Tag Archives: Moses

LUKE’S GOSPEL…THE REAL JESUS – 22

Bible Study, ,

“About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem…While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭9‬:‭28‬-‭31‬, ‭34‬-‭36‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I wonder what impact this unveiling of the real Jesus had on Peter, James, and John. What were the flashbacks that surfaced in their memories in their quiet moments? Flashbacks happen to people who have had sudden, dramatic experiences that stain their memories and intrude uninvited…often really bad things that cause serious emotional distress. 

Unlike traumatic experiences that are unforgettably painful, Jesus’ transfiguration must have been both exciting and puzzling.  What was the three men’s initial reaction. Fear! They were so scared that they couldn’t look at Him! What! Not overwhelmed with His majesty, beauty, grandeur? Not thrilled with His power and authority? Just plain terrified!

Matthew reports that the voice of the Father frightened them. 

“While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭17‬:‭5‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Mark reported that the vision of Jesus terrified them…Peter blurted out the first thing that came into his head…good old Peter! 

“Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭9‬:‭5‬-‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It seems that the whole episode was so terrifying that the disciples were completely unnerved. Get this! This was no “near death experience,” where they were in the heavenly realm where there were new experience and understanding of heavenly realities. 

This was heaven breaking into earth…

To be continued…

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – GOD OF THE LIVING

Bible Study, ,

GOD OF THE LIVING

“‘Even Moses exclaimed about resurrection at the burning bush, saying, ‘God: God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob!’ God isn’t the God of dead men but of the living. To Him all are alive.’

“Some of the religion scholars said, ‘Teacher, that’s a great answer!’ For a while, anyway, no one dared put questions to Him.” Luke 20:37-40.

Hidden truths! Did anyone notice that the truth about resurrection is hidden in that short and seemingly insignificant statement – “God of Abraham”?

Every Jewish boy would have known that because his text book from birth was the Torah, the five books of Moses. He would have heard the Shema – “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one,” (Deuteronomy 6:4) – every time he suckled at his mother’s breast. By the age of six he would have memorised the book of Leviticus and by twelve, the whole Torah. In the Torah are the seeds of every major doctrine in the Bible, including the truth about the resurrection.

God created time and lives in a realm which is not subject to time. Unlike Him, human beings are not eternal. Our existence begins at a point in time but, from that point, we never cease to exist.

Because of Adam’s choice, we are subject to death, but death is not the end. It is the transition from time to eternity, from the realm of the physical to the realm of God where we shed all the imperfections of our fallen humanity and stand before God in the perfection of Jesus which He gave to us because of His death on the cross.

Because Jesus came from that realm, He could speak of as fact, that which we receive by faith, that God is the God of the living because Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are still alive in His presence.

Had the Sadducees paid a little more attention to the Torah, they would not have made fools of themselves by posing a question to Jesus that revealed their ignorance.

In His reply, Jesus shows us how we can find the answer to many of the questions that puzzle us about our faith. There is a principle of Biblical interpretation that will help us, called the Law of First Mention. The first time something is mentioned in the Bible is the key to understanding what it means in the rest of the Bible.

There is an example of this principle that will help us to understand God’s original intent about prayer. The first mention of prayer is found in Genesis 4:26: “At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord.” In the original Paleo (picture) Hebrew, the word for “call” meant “to turn the head to face the One who can bear the burden.”

That’s it! We have made prayer into something quite complicated whereas the Bible presents prayer as the simple act of changing our awareness! When Adam and Eve chose to ignore God’s command, they lost their God-awareness and became self-aware, (“’…I was afraid because I was naked, and so I hid.’ And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked?'” – Genesis 3:10b-11a), a preoccupation that has never changed

To change our awareness means to recognise and acknowledge God in the centre of whatever our concern is. We don’t have to bring God into our situations – He’s already there! When we change our awareness, we move from worry and panic to peace because He is there, He is good and He is in charge.

Jesus was saying, in essence, ‘Go back to the beginning where God has revealed His original intent. That’s where you’ll find His answers to your questions.’

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – LISTEN TO HIM

Bible Study, ,

LISTEN TO HIM

“Meanwhile, Peter and those with him were slumped over in sleep. When they came to, rubbing their eyes, they saw Jesus in His glory and the two men standing with Him. When Moses and Elijah had left, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, this is a great moment! Let’s build three memorials: one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ He blurted this out without thinking.” Luke 9:32-33.

Once again Peter, the blunderer, exposed the natural human reaction to a great moment of revelation in his life.

