The Gospel of John - Chapters 20 - 21

Remembering what the scriptures begin to tell us about why we should celebrate the day of the resurrection...Jesus the Messiah is Alive!

Chapter 21

The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ - Dr.Chuck Missler

Excellent study by Dr. Missler on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Good stuff!

Charles "Chuck" Missler is an author, evangelical Christian, Bible teacher, and former businessman. He is the founder of the Koinonia House ministry. To listen to more Messages and view the other resources please do visit this Ministry's website : http://www.khouse.org/

Merry Christmas from Faithlife

Jesus' Death: Six Hours of Eternity on the Cross

Lambert Dolphin   A superficial reading of the gospel narratives concerning the death of Jesus will show that He was nailed to the cross at 9 o'clock in the morning, and was dead by 3 in the afternoon. His terrible ordeal, it would seem, was over in a mere six hours.
The agony in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before had been an ordeal in prayer before His Father that we can scarcely understand. The writer of Hebrews comments on this incident,

"In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered..." (Hebrews 5:7, 8)

Then, too, Jesus had been up the rest of the night without sleep enduring beating, cruel mockery and unspeakable brutality. The next morning, the Romans scourged Him. (Mark 15:15, John 19:1).
Jesus was already greatly weakened when he carried his cross, stumbling, to the place of crucifixion alongside the main public highway, probably just outside the Damascus Gate.

Several medical doctors and forensic experts have written books about the common Roman form of execution---death by crucifixion. Often the process took several days. The nailing of hands and feet forced the victim to push up against the weight of his own body to take a single breath. In the hot sun, terrible thirst ensued and death came in most cases from suffocation amidst great pain. The victim was also naked and humiliated---death on the cross was reserved for the most wretched of all criminals.
Wood was in short supply in Israel in Roman times. It is likely that small trees (such as these olive trees) were pressed into service to handle the thousands of executions. Crosses were stuck into the ground along major thoroughfares to offer maximum public viewing which included public ridicule and scorn. The terrible nature of this punishment helped enforce Rome's control over the Jews whom they hated anyway. In the Law of Moses hanging a criminal on a tree or cross was reserved for the most serious crimes, "And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance." (Deuteronomy 21:22-23)

There is much more to the death of Jesus on the cross than the visible suffering, terrible pain and suffering, and the incredible ignominy of such a horrible death for One who was not only innocent but also the very Son of God.

The Cosmic Struggle on the Cross

After speaking of Jesus and his role in the creation of the universe Paul in his letter to the Colossians tells us about invisible events taking place outside of the physical realm, and outside of our ordinary space-time continuum during the dying of Jesus on the cross,

...in Jesus all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him. (Col. 1:19-22)

The above passage reveals that not only did Jesus take upon Himself the sins of mankind when He died for us on the cross, but He also met fully the onslaught of demons, fallen angels, and all the power of evil forces in the heavens as well, disarming all of them completely.

Jesus' victory over man's greatest enemy, death, is boldly stated in the letter to the Hebrews:

"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage." (Hebrews 2:14,15)

In speaking to the Apostle John from the heavens, Jesus sent these words to mankind:

"Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades." (Revelation 1:17-18)

Jesus, on the cross, also won back any and all claims Satan had on man, or the earth, or as an authority of any kind in the heavens. If, for example, Satan claimed to hold the title deed of the earth (having gained it because of Adam's fall) that deed now belongs to Jesus as one of the results of His work on the cross. (This is known as the "ransom" work of Christ on the cross---it's a topic sometimes debated by theologians, but one that makes sense). Satan's destruction, too, was accomplished on the cross, outside of time. For the final outworkings in history of Satan's we now eagerly are all waiting. What is a completed work in the eternal time frame will come to pass in human history at God's appointed time on our earthly calendars. His unseen and invisible victory over cosmic evil on the cross is yet another reason why Jesus alone is qualified to receive from the Father all honor and power and glory:

"And I (John) saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals; and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?' And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I wept much that no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. Then one of the (twenty-four) elders said to me, 'Weep not; lo, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered (overcome), so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.' And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth; and he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne." (Revelation 5:1-7)

Jesus: Great High Priest and Perfect Sacrifice

Two aspects of the death of Christ show something of the mystery of His death and the suffering He took onto Himself for our sake. The death of Jesus on the cross took but six hours as measured in dynamical time. Jesus was, for the first three hours on the cross, our Great High Priest. From noon till 3 P.M., during which time a strange and terrible darkness came over the earth, the High Priest became the Sacrifice.

