Tag: redeemer

  • Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – Thomas

    Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – Thomas

    Jesus is risen!

    .. You can’t prove it, can you?

    Christ Born & Witnessed, Crucified, Risen, Ascended..

    by Roger Harned

    It’s really easy to hear someone’s story of a baby born in a manger during the census of Augustus Caesar.

    The Babe in a manger (and His mother) have become our iconic emojis of virtue.

    Roger Harned talkofJesus.com – on Christmas traditions replacing the significance of Christ’s Resurrection

    The Witness of Thomas

    Imagine what Thomas must have pondered before he saw Jesus once more..

    His miracles were authentic. He was a man like us, yet so unlike us.

    We discovered many times that the Lord Jesus was more than any man we had ever met, even John the Baptist..

    Like when He calmed the raging Sea of Tiberius, fed thousands and especially when Jesus healed the sick and even raising some like Lazarus just recently from the grave.

    But we witnessed also the defeat of Israel’s Messiah, our only hope — His rejection by our own Jewish leaders and Rome’s cruel sentence of His death on a cross, mocking our Rabbi as “Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

    I wasn’t close for His execution, for I was afraid like all the others; but Jesus is certainly dead as any other nailed to a Roman Cross.

    John 20 (continued)

    John continues his witness of Jesus’ resurrection appearances which first were to a group of women, Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – Mary Magdalene then to ten of the Eleven Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – the Eleven remaining behind locked doors.

    This is the witness of Jews who had hoped that Jesus would restore the Kingdom of Israel.
    (Translations incl. Complete Jewish Bible) 
    All of the Twelve were born as Jews, as was the Lord Jesus (Yeshua).

    24 Now T’oma [Didymus in common Greek] (the name means “twin”), one of the Twelve, was not with them when Yeshua came.

    When the other talmidim [disciples] told him,

    “We have seen the Lord,”

    he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger into the place where the nails were and put my hand into his side,

    I refuse to believe it.”

    Believe it .. or not

    Well there it is: Like what happens so frequently, someone else tells us about the biggest event ever in their lives.. AND we missed it. Just like Thomas, we weren’t there.

    I either don’t believe them, pause with the uncertainty of doubt .. OR maybe I find it beyond belief that the Lord did not also choose ME to be part of such a life-changing moment.

    Perhaps you and I are not so unlike ‘doubting Thomas’ as we would like to believe.

    A timely note about time:
    
    Even though we've slowed the actual timeline of events between Jesus raising Lazarus and His own Resurrection, I will not delay John's Gospel an additional week to reflect real time. RH

    26 Eight days later His disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst..

    Although the doors were locked, Yeshua came, stood among them and said, “Shalom aleikhem!”

    27 Then he said to T’oma, “Put your finger here, look at my hands, take your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be lacking in trust, but have trust!”

    Witnessed Crucified; Witnessed Risen

    Thomas finally experiences the risen Christ Jesus the slain Messiah of Israel the same as the other Apostles and the women who saw Him first.

    Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

    John 20:27 NKJV

    28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

    Depicting Christ Crucified and Jesus Risen to Life!

    The scene of Thomas witnessing the wounds of the Risen Messiah, Jesus, their friend and their Teacher is beyond illustration.

    John must have recalled Jesus’ similar approach to Martha just before the Lord raised her brother Lazarus to life.

    “I am the resurrection and the life,” Jesus had asked the bereaved sister of Lazarus. “Do you believe this?”

    John 11:25-26 excerpt with context

    Martha and Mary had mourned the death of their brother.

    Mary the mother of Jesus also mourned helplessly. She could not save Him from suffering as she sorrowfully watched His death on a Cross nearby.

    Faithful painters of the Renaissance could neither paint nor sculpt the horror of the Lord Jesus’s wounds.

    Our focus draws to the hearts of the living rather than to the Redeemer of our lives.

    Believe by faith

    29 Jesus said [to Thomas, with all the Disciples present], “Because you have seen me, you have believed.

    Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

    By their witness and that of many others who had seen the risen Christ Jesus, many came to believe by the time John writes his Gospel, even many who would take up their cross to follow Him. These too the Apostle John would witness.

