Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: resurrection

  • 11 Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – the Eleven

    11 Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – the Eleven

    HE IS RISEN!

    ‘HE IS RISEN, INDEED,’ goes a traditional response.

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

    If you haven’t been following this series you will likely ask, “Why is he talking of Easter during this Advent season of Christmas in the year of our Lord, 2020?”

    My dear brother or sister in Christ,

    Allow me to ask you a question:

    manger with shadow of cross falling across

    Do you talk of Jesus OR ‘christmas’?

    Christians and non-Christians alike will focus on the ‘.COMmercial‘ obligations of this ‘holiday’ season so much more than the CHRIST of ‘christmas.’ And in fact, (in case you haven’t heard) Jesus, Emmanuel or God With Us was most likely NOT born DECEMBER 25.

    (Forget the ‘.com‘ technical choice of my Christian Social Witness – talkofJesus.com for my personal & shared talk of Jesus Christ.)

    Has Christmas not become MORE important than EASTER in the witness of the 21st c. Church?

    How like the world we have become.

    Many 21st c. ‘christians’ also witness the risen JESUS of the resurrection, celebrated by eggs and bunnies impersonalized and separated from the Person of God, without witness of the Person symbolized, He who died for sinners and defeated death!

    Yes, JESUS IS born as a man-child like no other. Yet our witness must remember the shadow of the Cross on a newborn’s manger and the glory and hope through CHRIST’s resurrection.

    Continuing Witness to Jesus’ Resurrection!

    Our journey through Scripture in this year of our Lord 2020, continues in the Good News of John. We have just begun to revisit the personal witness of many who testify to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

    As a reminder to contemporary readers of John’s Gospel:

    • Jesus was crucified around the year AD 30
    • John writes his Gospel to the churches in about AD 85

    Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – Mary Magdalene

    Some who witnessed the risen Jesus fifty years earlier still lived!

    As we continue in John’s Good News and Mary’s announcement of Jesus’ resurrection, we begin to hear his Gospel through the ears of others. See Jesus with their eyes and experience the risen Christ through their personal touch and interaction with the risen Lord Jesus.

    Mary Magdalene came and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her.

    John 20:18 NASB

    What command had the risen Lord given Mary?

    “..go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’”

    John and Simon Peter have already run to the empty tomb where the crucified Body of Jesus had been placed prior to celebration of the feast of the Passover and observing of the Sabbath. Then they returned not yet having seen the Lord.

    John 20 continued

    It had been morning when the women had first seen the empty tomb before summoning John and Peter.

    19 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.”

    20 Having said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

    So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

    (Not Twelve, but the Eleven – one)

    We mentioned previously that Judas Iscariot, Jesus’ betrayer has hanged himself. John will mention shortly that Thomas also is not present.

    And just one additional reminder: 
the eleven Disciples, Jesus and His family are all Jews.
Though their common language is Greek or locally Arabic,
the Complete Jewish Bible [CJB] (used here occasionally) gives flavor of Jesus as the Messiah of Israel.

    21 “Shalom aleikhem!” Yeshua repeated.

    “Just as the Father sent me, I myself am also sending you.”

    22 Having said this, he breathed on them and said to them,

    “Receive the Ruach HaKodesh!

    The Holy Spirit & Forgiven Sins

    “Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” translates the King James and most versions read, “the Holy Spirit.”

    What follows should sound familiar if you have followed the great commission of Jesus to the Twelve Disciples given earlier in His earthly ministry and all returned to Jesus amazed.

    23 If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

    What an astounding authority Jesus has given to the Apostles through the Holy Spirit!

    Many Jewish disciples will know it well from the Psalms of David. Gentile Christians to whom John now also witnesses may know it from Paul’s letter [ca. AD 56.] to the Romans [4:7].

    לְדָוִד מַשְׂכִּיל אַשְׁרֵי נְֽשׂוּי־פֶּשַׁע כְּסוּי חֲטָאָֽה׃

    אַשְֽׁרֵי אָדָם לֹא יַחְשֹׁב יְהוָה לֹו עָוֹן וְאֵין בְּרוּחֹו רְמִיָּה׃

    Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

    Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

    Psalm 32:1-2 WLC, KJV

    The Lord has instructed His Disciples on how they must judge their fellow saints and others with unfailing grace and mercy in His Name, especially forgiving those who also follow Jesus as their Lord and their God.

    Ministry of the Twelve (then Eleven)

    Eleven now and again Twelve Apostles after Mathias replaces Judas Iscariot

    Although John reveals much of the Holy Spirit, he does not reiterate what is already well known of the ministry of the Twelve prior to Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection. (Remember John writes this decades later to his beloved fellow saints of the church.)

