Monthly Archives: August 2015

A Deafening Silence

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A DEAFENING SILENCE

While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, He asked, ‘Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David? David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.” David himself called Him “Lord.” How then can He be his son?’ The large crowd listened to Him with delight (Mark 12: 35-37).

Dead silence! They had all exhausted their questions to trap Him, and now it was Jesus’ turn. Asking questions played an important role in the rabbi’s teaching method and an excellent way to get people to think for themselves and to reveal their level of thinking by the questions they asked.

The Pharisees’ big contention with Jesus was: “Blasphemy!” He was a man and yet He was claiming to be God. Many of the people dismissed Him because He was only the son of Mary and Joseph; the village carpenter and one of their locals. The people of Nazareth were enraged with Him and drove Him out of town because He dared to put Himself on the level of their great prophets and even to claim that He was the fulfilment of prophecy!

He was a mere man, therefore He could not possibly be the Messiah, they argued, so Jesus fired a question at them, a very puzzling one at that. Their own Scriptures taught that the Messiah would be the son of David. That meant that He had to be human and one born in the ancestral line of David. Yet, at the same time, speaking prophetically, David addressed Him as “Lord”.

David’s psalm (110) begins with the declaration:

The Lord says to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” The Lord will extend your mighty sceptre from Zion saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!” (Psa. 110: 1-2).

Speaking prophetically under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, David addressed Messiah as “my Lord” and attributed to Him the functions of deity, and yet the rabbis recognised Him to be the son of David. There could be only one answer and that was the very thing the religious leaders rejected – Messiah a human being born of the line of David. But there was just too much prophetic evidence of Messiah’s ancestry to deny it or to set it aside. He would be of the tribe of Judah, a ruler (Gen. 49:10); called a “Branch” of the stump of Jesse (Isa. 11:1); Matthew’s genealogy traced His ancestry back to Abraham through David.

Seventeen times in the New Testament Jesus was addressed as the son of David. Even the common people knew that Messiah would come from the line of David. So why were the religious leaders so blinded that they refused to recognise Him as their Messiah? Why did the Jews down the centuries reject Him as their Messiah since the evidence is so clear? Prejudice! They have believed the lie and failed to weigh up the evidence.

There is something about human beings that makes them hate to be wrong. It’s called pride. People will cling to their right to be right even if they are dead wrong. And even worse, they will defend their error to the death rather than acknowledge that they could be wrong and open themselves to the possibility that someone else is right.

If the Jews had only been honest enough to consider the evidence, they would have been confronted with the truth. Truth is truth and will stand up to scrutiny. Jesus’ appeal was for them to consider the Scriptures. “Your word is truth”, He declared in His prayer before His death (John 17: 17). The question is not, “Who is right?” but “What is right?” It takes humility to be teachable. A person who has a teachable spirit is the one who will eventually arrive at the truth. Their passion to be right put these men in line to be deceived and deceived they were, bringing judgment on themselves because they refused to listen to the truth.

Only those who receive Jesus’ words with humility and obedience will really understand and know the truth.

To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ (John 8: 31-32).

If they had a mind to receive it, the answer was quite simple. Messiah was both son of David and Son of God. God in the flesh – Immanuel – God with us. John stated it in a nutshell:

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

There was a deafening silence. They knew the answer but they refused to speak it out.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

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The Truth Revealed

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THE TRUTH REVEALED

Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him with a question. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.

‘Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all the woman died too. At the resurrection, whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?’ (Mark 12: 18-23).

First the chief priests and teachers of the law; then the Pharisees and Herodians; and now the Sadducees! Would they ever learn? They all tried to take Jesus on and came away with egg on their faces.

The Sadducees’ question was based on their ignorance and their unbelief and, of course, Jesus would put them in their place and make them look stupid. The Jews had a practice called “levirate marriage”. If a husband died childless, it was up to his brother to marry his widow and have a child for him who would be his heir and carry on the family name.