    30 So then, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name.

    To be continued...
    Next: We will return briefly to further witness of the Eleven near the conclusion of John's Gospel.
    
  • Our Lament and Weeping -4- unless You have completely rejected us

    Our Lament and Weeping -4- unless You have completely rejected us

    We began by outlining his Lament over Jerusalem and continued with Judgment on Jerusalem and Hope through God’s Mercy, where Jeremiah pleas for mercy based on his own suffering. After the four elegies he described the suffering of God’s people.


    Terrors of the Besieged City

    Judah refused to listen to God’s warnings through Jeremiah and other prophets to repent.

    Other nations battle over control of Jerusalem, which is eventually destroyed. Jeremiah then writes four acrostic elegies.

    He gives a defeated people songs crying out to the LORD.

    “Why,” they ask, has the Lord rejected his defenders of Jerusalem, his holy altar and chosen people?

    Aidan Bartos photo unsplash
    9/11/2001

    Lord, remember what has happened to us.

    Lamentations 5:1a CSB

    We should have expected it! This evil of the nations has threatened us before, but now it is too late.

    The Lord allowed it. Like our own national mournings, Jerusalem’s falls become reason for lament.


    Lamentations 5:

    Look, and see our disgrace!

    Lamentations 5:1b

    2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
    our houses to foreigners.

    Everything for which we have worked, all of our hopes for the future – gone.

    3 We have become orphans, fatherless;
    our mothers are widows.
    4 We must pay for the water we drink;
    our wood comes at a price.
    5 We are closely pursued;
    we are tired, and no one offers us rest.


    A Kurdish Syrian woman walks with her child past the ruins of the town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, on March 25, 2015. (Yasin Akgul/AFP/Getty Images)
    Kurdish mother with son in ruins of their town AD 2015

    Now I ask us: if the Lord has allowed this destruction of our hopes in past generations, why do we not remember the widows and fatherless forced from their homes in this day?

    7 Our fathers sinned; they no longer exist, but we bear their punishment.

    Woe to us

    Jeremiah continues by telling of men risking their lives to obtain food and of women raped. He laments that princes are hung by former slaves who now rule and they see that young boys are made into slaves.

    15 Joy has left our hearts;
    our dancing has turned to mourning.
    16 The crown has fallen from our head.

    Woe to us, for we have sinned.

    Lamentations 5:15b

    Woe אוֹי is a crying out, a lament.

    The prophet Isaiah had also spoken the Lord’s judgment:

    The look on their faces testifies against them,
    and like Sodom, they flaunt their sin;
    they do not conceal it.
    Woe to them,
    for they have brought disaster on themselves.

    Isaiah 3:9

    The Lord had warned these descendants of Jacob, transgressors of the Law of Moses

    Now His blessings are replaced by woe. Yet Jeremiah closes his lament with a prayer for restoration, a ray of hope for the remnant of Jacob.

    You, Lord, are enthroned forever

    21 Lord, bring us back to yourself…

    Shouldn’t this be the plea of each of us?

    5:21 הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ יְהוָה אֵלֶיךָ ונשֶׂוב

    shuwb Yĕhovah shuwb

    Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored! – NASB

    … so we may return; renew our days as in former times…5:21b CSB


    Ah, here is the hope of Jeremiah for the glory and blessings of the past.

    unless You have rejected us

    Let us go back to the Jerusalem of old. Judah’s king has fallen and Jerusalem reduced to ruble. All of this defeated generation must pray for favor from a foreign land. Yet the prophet closes his lament with humble dependence upon the Lord God. Jeremiah accepts the judgment of God on this generation.

    Lord, bring us back to yourself…

    22 unless you have completely rejected us
    and are intensely angry with us.

    Lamentations 5:22 CSB

    Is God your lord or does your sin provoke His intense anger?

    Why do you cry out to God when you will not bow down to His will?


    Redemption for our sin

    “I will pour out my wrath on sin,” says the Lord. Yet what of our sin which provokes the wrath of God?

