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Tag: messiah

Amos the Seer: “I told you so (5x) – GOD showed me
I told you so!

Don’t we hate to hear it? While occupied in our own daily trespasses we stop up our ears to any who would warn of our sins: “Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold…”

And to make things worse, in the day of our demise the seer such as Amos could well lament, “I told you so, but you refused to listen.”

Amos 5:

Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament, house of Israel…

We’ve heard Amos previously warn:

Those who turn justice into wormwood
also throw righteousness to the ground.

Now the seer shows signs he tells Israel’s leaders ‘the Lord GOD showed me.’

Would a leader – a king, premier or president – dare ignore something that a seer [Amos] says the Lord God showed me?

How could a priest serving a people pledged to God not hear Amos when he demonstrates ‘what the Lord God showed me?’

Wailing in the streets

16 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Lord,

“There is wailing in all the plazas,
And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’

… For I will pass through you,”
Says the Lord.

It is not as if the LORD leads them out of their troubles as before from Egypt through the wilderness and before Israel subduing her enemies in the promised land.

Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord!
What will the day of the Lord be for you?
It will be darkness and not light.
Amos 5:18 CSB

The seer shows the fear of the LORD that will consume a man fleeing an enemy arrived safely at home, but there bitten by a snake.

Are we not all prey of the serpent of eden without the Lord God?

Rather than consuming Israel’s offerings for sin on the altar the Lord would consume Israel!

The Day of the Lord

20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light,
Even gloom with no brightness in it?

21 “I hate, I reject your festivals,
Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.
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We will have more about festivals to consider
when returning to the Gospel of John shortly.
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22 “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them…

The Lord will no longer accept Israel’s worship!

23 Take away from me the noise of your songs!

25 “House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to me during the forty years in the wilderness?

Amos reminds that they had nothing to offer there before the pillar of fire of the LORD!

Idolatry

NO OTHER GODS!

The Law of the Living LORD our God is quite clear: He IS GOD and idols (even of good “Saints” or a Jesus of stone) are not. Yet Israel became a whore on the mountaintops of the stone images of idolatry.

26 וּנְשָׂאתֶ֗ם אֵ֚ת סִכּ֣וּת מַלְכְּכֶ֔ם וְאֵ֖ת כִּיּ֣וּן צַלְמֵיכֶ֑ם כּוֹכַב֙ אֱלֹ֣הֵיכֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר עֲשִׂיתֶ֖ם לָכֶֽם׃
Amos 5:27 WLC

27 Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus,”
Says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

Woe to those at ease

We have heard this before from the Prophet Isaiah who also preached against rituals and idolatry after Amos. The true prophet so often warns, “This is what the LORD God showed me.”

Warning & Advice to Scoffers Who Rule
Isaiah speaks to scoffers of God. Yet are your ears this day so filled with twisted speech that you do not even understand the significance of his warning?

Amos now warns the rich who govern and direct worship in Israel.

3 Woe to you who put far off the day of doom,
Who cause the seat of violence to come near;
4 Who lie on beds of ivory,
Stretch out on your couches,
Eat lambs from the flock
And calves from the midst of the stall;
5 Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments,
And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David;
6 Who drink wine from bowls,
And anoint yourselves with the best ointments,
But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

… now go into exile … And the sprawlers’ banqueting will pass away…

Judgment on Jacob

8 The Lord God has sworn by Himself,
The Lord God of hosts says:
“I abhor the pride of Jacob,
And hate his palaces;
Therefore I will deliver up the city
And all that is in it.”

God showed me five signs
I will leave it to you to read the five signs Amos tells us, ‘the Lord God showed me.’

Let the Holy Spirit convict the church!

The Lord Jesus, Redeemer of Israel, later showed signs no other Prophet could ever do. Yet even the Messiah Jesus was not believed.

So how do you think Amos was received by the leaders of the land and their appointed teachers and priests?

The five signs build in intensity and importance.

A brief glance

7:2 When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land, I said, “Lord God, please forgive! … So the Lord relented…

4 The Lord God showed me this: The Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. 5 Then I said, “Lord God, please stop! …

“This too shall not be,” said the Lord God.

7 Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. And the Lord said to me,

“Amos, what do you see?”

And I said, “A plumb line.”

