Monthly Archives: November 2022

BECAUSE YOU CARRY MY NAME,

Christian Life, ,

BECAUSE YOU CARRY MY NAME

“He went on, ‘Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Huge earthquakes will occur in various places. There will be famines. You’ll think at times that the very sky was falling.

“‘But before any of this happens, they’ll hunt you down, arrest you and drag you to court and jail. It will go from bad to worse, dog-eat-dog, everyone at your throat because you carry my name. You’ll end up on the witness stand, called to testify. Make up your mind right now not to worry about it. I’ll give you the words and wisdom that will reduce all your accusers to stammers and stutters.'” Luke 21:11-15 (The Message).

Reading Jesus’ words is like reading today’s newspaper. Both parts of His prediciton are happening all around us – conflicts and natural disasters on the one hand and  persecution of His followers on the other.

Wars, earthquakes, and famine are so common that only the biggest make world news. As for persecution, how much of it is ever reported in the mass media, and yet it goes on all over the world, from petty personal and family vendettas to national political policy to exterminate those who follow Jesus and refuse to embrace the official religion of that country. Jesus warned that it would happen “because you carry my name.”

Much of Jesus’ prophetic warning was fulfilled in the generation after His death, when Titus and the Roman army invaded Israel in AD 70, reducing the temple to rubble and slaughtering thousands of Jews across the land. Israel ceased to exist until its rebirth in 1948. 

Why is there such animosity against the name of Jesus? What has He done to cause such hatred against Him and His followers? Was He so evil that He and His disciples had to be obliterated? On one occasion He told His disciples, ‘I did not come to bring peace but a sword,’ implying that His coming was going to produce a sharp division between people.

To understand the reason for this great divide we have to go behind the scenes, back to the beginning. Before the creation of the earth, Satan made a bid to oust God. His rebellion was so serious that it resulted in the establishment of a rival kingdom. Satan and one third of the angels were evicted from God’s presence and exiled to the earth where they would operate until judgment day.

There are two unseen kingdoms at work in the world, God’s rule of love and freedom and Satan’s dominion of fear and force. Every person is influenced by one of these powers. That does not mean that Satan shares equal power with God. His presence on earth is part of God’s way of fulfilling His plan to build a family who freely choose to love Him for who He is and what He has done. Satan, on the other hand, uses deception to ensare people into slavery to him.

Jesus came to expose his lies and defeat him at the cross, inviting people to return to His Father by believing the truth about Him and His Father, receiving His forgiveness and submitting to His rule.

Satan’s hatred for God is expressed through those who are enslaved by his deception. He sows lies about God and His Son which turns them into God-haters. So vicious is people’s hatred for Jesus that they will stop at nothing to destroy those who carry His name, even murdering their own family members if they convert to follow Jesus.

And the reason? Because they “carry His name”. In Hebrew thought a name is a prophetic utterance of character. Everything that Jesus is, is enshrined in His name. To carry His name implies to be like Him. Christians who carry the name of Jesus are such a threat to Satan’s dominion that he will stop at nothing to destroy them. Since people who do not love God are under his influence, they are his tools to do his dirty work.

But Satan’s doom, and all those who follow him, is already secure. God has appointed Jesus, to whom He has given the highest name because of His victory through the cross, to be Lord. To Him, including Satan and all who believe his lies, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord! (Philippians 2:5-11)

BLOOD POURED OUT FOR YOU

Christian Life, ,

BLOOD POURED OUT FOR YOU

“Taking the cup, He blessed it, then said, ‘Take this and pass it among you. As for me, I’ll not drink wine again until the kingdom of God arrives.’

“Taking bread, He blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them saying, ‘This is my body given for you. Eat it in my memory.’

He did the same thing with the cup after supper, saying ‘This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you.” Luke 22:17-20 (The Message).

Is it any wonder that Jesus longed to share this meal with His disciples? He had reached the moment that would become the watershed of all history, a simple meal that symbolised the greatest victory of all time and the event that exposed, disarmed and defeated the arch enemy of all humankind.

Bread and wine, picture of His broken body and poured-out blood, formed the core of the Passover meal. The lamb was sacrificed to provide the blood that protected the people from the angel of death. The bread was baked without yeast as a mute testimony to the sinless nature of God’s lamb.

No longer would Passover be the celebration of God’s daring rescue from slavery in Egypt. From this moment on it took on a new significance – a meaning Jesus had struggled for three years to communicate to His disciples. He had not come to effect another deliverance from human oppression. As long as we are alive and subject to human authority, there will always be those who exploit people for their own ends. It is part of man’s greedy and wicked nature.

Underneath man’s inhumanity to man lies a far more sinister power – the unseen dominion of a dark and relentless fallen angel whose desire is to enslave and destroy every unsuspecting soul who is deceived by his enticements and enslaved by their own choices. 

Jesus’ passion was to expose him by willingly becoming the victim of his hatred without falling into his trap and being ensnared by his lies. Try as he may, the devil could not lure Jesus into submitting to his lying suggestions. All he wanted Jesus to do was to do what he wanted and so disobey and mistrust the Father’s love.