If we now consider the nature of time and eternity (see Arthur C. Custance, Journey out of Time, Ref. 2) it must surely become clear that what was (for us) three hours' suffering by Jesus in total estrangement from the Father---was for Jesus an event in eternity which never ends. The work of Jesus on the cross, as far as we are concerned, is completely finished. Jesus is not now hanging on a cross. He has been raised from the dead, and sits in heaven, fully in charge of the universe as a resurrected man. One man, one son of Adam, Jesus the Lord is now living in glory and He is in charge of the universe.

But in another sense, if we could step into eternity and view an eternal being such as the Son of God experiencing life---if we could see things from the vantage point of eternity---then we would perceive that a part of the eternal God must suffer forever, outside of time, because of human sin.

The Eternal Sufferings of God in Christ

The statement of Jesus to one of the thieves crucified alongside him was, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43) This statement suggests that when He died, Jesus left our time frame and immediately entered eternity. Likewise, the spirit of his companion on an adjacent cross, the dying, redeemed thief also left time and entered eternity when he also died that same day.

The next event in eternity for the human spirit of Jesus was His return to reenter His body in the tomb just before dawn on Easter Sunday morning. By means of the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, He then experienced the complete transformation of His body and His resurrection "out from among the dead." In the time frame of earth, these events are separated by perhaps 40 hours, but in eternity they are an immediate sequence of events, one following another. The dying thief was not raised from the dead at the same earth time as Jesus was raised from the dead. However, in his own (the thief's) consciousness, he stepped out of time to join the general resurrection of all the righteous dead which coincides in history with the Second Coming of Christ.

Notice that phrase: "the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world." This statement confirms again that time is not a factor in eternity. The death of the Lamb actually took place in time, on earth, at a specific date on the calendar--yet it is reckoned here as an eternal event which has meaning for people who have lived ever since the beginning of time. That is why an Old Testament saint such as Abraham could be born again by grace through faith just like a New Testament saint--even though the tree which would be hewn into the cross of Christ had not even been planted as a seed in Abraham's time! The death of Jesus Christ was an event that can be fixed at a particular set of coordinates in space and time-yet it is also the summit of God's eternal program, utterly transcending both space and time. Thus the cross casts its shadow over all of creation. (Ray C. Stedman, God's Final Word)

In this sense, neither heaven nor hell are yet populated---all believers reach heaven at the same "time." The dying thief, Stephen the first martyr, the Apostle John, and all the rest of us will arrive in heaven at precisely the same "instant," experiencing neither soul sleep nor loss of consciousness nor time delay, whether the interval between our death and the Second Coming is a hundred years or one hour. The thief on the cross, in his own consciousness, will experience arriving in Paradise the very same day he died, as Jesus promised he would. (Of course if heaven is still empty, except for Jesus, from our vantage point in time, the prayer to Mary or St. Jude or any of the saints is pointless. These believers are each "time traveling" in their own split-second interval separating their individual death from the great resurrection of all of us believers. Thus, we all get to heaven at the same "time."

In His sinless and perfect human body---prepared especially as a perfect blood sacrifice for the sins of the world---Jesus suffered terribly in body, soul, and spirit during the long night of His trial. That suffering began with the agony in the garden of Gethsemane and in all the humiliating events of His trial and cruel torture prior to His morning journey to Golgotha. The worst was yet to come. Death by crucifixion is an especially painful and terrible death. It was common in Roman times for crucified men in good health to hang dying on a cross sometimes for days, yet Scripture records that Jesus died within six hours' clock time. Even if He only suffered normal human pain in this ordeal it would have been incredibly severe.

All this pain, however, was but the prelude to His real suffering, which involved being cut off from the Father's love and presence and consigned to carry our sins out of the universe, to hell as it were, like the scapegoat sacrifice of Israel of which he, Christ, is the antitype.

The Scripture records three statements by Jesus during the first three hours on the cross when He served as the true Great High Priest before the Father and four further statements during the time of darkness from noon to 3 P.M. when the High Priest became the Sin-Offering. It was during the latter three hours, evidently, that the sins of all mankind were laid upon Jesus and the Father turned His face away from His beloved Son.

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Read the rest of this article at -  http://www.ldolphin.org/sixhours.html

Possible Date for Christ's Resurrection

Many scholars believe that Christ died and rose from the dead again in AD 30 (see our April 7 story). Even more prefer a date in AD 33, although champions of several other dates can also be found. If the events recorded in the gospels took place in AD 33, then this day, April 23, 33 is the probable date for Christ's resurrection.

