, including messianic prophecies, ancestors in the bloodline of Jesus, the promises of God, and important Bible stories.

While little is known from Scripture about the man Jesse, throughout the Old and New Testaments, he is associated with the Messiah and mentioned as an ancestor of Jesus Christ. In the book of Acts, Paul makes it clear once again that the “root of Jesse,” God’s promise to David, is indeed the Messiah and Savior, Jesus Christ: “After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ From this man’s descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised” (Acts 13:22–23).

God’s Covenant with David:

Christ as

the

Seed of David

Carries

out

God’s Economy 2015

Our wonderful, infinitely wise, loving, gracious, and merciful God

is a covenanting God,

and it is our privilege to take a look at some of the major

covenants God made with man.

God came in after Adam and Eve fell not to blame

them or condemn them but to preach the gospel to them and

promise them a seed

– the seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent. God made a covenant with Noah after the earth was destroyed by water, promising He will never again do that; He is faithful in His promises. Then, God made a covenant with Abraham, promising him a seed in which all the nations will be blessed and also to give him the good land of Canaan.

All these covenants God made with individual people but
they have a spiritual significance and application in our
Christian life:

the seed of the woman is Christ as the overcoming One, the One who destroyed the devil through His death on the cross, and who is now being reproduced in us as the man-child;
the rainbow stands in the heaven and God’s promises are in His word, and we can stand on His promises and enjoy Him in His faithfulness; and
Christ as the life-giving Spirit is the unique blessing for all the nations, He Himself becoming our good land to all-inclusively supply us and meet all our needs as we live a life for God’s purpose.

Today we want to see the covenant God made with David and how this covenant applies to us. God promised David a seed which will be called the Son of God, and this seed will build up God’s house, the temple

(2 Sam. 7:12-14).

Christ is the seed of David:

He as the Lord of David in His divinity became a man to be the seed of David

in His humanity and was later transfigured to become the life-giving Spirit

t to be dispensed into us all to make us sons of God and the co-kings with Christ.

How wonderful it is that our covenanting God keeps promising to
work Himself into us to make us God’s sons and even the same as He is in life and nature!
We can stand on His promises, enjoy the benefits of His covenant, and be made the same as

Christ to match Him in every possible way!

God’s Covenant with David:

Christ as the Seed of David Carries out

God’s Economy

David was a man after

God’s heart,

fought God’s battles,

yearned to know God and experience Him,

and he

desired to build God a house,

but God made a covenant with him

telling him that God will build him (David) a house,

and David’s seed which comes out of his loins will be called

the Son of God and will build the house of God

(2 Sam. 7:12-14).

This promise was fulfilled initially in Solomon,

David’s son,

who built the temple as God’s house;

but the real

fulfillment of God’s covenant with David was in the

Lord Jesus.

The Lord Jesus Christ came as

the seed of David

to die and be resurrected and carry out

God’s New Testament economy for the dispensing of the processed

Triune God

into the members of the Body of Christ.

Christ came as God becoming man,

and

He puzzled the Jews in His time;

He asked them,

Who do people say that Messiah is?

Is He the Son of David?

Then why does David calls Him, Lord?

(see Matt. 22:41-46)

The Lord of David – Christ in His divinity, the root of David –

was incarnated to become the son of David –

Christ in His humanity, the Offspring of David –

to be the last Adam; as the last Adam,

Christ was resurrected to become

he Firstborn Son of God

and the life-giving Spirit, a transfigured descendant of David,

to be dispensed into us to make us

the sons of God and co-kings with Christ

(see Rev. 22:16; John 1:14; 1 Cor. 15:45; John 12:24; Rom. 8:28-29; Acts 13:33; Rom. 5:17)

The resurrected Christ is

God’s sure mercies,

of which Christ is the center and reality, shown to David

through his descendant

Mary,

the

mother of Christ

(Matt. 1:16),

for the dispensing of

God Himself

into all the believers of Christ

in His resurrection

(Acts 13:32-35; Isa. 55:3-4)…

.In Christ as the sure mercies,

God reaches us in His grace to be our enjoyment.

Because our situation was miserable and could not match God’s grace,

Christ not only took the step of incarnation to bring God as grace to us,

but He also took the further step of death and resurrection

in order

to become the

sure mercies to us in resurrection.

Through His death and resurrection,

Christ,

the embodiment of God’s grace,

became the sure mercies, and through these mercies

we are now in the proper position to

match God and to receive Him as grace.

(The Central Line of the Divine Revelation, pp. 89-90, by Witness Lee)

Christ as the Lord of David

became the

Son of David

to

accomplish God’s judicial

redemption

through His death on the cross;

Christ as the son of David (the seed of David)

became the firstborn Son of God

as the life-giving Spirit to carry out

God’s organic salvation.

The fulfillment of the promised seed of David is

Christ Himself;

Christ is the seed of David,

working Himself in the lineage of David to be a Man who

accomplished God’s judicial redemption

and was resurrected to be the life-giving Spirit to carry out

His organic salvation by

saving the believers

in God’s life until they reign in life.

Today the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit is the transfigured descendant
of David, the seed of David, who is constantly being
dispensed into us as God’s sure mercies,
His eternal covenant, for our day-by-day enjoyment and supply
(see Isa. 55:1-3, 6-11; Acts 13:33-35).

As Christ as the life-giving Spirit is being dispensed into us daily,
we are saved in God’s life and we’re brought to a position where we
can share His kingship in His resurrection in the

eternal kingdom of God

(2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 20:4, 6).

The resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit

is the transfigured descendant of David,

the seed of David,

the seed of the kingdom, dispensed into us to make us

the sons of the kingdom,

reigning in life to live in the reality of the kingdom so that we may be
translated by Him and return with Him in the manifestation of the kingdom as the
corporate smiting stone to annihilate the kingdoms of this world and

become a

great mountain,

The

kingdom of God,

that

fills the whole earth

(Mark 4:26; Matt. 13:18-23, 38; Heb. 11:5-6; Gen. 5:21-24; Dan. 2:34-35).
Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), outline

This is so glorious!

God didn’t merely promise David that his son
will build God a house and that God
will establish his throne forever; what God promised David is that
He will work Himself into man

to save man

to the uttermost until man

becomes a co-king with Christ

to rule and reign with Him for the

fulfillment of His purpose,

the

bringing in of the kingdom of God!

Hallelujah!

Thank You Lord for coming as a Man, the seed of David, to be the last Adam in the flesh;

thank You for dying and being resurrected to become

the firstborn Son of God and the life-giving Spirit,

a transfigured descendant of David, to be dispensed into us and

make us the many

sons of God and co-kings with Christ!

Hallelujah, today we are sons of God

under the divine dispensing

of the

transfigured seed of David

to be made sons of the kingdom,

reigning in life to live in the reality of the kingdom today so that we
may be translated by Him and return with Him in the manifestation of
the kingdom as the corporate smiting stone to destroy Satan’s kingdom and

bring in God’s kingdom on earth!

Hallelujah!

Seeing the Divine Economy in God’s Promise of the Seed of the Woman, of Abraham, and of David

if we step back and take a look at God’s promises of the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham,
and the seed of David, we will realize one amazing thing: these promises are for t

he fulfillment of God’s economy,

His dispensing. Christ as the seed of the woman

destroys Satan and saves us from sin and death.

Christ as the seed of Abraham causes us to inherit the consummated Triune God

as our unique

blessing

and

wonderful inheritance.

Christ as the seed of David is constantly working Himself into us to cause us to

share in Christ’s kingship.

These three matters cover God’s full salvation in complete way; in

His full salvation God delivers us

from the hand of Satan and out of sin and death,

He brings us into the full inheritance of Himself as our blessing,

and He causes us to share the kingship

with Christ as His co-kings in the kingdom age.

God’s full salvation is to save us from any negative thing,
cause us to enjoy God as our portion, and make us kings with Christ,
and

the promise

of the seed of the woman,

the seed of Abraham, and

the seed of

David accomplish God’s full salvation.

These three seeds refer to one person – Christ, who is the God-man. Christ as God yet man came to be the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, and the seed of David; this One is being wrought into us to make us the same as He is in His full salvation so that we may be one with Christ for the fulfillment of God’s purpose, His economy. Hallelujah!

The consummation of God’s purpose and intention is the

New Jerusalem,

an entity in which God and man

are fully mingled and blended together;

the New Jerusalem is the totality of

God’s dispensing of Himself into humanity.

Today we need to live a daily life under

God’s dispensing of Himself in Christ as the Spirit,

the reality of the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, and the

seed of David,

so that we may be fully saved from Satan, sin, and death,

we may enjoy God as our blessing and inheritance,

and we may be qualified to

reign with Christ in His kingdom!

Lord Jesus, thank You for

coming as the seed of the woman

to destroy Satan

and save us from sin and death.

Thank You for coming as the seed of Abraham to bring us into the full enjoyment of the

Triune God as our blessing and inheritance.

Thank You for coming as the seed of David to cause us to share in Christ’s kingship. Lord, keep us under Your divine dispensing daily so that we may be saved from sin and death, we may enjoy God as our blessing and inheritance, and we may reign with Christ!

Jesus

Calls all

Witnesses

https://harvestcommunity.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/JOHN38-Jesus-Calls-More-Witnesses-John-5.36-38-21.07.04-64.mp3

Jesus Calls More Witnesses

(John 5:36-38)

Calling All Witnesses!

Urgent! We Are

Running Out of

Time!

(John 8.21-30)

https://harvestcommunity.net/thewell/

Have you felt an increased sense of ‘urgency’ recently? What are some of the things that have led you to feel this way? Has this ‘urgency’ changed the way you live for Jesus? How? What should you do with this ‘urgency’?
Look at Jesus words in Luke 6:46-49. Why does Jesus begin His parable by asking, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” What is the point of the parable that follows? How does it prove Jesus’ initial statement (6:46)? List all the things the two men in the story have in common. How do they differ. What is the result of their ‘doing’ or ‘not doing?’ What can we learn from this parable for the ‘stormy’ days which lie ahead?
In John 14, Jesus is speaking to His disciples. It’s a poignant moment; tomorrow morning He’ll be on the cross. He is sharing His final words with them. In 14:15, He makes a salient point: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Then in 14:21, He similarly says: “Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me.” And again, in 14:23 & 24: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word,” and, “Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words.” Jesus’ words here are made emphatic by their repetition. Why is He so emphatic about this? Why the repetition? Why was it soimportant for Him to drive this lesson home to them on His final night? How does Jesus define love?
Notice also the ‘urgency’ of Romans 13:11-14. What is the urgency in this passage? What does Paul ask us to do in response to it? Why do you think he asks this of us?
Another important ‘urgency’ passage is found in 1 Thess. 5. What does Paul say believers are “NOT in” (5:4)? What do you think this means? According to the same verse, what should this prevent us from? What does 5:5 say believers are? What does it say we are not? In 5:6, Paul speaks of ‘those’ who sleep. Who do you suppose he’s referring to? What does he mean by saying we need to “keep awake and be sober”? In 5:8, what should naturally follow from the fact that “we belong to the day”? Why is this so? In 5:9 & 10, what truths should motivate us toward obedience? Knowing these things, what should we ‘keep on doing’ for one another (5:11)?
In Ephesians 5, Paul encourages us to “be imitators of God, as beloved children” (5:1). He then describes how ‘disobedience’ and sinful behavior belong to the other kingdom, not to God’s (5:3-5). In fact, he writes, “because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (5:6). But, beginning with verse 7, Paul describes who we are, what we’ve been delivered from, and how we should conduct ourselves now that we’re “light in the Lord” (5:8). What does it mean to be an “imitator of God” (5:1)? What does Paul suggest we use our speech for (rather than “filthiness,” “foolish talk” or “crude joking”) in 5:4? How do we square Paul’s charge to not “become partners with” the “sons of disobedience,” while still keeping opportunities for evangelism open (5:7)? What’s the balance? What about believers who are living in disobedience to the Lord? How should we treat them? (Find the SHOCKING answer in 1 Corinthians 5:9-13!) What are the “unfruitful works of darkness” Paul tells us to “expose” in 5:11? How do we do that? (Hint: what drives out the darkness? See 5:8b-9, 13).
How can we make “the best use of the time” (5:16). What’s the opposite of being foolish in 5:17? In 5:18, why is drunkenness contrasted with being “filled with the Spirit”? Finally, notice the joyful expression of the ‘newness of life’ in 5:19-21! YES!

In John 8:13, the

Pharisees accused Jesus

of “bearing witness” about Himself.

Therefore, they argued,

His testimony was not valid.

The Law of Moses forbad receiving the testimony of only one witness
(Deuteronomy 17:6, 19:15).

But in Jesus’ case, self-testimony was really the only option, for who else could know the things about which He was speaking? C.H. Dodd explained this using the concept of ‘light’: “while all other things are seen and known by means of light, light is known by itself alone.”1 He’s saying, ‘light reveals everything, but nothing but light can reveal light.’ This is a wonderful explanation of Jesus’ self-testimony, right? So, think of ‘light’ as the revealer of things. Consider these verses in the context of ‘light as the great revealer’ of things: John 1:9, 8:12, 12:35-36, Ephesians 5:13. What are these verses saying?

In John 8:18, Jesus asserts that, actually,

He is not bearing self-testimony; another witness is present: “

I am the One who bears witness about Myself,

and the

Father who sent Me bears witness about Me.”

So, the Second Witness was the Father Himself –

but, if they couldn’t hear

Jesus who was standing right in front of them,

they certainly couldn’t hear the Father!

This speaks to an important truth: all the religions and cults of the world seek to ‘know God,’
but Jesus is the only Revealer of the Father. Consider the following verses in view of the idea that the only way people can ‘know God’ is through Jesus: John 1:18, John 5:37, Acts 4:12, and 1 John 2:23.
How does this help us to respond to the ‘truth claims’ of Islam, Buddhism, and the other religions of the world?

How does it inform and prepare us for sharing our faith?

From Jesus’ words here we see that the Father is always accrediting the words of Jesus. A number of times in John’s Gospel we see that when Jesus speaks, the Father speaks “a second word” as the great Divine ‘seconding witness.’ It’s the same with us too! As we share the Gospel of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit, Another comes along with us – the ‘Divine Seconder,’ the Father Himself – who always bears witness to His Son. Jesus was telling the Pharisees things that could not be ‘proved’ by sight – and we do the same! We speak of invisible realities: a holy God offended by our sin, the Divine Creator and Architect of the universe who also became a Man and died as a Lamb, etc. There is no way we can prove these things; we can only say them. It is Jesus who is the Revealer of the Father, and the Father is the Revealer of the Son. WE know these things are true because Jesus has opened our eyes to see (Matthew 13:11) them and the Father, the ‘Divine Seconder,’ has affirmed them within us. Consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:25-27 & Luke 10:21-24. How does this idea of Jesus as the only Revealer help us with our witnessing? How does it ’take the pressure off’ of us?

As a result of this

truth,

who is glorified

when we lead a soul to Jesus?

Let’s think about the wonderful word ‘mystery.’ What’s wonderful about not having the answer to every question pertaining to our faith? Read these verses aloud and discuss them:

Job 11:7, Ephesians 3:4-6, 5:31-32, 6:19, 1 Cor. 15:51-53, 1 Timothy 3:9, 3:16, Colossians 1:27, 2 Thess. 2:7-10.

What’s the mystery they’re hinting at, as well as we’re able to understand them?

How has the devil hurt

believers by their unwillingness to accept ‘mystery’?

https://isaiah62fast.com/

Burden of Proof

The concept of

“blasphemy against the Spirit”

is mentioned in Mark 3:22–30 and Matthew 12:22–32.

Jesus has just performed a miracle.

A demon-possessed man was brought to Jesus, and the Lord cast the demon out,

healing the man of blindness and muteness.

The eyewitnesses to this exorcism began to wonder if

Jesus was indeed the Messiah they had been waiting for.

A group of Pharisees,

hearing the talk of the Messiah,

quickly

quashed any BUDDING faith in

the crowd:

“It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,

that this fellow drives out demons,”

they said

(Matthew 12:24)

BLASPHEMY and BLACKMAIL

Jesus REBUTS the

Pharisees

with some logical arguments for

WHY

He is not casting out demons in the power of Satan

(Matthew 12:25–29).

Then He speaks of the blasphemy against the

HOLY Spirit

“I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven,

but blasphemy against the Spirit

Anyone who speaks a word against the

Son of Man will be forgiven,

but anyone who

speaks against the

Holy Spirit

will NOT be forgiven,

either in this age or in the

AGE TO COME

(verses 31–32).

The term blasphemy may be generally defined as

“defiant irreverence.”

The term can be applied to such

sins as cursing

God

or willfully degrading

things relating to

GOD

Blasphemy is also attributing

some evil to God or

denying Him some good that we

should attribute to

HIM

This particular case of blasphemy, however,

is called the

blasphemy

against the

Holy Spirit”

in Matthew 12:31.

The Pharisees,

having

witnessed irrefutable proof

that

JESUS was working miracles

in the

power of the Holy Spirit,

claimed

instead that the Lord was possessed

by a demon

(Matthew 12:24).

Notice in Mark 3:30

Jesus is very specific about

what the

Pharisees

did to

commit blasphemy against the

Holy Spirit:

“He said this because they were saying, ‘He has an impure spirit.’”

Blasphemy

against the

Holy Spirit

has to do with

accusing

Jesus Christ

of being demon-possessed instead of

Spirit-filled

The Pharisees had

the Law and the Prophets, they had the Holy Spirit stirring their hearts,

they had the

Son of God Himself standing right in front of them,

and they saw with their own eyes the miracles He did.

Never before in the history of the world

had so much

divine light

been granted to men;

if anyone should have recognized Jesus for who He was, it was the Pharisees.

Yet they chose defiance.

They purposely attributed the work of the Spirit to the devil, even

though they knew the truth and had the proof.

Jesus declared their willful blindness to be

unpardonable.

Their blasphemy against

the

Holy Spirit

was their final rejection of

God’s grace

They had set their course,

and

God was going to let them

sail into perdition unhindered

Jesus told the crowd that the Pharisees’ blasphemy against the Holy Spirit
“will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come”

(Matthew 12:32).

This is another way of saying that their

sin would never be forgiven, ever.

Not now, not in eternity. As Mark 3:29 puts it,

“They are guilty of an eternal sin.”

The IMMEDIATE RESULT

of the

Pharisees’ public rejection

of

CHRIST

(and God’s rejection of them)

is seen in the next chapter. Jesus, for the first time,

“told them many things in parables”

(Matthew 13:3; cf. Mark 4:2).

The disciples were puzzled at

Jesus’ change

of teaching method, and Jesus explained

His use of parables:

“Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom

of heaven has been given to you,

but not to them. . . . Though seeing,

they do not see; though hearing, they

do not hear or understand

” (Matthew 13:11, 13).

Jesus began to

veil theTRUTH

with

parables and metaphors

as a

direct result of the Jewish leaders’

official denunciation of Him.

The unpardonable sin today is the state of

continued unbelief

The Spirit currently convicts the unsaved world of

sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8).

To resist that

conviction

and

willfully remain unrepentant

is to

“blaspheme” the Spirit

There is no pardon, either in this age or in the age to come,

for a person who rejects the Spirit’s promptings

to trust in Jesus Christ and then dies in unbelief.

The love of God is evident

: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”

(John 3:16).

And the choice is clear:

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life,

but whoever

rejects the Son will not see life,

for

God’s wrath remains on him”

(John 3:36).

Did Jesus Say

"I am the Law of Moses"?

When Season 3 Episode 3 of The Chosen aired, many had questions. In a tense scene,

Jesus proclaims,

"I AM

the LAW of Moses."

Did Jesus say, "I am the law of Moses" in the Bible? Is Jesus the law of Moses?

Let's dive in!

Recap of The Chosen Season 3

While reading the scroll of the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue,

Jesus speaks the scripture that modern-day readers can find in Luke 4.

This scene, dramatically played out in

Season 3 Episode 3, often pulls straight from the Bible.

As the scene climaxes, a Pharisee commands

Jesus to renounce His words—words that

declare Him as the Savior of the world—and

follow the law of Moses.

Jesus replies,

"I AM the LAW of Moses."

What is the Law of Moses?

The law of Moses refers to a collection of laws and commandments that were
given to Moses by God according to the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament).

These laws are also known as the Mosaic Law or the Torah,
and they form the basis of Jewish law and tradition.

Is Jesus the Law of Moses?In The Chosen, Jesus boldly declares the

He IS the LAW

of Moses.

But what is actually said in the Bible?

In Luke 24:44, Jesus says--

“This is what

I TOLD YOU while I was

still with you:

Everything must be fulfilled that

is written

about me in the

Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

How Jesus

Fulfilled the Law of Moses

According to scripture, Jesus obeys the law of Moses perfectly and fulfills the law completely. But He doesn't say the He is the law of Moses.
Catch Up on The ChosenThe Chosen is a hit with millions of Christians. But it's also a high-quality, incredibly amazing TV show. Watch this dramatic moment, and so many more, play out in Episode 3 today!

Jesus, in response to the

Pharisees’ question

“Who do you think you are?”

said,

“‘Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day;

he saw it and was glad.

’ ‘You are not yet fifty years old,’

the Jews said to him, ‘and you have seen Abraham!’

‘
I TELL YOU

the

TRUTH

Jesus answered,

‘before Abraham was born,

I AM!

At this, they picked up stones to stone him,

but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds”

(John 8:56–59).

The violent response of the Jews to

Jesus’ “I AM”

statement indicates they clearly understood what

He was declaring--

that

He was the

eternal

God

incarnate

Jesus was equating

Himself with the

"I AM"

title

God gave Himself

in Exodus 3:14.

If Jesus had merely wanted to say He existed before Abraham’s time,

He would have said,

“Before Abraham, I was.”

The Greek words translated “was,” in the case of Abraham, and “am,” in the case of Jesus, are quite different. The words chosen by the Spirit make it clear that Abraham was

“

brought into being,”

but

Jesus existed eternally

(see John 1:1).

There is no doubt that the Jews understood

what He was saying because they

took up stones to kill Him for making Himself

equal with God

(John 5:18).

Such a statement, if not true, was blasphemy

and the

punishment prescribed

by the

Mosaic Law was death

(Leviticus 24:11–14).

But Jesus committed no blasphemy;

He was and

IS God,

the second

Person of the Godhead, equal to the Father

in

every way

Jesus used the same phrase

“I AM”

in seven

declarations about Himself

In all seven,

He combines I AM with

tremendous metaphors which express

His saving relationship toward the world.

All appear in the

Book of John

They are I AM the Bread of Life

(John 6:35, 41, 48, 51);

I AM

the Light of the World

(John 8:12);

I AM

the Door of the Sheep

(John 10:7, 9);

I AM

the Good Shepherd

(John 10:11,14);

I AM

the Resurrection and the Life

(John 11:25);

I AM

the Way, the Truth and the Life

(John 14:6); and

I AM the True Vine

(John 15:1, 5).

There are about 30 biblical

references to vows,

most of which are from the Old Testament. The books of Leviticus and Numbers have several references to vows in relation to offerings and sacrifices. There were dire consequences for the

Israelites who broke vows, especially

vows to God.

The story of Jephthah illustrates the foolishness of making vows without understanding the consequences. Before leading the Israelites into battle against the Ammonites, Jephthah—described as a mighty man of valor—made a rash vow that he would give to the Lord whoever first came out of doors to meet him if he returned home as the victor. When the Lord granted him victory, the one who came out to meet him was his daughter. Jephthah remembered his vow and offered her to the Lord (Judges 11:29–40). Whether or not Jephthah should have kept this vow is dealt with in another article. What this account shows is the foolishness of rash vows.

Jesus taught concerning vows,

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.

And do not

swear by your head,

for you cannot make even one hair

white or black

Simply let your

‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No ,’ ‘No’;

anything beyond

this comes from the evil one”

(Matthew 5:33–37).

A little background information is helpful in understanding Jesus’ words here.

The religious leaders of the day advocated keeping a vow if it was a

public vow using God’s name;

however, if the vow was made in the course of everyday conversation,

referencing only

“heaven” or “earth” or “Jerusalem,”

it was not really binding.

People had a

loophole

They could lie or exaggerate in their conversations

and

lend themselves an air of credibility by saying,

“I swear by heaven that this is true!”

They could not be held to account because

they did not specifically swear by God’s name and the

vow was private

Jesus countered that idea. If you swear something, it had better be true, He says.

In fact, all you need to say is

“yes” or “no.”

Your word should be good

There’s no need for overwrought expressions to bolster your case.

Psalm 15:4 describes a righteous person as one

“who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind.”

Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5 supports this biblical principle.

Oaths are binding,

even when spoken frivolously or privately

as part of everyday conversation.

A promise is a promise, and there is

no loophole

in

God’s eyes

to allow a person to renege on an oath.

So, Jesus was not condemning all forms of

promises, contracts, or agreements. Jesus was speaking

of the kind of spontaneous vow made when a person says,

“I cross my heart and hope to die” or “I swear on a stack of Bibles” or

“I swear on my mother’s life.”

Jesus warns against using those types of flippant oaths.

His teaching in Matthew 5 is not meant to discourage careful,

thought-out promises, such as

wedding vows or a legal contract

The principle here is clear for Christians:

be careful about making

vows,

either to the Lord or to one another.

The fact that we are prone to errors in judgment means that we may make
vows foolishly or out of immaturity.
Further, the informal vows we make (“I swear by all the angels in heaven!”)
are completely unnecessary.

Our word is our bond.

In our culture,

taking an oath usually

involves raising the right hand or placing a hand over the heart or on a Bible.

In ancient Hebrew culture, we find something a little different.
Genesis 24:9 describes an odd practice that involved

Abraham’s servant swearing to
obey his master’s command to find a wife for Isaac: “So the servant put his hand under
the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.”

In Genesis 47:29,

Jacob makes his son Joseph swear to bury him in Canaan, not Egypt.

The same ritual is observed:

Joseph is required to put his hand under Jacob’s thigh as he makes the promise.

It seems strange to us, but placing one’s hand under someone else’s thigh had a symbolic purpose.

In both cases, the request is made by a patriarch nearing death.

Also, both oaths deal with family matters. In the case of Abraham and Jacob,

the family was blessed by God Himself

(Genesis 15:5; 28:14).

The thigh was considered the source of posterity in the ancient world. Or, more properly, the “loins” or the testicles. The phrase “under the thigh” could be a euphemism for “on the loins.” There are two reasons why someone would take an oath in this manner: 1) Abraham had been promised a “seed” by God, and this covenantal blessing was passed on to his son and grandson. Abraham made his trusted servant swear “on the seed of Abraham” that he would find a wife for Isaac. 2) Abraham had received circumcision as the sign of the covenant (Genesis 17:10). Our custom is to swear on a Bible; the Hebrew custom was to swear on circumcision, the mark of God’s covenant. The idea of swearing on one’s loins is found in other cultures, as well. The English word testify is directly related to the word testicles.

Jewish tradition also offers a different interpretation. According to Rabbi Ibn Ezra, the phrase “under the thigh” means literally that. For someone to allow his hand to be sat on was a sign of submission to authority. If this is the symbolism, then Joseph was showing his obedience to his father by placing his hand under Jacob’s thigh.

Abraham’s servant kept his oath.

He not only obeyed Abraham’s instructions, but he also prayed to Abraham’s God for help.

In the end,

God miraculously provided Rebekah as the choice for Isaac’s wife

(Genesis 24).

In the New Testament, believers are taught not to make oaths,

but rather to let their

“yes” mean “yes” and “no” mean “no”

(James 5:12).

That is, we should consider all our words to have the weight of an oath.

Others should be able to

trust our words without requiring an oath.

The

Pool of Bethesda

was renowned as a supposed place of healing in Jesus’ time.

At this pool Jesus healed a man who had been lame for thirty-eight years.

As Jesus healed him, He said,

“Take up your bed and walk”

(John 5:8, NKJV).

This miracle reveals that Jesus is the

ultimate Healer and that

He is greater than

any man-made rules, superstitions, and beliefs.

The Pool of Bethesda

(Aramaic for “House of Mercy”)

was a spring-fed pool just north of the temple.

Near the water

“a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind,

the lame,

the paralyzed”

(John 5:3).

These people would wait expectantly at the pool because they believed an angel would come down into the pool and “stir up the water.” Then, according to the superstition, “whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had” (John 5:4, NKJV). The man who was told to

“take up your bed and walk”

was one of these people who trusted that the water would provide healing.

What he really needed was Jesus.

On the day Jesus visited

the

Pool of Bethesda,

the invalid was there, waiting for the angel to do his magical work. The man did not know Jesus and thought the pool was what he needed to be healed. He complained to Jesus that there was “no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me” (John 5:7). Jesus swept aside all superstition and false belief with one command: “Rise! Take up your bed and walk!” (John 5:8, NKJV). The man was instantly cured, and “he picked up his mat and walked” (verse 9). The man never got wet. It was not the water the man needed but Jesus.

Through this third “sign” or miracle in the Gospel of John, Jesus shows He is the ultimate Healer, not just of physical maladies but of our hearts. After the healing, “Jesus found [the man] in the temple, and said to him, ‘See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you’” (John 5:14).

Jesus revealed that the

man’s physical

healing was secondary to his need to be

healed spiritually.

Although the passage does not reveal the man’s conversion

it does teach

that Jesus sees not only our physical maladies but our hearts as well. He is the only one who can provide the spiritual healing we need. While being physically ill for thirty-eight years is difficult,

an eternity in hell is even worse

(see Mark 9:47).

Jesus telling the man, “Take up your bed and walk” became an issue for the
Jewish leaders because the healing took place on the Sabbath (John 5:9).

The fact that a paralytic was walking did not matter to them;

they were furious.

“For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him,

because He had done these things on the Sabbath”

(John 5:16).

The Pharisees’ traditions forbade the carrying of one’s mat or bed on the Sabbath.

Of course, Jesus had not violated the Sabbath law

(see Matthew 5:17).

It was only

the pharisaical interpretation

and

addition to

God’s laws

that were being broken.

The healing of the lame man

exposed the Pharisees’

hard hearts and revealed

that

Jesus is greater

than their

man-made laws

Jesus’ command,

“Take up your bed and walk,”

and its

immediate result reveal that

He is greater than any

superstition,

folklore, or man-made rule.

Faith

in anything other than

Jesus is misplaced

and leaves us wanting.

Yet Jesus can forgive anyone

who will

Turn to

Him for Salvation

that is the

ultimate healing we all need

Does the Cleansing of the Temple Show Jesus’ Violence?

I Don’t Think So

What does it Mean that Jesus Brings,

not

Peace, but a Sword?

Addendum to the Cleansing of the Temple

What about the Fig Tree?

In this week’s post on the cleansing of the temple, I wanted

to talk about Jesus’

withering of the fig tree

because I think it is closely connected

to the

story of the cleansing

Also, some people point to Jesus’ ‘petty’ act against the fig tree as another example of his violent nature, and I wanted to talk about that.

However, I did not have space to include the story of the fig tree within the word limit of the post. So I decided that if someone mentioned the fig tree I would write an addendum to it; and reader Ruth F. brought it up in a comment:

“But, but . . . What he did to that fig tree.”

The Withering of the

Fig Tree

Bookends the Cleansing of the Temple--

For a Reason

Going back to Mark’s story of the cleansing we see that,

after his triumphant arrival into Jerusalem for Passover,

Jesus went to the temple and looked around.

Mark 11:

Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts.

He looked around at everything,

but since it was already late,

he went out to Bethany with

the Twelve

We talked about this in the previous post. But I skipped part of what

happened the

next day as he was

returning to the temple

The next day

as

they were leaving

Bethany,

Jesus was hungry

Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf,

he went to

find out if it had

any fruit

When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.

Then he said to the tree,

“
May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”

And his disciples heard him say it.

Mark says nothing further

about this as Jesus continues toward his

dramatic and symbolic confrontation at the temple.

But after the temple incident, Mark says:

When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.

In the morning, as they went along, they

saw the fig tree withered from

the roots

Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look!

The fig tree you cursed has withered!”

How the Cleansing of the Temple

and the

Withering of the Fig Tree Tell the same Story

I think the incidents of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple are related.

Often people point to Jesus’ withering of the fig tree as a petulant and violent act against an innocent tree that reveals a dark side to Jesus’ character. Some people WANT Jesus to have a dark side—perhaps because of their own resistance to his persistent teaching and example on loving others.

First of all, it was only

a tree

Now I don’t think it is good to needlessly destroy a tree, but it was

only one fig tree among many in the area.

But more important is that Jesus’ action was not one of momentary irritation;

he did this for a

purpose

Jesus went to the fig tree looking for fruit when figs were not even in season;
he did not expect to find fruit there.

He then went to the temple looking

good fruit--

respect for the temple

as a place of prayer for people of

all nations

He didn’t expect to find this fruit either, and in fact he did not find it.

This is when he demonstrated

against disrespect

for the

Purpose of the Temple

When walking by the fig tree the next day, the disciples noticed that it was withered;
it would never produce fruit again. Rather than being an impetuous act, I
believe this is another symbolic demonstration about the temple. Just as the
fig tree never again produced figs, neither did the temple ever again produce fruit.

The fig tree withered—destroyed—and would no longer serve its purpose.

And the Temple

was soon destroyed

by the Romans and would no longer

serve its purpose

I think the fig tree is an important part of

the story of the cleansing of

The Temple

which is why Mark placed the events of the cleansing within

the two parts of the story of the fig tree.

The account of

Jesus cursing

the

Barren Fig Tree

is

found

in two different gospel accounts.

First, it is seen in Matthew 21:18-22, and then also in Mark 11:12-14.

While there are slight differences between the two accounts, they are easily

reconciled by studying the passages.

Like all Scripture, the key to understanding this passage comes from understanding the context in which it happened. In order to properly understand this passage, we must first look at the chronological and geographical setting. For example, when did this occur, what was the setting, and where did it happen? Also, in order to fully understand this passage, we need to have an understanding of the importance of the fig tree as it relates to the nation of Israel and understand how the fig tree is often used in the Scriptures to symbolically represent Israel. Finally, we must have a basic understanding of the fig tree itself, its growing seasons, etc.

First, in looking at the general chronological setting of the passage, we see that it happened during the week before His crucifixion. Jesus had entered Jerusalem a day earlier amid the praise and worship of the Jewish people who were looking to Him as the King/Messiah who was going to deliver them from Roman occupation

(Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11).

Now, the next day, Jesus is again on His way to Jerusalem from where He was staying in Bethany.

On His way, both Matthew and Mark record that

He was hungry

and saw a

FIG TREE

in the distance that had leaves on it

(Mark 11:13).

Upon coming to the tree

expecting to find something to eat,

Jesus instead discovered

that the fig tree had

NO FRUIT

on it

and cursed the tree saying,

“May no fruit ever come

from

you again!”

(Matthew 21:19; Mark 11:14).

Matthew records the cursing and the withering of the fig tree all in one account and includes it after the account of Jesus cleansing the Temple of the moneychangers.

Mark explains that it actually took

place over two days,

with

Jesus cursing the fig tree the first day on the way to

cleanse the Temple,

and the disciples seeing the

tree withered

on the second day when they were again going to

Jerusalem from Bethany

(Mark 11:12-14 and Mark 11:19-20).

Of course, upon seeing the tree

“withered from the roots up,”

the disciples were amazed, as that would have normally taken several weeks.

Having reviewed the general chronological setting of the story,

we can begin to answer some of many questions that are often asked of it.

First of all is the question,

Why did Jesus curse the fig tree

if it was not the

right

season for figs?

The answer to this question can be determined by

studying the characteristics

of

fig trees

The fruit of the fig tree generally appears before the leaves, and,
because the fruit is green it blends in with the leaves right

up until it is almost

RIPE

Therefore, when Jesus and His disciples saw from a distance that
the tree had leaves, they would have expected it to also

have fruit on it even though it was earlier in the season than

what would be normal

for a

fig tree to be bearing

fruit

Also, each tree would often

produce two to three crops of figs each season.

There would be an early crop in the spring

followed by one or two later crops.

In some parts of Israel, depending on climate and conditions,

it was also possible that a tree might

produce fruit

ten out of twelve months.

This also explains why Jesus and His disciples would be looking

for fruit on the fig tree

even if it was not in the main growing season.

The fact that the tree already had leaves on it even though it was

at a

HIGHER

elevation

around Jerusalem,

and therefore would have been outside the normal season for figs,

would have seemed to be a good indication

that there would also be fruit on it.

As to the significance of this passage and what it means, the answer to that is again found in the chronological setting and in understanding how a

fig tree is often

used

symbolically to represent

Israel in the Scriptures.

First of all, chronologically, Jesus had just arrived at Jerusalem amid great fanfare and great expectations, but then proceeds to cleanse the Temple and curse the barren fig tree. Both had significance as to the spiritual condition of Israel. With His cleansing of the Temple and His criticism of the worship that was going on there (Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17),

Jesus was effectively

denouncing

Israel’s worship of God

With the cursing of the fig tree, He was symbolically denouncing Israel as a nation and,

in a sense, even denouncing

unfruitful “Christians”

(that is, people who profess to be Christian but have no evidence of a relationship with Christ).

The presence of a fruitful

fig tree

was considered to be a symbol of

blessing and prosperity

for the

nation of Israel

Likewise, the absence or death of a fig tree would symbolize judgment and rejection. Symbolically, the fig tree represented the spiritual deadness of Israel, who while very religious outwardly with all the sacrifices and ceremonies, were spiritually barren because of their sins. By cleansing the Temple and cursing the fig tree, causing it to wither and die, Jesus was pronouncing His coming judgment of Israel and demonstrating His power to carry it out. It also teaches the principle that religious profession and observance are not enough to guarantee salvation, unless there is the fruit of genuine salvation evidenced in the life of the person. James would later echo this truth when he wrote that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).

The lesson of the fig tree is that we should

bear spiritual fruit

(Galatians 5:22-23),

not just give an

appearance of religiosity

God judges fruitlessness,

and

expects that those who have a

relationship with Him

will

“bear much fruit”

(John 15:5-8).

Six Surprising Things God Did for Jochebed

Mother’s Day 2023

Hebrews 11:23-27

“By faith Moses, when he was born,

was hidden

for three months by his parents, because they

saw that the child was beautiful,

and they were

not afraid of the king’s edict.

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be

called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,

choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God

than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth

than the treasures of Egypt,

for he was looking to the reward.

By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king,

for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.”

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit

The pouring out of

God’s Spirit

to

fill and indwell people--

was prophesied in the Old Testament and

fulfilled at Pentecost

(Acts 2).

This event was predicted in the Old Testament: in Isaiah 44:3 God said to Israel,

“I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground;

I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.”

The HOLY Spirit

is pictured as the

“WATER of LIFE”

that saves and blesses a dying people.

On the day of Pentecost, Peter quoted another

prophecy as being fulfilled:

“I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

your old men will dream dreams, your young men will

see visions.

Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days. . .

. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”

(Joel 2:28–29, 32).

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit ushered in a new era, the church age. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was a rare gift that was only given to a few people, and usually for only short periods of time. When Saul was anointed king of Israel, the Holy Spirit came upon him (1 Samuel 10:10), but when God removed His blessing on Saul, the Holy Spirit left him (1 Samuel 16:14). The Holy Spirit came for specific moments or seasons in the lives of Othniel (Judges 3:10), Gideon (Judges 6:34), and Samson (Judges 13:25; 14:6) as well, to enable them to do His will and serve Israel. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on all believers in Christ, and He came to stay. This marked a major change in the Holy Spirit’s work.

Before His arrest, Jesus had promised to send His disciples the Holy Spirit (John 14:15–17). The Spirit “lives with you and will be in you,” Jesus said (John 14:17). This was a prophecy of the indwelling of the Spirit, another distinctive of the church age. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 marked the fulfillment of Jesus’ words, too, as the Holy Spirit came upon all believers in a powerful, visible (and audible) way. Luke records the event: “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” (Acts 2:2–4). Immediately, the Spirit-filled believers went into the streets of Jerusalem and preached Christ. Three thousand people were saved and baptized that day; the church had begun (verse 41).

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon humanity was the inauguration of the New Covenant, which had been ratified by Jesus’ blood (Luke 22:20). According to the terms of the New Covenant, every believer is given the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). Ever since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has baptized every believer into Christ at the moment of salvation (1 Corinthians 12:13), as He comes to permanently indwell God’s children.

In the book of Acts, there are three “outpourings” of the Holy Spirit, to three different people groups at three different times. The first was to Jews and proselytes in Jerusalem (Acts 2). The second was to a group of believing Samaritans (Acts 8). The third was to a group of believing Gentiles (Acts 10).

Significantly, Peter was present at all three outpourings. Three times, God sent the Holy Spirit with demonstrable signs, as the Great Commission was being fulfilled.

The same Holy Spirit

coming upon

Jews,

Samaritans,

and

Gentiles

in the same manner

in the presence of the

same apostle

kept the early church

unified

There was not a “Jewish” church, a “Samaritan” church, and a “Roman” church—there was one church, “one Lord, one faith, one baptism”

(Ephesians 4:5).

The outpouring

of the Spirit is different from the

filling of the Spirit.

The outpouring was a unique coming of the Holy Spirit to earth; the filling happens whenever we are surrendered to God’s control of our lives. We are commanded to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). In this regard it is possible for the believer either to be “filled with the Spirit” or to “quench” the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19). In either case, the Holy Spirit remains with the believer (as opposed to the Old Testament era, when the Holy Spirit would come and go).

The filling of the Spirit

comes as a direct result of

submission to God’s will,

and the quenching

is a

direct result

of

rebelling against

God’s will

Some still look for an “outpouring” of the Holy Spirit on a specific group of people in a specific place or time, but there is no biblical support for the repeat of such a Pentecost-style event. The church has already begun; the apostles have already laid that foundation (Ephesians 2:20). Sometimes we sing songs that ask the Holy Spirit to “come”; the reality is that He has already come to us—at the moment of salvation—and, once He comes, He doesn’t leave. The outpouring of the Spirit is a completed prophecy that ushered in the church age and the New Covenant in which all believers are given the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 6:2 says,

“Bear one another’s burdens,

and

so fulfill the law of Christ.”

The word burden here means “a weight of personal and eternal significance.” It can refer to a character flaw, a struggle, or a moral requirement. Some have wondered at the meaning of this verse as it compares to Galatians 6:5, which says, “Each one should bear his own load.” Are these verses contradictory? How can we bear someone else’s burdens if we are each supposed to carry our own loads?

The Greek word translated “load” in Galatians 6:5 is phortion, which refers to an individual burden that is not transferable. We each have certain obligations for which we alone are responsible. For example, God has given each of us responsibilities for our families (1 Timothy 5:8), our churches (1 Corinthians 12:18), and our personal holiness (1 Peter 1:15–16). We cannot assume the responsibility for someone else’s behavior. We can, however, bear other burdens; we can come alongside a struggling brother or sister and help shoulder the weight of a trial or temptation that threatens to pull him under.

We can illustrate the idea of bearing one another’s burdens with the picture of a man staggering beneath a heavy load of grain. He must somehow get this grain home to his family, but he is about to crumble beneath its weight. A brother sees his distress and rushes to his aid, lifting a part of the burden and thereby easing the weight of it. Although the supportive one does not assume the whole load, his help allows the struggling one to carry on to his destination.

The church at Antioch is an example of believers bearing one another’s burdens. Acts 11:27–30 records that the church learned of a coming famine in Judea. Though they did not personally know the ones who would be affected by this difficulty, they took up collections to send to them by way of traveling apostles. The Antioch church did not assume responsibility for total provision, but their generosity lightened the load for those who would be suffering.

We are each responsible before God for the gifts and resources He has entrusted to us (Romans 14:12; 2 Corinthians 5:10). We cannot blame others, shift responsibility, or make excuses about why we were unfaithful with the assignments we’ve been given—we must bear our own loads. But there are also times when life threatens to overwhelm. A spouse dies. A child is injured. A job folds or a house burns down. As part of the family of God, we are to come to the aid of our brothers and sisters in need (Philippians 2:3–4). When a load suddenly becomes too heavy for one person, we are to bear one another’s burdens. The added strength and encouragement of others is often the difference between pressing on and giving up.

Unfortunately, there are a few who isolate Galatians 6:2 and make a career out of asking for help. They misuse God’s command to bear one another’s burdens to avoid their own responsibilities and habitually harass their church families with expectations of aid. Walking in the light of God’s Word is a delicate balance between selfless giving and responsible boundaries. If we err too far on one side, we become self-focused and overly independent. But erring too far the other way leads to assuming responsibility for other people’s messes. When we aim to bear our own loads, while always being available to bear the burdens of others as the Lord leads, we will strike that perfect balance.

In the first episode of the television series

The Chosen,

Mary Magdalene testifies to Jewish religious leader Nicodemus of the absolute transformation she experienced because of knowing Jesus Christ: “I was one way, and now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between was Him.” This dramatic scene was fashioned on the apostle Paul’s teaching that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NKJV).

When a person encounters Jesus Christ and surrenders to Him as Lord and Savior, that individual is now “in Christ,” joined to Jesus in His death and resurrection: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4). We become a whole new creation in Jesus Christ (Galatians 6:15). Our “former way of life,” or “old self,” which was “corrupted by its deceitful desires” (Ephesians 4:22), was “one way,” as Mary put it in the television series. But the “new self” in Christ, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24), is “completely different.” Scripture says that, when Mary Magdalene encountered Jesus, He cast seven demons out of her (Luke 8:1–3).

After being set

free,

Mary was forever changed into a

devoted follower of Christ.

Through union with Jesus Christ, all things have become new for born-again believers.

Our old life dominated by sin no longer controls us: “Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him”

(Romans 6:5–8, NLT).

All things have become new illustrates the beginning of our transformation--

our inward renewal and regeneration--

that will culminate in the fullness of our salvation to be experienced in eternity.

Our Savior’s death and resurrection ushered in a foretaste of an entirely new world still to come: “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). Eventually, everything in creation will be made new (Romans 8:19–20; cf. Isaiah 65:17–25).

Paul explained that the Christian’s new self “is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:10). Through the inner working of the Holy Spirit, believers grow into the image of Christ “with ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). God promises to give us a new, undivided heart, removing our “heart of stone” and replacing it with a “heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26). “And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezekiel 36:27). The changes begin in the heart but then spill out to our behavior (Romans 12:2).

Paul explained that these changes don’t happen through our own force of will and self-effort (Philippians 3:4–9) but through living by faith in Christ: “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20, NLT).

For believers, all things have become new in us and in our relationships with other people. We now look at unbelievers with compassion, seeing them as Christ saw them—“like sheep without a shepherd” or as lost sinners in need of a Savior (Matthew 9:36). No matter how different they may be, we recognize fellow Christians as part of one united body—the new creation: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28; see also Romans 12:5).

All things have become new through our union with Christ,

and we no longer live for ourselves (2 Corinthians 5:15). To the new creation in Christ, Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34–35). Instead of living to please ourselves, we now live to please Christ, serve Him (2 Corinthians 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:1), and look out for the interests of others (Philippians 2:3–4; Galatians 6:2).

The glory of God

is the

beauty of His spirit

It is not an aesthetic beauty or a material beauty,

but the beauty that

emanates from His character, from all that He is.

The glory of man—human dignity and honor—fades

(1 Peter 1:24).

But the glory of God,

which is manifested in all His attributes together,

never passes away.

It is eternal.

Moses requested of God,

“Now show me your glory”

Exodus 33:18).

In His response, God equates His glory

with

“all my goodness”

(verse 19).

“But,” God said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live”
(verse 20).

So, God hid Moses in

“a cleft in the rock”

to protect him from the fulness of God’s glory as it passed by

(verses 21–23).

No mortal can view God’s excelling splendor

without being utterly overwhelmed.

The glory of God

puts the pride of man to shame:

“Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, From the terror of the Lord And

the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down,

And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day”

(Isaiah 2:10–11, NKJV).

Often, in the Old Testament, the manifestation of God’s glory was accompanied by supernatural fire, thick clouds, and a great quaking of the earth. We see these phenomena when God gave the law to Moses: “Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently” (Exodus 19:18; see also Deuteronomy 5:24–25; 1 Kings 8:10–11; and Isaiah 6:1–4). The prophet Ezekiel’s vision of the glory of God was full of fire and lightning and tumultuous sounds, after which he saw “what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord” (Ezekiel 1:26–28).

In the New Testament, the glory of God is revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus came as “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of [God’s] people Israel” (Luke 2:32). The miracles that Jesus did were “signs through which he revealed his glory” (John 2:11). In Christ, the glory of God is meekly veiled, approachable, and knowable. He promises to return some day “on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).

