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  • 12 Men Texting as their Messiah approaches – Part 2

    12 Men Texting as their Messiah approaches – Part 2

    A Context to Texting

    You may find the photo headline of this post somewhat whimsical, but my incongruous placement of 21st century communications devices into first century Jewish hands comes with a purpose. Just imagine yourself in this scene of controversy.

    The very irony of our recent look back at the seriousness of what Daniel had to say about the future coming of the Messiah of Israel adds to divisions of thought by first century Jews.

    Any anachronistic imagery of the last days by Prophets like Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Micah and many more must have met with diverse interpretation.

    texting group - and you can be part of one to Talk of JESUS Christ in social media - 3-part series.

    Suppose the twelve Apostles and religious rulers of Jerusalem had communication tools such we do.

    Would they have been texting ahead as the Messiah Jesus approached?

    Of course these historical events did take place in the first century, but what if Jesus approached our city now?

    What do you think would happen?

    Consider the motivations of those in John’s Gospel as if they could communicate as quickly as we do in this 21st century A.D.

    The Jerusalem Jesus approached

    Jerusalem is a city under Roman imposed rules suppressing their world through might and mitigated right imposed by compromising captive national and local leaders. Their religious leaders convened as the Sanhedrin.

    The Sanhedrin‘s beginning is to be placed at the period in which Asia was convulsed by Alexander the Great and his successors. The Hellenistic kings conceded a great amount of internal freedom to municipal communities, and Palestine was then practically under home rule, and was governed by an aristocratic council of Elders

    John 12:

    google earth image of hills between Bethany and Jerusalem and Ephraim to the north

    You may recall the context of these parting paths from Jesus – Traveling to and from Bethany.

    The Twelve Apostles and many other Jews have just witnessed the Lord Jesus raise Lazarus from the grave!

    After returning to Bethany from Ephraim in the hills far-removed from Jerusalem’s public eye, they return to the home of Lazarus.

    Mary, sister to lazarus pours expensive oil on Jesus’ feet and one of the Twelve objects.

    5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”

    We then followed the separate path of the Messiah and His Apostles away from the amazed public eyewitness of this great sign in Bethany.

    Good News / Bad News?

    Just image the Good News of the texts between those traveling with Jesus and the mourners of Bethany!

    Who did they tell of this confirmation of Israel’s Messiah?

    Last time we followed the storyline of the Good News (as Jesus retreated to the hills one last time). But now we will return to Bethany and follow the thread of bad news (no doubt texted ahead to the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem). Now we turn to a divergent path headed in a different direction.

    Path of the Betrayer

    6 Now he [ Judas Iscariot ] said this, not because he cared about the poor [for he had never cared about them], but because he was a thief; and since he had the money box [serving as treasurer for the twelve disciples], he used to pilfer what was put into it.

    7 So Jesus said, “Let her alone, so that she may keep [the rest of] it for the day of My burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.”

    The impulse of betrayal

    What does a zealous follower of a powerful man do when spurned by his idolized leader who fails to take the path he had expected?

    (Perhaps this is not so irrelevant to these times and leaders as well.)

    Judas would have texted other zealots he knew in the capital, those in the palaces of power.

    Roger Harned- talkofJesus.com

    John 13:

    Once more, jumping ahead to follow Judas after the Messiah’s triumphal entry to the gates of Judah’s capital:

    2 And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him…

    To Peter the Lord said:

    … You are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For he knew who would betray him. This is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

    Judas’ Betrayal Predicted

    You’ve entered the Holy gathering at the Table with the Lord.

    HAVE YOU CHECKED YOUR CELL PHONES?

    You just can’t wait to tell your friends back home and waiting in the public square what has just happened. But just for a moment you allow Jesus to lead the events in the room.

    “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”

    22 Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake.

    After a murmuring among those present John tells us that after the urging of Peter he asks the unspoken question on everyone’s mind.

    6 Jesus then answered,

    “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.”

    So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.

    A devil revealed reacts

    John has already witnessed in his Gospel that Judas is a devil of a disciple who will betray Jesus. He has also witnessed that Jesus called the leaders of Jerusalem by the same.

    So what will these devils of conspiracy against all righteousness do?

    What would they do in this day?

    Communicate! — “TXT ME“

    After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.”

    John 13:27 NASB – Judas Iscariot and the command of Jesus

    IF you were the betrayer, wouldn’t you immediately go for your communication device?

    We have to post an ‘update‘ to our ‘friend‘ network in the world we love?