No other event like it has been recorded in history. The significance of the first Easter is breathtaking. In fact, the witness of the apostles and believers across the ages is that without the resurrection, there could be no Christianity. The cross of Christ makes no sense without his triumphant restoration to life. It was the resurrection which explained his death as a sacrifice for sins. It was the resurrection which vindicated his teaching: he was no liar. It is the resurrection that gives us hope of a new, eternal life: as Christ rose, so will we. It is the one fact that the apostles and early church constantly held forth as the vindication of their message. It is the oldest traceable doctrine of the early Christian liturgy. Even notable anti-Christian scholars admit that the early church held the resurrection as fact, however much those same scholars hope to show that the church was mistaken in its belief.

The records we have tell us that Christ was buried. His tomb was sealed and soldiers posted around it. About dawn of the first day of the new week (Sunday) an earthquake shook the tomb. The guards fell senseless. An angel rolled back the stone. Some of Christ's female followers were on their way to the tomb to anoint his body. They wondered how they would roll away the stone. Imagine their surprise when they found it rolled back and the body gone! They supposed it had been removed and laid somewhere else. Weeping, one of them asked a gardener if he knew where the body had been taken. Then she recognized the "gardener" as Jesus himself.

The women rushed back to tell the disciples. Peter and John raced to the tomb. All was as the women had said. An angel assured the men Christ was risen. Afterward, Jesus appeared several times to his disciples (sometimes passing through walls) and to his brother James. Paul lists a number of appearances, including one to over 500 people at once. "And then he appeared to me as if to one born late," he said.

All arguments against the resurrection must take into account the eyewitness testimony of the early disciples, the great church that sprang from them, the witness of changed lives around the world, and the empty tomb. Modern dimensional mathematics at least suggests the plausibility of Christ's appearances.

The church has long insisted that the Christian life would be impossible without the resurrection, for through it Christ removed the sting of death from all those who believe in Him.

Bibliography:

1. Bible. Especially the passion accounts and 1 Corinthians 15.
2. Edersheim, Alfred. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. (Various editions), especially chapters XVI and XVII.
3. Finegan, Jack. Handbook of Biblical Chronology. Peabody, Massachusetts, 1998.
4. Habermas, Gary R. The Historical Jesus; ancient evidence for the life of Christ. Joplin, Missouri: College Press, 1996.
5. "Resurrection of Christ." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.
6. Ross, Hugh. Beyond the Cosmos. (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1999).
7. Stalker, James. Life of Christ. New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1909, especially sections 199ff.
8. Stroble, Lee. The Case for Christ. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1998.
9. Yancey, Philip. The Jesus I Never Knew. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1995, especially chapter 11.

Read this article at -  http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1-300/possible-date-for-christs-resurrection-11629555.html

Fishers Of Men: Fiery Darts Of Satan, Backsliding, Discouragement, & Back To Jesus

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The Passion of the Christ - Crucifixion & Resurrection

Today above all days we as believers give thanks for the great love and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow...

The Passion of the Lord - The Crucifixion, Death and Burial of Jesus - John 19:17-42

Jesus - Part 1

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Francis Chan - Jesus Died to Reconcile All Things to Himself

Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem - Compilation of Palm Sunday Clips From Movies

Nice compilation of various movie clips of the "Triumphant Entry" of Jesus into Jerusalem, when He was received (at least for the moment) as Israel's Messiah.

Messianic prophecies

“Messiah” means “Anointed One”
Biblical prophecy specialists Peter and Paul LaLonde have noted that:

The Old Testament includes about sixty different prophecies, with more than 300 references, of the coming of the Messiah. It was through the fulfillment of these prophecies that Israel was told she would be able to recognize the true Messiah when He came. The four gospels record several times when Jesus said that He was fulfilling a prophecy of the Old Testament. Luke 24:27 records, for example,

“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” And verse 44 notes, “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and the prophets and the psalms, concerning me.” [Peter and Paul LaLonde, 301 Startling Proofs & Prophecies (Niagra Falls, Ontario, Canada: Prophecy Partners, Inc., 1996).]

Jesus Christ himself said, “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me” (John 5:46, NKJV). Likewise, Christ’s disciples taught that He fulfilled Old Testament prophecy (e.g., Acts 3:18; 17:2-3; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

Partial list of prophecies about the Messiah

Click to learn the story of  Moses in our God’s Story section.

1. A prophet like unto Moses. This was prophecied by Moses, himself:
   

   “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him’.” (Deuteronomy 18:15-19, NKJV).

