Tag: gentile

  • Nineveh – Preaching to a cruel enemy

    Nineveh – Preaching to a cruel enemy

    Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

    Jonah 1:2 NASB20

    Repent (They did.)

    Remove your masks of hypocrisy, claimants of Christ. Let God’s enemy see your true face — that you DO NOT want them to be saved.

    Nineveh initially didn’t even see the back of Jonah’s head as the man of God faced away from the will of the LORD.

    Yet the LORD God wants to save sinners like us — Even other sinners not of us, that they too might come to know His love and grace.

    (If you’re going to preach Jonah you probably ought to hear God’s message of repentance and obedience. You with ears to hear, hear the LORD — His will, before you just connect it to your missions or draw the picture for a Children’s Bible.)

    HINT: It’s not about the whale.

    • Is Jonah and the Whale just a children’s Bible story to you?
    • Perhaps it is just an Old Testament parable predicting the resurrection?

    NO. It is more than that.

    For the LORD commands the Prophet Jonah to PREACH repentance to sinners. Yet this ‘religious man’ sails off on what he believes will be an easier journey. Jonah sails away from the troubles of others in favor of his own mission.

    Who is this cruel enemy of Nineveh?

    Even having read some ancient history background of the middle east at the time of Jonah, I again marveled at the contemporary look of those ancient people. Are we so different you might ask?

    It was Sennacherib who made Nineveh a truly magnificent city (c. 700 BC). He laid out new streets and squares and built within it the South West Palace, or “palace without a rival”.. 80 rooms. A foundation of 3.5 million cubic yards with walls more than six stories high.

    The stone carvings in the walls include many battle scenes, impalings and scenes showing Sennacherib’s men parading the spoils of war before him. .. he wrote of Babylon: “Its inhabitants, young and old, I did not spare, and with their corpses I filled the streets of the city.”

    “And Hezekiah of Judah who had not submitted to my yoke…him I shut up in Jerusalem his royal city like a caged bird. Earthworks I threw up against him, and anyone coming out of his city gate I made pay for his crime. His cities which I had plundered I had cut off from his land.”

    .. the total area of Nineveh (1,730 acres), and (15) great gates .. an elaborate system of (18) canals brought water from the hills to Nineveh..

    The enclosed area had more than 100,000-150,000 inhabitants, about twice as many as Babylon at the time, placing it among the largest settlements worldwide.

    Source: Wikipedia

    The Enemy viewed from Jerusalem

    Sennacherib siege of Jerusalem painting with army outside wall

    In case (like me) you missed the connection between Nineveh and Jerusalem, you will need to go back into the wars recorded in 2 Kings.

    2 Kings 18-19

    13 Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria marched against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them…

    In fact, you are NOT Jonah; but the gentile of Nineveh to whom Jonah preaches repentance!

    • Will you respond to God’s message as did the people of Nineveh?
    • Or are you as faithless as the religious ones of Nazareth who turned away Jesus? (We will visit Nazareth also on this brief journey.)

    Scriptures

    Ezekiel 18

    Matthew 12

    Jonah 3

    Original talkofJESUS.com post

    Original post March 30, 2017 – Topic: Repentance
    Summer Reruns! with picture of sun wearing sunglasses
    Summer 2021 AD {Scriptural} Reruns
    • CLICK “…Continue reading ” above,
    • THEN Ask a question or comment at the end of this post
    • OR email Roger@talkofJesus.com with your reaction, questions & comments.

    Stay tuned from more Summer of 2021 Reruns from talkofJESUS.com

    (ditto: Summer 2022 – more to come)

  • Christ IS risen, IS with us and will return

    Christ IS risen, IS with us and will return

    Luke-Acts, a Gentile Witness of the Christ

    What witness of the ascension of the risen Christ shall we share? Our witness of Christ two-thousand and some years after the resurrection and ascension is different than first century believers. Some, but not all, had had encounters with the risen Christ! Many were Jews and some Gentiles, just the inverse of 21st century witness. When the Apostles had stood in awe observing Jesus’ ascension into the clouds it brought them to worship for days.

    Christ IS risen and He will return! And thousands upon thousands first century followers believed from hearing first-hand witness of Jesus by others. Good News of Jesus was proclaimed by men and women from every walk of life. 

    Jews, Gentiles, Samaritans; rich and poor, soldiers, merchants, lepers, the working class and religious leaders; Greeks, travelers, tax collectors; Romans, shepherds and foreigners… yes, even women and children.

