Tag Archives: the Son of Man

MARK’S GOSPEL…THE RAPTURE – 32

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Mark 13: 23-31 NIV

“So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time. “But in those days, following that distress, “ ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭13‬:‭23‬-‭31‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The rapture…another “hot potato”!

It’s funny, strange…how a few Biblical scholars present an interpretation of Scripture, often out of a modern worldview, and everyone, that is, many if not most of the Christian world, run with it as though it is the absolute truth. I think that this is what has happened with our understanding of the “rapture”. 

Three major interpretations occupy the attention of many believers…pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, or post-tribulation…all focusing on the time of Jesus’ return rather than what the rapture might be. 

That Jesus is coming back is not the issue but when He is coming depends on what we make of a combination of pieces of information. So, let’s examine what He had to say about the “rapture”.

First, there will be signs such as an increase of deception and wickedness, an escalation of natural disasters, and polarisation between believers and unbelievers with persecution gathering momentum. There will also be unnatural signs in the cosmos, all pointing to the nearness of Jesus’ return, like the signs of coming summer in the  new growth of the fig tree. 

Was Jesus referring to something specific happening in Israel, since He had shortly before spoken of Israel as the “fig tree” that had been cursed? Is “new growth”, that is, new spiritual life that is blossoming in God’s people, one of the signs that Jesus’ appearing is imminent? The Apostle Paul echoed this idea in his letter to the Romans. 

Second, there is no evidence in Scripture that there will be two “comings”, a secret rapture when believers disappear off the earth, then an interval before Jesus returns to set up His kingdom. This idea comes from the notion of a separation of time between Daniel’s thirty-nineth and fortieth “week”. 

The New Testament, in every reference to Jesus’ return, speaks of only one event…and it will not be secret or quiet! Paul wrote…

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭4‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”

‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

‭‭2 Thessalonians‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Second, when heaven invades earth, time will cease, and the coming of Jesus will herald the eternal “now”when everything will merge into one instantaneous event. For us now, this is mysterious because we are bound by time and the sequence of events. 

Now let’s look at the idea of being “caught up”. The Greek words convey the idea of being snatched or seized, at the same time, into a close association with Jesus, and into cloudiness. When we connect this idea with the Jewish marriage protocol, after the ceremony, the bridegroom snatches up his bride and “raptures” her into the bridal chamber to consummate their marriage.  

It’s this symbolism of the rapture that should dominate our thinking rather than timelines and  mechanisms. When Jesus returns, He will complete the union He began on earth when He chose His bride. He betrothed her to Himself, both to separate her from all other men and for her to prepare herself for their wedding day. 

“Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people).”

Revelation 19: 6-8 NIV

On more than one occasion, Jesus used the language of a Jewish wedding to refer to the preparation for the wedding, for example…

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The groom had no idea when that would be. His father alone would know when to send him to claim his bride once he was satisfied with the groom’s preparation of the bridal chamber. 

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭13‬:‭32‬ ‭NIV‬‬

So, how important it is that we understand the rapture in the context of a wedding rather than in our own non-Jewish imposition!

Jesus did not tell His disciples what would happen when He returns. We assume, from the combination of relevant Scriptures, that He will purify the earth of all evil and establish His eternal reign on earth together with His people. Revelation 21 describes the moment when heaven joins earth and God fulfills His dream  of dwelling forever with His people. 

“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

‭‭Revelation‬ 21:1-4 NIV

So, our concern should not be with events and timelines. Rather, we are to be ready by using the betrothal period to prepare for His coming by faithfully and lovingly serving His people, adorning our robe of righteousness with the jewels of good deeds. 

JESUS SAID – 9

Bible Study, ,

Luke 9:57-58 NIV
[57] “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
[58] Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

If we know anything about Jesus, this is a cryptic statement of fact, not a plea of poverty as some interpret it. Taken literally, Jesus sounds as though He is looking for sympathy. “Poor me! I’m so poor that I don’t even have my own bed!”
Is this really Jesus talking? Did He ever look for sympathy? Consider these words on His way to the cross …

Luke 23:27-31 NIV
[27] “A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. [28] Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. [29] For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ [30] Then “ ‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” ’ [31] For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

If Jesus was not crying poverty when some man wanted to become part of His disciple group, what was He saying?

Let’s look at the bigger picture. Jesus came to earth to represent the Father. As His son, it was Jesus’ role to carry out His Father’s business, to establish His kingdom on earth, to do His will as it is done in heaven.