   Like Moses, the Messiah would be a leader, a prophet, a lawgiver, a deliverer, a teacher, a priest, an anointed one, a mediator, a human and one of God’s chosen people (a Jew) performing the role of intermediary between God and man—speaking the words of God—and like Moses, the Messiah would offer himself to die for the sins of the people. Both Moses and Jesus performed many miracles validating their message. As infants, both their lives were threatened by evil kings, and both were supernaturally protected from harm. Both spent their early years in Egypt. Both taught new truths from God. Both cured lepers (Num 12:10-15; Matt. 8:2-3) and confronted demonic powers. Both were initially doubted in their roles by their siblings. Moses lifted up the brazen serpent to heal all his people who had faith; Jesus was lifted up on the cross to heal all who would have faith in Him. Moses appointed 70 elders to rule Israel (Num. 11:16-17); Jesus appointed 70 disciples to teach the nations (Luke 10:1, 17). And there are many other parallels between the lives of Moses and Jesus.
2. The Messiah would be a descendant of Noah’s son, Shem. Noah said, “Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant (Gen. 9:26-27). Chapter 10 goes on list descendants of Shem, noting that he was ancestor of Eber (Heber: Luke 3:35), the founder of the Hebrew race.
   

   Noah associated Shem especially with the worship of Jehovah, recognizing the dominantly spiritual motivations of Shem and thus implying that God’s promised Deliverer would ultimately come from Shem. The Semitic nations have included the Hebrews, Arabs, Assyrians, Persians, Syrians and other strongly religious-minded peoples.
   …Shem was peculiarly His [God’s] steward with respect to the propagation of God’s will and plan for mankind, especially the transmission of His saving Word. (Henry M. Morris, The Defender’s Bible)

3. More specifically, he would be a descendant of Shem named Abraham ( Genesis 22:18; 12; 17; 22). Fulfilled: See Christ’s genealogy in Matthew 1.
4. 

   Click to learn more about the Abraham and Isaac in our God’s Story section.
   More specifically, he would be a descendant of Abraham’s son, Isaac, not Ishmael (Gen. 17; 21). Fulfilled: See Christ’s genealogy in Matthew 1.
   
5. More specifically, he would be a descendant of Isaac’s son, Jacob, not Esau (Gen. 28; 35:10-12; Num. 24:17). Fulfilled: See Christ’s genealogy in Matthew 1.
6. More specifically, he would be a descendant of Judah, not of the other eleven brothers of Jacob. Fulfilled: See Christ’s genealogy in Matthew 1.
7. More specifically, he would be a descendant of the family of Jesse in the tribe of Judah (Isaiah 11:1-5). Fulfilled: See Christ’s genealogy in Matthew 1 and Luke 3:23-38.
8. More specificially, he would be of the house of David (2 Samuel 7:12-16; Jeremiah 23:5; Psalm 89:3-4). Fulfilled: See Christ’s genealogy in Matthew 1; Luke 1:27, 32, 69. Note: Since the the Jewish genealogical records were destroyed in 70 A.D., along with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, it would not be possible for a Messiah imposter who was born later to prove his lineage back to David and thus fulfill this prophecy.
9. He will be born in a small city called Bethlehem, specifically the one formerly known as Ephratah (Micah 5:2). Fulfilled: Luke 2:4-20. Note: Christ’s birth in Bethlehem was apparently not by the choice of Mary and Joseph; it was forced upon them by Caesar Augustus’ taxation decree which required Joseph to leave his home in the city of Nazareth and return to his place of origin to pay the tax.
10. He will be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14). Fulfilled: Matthew 1; Luke 1.
11. The Messiah would be the “seed of of a woman” come to destroy the work of the Devil. Not long after Creation, God prophecied to the serpent Satan, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). The implication was that Eve’s descendant would undo the damage that Satan had caused.
    

    The “seed of the woman” can only be an allusion to a future descendant of Eve who would have no human father. Biologically, a woman produces no seed, and except in this case Biblical usage always speaks only of the seed of men. This promised Seed would, therefore, have to be miraculously implanted in the womb. In this way, He would not inherit the sin nature which would disqualify every son of Adam from becoming a Savior from sin. This prophecy thus clearly anticipates the future virgin birth of Christ.
    Satan will inflict a painful wound on the woman’s Seed, but Christ in turn will inflict a mortal wound on the Serpent, crushing his head. This prophecy was fulfilled in the first instance at the cross, but will culminate when the triumphant Christ casts Satan into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).
    This primeval prophecy made such a profound impression on Adam’s descendants that it was incorporated, with varying degrees of distortion and embellishment, in all the legends, mythologies and astrologies of the ancients since they are filled with tales of mighty heroes engaged in life-and-death struggles with dragons and other monsters. Mankind, from the earliest ages, has recorded its hope that someday a Savior would come who would destroy the devil and reconcile man to God. (Henry M. Morris, The Defender’s Bible)

