I can understand Thomas. Part 5 of 5

Posted on 03/09/2014 by remso

This section on Thomas seems like it could stand alone, we often get sermons that do just that, and yet it is deeply intertwined on the basis of belief, doubt, and mercy. Thomas, it seems, is unfairly singled out, for he believed no more or less than the others. No doubt, Thomas was very open with his thoughts, that does not necessarily make you a dissenter. Historically we know that Thomas died a martyr in the service of Christ, proving his loyalty to the master.

In John’s gospel, chapter 11, verses 1-54, despite imminent danger at the hands of hostile Jews, Jesus declared His intention of going to Bethany to heal Lazarus,….

John 11:8 NASB The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?”

Thomas alone opposed the other disciples who sought to dissuade Him, and protested,

John 11:16 NASB Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”

I can understand Thomas; I relate to him easily. He sees things in black and white, this is the kind of reaction you get from someone who has experienced grief and pain. I know, I have been there.

John 20:24 NASB But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

I made an assumption once again. I assumed that Thomas was with them in the house. Every flannel graph I ever saw as I was growing up in church school, showed Thomas there with them. Truth is we do not know where Thomas was; perhaps he was with his own family. He does not come back into the picture for eight days.

John 20:25 NASB So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

Thomas had not gone to the tomb; he did not hear Mary’s testimony of how Jesus appeared to her; he was not there when Jesus appeared in the closed room with them, and showed them the wounds in his wrists and feet.

John left off the part where none of them believed upon seeing the wounds, wounds that the people in that room knew would have been there, and they failed to mention that when Jesus spoke to them about all the things written about Him in scripture, things He had previously told them about Himself, still did not convince them. It was only after he asked for and ate some broiled fish that their eyes were open and they believed.

There is that word again, believe.

How many times now, in this twentieth chapter have we seen this concept?

What did they believe this time?

John 20:26 NASB After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”

Eight days after the first appearance of Jesus He appears again.

Again there is a significance and I missed it. Truthfully I am not getting it fully but here is what I am picking up on. While the death of Jesus put them into a depression, and sent everyone back to whatever they had known so that they could continue living. The disciples still had one common bond, and that was to meet together on the first day, Sunday. In that house, a place they have been so many times, they ate together, talked about what they saw and heard Jesus say that day; they talked about what was to become our life in Christ, and they bonded with each other. Do we see that directly by our casual glances at God’s word? NO! We have to pay attention to details.

Apparently life was permitted to get in the way at times and that may be what we saw with Thomas. Jesus death was certainly a life event and none of us knows how deeply it affected Thomas.

(If you read this, thinking it’s farcical conjecture, then I ask you to think about almost every event that centers on Jesus as you read the gospels. Where were they when these things took place? Jerusalem, near or in the temple or synagogues, or in the court-yard that women and gentiles had access to. The Sabbath is over and they are allowed to travel beyond the distance limit that Jewish law prescribed. And the fact that Sabbath ended at sunset making it the perfect time to recap a days events. This kind of thought opens all kinds of doors for speculation about how they lived their lives. They may have fished throughout the week and made the migration into Jerusalem before Sabbath began, making base camp at “the house”. Can you imagine what it would be like to spend even 24 hours in the presence of Jesus one day a week. I want so badly to say my life would be changed, but then the thought occurs to me, He lives in me!)

John MacArthur’s commentary says this about Thomas, and I agree with his conclusion. “Thomas has already been portrayed as loyal, but pessimistic. Jesus did not rebuke Thomas for his failure, but instead compassionately offered him proof of His resurrection. Jesus lovingly met him at the point of his weakness (2Timothy_2:13). Thomas’ actions indicated that Jesus had to convince the disciples rather forcefully of His resurrection, i.e., they were not gullible people predisposed to believing in resurrection. The point is they would not have fabricated it or hallucinated it, since they were so reluctant to believe, even with the evidence they could see.”