    • Jerusalem sinned greatly, Therefore she has become an unclean thing. Lamentations 1:5
    • Our fathers sinned, and are no more; It is we who have borne their iniquities. Lamentations 5:7
    • The crown has fallen from our head; Woe to us, for we have sinned! Lamentations 5:16
    • … The sin of Judah is inscribed with an iron stylus. With a diamond point it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars… Jeremiah 17:1

    Because you people sinned against the LORD and did not listen to His voice, therefore this thing has happened to you.

    Jeremiah 40:3b NASB

    the Messiah Redeemer

    Just prior to a later destruction of Jerusalem, the only Son of God was hung on a Cross for our sins. There He had cried out:

    “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is:

    My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

    Matthew 27:46

    Of all laments for sin, this one only redeems.

    The Redeemer of Israel rejected and hung on a Cross. Roman soldier spears the body of Jesus on the cross.
    He was already dead

    In his earlier prophecies, Jeremiah had predicted Jesus the Messiah and Redeemer of Israel to come in a later day.

    Jeremiah 31:

    Proclaim, praise, and say,
    “Lord, save your people,
    the remnant of Israel!”

    Lament Turned to Joy
    15 This is what the Lord says:

    A voice was heard in Ramah,
    a lament with bitter weeping—
    Rachel weeping for her children,
    refusing to be comforted for her children
    because they are no more.

    16 This is what the Lord says:

    Keep your voice from weeping
    and your eyes from tears,
    for the reward for your work will come—

    Do you recall fulfillment of this scripture at the birth of Jesus when King Herod of Judah ordered the slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem?

    28 Just as I watched over them to uproot and to tear them down, to demolish and to destroy, and to cause disaster, so will I watch over them to build and to plant them”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

    The New Covenant

    31 “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

    Jeremiah 31:31 CSB

    “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

    This is the work of the Holy Spirit, given after Jesus’ Sacrifice and resurrection.


    Though Jeremiah laments the fall of God’s chosen because of their sin, the prophet reassures the faithful remnant that the Lord is faithful.

    51:5 כִּ֠י לֹֽא־אַלְמָ֨ן יִשְׂרָאֵ֤ל וִֽיהוּדָה֙ מֵֽאֱלֹהָ֔יו מֵֽיְהוָ֖ה צְבָאֹ֑ות כִּ֤י אַרְצָם֙ מָלְאָ֣ה אָשָׁ֔ם מִקְּדֹ֖ושׁ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

    For neither Israel nor Judah has been forsaken
    By his God, the LORD of hosts,
    Although their land is full of guilt
    Be ore the Holy One of Israel.

    Jesus was innocent of sin, even unto death on a Cross for the sins of the world. The Messiah of God had been betrayed by a zealous Disciple named Judas, who would repent of his sin too late.

    Jeremiah had also spoken of this time:

    Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him whose price was set by the Israelites, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.

    Matthew 27:9-10

    The LORD has not rejected us, but sent us a pure and perfected Redeemer in Christ Jesus. Do not betray the Lord’s grace given for you on a Cross for your sin. Worship the Lord your God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For the Prophets have lamented for our sins and predicted our Savior.

    Amen.

  • A River of Redemption Flowing from Eden – Redeemer

    A River of Redemption Flowing from Eden – Redeemer

    For I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and at the last he will stand upon the earth. – Job 19:25 ESV

    Redeemed from what?

    Scripture records that Job is a righteous man. Can you say that? Most assuredly, I cannot.

    A great and powerful leader loves God and does everything right, yet the Lord permits Satan to test him. He has everything a man could ever want, but then the Lord takes it away. Job loses everything except his life. 

    And how does he respond? 

    Job cries out to the Lord to be saved from miseries which have come to him in the flesh of this life (and his miseries are many). Yet hear Job’s assurance of judgement by a just God.

