Tag Archives: signs

HE KNOWS ALL PEOPLE

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HE KNOWS ALL PEOPLE

“Now while He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs He was performing and believed in His name. But Jesus would not entrust Himself to them, for He knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for He knew what was in each person.” John 2:23-25 (NIV).

One would think that Jesus would have been delighted with the success of His ministry. This was exactly what He wanted, wasn’t it?

But John makes a tongue-in-cheek comment about their response to Him. They trusted Him, but He didn’t trust them! Now there’s a problem! Jesus didn’t not respond to their faith as they expected. Is John saying that there was no work of God’s grace in them? That is drastic! Why not?

Firstly, they had not yet seen and heard enough of Jesus to make that commitment. Like the disciples, the Jews had an expectation of the Messiah that was not in keeping with His true identity and mission. They were expecting Him to get rid of their enemy, the Romans. He came to get rid of their real enemy, the devil, and to deal with sin and alienation from God, their Father and restore fellowship with Him.

Secondly, they were guilty of the most heinous of sins against God — self-seeking self-interest. Is that why John said that Jesus knew what was in man’s heart?

Of course, Jesus knew! From the beginning of human history, when Adam chose to listen to the devil and defy God, man’s nature has been polluted with selfishness. He lost his God-awareness and became self-aware. He became the centre of his world, and everyone and everything else was to serve him, so he thought. He does everything to suit his own ends — hence war, greed, crime, divorce, promiscuity and every other evil you can think of.

The book of Job addresses this absolutely fundamental issue with regard to our relationship with God. Satan challenged the motive for Job’s righteousness. He accused him of being in it for what he could get out of it. ‘Take it all away and he’ll curse you,’ he sneered. ‘Okay,’ said God, ‘you can strip him of everything, but don’t touch his body.’

Satan let rip and in one day Job was stripped of all his possessions and even his family, yet his response was, “I was born naked and I’ll die naked. God gave and God has taken away. I still praise you, God!”

God said to Satan, ‘See, I told you Job is a righteous man.’ But Satan was not satisfied. ‘Just touch his body and see what happens,’ he challenged. ‘Go ahead,’ said God, ‘but don’t take his life.’ This time the devil did the worst he could think of without killing him.

Job put himself on the ash heap where he thought he belonged because of his terrible disease and the stench and disfigurement he suffered, From being a man of standing and influence in his community he had become trash. Because he was not given access to the behind-the-scenes exchange between God and Satan, he had no idea why God was treating him like this.

His so-called friends had the logical answer, ‘You must have sinned.’ Job denied doing wrong and turned to God for answers. God remained silent until Job had exhausted all his arguments, accusations and the defence of his integrity. When he had nothing more to say, God spoke. And did He speak! He gave Job the tongue-lashing of his life for daring to question Him.

However, at the same time, God was pleased with Job. Why? Despite his suffering, he refused to give up on Him. ‘”Though he slay me, yet will I hope in Him.’” Job 13; 15 (NIV). That’s all He needed to hear to confirm that Job’s faith was not in what God could do for him but in God Himself even if the worst happened.

In an environment of “prosperity” teaching, the “name-it-and-claim-it” movement and, even worse, “if things go wrong, you have sinned” philosophy, how many true believers are there in the church, to whom Jesus has entrusted Himself in response to their truly trusting Him even if He slay them? What a terrible insult to God that so many of His people are in it for gain, not for worship.

Are you?

Acknowledgement

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.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – THE END OF THE BEGINNING

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THE END OF THE BEGINNING

9 When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. 11 When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.
12 Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. 13 These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.
14 Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. Mark 16:9-20

Although verses 9-16 are not in the original text, they are an accurate summary of the endings of the other gospels.

Why did the person who added the epilogue to Marks’ Gospel take pains to record the disciples’ persistent unbelief about the resurrection of Jesus? How could eleven bewildered and frightened men have stolen and hidden Jesus’ body and then spread the story that He was alive? The last thing in the world they wanted was to draw attention to themselves by setting up a hoax that would destroy any credibility they might have about the story of Jesus’ life and teachings.

The ending to this gospel is consistent with Mark’s unembellished record of Peter’s report of Jesus’ life. Miracles and all, it is a credible story, told by an eyewitness who was part of the story. It encapsulates the conclusion to this astonishing part of God’s redemptive plan, unveiling God’s personal entry into time and space to effect in the physical what had already been accomplished before the beginning of creation.

The ending of the book also puts the future in perspective. Jesus came to earth to begin something that has no ending. Every new life has the potential to add something to and continue the story into the next generation until Jesus comes. His instruction to the first group, minus Judas, was to tell the world what the Jews already knew – our God reigns! It’s much more than accepting Jesus as our personal Saviour so that we can have our sins forgiven and go to heaven when we die!!!

It’s about leaving our own agenda behind and identifying with God’s agenda because He has a BIG plan for the whole of creation. He’s taken care of all the obstacles that get in the way of reconnecting with Him. He came to show us how to carry out and carry on His BIG plan.

