Tag: resurrection

  • Son-Man Risen!

    Son-Man Risen!

     “Are you the King of the Jews,” the Prefect Pilate had asked JESUS just three days ago?

    βασιλεύς King ?

    Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews.

    But my kingdom is not from the world.”

    Gospel of John 18: ESV 36 [in context John 18:28-40 AKJV]

    The Jews had wanted a king more powerful than the Herod. Now these powerful pastors can celebrate THEIR Passover and finally dismiss this prophet JESUS saying,

    The King is DEAD! Long live the King.

    “Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar,” these Elder accusers of JESUS had taunted. The hereditary Chief Priests might no longer need to limp around the bloody temple sacrifices in order to please the multitudes.

    Resurrection witnessed

    The leaders of Herod’s temple (for it had been rebuilt by the Great Herod who left many of the common areas of the courts unfinished) did NOT need any interruption of their indulgences and ceremonial place of authority over worshipers of God obligated to come to THEIR temple twice yearly.

    BUT even before THEY managed to convict and crucify the Christ so many followed the leadership of Jerusalem also sought to kill Jesus’ Apostles and most of all Lazarus.

    When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there [Bethany], they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he [JESUS] had raised from the dead.

    So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

    Gospel of John 12:9-11 ESV
    The Temple leadership, however, failed to seize and kill Lazarus (again) but seemed satisfied to crucify the Christ said to raise Lazarus from the grave. 
    
    (But how could such a thing as that have really happened, those many men who did not believe in the resurrection questioned?) 
    

    Jesus knew how these would REJECT Him not only because they did NOT believe Scripture, but also because these religious leaders could never envision their Messiah (the Christ, of whom the gentiles spoke) would be given the authority to raise the dead.

    For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father.

    Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

    Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

    Gospel of John 5:22-25 ESV

    “Truly, truly, I say to 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. 

    26For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 

    And he has given him authority to execute judgment,
    because he is [the] Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out,
    those who have done good to the resurrection of life,
    and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

    Gospel of John 5:27-29 ESV – Jesus claiming the Authority of the Son-Man Messiah

    Jesus certainly had demonstrated this Authority of the Christ by raising Lazarus from death!

    The LEADERS of JUDAH knew rejected the Truth they knew; but even the most faithful worshipers sometimes doubt the veracity of Holy Scripture.

    Does this sound familiar?

    Son-Man, can these bones live?

    + Note: Lit. “son man” – the Hebrew does not use articles bēn ‘āḏām – בֶּן־אָדָם

    Picture yourself standing near Golgotha, where rotted bones of the crucified eventually fall to the dust. See any scene of a low valley of graves where flesh and bones decay in the dust and loved ones lament over the lifeless souls of their past..
    Ezekiel 37: KJV

    And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.

    Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:

    Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

    So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath [רוּחַ]came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.


    Resurrection Prophesied

    And at that time Michael the great prince shall stand up, that stands over the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of tribulation, such tribulation as has not been from the time that there was a nation on the earth until that time: at that time thy people shall be delivered, even every one that is written in the book.

    And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to reproach and everlasting shame.

    Daniel 12:2 Brenton Septuagint Translation

    Christ holds His priesthood permanently

    The problem of the High Priests Annas and Caiaphas is no different than that pointed out by the author of the book of Hebrews.

    And the former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently.

    Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

    Hebrews 7:25-27 LSB
    AND don't miss this about the necessity that the CHRIST should become the Perfect Sacrifice for our sins.

    For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.


    What must you do to be saved?

    The Son-Man, JESUS (SAVIOR) Son WHO IS One with the Father and the Holy Spirit — Messiah [Christ] prophesied in Scripture IS the Very WORD of the LORD God!

    THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD AND IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY?

    Good News!


