Talk of JESUS . com

Tag: christmas

Jerusalem Defiled Awaits Her King
THE FOLLOWING IS AN UPDATED POST ABOUT JERUSALEM by Roger Harned originally published on

TALK OF JESUS .COM

APRIL 14, A.D. 2014
about Palm Sunday in Jerusalem
~ A.D. 30
CLAIM to Jerusalem is important
פֶּסַח
pesaḥ [Passover]
THE TEMPLE
King David brought the Tabernacle to Jerusalem.
Israel’s false client Kings, The Herod’s
One more thing about Jerusalem and its buildings:
إشعياء – Isaiæ – Ησαΐας – יְשַׁעְיָהוּ
about Palm Sunday in Jerusalem

Do you with eyes to see Jerusalem as it is and was in the time of Jesus see it?

Hosanna to the Son of David:

It is not unlike today.

Jerusalem is no longer Holy to the Lord!

The dome of the false prophet boasts victory over the Jesus of the Jews.

Christ did not claim the city or the mount or the Temple.

The Messiah King of the Jews did not win the battle of the day.

AND thus far, JESUS has not won the battle of this day!

Peter, Philip and many others have encountered false teachers and false prophets from the very earliest days of Christ’s Church.

~ A.D. 30

Jerusalem had been taken by Rome, as it once had been conquered by Babylon.

The enemies of the Jews have their own gods. Stone idols, Myths, false prophets who are mere mortals from their cultural past, men and women who are and will remain dead.

The enemies of the Jews of Jerusalem have their own cities with their own gods.

For two millennia since that notable kingly entry of the Son of Man worshiped as He approached Jerusalem, anti-Christs have opposed their own Savior, the Messiah and Eternal King of not only the Jews but a KING of KINGS over all of the world for all of time into eternity.

You must understand that these are battles for God.

These are battles AGAINST God in every generation until the last.

CLAIM to Jerusalem is important

Is it an international island of Palestine?

Does Jerusalem legitimately reclaim its nation of Israel bequeathed once more to it by a United writ of the Nations which had opposed Zion’s rule for millennia?

Not even David ruled in Jerusalem for many years of his reign.

Yet as it is now, and in certain prescribed seasons, the hills of Jerusalem rise into a yearly international spotlight of the world. It was during one of these great feasts that the Messiah of Israel approached its gate on what Christians now call Palm Sunday.

פֶּסַח

pesaḥ [Passover]

Why do the Jews make pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover?

What were all the Jews commemorating?
```
And let us not forget that Jesus was a Jew - a son of man born to the line of David - the Messiah Savior of Israel making His way there on Palm Sunday.
```
God had saved the Hebrew people from Egypt and led them by His promise to Israel. Jerusalem was Holy to the Lord for the chosen people of the Lord.

Moses did not build the Temple.

THE TEMPLE

Built by Solomon and completed ~957 Before Christ,

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed Solomon’s temple around 586 or 587 B.C.

Putting aside the false claims of the false prophet (that Jerusalem was not given to the Jews, but belongs to Arabs), God had a personal relationship with the Hebrew people. Moses had met with God in the Tabernacle — a tent of worship and forerunner of the Temple.

God would make His Presence known at various times… in the Tabernacle and in the Temple.

King David brought the Tabernacle to Jerusalem.

Yet the LORD commanded that The Temple would be built by King Solomon. This was at a time when the Lord blessed Israel with great power and might for His own glory.

AND of course no good Jew would neglect a reverence and respect for:
- Moses who had led them from slavery in Egypt,
- David who had conquered most of the people and lands of Canaan (Palestine) and
- Solomon, who not only built the TEMPLE but conquered vast surrounding lands, nations and peoples who then sent great riches to Israel.
(But all that had been before great division and disobedience to the LORD by generations of Kings who mostly did ‘what was evil in the sight of the LORD.)
- Therefore the LORD’s Temple built by Solomon had been destroyed, Jerusalem captured and then both eventually restored on a much smaller scale.
Israel’s false client Kings, The Herod’s

The Temple itself (we ought to remind ourselves) is NOT the Temple Solomon built which was completely destroyed.

The Temple also was NOT the Temple Nehemiah rebuilt, but a prideful project of Herod to build back bigger than the LORD’s intention.

A.D. 70

Herod’s Temple would be destroyed by the Romans just 40 years after Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, crucifixion and resurrection.

Christ’s entry into Jerusalem and history remain controversial even to this day in the year of our Lord, 2023.

Jesus had been rumored to have fed thousands in the wilderness just like Moses had fed the Hebrew people by the hand of God for forty years.

Word on the street had it that Jesus was approaching Jerusalem, again. AND, as always, the crowds gathered.. this time along the road from Bethany where rumor has it that this JESUS, the Galilean of Nazareth and Capernaum, had raised a man from the dead and told him to follow with the funeral crowds to Jerusalem’s Passover feast.

This time the crowds (under the watchful eyes of their Roman captors) would pour into the city as Jesus would enter like the conquering King David, look around (doing nothing) — and then leave.

But the overall purpose of the LORD God (which no mortal man understood at the time) was worship through a NEW COVENANT of grace and a personal filling of the Holy Spirit of God.

