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Tag: blood

Epistle from the Council of Jerusalem – Acts 15:20
The Council of Jerusalem has come to a decision. They will write an epistle of instruction to the gentile churches.
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Let's focus for a moment on a HOT TOPIC of A.D. 50 on which future missions of the apostles hinged.

(HOW will JEWS worship with other CULTURES?)

Church leaders ANSWERED with an EPISTLE from their Council in Jerusalem. 
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ἐπιστολή – a written message: — epistle, letter

So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle:^G1992
Acts of the Apostles 15:30, King James Version

WHAT DO WE DO WHEN AS SOON AS WE MAKE AN IMPORTANT DECISION IMPACTING EVERYONE?

We send out an epistle or letter or message or broadcast.

AND like any council with authority this council of Church leaders in Jerusalem go back to their followers personally as well. These apostles of the gospel will also send their epistle or letter of instruction with other trusted messengers to churches they cannot encourage personally.
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We're getting a little ahead of today's work of the Jerusalem Council, but I thought it important to DEFINE our term and impact of today's meeting of the Apostles in Jerusalem.
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Lexicon :: Strong’s G1992 – epistolē

– From ἐπιστέλλω (G1989) epistellō –

Outline of Biblical Usage
- to send one a message, command
- to write a letter
- to enjoin by letter, to write instructions
Christians familiar with traditional readings of Scripture from the King James Version recognize an introduction like:

“A reading from the Epistle of Paul to the Romans.”
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The cover letter pictured is an actual parchment of Romans 1:1-7
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Acts of the Apostles 15:30 [above] reads ‘epistle‘ in the KJV.

But most Bibles simply translate it ‘letter.’

You may have seen a similar epistle in Acts 9 where Luke records a previous ‘official letter’ also sent with Paul (aka at that time Saul of Tarsus) from Jerusalem.

Damascus Road: Witness into all the World

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
– Acts of the Apostles 9:1-2 ESV

Christians familiar with the epistles or letters of the New Testament (after Acts) see epistles addressed to an individual church, i.e. Corinth, Ephesus, where these letters were also circulated to churches throughout and beyond those regions.

However this important earlier letter from the Council at Jerusalem was sent to as many churches as possible. And the Apostles gathered in Jerusalem specifically address Gentiles as participants and members.

SO It could have, but was not, named:

The Epistle of the Council of Jerusalem,

TO the Church at Antioch Syria (where it is to be sent) OR due to apostles sent out into all the world:

‘TO the churches of the Gentile Nations.’

Leaders of the Christians in Antioch had requested clarification from the Apostles and leaders of the church in Jerusalem. Most Hellenist or Greek church members were Gentiles rather than Jews of the Diaspora.

Acts 15 – Conclusion of Pastor James

Truth for Gentiles who turn to God

Previously, from ACTS 15:6-19

Do not trouble those turning to God

.. we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God,
but should write to them
to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.
Acts 15:19b-20 ESV

Don’t cause trouble. Do not annoy. Do not harass.
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You get the idea; this is what Saul of Tarsus had planned to do in Damascus with the authority of the Jewish Council to persecute the converted.
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ἐπιστρέφω – Lexicon :: Strong’s G1994 – epistrephō
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transitively, a. to turn to the worship of the true God, 
b. to cause to return, to bring back; figuratively, to the love and obedience of God ..
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Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God [theos] from among the Gentiles ἔθνος [ethnos].

YES, God chose the Jews

BUT why would we want to keep those Gentiles whom the Lord our God has drawn through Christ?

AND WHY add requirements which would hinder Gentiles from turning to God?

SO James adjudicates the matter also addressing the concerns of the Jews.

EXCEPT these practices of Jewish Law
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Here, James adds a requirement for the Gentiles but it is NOT circumcision.
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- abstain from
  - the things polluted by idols
  - sexual immorality
  - what has been strangled
  - [from] blood
21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”

James .. To the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. Greetings.

A Map [above] shows first century Jewish cities of the Roman Empire to which James refers in an epistle he authored most likely during Paul’s first missionary journey just prior to the Council at Jerusalem.