    Spurgeon on Lazarus and resurrection

    Charles Spurgeon, the renowned English preacher of the 19th century provides us with further thoughts about what happened to Lazarus and those who already had mourned over his death.
    THOUGH HE WERE DEAD - 14 September, A.D. 1884, Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington G.B.
    John 11:24-26
    • here is the comfort which we may each one safely take, namely, that when Jesus comes the dead shall live.
    • Then we are also told that when Jesus comes, living believers shall not die. After the coming of Christ there shall be no more death for his people.
    • Resurrection with Jesus is resurrection indeed. Life with Jesus is life indeed.
    • I think that Jesus meant that even now His dead are alive. Again, even now his living do not die.

    Beyond these few brief points of comfort for the bereaved Spurgeon continues with a notable Scriptural truth WE tend to avoid:

    Methinks, first, this text plainly teaches that the Lord Jesus Christ is the life of his people.

    We are dead by nature, and you can never produce life out of death: the essential elements are wanting..

    .. The life of a Christian in its commencement is in Christ alone, not a fragment of it is from himself, and the continuance of that life is equally the same; Jesus is not only the resurrection to begin with, but the life to go on with.”

    Charles Haddon Spurgeon

    The multitudes of Jerusalem loved Jesus’ teaching and loved Jesus’ humility. YET many who yearned to gather in the Temple REJECTED the greater love of a Savior willing to die on the Cross rather than life the life of a great teacher.

    the resurrection and the life

    Spurgeon pleas with those with ears to hear teaching on the power of Jesus raising Lazarus and what the Christian disciple must do:

    “I tell you you must learn that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

    Hearken to that great “I,” that infinite EGO! This must cover over and swallow up your little ego.

    “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”

    WHAT ARE YOU?

    Less than nothing, and vanity; but over all springs up divine, all-sufficient personality, “I am the resurrection and the life.”

    .. further [Spurgeon points out],

    “he that believeth in Me”: that is it.

    He does not say, “He that loves me.”


    my Lord and my God!

    The GOOD NEWS of the RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST!

    Jesus *said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are those who did not see, and yet believed.”

    Gospel of John 20:29 LSB


    Talk of JESUS .com

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  • King for a Common Era Holy Week 4

    King for a Common Era Holy Week 4

    An unripe fig? photo of Bethany Bethany "house, place of unripe figs" is a village located on the E slope of Mt. Olivet, about one and one-half miles from J

    Jesus in Bethany

    Why would Jesus, who rode into Jerusalem like KING DAVID, leave to stay in Bethany overnight, I wondered?

    Gospel of Matthew 21:

    Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

    Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.

    Gospel of Matthew 21:17-18 NKJV
    Bethphage, Bethany map

    Bethphage, Bethany & figs

    Bethphage; in Aramaic “place of young figs”): Near the Mount of Olives and to the road from Jerusalem to Jericho; mentioned together with Bethany – source

    The road to and from Jerusalem goes something like this:
    
    It descends east from the Temple, crosses the Kidron valley, past the Mount of Olives & Gethsemane [five furlongs], continues east through Bethphage [2000 cubits/1000 paces] to Bethany [a Sabbath Day's journey from Jerusalem].

    I addressed the significant imagery of this journey of Jesus in an earlier SERIES

    Roger @ Talk of JESUS .com

    Captive Jerusalem!

    A.D. 30 - 2024 C.E. - The Controversial Place of God

    RETURN to JERUSALEM along the ancient hillside roads from Bethany on this day prior to the Passover Sacrifice with JESUS ‘of Nazareth’ observing several controversies.

    Controversies BEFORE CHRIST!

    Opposition to the Lord God goes back BEFORE DAVID – yes, even before Moses and Abraham.

    AND opposition to the One Living God of Scripture continues even NOW in these last days of 2024 of the COMMON ERA!

    JERUSALEM, THE LAW & GOD’S BREATHED-OUT WORD all remain at the center of every opposition of twisted Truth, false prophets and stiff-necked resistance to God’s grace.

    No Son of Man would ever be so controversial to a sinful world than Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior!

