Talk of JESUS .com

Category: Scriptural Reruns

Summer Talk {Scriptural} Reruns

Nazareth of Jesus – Rejected by your hometown
And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read..
Luke 4:16 NASB20

Teaching Scripture at your own Church

Is it the Nazareth of Jesus? OR was this ‘Son of Man’ someone from an OTHER place?

Throughout the Gospels [GOOD NEWS] we hear the Lord Jesus called ‘JESUS OF NAZARETH.’ And of course we know from Scripture that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, taken to Egypt by Joseph and Mary and finally settled in Nazareth after Herod’s death. So here in his home church (synagogue) Jesus is welcomed at first, but then rejected after reading Scripture and applying its truth.

And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him…

“THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME,
BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO BRING GOOD NEWS..
“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears.”
Jesus Christ reading Isaiah in Nazareth

The crowds of Jews interspersed with gentiles had received Jesus well at first and initial reaction to the Lord at home seemed certain to confirm this local gaining fame throughout Galilee. So like the earlier prophets, Jesus preached with the authority of the Spirit of God.

From Nineveh to Nazareth

Last time we looked at the Prophet Jonah who was called to GO PREACH to the world of the gentiles in Nineveh. (Jonah would have loved to preach in his home church, but the LORD commanded him to preach repentance to those the Jews hated.)

Nineveh – Preaching to a cruel enemy

Taking the long view – Beyond Nineveh

“Is this not Joseph’s son?”

Yes, centuries before, Jonah finally relented to the LORD’s will and preached to Nineveh. Then THEY REPENTED!

Here in first century Nazareth however, Jesus will not be accepted for obeying the LORD’s will as the Son of Man reads scripture of an earlier Prophet Isaiah to Jews who thought they knew him.

“No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! All the miracles that we heard were done in Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’”

But He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.
Luke 4:24 NASB20

Nazareth – Preaching to an unrepentant Church

.. And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and brought Him to the crest of the hill on which their city had been built, so that they could throw Him down from the cliff..

What had been Jesus’ message to them?

REPENTANCE! The same preaching which the LORD commanded to Nineveh and here as Jesus points out, to Syria in the time of Elijah.

Scriptures

Isaiah 52-53

Original talkofJESUS.com post

Beyond Nazareth

from April 26, 2017 – Topic: Isaiah Prophesies a Far-distant Hope

Summer 2021 AD {Scriptural} Reruns
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(ditto: Summer 2022 – more to come)
July 13, 2021
Nineveh – Preaching to a cruel enemy
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
Jonah 1:2 NASB20

Repent (They did.)

Remove your masks of hypocrisy, claimants of Christ. Let God’s enemy see your true face — that you DO NOT want them to be saved.

Nineveh initially didn’t even see the back of Jonah’s head as the man of God faced away from the will of the LORD.

Yet the LORD God wants to save sinners like us — Even other sinners not of us, that they too might come to know His love and grace.

(If you’re going to preach Jonah you probably ought to hear God’s message of repentance and obedience. You with ears to hear, hear the LORD — His will, before you just connect it to your missions or draw the picture for a Children’s Bible.)

HINT: It’s not about the whale.
- Is Jonah and the Whale just a children’s Bible story to you?
- Perhaps it is just an Old Testament parable predicting the resurrection?
NO. It is more than that.

For the LORD commands the Prophet Jonah to PREACH repentance to sinners. Yet this ‘religious man’ sails off on what he believes will be an easier journey. Jonah sails away from the troubles of others in favor of his own mission.

Who is this cruel enemy of Nineveh?

Even having read some ancient history background of the middle east at the time of Jonah, I again marveled at the contemporary look of those ancient people. Are we so different you might ask?

It was Sennacherib who made Nineveh a truly magnificent city (c. 700 BC). He laid out new streets and squares and built within it the South West Palace, or “palace without a rival”.. 80 rooms. A foundation of 3.5 million cubic yards with walls more than six stories high.

The stone carvings in the walls include many battle scenes, impalings and scenes showing Sennacherib’s men parading the spoils of war before him. .. he wrote of Babylon: “Its inhabitants, young and old, I did not spare, and with their corpses I filled the streets of the city.”

“And Hezekiah of Judah who had not submitted to my yoke…him I shut up in Jerusalem his royal city like a caged bird. Earthworks I threw up against him, and anyone coming out of his city gate I made pay for his crime. His cities which I had plundered I had cut off from his land.”

.. the total area of Nineveh (1,730 acres), and (15) great gates .. an elaborate system of (18) canals brought water from the hills to Nineveh..

The enclosed area had more than 100,000-150,000 inhabitants, about twice as many as Babylon at the time, placing it among the largest settlements worldwide.
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Source: Wikipedia
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The Enemy viewed from Jerusalem

In case (like me) you missed the connection between Nineveh and Jerusalem, you will need to go back into the wars recorded in 2 Kings.

2 Kings 18-19

13 Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria marched against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them…

In fact, you are NOT Jonah; but the gentile of Nineveh to whom Jonah preaches repentance!
- Will you respond to God’s message as did the people of Nineveh?
- Or are you as faithless as the religious ones of Nazareth who turned away Jesus? (We will visit Nazareth also on this brief journey.)
Scriptures

Ezekiel 18

Matthew 12

Jonah 3

Original talkofJESUS.com post

Beyond Nineveh

Original post March 30, 2017 – Topic: Repentance

Summer 2021 AD {Scriptural} Reruns
- CLICK “…Continue reading ” above,
- THEN Ask a question or comment at the end of this post
- OR email Roger@talkofJesus.com with your reaction, questions & comments.
Stay tuned from more Summer of 2021 Reruns from talkofJESUS.com

(ditto: Summer 2022 – more to come)
July 12, 2021
A Remnant called to REPENTANCE
Repentance, or else!

We don’t like ultimatums. YOU MUST REPENT, or else the Lord will do ‘this or that.’ No wonder the Prophets of the LORD were often rejected in their own land.

Repentance, or else, becomes a recurring theme before the coming of the Messiah Jesus and before the long silence of the LORD which precedes Christ in Bethlehem, Nazareth, Capernaum and Jerusalem. You will find it Malachi the last book of the Old Testament and even in the Psalms.

The intentional call of repentance is both serious and urgent. John the Baptist uses pointed language which offends and so did the Promised One, Jesus, Son of Man and Son of God.

Scriptures

Malachi 3 & 4

Luke 3

Isaiah 33

“Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?
Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
https://www.blueletterbible.org/nasb20/isa/33/1/t_bibles_712014

Original talkofJESUS.com post

Stubble & Chaff – Repentance before the Lord

from December 16, 2015 – Topic: repentance

Summer 2021 AD {Scriptural} Reruns
- CLICK “…Continue reading ” above,
- THEN Ask a question or comment at the end of this post
- OR email Roger@talkofJesus.com with your reaction, questions & comments.
Stay tuned from more Summer of 2021 Reruns from talkofJESUS.com

(ditto: Summer 2022 – more to come)
July 9, 2021