    And all had heard first-hand witness of Christ! They heard from those who knew Lazarus or from witnesses to other miracles; diverse followers the Way of Christ Jesus. 

    Luke the physician is one of these witnesses and a Gentile who records witness and proof of Christ Jesus. This current series has focused on Luke’s two-part history from first-hand interviews and written testimony. His introductions to the Gospel and Acts point to the motivation of Luke’s writing.

    Luke 1 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

    Many have undertaken to compile a narrative about the events that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as the original eyewitnesses and servants of the word handed them down to us. 3 It also seemed good to me, since I have carefully investigated everything from the very first, to write to you in an orderly sequence, most honorable Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things about which you have been instructed.

    Events of the first century recorded by a Gentile physician. Why?

    Think of it as a chronicle of witnessed history recorded for the certainty of the nations and generations to come. We have certainty that Christ was born a man, Immanuel, God with us. The Cross becomes realization that Christ died for sinners; sinners Jew and Gentile; sinners then and sinners now.

    Luke chronicles an eye witness of the Good News. Christ Jesus IS Risen!

    Jesus IS risen from death on a Cross and then forty days later He ascends into the clouds.  For forty days the risen Christ Jesus continued to instruct the Disciples in His fulfillment of Scripture and a new covenant with believers.

    Luke 24:

    26 Didn’t the Messiah have to suffer these things and enter into His glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted for them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

    Then forty days after His bodily resurrection, Jesus departs once more, this time not by uncertain death on a cross, but ascending in certain victory.

    The Ascension of Jesus

    50 Then He led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up His hands He blessed them. 51 And while He was blessing them, He left them and was carried up into heaven. 52 After worshiping Him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they were continually in the temple complex praising God.

    END – Luke’s Book I, Continued in Book II – The Acts of the Apostles


    ACTS 1 (HCSB) 

    I wrote the first narrative, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach 2 until the day He was taken up, after He had given orders through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen. 3 After He had suffered, He also presented Himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

    The Holy Spirit Promised

    4 While He was together with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise…

    7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

    The Ascension

    9 After He had said this, He was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took Him out of their sight.


    Luke then proceeds to record the miraculous events of Pentecost caused by their receiving the Holy Spirit.

    Acts 2:

    4 Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages, as the Spirit gave them ability for speech.

    5 There were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language.


    Peter then preaches a Spirit-filled sermon convicting the hearers of the word.

    37 When they heard this, they came under deep conviction[m] and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles: “Brothers, what must we do?”

    38 “Repent,” Peter said to them, “and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

    Three-thousand converts that day! But it gets even better.

    Luke’s witness continues with the conversion of the church’s most zealous Jewish persecutor, Saul.  And later Luke recounts conversations with the Apostles, more miracles and he details Paul’s journeys as Apostle to the Gentiles.

    It is written

    Beloved remnant of scriptural faith, perhaps you had not anticipated our journey’s end. For we began with Resurrection, moving to Ascension then Pentecost.

    The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John is certain! Yet this series we close with forgotten prophesy, confirmed by New Testament witness.

    Could Christ have also instructed the Apostles in these fulfilled prophesies before His Ascension?

    Micah 5:

    … They are striking the judge of Israel
    on the cheek with a rod.

    2 Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    you are small among the clans of Judah;
    One will come from you
    to be ruler over Israel for Me.
    His origin is from antiquity,
    from eternity.

    Luke records: 4 And Joseph also went … to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David.. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 Then she gave birth to her firstborn Son..

    Luke’s Gospel also witnesses: 63 The men who were holding Jesus started mocking and beating Him. 64 After blindfolding Him, they kept asking, “Prophesy! Who hit You?” 

    And the Apostle John records an incident in the Temple and Jesus’ witness to Jewish authorities. Consider the words of Micah 5:2 with which these Temple officials should have been familiar.

    John 8:

    12 Then Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows Me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”

    13 So the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself. Your testimony is not valid.” …

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

    He told them, “I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

    25 “Who are You?” they questioned.

    “Precisely what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning,” Jesus told them… 

    28 So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on My own…

    42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn’t come on My own, but He sent Me.43 Why don’t you understand what I say?

    54 “If I glorify Myself,” Jesus answered, “My glory is nothing. My Father—you say about Him, ‘He is our God’—He is the One who glorifies Me…

    56 Your father Abraham was overjoyed that he would see My day; he saw it and rejoiced.” …

    58 Jesus said to them,

    “I assure you: Before Abraham was, I am.”

