Tag Archives: high priests

IT’S A DARK NIGHT

Christian Life, , ,

IT’S A DARK NIGHT

“Jesus spoke to those who had come — high priests, Temple police, religious leaders. ‘What is this, jumping me with swords and clubs as if I were a dangerous criminal? Day after day I’ve been with you in the Temple and you’ve not so much as lifted a hand against me. But do it your way — it’s a dark night, a dark hour.'” Luke 22:51-53 (The Message).

Darkness…night! It’s amazing what people will do under cover of darkness that they will not do in the daylight! What is there about darkness that affects the way we think? Darkness in the Bible means much more than the absence of light. The theme of darkness is introduced in the first chapter of the Bible and is carried through to the last book.

Before God stepped in to restore the earth after He had created it, it was shrouded in darkness. Even the light of His presence did not penetrate the darkness until He took positive action. Why was that? Lucifer and a third of the angels tried to dethrone God and take over His role as God, but God threw them out of heaven down to the earth (Revelation 12:7-9). The darkness over the earth was symbolic of the moral darkness that the presence of Satan brought.

What did God do? His first words to rectify the situation were: “‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” Genesis 1:3 (NIV). But there is a problem. According to the Genesis account, He created the heavenly bodies on the fourth day. What was this light that shone on the earth on the first day?

John gives us the answer. “Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it…The light that gives light to evey man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognise Him….The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us…” John 1:3-5, 9-10, 14a (NIV).

Just as God had confined Satan’s sphere of influence to the earth, so He assigned the earth to His Son before He began the work of restoration, to exercise His divine power and influence to win His erring sons and daughters back to Himself.

Darkness symbolises the state of mind that the devil’s deception brings. Satan is both deceived and the deceiver. Jesus called him “a murderer and the father of lies” (John 8:44). When human beings follow his lying suggestions, they lose their ability to think rationally and logically and are in a state of “darkness”. Moral darkness obsures the light of truth just as physical darkness hides people’s evil deeds.

There is no such thing as a battle between light and darkness. Wherever the light shines, darkness is dispelled. They cannot co-exist. Jesus is the light that brings light to every person who is born into the world, but ony those who receive Him are “enlightened” with the truth that God exists, that He is good and that He is in charge, not the devil.

Men are accountable to God and He has provided mercy and forgiveness through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. Every other philosophy and religion is a hoax to keep people in the darkness of deception that leads away from God to destruction.

Jesus and His opponents were entering the darkest hour in human history. Not even the holocaust can eclipse what men did to God on that day. Although His warning went unheeded, it had to be, and it happened because of the depth of the darkness that held those captive who wanted Him dead.

Jesus said to them, “This is your hour — when darkness reigns.” Luke 22:53b (NIV).  Darkness did not triumph over light; it only hid the light for a few hours but the rejoicing that men’s darkness brought in hell was premature and short-lived. It was temporary, for an “hour”. Three days afterwards, the light erupted from the tomb and lived again, and His light continues to shine on the earth and in the hearts of those who believe in him!

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – THE BATTLE IS ON!

Bible Study, , ,

THE BATTLE IS ON!

“Then Pilate called in the high priests, rulers and the others and said, ‘You brought this man to me as a disturber of the peace. I examined him in front of all of you and found there was nothing in your charge. And neither did Herod, for he has sent Him back here with a clean bill of health. It’s clear He’s done nothing wrong, let alone anything deserving of death. I’m going to warn Him to watch His step and let Him go.’

“At that the crowd went wild: ‘Kill Him! Give us Barabbas!’ (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for starting a riot in the city and for murder).” Luke 23:13-19.

Pilate’s true colours begin to show in this exchange with the Jewish religious hierarchy. Their resolve to kill Jesus was pitted against his resolve to set Him free. Into the mix came Pilate’s fear of a riot in Jerusalem and underneath that, his fear for his own skin.

His first step towards defeat was his attempt to negotiate with Jesus’ accusers. He was the highest Roman authority in Jerusalem and he had the last word. Why did he try to enter into an agreement with them? He could have simply given them his verdict, released Jesus and that would have been that. But he did not. He tried to appease them by bringing Herod into the picture, (so much for Herod’s part in this ‘justice’ system!), and trying to convince them that he and Herod were in agreement regarding His innocence.

His approach through reason met with a barrage of violent opposition. The bottom line was: ‘We want Jesus dead. Justice does not come into it any more. Even if we have to trade His life for a dangerous man’s, we will bulldoze you into agreeing to the death sentence.’

And so, spurred on by their religious leaders, the mob began their campaign of intimidation. Their first weapon was unrestrained behaviour coupled with volume and vehemence. They also had a big gun – the practice of releasing one prisoner at Passover. The other gospels state that the initiative came from Pilate. He offered Barabbas, knowing that he was a violent criminal, and hoping that the mob would choose Jesus because He gave no evidence of being dangerous in spite of their accusations.

