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Tag: temple

If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly
The Messiah at Festivals

So what does the Messiah of Israel do at festivals and feasts? How does the Messiah lead followers to worship the Lord our God, our Father in heaven?

It was the Feast of Hanukkah at Yerushalayim.
John 10:22 Hebrew Names Version

Yeshua mashiyach

Just a reminder to Christians of this 21st century, Jesus was Jewish.

Yeshua, from Ἰησοῦς in Greek, Iēsous from יְהוֹשׁוּעַ Hebrew meaning Yĕhowshuwa` (Joshua or Jehoshua = “Jehovah is salvation”) in English: Jesus. (The One born to a Jewish mother, a virgin betrothed to a faithful Jew, Joseph son of Jacob {Matthew 1:16}.)

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Gospel of Matthew 1:1 KJV

Although we have been following Jesus through the Gospel of John, for our understanding of the Messiah and His jewish upbringing as the Son of Man, we have just left some predictions of the Prophet Amos.
Amos – Not immune from judgment
For those who turn justice into wormwood
Amos the Seer: “I told you so (5x) – GOD showed me
Who better to ask about the Lord God in heaven than the one who came down from heaven, sent by God the Father?

This is where we left off in the Good News from the Apostle John.

Jesus healed a man born blind, which has prompted much discussion and considerable controversy in Jerusalem.

The Gatekeeper & the Shepherds – the Door

John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

Is this Man a Gate and the Door to heaven?
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44:1  וַיָּשֶׁב אֹתִי דֶּרֶךְ שַׁעַר הַמִּקְדָּשׁ הַֽחִיצֹון הַפֹּנֶה קָדִים וְהוּא סָגֽוּר׃
44:2  וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי יְהוָה הַשַּׁעַר הַזֶּה סָגוּר יִהְיֶה לֹא יִפָּתֵחַ וְאִישׁ לֹא־יָבֹא בֹו כִּי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל בָּא בֹו וְהָיָה סָגֽוּר׃
 {Masoretic TextShow Cantilliation Marks OffShow Vowel Points OnMasoretic Text} http://blb.sc/00AONj
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Then He brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces the east; and it was shut. The LORD said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the LORD God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.
Ezekiel 44:1-2 NASB

“The priest shall take some of the blood from the sin offering and put it on the door posts of the house, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar and on the posts of the gate of the inner court.
Ezekiel 45:19 NASB

John 10:

2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

7 Yeshua emphasized, “I can guarantee this truth: I am the gate for the sheep.
John 10:7 NOG

Later Jesus will tell the Apostles to also be wary of these religious hired hands determined to devour all opposition.

John tells us how Jerusalem’s religious leaders opposed the Messiah after Jesus healed a man blind from birth. But Jesus tells the crowds a parable against them.

12 A hired hand isn’t a shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep. When he sees a wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and quickly runs away.
John 10:11 NKJV

19 Again the Jews were divided because of these words…

After this, a most popular Messiah Jesus enters Jerusalem for a festival.

Jewish festivals

22 Then the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem, and it was winter.

A brief overview:

The Hebrew Civil Year began with Tishri [October]. At the Exodus the Ecclesiastical Year was made to begin with Abib [April], which, after the Captivity, was called also Nisan.- Hitchcock’s Topical Commentary

“Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.
Deuteronomy 16:16 NASB

But this minor feast (we now call the festival of lights) held importance to a Jerusalem which presumed to have purified and rededicated the Temple. In commemoration of the cleansing and re-dedication of the Temple after its pollution by Antiochus Epiphanes. –H.

The Story Behind the Feast of Dedication

Prior to the year 165 BC, the Jewish people in Judea were living under the rule of the Greek kings of Damascus. During this time Seleucid King Antiochus Epiphanes, the Greco-Syrian king, took control of the Temple in Jerusalem and forced the Jewish people to abandon their worship of God, their holy customs, and reading of the Torah. He made them bow down to the Greek gods. According to ancient records, King Antiochus IV defiled the Temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar and spilling its blood on the holy scrolls of Scripture.

