Tag Archives: Son of Man

DON’T EAT FROM THE WRONG TREE – 3

Christian Life, ,

There is a third facet to this subject under discussion, an outcome far bigger than we can imagine.

Let’s go back before time. There are many references in Scripture to a class of angelic beings called “sons of God”, “princes”, “gods” and God’s “heavenly counsel”. These are created spiritual beings to whom God gave the responsibility of ruling the nations under His authority and oversight.

Deuteronomy 32:8 NLT
[8] “When the Most High assigned lands to the nations, when he divided up the human race, he established the boundaries of the peoples according to the number in his heavenly court.”

This amazing Scripture tells us that God divided the nations so that each one had a member of His “heavenly court” in charge. However, because these heavenly beings rebelled against His authority, He judged them and sentenced them to death.

Psalms 82:1-2, 6-7 NLT
[1] “God presides over heaven’s court; he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings: [2] “How long will you hand down unjust decisions by favoring the wicked?…”

Instead of ruling the nations justly, they sided with ungodly earthly rulers, oppressing the poor and ruling unjustly.

Psalms 82:3-5 NLT
[3] “Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. [4] Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people. [5] But these oppressors know nothing; they are so ignorant! They wander about in darkness, while the whole world is shaken to the core.”

So God sentenced them to death just like the humans who rebelled.

Psamn 82:6-7 NLT
[6]”I say, ‘You are gods; you are all children of the Most High. [7] But you will die like mere mortals and fall like every other ruler.’”

In the New Testament, these fallen rulers are called “principalities and powers” headed by a senior angel, Satan, “the god of this world”. They oppose God and control and influence the ungodly world systems characterised by greed and wickedness.

Since Satan operates on earth, he falsely claims ownership of the world. He applies this lie by deceiving people through his minions, the rebellious principalities and powers whom God originally appointed to govern the nations.

However,

Psalms 24:1 NLT
[1] “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.”

God appointed His humans to rule over the earth.

Psalms 115:16 NLT
[16] “The heavens belong to the Lord, but he has given the earth to all humanity.”

God created and appointed a new race of beings to replace the “gods” who were condemned to death. This race of humans lives on the earth. Satan deceived the first man, Adam, bringing the whole race under judgment and condemned to death… but God intervened.

God rescued mankind through the death of His Son and set some of them apart to be His new “heavenly council”, preparing them during their life on earth for their role as rulers with Jesus in His eternal kingdom.

Daniel saw this future event in a vision…

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 NLT
[9] “I watched as thrones were put in place and the Ancient One sat down to judge. His clothing was as white as snow, his hair like purest wool. He sat on a fiery throne with wheels of blazing fire, [10] and a river of fire was pouring out, flowing from his presence. Millions of angels ministered to him; many millions stood to attend him. Then the court began its session, and the books were opened….
[13] As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. [14] He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.”

This “Son of Man”, a Messianic title, refers to Jesus in His earthly ministry as God’s Messiah. God rewarded Him for His role on earth by giving Him the title and role of ruler over the nations.

Psalms 2:2, 4-6 NLT
[2] “The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the Lord and against his anointed one…
[4] But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. [5] Then in anger he rebukes them, terrifying them with his fierce fury. [6] For the Lord declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain.”

Then something amazing happens.

Daniel 7:15-18, 26-27 NLT
[15] I, Daniel, was troubled by all I had seen, and my visions terrified me. [16] So I approached one of those standing beside the throne and asked him what it all meant. He explained it to me like this: [17] “These four huge beasts represent four kingdoms that will arise from the earth. [18] But in the end, the holy people of the Most High will be given the kingdom, and they will rule forever and ever.”…

Daniel questions one of God’s close attendants regarding the power and fate of the fourth kingdom in his vision.

[26] “But then the court will pass judgment, and all his power will be taken away and completely destroyed. [27] Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will last forever, and all rulers will serve and obey him.”

God’s plan is to prepare His people, redeemed from sin and its consequences, to reign with Jesus when He returns to set up His eternal kingdom.

Revelation 1:5-6 NLT
[5]”Jesus Christ… He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world. All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us. [6] He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.”

Revelation 5:9-10 NLT
[9]”And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. [10] And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.”

2 Timothy 2:11-12 NLT
[11]”This is a trustworthy saying: If we die with him, we will also live with him. [12] If we endure hardship, we will reign with him….”

So, Paul reminds his Corinthian readers that they were serving an apprenticeship on earth. He rebuked them for taking one another to secular court to solve their squabbles.

1 Corinthians 6:1-3 NLT
[1]” When one of you has a dispute with another believer, how dare you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the matter instead of taking it to other believers! [2] Don’t you realize that some day we believers will judge the world? And since you are going to judge the world, can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves? [3] Don’t you realize that we will judge angels? So you should surely be able to resolve ordinary disputes in this life.”

The issue is…in this life, believers are to learn

  1. To rule over their old sinful nature by submitting to God’s rule over them through the Holy Spirit.

Romans 5:17 NLT
[17]” For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”

  1. To love one another because love is the law of the kingdom of God.

James 2:8 NLT
[8]” Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Romans 13:8, 10 NLT
[8]”Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law….
[10] Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.”

