Tag: Matthew

  • Jesus’ Power to give Eternal Life

    Jesus’ Power to give Eternal Life

    … and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

    John 10:28 NASB

    Power and Authority

    From the Gospel John 17 we have begun to study the Lord’s High Priestly Prayer in The Hour Is Come and also recently addressed The Authority of Jesus, His Power over all flesh.

    Jesus preached about eternal life in synagogues, on hillsides and in homes of the Jews. The Gospels also include several scenes where His authority over life and death had always been questioned by Jerusalem’s leaders.

    The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?”

    Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

    The Gospel of John 2:18-19 NASB

    This temple of Jesus is not the fortress of flesh or whitewashed walls of symbolic religion, but the Living and Holy Image of the Son of God!

    cut away holy of holies
    Interior of the Temple with High Priest facing the Holy of Holies

    Jesus has never in-person entered the Holy of Holies. The Son of Man never entered the building as a temple priest with the sacrifice of worship.

    Our Lord simply showed grace and clearly taught truth from the Temple’s public courtyards, Jewish gathering places walled in from the world and its gentile Roman captors, the public square of faithful Jews.

    Solomon's portico with view of the Temple and crowds

    Jesus preached in Solomon’s portico, a place remote enough from a public face of the Sanhedrin’s seventy religious rulers.

    POWER!

    He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said,

    “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? G1411

    Matthew 15:34 NASB

    ‘Who is this Jesus of Nazareth,’ the powerful religious leaders would have always asked as they had also of John the Baptist?

    δύναμις – dynamis – strength power, ability

    • Used here for both words: ‘miraculous’ & ‘powers’
    • Also used in this way in Mark 6:14 where speaking of Jesus and His Disciples ‘…people were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous G1411 powers G1411 are at work in Him.”

    We are not talking political or military or religious power, but true and miraculous power over creation and the created – power of the Son of Man, the Messiah Jesus from the LORD God!

    Authority

    So many Jews had hoped that Jesus would use such power to overthrow Rome in Jerusalem, Judea and Galilee.

    The image of a shepherd may be that of a powerful king like David or Solomon, but more commonly seen as one saving vulnerable sheep from wolves.

    “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

    from the Good News of John 10:18 the promise of the Messiah Jesus

    Although the Apostles knew their Lord and Master as a humble man, the Messiah Jesus also spoke of His authority as Master and Shepherd of His disciples many times.

    John 10:

    Parable of the Good Shepherd

    14 I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep…

    ἐξουσία – exousia – authority

    Jesus claims the authority to lay [His Life] down and also sais, “I have authority to take it up again.” This was a remarkable claim of Jesus that He had the authority to cause BOTH His own death and resurrection. (We have addressed ‘The Authority of Jesus’ in our introduction to John 17.)

    “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative.

    I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

    The words of the Messiah Jesus – John 10:17-18 NASB

    19 A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words.

    No wonder the Jews became divided because of these words about their Messiah’s authority.

    Consider the common definition of authority Jesus coveys:

    • power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases
    • physical and mental power
    • the power of authority (influence) and of right (privilege)
      • (Here’s one no religious or political leader willingly gives up.)
    • the power of rule or government (the power of him whose will and commands must be submitted to by others and obeyed)
      • (Again, Herod, Caesar, Pilate, Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, priests – all have a stake in maintaining their tenuous authority & limited power.)

    Power over death and life

    Cling to this fragile flesh; for what little power we exercise over it.

    To some degree of authority: a king, our president, any judge of man’s courts — Rome’s Prefect, any governor and all authorities of man exercise power over other mortal men.

    We have NO choice in some matters. Yet these authorities of the flesh cannot give life, but grant mercy in its extension.

    Those who sought to seize Jesus of whom the crowds of Jerusalem had shouted, ‘Hosanna, Son of David; save us, blessed king,’ challenged many crowns. For the implied mortal and immediate authority of Caesar, of Herod, of Pilate, of Jerusalem’s political/religious leaders (the Sanhedrin, its priests and temple police) — all authority was threatened by the popularity Jesus.

    ALL could have lost their power of the day IF Jesus is crowned the “King of the Jews!”

    It MUST NOT HAPPEN.

    Therefore, show the crowds that THIS KING JESUS is no MAN of authority — for this claimant of Power from one High cannot even save His own mortal life (let alone that of the Jews). These same crowds will turn on Him when we have demonstrated our Authority over HIM.