Isaiah 43:7 says that God saved Israel for His glory—in the redeemed will be seen the distillation of God’s grace and power and faithfulness. The natural world also exhibits God’s glory, revealed to all men, no matter their race, heritage, or location. As Psalm 19:1–4 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

Psalm 73:24 calls heaven itself “glory.” Sometimes Christians speak of death as being “received unto glory,” a phrase borrowed from this psalm. When the Christian dies, he or she will be taken into God’s presence and surrounded by God’s glory and majesty. In that place, His glory will be seen clearly: “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12). In the future New Jerusalem, the glory of God will be manifest: “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (Revelation 21:23).

God will not give His glory to another (Isaiah 42:8; cf. Exodus 34:14). Yet this is the very thing that people try to steal. Scripture indicts all idolaters: “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles” (Romans 1:22–23). Only God is eternal, and His perfect and eternal attributes of holiness, majesty, goodness, love, etc., are not to be exchanged for the imperfections and corruption of anything in this world.

As you watch through

Episode 1 of The Chosen

Season 1,

consider

what added significance you can

find in the events unfolding if you see them as closely tied to the events

surrounding

Jesus' resurrection on Easter Sunday.

How is

Mary's sorrow in this episode

connected to the

sorrow that she will be experiencing

before she

encounters

the resurrected Jesus on Easter?

Discussion Guide

Season 1 Episode 5

The Wedding Gift

Episode 5

of The Chosen Season 1 centers around Jesus'

first public "sign"

the

transformation of water into wine

in order to prevent a wedding from turning into a social disaster.

In the Gospel of

John,

this scene is closely linked to Jesus' crucifixion. These are the only two scenes in

John featuring

Mother Mary,

in both scenes Jesus addresses her as woman, and in both scenes he demonstrates

his care for her

(water also plays an important role in both).

Moreover, in the scene at Cana, Jesus refers ominously

to "his hour"

that has not yet come - "the hour" being a phrase that is often used in John to refer to the crucifixion.

The Chosen doesn't link the Cana scene & the crucifixion in exactly all the same ways
(that would not be possible given how it functions as an adaptation),

but it still clearly suggests the

connection

between the Cana event and what

lies ahead

in

Jesus' ministry through some really

effective

visual and musical

storytelling

The First Miracle

The

Wedding at Cana

painting

by

Paolo Veronese

Wedding at Cana.

For other uses, see Wedding at Cana (disambiguation).

The Wedding Feast at Cana

ArtistPaolo Veronese
Year1563
MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions6.77 m × 9.94 m (267 in × 391 in)

Louvre Museum

The Wedding Feast at Cana

(Nozze di Cana, 1562–1563),

by

Paolo Veronese,

is a representational painting that depicts the

biblical story of the Wedding at Cana,

at which Jesus miraculously converts water into red wine

(John 2:1–11).

Executed in the Mannerist style (1520–1600) of

the late Renaissance, the large-format (6.77 m × 9.94 m)

oil painting-comprehends the stylistic ideal of compositional harmony, as practiced

by the artists Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo.[1]: 318

The Art of the High Renaissance

(1490–1527)

emphasized human figures of

ideal proportions,

balanced composition, and beauty,

whereas Mannerism exaggerated the Renaissance ideals – of figure, light, and colour – with asymmetric and unnaturally elegant arrangements achieved by flattening the pictorial space and distorting the human figure as an ideal preconception of the subject, rather than as a realistic representation.

The visual tension among the elements of the picture

and the thematic instability among the human figures in

The Wedding Feast at Cana

derive from

Veronese's application of technical artifice, the

inclusion of sophisticated cultural codes and symbolism

(social, religious, theologic),

which

present a biblical story relevant to

the

Renaissance viewer and to the contemporary viewer.

From the 16th to the 18th centuries, the painting hung in the refectory of the San Giorgio Monastery. In 1797, soldiers of Napoleon's French Revolutionary Army plundered the picture as war booty during the Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802). The pictorial area (67.29 m2) of the canvas makes The Wedding Feast at Cana the most expansive picture in the paintings collection of the Musée du Louvre.

History, The commission

In 1562, the Benedictine monks commissioned Paolo Veronese to realise The Wedding Feast at Canaas a monumental painting (6.77m × 9.94m) to occupy the back wall of the monastery's refectory, at the San Giorgio Monastery, Venice.At Venice, on 6 June 1562, the Black Monks of the Order of Saint Benedict (OSB) commissioned Paolo Veronese to realise a monumental painting (6.77 m × 9.94 m) to decorate the far wall of the monastery's new refectory, designed by the architect Andrea Palladio, at the San Giorgio Monastery, on the eponymous island. In their business contract for the commission of The Wedding Feast at Cana, the Benedictine monks stipulated that Veronese be paid 324 ducats; be paid the costs of his personal and domestic maintenance; be provided a barrel of wine; and be fed in the refectory.[3][better source needed] f Aesthetically, the Benedictine contract stipulated that the painter represent “the history of the banquet of Christ’s miracle at Cana, in Galilee, creating the number of [human] figures that can be fully accommodated”,[4] and that he use optimi colori (optimal colours) — specifically, the colour ultramarine, a deep-blue pigment made from lapis lazuli, a semi-precious, metamorphic rock.[5] Assisted by his brother, Benedetto Caliari, Veronese delivered the completed painting in September 1563, in time for the Festa della Madonna della Salute, in November.[3]
Composition and techniqueIn the 17th century, during the mid–1630s, supporters of Andrea Sacchi (1599–1661) and supporters of Pietro da Cortona (1596–1669) argued much about the ideal number of human figures for a representational composition.[6] Sacchi said that only a few figures (fewer than 12) permit the artist to honestly depict the unique body poses and facial expressions that communicate character; while da Cortona said that many human figures consolidate the general image of a painting into an epic subject from which sub-themes would develop.[6] In the 18th century, in Seven Discourses on Art, the portraitist Joshua Reynolds
(1723–1792) said that:

The subjects of the Venetian painters are mostly such as gave them an

opportunity of introducing a great number of figures,

such as feasts, marriages, and processions,

public martyrdoms,

or miracles

I can easily conceive that [Paolo] Veronese, if he were asked, would say

that no subject was proper for an historical picture,

but such as admitted at least forty figures; for in a less number,

he would assert, there could be no opportunity of

the painter's showing his art in composition,

his dexterity of managing and disposing the masses of light,

and groups of figures, and of introducing a

variety of Eastern dresses and characters in their rich stuffs.

As a narrative painting in the Mannerist style,

The Wedding Feast at Cana combines stylistic and

pictorial elements from the Venetian school's philosophy

of colorito (priority of colour)

of Titian (1488–1576)

to the compositional disegno (drawing)

of the

High Renaissance (1490–1527)

used in the works of

Leonardo (1452–1519),

Raphael (1483–1520),

and

Michelangelo (1475–1564)

As such, Veronese's depiction of the crowded banquet-scene that is

The Wedding Feast at Cana

is meant to be viewed upwards, from below – because the painting's bottom-edge
was 2.50 metres from the refectory floor,

behind and above the head-table seat of the abbot of the monastery.

As stipulated in the Benedictine contract for the painting, the canvas of monumental dimensions
(6.77m x 9.94m) and area (67.29m2)

was to occupy the entire display-wall in the refectory. In the 16th century,

Palladio's great-scale design was Classically austere; the monastery dining-room featured a vestibule with a large door, and then stairs that led to a narrow ante-chamber, where the entry door to the refectory was flanked by two marble lavabos, for diners to cleanse themselves;[9] the interior of the refectory featured barrel vaults and groin vaults, rectangular windows, and a cornice.[9] In practise, Veronese's artistic prowess with perspective and architecture (actual and virtual) persuaded the viewer to see

The Wedding Feast at Cana as a spatial extension of the refectory.

The phrase

King of glory

is

found

in a series of verses in Psalm 24

“Lift up your heads,

you gates;

be lifted up, you ancient doors,

that the

King of glory may

come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The

Lord strong and mighty,

the Lord mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, you gates;

lift them up, you ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in.

Who is he, this King of glory?

The Lord Almighty-

he is the

King of Glory

(Psalm 24:7–10).

The Hebrew word

translated “glory” in Psalm 24 is kabod, which means

“weight,”

but it is used figuratively, as in

“his argument carries weight”

or

“the content of that book is weighty.”

Kabad

carries a connotation of

solemnity and power.

Calling God

the “King of Glory”

means

He is the most awesome,

most

powerful king and should be taken seriously.

Using a type of personification known as apostrophe, the psalmist

speaks to the “gates” and the “ancient doors,”

calling them to attention and commanding them

to “be lifted up” or raised to admit the

King of glory.

However lofty these ancient doors are,

they must be loftier still to admit such an august

presence

as the

Lord Himself

There is a connection to be made between

the King of glory in Psalm 24 and the

Shekinah glory in Exodus 33.

When God gave Moses instructions for building

the

Ark of the Covenant,

He said, “I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover

[mercy seat]”

(Leviticus 16:2).

The mercy seat was to be

seen as

God’s glorious “throne” on earth

(see 2 Samuel 6:2; Psalm 80:1; 99:1).

And it was from the mercy seat that

God spoke to Moses:

“There, above the cover between the two cherubim

that are over the ark of the covenant law,

I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites”

(Exodus 25:22)

Psalm 24 pictures the coming of the King of glory in a

time of celebration.

Given the Hebrew association of the

cloud of glory with

the

Ark of the Covenant,

it is quite possible that Psalm 24 was written to commemorate the

entrance of the Ark into Jerusalem during

David’s time

(2 Samuel 6:12–17)

or into the temple during Solomon’s time (2 Chronicles 5:7). The King of glory came through the gates of Jerusalem and through the doors of the temple with a great procession as the Ark of the Covenant was brought to its permanent home on Mt. Zion.

Jesus is called “the Lord of glory” in 1 Corinthians 2:8. His entrance into Jerusalem amid the shouts of a jubilant crowd (Matthew 21) could be seen as another fulfillment of Psalm 24.

Jesus is the One with

“clean hands and a pure heart”

who can

“ascend the mountain of the Lord”

(Psalm 24:3–4).

Jesus “will receive blessing from the Lord” (verse 5).

Jesus is the

“King of glory,

the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord

mighty in battle”

(verse 8).

The following are the

KEY

events in the life of

Christ

and the Bible books where

each is described

Birth: (Matthew 1—2; Luke 2) – Within these passages are all the elements of the well-known Christmas story, the beginning of the earthly life of Christ. Mary and Joseph, no room at the inn, the babe in the manger, the shepherds with their flocks, a multitude of angels rejoicing. We also see wise men from the East following the star to Bethlehem and bearing gifts for the Christ child, and Joseph, Mary, and Jesus escaping to Egypt and later returning to Nazareth. These passages also include Jesus being presented at the temple at eight days old and, at twelve years old, remaining behind at the temple speaking with the teachers there. The story of the birth of the Savior two thousand years ago is amazing, filled with exquisite and meaningful details treasured by those present as well as believers millennia after. But the story of God coming to earth as a man began thousands of years earlier with the prophecies of the coming Messiah. God spoke of a Savior in Genesis 3:15. Centuries later, Isaiah foretold of a virgin who would conceive and bear a son and call His name Emmanuel, which means “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14). The first of the key events in the life of Christ is the humble beginning in a stable, when God came to be with us, born to set His people free and to save us from our sins.

Baptism: (Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-23) – Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist at the Jordan River is the first act of His public ministry. John’s was a baptism of repentance, and although Jesus did not need such a baptism, He consented to it in order to identify Himself with sinners. In fact, when John balked that Jesus wanted to be baptized by him, saying that it was he, John, who should be baptized by Jesus, Jesus insisted. Jesus said, "It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness," so John did as requested (Matthew 3:13-15). In His baptism, Jesus identified with the sinners whose sins He would soon bear on the cross where He would exchange His righteousness for their sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). The baptism of Christ symbolized His death and resurrection, prefigured and lent importance to Christian baptism, and publicly identified Christ with those for whom He would die. In addition, His identity as the long-awaited Messiah was confirmed by God Himself who spoke from heaven: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Finally, Jesus’ baptism was the scene of the very first appearance of the Trinity to man. The Son was baptized, the Father spoke, and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove. The Father’s command, the Son’s obedience, and the Holy Spirit’s empowerment present a beautiful picture of the ministry and life of Christ.

First miracle: (John 2:1-11) – It is fitting that John’s Gospel is the only one that records Jesus’ first miracle. John’s account of the life of Christ has as its theme and purpose to reveal the deity of Christ. This event, where Jesus turns water into wine, shows His divine power over the elements of the earth, the same power that would be revealed again in many more miracles of healing and the control of the elements such as wind and the sea. John goes on to tell us that this first miracle had two outcomes—the glory of Christ was manifest and the disciples believed in Him (John 2:11). The divine, glorified nature of Christ was hidden when He assumed human form, but in instances such as this miracle, His true nature burst forth and was made manifest to all who had eyes to see (Matthew 13:16). The disciples always believed in Jesus, but the miracles helped to strengthen their faith and prepare them for the difficult times that lay ahead of them.

Sermon on the Mount: (Matthew 5:1-7:29) – Perhaps the most famous sermon of all time was preached by Jesus to His disciples early in His public ministry. Many memorable phrases that we know today came from this sermon, including “blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth,” “salt of the earth,” “an eye for an eye,” “the lilies of the field,” “ask and you will receive,” and “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” as well as the concepts of going the extra mile, turning the other cheek, and the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Also in the sermon is the Lord’s Prayer. Most importantly, though, the Sermon on the Mount dealt a devastating blow to the Pharisees and their religion of works-righteousness. By expounding the spirit of the Law and not just the letter of it, Jesus left no doubt that legalism is of no avail for salvation and that, in fact, the demands of the Law are humanly impossible to meet. He ends the sermon with a call to true faith for salvation and a warning that the way to that salvation is narrow and few find it. Jesus compares those who hear His words and put them into practice to wise builders who build their houses on a solid foundation; when storms come, their houses withstand.

Feeding of the 5,000: (Matthew 14:15-21; Mark 6:34-44; Luke 9:12-17; John 6:5-13) – From five small loaves and two fish, Jesus created enough food to feed many more than 5,000 people. The Gospels tell us there were 5,000 men present, but Matthew adds that there were women and children there besides. Estimates of the crowd are as high as 20,000. But our God is a God of abundant provision, and little is much in the hands of the Lord. A poignant lesson is learned by seeing that, before He multiplied the loaves and fishes, Jesus commanded the multitude to sit down. This is a beautiful picture of the power of God to accomplish what we cannot, while we rest in Him. There was nothing the people could do to feed themselves; only He could do that. They had only a pittance, but in God’s hands it became a feast that was not only sufficient—it was bountiful.

Transfiguration: (Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:26-36) – This event is referred to as the “Transfiguration,” meaning “a change in form,” because Jesus was changed before the eyes of Peter, James, and John into a reflection of His true nature. His divine glory radiated from Him, changing His face and clothing in such a way that the Gospel writers had trouble relating it. Just as the apostle John used many metaphors to describe what he saw in the visions of Revelation, so, too, did Matthew, Mark, and Luke have to resort to images like “lightning,” “the sun” and “light” to describe Jesus’ appearance. Truly, it was otherworldly. The appearance of Moses and Elijah to converse with Jesus shows us two things. First, the two men represent the Law and the Prophets, both of which foretold Jesus’ coming and His death. Second, the fact that they talked about His upcoming death in Jerusalem (Luke 9:31) shows their foreknowledge of these events and the sovereign plan of God that was unfolding just as He had foreordained. God spoke from heaven and commanded the disciples to “Hear Him!” thereby stating that Jesus, not Moses and Elijah, now had the power and authority to command them.

Raising of Lazarus: (John 11:1-44) – Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha of Bethany, was a personal friend of Jesus, which is why Jesus was sent for by the family when Lazarus was sick. Jesus delayed several days before going to Bethany, knowing that Lazarus would be dead long enough by then to verify this amazing display of divine power. Only God has the power over life and death, and by raising Lazarus from the grave, Jesus was reiterating His authority as God and His supremacy over death. Through this incident, the Son of God would be glorified in an unmistakable way. As with many other miracles and incidents, one of the goals was that the disciples—and we—“may believe” (John 20:31). Jesus is who He said He was, and this most astounding of His miracles testifies to that fact. Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25) and asked her if she believed what He was saying. This is the basis of the Christian life. We believe that Jesus is the very power of resurrection, and we trust in Him to give us eternal life through that power. We are buried with Him and raised by His authority over death. Only through His power can we be truly saved.

Triumphal entry: (Matthew 21:1–11, 14–17; Mark 11:1–11; Luke 19:29–44; John 12:12–19) – Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem the week before the crucifixion is the basis of what is known as Palm Sunday. The multitudes who greeted Him laid palm branches in the road for Him, but the worship of Him was short-lived. In just a few days, other crowds would be calling for His death, shouting “Crucify him! Crucify him!” (Luke 23:20-21). But as He rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey’s colt, He received the adoration of the crowd and their acknowledgement of His messianic claim. Even the little children welcomed Him, demonstrating that they knew what the Jewish leaders did not, that Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy of Zechariah repeated in John 12:15: “See, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

The following are the key events in the life of Christ and the Bible books where each is described: (Part 3)

Last Supper: (Matthew 26:1-30; Mark 14:12-26; Luke 22:7-38; John 13:1-38) – This poignant last meeting with His disciples, whom He loved, begins with an object lesson from Jesus. The disciples had been arguing about who among them was the greatest (Luke 22:24), displaying their distinctly ungodly perspective. Jesus quietly rose and began to wash their feet, a task normally performed by the lowest, most menial slave. By this simple act, He reminded them that His followers are those who serve one another, not those who expect to be served. He went on to explain that, unless the Lamb of God cleanses a person’s sin, that person will never be clean: “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me” (John 13:8). During the Last Supper, Jesus also identifies the traitor, Judas, who would betray Him to the authorities and bring about His arrest. The disciples were saddened when Jesus said that one of them would betray Him and wondered which one it could be. They were still confused when Jesus confirmed that it was Judas, whom He instructed to leave and do quickly what he had to do. Also at this supper, Jesus instituted the New Covenant in His blood and gave a new command that those who follow Him are to love one another and live by the power of the Holy Spirit. We remember Jesus’ giving of the New Covenant each time we enter into the Christian ordinance of communion, celebrating Christ’s body that was broken for us and His blood that was shed for us.

Arrest at Gethsemane: (Matthew 26:36-56; Mark 14:32-50; Luke 22:39-54; John 18:1-12) – After the Last Supper, Jesus led the disciples to the garden of Gethsemane, where several things took place. Jesus separated Himself from them in order to pray, asking them to watch and pray as well. But several times He returned to find them sleeping, overcome with fatigue and grief at the prospect of losing Him. As Jesus prayed, He asked the Father to remove the cup of wrath He was about to drink when God poured out on Him the punishment for the sins of the world. But, as in all things, Jesus submitted to the will of His Father and began to prepare for His death, strengthened by an angel sent to minister to Him in His last hours. Judas arrived with a multitude and identified Jesus with a kiss, and Jesus was arrested and taken to Caiaphas for the first of a series of mock trials.

Crucifixion and burial: (Matthew 27:27-66; Mark 15:16-47; Luke 23:26-56; John 19:17-42) – The death of Jesus on the cross was the culmination of His ministry on earth. It is the reason He was born as a man—to die for the sins of the world so that those who believe in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16-18). After finding Him innocent of all charges, Pilate nevertheless handed Jesus over to the people to be crucified. The events of that day are recorded as including His seven last sayings, the mocking and taunting by the soldiers and the crowd, the casting of lots among the soldiers for His clothing, and three hours of darkness. At the moment Jesus gave up His spirit, there was an earthquake, and the huge, heavy curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple was torn from top to bottom, signifying that access to God was now open to all who believe in Jesus. The body of Jesus was taken down from the cross, laid in a borrowed tomb, and left until after the Sabbath.

Resurrection: (Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-11; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-10). The Bible does not record the actual resurrection so much as it tells of the empty tomb and the news that Jesus had risen. It also speaks of Him appearing to many. We find out that Jesus has risen from the dead when women came to the tomb where He’d been laid to prepare His body for burial. The Gospels each offer different details regarding the account. In short, the tomb was empty, the women were bewildered, and angels announced to them that Jesus had risen. Jesus appeared to them. Peter and John also verified that the tomb was empty, and Jesus appeared to the disciples as well.

Post-resurrection appearances:

(Matthew 28:1–20; Mark 16:1–20; Luke 24:1–53; John 20:1—21:25; Acts 1:3; 1 Corinthians 15:6–8) — During the forty days between the crucifixion and His ascension, Jesus appeared many times to people. On the morning of His resurrection, He appeared to Mary the mother of James and other women on their way from the tomb to find the disciples (Matthew 28:9–10). He then appears to Mary Magdalene at the tomb (John 20:11–18). Later the same day, Jesus appears to Peter (Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5) and to Cleopas and another disciple on their way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–32). Jesus then appears to ten disciples—Thomas is missing (Luke 24:36–43; John 20:19–25) and later appears to all eleven disciples—Thomas included (John 20:26–31). In Galilee, Jesus appears to seven disciples by the sea (John 21:1–25) and to about 500 disciples at once (1 Corinthians 15:6). The risen Christ also appears to His half-brother James (1 Corinthians 15:7) and finally to Paul (1 Corinthians 15:8). In the course of these meetings, Jesus teaches His disciples many things and gives them the Great Commission.

Ascension:

(Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:9-12) – Jesus’ final act on earth was His ascension into heaven in the presence of the disciples. He was taken up in a cloud that hid Him from their view, but two angels came to tell them that He would return one day in a similar manner. For now, Jesus sits at the right hand of His Father in heaven. The act of sitting down signifies that His work is done, as He affirmed before dying on the cross when He said, “It is finished.” There is nothing more to be done to secure the salvation of those who believe in Him. His life on earth is over, the price is paid, the victory is won, and death itself has been defeated. Hallelujah!

“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were

written down,

I suppose that even the whole world

would not have room for the

books that would be written”

(John 21:25)

But when the time had

fully come,

God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law”

(Galatians 4:4).

This verse declares that

God the Father sent His Son when

“the time had fully come.”

There were many things occurring at the time of the first century that, at least by human reasoning, seem to make it ideal for Christ to come then.

1) There was a great anticipation among the Jews of that time that the Messiah would come. The Roman rule over Israel made the Jews hungry for the Messiah’s coming.

2) Rome had unified much of the world under its government, giving a sense of unity to the various lands. Also, because the empire was relatively peaceful, travel was possible, allowing the early Christians to spread the gospel. Such freedom to travel would have been impossible in other eras.

3) While Rome had conquered militarily, Greece had conquered culturally. A “common” form of the Greek language (different from classical Greek) was the trade language and was spoken throughout the empire, making it possible to communicate the gospel to many different people groups through one common language.

4) The fact that the many false idols had failed to give them victory over the Roman conquerors caused many to abandon the worship of those idols. At the same time, in the more “cultured” cities, the Greek philosophy and science of the time left others spiritually empty in the same way that the atheism of communist governments leaves a spiritual void today.

5) The mystery religions of the time emphasized a savior-god and required worshipers to offer bloody sacrifices, thus making the gospel of Christ which involved one ultimate sacrifice believable to them. The Greeks also believed in the immortality of the soul (but not of the body).

6) The Roman army recruited soldiers from among the provinces, introducing these men to Roman culture and to ideas (such as the gospel) that had not reached those outlying provinces yet. The earliest introduction of the gospel to Britain was the result of the efforts of Christian soldiers stationed there.

The above statements are based on men looking at that time and speculating about why that particular point in history was a good time for Christ to come. But we understand that God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8), and these may or may not have been some reasons for why He chose that particular time to send His Son. From the context of Galatians 3 and 4, it is evident that God sought to lay a foundation through the Jewish Law that would prepare for the coming of the Messiah. The Law was meant to help people understand the depth of their sinfulness (in that they were incapable of keeping the Law) so that they might more readily accept the cure for that sin through Jesus the Messiah (Galatians 3:22-23; Romans 3:19-20). The Law was also “put in charge” (Galatians 3:24) to lead people to Jesus as the Messiah. It did this through its many prophecies concerning the Messiah which Jesus fulfilled. Add to this the sacrificial system that pointed to the need for a sacrifice for sin as well as its own inadequacy (with each sacrifice always requiring later additional ones). Old Testament history also painted pictures of the person and work of Christ through several events and religious feasts (such as the willingness of Abraham to offer up Isaac, or the details of the Passover during the exodus from Egypt, etc.).

Finally, Christ came when He did in fulfillment of specific prophecy.

Daniel 9:24-27 speaks of the “seventy weeks” or the seventy “sevens.”

From the context, these “weeks” or “sevens” refer to groups of seven years, not seven days. We can examine history and line up the details of the first sixty-nine weeks (the seventieth week will take place at a future point). The countdown of the seventy weeks begins with “the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem” (verse 25). This command was given by Artaxerxes Longimanus in 445 B.C. (see Nehemiah 2:5). After seven “sevens” plus 62 “sevens,” or 69 x 7 years, the prophecy states, “the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing.

The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary” and that the “end will come like a flood” (meaning major destruction) (v. 26). Here we have an unmistakable reference to the Savior’s death on the cross. A century ago in his book The Coming Prince, Sir Robert Anderson gave detailed calculations of the sixty-nine weeks, using ‘prophetic years,’ allowing for leap years, errors in the calendar, the change from B.C. to A.D., etc., and figured that the sixty-nine weeks ended on the very day of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, five days before His death.

Whether one uses this timetable or not,

the point is that

the timing of Christ’s incarnation ties in with this detailed prophecy

recorded by Daniel over five hundred years beforehand.

The timing of Christ’s
incarnation
was such that the people of that time were

prepared for His coming.

The people of every century since then have more than

sufficient evidence that Jesus was indeed

The promised Messiah

through

His fulfillment of the Scriptures
that

pictured and prophesied

His coming in great detail.

Matt 5:17

In our text,

Jesus continues His defense

to the Jews,

who were accusing Him of breaking the Sabbath

and of

making Himself equal with God

(5:18).

Instead of backing off and responding with horror to such charges,

Jesus sets forth His case

in even stronger terms by showing that

He is one

with the Father in all of

His actions.

He asserts (5:22-23) that the Father

“has given all judgment to the Son so that all

will honor the Son

even as they honor the Father.”

He asserts that He has life in Himself and that in the future He will speak and all who have ever lived will come forth from the tombs for a resurrection either of life or of judgment (5:26, 28-29).

Clearly,

Jesus is claiming to be equal with God.

But, how do we know that these claims are true?

What evidence backs them up?

Would they hold up in court?

In answer to these questions and in deference to Jewish law, which required at least two or three witnesses to establish any legal matter, Jesus gives a number of witnesses to verify His claims.

“Testimony” or “witness” was an important concept to John. He uses the noun and verb 47 times in this Gospel and 30 more times in his epistles and in Revelation (Edwin Blum, The Bible Knowledge Commentary [Victor Books], ed. by John F. Walvoord & Roy Zuck, 2:291).

We don’t need to take a blind leap of faith.

God has provided adequate testimony that

Jesus is the truth.

Actually, there is one

main witness, the Father, who uses these

various witnesses to testify to the

truth

of who Jesus is.

As John argues (1 John 5:9), “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son.” Every day we accept the testimony of men. When you go to the store, you don’t run a chemical analysis of every item that you buy, to make sure that it isn’t contaminated. You trust that the company has followed basic health procedures and that the store has kept the goods from spoilage or contamination. You go to the bank and hand over an endorsed paycheck to a teller whom you don’t know and trust that she really put it into your account. I could go on and on with examples of how you accept the testimony of fallible men, even men that you do not know, every day. So, John argues, why do we not accept the testimony that God has given concerning His Son?
In our text, the Father is the “another” (5:32) who testifies in conjunction with Jesus Himself. Also, the Father used John the Baptist to bear witness to Jesus (5:33-35). The Father used Jesus’ works (miracles) which He gave Jesus to do to bear witness of Him (5:36). The Father used the Scriptures to bear witness of Jesus (5:37-47). Since all of these witnesses line up, the case for Jesus is solid: He is the Christ, the Son of God (20:31).

But before we look at these witnesses to Jesus, I need to touch on two other important matters. First, although we should not have to debate the point, I need to make it clear that there is such a thing as absolute truth in the spiritual realm. Postmodernism argues that either there are no absolute truths, or if there are, we can’t know these truths with any degree of certainty. But that philosophy is self-refuting, because then we can’t know whether postmodernism is true or not!

But John repeatedly emphasizes “truth” in this gospel. As Leon Morris states (The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans], p. 293), “Truth is characteristic of God, and it is only as we know God that we know truth.” He points out (p. 294) that John uses the Greek noun for “truth” 25 times in his Gospel, plus 20 more times in his epistles (as against only once in Matthew and three times each in Mark and Luke). He also uses two other Greek words meaning “true” far more than other New Testament authors do.

Here in our text (5:32, 33), Jesus asserts that the Father’s testimony about Him is true and that John has testified to the truth. Jesus later claims that He is the truth (14:6). He affirmed in His high priestly prayer (17:17), “Your word is truth.” He told the cynical Pilate (18:37), “For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” So there is absolute truth in the spiritual realm and there is damnable error. The truth centers in the person of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Word of God.

Second, note that Jesus’ aim in this defense of His deity was not to win an argument, but to win souls. He tells the Jews (5:34), “I say these things so that you may be saved.” He laments (5:40), “You are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.” When we have opportunity to bear witness, our aim should not be to win an argument, but to win the person to Christ. If he isn’t trusting in Christ, he is spiritually dead and under condemnation. He needs eternal life and that life comes by believing in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The point of these witnesses to Christ is to testify to who He is so that people (including you!) will be saved. So the point here is:

The Father bears witness to Jesus through Jesus’ testimony, John the Baptist, Jesus’ works, and the Scriptures so that we may come to Jesus for eternal life.
1. The Father bears witness to Jesus through Jesus’ testimony to Himself (5:30-32).As we’ve seen, in 5:19-29 Jesus bore witness of Himself. In 5:19, He made the point that it is impossible for the Son to do anything on His own initiative apart from the Father, because the two share the same nature. Now (5:30) He repeats that point to sum up His testimony: “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” In God’s eternal plan, the Father sent the Son to bear our sin and the Son submitted to the Father’s will. Everything that Jesus did while He was on earth He did in submission to the Father. Thus He wasn’t bearing witness of Himself independently of the Father.

But a Jewish lawyer would have said at this point, “Yes, but self-evidence is not admissible in a court of law. There must be outside testimony.” Jewish law required the testimony of two or three witnesses to establish the truth (Deut. 19:15). Jesus condescends to this point in 5:31: “If I alonetestify about Myself, My testimony is not true.” Jesus is acknowledging that His testimony would not be valid if He were acting independently of the Father. So He goes on to give other witnesses to His claim. Behind all these witnesses is the Father, to whom Jesus refers in 5:32: “There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.”

Later (John 8:13), the Pharisees said to Jesus, “You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true.” On that occasion, Jesus replied (8:14), “Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.” So even though self-testimony may not be sufficient in a court of law, it does not follow that it’s not true. This is especially so when it came from Jesus, who was sent to earth by the Father and knew that He would return to the Father after He accomplished the Father’s will. But then Jesus added (8:17-18), “Even in your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is true. I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me.”

A man’s self-testimony depends heavily on his character. If a man is known for lying and manipulating the facts to serve himself, you’re not going to believe him even if he really is speaking the truth. But everything that we know about Jesus points to His integrity. At His trial, the Jewish authorities couldn’t find witnesses to agree about the charges they were leveling at Him. After examining Jesus, Pilate said (18:38), “I find no guilt in Him.” The men who were closest to Jesus, who spent three years watching Him in all sorts of situations, all testify to His sinless character. So Jesus’ point in 5:30-32 is that His self-testimony is true because He never acted independently of the Father. The Father bore witness to Jesus through Jesus’ own testimony about Himself.
2. The Father bears witness to Jesus through John the Baptist (5:33-35).John 5:33-35: “You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. But the testimony which I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.”

God sent John the Baptist in fulfillment of His promise (Isa. 40:3; Mal. 3:1) to bear witness of Jesus (John 1:6-8, 23). But John was not Jesus’ “key witness” in that he was human. Jesus’ main witness was the Father. But Jesus mentions John here because for a while the Jews were flocking out to hear him and Jesus wants them to be saved. If they would have believed John’s testimony that Jesus was the Lamb of God, sent to take away the sins of the world (1:29), they would have been saved.

John was a lamp, not the light, but he bore witness to the Light.

So God had given illumination through John, but the Jews had rejected it. Jesus hits the main problem with the Jews and John with the phrase, “for a while.” John was probably now in prison, so his ministry was over. There was a window of opportunity for the Jews to believe John, but now that window had closed. The Jewish leaders were interested in John when he was popular, but they never took his message to heart. They were like a bunch of moths who hovered near the lamp while it was burning, but flitted back into the darkness after it was extinguished. They should have followed the One to whom John had pointed. The lesson is: Don’t miss the opportunity to be saved when God is speaking His truth to you through His messenger! Today is the day of salvation!

3. The Father bears witness to Jesus through Jesus’ works (5:36).John 5:36: “But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.”
By His “works,” Jesus mainly meant the miracles that He did. His miracles were unique signs that He had been sent by the Father. When the Jews said to Jesus (10:24b), “If You are the Christ, tell us plainly,” He answered (10:25), “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.” Later, He said (15:24), “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.” Jesus’ miracles gave abundant testimony that He is the Christ, the Son of God.

J. C. Ryle (Expository Thoughts on the Gospels [Baker], 3:308) points out five distinctive features of Jesus’ miracles:

(1) Their number: they were not a few only but very many indeed. (2) Their greatness: they were not little but mighty interferences with the ordinary course of nature. (3) Their publicity: they were generally not done in a corner but in open day, and before many witness and often before enemies. (4) Their character: they were almost always works of love, mercy, and compassion, helpful and beneficial to man and not mere barren exhibitions of power. (5) Their direct appeal to men’s senses: they were visible and would bear any examination.

Ryle also points out that the Jews never attempted to deny that these miracles had occurred. Rather, they tried to attribute them to Satan (Matt. 12:22-30). Many skeptics today would deny the possibility of miracles because they have never seen one. I just read a Reader’s Digest cover story on “amazing facts” about the human body. The story uses words like “incredible” and “magical” to describe the way the body works. But it never alludes to the Creator. The evidence for miracles is literally right under their noses, but they’re blind to see it!
Thus the Father bears witness to Jesus through Jesus’ testimony to Himself, through John the Baptist’s testimony, and through Jesus’ works.

4. The Father bears witness to Jesus through the Scriptures (5:37-40).John 5:37-40: “And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.”

Jesus continues this point through verse 47, but we only have time to work through verse 40 today. Scholars debate (in 5:37) exactly how the Father had testified of Jesus. It may be a reference to the voice from heaven at Jesus’ baptism (Matt. 3:17), but John does not record that event. The Father also testified of Jesus as His Son on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:5), but again that’s not recorded in John. I think that the answer is in the following context, where Jesus mentions God’s Word and indicts them for studying the Scriptures but missing Jesus as the promised Christ. All of the Father’s revelation from the beginning of Creation had pointed to Christ and that revelation is contained in Scripture.

Just after Adam and Eve fell into sin, God promised that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15). God killed an animal and clothed Adam and Eve, giving an object lesson of how the Lamb of God would be slain to cover their sins. God promised Abraham that in his seed, all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:1-3). The sacrificial system that was instituted in the Law of Moses pointed ahead to Jesus, the complete and final sacrifice (Heb. 10:1-14). Many of the Psalms, such as Psalm 22 and Psalm 110, point to Jesus. Isaiah 53specifically predicts Jesus’ death on behalf of His people at the hands of sinners. As Luke 24:27describes Jesus’ conversation with the two dejected disciples on the road to Emmaus, “Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” How I wish that that conversation had been recorded for us! But the Lord leaves us to dig out those treasures for ourselves as we study the Bible.

Jesus indicts the Jews for three things (Morris, p. 329): (1) “You have [not] heard His voice at any time” (5:37). Moses had heard God’s voice (Exod. 33:11), but Jesus’ hearers were not true followers of Moses (5:46). If they had been true followers of Moses, they would have recognized God’s voice in Jesus (3:34; 17:8). (2) You have not “seen His form” (5:37b). Jacob saw “the face of God” when he wrestled with the angel (Jesus in preincarnate form), but the Jews were not true sons of Jacob or they would have seen God’s form in Jesus (1:18; 14:9). (3) “You do not have His word abiding in you” (5:38). Although they studied the Word (5:39) and many of the rabbis had memorized most of the Word, they had studied it wrongly, because their study had not pointed them to the Word who took on human flesh and dwelt among them (1:1, 14).

Jesus’ last phrase in 5:38, “for you do not believe Him whom He sent,” may be either the evidence for Jesus’ threefold indictment or the cause of it, or both. The reason they did not hear God’s voice or see God’s form or have His Word abiding in them was that they did not believe in Jesus, who was sent by the Father. And their unbelief was evidence that Jesus’ indictment was correct.

Jesus’ words in 5:39-40 show that it is possible to study the Scriptures in the wrong way. If you approach the Scriptures from an academic perspective only, it can lead to tragic results. It can fill you with intellectual pride about how you know more than others. It can lead you to the false hope that you have eternal life because of your great knowledge. The Jews thought that in their knowledge of Scripture they had eternal life. But they missed Jesus! The point of the entire Bible is to lead us directly to Jesus, who alone can impart eternal life (5:21). That leads to the last point:

5. The reason for the Father’s witness to Jesus is so that we may come to Jesus and have life (5:40).Tragically, Jesus says of the Jews (5:40b), “You are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.” C. H. Spurgeon has two sermons on John 5:40, which I encourage you to read (online at www.spurgeon.org/sermons). In the first one, preached when he was only 21 years-old (“Free Will a Slave,” Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit [Pilgrim Publications], 1:395-402), he develops four points: (1) Men by nature are dead. (2) In Christ Jesus there is life. (3) Eternal life is given to all who come for it. (4) By nature, no man will come to Christ, because they are unwilling. On this last point, he explains that no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). He argues that no true Christian will say that he came to Christ of his own free will apart from God’s first seeking him and drawing him to the Savior.

Don’t miss Jesus’ point in this discourse (5:34): “I say these things so that you may be saved.” Are you saved? Do you have eternal life? If not, search the Scriptures and look for Christ. Come to Jesus and He will give you eternal life.

ConclusionI know a man who used to profess to believe the gospel. He was a good Bible teacher. He went on to earn a Ph.D. at Harvard. He is a far more brilliant and accomplished scholar than I am. He is now a professor of New Testament at a liberal graduate school of theology. But in reading the descriptions of his three scholarly books on Amazon.com, I seriously question whether he knows Jesus in a saving way. Like these Jews, he has studied the Scriptures, but he missed coming to Christ so that he may have life.

https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-29-witnesses-jesus-john-530-40

Jesus is on trial.

The religious leaders have accused him of breaking the Sabbath law and of blasphemy.

They want to kill him.

So they ask him to provide authentication of the authority by which he broke the law.

The religious leaders

don’t believe

Jesus had any

authority.

The crowd watching feels the tension in the air.

It’s ominous.

They’ve seen this play out many times in the past. When the religious leaders make such serious accusations as they’re making against Jesus, things do not go well for the accused. Jesus makes the risky decision to represent himself in this makeshift trial. What does he say in his defense? Look at John chapter 5, verse 31.

“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.”

In fact, the Old Testament Mosaic Law says in Deuteronomy 19:15 that in a court of law, one witness is not enough to prove a case. You need two or three witnesses. So here is Jesus, giving a kind of call back to the OT Law. One witness is not enough. Furthermore, one’s own testimony in one’s own defense is very suspect. Of course Jesus is going to say, “I have the authority of God on my side.” But the religious leaders wouldn’t accept his own testimony about his authority.

This is why it is very sketchy to testify on your own behalf in any court of law. You are not credible to defend yourself, because you are likely to lie to clear your name. You need others to testify on your behalf, and it is especially helpful if you have eyewitness testimony and expert testimony. You need credible witnesses. And the more the better. He can say all he wants about himself, but what he needs are other witnesses to come forward and vouch for him.

Will anyone?

Look at verse 32. “There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid.”
Now we’re getting somewhere. Jesus calls his first witness.

Who is it?

In verses 33-35, Jesus declares, “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.”

The first witness

called to the stand is John.

Jesus is referring to John the Baptist, who had said some pretty revealing things about Jesus. We know he is referring to John the Baptist, because Jesus says, “you sent to John.” When I first read that, I thought it must have a typo. “Sent to John”?

Did Jesus really mean to say, “sent TO John”?

Yes.

If you scan back to John 1, verse 19, we read that the religious leaders sent a delegation to John, asking him who he was. He responds to them that he is neither the Christ, nor Elijah or the Prophet promised by Moses. Instead, John tells them, he is the forerunner, prophesied in Isaiah 40:3,

who would prepare the way for the Messiah.

A few verses later in John chapter 1, verse 29, we read, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’”

Soon after that in chapter 1, verse 34, John says,

“I have seen and I testify

that

this is the Son of God.”

To what degree the religious leaders held John the Baptist’s testimony in high regard, we don’t know. The people sure did. The crowds flocked to John. So while Jesus’ calling of John to the stand to testify probably didn’t influence the opinions of the leaders, Jesus was likely doing well with the people.

But back in John 5, notice what Jesus says in verse 33.

Jesus wants people to be saved.

Whether people in the crowd or religious leaders, Jesus wants everyone to be saved. He is saying, “Remember what John said. Me working on the Sabbath is not about me making a big name for myself, or me getting rich. I am continuing the mission that John started, a mission through which God wants people to be saved from condemnation. If you support John, you can support me too.”

But notice that while Jesus believes

John is a credible witness,

he admits that there are better witnesses. John is human, and we humans err.

So look at verse 36, where Jesus says,

,
“I have testimony weightier than that of John.”

Who will Jesus call to the stand now?

Who is his second witness?

Weightier testimony than John?

The concept of being in

one accord

is expressed frequently in the Bible, with ten instances in the book of Acts. For example,

“All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and

Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers”

(Acts 1:14, ESV).

To be in one accord

communicates being one in heart and mind.

More specifically, the words in the original language convey the inner unity (oneness of heart and mind) of a group of people engaged in a similar action. As such, the expression is sometimes rendered “with one mind,” as in Romans 15:6:

“So that you may

glorify the God and Father of

our

Lord Jesus Christ

with

one mind and one voice”

When a group of people acts single-mindedly, unanimously, in harmony, in unity, and without dissent, they are operating in one accord. In the Bible, the phrase often occurs along with statements about the people, the place, or the activity in which the harmonious group is participating: “Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers, with the following letter: ‘The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul’”

(Acts 15:22–25, ESV).

In the Old Testament, the phrase in one accord is always used to describe unanimous participation in a particular action. In Joshua 9:2, the pagan kings “gathered themselves together to fight with one accord against Joshua and Israel” (LEB). Speaking of the conversion of heathen nations, Zephaniah 3:9 says, “For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord” (ESV). Here, the phrase translated “with one accord” literally means “with one shoulder.” It likely comes from the practice of yoking oxen together for plowing. The NIV translates the idea with a similar English expression, “shoulder to shoulder.”

In the New Testament, in one accord is used to emphasize the internal unanimity of a community. In Acts 12:20, that community is “the people of Tyre and Sidon” who are angry with Herod. In Acts 8:6, it describes the crowd of people who are listening to Philip’s teachings: “And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did” (ESV). It illustrates how the community of Christian believers worshiped, prayed, and fellowshipped together (Acts 1:14; 2:46; 4:24; 5:12; Romans 15:6). Unity in the early church is also expressed by the sharing of material possessions: “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common” (Acts 4:32, ESV). The early church, being in one accord, had “no schisms, no divided interests, no discordant purposes” (from Notes on the Bible by Albert Barnes, 1834).

This kind of oneness of heart and soul in the body of Christ is only possible through the Holy Spirit’s enabling (Ephesians 4:1–6). It is a gift of God’s grace (Romans 12:3–13). The Greek term translated “in one accord,” according to the Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon, “helps us understand the uniqueness of the Christian community. . . . The image is almost musical; a number of notes are sounded which, while different, harmonise in pitch and tone. As the instruments of a great concert under the direction of a concert master, so the Holy Spirit blends together the lives of members of Christ’s church.”

Unity is a state of oneness and harmony.

All believers in Christ are united in Christ.

We are in a relationship that unites us

with Him and with every other believer.

Jesus prayed for His disciples—all who would believe in Him for all the ages—“that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you” (John 17:21). Some look at the great divisions among Christian denominations and refer to this as Christ’s great “unanswered prayer.” However, Scripture is clear that all believers are united with Christ because of our relationship with Him and with all other believers. We are all in the same family, even it at times we do not act like it. Therefore, unity in Christ has two aspects—one is objective fact, and one is subjective experience.

Objective and subjective unity can be true for any number of groups, teams, or even families. All the members of a football team are unified by their membership in the group. They do not win or lose games individually. The individuals contribute to the group, but it is the group that wins or loses—that is the objective fact. However, there may be times that the team does not act in a unified way. Selfishness and rivalry may creep up, and, when it does, it is impossible for the team to act as a unit—this is the subjective aspect. The behavior of individuals on the team is not matching the fact of their unity with every other member of the team.

All who believe in Christ are part of His body, the church. The New Testament is clear on this. Ephesians 5:30says it plainly: “For we are members of his body.” Whether a Christian feels like it or not, he or she is part of Christ’s body and therefore unified with every other believer. Paul uses the analogy of the body in 1 Corinthians 12:12–21:

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

“Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’”

The human body is a unified whole. If one part does not work right, the whole body suffers. If a person smashes his thumb with a hammer, it is not just the thumb in isolation that hurts. Other parts of the body may hurt, too, and the functioning of the whole body is impaired. This is true even when a person does not know about the malfunctioning part. If an internal organ is not functioning properly, damage may be done to the body before any pain or obvious illness is present.

In the same way, the church has unity in Christ. As part of His body, each member has a particular job to do and a place to belong. When any individual member is not fulfilling his or her purpose in the body, the whole body suffers. All the members are united, and because of that unity, when one acts in an individualistic or selfish manner (i.e., acts as if he is not part of the body), the whole body suffers because, regardless of his actions, the individual member is still in unity with all the others in the body.

Many of the commands in the New Testament direct Christians to live up to their position and demonstrate their unity in Christ. Christians are not commanded to become one in Christ—that is already an objective reality. Christians are told to make their subjective experience match the objective fact. Paul pleads with the Philippians for this kind of unity: “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:1–4). If Christians, who are members of the same team, see themselves in competition with each other, then they are not playing as teammates. They are not living in light of the unity that exists.

Unity in Christ means that all believers are in a relationship with Christ and, by extension, to every other believer. All believers are united with each other whether they know it or not, like it or not, or feel like it or not. The challenge of Christian unity is to live up to the truth of that reality. Since we are all members of one body, we need to live like it. This means subordinating our individual needs to the needs of the body at large and using our individual gifts for the good of the whole body.

Unity in Christ does not mean that all differences between churches or denominations need to be abolished. Individual churches and denominations can keep their individual distinctives and emphases while still working together in areas where they agree. For instance, an evangelical Baptist church and an evangelical Presbyterian church will be in agreement on the gospel and the essentials of the faith, but because of different beliefs about baptism, it would be impossible for these two churches to simply unite as one church. It might be possible for a church to take a neutral position on infant baptism; however, it is hard to see how a church could teach that parents should baptize their babies (as do Presbyterian churches) and simultaneously teach that parents should not baptize their babies (as in Baptist churches). While these two groups could never unite as a single local church or denomination, they can still cooperate in other ministry endeavors, and individuals within each local body can fellowship with and love each other.

Psalm 22

is a prophetic psalm of David

presenting

Jesus Christ as the Savior

who

laid down His life.

The psalm begins by portraying the rejection and abandonment Christ suffered on the cross (Psalm 22:1–2; cf. Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). Yet, immediately, the suffering Messiah makes a strong declaration of trust in God: “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel” (Psalm 22:3, KJV).

As the bearer of humanity’s sins, Christ was destined to experience untold pain and anguish (Isaiah 53:4–6, 10; 2 Corinthians 5:21). In the seemingly endless silence in which God does not answer—perhaps the worst moment of torment Christ would ever know—the Son reminds Himself of God’s sovereign position: “Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel” (Psalm 22:3, ESV). The word enthroned here describes the circumstance of sitting, remaining, or dwelling somewhere. (The phrasing God inhabits the praise of His people comes from the King James Version of Psalm 22:3.)

