Tag: Jesus

  • The Sun and the Moon Stood Still – Why won’t we?

    The Sun and the Moon Stood Still – Why won’t we?

    The sun and moon stood still in their habitation:

    Habakkuk 3:11 KJV

    Sun and moon stood still before God

    What’s the picture?


    Habakkuk – a Prophet burdened for a people humbled

    1:2 עַד־אָנָה יְהוָה שִׁוַּעְתִּי וְלֹא תִשְׁמָע אֶזְעַק אֵלֶיךָ חָמָס וְלֹא תוֹשִׁיעַ׃


    The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

    IF you have not already felt the full weight of a Prophet painting a picture for men without eyes to see

    a sun and a moon which had stood still, — then you have sensed a low and quiet place where the Lord has prepared an unseeing Common Era people by a BLINDING LIGHT in the darkness of these last days…


    O LORD, how long shall I cry,
    And You will not hear?
    Even cry out to You, “Violence!”
    And You will not save.

    Habakkuk 1:2 NKJV


    Sound familiar?

    (Even from your own arrogant lips?)


    Why do You show me iniquity,
    And cause me to see trouble?
    For plundering and violence are before me;
    There is strife, and contention arises.

    Therefore the law is powerless,
    And justice never goes forth.
    For the wicked surround the righteous;
    Therefore perverse judgment proceeds.

    Habakkuk 1:2-3

    The LAW of which the Prophet speaks 
    -- the Commandments of the LORD
    -- NO LAW = No Justice!

    Do we blindly suppose that the righteous are US?
    AND therefore WE the named and claimed PEOPLE of God suffer by His Almighty Hand!
    COULD THAT BE JUST?

    WHY does this sound so familiar to a Common Era people who rarely read or hear the oracles of WARNING by the Prophets of God?

    And what does Habakkuk ask early-on in his plea to the LORD?

    Why do You look on those who deal treacherously,
    And hold Your tongue
    when the wicked devours
    A person more righteous than he?
    14 Why do You make men like fish of the sea,
    Like creeping things that have no ruler over them?

    Habakkuk 13b-14 NKJV


    IS THIS any way to PLEA to the Lord our God of Whom WE are commanded to 'love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind’ even confirmed by the Messiah and Lord Jesus? 

    More Writing on the wall

    Jesus writing in the sand with his finger
    (for those casting a first stone at Habakkuk) 

    Then the Lord answered me and said:

    “Write the vision
    And make it plain on tablets,
    That he may run who reads it.

    For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
    But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.

    Though it tarries, wait for it;
    Because it will surely come,
    It will not tarry.

    “Behold the proud,
    His soul is not upright in him;
    But the just shall live by his faith.

    Habakkuk 2:2-4 NKJV


    Again, what is the picture? 

    The SOUL of the proud is fallen.
    AND the soul of the Lord's faithful remains bowed down in the witness of our lives.

    Therefore, for the hope of the faithful know that the LORD pronounces many woes (and NOT blessings) on the proud who seem to be in charge of our mortal lives. And to name just a few:

    THEN the LORD closes his response to the Prophet with an authoritatively THUNDERING VOICE to humble worshipers bowed down in faithfulness:

    “But the Lord is in His holy temple.
    Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”

    Habakkuk 2:20

    What would happen IF Common Era worshipers would put down our devices and our coffees and entered into WORSHIP like this? 

    Let thos whw with eyes to see Christ's writing in the sand see God's zeal for faithful worshipers.

    and now:

    This prayer sung by the prophet Habakkuk:

    O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid;
    O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!
    In the midst of the years make it known;
    In wrath remember mercy.

    Habakkuk 3:2 NKJV

    And the earth was full of His praise.

    4 His brightness was like the light;
    He had rays flashing from His hand,
    And there His power was hidden...

    He looked and startled the nations.
    And the everlasting mountains were scattered,
    The perpetual hills bowed.

    from the prayer of Habakkuk


    GET THE IDEA?

    all bowed down before the Lord – in HIS Presence everything else stood still or was swept away by the hidden power of HIS GLORY!