    Jesus had previously given the Twelve a taste of this awesome power over sin in the lives of others.

    Some eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming.

    Luke 9:28-29
    Most of the following is also witnessed in Luke's Gospel Chapter 9:

    Matthew 10:

    Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

    Now the names of the twelve apostles are these:

    1. The first, Simon, who is called Peter,
    2. and Andrew his brother;
    3. and James the son of Zebedee,
    4. and John his brother;
    5. Philip
    6. and Bartholomew [son of Talmai];
    7. Thomas [not present for Jesus’ first appearance]
    8. and Matthew the tax collector;
    9. James the son of Alphaeus,
    10. and Thaddaeus;
    11. Simon the Zealot,
    12. and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him [who hanged himself].

    Matthew 10:5 continues:

    These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them:

    “Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

    (Of course Christ commissioned these to go to all of these after His resurrection.)

    “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

    It is Jesus’ urgent appeal to the Jews through the Twelve – Matthew 10:7 NASB
    Matthew 10: continued Complete Jewish Bible [CJB]

    7 As you go, proclaim, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is near,’ 8 heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those afflicted with tzara’at, expel demons…

    12 When you enter someone’s household, say, ‘Shalom aleikhem!’ If the home deserves it, let your shalom rest on it; if not, let your shalom return to you. But if the people of a house or town will not welcome you or listen to you, leave it and shake its dust from your feet!

    Yes, I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for the people of S’dom and ‘Amora than for that town!

    16 “Pay attention! I am sending you out like sheep among wolves, so be as prudent as snakes and as harmless as doves.

    Be on guard, for there will be people who will hand you over to the local Sanhedrins and flog you in their synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as a testimony to them and to the Goyim.

    19 But when they bring you to trial, do not worry about what to say or how to say it; when the time comes, you will be given what you should say. For it will not be just you speaking, but the Spirit of your heavenly Father speaking through you.

    Therefore when Jesus appears in Person to the eleven Apostles after His resurrection from the grave, He had already taught them what He is about to say.

    John 20 continued

    If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them;

    if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

    John 20:23 CSB – Jesus’ authority given to the Apostles through the Holy Spirit

    Next:

    John is not making a list of miracles so that the Eleven (who will soon add Mathias as replacement to Judas Iscariot) can convince their first century A.D. followers that Christ IS Risen indeed!

    You will find many of these miracles of the Holy Spirit witnessed in the Acts of the Apostles.

    (Again, when John wrote his Gospel these had already taken place.)

    If you have been following John’s Gospel closely you may have noticed my intentional oversight of some detail about the Disciples. Thomas, who was not present with the other eleven will appears next [vs. 24-29].

    We will begin with Thomas next time.

    Also, John has much more to say about Peter and we will once again want to add more detail about other Apostles and especially John.

    30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book.

    To be continued...
  • Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – Mary Magdalene

    Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – Mary Magdalene

    John’s Gospel – Witnesses to Jesus’ Resurrection!

    Understanding John’s Good News

    of Christ Crucified, Risen, Ascended & Returning

    Without dwelling on detail, note that:

    • Jesus was crucified around the year AD 30
    • The last surviving Apostle John lives until about AD 90
    • John writes his Gospel to the churches in about AD 85

    Some who witnessed the risen Jesus fifty years earlier still lived! Many more had confirmed the truth of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection to their families and nearly everyone else they encountered (the beginning of the great commission – Mark 16:15).

    Many of these persecuted saints insistently witnessed Christ Crucified and risen in Body and Spirit to all until their own deaths.

    They too suffered and died, either by the hand of Roman rule or result of persecution by zealous leaders of Jerusalem (until Rome sacked it in AD 70), a major event which had already taken place when John wrote his Gospel, letters and the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

    Fall of Jerusalem

    Today we begin John’s accounts of the Resurrection not chronologically (for the events had already taken place a half-century before), but from the witness of individuals, beginning with Mary Magdalene.

    “..we know not where they have laid him.”

    John 20:

    Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already removed from the tomb.

    Recall from before the day of preparation for the Sabbath that Joseph had sealed the tomb. Matthew tells us that as Joseph walked away:

    ‘And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulcher.’

    sealed tomb of Jesus

    Now, early on the first day of the week, John and Peter first hear Mary’s alarm.

    2 So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, 

    They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.

    John 20:2b KJV

    Mary the mother of James and John was likely with her once again hoping to finally complete their task of embalming Jesus’ corpse.