    19:25 וַאֲנִי יָדַעְתִּי גֹּאֲלִי חָי וְאַחֲרֹון עַל־עָפָר יָקֽוּם׃

    19:26 וְאַחַר עֹורִֽי נִקְּפוּ־זֹאת וּמִבְּשָׂרִי אֶֽחֱזֶה אֱלֹֽוהַּ׃

    And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: – Job 19:26 KJV

    Though he dies he will see God his Redeemer, face to face. In a word: resurrection. Judgment, face to face judgment by God!

    Our return to dust

    The Lord’s original curse against man does not dissuade Job from hope of seeing his Redeemer on the day of his judgment. Job repents before God acknowledging that he knows that he is dust. 

    Do you? Have you acknowledged before God that you are only dust?

    By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread,
    till you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
    for you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return.” – Genesis 3:19 

    Redeemers

    What is a Redeemer? (It’s certainly another important concept this world has relegated to triteness, as in ‘redeeming coupons.’)

    Redeemto buy or pay off, buy back, recover, exchange or convert (as in the blood of an animal for sin or money for a sacrificial animal), to discharge or fulfill a promise or a debt, to make amends for (some wrong), obtain release by a payment, restoration; theology: to deliver from sin and its consequences by means of a sacrifice offered for the sinner.

    Job was a righteous man, yet he knew he would face his redeemer after his death. Have you had enough to have cried out to your Redeemer?

    Earlier in this series I referred to Joseph as a redeemer not only Israel, but also of Egypt by saving them from famine. Joseph was purchased and no ransom was paid for his release. With God’s help Joseph paid for his own redemption.

    Many look to Moses as a redeemer of the Hebrews, saving them from slavery. Moses had been born into slavery under imminent threat of death, but the Lord rescued the Hebrew boy into the household of Pharaoh. He escaped when discovered buy returned when called by the Lord. Moses freed the Hebrews from slavery under Pharaoh. The Lord used Moses to save His covenant people, but Moses did not pay a ransom for their return.

    The Lord saves David and other later kings of Israel and Judah. In fact, it is always the LORD who intervenes in these and other rescues of mankind. Even Noah had been rescued by God.

    From Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Joseph before the Law, to Moses, David and kings after the Law you will read of sacrifices made to the Lord. All of these faithful men recognized their own need for a Redeemer for their sins.

    If you have never considered your own need for a Redeemer, you may want to weigh the significance of its antonym as it could apply to your soul at the Judgment without a Redeemer: 

    Antonyms

    1. abandon.

    Strong currents of these last days

    Have you plead to the Lord for mercy? ‘Oh Lord, do not abandon me.’

    Though requirements of the Law placed severe penalties upon those disobedient to the Lord, Moses assured the faithful:

    “Be strong and courageous; don’t be terrified or afraid of them. For the LORD your God is the one who will go with you; he will not leave you or abandon you.” – Deuteronomy 31:6 

    In Psalm 16, David offers an assurance similar to to that of Job:

    10 For you will not abandon me to Sheol;
    you will not allow your faithful one to see decay.

    God warned Adam and Eve that on the day they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that they would surely die. Adam died. So did Eve and their sons, daughters and descendants, except the family of Noah.

    So did Eve and their sons, daughters and descendants, except the family of Noah. And all mankind from Adam until now has sinned, every one of us.

    Surely we will also die; then as Job said, we will be resurrected to the Judgment.

    LORD, the hope of Israel,
    all who abandon you
    will be put to shame.
    All who turn away from me
    will be written in the dirt,
    for they have abandoned
    the LORD, the fountain of living water. – Jeremiah 17:13

    A Redeemer and Judge

    Our Redeemer was before Eden and was in Eden. He IS a river of righteousness, pure waters springing forth which refresh the soul and give life to dust.

    John 1:2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him… 3:5 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.

    John 4:13 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.”

    John 5:24 “Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.

    25 “Truly I tell you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live… a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of condemnation.

    Christ Jesus! He IS our Redemption, for He has sacrificed His own blood as payment for our sins. Jesus the Son of Man sacrificed His life as payment for mine. He IS the river of life, springing forth from before Eden and cleansing our sins.

    Beloved brother of dust and sister of sin, will you plea to our Redeemer for His great mercy?

    Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river…

    Revelation 22: