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Tag: John

  • Disaster From Disobedience, A Savior From Before Eden – 1

    Disaster because of Disobedience

    Jeremiah 6:16 

    This is what the Lord says:

    Stand by the roadways and look.
    Ask about the ancient paths:
    Which is the way to what is good?
    Then take it
    and find rest for yourselves.
    But they protested, “We won’t!”

    Perhaps in these last days one might ask, who wants to hear from the Lord? Yet even now, as in the days of the Prophets and fall of Jerusalem, ‘We won’t.’

    Isaiah 41:1

    Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.

    Will we even seek the presence of the Lord in humility and silence? Though we claim His righteousness we speak judgment to the nations without counsel of His Word.

    Ezekiel 12:2

    “Son of man, you live among rebels who have eyes but refuse to see. They have ears but refuse to hear. For they are a rebellious people.

    Have we not heard these words before, “you with eyes to see, you with ears to hear?” Yet we also remain a rebellious house, a rebellious nation, a rebellious claimant of God’s favor.

    Why will we not seek God’s leading before the disaster by which the Lord will judge? What difference could it possibly make?

    Exodus 32:

    “Come, make us a god who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!”

    7 The Lord spoke to Moses: “Go down at once! For your people you brought up from the land of Egypt have acted corruptly. 8 They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them…

    9 The Lord also said to Moses: “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave Me alone, so that My anger can burn against them and I can destroy them… But Moses interceded:

    Turn from Your great anger and relent concerning this disaster planned for Your people. 13 Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel—

    The Writing on the wall

    The Lord has warned man, made in His Image, over the generations and millennia. 

    Prophets of the Lord have both pointed us backward toward our disobedience and forward to its consequences.

    Daniel 9:

    Ah, Lord—the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps His gracious covenant with those who love Him and keep His commands— 5 we have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled, and turned away from Your commands and ordinances. 6 We have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, leaders, fathers, and all the people of the land.

    7 Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but this day public shame belongs to us…

    11 All Israel has broken Your law and turned away, refusing to obey You. The promised curse written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we have sinned against Him… 13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not appeased the Lord our God by turning from our iniquities and paying attention to Your truth.

    14 So the Lord kept the disaster in mind and brought it on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all He has done. But we have not obeyed Him.

    Some indictment! Those who have claimed the Lord and righteousness have disobeyed the Lord God. Therefore God will judge our sin. Does the Lord our God not have this right – to judge sin and execute justice or show mercy?

    Grace of a Cross and Judgment of all Righteousness

    Some in these last days yet claim that disaster will not come upon us. Others claim that the Lord will not return. After all, it’s been a long time just like with Israel did not know what had happened to Moses.

    Many claim that Christ will tolerate false teaching and false prophets, that the Lord would not punish those who put their trust in the idols of our own desires.

    Yet if Jesus IS, if He IS the true and only Son of the Living God; how can the Lord not faithfully return in fulfillment of all Scripture?

    How can Jesus not return once more, when He IS risen and ascended and He has prophesied a glorious eternal new Kingdom?

    The Final Defeat of Satan

    Luke 9:

    18 While He was praying in private and His disciples were with Him, He asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” … 20 “But you,” He asked them, “who do you say that I am?” 

    Peter answered,

    “God’s Messiah!”

    21 But He strictly warned and instructed them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.”

    Luke 10:18

    He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning…

    John 8:

    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.” …

    25 “Who are You?” they questioned.

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

    33 “We are descendants of Abraham,” they answered Him…

    34 Jesus responded, “I assure you: Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin…

    42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, because I came from God and I am here…

    58 Jesus said to them, “I assure you: Before Abraham was, I am.”

    He IS before those who prophesied, before David and Moses and Abraham. Jesus IS before Eden and before Adam, created in His Very Image! 

    And as the Lord has promised, He will return. Sin and death will reign no more. All flesh living and dead will be judged and all souls will bow before Him, making account for our sins or proclaiming His own Sacrifice for those He loves.

    Jesus IS Lord. He has saved us from sin and death to dwell in His love forever and ever. 

    As these last days draw to a close, we will examine predictions of His certain return, God willing.