    We will forego the likely familiar account of Simon Peter and John for the moment and focus on the witness of Mary Magdalene.

    10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

    Mary Magdalene

    Μαρία Μαγδαληνὴ

    Mary Magdalene is from the town of Magdala, a fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Tiberias (Galilee). She is known by several names and sometimes confused with many other Mary’s of the Bible. Here are her common names:

    • Mary of Magdala
    • Miryam from Magdala
    • Maria Magdalene (even Saint Mary, which is not proper)
    • Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ
    • also, the “apostle to the apostles,” which inappropriately elevates these important women who followed Christ to ‘Saints.’

    Jesus first encountered her during His teaching in Galilee.

    Luke 7:

    1 When He had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum.

    (We know it as Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and Capernaum became Jesus home.)

    And a centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. (A local Roman Centurion’s personal servant, perhaps a Jew.)

    When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave.

    (Here is a Roman Centurion sending an envoy, a sort of ambassador sent from him to Jesus, comprising of Jewish officials of a local synagogue.) We’ll get to the local connection to Mary in a moment.

    7:11 Soon afterwards He went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, accompanied by a large crowd. Now as He approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her…

    And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

    Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying,

    “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and,

    “God has visited His people!”

    Luke 7:16 NASB – reaction of the crowds in Nain after Jesus raised a young man from death

    This report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district.

    (Reports on into Judea, even though Nain lies in Galilee, north of Samaria, some 144 km or about 90 miles by road from Jerusalem.)

    At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind.

    Luke 7:21 NASB

    From Magdala to Jerusalem

    Luke 8:1-3

    Soon afterwards, He began going around from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God.

    The twelve were with Him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses:

    topical map of Israel from sea of Galilee, valley of the Jordan

    Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who were contributing to their support out of their private means.

    .. she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume.

    Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” – Luke 7:49

    John 20:

    10 So the disciples went back again to their homes.

    This continuation in John 20 uses language from multiple versions or translations linked above. - RH

    Jesus’ Resurrection Appearance

    11 but Miryam stood outside crying. As she cried, she bent down, peered into the tomb, and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Yeshua had been, one at the head and one at the feet.

    “Why are you crying?” they asked her.

    She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they put Him.” As she said this, she turned around and saw Yeshua standing there, but she didn’t know it was he.

    15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”

    Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you’ve carried him away, tell me where you’ve put him, and I will take him away.”

    16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

    Turning, she cried out to him in Hebrew, “Rabbani!” (that is, “Teacher!”).

    17 Jesus saith unto her, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”

    To be continued...
  • While we wait… DEATH and Resurrection

    While we wait… DEATH and Resurrection

    While we must wait…

    Life has not been progressing even remotely how we had planned.

    Here we are locked up as if in the prison of death. All normal life interrupted by events of recent days. Yet what next — what now?

    For the church in the year of our Lord, 2020 of these last days, it was Easter we could not celebrate in our familiar gathering of all who believe (as well as some who would like to hope in something other than death).

    In the first century, this waiting by the Apostle Thomas to see Jesus once more was somewhat different. For the other Disciples had given reliable first-hand witness of the Good News of the resurrection of the Messiah Jesus, their friend and Lord!

    In case you missed their perspective of Jesus’ DEATH and Resurrection, you might briefly look back.

    THE DEATH & RESURRECTION OF CHRIST

    Many of us have recently taken an entire day to worship the Lord Jesus on Resurrection Sunday or Easter Sunday.

    We have watched (even online) a sermon entirely dedicated to the Gospel of Jesus Christ being raised by God the Father from the tomb after His Sacrifice — His real and human suffering in the flesh –His sacrificial spilling of His Blood on the Cross for our sins.

    He IS risen indeed!

    Yet what now? What in this long time of waiting will happen next? God only knows.

    And what, for Christ’s sake (yes, for the Messiah’s sake), must we do?

    Waiting AFTER the Resurrection

    DEATH cries out! from many perspectives

    My own study of the Gospel of John in the year of our Lord, 2020, has reached briefly into the doubting thoughts of all concerning death and what does follow.

    Today is the eighth day since Thomas received the reliable Good News that Jesus had appeared to the other Disciples after DEATH.

    The Apostle Thomas must have greatly anticipated the time (whenever it might finally come) to witness the risen Lord Jesus in person. (Most of us know the story already mentioned from the Gospel of John.)

