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Tag: Luke

The Gospel of the Kingdom

Matthew 9:35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.

What is the gospel?

More specifically, what is the gospel of the kingdom which Jesus proclaimed?

To begin, look back to the centuries and millennia at the role of kings in general.

Kings do not rule a republic. Kings do not rule a democracy. The power of a king is absolute and those who rule in the king’s domain (territory, dominion, lands) tell the king’s people (subjects) what to do and because they are subjects of the king the people must do what their king demands.

The message is NOT one from a common subject to other subjects of the king. No, a proclamation is written and spoken by the authority of the king and ruler of his subjects. This is true of the Kingship of God, as well as that of a mortal king.

The ‘proclamation, qara‘ is spoken to the subjects of the king with the expectation of obedience by the king’s subjects. Someone (in the Bible, sometimes an angel or a Prophet) has met with the king (or with God our Heavenly King), heard the message or news to be heralded or proclaimed and by authority of the king, he tells everyone.

Most are familiar with the first announcements of the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Luke 2:10-11 KJV And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

The announcement by an angel from God is that the King has been born, a King of the Jews, as Jesus will come to be known as He becomes the sacrifice for our sins on a Cross.

God is NOT like any other mortal king and God has proclaimed Himself through Scripture.

Exodus 19:7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him.

Moses is proclaiming the gospel of God. Moses has met with the King of Creation and proclaims the good news to the captives of Pharaoh.

8 All the people answered together and said,

“All that the Lord has spoken we will do.”

The Hebrew slaves of Pharaoh might as well have said, “We accept the LORD as our King in the place of Pharaoh our king.”

And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.

9 And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.”

Again, God! our King and Leader and Ruler and Sovereign, and Creator of all things, judge of all souls!

Christ Jesus IS God incarnate; that is: Jesus Christ is GOD in the flesh! He has set the captives of this world free from sin and the ruler of this world.

What had happened earlier, when God our Heavenly King challenged the king of Egypt (Pharaoh) with plagues and curses on the lands Pharaoh ruled, a land where the Hebrew people had been subjects of the lowest caste as slaves below every man and woman of Egypt?

Why had God chosen to take His own subjects, chosen by His covenant through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph?

(Here is God’s proclamation to Pharaoh, a mere mortal king of men, through Moses.)

Exodus 9: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews,

“Let my people go, that they may serve me. 14 For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. 15 For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth.

16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.

And from the days of Moses until this day the Name and Power of God is proclaimed in all the earth and the miracles the LORD did for His people of Israel in the desert at Sinai, as they were led from the slavery of Pharaoh to God’s promised land.

Set Me Free – Castings Crows

To be continued…

May 28, 2014
The House You Build

Isaiah 66:1-2

Thus says the LORD:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?

All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the LORD.

But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.

5 Hear the word of the Lord,
you who tremble at his word:
“Your brothers who hate you
and cast you out for my name’s sake
have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified,
that we may see your joy’;
but it is they who shall be put to shame.

15 “For behold, the Lord will come in fire,
and his chariots like the whirlwind,
to render his anger in fury,
and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire will the Lord enter into judgment,
and by his sword, with all flesh;
and those slain by the Lord shall be many.

Our Lord is a consuming fire.

He will burn away into flames of fire the chaff of our sins.

He will send away into the darkness of Hades the souls who refuse His refining Word.

What does the Lord require?

Matthew 13
English Standard Version (ESV)

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables…

18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart…

… one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

… one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Is your heart the good soil of your soul? What is the fruit of your receiving the Gospel of Christ Jesus?

The Parable of the Weeds

24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also…

Satan has been sowing seeds of wickedness among the good seed of the Gospel for two millennia beyond the Cross and Resurrection.

Is the time of harvest not certainly near?

30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

“… what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?

But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.

1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple…

1 Corinthians 6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

… do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus

Luke 9:23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

May 23, 2014
Jerusalem, Jerusalem – 2
O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer.
Listen, O God of Jacob. – Psalm 84:8

Events B.C.
- ~2000 Abraham meets Melchizedek, King of Salem and Priest of “God most high” (El Elyon), Genesis 14:18 -20, Hebrews 6:20-7:22). Abraham journeys three days from Beersheba or Gerar to Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice in obedience to God’s command. God provides a ram as a substitute. (Genesis 22, Hebrews 11:8-19). Mt. Moriah is the site of the Temple Mount.
- 1000 The Jebusite stronghold in Jerusalem is captured by King David. The city of David is built south of the Temple Mount.
- 910 Solomon’s Temple is plundered by Shishak (Sheshonk) Pharaoh of Egypt. Much gold and silver are taken. (1 Kings 14:25-28, 2 Chronicles 12:1-11
- 716 Hezekiah, king of Jerusalem, with help of God and the prophet Isaiah resists Assyrians attempt to capture Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 32). Wells and springs stopped up.
- 586 9th of Av. Nebuchadnezzar burns the city, and destroys the Temple. He murders many of the inhabitants and carries off a great number into captivity. (2 Kings 24-25, 2 Chronicles 36). The destruction of Jerusalem is the starting date for the “Times of the Gentiles”–Yeshua said, “Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the gentiles until the times of the gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24 ). Messiah’s return in glory will close this period of Israel’s history.
- 517 Through the leadership of Nehemiah and Zerubbabel, the Second Temple is completed despite fierce opposition and delays. An altar of sacrifice is built on the Temple Mount. Temple is completed after a fifteen year delay.
- 332 Flavius Josephus records that Alexander the Great’s invading army is met by priests outside of Jerusalem. They convince him not to destroy Jerusalem by showing prophecy contained in Scripture concerning him. Alexander spares city and the Temple.
- 334-167 The Hellenistic Period. The Jews, in the land, are under the successive dominion of the Greeks, then the Ptolemies of Egypt, and then the Seleucids of Syria. This is the third great world empire to dominate the Jews during the times of the gentiles. It is the belly-and-thighs-of-brass era (Daniel 2:32. 39; Josephus, Antiquities 11.7-12.6; Daniel 11:2-20).175-163 The reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes whom Daniel saw as a type of the coming Antichrist (Daniel 8:1-2; 11:21-35; Josephus, Antiquities 12.5-9; 1 Maccabees 1:16:16; 2 Mac. 4:7-9:28).167-63 The Maccabean revolt and subsequent Hasmonean dynasty in Judea. A short time of Jewish independence. This is the little-help period of Daniel 11:34. (Josephus, Antiquities 12.6-14.4).
“O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer. Listen, O God of Jacob,” wrote David.

You may not have followed every ebb and flow of the battle for Jerusalem for the last 3000 years.

…it is supposed that David penned this psalm when he was forced by Absalom’s rebellion to quit his city, which he lamented his absence from, not so much because it was the royal city as because it was the holy city, witness this psalm, which contains the pious breathings of a gracious soul after God and communion with him.

The events in Jerusalem prior to Jesus Christ, the Messiah of God, do not seem to echo the voice of an almighty God. The events of scripture do not always lead us to a faith where we would confidently stand stronger in our faith in the LORD of Heaven’s armies.

Yet into this history of defeat of God’s chosen and destruction of the Temple of God’s chosen came a Son of Man, sacrificed on the cross for your sins and for mine.

Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

In death, Christ has defeated sin and death.

In resurrection, Christ IS risen to victory as the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

In victory, Christ Jesus will return once more.
May 21, 2014