Opposition

10 Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying,

“Amos has conspired against you right here in the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words…

12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer!

Amos responds to the priest with the anointing of the Lord in his calling.

“I was no prophet…, But I was a sheepbreeder.

I will spare them no longer

What do you think?

The Lord has relented from punishment for sin. Will you repent?

And once again, the Lord holds back and does not punish. Will you now repent?

So the Lord measures the place of your worship, the people of His pasture. It is a time for harvest, a festival of blessing in times before.

3 In that day the temple songs will become wailing”—this is the Lord God’s declaration.

“Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere!

Silence!”
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Do you now FEAR THE LORD?
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4 Hear this,

you who swallow up the needy,
And make the poor of the land fail…

10 I will turn your feasts into mourning
and all your songs into lamentation;
I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth
and every head to be shaved.
I will make that grief
like mourning for an only son
and its outcome like a bitter day.

11 Look, the days are coming—
this is the declaration of the Lord God—
when I will send a famine through the land:
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
and roam from north to east
seeking the word of the Lord,
but they will not find it.
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SILENCE! of the LORD. Do you hear it?
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God’s Judgment Unavoidable

Did you repent when you heard the word of the Lord?

And did you bow down when the Lord showed you mercy?

Now, therefore, the Lord stands beside the holy altar of worship and Amos speaks the unspeakable judgment of the Lord upon the people of His Own covenant.

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said,

“Strike the doorposts, that the thresholds may shake,
And break them on the heads of them all.
I will slay the last of them with the sword.
He who flees from them shall not get away,
And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered.

“Though they dig into hell,
From there My hand shall take them;
Though they climb up to heaven,
From there I will bring them down;
The word of the LORD – Amos 9:2 NKJV

The further words of the Lord paint a fearful judgment and death of the people of His promise, a covenant Israel has broken.

The Prophet Amos confronts you and says, God showed me all this that you might repent. Do you?

All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
Amos 9:10 KJV

The ending that is not yet the end

Amos offers only a distant glimmer of hope.

“On that day I will raise up
The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down,
And repair its damages;
I will raise up its ruins,
And rebuild it as in the days of old…

The Lord God will once again accept worship by the sons of David. Yet how?

We will learn more of this next in returning to the Good News of John.

וְשָׁפַכְתִּי֩ עַל־בֵּ֨ית דָּוִ֜יד וְעַ֣ל יֹושֵׁ֣ב יְרוּשָׁלִַ֗ם ר֤וּחַ חֵן֙ וְתַ֣חֲנוּנִ֔ים וְהִבִּ֥יטוּ אֵלַ֖י אֵ֣ת אֲשֶׁר־דָּקָ֑רוּ וְסָפְד֣וּ עָלָ֗יו כְּמִסְפֵּד֙ עַל־הַיָּחִ֔יד וְהָמֵ֥ר עָלָ֖יו כְּהָמֵ֥ר עַֽל־הַבְּכֹֽור׃
http://blb.sc/009Nio

“I will pour out on the house of David
and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
the Spirit of grace and of supplication,
so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced;
and they will mourn for Him,
as one mourns for an only son,
and they will weep bitterly over Him
like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.
Zechariah 12:10 NASB
March 21, 2020
The Gatekeeper & the Shepherds – the Door
After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said,
“Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”
The Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Apostle John – 4:1 NASB

Heaven’s door

Let’s not miss that the Pharisees’ debates with the Messiah question His authority from the Lord our God and Father. And Jesus’ signs and parables all point heavenward.

Do you desire eternal life?

It is a question of highest importance. And who may enter the gate or the door to eternal life in heaven?

How can we know? Who will unravel this great mystery of eternal life in heaven and the judgment of sins punished by a sentence to hell?

Closed doors to Scripture

וַיַּעֲמֹ֤ד מֹשֶׁה֙ בְּשַׁ֣עַר הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֔ה וַיֹּ֕אמֶר מִ֥י לַיהוָ֖ה אֵלָ֑י וַיֵּאָסְפ֥וּ אֵלָ֖יו כָּל־בְּנֵ֥י לֵוִֽי׃
Exodus 32:26 WLC

Does it help you to read this Hebrew scripture about Moshe (Moses)?

