Talk of JESUS . com

Category: 4 Gospels + Good News of the NEW Testament

What are the Gospels?

FOUR Gospels:

GOOD NEWS! (That’s what Gospel means.)

Matthew, Mark, Luke & John begin the New Testament proclaiming the Good News of Israel’s long-awaited Messiah and talk of JESUS Christ.

The four Gospels are first hand witness + proclaiming GOOD NEWS

by two Jewish Apostles of the Messiah JESUS, Matthew & John
Two gentile (non-Jewish) followers of THE WAY of Jesus Christ, Mark & Luke, who proclaim the GOSPEL recorded from witness of Peter, Paul and other Apostles and disciples of JESUS in the first century.

READ the Good News of the Messiah and Savior Jesus from accounts of His twelve Apostles & others witnessing the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the four Gospels of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

SHARE the Gospel

with your Christian friends and those who do not yet believe in JESUS CHRIST.
Comment on a Talk of JESUS post and SHARE in your social media world.

Jesus Leading Toward Gethsemane
PAUSE — for a moment — & look out over the Kidron Valley as the Disciples would have done when Jesus led them from the Holy of Holies in an upper room in Jerusalem to their quiet gathering place at Gethsemane.

.. he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron…

Toward Gethsemane

When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.
John 18:1 KJV

Toward Gethsemane

In the previous few chapters John sums up for us what Jesus had done which leads right up to this moment and will bring us to the Cross.

Now — after just three years of teaching, ministry and miracles — our timeline of witness of the Son of Man compresses into just hours and occasionally into excruciating detail of the last minutes of our Lord’s mortal life.

Let us tarry here for just a while in just this first verse of John 18; for we often view the events leading up to the crucifixion of Christ Jesus much too quickly.

First, in context of John 13-17

It all took place in one day (if you think of in contemporary terms).

From their last time entering Jerusalem with Jesus to returning to it now in the darkness of the same night, John and the ten faithful will follow in fear. These faithful Disciples will now be separated from the prisoner of sin’s Sacrifice, Jesus, who was betrayed by one of their own. Soon the Disciples will into the accusers court of consequence and rejection by the world.

Earlier this evening…
The Lord’s Supper
John 13: Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God…

Jesus washes the Disciples feet
The Disciples conversation leads Peter to ask John to ask Jesus for more information about which one will betray our Lord
Judas leaves to betray Jesus

Jesus gives disciples a new commandment!

.. that you also love one another.

The Lord promises the Holy Spirit to disciples who will love Him
Jesus uses the vine and the branches to connect Father, Son and Holy Spirit to disciples of the Lord Jesus.
Jesus again tells of His death and resurrection

ALL THIS — on the night on which He was betrayed and prior to leaving the upper room in Jerusalem with His friends.

And in addition to this, after Jesus had taken the cup and the bread, sharing a new covenant with the Disciples, our Lord intervenes as a Perfect High Priest for us in prayer.

Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come…
I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.
John 17: excerpt from Jesus’ High Priestly prayer

“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word..
John 17:20 NASB

24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world’s foundation.
Jesus will later reveal to John and the church much more about this mysterious glory He has willed to those God loved before creation and forever.

From Blessing to the place of Personal Prayer

Jesus, followed by just eleven Apostles

— Jesus, who humbly washed their feet — Jesus, who shared the cup and bread of the new covenant with them

— Jesus, who brought them into the Holy of Holies

— this same Christ,

their beloved friend and Master,

emerging from a Last Supper now completed opens the door and descends some stairs followed by His Disciples.

Jesus then leads them past Jerusalem’s guarded gates, exiting down a path into the Kidron Valley toward a familiar garden where they could gather one last time — a garden known as Gethsemane.

After Jesus had said these things, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it.
John 18:1 CSB
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To be continued...
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September 5, 2020
From This World to the Next – Truth
Jesus continues to pray for those the Father has given Him:
And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
John 17:19 KJV

What is truth?

‘What is truth?’ Pilate will soon ask the Creator of all things who came to this world of His creation.

Yet prior to the tragic truth of the trial of His righteousness sacrificed for us, Jesus prays for those given to Him:

“For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.” [CSB]

Christ Jesus, sanctified for us, prayed about truth. So just as we previously defined sanctification [in our last post linked above] let’s define truth as used in scripture.

ἀλήθεια – truth
1. objectively
  1. what is true in any matter under consideration
    truly, in truth, according to truth
    of a truth, in reality, in fact, certainly
  2. what is true in things appertaining to God and the duties of man, moral and religious truth
    in the greatest latitude
    the true notions of God which are open to human reason without his supernatural intervention
  3. the truth as taught in the Christian religion, respecting God and the execution of his purposes through Christ, and respecting the duties of man, opposing alike to the superstitions of the Gentiles and the inventions of the Jews, and the corrupt opinions and precepts of false teachers even among Christians
2. subjectively
  1. truth as a personal excellence
    that candour of mind which is free from affection, pretence, simulation, falsehood, deceit
The Truth of Eternal Life

All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.
Romans 3:23 CEV

This includes you, fellow sinner.

Eternal God and Mortal Man
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A reflection of Psalm 90:
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3 You return mankind to the dust,
saying, “Return, descendants of Adam.”

7 For we are consumed by your anger;
we are terrified by your wrath.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 For all our days ebb away under your wrath;
we end our years like a sigh.

But what next?

‘The days of our years are threescore years and ten… OR perhaps eighty, the Psalm reminds us… (OR perhaps a score more, but maybe just 50 years… or a death more sudden).