    In the New Testament, Christ’s apostle John confirms that this was His Master’s purpose, “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8). (Also see: Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 20:10.)
12. He will be a priest after the order of Melchisedek (Melchisedec) (Psalm 110:4). Fulfilled: Hebrews 5:6
13. The scepter shall not pass from the tribe of Judah until the Messiah comes. In other words, He will come before Israel loses its right to judge her own people. The patriarch Jacob prophecied this:
    

    The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. (Genesis 49:10)

    As Dr. Henry M. Morris’ The Defender’s Bible explains:
    

    This important prophecy has been strikingly fulfilled. Although Judah was neither Jacob’s firstborn son nor the son who would produce the priestly tribe, he was the son through whom God would fulfill His promises to Israel and to the world. The leadership, according to Jacob, was to go to Judah, but this did not happen for over 600 years. Moses came from Levi, Joshua from Ephraim, Gideon from Manasseh, Samson from Dan, Samuel from Ephraim and Saul from Benjamin. But when David finally became king, Judah held the scepter and did not relinquish it until after Shiloh came. “Shiloh” is a name for the Messiah, probably related to the Hebrew word for “peace” (shalom) and meaning in effect, “the one who brings peace.”

    According to the Jewish historian Josephus, the Sanhedrin of Israel lost the right to truly judge its own people when it lost the right to pass death penalties in 11 A.D. (Josephus, Antiquities, Book 17, Chapter 13). Jesus Christ was certainly born before 11 A.D.
14. 

    Click to learn more about the life of Jesus in our God’s Story section.
    He will come while the Temple of Jerusalem is standing ( Malachi 3:1; Psalm 118:26; Daniel 9:26; Zechariah 11:13; Haggai 2:7-9). Fulfilled: Matthew 21:12, etc. (Note: The Temple did not exist at certain periods in Jewish history, and it was finally destroyed in 70 A.D.)

Read the rest of these prophecies at - http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/messianicprophecies.html

Why Did They Kill Jesus?

It is sometimes stated, and at other times implied, that Jesus was killed for opening the doors of God’s mercy to prostitutes and tax collectors. This is sort of true, but mostly misleading. It’s true to say, and needs to be said (as I will in my sermon this upcoming Sunday), that Jesus upset some of the Jewish leaders because he extended fellowship and mercy beyond their constricted boundaries. But it is misleading to suggest that Jesus was killed for just loving too much, as if inclusive tolerance were the chief cause of his enemies’ implacable intolerance. 

Take Mark’s Gospel, for example. By my reckoning, Jesus is opposed once for eating with sinners (2:16), once for upsetting stereotypes about him in his hometown (6:3), a few times for violating Jewish scruples about the law (2:24; 3:6; 7:5); and several times for “blaspheming” or for claiming too much authority for himself (2:7; 3:22; 11:27-28; 14:53-64; 15:29-32, 39). As Mark’s Gospel unfolds, we see the Jewish leaders increasingly hostile toward Jesus. Although the fear of the crowds stays their hand for awhile, they still try to trap Jesus and plot his destruction (8:11; 11:18; 12:12; 12:13; 14:1: 15:3, 11). There is a lot the Jewish leaders don’t like about Jesus, but their most intense, murderous fury is directed toward him because he believes “I am [the Christ, the Son of the Blessed], and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (14:62). 

The four gospels, as we might expect, emphasize different aspects of their opposition. Luke, for instance, makes more of Jesus’ identification with the society’s cast-offs as an issue for the Jewish leaders, while John makes more of Jesus’ unique status as God’s equal. But the basic outline is consistent in all four accounts. As Jesus reputation as a healer and miracle worker spreads the crowds come to him in larger and larger numbers and the elite despise him more and more. As a general rule, Jesus was popular with the masses (the exception being in his hometown of Nazareth). And as a general rule, as his popularity (but not necessarily success) increased with the crowds, so did the opposition from the Jewish leaders. 

The Jewish leaders disliked, and eventually grew to hate, Jesus for many reasons. They accused him of many things (Mark 15:3). They were angry with him for upsetting their traditions and some of their scruples about the law. They looked down on him for eating with sinners and associating with those the culture often despised. Most of all, they hated him because he claimed to be from God and, in fact, equal with God himself. They could not recognize his divine authority and identity. 