    It’s just been eight days of the fifty days during which the risen Lord Jesus bodily appears at various times to more than 500 witnesses. For Thomas, just about six more weeks to once again personally see and hear the Lord, the Son of Man risen from the grave.

    If you follow talkofJesus.com did eight days seem like a long wait after the rapidity of the events leading up to the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus?

    And if you’re anything like me (and likely Thomas) even eight days, thirty or forty days must seem like an eternity. Remember, it is not.

    Today we take not the liturgical path leading to Pentecost, the chronological path of detailed witness of the Apostles, nor do we simply return to what we did before, recognizing that things have changed since we planned our year.

    Like Thomas and the Disciples, we did not come to this day anticipating it to be any different than the last three years.

    Life changed for the Apostles once Jesus rose from death.

    And now life changes for the 21st century church caught in a diaspora of faith and witness.

    Roger Harned talkofJesus.com

    Acts of the Apostles

    All seems lost for the Lord’s chosen Disciples once Jerusalem’s religious authorities and powerful Roman governor crucify the Messiah Jesus. Even those who had believed, been healed and followed Jesus to Jerusalem’s gates were left in despair. But then prophecy is fulfilled.

    The Sacrificial Lamb for our sin completes that for which the Son of Man was sent by God the Father.

    Jesus IS risen!

    After instructing the Disciples to take the Gospel into all the world, He ascends into the heavens from which He came. He will return once again in glory at the end of the age!

    Those same men who sought to preserve their own flesh by cowering behind locked doors now boldly witness the risen Lord Jesus in the public place.

    All the Apostles would eventually be martyred for their witness of Jesus Christ, except John (though he would be tortured and exiled). For now and until their earthly deaths the Apostles’ witness and preaching, emboldened by the Spirit of God, convicted sinners and attracted believers by faith in the Lord Jesus.

    Peter and the Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit of the Lord God, preach to the crowds in the Jerusalem!

    The crowds are amazed, then Peter directs his preaching directly to the Jews, a remnant of faithful Jews recognizing the fulfillment of prophecy in what they have just witnessed.

    Acts 2:

    ‘In the last days,’ God says,
    ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
    Your sons and daughters will prophesy.

    Acts 2:17 NLT, quoting Joel 2:28

    Take now to heart, fellow 21st c. believer, that which Peter preached to those who had not seen the Lord raised from death on the Cross.

    Most had not been among the more than five hundred to witness the risen Christ Jesus, before His ascension on Pentecost just a few days prior to Peter’s preaching.

    23 But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. 24 But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.

    Isolated, then sent out

    two men in discussion behind this building is closes sign in a large church

    Do you suppose that the locked doors of your church surprise God?

    Could the Lord have a purpose in all of this — a purpose central to the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified, buried, risen and returning again in glory?

    Of course God knew it! – the Lord God knows everything that has happened and will happen, even those unseen things which require our faith and glorious things beyond our grasp.

    Peter now recognizes this through the Holy Spirit of God, the same Holy Spirit he witnessed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

    God the Father and the Son of Man are ONE in the Same with the Holy Spirit!

    And Peter preaches the GOOD NEWS with anointed confidence to those with ears to hear.

    Son of David, Son of God!

    31 David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah’s resurrection. He was saying that God would not leave him among the dead or allow his body to rot in the grave.

    “God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this.

    33 Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today.

    34 For David himself never ascended into heaven, yet he said,

    ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
    “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand
    until I humble your enemies,
    making them a footstool under your feet.”’

    36 “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”

    37 Peter’s words pierced their hearts…

    His words pierced their hearts

    Do they pierce yours?

    Does the Gospel of Christ Jesus, sent to save sinners from death ring out to the crowds beyond the locked doors of a church building where once you gathered?

    A response of faith

    … and they said to him and to the other apostles,
    “Brothers, what should we do?”

    What must we do?

    If now the Holy Spirit finally pierces our own tech-brittled 21st century hearts, what is our response while we wait for the LORD’s return?

    Or even our response in this brief time before our own inevitable DEATH?

    For like this time of waiting for the Apostles, this life will no longer be the same for you and me.

    A former perspective of Church

    We have put on our ‘Sunday best’ for Easter for all these years. And we call ourselves, “Christian.” (Always from within the walls of our ‘church,’ and occasionally even in this world where we live, work and play.)

    What witness of Jesus yet resounds in the hearts of those who hear us claim — the Holy Name of the Lord?

    For they no longer may enter the building of our gathering, the place to which we once gladly invited:

    “Let’s go to church.“

    It seems that everything has changed and our vision for the church building no longer applies.