Like the pieces of a giant puzzle, everyone has a part in the big picture and it all fits together to make sense of history and to fulfil God’s destiny for each person and for everyone together. Jesus is the glue that holds it all together and makes it all come alive! His death was not an interruption in God’s plan. It is the heart and centre of His rescue plan to get human beings back on track with His purpose for the whole of creation.

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR A LIFE-CHANGING SERIES ENTITILED “ENGAGING THE POWERS OF THE KINGDOM”

A Divine Partnership

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A DIVINE PARTNERSHIP

‘And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.’

After the Lord had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and He sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed His word with the signs that accompanied it. (Mark 16: 17-20)

That was a lot to swallow for eleven men who had just emerged from the most traumatic time of their lives. No grief could have compared with the grief of losing their Master in such an unexpected and violent manner. Oh, He has warned them it was coming alright – more than once – but they had refused to take Him seriously. When it happened, they were devastated and traumatised into numbness and unbelief.

Then, on top of that, He rose from the dead, reversing their emotions and overwhelming them with joy with as much shock as the grief that had hit them like a freight train when He died. They could hardly keep up with the events of the forty days after He came back to them. Perhaps they thought that He would stay with them this time because death could no longer affect Him but no, He came and went with such unexpectedness that they were left bewildered and even more alone than before His death.

But there was a progression in His appearances and instructions. He was conditioning them for a major shift in both their understanding and experience. Just as He had promised, He would finally withdraw His physical presence from them forever but He would not leave them fatherless. Although there is no record of the Spirit’s coming in Mark, (he left that for Luke to tell in the sequel to his gospel), what followed Jesus’ ascension was eloquent testimony to something far more supernatural than just their proclamation about His death and resurrection.

How else can we explain the things that accompanied their preaching? Miracles just don’t happen unless God is actively confirming His promises to them and working with them in a divine/human partnership which has one goal in view, to authenticate their story with supernatural confirmation. But there had to be a bridge between the natural and the supernatural – faith!

Who were the “those who believe”? It could refer to one of two groups of people or to both; those who believe and are baptised whom Jesus said would be saved, or those who believe and do all the things He said they would do. The one would follow the other.

Saved? What does that mean? Saved from what? In our modern-day thinking and preaching, we imply that we are saved from hell. Is that what Jesus meant? Salvation is far more than a rescue plan from hell. Life, from the Biblical point of view, is a journey, like Israel’s migration from Egypt to the Promised Land. God has given directions for the way to keep us from getting lost in the wilderness – His Word. If we stay on the path by obeying His instructions, we will reach our destination which Jesus said is the Father.

Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way? Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ (John 14:5-6)

Salvation is, in its simplest definition returning to God’s way so that we can reach our destination. God has placed landmarks on our journey, opportunities to imitate our Master so that we can become like Him in being merciful and generous to those who cross our path. Salvation, then in the journey, the process by which, through the Holy Spirit we are being transformed into the likeness of Jesus.

This includes both the opportunities to bring healing to others and God’s protection from the deadly intentions of the devil. The Holy Spirit in us is Jesus’ personal presence, His “other self”, not to give us spiritual “goose bumps” but to get the job done. We will encounter obstacles on our journey – situations which could harm us and prevent us from continuing and reaching our goal. Our confidence in our divine “partner” will see us through and enable us to demonstrate the reality of God’s kingdom here and now, just as Jesus did during His time on earth as a both a Jewish rabbi and the Son of God.

If we really get it, this is not big deal. We are not here to show how gifted we are, or to elevated ourselves with titles instead of getting on with the job. Like Jesus, we are here to serve and to lay down our lives for the sake of others. Recognition and accolades are not the incentive or the purpose but getting the job done by showing how real God’s ways are by cooperating with the Holy Spirit in showing the world who God the Father really is.

That takes confidence in Jesus to make good on everything He promised.

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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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

 

 

 

Whose Fault Is it?

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WHOSE FAULT IS IT?

“Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in Him.

This was to fulfil the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

For this reason they could not believe because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn — and I would heal them.”

Isaiah said this because He saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about Him.” John 12:37-41 NIV.

This is John’s commentary on the ways of God.

Perhaps, after years of reflection on the life of the Master whom he had followed for three and a half years, heard, watched and puzzled over during the years of His public ministry, grieved over when He died and rejoiced over when He rose again, John began to understand the truths of the sacred Book he had come to love. The pieces of the puzzle were fitting together as he studied and meditated on the Scriptures and, with the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, understanding began to grow.

Why were the Jews so stubborn in their unbelief? The many miracles that Jesus had done, which John called “signs”, had failed to convince them that He was their Messiah. No matter what He said or did, they remained unmoved. Like their ancestors, they resisted God’s love, rebelled against His covenant and rejected Him as their God, preferring their own ways in spite of the disasters it had brought on them, to the ways of God which would have brought them peace.

John realized that the prophet Isaiah had spoken of this phenomenon which was evident in the history of his people from the time that they were delivered from slavery in Egypt right up to his day. It was not God who had forced them to choose the way of disobedience. It was their choice, time after time, which led them down the path of war, destruction and exile.