In a nutshell that’s why the Jewish leaders (religious and political), and later some of the crowd they incited, hated Jesus. Jealousy was no doubt part of it. But deeper than that, they simply did not have the eyes to see or the faith to believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. That’s why in all four gospels, when the opposition against him reaches its climax, Jesus is not charged with being too welcoming to outsiders (though they faulted him for that too), but with being a false king, a false prophet, and a false Messiah (Matt. 26:57-68; Mark 14:53-65; Luke 22:66-71; and less clearly in John 18:19-24). In short, they killed Jesus because they thought he was a blasphemer. 

In the end, it was the implicit and explicit claims Jesus made to authority, Messiahship, and God-ness, not his expansive love, that ultimately did him in. This is certainly not an excuse for our own hard-heartedness. Conservative religious people are often prone to distancing themselves from “sinners and tax collectors.” We need Jesus’ example to set us straight. But we must put to rest the half-truth (more like a quarter-truth really) that Jesus was killed for being too inclusive and too nice. True, the Jewish leaders objected to Jesus’ far-reaching compassion, but they wanted him dead because he thought himself the Christ, the Son of the living God. If Jesus simply loved people too much he might have been ridiculed by some. But without his claims of deity, authority, and Old Testament fulfillment, he would not have been murdered. 

So as we tell people about Jesus, let’s certainly talk about his compassion and love (how could we not!). But if we don’t talk about his identity as the Son of God, we have not explained the reason for his death, and, just as crucially, we have not given people reason enough to worship him.

In Christ Devotion #1 | The Scattered Sheep

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Jesus The Resurrected - Revelation 1

Most know of Jesus Christ from the gospel accounts, which paint a detailed picture of the One who came in the form of a man to die for the redemption of “whosoever will” (John 3:16).  Yet the Lord who Is, and Is to come has been “transfigured” (Matthew 17:1-9), transformed into His eternal form, revealing the characteristics that those who “love His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8) will associate with Him to know in the eternity to come.  The opening chapters of the Revelation which John received from Jesus give us a description of Jesus the Messiah as He will be seen at His second coming, and throughout all eternity. 

In Revelation 1:4-8, we receive a vivid picture of the resurrected Lord.  Verses 1-3 establish that this revelation comes from Jesus Himself.  The words and prophecy contained within are promised to be a blessing to those who hear and keep the words that follow.  We are also told that the time of the events that are mentioned is “at hand”, or imminent.  The description of Jesus begins in verse 4:

-          The One who Is, Was and Is to come (Psalm 90:2, 102:25-27, Isaiah 57:15, Micah 5:2) (vs. 4)

-          The Faithful Witness (Psalm 89:35-37 see addendum)  (vs. 5)

-          The Firstborn of the dead (Psalm 89:27, John 11:25-26, Acts 26:23, Colossians 1:18, 15:20-23)  (vs. 5)

-          The Ruler of the kings of the earth (Psalm 72:11, Matthew 4:8 Satan offered this to Jesus if He would worship him, 28:18, 1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 17:14, 19:16)  (vs. 5)

-          He who loves us (1 John 4:7-19, 13:1, 34-35, Romans 8:37, Ephesians 5:2, 25-27)  (vs. 5)

-          He who washed us from our sins in His own blood (Acts 20:28, 1 Corinthians 6:11, Hebrews 9:14, 1 Peter 1:18-19)  (vs. 5)

-          He has made us to be a kingdom of priests (or kings and priests) to His God and Father (Exodus 19:6, Isaiah 61:6, 1 Peter 2:5-9)  (vs. 6)

-          To Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever (Daniel 4:34, Philippians 2:11, 1 Timothy 6:16, 1 Peter 5:11, Jude 1:25)  (vs. 6)

-          Behold, He is coming with the clouds (Acts 1:11) and every eye will see Him (Matthew 24:27, 30) and they also which pierced Him (Zechariah 12:10-12, John 19:37) (vs. 7)

-          All tribes of the earth will mourn over Him (Matthew 24:30) (vs. 7)

-          I AM the Alpha and Omega (Isaiah 41:4, 44:6, 48:12, Hebrews 12:1-2) who Was, Is and Is to come, the Almighty (Genesis 17:1, Revelation 4:8, 21:22)  (vs. 8)

Note that the first two descriptions above refer to the eternal and all-powerful God in the heavens.  The second two refer to the eternal God who took the form of man (Jesus) and has attained authority over death and authorities on earth.  The third pair of descriptions are statements of the personal savior of men and women throughout history, Messiah Jesus, who loves “His sheep” (John 10:11-16) and set His believers free from the debt and power of sin through His own blood.  (Matthew 26:26-28, Romans 3:25, Ephesians 1:7)

The seventh part of this section describes the result of Jesus Christ on those who believe.  They are to become a kingdom of priests or kings and priests to God the Father.  It is uncertain which is exactly meant.  The passage in Greek would seem to indicate the best reading as being “a kingdom of priests”, and the weight of other mentions in scripture (Exodus 19:6, 1 Peter 2:9) would seem to indicate that it should read as a “kingdom of priests”.