‘… Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.” – Psalm 90:10b NASB

Returning to the night of Jesus’ betrayal

The Messiah Jesus came to man — living among us and teaching God’s way.

The Lord looks toward heaven on this night on which He was betrayed. From an upper room in Jerusalem Jesus prays to God our Father. This perfect High Priest stands before His own Altar of suffering and Sacrifice on behalf of those the LORD has chosen.

For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
John 17:19 NASB

You will die and I will die.

The Son of Man did die… for those whom He sacrificed for Himself.

The witness of Scripture and the Gospel confirm what happened next to the Messiah of God. What will be next for you?

Hebrews 9: excerpt:
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A New Covenant
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Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies… only the high priest enters…

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation..

.. through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

… sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh …

… “THIS IS THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT WHICH GOD COMMANDED YOU.” …

For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us
Hebrews 9:24

… at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment
Hebrews 9:27 NASB

AND YES, fellow sinner, you know well from Scripture what is NEXT after DEATH.

28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

Do You await HIM?

As Jesus our High Priest interceded for them, the Apostles only had hint of what would come next. Certain sacrifice of their Lord and ours! Probably persecution and death for each Disciple of Jesus, the only question being when.

Yet by the Lord’s prayer of protection He sent disciples into a world which hates Jesus, the Christ of GOD; a world which hates the very GOD it denies.

No question about it, ALL will die; but few await death with joyous expectation. Do you await the resurrection of our flesh and joining of your soul and the Spirit of the LORD GOD?

NONE want to face the Judgment of sin – an evil nature woven into our being which cannot face the Very Light of the Lord GOD.

Those who deny God or claim Christ falsely must, in time, face the judgment of having chosen darkness over the Light and Glory of God and of having refused God’s grace of a new choice to turn back to the path of righteousness which leads to life in paradise.

What is True of Christ Jesus?

The Good News of John about Jesus our Savior:

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Truth from the Gospel of John 14:6
- The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- “Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.
  - “This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil…
    “But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”
- Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
- “I sanctify myself for them, so that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 3:19 KJV

Do you hear your Savior’s voice and open the door to Him?

Will you receive eternal life?

He has sanctified those He calls to eternal life.

How will you get to the paradise of God without the righteousness of Christ Jesus?

‘He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. – Revelation 3:22 KJV

Amen.
July 31, 2020
From This World to the Next – Sanctification
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
John 17:17 CSB – Jesus’ prayer for disciples

Between life & Eternal Life

As Jesus intercedes for disciples our Master has just prayed:

“I am not praying that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.“

Jesus, the Eternal One, has completed His work in the world as the Son of Man, only Son of God the Father. He is about to experience the very death of mortals condemned by sin!

So as a Perfect High Priest the Lord intercedes for sinners in prayer in an upper room in Jerusalem, a Holy of Holies before our Father God, the Most High Creator of the world and Author of all life.

John 17:

13 “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

The Lord speaks clearly to the Father and before the Apostles that He has this one more thing to say ‘in the world’ before His Disciples.

The world hates God! Jesus gave them God’s true word and now the world hates them.

Why?

They are no longer condemned by their sin, as the world is condemned to death along the the evil one. So the departing Messiah prays for God to keep them from the temporary but real power of evil.
- 17 Sanctify them in the truth;
  - Your word is truth.
- 18 As You sent Me into the world,
  - I also have sent them into the world.
- 19 For their sakes I sanctify Myself,
  - that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
Jesus prays for them and us and clearly states why.

What He will do next?

The Lord will sanctify Himself so that His disciples will become like Him as they are sent also into the world.

Sanctification

“Sanctify them…”

“I sanctify myself…”

What do these formal and holy words mean to a casual worshiper of these last days?

Perhaps the time has arrived for us to receive this truth as was near for a soon-to-be crucified Savior and His Disciples.

ἁγιάζω – hä-ge-ä’-zo – sanctify

Jesus prays: Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
John 17:17 KJV
- to make ἅγιον, render or declare sacred or holy, consecrate. Hence, it denotes:
1. to render or acknowledge to be venerable, to hallow: Since the stamp of sacredness passes over from the holiness of God to whatever has any connection with God, ἁγιάζειν denotes
2. to separate from things profane and dedicate to God, to consecrate
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source: Thayer's Greek Lexicon STRONGS NT 37: ἁγιάζω - blueletterbible.org
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Sanctify them, as in “hallowed by Thy name.” ‘Father make these Holy by Your own holy Name,’ He could well have prayed.

The Apostle John has already testified in his gospel [John 6:69],

“We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy G40 One G40 of God.”

Be holy, for I am holy, says the LORD.
וְהִ֨תְקַדִּשְׁתֶּ֔ם וִהְיִיתֶ֖ם קְדֹשִׁ֑ים כִּ֛י אֲנִ֥י יְהוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃
Leviticus 20:7 & many other scriptures

Jesus IS the only High Priest with the Authority to sanctify any flesh of sinful man who He sends out into the world. The Lord can make you or any He chooses to be ‘a holy vessel of the LORD.’

“I have sanctified them..

Jesus continues to pray for those the Father has given Him:
And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
John 17:19 KJV

You cannot see the face of God, O man of flesh tainted by sin!

Gaze far into the distant heavens beyond the vast sea for a light of truth, the paradise of Eden, the glory of the living Temple of the LORD. You will not enter it any more than you may enter the Holy of Holies constructed by man and destroyed by disobedience.

Jesus our High Priest prays to sanctify you through the truth.
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To be continued... 
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July 29, 2020