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Tag: John

Before Abraham was, I AM
“I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.
Exodus 3:6 KJV

13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?

14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Who sent Jesus to us?

Moses relates one of the most remarkable encounters with the LORD which results in his leading God’s chosen from slavery to the promised land. Exodus records for us not only the genealogy of Israel, Isaac and Abraham, here we learn the Lord’s own Name:

הָיָה הָיָה

I AM that I AM – that is: the LORD IS the Existing One!

As we learned previously in Who May Judge Sin?, Jesus answers questions of the religious leaders of the Temple. They asked Him to judge a woman accused of adultery, but relented from stoning her when Jesus showed her mercy and challenged their motives.

They question Jesus legitimacy as the Messiah of God. Do you?

Essentially they want to prove that Jesus is not sent from God, even though this Son of Man has given many signs of His power and Authority from God.

These rabbis will go to any length and make any false argument against the legitimacy and authority of Jesus.

So what does the Messiah Jesus claim?

Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world.
John 8:12a CSB

What does this mean? It depends if you have ears to hear.

Who sent Jesus to the world twenty-one centuries ago is a matter of faith – also our question of who to believe.

So Jesus now speaks to two groups of Jews:
1. Followers of Jesus – those called by faith, which includes some Jews who believe their Messiah; and also
2. Those who judge Jesus, refusing to believe the very Word of God! These include some but not all of the Pharisees from the Court of the Jews.
Let’s dissect Jesus’ words as heard by each group, both then and now.

John 8:

1. Followers of Jesus

Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”
The promise of Jesus – John 8:12b CSB

14 … “My testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I’m going.

I judge no one. 16 And if I do judge, my judgment is true, because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.

29 The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”

30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

36 So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

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.

49 “I do not have a demon,” Jesus answered. “On the contrary, I honor my Father … 50 I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and judges. 51 Truly I tell you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

Then the teachers of the Jews will follow with a question, the answer which divides the faithful from the deceitful.

But first let’s go back to the beginning of this testimony of the Gospel to stand beside Jerusalem’s religious elite who question the Messiah of God, determined to kill Him and preserve their own temporal glory among men.

2. Court of the Pharisees

Hear this same Messiah of Israel through ears refusing to listen to truth. These Pharisees feed the crowds of Jews they teach with their own dismissive words and questions of resentful doubt.

13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”

Jesus replied, “… But you don’t know where I come from or where I’m going. 15 You judge by human standards.

17 Even in your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. 18 I am the one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

19 Then they asked him, “Where is your Father?”

“You know neither me nor my Father,” Jesus answered.

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.”

22 So the Jews said again, “He won’t kill himself, will he, since he says, ‘Where I’m going, you cannot come’?”

23 “You are from below,” 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.”

Who are you?

25 “Who are you?” they questioned.

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. But just as the Father taught me, I say these things.

33 “We are descendants of Abraham,” they answered him, “and we have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”

34 Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever.

Jesus, speaking to the Jews to whom He was sent, warns in the same manner He told many parables. The Father, His Father in heaven sent the Son to redeem them of their sins. He will become the Sacrifice God provides, just like the substitute for Isaac the Lord sent to Abraham.

A sinful man must sacrifice to the Lord because of man’s sin.

The Son remains in the Father’s house because He will inherit all that the Father owns. But a slave, even a chosen slave freed from Pharaoh, only lives freely if his sin does not shackle him to death once more.

Abraham believed God; but unbelief binds one to die as sacrifice only for yourself, a sentence of death for your own sin.

Descendents of Abraham

37 I know you are descendants of Abraham, but you are trying to kill me because my word has no place among you.

… so then, you do what you have heard from your father.”

39 “Our father is Abraham,” they replied.

“If you were Abraham’s children,” Jesus told them, “you would do what Abraham did. 40 But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.

41 You’re doing what your father does.”

“We weren’t born of sexual immorality,” they said. “We have one Father—God.”

Your father, the Devil

43 Why don’t you understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to my word.

44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.

