Tag: Nineveh

  • Nazareth of Jesus – Rejected by your hometown

    Nazareth of Jesus – Rejected by your hometown

    And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read..

    Luke 4:16 NASB20

    Teaching Scripture at your own Church

    Is it the Nazareth of Jesus? OR was this ‘Son of Man’ someone from an OTHER place?

    Throughout the Gospels [GOOD NEWS] we hear the Lord Jesus called ‘JESUS OF NAZARETH.’ And of course we know from Scripture that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, taken to Egypt by Joseph and Mary and finally settled in Nazareth after Herod’s death. So here in his home church (synagogue) Jesus is welcomed at first, but then rejected after reading Scripture and applying its truth.

    And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him…

    “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME,

    BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO BRING GOOD NEWS..

    “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears.”

    Jesus Christ reading Isaiah in Nazareth

    The crowds of Jews interspersed with gentiles had received Jesus well at first and initial reaction to the Lord at home seemed certain to confirm this local gaining fame throughout Galilee. So like the earlier prophets, Jesus preached with the authority of the Spirit of God.

    From Nineveh to Nazareth

    Last time we looked at the Prophet Jonah who was called to GO PREACH to the world of the gentiles in Nineveh. (Jonah would have loved to preach in his home church, but the LORD commanded him to preach repentance to those the Jews hated.)

    Taking the long view – Beyond Nineveh

    “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

    Yes, centuries before, Jonah finally relented to the LORD’s will and preached to Nineveh. Then THEY REPENTED!

    Here in first century Nazareth however, Jesus will not be accepted for obeying the LORD’s will as the Son of Man reads scripture of an earlier Prophet Isaiah to Jews who thought they knew him.

    “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! All the miracles that we heard were done in Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’”

    But He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.

    Luke 4:24 NASB20

    Nazareth – Preaching to an unrepentant Church

    .. And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and brought Him to the crest of the hill on which their city had been built, so that they could throw Him down from the cliff..

    What had been Jesus’ message to them?

    REPENTANCE! The same preaching which the LORD commanded to Nineveh and here as Jesus points out, to Syria in the time of Elijah.

    Scriptures

    Isaiah 52-53

    Original talkofJESUS.com post

    from April 26, 2017 – Topic: Isaiah Prophesies a Far-distant Hope
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  • Nineveh – Preaching to a cruel enemy

    Nineveh – Preaching to a cruel enemy

    Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

    Jonah 1:2 NASB20

    Repent (They did.)

    Remove your masks of hypocrisy, claimants of Christ. Let God’s enemy see your true face — that you DO NOT want them to be saved.

    Nineveh initially didn’t even see the back of Jonah’s head as the man of God faced away from the will of the LORD.

    Yet the LORD God wants to save sinners like us — Even other sinners not of us, that they too might come to know His love and grace.

    (If you’re going to preach Jonah you probably ought to hear God’s message of repentance and obedience. You with ears to hear, hear the LORD — His will, before you just connect it to your missions or draw the picture for a Children’s Bible.)

    HINT: It’s not about the whale.

    • Is Jonah and the Whale just a children’s Bible story to you?
    • Perhaps it is just an Old Testament parable predicting the resurrection?

    NO. It is more than that.

    For the LORD commands the Prophet Jonah to PREACH repentance to sinners. Yet this ‘religious man’ sails off on what he believes will be an easier journey. Jonah sails away from the troubles of others in favor of his own mission.

    Who is this cruel enemy of Nineveh?

    Even having read some ancient history background of the middle east at the time of Jonah, I again marveled at the contemporary look of those ancient people. Are we so different you might ask?

    It was Sennacherib who made Nineveh a truly magnificent city (c. 700 BC). He laid out new streets and squares and built within it the South West Palace, or “palace without a rival”.. 80 rooms. A foundation of 3.5 million cubic yards with walls more than six stories high.

    The stone carvings in the walls include many battle scenes, impalings and scenes showing Sennacherib’s men parading the spoils of war before him. .. he wrote of Babylon: “Its inhabitants, young and old, I did not spare, and with their corpses I filled the streets of the city.”

    “And Hezekiah of Judah who had not submitted to my yoke…him I shut up in Jerusalem his royal city like a caged bird. Earthworks I threw up against him, and anyone coming out of his city gate I made pay for his crime. His cities which I had plundered I had cut off from his land.”

    .. the total area of Nineveh (1,730 acres), and (15) great gates .. an elaborate system of (18) canals brought water from the hills to Nineveh..