I am always battling past the voices in my head that try to tell me, “You have said enough already. No one needs to hear your rambling on anymore!” I could not tell you distinctly what a demon voice sounds like. (Well, there was that once when I was a child and I heard this distorted voice come out of a beautiful woman that the “men” of the church were praying over in an attempt to release her from demon possession. She sounded like some of those creepy voices they make up in the movies; you know the ones that make you lose sleep for weeks, as she said with a cackle, I know who you are.) Most of the time they are familiar voices; the same ones that sound like an old supervisor, your dad, your mom, an ex-wife; probably the same ones that told you cannot do it, make it, or succeed.) See, you are not so different from me. And we, are not so different from the disciples.

The next two passages really need no great discussion, for we have seen this, almost word for word when Jesus appeared in the closed room eight days earlier.

John 20:27-28 NASB Then He *said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” (28) Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

I will give Thomas this. At this gesture he believed. The rest of them had to sit through a foundational study given Jesus himself, and still could not believe. It was not until Jesus proved he was not a ghost by eating some fish, that they believed. Thomas bypassed two steps in his ascent to faith.

Perhaps we make the assumption that Thomas’ statement was literal, and that he shoved his hands into the hole in Jesus side. Just the thought of that is disgusting. You ought to understand by now that Thomas was “Mr. Brash Statement” guy himself. Jesus, disgusted by the disciples lack of understanding, told the guys they were going to raise Lazarus from the dead. Thomas responds to all this with, “let’s go to Jerusalem and die with him.” Everyone understood what he meant, and the possibilities were real. If that was to be their fate that day, it would have happened. But do you think Jesus was going to allow anything outside of the Father’s will to happen?

John 20:29 NASB Jesus *said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

I do not know if it is the emphasis that a preacher puts on this passage, but I cannot remember a time that it ever came across as a positive for Thomas.

Think about what John has shown us by word pictures. Jesus showed up in a closed room. Gives a common greeting of peace, and begins multiple attempts at proofs necessary for bringing them back to a foundation of belief. With Thomas, Jesus does the same thing, but does not have to go through every step, and Thomas believes. The other disciples, and those with them, DID NOT BELIEVE, and took so much more convincing.

(It may have been necessary, because the believer that has poured over scripture has seen that this foundation is rehashed many times in scripture, and is foundational to our belief as well. This may have been purposefully done this way as a way of establishing these concepts in them. I am glad they did.)

So, who believe without seeing could be directed at us. We only have the words on a page, and images those words build within us. Not seeing this Jesus, but trusting His words, I believe.

Perhaps it all boils down to this:

John 20:31 MSG These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.

If there was a person that could sell this to us, it would be John.

He had to work through all the unbelief and doubt,

He had to conquer his anger and rage,

He had to learn what love really was.

When you think about all the years of mellowing that God put him through, initiating him into manhood, it is easier to see more clearly what happened this day, as John did.

Posted in Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Belief, Bethany, Christ, Christianity, Faith, God, God's word, Holy spirit, hope, Jesus, Jews, John, Lord, Mary, Peter, Thomas | 2 Comments

It is so easy to do, create a formula for success. Part 4 of ?

Posted on 03/07/2014 by remso

Having once again blessed them with a declaration of peace and telling them, “I also send you” he gives them the greatest gift of all, the Holy Spirit.

John 20:22 NASB And when He had said this, He breathed on them and *said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

The best thing I can do to explain or define what the power of the Holy Spirit can do in a person is to show you how it exuded from Peter. You are going to have to read it, for it is effectively the entire second chapter of Acts. The result of Peter’s oration, in direct response to the leading of the Holy Spirit, was that about three thousand souls got saved that day.

“He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

It so easy to do, create a formula for success. The chief priests and scribes had done just that, and added reams of laws that not even they could keep. Perhaps Jesus in his own way had tried to show that creativity is not inappropriate, for he made mud from spit and had the man wash in the pool of Siloam, knowing full well that he was breaking Jewish law by doing it. He went against the grain of society and cleanliness laws just by speaking with the woman with the issue of blood; this was wrong on so many levels. And he spit in another mans eyes to bring about a healing. Good lord, he even ate with sinners.

He breathed on them this evening and said, .. Receive the Holy Spirit.

Is there any doubt what happened to them?