    Roger@TalkofJesus.com

    And WHAT IF JESUS returned to JERUSALEM accompanied by LAZARUS, who the Lord had called out of the GRAVE in BETHANY?


    Considering Controversy on His return to Jerusalem

    Gospel of Matthew 21:18 NKJV

    Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.

    And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it,

    “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.”

    Is this curse on Jerusalem for 'Good' Friday's Cross? 
    .. 
    or perhaps Anno Domini 70 when Rome will destroy it? 
    ..
    or even some last day soon in the Common Era of 2024?
    

    Immediately the fig tree withered away.


    To Be Continued…

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  • Paul a Prophet Sent out by Jesus

    Paul a Prophet Sent out by Jesus

    Great Prophets and Signs from God

    • HOW DO WE KNOW A TRUE PROPHET OF GOD?
    • WHAT is the SIGN of a true Prophet?

    A great prophet among us

    Before we look at an extraordinary sign in Troas suggesting that Paul is also a Prophet of Almighty God, let’s look at other true Prophets of the past.

    ~A.D. 56 – Previously in an upper room at midnight in the port of Troas..

    The gospel points to JESUS and not to the Apostle Paul or some other Old Testament prophet.


    • WHO does a prophet speak for and what does he say?
    • Is it the message and work of ALMIGHTY GOD or that of rebellion against the LORD?

    The Lord Jesus Christ

    ~ A.D. 28 - the year being less important than the short time of two decades before this present miracle by Paul
    
    Luke 7:

    .. for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”

    Gospel of Mark 6:14b-15 ESV

    Elijah

    About 860 Before Christ - the sign from GOD being more important than the year.

    Then the word of the Lord came to him, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”

    1 Kings 17: ESV

    14 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” 15 And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days.

    1 Kings 17:14-15 ESV

    After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him..

    19 And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed.

    .. Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord,

    “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.”

    .. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.”

    24 And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”


    More on Elijah 
    AND other prophets
    
    What did they see?
    
    Who is the true prophet of the LORD God? The one who speaks and reveals truth in fear of God to speak for Him.

    The Apostle Simon Peter

    About A.D. 40
    Resurrection of a body which has fallen from life into the valley of death is nothing new to the Apostles. To Peter another resurrection would be completely possible IF it is the will of the Lord.

    And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.

    41 Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up; and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. 42 And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord.


    The Apostle Paul

    Paul sails to other Aegean destinations via Troas on his second and third missionary journeys
    Troas – important 1st C. A.D. Roman port
    Returning now to the mid- A.D. 50's about a dozen years after the resurrection of Tabitha or Dorcas in Joppa by Peter, a couple of dozen years after many witnessed the signs of multiple resurrections by the Lord Jesus AND more than nine centuries since the sign of the Prophet Ezekiel for a widow in Zarephath.
    
    

    after the 3-story fall of Eutychus from an upper room window to his death

    But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.”

    11 And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed.

    Acts of the Apostles 20:12 ESV

    WHAT THEN?

    Paul’s preaching, worship and discussion with the believers in Troas had gone until midnight. (WHAT A LONG EVENING SERVICE!)

    But then AFTER the SIGN of the Lord through PAUL raising the dead youth, the faithful returned to WORSHIP (and no doubt thankfulness) until the break of the very day. The Apostle would then continue to sail into the rest of the world with the Gospel of JESUS Christ.

    JOY of the Gospel of Jesus Christ continues not only in Troas and back into Macedonia and Greece, but in other ports along the Apostle Paul’s third missionary journey.


    12 And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

    13 But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land.


    Prophets and Signs

    A false prophet shows NO SIGNS other than deception and ambition against Almighty God.

    Saul of Tarsus had been a great aggressor of Zion without regard for the mercy of God and ears to hear the warning of Israel’s Prophets predicting a servant Messiah who would not ‘break a bruised reed’.

