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Tag: God

  • Interrupting Jesus 12 – interrupting sin

    Interrupting Jesus 12 – interrupting sin

    `…  to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy…  build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince… the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. Daniel 9:24-25 KJV excerpt

    I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

    Jesus answering the religious leaders. Luke 5:32 KJV

    The following is the conclusion of a 12-part series on Interrupting Jesus.

    What interruption are you expecting to your day today? What interruption to your mission and ‘to do’ list? Who has stepped into time you thought was your own?

    Will you take time, like a loving and merciful God, to love those who get in the way of what you had planned for today?

    Jesus made people the focus of His time. No sinner was too unimportant to receive His love and healing. You are not so important or unimportant for God Incarnate to grant you grace, forgiving your sins.

    The LORD had interrupted men like Abram, Moses, David and the Prophets. The LORD made covenant and promise. He has given the Law to Israel and made judgment on nations. God IS the LORD!

    Why would the eternal GOD interrupt the time of history, even the measured mortality of one man or one woman?

    The LORD is Almighty, yet God loves the world – the sons and daughters of the generations – enough to interrupt the rebelliousness of our sin with the love, mercy and grace of a Perfect Heavenly Father.

    God interrupted the sin of mankind in the Person of Christ Jesus.

    Jesus loved every sinner who interrupted His mission and ministry; from His mother at the wedding where He turned water into wine, to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, to the tax collector Zaccheus in the tree, to you and me.

    Jesus Christ loves the people of the world with a personal love and forgiveness of God the Father.

    Every generation has looked for God or selfishly ignored God.

    The LORD may not have appeared to your grandfather Abraham and your father and mother. The LORD may not have promised a home to your twelve children in a land of milk and honey. The LORD may not have given your leader the Law or appeared to your High Priest. The LORD may not have called you to rebuke kings and nations or given you writing on the walls of history.

    For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. John 1:17

    The LORD God is known. The LORD IS. In the Person of Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit, God is present to those who believe, repent and obey His will; those who believe in Him, as a faithful child follows a loving Father.

    Ungodly men seek to do as they please and lead other men into their own sinful ambitions. Israel and all nations look to strong men to lead us into a promise of land and riches for our own ambitious pleasures. False prophets and evil leaders of men will seek your sacrifice for their gain of land and riches.

    Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple had been destroyed. September 21, 520 B.C., Temple rebuilding resumes and is completed in 515 B.C., only to be destroyed once again. A faithful exiled Hebrew Prophet had predicted this and more from Babylon (modern day Iraq) under Nebuchadnezzar and later under Cyrus II of Persia (modern day Iran) who overthrew Babylon and allowed some of the Hebrew captives to return to Judah.

    Daniel, Prophet of God, lives a godly and high priestly life in a foreign land from about 605-535 B.C. Here the testimony of God through Daniel:

    Daniel 9:

    In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years…

    “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

    5 we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.

    6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame…

    11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside,refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. 12 He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity…

    15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly…

    The Israel of Moses and Joshua had not yet received the true promise of the promised land. Jacob and the twelve sons of Israel did not reap the harvest of the leading of God. David and even Solomon would suffer defeats of a mighty kingdom and evil kings to follow did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.

    Prophets of the LORD, like Jeremiah and Daniel had warned the people of their sin, yet like us… like those leaders of defeated Judah who lived comfortable in their ‘religion’… most souls will not have the ears to hear the LORD. Israel did not expect the kind of Messiah the LORD had sent to personally give accountability for our sins. Jesus was not a leader like them.

    Five hundred years after the Prophet Daniel, Herod the Great [37-4 B.C.] envisioned himself as the kind of King Israel should have to restore the kingdom. Many others recognized the true godliness of a Prophet like John the Baptist.

    John 1:

    19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

    20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

    During the time of the Messiah in the Person of Jesus Christ, men of Judah, living under the strong rule of a Roman Empire, expected a Messiah King to restore their land to the glory of David and Solomon. Jesus Christ, a Son of Man, came to us that all might be restored to the glory of God by receiving forgiveness of our sins through His Holy and Perfect Sacrifice.

    The LORD God is just. The Lord God is a loving Father. Christ Jesus IS sacrificed for us. He IS risen to return once more to judge all souls in the Light, forgiving those who repent and turn back to the righteous LORD.

    Three years of earthly ministry of Jesus Christ lead to the gates of Jerusalem more than once, a final time as the Passover Sacrifice for the sins of all mankind on a Cross. An interruption of the centuries and generations by Almighty God gives rise to all nations and all mankind – hope to all the generations for the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life with the LORD God, our Father in Heaven.