    To be continued…

     

  • Christ IS risen, IS with us and will return

    Christ IS risen, IS with us and will return

    Luke-Acts, a Gentile Witness of the Christ

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

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

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

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

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

    Luke 1 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

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

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

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

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

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

    Luke 24:

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

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

    The Ascension of Jesus

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

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

    ACTS 1 (HCSB) 

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

    The Holy Spirit Promised

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

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

    The Ascension

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

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

    Acts 2:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    It is written

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

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

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

    Micah 5:

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

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

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

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

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

    John 8:

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

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

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

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

    25 “Who are You?” they questioned.

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

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

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

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

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

    58 Jesus said to them,

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

    Christ’s Ascension Confirms His Origin

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

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

    Micah 5:2

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

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

    ‘I AM THAT I AM.”

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

    Amen,

     

  • Behold the Light of a New Covenant Rises from an Empty Tomb

    Behold the Light of a New Covenant Rises from an Empty Tomb

    The Solid Promise of a Covenant

    And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you. Genesis 9:9a

    And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words. Exodus 24:8

    The LORD works miracles for those He loves and God works miracles impossible for man or hidden from those without eyes to see.

    Scripture records many miracles as the light of new hope for the faithful. Even when all hope seems lost, the Lord responds to prayers of the faithful.  Even before the greatest miracle ever, the Lord confirms new covenants with the return of sinners to righteousness. 

    Israel and Judah Defeated, Yet a King in the line of David Appears

    Christians may think that the miracle mentioned here is the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Yet even the greatest miracle of Jesus’ resurrection is not the only instance of an unexpected son of David.

    Perhaps a Jew diligent in scripture will recall a new covenant following a prior appearance of a son of David. 

    (Go ahead, take a shot. Do you recall such a miracle?)

    וַיִּכְרֹת כָּל־הַקָּהָל בְּרִית בְּבֵית הָאֱלֹהִים עִם־הַמֶּלֶךְ וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם הִנֵּה בֶן־הַמֶּלֶךְ יִמְלֹךְ כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה עַל־בְּנֵי דָוִֽיד׃

    Sadly, most Christians discount the importance of the Old Covenant which enriches the New Covenant of Christ.

    In a commentary of David Guzik we learn: 

    From the place where the oath was made and the context of the oath, we learn that the worship of the true God was not dead in Judah. These captains could respond to their responsibility before the LORD.

    Behold, the king’s son shall reign:

    This was a dramatic moment. For six years everyone believed there were no more surviving heirs of David’s royal line and there was no legitimate ruler to displace the wicked Athaliah. The secret had to be secure, because the king’s son would be immediately killed if his existence were revealed. The captains must have been shocked by the sight of this six-year old heir to the throne.

    And all the congregation made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said unto them, Behold, the king’s son shall reign, as the LORD hath said of the sons of David.

    – 2 Chronicles 23:32

    Author’s note:

    Although I generally quote the English Standard Version, the King James suggests a forgotten formality appropriate to covenant with the LORD. 

    The King James Version English translation of the Bible was completed in 1611. It was brought to the original colonies of a rebellious new world, fleeing kingship served by religious authorities.

    Jesus entered a Jerusalem ruled by a king and religious authorities politically beholden to a godless foreign Emperor. The aging fallen empire of Israel and Judah was ruled by a growing Roman empire. But before Rome ruled Judea, Samaria, Galilee and more, several different empires had ruled a captive remnant of the Lord’s ‘chosen people.

    Israel and Judah defeated, yet another promise of a New King

    For further study of the original Hebrew, see the Jeremiah 31 link below, which includes the Orthodox Jewish Bible, ESV & KJV,

    Six centuries before Christ, Jeremiah partially reveals the character of the coming sinless Messiah 

    Jeremiah 31: KJV

    31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 

    32-34 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

    But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

    And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

    Do you also recognize his mention of the Holy Spirit, the gift of a risen Christ?

    From the Second Temple to the Herod’s Temple

    Now we move on from survival of the line of David and renewal of covenant with the Lord to about four centuries before Christ.

    Malachi, the messenger and Prophet just before a great silence foretells the arrival of another great prophet.

    Malachi 3:

    Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

    Again, Malachi speaks of not only a messenger, but also that he will be the messenger of the covenant.

    Before this most controversial teacher, prophet and King of the Jews will come another great prophet.