Source:

Jerusalem’s crowed festival

23 Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon’s Colonnade. The Jews surrounded him and asked,

“How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

25 “I did tell you and you don’t believe,” Jesus answered them.

Do you believe His signs?

Even in this day some will believe and come to faith through the Messiah, He IS the gate to salvation and the door to heaven. Others remain blind to truth.

Jesus has already given several signs, proofs in various places of miracles only God could do. The most recent of these, of course, was giving a blind man sight right there in Jerusalem.

“The works that I do in my Father’s name testify about me. But you don’t believe because you are not of my sheep.

Who do you follow?

Some preacher, a rabbi or teacher?

None are the Son of God, the Shepherd of the chosen ones of God our Father.

The Way to heaven

27 My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.

28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.

Why would you doubt the authoritative gentle voice of the Shepherd at the door?

If you believe in God Almighty our God and Father, do you not see His power and compassion in the Only Son, Shepherd of the chosen to enter into His Glory?

Is Jesus your Lord and Shepherd?

For His love and anointing must be clear to those who are no longer blind.

Would you humbly turn from your sin to hear His gentle voice?

“Follow Me.” “I am the way the truth and the life.” *

29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

A decision of life or death

How many times can you recall that the LORD strikes down the one who sins?

More times in scripture than we can recall.

The LORD GOD IS ALMIGHTY! Fear only him, the LORD, the Existing One.
- John the Baptist had testified of the Holy Spirit of God descending upon Jesus.
- The Lord Jesus raised the dead, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind. A Man of God thought to be from Nazareth asked men and women to follow Him.
- Jesus, Son of Man as He referred to himself, showed signs and wonders to many.
What is left for the Messiah to tell us?

If we must follow Jesus, is He God in Person? – a “Son of Man” the very human Image of God (as a Son of His Father born to a woman)?

For the LORD God is One and our decision to obey the LORD is a matter of eternal life or judgment and punishment of our soul in death.

“I and My Father are one.”
John 10:30 KJV

Truth? or Blasphemy?
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31 Again the Jews picked up rocks to stone him.

 32 Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these works are you stoning me?”

 33 “We aren’t stoning you for a good work,” the Jews answered, “but for blasphemy, because you—being a man—make yourself God.”

 34 Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, I said, you are gods? If he called those whom the word of God came to ‘gods’—and the Scripture cannot be broken— do you say, ‘You are blaspheming’ to the one the Father set apart and sent into the world, because I said: I am the Son of God?
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Jesus, Son of Man filled with the Holy Spirit of Almighty God! Once again the Lord confronts the hired hands of Herod, wolves luring the faithful away from the Shepherd, with Scripture and Truth.

How can they refute what everyone has seen with their own eyes?

37 “If I am not doing my Father’s works, don’t believe me…”

You too have seen many signs and miracles. Those in addition to Jesus’ compassion and love for the lost who have sinned.

A few repent seeking return to the safety of the Shepherd.

38 “… But if I am doing them and you don’t believe me, believe the works. This way you will know and understand that the Father is in me and I in the Father.”

Jesus and God the Father are One! Jesus and the Holy Spirit of God are One!

What was it Jesus told the Pharisee Nicodemus?

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
John 3:21 NASB

Jesus IS Spirit; Jesus IS Flesh!

But those who will not bow down to the LORD God accuse the Son of Man of blasphemy. (Let the casual 21st c. reader understand the significance of blasphemy – a sin against God requiring death of the offender.)

39 Then they were trying again to seize him, but he eluded their grasp.

A return to the wilderness

40 He went back across the Jordan River and stayed in the place where John first baptized people.

41 Many people went to Yeshua. They said, “John didn’t perform any miracles, but everything John said about this man is true.” 42 Many people there believed in Yeshua.

