Tag Archives: king

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE -KISS YOUR PLANS GOODBYE

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KISS YOUR PLANS GOODBYE

“Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? And if he decides he can’t, won’t he send an emissary and work out a truce? Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good bye, you can’t be my disciple.” Luke 14:31-33.

That’s how radical the loyalty is that Jesus demands of His disciples. There is no other spiritual leader on earth that requires a commitment as close as that. Why is discipleship of Jesus so all-or-nothing? Why can’t it be simple adherence to a belief system like Buddhism, or sticking to rules and rituals like Islam?

It’s the difference between following a religion and being personally united to a person. Jesus does not call people to believe what He taught (and He did that), as much as He invites us to believe who He is. That makes all the difference in the world. If He is not who He is, then everything He taught is empty, hollow and meaningless babble.

Counting the cost of radical discipleship is a necessary prerequisite. The image of warfare is appropriate because Jesus came to earth to take back what rightfully belongs to Him – the right to rule over His own creation. Satan is the usurper who won the allegiance of God’s son, Adam, and the entire human race by deception. Jesus unmasked and evicted the squatter and his hoards of demons by defeating them through the cross. His call to discipleship is a call to all-out war. There is no place for slackers or deserters because anything less than a total sell-out to Him would mean disaster.

This sounds like a no-win situation for those who take Jesus seriously, but the opposite is true. It’s our plans and our self-will that ruin our lives and take us off course and away from what God intended for us in the beginning. When we heed His call to become fused to Him, submitting ourselves to His plans and His will and obeying His words, we enter a realm of living that is secure and restful and has a guaranteed destination because we are on the way to eternal life in the presence of the Father.

What does that mean? It means that we no longer have to take responsibility for ourselves. He has set the course and He promises all the resources we need to follow Him and to get where He is taking us. The most comforting of all is that He accompanies us, or rather, leads us every step of the way. It is not for nothing that He is called Immanuel – God with us. He promised, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you,’ Hebrews 13:5 (NIV), and ‘And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age,’ Matthew 28:20b (NIV).

What more can we desire? Yes, kiss goodbye to our plans, but it is no loss because our plans are selfish, open-ended and are not guaranteed to succeed. God’s plans are perfect, sure, energised by His power and part of a much bigger picture which He put in place before the foundation of the world. ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV).

When we entrust ourselves and our lives into the hands of Jesus, we place ourselves and our destiny into the safest hands in the universe. Not only are His plans good and sure but they are directed by one who loves us perfectly, passionately, and unconditionally and we can relax and follow Him with perfect confidence.  It takes all the sweat and uncertainty out of living since we have now given Him the driver’s seat of our lives and we can enjoy the ride!

A Mystery Man

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A MYSTERY MAN

This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name “Melchizedek” means ‘king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever (Heb. 7: 1-3).

Up to this point, the writer has mentioned Melchizedek several times but given no information about this man. This “mystery man” was to play a brief but important role in Abraham’s life, and would be a part of the prophetic fingerprint of the Messiah.

Melchizedek was a king-priest in the city of Salem, i.e. Jerusalem, an unusual office because, according to God’s instructions, no king was permitted to carry out the office or functions of a priest. On the few occasions in the history of God’s people, kings were judged for burning incense e.g. King Uzziah.

But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in. They confronted the king and said, ‘It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense . . . (2 Chron. 26: 16-18a).

Why, then did God specifically designate Melchizedek to be the head of a unique order of king-priests especially since there is no biblical evidence that anyone else served as a king-priest in the order of Melchizedek except Jesus? Melchizedek was a type of Jesus for several reasons:

1. His name means “king of righteousness”. His name was a prophetic utterance of character – he was a righteous king, i.e. he walked in the ways of Yahweh, doing the right thing in his rule over his people. Jesus was a righteous man – without sin – and a righteous king.

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. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this (Isa. 9: 7).

2. He was “king of Salem” i.e. king of peace. His reign also apparently was a reign of peace.

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 . . . Prince of Peace (Isa. 9: 6).

3. There is no record of his parents or his genealogy. This does not mean that he was not human or that he had a supernatural birth. The writer used this lack of information as a type of Jesus whose human birth and genealogy although significant because He has to be a true representative of the people, did not mean that He only came into being at His human conception. He is both God and man, two natures in one person to represent God to man and man to God.