    YET the LORD had bruised Paul’s zeal near Damascus and confronted his heart with the Gospel of His Own RESURRECTION!

    THE LORD had provided proof of His Word through Moses and through Elijah who have now appeared to Jesus’ Apostles Peter, James and John. The Word provides a sign to Saul by once more appearing to the apostle then prophesying the most difficult journey ahead as JESUS would send Paul out to the Gentiles as His chosen instrument.

    Previously, at the conversion of Saul

    “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

    For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

    Acts of the Apostles 9:15b-16 ESV – The Lord sends Ananias to open Saul’s eyes.

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    To Be Continued.. Lord willing, when we will meet Paul in Assos and sail back to Ephesus…

  • Death, Judgment and Resurrection in light of your own

    Death, Judgment and Resurrection in light of your own

    For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

    Acts of the Apostles 17:31 NIV – the Apostle Paul to the men of Athens at Mars Hill

    The Good News of Death!

    The Apostle Paul has just proclaimed Jesus Christ to a LARGE PUBLIC gathering of Greeks in Athens as an unknown god.

    ..  but now he commands all people everywhere to repent – Acts 17:30 ESV

    Had this been the 20th century you might have expected an altar call at Mars Hill as public witness of the Apostle’s anointed mission. But that’s not what he did.

    In fact, Paul left town and headed for a new province of Achia and the larger city of Corinth (for Athens was now but a rebuilt remnant of its former ancient glory).

    Acts 17:

    • 16b his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.
    • 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons,
    • and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

    Just like in most cities and towns the Apostle has already engaged various groups of listeners in the good news of Jesus’ resurrection.

     “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

    And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus [Mars Hill], saying,

    “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

    Acts of the Apostles 17:18b-19 ESV

    AND as often happens, once Paul proclaims Christ at the risen Son of the Living God the Apostle’s preaching this Good News to the intelligentsia of Athens yields mixed results. The truth of the Gospel sows more seeds of controversy into the hearts of sinners who must confront our own mortality, death and judgment.

    Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked.

    But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”

    Acts 17:32 ESV

    Resurrection

    What else could Paul have said?

    The philosophers among the learned men of Athens had already chosen sides in their entrenched idolatries of self. These men suggesting a willingness to hear more from Paul only sought to use this preacher of foreign gods to support their own unending philosophical debates.

    The Apostle must have also wondered if the Jews of Athens might soon provoke discord in the crowds as had happened recently as the Paul and Silas had fled Thessalonica then Berea?

    (Many of the Jews did not believe in resurrection or apply the prophesies of their own Scriptures to the leaven of culture in their daily 'better-than-thou' lives.)

    To the Jew who does NOT believe in resurrection death is the end of life — the end of a brief mortal time God gives to Jews and Gentiles alike. DEATH may come as a penalty of righteous men to put an END to the unrighteous. But even the righteous will expire once the LORD has blessed their mortal days.

    The pagan Greeks and pagan Romans, however, worshipped idols of their own making and mythology, molded by the manifold desires of their creatively sinful flesh and guiltless justification of their wicked minds.

    The GREEK and ROMAN gods were DEAD monuments of STONE with no authority over the living worshipers of the temples who willfully indulgenced in wickedness.


    So Paul went out from their midst.

    But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

    Acts 17:33-34 ESV

    18:1 Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα χωρισθεὶς ὁ Παῦλος ἐκ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν ἦλθεν εἰς Κόρινθον

    After these things he departed Athens and went to Corinth.

    Acts 18:1 LSB

    Mars - God of War - bringer of death
    Statue of the goddess Athena - powerful namesake of Athens

    Judgment on Mars Hill

    It seems rather ridiculous to look upon a copper Mars (Ares) or stone statue of Athena as gods mortal men should worship. [v. 29]

    Paul points out that the Living God does not live in temples. [vs. 24-25]

    The Living God made man — men and women of every place and nation; therefore we ought to see ourselves as sons and daughters of God. [vs. 26-28]

    (God knows that you didn’t know better — that is, before now) v.30a

    but NOW God COMMANDS you to REPENT!