47 The one who is from God listens to God’s words. This is why you don’t listen, because you are not from God.”

48 The Jews responded to him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you’re a Samaritan and have a demon?”

Demons and Samaritans

Do not dismiss quickly their accusation of demons. Many will accuse Jesus of having a demon or evil spirit, even though the Messiah has done no evil.

And later, confirming the signs of the Messiah some Jews ask, “Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? ”

The Pharisees knowing from scripture that the Messiah will come from Bethlehem only know the Son of Man as ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ and we know their contempt as Judeans for Samaritans (and Galileans as well).

49 “I do not have a demon,” Jesus answered.

51 Truly I tell you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

[How can that be, anyone must wonder. Never see death?]

52 Then the Jews said, “Now we know you have a demon. Abraham died and so did the prophets. You say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’

A Convicting Question

53 Are you greater than our father Abraham who died? And the prophets died. Who do you claim to be?”

Who could be greater than David, King of Israel a thousand years before Jesus?

In the new traditions of the Pharisees of a rebuilt temple certainly Moses, who was given the Law and brought them out of Egypt, would be revered most.

Some prophets like Elijah might be seen as great because of great signs they performed, along with Jacob and Abraham as first fathers of the promise of the Lord to the Hebrew people.

So the question of the Pharisees to Jesus comparing Him to Abraham and the prophets is meant to convict.

Who do you claim to be?

Note that they do not ask, “who are you,” but “who do you claim to be.” Jesus’ unequivocal answer will claim His very deity!

Jesus’ Glorious Answer

Even before Mosheh (Moses)

Returning to Scripture as these rabbis would well know as background:

וַיִּשְׁכֹּ֤ן כְּבֹוד־יְהוָה֙ עַל־הַ֣ר סִינַ֔י וַיְכַסֵּ֥הוּ הֶעָנָ֖ן שֵׁ֣שֶׁת יָמִ֑ים וַיִּקְרָ֧א אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֛ה בַּיֹּ֥ום הַשְּׁבִיעִ֖י מִתֹּ֥וךְ הֶעָנָֽן׃
The glory of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.
Exodus 24:16 WLC; NASB

The context of the hearers, fellow Jews like Jesus, connects their question to Jesus’ answer. (You must know scripture (Old Testament) as they knew scripture. The Torah of Moses includes the Lord’s promise to Abraham’s descendants.

And to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountain top. Moses entered the midst of the cloud as he went up to the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Exodus 24:17-18 NASB

Their Hebrew forefathers witnessed the glory of the LORD more than once.

John 8:

Now, returning to the Gospel, Jesus gives witness to a glory which preceded Moses who received the Law directly from the LORD.

54 “If I glorify myself,” Jesus answered, “my glory is nothing. My Father—about whom you say, ‘He is our God’—he is the one who glorifies me. 55 You do not know him, but I know him…”

And now the Son of Man, who must say only truth, does so even though the depth of Jesus’ words do not immediately sink in.

“… If I were to say I don’t know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word…”

Jesus the Son knows the Father unlike ANY son of man, even the Prophets, any of the fathers of Israel or Moses.

“… Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.”
The Messiah Jesus to Rabbis of Judah – John 8:56 CSB

Think of the context of Jesus’ witness of Abraham in the timeline of centuries before the Son of God – the Word – coming to a manger in Bethlehem of Judea.

57 The Jews replied, “You aren’t fifty years old yet, and you’ve seen Abraham?”

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Witness of the Messiah – John 8:58 CSB

“before Abraham was, I am

59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going[b] through the midst of them, and so passed by.

Other places in the Gospel add explanation to this.

Why did religious officials determined to kill this man claiming to be God not successfully seize the Lord Jesus and stone Him to death?

For his time had not come.
- So then they tried to seize Jesus, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come. – John 7:20 NET
- (Jesus spoke these words near the offering box while he was teaching in the temple courts. No one seized him because his time had not yet come.) – John 8:20 – a small detail of the Gospel we have just read
When, then, would the time for Sacrifice of the Messiah for sin occur?

Do you see the significance of the substitution of the acceptable sacrifice to the Father?

For the LORD provided a sacrifice in the place of Isaac for Abraham, an early sign of what must take place to fulfill God’s plan of redemption of sinful man.