    Could a prosperous and comfortable church of these recent centuries have wandered aimlessly into a by-path meadow? It has remained an enduring challenge to the church.

    May God’s Grace preserve you from straying into Bypath Meadow!

    The man who professes to be a Christian must not expect God’s angels to keep him if he goes in the way of worldliness. There are hundreds, and I fear thousands, of church members who say that they are the people of God, yet they appear to live entirely to this world. The great aim is moneymaking and personal aggrandizement—just as much as it is the aim of altogether ungodly men.

    C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD’S-DAY EVENING, AUGUST 22, 1875.

    The World’s Perspective of the 21st C. ‘church’

    The Acts of the Apostles witnesses the boldness of the early church even in the face of DEATH for their confidence and love in Christ.

    Unbeliever you know in this 21st century world of chaos look near and far for an example of men and women who exemplify the ‘god’ we claim by the witness of our lives.

    We tell some that Jesus died on a Cross for our sins.

    While our witness makes them wonder of YOU ‘so love the world’ that YOU would die for THEM.

    ‘Where is the Christian who does not fear death,’ they ask?

    Yet when some agendized so-called ‘christians’ act boldly in ways repugnant to their own ideals, good-seeking souls of this world ask,

    ‘Why would I want to be a fool like THEM?’

    IF GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, WHY DON’T I SEE IT IN CHRISTIANS?

    • THEY are after our money to build their grand cathedrals of prosperous vanity.
    • How are their corporate jets any different than those of the world’s great philanthropists who would save our world for another generation?
    • Are these so-called ‘christians’ banned from their big gatherings any better than the man isolated in a cave or on a mountaintop?
    • Really, are Christians any different than me?

    Fair questions of the world to any who claim faith.

    In our witness they observe a discrepancy between claim of Christ and our inability to differentiate between you and the world, because of Christ.

    Assuming God (against Whom the world rebels), how must those obedient to the Lord act when the world seemingly slips rapidly back into the chaos preceding creation?

    Fortunately, scripture provides not only answers, but also direction. For we are SINNERS LIKE THEM seeking justice, yet offering solace in LIFE after DEATH.

    Are you the Christian who fears not DEATH (yet is no fool)?

    Proverbs & Prophecy

    When the wicked die, their hopes die with them,
    for they rely on their own feeble strength.

    Proverbs 11:7 NLT

    Evil people get rich for the moment,
    but the reward of the godly will last.
    Godly people find life;
    evil people find death.

    Proverbs 11:18-19 NLT

    We find that those who do not believe may well accept the comfort of Scripture as hope for their own future. Proverbial advice, however, need not come exclusively from scripture.

    Others may have it right as well, so our random words of wisdom from scripture may make no more difference than those from a worshiper of stone living in the lies of idolatry. The Lord our God is One!

    The Prophet Isaiah, who we so often quote concerning the Messiah of God also promises a glorious future:

    Behold, a king will reign righteously…

    No longer will the fool be called noble,
    Or the rogue be spoken of as generous.

    For a fool speaks nonsense,
    And his heart inclines toward wickedness:
    To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the LORD,
    To keep the hungry person unsatisfied
    And to withhold drink from the thirsty.

    Isaiah 32:1a,5-6 NASB

    Tell those of the world who speak sense that you know this One Righteous King.

    “He existed in the beginning with God. And “God created everything through him.

    How they will know

    Do you, beloved brother or sister in Christ, recall Jesus’ last command to the eleven after Judas left them to betray the Lord?

    It would be for this time of waiting by the Disciples who must endure during the trying times of Jesus’ crucifixion.

    One way to look at the timing and importance of the Lord’s ‘new commandment’ to the Disciples might be to rephrase it to say something like:

    If you don’t remember anything else of what I have taught you, remember this…

    DO YOU?

    AND does Jesus New Command to His Disciples apply to the CHURCH while we await His return in glory?

    John 13:

    33 Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’

    “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

    John 13:34 NASB

    35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

    Does the church obey this new commandment of Jesus?

    IF YOU HAVE LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER…

    Is this not the witness of Christ which builds His CHURCH — soul by sinful redeemed soul?

    Has the world not seen our white-washed building without seeing Christ?

    “Go into all the world,” the Lord commanded the disciples. Yet Jesus never suggested that we bring all of the world into our building of worship.

    Let your hearts, imprisoned in cells away from each other, hear what the Lord through Scripture says to the Church.

    For when once more we gather together, to ask the Lord’s blessing, perhaps those wandering lost souls of our neighbors will see that Christ’s Church is in fact, us.

    Amen.