    Paul did not side with the Stoics.

    At Tarsus, Paul certainly had opportunities for hearing Stoic lectures on philosophy. .. Although not a Stoic technical term, syneidēsis, which Paul used as “conscience,” was generally employed by Stoic philosophers. In 1 Corinthians 13 and in the report of Paul’s speech at Athens (Acts 17), there is much that is Hellenistic, more than a little tinged by Stoic elements—e.g., the arguments concerning the natural belief in God and the belief that human existence is in God.

    Britannica – excerpt on Roman Stoicism

    Neither did the Apostle side with the Epicureans.

    As part of his Physics, Epicurus’s psychology held that the soul must be a body…

    “The gods are not to be feared. Death is not a thing that one must fear. Good is easy to obtain. Evil is easy to tolerate.”

    Britannica

    And as we know well from his persecution by the Jews, Paul’s Gospel was not seen as good news to many Jews to whom the Apostle to the gentiles generally sought to convince first in a new town that Jesus is the Messiah or Christ predicted by Scripture.

    The JEWS know God’s LAW and read the Prophets who warned them in the past to REPENT.

    NOW, the Apostle provides the same proof of the LORD’s COMMAND to Jew and Gentile alike.

    Proof of Judgment (and the One to Judge)

    The Apostle Paul has no reason to return to the centuries-extended debates of Greek philosophers or Jewish parties to traditions formed when God kept silent after speaking through His Prophets.
    

    πίστις

    Pistis – a word Paul uses here translated in the English Standard Version of the Bible as PROOF – provides an insight into his closing of a logical argument stated before his listeners in the areopagus.

    The same Greek word is translated in the New Testament (King James Version) can also be translated as assurance or belief, even as fidelity; but beyond our limited English understanding most times [239x in KJV] pistis is translated as faith.

    Our 21st century faith seems to lack assurance and proof, let along fidelity to the One God our Lord. Never-the-less, study from Strong's definition Lexicon :: Strong's G4102 - pistis
    the better understanding of Paul's audience of first century philosophers.
    1. conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it
    2. fidelity, faithfulness – A. the character of one who can be relied on

    What had happened back in Lystra?

    Acts 14:

    And Paul, looking intently at him [a man lame from birth] and seeing that he had faith to be made well, 10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. 11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!”

    19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 

    This incident of PROOF had occurred on the Apostles' first missionary journey and Paul had returned to them on this current mission.
    
    Same word -- and just after this listen to how Paul uses it in witnessing the PROOF of the Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit to the church.

    27 And when they arrived [returned to the church in Antioch Syria] and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

    Acts of the Apostles 14:27 ESV

    πίστις – Lexicon :: Strong’s G4102 – pistis

    • in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things
      • relating to God
    • the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ
      • relating to Christ
    • a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God

    NOW, Paul uses this same word [pistis] referring to Jesus Christ as PROOF even to the Greeks. And how is CHRIST PROOF?

    In act and deed GOD has provided the PROOF by the resurrection of Jesus — an act of FAITH proven which NO MAN could do (who is not God). AND by this PROOF men must believe the command of GOD TO REPENT.

    because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He determined, having furnished proof to all by raising Him from the dead.”

    Acts of the Apostles 17:31 LSB – from Paul’s speech at the areopagus in Athens

    Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead..

    God IS.

    God excused your ignorance (as your philosophers sought to argue for or against the Him who created the heavens and the earth and all mankind.

    God now commands all men to repent, for He as set a day to judge the world in righteousness. (Of course NO man is righteous, no not one.)

    God appointed a righteous JUDGE to judge YOU and the world.

    (NOT by condemning you to death which is inevitable for moral beings, but after YOU die! (No human EVER escapes DEATH! — that is, except the One Man anointed by God to JUDGE our faith in Him.)

