Talk of JESUS . com

Tag: resurrection

Looking back at The Lord’s Day
The Lord’s Day in years just past

You have heard this day called Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday or perhaps Pascha. But today, on the 17th day of April in the year of our Lord, 2022, I would simply like to look back at celebrating ‘the Lord’s Day’ as followers of Christ Jesus have done since His resurrection.

HOLY Week (we once called it)
```
CLICK the link above to read some of what I have said before about Holy and weeks and festivals. 

ALSO, Feel free to comment on anything from my fiery EDITORIAL which I have moved to Comments to get to my perspective about the Lord's Day of the first century Christ followers. - RH 
```
LENT, we once set aside as preparation of repentance preceding the death of Christ for our sins.

Yet in this NOT so HOLY time, now universally referred to as, the “COMMON Era” (as opposed to years we once called, Before Christ, now known as Before the Common Era); HOW intolerant are we who insist that JESUS IS LORD (and no other), as the world continues in its most common and ordinary daily sin! HOW insensitive of followers of CHRIST to PROCLAIM: JESUS CHRIST IS RISEN TODAY!

In the Holy Week of our Lord, A.D. 2022

(In case you missed these posts which lead us to this Lord’s Day Sunday)

Blood on the night in which He was betrayed

Holy Week: Thursday, A.D. 2022

What’s good about Good Friday?

Holy Week: Good Friday, A.D. 2022

He was what? A Man of sorrows?

Palm Sunday thoughts of previous years

The Gospel of Resurrection Sunday +++ in context

Have YOU shared the Gospel of the Lord Christ Jesus?

The Lord’s Day witness to the everyday saints of the Church

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:18 NASB – Verse of the Day via BibleGateway.com

This epistle was most likely written in the first half of A.D. 55 from Ephesus (16:8, 9, 19) while Paul was on his third missionary journey.
John MacArthur :: Bible Introductions – 1 Corinthians via BlueLetterBible.org

Easter: a narrowed narrative that missed the Church

Why do I start with a Scripture about the Cross, rather than a traditional narrative of Resurrection morning from the Gospels?

(Think about this, now…)

The Gospels were NOT written as an immediate message from the pulpit of A.D. 30.

Yes, that’s about when the Lord Jesus was crucified, buried and rose in body and spirit from the grave!

But the Apostles Matthew and John, and later disciples Mark and Luke recorded their GOOD NEWS of JESUS’s Resurrection for a much later following of the Church.

On this Lord’s Day, in the year of our Lord 2022, we glance at just a few events of THEIR Church life.

Why the Gospel was Good News on the Lord’s Day
- A.D. 32 – Stephen martyred & Saul persecutes Christ followers
- A.D. 37 – Caligula declares himself a god
- A.D. 44 – the Apostle James, brother of John, is martyred
- A.D. 46 – Julian calendar changes the year
- A.D. 49 – the jews expelled from Rome
- A.D. 50’s (~20 years after Jesus’ Resurrection)
  - + Mark writes his Gospel;
  - + Matthew writes his Gospel
- A.D. 54-68 – Nero is Emperor
  - A.D 64-68 Nero persecutes Christians after burning Rome
- A.D. 60 + Luke writes his Gospel
- A.D. 62 – James, brother of Jesus and head of the Jerusalem church martyred
- A.D. 66 – Jewish revolt against Rome
  - + Apostle Peter martyred in Rome
  - + Paul, Apostle to the gentiles, martyred in Rome
- A.D. 70 – Jerusalem falls to Rome and is burned
- A.D. 80’s + John wrote his gospel ca. A.D. 80–90, about 50 years after he witnessed Jesus’ earthly ministry. – J.M.
```
Sources for above: Then and Now Bible Maps, Rose Publishing & BlueLetterBible.org commentaries
```
Each Lord’s Day

The saints of the A.D. first century church gathered each Lord’s Day to worship the Lord God by the grace of Christ Jesus and though the power of the Holy Spirit.

Do YOU?

For many centuries the Lord’s Day was set apart as Holy to the Lord for morning and evening worship, as well as study of doctrine from the Bible, as the business of the world (reluctantly) remained CLOSED on Sunday.

They gathered frequently in each others homes to hear the Gospel and receive the letters of the Apostles.

These saints (small ‘s’) of the church, “Christians” (as Christ followers came to be known), delighted to serve one another in Christ-like love.

The saints of THE WAY, knowing that as one of the Lord’s SAVED and REDEEMED ones, suffering in a world violently opposed to JESUS CHRIST and the LORD GOD, endured for these brief times because of HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION.

We have begun eternal life and need not suffer the WRATH of GOD’s punishment for our many, many sins against God and against man.

A.D. 90, The Lord’s Day

The aging Apostle, lone survivor of many trials for Christ among those who Jesus first chose some sixty years ago, concludes his Gospel; a fourth, following that which has already been proclaimed to tens of thousands throughout a world of Rome’s temporary ownership by Matthew and two faithful gentile servants of The Way.