Jesus’ response was always the same. Whenever Satan set his traps, He was ready with the same answer, ‘Daddy didn’t tell me to do it. That’s not what Daddy said.’ Even when He was tested to the limit in the Garden of Gethsemane, His rested His soul in His Father’s will.

Jesus’ steadfast faith in His Father’s love proved once and for all that, in spite of all the pressure to doubt Him and heed the devil, it was possible for a human being to be a true son, to submit to the Father, even to an unjust and shameful death, and to come out unscathed because God promised that He would raise Him from the dead, and God is absolutely trustworthy.

And that’s what this simple meal symbolised. It was not a sacrifice to be repeated again and again as some teach. It was simply a reminder of what Jesus did. Deliverance from political oppressors pales into nothing compared with the greater dliverance from enslavement to the father of lies, and all the pain of broken lives that enslavemnt to him brings.

This meal is a celebration of the eternal truth that Jesus has set us free from the guilt, shame and condemnation of our sin and our failure to trust Him, and from the power of the devil to deceive us any longer. As sons of the living God, we have an elder brother who has gone before us to show us the way to the Father and who has provided us with the same person who enabled Him to persevere – the Holy Spirit who comes to live within us.

COME AND EAT WITH ME!

Christian life, ,

COME AND EAT WITH ME!

“The Day of Unleavened Bread came, the day the Passover lamb was butchered. Jesus sent Peter and John off, saying, ‘Go prepare the Passover for us so we can eat it together.’

“They said, ‘Where do you want us to do this?’

“He said, ‘Keep your eyes open as you enter the city. A man carrying a water jug will meet you. Follow him home. Then speak with the owner of the house: The Teacher wants to know, ‘Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ He will show you a spacious second-storey room, swept and ready. Prepare the meal there.’

“They left, found everything just as He told them, and prepared the Passover meal.” Luke 22:7-15 (The Message).

Luke’s story has an air of anticipation about it. Jesus was expecting something to happen and His disciples were caught up in the atmosphere. Other Passover celebrations had come and gone but this one was going to be different.

Did Jesus make a secret arrangement with a friend for a venue for His last meal with His disciples? Was He giving instructions to His disciples because of His divine foreknowledge or was He, once again, simply following His Father’s instructions as He said He always did?

Eating together had significance but there was special meaning in the Passover meal. The children of Israel were on the threshhold of their great redemption. They were packed and ready to go, waiting only for the signal to make their escape from Pharaoh and his powerful army. Moses issued one more challenge, this time hitting at the heart of every Egyptian family, from Pharaoh down to the least slave – their firstborn sons! This one made its mark and Pharaoh finally consented to let Israel go.

But why stop to eat a meal before they left? There was a great deal of meaning and symbolism in the Passover meal: blood on their doorposts was an expression of faith in God’s promise of protection; they trusted in the blood of a sacrificial lamb to save them; they ated unleavened bread because there was no time to allow their dough to rise; bread without yeast symbolised eradication of sin from their lives, and so on.

Perhaps a part of the meaning of Passover is not understood, especially by non-Jews who do not know the cultural background of Jewish practices. Middle-eastern people are very hospitable. Eating together has great significance for them. The Hebrew word for “meal” is shul  and a table – shulkan. But shulkan also means “reconciliation” and “lamb skin”. Combine these ideas and you have a beautiful picture of the significance of Passover. 

If you do not have a table – shulkan – you use a lamb skin – shulkan – as a picnic blanket, but you could not eat a meal together if you had issues with each other. Hence the table – shulkan – which was a lamb skin – shulkan – became the symbol of reconciliation – shulkan. As families embarking on a very long journey, they could not travel unless they were reconciled – no issues to cause division on the way – and reconciliation was only possible because of the sacrifice of a lamb.

Put Jesus and His disciples into that picture and the Last Supper begins to tell its own story. Perhaps the most poignant message on that occasion was a tender invitation from Jesus, ‘Judas, I know what you have done but I have forgiven you. I do not hold it against you. You have to bear the responsibility of your treachery but there is a way back if you repent.’ To Peter and the other disciples who would all fail Him, Jesus was saying, ‘Come and eat with me. I have no issues with you.’ In Revelation 3:20 He says to everyone who has wandered away from Him, “‘Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.'”

CONSIDER YOUR VERDICT

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CONSIDER YOUR VERDICT

“Then they all took Jesus to Pilate and began to bring up charges against Him. ‘We found this man undermining our law and order, forbidding taxes to be paid to Caesar, setting Himself up as Messiah-king.’

“Pilate asked Him, ‘Is this true that you’re ‘King of the Jews’?’

“‘These are your words, not mine,’ Jesus replied.

“Pilate told the high priests and accompanying crowd, ‘I find nothing wrong here. He seems harmless enough to me.'” Luke 23:1-4 (The Message).

