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Learning To Be A Son – Chapter One – Sonship God’s Original Design

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LEARNING TO BE A SON

CHAPTER ONE

Sonship – God’s Original Design

God’s dream was to create a family, sons and daughters who would resemble Him and be one with Him and who would be His vice-regents to rule over the earth. His plan was that all people would be His children. Even when Adam fell and was driven from God’s presence in disgrace, he was still God’s son, just as the prodigal in Jesus’ story remained the son of the father even when he rebelled and left home.

The father in the story did not disown him. He waited for his erring son to return and welcomed him home with joy because his lost son had been found. No matter how far God’s human family runs from Him, we can never be “unborn” because, as the offspring of Adam, whom Luke described as “the son of God”; (Luke 3:38), we are all sons and daughters of God.

Paul acknowledged this by quoting a Greek poet in Acts 17: 28 – We are all His offspring.

The older son was equally “lost”, not because he ran away but because he was estranged from the father by having a slave-mentality. Like the Pharisees who despised “sinners”, the older son refused to rejoice when his brother returned home because he was more concerned about his brother’s behaviour than his standing as a son.

God had reasons for creating the human race. Apart from His desire to give His love to a family, He had to sort out an issue with Satan. God created the angelic host to be “sons of God’, but Lucifer, the highest of the angelic beings who became Satan, had designs on God’s throne. He was evicted from God’s presence and thrown down upon the earth. It was his plan to entice the human race away from love and loyalty to the Father to exert his rule over the earth through them.

Through the nation of Israel, it was God’s intention to reveal His true nature to the entire human race and to prepare them to receive His Messiah who would redeem humanity from slavery to the devil and restore and reinstate them into the family of God. Israel failed to fulfil its mission, but God always preserved a faithful remnant through whom He would send His Son.

Through judgement and discipline God dealt with Israel’s waywardness. He never gave up on them because Israel was His firstborn “son”. From the beginning He had planned and promised that He would send His Messiah to rescue them from bondage to sin.

But God’s promises to Israel extended beyond the boundaries of one nation. God’s love was for the whole world. His promises were made to the Gentiles as well. Not only did He call Israel His son; Egypt and Assyria, symbolic of the worst of Israel’s enemies, were to be included in the promise of blessing (Isa. 19: 24-25).

Can it be, then, that God has included the whole world, even those who reject Him and worship false gods, in His family? The Scripture concludes that all are potentially the sons of God, sons by birth and relationship but estranged from God through sin, rebellion and unbelief. Those who have received Jesus and believed on His name have been given the right to become children of God experientially (John 1:12), but the door is open for everyone to take their rightful place as His children through His mercy and forgiveness in Christ.

Through Jesus He set up His rescue plan so that those who are at enmity with Him may be reconciled through Jesus’ blood shed on the cross. Those who refuse His offer of mercy must accept the consequences of their choice, but it is their choice, not God’s that they face eternal judgment and destruction instead of the love of God’s eternal family.

 

Bullies Of The Worst Kind!

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BULLIES OF THE WORST KIND!

The written notice of the charge against Him read, ‘The king of the Jews.’ They crucified two rebels with Him, one on His right and one on His left. Those who passed by hurled insults at Him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself.’ In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked Him among themselves. ‘He saved others,’ they said, ‘but He can’t save Himself. Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.’ Those crucified with Him also heaped insults on Him. (Mark 15: 26-32)

Why hit a man when he is down? These bullies had to rub it in when they had Jesus pinned down so that there was no escape. One day they would eat their words when the truth was exposed. Imagine their shock if Jesus did summon a legion of angels to rescue Him from their hands. Would they really have believed then? I don’t think so. They had every opportunity to believe in Him when He was among them but they refused.

Let’s examine their accusations and their taunts. The first came from the passers-by. They had no interest in Jesus except for what the religious leaders had said about Him. At the outset of His ministry, according to John, He had ripped into the merchants and money changers in the temple for turning the Court of the Gentiles, the only place in the temple where non-Jews were permitted to pray, into a corrupt market.

With the blessing of the chief priests and the religious rulers, opportunists had taken over the Court of the Gentiles to ply their trade under the guise of providing a service for the worshippers who came from out of town. Under the surface they were ripping the people off with their little business and, no doubt supplying the authorities with a cut of the profits.

The religious authorities were livid when Jesus upset their business by causing pandemonium among the birds and animals, and overturning the tables of those dealing in forex. They demanded an explanation for His behaviour. “Who gave you authority to do this?”

“Destroy this temple,” He retorted, “and in three days I will raise it up again.” It was an invitation to kill Him, but they didn’t get it. “Do you want to know where I get my authority?” He asked in effect. “Put me to death, and I’ll show you by coming back to life.”