But do we see the dramatic results that we see in the second chapter of Acts? No. Don’t get discouraged. Jesus never said a prayer that did not get answered. He was God of course, but dependent upon the instructions of the Father by choice.

What happens next is mind-boggling, and would be completely unrelated if he had not said, “..as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

John 20:23 NASB “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

“If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them;”

Had they heard something comparable to this before?

Matthew recorded this: Matthew 16:19 NASB “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”

We see another example in: Matthew 18:18 NASB “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

Ask yourself, why did Jesus go to the cross?

This of course has a multifaceted answer, but one of the answers that stands out was to, like the scapegoat, take all the sins, once, for all time, of the world.

Jesus Christ took them already, that makes John MacArthur’s assertion much more valid.

“This does not give authority to Christians to forgive sins. Jesus was saying that the believer can boldly declare the certainty of a sinner’s forgiveness by the Father because of the work of His Son …”

There is more to this quote but I cannot agree with it.

But that is only half the sentence. It continues with: “..if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

The book of Acts makes a statement that brings clarity to this.

Acts 13:38-39 NASB “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, (39) and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.

Forgiven and freed because Jesus put himself on the cross. As a stand alone statement this idea of retaining someone’s sin is muddy water indeed.

“Jesus gave them the privilege of telling new believers that their sins have been forgiven because they have accepted Jesus’ message” (Life Application Study Bible)

Robertson’s Word Pictures states, The power to forgive sin belongs only to God, but Jesus claimed to have this power and right (Mar_2:5-7).

Mark 2:5-7 NASB And Jesus seeing their faith *said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (6) But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, (7) “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?“

We can take one of two approaches to this.

Only God has the power to forgive and He did this already. That being said and/or established then we have to decide what Jesus was trying to say. We may need to also ask, what was John trying to tell us as he conveyed what he saw and heard that evening for it implies that we have authority to proclaim forgiveness over people. (Really, that seems ridiculous considering the bloody sacrifice Christ made of Himself to gain our freedom.)
If we are going to believe that God gave the power of forgiveness to us, then what is our responsibility and reasonable method of approaching this?

Obviously Jesus took all sin on the cross.

I know of no better way of making this next idea clear other than to tell what I can remember of an old ranchers philosophy. Cattle tend not to be very smart and run themselves into fences many times over to get feed and water. Instead of consistently damaging the cattle you put them in an environment that has a fresh water supply and they will stay within close proximity.

So if I equate us to cattle and Jesus the water (He is!), then, in theory, we would not wander far from the water supply, and in reality no one would have to worry about us. But that never happens, and we get bombarded with sermons on sin. It is something that we have to deal with constantly.

Perhaps the problem lies in how we approach the inconsistencies of life (things we call sin). If Jesus took away the penalty for sin His actions apply primarily to those who accept the fact that He did this. Those who choose to stay outside of belief will not be judged for the sin, that is gone (the penalty/bondage was taken by Jesus voluntary actions), but they will be judged for not accepting the one who took the sin upon himself.

I cannot refute God’s word, and it says we are all sinners still.

“… the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. (8) If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (10) If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” 1 John 1:7-10 NASB

Our sins may not be so overt, like murder, or manufacturing drugs, but may be what we think of as little indiscretions.

I will tell one that recently challenged me. I attend several groups. One of them was a book study. In there we would read, stop after a period and attempt to discuss what we read. Often, after a painful silence (I refrain from speaking at times because I feel like I talk all the time,) I will bring up something that touches me deeply. After I expressed myself, keeping this personal to me, I was attacked verbally by one of the guys. I am not just being overly sensitive about this as a friend of mine picked up on the attack and verbally went after this guy. (I sometimes have to choose to not retaliate, because I can easily swing over into a rage, and I am not really that skillful at impromptu apologetics.) I left that group over the negativity and the personal need to return to John Eldredge’s Wild At Heart.I deemed that man unsafe and judged him unfairly. As I sat in a recent recovery meeting, where this young man gave his testimony, God spoke to me and said, “you judged him unfairly.” and he reminded me of what I had said in my heart. If I am going to be honest, this is sin.