Their story was a bit far-fetched, but they obviously cooked it up to try to catch Jesus out and make Him look silly. Seven brothers all married the same woman and died childless. This wasn’t about levirate marriage. This was a dig at His teaching on the resurrection. How would He get around this one?

Again Jesus was one jump ahead of them.

Jesus replied, ‘Are you not in error because you do not know the Scripture or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising – have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living. You are badly mistaken.’ (Mark 12: 24-27).

In a masterful reply, Jesus dealt with two errors. Firstly, the Sadducees did not understand the purpose of marriage. They thought it was about having children to carry on the family line. Jesus smartly corrected them on that one. If they had known the Scriptures, they would have understood that God intended marriage to be a visual aid of the oneness in the Godhead. This is what the Scriptures had to say:

So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them (Gen. 1: 27).

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh (Gen 2:24).

Mankind will not need marriage in the life to come because those who follow Jesus will be one with Him in eternity. Believers will be “married” to Jesus in an eternal union of which marriage in this life is a picture. Therefore marriage will fall away in the life to come.

Secondly, when people die, they simply move into another realm where these frail and corrupted bodies will not be able to live. God will raise us up in new and perfect bodies to live with Him in the eternal realm. He spoke of the patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as alive, not dead or even asleep as some believe.

On what did the Sadducees base their unbelief concerning the resurrection? Once again it was a human ploy to dodge responsibility and accountability for their lives. They wanted to live their lives as they chose and get away with it. No matter what belief system is developed to evade the truth of God’s Word, it cannot hold up to the scrutiny of God’s truth, and nor can it effectively be used to dodge accountability for the way people live. Simply to deny the truth will not erase it or make it go away.

Of course the resurrection of Jesus was the final proof that He was right and they were wrong.

If it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised . . . And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins . . . But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Cor. 15: 12, 13; 17; 20).

How much better to submit to the truth, and receive God’s grace to live within its boundaries. This is the only guarantee that we will be a part of the resurrection when Jesus returns to claim His throne and to finish what He started when He came from heaven to reveal the Father and to take us to the Father.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

Nailed Again!

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NAILED AGAIN!

Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch Him in His words. They came to Him and said, ‘Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?’

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. ‘Why are you trying to trap me?’ He asked. ’Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.’ They brought the coin, and He asked them, ‘Whose image is this? And whose inscription?’ ‘Caesar’s.’ they replied. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.’ And they were amazed at Him (Mark 12: 12-17).

Would they never learn? The religious leaders could not face Jesus again. He had made them look stupid so many times that they sent representatives to try again. They so desperately wanted to trap Him so that they could arrest and indict Him for speaking against Rome that they just would not stop trying.

Did you notice the words of the ones who came to Him? Their words were strangely accurate if they really meant them. They would have been expressing their sincere evaluation of Jesus had they not been buttering Him up for the attack. “A man of integrity.” True! “Not swayed by others.” Absolutely! “Pay no attention to who they are.” Exactly! “Teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.” Spot on! So why did they refuse to believe Him? Why were they so intent on getting rid of Him?

Simply because they were not interested in the truth. They had to defend their position at all costs because it was comfortable and lucrative for them. They had to protect their interests with Rome. Get Him on the wrong side of Rome, and they had it made. Interesting that the representatives of the religious leaders were Pharisees and Herodians – two groups on opposite ends of the scale.

So what was their problem? Always the burning question – paying taxes to Rome! Roman taxation financially crippled the people. And to make matters worse, there were some from among their own who were in bed with the Romans – collecting taxes for them and feathering their own nests in the bargain. “Let’s nail Jesus on this one,” they thought. “Surely He does not approve of the heavy taxation burdening His own people?” One word from Him and there would be an uprising because the people hung on His every word.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Jesus caught on to their scheme. He cut right through their flattering words to their hypocritical hearts. “Bring me a coin.” He ordered them. They should have known better. What was He up to now? Producing a coin, they listened intently. Was this their moment? He held it up for all to see and demanded, “Whose face is on this coin?” Mystified, they replied, “Caesar’s.” Turning it over, He asked, “Whose title is on this side?” Once again they were forced to reply, “Caesar’s.”