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
John 6:44,51 KJV
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NEXT: More Signs  
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February 17, 2020
Who May Judge SIN?
Continuing in the Gospel of John

‘Who made you judge and jury,’ some ask the Christian who applies the Law? “Don’t judge sin,” some even preach deceptively. Many a sinner will quote Jesus to you: “Judge not, that you be not judged. – Matthew 7:1

We have been following the Good News of the Messiah Jesus told by John, only surviving disciple after all others had died for their witness of Truth, rather than recant the only Way to heaven, Christ Jesus. His Good News is explanation and not necessarily chronological.

Previously in John 7 at the Jewish Festival of Booths Jesus shouted out an invitation to the crowds:

“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Now we move on to a discussion the following day about authority in the Law. Religious authorities who love to judge sin confront the Messiah with one of their favorites, adultery.

John 8:

2 At dawn he went to the temple again, and all the people were coming to him. He sat down and began to teach them.

Let’s not miss that Jesus had been teaching on the Holy Spirit of God the previous day.

He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.
John 7:39 CSB

Jesus said this about the Holy Spirit as witness to Himself as the Messiah of the Living God!

Wouldn’t you want to know more about this Man claiming the very power of the One Lord and God? So the crowds came, along with those who claimed earthly authority over the Law of Moses.

How do YOU judge sin?

3 Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, making her stand in the center. 4 “Teacher,” they said to him, “this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery.

Now, dear christian in this twenty-first century crowd, you think very little of the seriousness of her first century indiscretion with a man to whom she was not married. In fact, in all likelihood many of you commited a different and similar sin when you first loved the significant other of your own life. We are oh so ready to condemn any man who claims the authority of God over our own less severe way to judge sin.

5 In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”

So does Jesus believe in capital punishment?

How dare she sleep with another man! After all, she is married.

6 They asked this to trap him, in order that they might have evidence to accuse him.

You know the old (not so funny, really) question of the lawyer: “When did you stop beating your wife?” No right answer to the prosecuting question as stated. There’s more to her story than the evidence presented.

By the way, have you already answered without having had additional evidence presented – facts which perhaps only God may know?

Is accusation not guilty until proven innocent in these last days?

So here we look to the Messiah confronted an accusation of adultery in a court having already judged sin of the accused woman.

Jesus as Judge

The crowds look on. Religious officials have stated the Law clearly and ask for sentence confirming their judgment of this accused violator. Surly the Messiah who claims that every jot and tiddle of the Law must be fulfilled will not show mercy to this woman who sinned.

Yet Jesus does not speak a sentence to judge sin clearly accused of this woman.

7 When they persisted in questioning him, he stood up and said to them,

“The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her.”

8 Then he stooped down again and continued writing on the ground.

How does the Messiah of God judge sin?

Jesus has already witnessed the standard by which the Lord will judge sin.

“I can do nothing on my own. I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
John 5:30

“Stop judging according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment.”
John 7:24

One reason the Pharisees confront Jesus rather than having arrested Him at that time is continuation from a previous confrontation.

John 7:50 Nicodemus—the one who came to him previously and who was one of them [the Pharisees] —said to them,

51 “Our law doesn’t judge a man before it hears from him and knows what he’s doing, does it?”

Neither does the Lord Jesus judge this woman accused of adultery without full evidence of what she has done. In His judgment Jesus shows mercy.

God is Light and Life – Sin is Darkness & Death

Do you, man or woman of flesh, judge sin?

Jesus stood to render His decision as Judge:

“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
John 8:7b KJV

8 Then he stooped down again and continued writing on the ground. 9 When they heard this, they left one by one, starting with the older men. Only he was left, with the woman in the center.

Justice?

Was the full justice of the Law served here? Certainly not.

Did Jesus grant mercy to the woman who sinned against her husband and the Law of the land? Yes, mercy and grace where penalty could have been demanded.

Would He judge sin at a later time? (Perhaps you had not thought of His temporary grace calling this sinner to repentance.)

