Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: death

Jesus – The Last Prayers of Gethsemane
“Drink from it, all of you;

for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins…”

After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Matthew 26:27b-28, the words of Christ Jesus to the Apostles; v.30 NASB

Departing for Death

The Lord blessed the Apostles in an upper room of Jerusalem in a High Priestly Prayer, institutes the Last Supper with the Twelve, reveals Judas as the one who will betray Him and finally departs the City of David one last time for Gethsemane with the eleven chosen Apostles.

As we learned previously from John 18 in Jesus Leading Toward Gethsemane, the Gospels provide witness of much detail about this time of Jesus. All of this so far has happened in one day, mostly in the evening and what follows in the darkness of night.

Although we have looked back mostly through John’s eyes, tonight we will fill in some detail from the other Gospels.

Prayer before DEATH~

Can any consequence common to man be any more daunting than facing death?

The Messiah Jesus had known every temptation to men of dust except that which as we flee death denies our mortality.

This night as the Son of Man and His eleven Disciples leave Jerusalem they are all certain that the Lord will be betrayed to death.

Matthew 26:

³¹Then Jesus said to them, “Tonight all of you will fall away because of me, for it is written:

I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.^[b]

³²But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

Denial of Death’s Near Approach

Matthew, John and the others must have wondered, yet known in their hearts, what Jesus now prophesies. The Messiah must die – the Christ they know may be mortal! (For Jesus has already told them more than once.)

Certainly Jesus is not going to Galilee this night of all nights just two days before the Passover festival. The Disciples would have dismissed it and the ‘after I have risen’ part seemed far into the future.

Peter however, brash leader anointed by Jesus who must later act in absentia for Christ, reacts boldly before all.

Peter told him, “Even if everyone falls away because of you, I will never fall away.”
Matthew 26:33 CSB

In essence Peter states: “You can count on me!”

Sure, you do that to comfort your friend and so do I.

How do you respond to the questions at death’s door?

Like Peter, would we feign faithfulness to a dying friend we cannot accompany through death’s door?

We all know how it turned out when push came to shove by a charcoal fire a few hours later. Peter slinked away from confession of his love of Jesus while the Lord was accused falsely.

His fellow Apostle, Matthew records that in response to Peter, Jesus prophesies his three denials.

Mark 14:

The first Gospel writer and apostolic scribe, John Mark, later records what may have been Peter’s post-resurrection confession:

31 But Peter kept saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!”

Mark adds reactions of the other ten as well:

And they all were saying the same thing also.

Let us not forget our tendency to ‘follow the leader’ when a bold representative speaks of some cause from which we will likely fall away by our faithlessness.
Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com – regarding Peter’s denials of Christ Jesus

Luke 22:

28 “You are those who have stood by Me in My trials…

31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

33 But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”

What do you about Jesus?

Is this YOUR witness for Christ Jesus? ” — “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”

Will you really do it…

Or like Simon Peter, will you shrink back from your defense of the Lord when Jesus is under attack by the world’s accusers?

Jesus’ plea in Prayer

Mark:

32 They came to a place named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.”

Their dear friend who will soon die asks them to be with Him.

Luke:

40 When He arrived at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

Matthew:
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(who had been to this place with Jesus several times)
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37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed.

Then He said to them,

“My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death…

“… remain here and keep watch with Me.”

39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying,

“My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me…

… yet not as I will, but as You will.”

Luke
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The agony of imminent death!
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43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly:

… and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground…

45 And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow…

Reaction to sorrow..

STRESS! The terrible personal confrontation of DEATH!

The Lord Jesus reacts to it by praying more intently.

And the Disciples, even His closest three friends on earth?

Well… they failed their dear friend when He desired their understanding and compassion most.

‘The flesh is weak..

Jesus’ Disciples fall into a resigning sleep at the prospect of complete change — the Sacrifice, ending the life of their beloved friend.

Matthew
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& the others, awakened from sleep..
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40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter,

“So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?
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I must confess: Rare is the hour I do not fall asleep 
while praying for a time.
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The Lord Jesus continues with caution to His friends:

“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

42 He went away again a second time and prayed…

Mark:

39 Again He went away and prayed, saying the same words.

40 And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.
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Do you know what to say to Jesus when you fail Him in prayer?
My guilt grieves me in my severe shortcomings in prayer.
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41 And He came the third time, and said to them,

“Are you still sleeping and resting?

It is enough; the hour has come…

.. behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.

42 Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!”

Luke:

47 While He was still speaking, behold, a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them…

John :

3 Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.

So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them,

“Whom do you seek?”

They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.”

He said to them,

“I am He.”

So when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
John 18:6 NASB
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To be continued...
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What to you have to say about Jesus?

Please comment here on what you have to say about prayer.

How can I pray for you, dear friend — beloved brother (or sister) in the Lord?
September 8, 2020
70 Years (or so)?
70 years (or so)…

In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:19 NKJV

Remember… you are dust

We’ve all heard it:

“Remember, you are dust” or some graveside equivalent from the Law of Moses or another ‘humble thyself before the Lord thy God’ quote from the Bible.

In the days of his trouble Job pleads to the LORD:

Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay.
And will You turn me into dust again?
Job 10:9 NKJV

‘Lord HELP ME,’ some of us have prayed;

‘God help me,’ ‘Help me Jesus!”