OR does the fact of the Hebrew language create a closed door to the Bible for you?

Then read translation into English about Moshe choosing who will enter the camp of the LORD and who Moses sentences to death.

Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
Exodus 32:26 KJV

Sometimes the Lord places a Moses or David or Prophet at a gate or the door to guard the integrity of His Own Righteousness.

We addressed this first by our look at the gatekeeper and watchmen. But frequently religion’s wide door or misled path will turn the faithful away from Scripture.

ἔστη δὲ Μωυσῆς ἐπὶ τῆς πύλης τῆς παρεμβολῆς καὶ εἶπεν τίς πρὸς κύριον ἴτω πρός με συνῆλθον οὖν πρὸς αὐτὸν πάντες οἱ υἱοὶ Λευι
et stans in porta castrorum ait si quis est Domini iungatur mihi congregatique sunt ad eum omnes filii Levi
Exodus 32:26: Greek & Latin

Get the picture?

Not really, if you have received the filtered view of religious teachers’ blind teaching of faith.

In fact many in Jerusalem’s crowds depended on the Pharisees or Rabbi’s to tell them what Scripture says. Even the literate often read their Empire-wide language of Greek, but not Hebrew.

So the symbols of Jesus’ parables create important universal pictures to those barred by the misleading of Israel’s shepherds of the gates and the door of worship of the Lord God our Father.

Religious leaders who manipulate Scripture become barriers to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a closed door to repentance by sinners.
Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com

Symbolism of a gate or a door

Heaven must have a gate (of sorts), like a walled city.

Not everyone gets into the heavenly Jerusalem.

The LORD must have watchmen (perhaps angels – spirit beings who serve the King as messengers and guards in the glorious heavenly city of God).

Who does Almighty God anoint to sit in the gate as the door to enter eternal life?

David? Perhaps Moses? Even the great Prophet Elijah?

No, none of these.

And certainly not a false prophet after Jesus claiming light from the place of darkness. Not even leaders of angels such as Gabriel or Michael. And most certainly no idolatrous intercessors of mothers, antiquated saints leaving only dust in place, or Apostles long passed.

Who then sits at the door of heaven – the gate of eternal life?

The door IS the very Lamb of God, the Shepherd of shepherds, the Son of Man, Christ Jesus!

To Him and no other we sinners must appeal by His mercy to enter eternal life by the grace of His Own Blood of Perfect Sacrifice.

Are we blind too?

Jesus the Messiah, who healed not only this blind man but others as well, clearly sheds light on the judgment for which He is sent to the world.

But as the Lord points out, some shepherds like the Pharisees really don’t see. For the prophet Isaiah had accused:

And they are shepherds who have no understanding;
They have all turned to their own way,
Each one to his unjust gain, to the last one.

These pharisees, rabbis of Judah confront their Messiah time after time questioning and denying His authority. They attempt to discredit Him even after another sign of Jesus. For a man born blind received his sight from Jesus.

John 9: 24-25 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

Most of these pharisees refused to believe in the Messiah sent to save sinners.

John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

Now this scene of controversy argued before the crowds of Jerusalem plays out in another parable of Jesus told against the pharisees just after the man born blind worships Jesus as Lord.

John 10:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.
Gospel of John 10:1 NASB – Caution to believers from Christ Jesus

2 But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

The LORD is my shepherd

מִזְמֹור לְדָוִד יְהוָה רֹעִי לֹא אֶחְסָֽר׃

You know the imagery of the Messiah and require no translation or interpretation of this parable connected to the sign of Jesus leading a blind man to worship Him.

Suppose heaven is so easy to enter as a wall without the door of the shepherd who gathers his sheep.

Can you climb over an unguarded wall?

Of course.

Could just any shepherd appear to lead the sheep anywhere, even to destruction?

Even in this day they often do.

If heaven’s chosen sheep gathered within the walls of the holy (separated) place cannot trust their shepherd as a door, will the wolves not enter and false shepherds lead them astray?

Are the sheep not destined for the slaughter of sacrifice if the Perfect Sacrifice has not already been made?

I AM the Good Shepherd – Jesus

3 “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

The Messiah, the Shepherd of heaven, gathers them to a place where He IS the door.

Then He calls to all the sheep, even by name.