What is sin? Missing the mark! As a former archery competitor I can tell you that from 80 yards out the “mark” seems to be about an inch wide. The overall size of the entire target is about 3 foot wide. My goal is to hit the three-inch spot in the middle. It is very easy to miss the center, but you have to go out of your way to miss the 3 foot wide target. If I hit the target while trying to hit the center, at least I am trying.

My judgment of this young man, meant that I was not even trying. When God spoke to me about what I had done I knew immediately that I had to take care of this. Moments later I went to my small group meeting and when it was my turn to speak I told them about what God had said to me. A week later I was able to get access to this young man and addressed my bad attitude toward him. He thanked me for that. I believe that this is what we are supposed to do.

Eventually Peter would write: 1 Peter 2:24 NASB and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

Jesus knew that Peter described had happened, but did they?

If they could have recalled what Isaiah had prophesied perhaps then his statement, “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” would make more sense. (By reading, not only John’s gospel but Luke’s as well, I was able to understand that He had walked them through the scriptures that spoke of Him.)

Isaiah 53:4-6 NASB Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. (5) But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. (6) All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.

I opened with “It is so easy to do, create a formula for success”. Is there a formula that we could use here? Maybe. If I start with a relationship with Christ as a basis, then start making efforts to hit the target, preferably the bulls-eye. If you miss, then pay attention to the voice of the Lord and He will tell you how to correct it. You don’t have to focus on SIN; focus on the giver of life, focus on hearing His voice, focus on Jesus Christ – the one that took your sins, and gave you his life.

If you are mess then it is time for you to get honest and get yourself into Recovery. Look, this is not about alcoholism, it is about your inability to fix yourself, something that you have tried for years, with no success. At what point do you admit that you are powerless and need accountability partners and people who are willing to walk through recovery with you.

Posted in Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Belief, Bible, Christ, Christianity, Faith, God, God the Father, Gospel of Matthew, healing, Holy spirit, hope, Jesus, Jesus Christ, New American Standard Bible, Scripture, Sin, thoughts | 1 Comment

They still could not believe. – Part 2

Posted on 03/05/2014 by remso

One of things you have to do is take the superhero cape off these guys. The were just like you and me, and, they struggled to believe.

John 20:20 GW When he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were glad to see the Lord.

Again I ask, what were they willing to believe?

Luke 24:40-45 NASB And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. (41) While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” (42) They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; (43) and He took it and ate it before them. (44) Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (45) Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,

Given all that happened in that room, and so quickly; the holes still there in his wrists and feet where they drove the spikes, and still no one is buying into this being Him.

“While they still could not believe it..”

Luke 24:41-43 NASB While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” (42) They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; (43) and He took it and ate it before them.

Remember, John said he believed at the tomb. I think he was putting pieces of the puzzle together.

We all looked to see what he showed us, there is no sense denying that curiosity, but the thing that changed everything was when he began to recount all the words he had pointed out in scripture about himself, just like a did to the guys on the road to Emmaus.

Nope, that did not do it. Alright, how do I prove I am not a ghost? So he said to them:

“Have you anything here to eat?” (42) They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; (43) and He took it and ate it before them.

As one of the guys noted at bible study, “these guys believed in ghosts!”

Matthew 14:26 NASB When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear.

I can just imagine Jesus thinking, I have to get them past this, and so he began to speak.

“These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (45) Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,

The game was back on. Jesus brought them back to reality and changed the game plan.

John 20:21 NASB So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

“Shalom Aleichem, as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

He had sent us out before, but we knew we would be back and he would be here. We all had the most amazing things happen; healings, demons leaving, and none of us needed a thing for people took care of us, just as Jesus had said they would.

Albert Barnes commentary says, “As God sent me to preach, to be persecuted, and to suffer; to make known his will, and to offer pardon to men, so I send you.” I recently got a recruiter calling me to see if I was interested in an appliance repair position. They always give you a 15 second overview of the position, but that never answers all the questions you might have. When Jesus recruited these guys he told them that he would make them fishers of men. If you are a fisherman then you know that catching is in involved, but what are you trying to say now? Three years later he has just come back from the dead, and is now telling us in detail that his life and death is now our path to follow.

Would you have signed up if you knew the cost?

