NEW TESTAMENT BIBLE STORY-- GOSPELS-- 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23,

 

Chapter Fifteen                                      Jesus Moves On FAITH UNMATCHED The Gospel of Luke tells us that after Jesus had ended teaching the people (which we have seen was His disciples and not the general crowds), He moved on to the town of Capernaum. In this town there was a centurion. What was a centurion? Well, the Roman army was made up of "legions" of soldiers, a legion being about six thousand men. There were ten divisions of about six hundred men to a legion. Each division was divided into three units (two hundred men to a division) and each was divided into two centuries of men, each under the command of a centurion. So a centurion was an army man in charge of 100 men of war. The centurions were always chosen from among Romans who were stable and reliable and who had demonstrated their courage and maturity. The army in Judea consisted of Italian and Syrian troops. Generally no Jews served in the Roman army, hence the Roman troops and centurions were non Israelites. Now, this centurion in the town of Capernaum had a slave who was very dear to him. But the slave got sick and was close to dying, so he asked elders from among the Jews to go to Jesus and ask Him to come and heal his slave. The elders said to Jesus, "This centurion loves our people and even built us a synagogue. He is very worthy to receive your help and for you to come and heal his slave, please we implore you to come and heal this man's slave." Jesus was somewhat impressed by their words and decided to go to Capernaum. When He was not far from the centurion's house, the army officer sent some of his friends to Jesus with these words, "Lord, please do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to receive you into my house, that's why I did not come myself to you. But I know that if you just say the word my servant will be healed. For I know what having authority is like, as I am a man set under authority, yet I have authority over soldiers under me. I say to one, 'go,' and he goes; and to another 'come,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'do this,' and he does it." Jesus was humanly stunned at these words, waited for a moment and then said, "I tell you all, not even in Israel have I found such faith." When those who had been sent by the centurion returned to the house, they found the slave healthy and healed from his near death sickness (Luke 7: 1-10). JESUS RAISES A DEAD MAN It was not long after this event that Jesus went with His disciples and a great crowd following Him, to the town of Nain. As He got close to the city gates He saw a man being carried out who had died, the only son of his mother, a widow. A very large crowd from the city of Nain was with this widow. It was obvious to Jesus and all, that the widow was in great grief, she was crying. "Do not weep," said Jesus to the mother. And He came and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. Looking at the dead man He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." At these words the young man sat up and began talking. And Jesus turned him over to his mother. The people stood there with dumbfounded amazement and even fear, some saying, "Oh, indeed a mighty and great prophet has arisen among us!" and "God has surely visited His people!" After this miracle the report concerning Jesus spread like wildfire throughout all Judea and the surrounding country (Luke 7: 11-17). JOHN THE BAPTIST AND HIS QUESTION John the Baptist had baptized Jesus, had seen the heavens open and the Spirit like as a dove descend on Jesus. At that time he really knew who the Messiah was, but with time passing and the human heart leading to "human doubts" maybe John thought Jesus would have done things differently than what He did. Well no matter what the reasoning was in the mind of John, he was now not so sure that this Jesus man was the promised Messiah. By the time we reach this point in the ministry of Jesus, John had been put in prison, and from prison he sent two of his former disciples to the Lord Jesus with this question, "John the Baptist has sent us to you with this question, 'Are you the one who was to come, or shall we look for another yet to come?' " Luke in his Gospel records that in that very hour of this question being asked, Jesus cured many of deseases and plagues and evil spirits, and to many that were blind He restored to them their sight. Then after all that, Jesus answered them saying, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk again, lepers are cleansed, the deaf do hear once more, and even the dead are raised to life again, the poor in material wealth have the Gospel preached to them. And blessed indeed is he who is not offended in me." The messengers of John went their way back to tell all these things to him. After they had gone, Jesus thought it was the appropriate time to tell the crowds about John and who he really was or where he fit into the prophetic Scriptures of old. "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind, weak and unstable? What did you really want to see? A man clothed in soft and fine raiment? Ah, those who are dressed in gorgeous apparel and live in luxury are those in kings' courts. What did you go out to see? A prophet? Oh yes, I tell you he was more than a prophet. For this was he of whom it was written, 'Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who shall prepare your way before you come on the scene (Malachi 3: 1).' I tell you, among all those born of women none has been and is greater than John; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he." When many heard this, including some tax collectors, they knew it had been right for them in the sight of God to have been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and the lawyer scribes had rejected God's purpose and design and refused to accept John as from God and thus would not be baptized by him (Luke 7: 18-30). Matthew in his Gospel account adds more insight into this occasion which is well worth noting. He records Jesus as clearly stating that, "And if you will accept it, he (talking of John the Baptist) is the Elijah who was to come. He that has ears to hear with, should make sure he hears" (Mat. 11: 14). Yes, Malachi the prophet of old had it revealed to him by God that someone in the power and the spirit of the old famous Elijah the prophet, would come, to prepare the hearts of the people , so they would be ready to note who the Messiah was and to accept His teachings (Malachi chapter 3). The old original Elijah had died centuries earlier. He was still dead. It was not going to literally be the original Elijah that somehow would be resurrected to life, that would come back to earth, but someone of like godliness and boldness (see Matthew 17: 9-13). In this account in Matthew 17, of Elijah and Moses appearing with Jesus you will note it was a VISION, something seen with the minds eye, not an actual physical reality. And there again Jesus makes it clear that John the Baptist was the promised Elijah to come, and the disciples then understood it all. The other addition Matthew records are these somewhat strange words that Jesus said, "From the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force" (Mat.17: 12). There have been various thoughts of interpretation as to what Jesus meant by these words. Some think He was referring to the violent death of John (having his head taken off) and the violent death of Jesus (to come later), by the hands of basically hurtful and violent in nature, persons. This could possibly be understood that way, but I feel the context, somewhat before, but certainly afterwards, in Matthew's Gospel, lends itself to understand Jesus' words here as explained by Albert Barnes in his Bible Commentary. "From the days that John began to preach.....He says that there was a great RUSH, or a CROWD pressing to hear John. Multitudes went out to hear him, as if they were about to take the kingdom of heaven by force. See Mat.3: 5. So, says He, it has continued. Since the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, or the GOSPEL, has been preached, there has been a RUSH to it. Men have been EARNEST about it.; they have come PRESSING to obtain the blessing, as if they would take it by violence. There is an allusion here to the manner in which cities were taken. Besiegers PRESSED upon them with violence, and demolished the walls. With such EARNESTNESS and VIOLENCE, He says, men had pressed around Him and John, since they began to preach.....multitudes had thronged around Him and John to hear the gospel" (emphasis was by Albert Barnes, who used italics in his commentary, where I used capitals). Jesus also said that "violent men take it (the Kingdom of heaven) by force." This corresponds to Luke 16: 16. Men must have a forceful mindset of really wanting to enter the Kingdom. They must "hunger and thirst after righteousness" - obey God, live by His every word (we have seen already Jesus' teaching on all this in the sermon on the mount), be more truly righteous than the scribes and the Pharisees. They must be forcefully determined to enter the Kingdom by the small gate, the narrow pathway. They must add to their faith in earnest desire all the things Peter admonished us to add to make our calling and election sure (2 Peter 1: 3-11). To Jesus entering the Kingdom, inheriting the Kingdom, was not as easy as falling off a log. It would mean a person had to have a forceful, pressing, eager desire, to believe IN Jesus and also to believe ON Jesus....to trust and obey! WHAT JESUS THOUGHT OF HIS GENERATION Jesus had now been preaching for some time. He had been to many towns and cities, proclaiming the good news of salvation and the Kingdom of God. He had done many a miracle and even raised to life a few that had died. Yet, despite all this a lot of the people and certainly a lot of the religious leaders were not "happy" with Jesus. So, He finally looked around and said to all within hearing distance, "To what shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like in attitude of mind? They are like children sitting in the market square or at the shopping mall, calling to one another, 'We have piped and played our musical instruments, but you did not dance to our tunes; we wailed out our songs of depression, but you did not weep with us.' " Jesus went on with these words: "For John the Baptist has come to you eating no fine bread and food and drinking no wine; and you have said of him, 'He has a demon.' The Son of man has come eating fine food and drinking wine; and you say of Him, 'Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by all her children" (Luke 7: 31-35). Jesus was telling them here that most of them had little wisdom. They had certain facts, oh yes, they knew about and had seen both John and Jesus in action, certain facts they had, but they could not put them together to make good godly wisdom of it all. They had preconceived theological ideas of what a prophet of God should be like and act and live like in their outward physical life style. They couldn't accept John because he lived in the wilderness and did not partake of the normal food of the city dwellers, and didn't even dress like most people, then add to all that he didn't drink wine. To them he was an outsider, a man from the "backwoods" as we might say today, someone from the hills of Kentucky, a "hill-billy" man. And with their view of "religion" such a man could not possibly be sent from God, so he must have an unclean spirit within him, possessed with a demon. Then, they looked at Jesus. Here was this fellow saying He was from God, His disciples claiming He was the Messiah to come. Now, He ate very well, even having meals with "rich folk" at times in their homes. He also drank wine quite often it seemed. And He would befriend and keep company with the despised tax collectors and with the sexual sinners (such as prostitutes) down on "skid-row" - the ones "across the tracks" from the so-called "good normal people." To them this fellow called Jesus was a glutton and a drunkard or an alcoholic, maybe all three together. They were wrong of course on every count. They failed to see that many of the prophets in the Old Testament were not from the "normal" city dwellers, but from the country-side, from farms and from the wide open spaces. They failed to see that many of the old prophets lived out in the country much of the time. They failed to see that God does not require everyone to look, dress, eat, and live in the city, as clones of each other. They failed to see that such outward signs and differences in people, do not automatically make them from God or from the Devil. They failed to see that God does not demand or teach that you should never enjoy a fine meal with lots of fine food and wine. They failed to see how at times their great godly kings such as David lived from time to time, and certainly Solomon (who was blessed by God, in a physical way, while he walked with God, more than anyone). They had a totally wrong theological mindset as to what on the outward physical life style, a man of God should be like. And if it did not fit their preconceived ideas they were ready to call those who taught and lived differently than their theology, either from Satan himself or a wild drunken party type fellow. They certainly lacked Biblical knowledge, or they were so set in their ways, with their man made standards of the physical, that indeed they had no wisdom. Sadly, there are some Christian religions today that have "set physical rules" as to what makes a "Christian." Some teach card playing is wrong, some teach going to a movie theatre (even a fine wholesome movie) is wrong, some say dancing (even between husband and wife) is sin. Some teach drinking wine or any alcoholic drink is sin. Some teach wearing colored clothes is wrong and wear all black. Others will not have a TV or radio because to them such things are from the Devil. And on and on it goes. It was no different in Jesus' day. It seemed with many that no matter what you did, how you lived your life in the physical (that nowhere was forbidden by God), you could not please them. If you didn't fit in with their physical theology of what was right and wrong, you could not possibly be sent and inspired of God. Many in so thinking, lost out on the Kingdom of God, their lack of wisdom kept them from the one true door to the sheep fold. We need to be very careful we do not make the same mistake. JESUS BEMOANS THREE CITIES BUT GIVES HOPE TO OTHERS Still thinking along the same thoughts of how deceived and deluded most of the people were, Jesus zeros in on three cities He had openly taught in and done mighty miracles in, yet they had still not repented. "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? Oh, no, you shall be brought down to hades (the grave). For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained to this very day. But I tell you that it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you" (Matthew 11: 20-24). This section of Scripture is very important in noting the plan of salvation that God has for the world and for all peoples who have ever lived in all nations on the earth. Most people read right over this section and do not comprehend the importance of the words Jesus spoke. He is speaking of a day called "THE judgment" or "THE day of judgment." You will notice Jesus said it would be more TOLERABLE for some than others. This word "tolerable" means, to be tolerate towards, to be acceptable towards, to be allowable to people, to be fair, to be gracious towards. You will also note that some cities never saw the works of God, never really had a chance to repent, to come to know what sin was, what the laws of God were, what they were doing wrong, and to turn and repent of those sins. The cities Jesus bemoaned were cities that had been given and seen the might miracles of God and also had the truths of God proclaimed to them. When we understand the plan of salvation that God has for all mankind, when we understand the meaning of the great Feasts of the Lord as recorded in Leviticus 23. When we understand that as Jesus later said, no one can come to the Father UNLESS the Spirit of God draws them, opens up their mind to the truths and the word of the Lord. When we understand all people are blinded, as Paul would explain to the church at Rome in Romans chapters 9 through 11, that people cannot come under grace and salvation unless God removes that blindness through His Spirit, usually by the means of teaching and preaching from the human people God sends forth with His word (Romans 10: 17-21). When we understand all these things, and that God will have mercy upon all that are in unbelief and blindness, but in His time frame (Romans 11: 32), then we can understand what Jesus was saying here in Matthew chapter eleven. The book of Revelation, in the 20th chapter, tells us there will one day, after the 1,000 year reign of Christ on this earth, come a time of a great general resurrection of all peoples. The books (Greek is "biblios" - where we get the word Bible from) will be opened, and the tree of life, will be available to them. They will see the word of the Lord, they will have salvation offered to them, when in their first physical life they were blinded and had not seen the works of the Lord or heard the preaching of God's truths to them. It will be "tolerable" for them, mercy and a tolerate heart will be shown them. God will accept that they lived and died without knowing or even being given a chance to repent of their sins. And Jesus says that at that time, in that judgment, when they do see the miracles and works and the words of the Lord, those blinded and yes sinful cities of old, will fast repent. Jesus knew their hearts and minds and attitudes deep within. He knew they were of such a mind, that when given in the future the works and words of God, they will readily repent. But, the mind and heart of some of the cities where Jesus did do the mighty works of God, and did preach the wonderful ways to salvation, were such, were so hardened, so stiff-necked (see again Romans 10: 17-21), that they would be put to shame by the quick repentance of old sinful city people like that of Sodom, when they would come up in a resurrection on that judgment day, to be given the words of God and have the book of life opened to them. JESUS REMEMBERS THOSE WHO DID BELIEVE AND REPENT Then again, it was not all unsuccessful what Jesus had done and taught. Some did indeed listen, hear, and did repent. They did come to the knowledge of the truths Jesus was telling them, and did decide to not only believe IN Him but to also believe ON Him. Jesus was now about to remember such people, yet He also knew that it was the Father who had called, removed the blindness, and given grace to them. "I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from those who are wise and understanding in their own minds and have revealed them to babes of humility and repentance. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and on one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him" (Mat.11: 25-27). We need to note here that it is both the Son of God and God Himself who act as one unit to reveal and open up the mind of people to see and accept their salvation (see also John 6: 44), Jesus continued: "Come to me, all you who are heavy ladened with burdens of all kinds, and I will give you rest and peace of heart. Come and take my chains upon you, and learn of me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest and peace for your lives. For my chain is easy, and my burden is light" (Mat.11: 28-30). Jesus did not say that coming to Him would free you of troubles, burdens, trials, a chain or two that life often lays upon us, but He did promise that with Him, and whatever life throws at us, the burdens would be bearable. You would be able to go through them with a gentle peace of heart, and not be boiling mad (ready to burst a blood vessel), or worried so silly you are paralyzed with fear, or so depressed you cannot get off the floor. He promised that with Him life would be easier to live and burdens lighter to bear. You may be asking yourself, "What is the difference between believing IN and ON Jesus, or the other way around, believing ON Jesus and believing IN Jesus?" The Greek word "en" is often translated and often means, "INTO." We can think of it this way ... ON is "surface" while IN is "within" - "inside of." Many can believe on the surface of Jesus, they can believe God exists, believe Jesus once lived on earth, believe that He was a great man, with great powers, even a prophet from God. They can believe all this, and James was inspired to tell us that the demons believe God is, believe on, but they still tremble (James 2:19). Their believing ON the facts that a person exists, and can do miracles, is only SURFACE belief, a surface belief in the polish, but is not DEEP, WITHIN, INSIDE belief of the very nature of the wood. Many people I have known over the years have told me they believed there is a God, but that belief on God did nothing to their inner character of thoughts, reasoning, speaking, and actions of life - they still went their own way doing their own things, without any thought of whether God approved of their thoughts, words, and actions. Their surface believing on God, did not effect their life. Those people who also with the belief on the existance and power and glory and holiness of God, have a belief that is IN, inside, within, into, the God of heaven and Jesus Christ His Son, within an analogy, they eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus and the Father. They will make them both, and what they are, their nature and character of mind, a PART of themselves. They will go INSIDE of God the Father and Jesus, find what makes them "tick" as we say, and want to "tick" with them and as them, in their lives (words, mind, thoughts, actions). They will then be partakers of not only the surface skin of Jesus, but partakers of His very inner being. Jesus once put it this way to His followers, as we read in John chapter 4, starting with verse 53. Jesus said that unless His disciples ate His flesh and drank His blood they were no part of Him, and those who did eat His flesh and drank His blood DWELT in Him and He in them. Some of His followers could not understand this analogy of Jesus' and thought He was meaning something of a literal sense - many walked away from Jesus at this point in His ministry, and as He Himself said, He knew from the beginning who they were that believed NOT, believed not into the inner-most being of Himself. They only had a surface belief, just ON the surface, not IN, or into His very being of character and mind. Jesus was not teaching a literal eating of Himself, for He went on to explain in verse 63 that it was a "spiritual" inner matter that He was talking about, and making His WORDS (hence the Bible) a part of your inner being. Jesus was God's WORD personified - taking God's word and putting it into a flesh and blood body so to speak. Believing IN Jesus is living His word - God's Word - the Bible, living by every word of God as Jesus said in Matthew 4:4. It will INCLUDE believing ON Jesus automatically, but you could believe ON the surface and yet never believe INSIDE of Jesus. Believing IN Jesus includes the "on" part but believing only ON does not automatically include the "in" part. We as true children of the Father need to believe IN Jesus, and then our whole life will revolve around being fully INSIDE of their nature and character. Then we shall DWELL IN Jesus and He will DWELL IN us (see also John 14:23). THE PARABLE OF A CREDITOR FORGIVING TWO DEBTORS One of the more friendly Pharisees one day asked Jesus to eat with him in his house. Jesus accepted. While they were eating, a woman of the city, one of the prostitutes, learned that Jesus was eating a meal in the house of this Pharisee. She came to the house with an alabaster container of ointment, and stood weeping behind Jesus, at His feet. She realized she was a sinner of great magnitude. She began to wet Jesus' feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and also kissed His feet and anointed them with the ointment she had brought with her. At seeing all this the Pharisee indignantly thought within himself, "Why, if this man was truly a prophet from God, he would surely have known what sort of a woman was touching him, a woman who is a great sinner." Jesus knowing what the man was thinking to himself answered him saying: "Simon, I have something to say to you. A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed him a hundred dollars, and the other owed him 10,000 dollars. When they could not pay him back, he forgave them both of their debts. Now Simon, which of the two will love him the most?" Simon answered without much hesitation, "Why, I suppose the one whom he forgave the most, the one who owed him 10,000 dollars." Jesus replied, "Oh, yes you have answered and judged rightly." Then turning and looking at the woman He said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house and you gave me no water to wash my feet as is the custom and polite thing to do, but she has wet them with her tears and dries them with her hair. You gave me no kiss as is the custom, but she has kissed my feet continually over and over again. You did not anoint my head with oil as is often done, but she has anointed my feet with ointment she brought herself. So I tell you, her sins, which indeed are many, are forgiven for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little loves little. " Then looking at her with kindness and mercy He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." At these words those sitting with Him at the table looked at each other and among each other began to say, "Who is this person, who forgives the sins of people?" But Jesus looked again at the woman and told her, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace" (Luke 7: 36-50). When God opens the mind and starts to reveal His word and truths to people, it is often the largest sinners (as we humans look upon certain sins, like sexual sins) who can clearly see they are sinners and in need of forgiveness, that are first to cry (even literally like this woman above) out and come to God in humble repentance. Those of us who grow up in nice "respectable" families, with "good" parents, maybe going to "church" once a week, and just live middle of the road, average lives in "acceptable" communities as decent law abiding citizens, often find it difficult to see themselves in the light of God's Holiness, often find it difficult to acknowledge we also are sinners, and in comparison to God, all our human righteousness is but filthy rags. Jesus could and did have the authority to "forgive sins" because He was God in the flesh. He was as we have seen in previous chapters, Immanuel, which means "God with us." Later in the Gospels we shall again see how some people thought Jesus was blaspheming and even sinning by saying He could forgive sins; for they knew only God could forgive sins, and they just would not accept that Jesus was a member of the Godhead, that He was a part of what we call "God" - a God member come to earth as a flesh and blood human. JESUS HAD WOMEN DISCIPLES Many mistakenly think that all the disciples that followed Jesus around Palestine were all men. The truth of the matter is that some of those disciples were women. Here is what Luke wrote: "Soon afterwards He went through cities and villages, preaching and bringing the good news of the Kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, AND ALSO SOME WOMEN who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and MANY OTHERS, who provided for them out of their means" (Luke 8: 1-3). Wow, Jesus even had a wife of Herod's steward as part of His overall companions and disciples. Some in pretty high places of the elite of the world came to understand the truths of God, so much so that they became part of the whole of those who followed Jesus around the country. Luke says there were many other women also. And why not indeed. God is no respecter of persons. He created both man and woman. All can be His children. God is going to have not only sons but DAUGHTERS in His family (see what Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 6: 17, 18). These women provided that womanly touch, provided what women are so good at, making sure you have your clothes washed and mended, good cooked meals (even if it was over the camp fire many times), and all the hundred and ones things that they do in making a family happy and a pleasure to belong to. We must remember that with all the disciples following Jesus around all the time from city to city, village to village, it was indeed like one large family. It was important that women be a part of this family. And they most certainly were as Luke tells us. JESUS AT HOME AND HEALS A BLIND AND DUMB DEMONIAC Jesus thought it was time to return home. We suppose when Mark put it this way in his Gospel, he was referring to the town of Nazareth. Such a large crowd surrounded Him that it was even impossible to sit and eat a meal. In fact Jesus' friends, when they heard about the situation went out to pull Him away from the crowd, for they thought "He is beside Himself" with knowing how to cope with so many people all around Him that He could not even eat a meal (Mark 3: 19-21). Then, before His friends could catch Him away, someone in the crowd brought forth a man who was not only possessed of a demon but could not speak and was blind. Jesus healed the man so he could both speak and see. All the people round about were amazed, and began to say among themselves, "Can this be the son of David?" The people were saying this because it was becoming clear to them that no mere human man could do these things that they were seeing, but only someone from God, with the power of God in him. Then the Pharisees heard what the people were saying to each other, and they then said, "It is only by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons." Jesus, knowing full well what they were thinking, said to them, "Every kingdom or government divided against itself will fall, and no city or house divided against itself can stand; and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then can his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But on the other hand if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then truly the Kingdom of God has come to you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house, unless he first binds up the strong man? Then he indeed can plunder his house. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me just scatters abroad" (Mat.12: 22-30). Jesus was from God, He was doing everything by the power of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. Satan does evil and harm, that is what he is all about, Jesus was doing good, helping and restoring lives, giving health, delivering people from the power of demons. It was ridiculous to think Jesus was doing all this through the working of Satan. And then we have the clear basic fact that if you are not on Jesus side, on His team, you are working against Him. You may not be doing so with a deliberate set mind, but those who are not with Jesus are living and often thinking and reasoning contrary to all that He and the Father stand for. Hence if you are not on Jesus' team you are on the opposing team. The Pharisees in the main were on the opposite side to Jesus. Let's make sure we are with Jesus and not against Him. THE UNPARDONABLE SIN Jesus had not finished telling the Pharisees some very important up front information. Continuing from where Jesus left off, He said: "Therefore I tell you, every sin or evil speaking can be forgiven - except evil speaking against the Holy Spirit, which can never be forgiven. Anyone who evil speaks against me, the Son of man, can be forgiven, but evil speaking against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, either in this age or the age to come. A tree is identified by its fruit. Make a tree good, and its fruit will also be good. Make a tree bad and its fruit will also be bad. You bunch of snakes! How could it be possible that evil men like you could speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what comes out of your mouth in the words you say. A good person brings forth good words from a good heart, and an evil person brings forth evil words from an evil heart. And I tell you this, that you must give an account on judgment day of every idle and evil word you have spoken. The words you now say reflect your fate then, either you will be justified, be in right standing with God, or you will be condemned to die (Mat.12: 31-37). Speaking evil against the Holy Spirit has really bothered some. As Jesus said, doing such can never be forgiven. Some have been concerned they have literally spoken the "wrong words" at some point in their life and so they are doomed to never be forgiven and hence will be condemned on judgment day to die in the lake of fire (Revelation 20). We notice Jesus did say that EVERY SIN and "evil speaking" (even against Himself as a person, as the Son of man, while He was walking the earth at that time) CAN be forgiven. The whole Bible says the same thing. There is not a SINGLE SIN that cannot be forgiven. But what does the Bible teach as a fundamental prerequisite to be "forgiven"? The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, teaches that REPENTANCE is an absolute requirement to be forgiven of sins. Upon acknowledging we have missed the mark, done wrong, done or said evil or sin, we can REPENT, and God has promised upon heart-felt repentance there is NO sin that cannot be forgiven. Jesus we will notice said of those Pharisees that they were "evil" and being evil they spoke "evil things" against the Holy Spirit. Those Pharisees would NOT REPENT! They would not acknowledge their evil ways and evil words. Here was the Holy Spirit of God working mightily in Jesus, speaking the truths of God, doing the magnificent works of God, calling people to REPENT of their sins, but those Pharisees just would NOT repent, and in their un-repentant attitude of mind they were even saying that the "working power" of the Holy Spirit of God, was EVIL and from Satan the Devil. Anyone who will NOT repent when the Holy Spirit is working to give them the truths and ways of the Father in heaven, anyone who will not repent when God through His Holy Spirit is calling them to repentance, just CANNOT then be FORGIVEN! It is only the humble repentant person that God can look to, that God can FORGIVE (see Isa. 66: 2; Ps. 103: 8-18; Ps. 1; Ps.119). Psalm 119 is full of the way of salvation. Grace and mercy and forgiveness, is given to those who love and serve and meditate on the laws, commandments, statutes, and precepts of God. Who love the truth of the word of God. And all of that will lead one to see their errors and sins, and to REPENT! The New Testament is full of the truth that we must come to live in an attitude of mind that is "humble repentance" as a way of life, a way of the daily heart. If we live the way of life that the apostle John tells us about in 1 John 1: 6-10 and 2: 1-6, then we can have full confidence that we have not and never will commit the "unpardonable sin." If, we continue to be of an evil heart and mind, un-repentant when God's Spirit reveals to us His workings and truths, we shall bring forth evil fruit, be it in words or deeds or both, just as the Pharisees were doing. And they were supposedly "religious." When we stand before Jesus on judgment day, it will then indeed be our words (which is really our heart and mind speaking, Jesus did say above, "From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks") that will make us right before God or make us wrong. If we are in the wrong it will be because we have been like the Pharisees, evil and unrepentant, turning our back upon the working power of the Holy Spirit that reveals light and righteousness and truth to us, and so in essence saying we want nothing to do with the Holy Spirit, and that this Holy Spirit is not from God but from Satan. Surely, and indeed it is so, as Jesus said, such an attitude of un-repentance, can never be forgiven, for God can only forgive and have mercy upon and show grace to, those who acknowledge that working power of the Holy Spirit is from Him, and REPENT of their sins! A willingness to let the Holy Spirit work in our lives, to lead us to truth, to teach us, to correct us, to show us our errors and sins, and for us to be of a REPENTANT mindset, is the key. The Pharisees were not of this attitude of mind and were in danger of being condemned on judgment day. If we are never like the Pharisees in heart of mind, we shall never be remotely close to ever committing the unpardonable sin. THE SIGN OF JONAH - THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHT After all this that Jesus spoke to the Pharisees they put their tongue in their cheek and probably with sarcasm, said, "Okay teacher, we wish that you prove who you say you are with a sign." They wanted a sign like no other, other people had done miracles similar to Jesus' but they wanted something like moving the sun back to just above the horizon when it was high in the sky at noon. They wanted something truly physically spectacular. Jesus, probably with some righteous anger for their unbelief, replied to them, "It is an evil and adulterous generation of people that seeks for a stupendous sign; but no such sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Here's the sign I give. As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, the grave" (Mat.12: 38-40). What a sign, the only stupendous miracle sign Jesus would give to prove He was the promised Messiah, the Son of God. It was the sign of His resurrection, that after three days and three nights being dead in the grave, He would come back to life. People have no trouble believing that Jonah was literally in the belly of the great fish for a literal three days and three nights. They have no trouble believing Jesus literally fasted for a literal forty days and forty nights as recorded in the Gospels. But when it comes to believing He was literally dead in the grave for literally three days and three nights, for 72 hours, they just cannot believe that. Most of Christianity believes Jesus died on a Friday afternoon, put in the grave later that day and was resurrected early Sunday morning. The time most believe Jesus was in the heart of the earth is much less than three days and three nights. The truth is when we put together all the verses on this subject of the length of time Jesus was in the tomb, we see that Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday afternoon, buried later, what we call Wednesday evening, and was resurrected on what we call Saturday evening, making His rest in death in the tomb just exactly as He said, three days and three nights, a literal 72 hours. As the Gospel writer John tells us in John chapter 20, when the ladies came to the tomb it was yet DARK that Sunday morning, and they found the tomb EMPTY, they found that Jesus was already NOT THERE. Of course He was not there for He had been resurrected as He said. He had been resurrected Saturday evening, three days and three nights after being put in the heart of the earth the previous Wednesday evening. Jesus continued to berate, castigate, take to task, the generation of people He was living among, with similar words that He had used earlier: "The men of Nineveh will rise in THE judgment WITH THIS generation and shall condemn it; for they REPENTED at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, someone GREATER than Jonah is here among you. The Queen of the South will rise in THE judgment WITH THIS generation and shall condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone GREATER than Solomon is here among you" (Mat.12: 41-42). Salvation per se was not given to the people of Nineveh, but when told by Jonah they had better mend their ways in this life time or their city, with them in it, was doomed for destruction, they DID REPENT of their wrong ways and mindset. Yet, the people in the main, and the religious leaders, would not repent of their errors and sins, when Jesus, God in the flesh, much greater than Jonah, was among them telling them to repent. The Queen of the South, was not given salvation per se, yet she came all the way from afar to hear what God was doing through Solomon. But those right next door to Jesus would not come to Him for salvation and repentance that He was offering. And He was much greater than Solomon. When all these people of old come up in THE judgment resurrection (mentioned at the end of Revelation chapter 20) along with most of that generation of people Jesus was living among, the ones of old, because of their "human attitude" (something that is often just human and not even God led through the Holy Spirit) it will be easier to entreat and work with them and lead them to salvation, relatively speaking, than the ones of Jesus' time, who saw and heard Him in the flesh. They will be ashamed and condemned. They will still find it hard to repent, compared to the ones Jesus gave in His two examples. Still thinking of THAT generation that He lived with and among, Jesus went on to say: "When the unclean evil spirit has gone out of a person, that evil spirit passes through waterless places seeking rest, but he finds none. Then he says, 'I will return to my house from where I came.' And when he does return he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then that evil spirit goes and finds seven more spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that person becomes worse than the first. So shall it be also with this evil generation" (Mat.12: 43-45). Jesus looked beyond His ministry, beyond His death and resurrection, beyond the first years of the apostles going forth with power spreading the Gospel, and saw and foretold, that most would not repent, and accept Him as Messiah and Savior, especially the scribes and Pharisees. Although many were made whole, had unclean evil spirits cast out from among them, were cleansed at least on the physical side of things, but because they did not PUT the right clean Holy Spirit within them, moving on from where they were to salvation, they were just empty, easy targets for not only the original evil spirit to come back and influence them, but many other evil spirits also. Hence they would end up worse off than at the beginning. So it was for that generation of Jesus' time. By A.D. 70 Titus the great Roman military leader had descended on Judea and Jerusalem and laid waste the city and killed thousands of Jews. It is written that all true Christians had a warning before Titus and his army arrived, and all fled and escaped with their lives, but the main populace suffered great slaughter. JESUS' TRUE MOTHER AND BROTHERS Matthew tells us that while Jesus was still speaking to the people inside where they were gathered, his mother and His brothers came and stood outside wanting to speak to Him. "Your mother and your brothers are outside wanting to talk to you," someone said to Him. "Who are my mother and my brothers?" Jesus replied. "I tell you," looking around at those who were around Him, "my real mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and do His will. They are my mother, by brother, and my sister" (Mark 3: 31-35; Luke 8: 19-21). Yes, Jesus did of course have a physical mother, her name was Mary as we saw in earlier chapters. Jesus also had physical brothers, or to be more technically correct, half brothers. Mary and Joseph her husband, had a marriage just like most marriages, they had more children after Jesus was born. We saw in earlier chapters that it is recorded that Joseph did not "know" Mary (a Bible way of saying that he did not have sexual relations with her) until AFTER Jesus was born. But after that event, he did sleep with Mary his wife and have sexual relations with her, and they did produce more children themselves, as most married couples do. Remember it was God the Father not Joseph that was the "father" of Jesus via the miracle power of the Holy Spirit. Mary did NOT remain a virgin all her life as some teach. Jesus did have literal brothers. They, with their and Jesus' mother Mary, came to where He was teaching and wanted to speak to Him. He used this opportunity of "mother and brothers" to emphasize how and who His real mother and brothers and sisters were - it was they who heard the word of God and obeyed it, they who did the Father's will. ..................................                                                   Chapter Sixteen                           Parables and Miracles FARMER SCATTERING SEEDS Later that same day Jesus left the house and went down and sat by the sea. But the people followed and soon there was an immense crowd all gathered about Him. It was too large a crown for comfort as they say, so He got into a small fishing boat and taught them as they listened on the shore. He told them many stories such as this one. "A farmer went out to plant some seed, by hand as usual. As he scattered it across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell on thin soil with underlying rock. The plants sprang up quickly enough but they soon withered under the hot sun and died because the roots had no depth in the shallow soil and had no nourishment. Some other seeds fell among the thorn bushes that engulfed the tender shoots and choked them, so they died also. But some seeds fell on fertile ground, with good top soil, and they flourished and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted. Anyone who has ears to hear with should take note and listen and understand what this means" (Mat.13: 1-9). Story after story Jesus related to the people. His disciples finally came to Him and said, "Why do you always tell stories when you talk to the crowds of people?" (Mat.12: 10). Jesus answered: "It is you my disciples that have been permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven, but others have not been permitted. To those who are of a ready mind to receive my teachings, more understanding will be given them, and they will have an abundance of knowledge on spiritual matters. But to those whose heart is not really acceptable of my teachings, even what they have will be taken away from them. That is why I tell stories to the crowds, because people see what I DO, but they do not really see what they should. They hear what I SAY, but they do not really hear what they should, and do not understand the depth of true meaning I have for them. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says, 'You will hear my words, but you will not understand them: you will see what I do, but you will not perceive its meaning. For, the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes, so they do not see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them' " (Isa.6: 9-10) (Mat.13: 11-15). Here is how Mark worded the last phrase, "...lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them" (Mark 4: 12, KJV). It is quite a shock to many if they slowly read these words of Jesus and just believe them for what they say and tell us. Jesus here clearly proves to us that some in this physical life time are NOT called by God, they are not given the spiritual eye to see with, to comprehend, to understand the truths of the Father. They are blinded by the way of their society they live in, they are blinded by their own heart and mind that does not want to really see God and all of His word and ways and truths. And as shocking as it seems to many, God and Christ are leaving them in their blindness. They are not being called to be converted and to have their sins forgiven in this age they live in. We have already seen that God has a plan of salvation, and that such individuals will be resurrected in a large general resurrection, with those of Sodom, Nineveh, the Queen of the South, and millions of others, who also lived and died without being offered salvation. Their day of salvation will come at the end of the 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth, in the period called in Revelation 20, the GREAT WHITE THRONE, and Jesus we saw earlier called it "THE judgment" when people from the past would rise with people of His generation. We see here that many of Jesus' generation were left in their blindness of hard-heartedness. Jesus was not trying to converted them and hence forgive their sins. This is very difficult for some to understand and to believe, but it is nevertheless a very true teaching of Jesus' and the New Testament (see also how Paul wrote about it in Romans chapter 9 through 11). EXPLANATION OF THE SCATTERED SEEDS Jesus then looks at His disciples and says, "But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. I tell you for sure, many prophets and godly people have longed to see and hear what you are seeing and hearing, but they could not, it was not to take place in their life time. Now, here is the explanation of the story I told about the farmer scattering seeds of grain. The seed that fell on the hard pathway represents those who hear the good news about the Kingdom and just don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the seed away from their hearts, as quick as the birds come to eat it off the pathway. The seed that fell on the thin rocky soil represents those who hear the message of the Kingdom and receive it with joy. But like young plants in rocky soil, their roots do not go down very deep. At first they grow some, but then they wilt away when problems, trials, tests, or persecution comes upon them. The seeds in the thorn bushes represent those who hear and accept the word of the Kingdom, but all too quickly the message and truths they have are crowded out by the cares and concerns of this life and the lure of physical wealth, so they produce no lasting crop. Ah, but the good soil represents the hearts and minds of those who truly accept God's message of the Kingdom and salvation and produce a huge harvest - thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted" (Mat.13: 16-23). Once more Jesus teaches us that it is not just good enough to start on the narrow road to the Kingdom and salvation, one must stick with it, never give up, "endure to the end" as Jesus said later in Matthew 24. Then we shall produce a crop that can be harvested, we shall be saved, harvested into the Kingdom of God. STORY OF THE WHEAT AND WEEDS Another parable Jesus puts before them, saying: "The Kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. So when the plants came up and produced grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the householder came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seeds in your field? How then are there these weeds?' He answered them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and pluck them out?' But he said to them, 'No; because in gathering the weeds you may root up the wheat also with them. Let them both grow together until the harvest time, and at the harvest I will tell the reapers to gather the weeds first and bind them up in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn' " (Mat.13: 24-30). EXPLANATION OF THE WHEAT AND WEEDS Jesus left the crowd and returned to the house. His disciples were very puzzled about what the parable of the wheat and weeds meant. "Master, please explain to us the meaning of the parable you gave about the wheat and the weeds in the field," they said to Him. Jesus answered: "He who sows the good seed in the field is the Son of man; the field is the world, and the good seed means the sons or children of the Kingdom; and the weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of man will send His angels, and they will gather out of His Kingdom all causes of sin and evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear with should make sure he hears" (Mat.13: 36-43). Jesus talks about His angels gathering the elect, the saints, the children of God, together when He comes in Matthew 24: 29-31. Paul talks about this same event in 1 Corinthians 15. It will be at the end of the age, at the "last trumpet" sound (Revelation 11:15-19). We find from passages such as Revelation 19; Zechariah 14; and others that many of the wicked at that same time will be cast into a lake of fire (Rev.19: 20; 2 Thes.1: 7-10). This harvest will continue through the 1,000 year reign of Jesus on earth (see Isa. 66: 15-24). At the end of the thousand years more harvesting of the righteous from the wicked will take place as we have seen in the "White Throne Judgment" period (see Rev.20:7-13). Finally all the wicked will be burnt up in the lake of fire (Rev.20: 14-15; Malachi 4: 1-3 with 2 Peter 3: 8-13), and then will come the new heaven and the new earth wherein dwells only holy perfect righteousness (Rev.21; 22). The harvesting of the righteous wheat and the evil weeds will start at the end of this age when the angels are sent forth, at the coming of Jesus again to earth, but the harvesting of the wicked and the righteous will continue until the final earth-wide lake of fire and the new earth and heavens come into being. GOOD SEED AND FERTILE EARTH PARABLE And He said to them, "The Kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come" (Mark 4: 26-29). The Kingdom of God will take time to develop and finally be harvested. God's seed, His word, will go forth into all the world. Often people will not even know where and how it is developing, and bringing forth mature grain ready for the harvest, but it will be so. God's word will go forth and it shall not return unto Him void of fruit. When it has accomplished what God desires for His harvest, then as we have seen the sickle or the angels will go forth and the harvest will be gathered in. THE MUSTARD SEED AND THE LEAVEN And he said, "With what can we compare the Kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown in the soil, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is planted it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade" (Mark 4: 30-32). He told them yet another parable, "The Kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in a large pan of bread flour, till it was all leavened or risen up" (Mat.13: 33). The Kingdom of God and all within it may start out few in number, just a small seed, or a small bit of leaven, but it will grow and grow until the whole world is finally under its shade and filled with it. This will not all come about until Jesus returns to reign on earth for a thousand years. But as the prophets have written, there is coming an age when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea beds. JESUS ONLY USED PARABLES TO THE CROWDS Matthew and Mark once more make it abundantly clear to us that Jesus only spoke to the crowds of people in parables, but in private He explained what He was meaning in the parables, concisely and clearly to His disciples. Matthew tells us that He did this to fulfil what the prophet Isaiah had spoken, "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world" (Mat.13: 34-35; Mark 4: 33,34). THE HIDDEN TREASURE; THE PEARL; THE NET; TREASURES OLD AND NEW "The Kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy goes and sells all that he has so he can buy that field. Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of a fine pearls, who, on finding even just one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had to buy that pearl. And again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind, when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into baskets but threw the bad away. So it will be at the close of this age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, and throw them into a furnace of fire; and men will indeed weep and gnash their teeth" (Mat.13: 44-50). The Kingdom of God and being a part of it, should be the most valued treasure we have. We should be willing to give up everything, or count everything we have in this physical life as sellable, in order to be in the Kingdom of God. It should be in our eyes as the hidden treasure in a field or the pearl of great price. We should be doing as Jesus said in the sermon on the mount, seeking God's Kingdom first and then knowing that all the physical things we are in need of for this life time will be given to us from the Father. And yes, the Kingdom of God will be offered to all people eventually in God's time frame. The ones who accept it and live within its framework will be the righteous who are brought into the Kingdom, starting at the time when the angels are sent forth to gather in the righteous, then the harvest will begin and will continue for one thousand years plus the white throne judgment period (Rev.20). Then all the bad, the wicked who would not accept the Kingdom and repent and live within its precepts, will be gathered and put into the lake or furnace of fire and will suffer the punishment of the second death (Rev.20 last few verses). Jesus looked at His disciples and said to them, "Have you understood all this?" "Oh, yes," answered the disciples. "Then," He replied to them, "every scribe who has been trained for the Kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out from his treasure things that are new and things that are old" (Mat.13: 51-52). The Kingdom of heaven and all it stands for is the whole Word of the Lord, from Genesis to Revelation, the Old and the New Testaments. Those instructed in the Kingdom, who accept it, are to do as Jesus said, live by EVERY WORD of God (Mat.4:4), live by the Old Testament and live by the New Testament. MORE GREAT MIRACLES - THE STORM IS CALMED Jesus had worked hard all that day. It was now evening time, and exhausted and weary, He said to His disciples, "Come, pull out and let's go across to the other side of the sea." Other boats of people went with Him for they did not want Him to disappear from their sight. The wind began to pick up its pace. The waves were splashing pretty hard against the sides of the boat. The wind blew stronger still. Smash, thud, smash, thud, came the sea waves against the boat, with every increasing speed and power. Then the full force of the storm came upon them, waves now higher than the sides of the boat, throwing it around like a rag doll. Now, each time a wave came it not only smashed into the boat with a great thunderous roar but quite a lot of the wave cascaded into the boat itself, and within minutes the boat was filling with water. The disciples looked around to see where Jesus was, and found Him sleeping contently on a pillow in the back of the boat. He seemed to not have a care in the world as to what was going on all around Him. The boat was now dangerously close to sinking. "Master, master," cried out the disciples into Jesus' ear, "do you not care that we may perish in this storm?" Jesus awoke from His deep sleep, and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And immediately the wind ceased its violent blow and the sea became quitetly very calm. Looking around at His disciples Jesus said to them, "Why is it you are afraid? Have you not any faith?" The disciples were awe struck, for a few moments they were speechless with wonder and amazement, and then finally began to say among themselves, "Who then indeed is this man, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" (Mark 4: 35-41). JESUS CASTS OUT DEMONS AND SENDS THEM INTO PIGS Arriving on the other side of the sea in the country of the Gadarenes, and coming out of the boat, there met Him a wild demonic man from among the tombs (Matthew records that there were two men not just one, but even he goes on to speak in the "singular" not the plural. Mark and Luke speak only in the singular from start to finish. The answer probably is that of the two men one was the leader and maybe the most demon possessed, while the other, though also demon possessed stayed in the background). Luke tells us that for a long time now he had worn no clothes. Mark tells us that no one could bind him. Some had tried to put chains on him but he just snapped them apart, and not even a number of men could subdue him, he was too strong for them all. He would constantly cry out and bruise himself with stones as he lived among the tombs. This demoniac sees Jesus coming, even a long way off as yet, but he sees Him and runs to be near Him and begins to worship Him. "Oh, what have you to do with me, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God" the demoniac cries out with a loud wailing voice. " I implore you by God, do not torment me before the time appointed," the wild man beseeched Jesus, who had commanded the unclean spirit to depart from him. Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "My name is legion," replied the demoniac, "for we are many." The demons through the man's voice begged Jesus not to send them out of the country into thin air so to speak. Such demons as these were, love to possess live flesh and blood creatures of some kind. Now there happened to be on the hillside nearby a great herd of swine or pigs. The demons begged Jesus to send them to the pigs so they could at least enter into them. And Jesus complied with their wishes and told them to go to the swine. Many indeed were the demons in this man. The swine numbered about two thousand. They entered the herd, and immediately the herd rushed down into the sea and all of them drowned. The herdsmen, when they saw what had happened to all the swine they were taking care of, fled as fast as their legs would move. They ran into the city nearby and told the people all they had seen. And the people came out of the city to see what all the fuss was about. When they arrived they saw the demonic man sitting there, clothed, and in his right mind. People who had been there all the time through all the events, told the ones coming later from the city what had happened to the demonic man and to the herd of pigs. Such fear fell upon the people of that region that they just wanted Jesus to leave and get away from them and from their land. Jesus obliged them and was getting back into the boat when the man who had the legion of demons cast out of him, came and begged Jesus that he might follow Him, but Jesus refused saying to him, "You go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord God has done for you, and how He has had mercy upon you." The man went his way and began to do what Jesus said, and in that area called Decapolis the people marvelled greatly at what they saw and heard (Mat.8: 28-34; Mark 5: 1-20; Luke 8: 26-39). The question may be asked about a herd of swine, two thousand, being allowed by Jesus to rush down into the sea and drown. This was obviously a cultivated herd of swine because it had herdsmen tending it. Swine were created by God to be the wandering garbage cleaners of the land. Pigs are "unclean" as classified in the "clean and unclean" food laws of the OT (Lev.11 and Deut.14). They were never intended by the Lord to be cultivated and used for food or animal sacrifices in the Temple. Obviously this herd of swine was for one or both purposes. One or the other or both purposes would have been against the laws and commandments of God. Jesus, hence had no trouble in allowing this herd of pigs to perish in the sea, and so not be used for human food or animal sacrifice. Did the demons who entered the pigs also drown in the sea? The angel world (and demons are fallen sinful angels) is not subject to physical laws as we are or physical substances such as water. They did not drown in the sea with the swine. The Gospel writers do not tell us what happened to them after the pigs were dead. They probably went hurrying away to find another warm flesh and blood body or bodies to dwell in. JAIRUS' DAUGHTER AND THE WOMAN WITH HEMORRHAGE Jesus again crossed to the other side in the boat and a crowd welcomed Him, for they were there waiting for Him as they hoped He would return. Then came one of the rulers of the local synagogue, Jairus by name, and he knelt before Jesus at the same time he besought Him saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her, so that she will be made well and live." Jesus said He would come and heal his daughter. The huge crowd continued to follow Him, thronging about and sometimes pushing and shoving so that Jesus was often being touched as He walked along. There was a woman in the crowd who had a flow of blood for twelve years. She had been to many doctors who tried many of their medicines to heal her. She had spent all of her money on these doctors, but they had not been able to help her, and the problem was just getting worse all the time. She had heard the reports about Jesus and His healing powers from many in the crowd, so she just came up from behind and touched Jesus' garment, for she had said to herself that if she just touched His garment she would be made well and healthy once more. And so it was. Immediately her hemorrhage or blood flow stop, and she felt in her body that she was indeed healed. Jesus knew that power had gone from Him and straightaway turned around and asked who had touched Him. "Master, you see the crowd pressing in on you from all sides, evening pushing you at times, and you ask who was it that touched you" said His disciples with wonderment as to why He would ask such a question. Jesus, said nothing more, but looked here and there in the crowd. The woman was shocked that He knew someone had touched Him for a special reason. She was fearful and trembling, but she came forward and told Him the whole truth of why and what she did. Jesus looked at her with great love and compassion and said, "Daughter, your mighty faith has made you whole and well. Go in peace, fear and tremble not, and be healed of your disease." Even while He was still speaking to the lady and telling her to be at peace, there came someone from Jairus' house who said, "I'm sorry to tell you but your daughter is dead. No need to bother the Teacher any more." Jesus, ignoring what was said, simply looked at the ruler of the synagogue and said, "Do not fear, only believe, have faith." Jesus then instructed that only certain ones were to follow Him. They were Peter and James and John the brother of James. As they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue there was great weeping and wailing, very loud indeed was the moaning of those present there. "Why do you make such a sorrowful tumult, the child is not dead, but merely sleeping, " said Jesus in a calm and reassuring voice. "Oh, what you say is crazy, we know enough about death to know she is indeed very dead," said the people in the house, and they just all started to laugh at Jesus. He told them to all go outside, and with the child's mother and father and those disciples He had brought along to the house, He went in where the child was laying. He took her by the hand and said, "Talitha cuni"; which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise." And immediately the girl got up and started to walk around, as she was twelve years old. All five person present were (the parents of the girl and the three disciples) overcome with utter amazement, as they stood there speechless. Jesus told them in a no nonsense and serious tone of voice to make sure they told no one about what they had just seen and witnessed. And then He told the girls parents to give her something to eat (Mark 5: 21-43; Luke 8: 40-56; Mat.9: 18-26). TWO BLIND MEN AND A DUMB DEMONIAC As Jesus passed on from there, two blind men started to follow Him, and began to cry aloud, "Have mercy on us, Son of David." Jesus continued to walk on and finally entered a house. The blind men came up to him, and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe I am able to do this thing, and give you your sight?" They quickly answered back, "Oh yes Lord, we believe you can." He then touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith be it done to you." And their eyes were opened and they who were blind could see. Jesus sternly told them to tell no one about the miracle. But they could not contain themselves with such a healing that had been bestowed on them, and they spread His fame all over that district. As they were going away, a dumb demoniac (some demons make a person dumb, unable to speak) was brought to Him. And Jesus cast out the demon and the man began to speak. The crowd marvelled at what they had seen saying, "Never was anything like this seen in Israel." But the Pharisees, always tagging along and watching, once more exclaimed, "Oh, he casts out demons by the prince of demons" (Mark 9: 27-34). Yes, some people it seems, just never learn, never learn the truth. Paul, years later wrote about some people that "they are always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim.3: 7). JESUS RETURNS TO NAZARETH BUT IS NOT HONORED Jesus went from there, after doing all those great miracles, and after the people gave Him such honor and glorified God, and He returned to His home town of Nazareth. The Sabbath day came and He went to the synagogue and began to teach the words of the Lord to all present. The people were astonished, but not in the way you might think. They said among themselves, "Where did this man get all this from? What University did He go to? Which theologians have instructed Him in this wisdom of theology? What mighty works are wrought by His hands, we do not see them. Is this not just the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not His sisters also here with us? This fellow is just one of us, really a no body to speak of." They were greatly offended in Him, and could not imagine He was someone special. Jesus knowing their thoughts and attitude towards Him, said to them, "A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kindred, and in his own household." And He could do no mighty work there, except lay hands on a very few sick people and heal them. He marvelled greatly because of their unbelief (Mat.13: 53-58; Mark 6: 1-6). Sad to say but it is often today the same. People can be honored in their own town for being a great "sportsman" or "musician" or "artist" or "filmstar" etc. but if they come speaking the truth and words of the Lord God, with power and conviction, calling people to repent of their sins, showing what sin is, and what the true ways of God are, people who knew them as a child, or as a neighbor friend, will just not honor them, or take much notice of them. They often cannot bring themselves to realize and accept that God can be working through that individual in a great and mighty way. It is often true as the old proverbs says, "familiarity breeds contempt." Even Jesus found it coming His way, and had it flung in His face. We need to be careful that we never allow familiarity to come into our mind to where we may make the biggest mistake of our lives. ........................... Written September 2002    Chapter Seventeen JESUS INSTRUCTS THE TWELVE Jesus continued to teach and preach about the Kingdom of God in all the cities and villages, instructing on the word of the Lord in their synagogues. He also continued to heal every disease and every sickness and infirmity that people had. The crowds grew larger and larger wherever He went. His sorrow and compassion for them also grew larger, because He saw they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He called His disciples and said to them, "Look around you and see how large the harvest is, but the laborers are very few. You need to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest." He then told the twelve He was going to send them out among the harvest of the people. He would give them authority over evil spirits, to cast them out of individuals, and to heal every disease and sickness that people had (Mat.9: 35 to 10: 1). Jesus gave the twelve certain instruction for that specific preaching and healing ministry that He was about to send them upon. He told them: "Go not to the none Israelites or to the sect of the Samaritans, but go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, your countrymen. As you go, preach, saying, 'The Kingdom of heaven is close at hand.' I want you to heal the sick, even raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying for it, so give freely. You are to take no gold, nor silver, nor money in your wallets. Take no bag for your journey, nor two outer coats, nor two pair of sandals. Do not take a staff or walking stick. The laborer deserves his food. When you enter a town or village, inquire who is worthy there, and stay with them until you depart. As you enter the house, honor it. And if the household is indeed worthy, let your peace of blessing you bring come upon them. But if that household is not worthy, keep your blessing you bring to yourself. If anyone will not receive you or will not listen to your words, then shake off the very dust there from your feet as you leave that household or that town. Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable and merciful on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, than for that town or household" (Mat. 10: 5-15). The words Jesus just spoke were specifically for the twelve disciples at that time and for the commission they were about to undertake. It does not mean all AFTER that particular evangelistic task the twelve were to undertake, must follow exactly the outline Jesus gave them for their journey of teaching the Kingdom of God. This we can clearly see from other parts of the Gospels and especially from the book of Acts and the life and journeys of the great apostle Paul. The words that Jesus spoke next, from the very context of the words themselves, we can see that Jesus was giving "overall" knowledge and instructions to some who would go forth in any age to preach the truths and word of the Kingdom of God. "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so you need to be as wise as serpents but as harmless as doves. Beware of people; for some will deliver you up to their theological councils, and may even flog you with the whip in their synagogues and meeting places. You may be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them and the nations for God's word. When they deliver you up, do not be worried how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour of need; for it is not you who speaks but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver up brother even to be put to death, and the father his child, and children will rise up and be in conflict with their parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all for my names's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I say unto you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of man comes" (Mat.10: 16-23). It is obvious from the above words of Jesus, and Him saying that His disciples will not have covered all the cities of Israel before He returns in glory, that this section of Jesus' discourse is for ALL of this age, from that time then, when He uttered those words, to the time of His second coming to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. It is also interesting to note that the cities and towns of Israel must be way more than the towns that are now within the land area we call the "State of Israel" - the land of Palestine in the Middle East. So numerous would be the towns and cities of Israel that Jesus said they all would not have been covered with the Gospel message before He returned to earth again. The truth of who ALL of Israel is, must be for another time and place to study and discuss. Continuing with Jesus' words: "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master; it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they malign and call evil those of his household. So, have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that will not finally be revealed, or hidden that will not be finally known. What I tell you in the dark and private, you utter in the blazing light; and what you hear whispered by me in your ears, you proclaim loudly upon the house tops. And do not fear those who can kill the body, but cannot kill the inner life you have in me; rather fear Him who can destroy both your inner life and body in the fires of the second death - hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father taking note of it. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered by God. Fear not therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. Do NOT THINK that I have come to bring peace on earth at this time; I have not come this first time to bring peace on earth, but indeed a sword. For I have come to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in- law against her mother-in-law; and a man's foes will be they even from his own household. He who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his life, willing to lay it down for my sake, who does not take his cross and is not willing to follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will loose it, and he who looses his life for my sake will find it. He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me, receives the one who sent me, the Father. He who receives a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward, and he who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever gives to one of these little ones of mine even a cup of cold water because he is my disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not loose his reward" (Mat.10: 24-42). Matthew then says that when Jesus had so instructed His twelve disciples, He left and went out to teach and preach in the cities (Mat.11: 1). What a message Jesus gave to His twelve and to all disciples who would follow afterwards down through the age to His coming again. It might be worth reading over those words again, before continuing with this Bible Story. There has been many times in the last 2,000 years when those words of Jesus have come to pass. Many have been handed over to authorities to be killed for the sake of the truths and words and ways of Jesus Christ. In some parts of the world even today, being killed for being a true Christian is still a very real threat. It is happening, but seldom does it get the news coverage it should, especially in the Western world. Men can kill the body, but they cannot kill the inner spiritual life that you have for being a child of the Father. Upon your death that inner life is kept safe by God (Ecc. 12: 7) and He is able to restore life immortal to you on that resurrection day, when the last trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ shall rise to meet Jesus in the air, in the clouds, and be with Him for ever more (1 Thes. 4: 13-18). God loves us more than we can imagine. He has a glorious day waiting for us if we endure to the end as Jesus said. We are to spread His word, His Gospel message, knowing it may make enemies even from and within our own flesh and blood family members. But those that receive it, receive you for doing and living God's will, shall be rewarded. The word of the Lord is to go forth, we can, if we will but accept, be a part of sending forth His word. It will go forth and it will not return to Him void. So the Lord has written and so it shall be. HOW JOHN THE BAPTIST WAS KILLED It is the Gospel of Mark that informs us with the most detail on why and how John the Baptist was killed by Herod. Jesus was so busy preaching and healing in the towns and cities that His fame had reached the notice of King Herod. Some were saying John the Baptist had been raised from the dead, and had wonder working powers. Others said it was Elijah come back to life. Still others declared Jesus was a prophet like the prophets of old. But when Herod heard about this miracle working man, he with somewhat of a trembling voice, said, "Oh, oh, this must be John whom I had beheaded, come back to life." Herod was deeply troubled in thinking this was John the Baptist, for Herod had sent and seized John, had him bound with chains and cast into prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her. John had boldly faced Herod and told him that it was not lawful for him to have his brother's wife. And so Herodias had a bitter grudge against John and wanted to see him killed, but her desire could not be fulfilled because Herod feared John as he knew John was a righteous and holy man, and Herod made sure John was safe, at least from death. Herod would gladly listen to John but was always troubled, anxious, and worried by his words. Herodias saw an opportunity one day to have her wish come true. It was Herod's birthday and he gave a large banquet for his court officials and officers and the leading men of Galilee. Herodias' daughter danced so well and enticing for Herod and all present, that the king said to the girl, "Young lady, you are so beautiful and you are such a fine dancer, you have danced so well, as everyone here is in agreement that you have, making this day and banquet so special, I will give you whatever you ask for, even to half of my kingdom." Herod vowed to her, so showing he meant what he said. The young lady was surprised and really did not know what to ask for, so she went to her mother. "Mother, this is a shock to me," the daughter said, "king Herod has said he will give me anything I desire, up to half of his kingdom. I haven't a clue what I should ask for." "I know," replied her mother with a smirk on her face, "you can ask for the head of John the baptist." The young lady went back to Herod and unashamedly said, "I have decided what I want you to give me. I want the head of John on a plate." Obviously this young lady was either every much in tune with her mother about certain things where John was making trouble for her mother, or she was one of those young daughters that would do anything a parent said, even to murder and kill someone the parent did not like for whatever reason. Herod was exceedingly sorry and upset. He realized he had done a silly thing in giving a vow or oath to her in front of his guests, but fearing even more to break his vow, he sent a soldier to John with orders to cut off his head and bring it to him. And indeed that is what happened. John was beheaded while in Herod's prison. His head was brought on a plate, given to the young lady who in turn gave it to her mother. When John's disciples heard about it they came and recovered his body and laid it in a tomb (Mark 6: 14-29). THE MIRACLE OF FEEDING FIVE THOUSAND The twelve apostles went on their journey while Jesus was preaching in the towns, and they then came back telling Him all that they had done and the words they had spoken. "It has been a busy time for you all and for me, so come with me to a quiet place, and we shall rest a while," said Jesus to the twelve. So busy had it been for all of them that they hardly had any time to eat, for people were coming and going all the time it seemed, from sun up to sun set. They took a boat and went to a town called Bethsaida, on the other side of the sea of Galilee, which was called the sea of Tiberias. It was not easy to get away from the crowds of people. They saw that Jesus was heading out with the twelve, and they just followed, because they knew He could heal people from all their diseases. Jesus arrived on the other side of Galilee and went with the twelve up into the hills for to rest a while. Now it was close to the time of the Passover feast the Gospel of John tells us. Jesus could not get away from the crowds for very long. Soon there was another very large crowd around Him, which Jesus did not mind, He actually welcomed them for it was an opportunity once more to teach them about the Kingdom of God and to heal those who were sick. It was now getting late on this day, even into the evening, and it was a lonely wilderness type place where they were. The disciples suggested to Jesus that He send the people away into the villages so they could buy food to eat. "No, I do not think I will send them away. I want you to give them food," said Jesus to the twelve. Looking at Philip, Jesus said to test him, "How can we buy bread to feed all this mass of people here?" "Master," Philip replied with astonishment at the very thought of the twelve trying to buy food to feed the people, "Why, even 500 dollars would not be enough money to buy food for all these people," Philip said. Then Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Jesus, "There is a lad here who does have five barley loaves and two fish, but that is insignificant among such a huge crowd of people." "Ah, okay, make the people sit down," Jesus said. There was much soft lush grass where they were. The number of people was about five thousand, and they all sat down in orderly groups of hundreds and fifties, at the disciples instructions and directions. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looking up to heaven He blessed and gave thanks, and then told the disciples to distribute them among the people. All ate well and enough until they were satisfied. Then Jesus told the disciples to gather up what was left. There was enough food left over to fill 12 baskets. When the people saw the miracle of 5 loaves and 2 fish feeding 5,000 people, they said among themselves, "This is indeed THE prophet who was to come into the world !" (Mat.14:13-21; Mark 6: 30-44; Luke 9: 10-17; John 6: 1-14). JESUS WALKS ON THE WATER The crowd, after seeing this miracle, on top of all the other miracles He had done, got more excited and more excited, like a tidal wave of water the excitement grew until they had determined to come and take Him by force if necessary, and make him King. Jesus quickly withdrew Himself and went up into the hills by Himself alone to pray and meditate. When evening time had come and it was now dark, the disciples went down to the sea shore and boarded the boat once more to cross the sea and go back to Capernaum. Jesus had not yet come back to them so they were without Him as they started to cross the sea. The wind was blowing hard and right into them, a head wind as they say. It was a rowing boat they had, not a sail boat, hence it was very hard work to row into such a heavy wind. The "fourth watch" came, which meant it was sometime between 3 am and 6 am. Looking up, what did they see but Jesus coming towards them and getting closer, but not in another boat. They were amazed, had to blink twice, but it was true, Jesus was coming towards them WALKING ON TOP OF the water! When the reality of what they saw sank in, they became very frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost, not really the literal flesh and blood body of Jesus. They of course had never seen such a sight before or ever heard of such a thing being done by a human being, as literally walking on top of a sea of water. Such frightful panic gripped them that they cried out in fear. Jesus heard their fearful cries and said, "Take heart, it is really I, be not afraid." But Peter still not quite sure if this was the real Jesus, shouted out, "Well Lord, if it is really you, bid me that I may come to you walking on the water also." "Come on then, " said Jesus. So Peter jumped out of the boat and started towards Jesus also WALKING ON the water! The wind was still howling away and blowing very strongly. Peter realizing the situation of being in a wind storm, started to be afraid once more and with that fear he began to sink into the water. Seeing he was possibly going to drown he cried out, "Please Lord, save me." Jesus immediately reached out and took him by the hand saying to him at the same time, "O man of little faith, why did you start to doubt?" Both Jesus and Peter got into the boat and instantly the wind ceased to blow. The disciples had already forgotten about the miracle of the loaves and fish, their hearts were still somewhat hardened even after all the signs and wonders they had seen Jesus perform, so the Gospel of Mark tells us. But once more after this miracle they fell to their knees and worshipped Him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." Another part of this miraculous event is that after Jesus entered the boat out on the sea, the boat was immediately, in an instant, at the land where they were headed. The next day, the huge crowd of people that was left behind came to understand that the disciples had departed in a boat but not with Jesus, and that the boat they left in was the only one around in that area. They knew Jesus was not still there. They knew another miracle had been done by Jesus. It happened that some boats from Tiberias came along to the place where Jesus had fed the five thousand. The people quickly jumped into the boats and set out for Capernaum to seek Jesus. They somehow thought He would be at that city. But Jesus and the disciples landed at Gennesaret, a town to the south of Capernaum. Soon it was noised abroad that Jesus was in their region. People of course recognized Him and soon they began bringing all the sick to Him for healing. Whatever town or village He was at they came bringing the sick, even laying them down in the market places. The sick pleaded with Him that they might simply touch His garment to be healed, and it was so, as many as touched His clothes were made healthy and well (Mat.14: 22-36; Mark 6: 45-56; John 6: 15-24). ............................... Written October 2002   Chapter Eighteen:   Bread of Life and False Traditions JESUS SPEAKS ABOUT HIMSELF AND MANY FALL AWAY The people who had come across the sea of Galilee, mostly the ones from the five thousand whom had been miraculously fed, finally did locate Jesus and said to Him, "Teacher, when did you arrive here, we've been searching for you." "Truly, it is indeed so very true, you do not come here to me because of the signs and miracles and teaching that I do, but because you ate your fill of the food I provided for you from the loaves. You should not be working so hard for the food that is physical and soon is gone, but for the food that endures to enteral life, which I the Son of man can give you, for on Him, that is me, God the Father has set His seal of approval." At hearing this the people answered, "Well alright then, what must we specifically do to be doing the work of God?" "This is the work of God, that you BELIEVE IN Him whom He has sent," replied Jesus to them. "Well, what sign can you give us that we can see and believe in you?" they quickly answered Jesus, and continued, "What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' " In answer to this Jesus said, "Of a truth, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives to you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world." "Great," the crowd said, "then Lord, give us this bread for all times." Jesus looked at them, knowing they hadn't understood what He was meaning, and said, "I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE; he who will come to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. But I've told you already, you have seen me and yet you still do not believe in me." These people were indeed pretty dumb, as "dumb as a fence post" as the saying goes. They had been witness to miracle after miracle, and had been witness to the five loaves and two fish that Jesus had blessed and how it had fed five thousand people, till they were all full and satisfied. They were still looking for some "sign" or something from Jesus to back up what He was saying. They just did not see the light. And part of why they did not Jesus goes on to tell us. "All that the Father gives me will come to me; and he that comes to me I will certainly not turn them away. For I have come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him who has sent me. And this is the will of Him who has sent me, that I should loose nothing of all that He has given me, but will resurrect them all at the last day. For this is also the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life; and I will raise them up to life eternal at the last day." Yes, it is the Father that must call people, take away their blindness as we have seen, draw them to Himself through and by the means of His Holy Spirit. All that the Father calls to Christ Jesus, the Father wants to see in the resurrection, wants to give eternal life to in the resurrection at the last day of this age, when Jesus returns at the sound of the last trumpet, to establish the literal Kingdom of God upon earth for a 1,000 years and then for all eternity as Revelation chapters 19 through 22 show us. The Jews now began to snicker, then they murmured at Jesus because He had said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." They went even further and said among themselves, "Why is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? Is not this man, just a man like all others born of a father and mother, how does He known declare to us that He has come down from heaven?" Jesus knew what they were saying and told them, "Do not talk and discuss among yourselves these things that you cannot understand. For no one can come to me UNLESS the Father DRAWS him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all to taught by God.' So, every one who had heard and learned from the Father does come to me. I do not mean that people have seen the Father who have learned from Him. Only those who have come from where God is have seen the Father. But it is truth, very real truth, that he who believes has eternal life. I AM the BREAD of LIFE!" We have seen in the previous recent chapters, and we shall see again in coming chapters, and we do see here in clear words, that the Father has a PLAN of SALVATION. It is His plan to teach every human who has ever been created to know about Himself and Christ Jesus. All people will sooner or later be taught of God, but for some it is not in this first physical life time. ONLY those who are drawn and called by the Father can come to Christ. The rest are left in spiritual blindness, for another time, another day of salvation, when they will be raised to physical life and the prophecy of the last verses of Revelation chapter 20 will be a reality. Back to the words of Jesus: "Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, that a person may eat it and not die. I am the LIVING bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." On hearing these last words the Jews disputed among themselves saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" They were confused and bewildered at what Jesus was saying, so Jesus went on to confuse and puzzle them even more with these words, "Of truth I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you. He who eat my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the person who eats me will live because of me. This is the true bread that comes down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died. He who eats this true bread will live forever." Now, Jesus said all these words to the general public that was in the synagogue, as He taught at the city of Capernaum. These words even puzzled some of Jesus' disciples like as never before. Some said among themselves, "These are words hard to understand, who can listen to them?" Jesus knew that even some of His disciples murmured at the words He had spoken. He knew what was going on in their minds, so He spoke to them saying, "Are you offended by the words I've just spoken? Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending where He was before? Here is the meaning of my words. It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is not important, it will not help; the WORDS that I have spoken to you in all my teachings, they are spirit and they are life. But some of you I know, do not believe." Jesus knew all along who really did not believe and who would betray and go against Him. So He said to them, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me UNLESS it is GRANTED to them by the Father." In one sense Jesus may have had in mind His followers partaking in the NT Passover by "eating His flesh" (the bread) and "drinking His blood" (the fruit of the vine), but only in symbol form, not in any literal sense as the bread and wine becoming His literal body when eaten, as the largest "Christian" church on earth teaches. Here we again see (covered in chapter 15) the ones who believed only ON the surface with Jesus, and ones who believed in a deeper IN or INTO Jesus. The only "on" Jesus believers, thought He was fine and good as long as He performed to their wishes and desires, as long as He spoke words that were not too far out in left field, to their minds. Believing ON Jesus is just a surface thing, it doesn't go down very deep. Many can believe that Jesus did live as a human being, that He was a mighty instrument in preaching words about God ... why most of Islam teaches that Jesus was "A" prophet of God, but it goes no further than that. That kind of belief is ON Jesus, as acknowledging He lived, preached, and died. Believing IN Jesus, means you believe INTO, or WITHIN, Jesus. It is a DEEP belief that not only believes Christ existed, but believes He existed as God in the flesh, that He was the VERY SON of God the Father, a human that was sinless, that lived a life FAR above what ANY other human being has ever lived. And it is a belief in Jesus that transforms the very mind, thoughts, words, and actions, of the one so believing. For further expounding on this DEEP INWARD belief I refer you back to chapter 15 and the sub-heading "Jesus Remembers Those Who Did Believe And Repent." After all these words from Jesus, it was just too much for some of His own disciples, and they drew back, packed their bags so to speak, and departed from Him, no longer wanting to be a part of those who went about the towns and villages with Him. Seeing this, the departing of some of His disciples, He looked at the chosen twelve and said, "Will you also go away and stop following me?" Simon Peter was the one to answer for the twelve, "Lord, to whom shall we go? It is only you that has the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One sent by God." Looking intently at the twelve Jesus then said, "Was it not I that chose you, the twelve, yet one of you is a devil." Jesus was thinking of and referring to Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for it was he, one of the twelve, who would later betray Him to the religious authorities, who would desire to have Him put to death (John 6:25-71). If we notice carefully the words Jesus said here, we can see clearly that He taught very plainly that He came from heaven, from the Father. He taught that He existed in heaven with the Father before He came to earth as a flesh and blood human being. We see that Jesus was not meaning to say people should try to literally eat and drink His blood. But some thought that was exactly what He was meaning, or they just found it so hard to now understand His words, and so kind of revolting, they just walked away from Him, and no longer were counted among His disciples. But, it was all as Jesus had said, only those called by the Father, only those who were being led by the Holy Spirit, having their minds opened to the truths of God, that could come to Jesus and stay with Him in any case. And for them the words He taught and making them a part of their lives, was eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Believing IN Jesus as well as believing ON Jesus, would mean they had eternal life, and would in the last day be resurrected to immortal glory in life eternal. FALSE TRADITIONS CONDEMNED BY JESUS As usual the scribes and Pharisees were not too far away from Jesus at all times. The Pharisees were in every community, they were the "religious party of the people" but the scribes were mainly found in Jerusalem. When some of the scribes came from Jerusalem they banded together with the local Pharisees. They happened one day to see Jesus' disciples eating food with unwashed hands, and they called this sort of thing "defiled hands." The Pharisees had taught the people to wash their hands before eating, but this washing of hands was not what we may do before we eat. It was a ceremonial type of washing, a ritual process, washing all the way up to the elbow. When they came from the marketplace, before eating, they would go through a ritual of purifying themselves with water. It was a somewhat elaborate washing system. There were many other purifying and washing rites that they did with various cups and pots and pans and vessels of bronze, even tables and beds. Well, it was all traditions that the Pharisees and scribes had added to the religious system for the people. It was way and far beyond what God had ever instructed in the Old Testament. It was all man made rules and regulations, but passed off as something God had decreed to be done. Of course God had decreed no such practices. It was all false traditions that had no bearing on true holiness with God. The pompous scribes and Pharisees, believing their traditions were God sanctioned, came to Jesus and said, "We see here that your disciples eat with unwashed hands. Why do they do this and eat with defiled hands? Why do they not follow the traditions of the elders?" Jesus answered with some exasperation, and a little anger, "Oh it is of a truth that Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, religious pretenders, when he wrote 'This people honor and worship me with their lips, but their heart is FAR from me. In VAIN do they worship me, teaching as doctrines of God what is merely the precepts and invented ideas of men.' And what do you do as a way of life? You leave off doing the commandments of God, while you hold fast to the traditions of men." He further went on to say, "You sure do have a fine way of rejecting the commandments of God, in order to keep your own many made traditions. For Moses wrote, 'Honor your father and mother'; and 'He who speaks evil of his father or mother, let him surely die'; but you say, 'If a man tells his father or mother, what you would have gained from me is Corban' (that is, given to God) - then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, so you make void the commandments of God through your traditions which you hand on to people. And many such like things you do to cast away what God has command." What does this thing about "Corban" mean, and how did it void the commandment of God about honoring your parents? This is how it went. If someone had say $10,000 or maybe a $100,000 they could "dedicate" it to the "church" - which in this case was the Pharisee religious synagogue or "religious work" of the Pharisees. They did not have to give it over to them at the time it was dedicated to them, it could be dedicated to them any number of years in advance to the actual handing it to them. Maybe it was dedicated with the stipulation they would not receive the money (land, house, etc. that could be sold for money) till they died. If then, their father or mother became in need of physical help, the child could say, "Well I cannot give you any of my money, or sell the land for money to help you, because I've dedicated it to the 'church' " (the Pharisee church in this specific case of our Gospel story). And so with this clever move on part of the Pharisees, based upon man made rules and "theology" traditions, they had people disobeying the very clear commands of God, by following their self made religious traditions. And that was only one example Jesus gave. He said that they did many other such things with their invented traditions, which also had people disobeying other commandments of God. Jesus called the people to Him and said, "Listen and understand, it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but it is what comes out of his mouth that defiles him." His disciples came to Him and told him how the Pharisees were offended by what He had spoken. Jesus simply replied, "Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Just let them alone, let them be, they are blind leaders, and if a blind man should try and lead another blind man, they will both fall into the ditch or into a pit." Sometimes to teach and uphold the commandments of God, either by word or by action, and to reveal the falsehoods of a so-called "religion" towards God, it will offend some people. Sometimes there is no way around it, the truth often cuts people and they may get offended, even if the truth is presented in the kindest way possible. Though I doubt Jesus was trying to be gentle and kind here with the Pharisees. He was probably stone faced and very upset in the tone of His voice, as He uttered these words to the Pharisees. They were after all pretending to be "godly religious leaders" and Jesus knew how false and