The Lord knows them personally. He makes no mistakes and they know His voice rather than that of a false teacher or shepherd who would lead them into the pit of destruction.

Jesus knows you. Do you know Him?

4 “And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

Will the blind shepherds hear?

Pharisees, rabbis who teach what they will, preachers who claim they can lead everybody to heaven – all these shepherds, Jesus says, are blind.

And clearly they do not see the Scripture before them, let alone share the Way, the Truth and the Life eternal of the Gospel Good News of our Savior from death, judgment and punishment.

All these believe that heaven has no door or they pretend to hold the only key to the gate (if indeed heaven had a golden locked gate).

After Jesus’ resurrection, clearly heaven’s gate is no guarded cemetery or grand golden cathedral depicting idols offering prayers for your admittance.

These false shepherds whitewash the entrance of hell with a hologram of heaven’s golden gate, through which they lead many sheep of the world to the slaughter of hell’s punishment!

The Good Shepherd

7 So Jesus said to them again,

“Truly, truly, I say to you,

I am the door of the sheep.

We are sheep in this world of darkness being led to the slaughter.

False teachers seek to sacrifice follower after follower into the fires of destruction!

The Messiah Jesus accuses these of the misleading the sheep. These self-appointed shepherds over our unrighteousness deceive and destroy.

8 All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.

Jesus speaks of false messiahs, kings and leaders who only claim to follow the Lord, all who “do what is evil in the sight of the Lord.”

I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
John 10:9 NASB

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

Jesus reiterates the contrast between Pharisees and false leaders of God’s people and himself, the One Shepherd of the Lord our God.

The Sacrifice of the Good Shepherd

I have told you once that I AM the door.

When you did not understand I told the crowds my clear meaning and purpose of coming here to lead My sheep.

Now, those with ears to hear, in addition to the clear signs before your eyes here is how you can hear the Shepherd who knows you by name.

“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
John 10:11 NASB

What does this mean? (For it has not yet happened?)

Jesus gives the hearer of His voice no time to consider a wrong solution to our leading by God, but again shows the false leadership of the Pharisees who have redefined requirements for the flock to enter heaven.

12 “The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away…

Here into Jerusalem Rome has followed other conquerors and the hired hands of Herod abandon the faith of Abraham adding new requirements to the Law of Moses.

“… then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

I know My sheep

Who will lead the scattered sheep sent to Babylon and Persia and again to Egypt then conquered once more by a mighty Greece? And though only a remnant returns, who will go into all the world now conquered by Rome?

The shepherds have divided and run, returned and divided the flock.

14 “I am the good shepherd,
and know my sheep,
and am known of mine. [KJV]

15 “As the Father knows Me,
even so I know the Father;
and I lay down My life for the sheep. [NKJV]

Now Jesus again states His relationship to God the Father as the Messiah and Savior of Israel. The Lord also clearly states fulfillment of Scripture concerning the gentiles or nations.

A Savior of the Nations

I have other sheep, which are not of this fold;
I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice;
and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
The Good News of the Messiah Jesus to the gentiles – John 10:16 NASB

Three points here in the parable of the Good Shepherd:
1. The Messiah saves some who are not Jews.
2. Jesus will include the chosen of the nations to ‘follow Him’ as the Good Shepherd of all sheep and they too will hear His call to the promise of eternal life.
3. Jews who follow the Messiah and Gentiles will become one flock of the faithful with Him – the Good Shepherd of Israel.
Sacrifice of the Shepherd for the sins of the sheep

Would a father sacrifice his own son?

Abraham offered to do so, believing that the LORD would do right.

Jesus makes personal reference after personal reference to God as His Father. Would God provide the Sacrifice for your sins and for mine as the Lord did for Abraham?

Why would a Righteous Father send His Perfect Son to a world of sinners?

17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.

“No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.

“This command I have received from My Father.”

Jesus clearly states after His parable of the Good Shepherd that God His Father commanded Him – the Son of God and only Good Shepherd – to sacrifice His mortal life for the sheep. AND He has the authority and power or the resurrection of life itself!

Controversial?

Even to this day and in every time of these last days.

19 The Jews who heard these words were again divided. Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”

21 But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

Do you see?