  1. To live in harmony with one another, settling issues within the church family.

Romans 12:16-18 NLT
[16]”Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! [17] Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. [18] Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.”

Believers can only learn to live according to God’s requirements when they live in the kingdom of the “tree of life”. We have died to self through our union with Jesus. Now we must learn to live by the power of His Spirit in us through the choices we make.

Galatians 5:16 NLT
[16] “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.”

Romans 8:12-14 NLT
[12] “Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. [13] For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. [14] For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”

In conclusion, let’s look at the bigger picture. God has replaced the spirit beings, called “the sons of God”, who were to rule over the nations but rebelled, with another race of human “sons”, made in His image, redeemed from sin, to rule over the nations forever with Jesus, on His return.

This “heavenly council” will replace the fallen spirit beings who have been sentenced to death along with fallen humans. They serve an apprenticeship during their earthly life by living under God’s authority in preparation for their role in eternity.

This is God’s plan which He is carrying out now but…it involves a partnership between believers and God. Unless we participate by obedience to His will, believers will be disqualified from participation in our kingdom role.

Galatians 5:17, 21 NLT
[17] “The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions…
[21]…envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”

So, the Bible urges us,” Choose life!” since this is the only way to live now and to secure our position and role with Jesus in His eternal kingdom.

Concluded

A TRUE SON

Bible Study, ,

A TRUE SON

“‘Who are you?’ they asked. ’Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,’ Jesus replied. ’I have much to say in judgment of you. But He who sent me is trustworthy, and what I heard from Him I tell the world.’ They did not understand that He was telling them about the Father. So, Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; He has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.'” John 8:25-29 (NIV).

Another outrageous claim if it were not true! “I always do what pleases Him.”

This was the hallmark of the Son of God. He always did what pleased the Father. Have you ever wondered what that was? What do you think it is that pleases the Father more than anything? We can speculate and find many answers to this question. He was generous and merciful just like the Father — that would be a good answer and it would be true. He glorified that Father in everything He did — that would also be true.

But what is it that surpasses everything else that pleases the Father? To find the answer we have to go back to the beginning. At the beginning of human history God gave Adam one instruction in the Garden of Eden, ‘Leave that one tree alone.’ If that one tree was going to be an issue between man and God, Satan made sure that man would focus on it until it became so important to him that it would become the reason for their disobedience.

The history of God’s ancient people was a history of disobedience, focusing especially on God’s instruction, ‘Do not worship idols.’ They worshipped the idols of the surrounding nations until they became vile, like the thing they loved (Hosea 9:10). Disobedience took them to Babylon and eventually to crucifying their Messiah.

God had a different verdict on David, their model king, the man who followed their first king, Saul, who was rejected because of his disobedience. “After removing Saul, He made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.'” Acts 13:22b (NIV).

Books have been written about David, the only man in the Bible of whom God said, ‘A man after my own heart’, giving many reasons for God’s approval, yet it is recorded plainly in the Word that God was pleased with him because ‘He will do everything I want him to do.’ David may have slipped up on more than one occasion but the drift of his life was that he ‘inquired of the Lord,’ and then followed through on God’s instruction.

Compare him with his predecessor, King Saul; Saul failed to carry out the two instructions we read about in Scripture. God could not trust him to be the leader of His people because of that. Saul had a dangerous self-consciousness that made him a people-pleaser and he disqualified himself from being the first of a dynasty of kings.

Jesus could claim, without a qualm, that He was the true Son of God. His obedience to the Father was absolute and unquestioning. Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He wrestled with the horror of the cross until the blood ran, He still submitted to the Father’s will and endured everything without resistance. “When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.” 1 Peter 2:23 (NIV).

Is it not true that God is more interested in our obedience than in our achievements? It is our obedience that makes our achievements of significance to God because obedience gets the job done. “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him…” Hebrews 5:8, 9, (NIV). Obedience is best learned by obeying!

Obedience presupposes that one knows what God’s requirements are and that presupposes that one spends time with the Father and in His Word. We have the pattern of the Son, perfect in every way… and we can’t say that of the Pharisees!

Don’t you also want to please the Father? Then find out what He wants of you and do it!

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 – DESTINATION JERUSALEM!

Bible Study, ,

DESTINATION JERUSALEM!

32 They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again, he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.” Mark 10:32-34

Once again, Jesus attempted to orientate His disciples to the idea that a cruel and violent death awaited Him in Jerusalem. He was still in Galilee but, although Mark does not mention it, the Passover was drawing near. It was time to head south for the most important annual festival of the year. The disciples had no problem with that. They joined Jesus in all His faithful observance of the Jewish festivals but what they could not grasp was that, this time, He was about to become the Passover Lamb.

No matter how many times He brought up the subject, it was as though they had selective hearing. Two things were fixed in their thinking; one, that Messiah was a king and that He would set up His kingdom in Israel; two, that He would drive out the Roman oppressors and re-establish the Davidic throne in Jerusalem. Dying did not fit into their scheme of things. It’s no wonder, then, that they imagined themselves to be cabinet ministers in this new Israeli government. The issue for them was, “Who would be Prime Minister?” In the very next paragraph, James and John try to secure the positions for themselves.