damaging was much of their theology. This was not the first time the Pharisees accused Jesus of not being truly and correctly "religious." Now, on Jesus' part it was time to call a spade a spade, and as they say, "to let them have it between the eyes." Sometimes in life, situations arise when it can be no other way. This was one of those times. But, even the disciples were puzzled again by the parable, not offended as the Pharisees were, but still puzzled, and they asked Jesus to explain clearly what He was meaning. "Are you still without understanding?" Jesus said as He was answering their bewilderment. "Do you not see that whatsoever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and so passes on and out? But that which comes out of the mouth, really comes from the heart and mind, and this defiles the person. For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, hate, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander, coveting, deceit, pride, an evil eye, silly foolishness. These and other such things are what defiles a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a person" (Mat.15: 1-20; Mark 7: 1-23). We need to note here that the whole context is talking about "washed hands" or "unwashed hands" as we eat food. It has nothing whatsoever to do with God's clean and unclean foods laws. The context is clearly the Pharisees disputing with Jesus over His disciples not washing their hands, in their special ritual way, before eating food. The Pharisees put more importance on making sure there was not one speck of dirt on the hands before eating food, than some of the commandments of God. Jesus was showing where the real priority should be. Some translations at the end of Mark 7: 19 say, "Thus he declared all foods clean." The translators want you to think this is part of the original Greek, and that Jesus was making void the clean and unclean foods laws that God gave in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. But such words are not found in the original Greek. The Greek reads, "...but into the belly, and into the waste-bowl goes out, purging all the foods." Yes, of course, if some dirt is on your hands and you eat without washing them, some dirt may get on the food and into your mouth, but the body's automatic cleaning system will take care of the matter and clean it out through the bowels. Some dirt in the bowels from food does not defile what comes out of the mouth via the thoughts and intent of the heart and mind. Again, the whole context here is concerning washing the hands or not washing the hands before eating food with your hands, and has nothing to do with God's clean and unclean food laws. ................................. Written October 2002   Chapter Nineteen:   Leaven of the Pharisees CANAANITE WOMAN'S DAUGHTER HEALED Jesus thought it was time to move away from the Jewish people as a whole, for a short time, and go to the towns of Tyre and Sidon up on the North West of the coast of Palestine. Arriving there He entered a house in order to be alone for a while, but a Canaanite Greek woman by race, knowing of Him, and hearing that He was there among them, came running to Him crying out as she fell down at His feet, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon." She begged Jesus to cast out the demon from her little girl. But Jesus said not one word. He just seemed to ignore what she said, and didn't even seem to recognize that she was present. She persisted in her request, until finally the disciples asked Jesus to send her away because of her anguish crying. Finally Jesus spoke: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The woman was unrelenting and not shaken. She came again and knelt before Him saying, "Lord, help me!" Jesus replied, "The children should be fed first. It is not right to take the children's bread and give it to the dogs." Yes, Lord," the woman said, "but even the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs." "O woman," Jesus said on hearing this, "GREAT is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire. You may go your way, the demon has left your daughter." Matthew says in his Gospel that the child was healed instantly, and when the woman went home she found her child lying in bed and the demon gone, adds Mark in his Gospel (Mat.15: 21-28; Mark 7: 24-30). What a fine example this woman is for us. She used persistence and logical wisdom is asking for the Lord Jesus to help her child. She had true faith that has works (James chapter 2). Faith without works is a dead faith the apostle James was inspired to tell us. Jesus was impressed and it is recorded for all mankind to ever read, that He said this woman had GREAT faith. This is the SECOND recorded GENTILE (none Israelite) person who is said to have outstanding faith, according to Jesus. The first we read about earlier was the "centurion" - I hope you remember that story that we have already covered. JESUS HEALS A DEAF MUTE AND MANY OTHERS It was not long after this incident of the Greek woman's daughter having a demon cast out, that Jesus left that area and returned to the sea of Galilee. He went up into the hills there, but great crowds of people soon came to Him bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the dumb, and so many others with sicknesses and afflictions. They put those sick folk at His feet and He healed all of them. When they saw all the sick being healed the people praised and glorified the God of Israel. One healing at this time is especially recorded for us by Mark. Some people brought before Jesus a man who was not only deaf, but who also had a speech impediment. Jesus took the man aside from the multitudes. He wanted this healing to be a private matter. We are not told why, but Jesus wanted this healing to be more private than open before all the multitude of people present. He took His fingers and placed them in the deaf man's ears. And He spat and touched his tongue, and looking up to heaven Jesus sighed and said, "Eph-phatha," that is, "Be opened." And the man's ears were opened and he could hear, and his tongue was released from the speech impediment and he spoke plainly. Jesus, as He often did, told those who knew the man before he was healed, to tell no one, but the more He told them not to tell, the more it seemed they did the opposite and zealously proclaimed all that He did. The people were astonished beyond measure, saying among themselves and to others, "This Jesus has done all things well; He even makes the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak" (Mat.15: 29-31; Mark 7: 31-37). THE MIRACULOUS FEEDING OF FOUR THOUSAND PLUS Once more the crowd had enlarged to a very great number. They had been with Jesus for a full THREE DAYS, and they had nothing at all to eat in those three days. Jesus called together His twelve disciples and said to them, " I feel compassion on the crowd, because they have had nothing to eat over these last three days they have been with me. If I send them away to their homes hungry, they will surely faint on the way, and some I know have come a long way." "Well Master," the disciples said, "how can it be possible to feed all these people with food in a desert place like this?" "How many loaves of bread do you have?" asked Jesus. "We have seven loaves and a few small fish," the disciples replied. Jesus took the seven loaves and the few fish, blessed them and told His disciples to distribute them among the people. This the disciples did and all the people ate till they were full and satisfied. And after all had eaten the disciples took up seven baskets of left over food. The number of men only was about thousand, and besides the men there were women and also children. So the total crowd of people could have been well around 6,000 or maybe even more. Stop and think about this. Of course Jesus worked another great miracle, but I'm thinking about the zeal, the dedication, the high enthusiasm all these people, including children, must have had to go for three days without food, in order to be around Jesus as He taught and worked healing miracles. They were certainly zealous, at least in a physical way. After all had eaten Jesus sent them away, back to their homes. He then immediately got into boat with His disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha or Magadan (Mat.15: 32-39; Mark 8: 1-10). JESUS REVEALS WHAT THE LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES IS The two main groups of religious leaders (the Pharisees and the Sadducees) were never far behind Jesus, always tagging along even if they just observed from a distance. But sometimes they came close to ask Jesus questions, often trying to test or trip Him up to smash His credibility with the people. This was another one of those times. They came wanting to argue with Him and specifically wanted Him to give them a sign from heaven. They just could not accept that He really was who He said He was, the Son of God, coming from heaven, being sent by the Father. Jesus sighed a great sigh literally and within His mind. He said, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather; for the sky is red.' And you say in the morning, 'It will be stormy weather, for the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to interpret the face of the heavens, but you just cannot interpret the signs of the times all around you." The signs the Pharisees and Sadducees had seen coming from Jesus were so many they were countless, and still they were not satisfied, but wanted an extra super-dooper sign from out of the heavens. I suspect that if Jesus had given it to them, they would still have said to the crowds that He did it by the prince of demons, the Devil, and would have continued in their unbelief, still denying that He was the Son of God. Jesus continued: "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but I've told you already, no sign will be given to you except the sign of Jonah." We saw in a previous chapter that that sign Jesus would give was that He would be three days and three nights in the grave as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish. Jesus had enough of all this argumentative unbelief from those religious leaders, and with His disciples He got into a boat and once more crossed to the other side of the sea of Galilee. When they got to the other side, the disciples realized they had not brought with them any bread except for one loaf. Jesus used the opportunity of the conversation about physical bread to tell and teach them about a much more serious leaven and bread they needed to be very aware of. "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees," said Jesus. The disciples discussed among themselves what Jesus was meaning, as they had brought no bread but one loaf, and the Pharisees and Sadducees were not near them on this occasion. Jesus, knowing they did not understand Him, said to them, "O men of little faith, why is it that you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? Do you not yet understand. Does not your hearts perceive? Having eyes do you not see? Do you not remember the five loaves and the five thousand and how many baskets of food you gathered up after they ate? Do you not remember the seven loaves and the four thousand and more person who ate, and how many baskets of food you gathered up after they ate? How is it that you fail to perceive that I was not talking about physical bread? I said to you that you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." Ah, the penny finally dropped as we say, and they understood then that He was not talking about the leaven of physical bread, but of the TEACHINGS and the PRACTICES of the Pharisees and the Sadducees (Mat.16: 1-12; Mark 8: 11-21). Oh yes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees had SOME things "technically" correct. They upheld the keeping of the weekly Sabbath, and the observing of the Feasts of the Lord, they observed the clean and unclean food laws. They did not bow down to idols of wood or stone as many of the pagan nations around them did. They kept many other commandments of God, but on the overall view of things theologically, they had many errors, many false ideas, many incorrect practices, and many traditions that they observed while nullifying the commands of God as we have seen. Jesus, told His disciples to be very careful and very much on guard, when it came to the theological practices and teachings of the two main religious groups in Judea. Both groups were full of leaven, and leaven is often used in the Bible to represent SIN and UNRIGHTEOUSNESS and WICKEDNESS (see 1 Cor.5). HEALING A BLIND MAN NEAR BETHSAIDA Jesus and His disciples moved on to the town of Bethsaida. It was here that some people brought to Jesus a blind man and begged Him to touch and heal this man. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town, and when He had spit on his eyes and laid hands upon him, He asked the man, "Do you see anything?" And the man looked up at Jesus and said, "Well, I see men; but they look like trees walking." After hearing this, Jesus once more laid hands upon his eyes. The man looked intently and his vision was restored perfectly, and he could see everything clearly and as it should be. Jesus sent him away to his home, telling him not to enter the town, but go straight home. He knew that if the man entered the town and the people saw that he had his vision restored, all the people in the town would be flocking around Him, and at this time Jesus did not want a large crowd of people following Him. We are not given the reason WHY Jesus did this healing of the blind man this particular way. Some things may seem strange to us, the spitting on the eyes, the man first seeing people walking up-side-down, Jesus re-touching him, and then the healing all taking place. Jesus could have just said the word and the blind man would have had his sight restored. So it may seem a little puzzling to us as to why Jesus did it all this way, and we are not given any explanation. We can only contemplate as to the why of it all. Maybe Jesus was giving us a lesson that some physical things need to be done in having healing. It is not wrong to use whatever is good of the physical world to help restore our health. And then, maybe it is a lesson for us to remember that God heals in His time, maybe not all at once, maybe in part we are helped and healed, and we need to keep on looking to Him for complete healing. Maybe we have to remember that complete healing is in God's time frame, when He decides that He will fully and completely heal us. Those are some of the things we may learn from this recorded healing. There may be more things to learn, as we meditate upon it. .................................. Written October 2002   Chapter Twenty: Jesus builds His church and the Transfiguration WHO THE CHURCH IS BUILT UPON It was time for Jesus to visit the villages of the district of Caesarea Philippi, about 120 miles from Jerusalem, and about 30 miles from Tyre, on the North-west coast of Palestine. This was the furthest that Jesus would travel in His ministry. On the way Jesus stopped to pray for a while and then asked His disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" "Well Master," the disciples began to say, "some say you are John the Baptist, others say you are Elijah, and still others say you are Jeremiah or one of the prophets." "Now who do you say that I am," Jesus asked them. "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," replied Peter with assurance in his voice. "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona!" replied Jesus, "for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter (Greek - Petros, small stone), and on THIS ROCK (Greek - Petra, huge boulder) I will build my church, and the powers of death will not kill it out. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Then He told the disciples to tell no one that He was the Christ (Mat.16: 13-20). Jesus' fame was large enough and the people flocking to see Him was overwhelming at times, without His disciples making a direct effort to pronounce that Jesus was the promised Messiah to come. Many have been puzzled over this section of teaching by Jesus. But when you understand the Greek language it was written in, all the difficulties should solve themselves. Jesus was not saying that the Church of God would be built upon the man Peter as some claim. The NT shows that Jesus is the "chief corner stone" and it is upon Jesus as the head of the Church, that the Church of God is built. Jesus is the "petra" - the huge massive crag of a stone, while Peter the man was "petros" the small stone. Concerning the authority to "bind and loose" and have it bound or loosed in heaven. This also has given thought and even with some, established a kind of "divine authority for ministers" doctrine. Some think that at times a "priest" or "minister/s" can make God bind or loose decisions they make for other people or for their "church flock." Again, understanding the Greek, and the tense it was written in, can answer our questions we may have. In the translation of the New Testament by B.J. Phillips there is a comment among the appendix footnotes, telling us the tense of the Greek and that it is more probable that the translation of this section should have been something like this: "And whatsoever you bind on earth must be what is already bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven." Jesus then was telling Peter and all the disciples that they could have authority to bind and loose, but they better make sure it was within the laws and will of God in heaven, and that they need to keep in mind that the Church of God is founded upon Jesus, not any human man. Now, if we do not want to bother with the Greek language, and we stay only with the KJV English translation, we can still make a case for understanding what Jesus said here without putting it into the sanction of "divine human authority" bracket. There are certain times within the Churches of Christ that binding or loosing decisions must be made to safeguard the Church. An example of this is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Here is a case of an unrepentant sinner (large sins of a wrong life style), and the apostle Paul telling the church at Corinth to disfellowship the man, to put him out of the local church congregation, so such sins as he was practicing would not be multiplied and practiced by others in the church. This was a decision that had qualities of binding and loosing. Yet, even this was something that was within all the laws and commandments of God, where God's truth and way on the matter was very clear. The congregation in that instant that Paul was addressing were upholding the laws of God. Binding and loosing in the context of 1 Cor.5 is a context of living within and upholding, the commandments of God. Binding and loosing for the disciples of Christ has nothing to do with that which God has allowed and permitted as "freedom of choice" for each individual in the body of Christ. A group of disciples cannot tell you to only wear one certain color of dress or suit in attending church services, for example. Such things God does not have a law for, so no human person or persons can bind or loose on such a matter. At another time in Jesus' ministry He said to His disciples, "Whoever sins you remit or cancel, they shall be cancelled, and whoever sins you retain, they shall be retained (John 20:23). This would again be a situation as Paul was addressing in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. It could also apply to a disciple or disciples leading someone to baptism. Some only want to be baptized because their friend was baptized, or their wife or husband was baptized, or because their parents want them to be baptized. It is not a genuine personal repentance to baptism. And so discriminating disciples of Jesus would in all baptism cases decide if it is truly from a genuine heart, that the person wants to be baptized. If it is genuine, then baptism can be performed and the individuals sins can be cancelled. If it is not genuine then no baptism should be performed and hence the individuals sins are retained, until the day of true heartfelt repentance. So, there is a certain amount of authority given by Jesus to His disciples, in binding and loosing, within His church, but that binding and loosing must always be within the laws and commandments of God. Also of course, any organization, such as a church congregation of an area, must make "administrative" decisions. The place to meet, the time of the day to meet, how long the service or meeting will last, and a hundred and one other like things. This must be done by a body of people within that organization that have been given authority by the whole organization to make such decisions, or by a vote of the congregation as a whole. Such decisions must be made for a smooth operation of an organization made up of many person. And needless to say, all such decisions will not please everyone all the time. But, Jesus was not here talking about the latter but the former. JESUS FORETELLS HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION From the time of Jesus' visit to the region of Caesarea Philippi He began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, but on the third day be raised to life once more. This news hit Peter like a bolt out of the blue, as if stuck by lightening. With dismay he said to Jesus, "God forbid Lord! This shall never happen to you!" Peter was meaning that he and all the disciples would do whatever it took to make sure He would not die by the hands of the elders and religious leaders of their day. "Get behind me Satan," Jesus, with severe and grim tones to His voice, quickly replied, "You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God but of men." And with those words all went silent, no one venturing to say anything more about the subject. But, many of the disciples kept what Jesus had said in their hearts, meditating on what they could possibly mean, for none wanted to believe Jesus would die, not being so young and so popular among the people. They just could not imagine that the elders and priests could have enough power to have Jesus put to death. At that time, Judea being under the overall rule of the Roman Empire, only by the authority of the Roman government could any citizen of Judea be put to death. The disciples, at that time, could not in their wildest dreams, imagine what was to come, but Jesus knew, and knew it was the Father's will that it should be as the prophets of old had foretold (Mat.16: 21-23). WHAT IT TAKES TO FOLLOW CHRIST Jesus then called all the multitude to Himself as well as His disciples, and said, "If any person would follow me and be my disciple, they must deny themselves and take up their cross of burden and imitate me. For whoever would save their life shall loose it; but whosoever looses his life for me and the Gospel's sake, will save it. What does it profit a person if they should gain the whole world, yet loose their life. For what can a man give in exchange for his life? Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Jesus was speaking of the life a person can have in Him, the inner Holy Spirit life, that leads to eternal life at the resurrection day. You could gain the whole world, be head of the physical Empire that rules the whole world, you could be the richest person in the world, you could have the fame of the whole world, like some Hollywood movies stars have, but if you are not raised to eternal life one day in the resurrection when Jesus returns in glory, then what have you really gained? In the long run you will have gained nothing lasting, certainly way less, very much less than those who will have gained that resurrection. They may have had to deny themselves many things in this life time (great wealth, fame, splendid comfort, prominent and illustrious jobs or positions on the human scale of things) to follow and imitate Christ Jesus, to stand up and not be ashamed of belonging to Christ, and obeying His commandments. The end result will be everlasting glory in the Kingdom of God. And then Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste of death before they see a sight of the Kingdom of God, with glory and power" (Mark 8: 34 to 9: 1) Jesus was speaking about a soon transfiguration event that some of His disciples would witness. JESUS' TRANSFIGURATION AND THE ELIJAH TO COME Matthew and Mark state that "after six days" while Luke is somewhat more specific in stating "about eight days after these sayings." It would seem by all the accounts it was around eight days later, that Jesus took with Him, Peter, James and John his brother, up into a high mountain. There was just the four of them. The disciples must have been wondering what was going to happen if anything at all special was going to happen. They did not have to wait long for the answer. Suddenly there was "light' but light like they had never seen before. In their eyes Jesus had CHANGED! His face had become like the sun for brightness and glory, and all His clothes were as white as any bleach could make white, white. It was all practically more than their eyes could look at, but somehow they were able to see it all in its fully splendid powerful GLORY! Then something else happened that shocked the socks off them as we say. There stood Moses and the prophet Elijah, talking to Jesus. Obviously at this time in history there was enough physical information that had been handed down through the centuries, as to the physical appearance of Moses and Elijah. They knew it was Moses and they knew it was Elijah that were having a conversation with Jesus. "Lord! " exclaimed Peter, "It is good that we are here, if you wish I will make three booths here; one for YOU and one for Moses and one for Elijah." Peter was still speaking when a bright cloud over-shadowed them, and then they heard this voice from the cloud saying, "This is my beloved Son, with Him I am well pleased; listen to Him." At the sound of this voice the three disciples fell on their faces and were filled with great awe and fear, realizing they were witnessing the very glory and presence of God, as well as the future event of the resurrection that Jesus had so often by now spoken about. The resurrection to glory of all the children of God at the coming of Christ in glory, at the end of the age, when the Kingdom of God would be a literal reality on the earth. The disciples were still fallen down on their faces when Jesus came and touched them and said, "Rise up, and have no fears." And when they lifted up their heads and looked, they saw no one but Jesus only. They were on their way down the mountain when Jesus commanded them, "I want you to tell not a single soul about the VISION you have seen today. Do not tell anyone until I am raised again to life from death." At this request and command the disciples said, "Then why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must first come?" They thought that they had the proof and the golden opportunity now to really declare that Jesus was the promised Messiah, because they had seen Elijah come, and the very scribes of their nation were saying that Elijah had to come first before the Messiah would come on the scene. "Oh, Elijah shall come," replied Jesus, "and shall restore all things, but at this present time Elijah has indeed already come, and they did not know or recognize him, but did and said evil and whatever they liked about him from their darkened hearts. So they will also do to the Son of man, who will also suffer from their hands." Then, it became clear, they knew He was speaking to them about John the Baptist (Mat.17: 1-13). The three disciples had witnessed a foretaste of the resurrection in glory at the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth, when Jesus will return in power and glory. So it was as Jesus had said some days earlier, that some would not taste of death until they saw the Son of man coming in power and glory. You will notice that Matthew says it was a VISION the three disciples saw. A vision is in the minds eye, not something that is a literal happening per se. Moses and Elijah died, they are still dead to this very day. They, like all who have lived, are in the grave waiting that blessed resurrection day. When the last trumpet, the voice of the arch angel, will sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise first and then we which are alive, shall be changed, in the twinkling of an eye, and we shall all be gathered by the angels to rise and meet Jesus in the clouds, in the air, and so be with Him for ever more (2 Thes. 4: 13-18; 1Cor.15; Mat.24: 29-31). The prophecy concerning the coming of Elijah before the Messiah, is found in Malachi chapter 4. Here Christ makes it clear that it is not the literal first Elijah that lived centuries earlier, that is meant, but someone who will come in the power and might of Elijah, someone who will speak the words and truth of the Almighty God as Elijah did in his day. Christ also makes it clear that this prophecy has a DUAL prophetic fulfilment - one fulfilment at the first coming of Christ, and another yet future fulfilment just before the second coming of Christ. The context of Malachi is just before the prophetic "day of the Lord" - just before "the Lord's day" that most of the book of Revelation is all about. Jesus makes it clear that another Elijah man (as John the Baptist was before Christ's first ministry on earth) will come "shall come" (future tense) as Jesus said, and shall "restore all things." This also tells us that by and near the end of this age, the truths of the word of God will have been so distorted and bent out of shape, that a "restoring of all things" will be greatly needed. The Elijah to come will restore all things to its purity. As before when John the Baptist fulfilled that prophecy, most did not recognize him as the Elijah to come. So it probably will be at the end of this age, most, even many within the very true Church of God, will not recognize or know who the end time Elijah is. It will only be those who have their nose in the Bible, who are searching the Scriptures, who are willing to be corrected, who desire to grow in grace and knowledge, that shall understand who the end time Elijah is. May you and I be among those who will recognize the Elijah to come, if he should appear in our life time. AN EPILEPTIC BOY IS HEALED The next day when coming down from the mountain, as they approached the other disciples, they saw a great crowd about them and scribes arguing with them. Immediately the crowd when seeing Jesus ran up to him. Jesus looked at them all and said, "What are you discussing with the scribes?" One person spoke up and replied, "Teacher, I brought my son to you, but you were gone. Well, I brought him for healing, because he has a dumb spirit, an evil spirit takes and seizes him and dashes him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to cast out the spirit, when I saw you were not among them, but they could not cast it out." Jesus answered, "O faithless generation, how long do I have to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son to me." They brought the boy forward towards Jesus, and when the evil spirit saw Him it took the boy and convulsed him, and he fell to the ground rolling about and foaming at the mouth. "How long has the boy been like this?" Jesus asked the father. "From childhood," the father replied, "and it has often cast him into the fire and into water, trying to destroy him. But if you can do anything at all to heal him, please have pity on us and help us." Jesus said to the man, "If you can! Why, all things are possible to him that believes." Then the father of the child with a loud cry and anguish said, "I believe Lord, I believe, please help my unbelief!" As a large crowd was gathering about Him, Jesus rebuked the evil spirit, "You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again." The evil spirit was not about to give up without some sort of a fight. He took hold of the boy once more and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was lying there like a corpse; so that most of the people there said among themselves that the boy was dead. But Jesus leaned over and took the boy by the hand and he arose, perfectly well and healthy, free from any evil spirit. Later, in private, the disciples asked Jesus why they had not been able to cast out the spirit. Jesus said to them, "Because of your little faith. Truly I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move over to another place,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. Then again, such healing can only be done by much prayer and fasting" (Mat. 17: 14-21; Mark 9: 14-29). We see here that it is faith that is required to do such mighty healing miracles, and we also see that Jesus taught that faith comes by and through much prayer and fasting. Prayer and fasting draws us close to God, and it is by being close to God that faith grows and is made strong. Moving mountains in a literal way (unless for some specific reason such would be required) was an analogy that Jesus was giving to show that through faith miracles can be done. To do this type of healing that Jesus (which is as great a miracle as literally moving a mountain to a different location) did, took as much faith as if for some reason a mountain had to be moved to save life or avert continual pain, grief, and sorrow. Jesus was simply pointing out that through faith nothing is impossible with God. For He has power over all the spirits of the unseen world and all the physical laws of this planet and universe. .......................... Written October 2002   Chapter Twenty-one: Being Child-like and Forgiveness JESUS FORETELLS HIS DEATH A SECOND TIME Once more Jesus and His disciples are back in the Galilee area. For a little while He did not want anyone to know they were there, for He had some important private teachings to do. For the second time He instructed His disciples concerning His death, saying to them, "The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He is killed, after three days He will rise again." For the second time the disciples were perplexed and did not understand what He was saying, although He said it to them in pretty plain words. They just could not imagine that such a thing could happen to such a mighty miracle working man as Jesus. They also did not understand all the Old Testament writings of the Messiah and His first coming to earth, and what the prophets of old had been inspired to write about what would happen to Him. And, like before, although they were puzzled by His words, they were afraid to ask Him about them, to inquire any further (Mark 9: 30-32). THE TEMPLE TAX AND THE FISH When they arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the half-shekel Temple tax (a tax imposed on the Jewish people for the upkeep of the Temple in Jerusalem. It was not a part of the laws of the Old Testament, yet not wrong either, certain physical things of God like the then Temple, did need physical maintenance at times, and God did not issue laws for everything that needed to be taken care of. Some things were left to the leaders of the people to figure out how best to keep things in good repair and order), came up to Peter and inquired of him, saying, "Does your teacher pay the tax?" "Well....yes, of course He does," replied Peter, with a little hesitation in his voice. Peter really was not sure, as it had never come up before and had never been talked about with Jesus. Jesus later that day said to Peter, "What do you think, Simon? From who do the kings of the earth take taxes? From their sons or from others?" "O, it is from others Master," replied Peter. "Then the sons are free, yes, indeed that is so." Jesus said, and continued with, "However, not to give offense to them, I want you to go to the sea and cast a fishing line and hook. Take the first fish that bits, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel; take that and give it to them for me and for yourself." The Temple in Jerusalem belonged to God, and all the services done there, all that the Levites and priests performed there as under the laws of the Old Testament, were from God and towards God in worship. He owned it all. Jesus as the Son of God, had part ownership in the Temple and all things performed there. He really did not have to pay taxes on what belonged to Him. Kings of the earth collected taxes from others, not from their own children. God as King of the earth and hence the Temple in Jerusalem, did not have to collect a tax from His own Son. But, Jesus did not want to offend them, the tax collectors, or those who were keepers of the Temple. They did not understand who He was, did not believe who He was. Their minds were still in blindness to a large extent, hence Jesus would not offend them. He worked a miracle and told Peter to pay the Temple tax. Sometimes in life there are many situations where we may be free to do or not do something that's within the righteousness of God, and sometimes in order to not offend people, we should do it, if not doing it would offend them. You may be able to think of such circumstances and if reading this Bible Story with more persons than yourself, you might like to discuss such situations. This is a life example that Jesus gives us to not offend people if it is within your power to not offend them. WHOSE THE GREATEST AND CHILDLIKENESS They had been out in the town of Capernaum and were now on the way to the house they always stayed in when in that town (some have speculated that it was a house Jesus had built earlier in His life as it is always designated as "the house"), and arriving Jesus asked them, "What were you discussing on the way here?" They were silent for a while, for on the way they had been discussing who was the greatest among them (apart from Jesus of course). "Well, Master," they began in their reply, "we were wondering who was the greatest among us. And so Lord, who is it, who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?" It was now Jesus' turn to be silent for a while. He sat down, and called the twelve over to Him, and said, "If any one would be first, he must put himself last of all and put himself servant of all." Then calling for a child to come over to Him, He put the child in the midst of the disciples, and put His arms around him, and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and receiving me actually is receiving not me so much as receiving the One who sent me, my Father. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble and sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." Entering the Kingdom of God, being a part of it now in this life time, to Jesus was not about trying to be the greatest among other believers, trying to "out do" in speech, works, power, or whatever else humans think about in putting themselves greater than others. To Jesus, the greatest ones were those who were humble like a child and who served others, who did not even think of themselves as anything great. Then if some, as they do, think that riding rough-shod over others is being powerfully great, and would cause little ones in Christ to stumble and sin, so they gave up on salvation and remaining faithful to the end, then it would have been better for that person who so causes such to stumble, if they had been drowned in the sea, or we may say today, "never been born." Being great for the Kingdom of God is nothing like what the world thinks about "being great" is. Greatness to God is being humble minded and serving others and making sure little ones in Christ grow and stay faithful to the end. As Jesus was speaking about all this, John broke in and said, "Master, teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we told him to stop doing such things because he did not belong to our company of disciples." Why did John bring this up at this particular time? Maybe it was because John thought this man was trying to be great by doing such works. Greater than they were, as we saw earlier that the disciples could not cast out the demon from the child that the father brought to them to have his son healed. Maybe seeing this man casting out demons in Jesus' name caused them to start thinking about who was the greatest among them, for surely they were greater than this man, they probably thought, as he did not even belong to their group of disciples that Jesus had personally chosen Himself. Jesus replied to John and all present, "Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us. For truly I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear my name, will not loose his reward." Jesus was showing them that God works in many ways. He is not bound by a certain "club" or "church group." He was showing them that those who work for Him in a certain time and way, are not necessarily "the only ones" on the circuit of His work. And others could be doing huge things in His name or even very small simple things for Him and for others who believe in Him. Even those doing small things like giving a cup of water in His name to others who also believe in His name, will not be forgotten by God. The man the disciples had seen casting out demons was believing in Jesus, doing it in His name, and those coming to him were also believing in Jesus, not the man doing the work, but believing in the power that was in the name of Jesus. God will remember those who have the simple attitude of wanting to serve others through Him, they will have their reward. The disciples by their action and words of telling the man to "stop" because he was not part of "the gang that walked around with Jesus," could have offended him where he would have given up his personal conviction of Jesus, been as we say, "turned right off" and Jesus wanted to make sure His disciples knew the seriousness of offending people, so He went on to expound with words very similar to what He had said to them in a previous teaching. He also did not want them to offend each other by trying to figure out who was the greatest among themselves. "Woe unto the world because of offenses! For it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to the person by whom the offense comes! Therefore if your hand or your foot cause you to offend, cut them off, and cast them from you, for it is better for you to enter into life with one hand or one foot than to have two hands or two feet to be cast into the fire that shall destroy forever. The same goes for your eyes, if one should cause you to offend, better cast it off and enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the fire of Gehenna. Take heed, pay close attention, that you despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father who is there in heaven. The Son of man has come to save the lost, that is His main aim, not to destroy but to save." Jesus was making it as clear and as plain as possible, that He and those who follow Him, are to put away anything in their lives, that would cause people to be offended and to be lost. He was in the business of SAVING not destroying lives. As we saw before when Jesus uttered similar words, of cutting off a hand or foot or plucking out an eye, He was not talking of doing this literally to your body, for it is really the mind that offends, the hand or foot or eye follows what the mind tells it. Jesus is using an analogy again, whatever is precious and close to you, if it is wrong and leads to you offending people, better own up to it and get rid of it. And we notice in passing that it would seem that believers at least have what some have called "guardian angels" over them. Jesus here refers to them as "their angels in heaven." To show the disciples still further that He was in the work force that was busy searching and seeking for the lost, to save them, He went on to say: "Think about this. If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them gets lost, does he not leave the ninety and nine and does he not go out into the mountains or wherever, to seek for the one that has got lost? And if he manages to find it, does he not rejoice more over that sheep, than over the ninety and nine which did not go astray or wander off and get lost? Even so it is not the will of your Father in heaven, that ONE of these little ones should perish. Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its saltness, how will you give its saltness back? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another" (Mat.18: 1-14; Mark 9: 33-50). We are to be the "salt of the earth" as Jesus once told His followers. We are to be salt not poison to people. We are to be humble like a child who knows he/she is not self-sufficient. We are to not think about being great in the eyes of other human beings, but think about how we can serve mankind. And we are to do all we can not to offend others, so they and us can be saved and not lost. FORGIVENESS - A KEY TO SALVATION This was a good time for Jesus to speak about the very important subject of "forgiveness" and He did: "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. but if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he still refuses to listen, even to those who have come with you, then tell it to the church; and if he refuses to even listen to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and tax collector." None Israelites (Gentiles) and tax collectors back then were viewed as outsiders and not associated with on any social activities, they were the black sheep of the family so to speak. Here Jesus gives the basic formula for righting wrongs that people do to each other within the family and church of God. It is really pretty clear and straightforward enough, yet few observe it as Jesus instructed. You first must go to the person who has wronged and in the right manner "have it out with them" - or "clear the air between the two of you." In most cases most problems can be solved between the two parties involved. If not, then you are to take along two or three others as witnesses, maybe even as intercessors, as third party mediators. Once more at this level the problem can usually be rectified. But in a few cases it may not be solved at this second level of "problem confrontation" and it will need have to go to the "church." The important thing here is that it is the "church" that has the final say. And the "church" is not the minister or board of deacons, it is the "church" - the whole body of Christ for that locality. They then must hear the problem and rule as to the right and wrong of the matter, and who is right and who is wrong and the means to correct the situation, with repentance and whatever else is needed to correct the matter. If that person will not here the "church" then the church is to put them out of their fellowship. It is then the rule and principle of what Paul and the church at Corinth was into as we read 1 Corinthians chapter 5. We need in all of this last ditch circumstance to also remember Galatians 6: 1-3 and 2 Thessalonians 3: 14,15. The "church" must make a ruling and a decision on matters that cannot be solved with the first two approaches, and as a collective decision by the members in whom is the Holy Spirit, God will back that decision of who is right and who is wrong and what should be done. Jesus showed this by going on to say, "It is truth that I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two ot three are gathered in my name there I am in the middle of them." The context here about binding and loosing even with a small number agreeing together, is the context of "church problems" and the third part of trying to solve them having to be applied. Far too many have taken these words out of context and tried to apply them to far too many things, including setting rules and regulations that are directly at odds and against the unmoveable laws and commandments of God (Psalm 111: 7, 8). It is also true that the Greek tense here is as we saw ealier, and can be (and is so in some translations) rendered as "whatever you bind on earth must be what is already bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven." Hence Jesus may have been telling "the church" large or small to be very circumspect in what things it gave rules on as coming from God or the word of God. As Jesus was talking about problems and sins that brother has with brother, Peter naturally had a question come to his mind and he wanted Jesus to answer it, "Lord, how often shall I forgive my brother if he sins against me? As many as seven forgivenesses?" Peter thought there must be after all a limit to forgiving your brother. Probably all the other disciples thought so also, but to the surprise of everyone Jesus replied, "I do not say to seven times, but you must forgive to seventy times seven." They all knew that by Jesus using the phrase "seventy times seven" He was meaning you must be willing to forgive to never ending, there was no limit to forgiveness. And to illustrate the importance of forgiveness that knows no end, Jesus gave them this parable or story illustration: "The Kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He could not pay, so the king ordered that he and his wife, and his children, and all that he had should be sold to pay back the debt. On hearing this the man fell down before the kind and begged him,'Oh, king, please be patient with me, and I will pay it all back.' The king was filled with pity and compassion for him, and he released him and forgave him of the huge debt he owed. But, when the man left the king, he immediately went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant re-payment. His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time, 'Be patient please, and I will pay back what I owe you,' he pleaded. But his creditor would have none of it, would have no mercy or patience at all. He had the man arrested and jailed until the debt could be paid back in full. When some of the other servants saw this, they were very angry and upset. They went to the king and told him what had happened. The king called in the man he had forgiven and said, 'You unthankful and evil servant! I forgave you the huge debt you owed me because you pleaded with me for patience and mercy. