תהילים 42
5 אֵ֤לֶּה אֶזְכְּרָ֨ה׀ וְאֶשְׁפְּכָ֬ה עָלַ֨י׀ נַפְשִׁ֗י כִּ֤י אֶֽעֱבֹ֨ר׀ בַּסָּךְ֮ אֶדַּדֵּ֗ם עַד־בֵּ֥ית אֱלֹ֫הִ֥ים בְּקוֹל־רִנָּ֥ה וְתוֹדָ֗ה הָמ֥וֹן חוֹגֵֽג׃
Why are you in despair, O my soul?
Psalm 42:5 NASB
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence.
explores a continuing ascent to a personal help from the Lord God.
{click Page 2 to continue}
Our situation now appears desperate in this place isolated from the world. In the past three years we have come to know what to expect, but now it seems that everything will change.
Can you relate?
In case you missed it, Church.., we’ve reached a pivotal point in the history of the world where the Lord will change all of our relationships to God and to each other.
The Apostle John now looks back on a pivotal moment in Jerusalem with the Lord Jesus in the seclusion of an upper room. He teaches the church the New Covenant relationship with God our Father, Jesus the Son our Lord and the Holy Spirit of the LORD God.
This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.
The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
1 John 3:23-24 NASB
John asks a persecuted church to love one another, as the Lord Jesus commanded us. (By this time all other Apostles of Jesus except John had already suffered death by the hand of this world’s powers and principalities.)
The early church, a mere remnant of the unsettled sojourners of Abraham joined by faith in the Messiah, Son of David, with those of the world adopted in love by a New Covenant of forgiveness — these Christians also needed a helper just as you and I cry out for help. John’s Good News assures those who believe that in the Lord Jesus Christ we have help from above.
Briefly recalling some of John’s journey with Jesus and the Apostles into Jerusalem, which would lead to the Lord’s trial after this pivotal moment before Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection and ascension:
In the third year of Jesus’ teaching on earth after having made many proofs of His Authority from God through the witness of many signs and wonders, the Messiah Jesus (John’s Teacher and Lord):
https://talkofjesus.com/12-men-texting-as-their-messiah-approaches-3/
Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves.
John 11:55 NASB
… the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.
12 On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.”
Before continuing with Jesus’ New Commandment and promise of help, let us briefly witness from the Psalms of Ascent.
Jesus and the Apostles and crowds would have sung these Psalms on ascent of Mount Zion, approaching Jerusalem from the valley below. The words of praise to the LORD would no doubt have been fresh in the memory of each Apostle later in the upper room.
As worshipers recognized their Messiah on the foal of a donkey, a sign of Jerusalem’s King, they near Zion’s gate.
Recall now John’s Jewish understanding of these annual songs of worship as they now apply to the Messiah of Israel, our Lord Jesus.
Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
Psalm 122:1 KJV
Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.
Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
Do good, O LORD, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.
The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.
The LORD is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.
Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah…
We will go into his tabernacles: we will worship at his footstool.
Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength.
אָרוֹן So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. - Gen 50:26 And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. Exodus 25:16
Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy.
I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD.
The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.
“Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.”
Now that we recall the events leading up to Jesus’ New Commandment; NEXT, God-willing, we will return to the upper room where the Lord Jesus promises us HELP.
To be continued...
This is the NEW COMMANDMENT of Jesus.
The Lord Jesus does NOT instruct followers to ‘love the world’ (as God so loved-the world…), but HIS first NEW commandment is to LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
Jesus asks the Apostles who have been together for three years as a church, iterate followers in community with and taught by the Lord Jesus, to love one another.
We know from story after story how competitive His Disciples are, but now that Jesus will return to the Father His command is that they MUST love each other.
Previously we examined the possibility of who Jesus commanded in:
NO, the building is NOT the Church.
From an earlier post: Amos – For those who turn justice into wormwood
We may also point ahead to more obvious application of his warning to the church of these last days.
Have you ever really met the ‘christians’ who come to your church?
It’s really difficult in this impersonal 21st century #social environment!
Our relationship to others of the Church pales by comparison to the close personal relationships of the Apostles to each other or even that of the saints of the first century church. Yet have we, the church’ possibly missed a relational community commanded by the Lord Jesus?
Let’s first look to a definition of church and scriptural application.
It’s pronounced Greek: ek-klā-sē’-ä (Key)
Vine’s Expository Dictionary: View Entry Assembly:
from ek, “out of,” and klesis, “a calling” (kaleo, “to call”), was used among the Greeks of a body of citizens “gathered” to discuss the affairs of State, Act 19:39. In the Sept. it is used to designate the “gathering” of Israel, summoned for any definite purpose, or a “gathering” regarded as representative of the whole nation. In Act 7:38 it is used of Israel; in 19:32, 41, of a riotous mob. It has two applications to companies of Christians,
(a) to the whole company of the redeemed throughout the present era, the company of which Christ said, “I will build My Church,” Mat 16:18, and which is further described as “the Church which is His Body,” Eph 1:22; 5:23,
(b) in the singular number (e.g., Mat 18:17, RV marg., “congregation”), to a company consisting of professed believers, e.g., Act 20:28; 1Cr 1:2; Gal 1:13; 1Th 1:1; 2Th 1:1; 1Ti 3:5, and in the plural, with reference to churches in a district.
