Tag Archives: John the Baptist

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – A DREAM KID ALRIGHT

Bible Study, , ,

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.

Jesus And The Works Of The Kingdom

Christian Life, , , ,

JESUS AND THE WORKS OF THE KINGDOM

Closely related to Jesus’s teaching on the kingdom of God was what He called His “works”. What did He classify as His works? What was the purpose of His works?

Jesus did many miracles during His earthly life; He healed the sick, restored disabled people, raised the dead, drove out demons and did miracles that overruled nature. Was it just for showmanship so that He could draw the crowds; was it out of pure compassion for the suffering or was there a deeper significance to His miracles?

In order to understand the place of works in His mission as Messiah, let’s examine what Jesus had to say about His miracles.

Jesus made it clear that His miracles were closely connected to the kingdom of God. He did not come simply as a miracle-worker. On occasion He escaped from the people who were clamouring for healing because His purpose was much bigger than merely bringing relief to the suffering. He had a message to deliver which took precedence over His healing ministry.

His works authenticated His identity as God’s Messiah.

There are many prophecies in the Old Testament – the Tanakh – that act like Messiah’s “fingerprints”. Just as the police department has a data base of fingerprints which is used to identify criminals, so the Old Testament has a “data base” of Messianic fingerprints to enable people to identify the Messiah. Jesus prophesied that many false messiahs would come, demanding attention and claiming allegiance. How would people be able to distinguish between true and false? Prophecy! All they had to do was to match the prophetic fingerprint with the fulfilment and they would know whether the claim was true or false.

John the Baptist was incarcerated in Herod’s dungeon for daring to indict him for adultery. While John languished in prison, Jesus was out and about preaching, teaching and doing miracles. Perhaps John had hoped that He would intervene and get him out of jail, but Jesus did not show up. Eventually John began to lose heart. Could this one whom he had introduced to his people, really be the Messiah after all?

He sent a representation of his followers to Jesus to ask Him, “Are you really the Messiah or are you just another imposter like the rest? Must we look for someone else?”

Jesus adopted a think-for-yourself approach. He didn’t give John a straight “yes” or “no” answer. How much better for John to look at the evidence and decide for himself!

Jesus replied, ‘Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.’ (Matt. 11: 4-6)

In what way did Jesus’s works match the prophetic fingerprint? Isaiah 61 testified to His Messiahship – one anointed by the Holy Spirit to fulfil the Father’s assignment.

When Jesus returned to Nazareth after His baptism, He attended the synagogue on the Sabbath where He was invited to speak.

The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling the scroll, He found the place where it is written:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He sent me to proclaim freedom for the captives and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. (Isa. 61:1-2a)

Then He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him, and He began by saying to them, ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’ (Luke 4: 17-21)

Isaiah’s prophecy in chapter 35 points to the Messianic age:

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf be unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy. (Isa. 35: 5-6a)

When would this happen? When God came in person to reverse the fortunes of His people.

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

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Who Is He?

Bible Study, , ,

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

 

 

Happy Birthday, Herod!

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEROD

Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl. ‘Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.’ And he promised her with and oath, ‘Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.’ She went out and said to her mother, ‘What shall I ask for?’ ‘The head of John the Baptist,’ she answered (Mark 6: 21-24).

Happy birthday, Herod! Why the birthday party? Was this a “big” one, like sixty or seventy? Probably not. Just an opportunity to indulge all the lusts of the flesh with his bigwigs.  Perhaps like the party Belshazzar threw in Babylon the night he lost his throne and his life. Birthday parties didn’t end well in the Bible, so it seems!

I guess Herodias’ daughter was as sensual as her mother. Her dance pleased the king and all his dinner guests. No responsible ruler in his right mind would offer a young girl a gift up to half his kingdom so, perhaps Herod wasn’t in his right mind. Perhaps he was so filled with the “spirit” that he promised what he promised, not realising that he was falling headlong into his wife’s trap.

Oh, I’m sure Herodias must have had it all planned. What an opportunity to get rid of her enemy! Get her husband drunk, send in her daughter to seduce him, and that was easy; and she had him in the bag. And it worked. Did you notice how quickly she had an answer for her child’s question? Not ‘Well . . . a-ah . . . now let’s see. What about a wardrobe of new clothes? No, perhaps a new car or a luxury mansion down by the sea? I know. That beautiful necklace and bracelet set we saw in the jeweller’s ship. Remember? The one with diamonds, emeralds and rubies . . .”  No, emphatically no! She wanted John’s dead head on a platter, nothing less.

At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: ‘I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.’

The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother (Mark 6: 25-28).

Herod was trapped. This was definitely not what he meant. He was suddenly more sober than he had ever been. He had a decision to make. Would he refuse and look like a fool in front of his subjects? Would he give in and become a murderer? Who was boss in his house anyway? He knew very well who was behind this. Didn’t he have to listen to Herodias’ ranting and raving about John and his accusations all day long, day after day?

He could go with his conscience and put up with Herodias or he could silence his conscience, so he thought, and shut Herodias up once and for all. And what about his oath? After all, didn’t the Scriptures say you had to honour your oath, no matter what? Decision made, and the deed was done.