4. Melchizedek’s pedigree did not include a record of his birth or his death. Again he was a type of Jesus who existed with the Father before He came to earth and who returned to the Father after His resurrection. He lives forever as a high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

5. Unlike the Levitical priests who could not be kings, and the Davidic kings who could not be priests, Jesus is both king and priest. As our king He rules over His people with justice and righteousness, and a priest, He represents His people to God, presenting His own blood as an atoning sacrifice for sin to God.

Jesus is eminently qualified to be our high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

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.

 

They Made Their Choice!

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THEY MADE THEIR CHOICE!

“When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. ‘Here is your king,’ Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, ‘Take Him away! Take Him away! Crucify Him!’ ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ Pilate asked. ‘We have no king but Caesar,’ the chief priests answered.

“Finally Pilate handed Him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.” John 19:13-16 NIV.

Was Pilate playacting or was he stalling for time?

He knew he was beaten but he still acted as though he were in charge. Perhaps he made a show of taking the judge’s seat, ready to give them his verdict and pass sentence on the prisoner. Instead of announcing, ‘I find the accused, Jesus of Nazareth, guilty of treason. I sentence Him to death by crucifixion,’ …or…’I find the accused, Jesus of Nazareth, not guilty of the crime of treason against Caesar. The prisoner is free to leave,’ he made a statement, weak but intended to be dramatic! ‘Here is your king!’

What was that supposed to achieve? Did he really think that this militant mob would be moved with pity when they saw the swollen face and bloodied body of their enemy being paraded before them? It was the sight of Jesus, weak and stumbling, with flesh hanging in shreds from His mangled body, that spurred them on to begin to chant, ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him!’ rising to a deafening crescendo until Pilate silenced them with an upraised hand.

‘Do you really want me to crucify your king?’ he asked. So significant was this question that it could have come from the mouth of the Lord God Himself. Just as Pilate stood before the representatives of God’s people and gave them the choice; ‘Who do you want to rule over you; to set the standards by which you are governed; to decide what is right and wrong; to decide the course of your lives and your destiny as a nation; and to exercise justice over you,’ so God was asking them, ‘Who will be your chosen king, Caesar or God?’

They made their choice. In the heat and fury of their demented minds, the chief priests yelled, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ What a choice! This was their final decision against the God who had loved them, wooed them and stood by them through centuries of rebellion, spiritual adultery and unbridled wickedness. Again and again He had forgiven and restored them. His love would not let them go.

He sent His Messiah, He beloved and only-begotten Son to rescue them from the consequences of their terrible choices and now they had thrown Him away like filthy garbage and chosen Caesar as their king. Who was this Caesar they were so enamoured with?

“Tiberius Julius Caesar ruled from 14 AD to 37 AD. He was one of Rome’s greatest generals but he came to be remembered as a dark, reclusive and sombre ruler.” (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/tiberius)

“It is not known whether Tiberius had heard of Jesus, or knew about the crucifixion of Jesus. Word about Jesus and his miracles spread quickly throughout the Roman Empire, even to the Imperial Palace o Palatine Hill but Tiberius had retired to his palace on the Island of Capri in 26 AD, while all sorts of corruption was happening in Rome…There were many rumours about Tiberius on Capri involving homosexuality, and sexual perversity with young boys, which included all sorts of inhumane cruelty.”

(www.bible-history.com/sketches/ancient/tiberius-caesar.html)

God took them at their word, “His blood be upon us and upon our children” and in AD 70 the Roman army under General Titus, destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, slaughtered the people and Israel ceased to exist as a nation until 1948.

And God has not finished with the Jews yet!

What Is Truth?

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WHAT IS TRUTH? 

“‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’

“‘What is truth?’ retorted Pilate.” John 18: 37-38a NIV.

Two kingdoms in collision!

In His precarious position as a prisoner on the brink of being condemned to die, Jesus remained resolutely committed to His commission from the Father. He came to represent the Father to a people who had long ago rejected the truth and created a religious system which suited them better than trusting in a good God they could not see.

They had abandoned their idolatrous worship and resorted to an elaborate self-help religion that consisted of rules upon rules to protect the Law of God so that they could be sure that God would be satisfied with their efforts.

Jesus came to show them that God is not like that at all. He lived out the real meaning of God’s Torah – teaching — by loving and caring for all people, by treating their failures with mercy and their sins with forgiveness because God had provided a lamb as a sacrifice for their sin. He placed on them an easy yoke of simple trust in a loving Father and obedience to His requirement to love Him fully and to love their fellow men.