Since “It has two applications to companies of Christians, it’s worth restating from this definition of church:
Church briefly defined then is:
This is the Church which the Lord Jesus commands by saying, “Love one another, as I have loved you.”
We are called to Him, therefore we are called into relationship with Jesus AND His church.
And we are called out – to take His love, visible to seekers of the Lord in His Body the Church, the Personal Love of Jesus in the Holy Spirit by which He builds us into His eternal love.
John’s Gospel builds the case of Jesus’ Authority, questioned by the Jews to whom He was sent.
Before addressing Jesus’ New Commandment given to the Disciples just after the last supper, take a brief look at His explanation about His obedience to God the Father.
“I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me…
… they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
… the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again…
I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
excerpt John 10 NASB
And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.
John 12:44-45 NASB
49 “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.
50 “I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”
John’s Gospel has already set the scene for Jesus’ New Commandment. Let the church hear what our Master and Teacher Christ Jesus says to the church.
“I give you a new command:
Love one another. Just as I have loved you,
you are also to love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34 CSB
Beloved believer, does everyone know that Christ Jesus is your Teacher and friend? Does the world see your Lord and Savior by your love for one another of His Church?
Are you truly, my fellow saint, a disciple of Jesus?
Do you and Christ’s Church love one another? (And remember, they know us by our love of one another or deny Christ by our lack of love for each other).
“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me…
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
John 14:15 NASB
Recall that John’s Good News of Jesus Christ, the Apostle’s Gospel of witness begins before time:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
The Apostle John was first a young disciple of John the Baptist, known to many as a Prophet of God. John witnesses:
32 John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’
34 I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
John 1:
John also opens his Gospel testifying to the Authority of Jesus through the same Holy Spirit of the Lord God.
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:5-6
34 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure.
35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
“… but he who does not obey the Son will not see life!…
Do you, beloved disciple of the risen Lord Jesus recall this?
Do we, HIS CHURCH, have ears to hear Christ’s commandment to the Church – “Love one another, as I have loved you:” is this not for us?
αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ ἐμή ἵνα ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους καθὼς ἠγάπησα ὑμᾶς
answer in a minute in case you don't read Greek
4 Live in me, and I will live in you…
6 Whoever doesn’t live in me is thrown away… and dries up… gathered, thrown into a fire, and burned.
Could this apply to some of a luke-warm church?
The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 3:16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
If you obey my commandments, you will live in my love. I have obeyed my Father’s commandments, and in that way I live in his love.
The Master & Teacher, Jesus – John 15:10 GW
… be as joyful as I am, and your joy will be complete.
Answer below to English translation of the Greek above.
“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
John 15:12
Verily, verily, you may know is a Hebrew tool of emphasis by saying something twice, here meaning truly, truly. The youngest of Jesus’ Jewish Apostles now emphasizes the strong personal relationship of our Lord’s NEW COMMANDMENT a third time.
Here was John recalling this most important time preceding Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Do you recall the intimicy of this setting in the upper room?
John 13:
So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?
“You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am…
“Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.
John 13:16 NASB
There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved… He, leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom, said to Him, “Lord, who is it?”
This is the Apostle John, youngest of the Lord’s young Disciples, laying at Jesus’ breast as they all reclined at table. Consider what John means to have recalled Jesus’ emphasis on a New Commandment to love one another.
THE KING OF THE JEWS is about to become the SACRIFICE for sin on a Cross in Jerusalem!
Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers,
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem…
28:16 לָכֵ֗ן כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙ אֲדֹנָ֣י יְהוִ֔ה הִנְנִ֛י יִסַּ֥ד בְּצִיֹּ֖ון אָ֑בֶן אֶ֣בֶן בֹּ֜חַן פִּנַּ֤ת יִקְרַת֙ מוּסָ֣ד מוּסָּ֔ד הַֽמַּאֲמִ֖ין לֹ֥א יָחִֽישׁ׃
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.
He who believes in it will not be disturbed.
… upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
Jesus, of Simon Son of John, who the Lord then called ‘Peter’ or ‘the rock’ – Matthew 16:18b
In the intimacy of an upper room meal with the Lord Jesus, who had washed the Disciples feet, it was Simon Peter who motioned to John to ask Jesus who His betrayer would be. Judas departs then the Lord COMMANDS three times that they must LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
12 “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.
13 No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command you…
Are you, beloved, a friend of the Lord Jesus? And do you, fellow disciple, love one another – His Church?
“This is what I command you: Love one another.
Comman and encouragement of the Lord Jesus – John 15:17-18 CW
“If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you.
‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John (numerous times)