One of the things I see as I have migrated through scripture is that we need empowerment, and that only comes through the Holy Spirit. I think time and religion have clouded every aspect of the Holy Spirit’s work on earth, but this day was the beginning for them. They were looking through new eyes.

Having once again blessed them with a declaration of peace and telling them, “I also send you” then he gives them the greatest gift of all, the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is a gift.

Should I offer a gift and you:

Take it, but never open it. Then it never does you any good.
You can refuse to accept the gift. Once again you have lost out.
Your third and best option is to receive all that God has for you.

Accepting the free gift of the Holy Spirit is your choice, but it is a wise one. Think of it as a tool, one in which you get to communicate with the Father and no one can monitor your communication.

In Mark 1:8, Mark is relating how John the Baptist indicated that Jesus would baptize in the Holy Spirit.
Luke gospel (1:15) is referring to John the Baptist being filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth.
Luke 2:25 conveys: ” there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.”
Acts 1:8 NASB but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
Acts 2:1-6 NASB When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. (2) And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. (3) And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. (4) And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. (5) Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. (6) And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language.
Acts 8:14-17 NASB Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, (15) who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. (16) For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. (17) Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.
Acts 19:2-6 NASB He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” (3) And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” (4) Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” (5) When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. (6) And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.
John 7:37-39 NASB Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. (38) “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'” (39) But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Dive in, it is there for you. Allow the rivers to flow through you.

Be blessed, in the Name of the King, Jesus the Christ.

Posted in Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Belief, Bible, Christianity, Faith, God's word, Gospel of Matthew, Holy spirit, Jesus, Jews, John, Lord, Luke, Moses, Psalms, Scripture, Scriptures, thoughts | 1 Comment

The day started early.

Posted on 03/05/2014 by remso

John 20:19 -31; Luke 24 – Part 1

Once again I emphasized my belief that John was writing to Jewish believers. I say this because here he is making the point that it was still the first day. To the Jewish mind there is an instant understanding when John says this. The hearer or reader understood immediately that it is still light, for sunset marks the beginning of a new day.

Although John does not expound on it, there were many that made it to the tomb that day.

Told by the angel to go and tell the disciples, at least, Mary Magdalene did what the angel asked of her, for she found John and Peter.

Jerusalem, even then, was a large city. How was she supposed to find them all, just start running about the city shouting their names? Considering the fear that is expressed by their “shutting” the door I don’t think so, for that would have drawn even more unwanted attention.

Jesus seemed to make a point of personally addressing the two on the road to Emmaus. (They were headed North West out of Jerusalem. What does that imply?)

Consider that after Jesus finally breaks bread with them, they too believed, to some degree, for they changed course and returned to Jerusalem, to the house where they knew they would find the others. For whatever the reasons they felt comfortable enough to have used a particular home; all of them. A relative of one, or a friend of the “ministry.”

John 20:19 NASB So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and *said to them, “Peace be with you.”

“So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week”

As the day has progressed we find them gathering together, but not all.

It’s probably a little more than cool this time of the day. It would only make sense to close the doors and put out some candles. It is John telling us that the doors were shut for fear of the Jews.

“and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews”

The doors might be closed anyway, but fear has driven them to secure the doors so that no one walks in uninvited.

Fearing the Jews?

You might think that the Jews had appeased their anger; apparently not. Remember that the chief priests had worked themselves into a frenzy and the only thing that diffused that momentum was their wish to prepare for their religious practices. What ever evil they had been performing had to come to a quick end before the Sabbath which began at sundown.

They have had three days to calm down, but John understood their ways and their anger; he has watched it for at least three years. This meant something very significant to his Jewish audience.

John, looking back 90 years later, stated that when he looked at the grave-clothes and their placement, he believed. What did he believe?

The two on the road to Emmaus believed enough to turn around and return to the house in Jerusalem. What did they believe?

The door is secured. It was so crowded that John intentionally sits with his back against the door. No one is getting past him without damaging something (we did not call him one of the sons of thunder for nothing.) Only moments before securing the door someone did a head count and assured us that everyone was here. If they noticed that Thomas was missing they did not seem overly concerned. Mary had gone out of her way to round the disciples up (at least that is what we choose to believe), but Thomas was nowhere to be found. He must have gone home. Rather outspoken and belligerent at times, Thomas, just like the others, is aware that Jesus has died; what then is the sense of hashing this out anymore?