As you can see, much more communication will be required to cover so many Hellenist cities with Jewish and Christian worshipers.
ἐπιστολή – a written message: — epistle, letter
Acts 15 – Conclusion of Pastor James
Do not trouble those turning to God
EXCEPT these practices of Jewish Law
Scriptural (Old Testament) Reasons for James’ exceptions
Pollutions of idols
Fornication – πορνεία – Lexicon :: Strong’s G4202 – porneia –
Things Strangled – πνικτός pniktós, pnik-tos’
and Blood – αἵματος – αἷμα Lexicon :: Strong’s G129 – haima of man or animals
The Sacrifice of Blood
Leviticus 17: ESV
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Acts 15:20 King James Version — But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
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Scriptural (Old Testament) Reasons for James’ exceptions

Pollutions of idols

– Gen 35:2; Exo 20:3-5,23; Exo 34:15,16; Num 25:2; Psa 106:37-39; Eze 20:30,31;

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers and go whoring after their detestable things? When you present your gifts and offer up your children in fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I *be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will not *be inquired of by you.
Ezra 20:30-31 KJV – *note: Lexicon :: Strong’s H1875 – dāraš

Fornication – πορνεία – Lexicon :: Strong’s G4202 – porneia –
- illicit sexual intercourse
  - adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals etc.
  - sexual intercourse with close relatives; Lev. 18
  - sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman; Mk. 10:11-12
- metaph. the worship of idols
  - of the defilement of idolatry, as incurred by eating the sacrifices offered to idols
The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of *whoredoms and children of *whoredoms: for the land hath committed great *whoredom, departing from the LORD.
Hosea 1:2 KJV note: *Lexicon :: Strong’s H2183 – zᵊnûnîm
from Lexicon :: Strong’s H2181 – zānâ – A primitive root [highly-fed and therefore wanton]

Things Strangled – πνικτός pniktós, pnik-tos’

from G4155; throttled, i.e. (neuter concretely) an animal choked to death (not bled):—strangled.

and Blood – αἵματος – αἷμα Lexicon :: Strong’s G129 – haima of man or animals
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 καὶ τοῦ αἵματος - "from what has been strangled, and from blood." - ESV is best understood in the context of Leviticus, Book of the Priests, which provides some detail about Sacrifices to God, which Christ became by His own Blood, the flesh of our Lord Jesus pierced for our transgressions.
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The Sacrifice of Blood

Leviticus 17: ESV

וַיִּקְרָא (Leviticus) 17 :: Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC)

וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹֽר׃

1. And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

10 “If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls,
for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.
Leviticus 17:11 ESV

12 Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood.

13 “Any one also of the people of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.

For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.
Leviticus 17:14 ESV

Letter from the Council

Acts 15:

²²Then 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…

To Be Continued…
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.. with the text of their Epistle authorizing apostles for another mission to the Gentiles. 
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January 10, 2023
Apocalypse 5 – the Beginning of The End
AWE of things unseen uncovered, creatures of Heaven hardly imagined and devastations of earth unimaginable! This is what the Lord Jesus Christ reveals [ἀποκάλυψις – apokalypsis] to the Apostle John.

Excepts from Revelation 4:

The Throne Room of Heaven

.. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here …

.. and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.

.. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones..

And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices:
Revelation 4:5a KJV

6 and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind.

! ! ! ! Living Creatures

The first living creature was like a lion.. each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within..

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.”
Revelation 4:8b NASB

And when the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever,

the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and they will worship Him who lives forever and ever..

5:2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?”

.. 6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slaughtered..

8 When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb..

“Worthy are You to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slaughtered, and You purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation.
Revelation 5:9b NASB

.. 11 Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders..

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory, and blessing.”
Revelation 5:12 NASB – the loud praise of thousands of angels

.. 14 And the four living creatures were saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Come and see!

Last time in Apocalypse 4 – Tribulation begins – The End Revealed, after the LAMB opened the first seal we heard the loud voice of the first creature near to the Throne say, “Come.”

Then we saw a rider with a bow on a white horse.

He went out conquering and in order to conquer.

He shall strike down the wicked from afar
With inescapable arrows from the string of his bow
The Face of the Lion whose wrath did slay them
His enemies will never know
Roger @talk of Jesus {dot}.com

The Second Seal:

War on Earth
- Have you fully fallen in fear and awe before the One on the Throne as the Lamb opened the scroll?
- Did the ἀποκάλυψις
  - ‘disclosure of truth concerning things before unknown’
  - convict your sinful soul as if you were dead before Him?
- Could you face any of the four living creatures ever-vigilant in holiness surrounding the Throne of the One Creator and eternal LORD?
Before we observe the opening of the second seal, returning to The Throne Room of Heaven, let’s look once more upon this scene with the second living creature.

Revelation 4-5 excerpt:

.. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne..

.. and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind..

.. the second living creature was like an ox..

.. Each of the four living creatures had six wings; they were covered with eyes around and inside..

I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders..

saying with a loud voice:

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power…

.. Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!”

Revelation 6:

3 When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come!”

Notice that the second living creature, which the KJV translates, ‘beast‘ also speaks with authority; for these four are nearest worshipers of the Lord God!

The four living beasts serve the Throne of the LORD — they are His messengers, all similar in power and fearful appearance, and yet different as personalities of man are both alike yet individual. The four horsemen also sent (by the living messengers of the Throne) also differ in appearance as do their horses and the judgments for which each is sent out to all the earth.

