Tag Archives: messiah

Herald Of His Coming

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HERALD OF HIS COMING

The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way” – “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.'” And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Mark 1: 1-4).

Israel’s migration through the wilderness from Egypt to the Promised Land was recognised in Scripture as symbolic of their journey through life. In order to navigate the treacherous and unknown path, they had to follow the landmarks which God pointed out to them on the way. He promised to accompany them, to show them the right way and to keep them from wandering off the path, getting lost and dying without food and water. His word would light the way for them.

Their destination was Mount Zion, (tsyiown – meaning landmark) the highest point in the city of Jerusalem. God had told them that it was in Jerusalem that He would establish His name. When they were settled in the land, they were to go to Jerusalem three times a year to celebrate His appointed feasts which were prophetic of the work of the promised Messiah.

There were obstacles and dangers on the way. If they wandered off the path by failing to keep His commandments, they would die but, if they realised they were lost, they were to return to the path by repenting of their disobedience and by following His instructions (Torah – His commandments) which would keep them on the path and take them to their destination.

It was this imagery which lay behind the opening words of Mark’s gospel. His announcement – “the beginning of the good news about Jesus, the Messiah, and the Son of God” would put his readers in the picture. Using Hebraic thought, he related the story of John the Baptist whose role was to call the people to repent (shuv – meaning to return to the path from which they had wandered and got lost).

Isaiah had prophesied, centuries before, that God would send a man ahead of the Messiah to prepare His way and to announce His arrival like the herald who would go before a king to alert the people that he was coming. God’s people had wandered off the path through disobedience and misunderstanding of His word. It was now time to come back so that, when Messiah came, they would learn to follow Him because He was God’s representative to bring them back to God through the forgiveness of sins and to show them the way to the Father by His perfect life.

Mark wanted his readers to understand that John’s appearance and message fitted perfectly into God’s prophetic timetable. He was no upstart preacher, some crank who dressed funny and spoke funny, but His appointed herald to prepare the way for His Messiah. John’s message was a clarion call to return to the way of Yahweh – to come out of the wilderness where for centuries they had wandered around with no one to show them the right way.

They had not heard God’s voice for four hundred years after the ministry of Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets. Now, at last, God began to speak again, through John, the last of the prophets of the old era. His role was to prepare the way for the Son of God who came from God not only to speak God’s word but to be God’s final word to His people. If they did not listen to Jesus, God had nothing more to say to them.

Jesus did not come from God with a new message. He came from the Father to show His people how to live the way He had instructed them from the beginning. He came to interpret God’s eternal message. He did not come to do away with torah, but to live it out in the spirit of Torah which was the revelation of God’s mercy to show us how it is done.

On the mountain with God in the wilderness, Moses had begged God to show him His glory. God revealed the meaning of His name – mercy and compassion. In the flesh Jesus became the meaning of God’s name by showing mercy and compassion to His people, culminating in His death to rescue them from the consequences of and slavery to sin.

Just as John the Baptist called his people to shuv – to return to the way of the Lord, so the Holy Spirit still calls His people today. Jesus issued one simple instruction to the twelve men who became His disciples – “Follow me,” and the instruction has not changed. The church of the Lord Jesus has, in the main, become lost in the wilderness of ignorance and sin again because its leaders and those who follow them have ignored His call and made up their own way.

A lady made a profound statement to me in conversation recently, “Without Jesus, all we have left is religion.” How true that is! Many churches have plenty of religion but no Jesus. How tragic that mere humans have usurped His place and taken His people off the path and back into the wilderness where they have become exactly what His people were when He came – harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

John’s message is as relevant today as it was then: “Repent! Return to God’s way because the good news is that Jesus is here!”

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.

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Argue Or Acknowledge

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ARGUE OR ACKNOWLEDGE 

“The crowd spoke up, ‘We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, “The Son of Man must be lifted up”?  Who is this “Son of Man”?’ Then Jesus told them, ‘You are going to have the light a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where he is going.

“Believe in the light while you have the light, that you may become children of light.’ When He had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid Himself from them.” John 12:34-36 NIV.

As the time drew nearer for Jesus to be crucified, His pleas to His people became more urgent. To His disciples He would give the assurance that the Holy Spirit would replace Him when He left. They would still have someone exactly like Him who would continue to instruct and lead them from within. But for those who were on the periphery, watching from afar and questioning everything He told them, there would no longer be His physical presence to show them the true nature of the Father.

Jesus did not answer their question. They had had more than enough evidence from His words and works to convince them that He was the Son of Man of whom He had spoken. Like their spiritual leaders, their skeptical attitude kept them from acknowledging Him as their Messiah.

But it was much more than giving intellectual assent to the evidence. To believe meant to commit to Him and to reproduce in their own lives what He was teaching and modelling.

John had begun his gospel with a commentary on Genesis 1. When God introduced light to a dark and formless world, it was first the light of truth embodied in Jesus, the second person of the Trinity that entered the world before He created the heavenly lights. He assigned the earth to Jesus to provide enlightenment to the human beings He was about to create in His image to know and have fellowship with Him.