    The enclosed area had more than 100,000-150,000 inhabitants, about twice as many as Babylon at the time, placing it among the largest settlements worldwide.

    Source: Wikipedia

    The Enemy viewed from Jerusalem

    Sennacherib siege of Jerusalem painting with army outside wall

    In case (like me) you missed the connection between Nineveh and Jerusalem, you will need to go back into the wars recorded in 2 Kings.

    2 Kings 18-19

    13 Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria marched against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them…

    In fact, you are NOT Jonah; but the gentile of Nineveh to whom Jonah preaches repentance!

    • Will you respond to God’s message as did the people of Nineveh?
    • Or are you as faithless as the religious ones of Nazareth who turned away Jesus? (We will visit Nazareth also on this brief journey.)

    Scriptures

    Ezekiel 18

    Matthew 12

    Jonah 3

    Original talkofJESUS.com post

    Original post March 30, 2017 – Topic: Repentance
    Summer Reruns! with picture of sun wearing sunglasses
    Summer 2021 AD {Scriptural} Reruns
    • CLICK “…Continue reading ” above,
    • THEN Ask a question or comment at the end of this post
    • OR email Roger@talkofJesus.com with your reaction, questions & comments.

    Stay tuned from more Summer of 2021 Reruns from talkofJESUS.com

    (ditto: Summer 2022 – more to come)

  • Beyond Nazareth

    Beyond Nazareth

    Taking the long view – Beyond Nineveh and Nazareth

    Our long journey began in Beyond Nineveh with a look at Jonah, a reluctant Prophet who preached repentance to the largest city on earth. {Read about the beginning of our journey in the link above.} From Jonah’s home in the Galilean hills, Jerusalem would have seemed like a modern day New York City [Population 8.4 Million] compared to nearby towns of Nazareth and Capernaum.

    Just like Jerusalem compared to Nineveh, New York City pales by comparison to a distant city like Karachi Pakistan [Population 27.5 Million souls]. A familiar New York City is smaller even than two cities in ChinaShanghai [24.3 Million] and Beijing [21.5 Million].

    Jonah of Gath-hepher, a town of Lower Galilee, about 5 miles from Nazareth

    The Lord sends Jonah to seek repentance from a distant unfamiliar city. Instead, Jonah sailed toward modern-day Spain rather than journey east toward modern-day Mosul Iraq. In fact, these foreigners repented!

    Isaiah Preaches Repentance and More

    Prior to the fall of Jerusalem many prophets foretold destruction by several conquering empires. One additional perspective of these turbulent times comes from the prophesies of Isaiah.  Yet a distant look Beyond Nazareth reveals hope of a Redeemer and Messiah. How distant? More than seven centuries.

    Isaiah 52:7

    How beautiful upon the mountains
    are the feet of him who brings good news,
    who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
    who publishes salvation,
    who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

    A Long Time from Nineveh to Nazareth

    We see jews made refugees not long after Jonah won non-believers in Nineveh to the Lord. Jerusalem captured, spared then rebuilt; conquered again and again (just as before). In first century Galilee powerful Rome to the west subdues all the Mediterranean. Israel (long defeated) doubts a prophet of note could reside in Nazareth [see John 1:46]. But a Prophet, yes more than a Prophet, would be called by others: Jesus of Nazareth. All would ask, is he the Messiah?

    Isaiah Prophesies a Far-distant Hope

    Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
    he shall be high and lifted up,
    and shall be exalted.

    As many were astonished at you—
    his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
    and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—

    so shall he sprinkle many nations;
    kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
    for that which has not been told them they see,
    and that which they have not heard they understand.

    Isaiah 52:13-15

    A son of man, suffering servant of the LORD; Jesus of Nazareth became best remembered for His Holy and Perfect Sacrifice of love on the cross. The distant time was eight hundred years before Christ and Isaiah spoke accurately of the pivotal event in the history of mankind.

    Isaiah 53: Description of the Messiah

    Now, twenty-one centuries after Jesus of Nazareth, scripture speaks to us – to the believer and to the sceptic in distant lands:

    Who has believed what he has heard from us?
    And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

    Prior to the fall of Jerusalem, before the rebuilding centuries later, centuries before Jesus of Nazareth the Prophet Isaiah describes our loving Lord.

    For he grew up before him like a young plant,
    and like a root out of dry ground;
    he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
    and no beauty that we should desire him.

     

    He was despised and rejected by men,
    a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
    and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

    Does the world esteem God? Is the Lord not saddened by our grievous sin?

    Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
    yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.

    But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
    upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.

    To be continued…

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