Truth

The Apostle John has already revealed the Good News of the Messiah proven by many signs in many places.
- And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
- “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
- “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
- “You have sent to John [the baptist], and he has testified to the truth.
- “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
- “Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?
The One Truth & nothing but The Truth

“I and the Father are One!”
John 10:30 – Strong’s: b) metaphorically, “union” and “concord,” e.g., Jhn 10:30; 11:52; 17:11, 21, 22; Rom 12:4, 5; Phl 1:27

The Apostle John concludes his Gospel as follows:

21:24 Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ μαθητὴς ὁ μαρτυρῶν περὶ τούτων καὶ γράψας ταῦτα καὶ οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἀληθὴς ἐστίν ἡ μαρτυρία αὐτοῦ

This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.

What other sign do you need to open your eyes to what Jesus plainly has said?

I and the Father are One!
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NEXT: The Resurrection of Lazarus ... God-willing...
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March 25, 2020
The Gatekeeper & the Shepherds
Then the watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, “Behold, another man running by himself.”
And the king said, “This one also is bringing good news.”
2 Samuel 18:16

Watchtowers at gates of old city

Of Gatekeepers and Watchmen

Soldier of Roman Legion

It would have been a Roman Centurion, Roman guards at the gates of first century Jerusalem.

Armed soldiers, some who had marched on Roman roads connecting nearby towns and slaughtering rebellious zealots in the mountain passes guarded the gates.

As each festival approached with its crowds of pilgrims flooding the streets of Jerusalem, each watchtower with its Roman overseers would look to turn back any threat to their subject-king and their Caesar.

A Roman guard in each watchtower of Jerusalem would have sent out an alarm if any opponent approached their captive city.

They were unlike the faithful who worshiped here and the not so casual crowds of curious visitors of this day.

Damascus Gate of Jerusalem
- Who approaches our city?
- Will they enter through the gate by permission of their king (or city leader)?
- Are they any threat to the Emperor’s representative, our leaders and our Legions?
Who may enter?

It was common practice of the people, including shepherds leading sheep for the slaughter of the sacrifice, to travel here from far away hills and trade within Jerusalem’s walls. Then they worshiped within the courts of their Temple, surrounded by walls of watchmen.

The gatekeeper is much more than a ticket taker, so to speak, a man of authority.

Please keep in mind the context of John’s gospel in the earthly journey of Jesus and the Apostles to Jerusalem. Although we pause once more in John’s witness of a man born blind, the context of Jesus’ actions set the stage for what will happen next.

Rome will destroy Jerusalem later, as Babylon and others had destroyed her before. This nervous alliance between a subject king of the region and ruler of Rome governed the day-to-day lives of Judea’s subjects.

Some mattered more than others. A ruling council guarded their revamped religion and culture: Pharisees, Sadducees, rich landowners paying taxes for the Roman army to remain there in peace.

They kept pretense of self-rule under Herod as a self-subjugated nation which could be crushed by Rome at any hint of rebellion.

A Roman legacy of a Judean King

Back in 19 B.C., Rome had allowed their great builder king to start rebuilding the Temple. Ten thousand skilled laborers and a thousand Levites built it with contributions of Jews mostly from the diaspora to the east just beyond Rome’s grip. It would not be completed until A.D. 63, just seven years prior to their destruction of all Jerusalem. – Source

Those now in authority choose who may enter Jerusalem. Several acted as gatekeeper for a gate entering the court of the Temple, a designated religious police poised at its gates. And as always, those judged for crimes were sentenced by a court sitting at the gate.

But now their jewish judgments must be confirmed by Rome’s prefect who cruelly crushed opposition by the constant reminders of their Roman crosses of crucifixion along roads to the city.

Like always, men of no threat to anyone often sat within the gates begging from faithful pilgrims coming and going into the city.

“For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. – the words of Jesus, Matthew 26:11 NASB

David’s Watchmen

When David was king, Jerusalem had fought for the LORD rather than bowing down to a Caesar. Yet even David sat as gatekeeper of Israel after opposition by his own son.

David’s great kingdom long forgotten, Jerusalem’s leaders mustered the crowds toward a new faith of confidence by the name of David, although few remembered David’s defeats and difficulties.

One such ne’er-told scripture would have been of David’s time after Absalom’s revolt. It was a day not so grandiose as their many reminders to first century crowds of Solomon’s first Temple.