Through His death and resurrection, Jesus would build His church to carry on the Father’s kingdom work when He returned to the Father. How would He do that? By joining people to Himself and to one another, He would build His church, His body, to continue His work by representing His kingdom on earth.

Jesus is head of His body, the church, but the church only came into being at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to fill the believers with His presence and power.

When Jesus spoke to the man who wanted to join the disciples, as head of His church-to-be, His body had not yet come into existence. He was the head but He had no body.

So, correctly understood, He told the would-be disciple,

“Since I have not yet died and risen again, I do not have a body upon which to lay my head.”

Jesus was training the Twelve to be the spearhead of His enterprise to establish God’s kingdom on earth, hence He focused on them to prepare them for their massive task when He was no longer with them. He chose them and spent time training them to do what He was doing. He could not allow others to join them until His training was complete.

Jesus was not, on fact, rejecting the man’ request. He was delaying his desire to be a part of Jesus’ band of followers until the time came when he could become a member of the body of which Jesus is the head.

WHAT THEN?

Gospel, ,

On judgment day, when the Son is on His great white throne, all nations before Him, and the books are opened, what then?

Matthew 25:31-33 NIV
[31] “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. [32] All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. [33] He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”

First, the nations…

What will Jesus do with my nation? Sheep or goats? Does my nation fulfil all the criteria for being “sheep”?

Sheep belong to Him; He bought them with His own blood. He knows them and they know Him.

John 10:14 NIV
[14] “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me…”

Why are the sheep sheep? They entered the sheepfold through the door, the Good Shepherd. They follow Him. He gives them eternal life. They will never perish. No one will snatch them from Him or out of His Father’s hand.

In the main, South Africa as a nation falls far short of these requirements. We are not sheep. Why are we not sheep? As a nation, it’s everyone for himself. Governed by greedy and self-interested, power hungry, corrupt, and godless politicians, the fight for survival unleashes in the main, the worst that is in us.

Who are the goats? Every nation that does not qualify to be “sheep” is “goat”. Goats are all set aside for judgment. What comes next?

In this process, there is no safety in numbers. Every “sheep” and every “goat” nation must be scrutinised. Every sheep and every goat in every nation will be tested, to receive either reward or punishment.

Revelation 20:11-12, 15 NLT
[11] “And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. [12] I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books…
[15] And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Though God’s judgement will fall on every nation, like Lot from Sodom, He will preserve everyone who belongs to Him. Jesus promised that they will never perish.

The Lamb’s Book of Life has an indelible record of the names of every “sheep” belonging to the Shepherd.

Let’s examine the criteria. First, Jesus is the judge.

John 5:21-23 NLT
[21] “For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants. [22] In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge, [23] so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him.”

Jesus’ judgment is based on the objective standard of His Word, by which He condemns or acquits.

John 12:47-49 NIV
[47] “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. [48] There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. [49] For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.”

The Father judges by one standard.

John 3:16-18 NIV
[16] “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. [18] Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands CONDEMNED ALREADY because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

Why, then does the Bible say that God will examine our deeds?

Revelation 20:12 NIV
[12] “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.”

Matthew 25:34-36, 40 NIV
[34]“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. [35] For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, [36] I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’…”

Revelation 19:7-8 NIV
[7] Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. [8] Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the RIGHTEOUS ACTS of God’s holy people). “

… L[40] “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

All sin is the fruit of unbelief. “Good works” are the response of faith in Jesus.

John 15:5, 10 NIV
[5] “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing…
[10] If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”

What we do, then, reveals what is in our hearts.

We must never be fooled into believing that all people are intrinsically good. The Bible declares judgment on all people because the human race is rotten at the core.

Jeremiah 17:9 NIV
[9]”The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”

Even the Apostle Paul concluded…

Romans 7:18 NIV
[18] “For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.”

Sin is both universal and incurable.

Romans 3:23 NIV
[23] “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Only those who, by faith, receive the gift of righteousness through the mercy of God will escape God’s judgement and share in the blessing of eternal life.

John 5:24 NIV
[24] “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”

For those who reject God’s mercy and choose their own way, the outcome is…well, what then?

John 3:18 NIV
[18]”Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

This statement is neither intolerance nor hate speech. This declaration is both the sober truth and the greatest of all offers of mercy. How can a warning and a promise ever be anything else?

