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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.

No More in the World
And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world…
The prayer of Christ Jesus – Gospel of John 17:11 KJV

Prayer for disciples

In answering the question, ‘Who Does JESUS Pray For?’ we have clearly determined that Christ Jesus prays for us as High Priest and intercessor before God our Father.

“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
John 17:6 NASB

Jesus, although not praying for Judas, intercedes for the Eleven Apostles in the upper room as well as other disciples – those followers in every era to come until the judgment of the world.

Eternal Life will be granted ONLY to those the FATHER has given to the SON and not all of the world — not to the worldly, not to the unrepentant, not to the Antichrists of the last days of John or to those opposing Christ Jesus in these last days.

Jesus Son of Man and Son of God prays: “I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me,” but who are these?

John 17:

6 “I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from the world…

9 “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me…

And here is Jesus’ all-powerful intercession for us — sinners left without hope doing too few works of righteousness to earn eternal life.

And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world,
and I come to thee.
Holy Father,
keep through thine own name
those whom thou hast given me,
that they may be one, as we are.
John 17:11 KJV

One with the Father

Jesus’ incarnate mortal life is about to end!

And what does the Lord pray to the Father as He stands before the Apostles with His arms raised to heaven to the Father, the Lord Almighty?

Jesus prays that they may be one as He and the Father are One.

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד׃
Deuteronomy 6:4 – Masoretic text

shama`Yisra’el Yehovah ‘elohiym Yehovah ‘echad … “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! …

Jesus had witnessed:
- “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. – John 6:37
- “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. – John 6:44
  - “I will raise him up on the last day” is certain reference to eternal life and assurance to disciples of Jesus.
- “I and the Father are one.” – John 10:30
One with the Son

Here stands the same Son of the Father, God incarnate! praying for those He selected before the world began. Jesus, the Christ and Messiah prays for the sameness of relationship the He enjoys with the Father.

One and the same would be the expression of relationship – God’s Perfect relationship in love.

Jesus IS; yet in His Oneness He says He is ‘no longer in the world’ (past tense). Jesus prays for those He loves though they must remain in the world for now (as do we).

As WE are ONE refers to Christ as the LORD, One with the Father and the Holy Spirit of God!

10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. [KJV]

Now Jesus prays:

Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.
John 17:11b NASB

Jesus bows before our Holy Heavenly Father as the Perfect and Incarnate Son of Sacrifice pleading for God to protect or keep them in the Lord’s fold as He leaves them to the predators of this world opposed to GOD and all righteousness.

Then again, Jesus prays an astounding prayer of intercession: “… that they may be one even as we are.”

One with God?

How can a mere man be one with God?

John has already used this testimony of Jesus many times including:
- “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one G1520 flock with one G1520 shepherd.
  - – of the gentiles joined with the Jews following the One Messiah as if they were one – John 10:16
Now in His great prayer of intercession Jesus prays for this mystical relationship of love between the Father, the Son and those chosen to eternal life.

John 17: CSB

21 May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you.

May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me.

22 I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one.

23 I am in them and you are in me,

so that they may be made completely one,

that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.

Jesus’ loving words for believers here bears repeating.
- “That the world may know [our Father God sent Jesus Christ].
  - Is this your witness, beloved brother or sister in Christ?
- “and have loved them
  - Yes. our Creator Who determined your days also loves you as a beloved son or daughter IF you accept His mercy and grace through the Lord Jesus.
- “as you have loved me.
  - Our Perfect Creator loves us as He has loved the Perfect Son, our Lord and Savior the Messiah and Christ Jesus.
Do you bow humbly before your Lord and Savior who even as He prayed for you would soon sacrifice His Very Flesh and Blood on a Cross for your sins?
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To be continued...
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July 15, 2020
Who Does JESUS Pray For?
Eternal Life, But For Whom?

We have entered the Father’s house of prayer through the sacredness of scripture. And before us in this holy upper room in Jerusalem stands Christ Jesus, arms lifted toward heaven and praying as a High Priest beyond the curtain.

Along with John and the eleven remaining Apostles we hear the Lord’s plea for eternal life – not HIS, but ours. We have seen the Lord’s power before including that to raise the dead, but does Jesus have the power of eternal life at His Command?

The Messiah Jesus, the Anointed One, stands before us praying for eternal life, but for whom?

The Gospel of John 17:

“Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life…”

We glance at John and the Apostles, fearful in this secluded room not far from where Jerusalem’s powerful seek Jesus’ life and theirs. Jesus intercedes in prayer for His fellow friends of this flesh and blood of mortal life as the Eleven look on.