Will Jesus judge sin – adultery, dishonesty, failure to show mercy to the poor or unjustly accused, victims of hateful vengeance?
- “Put boundaries for the people all around the mountain and say: Be careful that you don’t go up on the mountain or touch its base. Anyone who touches the mountain must be put to death. – Exodus 19:12
- “Whoever strikes a person so that he dies must be put to death. – Exodus 21:12
- “If a person schemes and willfully acts against his neighbor to murder him, you must take him from my altar to be put to death. – Exodus 21:14
- “Whoever strikes his father or his mother must be put to death. – Exodus 21:15
- “Whoever kidnaps a person must be put to death, whether he sells him or the person is found in his possession. – Exodus 21:16
- “Whoever curses his father or his mother must be put to death. – Exodus 21:17
- “Whoever has sexual intercourse with an animal must be put to death. Exodus 22:19
“Observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Whoever profanes it must be put to death. If anyone does work on it, that person must be cut off from his people. Work may be done for six days, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD. Anyone who does work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.
Exodus 31:14-15

His Merciful Sentence

“He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” –
Jesus’ question to accusers who would judge sin – John 8:7 NASB

“I am the light of the world.

You judge by human standards. I judge no one. And if I do judge, my judgment is true, because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.
Jesus’ standard to judge sin – John 8:15-16 CSB

Is Jesus the Messiah?

If Jesus was, IS, and will always be the Lord God, the Messiah, then He IS Light itself. Jesus is the very image of Light of the Father God our Creator, sustainer and Judge.

12 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.”

14 “Even if I testify about myself,” Jesus replied, “My testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I’m going. But you don’t know where I come from or where I’m going. 15 You judge by human standards…

Is this not true of every man or woman who must judge another man or woman?

Therefore what is our standard of temporal justice, prior to the judgment of our souls?

Leviticus 19: Laws of Holiness – Separation to the LORD

לֹא־תַעֲשׂ֥וּ עָ֨וֶל֙ בַּמִּשְׁפָּ֔ט לֹא־תִשָּׂ֣א פְנֵי־דָ֔ל וְלֹ֥א תֶהְדַּ֖ר פְּנֵ֣י גָדֹ֑ול בְּצֶ֖דֶק תִּשְׁפֹּ֥ט עֲמִיתֶֽךָ׃

John does not present every proof of witness that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel, but closes his Gospel written after many proofs of the resurrection of Jesus with this:

But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:31 CSB

Light of Life from beyond the grave

12 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.”

… “You know neither me nor my Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”

20 He spoke these words by the treasury, while teaching in the temple. But no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

… and you will die in your sin. Where I’m going, you cannot come.”

… 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.

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

Do you believe the Light or hide in the darkness of death?

26 “I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the one who sent me is true, and what I have heard from him—these things I tell the world.”
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To be continued...
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February 14, 2020
About the Author John -2- Sons of Zebedee
Have you ever considered that Jesus may have called James and John the ‘sons of thunder’ because their father Zebedee, a businessman and owner of a Galilean fishing fleet may have best described as thunderous?

And He appointed the twelve:
Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter),
and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James
(to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”)
Mark 3:16-17 NASB

Zebedee’s story

In the introduction to our fictional story about this real father of two of Jesus’ Disciples, Zebedee had thoughtfully asked:

“Where shall I send my sons to learn the faith of our fathers?”

and

“What is the will of the Lord God for my sons James and John?”

Now we progress further into Zebedee’s first century considerations for his two beloved Jewish sons, both young men sent to learn more of the Lord God through known mentors of the faith.

A History of our Faith

Some thoughts of Zebedee

I know that we no longer have the faith of Abraham and Moses. We’re just a reconstructed people, continually broken by our own unfaithfulness to the Lord. My daily life on the Sea of Galilee centers on trade with men from every direction and faith, including Jewish merchants from far away.

Sea of Galilee, with port of Zebedee’s fleet in the north

After Solomon’s sons separated Israel from Judah, many kings and most men refused to listen to God’s Prophets, so we became a divided people. Jerusalem’s two tribes distant to us now look away from our ten tribes of families here.