Following that passage is the praise “to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever”.  This is then followed by the promise of His coming “with the clouds”, “every eye will see Him” including those who pierced Him.  All the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him, and by this point in history, the reason to mourn will be so great as to be overwhelming.  This mourning comes from ages of death, loss, suffering, pain, injustice, etc.

Finally, the passage ends where it began, and not without reason.  All things in the end return to the One who was the beginning of all things.  This short passage is in effect an overview of the history of Jesus Messiah as written in scripture.  From creation and the beginning in Eden, to His “theophanies” (the appearance of Jesus Messiah in the Old Testament, before His incarnation), to the accomplishments of His earthly ministries, and finally how this age ends, with His coming and appearing to all mankind, their mourning for the One they crucified and rejected, and His re-establishment before all souls of Who He really is, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of all history.

 

Revelation 1:9-11 then becomes a preface for the following descriptions of Jesus Christ as He is today, waiting at the right hand of God, spiritually overseeing the churches of His sheep.

In Revelation 1:12-13 John sees seven lampstands, which we are told in verse 20 are the seven churches to whom he is sending this letter.  Note that believers are to be lamps to the world (Matthew 5:14-16).  In the midst of these lampstands is one “like the Son of Man”.  (Daniel 7:13, John 5:27)  Son of Man is a specific title of Messiah, the divine savior provided by God as first mentioned in the Old Testament.  It is an important description for those who would say that Jesus the Christ came in spirit only, and not in the flesh.  He is both God and man, and the scriptures clearly proclaim both.

The description of the One “like the Son of Man” is as follows:

-          He is clothed with a robe reaching his feet (vs. 13)

-          Girded about with a golden girdle (wrapping around the waist) (Revelation 15:6) (vs. 13)

-          His head and hair are white like wool or snow (vs. 14)

-          His eyes are like flames of a fire (Daniel 7:9-10) (vs. 14)

-          His feet look like “burnished” bronze, glowing in the fire of a furnace (Daniel 10:2) (vs. 15)

-          His voice is like the sound of many waters (Ezekiel 43:2) (vs. 15)

-          His right hand holds seven stars (this is the angel for each of the seven churches vs. 20) (vs. 16)

-          Out of His mouth comes a sharp, two-edged sword (Isaiah 49:12, Hebrews 4:12, Revelation 2:12, 16, 19:15) (vs. 16)

-          His face is shining like the sun in the fullness of its’ strength (Matthew 17:2, Jesus at the transfiguration) (vs. 16)

-          At this point in the vision, John does what other believers have done when they realized they were in the presence of God Almighty.  John falls at His feet like a dead man. (Exodus 33:18-20, Isaiah 6:3-5, Luke 5:8) (vs. 17)

-          Jesus here is described as the Living One (Job 19:25) (vs. 18)

-          I (Jesus) was dead – Behold – I AM alive forever more! (Hebrews 7:16) (vs. 18)

-          I have the keys of Death and Hades (vs. 18)

This last statement becomes the emphatic declaration of the power and authority over all things that Jesus Christ now possesses.  In 1 Corinthian 15:21-28 we get the explanation of the great plan of God from Eden to the end of the age.  The last enemy to be defeated is death.  (1 Corinthians 15:26)  Jesus set the “captives” free as part of His work after His death but before His resurrection. Ephesians 4:8-10 describes this momentous event as a fulfillment of the prophecies uttered in Psalm 68:18 and Isaiah 61:1.  This power Jesus has over death is confirmed in 2 Corinthians 5:8 and 2 Timothy 1:10.  This is why death no longer has any “sting” over God’s people. (1 Corinthians 15:55-57).  Finally, we see the end of the angels Death and Hell/Hades in Revelation 20:14.

DOES GOD NEED A CO-SIGNER?  THE WITNESS IN THE CLOUDS

By Michael S. Heiser

We all know why co-signing a loan is required.  The bank assumes that the person who is being loaned the money may not be able to repay it.  Their commitment or ability is in question.  In the Bible, God typically swears by His own character when entering a covenant since there is no one above Him who qualifies to co-sign the agreement (Hebrews 6:13).  There is a fascinating exception to this in the Book of Psalms. 