The Lord has assured eternal life “to all whom You have given Him” and the Apostles know that Jesus means them (and not Judas).

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
John 17:3 KJV

Who do you pray for?

When, like the Apostles facing the crowds of Jerusalem and controversy of Jesus, you FEAR for your mortal life, how comforted are you by hearing someone say, “I will pray for you.”

Yet you know how we cling to this fragile flesh; for what little power we exercise over it. What man born of woman can intercede before God to save us?

At times I suppose you pray for your loved ones as Jesus does here. But with what authority, my fellow sinner, do you pray before the altar of sacrifice?

Who prays for you?

Jesus, the Son of Man and mortal man of flesh facing death, prays for His friends. He prays to our Father God as our intercessor and High Priest.

“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
John 17:6 NASB

7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, because I have given them the words you gave me. They have received them and have known for certain that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.

Clearly Jesus, as their Most Personal Priest, prays for His Disciples.

I ask on their behalf;
I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours…
Intercessory prayer of Jesus – John 17:9 NASB

But what about the World?

Jesus as High Priest before God the Father prays: “I am not praying for the world…” {CSB}

What does the Lord mean by this?

(For even ‘the world’ of these last days will know the ‘John 3:16‘ assurance.)

“For God did not send the Son into the world ^G2889 to judge the world, ^G2889 but that the world ^G²⁸⁸⁹ might be saved through Him.
John 3:17 KJV with Strong’s link to ‘world’ or ‘kosmos’

THEREFORE, when Jesus states that HE is NOT praying for the world (that He came to save), the Lord confirms that only some will be saved.

But who does Jesus mean?

First in His High Priestly Prayer, Jesus prays on behalf of the Apostles. Then the Lord adds a notable intercession.

I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they are yours. – John 17:9b CSB

Who has the Father given to Jesus who are NOT ‘the world?’

(Could you be one of these in addition to the Apostles?)

NOT for the world…

11 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you…

Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
John 17:11b KJV

Why a High Priest?

110:4 נִשְׁבַּ֤ע יְהוָ֨ה וְלֹ֥א יִנָּחֵ֗ם אַתָּֽה־כֹהֵ֥ן לְעֹולָ֑ם עַל־֝דִּבְרָתִ֗י מַלְכִּי־צֶֽדֶק׃

Jesus continues, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name…”

Jesus is the ONLY High Priest to save us completely, the only sinless man who ever walked through life in this world. He IS a Perfect SON OF MAN interceding for God’s chosen ones before the LORD, His Father and ours.

Here our High Priest stands before the Altar of His soon-to-be Perfect Sacrifice already speaking of His Own mortal life in the past tense.

Jesus kept those the Father gave Him.

He kept the disciples not from death of the flesh, but for eternal life. And the Lord kept them, mere mortal men for His continued purpose.

Jesus prays to the Father:

18 As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

We do NOT need an Apostle, Levite or sinful Saint as a High Priest in succession to a Perfert High Priest! But we do need men and women who do believe and will follow Jesus to take His Gospel into all the world.

We now have a Perfect High Priest praying for us Who IS and was and will be our Savior by grace.

This is Eternal Life for those who believe

20 “I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word.

21 May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me.

Have you prayed to our beloved High Priest that you might be in Him and also the Father?

… that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:16b, 18 NASB
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To be continued...
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June 30, 2020
Jesus’ Power to give Eternal Life
… and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
John 10:28 NASB

Power and Authority

From the Gospel John 17 we have begun to study the Lord’s High Priestly Prayer in The Hour Is Come and also recently addressed The Authority of Jesus, His Power over all flesh.

Jesus preached about eternal life in synagogues, on hillsides and in homes of the Jews. The Gospels also include several scenes where His authority over life and death had always been questioned by Jerusalem’s leaders.

The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?”
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Gospel of John 2:18-19 NASB

This temple of Jesus is not the fortress of flesh or whitewashed walls of symbolic religion, but the Living and Holy Image of the Son of God!

Interior of the Temple with High Priest facing the Holy of Holies

Jesus has never in-person entered the Holy of Holies. The Son of Man never entered the building as a temple priest with the sacrifice of worship.

Our Lord simply showed grace and clearly taught truth from the Temple’s public courtyards, Jewish gathering places walled in from the world and its gentile Roman captors, the public square of faithful Jews.

Jesus preached in Solomon’s portico, a place remote enough from a public face of the Sanhedrin’s seventy religious rulers.

POWER!

He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said,
“Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? G1411
Matthew 15:34 NASB

‘Who is this Jesus of Nazareth,’ the powerful religious leaders would have always asked as they had also of John the Baptist?