False witnesses at His trial tried to pin His words on Him as a reason to condemn Him to death. No one could threaten to destroy God’s temple and get away with it. But, unfortunately for them, they couldn’t agree on His exact words and their testimony did not hold water. They accused Him of threatening to destroy the physical temple made of stone. Only a madman would make a threat like that,but the accusation stuck and was bandied about in Jerusalem until the words He was supposed to have spoken were on everyone’s lips.

He looked so vulnerable and powerless hanging there, skewered onto two pieces of wood like a kebab. It’s no wonder the uncomprehending and unfeeling passers-by could taunt Him without giving it another thought. They were just mindlessly mouthing their leaders’ words. To Jesus, what they had to say did not even merit a reply. He ignored them. All they were doing was exposing the foolishness and ignorance of their own hearts.

What about the spiritual leaders who were gazing at their handiwork? It was not enough that they had succeeded in getting Him executed. They had to be there to sign Him off to their great satisfaction. They had to add their bit to the insults of the rabble just to make sure that everyone around could witness the exposure of their own hearts as well.

“Save yourself and come down from the cross.” They thought that they were responsible for putting Him there because of their power. They were claiming, in effect, to have absolute power over Him. If He were the Son of God as He had claimed, why didn’t He show it by overriding their puny human control?

Never in a million years did they understand that He was there by His own will because He had submitted Himself to the Father as an obedient son. Had He not declared, in the Garden of Gethsemane, ‘Not my will but yours be done’? This was the culmination of a plan set up by the triune God before creation. If they had really known their Scriptures as they claimed, they would have recognised Him as the one of whom Isaiah spoke.

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer . .  (Isa. 54: 10).

Why should He save Himself and come down from the cross when it was all going to plan? The Jews refused to believe that He was their Messiah because the cross was foolishness to them, but in effect, it was through the very thing they despised, death on a Roman execution stake, that provided forgiveness and new life, if they only believed Him. But not even His resurrection convinced them that He was their Messiah. How tragic to be right but in the end to be so wrong!

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.

Watch this space. My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), companion volume to Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master, will soon be on the bookshelves.

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

 

 

 

All Hell Let Loose!

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ALL HELL LET LOOSE!

Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, ‘Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?’ But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked Him, ‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’ ‘I am,’ said Jesus, ‘and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’

The high priest tore his clothes. ‘Why do we need any more testimonies?’ he asked. ‘You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?’ They all condemned Him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit at Him; they blindfolded Him, struck Him with their fists, and said, ‘Prophesy!’ And the guards took Him and beat Him. (Mark 14: 60-65)

That did it! Jesus used two loaded titles in response to the high priest’s taunt. In his glaringly illegal question – an accused person could not be found guilty on his own testimony – the high priest bated Him to indict Himself.

“Here is what the Jewish scholar Maimonides wrote in his book: “We have it as a fundamental principle of our jurisprudence, that no one can bring an accusation against himself. Should a man make confession of guilt before a legally constituted tribunal, such confession is not to be used against him unless properly attested by two other witnesses” (“Sanhedrin” IV, 2)”   

http://www.lesiecleavenir.fr/pdf/Twelve%20Reasons%20Why%20Jesus%20Trial%20Was%20Illegal.pdf (retrieved on 05/09/2015).

Look at the titles Jesus used of Himself: “I am” and “Son of Man”. No Jew would miss the implications. “Are you crazy, Jesus? Why did you have to use those words?” That really set the cat among the pigeons!

Jesus identified Himself to the Sanhedrin as the same God whom Moses met at the burning bush, the “I AM”. Moses, the man they revered more than any other of their Old Testament heroes! The debates Jesus had with the religious leaders often raged around what Moses said versus what Jesus, as a rabbi with authority said, which held more weight than what Moses said because He spoke with the authority of God, which they refused to recognise.

“The Son of Man”! They could not miss the implications of that title either. It was an outright and unmistakeable use of a Messianic title according to Daniel 7:13.

In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will never pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

This is the moment when the true colours of the Sanhedrin were revealed. How could a dignified court of law, under the authority of the high priest who was God’s representative on earth, permit such unruly and barbaric behaviour? This was not about the guilt or innocence of an accused man. This was about the venomous hatred these men had towards Jesus because everything He said and did was an accusation against them. He was already guilty long before they arrested Him, guilty not of being a wrongdoer but guilty of being everything He said He was and, at the same time, showing them up for who they were. There was nothing anyone could say that could prove Him otherwise.

Their charge against Him was blasphemy but it would not hold water in the eyes of Rome. From a Jewish point of view, as far as the Sanhedrin was concerned, He was guilty, regardless of the evidence. And for that He must die. But they had to get Rome on their side by accusing Him of something serious enough to be punishable by execution. Blasphemy was not on their books.  All Rome was interested in was anything that became a threat to their rule in their vassal states.

Having satisfied their phoney justice, it was time to take their case to Pilate to ratify their sentence of death and leave the Romans to carry it out their way. . .

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.

Watch this space. My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), companion volume to Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master, will soon be on the bookshelves.

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

 

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.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

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