Tag Archives: Elijah

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – A DREAM KID ALRIGHT

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A DREAM KID ALRIGHT!

“‘He’ll drink neither wine nor beer. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he leaves his mother’s womb. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. He will herald God’s arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened sceptics – he’ll get the people ready for God.'” Luke 1:15b-17.

What went through Zachariah’s mind while he was listening to this prophetic word from Gabriel? What would you think?

Not only did the angel tell him that he and Elizabeth would have a son after all these childless years, and Elizabeth long past menopause, but he also told him what kind of a son he would be; a Nazirite, Spirit-filled from birth, a powerfully effective prophet when all the others had failed – Israel had never fully returned to the Lord to be the nation He wanted them to be – healing family rifts and successfully reuniting God’s people with himself. They were going to have a dream kid alright!

He would be a Nazirite according to Numbers 6:1-21, taking a vow of separation and dedication to the Lord and indicating his vow by drinking no wine or fermented drink, eating nothing from the vine, not cutting his hair, and not going near a dead body which would make him unclean.

He would be Spirit-filled from birth. That does not guarantee that he would be sinless. He would have the potential to sin like everyone else but he would also have the privilege of the Holy Spirit’s inward ministry of grace and power to overcome temptation, and the boldness to carry out his ministry fearlessly – and how he would need that when he confronted Herod and Herodias, and those indomitable Pharisees!

His ministry would be powerful and successful. God’s faithful prophets of the Old Testament never enjoyed that reassurance or experienced the blessing of permanent fruit. On the contrary, many of them, knowing that they would achieve nothing but antagonism, opposition and persecution, laboured with the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. Jeremiah was called “the weeping prophet”. He was hated, hounded and bullied by both king and people, but he stuck to his calling anyway.

The final prophetic words of Malachi 4:5,6 pointed to this day, after 400 years of divine silence, when God would send His last prophet before Messiah to herald the day of permanent transformation:

“See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

How desperately we need John’s message of reconciliation between fathers and children to offset the destruction that is happening in families and to our youth. How many children have fathers in their homes who are not fathers? Fatherless children are a disaster and a hazard, and yet fathers have not learned to father because they themselves were not fathered.

It takes a courageous man to take his fathering role seriously when he had never experienced a father’s love. There is no better role model than the Father of all fathers. He is willing to be the perfect Father to anyone who will come to Him and submit to His embrace. He will teach you the love of a Father and how to be a true son.

Elijah Has Come

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ELIJAH HAS COME

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant. And they asked Him, ‘Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?’ Jesus replied, ‘To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restore all things. Why, then, is it written that the Son of Man must suffer and be rejected? But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.’ (Mark 9: 9-13).

What an unending struggle Jesus had with these twelve men! Their mental block to His talk of His suffering shut them off from understanding much of the prophecies associated with the Messiah.

Malachi’s prophecy is clear.

See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes (Mal. 4: 5).

Of course, Elijah would not come literally because he belonged to another era and he had been dead for many centuries. But God would send another prophet in the spirit of Elijah. Who would not have recognised John the Baptist to be that one? If the disciples had any sensitivity to the times, John’s dress and demeanour would have alerted them to something unusual. They had seen and recognised Elijah on the mountain but they had not recognised his spirit in John.

Yes, “Elijah” had come and, like many of the other prophets before him, he had been silenced for speaking the truth. His was the voice crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” Why did Malachi call it “that great and dreadful day of the Lord”? It was the day – the time in history – when God would judge sin once and for all. Every word that came from John’s mouth and from the mouth of Jesus pronounced judgment, and the eventual violent death of both forerunner and Messiah sealed that judgment on all mankind.

Darkness had tried to extinguish the light but Jesus rose from the dead to proclaim forgiveness for all mankind. Sin was finally judged, once for all in the Messiah. Those who killed Him thought that they had silenced Him forever but no one can ever kill truth. ”Elijah” came and Herod shut his up, but he still speaks because he spoke the truth. Jesus came, and the whole world, in those who represented us then, tried to shut Him up but He lives and speaks today.