δύναμις – dynamis – strength power, ability
- Used here for both words: ‘miraculous’ & ‘powers’
- Also used in this way in Mark 6:14 where speaking of Jesus and His Disciples ‘…people were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous ^G1411 powers ^G1411 are at work in Him.”
We are not talking political or military or religious power, but true and miraculous power over creation and the created – power of the Son of Man, the Messiah Jesus from the LORD God!

Authority

So many Jews had hoped that Jesus would use such power to overthrow Rome in Jerusalem, Judea and Galilee.

The image of a shepherd may be that of a powerful king like David or Solomon, but more commonly seen as one saving vulnerable sheep from wolves.

“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
from the Good News of John 10:18 the promise of the Messiah Jesus

Although the Apostles knew their Lord and Master as a humble man, the Messiah Jesus also spoke of His authority as Master and Shepherd of His disciples many times.

John 10:

The Gatekeeper & the Shepherds – the Door

Parable of the Good Shepherd

14 I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep…

ἐξουσία – exousia – authority

Jesus claims the authority to lay [His Life] down and also sais, “I have authority to take it up again.” This was a remarkable claim of Jesus that He had the authority to cause BOTH His own death and resurrection. (We have addressed ‘The Authority of Jesus’ in our introduction to John 17.)

“For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative.
I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
The words of the Messiah Jesus – John 10:17-18 NASB

19 A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words.

No wonder the Jews became divided because of these words about their Messiah’s authority.

Consider the common definition of authority Jesus coveys:
- power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases
- physical and mental power
- the power of authority (influence) and of right (privilege)
  - (Here’s one no religious or political leader willingly gives up.)
- the power of rule or government (the power of him whose will and commands must be submitted to by others and obeyed)
  - (Again, Herod, Caesar, Pilate, Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, priests – all have a stake in maintaining their tenuous authority & limited power.)
Power over death and life

Cling to this fragile flesh; for what little power we exercise over it.

To some degree of authority: a king, our president, any judge of man’s courts — Rome’s Prefect, any governor and all authorities of man exercise power over other mortal men.

We have NO choice in some matters. Yet these authorities of the flesh cannot give life, but grant mercy in its extension.

Those who sought to seize Jesus of whom the crowds of Jerusalem had shouted, ‘Hosanna, Son of David; save us, blessed king,’ challenged many crowns. For the implied mortal and immediate authority of Caesar, of Herod, of Pilate, of Jerusalem’s political/religious leaders (the Sanhedrin, its priests and temple police) — all authority was threatened by the popularity Jesus.

ALL could have lost their power of the day IF Jesus is crowned the “King of the Jews!”

It MUST NOT HAPPEN.

Therefore, show the crowds that THIS KING JESUS is no MAN of authority — for this claimant of Power from one High cannot even save His own mortal life (let alone that of the Jews). These same crowds will turn on Him when we have demonstrated our Authority over HIM.

High Priest before the Altar of the LORD

From an upper room in Jerusalem, Jesus prays to the LORD GOD our Father for many things. Yet the Lord’s purpose is not to preserve any MORTAL life, but to SAVE select SOULS for ETERNAL LIFE.

Though praying from an upper room in Jerusalem, Jesus enters the most sacred place on our behalf – the Holy of Holies as our High Priest before God. Jesus stands before us praying for His authority to grant eternal life!

From Death to Eternal Life

Does this Jesus, Son of Man, really have such authority before the LORD GOD?

For if He does, the Messiah of God IS everything He says that He IS.

John 17:

The High Priestly Prayer

Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said,

“Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

… Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are…

ἀγάπη

I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.
John 17:22-23 CSB

The Love that is the Glory of Eternal Life

Aug -awp’-ay — agapē one of several Greek words for LOVE we fail to understand as men of flesh and as spirits given life by God. Yet Jesus Christ uses it on our behalf in His closing High Priestly Prayer.

“…that the love ^G26 wherewith thou hast loved me..” from the English of the King James Version: Jesus states the Father’s love for His only Son — this is the love for which Jesus intercedes for us in eternal life.

And Jesus had recently told the Apostles, “Greater love ^G26 hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
- affection, good will, love, benevolence, brotherly love
- love feasts
An eternal life of relationship: Personal Relationship like that of Jesus with the Holy Father God — a glory of festive love as personal as the wedding, where the love of the bride and groom are celebrated by all who are invited to the feast.

Christ Jesus our High Priest intercedes and asks His blessing on what is about to take place.

Will you take up your cross and follow Him?
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To be continued...
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June 27, 2020