    PROOF TO ALL:

    the RESURRECTION of Christ Jesus!


    ἀνάστασις (anastasis) νεκρός (nekros)

    Resurrection of the dead

    Paul could have returned to Mars Hill to debate with philosophers who continuously look for a new argument about life, death, resurrection, God or gods and how we should live in some semblance of righteousness. Even twenty-one centuries later the debates of the philosophers still seek their own new truths.

    Some will respond to the GOOD NEWS of God. MANY will continue the debate in unbelief.

    The Apostle, therefore, journeys on to ACHAIA and Corinth where they will nurture and build yet another church for more than a year before Paul’s return to SYRIA.


    ACTS of the Apostles [18] – To Be Continued… in Corinth

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  • Lectures about God in Athens’ University of Idols

    Lectures about God in Athens’ University of Idols

    The inscription begins "whether god or goddess" (si deus si dea), a phrase indicating that the deity is unknown. Often there would be a request that followed ("Whether you are a god or goddess that rules over Rome, grant us...").

    TO THE UNKNOWN GOD

    TODAY’S LECTURE

    At the Areopagus –

    Visiting Professor of Philosophy & Religion

    Παῦλος – paulos

    πολίτης Ταρσεύς Κιλικία

    Citizen of Tarseus in Cilicia


    The Hill of Ares or Mars’ Hill, depending on language reference of Greek or Roman for the god of war.

    The Apostle Paul is about to make an important speech to the Romans and Hellenists studying in Athens in ~A.D. 50 at the university lecture hall of the day which sits atop a hill facing the crumbling 5th c. B.C. temples of Athena and many idols.

    Areopagus (Mars) Hill view of Acropolis from where Paul preached of the unknown God

    (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something newer.)

    Acts 17:21 LSB
    To best understand the 1st century Roman-Hellenist culture of Athens read our two previous posts.
    Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. – Acts of the Apostles 17:16
    Brief summary of Greek mythology

    Acts 17:

    Visiting Professor Paulus teaches on the topic of an unknown God addressing stoics, epicureans and other religious professors of idolatrous worship graciously.

    “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.

    Acts 17:22b ESV

    Those claiming Christ in this 21st century A.D. would do well to address unbelievers and idolaters with the same grace as Paul employed in the first century A.D. in the beginning of his apostleship into all the world of the gentiles.

    What is Paul’s outline of a logical approach to the proclamation of the GOOD NEWS of JESUS CHRIST?

    The Apostle to the Gentiles points toward the incarnation of Christ as a pivotal recent event in the timeline of human history as part of GOD’S timeless plan for mankind.

    God who made the world

    Therefore,
    the One whom you worship without knowing,
    Him I proclaim to you:

    ACTS 17:23b NKJV – of the Apostle Paul in the Areopagus

    The religious men and other men of Athens, as well as religious Romans adding their own iconic monuments to the Athens’ landscape of religious festivals, admittedly could not possibly know every god.

    Therefore, Paul begins from their own documented conclusion. They need to hear what I have to proclaim about the TRUE GOD Romans and Greeks do not know.

    (And God is NOT just the God of the Hebrews worshiped in Jerusalem.)

    Who IS the GOD WHO MADE THE WORLD?

    (Certainly not Zeus who was not in the beginning, nor the goddess Athena — but Paul does not even need to state this accepted timeline from mythology which does not worship the very God of creation.)

    α – θεός (theos) does not live in temples made by man

    24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

    β – ἀνθρώπινος (anthrōpinos) – mankind, timelines & nations

    26 And he made from one man every nation (ethnos) of mankind (anthrōpos) to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way towards him and find him.

    Although contemporary twisting of imagery limits such use of an archaic word, I like the more literal translation of this picture of man groping for God, as a blind person reaches near for that which can be touched.
    