    So did Judas!

    30 So after receiving the morsel he went out immediately; and it was night.

    Returning to Jerusalem

    Judas has left the Lord Jesus on a different path. (I pray that you have not left the presence of the Lord as well, claimer of Christ your savior for this brief life.)

    The Messiah Jesus called Judas a devil – διάβολος diábolos

    • prone to slander, slanderous, accusing falsely
    • metaph. applied to a man who, by opposing the cause of God, may be said to act the part of the devil or to side with him

    Do you follow anyone like that?

    (Better not text them or pay much attention to their media campaigns pointed at you and their ‘followers.’)

    Do you believe that men and women like Judas claim authority as “followers of the Lord?“

    You will always have the poor and you will always have those who do evil in the eyes of the Lord!

    False leaders must ultimately promote a lie of their own false traditions and compromised purity. John uncovers the motives of these ‘leaders.’

    Judas had hoped Jesus would overthrow Jerusalem’s autocratic, aristocratic religious leaders and their Roman allies violently, but the Messiah chose a sacrificial path.

    Now we return to the capital of the land in an earlier visit.

    John 8:

    We have examined this defendant of the devil before in Before Abraham was, I AM! Jesus had called these same leaders with false interpretation of Scripture and devious leadership to their own cultural ends, ‘devils!’

    37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.

    42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God…

    “You are of your father the devil, G1228 and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks [fn]a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of [fn]lies.

    45 But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.

    Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.”

    The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon.

    John 8:51-52a NASB

    What do you think?

    What BREAKING NEWS will you TXT ahead?

    • Will you remain with the Messiah, essentially following obediently as commanded as did the eleven?
    • Or will you betray your only Hope of cleansing of your sin (and text ahead to the world that the Messiah isn’t what you thought?)

    Perhaps you’ve been listening to distorted news of the powers you seek from principalities you cannot touch. You need to identify with these ‘leaders’ of the world and in the world.

    What is your reaction to the Messiah Jesus approaching in these last days?

    To be continued...
  • Ordinary Men -2

    Ordinary Men -2

    Acts 4:5-7

    On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

    Synopsis

    Annas and Caiaphas and John and Alexander sit here esteemed high above ordinary men, even the highest of aristocrats sitting in the Sanhedrin.

    Annas and Caiaphas and John and Alexander sit here esteemed high above ordinary men, even the highest of aristocrats sitting in the Sanhedrin. We have examined an incident of healing a lame man [Acts 3] in the Temple the previous day. We have also examined the high calling of some of the Temple court officials mentioned above. These not-so-ordinary men mentioned here will examine Peter and John, But first let’s take a look at one additional more common official of the Sanhedrin.

    Jewish Stratification (continued from Ordinary Men – part 1)

    The chief sects among the Jews were the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Essenes, who may be described respectively as the Formalists, the Freethinkers and the Puritans.

    Pharisees

    The fundamental principle all of the of the Pharisees, common to them with all orthodox modern Jews, is that by the side of the written law regarded as a summary of the principles and general laws of the Hebrew people there was on oral law to complete and to explain the written law, given to Moses on Mount Sinai and transmitted by him by word of mouth.

    The Pharisees at an early day secured the popular favor and thereby acquired considerable political influence. This influence was greatly increased by the extension of the Pharisees over the whole land and the majority which they obtained in the Sanhedrin. Their number reached more than six thousand under the Herods.

    Josephus compared the Pharisees to the sect of the Stoics. He says that they lived frugally, in no respect giving in to luxury. We are not to suppose that there were not many individuals among them who were upright and pure, for there were such men as Nicodemus, Gamaliel, Joseph of Arimathea and Paul.

    The Defense

    Acts 4:6-12

    Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed,  let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

    How should the high court respond?

    You might think by their defense in naming Jesus that Peter is claiming personal innocence in the manor of the man’s healing. After all, why were they arrested; what is their crime? No charge of the supreme court of the Temple (Sanhedrin) was made against them for preaching in the courtyard at church. “By what power or by what name did you do this?”  (referring to the miraculous healing witnessed by many) was their only question to Peter.

    No charges here and the evidence to be presented witnesses a miracle. These Levitical Priests, aristocratic scribes and sadducees, and politically powerful Pharisees sit in judgment of a miracle. ‘How did the Lord use men like these and not a Priest or Temple official to do this?’ they must have thought. The witness of their preaching the previous day had quoted scripture referring to the prophets, the Messiah, Moses, Samuel and Abraham. What could the court say of this a day after the miracle in the courtyard of the Temple?