Our Israel long ago cut-off from Judah, our own fathers and the generation of my father reap the consequences sown by Israel’s long forgotten faith in the LORD.

Assyria takes Samarian captives 722 BC & Babylon takes Judah’s captives 607-537 BC

Between Two Temples

Our faith remains, but never the same since Israel’s defeat some seven centuries ago and later in 586 BC when Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, conquered Jerusalem and destroyed our Temple.

Few of the faith even remembered our Hebrew language and traditions, though at one time some of Jerusalem recovered the Law buried in the rubble of the Temple.

In general, it is of the greatest importance to remember in regard to this Eastern dispersion, that only a minority of the Jews, consisting in all of about 50,000, originally returned from Babylon, first under Zerubbabel and afterwards under Ezra.
THE JEWISH WORLD IN THE DAYS OF CHRIST – THE JEWISH DISPERSION IN THE EAST – ALFRED EDERSHEIM

Ezra, a Scribe of the Law of Moses from Babylon, restored some of our faith to a new Temple in Jerusalem. But after later Prophets like Micah, our faith disintegrated into little more than discussion.

This map shows the vast empire conquered by Alexander the Great in red highlight. The extent of the empire is an approximation of 320 BC.

Alexander III of Macedon helped preserve our Hebrew Law in the great library at Alexandria. But because all the world has gone after their culture, philosophy and gods, our religion is translated into Greek. At least some Jews who know longer know Hebrew can hear some of the Law and understand it in our Synagogues.

The Israel of Zebedee

My dilemma instructing James and John really lies in the diverse schools of Judaism in our captive land ruled by Rome.

When we had no Temple we practiced our faith without the LORD’s prescribed sacrifice. Now we learn the faith of our ancestors through study, obedience and prayer only.

Many of my Jewish brothers speak only Aramaic and cannot even read Hebrew. Even our everyday language was imported from the east or Greek from the Roman language from the west.

Who is King of the Jews?

David and Solomon once sat on the Throne of the LORD in Jerusalem. We were then a United Israel under the King anointed by the LORD. Now the question of King depends on who you ask.

Who is King of the Jews since the LORD dethroned our former kings of Israel and Judah?

After King Josiah of Judah died Jerusalem became subject to Egypt. Then Nebuchadnezzar II defeated them and destroyed the first Temple.

Babylonians took charge in the east, allowing some Jews to return to Jerusalem with their language and culture to rebuild our second temple. The Law was unearthed at the site of our Temple, only to have Jerusalem’s second temple destroyed once more.

Now they have a third grand enough for a Roman Jerusalem, but here in the north we cling to a distanced faith in the LORD.

Zebedee’s Galilee, Samaria & Judea

Our forefathers who had remained in Samaria (as my ancestral lands were called by others) were hated by Babylonian Jews when they returned to Judea with their eastern ways.

Three centuries ago Jerusalem and our land surrounding the Galilee capitulated to Alexander of Macedon. Our fathers were like the rest of the world around us now dominated by this man some still worship as ‘Alexander the Great.’

But after Alexander died, Jews populating the entire world were still caught strategically in the middle of all the changing empires. Egypt ruled us again. Seleucids dominated our land just a couple of hundred years ago, before Rome defeated them.

The Maccabees once led a revolt to retake Jerusalem from the Seleucid idolaters. Then we held a measure of independence for about four generations.

But now that less-than-pure Herod has again rebuilt the Temple under the thumb of his friends in Rome.

Zebedee’s family perspective

My grandfather told us stories of Herod coming into power after the Roman Pompey appointed our High Priest.

He sent more than eight Legions here then made our king his Syrian vassal. What right does Rome have to appoint our king or choose the LORD’s priests?

To this day, Rome remains ruthless against most ordinary Jews, especially national zealots. Their Prefects administer our so-called Syrian provinces and our king collects their taxes.

Schools of Jewish Thought

I have several school choices where I could send my sons James and John to learn our faith. Trouble is that they vary greatly in what Jewish worship of the LORD has become in this day.

Pharisees, Sadducees & Essenes

The Ḥasidim ha-Rishonim helped bring about the revolt against the Hellenists, but years ago their school faded into a sect of the Pharisees.