     .. in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us

    Acts 17:26a NKJV & others

    γ – ἐγώ (egō) in Him we live and move and exist

    Now our Professor of Theology, Paul of Cilicia, quotes two poets likely studied by the university he addresses -- NOT Hebrew poets such as David or Solomon -- NOT Jesus, whose many teachings have become well-known these past twenty years -- but GREEK or Hellenist poets revered by the university of classical thought in Athens. 
    
    One is likely from Crete, where earlier along with Barnabas, Paul professed Christ to the gentiles. Paul also quotes a classical Greek poet from the forth century B.C. - source
    Paul's introduction of the One God (of the Hebrews) is non-confrontational, providing an outline of God's plan to have all people of all cultures and all nations seek and find the Living God at a time appointed by Him.

    Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for

    “‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

    as even some of your own poets have said,

    “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

    Paul could have quoted Jesus here, who quoted David, but instead the Apostle to the Gentiles quotes their own learned teachers. 

    δ – οὖν – therefore as God’s offspring

    The question never-the-less remains the same: WHAT IF GOD created YOU?

    (It’s not simply a question of ONLY the FIRST MAN {adam}, therefore the Apostle leaves no room for arguments of philosophers backing him into a creation corner.)

    • What if we are SONS (& DAUGHTERS) of the Living God?
    • WHAT IF GOD CONSIDERS ME FAMILY?

    29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

    Do you think of your own mother or your own father as one of these idolatrous worshiped things? Of course not!
    
    YET if you belong to GOD's own family with your LIVING human father and mother as progeny of the LIVING GOD and Creator of all life, how can you worship your loving God like a stone, a man-made myth or self-breathed thoughts?

    30 The times of ignorance God overlooked,


    ε – θεός νῦν παραγγέλλω – theos is now declaring

    but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

    30 “Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent,

    Acts 17:30 CSB

    ζ – ἄνθρωπος πανταχοῦ μετανοέω – ALL men everywhere repent

    The apostle to the Hellenists and Romans proclaims a STRONG authoritative choice to listeners in the Areopagus: GOD 'winked' (says the King James Version) but now commandeth all men every where to repent!
    REPENT, therefore, sons and daughters of the Living God!
    For YOU are no longer ignorant.
    
    And WHY should you REPENT? 
    WHY turn back to the Living God?
    

    η – ἡμέρα κρίνω οἰκουμένη – a day he will judge righteousness

    because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed;

    Can WE SAVE the earth anymore than WE can save our own FLESH and BLOOD from DEATH and destruction?

    But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

    2 Peter 3:7 LSB
    SO is this professor of the unknown god proclaiming that his teaching must be given authority over all other schools of thought about our gods?
    
    WHO IS THIS MAN Paulus of Cilicia claims will JUDGE all of mankind?

    Α – πίστιςassurance

    and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

    Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

    For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

    Romans 5:12 διὰ τοῦτο ὥσπερ δι᾽ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ἡ ἁμαρτία εἰς τὸν κόσμον εἰσῆλθεν καὶ διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ θάνατος καὶ οὕτως εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ὁ θάνατος διῆλθεν ἐφ᾽ ᾧ πάντες ἥμαρτον & again, Paul’s letter to Roman believers 5:15 ESV

    Ω – ἀναστήσας αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν – by raising Him from the dead!

    He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

    Acts of the Apostles 17:31b CSB

    All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

    Gospel of Luke 10:22 ESV

    I and the Father are one.”

    Gospel of John 10:30 ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν

    παντοκράτωρ – THE ALMIGHTY

    “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

    The Revelation of the risen Jesus Christ to John 1:8 ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ Ἄλφα καὶ τὸ Ὦ λέγει κύριος ὁ θεός ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος ὁ παντοκράτωρ
    CLICK HERE: For more information about Jesus Christ and Inerrant TRUTH: Our reasoned Biblical Faith.

    ACTS of the Apostles – To Be Continued…

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