When the Messiah declared, “God inhabits the praise of His people” in Psalm 22:3, He expressed His absolute trust in God. No matter what was happening at that moment or how alone He felt, the Messiah knew that God was present and in control, ruling over His hour of greatest need (see 1 Peter 2:23). God the Father had not abandoned Him. God was working out His sovereign plan, and the Messiah would soon be delivered (see Psalm 22:4–5).

Many examples of God’s enthronement exist in Scripture. The psalmist urged, “Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples his deeds!” (Psalm 9:11, ESV; see also Psalm 29:10; 102:12). “Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high” (Psalm 113:5). When Isaiah saw the Lord “high and exalted, seated on a throne” over all creation in heaven and earth “and the train of his robe filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1–6), the prophet was utterly undone by God’s presence.

The idea behind God inhabiting the praise of His people could be that God’s throne—His dwelling place—was the tabernacle, the place where praise was continually offered to Him. In Psalm 22, the Messiah in His suffering remembers the place and people of praise. He is not among those congregants, but He expresses with confidence that their praises are appropriate. Even in the extremity of His distress, the Messiah trusts that God is holy and worthy of praise.

Heaven is a place where God is surrounded

by praise,

and it is described in the Bible as

God’s temple

(Psalm 11:4; Habakkuk 2:20).

Yet the ultimate dwelling place for God is with His people: “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3; see also Revelation 21:22). Jesus Christ revealed that He is the Lord’s temple (John 2:19–21), and God’s presence now inhabits His body—the church (1 Corinthians 3:16–17).

Scripture repeatedly affirms that individual believers are

“the temple of the living God”

and

“temples of the Holy Spirit”

where God’s presence dwells (1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16).

The whole church “is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord . . .

built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit,”

explains the apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:21–22. The church fits together like

“living stones”

being built into

“a spiritual house”

that offers “spiritual sacrifices”

of

praise to God

(1 Peter 2:5).

The writer of Hebrews counsels,

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God

a sacrifice of praise--

the fruit of lips that

openly profess his name”

(Hebrews 13:15). The apostle Peter explains, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).

God still inhabits the praises of His people.

No matter what our circumstances, we know that

God is holy and does all things right.

We can worship the Lord even in our distress.

From the beginning,

God’s covenant with Israel was based on exclusive worship of Him alone

(Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 5:7).

The Israelites were not even to mention the names of false gods (Exodus 23:13) because to do so would acknowledge their existence and give credence to their power and influence over the people. Israel was forbidden to intermarry with other cultures who embraced false gods, because God knew this would lead to compromise. The book of Hosea uses the imagery of adultery to describe Israel’s continual chasing after other gods, like an unfaithful wife chases after other men. The history of Israel is a sad chronicle of idol worship, punishment, restoration and forgiveness, followed by a return to idolatry.

The books of 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, and 1 & 2 Chronicles reveal this destructive pattern. The Old Testament prophets endlessly prophesied dire consequences for Israel if they continued in their idolatry. Mostly, they were ignored until it was too late and God’s wrath against idol-worship was poured out on the nation. But ours is a merciful God, and He never failed to forgive and restore them when they repented and sought His forgiveness.

In reality, idols are impotent blocks of stone or wood, and their power exists only in the minds of the worshipers. The idol of the god Dagon was twice knocked to the floor by God to show the Philistines just who was God and who wasn’t (1 Samuel 5:1-5). The “contest” between God and His prophet Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel is a dramatic example of the power of the true God and the impotence of false gods (1 Kings 18:19-40).

The testimony of Scripture

is that God alone

is worthy of worship.

Idol worship robs God

of the glory

that is rightfully His,

and that is

something He will not tolerate

(Isaiah 42:8)

Even today there are religions that bow before statues and icons, a practice forbidden by God’s Word. The significance God places upon it is reflected in the fact that the first of the Ten Commandments refers to idolatry: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me” (Exodus 20:3-5).

Idolatry extends beyond

the worship of idols and images and

false gods.

Our modern idols are many and varied. Even for those who do not bow physically before a statue, idolatry is a matter of the heart—pride, self-centeredness, greed, gluttony, a love for possessions and ultimately rebellion against God.

Is it any wonder that God hates it?

Fourfold Gospels

The Parable of the

Sower

(also known as the Parable of the Four Soils)

is found in Matthew 13:3-9; Mark 4:2-9; and Luke 8:4-8.

After presenting this parable to the multitude, Jesus interprets it for His disciples in

Matthew 13:18-23; Mark 4:13-20; and Luke 8:11-15.

The Parable of the Sower

concerns a sower who scatters

seed,

which falls on

four different types of ground

The

hard ground

“by the way side”

prevents the seed from sprouting at all,

and the

seed

becomes nothing more than

bird food.

The stony ground provides enough soil for the seeds to germinate and begin to grow, but because there is “no deepness of earth,” the plants do not take root and are soon withered in the sun. The thorny ground allows the seed to grow, but the competing thorns choke the life out of the beneficial plants. The good ground receives the seed and produces much fruit.

Jesus’ explanation of the Parable of the Sower highlights four different responses to the gospel. The seed is “the word of the kingdom.” The hard ground represents someone who is hardened by sin; he hears but does not understand the Word, and Satan plucks the message away, keeping the heart dull and preventing the Word from making an impression. The stony ground pictures a man who professes delight with the Word; however, his heart is not changed, and when trouble arises, his so-called faith quickly disappears. The thorny ground depicts one who seems to receive the Word, but whose heart is full of riches, pleasures, and lusts; the things of this world take his time and attention away from the Word, and he ends up having no time for it. The good ground portrays the one who hears, understands, and receives the Word—and then allows the Word to accomplish its result in his life. The man represented by the “good ground” is the only one of the four who is truly saved, because salvation’s proof is fruit (Matthew 3:7-8; 7:15-20).

To summarize the point of the

Parable of the Sower: “

A man’s reception

of

God’s Word

is determined by the condition of

his heart.”

A secondary lesson would be “Salvation is more than a superficial, albeit joyful, hearing of the gospel. Someone who is truly saved will go on to prove it.”

May our faith and our lives exemplify t

he "good soil"

in the

Parable of the

Sower

In John 13 Jesus begins teaching His faithful disciples in what has come to be known as His “Upper Room Discourse.” In that great discourse, Jesus tells them that the Holy Spirit would guide them into all the truth (John 16:13). Many wonder whether this is something that applies to us as well or simply to the disciples. In the context, Jesus helps us understand the specificity of His promise that the Holy Spirit will “guide you into all truth” (John 16:13, NKJV).

First, it is worth noting that some English translations say “all truth,” while the Greek New Testament actually includes the definite article, so a more precise way to translate what Jesus said is that the Holy Spirit would guide them into all the truth. There is a specific truth to which He is referring, and the Holy Spirit would guide them into that. Specifically, the Spirit would reveal what the Son and the Father would have Him disclose (John 16:13–15)—things about Jesus (John 16:14).

Jesus had already told the disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit—the Helper—who would teach them and bring to their remembrance all that Jesus had said to them (John 14:26). Jesus’ later reference (in John 16:13) to the coming of the Holy Spirit and His work of guiding them into all the truth was fulfilled literally. Peter later said that God moved the writers of Scripture, and they spoke from God (2 Peter 1:21). When Matthew wrote his gospel, for example, Matthew didn’t need to borrow from anyone; he was in the room when Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth. It seems that Mark, who served alongside Peter for some time, wrote down Peter’s account (as church historian Eusebius suggests in his History, 24:5–8). Luke researched reliable sources (presumably including the disciples) as he wrote his account of Jesus’ ministry (Luke 1:1–4). John, another eyewitness, wrote his own gospel, stating that what he had written provided sufficient information for people to believe in Jesus and have life in His name (John 20:30–31).

Before the disciples would begin their ministry, they were to wait in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4). After the Holy Spirit came, the disciples were equipped for their work, and we see them proclaiming powerfully the gospel of Jesus Christ (e.g., Peter in Acts 2—4). The Holy Spirit had indeed guided them into the truth (John 16:13) and brought to their remembrance what Jesus had said to them (John 14:26).

While we certainly benefit from that work of the Holy Spirit—as we have the writings of these men whom the Holy Spirit guided into the truth—it is clear from other contexts that this is not how the Holy Spirit works with all believers. Guiding into the truth was simply a purpose for which He was sent to empower and equip the disciples. Paul tells Timothy, for example, that Timothy should be diligent as a workman, accurately handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). Timothy would have to work to understand what had been written, and he would have to be diligent to hold true and pass along the things he had heard from Paul (2 Timothy 2:2). Similarly, we are told that all Scripture is from God’s mouth and is profitable for believers’ growth and equipping (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

We are thankful for and benefit greatly from the Holy Spirit guiding the apostles into all the truth, and we recognize that, because of the Spirit’s work through the disciples, we have His record: the Bible. We should be diligent in studying the Bible to know the Lord better.

Paul, in his prayers “for saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 1:1, ESV), asks that God “may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better” (verse 17).

Prior to his prayer for the spirit of wisdom and revelation, Paul reminds the Ephesian believers of the blessings God has bestowed upon them (Ephesians 1:3), their adoption as children through Christ (verse 4), the wisdom and insight they have been given (verse 8), and “the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ” (verse 9). He also reminds them that they have been “marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance” (verses 13–14). Now he desires for them to be given the spirit of wisdom and revelation.

Since Christians receive the promised Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation (John 14:17), the spirit of wisdom and revelation that Paul prays for cannot refer to the initial gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s reference could easily be to an attitude or frame of mind (although the NIV and ESV capitalize Spirit, other translations such as the NASB and BSB translate it as “a spirit,” and the NLT simply has “spiritual wisdom and insight”). If not the Holy Spirit, then what does Paul ask for in his request for “the spirit of wisdom and revelation”? The key is in the phrase that follows, “in the knowledge of him” (ESV), or “so that you may know him better” (NIV).

Paul had commended the Ephesians for their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love toward all the saints (Ephesians 1:15), but now he is asking God to give them a deeper and greater understanding of the mysteries of His character and will, to know Him more thoroughly and intimately. Now that they have the Holy Spirit in their hearts, Paul desires Him to grant them more understanding and greater insight. The “wisdom” is a better understanding of the doctrines of God, and the “revelation” is a clearer picture of the divine character and will. In the NLT, the prayer is that believers would have “spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.” The AMP translation has Paul asking that God “may grant you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation [that gives you a deep and personal and intimate insight] into the true knowledge of Him.”

God is infinite, and He can never be fully known by finite creatures. We all need wisdom from above. No matter how far we may advance in our understanding of God, there is an unfathomed depth of knowledge that remains to be explored. Scripture is full of admonitions to grow in our knowledge of Christ (2 Peter 3:18; 1 Peter 2:2; Ephesians 4:15).

Paul outlines some of the mysteries

he wants the Ephesians to understand through this spirit of wisdom and revelation.

He desires them to grasp “the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance”

(Ephesians 1:18).

This is the hope of eternal life, which Paul refers to as the “upward call of God in Christ Jesus”

(Philippians 3:14, ESV).

We inherit the riches of eternal life through Him who saved us

and called us to holiness in Christ before time began (2 Timothy 1:9).

Paul also prays the Spirit will reveal

God’s “incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1:19)—power so great it raised Jesus from the dead. It’s a power that we can only comprehend as we possess the spirit of wisdom and revelation.

The spirit of wisdom and revelation is not some mysterious blessing given to a special few, and it is not the ability to speak as a prophet. Rather, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to help the people of God understand the things of God more fully and completely.

In Romans 13, the apostle Paul is teaching believers what

it means to live the Christian life of sacrifice.

First, he speaks of living in submission to those in authority. Then, shifting to the theme of loving one’s fellow human, Paul makes this declaration: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8). Similarly, in Galatians 5:14, Paul states, “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

The law Paul is talking about in these verses is the Law of Moses, which was given by God to Israel (Exodus 20—40; Leviticus 1–7; 23). The law included the Ten Commandments and all the moral, ceremonial, and civil regulations that governed the life of the people of Israel in their covenant relationship with God. Paul indicates that the entire law can be summed up in one operative word—love. Believers can fulfill every demand of the Mosaic Law by loving others. The only legitimate debt and the one debt Christians can never fully repay is the ongoing obligation to love one another: “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Paul illuminates the truth that love is at the core of the law. The love command—“love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18)—is at the heart of the law of Christ: “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2; see also 1 Corinthians 9:20–21). James calls the command to love your neighbor as yourself the royal law: “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right” (James 2:8).

The law has always pointed to Jesus Christ: “For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God” (Romans 10:4, NLT). The Law of Moses is something humans are incapable of keeping (Galatians 3:10). We cannot meet the demands of the law in our own power (Galatians 3:24; Romans 8:4; 10:4). Our Savior, the Lord Jesus, fulfilled the law perfectly and provided His righteousness in exchange for our sin (see Matthew 5:17).

By faith we believe and accept that Jesus Christ bore the curse of the law when He died on the cross. And through Him we receive the Holy Spirit, who enables us to keep the divine law of love: “Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law” (Romans 13:10, NLT). Now, instead of worrying about what we can never do, namely, keeping the law, we are free to yield to the Spirit and allow Him to love through us.

One day when Jesus was teaching the crowds, a Pharisee asked Him, “What is the greatest commandment of the law?” Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37–40). Christians now satisfy all the demands of the law by loving God first and then loving others.

It is impossible to love God and not love people. God’s heart, His very nature, is love. If the Spirit of God dwells in us, His love will flow through us to others (1 John 3:10, 14, 16; 4:2–20). Our love for God will cause us to see people as God sees them and love them as God does.

Finally, it’s vital to understand what the Scriptures mean by “love” in these verses.

Love that fulfills the law is agape love.

This love is not based on emotions, but an act of the will.

It is self-sacrificing, deliberate, active love.

To love someone with God’s love is to promote that person’s best interests--

to actively work not to harm but to bring good to that person.

This love is directed

not only toward fellow believers but to all people, even our enemies.

Regardless of our emotional response to another person,

agape love

will act for his or her good, regardless of the cost.

That is the kind of love Scripture speaks of when it says to

love your neighbor as yourself.

That kind of love is the

fulfillment of the law.

The Gospel of John is the only Gospel which mentions “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” John 13:23 tells us, “One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to Him.” John 19:26 declares, “When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, 'Dear woman, here is your son.'“ John 21:7 says, “Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’” This disciple is never specifically identified, but the identity of the disciple whom Jesus loved is clear. The disciple whom Jesus loved self-identifies as the author of the gospel (John 21:24), whom most scholars believe to be the apostle John, the son of Zebedee and brother of James.

First, only the Gospel of John mentions the “disciple whom Jesus loved.” Second, John 21:2 lets us know who was fishing with Peter: “Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together...” The apostle John was a son of Zebedee (Matthew 4:21). Third, there were three disciples who were especially close to Jesus: Peter, James, and John (Matthew 17:1; Mark 5:37; 14:33; Luke 8:51). The “disciple whom Jesus loved” could not be Peter, as Peter asks Jesus a question in regards to this disciple (John 21:20-21). That leaves us with James or John. Jesus made a statement about the possible “longevity” of the life of the disciple whom He loved in John 21:22. James was the first of the apostles to die (Acts 12:2). While Jesus did not promise the disciple whom He loved long life, it would be highly unusual for Jesus to say, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” if the disciple whom He loved was going to be the first disciple to die.

Church history tells us that the apostle John lived into the A.D. 90s and was the last surviving apostle. Early church tradition was unanimous in identifying John as the disciple whom Jesus loved. It seems that John had a closer relationship with Jesus than any of the other disciples. Jesus and John were essentially “best friends.” Jesus entrusted John with the care of His mother, gave John the vision of the transfiguration, allowed John to witness His most amazing miracles, and later gave John the Book of Revelation.

When Jesus was on the cross, both the apostle John and Mary the mother of Jesus stood nearby.

In John 19:26–27 we read, “When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, ‘Woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.” The clear understanding of the passage is that Jesus commanded John to care for Mary after His death.

Mary was most certainly a widow at this point in her life and also an older woman. Though she had other sons, Jesus chose John to provide care for Mary after His death. Why? Jesus’ brothers did not become believers until after His resurrection (John 7:5). Further, Jesus’ brothers were not present at His crucifixion. Jesus was entrusting Mary to John, who was a believer and was present, rather than entrusting her to His brothers, who were not believers and who were not even present at His crucifixion.

As the oldest son in His family, Jesus had a cultural obligation to care for His mother, and He passed that obligation on to one of His closest friends. John would have certainly obeyed this command. Mary was most likely one of the women in the upper room and was present when the church was established in Jerusalem (Acts 1:12–14). She probably continued to stay with John in Jerusalem until her death. It is only later in John’s life that his writings and church history reveal John left Jerusalem and ministered in other areas.

This is also confirmed by Acts 8:1 that reads, “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.” John was still in the city at this time (perhaps one or two years after the resurrection) and was still there three years after the conversion of Paul (Galatians 2:9).

There is no contextual proof within Scripture itself that would point to Jesus broadening Mary’s role as “mother” of all Christians. In fact, Catholic teaching can only point to early church leaders as proof that Jesus meant to establish Mary’s “motherhood” to all believers in Christ or that Mary was a cooperative participant in salvation. John took Mary into his home to care for her. The Bible does not say “from that time on Mary became the mother of all believers.”

The beauty of John 19:26–27 is reflected in the care Jesus had for His mother,

as well as the care John provided for her. Scripture clearly teaches the importance of caring for widows and the elderly, something Jesus personally applied during

His final hours of His earthly ministry.

James, the half-brother of Jesus, would later call such care for widows

“pure religion.”

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their

distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world”

(James 1:27).

When the Bible speaks of

“the law,”

it refers to the detailed standard God gave to Moses, beginning in Exodus 20with the

Ten Commandments.

God’s Law explained His requirements for a holy people and included three categories: civil, ceremonial, and moral laws. The Law was given to separate God’s people from the evil nations around them and to define sin (Ezra 10:11; Romans 5:13; 7:7). The Law also clearly demonstrated that no human being could purify himself enough to please God—i.e.,

the Law revealed our

need for a Savior.

By New Testament times, the religious leaders had hijacked the Law and added to it their own rules and traditions (Mark 7:7–9). While the Law itself was good, it was weak in that it lacked the power to change a sinful heart (Romans 8:3). Keeping the Law, as interpreted by the Pharisees, had become an oppressive and overwhelming burden (Luke 11:46).

It was into this legalistic climate that Jesus came, and conflict with the hypocritical arbiters of the Law was inevitable. But Jesus, the Lawgiver, said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). The Law was not evil. It served as a mirror to reveal the condition of a person’s heart (Romans 7:7). John 1:17 says, “For the law was given through Moses;

grace and truth

came through

Jesus Christ.”

Jesus embodied the perfect balance

between grace and the Law

(John 1:14).

God has always been full of grace (Psalm 116:5; Joel 2:13), and people have always been saved by faith in God (Genesis 15:6). God did not change between the Old and New Testaments (Numbers 23:19; Psalm 55:19). The same God who gave the Law also gave Jesus (John 3:16). His grace was demonstrated through the Law by providing the sacrificial system to cover sin. Jesus was born “under the law” (Galatians 4:4) and became the final sacrifice to bring the Law to fulfillment and establish the New Covenant (Luke 22:20). Now, everyone who comes to God through Christ is declared righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 3:18; Hebrews 9:15).

The conflict between Jesus and the self-righteous arose immediately. Many who had lived for so long under the Pharisees’ oppressive system eagerly embraced the mercy of Christ and the freedom He offered (Mark 2:15). Some, however, saw this new demonstration of grace as dangerous: what would keep a person from casting off all moral restraint? Paul dealt with this issue in Romans 6: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (verses 1—2). Paul clarified what Jesus had taught: the Law shows us what God wants (holiness), and grace gives us the desire and power to be holy. Rather than trust in the Law to save us, we trust in Christ. We are freed from the Law’s bondage by His once-for-all sacrifice (Romans 7:6; 1 Peter 3:18).

There is no conflict between grace and the Law, properly understood. Christ fulfilled the Law on our behalf and offers the power of the Holy Spirit, who motivates a regenerated heart to live in obedience to Him (Matthew 3:8; Acts 1:8; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 2 Timothy 1:14). James 2:26 says, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” A grace that has the power to save also has the power to motivate a sinful heart toward godliness. Where there is no impulse to be godly, there is no saving faith.

We are saved by grace, through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9). The keeping of the Law cannot save anyone (Romans 3:20; Titus 3:5). In fact, those who claim righteousness on the basis of their keeping of the Law only thinkthey’re keeping the Law; this was one of Jesus’ main points in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:20–48; see also Luke 18:18–23).

The purpose of the Law was, basically, to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). Once we are saved, God desires to glorify Himself through our good works (Matthew 5:16; Ephesians 2:10). Therefore, good works follow salvation; they do not precede it.

Conflict between “grace” and the “Law” can arise when someone 1) misunderstands the purpose of the Law; 2) redefines grace as something other than “God’s benevolence on the undeserving” (see Romans 11:6); 3) tries to earn his own salvation or “supplement” Christ’s sacrifice; 4) follows the error of the Pharisees in tacking manmade rituals and traditions onto his doctrine; or 5) fails to focus on the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).

When the Holy Spirit guides our search of Scripture, we can “study to show ourselves approved unto God” (2 Timothy 2:15) and discover the beauty of a grace that produces good works.

Galatians 6:2 states, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (emphasis added). What exactly is the law of Christ, and how is it fulfilled by carrying each other’s burdens? While the law of Christ is also mentioned in 1 Corinthians 9:21, the Bible nowhere specifically defines what precisely is the law of Christ. However, most Bible teachers understand the law of Christ to be what Christ stated were the greatest commandments in Mark 12:28–31, “‘Which commandment is the most important of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” The second is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’”

The law of Christ, then, is to love God with all of our being and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. In Mark 12:32–33, the scribe who asked Jesus the question responds with, “To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” In this, Jesus and the scribe agreed that those two commands are the core of the entire Old Testament Law. All of the Old Testament Law can be placed in the category of “loving God” or “loving your neighbor.”

Various New Testament scriptures state that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament Law, bringing it to completion and conclusion (Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:23–25; Ephesians 2:15). In place of the Old Testament Law, Christians are to obey the law of Christ. Rather than trying to remember the over 600 individual commandments in the Old Testament Law, Christians are simply to focus on loving God and loving others. If Christians would truly and wholeheartedly obey those two commands, we would be fulfilling everything that God requires of us.

Christ freed us from the bondage of the hundreds of commands in the Old Testament Law and instead calls on us to love. First John 4:7–8 declares, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” First John 5:3 continues, “This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome.”

Some use the fact that we are not under the Old Testament Law as an excuse to sin. The apostle Paul addresses this very issue in Romans. “What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!” (Romans 6:15). For the follower of Christ, the avoidance of sin is to be accomplished out of love for God and love for others. Love is to be our motivation. When we recognize the value of Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf, our response is to be love, gratitude, and obedience. When we understand the sacrifice Jesus made for us and others, our response is to be to follow His example in expressing love to others. Our motivation for overcoming sin should be love, not a desire to legalistically obey a series of commandments. We are to obey the law of Christ because we love Him, not so that we can check off a list of commands that we successfully obeyed.

Outside of the New Testament,

the word agape is used in a variety of contexts,

but in the vast majority of instances in the New Testament it carries distinct meaning. Agape is almost always used to describe the love that is of and from God, whose very nature is love itself: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). God does not merely love; He is love. Everything God does flows from His love. Agape is also used to describe our love for God (Luke 10:27), a servant’s faithful respect to his master (Matthew 6:24), and a man’s attachment to things (John 3:19).

The type of love that characterizes God is not a sappy, sentimental feeling such as we often hear portrayed. God loves because that is His nature and the expression of His being. He loves the unlovable and the unlovely, not because we deserve to be loved or because of any excellence we possess, but because it is His nature to love and He must be true to His nature.

Agape love is always shown by what it does. God’s love is displayed most clearly at the cross. “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4–5, ESV). We did not deserve such a sacrifice, “but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God’s agape love is unmerited, gracious, and constantly seeking the benefit of the ones He loves. The Bible says we are the undeserving recipients of His lavish agape love (1 John 3:1). God’s demonstration of agape love led to the sacrifice of the Son of God for those He loves.

We are to love others with agape love, whether they are fellow believers (John 13:34) or bitter enemies (Matthew 5:44). Jesus gave the parable of the Good Samaritan as an example of sacrifice for the sake of others, even for those who may care nothing at all for us. Agape love as modeled by Christ is not based on a feeling; rather, it is a determined act of the will, a joyful resolve to put the welfare of others above our own.

Agape love does not come naturally to us. Because of our fallen nature, we are incapable of producing such a love. If we are to love as God loves, that love—that agape—can only come from its Source. This is the love that “has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” when we became His children (Romans 5:5; cf. Galatians 5:22). “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16). Because of God’s love toward us, we are able to love one another.

An exposition of Romans 10:4, which says:

"Christ is the end of the law

so that there may be righteousness for

everyone who believes,"

will help in understanding

what it means that

Christians

are

not

under the law.

The apostle Paul clarifies the effects of original sin in Romans 2:12, stating, "All who sin apart from the law will perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law." All men stand condemned before God, whether they are Jews or not, or to put it another way, whether they have the Law of God or not. Paul also states, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

If we are without Christ, we are justly condemned in God’s sight by the Law that was given to His servant Moses. However, we might argue that those who are not Jewish and therefore do not benefit from the knowledge of the Mosaic Law (including the moral and ceremonial laws), should not be condemned in the same way. This is dealt with by the Apostle in Romans 2:14-15, where he states that the Gentiles have the essence of God’s legal requirements already ingrained and so are just as much without excuse.

The Law is the issue that has to be dealt with in order to bring us into a right relationship with God. "Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified" (Galatians 2:16). This passage reveals that the Law cannot justify or make righteous any man in God’s sight, which is why God sent His Son to completely fulfill the requirements of the Law for all those who would ever believe in Him.

Christ Jesus redeemed us from the curse that has been brought through the law by becoming a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). He substituted Himself in our place and upon the cross took the punishment that is justly ours so that we are no longer under the curse of the Law. In doing so, He fulfilled and upheld the requirements of the Law. This does not mean that Christians are to be lawless, as some advocate today—a teaching called antinomianism. Rather, it means that we are free from the Mosaic Law and instead under the law of Christ, which is to love God with all of our being and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Christ became the end of the Law by virtue of what He did on earth through His sinless life and His sacrifice on the cross. So, the Law no longer has any bearing over us because its demands have been fully met in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ who satisfied the righteous demands of the Law restores us into a pleasing relationship with God and keeps us there.

No longer under the penalty of

the Law,

we now live under

the law of grace in the

love of God.

Who was at the beginning of the cosmos with God? God’s Spirit, God’s word, or Lady Wisdom? Rich with ties to the creation narrative, the book of Proverbs contains important insights for how we understand both God's relationship to his creation and who Jesus is.

In Genesis 1
Genesis 1
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, when is there something emerging out of God’s own being to go out into the void and participate in the ordering and the carving up of chaos? It’s his word and his Spirit. There’s no way this is unconnected [to Proverbs 8
Proverbs 8
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]. This is the author of Proverbs’ way of reflecting on the word and the Spirit, but in the slot of word and Spirit in Genesis 1
Genesis 1
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comes God’s wisdom. Yeah, they’re different ways of imagining the same thing. It’s God’s wisdom, so it’s divine, but yet it’s the aspect of God that he used to create something other than God’s own self. Wisdom is both distinct from God and divine at the same time.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Lady Wisdom is a literary personification of God’s own wisdom.
When humans walk in God’s wisdom, they most closely exemplify the image of God in humanity as they were intended to, and it brings them great joy.
The foundation for the many-layered connections between Proverbs 8
Proverbs 8
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and the creation narrative is this picture of wisdom emanating from God to bring order to the cosmos, just like God’s Spirit. Wisdom is the very relationship between God and his creation.

Lady WisdomIn part one (0:00-8:30), Tim, Jon, and Carissa discuss the next installment of our Visual Commentary series following the literary theme of creation with a look at Proverbs 8
Proverbs 8
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.

Proverbs 8
Proverbs 8
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explores the topic of creation from the perspective of Lady Wisdom. When we think of the book of Proverbs, what often comes to mind are the multitude of catchy two-line sayings. But Lady Wisdom, a literary personification of God’s own wisdom, is a prominent character in the opening chapters of Proverbs.

Proverbs 8
Proverbs 8
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was a key resource for the apostles in their first attempts to describe Jesus in both his humanity and deity.

The Literary Structure of ProverbsIn part two (8:30-21:00), the team surveys the literary structure of the entire book of Proverbs. Tim is convinced the book’s repeated mention of Solomon is the key to understanding the book as a whole.
Solomon’s name appears at three points that signify the book’s three primary developments. The first section doesn’t actually contain proverbs, but poeticspeeches. The second section, beginning in chapter 10
Proverbs 10
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, contains hundreds of two-line proverbs. The third section starts with chapter 25
Proverbs 25
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and contains proverbs of Solomon, collected generations later by King Hezekiah, as well as wisdom from other people entirely (Agur and Lemuel) in chapters 30-31
Proverbs 30-31
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.

The overarching theme of the whole book is that whenever any human rules creation wisely, they are, knowingly or unknowingly, ruling according to God’s wisdom. That wisdom has both masculine and feminine qualities. Proverbs is clear: when humans walk in God’s wisdom, they most closely exemplify the image of God as they were intended to, and it brings them great joy.
Wisdom is About Right DesiresIn part three (21:00-36:00), Tim, Jon, and Carissa turn their attention to the first section of Proverbs, chapters 1-9
Proverbs 1-9
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, which is itself divided into three parts centered around speeches by Lady Wisdom.

Proverbs 8
Proverbs 8
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opens with Lady Wisdom at the city gates, inviting people to choose wisdom through a series of connected speeches (starting with Proverbs 8:4-11
Proverbs 8:4-11
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). The audience addressed in this section is “the son,” which refers to the line of David. Lady Wisdom’s opening lines consider “upright” speech versus “crooked” speech––a throwback to the Genesis 1-3
Genesis 1-3
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narrative based on dialogue between Adam, Eve, God, and the serpent.

Lady Wisdom uses the terms “wisdom,” “understanding,” and “knowledge,” which are all slightly different. Wisdom refers to practical or social know-how. Understanding refers to mental comprehension or discernment. Knowledge refers to knowing and being known by Yahweh.
In the worldview of Proverbs, becoming wise isn’t just about living strategically but about desiring the right things in God’s eyes.
Lady Wisdom at CreationIn part four (36:00-52:00), the team examines the next portion of Lady Wisdom’s speech, particularly the rich ties between Proverbs 8
Proverbs 8
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and Genesis 1-2
Genesis 1-2
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.

Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly are both presented as shrewd and strategic (like the Serpent in the Garden), but they pursue shrewdness to different ends––to life and to death, respectively.
Lady Wisdom calls out to both the poor and the rich, which is part of the Genesis 1
Genesis 1
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picture of humanity. The lowly and the exalted equally embody the image of God.
Proverbs 8:15
Proverbs 8:15
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uses the Hebrew word khaqaq. It literally means “to carve or engrave,” referring to how ancient kings carved laws of justice into tablets. Later in the poem, Yahweh himself is the one who carves out decisions and decrees to bring order from chaos––just like he did in Genesis 1
Genesis 1
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.
In Proverbs 8:17-21
Proverbs 8:17-21
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, Lady Wisdom is like the tree of life, producing fruit that can be eaten and enjoyed.
In the following verses, Lady Wisdom declares she was with Yahweh at the beginning. In fact, Yahweh “birthed” her (Proverbs 8:24-25
Proverbs 8:24-25
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). The verb here means “to experience labor pains.” In other words, Yahweh has gone to great lengths to give birth to wisdom. She is an expression of God’s own will as he carves the cosmos.

The foundation for the many-layered connections between Proverbs 8
Proverbs 8
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and the creation narrative is this picture of wisdom emanating from God to bring order to the cosmos, just like God’s Spirit. Wisdom is the very relationship between God and his creation.

Lady Wisdom and the WordIn part five (52:00-end), Tim, Jon, and Carissa explore the connections John makes to Proverbs 8
Proverbs 8
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in his own retelling of the creation account in John 1
John 1
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.

Proverbs 8:30-31
I was beside him, growing up.
And I was his daily delight,
celebrating before him the entire time,
celebrating the inhabited world of the land,
delighting in human beings!
The phrase “growing up” comes from the Hebrew word āmôn and carries a double meaning between the imagery of wisdom growing up like a child and a related Hebrew word meaning “constantly” or “faithfully.” However, the one being brought forth (growing up) is not a created being––wisdom is essential to God’s own being. The birth imagery is a metaphor for the birthing of creation. As God carves the cosmos, wisdom is part of all he does.
The apostle John picks up the father-child imagery from Proverbs 8
Proverbs 8
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in the opening chapter of his gospel account. John uses all the same categories as Proverbs 8
Proverbs 8
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in John 1
John 1
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but refers to the word instead of to wisdom. He expects his readers to be familiar with both Genesis 1
Genesis 1
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and Proverbs 8
Proverbs 8
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. Jesus is not merely some incarnation of Lady Wisdom or of God’s speech in Genesis 1
Genesis 1
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, but both are part of the imagery Johncalls on to describe Jesus.

Wisdom is an integral part of who God is,

and it’s through wisdom that God has

reached out to his creation.

God wants his creation to share in his wisdom.

Proverbs 8:34-36

How fortunate the human who listens to me,
by watching at my doors daily,
to keep at the door of my entrance.
Because the one who finds me, find life,
and obtains favor from Yahweh.
And the one who forfeits me, harms themselves.
All who hate me, love death.

Hebrews 1:2 tells us that in these

“last days”

God has spoken to humanity

“by his Son,

whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom he created the world”

(compare Col 1:16; 1 Cor 8:6).

Jesus’ role as co-creator

with God is a familiar doctrine.

But in verse 3 there’s something that’s a bit odd:

“He [Jesus] is the radiance of the

glory of God.”

What’s strange about the phrase isn’t its meaning. We get the metaphor.

Jesus “shines forth” the glory of God;

He is a brilliant reflection of what God is like.

What’s odd is where the idea comes from, and how startling it would have been to the

Jewish Christians for whom the book of Hebrews was intended.

The word “radiance” (ἀπαύγασμα, apaugasma) occurs only here in the New Testament. To figure out what the writer of Hebrews meant, we have to look at his source. The writer is quoting the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, but the Septuagint included books that many Jews and Christians today do not consider part of the biblical canon, but which some in ancient times considered sacred. The phrase in Hebrews 1:2comes from one of these books—Wisdom of Solomon. How can we be sure? Because the word apaugasma is found only one time in the Septuagint: Wisdom of Solomon 7:26. Sure, the scarcity of the word is curious, but where’s the surprise? Not only is the word extremely uncommon, but the source of the

Hebrews 1:2 quotation has a woman as God’s personified reflection.

Welcome to the biblical twilight zone.

For wisdom is more mobile than any motion; because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things.
For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her.

For she is a reflection
(apaugasma)

of eternal light,

a spotless mirror of the

working of God, and an image of his goodness.

(Wisdom of Solomon 7:24–26nrsv)

The Jewish writer of Wisdom of Solomon got the idea of personified Wisdom as a woman from the book of Proverbs1. While the term most often refers to practical, insightful living according to God’s law, the writer of Proverbs at times portrays Wisdom as a woman (“her voice”; compare Prov 1:20–33; 3:13–16; 4:6; 7:4; 9:1–6). Proverbs 8:1 describes Wisdom speaking to God’s people (“Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice?”). But what is especially remarkable about Wisdom in Proverbs 8:22–30 is that she is described as God’s co-creator:

The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began … before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth … I was there when he [God] set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep … Then I was the craftsman at his side (niv).

The wording here echoes Proverbs 3:19, where we read, “By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations; by understanding he set the heavens in place” (niv; compare Jer 10:12). Wisdom, personified as a woman, is cast as God’s agent of creation in the Old Testament.

How is this consistent with the New Testament teaching about Jesus? We need a little more backdrop to answer that question.

About 250 years before Jesus, Jewish theologians equated the Torah with wisdom mainly because torah (תורה) was also a grammatically feminine word in Hebrew and the Torah made one wise. This meant that, to many Jews, the Torah (Wisdom) was divine:

Sirach 24:1–3, 22: “Wisdom praises herself, and tells of her glory in the midst of her people. In the assembly of the Most High she opens her mouth, and in the presence of his hosts she tells of her glory: ‘I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth like a mist’ … All this is the book of the covenant of the Most High God, the law that Moses commanded us” (nrsv).

Wisdom of Solomon 9:1, 4, 10, 18: “God of my ancestors and Lord of mercy … give me the wisdom that sits by your throne … Send her forth from the holy heavens, and from the throne of your glory send her … that I may learn what is pleasing to you … and people were taught what pleases you, and were saved by wisdom” (nrsv).
For these writers, the word spoken by God at the creation in Genesis 1:3 was Wisdom—the word of the Torah. Proverbs 8:22 cast this spoken Wisdom as a living divine entity, whose instruction would later be written down by Moses. Wisdom (Torah) was God’s agent of creation and even the Savior for Jewish theology.

The New Testament and controversy in the early ChurchThe New Testament writers had another view. Paul’s description of Jesus as “the Wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:24, 30) and God’s agent of creation was a theological jolt to Jewish ears. It places Paul’s struggle to articulate the gospel “apart from the law (Torah)” in an entirely new light (Rom 3:21). Defining Wisdom as Jesus was another way for Paul to say that Jesus was indeed the Word of creation, the agent at God’s right hand, as John had as well (John 1:1–4). And that also meant that Jesus was Wisdom (Torah), the means of salvation. In fact, Jesus asserts that He is the fulfillment of Torah (Matt 5:17–20). It was Jesus who radiated God’s character to humankind as the bearer of salvation. Along with Paul and John, the author of Hebrews articulated this startling view by calling Jesus “the radiance of the glory of God.”

Proverbs 8 and the identification of Jesus with Wisdom was a controversial issue for the early church. In the debates at the Council of Nicea, those who believed Jesus to be God’s first creation sought affirmation in Proverbs 8:22, where the Lord “brought forth” Wisdom. The phrase “brought forth” is a Hebrew verb (קנה, qanah) that can be used for creation (see Psa 139:13 [“you formed my inward parts”]; Gen 14:19, 22 [“creator of heaven and earth”; some translations have “possessor,” which is also possible]). The interpretation of this verb was a factor in the distinction between the “begotten, not made” language of the Nicene Creed.

Since Wisdom is a personification of an attribute of God, the key questions are “Was there ever a time when God did not have Wisdom? If so, how then can God be God?” It would be unthinkable to the biblical writer for the God of Israel to lack wisdom at some point. Wisdom is eternal since God (with His attributes) is eternal—“brought forth” as the agent of creation.

Chapter 9 of Proverbs uses personification to describe wisdom and foolishness as women.

Why would the author use women as his examples?

The answer is found in the descriptions used of these two terms. Wisdom is discussed in Proverbs 9:1–12, where it is personified as a wise woman.

This wise lady has built her house (verse 1), has prepared a great dinner (verse 2), and gives wisdom to those who lack it (verses 3–5).

The benefits to those who seek wisdom include becoming wiser and increasing in learning (verse 8). The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (verse 10). Wisdom is even said to add years to one’s life (verse 11).

In Proverbs 9:13–18, folly is associated with a seductive woman. Folly (“foolishness” in some translations) is loud, seductive, and knows nothing (verse 13). She seduces the simple who pass by (verses 14–17). Those who turn to her find death (verse 18). In contrast to the lady Wisdom who provides fine food and wine, the woman Folly provides stolen water and bread eaten in secret (verse 17).

The ninth chapter of Proverbs, then, calls readers to embrace wisdom and to flee from folly or foolishness. Those who do receive many benefits, while those who do not will experience judgment.

These teachings resemble in some ways the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 22:1–14 and Luke 14:15–24 of responding in a positive manner to God’s Word. The call to wisdom also closely resembles the New Testament’s call to salvation.

Further, a chiastic structure is present in Proverbs 9 that highlights verses 7–12 as the central focus of the teaching. These verses include a clear call to the benefit of wisdom. Verse 10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, / and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

The personification of both wisdom and folly as two different women presents the benefits of wisdom and the judgment associated with folly. A woman of wisdom benefits her husband, just as a woman of folly can destroy a husband.

These words are written as advice from a father to a son (Proverbs 2:1; 3:1; 4:20; 5:1, 20; 6:20; 7:1), so the illustrations of two kinds of women are a powerful method to illustrate God’s wisdom. Reading these words in this context provides a deeper understanding of the passage and much application for life today.

The writer to the Hebrews

talks about the

arrangement of the tabernacle

of

the Old Testament.

The tabernacle was the portable sanctuary used by the Israelites from the time of their wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt to the building of the temple in Jerusalem (see Exodus 25–27). Within the tabernacle was the ark of the covenant which included the mercy seat (Hebrews 9:3-5 NKJV).

The ark of the covenant, the chest containing the two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, was the most sacred object of the tabernacle and later in the temple in Jerusalem, where it was placed in an inner area called the Holy of Holies. Also within the ark were the golden pot of manna, such as was provided by God in the wilderness wanderings (Exodus 16:4) and Aaron’s almond rod (Numbers 17:1-13). On top of the ark was a lid called the mercy seat on which rested the cloud or visible symbol of the divine presence. Here God was supposed to be seated, and from this place He was supposed to dispense mercy to man when the blood of the atonement was sprinkled there.

In a manner of speaking, the mercy seat concealed the people of God from the ever-condemning judgment of the Law. Each year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the blood of animals sacrificed for the atonement of the sins of God’s people. This blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat. The point conveyed by this imagery is that it is only through the offering of blood that the condemnation of the Law could be taken away and violations of God’s laws covered.

The Greek word for “mercy seat” in Hebrews 9:5 is hilasterion, which means “that which makes expiation” or “propitiation.” It carries the idea of the removal of sin. In Ezekiel 43:13-15, the brazen altar of sacrifice is also called hilasterion (the propitiatory or mercy seat) in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) because of its association with the shedding of blood for sin.

What is the significance of this? In the New Testament, Christ Himself is designated as our “propitiation.” Paul explains this in his letter to the Romans: “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed” (Romans 3:24-25 NKJV). What Paul is teaching here is that Jesus is the covering for sin, as shown by these Old Testament prophetic images. By means of His death, and our response to Christ through our faith in Him, all our sins are covered. Also, whenever believers sin, we may turn to Christ who continues to be the propitiation or covering for our sins (1 John 2:1, 4:10). This ties together the Old and New Testament concepts regarding the covering of sin as exemplified by the mercy-seat of God.

At first,

Nathan encouraged David to follow through

on his desire to build a temple for the Lord (1 Chronicles 17:2).

Yet that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, changing their plans: “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in’” (verse 4). God then points out that, in all the long history of the tabernacle, He never once rebuked Israel’s leaders for not building a permanent temple (verses 5–6). Rather than David building a temple, God decided to allow David’s son to oversee this work (verses 11–12).

In response, David offered a prayer of praise: “You, Lord, are God! You have promised these good things to your servant. Now you have been pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, Lord, have blessed it, and it will be blessed forever” (1 Chronicles 17:26–27). David considered God’s word as a tremendous blessing that affirmed his son would also serve as king.

First Chronicles 22:8 sheds some light on God’s decision not to allow David to build the temple: “You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight.” David’s background of shedding blood in times of war was God’s reason for choosing David’s son instead (see also 1 Chronicles 28:3). God wanted a man of peace to construct the temple, not a man of war. His house was to be “a house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:7).

Since David was forbidden from building the temple himself, he helped to gather materials and prepare the plans for the temple’s construction. He said to Solomon, “I have taken great pains to provide for the temple of the Lord a hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver, quantities of bronze and iron too great to be weighed, and wood and stone. And you may add to them. You have many workers: stonecutters, masons and carpenters, as well as those skilled in every kind of work in gold and silver, bronze and iron—craftsmen beyond number. Now begin the work, and the Lord be with you” (1 Chronicles 22:14–16).

Solomon faithfully fulfilled this command during his reign, leading Israel to the height of world power.

David’s desire to build a house for the Lord was noble,

but God had other plans.

David’s reaction to God’s nixing his plan is a model for us. When things do not go as we planned—when God closes a door—we should continue to praise the Lord and then move on in a new direction. Rather than complain about what we can’t do,

we should do what we can,

giving

God the glory.

At the close of one of the most soul-soothing passages in all the Bible, King David triumphantly announced, “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (Psalm 23:6).

Being in God’s presence meant everything to David. Since he shared such a close relationship with the Lord, David could picture himself as a permanent resident in God’s house, basking in His constant goodness, love, and care every day. And because death held the promise of eternal life in God’s heavenly kingdom, David looked forward to the intimate and never-ending fellowship of dwelling in the house of the Lord forever.

The word dwell in Psalm 23:6 means “to inhabit or live.” The house of the Lord is a term often referring to the tabernacle, the temple, or the place of worship (as in Psalm 122:1). But here in Psalm 23:6 the phrase speaks explicitly of “a dwelling house, palace, or local residence of a deity.”

The presence of God is the believer’s true home (Psalm 42:1–4; 84:1–4). “Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house,” declared David in Psalm 65:4. And again in Psalm 27:4, we read of David’s passionate and singular pursuit: “One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple” (Psalm 27:4). To dwell in the house of the Lord forever was David’s deepest longing. Scripture says he was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22; 1 Samuel 13:14).

Like David, the apostle Paul was sure that nothing in this life, not even death itself, could separate him from the loving presence of God: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38–39).

While preaching on Psalm 23, Charles Spurgeon said, “While I am here I will be a child alone with my God; the whole world will be His house to me; and when I ascend unto the upper chamber I shall not change my company, nor even change the house. I shall only go to dwell in the upper story of the house of the Lord forever” (quoted by Campbell, R., Spurgeon’s Daily Treasures in the Psalms: Selections from the Classic Treasury of David, Kregel Publications, 2013, entry for February 19).

To dwell in the house of the Lord forever also suggests living with an attitude of heart that expresses constant praise and worship. In Psalm 34:1, David exclaimed, “I will praise the LORD at all times. I will constantly speak his praises” (NLT). Another psalmist declared, “What joy for those who can live in your house, always singing your praises” (Psalm 84:4, NLT).

According to Psalm 84:10, one day spent worshiping in God’s house is better than a thousand anywhere else. The verse continues: “I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked” (NLT). “Praise the LORD!” says another psalm. “Let all that I am praise the LORD. I will praise the LORD as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath” (Psalm 146:1–2, NLT).

The good things that God provides for us in this life are merely a foretaste of what awaits us in heaven (1 Corinthians 2:9; Isaiah 64:4). A glorious future day is coming when all the redeemed of the Lord will gather around the Lord’s table in His eternal house (Isaiah 25:6–9; Matthew 22:1–14; Luke 13:29–30; Revelation 19:9; 21:2–4).

In heaven, as we dwell in the house of the Lord forever,

we will enjoy full, uninterrupted communion with God

(1 Corinthians 13:12).

“

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary” (Luke 1:26–27, NLT). These words are familiar to most of us as part of what we call the Christmas story. Gabriel brought to Mary the news that she had “found favor with God” and would give birth to a son to reign forever on David’s throne (Luke 1:30–33). In passages that weave together like a tapestry, we discover that God had reasons for choosing the times, places, and people involved in His redemption plan (Ephesians 1:9–11). This article will explore some of the reasons that God chose Mary to be the mother of the Messiah.

1. Mary was of the right lineage. Luke traces Mary’s lineage through David, Boaz, Judah, Jacob, Isaac, and Jacob. Her son would be qualified to bear the title Son of David and be the righteous “Branch” that was to come from David’s family (Isaiah 11:1).

2. Mary was engaged to a man whose heritage would require him to visit Bethlehem at just the right time. Micah 5:2 foretold the birthplace of the Messiah, pinpointing Bethlehem in Judah. Many virgins may have known God’s favor and may have descended from King David’s line, but not many would also be in the small town of Bethlehem when it was time for the Messiah to be born.