Does Jesus open your eyes to the Light of eternal life? Or are you blind too?

What shepherd do you follow?

The One Who IS the door?

Or have you heard so many who make other claims about heaven?

And Jesus said,
“For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”
March 13, 2020
Do you believe in the Son of Man?
“No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
The witness of Jesus to Nikodēmos – John 3:13-15 NASB
(the world knows where He is leading)

Returning to the Light

We have been following the signs of the Messiah which the Apostle John presents in his Gospel.

Jesus had healed a man born blind who confronts the religious officials of Jerusalem with the evidence that this man must be the Messiah!

“While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”
The witness of Jesus to His Apostles – John 9:5

To give a sense of some time passing in these events which took place I paused John’s story Jesus – Siloam – “I washed and I see where the man sent to Siloam to wash and could now see was questioned by Pharisees.

Before returning to the seeing man’s witness of the Light in John 9, first let’s return to a scene of a Pharisee questioning Jesus. John has already set the stage for this sign of the Messiah giving sight to the blind.

29:18 וְשָׁמְעוּ בַיֹּום־הַהוּא הַחֵרְשִׁים דִּבְרֵי־סֵפֶר וּמֵאֹפֶל וּמֵחֹשֶׁךְ עֵינֵי עִוְרִים תִּרְאֶֽינָה׃

John 3:

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him,

“Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
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John 9:13 They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees. 
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John 3:9 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?”

10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony.

12 If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
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John 9:24 So a second time they summoned the man who had been blind ...
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John 3:19 This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
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John 9:28 They ridiculed him: 
“You’re that man’s disciple, but we’re Moses’s disciples. We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man—we don’t know where he’s from.”
 30 “This is an amazing thing!” the man told them. 
“You don’t know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes.
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John 9:

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown the man out, and when he found him, he asked,

“Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

Now here is a question from our Lord to the man whose sight He returned worthy of consideration by each and every soul who for a brief time dwells in this world of darkness.
- “Do you believe in the Son of God?”
- Is Jesus who now confronts you in plain sight?
- Does the Messiah of our salvation sent to the world by God our Father ask you to believe?
Listen, learned Pharisee of these last days, and see the Light of the Gospel. Is the Spirit of the living LORD speaking to you?

But returning to the response of the man formerly blind:

36 “Who is he, Sir, that I may believe in him?” he asked.

37 Jesus answered, “You have seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

38 “I believe, Lord!” he said, and he worshiped him.

Wouldn’t you, if the Messiah had given you sight?

Shouldn’t you, since the Messiah Jesus has drawn you from the darkness of your sin to the Very Light of Life?

Son of Man – a view from Scripture

Where did the Messiah Jesus come up with this favorite self-designation by which He describes His humanity to man?

Jewish rabbis who studied scripture knew it well, for the Prophet Ezekiel uses ‘son of man’ in numerous descriptions of his heavenly encounters. First, a definition from the Hebrew:

Son of Man!

Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.
Then He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!”
Ezekiel 1:28-2:1 NASB

2:3 וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי בֶּן־אָדָם שֹׁולֵחַ אֲנִי אֹֽותְךָ אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־גֹּויִם הַמֹּורְדִים אֲשֶׁר מָרְדוּ־בִי הֵמָּה וַאֲבֹותָם פָּשְׁעוּ בִי עַד־עֶצֶם הַיֹּום הַזֶּֽה׃

בֵּן
ben
- Meaning ‘son’ in a broad sense, specifically as ‘son’ (2978x); but also as ‘first’ (51x)
- Genesis 27:32 וַיֹּאמֶר לֹו יִצְחָק אָבִיו מִי־אָתָּה וַיֹּאמֶר אֲנִי בִּנְךָ בְכֹֽרְךָ עֵשָֽׂו׃
- Revelation 22:13 [gk] ἐγὼ τὸ Ἄλφα καὶ τὸ Ὦ ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τὸ τέλος
  - “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
אָדָם
‘adam
- man or mankind, generally, only occasionally specific to the first man, Adam or a human man rather than a human woman
- Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man H120 of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man H120 became a living being.
- Ezekiel 1:5 Within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human H120 form.
Son of man most frequently designates a human being, one born of flesh. More than any other Prophet Ezekiel uses it to describe a mortal human chosen by God to tell God’s people what the LORD must say to them.