I could send James or John to a well-known teacher of the Law, Philo, in Alexandria in nearby Egypt. Although there too, as with Rome and the Hellenists, they teach a different faith than that which spread back toward Galilee from the fertile crescent of Abraham.

Some Sadducees descended from Zadok are Elders teaching strict adherence to the Law, but their rich lives reflect liberal interpretations when it comes to political compromise.

In Jerusalem I have heard some good things about Gamaliel the new Elder descendant of Hillel, whose brother a trader from Babylon I have met. The religion of Jerusalem (and Herod) though are too tainted by politics away from which I hope to keep my sons.

Beit Shammai most likely would never admit sons such as mine unworthy of Jerusalem’s religious elite. They seem to be Zealots of a sort without the sicarii concealed under their tasseled cloaks.

And then there are the Essenes, who remain faithful to Scripture but hardly fit in to the day to day lives of merchants like us who must make a living by trade with others.

Historical Differences

Most jews have become proselytized Hellenists! Some four million of the seed of Abraham in the Empire now.

I trade mostly with Jews from the diaspora to the east. They too debate this and argue that, so I’m not sure who to believe from conversations with merchant Jews from all over the Empire and beyond.

‘Houses of Instruction,’ as they are now called. In which school of Jewish thought should I raise my sons James and John?

Zebedee’s Prayerful Choice of Schools

John is very young but like when we work in our fishing fleet, John will be in the capable hands of my eldest son James. I have prayed to the LORD to place them both into His care and teaching.

Alexandria and even Jerusalem seem to far from us in many ways. We still have to make our living on the sea.

The quiet places seem less likely to draw my sons away from the LORD. So after much prayer I lean toward a rabbi preaching repentance among the Essenes. This John is quickly gaining in fame and followers all up and down the Jordan.

John the Baptizer

Mark 1 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

4 John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 6 John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey.

I had heard a story some time back from a merchant traveling back from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. My wife had also heard rumors of the words of a prophetess well-known in Jerusalem.

Prior to the Baptist’s Birth

There was a priest named Zacharias who was performing his priestly service before God in the Temple. Many witnesses in Jerusalem, including the man who told this to me, supposed that this priest saw an angel of the LORD in the Holy of Holies.

The people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering at his delay in the temple. But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept making signs to them, and remained mute. When the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home.
Luke 1:21-23 NASB

My wife later told me of a story that she had heard of this priest’s barren wife.

She was of the line of Aaron and even in her advanced years later had a son. And her husband commanded her to name their son, John.

The second amazing thing about this is that Zacharias had not been able to speak since that day my friend told me about him in Jerusalem. But on the day he named his son John, his voice returned!

Others have confirmed this story about John son of Zacharias, who his followers call “JOHN THE BAPTIST.”

The Lord though my own prayer has directed me to send my sons to this rabbi in the wilderness of the Jordan. For John preaches to all a calling to all faithful Jews:

“I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”
John 1:23 NASB, quoting Isaiah 40

Zebedee’s Conclusion

James and John followed John the Baptist and it was not long until the Lord confirmed our choice to send them to this great teacher, who Herod now as already killed. Both of our boys told us of their God-led calling while John still preached at the Jordan.

I will tell it to you from my own son’s Good News of the Messiah.

John 1:

35 Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said,

“Behold, the Lamb of God!”

37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

(Of course my son John was one of these and he immediately told his older brother James.)

38 And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them,

“What do you seek?”

They said to Him,

“Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?”

39 He said to them, “Come, and you will see.”

So they came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

Zebedee – Father of Apostles

My dear wife, mother to James and John, joined me in following our Messiah Jesus, whom our sons follow.

I plea to you to hear John’s Gospel or this Good News through any others of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus the Messiah.

Beloved brothers and sisters, chosen by the Lord God, I pray that the LORD will bless you and keep you and be gracious to you as He has done for me and my family.

Amen.
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God willing, we will return to John's Gospel
from where we paused after the Holy Spirit 
in my next post.
Roger
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February 8, 2020