3. Mary was a virgin. It was critical that the mother of the Messiah be a virgin in order to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Matthew reminded his readers of that prophecy, which was crucial in verifying Jesus’ identity (Matthew 1:23). She could not be married, or the world would assume Jesus had an earthly father. She could not have a bad reputation, or no one would have believed her story about a virgin birth, not even her own family. The virgin birth, in bypassing a human father, circumvented the transmission of the sin nature and allowed the Messiah to be a sinless man.

4. Mary was from Nazareth. Prophecies given hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth declared that the Messiah would be of little reputation (Isaiah 53; Zechariah 9:9; cf. Matthew 2:23). To be called a Nazarene or a Galilean was something of an insult in those days (see John 1:46). Had Mary been wealthy, socially prestigious, or from an affluent city, Jesus could not have easily connected with lowly people, the ones He’d come to save (Luke 19:10; Mark 2:17). But because He was from Nazareth, Mary’s hometown, the humility and commonness prophesied about Him was fulfilled.

God may have had more reasons for choosing Mary of Nazareth, but we will have to wait until we get to heaven to find out what they are. Mary was just a person God used for His purposes. Because of certain misunderstandings about Mary, it is important to note that she was not chosen because she was more holy than other people. The angel’s address to her as “highly favored” and “blessed” (Luke 1:28, NKJV) is a reference to the uniqueness of her pending task, not to any level of virtuousness she had attained. Mary was surely a godly woman, but that is not the point. Gabriel’s emphasis was on her privilege, not her piety. She had “found favor with God” (verse 30), but that says more about God’s goodness than Mary’s. She was the recipient of God’s grace, His undeserved favor.

Mary gives us an example of total devotion to the Lord in her answer to the angel Gabriel:

“I am the Lord’s servant.

May it be unto me as you have said”

(Luke 1:38).

May we have the

wisdom and grace

to

answer God’s call, whatever it is,

the

way Mary did.

There are several judgments mentioned in the Bible.

Our God is a God of justice,

as the psalmist says, “A scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom” (Psalm 45:6). It is the Lord Jesus Himself who is the Judge of all the earth: “The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). Jesus alone is worthy to open the scroll (Revelation 5:5). Here is a list of significant judgments in their likely chronological sequence:

Judgments that have already occurred:

The judgment of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:14–24). God banished the first couple from the Garden of Eden for violating His clear command not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This judgment affected all of creation (Genesis 3:17–18; Romans 8:20–22).

The judgment of the antediluvian world (Genesis 7:17–24). God sent a worldwide flood in judgment of mankind’s sin in Noah’s time. The flood destroyed all of mankind and the animal world, except for Noah and his family, whose faith led them to obey God’s command to build the ark.

The judgment at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:5–9). Noah’s post-flood descendants remained in one location in defiance of God’s command, so God confused their language, causing them to disperse over the earth.

The judgment of Egypt and their gods (Exodus 7—12). The ten plagues against Egypt at the time of the exodus were “mighty acts of judgment” (Exodus 7:4) against a stubborn, cruel king and an idolatrous people and their gods (Exodus 12:12).

The judgment of believers’ sins (Isaiah 53:4–8). Jesus took this judgment upon Himself by His crucifixion and death. “He suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9). Because our sin was judged at the cross, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). It was also at the cross that God pronounced judgment on the unbelieving world and on the enemy of our souls, Satan. As Jesus said shortly before His arrest, “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out” (John 12:31).

Judgments occurring now in the church age:

Self-evaluation (1 Corinthians 11:28). Believers practice self-examination, prayerfully and honestly assessing their own spiritual condition. The church helps in this endeavor to purify the Body of Christ (Matthew 18:15–17). Self-judgment requires each believer to be spiritually discerning, with a goal of being more like Christ (Ephesians 4:21–23).

Divine discipline (Hebrews 12:5–11). As a father lovingly corrects his children, so the Lord disciplines His own; that is, He brings His followers to a place of repentance and restoration when they sin. In so doing, He makes a distinction between us and the world: “When we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world” (1 Corinthians 11:32). Whom Christ loves, He chastens (Revelation 3:19).

Judgments to occur in the future:

The judgments of the tribulation period (Revelation 6—16). These terrible judgments are pictured as seven seals opened, seven trumpets blown, and seven bowls poured out. God’s judgment against the wicked will leave no doubt as to His wrath against sin. Besides punishing sin, these judgments will have the effect of bringing the nation of Israel to repentance.

The judgment seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10). Resurrected (and raptured) believers in heaven will be judged for their works. Sin is not in view at this judgment, as that was paid for by Christ, but only faithfulness in Christian service. Selfish works or those done with wrong motives will be burned up (the “wood, hay, and stubble” of 1 Corinthians 3:12). Works of lasting value to the Lord will survive (the “gold, silver, and precious stones”). Rewards, which the Bible calls “crowns” (Revelation 3:11) will be given by the One who is “not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him” (Hebrews 6:10).

The judgment of the nations (Matthew 25:31–46). After the tribulation, the Lord Jesus will sit in judgment over the Gentile nations. They will be judged according to their treatment of Israel during the tribulation. This judgment is also called the judgment of the sheep and the goats because of the imagery Jesus uses in the Olivet Discourse. Those who showed faith in God by treating Israel favorably (giving them aid and comfort during the tribulation) are the “sheep” who will enter into the Millennial Kingdom. Those who followed the Antichrist’s lead and persecuted Israel are the “goats” who will be consigned to hell.

The judgment of angels (1 Corinthians 6:2–3). Paul says that Christians will judge angels. We aren’t exactly sure what this means, but the angels facing judgment would have to be the fallen angels. It seems that Satan’s hordes of demons will be judged by the redeemed ones of the Lamb. Some of these demons are already imprisoned in darkness and awaiting judgment, according to Jude 1:6, due to their leaving their proper dwelling place.

The Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11–15). This final judgment of unbelievers for their sins occurs at the end of the Millennium, before the creation of the new heaven and earth. At this judgment, unbelievers from all the ages are judged for their sins and consigned to the lake of fire.

In Job 8:3, Bildad, one of Job’s friends, asks, “Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?” The answer, of course, is “no.” “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just” (Deuteronomy 32:4), and God’s judgments will make His perfection shine forth in all its glory.

One of the Holy Spirit’s tasks in this world is to convict the world of coming judgment (John 16:8–11). When a person truly understands his sin, he will acknowledge his guilty position before a Holy God. The surety of judgment should cause the sinner to turn to the Savior and cast himself on the mercy of God in Christ. Praise the Lord that, in Christ, “mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).

The temple

in the Old Testament was a holy place set apart for worship, prayer, and God’s presence.
In the New Testament we are told that we have become God’s dwelling place.

In this expositional message, Nathan Johnson looks at six things the temple was for in the Old Testament and expounds upon Ephesians 2:21-22 as Paul declares that we are growing up into the temple of the Lord to be His dwelling place.

A Holy Temple: The Dwelling Place of God (Ephesians 2:19-22)

https://deeperchristian.com/ephesians-study-061/

Most of us are familiar with the content of Genesis 1 -- “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Our kids have done crafts in Children’s Ministry depicting the pattern of creation described there.
We also likely know the story of Genesis 3 with Adam and Eve, the snake and the tree, and the beginning of sin and shame.
But Genesis 2 shows us an essential part of the Biblical story that’s easy to pass over. Here we see God didn’t just create a universe of wonders but carefully designed a home for those made in his image—Eden. Adam and Eve are given a paradise where their every need is met and their Father walks with them in the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8).
We know how the heartbreaking tale unfolds. Adam and Eve reject God’s rule and seek independence, walking away from God’s presence into death, darkness, and chaos. Their sin drives them from the garden, for light cannot dwell with darkness, and holiness cannot abide corruption.

But even in the midst of their failure and shame, God doesn’t abandon them. He reaffirms his desire to dwell among his people through the astonishing promise to raise up one of their descendants to conquer sin once and for all. Without compromising an ounce of his holiness, he presents a solution through his grace. But in the meantime, generation after generation of God’s people live and die outside of his presence.

If we fast forward to Exodus, God has set his people free from slavery and led them into the wilderness,

where they were called to build him a tabernacle,

meaning dwelling place. Finally, God’s personal presence would dwell among his people again.

The Israelites were given the astounding privilege of worshiping, serving, and living in the

presence of the

Holy God,

the

creator of heaven and earth.

Unfortunately, just like Adam and Eve, they were deceived by the lies of the world and chose to walk away from God.

Despite warning after warning, their hearts were hardened and they were eventually handed over to their sin and exiled from the land.
Years later, though they returned to the land, it seemed impossible that God’s presence would ever dwell with them again or that the promised conqueror of sin would ever come.
But John’s gospel begins with a powerful promise, echoing the story of Eden:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made…

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

– John 1:1-3, 14

The word “dwelt” in Greek — skēnoō — actually means he tabernacled among us. Imagine how John’s original readers would have heard that phrase. The tabernacle was a sacred place where a holy God dwelt on earth, and now Jesus is that ultimate meeting place between God and people. God himself has once again come to dwell with them.

As we read the Gospels, we see the true King who demonstrates the heart of God,

conquering sin by sacrificing himself in place of the rebellious humans who have

continued to walk away from him.

His death destroyed the barrier of sin that barred us from the holy presence of God.

That Greek word skēnoō is used only four more times in the Bible, and all of them occur in Revelation.

Let’s look at the promise of Revelation 21:3.

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell (skēnoō) with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

What was lost in the beginning of Genesis

is being restored at the end of Revelation.

God will dwell again among his people,

sin and death will be destroyed, and humans will regain complete access

to the fullness

of life in the presence of God.

His plan

from the very beginning is still the same plan.

God’s desire to dwell among

his people cannot be thwarted by our rebellion and shame.

We can trust in the promise of his presence

and the

coming fullness of our joy.

You make known to me the path of life;

in your presence there is fullness of joy;

at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 16:11

The term word

is used in different ways in the Bible. In the New Testament,

there are two Greek words translated "word": rhema and logos.

They have slightly different meanings. Rhema usually means “a spoken word.” For example, in Luke 1:38, when the angel told Mary that she would be the mother of God’s Son, Mary replied, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word [rhema].”

Logos, however, has a broader, more philosophical meaning. This is the term used in John 1. It usually implies a total message, and is used mostly in reference to God’s message to mankind. For example, Luke 4:32 says that, when Jesus taught the people, "they were amazed at his teaching, because his words [logos] had authority." The people were amazed not merely by the particular words Jesus chose but by His total message.

"The Word" (Logos) in John 1 is referring to Jesus. Jesus is the total Message—everything that God wants to communicate to man. The first chapter of John gives us a glimpse inside the Father/Son relationship before Jesus came to earth in human form. He preexisted with the Father (verse 1), He was involved in the creation of everything (verse 3), and He is the "light of all mankind" (verse 4). The Word (Jesus) is the full embodiment of all that is God (Colossians 1:19; 2:9; John 14:9). But God the Father is Spirit. He is invisible to the human eye. The message of love and redemption that God spoke through the prophets had gone unheeded for centuries (Ezekiel 22:26; Matthew 23:37). People found it easy to disregard the message of an invisible God and continued in their sin and rebellion. So the Message became flesh, took on human form, and came to dwell among us (Matthew 1:23; Romans 8:3; Philippians 2:5–11).

The Greeks used the word logos to refer to one’s “mind,” “reason,” or “wisdom.” John used this Greek concept to communicate the fact that Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, is the self-expression of God to the world. In the Old Testament, the word of God brought the universe into existence (Psalm 33:6) and saved the needy (Psalm 107:20). In chapter 1 of his Gospel, John is appealing to both Jew and Gentile to receive the eternal Christ.

Jesus told a parable in Luke 20:9–16 to explain why the Word had to become flesh. “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.

“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”

In this parable, Jesus was reminding the Jewish leaders that they had rejected the prophets and were now rejecting the Son. The Logos, the Word of God, was now going to be offered to everyone, not just the Jews (John 10:16; Galatians 2:28; Colossians 3:11). Because the Word became flesh, we have a high priest who is able to empathize with our weaknesses, one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin (Hebrews 4:15).

Since Jesus’ conception by

the Holy Spirit

in the womb of the virgin Mary (Luke 1:26-38), the real identity of Jesus Christ has always been questioned by skeptics. It began with Mary’s fiancé, Joseph, who was afraid to marry her when she revealed that she was pregnant (Matthew 1:18-24). He took her as his wife only after the angel confirmed to him that the child she carried was the Son of God.

Hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, the prophet Isaiah foretold the coming of God’s Son: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). When the angel spoke to Joseph and announced the impending birth of Jesus, he alluded to Isaiah’s prophecy: "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God with us’)" (Matthew 1:23). This did not mean they were to name the baby Immanuel; it meant that "God with us" was the baby’s identity. Jesus was God coming in the flesh to dwell with man.

Jesus Himself understood the speculation about

His identity.

He asked His disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" (Matthew 16:13; Mark 8:27). The answers varied, as they do today. Then Jesus asked a more pressing question: "Who do you say that I am?" (Matthew 16:15). Peter gave the right answer: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). Jesus affirmed the truth of Peter’s answer and promised that, upon that truth, He would build His church (Matthew 16:18).

The true nature and identity of Jesus Christ has eternal significance. Every person must answer the question Jesus asked His disciples:

"Who do you say that I am?"

He gave us the correct answer in many ways. In John 14:9-10, Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work."

The Bible is clear about the divine nature of the Lord Jesus Christ (see John 1:1-14). Philippians 2:6-7 says that, although Jesus was "in very nature God, He did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." Colossians 2:9 says, “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”

Jesus is fully God and fully man, and the fact of

His incarnation is of utmost importance.

He lived a human life but did not possess a sin nature as we do. He was tempted but never sinned (Hebrews 2:14-18; 4:15). Sin entered the world through Adam, and Adam’s sinful nature has been transferred to every baby born into the world (Romans 5:12)—except for Jesus. Because Jesus did not have a human father, He did not inherit a sin nature. He possessed the divine nature from His Heavenly Father.

Jesus had to meet all the requirements of a

holy God

before He could be an acceptable sacrifice for our sin (John 8:29; Hebrews 9:14). He had to fulfill over three hundred prophecies about the Messiah that God, through the prophets, had foretold (Matthew 4:13-14; Luke 22:37; Isaiah 53; Micah 5:2).

Since the fall of man (Genesis 3:21-23), the only way to be made right with God has been the blood of an innocent sacrifice (Leviticus 9:2; Numbers 28:19; Deuteronomy 15:21; Hebrews 9:22). Jesus was the final, perfect sacrifice that satisfied forever God’s wrath against sin (Hebrews 10:14). His divine nature made Him fit for the work of Redeemer; His human body allowed Him to shed the blood necessary to redeem. No human being with a sin nature could pay such a debt. No one else could meet the requirements to become the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world (Matthew 26:28; 1 John 2:2). If Jesus were merely a good man as some claim, then He had a sin nature and was not perfect. In that case, His death and resurrection would have no power to save anyone.

Because Jesus was God

in the flesh,

He alone could pay the debt we owed to God.

His victory over death and the grave won the

victory

for everyone who puts their

trust in Him

(John 1:12; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 17).

Miracles of Healing

• Lepers cleansed: Matthew 8:1–4; Mark 1:41–45; Luke 5:12–14; 17:11–19
• Blind receive sight: Matthew 9:27–31; Mark 8:22–26; 10:46–52 Luke 18:35–43; John 9:1–38
• People are healed from a distance: Matthew 8:5–13; Luke 7:2–10; John 4:46–54
• Peter’s mother-in-law healed: Mark 1:29–31
• Paralyzed man healed: Matthew 9:1–8; Mark 2:1–12; Luke 5:17–26
• People touching Jesus’ clothing are healed: Matthew 9:20–23; 14:35–36; Mark 5:25–34; 6:53–56; Luke 8:43–48
• Various healings on the Sabbath: Mark 3:1–6; Luke 6:6–10; 13:10–17; 14:1–6; John 5:1–18
• Deaf and mute man healed: Mark 7:31–37
• Cut-off ear is repaired: Luke 22:47–53
• Demons cast out (and specific physical ailments accompanying the demons healed): Matthew 9:32–33; 17:14–18; Mark 9:14–29; Luke 9:37–42
• Demons cast out (no specific physical ailments mentioned): Matthew 8:28–34; 15:21–28; Mark 1:23–27; 5:1–20; 7:24–30; Luke 4:31–37; 8:26–39
• Multitudes healed: Matthew 9:35; 15:29–31; Mark 1:32–34; 3:9–12; Luke 6:17–19
• The dead raised to life: Matthew 9:18–26; Mark 5:21–43; Luke 8:40–56; John 11:1–45

Other Miracles

• Multitudes fed (food multiplies): Matthew 14:13–21; 15:32–39; Mark 6:33–44; 8:1–10; Luke 9:12–17; John 6:1–14
• Walks on water: Matthew 14:22–33 (Peter too); Mark 6:45–52; John 6:15–21
• Calms a storm: Matthew 8:22–25; Mark 4:35–41; Luke 8:22–25
• Fills nets with fish: Luke 5:1–11; John 21:1–14
• Peter catches fish with money in its mouth (for the temple tax): Matthew 17:24–27
• Turns water to wine: John 2:1–11
• Cursed tree withers: Matthew 21:18–22; Mark 11:12–25

From the list above, we see that the vast majority of miracles recorded in the Gospels were miracles of healing. While those who received the healing were relieved of their physical ailments, the stated purpose of the miracles is rarely ever the simple alleviation of physical suffering. The miracle of healing always points to a greater truth, namely, that Jesus is the Son of God with authority. When He casts out demons, His authority over them is emphasized. When He heals on the Sabbath, His authority as Lord of the Sabbath is emphasized. Likewise, many of the miracles emphasize Jesus’ authority over nature.

There is no better way to study the miracles of Jesus than to read through the Gospels and make a list of each miracle and the explanation that is provided. (For instance, in John 2 we read of Jesus turning water into wine. That miracle did alleviate a potential embarrassment for the host and it did appease His mother who asked Him to get involved, but the primary result is recorded in verse 11: “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”) Sometimes the purpose of a miracle is given directly, and sometimes it is recorded in the response of those who saw it. Jesus never performed miracles for the sake of putting on a show. Every miracle pointed to a greater truth. John especially emphasized this point by referring to Jesus’ miracles as “signs.”

The feeding of the 5,000 is just one example. John 6 begins by saying that people were following Jesus because they saw the signs. One would think this is a good thing. Jesus goes on to feed the multitude, over 5,000 men plus women and children, with just five loaves and two fish. Then, He slipped away in the night.

The next morning, the people went looking for Him. Jesus, however, is not impressed and confronts their selfish motives for seeking Him: “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill” (John 6:26). There is some irony here. They were seeking Jesus because they had a free meal as the result of a miracle. No doubt they thought that this was a pretty good arrangement. If Jesus would continue to feed them, all would be well. Jesus, however, says that they did not truly see the “sign.” They saw the miracle, yet they could not see past the loaves and fish. The “sign” Jesus performed signifies something greater. Although the multitudes saw and partook of the miracle, they missed the sign that was to point them to Jesus, the Bread of Life. Throughout the ministry of Jesus, many people saw His miracles as ends in themselves rather than pointing to something greater.

The Latin verb incarnare meant

 “to make flesh.”

When we say that Jesus Christ is God “Incarnate,” we mean that the Son of God took on a fleshly, bodily form (John 1:14). However, when this happened in the womb of Mary, Jesus’ earthly mother, He did not stop being deity. Although Jesus became fully human (Hebrews 2:17), He retained His status as God (John 1:1, 14). How Jesus is able to be both man and God simultaneously is one of the great mysteries of Christianity but is nevertheless a test of orthodoxy (1 John 4:2; 2 John 1:7). Jesus has two distinct natures, divine and human. “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (John 14:11).

The Bible clearly teaches the deity of Christ by presenting His fulfillment of numerous Old Testament prophecies (Isaiah 7:14; Psalm 2:7), His eternal existence (John 1:1–3; John 8:58), His miraculous virgin birth (Luke 1:26–31), His miracles (Matthew 9:24–25), His authority to forgive sin (Matthew 9:6), His acceptance of worship (Matthew 14:33), His ability to predict the future (Matthew 24:1–2), and His resurrection from the dead (Luke 24:36–39). The writer of Hebrews tells us Jesus is superior to angels (Hebrews 1:4–5) and angels are to worship Him (Hebrews 1:6).

The Bible also teaches the Incarnation—Jesus became fully human by taking on human flesh. Jesus was conceived in the womb and was born (Luke 2:7), He experienced normal aging (Luke 2:40), He had natural physical needs (John 19:28) and human emotions (Matthew 26:38), He learned (Luke 2:52), He died a physical death (Luke 23:46), and He was resurrected with a physical body (Luke 24:39). Jesus was human in every way except for sin; He lived a completely sinless life (Hebrews 4:15).

When Christ took on the form of a human, His nature did not change, but His position did. Jesus, in His original nature of God in spirit form, humbled Himself by laying aside His glory and privileges (Philippians 2:6–8). God can never stop being God because He is immutable (Hebrews 13:8) and infinite (Revelation 1:8). If Jesus stopped being fully God for even a split second, all life would die (see Acts 17:28).

The doctrine of the Incarnation

says that Jesus,

while remaining fully God, became

fully man.

https://www.gotquestions.org/prophecies-of-Jesus.html

On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee,

and the mother of Jesus was there;

Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:1-5

Jesus’s response to his mother in this famous passage is generally considered “the most perplexing verse about Mary in all of Scripture.”[1] It appears to express “a very definite, even harsh denial of any community between him and her.”[2] Yet even if it were credible that the perfect Jewish son could speak rudely to his mother, Mary’s instruction to the servants and the miracle that follows indicate that she did not take his reply as a “no.” Moreover, John puts the scene front and center as the archē (“beginning,” 2:11) of Jesus’s signs, echoing the opening phrase of the Bible and of his own Gospel (en archēi, “in the beginning”) and signaling the “beginning” of a new era. What are we to make of Jesus’s riddling words?

In an essay winsomely titled “Miss Marple Reads the Bible,” David Steinmetz discusses important similarities between detective fiction and biblical interpretation. He notes especially the “similarity between the kerygmatic retelling of the larger biblical story in the New Testament and the crisp retelling of the mystery narrative by the principal investigator in a novel by P. D. James or Agatha Christie.” In both genres, a coherent “second narrative” replaces the sprawling, mystifying first narrative, so that “at the end all of the small parts fall together into an intelligible pattern.” This phenomenon of enlightened re-reading is internal to the Old Testament as well, as when the “prophets offer their own second narratives to make sense of the earlier traditions they inherited.”

To push Steinmetz’s analogy further, the New Testament comprises both a first and a second narrative. Its authors frequently play the role of the elucidating detective who interprets connections between the Old Testament and the life of Jesus Christ, sometimes explicitly (“so that Scripture might be fulfilled”), sometimes implicitly (such as by highlighting parallels between John the Baptist and Elijah). Yet the New Testament itself also constitutes a fresh, mysterious text—a notebook of clues crying out for a detective to explain the “intelligible pattern” that unites them. Each “kerygmatic retelling of the larger biblical story” can be seen as a model, challenging us as readers to produce a similarly “crisp” interpretation of the Bible as a whole.

Though Steinmetz does not mention this, another signature feature of the mystery novel is the Stubborn Fact. Like the shepherd of parable pursuing the one lost sheep, the detective must craft a narrative consistent with every piece of evidence; a solution that accounts for 99 facts but leaves a single, small contradictory one must be wrong. Moreover, the Stubborn Fact is usually the key to solving the case, often leading to a radically different interpretation (“The butler didn’t do it after all!”). We see this phenomenon writ large in Christianity. A philosophy or theology that provides a satisfying explanation for everything except the suffering of the innocent, the most intransigent Fact of all, cannot be correct. The solution to that perennial mystery (“puzzle”) can be found only in the paschal and nuptial mystery (“revealed sacred truth”) of the Cross, where the sacrifice of the wholly innocent Son to the Father through the Holy Spirit defeats sin and death and consummates his everlasting marriage to the human race—a good so tremendous that it gives meaning to and more than compensates for all pain and all evil, as the birth of a child more than compensates for the

suffering of pregnancy and labor.

The riddle at Cana

is another such Stubborn Fact. Miss Marple would have realized that if she thought she understood the biblical narrative, but could not explain the perfect son’s rudeness to his mother before his first miracle, then she must be missing something crucial in her interpretation of the whole story. Further investigation reveals that this riddle is merely the most salient in a constellation of Stubborn Facts surrounding Mary. The earliest Christians recognized that Jesus was the New Adam, a truth succinctly expressed by Paul’s formulation, “as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). In the second century, Irenaeus connected this recapitulatio, “re-heading,” of humankind by the New Adam with that of Mary, the New Eve: her obedience freed us from the bondage to sin caused by the first Eve’s disobedience.[4] Like Jesus, that is, Mary represents humanity in a way that is both exemplary and unique. I shall argue that her marital relationship with God and spiritual motherhood of all people, a role sometimes regarded as an extrascriptural accretion, is in fact the unifying thread that provides the

most cohesive “solution” to the

biblical mystery.

The OvertureAn important aspect of the Stubborn Fact at Cana that theologians have convincingly explained is the word “Woman” (gynai). Jesus addresses three other women as “Woman”—the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:21), the woman caught in adultery (John 8:10), and most importantly, Mary Magdalene (John 20:15)—in moments of tenderness and consolation; it is his first spoken word after his resurrection. The address has no trace of the rude overtones we English speakers unfortunately hear in it. Nevertheless, for a Jewish man to call his mother “Woman” is completely unparalleled, which gives the word special emphasis and significance here. As the Fourth Gospel makes painstakingly clear, the wedding at Cana occurs on the sixth day of the first week of Jesus’s public ministry, a recapitulation of the week-long Creation story in Genesis.[5] Jesus is addressing Mary as Woman, the New Eve who will fulfill the prophecy of Genesis 3:15, spoken to the Serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Jesus is the only “seed” to come entirely from a woman, taking his flesh from her flesh with no man involved.

The interpretation of Jesus’s rhetorical question, however, is on shakier ground. It has been widely recognized that in producing copious wine for a wedding, Jesus foreshadows his identity as the Bridegroom of the human race. Bishop Robert Barron highlights the relationship between Christ’s passion and the nuptial mystery:
As is fitting in the Cana setting, the theme of human bride and divine bridegroom is being hinted at. But if she is the Woman with whom God seeks union, why the aloof and off-putting words? The best explanation, in my judgment, is that this is a narrative device that serves to highlight the importance of Jesus’s “hour” and shows the relation between what he does at Cana and what will transpire in that hour. Like “the third day,” “hour” is code for the Paschal Mystery, Jesus’s passage through death to life. In that event, God will effect the perfect marriage between himself and the human race, for he will enter into the most intimate union with us, embracing even death itself and leading us into the bridal chamber of the divine life (my emphasis).

Much of this explanation rings true, but the part I have italicized strikes me as unsatisfying; Barron’s cautious language, “The best explanation, in my judgment,” suggests that he is not wholly satisfied either. Jesus could have used any number of narrative devices to highlight the importance of his “hour.” Would he have been rude to his mother merely for shock value? And how do “aloof and off-putting words” show the relation between

Cana and the Cross?

A closer examination of the Greek and its biblical parallels will help to elucidate Jesus’s cryptic words. English translators almost invariably put “Woman” at the beginning of the sentence, presumably because it sounds more polite. It is especially striking that even Hilda Graef, in her magisterial history of Mariology, states that “the Greek words are ‘Gynai, ti emoi kai soi?’”[7] But this is a misquotation: the Greek says ti emoi kai soi, gynai, “What for me and you, Woman?”, with “Woman” directly following “you.” Though the word order may seem unimportant, it actually matters a great deal. For the three parts of Jesus’s reply—[1] What for me and you, [2] Woman, [3] My hour has not yet come—are the unfolding of a single thought, one that animates all of salvation history.

A holy widow, whose jar of meal was miraculously renewed to feed Elijah, herself, and her son, will illustrate how the idiom ti emoi kai soi is typically used. When her son becomes ill and (apparently) dies, she reproaches Elijah, “ti emoi kai soi, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!” (1 Kings 17:18). After Elijah miraculously resuscitates her son, she declares, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth” (17:24). In both instances, she addresses Elijah as “man of God” to define his identity, especially as it relates to herself. The first time, she believes he has come to condemn her precisely because he is a “man of God,” and her awareness of her own sin makes her seek to distance herself from him. When she declares him a “man of God” the second time, however, it is in joyful acclamation, since the putative bringer of death has become the restorer of life.

The New Testament offers even clearer illustrations of the rhetorical purpose of ti emoi kai soi. The demon who asks “ti emoi kai soi, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” (Mark 5:7) is not giving Jesus an honorific title to be nice: he is pinpointing Jesus’s identity as an explanation for why there can be no relationship between them. The parallel scene with the legion of demons (Mark 1:24) presents an even more explicit sequence of distancing rhetorical question, identity-defining address, and further explanation of why that identity precludes relationship: “ti hēmin [“for us”] kai soi, Jesus of Nazareth? You have come to destroy us!”[8]Unlike the widow’s, the demons’ disavowal of relationship is permanent.

A similar sequence of thought appears at Cana. It is of central importance that Jesus’s first revelation of his divinity takes place at a wedding: as Mary well knows, for her son to provide the wine would place him in the bridegroom’s role. The purport of his question is “What relationship can there be between me and you, who are Woman, since my hour for revealing myself as the Bridegroom has not yet come?” What has not been sufficiently emphasized is that when Jesus says, “My hour has not yet come,” the implication is that when his hour does come, the relationship between himself and Woman, like that between the “man of God” and the widow, will be restored.

The miracle that caps New Creation week offers a foretaste of that restoration. In the tragic climax of the original Creation story, Adam’s attempt to shift the blame onto Eve and God, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree” (Genesis 3:13), encapsulates his estrangement from both his wife and his Creator. At Cana, Jesus, fully human and fully divine, plays both Adam and God. “What for me and you, Woman?” expresses the alienation both of humans from one another and of Woman—that is, the human race—from her divine husband (Isaiah 54:5, Hosea 2:16-20), the broken relationship between humanity and God. Like the absence of wine, the “aloof and off-putting words” instantiate the devastation of the Fall.

But Mary’s “Do whatever he tells you,” showing her total confidence in Jesus despite his apparent refusal,[9]completely and perfectly reverses the human distrust of God that caused that primordial separation. Whereas Mary’s fiat (“let it be done,” Luke 1:38) reveals her as the model of trust and obedience, her facite (“do”) reveals her as the model of instruction and mission. No prophet or patriarch could have better summarized the correct human response to God, for the entirety of her authority derives from and points to that of Jesus. The command from her that initiates the process of water becoming wine, through human cooperation with divine action (John 2:6-10), prophetically anticipates the command from her son at the Last Supper (“do this”) that leads to wine becoming his blood (1 Corinthians 11:25; cf. Luke 22:19-20).[10] Through her intercession, her action-inspiring teaching, and her unwavering faith even in the face of a seeming rebuff, the wedding feast—the chief symbol of our ultimate reconciliation with God and one another (Revelation 19:6-8)--

resumes in a superabundance of joy.

Like the Gospel’s prologue (John 1:1-18), the episode plays out in miniature the whole drama of salvation history. Even so, God has a still more brilliant and satisfying twist in store.
The FinaleChristianity is a teleological religion, constantly looking toward the telos, the final end at which something aims. The telos of an acorn is to be an oak tree; the telos of human life is intimacy with God, who is love. When Jesus summarizes his moral teaching, “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), the word is teleios, literally, “having reached your telos.” When Jesus says, “It is finished” (John 19:30), the verb is tetelestai, “the telos has been reached.” The Greek also means “it is consummated.” It makes sense that the telos of Jesus’s life would be his death, the completion of the Passover ritual through which he became the efficacious sacrificial offering for our sins and sealed the new marital covenant with his people.[11] And yet, that is not what the Scripture says.

The account of Jesus’s death in the Gospel of John, the beloved disciple who was standing at the foot of the Cross, presents another puzzle. For the second and final time, Jesus addresses his mother as “Woman”:
When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took (elaben) her to his own home (eis ta idia).

After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished (tetelestai), said (to fulfill [hinateleiōthēi] the scripture), “I thirst.” A bowl full of vinegar stood there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished” (tetelestai); and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit (John 19:26-30).

The words translated “finish” and “fulfill” are both from teleō. Though commentators tend to gloss over it, verse 28 contains a shocking surprise:[12] “After this, Jesus, knowing that everything had now reached its telos (tetelestai)” implies that this, the adoption ceremony, was the telos. We would expect the Gospel to say, “seeing that everything was about to reach its telos,” given Jesus’s subsequent action: “so that Scripture might reach its telos” (teleiōthēi, the only place in John’s Gospel where Scripture “fulfilled” uses the verb teleō rather than plēroō), he drank the Fourth Cup to complete the paschal sacrifice, and then with his dying breath said, “the telos has been reached (tetelestai).” In his meditation on The Way of the Cross, Josemaría Escrivá paraphrases the verse precisely this way: “Then, knowing that all things are to be accomplished, that the Scriptures may be fulfilled he says: ‘I am thirsty.’ (John 19:28).”[13] But the Gospel in fact states that Jesus knew the telos of everything had already been reached, the consummation already achieved, before he drained that cup.
The significance of the adoption ceremony becomes even clearer when we hear its echoes of the Gospel’s prologue. The phrase the RSV translates as “to his own home,” eis ta idia, does not contain the word “home.” The adjective idios literally means “one’s own”; eis ta idia thus conveys something closer to “into what belonged personally to himself.” The King James translation of the Gospel’s prologue is both more poetic and more accurate:
He came unto his own (eis ta idia), and his own received (parelabon) him not. But as many as received (elabon) him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:11-13).
The same verb (lambanō) is used of those in the prologue who “received” (elabon) Jesus and of the beloved disciple who “took” (elaben) his new mother eis ta idia. As her adopted son—and note that his biological mother was alive and well, and probably standing nearby (Matthew 27:56)—the beloved disciple knew that to receive Mary spiritually eis ta idia, “unto one’s own,” is to receive Jesus, to become a child of God.[14] The gap between himself and Christ was closed when he, like his master, became a child of Mary as well. The reality of this new birth solves a third puzzle, the emphasis placed on the angel’s strange insistence that Elizabeth and Zechariah name their son “John” (Luke 1:13, 59-64). Of John the Baptist, Jesus had said, “I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Luke 7:28). John the beloved disciple, the spiritual firstborn of Woman, represents the beginning of the new kingdom.
In the light of the Cross, then, the true meaning of the scene at Cana is finally made clear. Jesus’s mysterious response could be paraphrased,

Why are you asking for me and you to be joined so soon, making me reveal myself as the Bridegroom prematurely? It isn’t yet time for our wedding. But at my hour, when the wine that is my blood is to be poured out, it will be time. Then I and you—the New Adam and the New Eve, Bridegroom and Woman—will be united at last in the intimacy of shared suffering. Our union will be fruitful. For my life, like yours, is one long pregnancy; when our hour comes, that torture will be the labor pain through which I am born into eternal life, and you become the mother of the one beloved to me, which is everyone.

By giving us a mother, Jesus fulfills the prophecy enfolded in the words “Our Father,” since it is not possible for a living being to have a father without also having a mother. Yet a truth even more momentous, more staggering in its implications for the human person, is that we are his gift to her. The defining paradox of the divine economy is that we gain things, including our lives, only by giving them away (Matthew 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24). But what if the sacrifice is of something more precious than our own lives? God rewarded Abraham’s willing surrender of his favorite son by making him the father of nations, his descendants numberless as the stars. God rewarded Mary’s willing surrender of her only son by making her the mother of every child ever conceived, flooding her with an ocean of love as unimaginable as heaven itself.
Mary’s new role is also the fulfillment of Simeon’s enigmatic prophecy—a fourth puzzle. I have numbered the prophecy’s four components, the third of which is generally punctuated as parenthetical:
And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to

Mary his mother,

“[1] Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel,
[2] and for a sign that is spoken against
([3] and a sword will pierce through your own soul also),
[4] that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34-35).
In the encyclical Redemptoris Mater, John Paul II treats [3] as a separate element (RM §16):
Simeon addresses Mary with the following words: “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against, that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed”; and he adds with direct reference to her: “and a sword will pierce through your own soul also” (cf. Lk. 2:34-35).
Yet the first part of Simeon’s prophecy (29-32), like most Hebrew poetry, consists of antiphonal verses whose second element supplements or responds to the first. Why would the end break that pattern, with [2] supplementing [1], but [4] augmenting [2] after a parenthetical [3]? Why would the “sign that is spoken against” cause the thoughts of many hearts to be revealed? Finally, why would Simeon, addressing Mary directly in what should be the prophecy’s climactic conclusion, put her shocking destiny in parentheses? These problems disappear if we understand [4] as responding not to [1] or [2], but to [3]. After the sword tears open her soul at the crucifixion, the labor pain of her new motherhood, Jesus will reveal the hearts of her children to her. This helps clarify the referent of “also” in verse 35: the spear that pierces Jesus’s side and the sword that pierces Mary’s soul together will bring to birth the new Church. Consonant with the invariable dynamic of Christianity, extremity of sorrow makes way for extremity of joy.

Who We AreRecognizing the crucial importance of spiritual motherhood, encompassing both Mary’s unique role and her exemplarity for all of us, helps solve a final scriptural puzzle, the two occasions where Jesus appears to be dismissive of his mother in public. First, “a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!’ But he said, ‘Blessed rather (menoun) are those who hear the word (logos) of God and keep it (phylassontes)!’” (Luke 11:27-28). Greek menoun means “rather” in the sense not of “instead” but of “actually, still more.”[16] Hence, Jesus is not denying that Mary is blessed in her biological motherhood (an idea absurd in itself and contradicted by Luke 1:42, 48), but affirming that those who “keep safe the logos of God”[17]—a motherhood of the heart, of which Mary herself is the exemplar (Luke 1:45, 2:19, 51)—are still more blessed.

Second, both Matthew (12:46-50) and Mark (3:31-35) relate that when Jesus’s “mother and brothers” stood outside and asked to speak with him, he gestured toward the crowd he was teaching and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Mark 3:35).[18] Since the narration of the episode ends here, there is no reason to suppose he did not speak with his actual mother afterward; if anything, the scene provides evidence of her continuing involvement in his public life. But more importantly, his startling words, far from rejecting Mary, signify that she is the model of discipleship—that like hers, our task is to mother Christ. We all are called to let him grow within us, to bring him forth into the world, to structure our life around him, to spend hours gazing at him in wonder and gratitude.[19] And to suffer in his suffering.

“It is in Our Lady that God fell in love with Humanity.”[20] Caryll Houslander’s simple and stunning insight is a key to interpreting the biblical narrative, for Mary, like her incarnate son, represents the human being in right relationship with God the Father. What makes that love story so baffling is that it conflicts with our intuition about what the perfect relationship should look like. The Incarnation begins with Mary’s fiat, her full and free consent to God’s proposal of marriage, echoing his fiat lux (Genesis 1:3) at the dawn of Creation; but it also foreshadows Jesus’s fiat voluntas tua (Luke 22:42) in the darkness of Gethsemane, after his prayer that the cup of suffering might pass from him—a request the Father refuses. Mary twice calls herself the Lord’s doulē (Luke 1:38, 48), (female) “servant,” just as Jesus “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a doulos,” a (male) servant (Philippians 2:6-7).

Of her love song to God (Luke 1:46-55), C. S. Lewis remarks, “There is a fierceness, even a touch of Deborah, mixed with the sweetness in the Magnificat to which most painted Madonnas do little justice; matching the frequent severity of His own sayings.”[21] Mary does not understand God’s purposes immediately (Luke 1:29, 34, 2:50). Jesus, too, grows in wisdom as he matures (Luke 2:52), and even though he and the Father are one (John 10:30), he does not share the Father’s omniscience (Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32).

The one recorded episode from Jesus’s late childhood shows that intimacy with God even includes an occasional sense of abandonment. Mary experiences the almost unimaginable terror of having lost her son:
After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when they saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” (Luke 2:46-48)

Her astonishment in finding him after three days, teaching in the Temple, adumbrates that of the embryonic Church when he opens the Scripture to his disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-27), himself having become the new Temple (John 2:19-22). But any mother who has feared her child was lost will also hear in Mary’s question, “Son, why have you treated us so?,” the memory of an anguish like that in Jesus’s cry from the Cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Both questions have the same answer: because, for reasons beyond our comprehension, a descent into the hell of feeling ourselves separated from God is a necessary precursor to the heaven of reunion with him.

The Book of Revelation, the prophetic vision of Mary’s first adopted son, culminates in that triumphant reunion. At the book’s center (Revelation 12), the “woman clothed with the sun” gives birth in agony to a male child who is immediately taken up to God’s throne—a heaven’s-eye view of the crucifixion.[22] After angels cast the dragon down to earth, he tries to fight the woman, but she is rescued from his clutches; he then makes war on the rest of her offspring. The New Oxford Annotated Bible commentary notes that the woman “appears to be the heavenly representative of God’s people, first as Israel (from whom Jesus the Messiah was born, v. 5), then as the Christian Church (which is persecuted by the dragon, v. 13).”

Nevertheless, the ancient mystical equation of Mary (Bride of God and our Mother) with the Church (Bride of God and our Mother) follows naturally from all I have said.[24] If we re-read the rambling “first narrative” of the past two millennia in light of this prophecy, it becomes clear that many of the great movements of history can be understood as the dragon’s attempts to diminish or distort Mary’s importance. He knows the human family will remain broken until we come to realize that we have a loving Father and Mother. For the avatar of Pride, it must also be particularly irksome to have been defeated by a human girl.
And Mary is indeed human, “truly our sister,” as a prominent work of feminist Mariology reminds us.[25] She is clothed with the sun, but she is not that sun; it shines around and through her. Gerard Manley Hopkins beautifully explores the paradox of her sublime humility in his poem

“The Blessed Virgin Compared to the

Air We Breathe”:

[She] mothers each new grace
That does now reach our race--
Mary Immaculate,
Merely a woman, yet
Whose presence, power is
Great as no goddess’s
Was deemèd, dreamèd; who
This one work has to do—
Let all God’s glory through,
God’s glory which would go
Through her and from her flow
Off, and no way but so.

Duns Scotus’s conclusive argument for the Immaculate Conception was that Christ’s preserving Mary from sin is a more perfect testimony to his power than his liberating her from it. A comparably simple, intuitive argument for Mary’s Co-redemption and Mediation of all graces is that a story in which the continuing marital relationship of Bridegroom and Woman brings salvation is a more perfect story—even if their roles are as different as those of male and female in generating a new life, or of sunlight and air in sustaining one.

At Cana, Jesus chose to perform his first, iconic miracle through Mary’s intercession. From the Cross, he chose to expand that intercession to include the wants of every human being.

God chooses to let his graces flow to us through her hands so that her joy, and ours, may be full. It is in gifting Mary with the dignity of causality that he most perfectly reveals his love for all his children, who we are and who we are meant to become.

In Psalm 110:1,

David says, “The LORD says to my Lord:

‘Sit at my right hand,

until

I make your enemies your footstool’”

In Matthew 22:44,

Jesus quotes this verse in a discussion with

the Pharisees in order to prove that

the Messiah

is more than David’s son;

He is David’s Lord.

The clause the LORD says to my Lord contains two different Hebrew words for “lord” in the original. The first word is Yahweh, the Hebrew covenant name for God. The second is adoni, meaning “lord” or “master.” So, in Psalm 110:1, David writes this: “Yahweh says to my Adoni. . . .” To better understand Jesus’ use of Psalm 110:1, we’ll look at the identity of each “Lord” separately.

The first “Lord” in “the LORD says to my Lord” is the eternal God of the universe, the Great I AM who revealed Himself to Moses in Exodus 3. This self-existent, omnipotent God speaks in Psalm 110 to someone else who is also David’s “Lord.”

The second “Lord” in “the LORD says to my Lord” is the Messiah, or the Christ. Psalm 110 describes this second “Lord” as follows:

● He sits at God’s right hand (verse 1)
● He will triumph over all His enemies and rule over them (verses 1–2)
● He will lead a glorious procession of troops (verse 3)
● He will be “a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek” (verse 4)
● He will have divine power to crush kings, judge nations, and slay the wicked (verses 5–6)
● He will find refreshment and be exalted (verse 7)

In Matthew 22:44, Jesus unmistakably identifies the second “Lord” of Psalm 110:1 as the Messiah, and the Pharisees all agree that, yes, David was speaking of the Messiah. When David wrote, “The LORD says to my Lord,” he distinctly said that the Messiah (or the Christ) was his lord and master—his Adoni.

A common title for the Messiah in Jesus’ day was “Son of David,” based on the fact that the Messiah would be the descendant of David who would inherit the throne and fulfill the Davidic Covenant (see 2 Samuel 7). Jesus capitalizes on the Jewish use of the title “Son of David” to drive home His point in Matthew 22. “While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, ‘What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?’ ‘The son of David,’ they replied. He said to them, ‘How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him “Lord”? For he says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’” If then David calls him “Lord,” how can he be his son?’” (Matthew 22:41–45).

Jesus’ reasoning is this: “Son of David” is your title for the Messiah, yet David himself calls Him “Lord.” The Messiah, then, must be much more than just a son—a physical descendant—of David. According to Psalm 110:1, this “Son of David” was alive during David’s time and was greater than David. All of this information is contained in the statement that “the LORD says to my Lord.” Jesus is David’s Lord; He is the Christ, the Jewish Messiah, and Psalm 110 is a promise of Jesus’ victory at His second coming.

Another important point that Jesus makes in Matthew 22 is that David wrote the psalm under the guidance of the Holy Spirit; David was “speaking by the Spirit,” Jesus says (verse 43). Clearly, Jesus taught the inspiration of Scripture. When David wrote, “The LORD says to my Lord,” he was recording exactly what God wanted him to write.

Hebrews 12:2 says that we should be “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

In Hebrews 11, the writer goes through a long list of faithful examples that the readers of the letter would do well to follow. He begins chapter 12 with this: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” So believers are pictured as being in a race. They can look at the examples that have gone before them. The people in Hebrews 11 are the “cloud of witnesses” mentioned in Hebrews 12:1. In order to “run” effectively, believers need to get rid of sin and other entanglements. People who are serious about running races do not carry extra baggage—you have never seen an Olympic runner carrying a suitcase or talking on a cell phone during the race. Everything that is not absolutely essential is left behind. And to win the race, the runner must finish. The athlete must not give up before finishing. Perseverance is required.

The author of Hebrews then calls believers to consider the ultimate example of perseverance—Jesus. Runners in an athletic competition cannot be distracted by peripheral objects. As runners in the race of life, we must “fix our eyes on Jesus.” As we run, we must be looking at Him in faith. He is more than our example; He is our final destination. We must run toward Him with all our might, in the promise that we will be conformed to His image.

Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus is the “pioneer” of our faith. He is the one who blazed the trail. He is the one who made the way into the Holy of Holies so that the rest of us could follow into God’s presence (Hebrews 10:19–20). Jesus is also the “perfecter” of our faith—He is the one who brought it to completion. He did not just start it; He finished it. The verse goes on to explain just how He finished.

First, Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus endured the cross. There in Gethsemane, He determined to carry out the will of the Father (Matthew 26:39). He did this by focusing on the joy that was to come. He knew that He would be resurrected and restored to the place of glory that He had with the Father from the beginning (John 17:5). He looked forward with joy to the people He would save. He willingly gave His life to save His sheep (John 10:10–11).

Second, Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus scorned the shame of the cross. Crucifixion was a gruesome, tortuous death, and it included public humiliation and shame. Jesus was ridiculed as He was hanging on the cross. The sign hung above Him read “King of the Jews,” a cruel irony since it was true, but those who murdered Him did not believe it. Others on the ground mocked Him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One” (Luke 23:35). The cruel irony is that He could only save others by not saving Himself. He was truly the Messiah, and this prevented Him from coming down off the cross. He was the Chosen One, and He had been chosen for the very purpose of dying as God’s sacrifice for sin. It is also an irony that God would deliver Him, but only after He endured the cross.

Third, Hebrews 12:2 says that, after Jesus’ death, God raised Him from the dead, and Jesus ascended into heaven where He now sits at the right hand of God the Father. This signifies Jesus’ authority (at the right hand) and the fact that His work is finished (He sat down). This position is contrasted with the priests at the time who were standing and offering daily sacrifices (Hebrews 10:11–13).