The Apostle John writes of that glorious day:

Now when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were together due to fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, “Peace be to you.” And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side.
The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be to you; just as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
Gospel of John 20:19-21 NASB

Talk of JESUS . com

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
April 17, 2022
Another Resurrection in Joppa
death… Why do you weep?

Death’s Vigil

If you should pause briefly near death’s vigil, you may see some soul precariously perched on a precipice above the dark shadows of hades; yet.. lifted to light of life after death.. another resurrection in Christ to eternal glory with God Who Saves.

Peter and another resurrection as witness

Even as Peter travels some distance to Lydda and Joppa, somewhere back in towns nearer to Jerusalem a disciple named Lazarus witnesses another resurrection than that of the Lord Jesus Christ: his own.

So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!”

It’s one of the tenderest lines in Scripture. Roger@talkofJESUS.com

– on witnesses of Jesus at Lazarus’ funeral John 11:36

In the ever so brief time prior to Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection Peter, the Apostles and many disciples of the Lord Jesus had witnessed this powerful sign of the Messiah as Jesus called out to Lazarus to come out of the grave!

Earlier in Jesus ministry the Apostle also had witnessed yet another resurrection of a young man sitting up in his coffin about to be carried to his funeral wake in Nain!

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.

Acts 9:
```
Click above for Gevurot 9:35-43 Orthodox Jewish Bible; Living Bible; Living Bible; Living Bible; Arabic Bible:
```
Death’s appeal from Joppa
```
A young woman has died..
```
Her friends prepared her for burial and laid her in an upstairs room. ³⁸But when they learned that Peter was nearby at Lydda, they sent two men to beg him to return with them to Joppa.

Aeneas of Lydda: “I can walk!

Peter responds and ACTS

Aeneas who had been bedridden for eight years, because he was paralyzed, has been at Peter’s side; just as a lame man in Jerusalem who was healed also had stood with him and John as witness in the Temple.

35 And all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord..

37 But it happened [in those days] at that time that she [the young woman in Joppa] became sick and died; and when they had washed her body, they laid it in an upstairs room.

“Do not delay in coming to us.”
So Peter got ready and went with them.
ACTS of Peter 9:38b-39a NASB20

Might a Gazelle Leap once more?

36 Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which when translated means [Gk. for gazelle] Dorcas);

this woman was excelling in acts of kindness and charity which she did habitually.

Peter arrives in Joppa

39 .. as soon as he [Peter] arrived [from Lydda with the two men who had summoned the Apostle to Joppa], they took him upstairs where Dorcas lay.

It’s the scene of grief – mourning the loss of a beloved servant of all, a friend, a young woman once vibrant in life who succumbs to one of the many maladies of this fragile flesh.

Like those Peter had seen — the boy in a bier in Nain and Lazarus wrapped in death’s cloths behind a closed tomb in Bethany — here the Apostle takes in the vigil of those watching this Gazelle’s lifeless body, as well as the Apostle’s own entry into their sad scene in an upper room perched above the the shadows of valley of death.

The room was filled with weeping widows who were showing one another the coats and other garments Dorcas had made for them.

⁴⁰But Peter asked them all to leave the room; then he knelt and prayed.

(Like in Nain, Joppa will cancel its funeral procession today,

DUE TO this next resurrection.)

Another Resurrection!

.. and turning to the body, he [the Apostle Peter] said, “

Ταβιθά ἀνίστημι
“Tabitha, arise.”
The familiar command of Peter (to a dead woman) in ACTS 9:40

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.

He Raised Her Up

You Raise Me Up – Selah – 5 min.

DEATH.. and all hope for flesh and blood lost.. except for the hope in the resurrection of Jesus Christ! And once again, here and now, another resurrection — by the Apostle and not the Lord Incarnate.

Luke continues with the resurrection theme [45x] in his second account of the Gospel of Jesus Christ:

ἀνίστημι – Strong’s G450 – anistēmi – an-is’-tay-mee – to cause to rise up, raise up

42 The news raced through the town, and many believed in the Lord.

43 And Peter stayed a long time in Joppa, living with Simon, the tanner.
```
ACTS of the Missionary Journeys of Peter: To be continued...
```
March 24, 2022
God will raise up for you a prophet
I HAVE COME DOWN TO RESCUE THEM

Stephen: ‘God will raise up a Prophet like Moses’

As he stares intently into the souls of those leaders of Jerusalem who have brought him to trial for preaching about Jesus Christ, Stephen continues to compare Jesus to Israel’s ancient fathers. He also compares these judges he faces to defiant Hebrews who rejected Moses for forty years. But what point does Stephen make about Christ when he quotes from Scripture concerning Moses saying, ‘God will raise up a Prophet from your countrymen?‘
“This Moses whom they disowned..

is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer
led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt
and in the Red Sea,
and in the wilderness for forty years.
“This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel,
‘GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR COUNTRYMEN.’
ACTS of the Apostles 7:37 NASB20 – Defense of Stephen to the Sanhedrin

ACTS 7: of the disciple of the Apostles, Stephen

38 Moses was with our ancestors, the assembly of God’s people in the wilderness, when the angel spoke to him at Mount Sinai. And there Moses received life-giving words to pass on to us.