That plan did not work. In fact it only seemed to add fuel to the flames. Instead of appeasing them, he added to his problem by offering to release into society a man who had already taken lives. It was becoming more and more difficult for him to put the brakes on. Even his offer to have Jesus beaten was a pathetic substitute for what they were demanding.

Behind this tussle between civil and religious authorities lay the real battle, but we must never think that it was war between two evenly matched powers, God and Satan. Amazingly, the scales were tipped against Jesus from the beginning and He knew it. He was also a willing party to it because God’s passion to rescue mankind from the devil’s clutches had to be satisfied through Jesus’ sacrificial death, blood for blood, an innocent man for the guilt of mankind because that was the only way for the debt of man’s sin to be paid.

“‘This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead…'” Acts 2:23-24a (NIV).

Peter was there and he saw it all. Could there be any clearer statement than his? “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” 1 Peter 3:18 (NIV). After all, there was no contest. It was Pilate’s decision and he was responsible for it, as were those who yelled for Jesus’ death. But God had the last word and, through Jesus’ death, exposed and vanquished the devil once for all! 231

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE- SHOW US YOUR CREDENTIALS

Bible Study, , ,

CHAPTER TWENTY

SHOW US YOUR CREDENTIALS

“One day He was teaching the people in the Temple, proclaiming the Message. The high priests, religion scholars and leaders confronted Him and demanded, ‘Show us your credentials. Who authorised you to speak and act like this?’

“Jesus answered, ‘First let me ask you a question. About the baptism of John – who authorised it, heaven or humans?’

“They were on the spot, and knew it. They pulled back into a huddle and whispered, ‘If we say ‘heaven’, He’ll ask us why we didn’t believe Him; if we say ‘humans’, the people will tear us limb from limb, convinced as they are that John was God’s prophet.’ They agreed to concede that round to Jesus and said they didn’t know.

“Jesus said, ‘Then neither will I answer your question.’ Luke 20:1-8.

Jesus was smart. He knew that the religious leaders had no interest in the answer to their question other than to use it against Him. They were building their case against Him and the answer to this question was an important weapon in their arsenal.

Jesus was a rabbi with authority, which meant that He had the right to determine how He would interpret the Torah and how He would apply His interpretation in His own life and teaching. This was called His ‘yoke’ and was binding upon His disciples as well; they were obligated to wear His yoke and to ‘bind’ in on their followers, loosing them from the yoke of any other rabbi. Any deviation or addition meant that they were automatically disqualified from being His disciples.

Since Jesus had the supreme authorisation of His Father and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, (“When all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised too. And as He was praying, the heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, you are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’” Luke 3:21, 22. NIV), His yoke carried more authority than the yoke of any other rabbi.

The religious leaders were following the yoke of the chief rabbis of their day, which was in conflict with Jesus’ yoke. They strictly and rigidly stuck to the Law of God and the many additions made by their religious authorities through the years, which distorted the character of God until He was unrecognisable as the God of their fathers. The God who had revealed Himself to Moses as ‘gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness, forgiving sin…Exodus 34:6, was buried under a weight of do’s and don’ts which effectively made the people slaves of religion.

Jesus came to reveal the true nature of the Father and to set His people free from the terrible yoke of legalism. No wonder He earnestly extended His invitation to His harassed people, “‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.'” Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV).

Since Jesus came to reveal the heart of a loving and compassionate Father, it was inevitable that He would clash with the religious leaders. They held the power over the people and would not easily relinquish it to the likes of Jesus who continually .humiliated them by the way He applied His yoke of mercy and compassion to suffering people. Like all false religions, they ruled the people by the fear of punishment and hated the exposure of their own wicked hearts.

Jesus was always one step ahead. Instead of answering their question as they wanted Him to, which would have been, for them, an admission of blasphemy, He asked them a question, ‘Who gave John his authority?’ Their response would incriminate them, one way or the other. To admit that John was a prophet of God would expose their guilt because they refused to acknowledge or believe him, and he had come to introduce Jesus as Messiah! To deny his heavenly calling would be to admit their guilt and risk the loss of their power over the people.

The very fact that Jesus lived and acted in harmony with God’s revelation of Himself in the Torah was proof enough that His credentials were impeccable – He was the living embodiment of the Father and the religious leaders could not fault Him. In fact, they had no answer to His challenge, ‘Who of you convinces me of sin?’

They had trapped themselves and they had to concede defeat.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – SAME OLD STORY

Bible Study, ,

CHAPTER 23

SAME OLD STORY

“The next day, determined to get to the root of the trouble and to know for sure what was behind the Jewish accusation, the captain released Paul and ordered a meeting of the high priests and the High Council to see what they could make of it. Paul was led in and took his place before them.

“Paul surveyed the members of the council with a steady gaze, and then said his piece. ‘Friends, I have lived with a clear conscience before God all my life, up to this very moment.’ That set the chief priest Ananias off. He ordered the aides to slap Paul in the face. Paul shot back, ‘God will slap you down! What a fake you are! You sit there and judge me by the Law and then break the Law by ordering me slapped around!'” Acts 22:30-23:3 (The Message).