Suddenly the penny dropped. “Give back to Caesar what is his and to God what is His.” He declared and, turning on His heel, He walked away. Did they have egg on their faces! Once again they had made a fool of themselves in public. Instead of catching Jesus, He caught them. He neither sanctioned nor condemned the paying of taxes to Caesar. They were part of a world system that needed money to keep it going. It was neither right nor wrong to pay taxes – it was necessary.

On the other hand, there was another system in place – an unseen kingdom over which God ruled. There were obligations to fulfil in this kingdom as well. Jesus had come to teach the people that God had the right to call the shots regarding the way He ruled over the hearts of men. His was a rule of mercy and grace. His people were to live in the world system in the spirit of His truth as representatives of their God in the world. This was the part the religious leaders refused to accept. Their corrupt hearts adhered to the world system of greed and selfishness.

Every word Jesus spoke exposed their wicked hearts. They had to find a way to silence Him so that they could carry on in their evil ways without His continual prodding and poking at their sin.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

 

 

Another Nail In His Coffin

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ANOTHER NAIL IN HIS COFFIN

Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: ‘A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.

At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.

He had one left to send, a son whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, “They will respect my son.” But the tenants said to one another, “This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Haven’t you read this passage, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this and it is marvellous in our eyes”?’

Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest Him because they knew He had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left Him and went away (Mark 12: 1-12).

Clever guys! You got the message! But did they?

Why did Jesus tell a story like this against the religious leaders? Was it to alert them to the fact that He knew what they were up to? Was He warning them not to do it because there were serious consequences for them if they did? Was He giving them an opportunity to change their minds?

Remember that this story followed the cleansing of the temple and their enquiry about His authority to do that. They must surely have got the message, loud and clear that He had done what He had done to the merchants and money-changers because He was acting on authority given to Him by none other than God Himself. If that was so, then the story He told about them, concealed in the parable of the vineyard and the unscrupulous tenants, came from the same source of authority as His action in the temple.

But these men were stubborn, just as stubborn as their forebears who refused to submit to God’s authority. In spite of the retribution that fell on them time and again, the Israelites had never learned the lesson. Disobedience to God’s Word carries penalties – not because God is cruel or vindictive, but because there are natural consequences to transgressing the laws which keep the universe functioning in harmony with the nature of God.

Let’s look at the parable. There are some clear lessons in it, for them and for us. Jesus often told a story to address a problem; leaving the hearers to discern the answer for themselves. It was up to the hearers to identify with one or more of the characters in the story. There are four groups of people in this story; the owner of the vineyard, the tenants, the owner’s servants and his son.

What was the issue? The vineyard was the property of the landowner – the tenants those who worked the vineyard and owed some of the harvest to the landowner. They were stewards of property not their own.

The owner of the vineyard had a right to collect some of the harvest, but the tenants acted as though they had a right to it all. When the landowner sent servants to collect what was rightfully his, they rejected his claim and abused his servants. They refused to honour the rightful heir, murdering him with the idea that, if he were out of the way, they could lay claim to the vineyard and keep the profits.

Their thinking was faulty for the following reasons:

  1. The vineyard did not belong to them. They were stewards responsible for working it for the landowner.
  2. The profits did not belong to them. The owner had the right to claim his share.
  3. They were under the authority of the landowner. They were obliged to do what he requested.
  4. They were servants, not sons. They had no right to the inheritance.

The religious leaders got the message, loud and clear, but they did not receive it. Their response was the same as the tenants – kill the messengers and in that way negate the message, so they thought.