The original audience of the book of Hebrews seems to have been Jews who had professed faith in Christ but who were now facing persecution from the unbelieving Jews. They were tempted to turn back, to renounce Christ and to go back to the temple and the sacrificial system. Believers who read the book of Hebrews today are faced with a similar temptation: the world and what we have left behind are always calling to us, wanting us to go back—if not to permanently return, at least to go back for visits as often as possible. But we are running a race. There is no time to backtrack or dillydally. The race we are running is probably more like a military-style obstacle course than a nice and neat Olympic race. There are real dangers along the way, but we must keep moving forward. We have the examples of past saints to follow, but our supreme example is Jesus Himself, the one who blazed the way, finished the race, paid for our sins, and is now seated in the place of highest honor and authority. We look to Him, not only as our example but as our source of strength.

The Scripture has several words translated "right" and the usage of the term,

"right hand"

ranges from a direction, to the opposite of wrong, what is just or what conforms to an established standard, and to a place of honor or authority. In the case of division or appointment in the Bible, the right hand or right side came first, as when Israel (Jacob) divided the blessings to Joseph’s sons before he died

(Genesis 48:13-14).

In addition, a person of high rank who put someone on his right hand gave him equal honor with himself and recognized him as possessing equal dignity and authority. And this is what the Apostle Paul writes of Jesus Christ in Ephesians. "And what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us, the ones believing according to the working of His mighty strength which He worked in Christ in raising Him from the dead, and He seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all principality and authority and power and dominion, and every name being named, not only in this world, but also in the coming age" (Ephesians 1:19-21). Here we see God exalting Jesus above all others by seating Him at the right hand of the Father.

The term "God’s right hand" in prophecy refers to the Messiah to whom is given the power and authority to subdue His enemies (Psalm 110:1; Psalm 118:16). We find a quote in Matthew 22:44 from Psalm 110:1, which is a Messianic Psalm. "The Son of David" is claimed by the LORD Jesus Christ as He is the "greater son of David" or the Messiah. In this passage of Matthew 22, Jesus questions the Pharisees about who they think the "Christ" or the Messiah is. "While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose son is He? They say unto him, The Son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make Thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call Him Lord, how is He his son?" (Matthew 22:41-45, KJV). The position of the Messiah is at God’s right hand.

The fact that Jesus Christ is at the "right hand of God" was a sign to the disciples that Jesus had indeed gone to heaven. In John 16:7-15, Jesus told the disciples that He had to go away and He would send the Holy Spirit. So the coming of the Holy Spirit in the upper room on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13) was proof positive that Jesus was indeed in heaven seated at the right hand of God. This is confirmed in Romans 8:34 where the Apostle Paul writes that Christ is sitting at God’s right hand making intercession for us.

Therefore, what we can say is that "God’s right hand" refers to the Messiah, the LORD Jesus Christ, and He is of equal position, honor, power, and authority with God (John 1:1-5). The fact that Christ is "sitting" refers to the fact that His work of redemption is done and when the fullness of the Gentiles is brought in (Romans 11:25), Christ’s enemies will be made His footstool. When the end of the age comes, all prophecy will be completed, and time will be no more.

From a human perspective, the idea of sitting in heavenly places is challenging to grasp, especially on this side of eternity. Nevertheless, this is the experience of everyone who is redeemed by God’s grace: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4–7, ESV).

Astonishing as it may sound, Christians are united with Jesus Christ in His resurrected life (Colossians 2:12; Romans 6:4). The apostle Paul prays for the Ephesians to understand “the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 1:19–20, NLT). A little later, in Ephesians 2:4–10, Paul explains that the greatness of God’s incredible power toward believers is rivaled by the magnitude of His love, mercy, and grace.

Before salvation, we were spiritually dead in our sins because our “sinful nature was not yet cut away,” but then God made us “alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins” (Colossians 2:13, NLT; see also 1 Corinthians 15:22). Our transgression no longer separates us from God (Colossians 1:21–22; Romans 8:38–39) because we now share in the life of Christ (Romans 8:11). Since Christ is seated “at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms,” so too are we in a spiritual sense. Since we have been “raised to new life with Christ,” we can now set our sights “on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand” (Colossians 3:1, NLT). Physically, we still live in the natural world. But God, by His great power, and because of His immense love, mercy, and grace, raised us from our spiritually dead status to new life in Christ. We now sit in heavenly places.

To sit in heavenly places is more than a figure of speech. It is a spiritual reality for the believer. Because of our union with Christ, we reap the benefit of His position of divine authority (see Psalm 110:1; cf. Acts 2:34–35). He is our Head and our Representative. Peter taught, “Now Christ has gone to heaven. He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers accept his authority” (1 Peter 3:22, NLT; see also Philippians 2:9–11). The gates of hell will not overcome the church (Matthew 16:18; see also 1 John 2:13) because we are more than conquerors through Christ (Romans 8:37; see also 1 John 5:4–5) who gives us the victory (1 Corinthians 15:57).

Our spiritual seat in the heavenly realms is a position of high honor, much like being seated at the VIP table of a Presidential luncheon. We have been given the royal privilege of being enthroned with the Son and will one day partake of His glory. If we let this spiritual truth sink in, it will change the way we think and live. Because we are seated with Christ in heavenly places, our position in heaven is secure, but we must never forget that we don’t deserve our place there. We did nothing to earn it, but God graces us with it anyway (Ephesians 2:8; 4:7; 2 Corinthians 3:5).

As we sit in heavenly places while still living on earth, we have access through Jesus Christ to all of heaven’s privileges and spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3–14). The power of God that raised Jesus from the dead is available and working on our behalf as we walk in this world (Ephesians 1:18–19; Acts 17:28; 1 John 4:9).

We have the whole armor of God at our disposal to help us “stand against the devil’s schemes”

and stand firm

“against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”

(Ephesians 6:11–12).

The making of disciples

is our Lord’s means for answering the prayer, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10). In His infinite wisdom, Jesus chose to use dedicated followers, His disciples, to carry the message of salvation to all peoples of the world. He included this as a command in His last words before His ascension to heaven: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Making disciples is important because it is the Lord’s chosen method of spreading the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ. During His public ministry, Jesus spent more than three years making disciples—teaching and training His chosen twelve. He gave them many convincing proofs that He was the Son of God, the promised Messiah; they believed on Him, though imperfectly. He spoke to the crowds, but often He drew the disciples aside privately to teach them the meaning of His parables and miracles. He sent them out on ministry assignments. He also taught them that soon He would be returning to His Father following His death and resurrection (Matthew 16:21; John 12:23-36, 14:2-4). Though they could not comprehend it, He made the disciples this astonishing promise: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12). Jesus also promised to send His Spirit to be with them forever (John 14:16-17).

As promised, on the Day of Pentecost,

the Holy Spirit came with power on the believers,

who then were emboldened to speak the Good News to everyone. The remainder of the Book of Acts gives the exciting account of all that was accomplished through them. In one city the opposition said, “These who have turned the world upside down are come hither also” (Acts 17:6 KJV). Multitudes placed their faith in Jesus Christ, and they also became disciples. When strong persecution came from the false religious leaders, they dispersed to other areas and continued to obey Christ’s command. Churches were established throughout the Roman Empire, and eventually in other nations.

Later, because of disciples such as Martin Luther and others, Europe was opened to the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the Reformation. Eventually, Christians emigrated to the New World to make Christ known. Though the world still is not completely evangelized, the challenge is as viable now as ever before. The command of our Lord remains – “Go and make disciples, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” The characteristics of a disciple may be simply stated as

• one who is assured of his salvation (John 3:16) and is activated by the indwelling Holy Spirit

(John 14:26-27);

• one who is growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior

(2 Peter 3:18); and

• one who shares Christ’s burden for the lost souls of men and women. Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field”

(Matthew 9:37-38).

If “free will”

means that God gives humans the opportunity to make choices that genuinely affect their destiny, then yes, human beings do have a free will. The world’s current sinful state is directly linked to choices made by Adam and Eve. God created mankind in His own image, and that included the ability to choose.

However, free will does not mean that mankind can do anything he pleases. Our choices are limited to what is in keeping with our nature. For example, a man may choose to walk across a bridge or not to walk across it; what he may not choose is to fly over the bridge—his nature prevents him from flying. In a similar way, a man cannot choose to make himself righteous—his (sin) nature prevents him from canceling his guilt (Romans 3:23). So, free will is limited by nature.

This limitation does not mitigate our accountability. The Bible is clear that we not only have the ability to choose, we also have the responsibility to choose wisely. In the Old Testament, God chose a nation (Israel), but individuals within that nation still bore an obligation to choose obedience to God. And individuals outside of Israel were able to choose to believe and follow God as well (e.g., Ruth and Rahab).

In the New Testament, sinners are commanded over and over to “repent” and “believe” (Matthew 3:2; 4:17; Acts 3:19; 1 John 3:23). Every call to repent is a call to choose. The command to believe assumes that the hearer can choose to obey the command.

Jesus identified the problem of some unbelievers when He told them, “You refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:40). Clearly, they could have come if they wanted to; their problem was they chose not to. “A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7), and those who are outside of salvation are “without excuse” (Romans 1:20-21).

But how can man, limited by a sin nature, ever choose what is good? It is only through the grace and power of God that free will truly becomes “free” in the sense of being able to choose salvation (John 15:16). It is the Holy Spirit who works in and through a person’s will to regenerate that person (John 1:12-13) and give him/her a new nature “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). Salvation is God’s work. At the same time, our motives, desires, and actions are voluntary, and we are rightly held responsible for them.

Author: John 21:20–24 describes the author of the gospel of John as “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” and for both historical and internal reasons this is understood to be John the Apostle, one of the sons of Zebedee (Luke 5:10).

Date of Writing: Discovery of certain papyrus fragments dated around AD 135 require the gospel of John to have been written, copied, and circulated before then. And, while some think it was written before Jerusalem was destroyed (AD 70), AD 85—90 is a more accepted time for the writing of the gospel of John.

Purpose of Writing: The author cites the purpose of the gospel of John as follows: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). Unlike the three Synoptic Gospels, John’s purpose is not to present a chronological narrative of the life of Christ but to display His deity. John sought to strengthen the faith of second-generation believers and bring about faith in others, but he also sought to correct a false teaching that was spreading in the first century. John emphasized Jesus Christ as “the Son of God,” fully God and fully man, contrary to a false doctrine that taught the “Christ-spirit” came upon the human Jesus at His baptism and left Him at the crucifixion.

Key Verses:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14).

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John 1:29).

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent’” (John 6:29).

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

“And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28).

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’”(John 11:25–26).

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6).

“Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father”?’” (John 14:9).

“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17).

“So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit” (John 19:30).

“Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’” (John 20:29).

Brief Summary: The gospel of John includes only seven miracles—John calls them “signs”—to demonstrate the deity of Christ and illustrate His ministry. Some of these miracles and stories, such as the raising of Lazarus, are found only in John. His is the most theological of the four Gospels, and he often gives the reason behind events mentioned in the other gospels. The gospel of John shares much about the approaching ministry of the Holy Spirit after Jesus’ ascension. There are certain words or phrases that create a recurring theme in the gospel of John: believe, witness, Comforter, life – death, light – darkness, I am, and love.

The gospel of John introduces Jesus Christ, not from His birth, but from “the beginning,” before creation. John calls Jesus “the Word” (Logos) who, as God Himself, was involved in every aspect of creation (John 1:1–3) and who later became flesh (verse 14) in order that He might take away our sins as the spotless Lamb of God (verse 29). The gospel of John includes several spiritual conversations, such as Jesus’ talk with the Samaritan woman that shows Him as the Messiah (John 4:26) and Jesus’ meeting with Nicodemus that explains salvation through His vicarious death on the cross (John 3:14–16). In the gospel of John, Jesus repeatedly angers the Jewish leaders by correcting them (John 2:13–16); healing on the Sabbath, and claiming traits belonging only to God (John 5:18; 8:56–59; 9:6, 16; 10:33).

The last nine chapters of the gospel of John deal with the final week of Jesus’ life. Jesus prepares His disciples for His coming death and for their ministry after His resurrection and ascension (John 14–17). He then willingly dies on the cross in our place (John 10:15–18), paying our sin debt in full (John 19:30) so that whoever trusts in Him will be saved (John 3:14–16). Jesus then rises from the dead, convincing even the most doubting of His disciples that He is God and Master (John 20:24–29).

Connections: The gospel of John’s portrayal of Jesus as the God of the Old Testament is seen most emphatically in the seven “I Am” statements of Jesus. He is the “Bread of life” (John 6:35), provided by God to feed the souls of His people, just as He provided manna from heaven to feed the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 16:11–36). Jesus is the “Light of the world” (John 8:12), the same Light that God promised to His people in the Old Testament (Isaiah 30:26; 60:19–22) and which will find its culmination in the New Jerusalem when Christ the Lamb will be its Light (Revelation 21:23). Two of the “I Am” statements refer to Jesus as both the “Good Shepherd” and the “Door of the sheep.” Here are clear references to Jesus as the God of the Old Testament, the Shepherd of Israel (Psalm 23:1; 80:1; Jeremiah 31:10; Ezekiel 34:23) and, as the only Door into the sheepfold, the only way of salvation.

The Jews believed in the resurrection and, in fact, used the doctrine to try to trick Jesus into making statements they could use against Him. But His statement at the tomb of Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), must have astounded them. He was claiming to be the cause of resurrection and in possession of the power of life and death. None other than God Himself could claim such a thing. Similarly, Jesus’ claim to be “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6) linked Him unmistakably to the Old Testament. His is the “Way of Holiness” prophesied in Isaiah 35:8; He established the City of Truth of Zechariah 8:3 when He was in Jerusalem and preached the truths of the gospel. As “the Life,” Jesus affirms His deity, the Creator of life, God incarnate (John 1:1–3; Genesis 2:7). Finally, as the “true Vine” (John 15:1, 5), Jesus identifies Himself with the nation of Israel, who are called the vineyard of the Lord in many Old Testament passages. As the true Vine of the vineyard of Israel, He portrays Himself as the Lord of the “true Israel”—all those who would come to Him in faith (cf. Romans 9:6).

Practical Application: The gospel of John continues to fulfill its purpose of evangelizing the lost (John 3:16 is likely the best-known Bible verse) and is often used in evangelistic Bible studies. In the recorded encounters between Jesus and Nicodemus and the woman at the well (chapters 3—4), we learn much from Jesus’ model of personal evangelism. His comforting words to His disciples before His death (John 14:1–6, 16; 16:33) are still of great comfort in sorrowful times. Jesus’ “high priestly prayer” for believers in chapter 17 is also a wonderful source of encouragement for believers. John’s teachings concerning the deity of Christ (John 1:1–3, 14; 5:22–23; 8:58; 14:8–9; 20:28) are helpful in apologetics and provide a clear revelation of who Jesus is: fully God and fully man.

The debate rages over whether

“the rock”

on which Christ

will build His church is Peter,

or Peter’s confession that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16). In all honesty, there is no way for us to be 100% sure which view is correct. The grammatical construction allows for either view. The first view is that Jesus was declaring that Peter would be the “rock” on which He would build His church. Jesus appears to be using a play on words. “You are Peter (petros) and on this rock (petra) I will build my church.” Since Peter’s name means rock, and Jesus is going to build His church on a rock – it appears that Christ is linking the two together. God used Peter greatly in the foundation of the church. It was Peter who first proclaimed the Gospel on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-47). Peter was also the first to take the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10:1-48). In a sense, Peter was the rock “foundation” of the church.

The other popular interpretation of the rock is that Jesus was referring not to Peter, but to Peter’s confession of faith in verse 16: “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” Jesus had never explicitly taught Peter and the other disciples the fullness of His identity, and He recognized that God had sovereignly opened Peter’s eyes and revealed to him who Jesus really was. His confession of Christ as Messiah poured forth from him, a heartfelt declaration of Peter’s personal faith in Jesus. It is this personal faith in Christ which is the hallmark of the true Christian. Those who have placed their faith in Christ, as Peter did, are the church. Peter expresses this in 1 Peter 2:4 when he addressed the believers who had been dispersed around the ancient world: “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

At this point, Jesus declares that God had revealed this truth to Peter. The word for “Peter,” Petros, means a small stone (John 1:42). Jesus used a play on words here with petra (“on this rock”) which means a foundation boulder, as in Matthew 7:24, 25 when He described the rock upon which the wise man builds his house. Peter himself uses the same imagery in his first epistle: the church is built of numerous small petros “living stones” (1 Peter 2:5) who, like Peter, confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God,

and those confessions of faith

are the

bedrock of the church.

In addition, the New Testament makes it abundantly clear that Christ is both the foundation (Acts 4:11, 12; 1 Corinthians 3:11) and the head (Ephesians 5:23) of the church. It is a mistake to think that here He is giving either of those roles to Peter. There is a sense in which the apostles played a foundational role in the building of the church (Ephesians 2:20), but the role of primacy is reserved for Christ alone, not assigned to Peter. So, Jesus’ words here are best interpreted as a simple play on words in that a boulder-like truth came from the mouth of one who was called a small stone. And Christ Himself is called the “chief cornerstone” (1 Peter 2:6, 7). The chief cornerstone of any building was that upon which the building was anchored. If Christ declared Himself to be the cornerstone, how could Peter be the rock upon which the church was built? It is more likely that the believers, of which Peter is one, are the stones which make up the church, anchored upon the Cornerstone, “and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame” (1 Peter 2:6).

The Roman Catholic Church uses the argument that Peter is the rock to which Jesus referred as evidence that it is the one true church. As we have seen, Peter’s being the rock is not the only valid interpretation of this verse. Even if Peter is the rock in Matthew 16:18, this is meaningless in giving the Roman Catholic Church any authority. Scripture nowhere records Peter being in Rome. Scripture nowhere describes Peter as being supreme over the other apostles. The New Testament does not describe Peter as being the “all authoritative leader” of the early Christian church. Peter was not the first pope, and Peter did not start the Roman Catholic Church. The origin of the Catholic Church is not in the teachings of Peter or any other apostle. If Peter truly was the founder of the Roman Catholic Church, it would be in full agreement with what Peter taught

(Acts chapter 2, 1 Peter, 2 Peter).

Matthew was writing to a Hebrew audience,

and one of his purposes

was to show from Jesus’ genealogy and fulfillment

of Old Testament prophecies that He was the long-expected

Messiah,

and thus should be believed in. Matthew’s emphasis is that Jesus is the promised King,

the “Son of David,”

who would forever sit upon the throne of Israel

(Matthew 9:27; 21:9).

Mark, a cousin of Barnabas (Colossians 4:10), was an eyewitness to the events in the life of Christ as well as being a friend of the apostle Peter. Mark wrote for a Gentile audience, as is brought out by his not including things important to Jewish readers (genealogies, Christ’s controversies with Jewish leaders of His day, frequent references to the Old Testament, etc.). Mark emphasizes Christ as the suffering Servant, the One who came not to be served, but to serve and give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

Luke, the “beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14 KJV), evangelist, and companion of the apostle Paul, wrote both the gospel of Luke and the Acts of the apostles. Luke is the only Gentile author of the New Testament. He has long been accepted as a diligent master historian by those who have used his writings in genealogical and historical studies. As a historian, he states that it is his intent to write down an orderly account of the life of Christ based on the reports of those who were eyewitnesses (Luke 1:1-4). Because he specifically wrote for the benefit of Theophilus, apparently a Gentile of some stature, his gospel was composed with a Gentile audience in mind, and his intent is to show that a Christian’s faith is based upon historically reliable and verifiable events. Luke often refers to Christ as the “Son of Man,” emphasizing His humanity, and he shares many details that are not found in the other gospel accounts.

The gospel of John, written by John the apostle, is distinct from the other three Gospels and contains much theological content in regard to the person of Christ and the meaning of faith. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the “Synoptic Gospels” because of their similar styles and content and because they give a synopsis of the life of Christ. The gospel of John begins not with Jesus’ birth or earthly ministry but with the activity and characteristics of the Son of God before He became man (John 1:14). The gospel of John emphasizes the deity of Christ, as is seen in his use of such phrases as “the Word was God” (John 1:1), “the Savior of the World” (John 4:42), the “Son of God” (used repeatedly), and “Lord and...God” (John 20:28). In John’s gospel, Jesus also affirms His deity with several “I Am” statements; most notable among them is John 8:58, in which He states that “...before Abraham was, I Am” (compare to Exodus 3:13-14). But John also emphasizes the fact of Jesus’ humanity, desiring to show the error of a religious sect of his day, the Gnostics, who did not believe in Christ’s humanity. John’s gospel spells out his overall purpose for writing: “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31).

Thus, in having four distinct and yet equally accurate accounts of Christ, different aspects of His person and ministry are revealed. Each account becomes like a different-colored thread in a tapestry woven together to form a more complete picture of this One who is beyond description. And while we will never fully understand everything about Jesus Christ (John 20:30), through the four Gospels we can know enough of Him to appreciate who He is and what He has done for us so that we may have life through faith in Him.

2) To enable us to objectively verify the truthfulness of their accounts. The Bible, from earliest times, states that judgment in a court of law was not to be made against a person based on the testimony of a single eyewitness but that two or three as a minimum number were required (Deuteronomy 19:15). Even so, having different accounts of the person and earthly ministry of Jesus Christ enables us to assess the accuracy of the information we have concerning Him.

Simon Greenleaf, a well-known and accepted authority on what constitutes reliable evidence in a court of law, examined the four Gospels from a legal perspective. He noted that the type of eyewitness accounts given in the four Gospels—accounts which agree, but with each writer choosing to omit or add details different from the others—is typical of reliable, independent sources that would be accepted in a court of law as strong evidence. Had the Gospels contained exactly the same information with the same details written from the same perspective, it would indicate collusion, i.e., of there having been a time when the writers got together beforehand to “get their stories straight” in order to make their writings seem credible. The differences between the Gospels, even the apparent contradictions of details upon first examination, speak to the independent nature of the writings. Thus, the independent nature of the four Gospel accounts, agreeing in their information but differing in perspective, amount of detail, and which events were recorded, indicate that the record that we have of Christ’s life and ministry as presented in the Gospels is factual and reliable.

3) To reward those who are diligent seekers. Much can be gained by an individual study of each of the Gospels. But still more can be gained by comparing and contrasting the different accounts of specific events of Jesus’ ministry. For instance, in Matthew 14 we are given the account of the feeding of the 5000 and Jesus walking on the water. In Matthew 14:22 we are told that “Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.” One may ask, why did He do this? There is no apparent reason given in Matthew’s account. But when we combine it with the account in Mark 6, we see that the disciples had come back from casting out demons and healing people through the authority He had given them when He sent them out two-by-two. But they returned with “big heads,” forgetting their place and ready now to instruct Him (Matthew 14:15). So, in sending them off in the evening to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus reveals two things to them. As they struggle against the wind and waves in their own self-reliance until the early hours of the morning (Mark 6:48-50), they begin to see that 1) they can achieve nothing for God in their own ability and 2) nothing is impossible if they call upon Him and live in dependence upon His power. There are many passages containing similar “jewels” to be found by the diligent student of the Word of God who takes the time to compare Scripture with Scripture.

A few weeks ago we read about

Jesus going up to Jerusalem for a ceremonial feast

(probably the Passover)

and, coming to a pool named Bethesda, healed a crippled man

on the Sabbath Day.

The Jews had a number of different Sabbaths or Shabbat. Not only did they observe a Saturday Sabbath, but four special Sabbaths, as well as a Sabbatical Year.

The Sabbaths were to be times of rest where no work

was done, but God was celebrated.When Jesus healed this cripple man on a Sabbath (probably a High Sabbath), the Pharisees were incensed!

They started “headhunting” Jesus.

John 5:16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.

This is repeated again in:
John 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
Jesus did not try to be politically correct, and so that current cancel culture decided they would revoke Jesus’ life! They felt they were justified in doing this because the Law of God demanded death for blasphemy. God said:
Leviticus 24:16 (ESV) Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name,

shall be put to death.

In order to execute a person for blasphemy there had to be two or more witnesses that the evil was done. Jesus counters the charges leveled against Him (- that He made Himself equal to God, and – that He did something unlawful on the Sabbath). You see, Jesus neither committed blasphemy (for He IS equal to God), neither did He do wrong on the Sabbath.

Jesus calls on four witnesses to stand up

for Him

against the Pharisees.

John 5:31-39 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. 32 There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. 33 Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. 34 But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. 35 He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. 36 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. 37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. 38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. 39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Jesus said in verse 31, “If I bear witness (μαρτυρέω martyréō, [pronounced mar-too-reh’-o]) of myself, my witness (μαρτυρία martyría, [pronounced mar-too-ree’-ah]) is not true”. Jesus is not saying that what He Himself speaks in not true. He is saying that, according to the Law of God, the witness of ONE was not accepted. There had to be two or more witnesses to the truth. Jesus said in verse 32, “There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of Me is true”. There are other witnesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah sent from God. And if Jesus IS the Christ,

the

Messiah sent from God,

then

He is NOT guilty of blasphemy.

John The Baptist

Is

The First Witness

That Jesus Is The MessiahJohn 5:33-35 Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. 34 But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved.

He was a burning and a shining light:

and ye were willing for a season to

rejoice in his light.

When the Messiah came, it was prophesied that He would come with a Herald appointed by God. We read:
Malachi 3:1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in …
Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

According to the Gospels, John the Baptist came as a fulfillment of these prophesies (John 1:23; Mark 1:2-5; Matthew 3:1-3). When John was still forming as a baby in his mother Elisabeth, when Mary came to visit her cousin. As soon as Mary spoke to Elisabeth, that baby John leaped in her womb (Luke 1:41).

Elisabeth told Mary,

Luke 1:44 … as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
John was born about six months before Jesus Christ Himself came into the world. His ministry started about six months before Jesus’ ministry started. John was asked at one time if he was the Messiah. John told that he was NOT the Messiah, but that “the One Who is coming is over me, who’s shoestrings I am not worthy to untie” (John 1:27). When John saw Jesus, he told the crowd:
John 1:29-31 … Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. 30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. 31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
John’s entire mission of baptizing was to make Jesus Christ “manifest to Israel” as the Messiah. John the Baptist told the Pharisees:
Matthew 3:11-12 He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy {Spirit}, and with fire: 12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
John foretold that Jesus would be the judge of all – the fan is in His hand to burn up the chaff and gather the wheat (the believer) into the Kingdom of God. John the Baptist is a witness that Jesus is the Christ.
The Miracles Jesus Did Are The Second
Witness That Jesus Calls For His DefenseJohn 5:36 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.
This is not the first time Jesus referred to the “works” that He as the witness that He is Messiah. In Chapter 10 the Pharisees come to Jesus, and directly challenge Him:
John 10:24-26 … How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. 25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. 26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
That is very clear. “The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me”. The Messiah – Eternal God become perfect man – did miraculous works, works that only God could do. When later John the Baptist was thrown into prison by Herod, he sent messengers to Jesus asking,
Matthew 11:3 (ESV) … Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?
The message that Jesus sent back was consider My works:
Matthew 11:4-6 (ESV) “… Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
When Jesus healed at crippled man at Bethesda, His very action proved that He is the Messiah. God is the Source of life and light. The Bible says of God:
Psalm 104:1-2 Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, 2 covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent.
Jesus Christ is God the Father’s Only Begotten Son. He brings light to those who wander about in darkness. He brings love to those who need it most. Jesus said:
John 8:12 … “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 9:5 … “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Jesus, like God the Father, has “in Him no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Jesus alone is the “the light of the world”. Everywhere Jesus went, He made the broken whole. In the Gospel of John alone Jesus:
Turned water into wine in Cana (2:1-11)
Healed an official’s son in Capernaum (4:46-54)
Healed a crippled man at the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem (5:1-18)
Fedover 5,000 near the Sea of Galilee (6:5-14)
Walked on the water of the Sea of Galilee (6:16-21)
Healed a blind man in Jerusalem (9:1-7)
Raisedthe dead Lazarus in Bethany (11:1-45)
Jesus angered the Pharisees when He healed people on the Sabbath. But the fact that He could do these miraculous things – even the cast out of devils – proved that God was behind His ministry. When the Pharisees accused Jesus of “casting out demons by the power of the devil” (Luke 11:15), Jesus responded by saying:
Luke 11:20 … if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Jesus worked the works of God. These miracles proved He is Messiah.
God the Father Is The Third Witness
That Jesus Calls To The StandJohn 5:37-38 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. 38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
On the day that John the Baptist baptized Jesus, the Bible tells us:
Matthew 3:16-17 (ESV) … when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
The Holy Spirit descended to rest on Jesus “like a dove”, then the Father spoke, saying “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased”. It has been said that God has many sons by faith in Christ, but only ONE Son “in Whom He is well pleased”.
Later in His ministry, our Lord Jesus will lead Peter, James, and John to the Mount of Transfiguration where the Father will speak.The Bible says that Jesus was transfigured before them, and His face shined like the sun, while His clothing was white as light (Matthew 17:2). As Elijah and Moses stood talking with Jesus, Peter spoke up.
“Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three places of worship here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
While Peter was speaking, the Father interrupted him, saying (Matthew 17:5):
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;
listen to Him.”
Later Peter would write of this witness. We read:
2 Peter 1:16-18 ….we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
Peter said, “We heard the Father endorse the Son”. The Apostle John, who was with Peter at the mount of transfiguration, wrote:
1 John 5:9-12 (ESV) If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Though the Pharisees “have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen God’s shape” (John 5:37), those who believed in Jesus and walked with Him heard the Father’s endorsement. Jesus said in another place:
John 8:18 … I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.
Jesus Christ is the Messiah! But there is one more witness that Jesus calls to His defense against stoning.

The Fourth Witness

Jesus Calls Is The

Scriptures The Pharisees Studied

Jesus said in John 5:39 …

Search the scriptures;

for in them ye think ye have eternal life:

and they are they which

testify of me

When Jesus speaks of the scriptures, He is referring to the Old Testament, the Bible that was written at that time in history. Jesus gets a little more specific toward the end of this chapter. Read with me:

John 5:45-47 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. 46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

Moses, under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, wrote the first five books of our Bible. Called the Pentateuch or the Books of the Law or The Torah, these books are the foundation on which the rest of the Scripture is laid. The New Testament often quotes the Old Testament to affirm Christ as the Messiah.

In Galatians we read:

Galatians 3:7-9 (ESV)

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Paul is quoting the promise that God made to Abram (Abraham) back in Genesis 12 – the writings of Moses. He is saying that when God said:

“in you {Abraham} all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

(Genesis 12:3)

that God was speaking of the

Gospel of Christ.

Those who receive Jesus Christ as THE Christ shall be blessed whether they are Jews or Gentiles. “in thee ALL the families of the earth shall be blessed”. Jesus said the Old Testament Scriptures – especially the writings of Moses – spoke of Him and His ministry.

Listen:

In John 2:17, Jesus drives the money changers out of the Temple. This was prophesied in Psalm 69:9.
In John 6, Jesus spoke of the manna that God gave Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 16:15). Then Jesus said, “The Bread of God is He that comes down from Heaven, and gives life to the world”. He made Himself to be the manna of Heaven!
In John 6:44-45 Jesus said “no one comes to Me unless the Father that sent Me draws him”, and then quotes Isaiah 54:13, “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God”.
In John 7:38-39 Jesus compares the Holy Spirit to Living Water. In the Old Testament the Spirit is compared to water a number of times (Isaiah 44:3; Ezekiel 36:25-26).

Throughout Jesus’ ministry He often said “it is written”, then quoted Old Testament texts. Jesus told us:
Matthew 5:17-18 (ESV) “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not a {jot or tittle}, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Our Jesus did not come to erase the Law,

but

to be the Fulfiller of the Law.

I could quote many more quotations from the Old Testament texts that Jesus used. The Old Testament – especially the writings of Moses – testify that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ. But there is one text I’d like to read that is particularly pertinent.
When Moses got ready to leave Israel (for his time was up), he told that nation:

Deuteronomy 18:15-19 (ESV) … “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
God promised through Moses that He would raise up a replacement who would stand in Moses place. Early in John’s Gospel we read:
John 1:17 … the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Jesus is that Prophet Who would come and lead God’s people instead of Moses. Israel looked for the coming of the Messiah. When Philip met Jesus, he ran to tell Nathaniel:
John 1:45 … We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write,

Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

When Peter spoke of the need to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, he said:

Acts 3:18-23 …

those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. 19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. 20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. 22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. 23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.

Jesus Christ is THAT Prophet, the Messiah. Moses gave us the Law, but Jesus Christ as Messiah fulfills the Law, giving us Grace and Truth. What does this mean for us today?

If Jesus Is The Christ, The Messiah,

There Is

No Other Way

To Be Made Right With God

So many people today believe there are “many ways to God”.

But based

upon

the fourfold Witness

Jesus gives to us

(John the Baptist, Christ’s miraculous works, God from Heaven, and the writings of Moses) there is only ONE way to God – that is, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus told the Pharisees:

John 5:40 … ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.

There is no other Source of Eternal Life but faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. To be saved from eternal judgment you must receive Jesus Christ as He is, the One and only Savior and Lord. I am going to close

by quoting the Apostle John:

1 John 5:11-12

And this is the record,

that God hath given to us eternal life, and this

life is in his Son.

12 He that hath the Son hath life;

and he that hath not the Son of God

hath not life.

Both numbers and colors have significance in interpreting Scripture (Read also: The Meaning of Colors in the Bible). The Word of God is clear in what is written, and it is deep in what is revealed through patterns, types, and symbolism. Hebrew hermeneutics has an interpretation approach that includes a “remez.” A remez is a hint of a hidden message or a deeper meaning that is below the surface or behind the words. Numbers and colors are a remez.

Believing everything in Scripture has significance and knowing that everything was put there by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we should approach the symbolism of biblical numbers and colors with a desire to understand what God is revealing through them. We will address numbers here and colors next week.
Numbers in the Bible “If God has given all things their significance, and defined their bounds according to time, space, power, and number, and if He has appointed certain measurements to regulate things and times, biblical numbers must be symbolical, and be worthy of our study; and if a fit subject for study, the laws by which this symbolism of numbers is controlled, require to be ascertained.” — Patrick Fairbairn, Scottish minister and theologian, 1805-1874

The symbolism of numbers is defined by identifying patterns throughout the Bible. Since the patterns vary, some numbers are not as clearly defined as others. The symbolism of numbers 1, 3, and 7 are most agreed upon, while variations may occur with others.

Remember, the meaning of numbers in the Bible is not perfect, but the meaning of the written Word is always perfect. This list of biblical numbers and meanings is by no means exhaustive. It is intended to give a basic understanding of patterns that reveal what these numbers represent.
1. Union and OnenessOne is independent of all other numbers and is contained in all other numbers. One is only divisible by itself.

1 represents the union of the Godhead as one God.
Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD
John 10:30 I and my Father are one.
1 Corinthians 8:4 …there is no other God but one.
Galatians 3:20 … God is one.
1 represents the union of man and woman becoming one flesh (Genesis 2:24; Mark 10:7-9)
1 represents the union of God and man in salvation (John 17:11, 20-21, 1 Corinthians 6:17, Ephesians 5:30)
2. Companionship, Witness, DivisionAlthough a man and woman are brought together as one in marriage, they are still two individuals, purposed by God to be companions to each other in separate and unique ways (Genesis 2:18, 22, Ecclesiastes 4:9, Amos 3:3).
2 of every kind of animal entered the ark
2 tablets contained the Ten Commandments
2 testaments make up the Word of God
2 witnesses were required by law for valid testimony (Deut 17:6, Num14:6-7, 1 Kings 21:10, Mat 18:16, John 8:17, 2 Cor 13:1, Rev 11:3)
2 times Pharaoh was given a dream “because it was established by God” (Gen 41:32)
2 parts to the day
2 great lights to divide the day and night (sun and moon)
2 cherubim at the 2 ends of the mercy seat
2 turtledoves or two young pigeons served as an acceptable sin offering for the poor (witnessed to the lamb)
2 loaves and 2 lambs were the wave offering of Shavuot
2 goats for the Day of Atonement offering
2 pillars at the entrance of God’s Temple, built by Solomon
2 doors, 2 leaves for each door on the Temple in Ezekiel 41
2 olive trees are “the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” (Zechariah 4:14)
2 blind men who testified of Jesus healed  (Matthew 9:27, 20:30)
2 disciples were given the testimony of Jesus to give to John in prison (Matthew 11:2-6)
2 disciples were sent to get a donkey and a colt (2) and to tell, “the Lord has need of them.”
2 commandments on which “hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40)
2 masters (Luke 16:13) One true: God; one false: money
2 thieves on crosses=2 testimonies (but only one true testimony)
2 angels testified at the tomb (John 20:12)
2 witnesses are the 2 olive trees and 2 candlesticks during the Tribulation (Revelation 11:3-4)
3. Triunity of Divine Design Three is the number of triunity as perfectly seen in the Holy Trinity — one God in three Persons. Triunity existed before the foundations of the world, with the infinite and eternal Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God set patterns of three in many of the rituals and instructions for His people Israel:
Three things were put in the Ark of the Covenant (jar of manna, Aaron’s staff, tables of stone); Daily prayers were three times a day; Appointed times (feasts) were three times each year; Three laws: moral, ceremonial and civil; Three types of sacrifice: Sin-offering, peace offering, and praise offering. Other patterns of triunity in the Bible and in our world include:
3 places men dwell: Heaven, earth, and the underworld
3 heavens
3 time frames: Past, present, and future
3 points of measurement: Beginning, middle, and end
3 measurements: Length, width, and height
3 states of water: Solid, liquid, and gas
3 abilities of man: thought, word, and deed
3 qualities: good, better, and best
3 gifts of grace: faith, hope, and love
3 temptations of Eve: The tree was good for food, pleasant to the eyes; desired to make one wise.
3 temptations of man: the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life
3 great enemies: the World, the flesh, and the devil
3 kinds of matter: mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdom.
3 Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
3-part deliverance of Israel (concerning land): out of Egypt, through the wilderness, into the Promised Land
3-part instruction: Law, the prophets, and the psalms/writings (Luke 24:44)
3 divisions in the tabernacle and the temple: Outer Court, Holy Place, and Most Holy Place
3 veils in the tabernacle: the outer veil to the inner court, the inner veil to the Holy Place, the innermost veil to the Holy of Holies
3 Kings of the united kingdom: Saul, David, and Solomon
3 faithful ones were persecuted: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
3 intimate friends of Jesus: Peter, James, and John (witnesses to the Transfiguration)
3 Witnesses: the Spirit, the water, and the blood (1 John 5:8)
3-part completeness in divine judgment: Numbered, weighed, and divided
3-part existence of Jesus: Which was, and which is, and which is to come
3-part fullness of the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
3-part fullness of man: Spirit = Essences (I am); Soul = Consciousness (I see and I know); Body = Appearance (I am seen)  1 Thess 5:23
3 redemptive acts of God: Loved, cleansed and crowned
3 times God spoke from Heaven (Matthew 3:17, 17:5, John 12:28)
3-fold growth in the good ground–produces some 30-fold growth, some 60, some 100 (Mark 4:8)
3 Shepherd Psalms prophesied of Jesus: The Good Shepherd telling of His death (Psalm 22, John 10:14-15); The Great Shepherd telling of His resurrection (Psalm 23, Hebrews 13:20) and The Chief Shepherd telling of His glory (Psalm 24, 1 Peter 5:4)
3 appearances of Christ in Hebrews 9: He has appeared to put away sin (vs. 26) He now appears in the presence of God (vs. 24), and He shall appear (vs. 28) to those who look for Him (vs. 28)
3-part salvation: Justification, sanctification, glorification (2 Corinthians 1:10)
3-part life in Christ: Positional, practical, and spiritual
3 stories high and 300 hundred cubits long was the size of Noah’s ark
3 offices of Christ: Prophet, Priest, and King
3 Spiritual Things — Gifts, Ministries, and Effects (1 Corinthians 12:1)

Read more: What is the triunity of creation?

4. Creative Works of GodFour pertains to God’s earthly, “under the sun,” creative works.
4 corners of the earth (Revelation 7:1)
4 cardinal directions (N, S, E, W)
4 phases of the moon
4 elements (earth, fire, water, air)
4 rivers of Paradise (Genesis 2:10)
4 winds of heaven (Jeremiah 49:36)
4 Things make up the universe (time, energy, space, and matter).
4 Seasons (summer, autumn, winter, and spring).
4 Divisions of the day (morning, noon, evening, and midnight).
4 Major provisions for man (earth, air, fire, and water).
4 Winds (Matthew 24:31)
4 generals took over Alexander’s kingdom (broken by God)
4 world empires (beasts) of Daniel
4 horns (gentile powers) of Zechariah
4 guardians of the throne of God
4 horsemen will bring calamity on the earth (Revelation 6:1-8)
4 acts of judgment — sword, famine, evil beasts, and pestilence) with which God condemns the idolaters of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 14:21).
5. Humanness: Weakness (man’s limitations), Dependance (man’s insufficiency in himself), Death5 fingers, 5 toes, 5 senses
5 books of law (Genesis – Deuteronomy)
5 kinds of animals were sacrificed under the Levitical law: goats, sheep, cattle, pigeons, and doves.
5 loaves were not enough to feed the great multitude.
5 brothers in Luke 16 who would not believe Moses and the prophets.
5 husbands could not satisfy the woman at the well.
5 wounds were inflicted upon Jesus (two hands, two feet, and His head) while alive on the cross. A sixth wound was inflicted after his death.
5 empires of man were represented in King Nebuchadnezzar’s statue (Daniel 2:32- Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, Final Kingdom — 4 are fallen, and the last will fall also)
6. The Number of Man, including the Fallen Nature of Man and the Works of Fallen Man and the Evil of manSix falls short of the number seven, God’s number of completion and perfection, and man falls short of the perfection God created him to be. With 5 as the number of humanness and death, six represents man, his fallen nature, and his works. No wonder the number of the beast is represented as an unholy trinity of 666.
6th day God created man (Genesis 1:27)
6 days were given to man to work (Exodus 20:9, 31:15)
6 generations of Cain’s descendants
6 years a servant had to work before he could be set free
6 times Jesus was accused of being demon-possessed
6 times Jesus was asked to give a sign to PROVE Himself
6 people proclaimed Jesus innocent but did nothing to stop His crucifixion (Pilate, Herod, Judas, Pilate’s wife, the thief on the cross, a Roman Centurion).
6 New Testament reference to people practicing sorcery (divination)
666 is the number of Satan
7. God’s Number of Completion, Perfection, and Rest7th day of creation signified completion and rest
7 great landmasses form the complete earth
7 great bodies of water form a complete ocean
7 colors make a perfect spectrum
7 colors in the rainbow (interesting that the LGBT flag has only 6 colors; Read Why Does the LGBT Use God’s Rainbow For Its Flag?)
7 notes make a perfect scale
7 covenants of God with man: Adamic, Noah, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Levitic, Davidic, Messianic
7 dispensations of God complete human history
7th day was a Sabbath for Israel, a day of rest
7th year was a Sabbatical year, a year of rest.
7 Sabbatical years, followed by the year of Jubilee.
7 days for the Feast of Passover
7 weeks between Passover and Pentecost.
7 days for the Feast of Tabernacles
7 years was the time it took to complete the construction of the First Temple
7 pieces of furniture in the Tabernacle
7 days was the time of mourning for the dead
7 times equals purification (of the word of God – Ps 12:6)
7 times of forgiving was elevated to 70 x 7 by Jesus
7 Greek-speaking Christians were appointed by the 12 apostles (Acts 6:3)
7 titles for Jesus in Hebrews.
7 Spiritual Gifts—Given from God the Father (Romans 12:1-8)
7 divisions in the Bible: Law, Prophets, Writings (Psalms), Gospels & Acts, Paul’s Epistles, General Epistles, and the book of completion…
The Book of Revelation offers this great display of sevens:7 Churches
7 Letters to the 7 Churches
7 Golden Candlesticks
7 Stars
7 Angels
7 Lamps of Fire
7 Spirits of God
7 Seal Judgments
7 Horns and 7 Eyes on the Lamb
7 Trumpets
7 Trumpet Judgments
7 Thunders
7 Thousand Men Slain
7 Heads and 7 Crowns on the Great Red Dragon
7 Heads on the Leopard-like Beast of the Sea
7 Last Plagues
7 Golden Vials
7 Bowl Judgments
7 heads of blasphemy on the Scarlet Colored Beast
7 Mountains
7 Kings
* 7 hours: This is of interest, but understand that it is not of biblical authority. There is a claim in Jewish tradition that the first man, Adam, was completed in 7 hours. The Talmud records,
“How was Adam created? In the first hour his dust was collected; in the second his form was created; in the third he became a shapeless mass; in the fourth his members were joined; in the fifth his apertures were opened; in the sixth he received his soul; in the seventh he stood up on his feet . . .”
8. New Beginnings8 represents new life, regeneration, resurrection, and commencement.
8 people were on the ark for the new beginning after the flood.
8 words of God to bring forth creation (Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26)
8 souls passed through God’s judgment by floodwaters and began a new world.
8 beatitudes of the sermon on the mountain. (Matthew 5:3-11)
8th day starts the week over again.
8th note on a piano starts the scale over again.
8th day a male child was circumcised according to the law.
8th day the first-born was given to Jehovah (Exodus 22:29,30)
8th day consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests (Leviticus 9:1)
8 covenants God made with Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3, 12:7, 13:14-17, 15:13-21, 17:1-22, 18:9-15, 21:12, 22:15-18)
8th dispensation of God with man will usher in the eternal state, the New Jerusalem
8 people were resurrected in the Bible, excluding Jesus’ resurrection and the saints who rose at that time. (1 Kings 17:17-22, 17:17-22, 2 Kings 4:30-37, 13:21, John 11:38-44, Luke 7:11-17, Matthew 8:28-43, Acts 20:7-12, Acts 20:7-12, Acts 9:36-42)
8th son of Jesse was the new King of Israel, David
8th day (the day after the Sabbath, the 7th day), Jesus rose from the dead, ushering in a new beginning.
9. Finality and Faith9th year of the prophet Hosea the faith of the Northern Kingdom was judged by God as idolatrous. The kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians, and the people were carried away into exile (2 Kings 17:6).
9th year of King Zedekiah, God sent judgment upon the Southern Kingdom. Judah was conquered by Babylon, and the city of Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed (2 Kings 25:1).
9th hour Jesus declared, “it is finished.” The penalty for sin was paid by His faithfulness.
9 fruits in the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control
9 Gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12.8-10)
9 Beatitudes (Mat 5.3-11)
10. Completion of Divine Order10th generation from creation was judged for sin by the Great Flood.
10 Commandments are the perfect instructions for righteousness.
10% tithe was an acknowledgment of God’s gifts of abundance.
10 plagues in Egypt completed God’s judgment when Pharaoh failed to release God’s people.
10 spies failed to see God’s power and provision, so they brought back an evil report (Num 13:32).
10 witnesses were called in the Book of Ruth (Ruth 4:1-2).
10 men were a quorum for the Sanhedrin to convene.
10 was the number of generations until an illegitimate son could enter the congregation of Israel (Deut 23:2). David was the 10th generation from Pharez, the illegitimate son of Tamar and Judah.
10 was the number of generations until an Ammonite or Moabite could enter the congregation of Israel (Deut. 23:3).
10 tribes failed to walk with God and to do His will. They established a separate kingdom given to idolatry, which God judged and scattered the people.
10 times weaker than God’s people (Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah) were King Nebuchadnezzar’s magicians and astrologers (Daniel 1:20
10 lepers were unable to cure themselves; they needed Jesus (Luke 17:12)
10 kingdoms in the end times
Other numbers also have meaning, but most with less significance than 1-10. Exceptions would be the numbers 12 and 40, which are clearly traced throughout the Bible and have clear and significant meanings.
12. God’s Perfect Government12 lunar cycles corresponding to 12 months in the year
12-hour periods in the day and night
12 signs of the Mazzaroth was the order of the stars
12 patriarchs, from Seth to Noah and his family
12 patriarchs from Shem to Jacob
12 powerful judges throughout the national history of Israel
12 stones on the breastplate of the high priest
12 spies commissioned by Moses to spy in Canaan
12 was continuously represented in the design and flow of Solomon’s temple
12 sons of Jacob/Israel (Genesis 35:22-27)
12 Tribes of Israel (Genesis 49:28) came from the 12 sons of Jacob
12 years old Jesus was publicly recognized to have spiritual authority
12 apostles chosen by Jesus (Matthew 10:2-4)
12 Kingdom of Heaven Parables
The Book of Revelation reveals a pattern of the number 12:
12 x 2 (2-the number of witness) = 24 elders around the throne of God (Revelation 4:4)
12,000 (sealed) x 12 (# of tribes) = 144,000 sealed witnesses (Revelation 7:4)
The New Jerusalem is seen in its 12 gates, each with 12 foundations,
The circumference of the New Jerusalem is 12,000 furlongs, and its walls are 144 cubits high (Revelation 21:10-21; Ezekiel 48:30-35).
30. Dedication to a Task or Calling30 was the age that Joseph came to power in Egypt (Genesis 41:46)
30 was the age that men in Israel entered the military and serves in battle.
30 was the age Levites began priestly service.
30 was the age David became king (2 Samuel 5:4).
30 was the age John the Baptist began baptizing (based on the age of Jesus).
30 was the age at which Jesus began his earthly ministry (Luke 3:23).
Israel mourned for 30 days the deaths of their leaders, Aaron and Moses  (Numbers 20:29, Deuteronomy 34:8)
Judas covenanted to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15)
40. Trials, Probation, Testings, and Preparing40 days and 40 nights, it rained upon the earth
40 years Moses was in Egypt, 40 years in Midian, 40 years Moses served God
40 days Moses was on Mt. Sinai when he was given the Law
40 days Moses was on Mt. Sinai when he returned after breaking the tablets
40 days after his birth, a male child was dedicated to God
40 days the spies were in the land of Canaan
40 years Israel wandered in the wilderness
40-year intervals of peace in the age of the Judges
40 years of war between Israel and the Philistines
40 years Saul ruled as King
40 days Goliath presented himself to the armies of Israel
40 years David ruled as King
40 days and 40 nights, Elijah went in strength (an angel had provided food)
40 years Solomon ruled as King
40 days Jonah was in Nineveh
40 years Josiah ruled Judah
40 days Ezekiel lay on his right side to symbolize the 40 years of Judah’s transgression
40 days was prophecied by Jonah to be the time before judgment would come on Nineveh
40 days Jesus fasted in the wilderness
40 days Jesus taught His disciples after the Resurrection
70. Seventy can be understood by understanding it’s the product of 7 x 10. Seven represents completion, perfection, and rest. Ten represents the completion of divine order. Therefore, seventy can be understood as the ultimate completion and perfection of God’s divine order.70 descendants of Noah repopulated the world after the flood (Gen 10)
70 members of Jacob’s family went down to Egypt (Gen 46:27)
70 elders were appointed to help Moses administer Israel in the wilderness (Num 11:16)
70 years of exile in Babylon for the people of Judah (Jer 5:11; 29:10)
70 weeks (70 sevens) were decreed by God as the period in which Messianic redemption would be accomplished (Dan 9:24)
70 men sent forth by Jesus (Luk 10:1)
70 times 7 times was the number of times Jesus said we are to forgive others (Mat 18:22)
Fun Stuff About NumbersFrom Scott M:  The number 8 represents infinity, eternity, and a return to the beginning. The infinity symbol looks like the number 8. When you trace your finger on the number 8, you “cross over” and return back to the beginning.
The number 9 is very unusual. Take any other number (no matter how big or small) multiply it by 9, then keep adding those digits together. The result will always come out to 9! Examples:
2×9=18 and the 1 plus the 8 equal 9!
25×9=225 and 2 plus 2 plus 5 equals 9!
502×9=4518 and 4 plus 5 plus 1 plus 8 equals 18, and 1 plus 8 equals 9!
So mathematically, we could say this number equates to God. It is the highest number, and no matter how many other numbers you multiply it with, adding up the digits of the product will always result in 9… the highest and the greatest of all.
From Shari: Thank you, Scott. What you sent reminded me about how I learned to multiply by nine. Take the number you are multiplying, subtract 1, and add what you need to reach 9 to get the product. Examples:
4×9:  4-1= 3, 3+6=9, the product of 4×9 is 36!
7×9: 7-1= 6, 6+3=9, the product of 7×9 is 63!
9×9:  9-1= 8, 8+1=9, the product of 9×9 is 81!
Who “created” numbers and math? God!!!