    Christ’s Ascension Confirms His Origin

    5:2  וְאַתָּה בֵּֽית־לֶחֶם אֶפְרָתָה צָעִיר לִֽהְיֹות בְּאַלְפֵי יְהוּדָה מִמְּךָ לִי יֵצֵא לִֽהְיֹות מֹושֵׁל בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל וּמֹוצָאֹתָיו מִקֶּדֶם מִימֵי עֹולָֽם׃

    One will come from you
    to be ruler over Israel for Me.
    His origin is from antiquity,
    from eternity.

    Micah 5:2

    Christ died. Jesus IS risen and His ascension confirms what the He told officials of the Temple. These same words of the LORD confirmed to Israel through Moses His very eternity. 

    Exodus 3:14 וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים אֶל־מֹשֶׁה אֶֽהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶֽהְיֶה וַיֹּאמֶר כֹּה תֹאמַר לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶֽהְיֶה שְׁלָחַנִי אֲלֵיכֶֽם׃

    ‘I AM THAT I AM.”

    Jesus’ ascension confirms the ONE who sent Him. Surely our Lord will return as is His promise. And we can know with certainty that Christ’s eternal reign draws near in these last days.

    Amen,

     

  • That you may have Certainty – 7 – An outsider’s view from a Gentile

    That you may have Certainty – 7 – An outsider’s view from a Gentile

    That you may have Certainty in these Uncertain Times

    Our post-resurrection series is witness from the introduction of Luke-Acts and Jesus’ assurances to followers. In our previous post we pointed out: “The ultimate outsiders were Gentiles, and Luke emphasizes that God’s salvation extends even to them.” We began with a Hebrew view of a Gentile, noting that Prophets compared Jews who turned from the Lord to the Gentiles.

    Today we will view the meaning of Gentile in the first century context of Luke. Judea, Samaria and other Roman-ruled provinces had all spoken Greek since Alexander’s rule in third century before Christ. Therefore we’ll take a cultural view of the Gentile from a Hellenist or Greek usage.  (After all, most Greeks were considered Gentiles by Jews living in any land.)

    We ourselves are Jews by birth and not gentile sinners – Paul’s letter to the Galatians 2:15

    A Gentile in the time of Christ

    Luke, of course, was born a Gentile. Yet Luke does not refer to any person as “a gentile” and Christ’s only naming a person as a gentile makes connection to a groups of people.

    Matthew 18:17 ἐὰν δὲ παρακούσῃ αὐτῶν εἰπὲ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἐὰν δὲ καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας παρακούσῃ ἔστω σοι ὥσπερ ὁ ἐθνικὸς καὶ ὁ τελώνης

    If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

    Matthew (a Jew and a tax collector) quotes Jesus’ instructions to the church (plural) about differences with individuals. Gentiles is a plural reference to nations not of Jewish heritage.

    ἔθνος – ethnos

    • a multitude (whether of men or of beasts) associated or living together
    • a multitude of individuals of the same nature or genus: the human family
    • a tribe, nation, people group
    • in the OT, foreign nations not worshiping the true God, pagans, Gentiles
    • Paul uses the term for Gentile Christians

    Strong’s Definitions 
    ἔθνος éthnos, eth’-nos; a race (as of the same habit), i.e. a tribe; specially, a foreign (non-Jewish) one (usually, by implication, pagan):—Gentile, heathen, nation, people.

    Refer to someone as a gentile and we may not get it, but ethnos or ethnic we understand as culture.  Luke’s gospel is clear witness of the importance of Jesus to both Jew and Gentile.

    Luke 2:

    30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
    31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
    32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and for glory to your people Israel.”

    Luke expounds further on Jesus’ importance to the Nations (other ethnicities) in the Acts of the Apostles. Mathew’s gospel also addresses the ethnos of the Messiah and like Luke, also quoting a Prophet.

    Matthew 4:

    … he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

    15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
    the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
    16 the people dwelling in darkness
    have seen a great light,
    and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
    on them a light has dawned.”

    17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

    A Gentile not like us

    Therefore, gentiles (ethnos) are those not like us. Different skin color, different language, different food, a different culture and yes, different gods.