    Not only does Jesus interrupt history with a resurrection of His soul, as one might expect; but the greatest interruption of all: Jesus rises from the grave of death in the body and appears to more than five hundred over a time of fifty days!

    The Prophets and the Psalmist had spoken and written of the Messiah, who would be King of the Jews. The Scriptures had spoken of the King to whom all will bow down. It was not to happen on earth, in the brief lifetime of Jesus of Nazareth or in yours or mine. Yet Scripture and the promises of the LORD will be fulfilled.

    Another interruption is yet to come:

    Daniel is not the only true Prophet to see the handwriting on the walls of what the LORD will surely do. Read more of the Prophets about the day of the LORD.

    Jesus Christ, our Lord, also warned of His return on the clouds. The Apocalypse written at the close of the New Testament is well-known to the world as an interruption of history yet to come, though the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John is little understood even by believers.

    Do you live your life in expectation of the return of Christ our Lord on the clouds?

    Revelation 21

    Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

    5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end…

    Do you give the souls who interrupt your day the same love and compassion Christ Jesus has given us by showing a most personal interest in our forgiveness of sins?

    Revelation 22 KJV

    11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

    12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

    13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

    14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

    LORD, interrupt our mortality with your own loving immortality.

    Amen.

  • Interrupting Jesus 10 – a child of God

    Interrupting Jesus 10 – a child of God

    Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right. – Proverbs 20:11 KJV

    The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. Proverbs 23:24 KJV

    Before we look at the role of children and a rather well-known interruption of Jesus, I would like for us to briefly consider the role of Jesus as Son of God.

    GOD, the LORD Jehovah, is Creator of all men, Father of all mankind and Ruler of all creation.

    I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King. – Isaiah 43:15 KJV

    In a sense we are all sons and daughters of God; yet Jesus IS God Incarnate, a begotten Son of God the Father by a woman born to man.

    It hadn’t been so many years since Jesus as a young man had became known to the rulers of the Temple.

    Luke 2:40-52 English Standard Version (ESV)

    40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

    Just a couple of quick questions for you as a 21st century parent:

    • Do you spend time in the Bible with your children so that they will become strong in the Lord and filled with wisdom?
    • Do you regularly observe the teaching traditions of the church with your children?

    The Boy Jesus in the Temple

    41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it…

    Joseph and Mary trained up Jesus in the way He should go, that when the time came for a young man to seek the favor of God that their young adult would obey the Lord.

    46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers…

    52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

    The leaders would be older men with years of understanding from scripture and from life. Jesus is now just thirty years old, a relatively young teacher at the beginning of His ministry, who though not married is of age most other men have sons of their own. This iterate Rabbi is not the stately grandfather who sits in the Temple or Synagogues only to share their wisdom of age.

    The Apostle John tells a story of how Jesus uses the faith of a young boy to bring many to faith.

    Jesus is teaching the crowds. The Apostles are serving Him and ministering to the crowds. It has been centuries since the Kingdom of Israel. It has been centuries since the miracles of the Prophets.

    Which generation will see the restoration of the Kingdom, the people ask? Which generation after all these will see the coming of the Christ?

    The people followed Jesus to hear the Lord teach and to witness His righteousness and power and healing.

    John 6:

    3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples…  5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”

    Imagine that your son comes to you and says, “I want to go with the neighbors who are going to see Jesus of Nazareth teach on the mountainside.”

    “Just a moment young man,” says the good Jewish mother. “Not without some food and water you don’t.” And the mom packs her son a lunch and sends him out with it and skin of cold water from their well for the long day ahead.

    “Now off with you” the mother encourages her son, “and be back by dark.”

    Returning to John’s Gospel:

    8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 

    Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.

    It is no small role this young man who wanted to see Jesus played in the faith of the five thousand.

    Another interruption: a father coming to Jesus for the sake of his young son:

    Luke 9:

    38 And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child…

    How many parents would willingly press through the crowds surrounding this Jesus Christ, a superstar descended from the mountain, just to have an uncontrollable child healed?

    “…  Bring your son here.” 42 While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43 And all were astonished at the majesty of God.

    How every loving parent would love to have the Lord give your suffering child back to you. Jesus is not here only to feed the five thousand on the mountaintop. Jesus is present for even a child in need. Jesus IS here even for you.

    Jesus’ Disciples often thought of Him as a leader of men, here only to restore Israel and heal the faithful. How often we are wrong about the Messiah.

    Mark 10:

    13 And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

    15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

    16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

    First century families and the religious establishment often thought the teaching of Rabbis was important only to men, especially men of learning; certainly not to women (let her husband instruct her) or to children (who were only to obey without understanding).

    Jesus most often used the relationship of God as Father, a loving Father; therefore our Lord showed children the kindness of a loving Father in Heaven.