4 Another horse, fiery red, went out.

And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another;

and there was given to him a great sword.

From the unsealed judgment read from the scroll, two have gone out

– one with a bow to conquer from afar and now
- a rider who will spill the blood of war by the hand of a mighty rider of the horse red as fire!
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To be continued...
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February 10, 2021
CRUCIFIXION! – The Pangs of Sin
So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.
John 19:16 NASB

Tarrying on the road of Suffering

“Father, the hour is come,” the Lord Jesus had prayed in a most personal prayer just hours before.

Then in the darkness of Gethsemane Jesus had asked Peter, “Am I not to drink the cup the Father has given me?”

It it the Cup of the Blood of His suffering; some by scourging just witnessed, when 39 times Jesus had NO SIN to confess.

“Crucify ben ‘elyown ‘elyown,” they had shouted; CRUCIFY the SON OF GOD!

And shortly Jesus will cry out from His final pain:

“ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” which is translated, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”
Mark 15:34 NASB

What Father remains silent on suffering?

And what Man must suffer silently for sin?

Crucify! Crucify!

John 19:17 They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, carrying His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which in Hebrew is called, Golgotha.

Hours before: Sanctification of the Sacrifice

Jesus spoke these things; and raising His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, so that the Son may glorify You, just as You gave Him authority over all mankind, so that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
John 17:1-3 NASB – The Son’s High Priestly prayer

The Pangs of Death

‘I feel your pain,’ some must have mocked toward Jesus at His suffering the 39 lashes of scourging. No one ever truly feels the pain of another’s suffering.

But for His dear friends the Apostles the Son of God had assured:

“A little while, and you no longer are going to see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.”
John 16:16 NASB

Jesus had not dwelled on His prophesied suffering. Yet by the scriptures perhaps the Disciples denyingly sensed what He must suffer this day.

Isaiah 53:

Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

The Apostles did not want to believe all of it, but to them the LORD revealed the Son embraced by the Father’s right arm.

For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.

They also grew up near Him and even though some knew Jesus’ family, they were not attracted to Him until by Him they were called. In these three years Jesus became their Lord, Teacher and beloved friend.

He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Jesus was despised by the ruling council and leading Jews. The Disciples continually witnessed the Jews hatred for Him.

Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:4 NASB

John 8:

Temple officials had previously despised and did not esteem Him. These Jewish scholars had never believed His message or the Prophets.

21 Then He said again to them, “I am going away, and you will look for Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.”

25 Then they were saying to Him, “Who are You?”

These politically powerful religious officials most likely asked this mockingly, as they did while striking their blindfolded Messiah during the mockery of a trial before Caiaphas High Priest of the Jews and later in the presence of Pilate.

‘Who are YOU to talk of God or teach us the Law?‘

So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am, and I do nothing on My own, but I say these things as the Father instructed Me.
John 8:28

And the Apostle John adds this witness then in his Gospel:

30 As He said these things, many came to believe in Him.

Many believers will follow Jesus Christ in a victorious procession to the place of worship, but only a remnant remains following a captive King to the Cross of Calvary.
Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com

The Pangs of Pain

Returning to Jesus’ metaphor of suffering, He prophesies this day to His Apostles:

John 16:

20 Truly, truly I say to you that you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy!

As the Disciples had scattered as sheep from the wolves, surely they did not recall this at the time of Jesus’ arrest, trials, scourging and crucifixion.

Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come;

but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.

22 Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one is going to take your joy away from you.

And why this suffering? – SIN!

The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!

..Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this, Cursed are you..

And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.” – Genesis 3

The Prophesy of Christ’s Suffering

But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5 NASB

..

‘By oppression and judgment He was taken away,‘ prophesied Isaiah in the generation of Uzziah king of Judah. It was more than seven centuries Before Christ.

Isaiah, by the mouth of the LORD, indicts those who falsely convict Jesus.

They have just sent innocence to the Cross as the Substitute Lamb of Sacrifice for their own transgressions (sins).

‘And as for His generation,
who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living
for the transgression of my people,
to whom the stroke was due?
Isaiah 53:8 NASB

The Good News of John:

1:¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

¹¹He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

מֵעֲמַ֤ל נַפְשֹׁו֙ יִרְאֶ֣ה יִשְׂבָּ֔ע בְּדַעְתֹּ֗ו יַצְדִּ֥יק צַדִּ֛יק עַבְדִּ֖י לָֽרַבִּ֑ים וַעֲוֹנֹתָ֖ם ה֥וּא יִסְבֹּֽל׃
Yeshaiya 53: WLC

²⁹.. “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

And now sinners take the sinless Sacrifice to the altar of the shedding of Blood.

They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, carrying His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which in Hebrew is called, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.
John 19:17-18 NASB
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To be continued...
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November 4, 2020