    High Priest before the Altar of the LORD

    From an upper room in Jerusalem, Jesus prays to the LORD GOD our Father for many things. Yet the Lord’s purpose is not to preserve any MORTAL life, but to SAVE select SOULS for ETERNAL LIFE.

    Though praying from an upper room in Jerusalem, Jesus enters the most sacred place on our behalf – the Holy of Holies as our High Priest before God. Jesus stands before us praying for His authority to grant eternal life!

    From Death to Eternal Life

    Does this Jesus, Son of Man, really have such authority before the LORD GOD?

    For if He does, the Messiah of God IS everything He says that He IS.

    John 17:

    The High Priestly Prayer

    Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, 

    “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. 

    This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

    … Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are…

    ἀγάπη

    I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.

    John 17:22-23 CSB

    The Love that is the Glory of Eternal Life

    Aug -awp’-ayagapē one of several Greek words for LOVE we fail to understand as men of flesh and as spirits given life by God. Yet Jesus Christ uses it on our behalf in His closing High Priestly Prayer.

    “…that the love  G26 wherewith thou hast loved me..” from the English of the King James Version: Jesus states the Father’s love for His only Son — this is the love for which Jesus intercedes for us in eternal life.

    And Jesus had recently told the Apostles, “Greater love G26 hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

    • affection, good will, love, benevolence, brotherly love
    • love feasts

    An eternal life of relationship: Personal Relationship like that of Jesus with the Holy Father God — a glory of festive love as personal as the wedding, where the love of the bride and groom are celebrated by all who are invited to the feast.

    Christ Jesus our High Priest intercedes and asks His blessing on what is about to take place.

    Will you take up your cross and follow Him?

    To be continued...

  • Father, the hour is come

    Father, the hour is come

    Jesus uses ‘Father’ as a relational approach to God, just like the trust which the boy Jesus surely must have had with Joseph, husband of His mother Mary, many times.

    Yet what does this mean to a disciple of Jesus’ teaching to address the Lord God as Father?

    Father, the hour has come

    There’s a certain immediacy to saying, ‘the hour’ is come, or now is or has come. It is the precise time we have been awaiting – a time prepared long before now.

    Our present focus of The Hour Is Come is Jesus’ prayer at the precise time after Judas left the room and prior to the Lord and the Eleven departing for Gethsemane where He is about to be betrayed.

    When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come;

    glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

    John 17:1-2 ESV

    Jesus begins His conversation in prayer by addressing the LORD God in a most intimate and relational way.

    “Father,” the Son of Man so boldly addresses Almighty God in heaven. What a connection!

    A Man Who IS more than a man — speaking directly to the LORD GOD, as if He Who IS the very Son of God would humbly address his papa on earth.

    Trinity begins with the Father

    The lesson and relationship learned from Jesus’ prayer is both mysterious and wonderful — glorious in a sense of worship and humbling in the light of an intimate relationship.

    Later we will focus again on Jesus the Son of God, His connection through the Holy Spirit and a new covenant of grace for all who will follow Jesus as Lord. But for now we look up only to the Father, as did Jesus in His prayer..

    πατήρ – patēr

    Choose any of the three definitions you like, but realize that John and the Eleven are listening to the Son of Man, Jesus their Master and Teacher, pray directly to the LORD God in heaven, whose Voice they have heard previously.

    1. generator or male ancestor
    2. metaphor for:
      1. the authors of a family or society of persons animated by the same spirit as himself
      2. one who has infused his own spirit into others, who actuates and governs their minds
      3. one who stands in a father’s place and looks after another in a paternal way
      4. a title of honour
        1. teachers, as those to whom pupils trace back the knowledge and training they have received (We don’t really honor teachers in this way in these last days, but some give this authority to a priest leader of a flock.)
        2. the members of the Sanhedrin (As you know, Jesus had some issue with these ‘fathers of Israel’ as well & they will be the ones to clandestinely convict the Messiah of God our Father sent as our atoning Sacrifice to save a remnant of Abraham.)
    3. God is called the Father (This applies is many ways you may read here, but above all ‘Father of spiritual beings and of all men.’)

    By all Authority implied in Jesus’ opening of HIS High Priestly Prayer, it is highly significant that the Lord Jesus ‘lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father …’

    And from Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament the definition instructs us from the everyday Greek word used by Jesus and those in Jerusalem governed by Rome:

    πατήρ : ‘from a root signifying “a nourisher, protector, upholder” (Lat., pater, Eng., “father,” are akin), is used

    [God’s] “Fatherhood” in spiritual relationship through faith is the subject of NT revelation, and waited for the presence on earth of the Son. The spiritual relationship is not universal.

    Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament

    [& an additional insight: Note: Whereas the everlasting power and divinity of God are manifest in creation, His “Fatherhood” in spiritual relationship through faith is the subject of NT revelation, and waited for the presence on earth of the Son, Mat 11:27; Jhn 17:25.

    The spiritual relationship is not universal, Jhn 8:42, 44 (cp. Jhn 1:12; Gal 3:26).] [I will leave you to your own further revelation of the Father through your research of these scriptures. RH]

    The ‘Father’ of Jesus’ prayer

    With additional insight of bowing down to God the Father in our prayer to heaven, let us recall that Jesus had already taught the Disciples that which we know so well and do take for granted.

    The Lord’s Prayer

    After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

    Matthew 6:9 KJV
    father with turban and beard seated with arms around son

    ‘Our,’ which precedes Father, in the Lord’s Prayer is a personal possessive pronoun, a possessive plural in corporate prayer.

    So perhaps appropriate in a singular personal possessive sense in prayer, you or I might reasonably pray,

    “My Father in heaven. Holy is your Name.”

    (And recall that the Lord Jesus has declared: “I and the Father are One.” [John 10:30]

    What glorious mystery for us to observe Jesus and the Father, who are One, in this, His most personal prayer prior to the Son’s sacrifice on a Cross for our sins.

    The Disciples had been accustomed to Jesus praying to the Father at many times corporately before the multitudes, more privately among them and privately away from them at times.

    Luke 11:

    And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him,

    ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.’

    And he said unto them, ‘When ye pray, say,

    Our Father which art in heaven,

    Hallowed be thy name.

    Thy kingdom come.

    Thy will be done,

    as in heaven, so in earth.

    Luke 11:2b KJV

    When your mortal ‘time is come’ will you able to approach your heavenly Father saying, ‘Thy will be done?’

    Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com on Jesus’ prayer in John 17

    So from this final prayer following the last supper of Jesus and the Disciples, John witnesses this high priestly prayer of their Master and Teacher Jesus, a beloved father to the Twelve for these past three years.

    πατήρ – patēr a title of honour – teachers, as those to whom pupils trace back the knowledge and training they have received

    John 17:

    … “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You…

    5 Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself…

    11 I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You.

    Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me,

    that they may be one even as We are.

    One with the One Father

    Do you think that it is important to the Apostles that Jesus again prays to the Father with words confirming that He and the Father are ONE?

    שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יְהוָ֥ה אֶחָֽד׃

    “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!

    Deuteronomy 6:4 Masoretic Text, NASB

    Jesus continues and prays just a short time later:

    21 that they may all be one;

    even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You,

    that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

    Relationship with our Father in heaven

    Paul, Apostle to the gentiles, later writes to the church in Corinth:

    Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? … But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him… Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you

    1 Corinthians 6:15-19 excerpt NASB

    Again, the Apostle Paul and Jesus both point to the glorious mystery of the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as ONE, as well as a personal relationship between the spirit of a redeemed man like you or me to the ONE GOD, Who IS Spirit and truth.

    John 17:

    Jesus continues His High Priestly Prayer as intercession for these disciples and those to follow:

    24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am…

    25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me…

    What must the Disciple have thought following Jesus’ prayer to the Father?

    What do you think of this prayer to the Holy Father in heaven by the Highest of High Priests praying for your soul?

    “Lord,” they called Jesus — “the existing One” as more than a Son of Man, as the LORD GOD IS ONE!

    אֱלֹהִים

    elohiym – ʼĕlôhîym, el-o-heem’; plural of H433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God

    Our LORD is the ONE GOD — Trinity — the Son interceding by prayer and His own priestly Sacrifice for those who believe and would be saved.

    When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered.

    John 18:1 ESV
    To be continued...

  • 12 Men Texting as their Messiah approaches – Part 3

    12 Men Texting as their Messiah approaches – Part 3

    The Plot to Murder the Messiah!

    On the receiving end of these communications from those who witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus we find all of the VIP’s of Jerusalem’s council of leading religious leaders of this captive land.

    Previously:

    We have looked at the miraculous sign of the Messiah:

    We then looked at the Messiah Jesus as He and the Apostles retreated from Bethany into the hills beyond Jerusalem.