What did he think when the executioner brought him the bloodied head of John on a platter? What did he do when John’s sightless eyes stared back at him and his accusing mouth hung open but said nothing? He had listened to that mouth speak God’s word into his ears, even pleading with him to repent and receive the truth about the Messiah, but he had never done anything about it. Then there was Herodias. She would never tolerate a religious type for a husband.  He could not imagine the strife in his life if he did what John said.

But now it was too late. He had added murder to his list of sins and he could not escape the torment of his guilt and shame. If he thought the dinner guests would mock him for not keeping his oath, what about the voice of the accuser that mocked him now?

Happy birthday, Herod! It was a birthday he would never forget because it marked the end for him, long before he had to face Jesus (Luke 22: 8-11), or before he himself died an ignominious and agonising death because he thought he was God (Acts 12: 23). From that day on it was all downhill. He had his opportunity; he made his decision. There was no turning back.

Strange, isn’t it, how our opportunities come when we least expect them! Unannounced, Unheralded.  If we are as unprepared as Herod was, we will not notice, just as he did not, that this is a turning point and a decisive moment. Jesus warned us to be prepared.

On hearing this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb (Mark 6: 29)

Where was John’s head? Sitting on Herodias’ dressing table, a trophy for her to gaze at, a symbol of her victory, rotting and stinking like her rotting and stinking soul? Really?

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

 

 

 

Guilt Upon Guilt

Bible Study, , ,

 

GUILT UPON GUILT

King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, ‘John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in Him.’  Others said, ‘He is Elijah.’ And still others claimed, ‘He is a prophet, like one of the prophets long ago.’ But when Herod heard this, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!’ For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he married (Mark 6: 14-17).

What a puzzle Jesus was turning out to be! Deny the truth and you’ll come up with every ridiculous invention you can think of. The evidence was staring these people in the face but their verdicts, every one of them, were ludicrous. Had any one of their prophets ever come back to life years, even centuries, afterwards although many of them had died as violently as John had? Elijah? Oh, as far as they knew Elijah wasn’t dead since he had gone up to heaven in a whirlwind. Perhaps Jesus was Elijah come back or even Enoch since he hadn’t died either. Any other offers?

Herod was the only one who knew for certain that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead! After all, he was the one who had him killed. He saw his head on a platter. It had to be John because John because it was John who gave it to him straight like the other prophets who were martyred for their honesty. If John could rise from the dead, then he could do the all miracles Jesus/John was doing.

It’s amazing what people will come up with when they refuse to come face to face with the truth. Herod’s guilt screamed at him morning, noon and night. He had silenced John and now John had come back to haunt him. He thought that, if he shut John up, first in prison, and then in death, his guilt would go away. How wrong he was! Jesus was not John, but He had the same effect on Herod as if He had been John because the truth was inescapable.

For John had been saying to Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’ So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled, yet he liked to listen to him (Mark 6: 18-20).

If Herod was puzzled about John, what about Herod? He was just like the soil Jesus spoke about – the footpath where the seed fell but never germinated because the ground was too hard. Why did Herod like to listen to John? Did he think that John’s word alone would appease his conscience without his doing anything about it? In the end it was Herodias who ruled Herod. He feared John but he feared Herodias more. What she said went, even if he knew she was wrong.

This is the definition of a fool – one who knows what is right but does wrong anyway. The Bible calls this “a divided heart”. God or me, me and God? And “me” usually wins. We can judge Herod and call him a fool but how often don’t we act just like him. We fear man more than God and follow our fears rather than the truth.

“The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.”  ― OswaldChambers

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/233515-the-remarkable-thing-about-god-is-that-when-you-fear (retrieved 01/07/2105)

Take the theory of evolution, for example. It is taught in schools and referred to in every natural history programme on television as fact. Really! Has anything ever just “happened” without a designer or creator, say in a car manufacturing plant? A half completed vehicle stands on the floor awaiting the next day’s additions. When the workers arrive, they are surprised to find the buds of wings which began to sprout overnight. How did that happen? Well, the car decided it wanted to be an aeroplane after all. Give it a few million years and it will become a plane.

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? What happens to the car-becoming-a-plane in the meantime? Will it drive on the road or will it fly? What will it do in the interim while it is changing from a car to a plane? After millions of years it will probably be a heap of oxidised metal. What about all the creatures who are supposed to be becoming? Where are they? Why don’t we see some half-way ones, neither this nor that. Even the weirdest and most bizarre creatures function perfectly as they are because they were created that way.

Why have scientists come up with such a ridiculous theory, and why do gullible people believe it? Like Herod, they refuse to face the truth. God is inescapable and, as our Creator, we are accountable to Him. We can kill John, or Jesus, or burn the Bible or make up as many of our own rules as we like, but the truth will just not go away.

In the end we are our own judges. Do away with the truth and we stand condemned by our own fabrication of lies because the truth will still stand when we fall. God has a solution. Change your mind about the truth and give over the Him. He is merciful. He has already provided forgiveness for all our stupidity and rebellion. And He promises real life if we follow Jesus.

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