WHAT JESUS TAUGHT ABOUT THE SABBATH

Christian Life, ,

WHAT JESUS TAUGHT ABOUT THE SABBATH

Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Luke 6:5

Throughout His public ministry, Jesus was hounded by the Pharisees. They had issues with Him because He did not fit into their idea of what a rabbi should be teaching and doing.

On this occasion Jesus and His disciples were walking through a field of grain on the Sabbath. Because the disciples were hungry, they picked some grain and rubbed it between their hands to get rid of the husks before eating it. The Pharisees pounced on them. “Why are you doing that? Don’t you know you are not allowed to do that on the Sabbath?”

Jesus quickly came to their defence. “Don’t you people remember what David did when he was hungry? He took the bread off the Table of Showbread in the tabernacle and shared it with his companions.” Now if that wasn’t breaking the law, what was?

Jesus had been explaining to them that you cannot pour new wine into old wineskins. You cannot put the new wine of relating to God as sons into the old wineskin of law keeping as a way of trying to please God.

The disciples were ordinary human beings with needs. Were they to squeeze their natural physical hunger into their religion? Is that how they were to interpret God? Was their Father more interested in their obeying a rule – and not even His rule but something the ancient rabbis had invented which did not give them more freedom but rather robbed them of it – than in meeting their need?

Jesus’ challenged the Pharisees’ right to enforce rules He did not make. He was not only a rabbi with authority; He was also the Son of God. Who made the rules that would protect His people’s freedom? He did, therefore He had the right to apply those rules in such a way that they revealed the heart of the Father.

God had given them the Sabbath law so that they would be able to take a day off. God did not value them by the amount of work they could do but by their status as sons of God. Rules that are made to control and restrict people do not come from a heart of mercy. Rules that protect, ensuring safety and freedom from slavedrivers, and the happiness that comes from doing the right thing, flow from a heart of love.

Every time the Pharisees attacked Jesus for “rule-breaking” they exposed their own hearts. They were satisfied with their own performance and critical of all those who failed to come up to their standard. If they performed according to their laws, they were content with themselves.

Jesus is concerned about the attitudes of the heart. He refused to bend to their demands and defended the men who were in the process of learning how to live like their rabbi. He was entrusting to them the task of teaching people what the Father is like by living like Him.

WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?

Christian Life, ,

WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:13-16

Caesarea Philippi, Israel’s “red light” district – the centre of Pan-worship, the goat-god whose devotees practised public sexual orgies with goats, and the temple built by Herod the Great to Caesar Augustus – was a place of terrible human wickedness to which no self-respecting rabbi would ever take his disciples…but Jesus did!

Against this backdrop, He asked His disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Peter responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”, and we think, “Yeah, Peter! Good answer.” Jesus applauded him for his insight but, in the next breath, rebuked him for his utter misunderstanding of who this Christ, Son of the living God, really was. Peter got the confession right but the content of that confession dead wrong.

The disciples were continually squabbling about who would be the greatest in this kingdom Jesus had come to establish. It seems that they were expecting Him to drive out the Roman oppressors and restore the glory of the ancient kingdom of David. Moments before He ascended to the Father, they were still asking, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). They were still desperately clinging to the hope that He would set up David’s kingdom and rule over Israel.

When Jesus began to introduce them to the coming ordeal He was to suffer at the hands of the religious rulers, and the miracle of His resurrection, Peter pounced on Him with a vehement rebuke. How could He talk like that when He was destined to be king of the Jews? It is Peter’s rebuke (according to Matthew 16:22), “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you,” that gives us a clue to his misunderstanding of his confession. He thought that Messiahship meant political rule over a restored Israel where Jesus meant establishing His kingdom in the hearts of people through His death and resurrection.

In the verses that follow, Jesus gave them a clear picture of what He meant by His kingdom, not the glorious kingdom over which David ruled, but an inward kingdom of allegiance to Jesus as Lord, following Him, imitating Him, living a life of submission and loyalty to Him, and denying self in order to serve others. This is the heart of who Jesus is and what He came to do on earth.

But His disciples just didn’t get it. Time and again Jesus caught them arguing over the same issue – who would get the prime minister’s position in His government. James and John were even bold enough to ask Jesus Himself for the highest positions, much to the annoyance of the other disciples.

And what of us today? If Jesus were to ask you and me, “Who do you say I am?” would we be able to answer with the sincerity of full understanding, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”?