Satan had already been abolished to the earth along with his fallen angel companions because of his bid to take over the throne of God. To create and place humans in an environment where Satan had influence was to throw them to the wolves unless they had the presence of God with them in the person of Jesus to counter the devil’s work.

“God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5b. There is nothing selfish, devious or shady about Him. He is everything that is kind, merciful, loving and generous. He is holy, utterly separate from anything wicked or imperfect. His plans and intentions for all mankind are only for good. Everything He does is intended to draw us towards Him and the transform us to be like Him.

Satan is everything that is opposite to God. Like darkness which is the absence of light, he is empty of everything that God is. His attitude and actions are all wicked and selfish. He is heading towards destruction and everything he does is designed to draw us towards him so that we can share in his eternal judgment and doom.

Jesus’ heart cry was always, ‘Believe in me,’ because faith in Him would effect a transfer from the power and influence of the selfishness and greed with which the human race was born to the realm of God’s rule where life would be lived in the light of His presence and in the supernatural power of His Spirit.

There was little time left to hear from the lips of Jesus the words that would bring them the hope of eternal life. Instead of arguing and contradicting Him, He urged them to heed and believe Him so that they could escape from the treadmill of self-centred living which was eroding away their opportunity to enter into the real life He was offering them — life that was enriched and fulfilled by loving God and caring for those who could not care for themselves.

The clock was ticking; the countdown had begun. In a few days death would remove Him from them. They would no longer see Him. Now was the time to respond or they might never have the opportunity again.

Assuming Is Dangerous!

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ASSUMING IS DANGEROUS!

“On hearing His words, some of the people said, ‘Surely this man is the Prophet.’ Others said, ‘He is the Messiah.’ Still others asked, ‘How can the Messiah come from Galilee? Does not the Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?’ Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. Some wanted to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him.” John 7:40-45 (NIV).

Just as Jesus said it would be!

He once asked His disciples what people were saying about Him. It was just the same there as here — divided opinions. Some said this, some said that and others said something else. There were those who recognized that there was something different about Him and were willing to go as far as to acknowledge that He could be the Prophet Moses spoke about in Deuteronomy 18:15, “The Lord will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to Him.”

Others saw someone greater than just a prophet. They were prepared to go as far as to say that He was the Messiah. Did that mean that they understood the nature of the Messiah? I don’t think so. Like the disciples, they had their hopes pinned on someone who would rid them of the Romans and ease their load of everyday struggles just to make a living and survive.

The majority dismissed Him as a fake and a deceiver and would have grabbed Him and handed Him over to the authorities if they could. Their argument was that He did not measure up to Old Testament prophecy, or so they thought. Had they only dug a little deeper, they would have been shocked to learn that He was the perfect fit to the prophetic blueprint which they thought they knew so well.

Their reason for dismissing Him was that He came from Galilee. Wrong! That may have been where He grew up, but it was not His birthplace as we all know so well. And, unknown to them, He was of the royal line of David. Galilee also featured in the prophetic blueprint. “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphthali, but in the future He will honour Galilee of the nations, by Way of the sea, beyond the Jordan.” Isaiah 9:1 (NIV).

In Isaiah’s magnificent prophetic vision he saw the coming of a child (Isaiah 9:6) who would bring light to His people as far afield as Galilee, the northern province that bordered on Gentile territory and was constantly subject to invasion from the north. He would bring in the righteous rule of God, carrying the government on His shoulders and bringing light and peace where there had been darkness and war.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.” Isaiah 9:6,7 (NIV).

O yes, they knew the Scriptures. They knew what the Messiah would do, but they just could not connect Jesus to that glorious expectation and make a match! How tragic that they set their sights on a political deliverer and failed to see in Jesus someone much greater than that.

It is unfortunate that many believers have the same tendency to see Jesus as the panacea for all their ills. Instead of going to the Bible for an accurate picture of who He is, they make assumptions and place expectations on Him that He will not fulfil. This is dangerous because it leads to disappointment and disillusionment which hurts them and reflects back on Him.

Jesus did not come to give us cushy lives. He came to reveal the nature of the Father and to reconcile us to the Father through His shed blood so that we can get back on track with the Father’s cosmic plan. The ultimate end is that the whole universe will, in union with Him, reflect the Father’s glory.

It’s all about Him, not about us.

They Shut The Door

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THEY SHUT THE DOOR!

“At this point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, ‘Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? Here He is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to Him. Have the authorities really concluded that He is the Messiah?'” John 7:25, 26 (NIV).

No, they have not! They still intended to kill Him but when He appeared in public, teaching in the temple; they had no reason and no way to arrest Him without discrediting themselves. It appears that the people feared the Jews (John’s name for the Jewish religious authorities), and the Jews feared the people!

“‘But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where He is from.'” John 7:27 (NIV).

These people thought they knew the origin of Jesus, but did they? He may have been born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth but that was not where He was from. John has already informed his readers that the Word was from God, but these people refused to believe Jesus’ testimony about Himself. All the evidence points towards an origin beyond His human birth but because t, they were left with questions that had no answers.

“Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, ‘Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but He who sent me is true. You do not know Him, but I know Him because I am from Him and He sent me.'” John 7:28,29 (NIV).

Such is the power of self-deception that, although His hearers knew deep in their hearts that He was speaking the truth, they refused to acknowledge it. Because they refused to acknowledge Him, their spirits were unable to connect with the Father and to receive the confirmation that Jesus was telling the truth. All their accusations only served to harden their hearts even more and shut them out from “knowing” the Father.

“At this they tried to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him because His hour had not yet come.” John 7:30 (NIV).

This is a recurring phrase in John’s Gospel. John was acutely aware that Jesus’ times were in the Father’s hands. He came close to being killed on many occasions during His public ministry but each time Jesus simply walked away unscathed because there was an appointed time for Him to die, and that time was not yet.

How comforting to know that our times, too, are in His hands! Our destiny may not be the same as Jesus’ destiny but each of us has our allotted time, already written in God’s book (Psalm 139:16), and it is up to us, in obedience to God’s ways, to live out our time in order to fulfil our destiny.

Of course we can cut our time short through foolish choices and destructive behaviour, but that is not God’s fault. Submission to Him and obedience to His instructions will qualify us to have the physical stamina to complete His plan for our lives.

“Still, many in the crowd believed in Him. They said, ‘When the Messiah comes, will He perform more signs than this man?'” John 7: 31 (NIV).

At least there were a few sensible people in the crowd! Their faith may have been superficial at this stage but they were on the right track. Before the end of His life many more would fall by the wayside, offended because they too, like His disciples, refused to pay attention to what He was telling them.

People walked away because He did not live up to their expectations. They shut the door! How unfair is that! But it happens all the time. We put expectations on other people of which they are unaware and which are often beyond their capabilities, and then we are disappointed and we judge them because they were not or did not do what we expected of them. How much better to give people the benefit of the doubt! This is part of the generous spirit which Jesus calls us to show towards people because we are to be mirrors of Him.

One of the reasons why we can be comfortable and safe with the Father is because of His generosity towards us. We can never disappoint Him because He knows us completely. It’s up to us to treat others like He treats us.

Food And Water For The Soul

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FOOD AND WATER FOR THE SOUL 

“Just then His disciples returned and were surprised to see Him talking with a woman. But no one asked, ‘What do you want?’ or ‘Why are you talking with her?’

“Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?’

“Meanwhile His disciples urged Him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’

“But He said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you know nothing about.’ Then His disciples said to each other, ‘Could someone have brought Him food?’ ‘My food,’ said Jesus, ‘is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.'” John 4:27-34 (NIV).

Samaritan or Jew, there was a startling similarity between the woman and the disciples. They lived in the environment of the natural and viewed life from the same perspective.

When Jesus began to talk to the woman about living water, she didn’t get it because she thought no further than water for her body. When He told His disciples that He had food to eat that they did not know about, they didn’t get it either because they thought He meant food for His body.

Jesus was so excited about the outcome of His conversation with the woman that it sustained and strengthened Him more than food. To do His Father’s will was what nourished His spirit and kept Him going. On one occasion, when He was criticized by the Pharisees for eating with the riff-raff, He told them that He had come to seek and save the lost, not those who thought they didn’t need saving.

When the woman arrived at the well, she was a lost soul. She had left the path that would take her to the Father, ignored the landmarks of His Word that would keep her on track and wandered in the wilderness of sin, alone and afraid. Jesus showed her the way back and she gladly responded.

She rushed back to the town, her burden of guilt and shame gone, to share the good news with the townspeople from whom she had escaped only a short while before by going to draw water in the heat of the day. ‘I think I have found the Messiah. Come and check it out for yourselves.’ Why was she so sure that the man at the well was the Messiah? How did He know such intimate details about her without divine revelation?

Not only that but His disclosure of her sinful life brought her release from guilt, not condemnation. She felt light and clean as she hurried back to share her joy with the people who despised her. Now that’s a transformation! Again it’s this inward thing that mere religion cannot produce; freedom from guilt and an inner peace that was evidence that God had no issues with her. She was forgiven and she had the witness in her spirit that she was clean and new inside.

No one can explain what happens when a person believes in Jesus. There is a supernatural transaction that takes place in the inner being. All guilt is removed, shame and fear go, and are replaced with an inexplicable peace. This is the result of something that takes place in the mind.

Until that moment the woman did not know that God loved her and had provided forgiveness and cleansing from her sin. She believed that she was worthless and the belief produced her feelings of guilt, shame and fear. When the truth dawned on her that she was beloved and that the Father wanted her to worship Him, the lie was gone and with it her destructive emotions, and in their place she experienced God’s peace.

To see a person set free from condemnation and reconciled to the Father who loved her was much better than a delicious meal, no matter how hungry Jesus might have been. Did He ever get His drink of water? We will never know! His thirst might not have been quenched at that moment but He had satisfied a far deeper thirst with the water that became a perennial spring in her soul.

Are you still thirsty? Jesus has water for you that will satisfy you forever.