Did it work for them? Not according to Jesus. What would actually happen and what they thought would happen were poles apart. Israel was God’s “vineyard”. He had done everything for them to guarantee fruitfulness, and entrusted it to appointed leaders who were to care for His people under His directions. But instead they had led the people astray. Time and again He sent His prophets to call the people back to Himself but they were ignored, rejected and abused and some were even murdered.

Then He sent His one and only beloved Son. What would they do with Him? The custodians of God’s “vineyard” were already scheming to kill Him. Would they get the message? The outcome was already determined – and Jesus indicated in the conclusion to His parable that He knew what it was. Would they heed the warning? There were consequences in it for them if they didn’t.

Their response indicated that they were like the hard soil of the footpath. The more they were warned, the harder their hearts became, strengthening their resolve to get rid of the landowner’s son.

What is the condition of your heart?

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

 

Impasse!

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IMPASSE!

They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to Him. ‘By what authority are you doing these things?’ they asked Him. ‘And who gave you the authority to do this?’ Jesus replied, ‘I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism – was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!’

They discussed it among themselves and said, ‘If we say, “From heaven,” then He will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, “Of human origin,” (they feared the people, for everyone held that John was really a prophet).

So they answered Jesus, ‘We don’t know.’ Jesus said, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.’  (Mark 11: 27-33).

“By what authority?” the religious leaders demanded. That was the burning question. S’mikah! No rabbi was permitted to make pronouncements regarding the understanding and interpretation of the Torah, the Law of Moses unless he had s’mikah, official recognition that he had authority to do so. From where did this s’mikah come? In the case of all other rabbis who had authority, it was conferred on them by those who had authority.

Jesus was continually a puzzle both to the religious leaders and the general public because He spoke and acted with authority like no other. Those with s’mikah would add to the top-heavy interpretations already recognised as authoritative. Jesus, on the other hand, swept aside everything the rabbis before Him had said and went back to God’s original intention, focussing on God’s mercy rather than on legalistic requirements.

What the merchants and money-changers were doing in the temple courts was blatantly evil, but they did it with the sanction of the religious hierarchy because it was another way of lining their pockets. These men should not have even needed to ask who gave Him the authority to drive out the wicked men. Without all the additions from the rabbis, the Torah said it was wrong to steal. But the religious leaders made it an issue of authority so that they could have a valid reason to indict Jesus. If He were acting without s’mikah, they could deal with it legally.

But Jesus was far too smart for them. It was legitimate for Him to answer a question with a question. This was a recognised rabbinic teaching method. On many occasions He had openly declared the origin of His authority. It came from the Father who sent Him. John the Baptist, whose s’mikah was acknowledged by the people, was a human witness to Jesus’ authority, as was the Father and the Holy Spirit at His baptism. Now He demanded to know whether they accepted the authority of John to baptise Him or not. Ceremonial washing was the act of officially conferring s’mikah on one whose authority was recognised.

They were caught! If they said, “Yes,” they would have acknowledged John’s authority to baptise Jesus, indicating that John recognised Jesus’ s’mikah. If they said, “No,” the people would have been in an uproar because they believer that John had s’mikah. They refused to commit themselves, and they walked away seething. This was another nail in Jesus’ coffin, as far as they were concerned.

Every time Jesus exposed them publicly, they lost more face with the people. By this time their reputation and their piety were in tatters. Their evil hearts were laid bare for the people, whose admiration and confidence they so desperately craved and did everything to protect, to see. This man had to go before they completely lost their control over and influence with the people. If this happened, the people would get out of hand and Rome would step in and crush them like pesky bugs.

This was a clash between the dominion of darkness and the kingdom of light. What the religious leaders planned to do with Jesus was evidence of the master they served. By serving themselves they served, not God but the enemy of everything that belonged to the light. Jesus was a representative of truth. No matter what they did to Him, they could not extinguish the light of truth. When the dust had cleared after the final showdown, the truth would finally be revealed.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com