    Behold the Light

    “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

    – John 9:5

    Genesis 1:

    In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was[a] on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

    3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

    John 1:

    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.

    3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

    4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

    5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

    6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

    7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

    8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

    9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

    10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

    11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

    The Expected Messiah

    Luke 3:15-22

    15 And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not…

    And those in Judah remembered that Herod had beheaded John.

    Yet some recalled hearing thunder as Jesus had been baptized by John. Others recalled how Jesus had healed many, saying their sins were forgiven. Some even told of a boy in Nain who Jesus raised to life from a coffin! Even more witnesses knew the truth of Lazareth from nearby Bethany.

    But the authorities had arrested Jesus secretly at night during the Passover. How could they capture the seemingly all-powerful Son of Man and sentence Jesus to a death more horrendous than John? Why would God allow this to happen?

    The LORD began to reveal a few answers just at the time of the Sacrifice of Righteous Blood on a Cross. For only the Twelve had first witnessed the reason for Jesus’ Sacrifice as they shared a last Passover Seder in a private upper room.

    Matthew 26: NKJV

    ‘The Teacher says, “My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.”’”

    19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.

    20 When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve…

    A New Covenant

    26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

    27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.

    28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

    Between the Cross and the empty tomb

    We could have begun with the road to Emmaus or other liturgically familiar retelling of the Resurrection of Christ Jesus. I have chosen instead to share less familiar scriptures, also testimony to the Truth of the resurrection of Christ.

    Imagine the immanent fear of those who had cried out, “crucify him! crucify him!” when this happened?

    Matthew 27:52-53 KJV 

    And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

    Who would not fear it, after realizing that our own words and actions had convicted the Messiah – God With Us in the flesh?

    Yet His Disciples, who witnessed His New Covenant, would teach the reason for His Sacrifice.

    “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” – Matthew 26:23

    Those who had just celebrated Passover knew well the need for the shedding of blood for the remission of sins. But because of our contemporary worldly forgetfulness, allow me ask your consideration of the meaning of remission.

    ἄφεσις ἁμαρτία – in the common Greek of the day: aphesis hamartia

    The remission of sins:

     I. release from bondage or imprisonment

    II. forgiveness or pardon, of sins (letting them go as if they had never been committed), remission of the penalty

    [Sin] I. to be without a share in, pr to miss the mark, to err, be mistaken; to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour, to do or go wrong; to wander from the law of God, violate God’s law, sin

    II. that which is done wrong, sin, an offence, a violation of the divine law in thought or in act

    III. collectively, the complex or aggregate of sins committed either by a single person or by many

    The blood of Christ, given for you and for many for the remission of sins.

    His purpose is clear.

    Jesus becomes our Perfect Passover Sacrifice for the remission of sins. The Messiah suffered death, that final enemy captive to sin.

    Christ returned from the darkness of death; He IS the Light of eternal life!

    Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week Mary Magdalene and the other Mary saw Jesus. Jesus met the Apostles and they came up to Him, held the Lord by His feet and worshiped Him. [Matthew 28]

    The Lord walked with two disciples leaving Jerusalem, explaining the Messiah of Scripture, breaking bread with them and after being recognized, He vanished! Jesus appeared to the Disciples, allowing them to touch His resurrected body, and He ate fish with them. He taught them, as before; but now their eyes were opened. [Luke 24]

    Jesus appears to the Disciples again by the Sea of Tiberius (Sea of Galilee). John reveals an intimate conversation of Jesus with Peter, restoring him from denial and telling Peter of the kind of death he would suffer.  The Acts of the Apostles reveal that the risen Christ prepared the Apostles for their mission to go into all the world for forty days until His ascension into the clouds. (Imagine witnessing that!) And Paul later reveals that ‘Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom [were alive at the time he wrote his letter to the church at Corinth].

    Clearly, Jesus IS! He is the Light of life and the hope of mankind.

    No covenant or promise between the LORD and His created is more important to the redeemed in Christ than this New covenant, a New Testament to the love of Almighty God for those made in his Image.

    May the joy of the resurrection of Christ Jesus fill your heart, satisfy your soul and embrace your failing flesh in the Light of His love.

    Grace and peace, beloved saint.