Tag Archives: Jews

Who Did It?

Bible Study, , ,

WHO DID IT?

“From out of David’s descendants God produced a Saviour for Israel, Jesus, exactly as He promised — but only after John had thoroughly alerted the people to His arrival by preparing them for a life-change. As John was finishing up his work, he said, ‘Did you think I was the One? No. I’m not the One. But the One you’ve been waiting for all these years is just around the corner, about to appear. And I’m about to disappear.'” Acts 13:23-25 (The message).

Jesus was no self-proclaimed Messiah, making extravagant but unfounded claims for Himself. His coming was not only prophesied from the beginning (Genesis 3:15) but, in true royal fashion, His arrival was heralded by His forerunner, John, who come in the spirit and power of Elijah.

As a human being, Jesus was a descendant of the royal line of David, rightfully the king of Israel, but more than that, He was the Son of God, coming to reclaim His place as God in the hearts of His people. He was not an intrusion into the lives of people who were already worshipping God. He was the representative of the Father, the face of the One they had never seen, sent from the Father to reveal His true nature and to call them back to pure worship, uncluttered by the rules and ritual that had clouded their understanding of Him.

“‘Dear brothers and sisters, children of Abraham and friends of God, this message of salvation had been precisely targeted to you. The citizens and rulers in Jerusalem didn’t recognise who He was and condemned Him to death. They couldn’t find a good reason, but demanded that Pilate execute Him anyway. They did just what the prophets said they would do, but had no idea they were following to the letter the script of the prophets, even though these same prophets are read every Sabbath in their meeting places.'” Acts 13:26-29 (The Message).

Jesus came both to reveal the Father and to reconcile His people to the Father. The sacrifices which they offered to God were only a visual aid of the true sacrifice that Messiah would become to do away with sin once-for-all and to dispense with everything that stood in the way of their free access to Him.

So who was really responsible for the death of Jesus? The Father who planned it? The Jews who condemned Him to death and handed Him over to Pilate? Herod who played with Him and sent Him back to Pilate? Pilate who passed sentence and handed him over to the soldiers? The soldiers who nailed Him to the cross? Or all of us whose sin demanded the penalty of death which He was willing to pay for us?

Everyone was implicated in the chain of events which Paul declared was God’s way of bringing salvation to the world. And, just to make sure that no one missed the point; God put it in writing through His prophets long before it ever happened. He made sure that all the evidence was in His data base so that anyone who has the will to, can compare the finger prints of Jesus with the finger prints of Messiah on the data base of Scripture and come up with a perfect match!

Only those who have no interest or desire for reconciliation with the Father and the all the blessings and privileges of the sons of God would be foolish enough to ignore God’s offer of a free pardon and reinstatement into His family as His son or daughter.

The Tables Are Turned

Christian Life, , , ,

THE TABLES ARE TURNED

“After this had gone on quite a long time, some Jews conspired to kill him, but Saul got wind of it. They were watching the city gates around the clock so they could kill him. Then one night the disciples engineered his escape by lowering him over the wall in a basket.” Acts 9:23-25 (The Message).

What a turn-around! The persecutor becomes the persecuted!

Nothing short of a miracle could have put Saul in this predicament. The suffering the Master predicted for him had begun. Saul’s brilliant legal mind had already come into play in Damascus. His grasp of the gospel put him in the forefront of its defenders and brought him into the firing line of the fanatical Jews he once led.

Fortunately for Saul, he was securely connected to the fellowship of believers in Damascus. He had proved the genuineness of the change in his life by his bold challenge to the Jews he once stood with in his opposition to the Way. Just as he was putting his life on the line for the Master, so they were willing to put their lives on the line for him. The story of the church can easily rank among the best of modern thrillers!

“Back in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples but they were afraid of him. They didn’t trust him one bit. Then Barnabas took him under his wing. He introduced him to the apostles and stood up for him; told them how Saul had seen and spoken to the Master on the Damascus Road and how in Damascus itself he had laid his life on the line with his bold preaching in Jesus’ name.” Acts 9:26-27 (The Message).

Strange, isn’t it, how quickly bad news travels? The believers in Damascus knew all about Saul, the persecutor. And yet, in Saul’s case, the truth of the good news of his transformation had not yet penetrated the church in Jerusalem. In spite of his activities in Damascus and the circumstances of his departure from that city, the believers in Jerusalem were still suspicious of him.

It took the action of another big-hearted brother, Barnabas, like Ananias, to vouch for him. Barnabas not only befriended and defended him in this situation. He also became a life-long friend and partner in the gospel, travelling and suffering together with him across Asia Minor in the cause of the gospel.

What were Saul’s credentials that vouchsafed his true conversion? He had met with Jesus and become His witness in spite of the opposition and the death threats that drove him out of Damascus and would hound him across Israel, Asia Minor and Europe and put him in jail more than once.

It was this hatred and opposition from his own countrymen that bit deeply into his soul and caused him to cry out to God for deliverance. Like the idolatrous Canaanites who so harassed the Israelites in their conquest of the Promised Land that they became a thorn in the side of God’s people, Saul’s own people became his worst nightmare in his quest to win them for his Master.

It was the Jews who stirred up riots against him, who turned Roman officials against him and who eventually had him arrested in Jerusalem, and imprisoned and tried in Rome as a dangerous criminal who had no right to be alive.

But whatever was done to him in the name of religion could not take from him the reality of that moment when he saw the risen Jesus and heard His commission to take the gospel to the world. Nothing would cancel out that command, not even the hatred of his own people, the suspicion of his fellow believers and the threat of death itself.

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him…” Philippians 3:7-9a.

What will it take for Jesus to have followers like that…especially in the western world where comfort and convenience are the great enemies of true disciples?