Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: elijah

The Glory of Christ Jesus – 3

doxa – glory: splendour, brightness, magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace, majesty, the kingly majesty which belongs to him as supreme ruler, majesty in the sense of the absolute perfection of the deity, the absolutely perfect inward or personal excellency of Christ, a most glorious condition, most exalted state,!

Can ANY description by a man illuminate the glory of Christ Jesus?

On a mountaintop [photo above] three Apostles witnessed the glory of Christ Jesus like no other witnesses in the history of all mankind.

Luke 9:28-36

Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.

Do not overlook (as I have before) that Jesus was taking His friends to a place to pray with Him to the Living God. Gethsemane was not the only place or time Jesus prayed with His Disciples.

Peter, James and John, who were nearest of Jesus’ Disciples on nearly every occasion in the three years of His earthly ministry, witnessed an amazing Presence which assured them (like no other) the the True identity and Image of the Son of God: the Messiah.

29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.

30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Imagine the awe of witnessing a conversation of your nearest and dearest friend with two of the most glorious servants of God in all history; two men who also had not set foot on this creation for many centuries past.

Moses had saved God’s chosen people and given us God’s Law. Elijah had shown the Power of the Living God over lifeless idols, lifeless flesh and an often lifeless disobedient people chosen by the Living God.

Yet like in Gethsemane, Jesus prayed with the Father for hours beyond the endurance of the weaker flesh of Peter and John to endure without sleep. (I must also confess this great weakness to endure long in prayer.)

32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.

33 And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said.

What would be your reaction be to such glory of holiness on this mountain?

What would be your reaction to this vision of glory?

Worship! Peter, James and John wanted to immediately create a place of worship; a place like the Tabernacle of Moses or the Temple of Solomon where the Very Presence of the Living God had come down to be witnessed by man.

Yet the awe of their glory of the Presence of God became even more filled with the overflowing glory of God the Father in the Presence of Christ Jesus.

34 As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.

35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”

GLORY! to GOD in the HIGHEST!

PRAISE to the Father

and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit!

36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.

…

How they must have worshiped Jesus! How impactful this superlative moment of glory in the lives of mortal men; yet the three mortal witnesses: Peter, James and John, undoubtedly received a command from Jesus to withhold their witness for a time, that His glory might be accomplished in Jerusalem on the Cross and from victory over sin and death in the Resurrection.

And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

June 14, 2014
Three Widows & a Widower
Fifteen years ago I became a widower. (We had been married more than two decades.) I know personally the loss of the widow (& widower).

Jesus spoke of three widows:
1. one, in a parable on the persistence of prayer to God
2. one, of an unnamed widow who sacrificed only two mites to God at the Temple (leptons or half-farthing, worth less than half of one cent)
3. and one, a familiar widow from scripture.
Jesus’ illustrations were not so much about what Christ followers must do for widows.

Jesus uses these widows to demonstrate faith to us.

Jesus’ rebuke here is how God used a faithful widow who was NOT part of the family of God (Israel). He spoke to the people of his own hometown, Nazareth, were Jesus was rejected.

Let the church remember our widows and widowers, that Christ might not need to site the faith of an unbeliever to christians.

Luke 4:25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

1 Kings 17

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Widow of Zarephath

8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath.

And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks.

Suppose you could only gather sticks to cook some food (what little they had) during a drought. Enter the Prophet of God, Elijah.

And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.”

The widow humbly obeys, as she would her deceased husband or any man of authority.

11 And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

Now this destitute woman challenges the bold request of this strange man.

12 And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.”

13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said…

(‘Good. I’ll be done with this bothersome stranger,’ she must have thought, ‘and return to my misery.’)

The widow’s son is obviously unable to gather firewood, perhaps because he is only a boy in need of everything (as children must depend on father and mother for everything).

Yet the man of God continues:

… But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son.

14 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’”

For thus says the Lord…

A command to be obeyed (only IF the man is a true Prophet of the Lord God of Israel).

15 And she went and did as Elijah said.

Time passes, but the provision of God does not.

And she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

More time passes.

17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18 And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God?

Once more the woman is bold because God has taken the life of her son.

She continues:

You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!”

How inexplicable had been the death of his father to the widow’s young son.
- How great the loss of a mother or father to a young child.
Yet with the help of the Prophet, she has raised her son through her grief; and before her grief is ended her son also dies.
- How tragic to lose your husband.
- How sorrowful to lose your wife.
- How unexpected and hopeless is the untimely death of your own child: the flesh and blood of you own womb; the joy of your own seed!
19 And he said to her, “Give me your son.”

And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. 20 And he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?”

Elijah is crying out to the Lord in prayer. The Man of God is pleading for the life of this son even as his mother has plead to the Man of God in her bold faith.

21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.”

22 And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother.

And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.”

24 And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

RESURRECTION! Bodily resurrection and the resurrection of the soul: both are possible! Both have been witnessed. Both require great faith, as the widow has shown.

The widow of Zarephath had said of Elijah: “Now I know that you are a man of God;” however before she knew it, she had great faith.

Along comes Jesus to His neighbors in Nazareth and it seems that (like many of us) that they have very little faith.

IF a man came to you and asked for your last morsel of bread, would you give it even to Jesus?

Matthew 25:

35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me…

42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food,

I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me,

naked and you did not clothe me,

sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’

45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’

46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal.

Have you remembered the widows?

The widowers?

Those dejected by the trials of this earthly life?

Perhaps you are gathering your last sticks for the hopeless situation of your family and along comes one asking you for your last morsel of bread.

How will you answer?

Will you have faith?
April 10, 2014
Who Welcomes His Ministry? – 2

Returning now to the Gospel of Luke, we look back from Jesus’ move to His fast-growing early ministry in Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee to His hometown of Nazareth and the event of His departure.

Luke 4

English Standard Version (ESV)

15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” 23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself.’

What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.”

24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.

Let us pause here to speak of an earlier Prophet of the Old Testament (approx. 850-870 B.C.): Elijah.

1 Kings 16:

21 Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts. Half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri. 22 But the people who followed Omri overcame the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. So Tibni died, and Omri became king. 23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel, and he reigned for twelve years; six years he reigned in Tirzah. 24 He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver, and he fortified the hill and called the name of the city that he built Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.

25 Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more evil than all who were before him…

NOTE the proximity of this area in the two maps between this area of divided Israel and the beginning ministry of Jesus in Nazareth.

Ahab Reigns in Israel

29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. 30 And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.

(It’s an ongoing theme in scripture: ‘And __ did evil in the sight of the Lord.’

Against this the Prophets called all to repentance.

1 Kings 17

English Standard Version (ESV)

Elijah Predicts a Drought

17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives,before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” 2 And the word of the Lord came to him: 3 “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.

7 And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

The Widow of Zarephath

8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” 11 And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12 And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” 13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said.

Returning now to Nazareth and Jesus’ mention of this Prophet after His hometown asked for miracles:

Luke 4

24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

And of successor to Elijah, the Prophet Elisha, Jesus said:

27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

Yes, Jesus is preaching an active and insistent call to the people of Nazareth: REPENT!

And Luke continues to tell us how well Jesus’ call to his own best known and most beloved neighbors responded to His call to repent:

28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.

Angry at the hometown Messiah? (Think of the tourist possibilities… Well, maybe in a few centuries we can whitewash the truth of Jesus reception in Nazareth.)

29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.

30 But passing through their midst, he went away.

What people would welcome the ministry of one of their own by seeking to kill him?

Does Jesus’ ministry and call to repent not meet with the same reception in our own town in these last days?

February 15, 2014