2 Samuel 18:

Then David numbered the people who were with him and set over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds…

So the king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and thousands…

6 Then the people went out into the field against Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. (Note Ephraim’s earlier loss of the blessing of Jacob.)

7 The people of Israel were defeated there before the servants of David [Judah], and the slaughter there that day was great, 20,000 men…

17 They took Absalom and cast him into a deep pit in the forest and erected over him a very great heap of stones. And all Israel fled, each to his tent.

24 Now David was sitting between the two gates; and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate by the wall, and raised his eyes and looked, and behold, a man running by himself. The watchman called and told the king.

And the king said, “If he is by himself there is good news in his mouth.”

And he came nearer and nearer. Then the watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, “Behold, another man running by himself.”

And the king said, “This one also is bringing good news.”

…

Why send two?

Two messengers. King David awaits good news as he sits in the gate as gatekeeper of the City of David.

Men from the watchtowers above see a distant scene long before David has news of what has happened. Two separate messengers approaching the stronghold of Jerusalem where the people had kept their king behind as gatekeeper.

Why two? What details of the battle for the LORD will they reveal?

“O my son Absalom

The report of hope turns into great sorrow for the king.

“Let my lord the king receive good news, for the Lord has freed you this day from the hand of all those who rose up against you.”

“Let the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up against you for evil, be as that young man!”

33 The king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept.

Though his victory as King is secured, David would have done anything to have kept his own son from death.

And thus he said as he walked, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

2 Samuel 19:

8 So the king arose and sat in the gate. When they told all the people, saying, “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate,” then all the people came before the king…

After several violent battles between the rebellious tribes of Israel David prevails as king.

Solomon then becomes Israel’s richest and greatest king, building the Temple of the Lord. But in his old age Solomon falls away from his faith and at his death Israel and Judah once again divide.

After some centuries both kingdoms fall, the Temple of Solomon destroyed.

A Babylonian-built Jewish temple

Perhaps you have never considered that the temple in Jerusalem could never have been rebuilt over the ruble where the Law was found without Persia’s and Babylon’s help. Of course, the LORD made it possible as the LORD had influenced Pharaoh before.

“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Ezra 1:2 NASB

Therefore, ‘in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia.’ [Ezra 1:1]

For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.
Hebrews 3:3 NASB

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
“TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME,
AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS…
Hebrews 3:7-8 NASB

Nehemiah & Ezra

Prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel warned both Israel and Judah to return to the LORD, but they also provided hope for later faithful generations of God’s faithfulness.

Although building of the second temple was begun around 516 BC (many centuries after David), it was not completed until about 349 BC under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah.

Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach.”
Nehemiah 2:17 NASB

Again, note the passage of time and the patience of the LORD in completing His plan of redemption.

Nehemiah 4:

He [Sanballat] spoke in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy men of Samaria and said,

“What are these feeble Jews doing?

Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones?”

The importance of gatekeepers guarding the gates of the faith, as well as the city continued as it had since the time of David and traditions of Moses.

1 Chronicles 9

A century before the beginning of the rebuilding of the temple

… And Judah was carried away into exile to Babylon for their unfaithfulness.

17 Now the gatekeepers were Shallum and Akkub and Talmon and Ahiman and their relatives (Shallum the chief being stationed until now at the king’s gate to the east)…

20 Phinehas the son of Eleazar was ruler over them previously, and the Lord was with him. Zechariah the son of Meshelemiah was gatekeeper of the entrance of the tent of meeting. All these who were chosen to be gatekeepers at the thresholds were 212.

The Pharisees and priests (Levites) of the rebuilt temple of the first century had legitimacy of guarding the purity of the faith of the LORD.

Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, but the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while nine-tenths remained in the other cities.
Nehemiah 11:1 NASB

Isaiah 60:

ק֥וּמִי א֖וֹרִי כִּ֣י בָ֣א אוֹרֵ֑ךְ וּכְב֥וֹד יְהוָ֖ה עָלַ֥יִךְ זָרָֽח׃

2 כִּֽי־הִנֵּ֤ה הַחֹ֙שֶׁךְ֙ יְכַסֶּה־אֶ֔רֶץ וַעֲרָפֶ֖ל לְאֻמִּ֑ים וְעָלַ֙יִךְ֙ יִזְרַ֣ח יְהוָ֔ה וּכְבוֹד֖וֹ עָלַ֥יִךְ יֵרָאֶֽה׃

We will next return to first century Jerusalem, but first hear the words of the Prophet Isaiah. (Without knowing their context you may have heard them before.)

Arise, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
…
The Gentiles shall come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising.
“Lift up your eyes all around, and see:
They all gather together, they come to you;
Your sons shall come from afar,
And your daughters shall be nursed at your side.
Then you shall see and become radiant,
And your heart shall swell with joy…

Yet previously Isaiah the Prophet had warned:

His watchmen are blind,
All of them know nothing.
All of them are mute dogs unable to bark,
Dreamers lying down, who love to slumber;
And the dogs are greedy, they are not satisfied.

And they are shepherds who have no understanding;
They have all turned to their own way,
Each one to his unjust gain, to the last one.

Into this same Jerusalem the Messiah Jesus enters the gates, encounters the watchmen and shepherds of Herod. Among other signs the Lord gives a man blind from birth his sight!

Could the LORD have sent a new gatekeeper of heaven to Jerusalem?
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To be continued...
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March 7, 2020
Your Mistake – You Don’t Know the Power of God

Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.

Matthew 22:29 NLT

The Power of God

Psalm 68:

God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;
and those who hate him shall flee before him!
2 As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
as wax melts before fire,
so the wicked shall perish before God!
3 But the righteous shall be glad;
they shall exult before God;
they shall be jubilant with joy!

18 You ascended on high,
leading a host of captives in your train
and receiving gifts among men,
even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.

19 Blessed be the Lord,
who daily bears us up;
God is our salvation. Selah

28 Summon your power, O God,
the power, O God, by which you have worked for us…

34 Ascribe power to God,
whose majesty is over Israel,
and whose power is in the skies.

35 Awesome is God from his sanctuary;
the God of Israel—

he is the one who gives power and strength to his people.
Blessed be God!

Who is in Control?

Political and religious bickering such as is common in every age postures man against man and promotes idea against ideal. Jesus encountered such controversies as part of everyday life and ministry, yet refused to become entangled in issues of authority.

The hidden question beneath numerous inquiries to Jesus from religious officials of every belief was, ‘do you see why we are right and that you are wrong?’

Their assumption of the Son of Man was that Jesus would have taken control (like they would have seized power) IF He IS the Son of God.

Yet God did not sacrifice his only Son for power of control, but for forgiveness of sins.

When do powerful leaders look upwards to the Lord in humility?

Where was the humility of Jerusalem’s religious leaders in the presence of their Messiah Incarnate? They continued to cling to what little control Rome would allow. To relinquish power to Jesus would mean giving up authority of their position.

Perhaps the best illustration of the questions of authority of the Lord Jesus Christ from officials in control of the people takes place in their first dialogue after clearing the Temple.

MATTHEW 21:

Quotes & Events:

“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Jesus, surrounded and worshiped by crowds, rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. (Christians celebrate this occasion as Palm Sunday.) He drove out all who were buying and selling from the temple of God.

“It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

He healed the blind and the lame in the courtyards of the temple. Crowds continued to praise Jesus, while the established religious authorities continue to question their witness to miracles.

… they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?”

“Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”

Jesus left for Bethany, home of Lazarus whom He had raised from the dead! He returned the next morning and crowds continued to follow and Praise the Lord.

Do you suppose the multitudes praising Jesus in Jerusalem included those who had witnessed the resurrection of Lazareth in Bethany?

Yes! Of course.

Resurrection – Only by the Power of God

John 12:

Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead…

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

10 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

To be continued…

By What Authority? – Leaders, Law, Scriptures, God

March 17, 2018