Now doctrine and teaching are used not to distinguish from understanding, knowledge, wisdom, prudence, since these belong to every systematic body of knowledge and they characterize theology above all. Rather, the word “doctrine” is used to signify that theology is a body of knowledge that does not originate in nature or human investigation as other disciplines do. It originates in divine revelation and authorization. That’s always been the case in Scripture.

We go back to Isaiah 51 and we find Isaiah saying this in verse 4:
For a law will go forth from Me, and I will set My justice for a light of the peoples.
God is saying that the teaching shall come down from Heaven to earth; it doesn’t originate on earth. Even when we come to the New Testament, we find in other places like in Galatians 1:11, where it says:
The gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.
We did not receive it from man, nor was it taught by man. Rather, it came from Heaven to earth through revelation. Even when Peter gave that great pronouncement in Matthew 16:16, when he says:
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus responds in verse 17 by saying:
And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
It didn’t originate from man, but from Heaven to man. Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:3 this:
The doctrine conforming to godliness.
In other words, the teaching that comes from Heaven to us now in Scripture should lead us not only to salvation in Jesus Christ but also to godliness. False teachers cannot lead us to holiness or godliness. Only God’s Word can lead there. So at this particular point, we find here that we have already seen that real Christians experience a change in position, from not being a believer to becoming one. Then they have new priorities that they never had before. But there is a third thing in Acts 2:42 that I will stress this morning. They were continually devoting themselves to the Apostles’ teaching.
In other words, the third characteristic common among the experience of Christians all the time and everywhere, is that there will be a change that takes place in their desire. They will be devoting themselves to something and must have a desire to do so. It was the Apostles’ doctrine, the doctrine of Christ and God’s salvation, that just delivered them from the false teaching of their day, their blindness and deception. Now they desired something they never desired before. The Psalmist grew to love God’s Word and it said that he began to desire it. It says in Psalm 119:97:
O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.
If you just consider that for a moment, it is an exclamation of wonder. In this passage of Scripture, it is a simple Hebrew word that means, “the human love or appetite that an individual has for God’s law, for revelation that comes from God to man.” Of course this is in the Torah, which is the divine teaching that is from God. The Word of God points to the didactic or the teaching nature of Scripture. God dispenses true doctrine to humanity concerning at least four areas of life: what we should believe, what kind of character we should cultivate, how we ought to live, and the direction a believer’s life should actually take.
We reconsider where we are going, what we are supposed to be doing, thinking, and the difference between what we were doing and what we are doing now as a believer. So the real child of God loves the Word of God. They live in it as if he or she could not live without it, and views it as spiritual food and medicine to their soul. The prophet Jeremiah wrote this in Jeremiah 15:16:
Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.
You see this delight and joy and love for God’s revelation coming out of people that have life that comes from God. Theology is the doctrine of being alive to God, that’s what it is all about. We were dead to God before, but now we are alive to Him so that now when He speaks, we are listening. We should want to hear what God says, there is nothing more important to hear than what He says about things. He tells us the truth, just the way things are. When we hear that truth, truth has a way of ringing in our ears that we cannot argue with.
An unreconciled sinner has no love for God’s law or Word. They do not think of it and when they are confronted with God’s design, the unsaved will hear it only as a condemnation of their sin but they never stay long enough unless God works on them. They never say that this conviction is the first step that moves them towards the Lord and salvation. When we see ourselves just the way we truly are, that is when we see our need of God.
So if a person truly loves something, they will spend time with it. If you love the Word of God, you will love the whole of the Word of God and you will hold to its obligations and privileges. Bottom line is if you love something, then you will commit to it. You will spend time with it, as the Scriptures put it right here in Acts 2:42. You will be devoted to it. Real Christians do not simply try God and if it doesn’t work, go back to their old way of life again. They become new and now that they know their need for God and His Word, will actually go to it. It’s just like fish need water in order to live and a tree needs soil in order to grow.
So in our passage we see that there are new bents the Holy Spirit of God puts in a believer’s heart that really never changes but just expands and grows. What’s the first one? Well it says there in verse 42 that new Christians have a new bent to continually devote themselves to new daily priorities. It says again:
They were continually devoting themselves.
In other words, these people continued steadfastly. They were giving priority to something that they never gave priority to before. Associating with other Christians became the center of their lives. The greatest joy for these new believers was to meet together. They had become members of the same family and were drawn together because of one person: Jesus Christ. Their eyes and minds were opened to the truth and Biblical priorities.
When someone becomes a real believer, their desires change. They desire to follow Christ, to please Him, and to fellowship around Him and other believers of like faith. They desire to pray to Him and learn about Him by continually devoting themselves to the community of other believers all around the same thing. They were now joined after initial conversion, and became members of the Christian church. What was the first and primary thing they gathered to do? They again devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching. They wanted to learn as much as they could about what the Apostles received from God and how it gave light to the Old Testament.
They were given the message of salvation and now they couldn’t get enough of the Word of God. In other words, they wanted sound doctrine. They didn’t want another word from a man or philosopher or scribe, or religious Jewish leader. They wanted and got a taste of revelation that came from Heaven and when you get a taste of that, you want more. There’s nothing to go back to once you get a hold of it. The Apostles’ teaching and sound doctrine is what they wanted.
The Church is supposed to exist to be the place where you receive divine truth. It’s the place where people can grow through the unfolding or exposition of God’s Word. That’s why we meet together. We can never let this one thing go by the wayside, it always must be a central thing. This is very basic of our Christian life but we must constantly be reminded about it. It’s not about doctrine specifically, but all kinds of other good things. But if we must grow, we have to do so by the Word of God. There’s no other way to grow.
A second thing to observe in Acts 2:42 is that real Christians have a bent for a continual need for more of the Apostles’ teaching. Here is a very important fact that genuine conversion manifests itself in a person by newfound desires for a knowledge of the truth. Martin Lloyd Jones said:
One simply cannot be a Christian and have no desire for a knowledge of this truth, it is impossible.
In other words, if you do not desire the Word of God, you are not a Christian. The Word of God says that. Why do Christians want this doctrine? The life of God is in their soul and the Spirit of God indwells them. They have now a new appetite for spiritual things. One thing in particular: learning what the Bible says. They want a new appetite for spiritual growth and nourishment.
Now if you take your Bibles and turn to 1 Peter 2:2, it says:
Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.
Here is the most instinctive characteristic of a newborn baby, which is that they want milk. They don’t understand why they want milk. They are born alive with this strong desire for their mother’s milk. If a baby doesn’t have this desire, then we start asking what is wrong. The baby will not grow and stay alive if they don’t have milk. It’s exactly the same with real Christians. Because of their new life in Christ, they long for the pure milk of the Word.
As soon as somebody becomes a believer and trusts Christ with their life, the first desire that God gives them is to want milk. They want the milk of the Apostles’ teaching, the Word of God. They do not want any substitutes or junkfood. Newly born Christians know they want unadulterated spiritual food. If they don’t get it at first, then Spirit of God has a way of bringing it to them. When they find it, they will drink away because it’s so wonderful and they are afraid of missing out on any of it.
Calvary Community Church has been and is passionately committed to helping Christians grow in knowledge, wisdom, and discernment through the systematic expositional teaching of the God’s Word because that is the only thing that God uses to grow people spiritually. But on the other hand, what happens if you have been a Christian for some time and that desire is no longer there? Thank the Lord that the Word of God also addresses that issue. Just like in the physical realm when someone loses their desires for food, we start looking for sickness and disease. We look for the root of what is causing them the loss of desire for life sustaining food.
Similarly, in the spiritual realm when someone loses their desire for drinking down the Word of God and for desiring spiritual food, we should start looking for some spiritual sickness, for sin. And we should wrestle down the root of what is causing the loss of desire for life sustaining spiritual food which is only found in the Word of God.
If anyone is in this condition today, or if you find yourself in this condition sometime in the future, then there are at least five things to look for that could actually rob you of your desire for the Word of God. The first thing is found in 1 Peter 1:23 which says:
For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.
The first reason would be that you lay aside your Bible and you stop going back to the source of your new life. Because the source of my conversion and growth is the Scriptures. And at any place, I can get busy in my life and neglect God’s Word. And all of a sudden, I have good intentions but have not been spending time in the Word of God thinking about it and mediating upon it. I have been doing other things in my life that are important and good but what happened along the way is that it moved me aside from my Bible and the source of life God has given.
A second thing found in 1 Peter 2:1 is that we stop taking sin seriously so we become careless in putting off sin. The verse says:
Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
In other words what is going to rob you of your desire? Sin! Malice could also be evil or wickedness. You are angry or hateful for some reason and it has consumed your heart. Now these sins include many other types although it is not an exhaustive list. The sin of deception includes double-mindedness. James 1:8 says:
Being a double-minded man, [you are] unstable in all [your] ways.
The next one is hypocrisy, which is simply that your heart grows cold towards God and you begin to question Him. We can go on in this long avenue of questioning God in everything, like He somehow gave us the short end of the stick. We become hypocritical in just going through the motions with no passion or desire to live for the Lord.
Envy is another one. It means wanting what others have. Greed comes into a person’s heart and they have departed from their desire for the Word. And now they only desire wealth, money, and what they can do for them. So a person stops taking sin seriously. There is no desire for the Word when we sin, so we have to continually take off sin and put it to death. In its place, we need to put on righteousness. If we don’t put off our sin, it means we love our sin more than God and His work.
Number three is that we stop admitting we still need for the Word of God. This verse of needing the pure milk of the Word is not just for new believers. This is a desire that believers should have all the time throughout their whole Christian lives. The desire for the milk of the Word of God should never go away.
Then a fourth thing is that we just stop pursuing spiritual growth. It says in 1 Peter 2:2:
Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.
What happens is that when we get caught into any of these, we drift away and there is a lack of nourishment that leads to poor spiritual health. Growing in spiritual maturity means that you are practicing your discipline of yourself in holiness and godliness. You are learning to live as a soldier in the midst of battle. One thing a soldier does especially when he is ready for battle is that he is always ready. He doesn’t have the privilege to take off his armor and lay down his weapons. This is where God grows believers, to realize that we will always be in a spiritual battle while we are on this earth. But that is what makes us strong. The battle drives us to yearn more for the Word of God. We realize in life and in battle that we need God’s wisdom. Also in 1 Peter 2:3-5, we stop remembering how good God is and who’s family we represent. It says in this verse:
If you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. As Living Stones and coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Sometimes a true believer will fail. Have I had times of coldness, times of not having a desire for the Word as I should have? Yes I have. Thank the Lord it was always short-lived. If not too much time goes by, you end up realizing that you need to hear from the Lord and His Word. The regular direction of your life is to always to want the Word of God and to say no to the flesh as much as possible so the Word of God can have priority. We have to overcome our flesh because we know it often doesn’t want to get up on Sunday morning, or any morning. We just want to roll over in that nice bed, especially when we have something important to do.
Meanwhile the Spirit of God is saying to get up and get out there! Get in the Word! Be sure of this brethren, you are not done with Scriptures after you make an initial profession of faith. You must receive confirmation of your profession of faith as to its genuineness. I can’t give you assurance of your salvation. The Word of God can because the Spirit is using the Word to bring you to the place to give you assurance of your salvation. Just like it says in Romans 8:16 which says:
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.

Do we need to know that? Yes we need to know that every day. We are children of God and therefore we ought to live as children of God. Once you are confident that you are a Christian and you see some spiritual fruit, you are not done with the Scriptures at that point. The Spirit of God also has to transform your mind. The Spirit of God’s tool for transformation is the very Word of God. He must correct how wrong you and I have been about most things, and all things spiritually. He must, through His Word, teach you how to worship. That’s the first purpose of the Church, by the way, that we are heading towards.
We all didn’t know how to worship God because we didn’t know who God was. We can’t worship something we don’t know. Then we find out what God has done and how He demonstrates His love towards us. He is a compassionate God, but also a God of justice and He is not going to let us slide.
As I began to learn who God is, I began to learn how to worship and really thank Him. I now knew that anything I had is because of our God. He doesn’t give the same gifts and talents to all people alike. The gifts and talents He gives is for His own sake and glory. He teaches us how to pray, how to witness, how to love God and people, how to put off sin and put on righteousness, and how to live righteously in this world while we are here. So we can learn how to be faithful servants of our Lord Jesus Christ. We will do what our God wants us to do while we are here.

So we are never done with the holy writings and hearing God speak through the Word of God. That’s why this passage of Scripture is so important to you and I because we must continually give ourselves over to its reading, study, hearing, and meditation. The Scriptures will build you and I up and make us stable and strong. That’s what the doctor Luke wrote to us in Acts 20:32 where it says:
And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
We join all those who have been brought out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light which now occupies the Church of Jesus Christ. A quote from Christian Johnson’s book Men of Integrity, says:
A Bible that is falling apart probably belongs to someone that isn’t.
Now let me ask you, since you have made a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, has your Bible become your close companion? Is your Bible well-worn because of constant use? Are you turning to the passage the preacher tells you to turn to, regardless of whether you know it or have it memorized already. It is good to do this so that you follow the flow of things so that you get preaching that is verse by verse. You can’t sit there like a bump on a log, you need to start thinking. Wipe the sleep from your eyes and engage your mind by moving through the Scriptures. Are you picking your Bible up every day and reading it? It should be the goal of every Christian to wear our their Bibles. Your Bible should not rot out, it should wear out. Things that wear out do so because of use. Things that rot do so because of lack of use.
Of course these days many people have moved away from paper Bibles. So I must admonish you also to wear out your iPhones, iPads, and computers. Wear them out because you are using them daily for Bible studies, reading, searches, and sermon note taking. Do this because you have come to desire the Word, and long for it, and love it.
I’m still considering having a paper Bible Sunday. On a particular Sunday, you leave all of your electronics at home or in your car and we’ll be checking you at the door. I wanna see your paper Bibles. There’s something about it when a whole bunch of people rustle papers in a Bible. You can’t do that on your phone; it doesn’t even squeak on this new glass.
What’s important here is engaging yourself in the Word of God. In fact this is as basic as it’s going to get but we all need to hear it and tell it to other people. Just as you develop an appetite over time for certain kinds of food, also as a Christian you develop an appetite for a particular spiritual food. And it’s only found in the Word of God.
Now that brings me to another passage in Romans 12:1-2. This great book on doctrine probably has the heaviest in all the Bible. Paul in these verses says:
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
In other words, this new appetite that the Spirit of God gives us at conversion that continues throughout our Christian lives is for spiritual development and transformation to a certain goal. It is leading us to a certain goal, it is not just filling our minds with knowledge and facts but leading us to a personal relationship with God. Here it says that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. A transformation is to assume an outward expression that reflects what is deep within. The process takes place in our minds for it is our thought life that controls our attitudes, feelings, and actions.

So we are to let our lives be changed from the inside out. Brethren, how much were our minds opposed to God? When we study the Word of God, we find how much we were opposed to Him. It was in everything we thought and did almost. John Calvin said this:
Nothing can be more true than that the renewal of the mind is necessary for successful inquiry to every part of the will of God. The natural man is in everything opposed to the mind of God.
So here is a renewal of a believer’s mental powers. Our whole bodylife is to be evidenced of a constant interchange. This is actually the Greek word for metamorphosis. It means to be changed in form, and transformed or changed in character. It’s the kind of change the Holy Spirit wishes to work in the life o the believer. But to do it, He must have control of the body and free access to the mind. In other words the Holy Spirit wants to etch the likeness of Jesus Christ into all of our characters.

We live in a world of modern day medical marvels. One such marvel to me is the hip or knee replacement surgery. It’s amazing that doctors can do those things. Usually surgery is needed because a person’s join has worn to the point where there is no more cartilage, so it’s just bone on bone. It becomes very painful and the person starts to walk with a limp and then finally has to use crutches. If they don’t do something about it, it almost debilitates their whole life and they become crippled.

But thanks to modern day surgery, a person can have a hip replacement and quickly recover and move around again, sometimes better than many years before. However some people, months after surgery, are still limping along. The phenomena usually has nothing to do with failure of the surgery. It has to do with the failure of the mind. The mind has been trained to expect pain for a long time on that joint. So the person limps in anticipation even when there is no pain. Usually someone goes back to the doctor and complains of having to limp despite having the operation. He does the examination and takes the x-rays and says there is nothing wrong with the person’s hip; it’s all in their head.

So what happens is the person’s brain needs to be retrained to line up with the new normal, which is no pain. And usually once a person gets that, they get up and start walking and have no problem. So when God has given you and I new life, the old one is gone along with all the sinful things done, thought, or said. We have been forgiven, we’re brand new creations, but we end up limping around for a while until we have a change in thinking. We limp around in our old sin and then come to Romans 6 and the Bible says to consider ourselves to sin and alive to righteousness.

Then you finally get that God is doing this in your life and He wants you to think and consider everyday that sin has no more authority over you. You can be tempted by sin day and night but when it comes down to the sin dangling on the hook, you can actually know that you don’t want it because it doesn’t please the Lord or lead you to a place where you grow spiritually. All of a sudden you realize that God has given you the authority to say no to sin, and you stop doubting and actually gain confidence to boldly live your Christian life.
To get up on your own two feet and live with gusto for Christ, you become someone who is living and speaking it. So you stop limping around because you have a change in thinking. That’s what Romans is telling us here. It’s accomplished by the renewing of one’s mind. Romans 12:2 says:
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

So the mind is the organ of moral thinking and knowing. When it is renewed, it no longer thinks or understands or judges as it once did. Old things pass away and all things become new. We will no longer fit into the mold of this world and its ways and thinking. But with increasing insight into the divine perspective, because we have been in the Word of God and the Apostles’ teaching, our whole outlook and experience will change. So why doesn’t a Christian think as they once did? Because his or her mind is being transformed and renewed by the Word of God. We begin to mind the things of the Spirit, which we never did before.
Also we stop minding the flesh as we always used to mind before. The flesh’s voice becomes dim and distant and God’s voice becomes stronger and clearer. Every day we wake up and have this clarity we never had before. This is because we’ve been in the Word of God. We were captive conformists to the world’s system and beliefs. That is why Scripture gives Christians the command to be careful not to do something. We are not to be conformed to this world.

Here’s an interesting Greek word, conform, and it means this: a fashioning of something by using a shaped container. I guess the translators had a hard time translating this passage because some used it in the middle tense. In the middle tense, the word means this: to conform oneself to, change one’s behavior to be like. In the passive sense, the word means this: allow oneself to be changed to be like, to be conformed to, to be like someone or something. Now I would say that’s a great problem to have because both of them come together.
One translation put it like this: don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. So the transforming of the mind is so the will of God, or what is willed by God can be apprehended. I said not too long ago that we have a new appetite for spiritual development and transformation towards a certain goal. The goal is found in Romans 12:2:
So that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
That is the goal, that God would transform your mind to move your will. The problem is our own will and mind. But God’s correcting those problems. As long as you give yourself good spiritual food, you will grow in Christ. The transforming of the mind is so that what is willed by God can actually be apprehended and carried out.
Only a yielded will can desire, discover, and choose God’s will. In other words, we are now willing conformists. No longer to the world and its system, no longer to the god of this age, no longer to the will of the flesh. But we are now conformists to the Apostles’ doctrine and that is what changes our minds. The Apostles’ doctrine only has a divine source to it. It’s like what 2 Peter 1:20-21 says:

But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
The renewed mind tests out the will of God, that it might prove what the will of God is. That’s what we are trying to answer all the time, what God’s will is. We can know the revealed will of God. But we cannot know the secret will. We won’t know what will happen tomorrow or how long we’ll live. Only God is in charge of that.
It says in Deuteronomy 29:29:
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.

In other words, the Bible is prescriptive. It’s like when you get a prescription from the doctor’s office. You need to get that medication and take it. The Word of God is something we can understand. And the more we’re in it, the more we can understand it. The more we understand it, the more we obey it.

Maybe the dilemma of most Christians today is that they are so worried about the future and the secret things of God. Don’t worry about knowing that stuff. Let the Word of God transform your mind and you will find out more about yourself and who God is and what He desires for His children. And then the goal is for service, for you to serve in the body and meet together. Your divine spiritual gift is to be used in the body. That’s where this is all headed. The Christian should be asking and answering questions in league with their dedication to God.

For example, knowing how to test the will of God is actually revealed in God’s Word. We can ask if the thing is well-pleasing to the will of God. We need to know whether we are being transformed from the inside out, or is what we are going to do bringing about Christ likeness and God’s glory.
If we ask some of these questions, we will find out that we don’t want to do these things anymore. The Word is the criterion and the measuring stick for knowing what is good, well-pleasing and advances maturity. It was C.H. Lenski in his commentary that said:

We discover from His Word alone and we subject all our own conceptions of what is good for us, pleasing to Him, and complete, holy to that Word. Everything tested without the Word is deceptive and wrong.
The renewed mind does not want to disregard God’s will but wants to know and do it. The Church exists in order to help Christians understand the truths of Scripture and the methods and behaviors to live them out. That’s why we are here. It starts with a desire after initial conversion. God gives you the Apostles’ teaching and doctrine and it is what must be our priority together.

We have this body of believers that is being transformed and growing in God’s Word. They become the light in a community and where God plants them to a dark world. They take the gospel now out to those who haven’t heard it yet. So what is a church? A church is a place where we find true hope. It’s a place where we can connect with God. It’s a place where we connect with other people of the faith and where we are encouraged by the truths of holy Scripture. Then we go out and live it. When we come back to the book of Acts, that’s exactly what they did.

I pray that as we look at these things, that you would examine yourself and see where you’re at. Then after you identify what’s in your life that has quenched the desire for the Word of God, confess it. If you don’t see it, ask God to show it to you. We all have to have this desire all the time for God’s Word.
Let’s pray. Lord, thank You, this morning. Your kindness to us in allowing us to know the Word of God and have part of it, hear it, and read it. I pray that we would all this morning take it seriously. I pray that we would be honest with ourselves because we know that many have been exposed to the Bible but it still remains to them one of the least understood books of the world. I pray that we would all come to the place to know that the Bible is a clear, dynamic, intriguing, fearsome, and life-changing book which brings its readers face to face with the infinite and almighty Creator. The Bible teaches us that Christianity is not so much a religion, as it is a vital relationship with the only Perfect Human, Jesus Christ the Son of God.

The term fourfold witness

is used in two distinct ways by Christian groups. “The fourfold witness of Scripture” is often a reference to the four separate but related accounts of the ministry of Christ in the Bible. These “witnesses” consist of the first four books of the New Testament—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Together, these four gospelsserve as a fourfold witness of the earthly ministry and character of Jesus Christ.

Others speak of a “fourfold witness” in regard to four distinct lines of evidence that support the truth of Jesus as the Messiah. John 5:30–47 provides the basis for this perspective. The first line of evidence in the fourfold witness is John the Baptist, whose ministry was to prepare the way for the Messiah. Jesus said, “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth” (John 5:33).

The second line of evidence in the fourfold witness is the works Jesus performed. Jesus points to this line of evidence Himself: “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me” (John 5:36). These works consisted of teachings, healings, and miracles Jesus performed during His earthly ministry. All of those works proclaimed the fact of who Jesus is.

The third line of evidence in the fourfold witness is the witness of God the Father. After pointing to His miracles, Jesus says, “And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me” (John 5:37). This could be a reference to the voice from heaven at Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 3:17) or to a divine conviction in people’s hearts.

The fourth line of evidence in the fourfold witness is the Old Testament Scriptures: “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:39–40). Jesus’ opponents were experts in the Law of Moses and were thoroughly trained regarding the many prophecies of the coming Messiah. Yet they did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. This is why Jesus concludes His response to the Jewish leaders with these words: “Do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” (John 5:45–47).

In Jewish culture, only two witnesses were required to provide adequate testimony during a trial. Jesus provided four witnesses for Himself—double the required amount. Further, His witnesses included God the Father and the Word of God, the two highest forms of authority possible. The powerful testimony concerning Jesus clearly showed His true identity, despite the fact that He was rejected by the Jewish leaders.

John’s Vision of Christ

I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.10 On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna,Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”

12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man,[a] dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said:

Do not be afraid. I am the

First and the Last.

I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!

And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

God is holy (Isaiah 6:3), and that quality makes it impossible for Him to lie. The holiness of God is His moral and ethical perfection, His absolute integrity that sets Him apart from all His creatures. God’s holiness is thus related to His transcendence. God does not conform to any standard of purity; He is the standard. God is absolutely holy with an infinite purity incapable of being changed. Because of His holiness, when God speaks, He will not and cannot lie. He never deceives; He never distorts or misrepresents what He says or does. Lying is against His nature.

Because God cannot lie, God’s Word, the Bible, is completely trustworthy (1 Kings 8:56; Psalm 119:160). “Every word of God is flawless” (Proverbs 30:5). God’s character and the communications that proceed from His character are purer than anything this world can produce: “The words of the LORD are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times” (Psalm 12:6).

The basis of God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 was God’s own unchanging nature; that is, God’s rock-solid attribute of truth makes everything He says utterly trustworthy: “Since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, ‘I will surely bless you and give you many descendants’” (Hebrews 6:13-14). The text continues with the statement that “it is impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18).

If God could lie, He would not be transcendent; in fact, He would be just like us—humanity has a reputation for hiding, misrepresenting, and distorting truth. But “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19).

From the very beginning, God has rewarded faith in Him (Genesis 15:6; Hebrews 11:6). Faith, or trust, can only be a good thing if its object is worthy of trust. Faith in an unreliable person or thing is a disadvantage. If God could lie, then His words would be suspect, and He would be unworthy of our trust. But, as it is, He is wholly dependable: “The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy” (Psalm 111:7).

Jesus, who is “in very nature God” (Philippians 2:6), is “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Everything Jesus said and taught was the absolute truth. Everything He did reflected the truth. People such as Pilate will always be confused by the truth (John 18:38), but Jesus came “to testify to the truth” (verse 37). Jesus is, in fact, the Truth itself (John 14:6). Jesus cannot lie because God cannot lie, “and everyone who belongs to the truth knows [Jesus’] voice” (John 18:37, CEV).

God, who cannot lie, is of transcendent moral purity. He wants moral purity in His children as well. God cannot lie, and the followers of Christ should not lie: “Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body” (Ephesians 4:25). “With whom does God dwell?” the psalmist asks. The answer, in part, is that God dwells with “the one . . . who speaks the truth from their heart” (Psalm 15:2). May we love the truth as God does.

THE LAW, THE PROPHETS AND THE WRITINGS, PART 1

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.”

GENESIS 1:1–2

The Bible writer Luke tells us that immediately after Jesus’ resurrection, He appeared to His disciples and spoke to them about the evidence found in the Hebrew Scriptures about Him: “Then He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me’” (Luke 24:44).

In so doing, Jesus defined the Hebrew Scriptures as comprising three major sections. Today the Jewish faith knows them as the Tanakh, from the first letters of the Hebrew Torah (the Law), Nevi’im (the Prophets) and Kethuvim(the Writings, which begin with the book of Psalms). In other words, Jesus told His followers that His coming had been prophesied throughout the ancient Scriptures that would form the basis of New Testament belief and practice. It is helpful to note that the word torah carries the additional meaning of “instruction” or “teaching” and is not limited to “law”; though the section of the Scriptures known as the Law contains much that relates to the regulation of life, including the Ten Commandments and the rules for living in a land-based economy, it comprises several books that do not contain much law but a great deal of narrative and instruction.
Moses is traditionally thought to be the compiler of the majority of the five books. Though nothing is said directly to support this, there are indications of his authorship in places.

The books that make up the three-part division of Scripture were ordered differently from what we see in today’s Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant Bibles. The Tanakh order is the one that will be followed in this series.

ORGANIZING THE BOOKSThe order of the books of the Hebrew Scriptures, as Christ would have known them, was according to the tripartite division: the Law, the Prophets, the Writings.
THE LAW (TORAH)The Law includes the five books of the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
THE PROPHETS (NEVI’IM)The Prophets comprises the Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel [counted as one book], 1 and 2 Kings [counted as one book]) and the Latter Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the Twelve Minor Prophets [counted as one book]).
THE WRITINGS (KETHUVIM)The Writings consists of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah (counted as one book), 1 and 2 Chronicles (counted as one book)—24 books in total.

Articles in this series will focus on the highlights of each book rather than provide commentary on every verse. We begin with Genesis, the first book in the five volumes of the Law or Pentateuch.

IN THE BEGINNING

Its said that if you don’t know where you have come from, you can’t know where you’re going. Deceptively simple, profoundly true. The book of Genesis contains much about the origins of the planet we inhabit, of humankind and human society. Yet it has been relegated by most to the realm of myth in the sense of being fanciful or not true. While some would say that myths amount to little in a world largely given over to scientific truths, others emphasize that they teach us important truths with a basis in ancient belief.
In this exploration of the first book of the Bible, we’ll find that Genesis illuminates and informs modern life beyond the use of myth in either sense of the word. For example, it addresses the origins of the heavens and the earth; of chaos; of plant, animal and human life; of marriage, family and destiny; of good and evil; of violence and murder; of society and civilization; and of nations and languages, to name a few.
The rest of the Bible quotes Genesis or mentions its content more than it does any other book. Of the 165 passages quoted or referred to in the New Testament, about 100 are taken from chapters 1 to 11—the section that many want to downplay as unreliable. Yet Jesus mentioned Genesis several times, demonstrating His stand on its content and relevance.

JESUS AND GENESISDuring His ministry, Jesus quoted the book of Genesis and made mention of its content numerous times. With regard to elements of early human history contained in chapters 1 through 11:9, Jesus referred to details found in six of those chapters.

He mentioned the creation of the first man and woman (Matthew 19:4/Genesis 1:27; 5:2), the Sabbath (Mark 2:27/Genesis 2:1–3), the marriage of Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:5/Genesis 2:24), the murder of Abel (Matthew 23:35/Genesis 4:8), the existence of Noah (Matthew 24:37/Genesis 5:28–29), marriage before the Flood (Matthew 24:38/Genesis 6:2), the Flood and human destruction (Matthew 24:39/Genesis 6:17; 7:1–24).
Jesus referred to the second half of Genesis (chapters 11:10 through 50) by mentioning Abraham (John 8:31–58/Genesis 12–25), and Lot and the destruction of Sodom (Luke 17:28–32/Genesis 18–19).
The book opens with the well-known statement, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” It’s a sentence rich in underlying meaning, especially when we look into some of the Hebrew terms.

Bereshit bara Elohim (“In the beginning God created”): “In the beginning” does not necessarily mean the beginning of the creation we know but the origins of the heavens and the earth at an even earlier time. This will become clear as we continue. Elohim—“God”—is a masculine plural noun connected to a singular form of the verb “created” (bara). Some scholars have proposed that the plural is used to indicate majesty or might (perhaps something like the royal “we”). But a related passage in the New Testament describes Christ as the Word of God (from the Greek word Logos) and the companion of the Father: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:1–3). This shows us that more than one member of the God “family” was involved in the Creation of everything. Consistent with the plural Elohim, Genesis 1:26 records God as saying, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” These two beings, then, were responsible for perfectly creating the heavens and the earth. Here is the point of origin of all that follows.
“Simply and powerfully, the author first establishes the doctrine that God created the world. No statement in the cosmogonies of other peoples approaches this first statement in the Bible.”

WITHOUT FORM AND VOID

describes a world very different from the perfection indicated by bara, a verb form that is only ever used of God’s creative acts, never of those of human beings. As the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament notes, “This distinctive use of the word is especially appropriate to the concept of creation by divine fiat.”
Yet verse 2 speaks of the planet as waste, empty and dark: “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.” The Hebrew translated as “without form, and void” is tohu va vohu. But surely what God creates cannot be confused and chaotic. Indeed, the prophet Isaiah tells us that God “did not create [the earth] in vain [or empty, tohu]” (Isaiah 45:18). The apostle Paul wrote, “God is not the author of confusion” (1 Corinthians 14:33).

A clue may be found in the verb translated as “was”; scholars point out that the Hebrew verb can also read “became” (there are several examples elsewhere in Genesis). Thus the earth became formless and empty. This indicates a gap in time of unknown length between the creation of verse 1 and the desolation of verse 2. In other words, there was an intervening event that caused the earth to be reduced to desolation.

While there are two other major explanations of this section of Genesis, each dependent on differing views of the grammar, this so-called gap theory resolves many questions. It allows that the desolate earth of verse 2 is not speaking of the original creation, since verse 1 establishes the earth’s origin (“In the beginning”).
Further, it allows that the first word of verse 2, ve--part of the compound ve-ha-aretz (“and the earth”)—be translated “now” rather than “and.” Interestingly, many Bibles do not translate the word ve at all. Yet the Masoretic Text provides a notation that the word is disjunctive rather than conjunctive. That is to say, the thoughts expressed are not to be construed as joined together; verse 2 is not the result of verse 1. This is certainly not something to ignore. According to this grammatical point, it should read, “Now the earth was [or became] waste and void.”

What could have caused this condition?

It is accepted by some scholars that this is a reference to the result of Satan’s rebellion against God before the creation of humankind, as described in Isaiah 14:12–15 and Ezekiel 28:12–19. The destruction was the result of divine judgment against Satan and his fallen angelic followers. Satan (Hebrew for “adversary”) was previously known as Day Star (in Hebrew, Heylel), an archangel whose role was guardian of the original earth and who sinned by attempting to overthrow God.

When it comes to the origins of various aspects of the world we now inhabit, this gap theory—or understanding--has great explanatory power. It sheds light on many other scriptures in both

Old and New Testaments.

“In the ancient Near Eastern world in which Israel emerged, beginnings were deemed to be crucial, for the origins of things were thought to disclose their character and purpose.”

JON D. LEVENSON, “GENESIS,” IN THE JEWISH STUDY BIBLE

Verse 2 concludes, “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Nothing is said here, nor in John 1, about the Spirit as a person. Indeed, here the Spirit is compared to a protective bird that hovers or flutters (in Hebrew, merachephet), waiting for her eggs to hatch. At this point re-creation has not yet begun. But the Spirit or power of God will be utilized, as we read in Psalms: “You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; and You renew the face of the earth” (Psalm 104:30).

THE CREATION WEEK

What is popularly thought of as the biblical creation story begins, then, not with verses 1 and 2 but verse 3: “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” Here are three steps: God speaking, God’s words, the outcome. Four more steps follow in this particular creative process—evaluation, further action, naming, finalizing: “And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day” (verses 4–5). In contrast to the desolation of verse 2, what God does in the creation week is often pronounced “good” (verses 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25), and finally, “very good” (verse 31).

This seven-step pattern continues with slight variation through the six days of creation. Here we need not enter the debate over creation through eons of time but simply observe that the language indicates that days are days as we know them. This is apparent in the reference to each day being numbered and comprising “evening and morning” (from sunset to sunset), and on the fourth day the mention of “signs and seasons, and . . . days and years.” Finally, on the seventh day, God established “the Sabbath”—another calendar term—by resting (Genesis 2:2–3). The system of time as we know it is in process. What we can note with respect to geologic eras is that the gap in time between verses 1 and 2 allows for billions of years.

But there is more to be learned from the description of those first few days. The creative act of the first day in fact resolves one aspect of the confusion and emptiness mentioned in verse 2 by letting light shine and separating darkness from light. Two other acts of resolution by separation on sequential days include the revealing of the expanse we know as the sky (“the firmament”) by dividing the earth’s waters below from the atmosphere’s waters above; and the revealing of land, along with plant life, by dividing it from sea.
In parallel, the fourth, fifth and sixth days see the enriching of the creative acts of the first three days by the addition of light and life. On the fourth day, the sun, moon and stars become visible, filling the sky; next, marine life and birds fill the seas and atmosphere; and on the sixth day, animal and human life fills the land.
When the first human beings are created (Genesis 1:26–27), God makes it clear that this is a distinct and different creation. First, as we have seen, mankind (in Hebrew, adam) is made in God’s image and likeness. This is not said of any other part of creation. It is a unique aspect of human origins and speaks not only to the present but also to human destiny. Human beings, male and female, were created of physical material (Genesis 2:7, 21–22), limited by time, but with the potential of receiving eternal spiritual life from God.

“Humanity exists in community, as one beside the other, and there can only be anything like humanity and human relations where the human species exists in twos.”

CLAUS WESTERMANN, A CONTINENTAL COMMENTARY: GENESIS 1–11 (1994)

They were also given a position of dominance over the rest of creation (Genesis 1:28). But they were to nurture and care for the creation around them in the Garden of Eden. We learn this in chapter 2, which provides further detail about the origins of humanity. It’s significant that this foundational book has a statement about how humans should relate to the natural world around. The Hebrew words for dress (abad) and keep (shamar) indicate working and guarding, cultivating and protecting. Certainly there is no suggestion of exploiting and ruining.

Recall that this chapter begins with the establishment of the Sabbath rest, time made holy by God’s cessation from work. It provided the first humans with an example to follow of taking time to rest and recuperate once a week as they focused on the Creator and His work. Jesus would later explain that the Sabbath was created as a benefit for humanity and not a burden as some had made it. He said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

Genesis continues with a backward glance at the creation of Adam and Eve on the preceding day and forward with the entry of evil. The intrusion of Satan into human history occurs in Eden. He was dominant on earth as the guardian angelic power until his opposition to God brought his downfall. Now the object of his deception became Adam and Eve, the potential new rulers of the domain he once protected.

Next time, Satan’s great deception and the beginning of humanity’s pathway to the present.

Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5:17–18). This important statement of our Lord gives us insight into His mission and the character of God’s Word.

Jesus’ declaration that He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, not to abolish them, obviously contains two statements in one. There is something Jesus did and something He did not do. At the same time, Jesus emphasized the eternal nature of the Word of God.

Jesus goes out of His way to promote the authority of the Law of God. He did not come to abolish the Law, regardless of what the Pharisees accused Him of. In fact, Jesus continues His statement with a commendation for those who teach the Law accurately and hold it in reverence: “Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19).

Note the qualities that Jesus attributes to the Word of God, referenced as “the Law and the Prophets”: 1) The Word is everlasting; it will outlast the natural world. 2) The Word was written with intent; it was meant to be fulfilled. 3) The Word possesses plenary authority; even the smallest letter of it is established. 4) The Word is faithful and trustworthy; “everything” it says will be accomplished. No one hearing Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount could doubt His commitment to the Scriptures.

Consider what Jesus did not do in His ministry. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus says that He did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets. In other words, Jesus’ purpose was not to abrogate the Word, dissolve it, or render it invalid. The Prophets will be fulfilled; the Law will continue to accomplish the purpose for which it was given (see Isaiah 55:10–11).

Next, consider what Jesus did do. Jesus says that He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. In other words, Jesus’ purpose was to establish the Word, to embody it, and to fully accomplish all that was written. “Christ is the culmination of the law” (Romans 10:4). The predictions of the Prophets concerning the Messiah would be realized in Jesus; the holy standard of the Law would be perfectly upheld by Christ, the strict requirements personally obeyed, and the ceremonial observances finally and fully satisfied.

Jesus Christ fulfilled the Prophets in that, in His first coming alone, He fulfilled hundreds of prophecies concerning Himself (e.g., Matthew 1:22; 13:35; John 19:36; Luke 24:44). Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law in at least two ways: as a teacher and as a doer. He taught people to obey the Law (Matthew 22:35–40; Mark 1:44), and He obeyed the Law Himself (John 8:46; 1 Peter 2:22). In living a perfect life, Jesus fulfilled the moral laws; in His sacrificial death, Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial laws. Christ came not to destroy the old religious system but to build upon it; He came to finish the Old Covenant and establish the New.

Jesus came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them. In fact, the ceremonies, sacrifices, and other elements of the Old Covenant were “only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves” (Hebrews 10:1). The tabernacle and temple were “holy places made with hands,” but they were never meant to be permanent; they were but “copies of the true things” (Hebrews 9:24, ESV). The Law had a built-in expiration date, being filled as it was with “external regulations applying until the time of the new order” (Hebrews 9:10).

In His fulfillment of the Law and Prophets, Jesus obtained our eternal salvation. No more were priests required to offer sacrifices and enter the holy place (Hebrews 10:8–14). Jesus has done that for us, once and for all. By grace through faith, we are made right with God: “He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14).

There are some who argue that, since Jesus did not “abolish” the Law, then the Law is still in effect—and still binding on New Testament Christians. But Paul is clear that the believer in Christ is no longer under the Law: “We were held in custody under the Law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the Law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian” (Galatians 3:23–25, BSB). We are not under the Mosaic Law but under “the law of Christ” (see Galatians 6:2).

If the Law is still binding on us today, then it has not yet accomplished its purpose—it has not yet been fulfilled. If the Law, as a legal system, is still binding on us today, then Jesus was wrong in claiming to fulfill it and His sacrifice on the cross was insufficient to save. Thank God, Jesus fulfilled the whole Law and now grants us His righteousness as a free gift. “Know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16).

Christ Came to Fulfill the Law17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

The phrase the law and the prophets refers to the entire Hebrew Bible, what we call the Old Testament. Jesus spoke of “the law and the prophets” multiple times, such as when He listed the two greatest commandments (Matthew 22:40). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus pointed to His absolute perfection, saying, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).

On the Emmaus Road, Jesus taught two disciples “everything written about himself in the Scriptures, beginning with the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets” (Luke 24:27, CEV). Clearly, all Scripture, indicated by “the law and the prophets,” pointed to Jesus. The same passage also contains a three-fold division of the Old Testament: “the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (verse 44), but the two-fold division of “the law and the prophets” was also customary (Matthew 7:12; Acts 13:15; 24:14; Romans 3:21).

The books of the law, properly speaking, would comprise the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The prophets, in the two-fold division, would include the rest of the Old Testament. Although it may seem strange that poetic books such as Job or Proverbs would be included in the “prophets” category, it was common for the Jews to see any writer of Scripture as a prophet. Further, many of the psalms are clear messianic prophecies.

When Philip invited his friend Nathanael to meet Jesus, he referred to the whole of Hebrew Scripture in its two-fold division: “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also wrote about—Jesus of Nazareth” (John 1:45, NET). Philip was right that all of Scripture has a common theme: the Messiah, the Son of God, who is Jesus.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ,

as the unveiling of our exalted,

glorified, and sovereign Lord over

His church and the world

as the Revealer and Executor of

the secret decrees of God in order to consummate

His victory over the world of evil

at His Second Coming and establish the

royal kingdom of God.

The glory of God

is a theme that permeates the

Book of Revelation

From chapter 1 through 22 there is

a golden vein that describes and ascribes

glory to God.

This portion of the paper will describe

the theme of God’s glory in Revelation

as it relates to his

holiness and incomparability

The Glory of God

Worship scenes play an important role in unifying the book

because they are not just interludes,

but part of the context. The hymn sections of Revelation usually provide commentary within the narrative visions in which they are embedded. The primary reason that the author introduced throne scenes was to serve as literary contexts for commentary on the hymns. This makes them important for the structural analysis of Revelation.

Revelation is a hymnal of worship describing God’s glory as seen in His holiness and incomparability. The setting of the book of Revelation is within the throne room of God and the hymns are sung in this setting. The worship in Revelation is characterized by thanksgiving (11:17), praise (19:5), prayer (5:8), and song. Worship for God is expressed in the context of desolation and divine judgment.

The Book of Revelation has, like many letters, a prologue (1:1-8), body (1:9-22:5), and epilogue (22:6-21).[3] Within all three elements there is an overwhelmingly large emphasis given to the praise and glory of God. The author of Revelation teaches his readers a lot about how to worship God now in light of how we will worship Him in the future. Among the 22 chapters of Revelation there are 11 distinct worship episodes, which make up a sizable chuck of the book’s text.[4] The verb proskymeo (to worship) is used 24 times in Revelation compared to 59 times in all of Scripture.[5]One could say worship is what ties Revelation together.

The Glory of God is pictured within His divine characteristicsThe Revelation of Jesus Christ is full of imagery and expresses John’s reverence for God. Within Revelation God is presented in all His majesty and glory. It is His glory that lights the heavens (21:23). We see God as holy, omnipotent, omniscient and eternal. There is an emphasis on His righteousness and judgment upon sin, but little about His love and mercy.[6] The character of God within Revelation is fitting to the role He plays as the Judge of mankind.

God is holy. Those that are in the presence of God near His throne never cease to worship God day and night. They cry out to God, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” (Ἅγιος ἅγιος ἅγιος, κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ: 4:8; cf.4:9, 11; 19:2) There is no one that is like or will ever be like our God. He is incomparable. He alone is worthy of worship because He is holy.

God is Sovereign over all things, including the judgment of man and His dealing with evil.[7] God protects His people and punishes rebellion. The picture in Revelation is of God ruling history and the fact that He will bring about history’s consummation in Christ.[8] The overwhelming picture of God is of a mighty potentate seated on His throne (4:3), a picture that is determined by the visionary nature of the book and by the need to stress the sovereignty of God over the forces of evil.