    [ctt title=”But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. – Acts 4:4″ tweet=”Arrested because the Lord performed a miracle and their preaching is true.” coverup=”cTU1O”]

    Who can preach like this?

    Acts 4:13

    Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

    14 But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. 15 But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, 16 saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it…

    21 And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened.

    Witness, Our Only Choice

    [ctt title=”“I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”” tweet=”Acts 3:6 Peter’s witness before one of many arrests.” coverup=”V5egz”]

    But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:19-20

    29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

    31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

     

  • Ordinary Men – 1

    Ordinary Men – 1

    … he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.

    – Acts 4:10b

    Suppose you were arrested and brought before a court of leaders asking how you had healed a lame man. Would you witness Christ?

    The Apostle Peter in effect told the very court which convicted Christ, ‘you are the guilty ones.’ The resurrected Lord healed him.

    We have heard of this blindness before

    The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

    – John 9:30-33

    Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” – John 9:39

    Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”

    Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt [from sin]; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

    Blind Leadership

    Peter and John had just healed a crippled beggar known to the same authorities who once witnessed a similar powerful miracle, then expelled from the Temple a man blind from birth healed by Jesus. My previous post, the three o’clock prayer service, details this healing recorded in Acts 3. The Apostles face similar retribution as Jesus after healing a lame man in front of many witnesses.

    Acts 3:12 And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?

    … 17 “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

    Acts 4:

    And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

    Jewish Stratification

    During the times of Herod’s Temple, social center of religious life in Jerusalem at that time of Jesus and the Apostles, Temple leaders were esteemed above ordinary men. The political appointment of priests claimed status from traditional Jewish Biblical offices and responsibilities.

    • The social world of the priests during the Iron Age and Persian Period was one fraught with concerns about power and status. To be a priest was, at least in terms of public rhetoric, an ascribed, not an achieved status.

    Priests

    • Throughout the Hebrew Bible, the term priest (kōhēn) is commonly used to refer to an official who was set apart from the rest of the community in order to carry out certain duties associated with worship and sacrifice. As “ministers of the LORD” (Joel 1:9; 2:17), priests functioned as mediators of God’s presence and were responsible for the day-to-day operation of cultic sites, whether the tabernacle, local shrines, or the Temple in Jerusalem.
    • Deuteronomy employs the term “Levitical priests” (hakkōhănîm halwiyyim) most likely to underscore the fact that all Levites were qualified to be priests (Deut 17:9, 18; 18:1; 24:8; 27:9).
    • The most prominent and persistent controversy regarding the priesthood had to do with whether all Levities could serve as priests or, alternatively, if only certain branches of the Levitical line (the Aaronides or the Zadokites) were qualified for the priestly office.

    Scribes

    • Outside of their sacrificial duties, priests also oversaw many other aspects of ancient Israelite life… In this role, priests were responsible for communicating the law and adjudicating legal matters (Lev 10:10–11; Deut 17:8–13; 21:5; Ezek 44:24), though in the Second Temple period, such activity was eventually taken over by scribes.
    • Scribes of various degrees of competence were attached to all government and temple offices. Apparently there were also independent scribes who either served the public or were in the employ of men of means.
    • Later the scribe was a professional expert in the writing of Torah scrolls, *tefillin , *mezuzot , and bills of *divorce .

    Sadducees

    • (followers of Zadok), (Matthew 3:7; 16:1,6,11,12; 22:23,31; Mark 12:18; Luke 20:27; Acts 4:1; 5:17; 23:6,7,8) a religious party or school among the Jews at the time of Christ, who denied that the oral law was a revelation of God to the Israelites. and who deemed the written law alone to be obligatory on the nation, as of divine authority.
    • To these sons of Zadok were afterward attached all who for any reason reckoned themselves as belonging to the aristocrats; such, for example, as the families of the high priest, who had obtained consideration under the dynasty of Herod. These were for the most part judges, and individuals of the official and governing class.

    Sadducees held the majority of the seats in the ruling Jewish court of the Sanhedrin. They held political power and influence in Judah, even under Rome.

    As you can see from description of these several classes of ‘blind guides,’ these Jewish rulers are not in any way ordinary men.

    Though five thousand men came to believe Peter and John, these arresting authorities are in no way intimidated.  The Apostles face a trial, the first of many, for proclaiming Christ Jesus.

    Allow me to ask you, what is your response to opposition to Jesus Christ?

    To be continued…

     

     

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