This experience was for them; it was to be a defining moment, convincing them once and for all that Jesus was the Messiah and binding them to Him in loyal love for the rest of their lives. What did Peter do? He wanted to set up a shrine to Jesus, Moses and Elijah!

He got it wrong on at least two counts. Firstly, Moses and Elijah were not on a par with Jesus. They were mere men; Jesus was the Son of God. Secondly, this was not about another religious experience to set up another memorial stone, as the children of Israel had done throughout their history. They never learned from their experiences but they kept making religious events out of them.

For the three disciples, this was another landmark on their journey towards getting to know Jesus as their rabbi, but much more than their rabbi. He was their Lord, the Son of God and Messiah. How else would they be convinced that He was who He said He was? Jesus was not interested in setting up another religious “festival” to add to the Christian “calendar”. Of what use would that be if this experience did not influence and change their lives?

Of what value is all the carry-on about Christmas, Easter and all the other highlights on the “Christian calendar” if it does not contribute to transformation into true disciples and sons and daughters of God? Over many weeks we have been meditating on who Jesus is and what He expects of us. We have learned that it was never His idea to set up another useless religion.

It grieves me to see what is done in His name when He NEVER told us to do it. Jesus does not want shrines and memorials, and church buildings, and fancy clothes, and chanting and rituals, all done “in His name” which are all out of character with who He is and what He wants.

He said, “Follow me!” What is He doing and where is He going? He still wants to reach out to the world, to heal the broken hearted and to restore everything that was broken through Adam. His message to the world is still “Follow me,” because He wants to take us to the Father.

“While he was babbling on like this, a light-radiant cloud enveloped them. As they found themselves buried in the cloud, they became deeply aware of God. Then there was a voice out of the cloud: ‘This is my Son, the Chosen! Listen to Him.’

“When the voice died away, they saw Jesus alone. They were speechless. And they continued speechless, said not one thing to anyone during those days, of what they had seen.”  Luke 9:34-36.

It was the Father who put Peter in his place and corrected his cock-eyed thinking. No long explanations — just a terse instruction: “This is my Son; listen to Him.” Forget Moses and Elijah; they have served their purpose. It’s all about Jesus. It was then and still is now.

What if you and I made it our life’s purpose to follow Jesus – in our homes, in our work places, in our communities — being merciful, caring and generous instead of worshipping at our little shrines of experience and carrying on in our old selfish ways as though nothing had happened?

When you have “seen” Jesus, don’t set up a memorial. “Listen to Him.” That’s what it’s about.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – COME FOLLOW ME

Bible Study, ,

COME FOLLOW ME

“They said, ‘Nobody wrote warning us about you. And no one has shown up saying anything bad about you. But we would like very much to hear more. The only thing we know about this Christian sect is that nobody seems to have anything good to say about it.’

“They agreed on a time. When the day arrived, they came back to his home with a number of their friends. Paul talked to them all day, from morning to evening, explaining everything involved in the kingdom of God, and trying to persuade them all about Jesus by pointing out what Moses and the prophets had said about Him.” Acts 28:21-23 (The Message).

As always, Paul gave the first opportunity to his own people to hear the gospel. Putting aside all his previous experiences with the Jews, he summoned the leaders to listen to his story in the hopes that some of them would believe and take the message back to their own community while Paul was restricted to his quarters under house arrest.

Paul’s meeting with the Jews in Rome started off in friendly fashion. At least, as far as they were concerned, he could begin with a clean slate. His reputation had not yet preceded him. He could tell his story to an unbiased audience and allow them to make their choices without prejudice, so he thought.

For a whole day Paul opened up their Scriptures to them, shining light on and bringing new meaning to the old familiar words. What a Bible study it must have been! His letter to the Roman church had already been written, and his readers familiar with the grand truths that he had unlocked for them from the pages of Holy Writ. No doubt drawing from the understanding he had received under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, like his Master, he spoke of the glories of the kingdom of God to men who should have had an appreciation of the Scriptures.

“Some of them were persuaded by what he said, but others refused to believe a word of it. When the unbelievers got cantankerous and started bickering with one another, Paul interrupted: ‘I have just one more thing to say to you. The Holy Spirit sure knew what He was talking about when He addressed our ancestors through Isaiah the prophet:'” Acts 28:24-25 (The Message).