To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us:
Acts 7:39-40a KJV – Stephen compares Israel’s leaders to those who turned from Moses to Aaron, asking Aaron to lead them back to Egypt and their gods

“You are to be blameless before the LORD your God.

“For these nations, which you are going to dispossess, listen to soothsayers and diviners, but as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do so.
Deuteronomy 18:14 [& 13 above]

A Word from the Source:

Deuteronomy 18:

“Adonai will raise up for you a prophet like me..

..pay attention to him, just as when you were assembled at Horev and requested Adonai your God,

‘Don’t let me hear the voice of Adonai my God any more, or let me see this great fire ever again; if I do, I will die!’
Deuteronomy 18:15-16 excerpt
Complete Jewish Bible

אֲדֹנָי

ăḏōnāy (H136)– an emphatic form of אָדוֹן (H113)

The following Scripture verses precede Stephen’s defense he quotes from Deuteronomy to leaders of the Jewish High Council of the Sanhedrin:

Powerful Pleas of the Prophet Moses
- ‘Lord H136 GOD, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours? – Deuteronomy 3:24
  - – Mōšê, at the time when the Lord God would allow him to see the Jordan, but would not allow Moses to cross over because of his disobedience.
- “And I prayed to the LORD and said, ‘Lord H136 GOD, do not destroy Your people, Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand! – Deuteronomy 9:26
- “For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord H136 of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who does not show partiality, nor take a bribe. – Deuteronomy 10:17 *[quotes from NASB20]
Open your eyes to the full context of the scripture above from which Stephen preaches.

Powerful pleas from Deuteronomy by Stephen
- Why does Stephen use this Book of Moses for his defense?
“Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it.
Deuteronomy 10:14

Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,

for all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land— and for all the mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

Deuteronomy 34:10-12
- And the Lord God, who belongs to heaven and the highest heavens is the only One who can send down another Prophet like Moses to earth, a son of man,
- The Apostles and many more disciples of Jesus had witnessed the Lord Christ Jesus taken up into heaven just a few weeks prior to that first Pentecost when Peter had preached in Solomon’s Colonnade.
  - God the Father ‘will raise up another Prophet like Moses: One Redeemer Son of God greater than Moses, as One Perfect Sacrifice for sin for those who believe — Stephen stands accused before these same men who sent the Lord Jesus – the Righteous One — to hang on a Roman Cross.
  - Moses had assured that the Father of all creation and created would ‘raise up’ such a prophet and teacher — and these disciples of the Apostles of the Messiah Jesus are His witnesses.
Stephen has now preached Christ crucified and risen to Jerusalem for two years, prior to his trial.

Tabernacles and Temples

Acts 7: Stephen continues..

⁴¹At that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.

42 Then God turned away from them and abandoned them to serve the stars of heaven as their gods!
```
Remember: Stephen is preaching this to Jewish leaders who idolize Herod's Temple, Israelites who have been dealing with this 'Jesus challenge' for five years now, even as the church grows dramatically even as Rome becomes increasingly impatient with their State of Judah.
```
Stephen now quotes Judah’s Prophet, Amos of Tekoa, a small village just 10 miles from Jerusalem eight centuries earlier.
```
“Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings
In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
You also carried Sikkuth [*] your king [*]
And Chiun, [*] your idols,
The star of your gods,
Which you made for yourselves.
Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus,”
Says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

Amos 5:25-27 NKJV - [* pagan idols including Moloch]
```
In the book of the prophets it is written,

‘People of Isra’el, it was not to me
that you offered slaughtered animals
and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness!
No, you carried the tent of Molekh
and the star of your god Reifan [Ῥαιφάν],
the idols you made so that you could worship them.
Therefore, I will send you into exile beyond Bavel [Babylon].
Acts 7:42b-43, Complete Jewish Bible

What is Stephen’s point in quoting Amos to the Sanhedrin?
(Amos 5:1 introduces Stephen’s lament to his Jewish judges:)

Hear this word which I take up against you, a lamentation, O house of Israel:

Moloch, god of Canaan
5:24 וְיִגַּל כַּמַּיִם מִשְׁפָּט וּצְדָקָה כְּנַחַל אֵיתָֽן׃

“But let justice roll down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Amos 5:24

The trial and defense of Stephen before Jerusalem’s leaders of the Sanhedrin —–

To be continued…
January 14, 2022