בֶּן־אָדָם צֹפֶה נְתַתִּיךָ לְבֵית יִשְׂרָאֵל וְשָׁמַעְתָּ מִפִּי דָּבָר וְהִזְהַרְתָּ אֹותָם מִמֶּֽנִּי׃
“Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me.
Ezekiel 3:17 – Masoretic text; NASB

Judgment by the Light

Prior to this witness by the man who was blind the Apostle John has already witnessed the context of this sign by the Messiah Jesus.

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying,
“I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
John 8:12 NASB

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

Jesus’ debate with the Pharisees, some who do not believe, has already taken place. John now presents a proverbial metaphor at the conclusion of this sign by Jesus that indeed, He IS the Messiah.

John 9:

39 And Jesus said,

“For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”

Would we expect any better reaction to Jesus from those who have already publicly proclaimed their opposition to the Messiah before their very eyes?

40 Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him,

“We are not blind too, are we?”

Are they? For they know well their own Scripture of the coming of the Messiah.

Isaiah 29:
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הֹ֚וי אֲרִיאֵ֣ל אֲרִיאֵ֔ל קִרְיַ֖ת חָנָ֣ה דָוִ֑ד סְפ֥וּ שָׁנָ֛ה עַל־שָׁנָ֖ה חַגִּ֥ים יִנְקֹֽפוּ׃
וְחָנִ֥יתִי כַדּ֖וּר עָלָ֑יִךְ וְצַרְתִּ֤י עָלַ֨יִךְ֙ מֻצָּ֔ב וַהֲקִֽימֹתִ֥י עָלַ֖יִךְ מְצֻרֹֽת׃
הִתְמַהְמְה֣וּ וּתְמָ֔הוּ הִשְׁתַּֽעַשְׁע֖וּ וָשֹׁ֑עוּ שָֽׁכְר֣וּ וְלֹא־יַ֔יִן נָע֖וּ וְלֹ֥א שֵׁכָֽר׃
כִּֽי־נָסַ֨ךְ עֲלֵיכֶ֤ם יְהוָה֙ ר֣וּחַ תַּרְדֵּמָ֔ה וַיְעַצֵּ֖ם אֶת־עֵֽינֵיכֶ֑ם אֶת־הַנְּבִיאִ֛ים וְאֶת־רָאשֵׁיכֶ֥ם הַחֹזִ֖ים כִּסָּֽה׃
הֹ֛וי הַמַּעֲמִיקִ֥ים מֵֽיהוָ֖ה לַסְתִּ֣ר עֵצָ֑ה וְהָיָ֤ה בְמַחְשָׁךְ֙ מַֽעֲשֵׂיהֶ֔ם וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ מִ֥י רֹאֵ֖נוּ וּמִ֥י יֹודְעֵֽנוּ׃
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Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.

And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.

Be delayed and wait,
Blind yourselves and be blind;
They become drunk, but not with wine,
They stagger, but not with strong drink.

For the LORD has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep,
He has shut your eyes, the prophets;
And He has covered your heads, the seers.

Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD,
And whose deeds are done in a dark place,
And they say, “Who sees us?” or “Who knows us?”

On that day

Isaiah 29:

18 On that day the deaf will hear words of a book,
And out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

19 The afflicted also will increase their gladness in the Lord,
And the needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

24 And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who murmur will accept instruction.”

These scriptures from Isaiah, a true Prophet of Israel, the Pharisees would know well.

How will we know that the Messiah stands before us as the Son of Man?

“The eyes of the blind will see.

Give glory to the LORD your God,
Before He brings darkness
And before your feet stumble
On the dusky mountains,
And while you are hoping for light
He makes it into deep darkness,
And turns it into gloom.
Jeremiah 13:16

“We are not blind too, are we?”

“What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.”

“… one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

“… You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?”

41 Jesus said to them,

“If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
“But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
Genesis 1:4; John 1:5; Matthew 6:23 NASB

John 9:41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

Have you born blind confronted your sin?

Will you now worship the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, who opens your eyes to the Light?

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying,
“I am the Light of the world;
he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness,
but will have the Light of life.”
John 8:12 NASB
March 3, 2020