    The sun and the moon stood still


    Now returning to the context of our opening picture and illustration: 
    red moon of an eclipse The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear. Habakkuk 3:11

    You divided the earth with rivers.
    10 The mountains saw You and trembled;
    The overflowing of the water passed by.
    The deep uttered its voice,
    And lifted its hands on high.
    11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation;
    At the light of Your arrows they went,
    At the shining of Your glittering spear.

    12 You marched through the land in indignation;
    You trampled the nations in anger.
    13 You went forth for the salvation of Your people,
    For salvation with Your Anointed.
    You struck the head from the house of the wicked,
    By laying bare from foundation to neck.

    Selah

    When I heard, my body trembled;
    My lips quivered at the voice;
    Rottenness entered my bones;
    And I trembled in myself,
    That I might rest in the day of trouble.

    Habakkuk 3:16a NKJV

    Is THIS your reaction -- contemporary christian worshiper? 

    A Hymn of Faith

    NO hymns for OUR praise band! 
    NO Old Testament Prophets and their drama that could SILENCE the applause and bring the CROWD to its knees.

    Who remembers Jesus cursing the fig tree as the Lord entered Jerusalem?

    The unfamiliar picture and significant symbolism Jesus drew is the same as that of Habakkuk’s hymn of faith.

    We examined this great symbolism in an earlier series.


    Even if you choose not to read the prologue above you will find these references from Habakkuk below -with which we will conclude.

    AND consider our 2025 CE Lenten theme of contrition replanted in the hearts of 21st century worshipers:

    We stood there and did nothing

    • Habakkuk and other Prophets of the Lord have warned us to WORSHIP the Lord our God.
    • The Messiah JESUS — Son of the Living God — enters Jerusalem cursing a tree that bore no fruit (though thousands applaud Him).
    • Crowds of worshipers enter a Common Era gathering little noticing a cursed fig tree as they bring their coffees and distracting devices toward the gate of the grand stage.
    • LENT?
      • WE don’t do that anymore…

    O, faithless fig tree, dear dried up vine;

    do you believe that you alone have cried out to the Lord for mercy?

    Habakkuk 3:

    O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid;
    O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!
    In the midst of the years make it known;
    In wrath remember mercy.

    for it was not the season for figs – 7 – July 9, 2017 TalkofJESUS.com

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  • a Common Era Contrition for Lent – Ash and dust

    a Common Era Contrition for Lent – Ash and dust

    lenten series outline & Introduction

    Ash Wednesday 2025 C.E.



    OUTLINE of a Scriptural path toward Christ’s walk to Gethsemane, Calvary, beyond Bethany and anticipating the Lord’s return in glory in these last days.

    the path of contrition

    “I am the way and the truth and the life.

    No one comes to the Father except through me.

    Gospel of John 14:6


    Introduction by the author

    The liturgical season of Lent although having no Biblical requirement has always been a reflective time for me. I have provided some glances back for any who have not followed Talk of JESUS in previous Lenten seasons.

    This YEAR – A.D. 2025 to most of you (2025 C.E. to most of our unbelieving world) – I wanted to lead you through some Old Testament Scriptures looking through Jewish eyes (yes JESUS and EVERY Apostle was Jewish). You may glance at a HEBREW organization of the BIBLE below which orders and groups our O.T. Books differently.

    G_d only knows how many of the 40 days of Lent I will publish, but each will likely be briefer than my usual 5-minute READ.

    Finally, beloved brother or sister in Christ,

    IF you look for a connecting thread between these O.T. Scriptures and Christ you may discover a faithful Jewish thread of contrition not seen in the Gospels except in the Person of Jesus. (Think of Gethsemane, now.. and follow Him along the narrow path.)

    Won’t you pray for me and comment here encouraging all?

    Roger Harned – Author and Site administrator, Talk of JESUS .com


    Lent A.D. 2014 Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord + Ash Wednesday - Easter Sunday - Jesus is RISEN! and will return once more
    a picture of LENT from AD 2014

    Introduction to the Hebrew Bible

    On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

    The Word summarizing Jewish Scripture in Matthew 22:40,

    This phrase refers to the entirety of the Hebrew Scriptures, known as the Tanakh, which is divided into the Torah (Law), Nevi’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings).