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?' Then the outraged and indignant king sent the man to prison until he had paid every penny he owed him. That's what my Father in heaven will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters the sins and trespasses they commit against you" (Mat.18: 15-35). Jesus made it quite a simple matter, if you want God to forgive you your sins and mistakes that really amount to a great number in a life time, then you had better be forgiving towards other fellow human beings, of the relatively less in number, sins and trespasses they might commit against you in a life time. Forgiveness - having it towards others is a vital key to obtain salvation and eternal life in the Kingdom of our Father who is in heaven. ............................... Written October 2002   Chapter Twenty-two: Jesus attends the Feast of Tabernacles JESUS ATTENDS THE FEAST It was the fall of the year, the harvest of the barley and wheat grains had been gathered in (the end of March to late June), the fruits had been gathered in (July/August - some grape gathering started, figs, walnuts, olives, etc.), and the main harvest of grapes, as well as dourra, maize, cotton, pomegranates, all gathering in and harvested. By this time in Jesus' ministry some leaders of the Jews had got to the point of hating Him so much they were ready to find a way to kill Him, so He did not want to openly, on a long term basis, travel around the district of Judea (Jerusalem area), hence He went about the Galilee townships, far to the north of Jerusalem. As it was the fall of the year the Feast of Tabernacles that God had given to the Jews and Israelites under Moses, was close at hand to being observed in Jerusalem especially, as this was still the appointed place to observe the Feasts of the Lord as prescribed under the Old Testament. Jesus' literal brothers (half brothers we would say today) came to Him and said, "You should leave here and go to Jerusalem and Judea, that your disciples may see the works that you are doing. For no man works in secret if he seeks to be known for doing the work of God. So go and do these things, show yourself to the world." His brothers did not as yet believe in Him as the Son of God. Jesus answered them, "My time has not yet come, that must happen to me in all things that are written about me, but your time to see and do God's will, is always here. The world does not hate you, but it does hate me, because I testify to its face that its works are evil. You go up to the feast; I go not yet up unto the feast, for the time to do what I must do is not to come as quickly as you might like to see it come." His brothers shrugged their shoulders in complete disbelief and packed up their things and headed out south to Jerusalem to observe the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus stayed on in Galilee for a number of days, then in a private way He also departed for Jerusalem and the observance of the feast of Tabernacles. It was the greatest rejoicing time of the year, when for seven days all that came to Jerusalem would sing, worship, present animal sacrifices, eat and drink to their hearts content (within the law of God of course, after all this was still a "religious" festival observance), and just praise God for all the ingathered harvests of the year. CONFRONTATION WITH THE JEWS The Jews, were looking for Him at the feast (knowing Jesus always observed the Festivals of the Lord and would so be in Jerusalem somewhere). "Where is He?" Many of the Jews asked among themselves. Some muttered to each other that He was a "good man," while others conversed that He was leading the people astray and was up to no good thing. All this conversational talk was done in a very hush-hush way, not openly and loudly for the people feared the Jewish leaders and what anger it might provoke in them if they knew the people were asking for and talking about Jesus. It was about half way through the eight day festival and Jesus finally showed Himself and went up into the Temple and started to teach the people. The Jews there could not believe how He was teaching with such wisdom, knowledge and authority. They even said to one another, "How can this man teach like this when he has never been to or attended any of our schools of Theology or Universities of learning?" (John 7: 1-15). And of course they were, on this point correct. Jesus had never attended or had any certificate of accomplishment from any of their Theology schools or any other school of "higher learning" in their land. It was a complete mystery to them that He could speak so mightily about the Scriptures and things pertaining to the Almighty God. Jesus knew exactly what was going through their minds, and said, "My teaching is not mine, but His who sent me: if any person will do His will, they shall know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority and my own ideas. He who speaks on his own authority seeks to simply glorify himself; but he who seek the glory of the one who sent him is true, and in that person there is no falsehood. Did not Moses hand down to you the law that was given to him from God, for you all to observe? Yes, but yet none of you observe it! Why to you seek to kill me?" "You are crazy," replied the people, "who seeks to kill you? You are possessed by a demon," they continued to shout at Christ. Jesus knew the inner most thoughts and attitude of their hearts, they really were more than upset at Him, the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees had been doing a pretty good number on them, in teaching them that He had broken the Sabbath (which they held in such high regard, but as we have seen, mainly with their false traditions and man made rules and regulations) and other commandments of God. Jesus answered them on this by saying, "I did one miracle on the Sabbath. Think about this, Moses gave you the commandment of circumcision, not that it was from Moses but really it was from the fathers before Moses time. Yet it was a part of the laws of Moses, given to you. And so you circumcise a child upon the Sabbath, so if you circumcise a child on the Sabbath so the laws of Moses will not be broken, why are you so angry at me because I healed a man on the Sabbath day? You need to judge not according to outward appearance, but you need to judge righteous judgment" (John 7: 16-24). Ah yes, here we see that judging between right and wrong, judging the actions and works, and deeds, and life practices, of people, is not necessarily wrong to do at all! Jesus here did not say they were never to judge between matters, but He did say that people were to judge with righteousness, judge in the correct way with the results then being that which would be favorable in the sight of God, where God would agree with the judgment decided upon. In this case the Jews were so off track, they were so wrong in their judgment of the law of God and how to apply it, that they were taking something small and trivial in comparison, saying it should be done even on the Sabbath, but they could not see or understand that to heal a person from sickness or a demon on the Sabbath, was a much greater work, and so much more pleasing to God to see someone do on the Sabbath day, than circumcising a baby. There were others there who had their "pet thoughts" about this fellow Jesus, knowing that some Jews sought to kill Him. They didn't believe Jesus either, but came at Him from a different angle. They spoke up and said, "Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? And look, here He is, as bold as brass, speaking openly, and they do nothing to him! Ah, maybe the authorities really do know and think that this is the Christ? Yet, we know this man and where he comes from; we know his brothers and sisters and his home town. He's just a man only. The Christ, when he comes, no one will know where he comes from." In response to this Jesus said, "You think you know me and know where I come from, but I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and you just do not know Him. I know Him, for I came from where He is and He sent me." The Jews were now really mad at Jesus, and thought to sent for the temple guards to arrest Him, but it was not Jesus' time yet for all that, it would come but it was not to happen yet, so no one laid any hands on Him. There were many Jews there who did believe in Him, for they said , "When the Christ appears as it is written he will, shall he do more miracles than what this man has done?" The Pharisees and chief priests were not too far away during all this, as usual, and they soon heard the crowd muttering against Him, and thought it would be a good time to have officers sent and to arrest this Jesus. He knew this was in their mind and declared, "I shall be with you a little longer, and then I will go to Him who sent me. You will seek me, but you will not find me. And where I shall be you cannot come." The Jews were scratching their heads saying to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we shall not be able to find him? Does he intend to go to our fellow Israelites who are dispersed in the various countries of the Roman Empire, and maybe teach also the Greeks? What on earth does he mean by saying, 'You will seek me and you will not find me,' and, 'Where I shall be you cannot come'?" (John 7: 25-36). All, or most of the people anyway, were left in confused bewilderment. It was not yet time for Jesus to be arrested and put to death, so the people at large and the Pharisees and chief priests walked away from Him and went about doing other things in the Temple area. The rest of the feast passed and now it was getting close to the last day of this seven day feast. THE LAST GREAT DAY OF THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES It is written in John 7: 37 as, "On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out....." Many among today's church organizations that do observe the Feast of Tabernacles (and there are indeed many around the world) have taught or still do teach, that this last, great day, is NOT the 7th day of the feast of Tabernacles, but the 8th day that follows the feast of Tabernacles. And many have called this last Sabbath day (which comes after the feast of Tabernacles - see Lev.23) "The Last Great Day" thinking that it was on this 8th day that Jesus stood up and proclaimed the words we find in John 7: 37,38. This is not what Jewish recorded history tells us. It was not on this 8th day that Jesus uttered these words but it was on the LAST DAY of the feast of Tabernacles - the SEVENTH day of the feast, or the last day of this feast, which was called in Jewish traditional usage, "the great day of the feast." The Jewish Christian scholar Albert Edersheim in his well known book "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah" chapter 7, pages 156-160, gives us the true meaning and symbolism that took place in and around the Temple on this 7th and last day of the feast of Tabernacles. "It was 'the last, the great day of the Feast,' and Jesus was once more in the Temple. We can scarcely doubt that it was the concluding day of the Feast, and NOT, as most modern writers suppose, its OCTAVE, which in Rabbinic language, was regarded as 'a festival by itself.' But such solemn interest attaches itself to the Feast, and this occurrence on its last day, that we must try to realize the scene...... Not only did all the priestly families minister during that week, but it has been calculated that not fewer than 446 Priests, with, of course, a corresponding number of Levites, were required for its sacrificial worship. In general the services were the same every day, EXCEPT that the number of bullocks offered decreased daily from thirteen on the first, to seven on the seventh day..... But 'the last, the Great Day of the Feast,' was marked by special observances. Let us suppose ourselves in the number of worshippers, who on 'the last, the Great Day of the Feast,' are leaving their 'booths' at daybreak to take part in the service. The pilgrims are all in festive array......the festive multitude would divide into three bands. Some would remain in the Temple to attend the preparation of the Morning sacrifice. Another band would go in procession 'below Jerusalem' to a place called Moza, the 'Kolonia' of the Jerusalem Talmud.....At Moza they cut down willow-branches, with which, amidst the blasts of the Priests' trumpets, they adorned the altar, forming a leafy canopy above it. Yet a third company were taking part in a still more interesting service. To the sound of music a PRECESSION started from the Temple. It followed a Priest who bore a golden pitcher, capable of holding a LOG (rather more than two pints). Onward it passed, probably through Ophel.....to the very verge of Siloam, down the edge of the Tyropoeon Valley, where it merges into that of the Kedron..... Here was the so-called 'Fountain-Gate,' and still within the City-wall 'the Pool of Siloam,' the overflow of which fed the lower pool...... The Pool of Siloam was fed by the LIVING spring farther up in the narrowest part of the Kidron Valley..... When the Temple-procession had reached the Pool of Siloam, the Priest filled his golden pitcher from its waters (except on the Sabbath, and on the first day of the Feast. On these occasions it had been provided the day before). Then they went back to the Temple, so timing it, that they should arrive just as they were laying the pieces of the sacrifice on the great Altar of Burnt-offering, towards the close of the ordinary Morning sacrifice service. A threefold blast of the Priests' trumpet welcomed the arrival of the Priest, as he entered through the 'Water-gate' (one of the gates that opened from 'the terrace' on the south side of the Temple), which obtained its name from this ceremony, and passed straight into the Court of the Priests. Here he was joined by another Priest, who carried the wine for the drink-offering. The two Priests ascended 'the rise' of the altar, and turned to the left. There were two silver funnels here, with narrow openings, leading down to the base of the altar. Into that at the east, which was somewhat wider, the wine was poured, and, at the same time, the water into the western and narrower opening, the people shouted to the Priest to raise his hand, so as to make sure that he poured the water into the funnel. For, although it was held that the WATER-POURING was an ordinance instituted by Moses, 'a Halakhah of Moses from Sinai,' this was another of the points disputed by the Sadducees.....Immediately after 'the pouring of water,' the great 'hallel,' consisting of Psalms 113 to 118 (inclusive) was chanted antiphonally, or rather, with responses, to the accompaniment of the flute...... The festive morning-service was followed by the offering of the special sacrifice of the day, with their drink-offerings, and by the Psalm of the day, which on the 'last, Great Day of the Feast,' was Psalm 82 from verse 5..... As the people left the Temple, they saluted the altar with words of thanks, and on the last day of the Feast they shook off the leaves on the willow-branches round the altar, and beat their palm-branches to pieces. On the same AFTERNOON the 'booths' were DISMANTLED, and the Feast ended. We can have little difficulty in determining at what part of the service of 'the last, the Great Day of the Feast,' Jesus stood and cried, 'If any one thirst, let Him come unto ME and drink!' It must have been with special reference to the ceremony of the OUT-POURING OF THE WATER, which, as we have seen, was considered the CENTRAL PART of the service. Moreover, all would UNDERSTAND that His words must refer to the HOLY SPIRIT, since the rite was UNIVERSALLY regarded as SYMBOLICAL of his outpouring. The forth-pouring of the water was immediately followed by the chanting of the HALLE. But AFTER that there must have been a SHORT PAUSE to PREPARE for the festive sacrifice (the Musaph). It was THEN, immediately after the symbolic rite of the water-poring, immediately after the people had responded by repeating those lines from Psalm 118 - given thanks, and prayed that Jehovah would send salvation and prosperity, and had shaken their Lulabh towards the altar, thus praising 'with heart, and mouth, and hands,' and THEN SILENCE had fallen upon them - that there rose, so loud as to be heard throughout the Temple, the VOICE of Jesus . He interrupted NOT the services, for they had for the MOMENT CEASED. He INTERPRETED, and He FULFILLED them. But yesterday they had been divided about Him, and the authorities had given directions to take Him; today He is not only in the temple, but, at the close of the most solemn rites of the Feast, asserting, within the hearing of all, His claim to be regarded as the fulfilment of all, and the true Messiah..... So then, it was nothing new, only the happy fulfilment of the old, when He thus 'spake of the Holy Spirit, which they who believed on Him should receive'....." End of quote from Edersheim (capitals are mine for emphasis). Yes, Jesus took the water ceremony on that last great day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and gave the people its true symbolic meaning. It was all to do with HIM and the Holy Spirit that would be given, poured out upon and into, to flow out of, all those who would believe in Him. John writes that the Holy Spirit was not yet given at that time because Jesus was not yet glorified. We need to remember that John in saying that, was speaking of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in a new and special way, people having the Holy Spirit united with their spirit to beget them as Jesus in the flesh was begotten of the Father. Before that time the people of God had the Holy Spirit "with" them but not "in" them as it would be when given and poured out upon people AFTER Jesus was glorified in His resurrection glory, and on the feast of Pentecost (Acts 2), which we shall come to later in our Bible Story. PEOPLE CONFUSED ABOUT JESUS After the service of that last great day of the Feast, and people had heard and seen Jesus speaking and teaching during the Feast and now hearing Him say He was the way to living waters of the Spirit, some shouted out, "Oh, indeed, look at what this man has done and taught, He must be THE prophet." Others cried out in response, "Yes, he has proved himself to be the promised Messiah." But still others lifted up their voices and said, But how can he be the Messiah. Will the Messiah come from the Galilee area as this man comes from? The Scriptures teach clearly that the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the town where King David was born." The people who declared this, were of course correct in understanding the Scriptures but they just did not know Jesus in His birth had indeed fulfilled them. They did not know what you have read about in the early chapters of this New Testament Bible Story. So the crowd was divided and confused in their opinions about Christ. And some still wanted Him arrested, but there was no one who dared touch Him. The Temple guards who had been sent to arrest Him returned to the leading Priests and Pharisees. "Why have you not arrested and brought him in?" they demanded to know from them. "Have you also been led astray?" the Pharisees mocked with an evil smirch of a smile. "Can you find a single Pharisee or any one among the rulers of the people, who believe in him? Many of these silly ignorant people do, but what do they know about spiritual matters and who is from God? A curse on them anyway!" Well, there was one among those Pharisees and rulers, who had met with Jesus secretly a while back, as we saw in an earlier chapter. You remember? He was Nicodemus. He had kept it a secret that he felt this Jesus fellow was from God and had God with Him. Now he spoke up in Jesus' defense, well somewhat in His defence, "Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?" he asked. They cynically and quickly replied, "Hu, are you from Galilee too? Are you wanting to stick-up for this fellow who works by the prince of the demons? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself - no prophet from God has ever come from Galilee!" Nicodemus was correct, the law of the Jews prohibited any one from being condemned without a legal hearing, but those leaders by this time were so filled with hate for Jesus they were willing to turn a blind eye to any of their laws of proper justice. They were now filled with one thing in their hearts and minds, how they could have Jesus killed. Nicodemus, was out numbered by far, and was silenced by their mocking words in reply to his statement. Everyone had enough of the whole scene and confused opinions about this man called Jesus Christ. They dispersed and all went to their respective homes for the evening and the night (John 7: 37-53). THE EIGHTH DAY - THE LAST GREAT FEAST Jesus spent the night on the Mount of Olives, in prayer and meditation. He knew there was much to happen the next day. He was back at the Temple very early after spending the night in spiritual refreshment and physical rest. He was back in the Temple to teach because it was the EIGHTH day, the day AFTER the Feast of Tabernacles. Many have missed this very important understanding because of their wrong understanding of John 7: 37 and the day on which that took place. We are now at the NEXT DAY AFTER the seven day Feast of Tabernacles. It is called the "eighth" day in the book of Leviticus, chapter 23. It was an ANNUAL SABBATH day. It was in reality the LAST FEAST of a total of SEVEN Feasts of the Lord as outlined in Leviticus 23. As Alfred Edersheim has mentioned above, it was regarded as a SEPARATE FEAST to the Lord. It was NOT a part of the Feast of Tabernacles. As we have seen from Edersheim, the "booths" for the Feast of Tabernacles were dismantled on the AFTERNOON of the 7th day of the Feast of Tabernacles. On the OCTAVE DAY, the 8th day, a Sabbath day, there were different SPECIAL sacrifices offered as prescribed in the law of Moses, besides the regular daily sacrifices. Jesus was back in the Temple to teach on this LAST GREAT FEAST DAY! As He was teaching the crowd that had gathered about Him, the teachers of the religious law and Pharisees brought a woman they had literally caught in the act of adultery (sleeping with another man other than her husband). They put her in front of the crowd that was listening to Jesus. "Teacher," they said to Him, "this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her to death for such a sin and violation of God's law. What do you say about the matter?" They were once more trying to trap Him into saying something they could use against Him, and hence make Him look foolish and inept on the matter of religious law, in front of the general populace of the people gathered around Him. Jesus said not a word. He stooped down and wrote in the dust with His finger. The religious leaders still demanded an answer from Him. He stood up and said to them, "All right, stone her, but let those who have never sinned throw the first stone at her!" He then stooped down again and wrote in the dust more words. When the accusers heard this and saw what Jesus had written, they started to slip silently away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left of the religious teachers, and the woman. Jesus then stood up once more and said to her, "Where are your accusers? Wasn't there a group of them here? Didn't even one of them condemn you?" "No, Lord," she answered. "Very well, then neither do I condemn you. Go your way, but remember, sin no more" Jesus told her, and she departed with thanksgiving in her heart for God's mercy. One thing we see immediately from this account. To commit the physical act of adultery takes TWO people, a MAN as well as a woman. These religious leaders said they caught the woman in the very act of adultery. They brought the woman to Jesus, but they did not bring the man. We must ask, why did they not? Even if we assume the man was too powerful and strong and broke away from them and ran for his life, Jesus did not ask where the man was. He did not fall into the trap of getting into all that question. He knew their hearts and what their mind was trying to accomplish by bringing the woman before Him. It was not for any kind of mercy, if the woman was repentant, but just to see what Jesus would do about the letter of the law of Moses. As well as to try and have Him break the law of the Romans who, though allowing just about all freedom to the Jews to practice and teach their religion, DID NOT allow the Jews to put anyone to death without authority from the Roman Government via its representative in Palestine. The words of Jesus that anyone among them who had never sinned should throw the first stone, and whatever words He wrote in the dust, it got to the heart of each of those religious teachers, and they clearly knew they had sinned, and did not want to go any further with the matter. It was a bad enough embarrassment to each of them as it was, without having Jesus do any more public declaring of "their sins" that no doubt also carried the death penalty with them under the letter of the law of Moses. Although a number of the laws of Moses carried the death penalty if violated, that did not mean the death penalty was automatically inflicted upon people, without the matter being righteously judged by the court and judges of the land of Israel. Mercy could be allocated to the offender if deep repentance could be shown by the guilty party. God has always been a God of mercy when mercy was deserved. The classic and outstanding example of that under the Old Testament was God's mercy upon the great King David. He also was guilty of adultery and more. When it was brought to his attention he repented DEEPLY, Psalm 51 is attributed to David as his repentance poem and prayer to God for MERCY. He was punished (by loosing his son in death when sickness befell him, which was covered in the Bible Story of the Old Testament) but God did have mercy upon him by not demanding the death penalty be applied to him. Jesus was also having mercy upon the woman caught in the act of adultery. But we also need to notice Jesus told her to "go, but sin no more." Mercy is not a license to sin at ones pleasure (John 7: 53 - 8: 1-11). JESUS' STRAIGHT TALK TO THE PHARISEES After the woman left Jesus turned to the people and said, "I am the LIGHT of the world. If you follow me, you will not stumble through the darkness, because you will have the LIGHT that leads to LIFE." Some of the Pharisees still there who were not part of the departing group, said, "You are making outrageous and false claims about yourself!" Jesus answered them, "No, these claims are valid even though I make them about myself. For I KNOW where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know this about me. You judge me from all your human limitations, but I am not judging anyone. And if I did, my judgment would be correct in every way because I am not alone - I have with me the Father who sent me. Even in your own law you can read that if two people agree about something, their witness is accepted as true and factual. I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other witness." "Who and where is your Father," they asked. "Since you do not know who I am, you also do not know who my Father is," Jesus replied, "and if you knew me, you would know my Father too." John the apostles tells us that Jesus made these statements in the part of the Temple called the Treasury. And He was not arrested because it was not yet the time for that event to happen. Later that day Jesus said to them again, "I am going away. You will search for me but will not find me, and you will die in your sins. You cannot come where I am going." The Jewish leaders had baffled and perplexed looks on their faces, and some among them said, "Is he panning to commit suicide? What does he mean, 'You cannot come where I am going'?" Jesus continued, "You are from below, this world; I am from above . You are of this world, I am not. That is why I said you would die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I say I am, you will die in your sins." "Tell us who you are," they demanded. Jesus replied to them, "I am the ONE who I have always claimed to be. I have much to say about you and much to condemn, but I will not, for I say only what I hear from the one who sent me, and He is very true." They still did not understand that He was talking to them about His Father in heaven. Many times Jesus had made it pretty clear to those religious leaders that His Father was the ONE God who was in heaven, and that He came from Him and was sent by Him, but no matter how He put it to them, it was like water running off a duck's back, they just didn't get it. Once more Jesus said to them, "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will realize that I am He and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak what the Father has taught me. And the one who sent me is with me - He has not deserted me. For I always do those things that are pleasing to Him." Jesus was referring to His being lifted up on the cross when He said those words about "When you have lifted up the Son of man" - but they also did not understand what He was meaning about that either. With all that Jesus had spoken during the Feast of Tabernacles and now what He had so far spoken on this Last Great Feast Day, John records in his Gospel that "many who heard Him say these things believed in Him" (John 8: 21-30). .............................. Written October 2002   Chapter Twenty-three: Continuation on Last Great Feast Day TRUE SONS OF ABRAHAM To those Jews who now believed in Jesus He said, "If you continue and endure in following my word, then you will truly be my disciples, and the truth you shall know, and what is more the truth will make you FREE!" Many other Jews were standing and listening to Him, and when they hear these words about being "free" they answered with some disgust in their voices, "We are Abraham's offspring, and were never in bondage to any man: why then do you say, 'You shall be made free'?" Jesus answered them saying, "It is the truth I'm saying unto you. Whoever practices a life of sin, just flowing along with it, is the slave and servant of sin. And the servant does not abide in his master's house forever, but the Son of the master does abide there forever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." Jesus was talking about Himself as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. With faith in His death, shed blood on the cross, and His risen immortal life, we can have freedom from being a slave to sin. The Jews were once more not getting it, and were horrified to think He was telling them that they were slaves. They had a large amount of self-righteous "religious" canopy over them as a people who had been chosen by God as "His special favored people" of all the peoples on the earth. Mentally, they never thought they were in bondage to anyone or anything. Jesus continued: "I know that you are Abraham's offspring; but I also know many of you seek to KILL me, because you cannot understand my word, it's just going in one ear and out the other ear. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and you speak what you have seen with your father." "You are talking ridiculously, how can we have been speaking with Abraham who has been dead for centuries, as he is our father," the Jews retorted again. "If you really were Abraham's children in attitude of mind and spiritual maturity, you would be living and doing the works of Abraham," Jesus replied to them. "But now many of you seek to kill me, a man who has told what the truth is, which I received from God. Abraham did not do what I've done. But you indeed do the deeds of your father, the one who is not Abraham." Oh, these words from Jesus really got them as mad as a wild snorting bull ready to charge. They knew there was some question about His birth, and that Mary His mother was "with child" before she was married to Joseph, so using this "crept out knowledge" from ones who knew Mary and Joseph before they were married, they flung back these words at Jesus, "Well...we are not born from fornication (sexual relations before marriage). We have ONE father, even God." Now, they changed from claiming Abraham as their father to what they certainly felt was an answer that Jesus would not be able to penetrate - that the one Almighty God was their father. But Jesus answered them, "If God was really in your heart and mind your Father, you would love me; for I have come from God; and I did not come of my own will and mind, but God Himself sent me. You do not understand my words, because you cannot comprehend in your mind what they are saying to you." Then, looking straight at them with piercing eyes, Jesus spoke words that must have cut them like a sharp two-edged knife, right between the ribs and into the heart. They were the plainest words He ever spoke to any of His enemies up to this point in time, "You are of YOUR FATHER THE DEVIL, and the lusts of your father you keep doing. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from what he is, for he is a liar, and he is the father and originator of lies. And because I tell you the truth, you do not like to hear it, and so do not believe me. Tell me if you can, which one of you convinces me of sin? None of you, for it is the other way around, it is I that tells you the truth, and convinces you of sin. So why then do you not believe me? I will tell you. He that has a heart and mind that God loves and can communicate with, they can hear and understand God's word. But you hear not and do not understand because you are not of the same mindset as God. You are not His children!" Many Jews had in the past openly thought, said, and taught others, that this Jesus Christ man was from the Devil, doing all He did by the power given to Him from the Devil himself. Jesus had now laid it down also openly and plainly, that He taught it was THEY not Him who was from the Devil. Once more they shouted back to Jesus and all within hearing range, their old theme about Him, "We have said well and correctly, that you are from the Samaritan sect and that you have a demon in you." The Samaritans were a Jewish sect just to the north of Judea. In going to Galilee from Jerusalem, as Jesus and His disciples often did, they would frequently have passed through this area called Samaria (not the land area of the Old Testament Samaria, but only a small portion of land, see a Bible Atlas on the four Gospel period). The Samaritans were hated by the Jews of Judea because they had their own "temple" and "Jewish worship system" apart from and separate from, the Jews of the rest of Palestine. To say that you were a Samaritan and had a demon possessing you, was about the lowest, and dirtiest language of the time, that a Jew could rail at anyone. Jesus was not about to back down this time around, "I have not a demon; but I honor my Father, and you, by your words and mental attitude, dishonor me. I do not seek my own glory. There is ONE that seeks and judges, He knows my heart and your hearts. I'm telling you the truth, if any person will obey my saying, live by what I teach, he shall not die." "Oh, now we know for sure, " the Jews replied, "now we know you have a demon in you. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and you stand here and tell us that if anyone keeps your words, they shall not taste of death. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? Are you greater than the prophets, who are dead also? Who do you think you are? What are you saying about yourself?" Jesus was not saying to them that people who lived by His words would never taste of physical death, but somehow keep right on living. He was saying (as we have seen before in other chapters) that people who follow Him, would have eternal life within them, and would one day inherit the Kingdom of God. They would not die forever, but be raised to immortal life in a resurrection. In some translations from the Greek, it is rendered this way, as Jesus actually saying, "If a man keep my sayings he shall not die forever." But, the Jews took it to mean Jesus was teaching that those who followed Him would never die in this physical life. They knew that great men of God like Abraham, was not still alive. They knew such men did not have an immortal soul that kept on thinking, and talking, and walking around, in some "other world" - be it heaven or wherever. So they naturally wanted to know who He thought He was that could have followers who would live and never die. Jesus was not about to loose the opportunity to now be pretty plain and frank about who He was and that He had lived in the ages past. "If I honor myself, my honor is then nothing, just ones man's talk and idea. It is my Father that honors me; of whom you are claiming He is your God, and that you are His children. Yet, you do not know Him, you just think you do. But I know Him, if I should say that I did not, I would simply be a liar, and so be like all of you. But I do know Him, and I keep His word and teachings. Your father Abraham rejoiced TO SEE MY DAY, and he did SEE IT, and was overjoyed." The Jews knew exactly what Jesus was meaning by these last words especially. They were not blinded at all to what Jesus was now telling them. He was telling them that He lived in the days of Abraham. They knew He was saying this for with amazement they replied to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, no where near that age, and you are telling us that you lived when Abraham lived and that you saw Abraham when he lived on this earth. Is not that what you are telling us?" With truth at His side, Jesus replied to them, "It is true, very true, I'm saying to you that before Abraham was ever born, the I AM was me." The letters "I AM" in the English translations as found in the book of Exodus. The God that talked to Moses at the burning bush, the God who told Moses to tell the people, if they asked who had sent him to them, to tell them His name was I AM. It means "Eternal, self-existent one." All religious Jews of Christ's time knew very well that the "I AM" of the Old Testament was none other than God Almighty. They did not know there were two person in the one God or Godhead, and that both had the same names, just as it sometimes is with a father and son who have the same names (but with us we usually call the son, John Junior, and the father as just John). They did not know that fact, and to them it would not have mattered anyway. All they knew for sure was that this Jesus man, was now clearly claiming to be their God, the I AM, the eternal one of Moses' time. For anyone to claim such a title, to claim they were God, was, in Jewish eyes complete and utter blasphemy! Such blasphemy of sin was punishable by death. They knew Roman law forbade them to put anyone to death without consent from the Roman authorities, but they were so filled with outrage at what they now knew Jesus was saying about Himself, that they forgot about any Roman law and immediately picked up stones to throw at Him and to kill Him on the spot. But Jesus walked through the midst of them. It was not yet His time to be put to death (John 8: 31-59). HEALING THE MAN BORN BLIND Jesus leaves the Temple and as He is walking along He sees a blind man, and it is known by the disciples that this man was born blind. They asked Him, "Master, tell us, who was it that sinned, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" Before we see how Jesus answered them, we need to note that in this question we find that there are physical sins we or others can commit, and in so doing there could very well be a physical penalty to carry with us for the rest of our lives. The disciples knew this truth and so asked their question to Jesus. He replied, "It was not this man that sinned, nor was it his parents that sinned, but it was so ordained that he be born blind so the works of God could be manifested in him by his healing." This answer may at first seem somewhat harsh. Why would God ordain that a person be born blind and have to wait many years before God would heal him of that blindness? All I can give you for the answer to that question is to read Romans 9: 14-23 in a modern translation. Jesus continued to answer them, "I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night comes, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the LIGHT of the world." Jesus was relatively soon going to be arrested and finally put to death on the cross. In that sense it would be night. Then He was going to be resurrected and return to the Father in heaven. So, now He was in the world in person, and now it was day and light and time to work the works of God. After He had spoken these words, He spat on the ground and made some clay of the spittle. He then anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said to him, "Go and wash your face in the pool of Siloam (which word means - Sent). He did as Jesus commanded and washed, and he was healed from his blindness and came among the people seeing clearly. Why did Jesus make clay from spittle and anoint the blind man's eyes with it, and tell him to go and wash? Why not just say "the word" and heal him? Possibly the answer is that sometimes in being healed from our sicknesses and afflictions, we must do our part in doing whatever needs to be done on the physical side, a "getting in harmony with nature" some like to call it. Our body is a very intricate machine and we must keep all parts in balance and good working order to have and maintain good health. The physical laws of food, water, sleep, exercise, proper mental and emotional health, must all be kept in balance and correct function within God's physical laws, to be healthy. Then again, Jesus making clay and anointing his eyes might just have been an example to us that God heals in different ways, at different times, with different people. As the man went among the people now being healed, many who had known that he was born blind began to talk among themselves. "Is this not the man that we know was born blind and sat and begged?" some asked with amazement. "Yes, it is indeed him!" replied others, but then some said, "No, I do not think so, it is someone who just looks like him." But the man himself, on hearing all this, spoke up and said, "It is I, I am the man who was born blind, but now I can see like the rest of you." "Well, this is fantastic," some shouted out, "so please tell us who performed this miracle on you?" "A man they call Jesus. He made some clay, anointed my eyes with it, and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Shiloam and wash,' so I did, and I received sight in my eyes," replied the man with great happiness and excitement in his voice. "Where is this man,?" they asked him. "Well...he is...hummm, I don't know," he answered them. Some individuals brought the man to the Pharisees. John the apostle tells us, as it is in the original Greek, "it was Sabbath when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes." Yes, it was the same day as Jesus was teaching in the Temple earlier, which was the day AFTER the seven day Feast of Tabernacles. It was the EIGHTH day (as Leviticus chapter 23 calls it). It was a Sabbath, not THE SABBATH, which is used in the Gospels to indicate the SEVENTH DAY Sabbath of the fourth commandment. The word "THE" is not in the Greek. The Greek reads, "It was Sabbath...." And the context makes it clear that it was Sabbath of the EIGHTH DAY FEAST.....the LAST GREAT FEAST of God's festivals as outlined in Leviticus 23. Some knew the Pharisees would be very interested in this man and who had healed him ON a Sabbath day. They would deem it as breaking the Sabbath, especially when going to the work of making clay. Such was their interpretations and man made rules of "not working on a Sabbath" as we saw earlier, and as we can find in written history by orthodox Jews even to this day. Now it was the turn of the Pharisees to ask the man how he received his sight. He answered them as he did the people before who asked the same question. Sure enough, when the Pharisees heard the man's reply as to how he was healed, some said, "The man who did this healing is not of God, because he has broken the law of Sabbath keeping." But to this some replied, "How can such a man you claim is a sinner, do such mighty miracles?" So once again there was division among them concerning Jesus. They then turned to the man himself who had been healed and said, "Well, what do you think about this man that opened your eyes so you can now see? Do you think he is from God?" "I think he must be a prophet from God, yes, I think he must be," the man answered them. Now, the Pharisees, began to doubt that the man had ever been born blind in the first place. They decided they wanted to hear from his parents if such was really true. They called for the parents to be found and to coming to them, they asked, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? If so, then how do you suppose he can now see?" "Yes, he certainly is our son, and yes, he was indeed born blind, this we know being his parents. But we have no clue as to the means by which his eyes were opened to be able to see. He is an adult, he can speak for himself. Ask him," responded the man's parents. The apostle John tells us that the reply by these parents was precipitated because they feared the Pharisees and their supporters, as they had agreed among themselves to put out of the synagogue's fellowship, anyone who confessed that Jesus was the Christ. So the parents turned it back to their son to answer this question of how he was healed from blindness. The man who could now see was called again to appear before the Jewish leaders. They confronted him with, "You should give God all the praise, for we know the man who did this to you is a great sinner." "If he be a sinner or not a sinner, I do not know. I only know this one thing, whereas I was blind, I can now see," answered the man. "Very well, but what did he do to you, how did he go about healing you and restoring your sight?" asked the leaders. "I've already told you, I've answered you before on this question. Why are you asking me again the same question, is it because you want to be his disciples?" the man replied with some sarcasm in his voice, knowing they had no such intention in being disciples of Jesus. Did this reply ever make them upset, and with anger they told him, "We are Moses' disciples, but we bet that you are a disciple of this man Jesus. We know God spoke to Moses face to face, but as to this fellow who healed you from blindness, we don't know where he is from or who has sent him." With a gasp of amazement the man answered, "Well, this is surely quite something, what a marvel, you do not know even from where he comes, yet he opened my eyes. We know it is a fact that God does not hear gross sinners, and we also know that if someone be a worshipper of God in sincerity and truth, and obeys Him, then God will hear that person. Then, it is also a fact that since the world began, no one has ever heard of anyone opening the eyes of a person born blind. If this man Jesus is not from God, he could not do anything like this miracle." Getting even hotter under the collar, the leaders screamed back, "You were born in sins, you are from the gutter of society, and are you trying to teach us?" Then they cast him out and away from their company. It was reported to Jesus that the man had been cast out by the Jewish leaders, and He went searching for him. Finding him Jesus said, "Do you believe on the Son of God?" "Who is He, Lord, that I might believe?" the man asked. "You have seen Him, and He is the person now talking to you," Jesus answered. "Oh yes, Lord, I do believe," the man replied with praise in his voice, and he fell down and worshipped Him. Jesus said, "For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and they which see might be made blind." Some of the Pharisees standing nearby and hearing these words, said, "Are we blind also?" They knew what Jesus was meaning, and they knew the truth of what had being going on this whole day. They knew the truth as to what Jesus was saying and the miracles He was performing, that it was all from God. Deep in their hearts they knew the truth. Jesus knew they knew and so responded to their question with these words, "If you were blind, you should have no sin; but now you admit, 'We see'; therefore your sin remains." When you are ignorantly blind there can be a good reason to say "we have no sin" for you do not know or understand that you have sin, but when you know better, and say "Are we also blind?" meaning that you are not blind to the truth, then you are in a position to repent of sin. These Pharisees knew the truth, but would not repent, hence their sins still remained on the books so to speak, and could not be blotted out by mercy through believing in Christ. The giving of sight to the man born blind was done on a Sabbath day, the one after the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the eighth day, the last great Feast Day of the religious festivals outlined in Leviticus 23. The Feast of Tabernacles pictures the 1,000 years reign of Christ on the earth, the millennium as it is commonly called today (see Zechariah 14). The Last Great Feast Day pictures the second judgment resurrection, when millions who were spiritually blinded in their physical life, who died in that blindness, will be raised to physical life once more, and will be given the book of life and a chance to have that spiritual blindness removed. They will be given an opportunity to be healed from sin, and to accept Jesus as Savior, as the Son of God, and to worship Him, just as the man born blind was given his physical sight and an opportunity to know who the Son of God was, and to worship Him. It was and is a wonderful example of what is to happen in the future when this Last Great Feast Day becomes a reality, as the plan of God for the salvation of all who have ever lived, is unfolded for all to see. For most they will accept sight, but for some, their sins will remain, and sadly they may reject knowing the very Son of God (John 9: 1 - 41). MORE LAST FEAST DAY TRUTH Jesus taught more fitting truths on this Sabbath Feast Day, saying: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he that enters not by the door into the sheep-fold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that enters in through the door is the shepherd of the sheep. And to him the gatekeeper opens; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. And when he leads out his own sheep he goes before them leading the way, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but will actually flee from him; for they do not know the voice of strangers." Again, most of the people did not understand what Jesus was talking about. They could not gather that He was talking about Himself being THE shepherd and only through Him could you enter the Kingdom of God. Salvation could not be obtained by being a "good" ....whatever....Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist, Communist, native in some tribe in dark Africa or anything else, WITHOUT Christ as your Lord and Savior. Jesus is the ONLY door, the only shepherd of the sheep (Acts 4: 12). Those that are His sheep will know Him and know His voice. This is why there needs to be a day, an age, when millions who have never known the only shepherd and door to the Kingdom, will be raised to life again, so they can have blindness removed and the book of life opened to them (Rev.20: 11-15). Jesus continued and explained, "Truly, it is very true, that I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; by me if any person enters in, they shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture." Yes, all other forms of religion, or self-help, or "new age" philosophy or whatever else is out there to teach people they can find eternal life through belief in them, are simply thieves and robbers. They just do not cut the mustard as we might say. Jesus went on talking about the thief and Himself as the good shepherd: "The thief comes, but only to steel, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and that people might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. But he that is only hired as a stand in for the shepherd, is not the shepherd, and the sheep do not belong to him. When he sees the wolf coming, he doesn't care about the sheep, and runs off. The wolf then breaks in, catches some, and scatters the rest of the sheep. The hired hand flees, because he is only a hired hand, and doesn't really have personal concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep, and they know me. As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And there are other sheep I have which are not of this fold of Judah: them I must also bring into the my sheep-fold, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be ONE fold, and ONE shepherd. Therefore my Father loves me, because I will lay down my life, that I might take it up again. No man takes it from me, but I willingly will lay it down. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again. This commandment I have received from my Father." Jesus' life was "in his own hands" we would say. It was the Father's wish, directive, that He lay it down for the sheep, and in so doing He had the knowledge that it would be taken up again. His life would be resurrected from the dead. Jesus was a willing sacrifice for the sheep, and so the Father loved Him greatly. Also the sheep-fold of Jesus was more than just the people of Judea, even more than all the people of Israel. It would include people from all nations of the world eventually, as we shall see when we come to the Bible Story in the book of Acts. But being made up of many from all nations it would still be ONE sheep-fold, belonging to Christ, and He would still be the only shepherd of that fold, the only door for the sheep to enter to obtain eternal life. After Jesus ended this teaching, there was once more disagreement and division among the Jews about Him for all that He taught. Some again said He had a demon, that He was mad, and not to listen to Him. Others said, "No, these are not the words of him that has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?" (John 10: 1-21). ......................... Written October 2002