Jesus brought not the Tabernacle of God to Jerusalem, but the Very Presence of God.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

Jesus was coming into Jerusalem for the Passover feast. Everyone would be there… waiting for their King and Savior.
- Did He really have the power of God?
- Is He the promised one, as John the Baptizer had preached?
One more thing about Jerusalem and its buildings:

Llike any city, people lived there, people worked there, people visited there.

(Tourism was and still is big, especially during the big religious holidays. And of course the out-of-town tourists here for the festival are NOT all acceptable to our ‘religion‘ which celebrates this feast.)

Like anywhere else, the rich ran things and the poor just got by.

The rulers of the city were the leading Jews: Priests, Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, Temple guards and Temple police, officials of Herod’s household and officials of Herod’s governments of the city and of the region.

All of these had their role to play. And not so unlike today the religious establishment managed the money of their patrons well.
The King IS here. He IS in the Temple.

This particular Temple was built by Herod, grandfather of this King Herod. With Rome’s help the Great King Herod had been the great builder of many great buildings in Jerusalem and the surrounding area.

As a point of fact, the Temple (of any era) was just another Grande building used as a place of worship.

Imagine the grandeur of the present-day Vatican and you will have an image of Herod’s Third Temple, where Jesus would soon make a scene after riding triumphantly to the Gate of Jerusalem on a donkey.

Vatican City

Yet a church or Cathedral without Jesus is just a building.

The Temple without God was just a building.

BUT THIS WAS NEVER GOD’S INTENTION!
THE LORD’S VICTORY IN JERUSALEM
WAS NEVER INTENDED FOR A PALM SUNDAY PARADE.
For this Celebration of Christ’s Holy Presence
Was just a prelude to His victory
Of the Cross.

إشعياء – Isaiæ – Ησαΐας – יְשַׁעְיָהוּ
56:7 וַהֲבִיאוֹתִים אֶל־הַר קָדְשִׁי וְשִׂמַּחְתִּים בְּבֵית תְּפִלָּתִי עוֹלֹתֵיהֶם וְזִבְחֵיהֶם לְרָצוֹן עַֽל־מִזְבְּחִי כִּי בֵיתִי בֵּית־תְּפִלָּה יִקָּרֵא לְכָל־הָעַמִּֽים׃

That’s it (for the Palm Sunday procession of Israel’s Messiah to Jerusalem).

On Monday of HOLY WEEK the Lord Jesus will have something to say about Scripture. Jesus’ ACTS in the TEMPLE will fulfill it.

Even those I will bring to My holy mountain

And make them glad in My house of prayer.

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar;

For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”
Isaiah 56:7 LSB

To Be Continued…
April 14, 2014
He is one of us

Psalm 10:17-18 KJV

LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:

To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.

Gospel of the Birth of Christ Jesus

Mark 1

English Standard Version (ESV)

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,

“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”

Before John the messenger of the Messiah, prior to Isaiah and the Prophets calling us to repentance and announcing the coming of the Lord;

Before David and the Kingdom of Israel, before Moses and the exodus of God’s chosen from captivity;

Before Moses and the Law and Commandments;

Before Jacob and Isaac and Abraham (for Jesus said: Before Abraham was, I AM.

Before Adam, before man and before woman, before earth and before the heavens:

GOD IS.

Thus, God IS and did send unto mankind Himself His only Son, a babe in a humble manger, born of a humble woman betrothed of a humble man, for the work of our redemption, a sheep of sacrifice on the Cross for our salvation. He IS the resurrection and the life.

Are we not prisoners of our many sins? Do our hearts not suffer in the dungeons of our darkness. Is God not distant from our difficulties and silent in our sufferings?

It was no different 2013 years ago. Yet the beginning of the story of the babe in the manger begins before the beginning.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives – Luke 4:18

In the beginning, the Holy Spirit was with God. The Holy Spirit descended on Christ Jesus, Son of God and He, a man with us, taught us once more the surpassing love and grace of God our Father in heaven.

Before Jesus’ ministry and teaching in the Holy Spirit, before the Son of Man was born in a manger in Bethlehem, He IS God in creation. Now a savior is come. He IS God with man: like every man, a babe, a child, a youth, a young man, and finally a mature man teaching the very word of God. He IS the very word of God! Jesus’ teaching IS the only truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Yet by His own love and the great grace of God our Father, He IS the Lamb of sacrifice for our sins.

Think of Jesus descended into the womb of Mary and born to be worshiped in a lowly manger in this way:

John 1

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.

Jesus, Son of Man, born of Mary, the Incarnate spoken Word of God the Father. He was with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit in the beginning.

3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Genesis 1:

And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Jesus speaks to creation as the Word taught us.

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Genesis 1: 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

In the image and likeness of Jesus we were made. In the beginning, adam (man) was without sin, as Jesus, as God: Holy and separated from sin, like the darkness is divided from the light.