Pilate had no idea, when he opened his eyes that morning, that for him it was judgment day. A routine day, a few more Jewish prsioners to sentence; he’d done it all before. It was an unpleasant part of his role as governor and he did it with indifference. Judah had always been a troublesome province and he was quite glad to sentence a few more rabble-rousers to death.

But this man seemed different. He didn’t have the same insolent attitude. His face wore an expression of serenity, an eerie calm that disturbed him. There was none of the bravado that aroused his rage and gave him a feeling of sadistic pleasure to see condemned prisoners walking towards the execution site, backs bent under the heavy load of the crossbeam.

The mob that crowded the courtyard were in a ferment. Led by the high priests, they were yelling out the charge, ‘Treason! He calls Himself ‘King of the Jews’! He’s inciting rebellion!’

Pilate looked at Jesus. Flanked by two soldiers, hands tied so tightly behind his back that dried blood stained His wrists and hands, He stood unmoved, lookng steadily into his eyes, almost challenging him to consider his own verdict. ‘Pilate, you decide whether I am guilty or not guilty.’

Just as the Jewish leaders were put on trial that day, so was Pilate. He was a man to be most pitied. He had an unpleasant job to do in Jerusalem. It was Passover and the city was filled with volatile Jews from all over Israel. Although the Jewish leaders had not planned it this way to avoid a riot, Jesus had inadvertantly fallen into their hands at this inopportune time through the conniving of Judas.

But it was the Father’s time. Jesus had to fulfil the role of Passover lamb, to be sacrificed for the sin of the world at the precise moment when the high priest spilt the blood of the first lamb in Jerusalem.

Pilate still had to face his own responsibility in this drama. He had the final say regarding Jesus’ guilt or innocence. He alone decided whether He lived or died. His honest verdict, even after a perfunctory examination of the prisoner was, ‘Not guilty.’ It was glaringly obvious that the charges against Jesus were trumped up.

In true “Jesus” fashion, He turned the question back on Pilate. ‘It’s not my responsibility to tell you. It’s your responsibility to make your own decision. On that rests your own fate.’ Pilate’s verdict was ‘not guilty, but that was not the end of the story. The deciding factor would be what he would do about it.

CONSPIRACY!

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CONSPIRACY!

“He spent His days in the Temple teaching but His nights out on the mountain called Olives. All the people were up at the crack of dawn to come to the Temple and listen to Him.

“The Feast of Unleavened Bread, also called Passover, drew near. The high priests and religion scholars were looking for a way to do away with Jesus but, fearful of the people, they were also looking for a way of covering their tracks.

“That’s when Satan entered Judas, the one called Iscariot. He was one of the Twelve. Leaving the others, he conferred with the high priests and temple guards about how he might betray Jesus to them. They couldn’t believe their good luck and agreed to pay him well. He gave them his word and started looking for a way to betray Jesus, but out of sight of the crowd.” Luke 21:37-38; 22:1-6 (The Message).

The plot thickens, as they say!

How amazing that, in all of history, never had God and the devil worked so closely together to accomplish so daring a plan! Two opposing agendas meet and synchronise in the greatest drama the world has ever witnessed. God turns Satan’s hand to be His unwitting accomplice in signing his own doom.

None of this would make sense had it not been for Isaiah’s prophetic insight in predicting this event hundreds of years before it happened. “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the Lord makes His life a guilt offering, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand.” Isaiah 53:10 (NIV).

Peter, on the day of Pentecost, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, masterfully brings these agendas together and lays the responsibility for Jesus’ death on the shoulders of the Jews, but under the direction of God Himself. No novelist could have imagined a plot like that for a good story! It had to be God.

“‘This man was handed over by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge, and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him…Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Acts 2:23-24; 36 (NIV).

Judas, one of Jesus’ closest associates, conspired with His enemies to sell Him out. Why? We will never really know. His greed for money was in the plot, but there had to be something more sinister than that. Was Judas disillusioned with Jesus because He had not met his expectations?

In this mix of ordinary men, there were different ambitions and aspirations. They had agreed that Jesus was the Messiah but what did that mean to them? Their many squabbles over their pecking order suggests that their concept of Messiah was political. They were hoping for the overthrow of Roman occupation and the re-establishment of David’s glorious reign in a land that was their own and free. They were looking to Jesus to do something miraculous. Hadn’t He proved His power over nature, demons, sickness and even the people who were trying to destroy Him? Surely Rome would be a pushover for someone as powerful as He had proved to be!

But, to Judas’ frustration, Jesus gave no sign of making a move. He would have to orchestrate a showdown with Rome, and Passover was the most opportune time to do it because Jerusalem would be full of Jews from all over Israel, enough people to join  Jesus in a successful uprising. If Jesus was cornered, would He strike out against His captors?

For the Jewish leaders, it was the perfect opportunity to get rid of Him. For God it was the perfect opportunity to set Jesus up as the sacrificial Passover Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. For Satan it was the perfect opportunity to bring his arch enemy down and hold him in his power forever through death.