God sits on His throne (τῷ καθημένῳ ἐπὶ τῷ θρόνῳ: 4:9; 5:1, 7, 13; 6:16; 7:15; 21:5).[10] He rules and reigns over His people and their dominion with His supreme plan. He reigns on His throne as Judge and King.[11] It is God, not the evil one, who sits on the throne, and it is God who judges His enemies and blesses those who faithfully follow the Lamb of God.[12] The Book of Revelation is a letter written to encourage followers of Christ to focus their faith on the triumph of a sovereign God’s reign, which has now been disclosed through the exaltation and reign of Christ.

God is sovereign over all creation. The twenty-four elders proclaim God as the Creator of all things (4:11). He creates and He sustains (cf. 10:6; 14:7). The culmination of absolute sovereignty is seen in God’s creation of the new heavens and earth (21:1-22:5). At that time, He destroys the old earth tainted by sin and combines earth and heaven “making all things new” (21:5). The Book of Revelation conveys a sense of sovereignty that no other New Testament book approaches.

God is Eternal as related to His Sovereignty. God is described as One who will be forever and ever. He is “the One who is and who was and who is to come” (ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος: 1:4, 8; 4:8-10; 11:17; 16:5). God is in control of the present in the same way He was in control of the past and will be in control of the future.[14] With this promise of His eternal control is the promise of His coming and judgment. God does not have a beginning or end, for He is described as “the First and Last” (ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος: 1:17; 22:13). He not only controls the past and the future, but everything in between, for He is “the Alpha and Omega” (Ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ Ἄλφα καὶ τὸ Ὦ: 1:8, 17;21:6, 13).

God is Omnipotent as related to His Sovereignty. God is a mighty God.[15] He is the divine warrior and has all the power to do His will. Whatever evil is done in His sight by the evil powers of this world, God has more power still. God is stronger than the kings of earth. He will overcome and be the victor over evil. He will judge in His power and glory (18:8). God is “Almighty” (ὁ παντοκράτωρ: 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 19:6; 21:22), and all heaven ascribes power and might to Him (7:12; 12:10).

The Glory of God Seen Within His Son Jesus Christ

From the beginning of the text John greet his readers “from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” (1:5) The first vision of John in Revelation is Jesus in all His glory (1:12-20).

Jesus is referred to by John with many distinct divine names: the “I AM” (1:8, 17; 2:23; 21:6; 22:13, 16), Son of God (2:18), ruler of God’s creation (3:14), Word of God (19:13; cf. John 1:1-14 & 1 John 1:1-4), and the Lamb of God (13:11; cf. John 1:29, 36; 21:15) . These characteristics and more are vivid throughout the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
The Lamb of God (ἀρνίον) is a constant symbol for Christ in Revelation as the victor over the forces of evil and the Church as the body of Christ, which shares this victory with Him (17:14).[16] He has opened up the way for His people to have a glorious destiny. He is the Lamb worshiped by all heaven (5:6) and worthy to open the seven seals (6:1, 3ff).

The greatness and glory of the Lamb is indicated in the way He is joined with God (cf. 7:9; 14:4; 22:1-3).[17] He is equated with God. Jesus is the supreme One and His glory makes His saving work possible.
There is a hint to the humanity of Christ as He is referenced to being from the tribe of Judah and the house of David. Greater emphasis, however, is placed on His deity. Revelation leaves us no doubt that Jesus Christ is the God of all. He is triumphant over death and regarded as the eternal One of infinite power and majesty who is worthy of all honor and adoration.

He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, slays the wicked,

delivers the righteous,

and reigns over the earth.

John cannot help but fall before Him and worship.

At the conclusion of two visions, he falls at the feet of the angel to worship, and the angel responds, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus.
Worship God.” 19:10; 22:9

The Book of Revelation is a cataclysmic reminder that through Christ life is stronger than death and eventually the kingdom of this world will be the kingdom of our Lord and His Messiah (1:6; 5:10). He will reign forever and ever (11:15).

There is no one like Jesus Christ. Jesus is supreme.

In conclusion, the Book of Revelation has a heavy emphasis on the glory of God. God’s glory is seen in the literary structure of the book, within His characteristics, and in the person and work of Jesus Christ. If one wants to grow in his or her understanding of God’s glory, the Revelation of Jesus Christ is a great place to start. God is enthroned in heaven and is working out His purposes on earth. Revelation calls us to respond with awe, godly fear, praise, faith, and obedience.

One day we will ourselves cry to the Lord, “Holy, holy, holy is the

Lord God Almighty,

who was and is and is to come!”

The faith vs. works debate often comes up in discussions of salvation.

There are many who say that a person is saved based on some

mixture of faith and works.

Biblical Christianity teaches salvation by faith in Jesus Christ,

apart from any works we do.

Perhaps the best place to start is to clearly define faith and works:

What is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 sets out the definition: “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Faith is that which assures us that our hope is reality, even though we cannot yet see it. If we have faith, we are convinced that what we believe is real, true, and reliable. The biblical object of faith is the person and work of Jesus Christ. True faith has always been the identifying mark of the people of God.

What are works?

Works are a person’s actions or deeds. Work is that which we perform for some kind of reward.

We work at our jobs and expect to receive a paycheck for it. Even working on a voluntary basis has its own reward—praise from others, a feeling of good will, etc. In the context of salvation, works refers to good deeds we do, especially religious or charitable acts or the observance of the Old Testament law.

In the faith vs. works debate, the two sides maintain that either we are saved by faith (and faith alone), or we are saved by works (or, more commonly, works added to faith). Which side is correct? What is the biblical relationship between faith and works?

• Works are required for salvation—but Scripture is clear that those works are Christ’s, not ours. Jesus fulfilled the law (Matthew 5:17). In fact, “the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross reconciled us to God (Romans 5:10), and as He died, Jesus proclaimed that the work was finished (John 19:30). Now we are invited to enter into God’s rest by faith: “Anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works” (Hebrews 4:10).

• Our works do nothing to earn or maintain salvation. It was the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ that justifies sinners (Romans 3:24). “Know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, . . . because by the works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16). We begin by faith, and we continue in faith: “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?” (Galatians 3:2–3).

• Salvation is by grace, which precludes works. Grace is, by definition, unearned, and Scripture makes it clear that God’s grace in salvation destroys the argument for human effort: “If by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace” (Romans 11:6). “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).

• God’s requirement for salvation is faith in His Son. One of the grand themes of the Bible is that we are justified, or declared righteous, by faith (Genesis 15:6). Faith is the only means of making sinful human beings able to stand before a holy God. No amount of law-keeping or good works can accomplish it (Titus 3:5). If our works could save us, then Christ died for nothing (Galatians 2:21).

• Works are the product of faith. Those who have true faith in Jesus Christ will be “eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:14). John the Baptist called for “fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8). The book of James emphasizes the nature of true saving faith as that which results in good works: “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” and “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:17, 26). Grace through faith saves, and that faith is manifest in works. If someone claims to have faith yet exhibits no good works, his or her faith is “dead,” or nonexistent.

The faith vs. works debate, then, is really no debate at all.

Both faith and works are integral parts of the Christian life.

Biblically, faith is the cause of salvation, while works are the evidence of it.

The familiar statue of the

Immaculate Heart of Mary,

with her foot forcing the innards out of the serpent, is grotesquely satisfying.

We delight in the

final victory

over the powers of darkness.

But is devotion to Mary as a dragon-slayer a mere pious distraction based on tenuous Scriptural citations? In our fight against evil, instead of invoking Mary’s prayers, should we put more faith in bureaucratic “policies, procedures, and protocols” ensuring that [fill in the blank] never happens again?

The Devil’s successful temptation of Adam and Eve into Original Sin brought suffering and death into the world. After describing the ensuing afflictions, God promises a Redeemer: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Gen. 3:15). The Woman kills the serpent through her seed.

In Luke’s Gospel, there is a significant reinforcement of Mary’s exalted role as the maternal “Defender Against Demons.” During her visit with Elizabeth her cousin, Mary responds with a spontaneous prayer rooted in her familiarity with Scriptures. Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) not only anticipates the Devil’s temptations of Jesus thirty years later but prophesies victory over evil in “every generation.”

At the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness (cf. Mt. 4:1-11). He is hungry after forty days and forty nights of fasting. The Devil entices Jesus with a threefold temptation.

The flesh: “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But Jesus answers, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Without God’s word, “bread alone”—the materialism of “the flesh”—opposes God.

The world: The devil takes Jesus to Jerusalem, sets Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and says, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will give his angels charge of you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” But Jesus responds, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Without God, the world and all its power are but diabolical temptations.

The Devil: Finally the Devil takes Jesus to a very high mountain and shows Him the kingdoms of the world and their glory. The Devil goes for broke and says to Him: “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” The response of Jesus is definitive: “Begone, Satan! for it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” Later in the Gospel, Jesus warns us: “For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and lose his soul?” (Mark 8:36)

Mary similarly refutes the Devil’s threefold temptation point-by-point, but she does so in prophesy while carrying Jesus as a babe in her womb. In her Magnificat (as taken from the Breviary), Mary acknowledges that she is the blessed handmaiden for all generations to come,

the “New Eve.”

My soul [magnifies] the greatness of the Lord,
My spirit rejoices in God my Savior
For he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.The Devil: Just as Jesus exorcises the Devil, Mary prophesies her Son’s victory over diabolical pride, the cause of the Fall:

He has shown strength with his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.The World: Just as Jesus says, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God” with worldly allures, Mary prophesies God’s strength:
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
And has lifted up the lowly.The Flesh: Just as Jesus affirms that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,”

Mary prophesies the emptiness of riches without God and His word:

He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
For he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children forever.Hence,

Mary’s prayer with the child Jesus in her womb prophesies the fulfillment of the promise God made in Genesis 3:15.

We face the same temptations that Jesus endured for our sake: “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning.” (Heb. 4:15)

The Magnificat, recited every evening in the Divine Office, continues to crush the head of the Devil. It should be a cornerstone of our daily spiritual policies, procedures, and protocols.

I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction

of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites,

the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites,

a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Exodus 3:17)

God told Moses the plan and the glorious destination – a land flowing with milk and honey.

But this plan was not newly-hatched.

God had given Abraham the heads up

a whole four centuries earlier,

telling his friend that he could count on these things all coming to pass:

“Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs
and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.

But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve,

and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall

go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.

And they shall come back here in the fourth generation,

for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

(Genesis 15:13-16)

God was not in a hurry. He graciously let

the Canaanitescontinue in their sin

until it reached its full measure before bringing judgement

upon them in the form of the Israelites.

God respects our wishes and freedom, including our freedom to sin,

but he does have limits.

Four hundred years of unbridled sin is a pretty long leash, but finally, in about 1400 BC, enough was enough.

The Israelites marched right into Canaan’s land.

GOD DELIVERS ON HIS PROMISES

Over those four hundred long years, the brothers of Joseph who had come

from Israel to Egypt to avoid starving

in the famine had become a nation, a couple of million strong.

And, as it turned out, the journey back to the

Promised Land turned out to be pretty long and winding…

not to mention full of adventures.

But all the while, they had this dream to hold onto—their assured destination--

the land of milk, honey, and all good things.

“For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams,

and deep springs gushing out into the

valleys and hills;

a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey.”

(Deuteronomy 8:7-8)

The seven species listed above refer to date honey rather than honey from bees, but we know from other places in the Bible, such as Samson’s lion-and-honeycomb riddle (Judges 14:9)

Jonathan breaking his father’s fast when they came across it in the woods (1 Samuel 14:29),

as well as John the Baptist’s unusual diet,

that honey from the honeycomb was also plentiful in Israel.

God gives good gifts to his children. The specific phrase “land of milk and honey” crops up 22 times in the Bible in relation to the Promised Land – it’s a promise that God reiterated over and over. It was a promise they could count on.

WHY MILK AND HONEY?

I heard the explanation, which makes a lot of sense to me, that milk and honey are the ultimate signs of a lush and fertile land. Why? Because livestock can merrily munch grass and vegetation, thus producing milk, while bees can happily visit all kinds of flowers to produce honey. Both indicate, indeed pretty much require, a verdant, pastural landscape.

It is perhaps then no surprise that both milk and honey feature in the Jewish feasts today.
They are a byword for decadence, worthy of a feast!

If you ask an Israeli what Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks) is all about, their answer will likely include the giving of the Torah at Sinai and dairy products. The main connotations in Israel are staying up all night to study the Torah, and cheesecake, to be specific! The word of God is often likened to honey in the Bible 2, and milk represents the bounty of the land, which is pretty much what Shavuot is all about.

“Shavuot? It’s some kind of cheese festival”,

explained a Russian new immigrant on the

phone to a relative back in the motherland.

It’s true that the Biblical meaning of the feasts often get lost in modern traditions, much as celebrations of the incarnation gets swamped with Christmas trees, and the cross with Easter eggs. But the Shavuot enthusiasm with dairy is not entirely random. Some believe it was connected to the verse within a passage about the Feasts, about not boiling a kid in its mother’s milk, which kicked off all the kosher laws (Exodus 23:19). Others see milk as referring to the Torah itself—our nourishment and sustenance. Equally, honey is a key ingredient on the Jewish festal table in the fall, along with all things sweet.

Judaism, more than others it seems, has a hearty appreciation and celebration of the physical joys of life. God considers the earth he has made, and declares that it is GOOD! Good food, laughter, relationships, running around in fields, milking cows and making bread – it’s all part of God’s wonderful design, created to bring pleasure. Milk and honey are sort of emblematic of the fact that God really does bless us with good things right here on earth, in the physical. It’s not a Platonic either/or, but a both/and situation: we can enjoy the good things God created for us right here on earth, as well as having every spiritual blessing in Messiah.

MILK AND HONEY: THE RICHNESS OF RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

David declared,

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

(Psalm 119:103)

This analogy crops up several times in the Scriptures. God’s word is like honey,

but it is also likened to milk later in the New Testament--

essential nourishment to our souls, as babies require milk.

Similarly, the phrase appears in chapter 4 of Song of Songs:

“Sweetness drops from your lips, O bride; Honey and milk are under your tongue.”

(Song of Songs 4:11)

And this Bible verse from Song of Songs has been printed onto milk cartons here in Israel! Rabbinic tradition considers the milk and honey here in this verse to refer to the Torah, since Song of Songs is seen as an analogy of the love relationship between God and his people.

Certainly, God’s word is both sweet and sustaining to all who know him and love him.

Have you ever had the experience of receiving a pertinent Bible verse that really hit the nail on the head in your current circumstance? It’s wonderful, isn’t it? A timely word from God can give us such encouragement and strength to keep going.“See how my eyes brightened when I tasted a little of this honey,”said Jonathan to his friends. (1 Sam 14:29). God’s word can energize us when we’re flagging,

just like honey rejuvenated that hungry man.

Often in the Bible there’s a physical manifestation

which prefigures the greater, spiritual reality to come.

The Promised Land really and truly was a land of milk and honey in Biblical times--

and has become so once again in our times!

But it also points to the greater reality of the richness and sweetness of a life in relationship to God,

which can be enjoyed by people from all nations, from anywhere in the world.

Yet even more than that awaits us in the ultimate Promised Land—we will have complete union with God in the new heavens and new earth, in the World to Come.

What awaits us there? A feast, of course! We are promised a banquet to end all banquets!

Who’s guessing there might be milk and honey on that table?

The first mention of the

ark of the testimony

is in Exodus 25:10. God gave

Moses specific instructions for

building a tabernacle as they traveled in the wilderness.

The tabernacle

would be the place where

the

glory of God

would dwell among His people

(Exodus 25:8–9).

Among hundreds of other descriptive instructions for this tabernacle, God told Moses to build an ark of the testimony, also called the ark of the covenant(Exodus 25:21–22). The words testimony and covenant both refer to the conditional agreement made between God and the children of Israel at Mount Sinai. An ark is, literally, a box or chest. So the ark of the testimony is the “box of the agreement.”

The ark of the testimony was a wooden box, covered in gold inside and out. It had four exterior rings through which poles could be attached for carrying. No one but the high priest could touch the ark (Numbers 4:15). To do so would result in instant death, as happened with a man named Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:1–7). God was beginning to teach His people about His holiness and their unworthiness. He demonstrated to them that His commands were not suggestions to be negotiated. He wanted to teach them to obey Him in all things, whether or not they understood the reason for the rules.

The lid of the ark was also made of gold and formed a seat between two cherubim, called the mercy seat. It was there that God would meet with His people (Exodus 25:22). Inside the ark of the testimony, Moses placed the tablets of the Law that God gave him on the mountain. The ark was placed inside the tabernacle in the most holy place, where only the high priest could go once a year (Exodus 26:34). Through it all, God was painting a picture to help us understand what is required for sinful man to come into the presence of a holy God.

The ark of the testimony got its name from the fact that it would be the housing for God’s testimony to His people. His Law was not only verbal, but written, etched in stone (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 5:22), so there could be no excuse for disobedience. Hebrews 9:4 tells us that, later, the Israelites added to the stone tablets within the ark of the testimony a jar of manna (Exodus 16:32–33) and Aaron’s rod that budded (Numbers 17:8–10).

The ark of the testimony represented the presence of God with His people, and His power went with them wherever they took the ark (Joshua 3:6; Numbers 10:33–35). The enemies of Israel, the Philistines, stole the ark once (1 Samuel 5:1), hoping its power would help them. They set it in their idol’s temple and waited for the good luck it would bring. But calamity broke out among the Philistines, until they begged their leaders to send the ark back to Israel (1 Samuel 5:4, 6, 9, 11–12). God demonstrated that He was not a good-luck charm whose power could be had by whoever captured His ark. The power was not in the ark of the testimony itself; the ark only represented the presence of God with His people.

Since the death and resurrection of Jesus (Romans 14:9), God no longer uses an ark of the testimony to dwell with His people. We are under a new testament or covenant. At Pentecost, He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell every believer (Acts 2:1–4, 38–39). We become His temple (1 Corinthians 6:19). When we have been born again by faith in Jesus Christ (John 3:3, 16), we take God with us everywhere we go. It did the Philistines no good to harbor the ark, because the ark had no power in itself if God was not on their side. Likewise, we do not need physical items—crosses, images, holy relics—to carry the power of God with us because He already abides in us. That awareness of His presence, called the fear of the Lord (Psalm 19:19; Proverbs 15:33), helps us make decisions that honor Him.

In Exodus 32 Moses returns

from talking with the Lord on the mountain and

finds that the Israelites have turned to sinful actions.

Verse 6 says,

“The people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings.

Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” What exactly was

this “revelry”

that followed the Israelites’ feast?

The context helps identify

the main actions that offended the Lord.

First, verse 4 notes that the people

gave offerings to a golden calf.

They had already broken the first of the Ten Commandments

before Moses had even returned to them!

And verse 6 mentions that

feasting and drinking were part of the festivities.

Second,

Moses had identified the noise emanating from the camp

as “the sound of singing”

(Exodus 32:18).

In their pagan revelries,

the people of Israel were singing songs of

adoration to the

golden calf.

In the not-so-distant past, they had been singing praise to the Lord after
He led them safely through the Red Sea (Exodus 15).

Now their tune had changed.

Third, the people of Israel danced as part of their

celebration of the golden calf.

Verse 19 says, “

When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf

and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands,

breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.”

Dancing per se is not noted as wrong,

but dancing

in celebration of an idol

made

Moses (and God) angry.

Fourth, there was an unrestrained attitude of

partying around the golden calf.

Verse 25 presents the shameful truth: “The people were running wild . . . Aaron had let them get out of control and so [they became] a laughingstock to their enemies.” Details of their behavior are not given, but their actions were unruly, uncivilized, and ungodly.

In turning to a graven image, the people had turned away from the Lord (see Deuteronomy 9:16). Even though the golden calf had been billed as the god they had been following all along (Exodus 32:4), the True God cannot be reduced to imagery. The Lord will not share His glory with another (Isaiah 42:8). That is why God judged the people of Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai.

In 2 Chronicles 1 we are told that

Solomon,

early in his reign, worshiped at a high place.

Verse 3 reads, “Solomon and the whole assembly went to the high place at Gibeon,

for God’s tent of meeting was there, which

Moses the LORD’s servant had made in the wilderness.”

The text is clear that the reason Solomon worshiped at this high place was that

the

tabernacle

(also called the tent of meeting) was located there.

This was the same tabernacle that the children of Israel, under Moses’ leadership,

had constructed in the wilderness many years previously.

Prior to the construction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem,

the tabernacle

was the place

God had chosen for worship

In fact, King David

had previously worshiped the Lord at this high place in Gibeon.

First Chronicles 16:39 notes, “David left Zadok the priest and his fellow priests

before the tabernacle of the LORD at the high place in Gibeon.”

With the tabernacle was the altar of burnt offering

(see 1 Chronicles 21:29).

While in Gibeon, “Solomon went up to the bronze altar before the LORD in the tent of meeting and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it” (2 Chronicles 1:6). That night, the Lord appeared to Solomon and offered to give him anything he requested. When Solomon requested wisdom, God promised to give it to him, along with vast wealth, possessions, and honor (verse 12).

In 2 Chronicles 2, Solomon prepared to build the Jewish temple as a place for his people to worship the Lord. First Kings 6:38 notes that construction of the temple took seven years to complete.

Once the temple was finished,

Solomon had the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant

placed inside the temple,

and from then on the temple was the place for Jewish worship.

Though Solomon later

was led astray into idol-worship by

his many wives,

his experience in 2 Chronicles 1 of worshiping at a high place was a noble one that God honored. It was only after the temple was completed that Gibeon was no longer considered a place to worship the Lord.

After Solomon’s time, many wicked kings of Israel used “high places” for worshiping false gods. For example, King Jehoram of Judah “built high places on the hills of Judah and . . . caused the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and . . . led Judah astray” (2 Chronicles 21:11). In most contexts, high places are associated with false worship. However, in Solomon’s worship at the high place in Gibeon, he worshiped at the tabernacle and presented offerings to the Lord God.

Not my will, but yours be done”

The life of Jesus Christ exemplified

obedience.

He came to earth to fulfill His heavenly Father’s will

no matter how painful the task set before Him.

Nonetheless, Jesus spoke honestly with God when faced with His crucifixion:

“Father, if you are willing, please

take this

cup of suffering away from me”

(Luke 22:42, NLT).

In His human state,

Jesus did not

want to endure a torturous death.

Yet in the same breath,

He prayed,

“Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

This scene in Gethsemane records one of the most desperate hours of anguish in the life of Christ

(Matthew 26:36–46; Mark 14:32–42; Luke 22:40–46).

He told His disciples, “My soul is overwhelmed to the point of death” (Mark 14:34). Worse than the thought of death, Jesus, in His humanity, must have dreaded the thought of bearing the sins of the world (1 Peter 2:24). In the garden, the Lord fell to the ground flat on His face and offered God this desperate cry of His soul: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.

Yet not as I will, but as you will”

(Matthew 26:39).

Christ’s words and actions here serve as a great comfort to us, His followers. God wants His children to pour out their hearts to Him in sincerity (Psalm 62:8). He is our refuge, our safe haven. Like Jesus, we can reveal the deepest longings in our hearts to our loving heavenly Father. He knows what we are feeling, and we can trust Him to carry the burdens of our souls.

Facing the cross, Jesus was able to pray, “Not my will, but yours be done” because He was wholly submitted to His Father’s will. “My food,” He had said, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34). “By myself I can do nothing,” explained Jesus, “

for I seek not to please myself but

him who sent me”

(John 5:30).

Obedience to God’s will

was

central to Christ’s mission.

He told His disciples, “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). Hundreds of years before, Scripture foretold Christ’s destiny to come to earth and do God’s will (Hebrews 10:5–7; cf. Psalm 40:6–8).

For Christ’s followers,

“Not my will, but yours be done”

is the definitive prayer that never fails. According to 1 John 5:14–15, we can pray with confidence “if we ask according to his will.” Praying God’s will guarantees that He hears us and will grant what we ask. In fact, one of the primary purposes of prayer is to allow the will of God to be accomplished and to bring glory and honor to His name on earth. Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9–10). Those who pray this way, desiring God’s will above all else, reveal that they are indeed Christ’s disciples (Matthew 7:21; see also Matthew 12:50; Mark 3:35; Luke 8:21; John 15:10; Ephesians 6:6).

The apostle Paul encouraged Christians to seek the Holy Spirit’s help to pray in agreement with God’s will: “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us

believers in harmony with

God’s own will”

(Romans 8:26–27, NLT).

Paul also urged believers to “learn to know God’s will” for their lives because

God’s will “is good and pleasing and perfect”

(Romans 12:2, NLT).

When Jesus said,

Not my will, but yours be done,”

He surrendered His own will to God’s,

fully convinced

that His Father knew what was best.

When we pray this way,

we yield ourselves to

God’s wisdom,

trusting Him to work out what’s best for our lives, too (Romans 8:28).

Even though there are reasonable explanations for why Aaron

and the people began to

worship the golden calf,

those explanations do not excuse the sin. God certainly held the people

accountable for their corruption

(Exodus 32:7–10)

and was ready to destroy them for their sin.

Moses’ personal intercession on behalf of his people saved them.

Moses indicated that Aaron at least should have known that his actions were sinful (Exodus 32:21)

and didn’t let him off the

hook

As with any other sin, the punishment is death, and the

only proper response is repentance.

Moses called for those who were on the Lord’s side to come stand with him (Exodus 32:26).

The Levites stood with him and were commanded to go through the camp and kill anyone who

persisted in the idolatry

Three thousand men were killed that day. The next day, Moses went up and confessed

the people’s sins before God, asking for His forgiveness.

God declared that the guilty ones would yet pay with their own deaths and be blotted out of His book.

These were the same ones who, on the

verge of entering the Promised Land,

would deny God’s promises and be sent into the wilderness to die for their sins.

Their children would be the ones to receive God’s promised blessings.

Their experiences are a lesson to us today. Even though we might justify our actions through reason or logic,

if we are violating

God’s clear commands,

we are sinning against Him, and He will

hold us accountable for those sins.

God is not to be worshiped with

images,

because any image we make will draw more attention

to the work of our hands

than the God who made all things.

Also, there is no way we can ever

fully represent the

holiness

and awesomeness of God through

an image.

To attempt to do so will always fall short.

On top of this, God is a spirit (John 4:24), and

we cannot form an

image of a spirit

We worship God by believing

His Word, obeying it,

and

declaring His greatness to others.

It’s a question we all ask ourselves at some point:

does the Old Testament law still apply?

Do Christians

follow the Old Testament?

What is the Old Testament Law?

The Old Testament Law is found in

Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy

This includes the Ten Commandments. It is often referred to in Scripture as

the “Law of Moses,” the “tablets of the covenant,” or just

“Law”

“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the

law of Moses

or the

writings of the prophets.

No,

I came to accomplish their

purpose

I tell you the truth,

until heaven and earth disappear,

not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear

until its purpose is achieved.

So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same,

you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven.

But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great

in the Kingdom of Heaven.

But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness

of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the

Kingdom of Heaven!”

— MATTHEW 5:17-20

DOES THE OLD TESTAMENT LAW STILL APPLY?

If Jesus did not come to abolish the law, does that mean all the Old Testament laws

still apply to us today? In the Old Testament,

the law has three dimensions: ceremonial, civil, and moral.

ONE: Ceremonial Law

The ceremonial law related specifically to Israel’s worship (see Lev 1:2-3, for example). Its primary purpose was to point forward to Jesus Christ; these laws, therefore, were no longer necessary after Jesus’ death and resurrection. While ceremonial law no longer binds us, the principles behind them—to worship and love a holy God—still apply. The Pharisees often accused Jesus of violating ceremonial law.

TWO: Civil Law

The civil law applied to daily living in Israel (see Deut 24:10-11, for example). Because modern society and culture are so radically different from that time and setting, all of these guidelines cannot be followed specifically. But the principles behind the commands are timeless and should guide our conduct. Jesus demonstrated these principles by example.

THREE: Moral Law

The moral law (such as the Ten Commandments) is the direct command of God, and it requires strict obedience (see Exod 20:13, for example). The moral law reveals the nature and will of God, and it still applies today. Jesus obeyed the moral law completely.

THE ULTIMATE GOAL

God gave His laws to help people love God with all their hearts and minds. Throughout Israel’s history, however, these laws had often been misquoted and misapplied. By Jesus’ time, religious leaders had turned the laws into a confusing mass of rules. When Jesus talked about a new way to understand God’s law, he was actually trying to bring people back to its original purpose. Jesus did not speak against the law itself but against the abuses and excesses to which it had been subjected (see John 1:17).

OBEYING > EXPLAINING

Some of those in the crowd were experts at telling others what to do, but they themselves missed the central point of God’s laws. Jesus made it clear that obeying God’s laws is more important than explaining them. It’s much easier to study God’s laws and tell others to obey them than to put them into practice. How are you doing at obeying God yourself?

HEART CHANGE > OBEYING.

The Pharisees were exacting and scrupulous in their attempts to follow their laws. So how could Jesus reasonably call us to greater righteousness than theirs? The Pharisees’ weakness was that they were content to obey the laws outwardly without allowing God to change their hearts (or attitudes). They looked pious, but they were far from the Kingdom of Heaven.

God judges our hearts as well as our deeds, for it is in the heart that our real allegiance lies.

Jesus was saying that his listeners needed a different kind of righteousness altogether (out of love for God), not just a more intense version of the Pharisees’ obedience

(which was mere legal compliance). Our righteousness must

(1) come from what God does in us, not what we can do by ourselves,

(2) be God-centered, not self-centered,

(3) be based on reverence for God, not approval from people, and

(4) go beyond keeping the law to living

by the principles behind the law.

We should be just as concerned about our attitudes that people don’t see
as about our actions that they do see.

Mount Moriah or the City of David?

For years scholars have argued about the precise location

of the first and second Jewish Temples on

the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Nevertheless, almost all archaeologists agree they were situated at or near the Muslim Dome of the Rock.

Recently, however, a popular book claims the Temples never stood on the

Temple Mount at all.

In Temple: Amazing New Discoveries that Change Everything About the Location of Solomon’s Temple, Robert Cornuke makes the startling claim that they were built in the City of David, over the Gihon Spring. Cornuke’s sensational conclusion is that accepting this location resolves the political and religious impasse between Jews and Muslims over the controversial site and allows for biblical prophecies related to rebuilding the Temple to be fulfilled today.

The Temple location is important, and Cornuke’s popular book, written to a general audience,
is confusing many Christians.

A former police detective, Cornuke based his book on a more academic one by the late Ernest Martin, who originated the theory almost 20 years ago. At that time, many people criticized it, as did I in my book The Temple and Bible Prophecy: A Definitive Look at Its Past, Present, and Future (1999).1 Now Martin’s theory is coming to the fore again, even though it cannot be sustained for three main reasons:

God established the location for the first Temple, and that location has never been forgotten or confused throughout Jewish history.

1. GODestablished the location for the first Temple, and that location has never been forgotten or confused throughout Jewish history.

2 Medieval Jewish scholar Moses Maimonides, in his massive commentary, Mishneh Torah,
contended that once the Temple site was fixed in the days of Samuel and King David,
it could not be changed (Beth Ha’behira 1:3–4).

The Bible supports this view in its description of the
official rebuilding of the structure after the Babylonian exile:

And he [Persian King Cyrus] said to him [Sheshbazzar], “Take these articles; go, carry them to the temple site that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its former site.” Then the same Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundation of the house of God which is in Jerusalem (Ezra 5:15–16).

Therefore, the second Temple was built on the restored ruins of King Solomon’s first Temple (9:9).
Herod the Great’s renovation to the second Temple was completed on this same foundation
(Josephus Antiquities 15.388–89, 391).

ROSE GUIDE TO THE TEMPLE

Get to know every detail of the Temple with Rose Guide to the Temple by Randall Price.

Even before Herod, there was a monumental extension of the eastern enclosure wall. It has enabled scholars to identify the original Temple Mount platform, which was designed to level off the natural topography of Mount Moriah and support the first Temple. Based on these remains and others visible in and around the Temple platform, it has been possible to deduce the original 500 x 500 cubit (861 x 861 feet) square Temple Mount upon which the first and second Temples were built. The first-century Jewish historian Josephus confirmed this equilateral square shape and asserted the Temple was built on top of a hill (Antiquities 15. 398–400). This is a significant point because, whatever location one argues for the Temple, it must be able to accommodate a platform this size.

In Mark 13:2 (cf. Mt. 24:2; Lk. 19:44), we read that Jesus predicted the Temple “buildings” would be leveled to the ground. His prophecy did not include the Temple’s foundation stones, retaining walls, or platform, which technically are not buildings and therefore not the structures to which Jesus referred. The Jewish people deeply reverenced this site. Not only did they pray toward it three times a day, but they also saw it as the symbol of hope for Israel’s redemption and restoration in the Messianic age (cf. Dan. 9:17). In fact, the restoration text of Isaiah 66:14 is carved into the Temple Mount’s southwestern retaining wall.

According to archaeologist Meir Ben- Dov, who served as co-director of the excavations in this area, the inscription most likely reflects the excited hope of a third-century Jew who returned to Jerusalem when Roman Emperor Julian offered the Jewish people an opportunity to rebuild their Temple.3 It is clear by where he recorded this act of devotion and expectation that he did not believe the Temple was in the City of David. This unbroken testimony continues through the Jewish pilgrim accounts and letters between Jewish people in the Diaspora and those who remained in the occupied land of Israel.

After the Romans destroyed the Temple in AD 70, it is said that pilgrims visited a barren protrusion of stone (called the Pierced Stone) for centuries thereafter, identified as the location of the former Holy of Holies. For this reason, after the Muslims conquered the land in AD 638, the Islamic Caliph Abd al-Malik erected the Dome of the Rock over the spot (AD 691). Evidence comes from the Armenian historian Sebeos (AD 660):
I will relate a little more about the intentions of the rebellious Jews, who having earlier received help from the leaders of the children of Hagar, conceived a plan to rebuild the Temple of Solomon. Having discovered the place, which is called the Holy of Holies, they then built on its foundations, a place of prayer for themselves. However, the Ishmaelites, jealous of them, drove them from this place and called it their house of prayer.4
History, then, attests to today’s Temple Mount as the location of the former Temples.

2. THE ORIGINAL

861’ x 861’ square Temple Mount does not fit physically in David’s City, as Cornuke’s theory proposes. By laying the dimensions over the 1864–65 “Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem” (a topographical map of Jerusalem prepared by British Captain Charles Wilson, below), you can see the problem: The Temple Mount square fits on the present elevated platform but not down in the City of David.

In fact, when forced into the City of David, it covers the remains of the Iron Age houses in the residential area on the eastern slopes of the city, which were built after the time of the First Temple, including burial tombs used throughout the Israelite period on the adjacent slopes within the present-day village of Silwan. Had the Temple Mount been in the City of David, it also would have dammed up the Kidron Valley and created a lake to the north of the theoretical Temple complex.5
Further, Josephus recorded that extensions were added to this square Temple Mount by the Hasmoneans, Herod the Great, and Agrippa II—a feature present on the hill above David’s City but not possible down in the ancient city itself.

The Bible also states Solomon built the Temple on Mount Moriah, which was also the site of the threshing floor of Araunah (Ornan) the Jebusite (2 Chr. 3:1). Threshing floors are always outside cities and usually elevated to harness the wind power.

Only the northern site outside and above the City of David fits this description.

This fact is likewise understood in 2 Chronicles 5:2–7, which talks about bringing the Ark of the Covenant “up from the City of David” (v. 2) to install it in the first Temple. It was “brought up” by the Levitical priests (v. 5) “to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple” (v. 7). The clear direction was outward and upward.
Archaeological discoveries make an indisputable case for the Temples having been built on the current Temple Mount.

3. ARCHAEOLOGICAL

discoveries make an indisputable case for the Temples having been built on the current Temple Mount. One of the important finds uncovered in the massive excavations at the foot of the Temple Mount shortly after Israelis returned to the area in 1967 was a monumental stone balustrade containing the Hebrew inscription, “to the place of trumpeting.” This clearly was one of the first stones the Romans toppled from the Temple Mount to the street below because it was found directly on the first-century AD pavement at the southwest corner of the Temple Mount—the very place Josephus mentioned in his description of the Temple:
…at another corner opposite the lower town [at the southwest angle of the Temple]. The last was erected above the roof of the priests’ chamber, at the point where it was the custom for one of the priests to stand and give notice, by sound of trumpet, in the afternoon of the approach, and on the following evening of the close, of every seventh day, announcing to the people the respective hours for ceasing work and for resuming their labors (Wars 4.581–583).

Here we have a direct connection between an archaeological discovery
and an ancient literary source that describes the activity of Temple priests.

Another stone with a complete Greek inscription was discovered in 1871 by Clermont-Ganneau near the St. Stephen’s Gate north of northeastern corner of the Temple Mount. Because it was found when the Ottoman Empire ruled the land, it was taken to the Istanbul Archaeological Museum in Turkey, where it is on display today. The inscription warned Gentiles against entering the sacred precincts upon pain of death. It helps us understand the Jewish men’s outcry when they thought Paul had taken Trophimus, a non-Jew, into the Temple

(Acts 21:23–32).

To this example could be added myriad more from Temple Mount excavations, including a limestone sundial the Temple priests used to time the ongoing cycle of services and a recently discovered royal seal bearing the name of the eighth-century BC Judean King Hezekiah.

Clearly, the archaeological evidence supports the

Temple Mount, not the City of David,

as the site of the Jewish Temples.Furthermore, for the past 10 years the Temple Mount Sifting Project has been recovering artifacts reclaimed from debris that Muslims dumped into the Kidron Valley while building a new mosque at the southern end of the platform in an area known as Solomon’s Stables. Among the debris were special, colored stones the Talmud describes as part of the flooring in the Temple’s Court of the Women (where Jesus regularly taught). While installing electrical cable on the Temple Mount near the Dome of the Rock, Islamic authorities unintentionally uncovered part of a wall surrounded by pottery from the eighth century BC. Archaeologists who studied photos of the wall and examined the pottery concluded that the wall formed part of the House of Oil within the first Temple.6

Clearly, the archaeological evidence supports the Temple Mount,

not the City of David,

as the site of the Jewish Temples.

PENTECOST IN CONTEXT

Jesus instructed the disciples after the resurrection to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father. We now know that there was a specific day in mind for that promise to be revealed: the day of Pentecost, one of the three pilgrim festivals required by the Lord.

“Pente” means fifty. It refers to counting the harvest fifty days after Passover. The Hebrew name is Shavout, meaning “weeks”. It’s a harvest festival celebrating the end of the barley harvest and the first fruits of the wheat harvest.

Yet on the minds of the hundreds of thousands attending that Pentecost was the belief that the Torah had been given at that time on Mount Sinai 1300 years earlier.

The Jewish tradition is called Zman Matan Torah, “the season of the giving of the Law” when the Lord separated His people from Egypt and called them into relationship with Him. It is when the earth shook with flashes of lightning, and God spoke in thunder!

What took place fifty days after Jesus gave His life on the cross, “When the day of Pentecost had fully come” (Acts 2:1) made a parallel between the giving of the Law at Sinai and the ground floor of the Jesus Revolution on Mount Zion.
UNMISTAKEABLE PARALLELS ON TWO MOUNTAINS

God had demonstrated His presence atop Mt. Sinai 1300 years earlier; and on the ground floor of the Jesus Revolution atop Mt. Zion, God demonstrated His presence, power and purpose to 120 Jewish believers.
On Mt. Sinai God gave His commandments on tablets of stone written with the finger of God; on the ground floor of the Jesus Revolution atop Mt. Zion, the Spirit of God wrote the Commandments on human hearts.
At Mt. Sinai 3,000 were judged because of idolatry; on the ground floor of the Jesus revolution atop Mt. Zion, 3,000 people came to faith in Jesus Messiah!

In essence,

The knowledge of God was exploding

through the

faithful remnant of Israel

in the 120

followers of Jesus atop Mt. Zion.

They were the remnant that was

publicly and

divinely identified with tongues of fire

above their heads and given the gift of tongues

to communicate

the wonderful works of God

to an

international gathering

from fifteen

different geographical locations

with

a variety of languages

(Acts 2:3; 5-11).

Peter, after being

empowered and gifted by the Spirit

declared that

Jesus in His death, resurrection and ascension

was creating

all things new in Himself

and would return to establish

His kingdom on the earth in the city of Jerusalem!

The New Covenant

that had been inaugurated by

Jesus’ blood on the cross on Passover

(Nisan 14)

was now transforming 3,000 Jews

who had repented and

were being indwelt by the Spirit of God.

From now on, the nations of the world could enter

the New Covenant that had been given to Israel to

bless the world through the Messiah of Israel,

and could now also

experience the outpouring of God’s Spirit.

The context of this reveals an unstoppable plan of God: Both Passover and Pentecost were prophetic. Their ultimate fulfillment is in the Person and work of Jesus the Messiah.

Years ago, the apologist and Christian philosopher Francis Shaeffer was asked, “What is the greatest obstacle to the modern church?” His answer was fascinating both in what he didn’t say, as well as what he did say. He didn’t say that the major problem were the “ism’s” in culture (i.e. sensualism, materialism, atheism, relativism) but rather he said:

“The real problem is this: the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, individually corporately, tending to do the Lord’s work in the power of the flesh rather than of the Spirit. The central problem is always in the midst of the people of God, not in the circumstances surrounding them.”

Rediscovering the ground floor of the Jesus Revolution in the first century in its original context, can bring renewal and even a reorientation to God’s intended course and mission for the church.

UNDERSTANDING THE TRUE CONTEXT OF PENTECOST

First, the context of Pentecost tells

us that God’s purposes for our lives are

only accomplished in His strength.

Jesus said,

“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit

has come upon you;

and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem,

and in all Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

(Acts 1:4-5; 8)

The Spirit’s work is comprehensive. He indwells the believer and gives assurance of being a child of God (Romans 8:16). He brings a believer into intimacy with Abba, Father (Romans 8:15). The Spirit comes upon the believer to empower with divine gifting for divine mission (Acts 1:16) Zechariah 4:6 reads, “It’s not by power nor by might but it’s by my Spirit says the Lord”. The Spirit of God is the source of our strength in all areas of our life. We need to be “filled with the Spirit” on a daily basis! (Ephesians 5:18)

2. Second, the context reveals that Peter was addressing a specific audience: “You men of Israel …” (Acts 2:22). In principle, it speaks of a priority often overlooked. In Romans 1:16 Paul wrote,
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

Romans 1:16 is written in the present tense which means that if the Gospel is still the power of God “unto” salvation and is still for “all who believe,” then the

Gospel is still “to the Jew first”.

The term “first”

does not merely speak of sequence

but priority.

Later, Peter underscored an “eschatological link” to

Jewish evangelism by saying,

“Repent therefore and be converted,

that your

sins may be blotted out,

so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that

He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached

to you before,

whom heaven must receive

until the times of restoration of all things,

which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:19-21)

This coincides with Jesus saying,

“For I tell you, you will not see me again

until you say,

‘
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'”

(Matt. 23:39).

You can see then that there is a great spiritual battle with evangelism that we need to be aware of. Because, if Jerusalem will not see Him until she welcomes Him back, then no eye will see Him until Jerusalem receives Him!2 The ground floor of the Jesus Revolution reminds us that we cannot allow Jewish evangelism to become

the “Great Omission” of

The Great Commission.

3. Third, the context of Pentecost reveals that the bullseye of the church’s mission and preaching

is the Person and work of Jesus. Acts 4:12 reads,

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men

by which we must be saved.”

There is one reason and one reason only

why a person has eternal

life in a right relationship with God;

it is by making the

right

decision to follow Jesus!

(John 14:6; Romans 10:13; Acts 4:12; John 3:16).

4. Fourth, the context reveals the importance of repentance. On the day of Pentecost
the people were “cut to the heart” and said, “Men and bretheren, what shall we do?”

Peter answered,

“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children,
and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

(Acts 2:37-39)

The word “Repent” is actually a Greek word – metanoia. Metanoia means to change
the way one thinks that leads to a lifestyle change from a self-centered
life in rebellion to God, to a complete allegiance to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
The call to repent and the promise to receive the Holy Spirit and forgiveness of
sins remains today. In fact, God commands all men to repent!

“Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere
to repent because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in
righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all
by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:3-31)

The great evangelist D.L. Moody put it this way:

“Repentance is getting out of one train and getting into the other.

You are in the wrong train;

you are in the broad path that takes you down to the pit of hell.

Get out of it to-day. Right-about-face!”

5. Finally, the context of

Pentecost reminds us that

God’s plan unfolded in a Jewish context.

This is essential to recognize when we

study the Scriptures!

We need great teachers today!
We need great evangelists today! We need a church grounded in the truth and empowered
with the Spirit to make Jesus known! It is a Jewish context that is the basis for accurate
exegesis of scripture and for expository preaching and evangelism and

Gospel contextualization in

our 21st

century global audience.

Satan hates

The Blessed Virgin Mary

In fact, he has been

doing everything in his power

to discourage

devotion to her and instill hatred for her

for two millennia.

Have you ever noticed that it is Marian dogmas and devotions that
stir the strongest reactions in those who reject the Church?
Even some good Catholics are embarrassed by devotion to our Lady,
and they feel we should not be too extreme in our veneration of her.

Perhaps you, too, have wondered why the Church holds the

Immaculate Virgin in such high regard.

Perhaps you have wonder why

God has chosen to use her in the

work of redemption.

Today, I’d like to take a look at why the devil hates the

Blessed Mother so much,

and why we should be her devoted knights.

She will crush your head

The scene is

The Garden of Eden

The

characters are God, the

serpent,

Adam, and Eve

The devil is smirking in triumph. He has just

deceived Eve, and Through her,

Adam

Oh, he is proud of himself. You can

almost feel the demonic

Pride in Destruction,

for he has successfully marred

God’s handiwork of creation,

and dragged human beings—for

whom God has a special Love--into death and

MISERY

God has appeared on the scene

To Clean Up the Mess,

declaring the tragic curse that has arisen from sin,

but also to proclaim the protoevangelium,

The first hint at

The Gospel

and the devil’s doom. God starts by addressing Satan, telling him he is going to

eat dirt for the rest of his days.

Then he reveals something that makes Satan cringe in horror--

his ultimate defeat

will come at

The hands of a woman.

And I will establish a feud between thee and the woman, between thy offspring and hers;

she is to crush thy head,

while thou dost lie in ambush at

her heels

(Genesis 3:15, Knox)

Now, scholars argue about whether or not the pronoun is masculineor feminine
in the sentence,

“She is to crush thy head”—that is, whether it

refers to the

Virgin Mary or Jesus Christ.

But I’m going to let you in on a little secret:

It doesn’t matter.

YOU SEE,

Jesus is going to crush Satan

Through Mary

She is

The instrument

Jesus is going to wield when he destroys his ancient enemy.

With that in mind, it is just as legitimate to say,

“he will crush your head”

as it is to say, “she will crush your head.” It’s kind of like telling an armed assailant,

“One more step and I will

shoot you”

and “One more step and my .44 magnum

will blow you away.”

They are both true statements.

So why does being defeated by Mary

pain the devil so much?

Why does God want to use Mary to defeat Satan?

I’ll explain.

“He has put down the mighty from their seat…”

The devil hates,

I mean he loathes the fact that his ultimate defeat

will come at the

hands of a

lowly handmaiden

In a way, his proud heart could handle

being defeated by God himself

because he’s almighty and omnipotent.

But being crushed

by a little

Lady from Nazareth?

The thought is absolutely humiliating.

It drives him

CRAZY

For if there is

one thing the most proud creature

in all of creation hates,

It is

being humiliated

Satan finds his defeat by the Virgin Mary humiliating because she is a woman, and women are the weaker sex (1 Peter 3:7), and he despises weakness. He loves nothing more than to see women abused, degraded, and objectified. Not to mention that our Blessed Lady is a human, and Satan hates humans because we have bodies, and he is a pure spirit that thinks bodies are disgusting. But there’s another, more profound reason Satan hates being defeated by Mary:

She is his replacement in heaven

You see, Lucifer was originally God’s finest achievement. He was more beautiful, more powerful than all the other creatures that God has made. And as we all know, it went to his head. He was so gorgeous, so mighty that he really thought he could be better than God.

The defining marks of Satan are

pride and envy of the Almighty.

And what are the defining characteristics of our Lady? First and foremost, she is supremely humble. In fact, she is the most humble creature that has ever existed. For every ounce of pride the devil has, Mary has twice as much humility. For every drop of hate-filled and bitter envy in Satan’s black heart, Mary’s heart is filled with twice as much praise, worship, and love. For every bit of warped and destructive depravity in the devil’s soul, Mary’s heart is filled with more purity and fruitfulness. And by grace, God has made her the most exquisite and most glorious creature in all the universe—the title the devil used to claim.