People may ignore Him, deny His existence, lie about His person, deny that He died and rose again, create their own theories and religious systems and believe the nonsense they have fabricated but, sadly for them, Jesus just not go away. Sin was judged on the cross but those who choose not to receive the forgiveness His death purchased and the real life He offers in union with Him, will face the alternative. Their sin will not go away. It’s Jesus and eternal life or sin and eternal destruction. Everyone has a choice.

People did to “Elijah” whatever they wanted. They took him from the earthly scene but they could not erase him from history or deny what he did. People did to Jesus whatever they wanted but in His dying He paid the debt of sin and overcame death. We can ignore Him, deny Him, ostracise Him, write Him out of our history books, constitutions, governments, schools, homes and lives but He will never go away.

What is the alternative? Submit to Him now and enter into everlasting life or bow to Him as Lord on judgment day and be sent away into everlasting punishment. Whether you are Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, agnostic, atheist or any other variation of God-denying religion, the outcome will be the same.

Who, being in very nature, God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death – even death in a cross!

Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father  (Phil 2: 6-11).

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

 

Unearthly Glory

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UNEARTHLY GLORY

And He said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.’

After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with Him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There He was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters – one for you, one fore Moses and one for Elijah.’ (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened).

Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: ‘This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!’ Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone except Jesus (Mark 9: 1-8).

What a terrifying moment for a bunch of drop-outs! “But why terrifying/” you ask. This was way outside of their everyday experience. These were fishermen, tax collectors, blue-collar workers, remember, not religious boffins from the local theological college. They faithfully followed Jesus from pillar to post, trailing after Him from one end of the country to the other, but they were still uneducated men. This time He took them up a mountain, a high one at that, according to Mark. What were they going to do up there?

When Jesus was sure that they were quite alone, no hikers near them to witness what His disciples were about to see, something amazing, radical, other-worldly happened. The visible radiance of His divine being broke through His humanity. For a moment, the veil between heaven and earth disappeared. His disciples saw something beyond their normal vision, something that was there all the time but they were not permitted to see, and it nearly scared them to death.

Their shaky faith in Jesus as the Son of God was given a boost they would never forget. And, on top of that, they glimpsed two of the most prominent and influential men of their history, Moses and Elijah, representatives of the Law and the Prophets. Their minds were in a whirl.

Trust motor-mouth Peter to put his foot in it again! He had to say something but he didn’t know what to say, so he blurted out the first thing that came into his mind. “This is great! Let’s stay here forever. Let’s build shrines for the three of you, one for you, Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” But Peter, haven’t you just recently confessed that Jesus is the Messiah? So where do Moses and Elijah fit in?

At that moment something even more shocking happened. Not only a glorified Jesus in front of their eyes but also a voice from heaven. God actually spoke to them in an audible voice. If they were frightened out of their wits before, how did they feel now? It took the voice of God the Father to speak sense into their addled brains. “Don’t you realise that this is Jesus, my Son, the one I love? Moses and Elijah don’t come into the picture at all any more. Their time is over. They had their say, but now it’s Jesus you must listen to.”

Peter must have burned with shame for blurting out such a stupid idea. More than ever before, these three men were faced with the truth that this Jesus, this rabbi whom they followed, watched, listened to and learned from was actually, really the Son of God!  Would they ever forget this holy moment? It was forever indelibly written on their memory. Both Peter and John wrote about it – John in his gospel and Peter in his first letter.

It’s no wonder these men could go out, after the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, with such holy boldness that nothing scared them. They didn’t care if the whole world was against them. They knew the truth. Jesus was the Son of God. They would die for Him if they had to. They had seen Him on the mountain. They had seen Him after the resurrection. Nothing would change their conviction that He was the Son of God. That’s what they proclaimed – not some wishy-washy message about “come to Jesus and He’ll make everything alright for you” or “come to Jesus so that you can go to heaven when you die.” But

Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah (Acts 3: 36).

This is the message that changed the first century world. This is the only message that will change the world today – not the rubbish that is being preached from many of the pulpits today – “God wants you to be rich” or “Come and get your miracle”. Peter, Paul and all the others had only one message – Jesus Christ and Him crucified, risen and glorified.

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

 

 

 

Who Is He?

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WHO IS HE?