Paul was in the same position as his Master had been some three decades before, standing before the Jewish Sanhedrin to answer for his life. Unlike Jesus, he at least had the protection of the Roman government as a Roman citizen.

It was obvious that the men of the Sanhedrin were tarred with the same brush as the religious zealots they represented. He had hardly opened his mouth to speak before the high priest, as the highest religious authority in the country, began his physical abuse of Paul. It seems that he was exactly the same as his predecessor, Caiaphas, unreasonable and a bully. He was not prepared to give Paul a fair hearing to satisfy the captain. He was using his position to vent his own spleen on him.

The church had begun in Jerusalem and flourished for more than thirty years in spite of the Sanhedrin’s efforts to stamp it out. Caiaphas had led the charge against Jesus, fully believing that His death would put an end to the movement that was growing up around Him, but instead showing up the character of the men to whom the people looked for spiritual guidance.

Paul had been their most successful partner in this enterprise. He was a Pharisee like many of them, fanatically zealous for the Law they were supposedly upholding. Unfortunately for them, he had turned traitor and was just as zealously proclaiming the very One he had been opposing. It was a golden opportunity to get rid of him and Ananias lost no time in demonstrating his intention. Humiliate him first and then kill him!

Jesus had taught His disciples not to be doormats to anyone. It’s one thing to have an attitude of meekness, choosing to submit to authority even if you don’t like it, but it’s another thing to submit to bullying just because you are a Christian. ‘Turn the other cheek’, Jesus said. What does that mean?

We think it means, ‘Accept abuse because you are a believer,’ but in the culture of Jesus’ day, to be slapped on the right cheek was an insult because the hitter would have to use his left hand which was considered “unclean” because the left had was used for toilet purposes. To offer the other cheek meant that you were insisting that you were an equal and should be treated with dignity.

Was Paul being rude or disrespectful? I don’t think so. Jesus protested when He was slapped in the face during His trial. If the trial was intended to find out what lay behind Paul’s arrest, then the way to find out was to give him an opportunity to speak for himself, not to use him as an object of contempt to be abused at will.

What does this incident say to us? It clearly teaches us that everyone has the right to be treated with human dignity no matter who they are.  Colour, culture, social standing, financial position, language or even accent does not disqualify anyone from being treated fairly because everyone has been created in the image of God.

Trial By Fire

Bible Study, , , ,

TRIAL BY FIRE

“That night the Master appeared to Paul. ‘It’s going to be alright. Everything is going to turn out for the best. You’ve been a good witness for me here in Jerusalem. Now you’re going to be my witness in Rome.'” Acts 23:11 (The Message).

How desperately Paul needed reassurance at that moment! Things looked pretty bad for him. He was not involved in any criminal activity and at least the Pharisee part of the Sanhedrin had given their verdict — in their row with the Sadducees — not guilty, but not in an official trial. He could not be released and even if he were, he was still in danger of being torn apart by the angry mob if he so much as stuck his nose out of doors.

Paul must have felt very alone in his circumstances, between a rock and a hard place and not knowing what would happen to him next. Things seemed to have gone horribly wrong. There seemed no way out and he must have been wondering whether God’s plan for him had been derailed.

Just when he needed it, came the word from the Master Himself. ‘It’s okay, Paul, everything is still on track. I’ll get you to Rome, just as I said I would.’ It’s just like Jesus to affirm Paul even in these sticky circumstances. He spoke words of encouragement and approval like a good father and Paul must have breathed easy again, knowing that, crazy as things seemed to be, God was still there orchestrating the situation for His own purposes.

Paul was in custody in the barracks, and now the Roman captain was sitting with a problem on his hands — what to do with him. He had no authority to release him or to try him. It was the Jews’ fight. Somehow he had to get Paul a trial by the proper authorities.

“Next day the Jews worked up a plot against Paul. They took a solemn oath that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed him. Over forty of them ritually bound themselves to this murder and presented themselves to the high priests and religious leaders. ‘We’ve bound ourselves by an oath to eat nothing until we have killed Paul. But we need your help. Send a request from the council to the captain to bring Paul back so that you can investigate the charges in more detail. We’ll do the rest. Before he gets anywhere near you, we’ll have killed him. You won’t be involved.'” Acts 23:12-15 (The Message).

Now what! Paul’s Jewish antagonists had hatched a seemingly fool proof plot to kill him. No one knew about it, so they thought, and now they had Paul in the bag! This reminds me of the words of an old hymn:

“Though the cause of evil prosper,
Yet ’tis truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold,
And upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
And, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadows,
Keeping watch above His own
(“Once to every man and nation” – James Russell Lowell)

The reassurance Jesus had given Paul was enough for him to know that, no matter what the current circumstances, God would turn it to His own advantage.

Watch this space for the next episode!