All of their reactions, their deafness to Jesus’ warnings about His coming death, their squabbles over positions, and their insensitivity to the spiritual nature of the kingdom, revealed that they were locked into a concept of the kingdom of God that ignored sin and the true nature of the two kingdoms at work in the world. They watched Jesus at work and admired His power over nature and over the demonic realm but they did not connect Him with a dimension of which they were to be a part, a kingdom which would transcend geographical boundaries and reconnect them with the Father who rules over all the kingdoms of men.

This kingdom is governed by a constitution based on the nature of God and expressed in obedience to only one law – the law of love. It is God-centred and self-forgetful and allows no place for any kind of imperfection. It is open to all who give Jesus the right to rule over their hearts.

It would take the memory of a limp and very-dead Jesus hanging on a Roman execution stake, the mind-blowing experience of a very-alive Jesus standing among them, eating fish and showing them His wounds, and the powerful intervention of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost to write the truth of all that the prophets had spoken on their hearts. Only the reality of God’s kingdom once again breaking into their world would finally to set them on the path to understanding its true power and glory and give them a place in it.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – A PROPHET IN THE SPIRIT OF ELIJAH

Bible Study, ,

A PROPHET IN THE SPIRIT OF ELIJAH

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.
11 And they asked him, “Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”
12 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? 13 But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.” Mark 9:9-13

It must have been a very difficult period in the disciples’ lives. They were in the thick of something that made no sense to them at all. Prophecies were being fulfilled under their noses after 400 years of God’s silence and apparent inactivity, and mind-blowing, supernatural events were happening right in front of them that left them speechless or, like Peter, blurting out silly things for the sake of something to say.

Jesus knew that they had no idea what was going on and He warned them to keep quiet until they understood the whole picture. One wonders whether they did any better than the ones who had been healed! Despite Jesus’ cautioning, the ones who were healed did not keep quiet and consequently people followed Him for the wrong reasons.

The question the disciples asked Jesus about Elijah was legitimate, especially after Elijah’s appearance with Him on the mountain. However, since they were told not to talk about it, how did this match with the idea perpetrated by the religious scholars that Elijah had to precede the Messiah? Who was this “Elijah” and had he already come since they were becoming convinced that Jesus was the Messiah they were expecting to come?

Jesus assured them that “Elijah” had already come and gone and that, true to form, he had received the same treatment He, Jesus was about to receive – rejection and execution for preaching the truth. Matthew (Matt 17:13) comments that the disciples understood that He was talking about John the Baptist. At least they got one thing right!

John the Baptist, so much like Elijah in his appearance and ministry! A wild, rugged,  to publicise what they had seen and heard before they understood what was going on, they would have misinterpreted their experience and communicated erroneous ideas to the people around them which they could not take back.

fearless man who took on the authorities and paid for it with his life. However, that was not his main ministry. Although he prophesied for only six short months, Jesus called him the greatest of all the Old Covenant prophets, For what reason? John was the bridge between the Old and the New, the herald of the arrival of the greatest king who was promised from the beginning.  Yes, indeed, Elijah had come and gone, his work complete. It was time to listen to the King.

Why would Jesus caution them to keep quiet until after the resurrection? If they had begun

This is a warning to us as well. Wait until the revelation is complete and understanding clear before we share it with anyone else or we will communicate error or half-truths which we cannot take back

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – NOT ROME BUT RELIGION

Bible Study, , ,

NOT ROME BUT RELIGION

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Mark 8:31-33

This incident shows us how influential Peter was in this group of disciples. He vocalised and the rest of the disciples tended to follow what he said. At this point in his life, where he was unstable in his thinking and still vulnerable to deception, he was a dangerous man in the group and needed to be tamed and brought to heel by Jesus before He could risk allowing him out into the world with his power to influence and persuade. He was a valuable ally but a dangerous enemy.

Jesus was never afraid to offend people as long as it exposed what was on the inside. Peter must have smarted under Jesus’ rebuke. We can imagine him withdrawing from the group, humiliated and angry. He knew Jesus was right but he resented the exposure in front of the other disciples.

It was necessary for Jesus to correct Peter’s wrong thinking and to douse his influence over the other disciples. He could see that they were wavering and He jumped in to put that fire out before it spread. He had introduced them to the necessity of His suffering and death and nothing must detract from the centrality of that because it was the heart of His victory, not over Rome but over sin and death. Rome still had a part to play in helping to form His church through suffering and, ultimately Rome was not the issue.

The greatest threat to Jesus’ mission was not Rome but religion. It was religion that would crucify Him and His victory over religion would be the final victory over the devil because the devil’s most deceptive disguise is religion. People will kill to protect their religious beliefs because religion influences every part of their lives. The Jewish leaders hated Him because He exposed the emptiness and hypocrisy of their religious system.

Religion is power because it holds people in slavery. Satan wields his power through religion and through religious leaders. It is his favourite disguise to keep people enslaved by fear.