And we hear the executioner proclaim to the condemned man and all witnesses: “May God have mercy on your soul.”

You and I know deep down and ALL flesh knows in our heart of hearts — our days will end!

But the LORD abides forever;
He has established His throne for judgment,
And He will judge the world in righteousness;
He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity.
Psalm 9:7-8

Why all this talk about the judgment?

… it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment…
Hebrews 9:27b NASB

NOTE: Roger turned 70

Although my thoughts now gather more urgency, they tend to come to the page just a bit slower.

Change ahead in my Christian Social Witness to you and the world.

Yet as always, my thoughts will remain well-considered in light of scripture before you read it here. (Bear with me and help me by your comments, please.)

I do have a reflection or two on my three score and ten, which I will share with you more gradually than before.
Roger Harned – reflection on continued writing at 70 years old

How many score remain?

Those accustomed to the language of King James Bible may take account of their days by the same measure of years used by Lincoln.

Lincoln and Gettysburg Address

“For score and seven years ago,” Lincoln began on November 19, 1863. He looked back to the year of our Lord 1776 (as they used to say) just 87 years before.

You may also recall from Lincoln’s memorial to those killed:

… that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln – Gettysburg Address

Lincoln could not have known then that an assassin’s bullet would soon end his own life five years short of just three score years, at age 54.

All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.
Job 34:18

Abraham Lincoln and Job were both highly successful men of integrity in life who encountered tragedy. Lincoln no doubt had read in his own King James Bible of Job’s struggles.

If you’re keeping score

Only a few of you will know what I once chose as a ‘life verse’ and that it comes from Job.

{IF you want to know my life verse, just click the link to it above and it will open in a new tab or window.} It may help you to understand more about my purpose and gifts.

It just so happens that in this year of our Lord {Anno Domini} A.D. 2020, I have, by God’s grace, lived three score and ten years.

a bit of biography
- My mother, Marie Hall Harned, lived more than four score years, though her father lived only to three score and five and her mother, Vera Tyler Hall not even to three score.
- My father William E. Harned, his siblings and father William Alba all lived past four score years.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

I praise God for good health of this aging flesh and might easily boast (and speculate) of more years to come.

Yet I remember well so many struggles of the lives of loved ones, their end which came upon us sooner or suddenly.

Therefore like Job I consider that my end will be dust and strive to live for the life of my saved soul — in worship and love of Christ Jesus, One with God our Father.

Take to heart your own possible suffering to come from Psalm 22. It precedes one we know so well about ‘the valley of the shadow of death‘:

Be not far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is none to help…
… you lay me in the dust of death.
But you, O Lord, do not be far off!
excerpt Psalm 22 ESV listen

Psalm 22 was part of our celebration of the wife of my youth, Becky Rice Harned. We considered our end — knowing how she had suffered to survive just her fiftieth birthday.

She went to the Lord in spirit in that same year of our Lord, 1999, on the 10th of February, her disintegrating frame now returned to dust.

Other beloved ones suffer in the flesh even now. Some endure pain known to us, while others, like Becky, suffer in silence.

This frail frame will fail. So will yours, yet be encouraged in the Lord.

Though our aging flesh contains the image and essence of our Holy God, our dust is not our living soul.

A few family and long-time friends know a partial history of my life in this world. And I suspect a handful know yours as well.

Most of you know my own failures and disappointments, as we all have in varying degrees at different times. Yet I do not expect to receive Job’s double blessing before I draw my last breath.

Job suffered much, as some we know — even as Jesus Christ suffered severely for our sins.

I am no righteous man – only in Christ’s righteousness – but like Job I have sought to live my life in integrity. I could not have lived through it all without the encouragement of the Holy Spirit through Christ Jesus, when finally I relented from my sins and sought the Lord for help for this helpless flesh.

Looking back & ahead

Reflecting back on my three-score and ten, as well as looking forward into the light of life given to my own spirit of hope, I continue in God’s grace.

I continue in purpose, perhaps more directed toward that which lives within reach of my limited mortal touch.

Leaving behind each dream and soul beyond my reach, I press on to preach to Gospel exclusively to those whom the Lord has chosen. (You may not be one of these.)

Those not saved by the grace of God have most likely scrolled past the Light of their salvation already.
Roger Harned – reflection on why most will never talk of Jesus Christ

Social Media is not the world

Based on technical data, talkofJesus.com has reached readers in many countries on at least four continents so far. My Christian Social Witness may yet by God’s grace reach some soul who has doubted the only Son of God as the Way and Truth of Scripture.

So often Jesus taught His followers, that is, believers who loved the Lord God and one another, and also preached to multitudes which included many who failed to have ears to hear or eyes to see.

Though in Christ, I am certainly not Christ Jesus. I can no longer preach the Gospel to those who refuse the Good News of Christ Jesus. They have no interest in a relationship with the God of love and life!

Therefore, Christ’s purpose for my witness of the Gospel to a 21st century church, wrought with ‘christians‘ who witness something other than Christ, pales by comparison. Never-the-less:

No soul has more need for the true Gospel of Christ Jesus than the 21st century christian.
Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com

Although we will soon return to my 2020 series on the Gospel of John, you, beloved reader, will be in for a new and more pointed relational look at scripture as we speak exclusively to the church.
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To be continued... Lord willing... 
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August 21, 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