In every way, the Immaculate is Satan’s polar opposite. In every way, she is his replacement, and he knows it. This Divine exchange of Mary for Satan is revealed in our Lady’s hymn of praise, the Magnificat.
My soul magnifies the Lord;

my spirit has found joy in God, who is my Saviour,

because he has looked graciously upon the lowliness of his handmaid.
Behold, from this day forward all generations will count me blessed;
because he who is mighty, he whose name is holy, has wrought for me his wonders.
He has mercy upon those who fear him, from generation to generation;

he has done valiantly with the strength of his arm,

driving the proud astray

in the conceit of their hearts;

he has put down the mighty from their seat,

and exalted the lowly;

he has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty-handed.

He has

protected his servant Israel,

keeping his merciful design in remembrance,

according to the

promise which he made to our forefathers,

Abraham and his posterity for evermore.

In the Magnificat, we see the role of Mary in salvation summarized beautifully:

Mary’s humility- “he has looked graciously on the lowliness of his handmaid”
God’s marvelous work of grace in her: “Because he who is mighty, he who name is holy, has wrought for me his wonders”
God’s casting out of Satan: “Driving the proud astray in the conceit of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their seat”

His exalting of Mary in Satan’s place: “He has…exalted the lowly.”

Worst of all for Satan, his

replacement in heaven

is none other than the

mother of the Eternal Word,

Jesus Christ,

whose passion and death redeemed the

very humanity

he has worked so hard to destroy.

Her Yes to God undid the disobedience of Eve,

paving the way

for the saving work of the New Adam.

The very weakness of Eve that Satan so scorned was

replaced by the

humble obedience of Mary,

an obedience to the

will of God that has made

Her powerful beyond limits.

This is the Divine plan

for the

defeat of his enemy.

This is Satan’s humiliation

and his doom.

“God gave Mary such great power over demons that many times and unwillingly they were forced to confess, through the mouths of the possessed, that they feared even one of her sighs in favour of a soul,

The Tower of Babel is described in Genesis 11:1-9. After the Flood, God commanded humanity to "increase in number and fill the earth" (Genesis 9:1). Humanity decided to do the exact opposite, “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth’” (Genesis 11:4). Humanity decided to build a great city and all congregate there. They decided to build a gigantic tower as a symbol of their power, to make a name for themselves (Genesis 11:4). This tower is remembered as the Tower of Babel.

In response, God confused the languages of humanity so that they could no longer communicate with each other (Genesis 11:7). The result was that people congregated with other people who spoke the same language, and then went together and settled in other parts of the world (Genesis 11:8-9). God confused the languages at the Tower of Babel to enforce His command for humanity to spread throughout the entire world.

Some Bible teachers also believe that God created the different ethnicities of humanity at the Tower of Babel. This is possible, but it is not taught in the biblical text. On the origin of the ethnicities, please read our article - https://www.gotquestions.org/different-races.html. It seems more likely that the different ethnicities existed prior to the Tower of Babel and that God confused the languages at least partially based on the different ethnicities. From the Tower of Babel, humanity divided based on language (and possibly ethnicity) and settled in various parts of the world.

Genesis 10:5, 20 and 31 describe Noah’s descendants spreading out over the earth “by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.” How is this possible since God did not confuse the languages until the Tower of Babel in Genesis chapter 11? Genesis 10 lists the descendants of Noah’s three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. It lists their descendants for several generations. With the long life spans of that time (see Genesis 11:10-25), the genealogies in Genesis 10 likely cover several hundreds of years. The Tower of Babel account, told in Genesis 11:1-9, is a “flashback” to the point in Genesis 10 when the languages were confused. Genesis 10tells us of different languages. Genesis 11 tells us how the different languages originated.

Pentecost is significant in both the Old and New Testaments. “Pentecost” is actually the Greek name for a festival known in the Old Testament as the Feast of Weeks (Leviticus 23:15; Deuteronomy 16:9). The Greek word means “fifty” and refers to the fifty days that have elapsed since the wave offering of Passover. The Feast of Weeks celebrated the end of the grain harvest. Most interesting, however, is its use in Joel and Acts. Looking back to Joel’s prophecy (Joel 2:28–32) and forward to the promise of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s last words on earth before His ascension into heaven (Acts 1:8), Pentecost signals the beginning of the church age.

The only biblical reference to the actual events of Pentecost is Acts 2:1–3. Pentecost is reminiscent of the Last Supper; in both instances the disciples are together in a house for what proves to be an important event. At the Last Supper the disciples witness the end of the Messiah’s earthly ministry as He asks them to remember Him after His death until He returns. At Pentecost, the disciples witness the birth of the New Testament church in the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell all believers. Thus the scene of the disciples in a room at Pentecost links the commencement of the Holy Spirit’s work in the church with the conclusion of Christ’s earthly ministry in the upper room before the crucifixion.

The description of fire and wind mentioned in the Pentecost account resounds throughout the Old and the New Testament. The sound of the wind at Pentecost was “rushing” and “mighty.” Scriptural references to the power of wind (always understood to be under God’s control) abound. Exodus 10:13; Psalm 18:42 and Isaiah 11:15 in the Old Testament and Matthew 14:23–32 in the New Testament are only a few examples. More significant than wind as power is wind as life in the Old Testament (Job 12:10) and as spirit in the New (John 3:8). Just as the first Adam received the breath of physical life (Genesis 2:7), so the last Adam, Jesus, brings the breath of spiritual life. The idea of spiritual life as generated by the Holy Spirit is certainly implicit in the sound of the wind at Pentecost.

Fire is often associated in the Old Testament with the presence of God (Exodus 3:2; 13:21–22; 24:17; Isaiah 10:17) and with His holiness (Psalm 97:3; Malachi 3:2). Likewise, in the New Testament, fire is associated with the presence of God (Hebrews 12:29) and the purification He can bring about in human life (Revelation 3:18). God’s presence and holiness are implied in the Pentecostal tongues of fire. Indeed, fire is identified with Christ Himself (Revelation 1:14; 19:12); this association naturally underlies the Pentecost gift of the Holy Spirit, who would teach the disciples the things of Christ (John 16:14).

Another aspect of the Day of Pentecost is the miraculous speaking in foreign tongues which enabled people from various language groups to understand the message of the apostles. In addition is the bold and incisive preaching of Peter to a Jewish audience. The effect of the sermon was powerful, as listeners were “cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37) and instructed by Peter to “repent, and be baptized” (Acts 2:38). The narrative concludes with three thousand souls being added to the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers, apostolic signs and wonders, and a community in which everyone’s needs were met.

The Hebrew word translated “tabernacle” is ohel, which means “a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance): a covering, (dwelling) (place), home, tabernacle, tent.” There are three main references to the tabernacle (or tent) of David: Isaiah 16:5, Amos 9:11, and Acts 15:16, in which the apostle James repeats the passage from Amos. The reference in Isaiah 16:5 refers to the tabernacle of David prophetically, pointing to One from the line of David who will someday sit on the throne and rule over all. This is referring to Jesus.

That leaves two other references to the tabernacle of David. In Acts 15:16, while speaking to the Jews, James uses Amos 9:11 to give credence to the recent conversion of the Gentiles in the early church. Many Jews were objecting to this because there was uncertainty as to how the Gentiles were to now keep the Law of Moses. The essential argument from Peter’s earlier experience with Cornelius, a Gentile, was that God was also calling Gentiles to Himself. The apostles were not to put on the Gentiles a burden that no one could ever keep (i.e. the Law of Moses).

From James’ words alone, it is clear that God’s promise through the prophet Amos—that He would “build again the tabernacle of David”—was related to what He was just then beginning to do, namely, visiting the Gentiles to take out from among them a people for His Name. After rehearsing what Simon Peter had just told the Jerusalem Christians—that God had chosen Peter as the instrument whereby He, for the first time, opened the way of salvation to the Gentiles—James plainly declared that God’s visitation of the Gentiles agreed with the words of the prophets (in general) and Amos (in particular). The “tabernacle” referred to in Acts 15:16, then, is the house of God open to all, both Jew and Gentile, who seek Him in order to worship in truth.

Amos 9:11 says, “In that day will I raise up again the tabernacle of David, that is fallen.” There seems to be reference here to a restoration of the Jewish nation to spiritual life in the end times. There might also exist, during that end time, or into the 1,000-year reign of Christ, a tabernacle like the one during David’s day. During David’s time the tabernacle (or tent) housed the Ark of the Covenant and was a precursor to the temple that Solomon would build. The temple was a rectangular house of worship made with elaborate design. Its presence and functionality, with priests, was a sign of God’s favor and presence. When Israel fell away from following the commandments of the Old Covenant, the temple was desecrated and needed to eventually be rebuilt, as described in the book of Ezra.

God made a covenant (a conditional covenant) with the children of Israel through His servant Moses. He promised good to them and their children for generations if they obeyed Him and His laws; but He always warned of despair, punishment, and dispersion if they were to disobey. As a sign of His covenant He had the Israelites make a box according to His own design, in which to place the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments. This box, or chest, was called an “ark” and was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. The Ark was to be housed in the inner sanctum of the tabernacle in the desert and eventually in the Temple when it was built in Jerusalem. This chest is known as the Ark of the Covenant.

The real significance of the Ark of the Covenant was what took place involving the lid of the box, known as the "Mercy Seat." The term ‘mercy seat’ comes from a Hebrew word meaning “to cover, placate, appease, cleanse, cancel or make atonement for.” It was here that the high priest, only once a year (Leviticus 16), entered the Holy of Holies where the Ark was kept and atoned for his sins and the sins of the Israelites. The priest sprinkled blood of a sacrificed animal onto the Mercy Seat to appease the wrath and anger of God for past sins committed. This was the only place in the world where this atonement could take place.

The Mercy Seat on the Ark was a symbolic foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice for all sin—the blood of Christ shed on the cross for the remission of sins. The Apostle Paul, a former Pharisee and one familiar with the Old Testament, knew this concept quite well when he wrote about Christ being our covering for sin in Romans 3:24-25: "…and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith." Just as there was only one place for atonement of sins in the Old Testament—the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant—so there is also only one place for atonement in the New Testament and current times—the cross of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we no longer look to the Ark but to the Lord Jesus Himself as the propitiation and atonement for our sins.

For it is by GRACE

you have been saved, through faith--

and this

is not from yourselves, it is the

gift of God not by works,

so that no one can boast

Any thing taught, that is not

FOUND

in the

word of God

is called

false doctrine The apostle

John told us what to do concerning those

that teach false doctrine;

II John 1:10:

“If there come any unto you, and bring

not this doctrine, receive him

not into your house, neither bid him

God speed

The "harmony" of the Gospels

is the agreement

of the

four biblical Gospels

The four New Testament Gospels are like the

singers in a

four-part choir.

They each have their distinct parts to sing,

yet the

parts combine to make a beautiful composition.

Each of the four Gospels gives

testimony of Jesus

from a slightly different perspective,

but they all tell the same story.

Thus, they are all in

harmony with one another

There are also books that

align the Gospel accounts

chronologically which are called harmonies of the Gospels, and some Bibles have a reference section doing the same thing that is referred to as a harmony of the Gospels.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke

are called

the "synoptic" gospels,

because they give a synopsis of most of the same events from the life of Jesus.

John

stands on its own,

filling in gaps

that the

others leave out.

Each one of these

Gospels

was written for a

different audience

and emphasizes different

things about Jesus.

The Gospel of Matthew

was written primarily

for the Jews

and emphasized how

Jesus fulfilled

the prophecies

of a

kingly Messiah

Mark was written primarily for

Roman or Gentile Christians,

so it includes few Old Testament prophecies

and

explains many Jewish words and customs.

Jesus is portrayed in Mark as the

Divine Servant.

Luke was also written primarily for Gentile believers, as it also

explains Jewish customs and uses Greek names.

Luke set out to write an orderly narrative of the life of Jesus

and presented Jesus as the

Son of Man,

emphasizing His full humanity.

John’s Gospel emphasizes Jesus as the

Son of God

and includes more of Jesus’ revelations

about Himself than any of the other Gospels.

It also gives a much more

detailed picture of the events during

Jesus’ last days

Some people have attempted to discredit the Bible by
pointing out the inconsistencies in the Gospel narratives.

They point out differences in the order in which the events are
presented or minor details within those events.

When the four accounts are placed side by side, we see that they
do not all follow the same strict chronology.

Much of the narrative in the Gospels is arranged in a topical order,
where an event brings to mind a similar thought.
This is the way most of us carry on conversations every day.

The differences in minor details like the angels at Christ’s tomb
(Matthew 28:5; Mark 16:5; Luke 24:4; John 20:12)

are also answered by allowing the text to speak.

The differences are complementary, not contradictory.

New information is added, but it does not take away from the veracity

of the old information. Like the rest of Scripture,

the

Four Gospels

are a

Beautiful Testimony

of

God’s revelation to man.

Imagine a tax collector (Matthew),

an untrained Jewish lad with a history as a quitter (Mark), a

Roman doctor (Luke), and a

Jewish fisherman (John)

all

writing

harmonious testimonies

about the events in the

life of Jesus

There is no way, without the intervention of God,

that they could have written these amazingly accurate accounts

(2 Timothy 3:16).

The historical references, the prophetic references, and the personal

details all work together to compose one very detailed, very

accurate picture of Jesus

the

Messiah, the King, the Servant,

and the

Son of God

Jesus rebuts the Pharisees

with some

logical arguments for why

He is not casting

out demons in the power of Satan

(Matthew 12:25–29).

Then He speaks of the

blasphemy

against the

Holy Spirit:

“I tell you,

every kind of

sin and slander can be forgiven,

but

blasphemy

against the Spirit

will

not be forgiven.

Anyone who speaks a word against the

Son of Man

will be forgiven,

but anyone who speaks against the

Holy Spirit

will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come”

(verses 31–32).

The term blasphemy

may be generally defined as “

defiant irreverence

The term can be applied to such

sins as cursing God or

willfully

degrading things relating to God.

Blasphemy is also attributing

some evil to God or

denying Him

some good that we should

attribute to Him.

This particular case of

blasphemy,

however, is called “the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”

in Matthew 12:31. The Pharisees,

having witnessed irrefutable proof that

Jesus was working

miracles in the power of the

Holy Spirit,

claimed instead that the Lord was possessed by a demon (Matthew 12:24). Notice in Mark 3:30 Jesus is very specific about what the Pharisees did to commit blasphemy against the Holy Spirit: “He said this because they were saying, ‘He has an impure spirit.’”

Blasphemy against the

Holy Spirit

has to do with accusing Jesus Christ

of being demon-possessed instead of Spirit-filled.

This particular type of blasphemy cannot be duplicated today.

The Pharisees were in a unique moment in history:

they had the Law and the Prophets,

they had the Holy Spirit stirring their hearts,

they had the Son of God Himself standing right in front of them, and they saw

with their own eyes the miracles He did.

Never before in the history of the world (and never since) had so much

divine light been granted to men;

if anyone should have recognized Jesus for who

He was, it was the Pharisees.

Yet they chose defiance.

They purposely attributed the work of the Spirit

to the devil, even though
they knew the truth and had the proof.
Jesus declared their willful blindness to be unpardonable.

Their blasphemy against

the Holy Spirit

was their final rejection of

God’s grace

They had set their course, and God was

going to let them sail into perdition unhindered.

Jesus told the crowd that the

Pharisees blasphemy

against the

Holy Spirit

“will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come”

(Matthew 12:32).

This is another way of saying that their sin would never be forgiven, ever.

Not now, not in eternity. As Mark 3:29 puts it,

“They are guilty of an eternal sin.”

The immediate result of the Pharisees’ public rejection of

Christ

(and God’s rejection of them) is seen in the next chapter.

Jesus, for the first time,

 “told them many things in

parables”

(Matthew 13:3; cf. Mark 4:2).

The disciples were puzzled

at Jesus’ change of teaching method,

and Jesus explained His use of parables:

“Because the knowledge of the

secrets of the kingdom

of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. . . .

Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing,

they do not hear or understand”

(Matthew 13:11, 13).

Jesus began to veil the

TRUTH

with

parables and metaphors

as a

direct result

of the Jewish leaders’ official denunciation of Him.

Jesus is seated at the

right hand of God.

No one can personally witness Jesus performing

a miracle and then attribute that power to Satan

instead of the Spirit.

The unpardonable sin

today is the state of continued unbelief.

The Spirit currently convicts

the unsaved world of sin,

righteousness, and judgment

(John 16:8). To

resist

that conviction and

willfully remain

unrepentant

Is to “blaspheme” the Spirit.

There is no pardon, either in this age or in the age to come,

for a person who

rejects the Spirit’s promptings to

trust in Jesus Christ

and then dies in unbelief.

The love of God is evident:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his

one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him

shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

And the choice is clear:

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life,

but whoever rejects the Son

will not see life,

for God’s wrath remains on him

” (John 3:36).

The life of Jesus Christ exemplified

obedience.

He came to Earth to fulfill

His heavenly Father’s

will no matter how

painful

the task set before

Him.

Nonetheless, Jesus spoke honestly with God when faced with His crucifixion

: “Father, if you are willing, please

take this

cup of suffering away from me”

Luke 22:42,

In His human state, Jesus did not want to endure a torturous death.

Yet in the same breath, He prayed,

“Not my will, but yours be done”

(Luke 22:42).

This scene in Gethsemane records one of the most desperate hours of anguish in the life of Christ (Matthew 26:36–46; Mark 14:32–42; Luke 22:40–46). He told His disciples, “My soul is overwhelmed to the point of death” (Mark 14:34). Worse than the thought of death, Jesus, in His humanity, must have dreaded the thought of bearing the sins of the world (1 Peter 2:24).

In the garden, the Lord fell

to the

ground flat on His face

and

offered God this desperate

cry of His soul:

“My Father, if it is possible, may this

cup be taken from me.

Yet not as I will, but as you will”

(Matthew 26:39).

Christ’s words and actions here serve as a great comfort to us,
His followers. God wants His children to pour out their hearts to Him in sincerity
(Psalm 62:8).
He is our refuge, our safe haven. Like Jesus, we can reveal the deepest
longings in our hearts to our loving Heavenly Father. He knows what we are feeling,
and we can trust Him to carry the burdens of our souls.

Facing the cross,

Jesus was able to pray, “Not my will, but yours be done”

because

He was

wholly

submitted to His Father’s will

. “

My food,”

He had said, “is to do the

will of him

who sent me and to

finish his work”

(John 4:34). “

By myself I can do nothing,” explained Jesus, “

for I seek not to please

myself but

him who sent me”

(John 5:30).

Obedience to God’s will was central to Christ’s mission. He told His disciples,

“For I have come down from heaven

not to do my will

but to do the

will of him who

sent me”

(John 6:38).

Hundreds of years before, Scripture foretold

Christ’s destiny

to come to earth and do

God’s will

(Hebrews 10:5–7; cf. Psalm 40:6–8).

For Christ’s followers,

“Not my will, but yours be done” is the definitive prayer that never fails.

According to 1 John 5:14–15, we can pray with confidence

“if we ask according to

his will

Praying God’s will guarantees that

He hears us and will grant what we ask.
In fact, one of the

primary purposes

of prayer is to

allow

the will of God to be accomplished and

to bring

glory and honor

to

His name

on

EARTH.

Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come, your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven”

(Matthew 6:9–10).

Those who pray this way, desiring

God’s will above all else,

reveal that they are indeed Christ’s disciples

(Matthew 7:21; see also Matthew 12:50; Mark 3:35; Luke 8:21; John 15:10; Ephesians 6:6).

The apostle Paul encouraged Christians

to seek the Holy Spirit’s

help to pray in agreement with

God’s will:

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.

For example, we don’t know what God

wants us to pray for. But the Holy

Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying,

for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will”

(Romans 8:26–27, NLT).

Paul also urged believers

to “

learn to know

God’s will”

for their lives because

God’s will “is good and pleasing and perfect”

(Romans 12:2, NLT).

When Jesus said,

Not my will,

but yours be done

He surrendered

His own will to God’s,

fully convinced that His Father knew what was best.

When we pray this way,

we yield ourselves to God’s wisdom, trusting Him to work out

what’s best for our lives, too (Romans 8:28).

UNMISTAKEABLE

PARALLELS

ON

TWO MOUNTAINS

God had demonstrated His presence atop Mt. Sinai 1300 years earlier; and on the ground floor of the Jesus Revolution atop Mt. Zion, God demonstrated His presence, power and purpose to 120 Jewish believers.
On Mt. Sinai God gave His commandments on tablets of stone written with the finger of God; on the ground floor of the Jesus Revolution atop Mt. Zion, the Spirit of God wrote the

Commandments on human hearts.

At Mt. Sinai 3,000 were judged because of idolatry; on the ground floor of the Jesus revolution atop Mt. Zion, 3,000 people came to faith in Jesus Messiah!

In essence, the

knowledge of God

was

exploding through

the

faithful remnant of Israel

in the

120 followers

of

Jesus atop Mt. Zion.

They were the remnant

that was

publicly and

divinely identified

with tongues of fire

above their heads and given the

gift of tongues

to communicate

the

wonderful works of God

to an

international gathering from

fifteen

different geographical locations

with a

variety of languages

(Acts 2:3; 5-11).

Peter,

after being empowered

and gifted by the Spirit

declared that Jesus in His death,

resurrection and ascension was creating all things new

in Himself and would return to establish

His kingdom

on the earth in the

city of Jerusalem!

The New Covenant

that had been inaugurated by

Jesus’ blood on the cross on Passover

(Nisan 14)

was now transforming 3,000 Jews

who had repented and were being indwelt by

the Spirit of God.

From now on, the nations of the world

could enter the New Covenant that had been

given to Israel to bless the world

through the Messiah of Israel, and could now also

experience the outpouring of God’s Spirit.

The context of this reveals an unstoppable plan of God:

Both Passover and Pentecost were prophetic.

Their ultimate fulfillment is in

the Person and

work of Jesus the Messiah

Years ago, the apologist and Christian philosopher Francis Shaeffer was asked, “What is the greatest obstacle to the modern church?” His answer was fascinating both in what he didn’t say, as well as what he did say. He didn’t say that the major problem were the “ism’s” in culture (i.e. sensualism, materialism, atheism, relativism) but rather he said:

“The real problem is this: the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, individually corporately, tending to do the Lord’s work in the power of the flesh rather than of the Spirit. The central problem is always in the midst of the people of God, not in the circumstances surrounding them.”

Rediscovering the ground floor of the Jesus Revolution in the first century in its original context, can bring renewal and even a reorientation to God’s intended course and mission for the church.

UNDERSTANDING THE

TRUE

CONTEXT OF PENTECOST1.

First, the context of Pentecost tells us that God’s purposes for our lives are only accomplished in His strength. Jesus said,

“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:4-5; 8)

The Spirit’s work is comprehensive. He indwells the believer and gives assurance of being a child of God (Romans 8:16). He brings a believer into intimacy with Abba, Father (Romans 8:15). The Spirit comes upon the believer to empower with divine gifting for divine mission (Acts 1:16) Zechariah 4:6 reads, “It’s not by power nor by might but it’s by my Spirit says the Lord”. The Spirit of God is the source of our strength in all areas of our life. We need to be “filled with the Spirit” on a daily basis! (Ephesians 5:18)

2. Second, the context reveals that Peter was addressing a specific audience: “You men of Israel …” (Acts 2:22).

In principle, it speaks of a priority often overlooked.

In Romans 1:16 Paul wrote,

“
For I am not ashamed of the

gospel of Christ,

for it is the

power of God

to salvation for everyone who believes,

for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

Romans 1:16 is written in the present tense which means that if the Gospel is still the power of God “unto” salvation and is still for “all who believe,” then the Gospel is still “to the Jew first”. The term “first” does not merely speak of sequence but priority.1 Later, Peter underscored an “eschatological link” to Jewish evangelism by saying,
“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.”

(Acts 3:19-21)

This coincides with Jesus saying,

“For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘

Blessed is He

who comes in the name

of the Lord.'”

(Matt. 23:39).

You can see then that there is a great spiritual battle with evangelism that we need to be aware of. Because, if Jerusalem will not see Him until she welcomes Him back, then no eye will see Him until Jerusalem receives Him!2 The ground floor of the Jesus Revolution reminds us that we cannot allow Jewish evangelism to become the “Great Omission” of

The Great Commission.

3. Third, the context of

Pentecost reveals

that the

bullseye

of the

church’s mission

and

preaching is the

Person

and

work of Jesus.

TRUTH

The Bible tells us that the

Holy Spirit

will

convict the world of sin

(John 16:8).

To help us understand what the conviction of sin is, we can look at what it is not.

First, it is not simply a guilty conscience or even shame over sin.

Such feelings are naturally experienced by almost everyone.

But this is not

TRUE

conviction of sin.

Second, conviction of sin is not a sense of trepidation or a

foreboding of divine punishment.

These feelings, too, are commonly experienced in the

hearts and minds of sinners.

But, again, true conviction of sin is

something different.

Third, conviction

of sin is not merely

knowledge

of

right and WRONG;

it is not an assent to Scripture’s teaching about sin. Many people read the Bible and

are fully aware that the wages of sin is death

(Romans 6:23).

They may know that “no immoral, impure or greedy person . . . has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God” (Ephesians 5:5). They may even agree that “the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17). Yet, for all their knowledge, they continue to live in sin.

They understand the consequences, Of GOD

but they’re

>FAR< from being >convicted< of their >SINS<

The TRUTH is,

if we experience nothing more than a pang of conscience, anxiety at the thought of judgment, or an academic awareness of hell,

then we have never

TRULY

known the

conviction of sin.

So, what is real conviction, the kind the Bible speaks of?

The word convict is a translation of the Greek word elencho, which means

“to convince someone of the

TRUTH

to reprove; to accuse, refute, or cross-examine a witness.”

The Holy Spirit acts as a prosecuting attorney

who exposes evil, reproves evildoers, and

convinces people that they need a Savior.

To be convicted is to feel the sheer

loathsomeness of sin.

This happens when we’ve

seen God’s beauty,

His purity and holiness, and when we

recognize that sin cannot dwell with Him

(Psalm 5:4).

When Isaiah stood in the presence of God, he was immediately overwhelmed by his own sinfulness: “

Woe to me! . . . I am ruined! For I am a

man of

unclean lips . . . and my

eyes have seen the. KING

the LORD Almighty”

(Isaiah 6:5).

To be convicted is to experience an

utter dreadfulness of sin.

Our attitude toward sin becomes that of Joseph who fled temptation, crying out, “How could I do this great evil and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9).

We are convicted when

we become

mindful

of how much our sin

dishonors God.

When David was convicted by the Holy Spirit, he cried out,

“Against you, you only,

have I sinned and done what is evil

in your sight”

(Psalm 51:4).

David saw his

sin primarily as an

affront to a

HOLY God

We are convicted when we become intensely

aware of the wrath it exposes to our souls

(Romans 1:18; Romans 2:5).

When the Philippian

jailer fell

at the apostles’ feet and cried,

“Sirs, what must I do to be

saved?”

he was under conviction (Acts 16:30).

He was

CERTAIN

that,

without a Savior, he would

die.

When the Holy Spirit

convicts

people of their

sin,

He represents the righteous judgment of God

(Hebrews 4:12).

There is no appeal of this verdict.

The Holy Spirit not only convicts people of sin, but He also brings them to repentance

(Acts 17:30; Luke 13:5).

The Holy Spirit

brings to

light

our relationship to

GOD

The convicting power

of the Holy Spirit

opens our eyes

to our SIN and

opens our hearts to receive

His grace

(Ephesians 2:8).

We praise

the Lord for the conviction of

SIN

Without it, there could be

no salvation.

No one is saved

apart from the

Spirit’s convicting

and

regenerating

work in the heart.

The Bible teaches

that all people are by nature

rebels against God and hostile to

Jesus Christ.

They are

dead in

trespasses and SINS

(Ephesians 2:1). Jesus said,

“
No one can come to Me

unless the

Father who sent Me draws him”

(John 6:44).

Part of that “draw” to Jesus is the

conviction of sin.

Acts 4:12 reads,

“Nor is there salvation in any other,

for there is no other

name under heaven given among men

by which we must be saved.”

There is one reason and one reason

only

why a person has eternal life in a

right

relationship with GOD

it is by making the

right decision

to

follow Jesus!

(John 14:6; Romans 10:13; Acts 4:12; John 3:16).

4. Fourth, the context reveals the importance of repentance.

On the day of Pentecost

the people were “cut to the heart” and said, “

Men and bretheren, what shall we do?”

Peter answered,

“Repent, and let every one of

you be

baptized in the name of

Jesus Christ

for the remission of sins;

and you shall receive the

gift of the

Holy Spirit.

For the promise is to you and to your children,

and to all

who are afar off,

as many as the Lord our God

will call.”

(Acts 2:37-39)

The word “Repent”

is actually a Greek word – metanoia.

Metanoia means to

change THE WAY

one THINKS that leads to a lifestyle change

from a self-centered life in rebellion to GOD

to a complete allegiance to

Jesus Christ

as

Lord and Savior.

The call to repent

and the promise to

receive the

Holy Spirit and forgiveness of sins

remains today.

In fact, God commands all men to repent!

“
Truly

these times of

ignorance God overlooked,

but now commands all men everywhere to

repent because

He has appointed a day on which

He will judge

the

world in righteousness

by the Man whom

He has ordained.

GOD is the Law Giver,

Not MAN

He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

(Acts 17:3-31)

The great evangelist D.L. Moody put it this way:

Repentance

is getting out of one train

and getting into the other.

You are in the wrong train;

you are in the broad path that takes you down to the pit of hell.

Get out of it to-day. Right-about-face!”

5. Finally, the

context of

Pentecost

reminds us that

GODS PLAN

unfolded in a Jewish context.

This is essential to

recognize

when we study the Scriptures!

We need great teachers today! We need great evangelists today!

We need a church grounded in the

truth

and empowered with the Spirit

to make Jesus known!

It is a Jewish context that is the basis for accurate exegesis of scripture and for expository preaching and evangelism and Gospel contextualization in our 21st century global audience.

Music is an inherent part of every society.

The unearthly sounds of throat-singing in

Mongolia and Siberia

are as important to their cultures as Bach is to

European cultures

or drum-driven song and dance are to

Native American cultures.

Since music is such an important part of life,

it should not be surprising

that the Bible says much about it;

in fact, the longest book in the Bible is its

song book--Psalms.

Psalms accounts for over 7 percent

of the Old Testament.

In addition to the Psalms are other song- and poetry-focused

books such as Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, and others.

In the New Testament, we have

song lyrics

recorded in Revelation 5, 7, and 15;

the mention of Jesus and the disciples singing in Matthew 26:30; and the example of

the apostles’ singing in Acts 16:25.

Many people also consider

Mary’s Magnificat

in Luke 1:46–55

and the angels’ announcement

in Luke 2:14 to be

SONGS

The church is commanded to communicate with each other

“with psalms, hymns, and

songs from the Spirit.

Sing and make music from your heart

to the Lord”

(Ephesians 5:19).

Recorded musicians

and music in the Old Testament:

The first reference to a musician in the Bible is in Genesis 4:21. Jubal was the

fourth generation from Adam through Cain

and is recorded as “the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.”

Other early references to music include Exodus 15, which records

Moses and the Israelites singing a song of victory

after the overthrow of the

Egyptian army in the Red Sea.

At that time,

Moses’ sister, Miriam, led the

Israelite women

“with tambourines and dancing”

as she sang.

When Jephthah returned from battle, Jephthah’s daughter met him

with timbrels and dance in Judges 11:34.

David’s victories were also celebrated in song in 1 Samuel 18:6–7.

Two of the Old Testament’s most important figures wrote songs:

Moses and David.

Moses has three songs recorded in the Bible:

the song sung after

the destruction of Pharaoh’s army

(Exodus 15:1–18);

a song recounting the faithfulness of God and the

rebelliousness of Israel,

which he sang before all the people just before his death

(Deuteronomy 32:1–43); and a prayer recorded in Psalm 90.

David, “the sweet psalmist of Israel”

(2 Samuel 23:1),

is credited with writing about half of the 150 songs recorded in Psalms,
along with some in the historical books. He was the official musician in Saul’s court (1 Samuel 16:14–23).

During David’s own reign,

he organized the

Levitical musicians,

and 1 Chronicles 15:16 and 23:5 record that more than one in

ten Levites in temple service

were musicians.

Other musicians include Asaph (twelve psalms), the sons of Korah (ten psalms),

Solomon (two psalms and 1,005 other songs [1 Kings 4:32] and the Song of Solomon),

Heman (one psalm), and Ethan (one psalm).

Music was used in conjunction

with all manner of activities

(Genesis 31:27; Exodus 32:17–18; Numbers 27:17; Judges 11:34, 35; Isaiah 16:10; Jeremiah 48:33).

Music was used at coronations (1 Kings 1:39–40; 2 Kings 11:14; 2 Chronicles 13:14; 20:28),

events in the royal court (2 Samuel 19:35; Ecclesiastes 2:8), and feasts (Isaiah 5:12; 24:8–9).

It is interesting to note the connection between music and the

supernatural: trumpets sounded when the

walls of Jericho fell down (Joshua 6:1–20); and

David played his harp

to soothe Saul during demonic attacks

(1 Samuel 16:14–23).

For more technical information about

Hebrew music,

we recommend books by Eric Werner and Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, both excellent scholars on the subject.

Recorded musicians and music in the New Testament:

Two of the Gospels mention the fact that Jesus and His disciples sang a hymn at the end of the Last Supper(Matthew 26:30 and Mark 14:26). Elsewhere in the Gospels, music is seen as part of mourning (Matthew 9:23) and celebration (Luke 15:25).

Paul gave instructions regarding the use of music during Christian gatherings in Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16. In Ephesians we see that addressing each other with hymns and songs is an indication of being Spirit-filled. In Colossians the same is an indication of being filled with the Word of Christ, and the songs come “from the Spirit.” In James 5:13 we have this command: “Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.”

Music in the Bible

Both the Old and New Testaments address music and strongly support its use in worship. The extensive anthology of actual songs found in the Old Testament indicates the importance and value God places on creative musical expression. Music’s use in worship in the church today is valuable and can honor God in a special way. Music is a communication tool. There are no New Testament instructions on the type of instruments to be used (or not used), and no particular “style” of music is recommended or forbidden. The simple command is to sing “to God with gratitude in your hearts” (Colossians 3:16).

Psalm 96 may hold the

key

to understanding why worship has continuously

evolved throughout history,

and new songs have ever been written and sung to the Lord.

The psalmist declared,

“O sing unto the LORD

anew song:

Sing unto the LORD, all the earth.

Sing unto the LORD, bless his name”

(Psalm 96:1–2, KJV).

Many other psalms unite in the refrain:

“Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things;

his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him” (Psalm 98:1).

David intoned,

“I will sing anew song to you,

my God;

on the ten-stringed lyre

I will make music to you”

(Psalm 144:9).

“Sing to him anew song; play skillfully,

and shout for joy,”

insists Psalm 33:3.

Again and again, God’s people are

encouraged

to “

Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD

anew song,

his praise in the assembly

of his faithful people”

(Psalm 149:1).

In each of these passages,

anew means “original,” “fresh,”

“one of a kind,”

and

“never seen before,”

or, in this case,

“never heard before.”

God is a creative God.

He’s always doing something new--

like saving, intervening, answering prayers, and working miracles.

Through the prophet Isaiah, God said,

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.

See,

I AM

doing anew thing!

Now it springs up; do

you

not perceive it?

I am making

a way

in the

wilderness and streams

in the

wasteland

” (Isaiah 43:18–19). Right before this, the Lord declared, “

Behold,

the former things have come to pass, and

new things I now declare;

before they spring forth

I tell you of them.

Sing to the LORD a new song, his

praise from the end of the earth”

(Isaiah 42:9–10, ESV).

When we are

born into the family of God,

He makes us

new creatures in Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul explained,

“The

old has gone,

the

new is here!”

(2 Corinthians 5:17; see also Galatians 6:15).

To the Corinthians, Paul said,

“For we are God’s masterpiece.

He has created us anew in Christ Jesus,

so we can do the good things he

planned for us long ago”

(Ephesians 2:10).

One thing our inventive God loves is

for His newly created people to

express innovative,

spontaneous, and unrehearsed

praise and thanks to Him.

Singing unto the Lord anew song

is the natural reaction of an individual who is newly saved and transformed by the Lord: “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD” (Psalm 40:3, ESV).

The “new song” we sing does not have to be a newly composed worship number. The new song is merely a fresh response of praise and thanks—one that matches the freshness of God’s goodness and mercy, which are “new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23). A new song springs forth unrehearsed from the heart of a worshiper who has been struck anew with wonder at the greatness of God and the salvation He has provided. When we see the mighty hand of God working in a way we’ve never observed before, we can’t help but burst forth with a song we’ve never sung before.

Anew

song has been

heard

from people of every generation—sung by a choir of born-again believers who have tasted and seen the goodness and salvation of the Lord. From days of old and for all eternity, followers from every tribe, language, people, and nation sing unto the Lord a new song (Revelation 5:9). Throughout the earth and before the throne of God in heaven, we can hear the redeemed singing a new song to the Lord

(Revelation 14:3).

After John sees a

vision

of the 144,000 redeemed ones who

“follow the Lamb wherever he goes”

(Revelation 14:4),

he sees three angels flying in midair. The first one “had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people” (verse 6). This is the only place in the Bible where the gospel is described as the “everlasting gospel” (KJV) or the “eternal gospel” (NIV).

The word gospel refers to the good news

that Jesus Christ suffered death

on the cross

to obtain salvation for mankind and that He rose to life again,

was exalted to the right hand of God in heaven,

and awaits

His return in majesty

to consummate God’s kingdom.

The fact that this message is “everlasting” is

significant.

The vision in Revelation 14 in which the angel

proclaims the everlasting gospel

is a prediction of something that will happen in

the tribulation.

Before the seven final judgments--the seven bowls of Revelation 15–16--

God will give

ALL

of Mankind

one

last opportunity

to

turn from their sin

and

trust in Christ

to

receive

His gift

of eternal life.

The angel broadcasts the everlasting gospel to the whole earth, “to every nation, tribe, language and people” (Revelation 14:6). No one is left out. The angel calls out in a loud voice,

“Fear God and

give him

glory,

because the hour of his judgment

has come.

Worship him who made the heavens,

the earth,

the sea

and the springs of water”

(verse 7).

After proclaiming the everlasting gospel through an angel,

God will finish His work of judgment upon a sinful world.

The angel who proclaims

the

everlasting gospel is flying

“in midair”

(Revelation 14:6).

The Greek word translated “midair” also

means “zenith,” and

that’s why other translations say the angel was

flying “high overhead”

(CSB)

or “directly overhead”

(NET).

And the angel shouts the message

with

“a loud voice”

(verse 7).

The picture is of an angel

in the highest possible place using

the loudest possible

voice

to reach the maximum number of people

with the

good news of God’s salvation.

God

is appealing to mankind

one final time

to reject the lies of Satan and respond to the eternal

truth of God.

The

GOSPEL

is “everlasting” in that is an eternally

unchanging message.

False doctrines come and go,

and

new teachings are like

wind and waves

that toss the

unsuspecting every which way

(Ephesians 4:14).

Especially chaotic and dangerous is the doctrine of the

Antichrist and his false prophet in Revelation 13.

Countering the lies

and false teaching of the beast

is the

everlasting gospel

in

Revelation 14.

The message of salvation

through faith in Christ is eternal truth;

it is as solid and unchanging as

God Himself,

and those who believe the gospel will

reap everlasting benefits.

Restitution is a biblical concept,

and there are passages in both Old and New Testaments

that reveal the mind of

God

on this subject.

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were under the Law, which specified

restitution in a variety of circumstances: “

If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he

must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep. . . .

A thief

must certainly make restitution,

but if he has nothing, he must be sold to

pay for his theft.

If the stolen animal is found alive in his possession--

whether ox or donkey or sheep--

he must pay back double.

If a man grazes his livestock in a field or vineyard

and lets them stray and they graze in another man’s field,

he must make restitution from the best of his own field or vineyard.

If a fire breaks out and spreads into

thorn bushes

so that it burns shocks of grain

or standing grain or the whole field, the one who

started the fire must make restitution. . .

If a man borrows an animal from his neighbor

and it is injured or dies . . . he must make restitution”

(Exodus 22:1, 3-6, 14).

Leviticus 6:2-5 covers

other situations in which the stolen property is restored,

plus one fifth of the value.

Also of note in this passage,

the restitution was made to the owner of the property

(not to the government or any other third party),

and the compensation was to be accompanied by a

guilt offering to the Lord.

The Mosaic Law,

then,

protected victims

of

theft, extortion, fraud,

and negligence

by requiring the offending parties to make restitution. The amount of remuneration varied anywhere from 100 to 500 percent of the loss. The restitution was to be made on the same day that the guilty one brought his sacrifice before the Lord, which implies that making amends with one’s neighbor is just as important as making peace with God.

In the New Testament, we have the wonderful example of Zacchaeus in Luke 19.

Jesus is visiting Zacchaeus’s home,

and the people who know the

chief publican

to

be a wicked and

oppressive man

are beginning to murmur about His associating with a sinner (verse 7).

“But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I
give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything,

I will pay back four times the amount.’

Jesus said to him,

‘Today salvation has come to this house,

because this man, too, is a

son of Abraham.

For the Son of Man

came to seek and to save

what was lost’”

(verses 8-10). From Zacchaeus’s words, we gather that

1) he had been guilty of defrauding people,

2) he was remorseful over his past actions, and

3) he was committed to making restitution. From Jesus’ words, we understand that

1) Zacchaeus was saved that day and his sin was forgiven, and

2) the evidence of his salvation was both his public confession (see Romans 10:10)

and his

relinquishing of all

ill-gotten gains.

Zacchaeus repented, and his sincerity was evident in his

immediate desire to make restitution.

Here was a man who was penitent and contrite,

and the proof of his

faith in Christ

was his resolve to atone, as much as possible, for past sins.

The same holds

true

for anyone who

truly

knows Christ

today

Genuine repentance

leads to a desire to redress

wrongs.

When someone becomes a Christian,

he will have a desire

born of deep conviction

to do good,

and that includes making restoration whenever possible. The idea of “whenever possible” is crucially important to remember. There are some crimes and sins for which there is no adequate restitution. In such instances, a Christian should make some form of restitution that demonstrates repentance, but at the same time, does not need to feel guilty about the inability to make full restitution. Restitution is to be a result of our salvation—it is not a requirement for salvation. If you have received forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ, all of your sins are forgiven, whether or not you have been able to make restitution for them.

Ephesians 2:8–9

is a familiar passage dealing with

God’s grace in the matter of salvation

“For it is

by Grace you have been Saved

through faith,

and this is not from yourselves, it is the

Gift of God

Not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Before looking at the meaning of an

individual verse (or two),

it is important to get a feel for the context.

Ephesians was Written

by Paul

To the Christians in the City of Ephesus,

which had

A significant

population of Gentile believers.

Paul spends Ephesians chapter 1 telling them of the incredible blessings they have in Christ. He tells them how they have been chosen and sealed with the Holy Spirit. He also prays that they will fully understand all of the spiritual blessings they have in Christ.

Chapter 2 begins by contrasting the believers’ current position in Christ with their condition outside of Christ—they had been dead in their sins. In Christ they have been reconciled to God, and Jewish and Gentile believers have been reconciled to each other.

Chapter 3 further elaborates on God’s plan to include Gentiles and Jews together in Christ. This unity is something that most people did not expect. Paul then thanks God for all the Ephesian believers, whether Jew or Gentile.

Chapters 4–6 encourage the believers in Ephesus to live up to their position in Christ. “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Ephesians 4:1). These three chapters contain some of the most pointed and practical behavioral guidelines for Christians. Importantly, people do not obey these guidelines in order to become Christians or to become acceptable to God. Rather, they follow these guidelines as a natural part of living out their position in Christ.

This brings us back to Ephesians 2:8–9. The popular notion is that God accepts good people and rejects bad people. Most people, whether in Christianized countries or those steeped in other religions, usually operate under the idea that God accepts or rejects people based on some level of goodness and/or religious performance. The whole book of Ephesians rejects this premise, and Ephesians 2:8–9 specifically refutes it: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Ephesians 2:7 says that God has given incredible blessings to those who are in Christ “in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” In other words, God has chosen to save sinners, not based on their goodness but on His kindness. He does this to demonstrate His grace—that is to say His undeserved favor. By definition, grace is a blessing that is undeserved and unwarranted—grace is a gift freely given based on the kind intentions of the giver to a recipient who has no claim to it.

What God has done for believers in Christ is going to bring Him glory, and Ephesians 2:8–9 further explains how He gets all the glory. First, “it is by grace you have been saved.” If we are saved by grace, this means that it is not because we are good or deserving; rather, it is because God is good and gracious.

Second, we are saved “through faith.” In order to be saved, there is a necessary human response to God’s grace. The response is not trying to be “good enough” to be saved. The response is simply trusting (having faith in) God to save on the basis of Christ’s goodness. Furthermore, we must understand that faith is not a good work in itself that God rewards. Faith is simply casting our unworthy selves on the mercy of a kind and forgiving and gracious God.

The next clause in Ephesians 2:8–9 is a little more difficult to understand:

And this is not from yourselves.”

The interpretive issue is what the word this is referring to. Some interpreters think that it refers to faith. Thus, the verse could be paraphrased, “You have been saved by grace through faith, and even this faith is not from within you.” Those who accept this interpretation emphasize that, without the work of God in our lives, we could not even believe the gospel in order to be saved. Undoubtedly, this is true, but it may not be the best interpretation of this particular verse. The reason is that the gender of the word this (in Greek) does not match the gender of the word faith, which would normally be the case if this was a pronoun referring to faith.

Some will take this to refer to grace. Undoubtedly, the meaning is true as well. Grace, by definition, is from God and not from within ourselves; however, grammatically, there is the same problem with making the pronoun thisrefer to grace as to faith—the genders do not match. The same is true if this refers back to the phrase have been saved.

The best explanation is that this refers to the whole plan and process

of “salvation by grace through faith,”

rather than any specific element of it—although, admittedly, the bottom line is hardly any different. Salvation-by-grace-through-faith is not from ourselves but is “a gift of God, not of works.” Once again, the nature of grace is reiterated. This whole plan and process of salvation comes from God as a gift, not from ourselves as the result of works or good things that we have done.

The result of the process is “so that no one can boast.”

In Ephesians 1:14, we are told that the salvation explained in verses 3–14 is “to the praise of His [God’s] glory.” If the plan and process of salvation were from ourselves, based on our good works, then, when we achieved the necessary level of goodness to warrant salvation, we could boast. “I did it!” we might say, or, “I gave it my all and overcame tremendous obstacles, but I finally ascended to the highest levels of goodness and holiness, and God gave me what I deserved!” And we could look down on those who did not make it: “Those others failed because they lacked the fortitude, insight, and piety that I cultivated.” Boasting would abound. If the plan and process of salvation were based on human works, then we would elevate ourselves over other people and even in some sense over God Himself, because our salvation was our own doing, not His. Ephesians 2:8–9 says an emphatic NO. The plan and process of salvation is from God as a gift, it is by grace, and it is accessed through faith in God’s promises in Christ. Nothing about salvation is worked up from within ourselves, and it is not based on good things we do. Boasting in our own achievements is out of place, but, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:17, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Many people memorize Ephesians 2:8–9, and it is an excellent synopsis of the gospel, but the passage does not end at verse 9. Verse 10 is necessary to complete the thought. Someone might wonder what place good works have in the life of a Christian. We have already seen that chapters 4–6 are all about good works and right behavior. Just as chapters 4–6 come after chapters 1–3, so Ephesians 2:10 comes after Ephesians 2:8–9, not only sequentially but also conceptually and chronologically. We are not saved by doing good works, but we are saved for the purpose of doing good works: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Good works are a vital part of the Christian life because doing good is one of the reasons God saves us—He has things for us to do. But the sequence is all-important—good works are not the cause of salvation but the purpose of it. God saves us so that we can go into the world, doing good works in His name, and this brings Him all the more glory (cf. Matthew 5:16).

Given the truth of Ephesians 2:8–9, it is crucial to ask oneself, “What do I rely on for my salvation?” Are you relying upon good things you have done, or do you recognize that you have nothing to contribute and simply cast yourself upon the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ?

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