    Is it not important for us to lead our children by the example of our compassion?

    Jesus welcomed children to hear scripture, to receive healing, even to receive life. Children have so much value for a time that will last beyond a generation of our own.

    Christ Jesus welcomes woman and men to God’s Kingdom with joy. He teaches us to have a simple faith. Let Jesus be your Lord, as a loving father would be your parent.

    Men now relegate religion to the attention of the woman of the house ‘for the instruction of the children.’ Christianity is for children and moms, not working dads who know better than to bow down before anyone (let alone God). How sad for our broken homes that we would send children to Jesus and not hear the very Word of God for ourselves.

    We are a hard-hearted and sinful generation in a way more lost than those to whom Jesus first came on the mountainsides of Galilee and in the hills of Jerusalem.

    • When was the last time you interrupted GOD with a childlike praise?
    • When will your week finally conclude with your reverent worship of our loving Father?
    • When will we humbly bow down to GOD our Father and have the pure joy of Jesus as our Lord?

    How long, O man, will you count your days as if they are your own?

    Mark 10:24

    And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God!

     

  • Interrupting Jesus 4 – Samaritans & family black sheep

    Interrupting Jesus 4 – Samaritans & family black sheep

    Israel.

    Let’s get something straight: There was NO Israel in the Roman Empire. (Just take a look at the map).New Testament Palestine

    Call it Israel or call it Palestine; you will see that to the Romans, Judeans and Samaritans, Israel does not exist except as part of a long-gone past.

    A certain hatred existed in the days of Christ Jesus as it does today. Mention the name ‘Israel’ and it means different things to different people. Observant Jews look back to a Kingdom united by David and Solomon, a Kingdom and alliance of the twelve tribes of Jacob (whose name was changed to Israel). After the United Kingdom was divided, ten tribes lived in Israel to the north. Judah was just two of the tribes. Samaria had been purchased in 925 B.C. and became the capital of Israel (after the division of the United Kingdom of Israel).

    You might say that most people of Hebrew heritage in Galilee, Samaria and Judea were ancestral cousins.

    Residents of these northern Roman provinces of Samaria and Galilee were perceived as black sheep of the family of Abraham, not quite so pure as the Judeans of Jerusalem. Samaritans refused to worship the LORD in Jerusalem. Look to post-Davidic history and stories of the Gospels and you will discover that Samaritans are treated no better than contemptible foreigners by faithful Jews, even though Samaria lies only about 30 miles from Jerusalem.

    Christians and non-Christians alike probably know the story of ‘the good Samaritan‘ told by Jesus. In it he tells of a man who encounters robbers in his travels on a journey such as those Jesus and His Disciples made frequently through the mountain trade routes. The point of the parable is that it is not the religious men who showed a man mercy, but a resented Samaritan.

    What does a merciful God require of us? Show mercy to others, as God has shown us.

    Jesus’ mission to Israel (the remnant of faithful Jews of Judah, Galilee and beyond) would seem to include redemption of even the lost sheep in the hills of Samaria.

    On their way back to Galilee from Jerusalem, Jesus sends the Disciples ahead for some lunch ‘to go.’ When they return to Jesus with the food they discover how our Lord has dealt with an interruption of the lowest of those Samaritans, a woman living with a man not her husband.

    It all started out with Jesus asking for a drink of water. Christ Jesus was thirsty, as any man would be after walking to this well. Jesus interrupts this Samaritan woman as He waits for His Disciples to return with lunch.

    John 4

    7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”

    9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

    11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”

    13 Jesus said to her,“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

    15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

    [What’s going on here? Why doesn’t this Samaritan woman just give the man, Jesus, a drink?]

    16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

    17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.”

    Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

    [Jesus had never met her. How could He possibly know that? How this woman must have been astonished at His unveiling of hidden truth of her sinful situation.]

    19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

    21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

    25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.”

    26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

    27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?”

    28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.

    … 39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

    43 After the two days he departed for Galilee. 44 (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.

    When did you ever set out on a journey or send out for lunch and instead pause to minister to a needy soul? When have you ever interrupted your daily life for two days to tell the Good News of Christ Jesus to some soul in a place off your route?

    A lowly Samaritan woman may have been the first Jew to hear from His own mortal lips, ‘I AM the Christ, the Messiah, the Promised One.’ Jesus had time for her and for the misled people of her town who had continued in the sins of their ancestors.

    Do you have a minute to ask someone for a drink of water? Is your compassion for saving souls of the lost sufficient to minister to their friends and family for a couple of days?

    Do interruptions of your day demonstrate a Christ-like love of a Good Samaritan?

    Does your journey treasure time for the people you encounter?