    In the context of Matthew 22:40, “the Law and the Prophets” is a shorthand for the Old Testament.

    STUDY BIBLE Bible Hub .com


    Tanakh Hebrew Bible books
    CLICK to ENLARGE the three sections of the Tanakh [Hebrew Scriptures]

    What path will you walk this day?

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    garden in darkness

  • All you need is Love Love Love

    All you need is Love Love Love

    Or should I say, Love, love, love, love perhaps four times?

    (As just a bit earlier than the Beatles another Englishman, Clive Staples, pointed out 4 loves — each at least somewhat different from the others?)

    Christians throw around the LOVE jargon rather vaguely and with much overlap (as does the world).

    For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. JOHN 3:16 green man
    For God so loved the world.. John 3:16
    • The word, “Love” occurs over 500 times in the Bible
    • translated more than 200 times from New Testament Greek into the English Standard Version

    Let’s have some Biblical intercourse about the real definitions of the Biblical loves to which C.S. Lewis referred.

    The Four Loves

    C.S. Lewis, born just a couple of years before my grandfathers, capitalized on this in his popular RADIO program and published a book called THE FOUR LOVES in A..D. 1960 (when I was only ten and John Lennon was just twenty).


    To outline Lewis’ approach briefly:

    The Four Loves was Lewis’ look at some of the different loves described in Greek thought: familial or affectionate love (storge); friendship (philia); romantic love (eros); and spiritual love (agape) in the light of Christian commentary on ordinate loves.

    Source: C.S. Lewis.org

    Although in A.D. 1960 Lewis began elsewhere, today let’s start with the world’s contemporary favorite:

    Eros – ἔρως

    Eros is the Greek term for romantic or passionate love. While the word itself is not used in the New Testament, the concept is present in the biblical understanding of marriage and the intimate relationship between husband and wife. Eros is seen as a gift from God, intended to be expressed within the covenant of marriage.

    The Song of Solomon [O.T.] is often cited as a biblical celebration of eros, highlighting the beauty and intensity of romantic love.

    Source: Biblehub.com

    Affection (storge)

    Affection covers an array of loves. Like animals, the care of mother to babe is a picture of affection. It relies on the expected and the familiar. Lewis describes it as humble.

    It’s the familiarity of, “the people with whom you are thrown together in the family, the college, the mess, the ship, the religious house,” says Lewis.

    Source: Biblehub.com

    My long search for affection in the Bible

    I do not mean affection literally (in English), but a Greek word for affection, STORGE.

    God blessed me with an additional embrace of His Personal and mysterious, complex love for us through searching aimlessly for love in the Bible. Only after researching further in other commentaries did I connect this word of affection with the Lord’s additional loves we experience so personally.

    God’s affection in the Person of His only Son JESUS was there all along and I had missed it.

    Roger@TalkofJesus.com

    ..says Lewis. The affection for the people always around us, in the normal day-to-day of life, is the majority of the love we experience, even if we don’t label it.

    ‘Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.’
    had jumped out to me in the NIV

    But in addition to our affection meaning devoted, when Paul writes to the Romans, the word the Apostle uses here for love obviously applies to brotherly love – philadelphia.

    I also liked his mention to ‘honor‘ each other above your SELF.

    Seems familiar to JESUS’ second summary point from the Commandments. LOVE actually appears in BOTH of these commandments cited by our Lord:

    Jesus said to him,

    “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.
    And the second is like it:
    You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
    On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

    Matthew 22:37-40 NKJV

    What is the greatest love?

    ἀγαπάω – agapaō

    *Thou shalt love kyrios thy theos.

    pillar of fire in the midst of Moses and the Hebrews

    Do we not hold FEAR rather than embrace the LORD our theos as a pillar of fire?

    But what about the Lord Jesus’ second commandment (which we often claim as our ‘GOLDEN RULE?’