Psalm 89:35-37 repeats the covenant between God and David from 2 Samuel 7 with an addendum at the end that is not found in 2 Samuel 7.  I’ve italicized the key phrases and arranged the verses to show their parallelism, labeling them by letters:1

A.       I have sworn by My Holy One;

B.      I will not lie to David.

C.      His descendants shall be forever.

C.      His throne (His dynastic descendants) shall be as the sun before Me.

B.      It (David’s throne) shall be established forever like the moon,

A.      And a witness in the clouds will be faithful.

God swears a covenant oath to David and promises that David’s descendants will forever have the right to sit on Jerusalem’s throne.  The promise is guaranteed by an unidentified witness in the clouds (God’s “Holy One”).  Why would God need someone to witness an agreement He initiated?  Who in heaven (“the clouds”) has that authority?

It was common in polytheistic religions of the ancient world to have gods witness the covenant agreements made by other gods.2  But there are no other gods in Israel’s faith equal to or above the God of Israel.  Yet Psalm 89 requires an equal to Yahweh who will uphold the covenant.  Who is this witness in the heavens who will be faithful to the covenant of David’s eternal dynasty?  Who will make sure God’s promise comes to pass and never fails?

The New Testament answers these questions in Revelation 1:4-5:

                John says to the seven churches that are in Asia:  Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits that are before His throne, and from      Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

Jesus, as the son of David, has fulfilled the Davidic covenant of Psalm 89.  Since the New Testament presents Jesus as true deity incarnate (true God in flesh), and equal in nature with the God of the Old Testament, Jesus fulfills the role of witness-guarantor eternally.

1.         English translations disagree on this passage for very technical reasons.  This is my own literal rendering, though the NASB comes closest to my translation.

2.        For examples see Heiser, “Ancient Semitic Inscriptions – How Can They Assist English Bible Study?”  at http://michaelheiser.com/Psalm89.pdf.

This study was copied from “I Dare You Not To Bore Me WithThe Bible, by Michael S. Heiser, Lexham Press, 2014.

  

Does God Need a CoSigner? The Witness In the Clouds - By Michael Heiser

We all know why co-signing a loan is required.  The bank assumes that the person who is being loaned the money may not be able to repay it.  Their commitment or ability is in question.  In the Bible, God typically swears by His own character when entering a covenant since there is no one above Him who qualifies to co-sign the agreement (Hebrews 6:13).  There is a fascinating exception to this in the Book of Psalms. 

Psalm 89:35-37 repeats the covenant between God and David from 2 Samuel 7 with an addendum at the end that is not found in 2 Samuel 7.  I’ve italicized the key phrases and arranged the verses to show their parallelism, labeling them by letters:1

A.       I have sworn by My Holy One;

B.      I will not lie to David.

C.      His descendants shall be forever.

C.      His throne (His dynastic descendants) shall be as the sun before Me.

B.      It (David’s throne) shall be established forever like the moon,

A.      And a witness in the clouds will be faithful.

God swears a covenant oath to David and promises that David’s descendants will forever have the right to sit on Jerusalem’s throne.  The promise is guaranteed by an unidentified witness in the clouds (God’s “Holy One”).  Why would God need someone to witness an agreement He initiated?  Who in heaven (“the clouds”) has that authority?

It was common in polytheistic religions of the ancient world to have gods witness the covenant agreements made by other gods.2  But there are no other gods in Israel’s faith equal to or above the God of Israel.  Yet Psalm 89 requires an equal to Yahweh who will uphold the covenant.  Who is this witness in the heavens who will be faithful to the covenant of David’s eternal dynasty?  Who will make sure God’s promise comes to pass and never fails?

The New Testament answers these questions in Revelation 1:4-5:

                John says to the seven churches that are in Asia:  Grace to you and peace from Him who is   and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits that are before His throne, and from     Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

Jesus, as the son of David, has fulfilled the Davidic covenant of Psalm 89.  Since the New Testament presents Jesus as true deity incarnate (true God in flesh), and equal in nature with the God of the Old Testament, Jesus fulfills the role of witness-guarantor eternally.

1.         English translations disagree on this passage for very technical reasons.  This is my own literal rendering, though the NASB comes closest to my translation.

2.        For examples see Heiser, “Ancient Semitic Inscriptions – How Can They Assist English Bible Study?”  at http://michaelheiser.com/Psalm89.pdf.