    Jesus – Traveling to and from Bethany

    google earth image of hills between Bethany and Jerusalem and Ephraim to the north

    Our current look at the people of John’s Gospel now focuses on three perspectives of those involved in this great witness of Good News.

    1. A traditional look at the Old & New Covenants and prophecy of the Messiah, specifically through Daniel 9. 12 Men Texting as their Messiah approaches – Part 1
    2. A brief look at the Sanhedrin & specifically the motives of Judas, the Apostle who was about to betray the Messiah after the Twelve dined with Jesus in Ephraim. 12 Men Texting as their Messiah approaches – Part 2
    3. And now we return to Jerusalem for a closer look at it’s religious rulers as they plot the murder of their own Lamb of Sacrifice come to His own.

    Returning to Jerusalem

    The Pharisees were just one of the religious political parties of Jerusalem, which formed after the return from exile from the east. Other parties and leaders were more influenced by the Hellenistic customs of the west imported to Jerusalem by Alexander and Rome.

    painting of Christ and the Pharisees by Earnst Zimmerman

    The Gospel of Matthew

    John, of course, is not the only Gospel writer to record the influence of the Pharisees. Since we follow a storyline of a brief time leading up to Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem let’s glance at these men of this Jewish party in power through additional witness as well.

    (Of course if you’re following our 21st century approach of communication between everyone most likely the tax collector Matthew knew a few in Jerusalem he had to keep up to date on Jesus — and of course, this recent Lazarus miracle.)

    The Leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees

    16: The Pharisees and Sadducees approached, and tested him, asking him to show them a sign from heaven.

    4 “An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of[ Jonah.”

    Then he left them and went away. The disciples reached the other shore, and they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus told them,

    “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

    The Messiah cautions His followers to beware of their own religious leaders.

    Sabbath Questions

    At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat.

    But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.”

    Matthew would have been there. Now as they approached Jerusalem just days before the holiest of feast the Apostles must all have recalled this type of opposition from Jerusalem’s ruling council. (Of course Rome, for whom Matthew had collected taxes, kept a close watch on all of them.)

    The Gospel of Mark

    John Mark recalls from witness of the Apostles about a healing on the Sabbath ‘violation’ of Jesus:

    And He [Jesus] said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?”

    But they kept silent. After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man,

    “Stretch out your hand.”

    And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

    The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him [the Messiah Jesus], as to how they might destroy Him.

    Mark 3:6 NASB

    The Herodians, of course, happened to be the party in power (thanks to Rome) in Jerusalem. This consensus against the Messiah would not be so different than an agreement between Democrats and Republicans (in the US), between liberals and conservatives.

    The Gospel of Luke

    Pharisees and other Jewish leaders witnessed Jesus the Messiah perform many signs of proof throughout His three-year teaching ministry.

    A Man Cleansed

    5:12 While he was in one of the towns, a man was there who had leprosy all over him. He saw Jesus, fell facedown, and begged him: “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

    13 Reaching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying, “I am willing; be made clean,” and immediately the leprosy left him.

    15 But the news about him spread even more, and large crowds would come together to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses…

    17 On one of those days while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and also from Jerusalem…

    20 Seeing their faith he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

    21 Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to think to themselves:

    “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

    22 But perceiving their thoughts, Jesus replied to them, 

    “Why are you thinking this in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”

    —he told the paralyzed man, “I tell you: Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.”

    25 Immediately he got up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. Then everyone was astounded, and they were giving glory to God. And they were filled with awe and said,

    “We have seen incredible things today.”

    Signs and Miracles

    The Messiah is predicted throughout Scripture (Old Testament) by many. First century witnesses no doubt quoted many verses after encountering Jesus. (They would have texted the latest to their friends, things like.)