    And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

    Gospel of Matthew 22:39 KJV

    ἀγαπάω – agapaō

    *Thou shalt love thy plēsion [neighbour]…

    The Lord seems to mention others as at least equal to our need for self-love, if not more honor as Paul suggests in writing to the Church in Rome. 

    This LOVE is the SAME Love, that is: agapaō !

    Storge – Other Loves plus Devotion

    Although the specific term storge is not used in the New Testament, the concept is evident in passages that emphasize family relationships and responsibilities. Romans 12:10 


    φιλόστοργος – philostorgos – adjective

    a Greek conjunction PHILO plus STORGOS - Do you see both LOVES?

    And look at its definition:

    1. the mutual love of parents and children and wives and husbands
    2. loving affection, prone to love, loving tenderly
      • chiefly of the reciprocal tenderness of parents and children
    Which brings us to a third love C.S. Lewis highlights:

    Philia (φιλία)

    Friendship is the love dismissed.

    “To the Ancients, Friendship seemed the happiest and most fully human of all loves,”

    says Lewis,

    “the crown of life and the school of virtue.

    And at this writing in ~ A.D. 1958 or 1960 Lewis laments of such philos friendships: 

    The modern world, in comparison, ignores it.” Why?

    Perhaps we know it’s the most time consuming, the least celebrated, the one we could live without.

    Can we?

    Even in 2025 Common Era time-crunching christian church gatherings pressed to entertain all sinners in these last days?


    Discovering Phila-Delphia

    philadelphosStrong’s G5361

    a Christian loving Christians

    YES, it’s a great adjective describing the relational fruit of Biblical Christians.

    From φίλος (G5384) and ἀδελφός (G80)

    φίλος – Strong’s G5384philos

    Adjective

    Here's HALF of the Phila Delphia ANSWER. Read on and I'll get to the other HALF later. 

    †φίλος phílos, fee’-los; properly, dear, i.e. a friend; actively, fond, i.e. friendly (still as a noun, an associate, neighbor, etc.):—friend.

    “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends  G5384.

    “You are My friends  G5384 if you do what I command you.

    Jesus Christ, from the Good News of John 15:13-14 LSB

    JESUS, the Son of Man and Son of God EMBRACES His disciples as close friends.

    And you may have guessed it: 
    The relational word the beloved Apostle John uses here for LOVE is agapē.

    φιλέω – Strong’s G5368 – phileō

    a verb with similar meaning that we won’t want to miss

    1. to love
      • to approve of
      • to like
      • sanction
      • to treat affectionately or kindly, to welcome, befriend
    2. to show signs of love
      • to kiss
    3. to be fond of doing
      • be wont [an accustomed familiarity], use to do

    Perhaps the most convicting encounter with JESUS using this word phileō for LOVE occurs in His most personal encounter with the Apostle Peter after our Lord’s resurrection.

    Here’s an excerpt:

    “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?”

    He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love G5368 You.”

    “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”

    He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love G5368 You.”

    He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love G5368 Me?”


    Now returning to our compound Greek word for Philadelphia we must consider one additional connection of LOVE:

    • philadelphosStrong’s G5361
      • From φίλος (G5384) and ἀδελφός (G80)

    ἀδελφός – Strong’s G80 – adelphos

    masculine noun — From ἄλφα (G1) (as a connective particle) and delphus (the womb)

    1. a brother, whether born of the same two parents or only of the same father or mother
    2. having the same national ancestor, belonging to the same people, or countryman
    3. any fellow or man
    4. a fellow believer, united to another by the bond of affection
    5. an associate in employment or office
    6. brethren in Christ
      • his brothers by blood
      • all men
      • apostles
      • Christians, as those who are exalted to the same heavenly place

    ἄλφαStrong’s G1 – alpha

    You've probably already guessed it and why this Greek word was designated as 'G1' in the Strong's concordance. 

    indeclinable noun – Of Hebrew origin


    “I am the Alpha G1 and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

    The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 1:8

    “I am the Alpha G1 and the Omega, THE FIRST AND THE LAST, the beginning and the end.”

    The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 22:13 LSB


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