Jesus and His disciples then went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way He asked them, ‘Who do people say I am?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’

‘But what about you?’ He asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’ Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah.’ Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about Him (Mark 8: 27-30). S

What an environment for a question like that! Idol worship and sexual orgies with goats were going on all around them. This was Caesarea Philippi, headquarters of the worship of the goat-god, Pan and a host of other gods. In the city itself, Caesar was worshipped as God. “Jesus, why on earth did you bring your disciples here of all places?” This was an evil and disgusting place, abhorrent to a group of Jewish men.

Jesus knew very well what He was doing, so it seems. Rather than shield His disciples from what went on in the real world, He exposed them to it in this instance, for a very good reason. Soon enough He would leave them. His physical presence gone, they would be thrown back on their conviction of His true identity. When they were faced with situations just like this, how would they react? Would they fall apart and make a run for it or would they stand their ground, knowing that they had the backing of the Son of God?

Enough time had passed for them to reach a conviction about who He was. Being with Him day and night, they could not escape the truth that Jesus was no ordinary man. The Pharisees may argue and deny that He was more than a man, but they lived with the glaring truth that He was different.

“What do the people say about me?” He enquired. They had their ear to the ground. They listened to people talk. Jesus Himself must have been aware of the various opinions about Him but He wanted them to verbalise what people were saying. Why? Did they agree or disagree? John the Baptist? Elijah? One of the prophets? Really? Did people really believe that Jesus was a resurrected saint from way back when? What kind of faith was that?

“And you? What do you say?” Of course Jesus was going somewhere with this discussion. “Do you agree with them? Is that all you think of me – some unidentified old bones come back to life?” Did it really matter what they thought of Him?  There at Caesarea Philippi – among the pagans?

Peter’s bold declaration came like a bolt of lightning – a flash of inspiration straight from heaven. How many times had the disciples discussed this very issue among themselves? Every time He did stuff that was beyond their understanding, they were shaken to the core. “Who is this man?” The presence of Jesus there, at that moment – at Caesarea Philippi – obscured every evil thing their eyes had seen as He stood out as pure and holy, untouched and untouchable by the filth of the world. Messiah! That’s who He was!

If He was truly the Messiah, then even the worst of sin that ungodly people could produce would not be able to stand against His purity or His power. This was the conviction they needed to take on the world. Matthew recorded that Jesus’ response to Peter assured them that not even the power of the dark underworld itself would be able to overcome the truth that He was Messiah, the Son of God. He would set up His church in the darkest places on earth and nothing would stop Him.

I wonder how many times the disciples returned to this place and to this incident in their imagination when they were surrounded by pagans and their lives threatened by hostile mobs. “Not even hell’s gates . . .” was the promise that would ring in their ears. How strong and bold they could be because their Master was the supreme overcomer, and they went in His name.

Peter answered the question on behalf of his fellow disciples. No one argued or disagreed with him but it would take much more for Jesus to fine-tune their understanding of the implications of Peter’s confession. At this point they were convinced that He was God’s Messiah but they would need a far deeper understanding to carry them through the hazards and dangers of their mission when He was no longer with them. They had to stake their very lives on who He was.

Have you answered the question, “Who do you say I am?” Your life and your destiny depend on it.

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

 

 

Glimpses Of The Great God: Day Eighteen

Devotion, , ,

DAY EIGHTEEN

 About eight days after Jesus said this,

He took Peter, John and James with Him,

and went up onto a mountain to pray.

As He was praying, the appearance of His face changed,

and His clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.

Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendour,

talking with Jesus.

They spoke about His departure

which He was about to bring to fulfilment at Jerusalem.

Peter and his companions were very sleepy

but when they became fully awake,

they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him…

While he (Peter) was speaking a cloud appeared

and enveloped them,

and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.

A voice came from the cloud saying,

“This is my Son, whom I have chosen: listen to Him”

Luke 9:28-32; 34 -35

For a brief moment, Jesus’ glory which He had with the Father before the beginning of time, broke through His human flesh and became visible to the sleepy disciples.  It was something Peter never forgot.  “We were eyewitnesses of His majesty…We ourselves heard this voice when we were with Him on the sacred mountain.” (2 Peter 1:16b, 18). What an experience!