He had one prescription for carrying out His command — “Follow me.” He was the living and visible demonstration of the truth. God had entrusted the administration of this unseen kingdom to Him as His king but the nations and even His own people had rebelled against Him and set up their own ungodly systems which reflected the imagination of their own hearts.

“Why do the nations conspire and the people plot in vain?…The One enthroned in heaven laughs. He rebukes them in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath, saying, ‘I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.’ I will proclaim the Lord’s decree. He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have become your father. Ask me and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession.'” Psalm 2:1; 4-8 NIV.

This is something that Pilate would have not understood. He represented the most powerful human system of his day, and the men who perpetuated that system by their arrogant, ruthless and despotic rule. People were there to serve them. They were at the pinnacle of authority — God’s delegated authority, mind you (…”The authorities that exist have been established by God…” Romans 13:1b NIV) and they wielded it with the foolish notion that it was their authority and they could do what they liked with it. They even claimed to be the source of their authority, demanding that their subjects worship them as God! It was treasonable to refuse to honour Caesar as Lord.

Into this scenario came Jesus to tell the world the truth. What is the truth? He, not Caesar, is Lord. Pilate asked the question, ‘What is truth?’ not with a humble desire to know but with a cynical sneer. The Jews whom he governed with an iron fist, had certainly not shown him the truth and neither had his own idolatrous religion with its debauched and depraved gods created by man in the image of man.

What a relief it is to know that Jesus is Lord! What if Caesar or some modern equivalent were Lord? Hitler! Osama ben Laden! Stalin! Gaddafi! Saddam Hussein! Or even one of our present presidents or kings! Unthinkable!

No! They mocked Him, dressed Him in a second-hand royal robe, crowned Him with thorns, spat on Him, ripped out His beard and enthroned Him to a cross but He was still the king of the Jews. He beat them all and still reigns today.

“Then the end will come when He hands over the kingdom to God His Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” 1 Corinthians 15:24-26 NIV.

They Got It Wrong!

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THEY GOT IT WRONG! 

“Jesus said, ‘Have the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, He said to His disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.”  John 6:10-13 (NIV).

What a phenomenal miracle! It was one thing to heal individuals of their various ailments and quite another to feed a crowd of people from a lunch basket only big enough for one person.

The implications were huge and the people were quick to see the possibilities. This crowd was probably more than twice the number of men, ten thousand plus people if one counted the women and children. Imagine having a king who could supernaturally take care of all their needs including their need for food when it was scarce! No one would ever be in want again.

He was the sort of king they needed, one powerful enough to sort out the Romans once and for all; and take care of all their physical and material needs if they could persuade Him to co-operate. Life could be really cushy for them — no more worries and minimal work to keep things ticking over.

“After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.’

“Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make Him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by Himself.” John 6:14-15 (NIV).

Did these people think back to the prophecy of Moses, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to Him.” Deuteronomy 18:15 (NIV)? Didn’t Jesus perfectly fit the bill? He was a Jew and He was doing miracles just like Moses did. Didn’t Moses deliver them from their oppressors? Didn’t he provide them with manna in the wilderness for forty years? Jesus must surely be the Prophet.

Perhaps Jesus heard the murmuring in the crowd. Perhaps He noticed the furtive glances and discerned their intention. Perhaps He had a warning in His spirit from the Holy Spirit. Before they could grab Him, He slipped away after instructing His disciples to disperse the crowd while He withdrew to pray alone on the mountain.

Why did Jesus not welcome the people’s acceptance of Him as their king, which is, after all, why He came. He kept teaching them about the kingdom of God that was among them but it was not the sort of kingdom they envisaged. They were focusing on the political and the material, anticipating a life of ease and plenty while He was pointing to a way of life that mirrored the nature of God and issued from within, from hearts that were transformed by the power of God from greed and selfishness to loving and generous self-sacrifice.

There has been a subtle shift in recent times towards the same motivation that drove these people to want to make Jesus king. God has become the celestial Source of everything that contributes to cushy and comfortable living. Both the faith and prosperity teaching that has flooded the church have steered people away from God’s intention to recreate us into the image of His Son.

Check out these words: “His divine power had given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world caused by evil desires.” 2 Peter 1:3, 4 (NIV).

He did not give us His promises so that we can prop up our lives with luxury and wealth. He gave us His promises so that we can become like His Son, lovingly submissive and obedient sons and daughters of God, living our lives to please the Father and to make other people’s lives better at our expense,

God has promised to take care of our needs as we take care of the needs of others.