How significant that John identified the Lord, whom Isaiah had seen in a vision while he was in the temple grieving the death of the king Uzziah, as Jesus, the second person of the Trinity! Throughout the Old Testament, it was the pre-incarnate Jesus, sometimes identified as “the angel of the Lord” and sometimes as God Himself, who had direct dealings with His people. Even the patriarch Abraham had glimpsed the Messiah by faith and rejoiced; and Moses had met Him at the burning bush and was introduced to Him as the “I AM”.

“Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” “You are not fifty years old,” they said to Him, “and you have seen Abraham!” “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I AM!” John 8:57, 58 NIV.

The same Jesus whom their forebears had rejected then was the one they rejected now even though He had come in person to reveal the true nature of the Father. Like Pharaoh who had been given every opportunity to acknowledge the Hebrews’ God and submit to Him but persisted in disobeying until God hardened his heart, these people were in the same boat. Their hardness of heart was the consequence of their own choice. God was simply confirming in their hearts what they wanted.

This is a sobering fact. God gave and honours every person’s right to choose. Even if we choose to believe lies and follow the way of death, He will continue to confront us with the truth but He will not force us to choose against our will. We choose our own path and our own destiny even if it is to walk away from God and be separated from Him forever.

It  grieves His heart to see people going to their own doom because He has created us for better things but He will not violate the most priceless but risky gift He gave to mankind. It is up to us to heed His word, believe the truth and submit to His love — but if we don’t, He will confirm our choice so that it will be impossible in the end to change our minds.

And we will have no one to blame but ourselves.

Justice Or Mercy?

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JUSTICE OR MERCY? 

“Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one can perform the signs you are doing if God were not with Him.’ Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’

‘How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!'” John 3:1-4 (NIV).

Now here’s an honest Pharisee, if ever there was one! At least he admitted, on behalf of his fellow Pharisees, that Jesus had come from God. I wonder what the others would have said had they heard him. Would they have flatly denied ever saying that, or even thinking it? Or was Nicodemus using the royal “we”?

Nicodemus was honest enough to show Jesus that he had weighed up the evidence and come to the conclusion that Jesus was demonstrating something far beyond the capabilities of ordinary people. Unlike his colleagues, however, he didn’t attribute Jesus’ power to Beelzebub; He connected the dots and came up with the conclusion that Jesus and God were doing this together.

What was Nicodemus getting at? In a roundabout way he was asking, ‘Jesus, we are both teachers. What have you got that I haven’t got?’ Perhaps he didn’t get an opportunity to ask his question. Perhaps Jesus cut him short to stop him rambling and get him on the right track.

Jesus’ response was surprising — no explanation, just a bold statement. ‘You’ll never get it, Nicodemus, unless you are born again.’ What did He mean? What is this ‘born again’ idea that Christians bandy about so freely without understanding its meaning?

Throughout the Bible we read that there was special significance in being the firstborn in a family. Firstborn sons, first of all, belonged to God and had to be redeemed by the payment of a sum of money to the high priest. Firstborn animals were sacrificed. Firstborns carried the responsibility for the rest of the family. They received justice for any of their siblings’ wrongdoing while the sibling received mercy.

We see this illustrated in the story of Joseph. It was Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn who refused to kill Joseph but suggested they throw him in a pit… He planned to rescue him from the pit and return him to his father because he would have had to bear the punishment had they killed Joseph.

Firstborn sons also received a double portion of their father’s inheritance. This was to compensate for their responsibility, for example, of marrying a brother’s widow to produce offspring for his dead brother.

The Bible makes it clear that Adam was God’s firstborn and got justice for his sin. Since we are all “in Adam” we also should receive justice for all our sin. However, Jesus is described as “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Colossians 1:15 (NIV). Why is this so important? As God’s firstborn Son, Jesus received justice in order that we might receive mercy.

But I thought you said that in Adam we receive justice? True, but since we are “in Christ” we have received justice “in Him” because He died on our behalf. Now here’s the miracle. Jesus is also called “the last Adam” — second-born in God’s reckoning. Since we are “in Him” we received justice as firstborns but we also received mercy as second-borns! Isn’t that amazing? God is so precise and so just!

Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, ‘If you want to understand what is happening in the realm of the unseen — the kingdom of God — you need a spiritual rebirth from justice into mercy.’ No one can understand or receive God’s mercy until he is transferred from the realm of justice to the realm of mercy on which what God’s way of dealing with people is based. Because God’s justice has been satisfied once and for all through the cross, He deals with us all as second borns — mercy, mercy, mercy!

‘Nicodemus, do you understand that? If you want to experience God’s mercy, you need to be transferred from “in Adam” to “in Christ” and that takes a supernatural act of God. It will never make sense to you until that happens and it won’t happen until you believe that I am the Son of God and that my sacrifice paid your debt and offers you mercy.’

Wow! Isn’t that something! And it’s freely available for all!