    The following excepts are take from International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

    Gentiles – jen’-tilz (goy, plural goyim; ethnos, “people,” “nation”): Goy (or Goi) is rendered “Gentiles” in the King James Version in some 30 passages, but much more frequently “heathen,” and oftener still, “nation,” … commonly used for a non-Israelitish people…

    Under Old Testament regulations they were simply non-Israelites, not from the stock of Abraham, but they were not hated or despised for that reason, and were to be treated almost on a plane of equality, except certain tribes in Canaan…

    But as we approach the Christian era the attitude of the Jews toward the Gentiles changes, until we find, in New Testament times, the most extreme aversion, scorn and hatred. They were regarded as unclean… All children born of mixed marriages were bastards.

    If we inquire what the reason of this change was we shall find it in the conditions of the exiled Jews, who suffered the bitterest treatment at the hands of their Gentile captors and who, after their return and establishment in Judea, were in constant conflict with neighboring tribes and especially with the Greek rulers of Syria. The fierce persecution of Antiochus IV, who attempted to blot out their religion and Hellenize the Jews, and the desperate struggle for independence, created in them a burning patriotism and zeal for their faith which culminated in the rigid exclusiveness we see in later times.

    A Centurion’s Faith

    Perhaps the best illustration of Jesus’ love for the Gentiles comes from Luke’s story of an encounter initiated by genuine love of a Roman official for his Jewish servant. In it Jesus highlights an exemplary example of faith in this Gentile Roman.

    Jesus returns home to Capernaum after teaching the people in other places. A Roman Centurion had messengers waiting to see Jesus. The local Jews in Capernaum understand both the message and the reason for this Gentile Roman soldier wanting to see Jesus. They had been asked to have Jesus come to heal this man’s servant.

    Luke 7:

    6 And Jesus went with them.

    When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. 7 Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. 8 For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

    9 When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

    10 And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.


    Jesus heals a Jewish servant of a Gentile (without even enter the servant’s room). Faith of the Roman Centurion illustrates the love of Jesus also, His great compassion. For the Jews of Capernaum had told Jesus of this man, ” “He is worthy to have you do this for him, 5 for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.”

    The local Jews praise a Roman Gentile for building a place to worship to the Lord. Think about it. A Gentile man of faith has already stood before Capernaum as an example of a man who loved others. This Gentile meets the Lord Jesus, who heals one he loves.  Consequently Jesus says, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

    Our Gentile faith

    Jesus doesn’t look much like a Roman. For that matter our Lord does not look European or African or American. In so many ways Jesus does not look like other Jews or even Galileans. Yet He comes to you and encounters you personally.

    Will the Lord find such faith in me or in you, even though we differ in so many ways?

    In personal encounters with His followers for forty days Jesus has so much to tell Disciples now sent to all the nations. After His victorious Resurrection from the Cross of Sacrifice the Gospel is sent out not only to a faithful remnant of the Jews, but to the world.  Gentiles of the generations have this same faith until His certain return that we are chosen by the Lord, Christ Jesus.

    Isaiah 42:

    The Lord‘s Chosen Servant

    42 Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
        my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
    I have put my Spirit upon him;
        he will bring forth justice to the nations.
    He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
        or make it heard in the street;
    a bruised reed he will not break,
        and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
        he will faithfully bring forth justice.
    He will not grow faint or be discouraged
        till he has established justice in the earth;
        and the coastlands wait for his law.

    Thus says God, the Lord,
        who created the heavens and stretched them out,
        who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
    who gives breath to the people on it
        and spirit to those who walk in it:
    “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;
        I will take you by the hand and keep you;
    I will give you as a covenant for the people,
        a light for the nations,
        to open the eyes that are blind,
    to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
        from the prison those who sit in darkness.
    I am the Lord; that is my name;
        my glory I give to no other,
        nor my praise to carved idols.
    Behold, the former things have come to pass,
        and new things I now declare;
    before they spring forth
        I tell you of them.”


    Faith’s Certainty in Christ

    Jesus will send the Holy Spirit of the Lord to dwell with men and women of faith. He sends out disciples, Jews and Gentiles, in faith. The Lord IS the Good News, the Gospel of Light to those with eyes to see. 

    A Day of His return, the judgment of all flesh and restoration of all righteousness draws near. Shall His wrath not justify making the end of all sin and death?

    Beloved believer, your sin and mine did cause His suffering and Sacrifice. Does your love for Jesus and faith anticipate the grace of His return?

    Jesus IS LORD! 

    May He draw us together into the glory of His eternal love.

    Amen.

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