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Here is revealed the identity of the babe in the manger: Jesus, heralded by angels and worshiped by shepherds and wise kings; Jesus, the babe smuggled into Egypt by Joseph to escape the sword of Herod; Jesus who would return to Nazareth of Galilee announced by John the Baptist, greatest of all Prophets.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

By His Light and the cloud of His glory He led His own people from the slavery of Egypt to His land of promise. By His own Word He proclaimed His Law of holiness and light for the people of His promise.

God’s own rejected God as a people of God; therefore God came unto His own and also to those who were not His own as a light to the gentiles, to all nations and all peoples.

All who will believe in the only Son of God and truly follow the will of God have become sons and daughters of God, adopted into the household and heart of His eternal life and overflowing love.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Unto us a child is born, a son of man, the Son of God. His glory was again witnessed by His Apostles and His righteousness seen by all.

15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”)

16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Luke 2

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Birth of Jesus Christ

6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths andlaid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

Thirty-three years later near Golgotha, then departed from Jerusalem:

Luke 24:

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen.

12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.

Acts 1: 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Christ Jesus, from the beginning to the manger, to the cross, to the tomb, to the resurrection, to walking and witness with men fifty more days, to His ascension, to the heavens above, to return on the clouds.

Do you have a relationship with the greatest love of all, that of God our Father in Heaven, Christ Jesus the Lamb of sacrifice for our sins, and the Holy Spirit counselor of the Most High?

The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Bow down and worship the Lord our God, Who IS and was and will be: God With Us; Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.

May the peace of God’s love dwell in your hearts through the grace of our Lord Christ Jesus, who came to a lowly manger that we might bow even lower to worship His Holy Name in this Holy time: Christ Mass, 2013

Amen.

December 24, 2013
Emmanuel

YOU need to stop thinking of Jesus as if He were historical, like a dinosaur or a Caesar. Jesus IS.

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. – Matthew 1:23 KJV

Let us turn back a page to a time of anticipation of the Messiah, prior to a time of the silence of God. The last book of the Old Testament – a Prophet looking forward: Malachi.

Please expand your imagination just a bit to think of us as contemporaries of the Prophet, expecting the Messiah; yet now we know that Jesus was, and IS, and will be: God with us.

Suppose that I would admonish us, as did the Prophets: what might the Lord have to say to us?

Why do YOU want to think gently of Jesus as a baby in a manger? Why do YOU want to think briefly of Jesus as YOUR Savior on the Cross? Why do YOU not see the resurrection beyond the manger?

The church once worshiped the bones of the Apostles as relics of history, but YOU will not find Jesus’ bones in a grave. The bones of the Apostles will dance alongside ours before Ezekiel and the Prophets at the Day of Christ’s coming again!

In the year of our Lord 2013 we would do well to remember the birth of Christ Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem of Judea with sight of His Name Emmanuel – God with us. Jesus IS. Jesus IS God with us now; yet in these last days we would do well to look for our Redeemer to call us unto Him in the place where He IS.

In the days before John the Baptizer called for the world to prepare the way of the LORD, God’s manifest silence was evident – no Prophet had spoken for centuries. Recalling the close of the Old Testament let us now look to the Book of Malachi, remembering that the Risen Christ Jesus IS and is to come again: God with us.

Malachi 1

English Standard Version (ESV)

1 The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.

2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?”

Does Christ our Savior and God our Father not love us? Is the Lord not with us, as He was promised and did promise, and does promise by His Word?

6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name.

And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? [KJV]

… O pastors and ministers and reverends and priests who despise and neglect the Name of Christ Jesus: God with us! O you who broadcast YOUR world, recommend YOUR book and ask for the offering that is the Lord’s!

10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.

Christ IS with us. Surly He looks upon us with great displeasure. He IS King of kings and Lord of lords!

14b For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

Malachi 2

If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.

7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. 8 But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, 9 and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”

10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

Is the church which bears His Name true witness of His love poured out for us on the Cross? Why do you call yourself ‘christian’ and not love one another as Christ Jesus, who IS God with us?

13 And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.

14 But you say, “Why does he not?”

Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?

And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.

16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

And dear liberated wife of this 21st century, is the Lord God with us? Is He not witness between you and the husband of your covenant of marriage?

Are your Godly offspring to be found in the house of the Lord?

Are you not only one in spirit the husband of your vows, but by your vows also one in spirit with Christ Jesus (whom you claim as your lord)?

The man or woman who claims Christ and divorces is witness against your covenant with the Lord. You profane the Name of Christ (now calling yourself a single one). I AM Emmanuel: God with you!

The Messenger of the Lord

17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking,“Where is the God of justice?”

(Now we come to the more familiar reference to John the Baptizer; yet remember Emmanuel and His coming on the clouds.)

Malachi 3

English Standard Version (ESV)

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.

Yes, the Lord IS come. He will return suddenly and seal His new covenant.

But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

6 “For I the Lord do not change…

7b Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.

The Book of Remembrance

16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

Malachi 4

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Great Day of the Lord

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings…

5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

Thus ends the Old Testament and the books of the Prophets.

Christ incarnate was born in a manger.

Christ died. Christ IS risen. Christ will come again.

Christ Jesus, Emmanuel: God with us.

Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Amen.

EMMANUEL

December 23, 2013