    Know what I thought of when I heard Jesus today?
    What? & who is Jesus?
    Ezekiel. Jesus came here from Galilee and Samaria. Jesus is a Prophet!
    Like Ezekiel? How?
    You know it:
    כְּבַקָּרַת֩ רֹעֶ֨ה עֶדְרֹ֜ו בְּיֹום־הֱיֹותֹ֤ו בְתֹוךְ־צֹאנֹו֙ נִפְרָשֹׁ֔ות כֵּ֖ן אֲבַקֵּ֣ר אֶת־צֹאנִ֑י וְהִצַּלְתִּ֣י אֶתְהֶ֗ם מִכָּל־הַמְּקֹומֹת֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר נָפֹ֣צוּ שָׁ֔ם בְּיֹ֥ום עָנָ֖ן וַעֲרָפֶֽל׃
    huh? oh I'm a bit rusty on my Hebrew
    “As a shepherd cares for his herd
     in the day when he is among
     his scattered sheep, 
    so I will care 
     for My sheep 
     and will deliver them 
     from all the places 
     to which they were scattered 
     on a cloudy and gloomy day.
    That's us alright, sheep scattered by Greeks, Rome and everyboby else.
    Tell me more about this Jesus

    Miracles! Miracles no ordinary man could do. And many Pharisees and other religious leaders from all over Galilee, Samaria, Judea and even the highest officials of Jerusalem witnessed the miracles of their Messiah Jesus.

    Some saw Jesus’ signs personally and others knew from reliable witnesses that this Son of Man was no ordinary man.

    Returning to the Gospel of John

    The Apostle John tells us at the conclusion of his Gospel that Jesus did many other things — too many to tell. Pharisees had plenty of evidence about the true identity of their Messiah right before them, yet by His Power they would lose theirs.

    In order to keep with our present scene just prior to the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem (known as Palm Sunday), we’ll take just one more glance at the Pharisees in the crowded capital, preparing for both the crowds of the Passover festival and simultaneously by stealth seeking ways to kill the Messiah Jesus.

    We have been following John’s witness of Good News of the Messiah Jesus. He raised Lazarus from the grave!

    John does not follow a strictly chronological presentation of the evidence of Jesus Christ, born as a man, crucified and buried, raised from the grave then after many days and many more witnesses ascended once more into heaven.

    John 11:

    We’re back in Bethany, Lazarus has just walked out of his tomb, and you’ll have to imagine all of the texts going out to friends in Jerusalem and everywhere. (No photos, just imagine some 20th century communication.)

    45 So then, many of the Jews… who were eyewitnesses to what Jesus had done, believed in Him. But some of them went back to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

    47 Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying,

    “What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

    That’s really it, isn’t it, that those in power will often resort to anything to remain in power.

    This, of course, includes religious leaders who do not hold the Lord God dear to their own hearts. Some leading Jews, Christian and other religions have all been guilty of this witness to the world against the LORD.

    49 And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all,

    50 Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.

    51 And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year,

    he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.

    53 Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.

    57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might seize Him.

    John 12:

    Now the Passover of the Jews was approaching

    All the talk around Jerusalem, all the chat, all the texts – everyone wondered if this Messiah Jesus would come to Jerusalem for the feast – the sacrifice of the Passover.

    Jesus has returned to Judah as far as Bethany to join his resurrected friend Lazarus in a family feast – a celebration at home before the great Jewish feast to which so many traveled yearly from near and far. Word gets out.

    9 Then a large crowd of the Jews learned he was there.

    woman with cell phone

    My friend traveling with the crowds saw the Messiah in Bethany!

    They came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, the one he had raised from the dead.

    Ahead in Jerusalem, waiting for Jesus

    10 But the chief priests had decided to kill Lazarus also, because he was the reason many of the Jews were deserting them and believing in Jesus.

    You know well the story of Jesus riding triumphantly up to the city gate of Jerusalem, the crowds worshiping Him laying palms before Him as He rode on the foal of a donkey.

    a crowd of people

    You know well the story of Jesus riding triumphantly up to the city gate of Jerusalem, the crowds worshiping Him laying palms before Him as He rode on the foal of a donkey.

    Then the Pharisees said to one another, “You see? You’ve accomplished nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!”

    John 12:19 CSB

    What sinister desperate plans will these religious leaders of Jerusalem about to be deposed text to each other next?

    You likely know the story of Holy Week and Palm Sunday, preached so many times to numb ears and distracted hearts. I have preached on it before as have so many. https://talkofjesus.com/jerusalem-defiled-awaits-king/

    Worship with your church Palm Sunday and ask yourself,

    IF I had witnessed the Messiah Jesus in Person, who would I text the GOOD NEWS?

    The Messiah approaches our city – SOON!

    Could you at least follow our scriptural posts by subscribing to talkofJesus.com and please comment.

    May the grace and peace of our Lord the Messiah Jesus be with you and remain with you always through God our Father and the Holy Spirit.

    NEXT: We will continue our series in the 
    Gospel of John, God-willing...