The same thing all over again! Paul should have been used to it by now. This is the nature of the gospel of Jesus. He warned that it would be so: ‘I did not come to bring peace but a sword.’ His truth and His claims inevitably draw a sharp line down the middle. Such is the truth about Him that no one can remain neutral or indifferent to Him.

There is an innate enmity against God in the heart of every human being until their deep need for Him rises to the surface with a longing to know Him that outweighs their antagonism towards Him. Some will follow their hearts while others will retain that inward hostility that will rob them of the mercy that constantly reaches out to them. They will put anything in its place rather than submit to the love that calls them to Himself. The fight is so strong that they will destroy the messenger rather than respond to his message.

There is little else in the world that provokes such a violent response as the claims of Jesus. Religion and politics are the main causes of the great divide. But Jesus’ call is not to a cause like religion or politics: it is to Himself. ‘Come, follow me,’ He invites us, and that implies only one thing. You cannot follow a dead man, therefore He must be alive.

Unlike the founders of every counterfeit religion who can only leave behind a record of what they said or did, Jesus is alive! Like all others, He died, but unlike any other, He rose again to authenticate every claim He made about Himself. He is the only one who can speak, now, into your heart, saying, ‘Come, follow me.’

THE BOOK OF ACTS – DADDY DIDN’T TELL ME TO DO THAT

Bible Study, ,

DADDY DIDN’T TELL ME TO DO THAT

“They had a story to tell too. ’And just look at what’s been happening here — thousands upon thousands of God-fearing Jews have become believers in Jesus! But there’s also a problem because they are more zealous than ever in observing the laws of Moses. They’ve been told that you advise believing Jews who live surrounded by Gentiles to go light on Moses, telling them that they don’t need to circumcise their children or keep up the old traditions. This isn’t sitting well with them.” Acts 21:20-21 (The Message).

Tradition versus truth; culture versus Christ! This issue is as old as the church itself and older. It was the struggle Jesus had with His religious opponents then, and it continues to this day.

The Judaisers were a sect of Christianity which insisted on obedience to the Mosaic Law as a condition for salvation. They not only adhered to it themselves but they also imposed it on Gentile believers. The sign of their compliance was circumcision. Gentiles had to submit to circumcision first before they could be a part of the church.

Paul quickly recognised the danger in this practice. He wrote a heated letter to the church in Galatia which was being harassed by these false teachers, exposing the error and implications of this teaching. To add anything to the work of Jesus on the cross was to nullify the grace of God and plunge people back into slavery to the law which was unable to deliver them from the power of their sinful natures.

Tradition can be a powerful weapon in the devil’s arsenal if it is believed above the Word of God. Take, for example, the so-called “Christian” festivals of Christmas and Easter. The very names of these seasons have deep roots in paganism and the occult. If anyone mentions this truth, the heckles of many Christians rise, and they fiercely defend what they are doing because they believe they are celebrating the birth and death of Jesus.

But the church is doing exactly what God hated and opposed in His own people. In both kingdoms, Judah and Israel, the people worshipped God, so they thought, by doing it their way, mixing their pagan practices with the God who had revealed Himself to them. What was the fruit of this mixture? Social injustice, oppression of the poor and wicked living. They even went as far as burning their children to the god, Molech in the name of worship.

We only have to look at the fruit of these “Christian celebrations” to identify their root — wasteful use of God’s resources, drunkenness, gluttony, debt, carnage on the roads, loneliness, suicide, greed, discontent and so much more. The fruit always exposes the root.

If we have embraced Jesus and bowed to Him as Lord, we don’t need a day or a season to remember either His birth or His death. Who He is and what He did is woven into the very fabric of our lives. He told us how and when to remember His death — through baptism and the Lord’s Supper. “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” 1 Corinthians 11:26 (NIV).

Jesus told the Pharisees, ‘You nullify the word of God by your tradition.’ It is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that gives us access to the Father and to the grace that accepts us because of Him. Any effort on our part to win the favour of God by obeying laws or trying to impress Him by our “goodness”, cancels His grace, puts us back into slavery, and separates us from Him again.

Slavish adherence to traditions like Christmas and Easter are only the tip of the iceberg. How many other traditions have crept into the church from the world that have nothing to do with what Jesus came to do and to tell. How much religion is there in our belief systems that occupy us and distract us from the true worship of God?

James puts it in a nutshell: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27 (NIV).

We must never fall for any lie that overrides God’s Word and sets human wisdom or tradition above what He has said. His Word is our standard. Let’s follow our Master who told the devil, ‘Daddy didn’t tell me to do that!’