Jesus appeared to the two that were headed north-west and began talking with them. He explained who he was beginning with Moses (that covers a lot of territory) and the prophets (This was a long walk). The things he said are what we should understand as established believers, and are the foundations of our faith. Jesus, after what seems like some prodding from them, sits down to dinner with them. As he began to eat, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him and believed. They had to turn around and get back to Jerusalem with enough time to gather “all” the disciples. They were excited and they believed. What did they believe?

Luke 24:33 NASB states,

And they (the two from the Emmaus road) got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them,

We are not clear on who the “those who were with them” were. We can sort this out, but we have to look at Luke’s and Mark’s account to fill in the blanks.

Mary Magdalene
Mary the mother of James
Salome
Joanna
There may have been others.

Feeling relatively safe, now that the door is secured, they began discussing the days events.

Can you imagine the emotions, the feelings. It made sense as John described how the grave-clothes were laid. No one stealing a body would have gone to all that trouble. And what about the head cloth; lying by itself as if purposefully taken off. One stated with a pained voice, I saw his face. Why would anyone need to see how torn up he was again? The point of the discussion was if he was really alive. Sitting, standing, leaning against the wall, they were all hashing out what it all meant.

Maybe he was alive?

Don’t you remember what he said to us, how that he would rise again on the third day? You might think it was finally sinking in. The events of the day had all been very real. The witness of the two disciples on Emmaus road, realizing that it was Jesus, and they said he just disappeared after supper was over. Mary saw him there at the tomb earlier that day; he called her name, and she touched him.

Much like the death of a loved one, the reality may take days to sink in, and then once it does what do you do next? Having gone through such a horrid shock they are now challenged to believe that he is alive.

How do you dispute evidence; it is difficult at best, but it is so much easier to disqualify the eyewitnesses. This may be one of the reasons that John points out Mary Magdalene. Having read scripture you should have come to realize that Jesus, in the semi-barbaric world of the middle east, was the one person that showed women respect.

Mary Magdalene had seven demons cast out of her. I do not think that there were too many people who were not aware of how those things manifested themselves. Of the women that traveled with the company she is the prominent example of the power of God’s transformation and love in the life of a human.

“Jesus came and stood in their midst and *said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Forget what he looked like, how did he get in here? We assume so many things about this, and we cannot prove any of them. The word histemi indicates that he was suddenly standing there in the midst of them.

Although they, as a group, had not been trying to draw the attention of the chief priests, one of the ladies screamed when she saw him. Several in the room jumped to their feet as though they were on the defensive and several charged for the door. You would have thought a bomb had gone off.

Suddenly it all became silent when the voice that we had come know as Jesus said, “Shalom Aleichem!” (Peace to you!) It all made sense!

Luke’s gospel gives us some clarity that we do not see in John’s account. Keep in mind that Luke was a physician and details were important to him.

Luke 24:36-40 NASB While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and *said to them, “Peace be to you.” (37) But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. (38) And He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? (39) “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” (40) And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.

John told us that he believed, but I ask you again, what did John believe? Fully, completely? I don’t think so.

“Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?”

Because we don’t see things like this, a formerly dead man appearing in the living room, every day. It is hard to put into words, but some even tried to answer him, but you could not understand them. No one would go near him for people do not just appear in the middle of room. Mary, and the two that had seen him on the road, started to approach him for she had already seen him this day.

What were the doubts? Many.

I told you I would rise again! It seemed like an eternity but in truth it was only a few seconds later when Jesus, with just a hint of sarcasm, spoke again.

“ Look at my hands; look at my feet–it’s really me. Touch me. Look me over from head to toe. A ghost doesn’t have muscle and bone like this.” Luke 24:39 MSG

It was the same tone he used in response to Nathanael when he said, John 1:51 GW “I can guarantee this truth: You will see the sky open and God’s angels going up and coming down to the Son of Man.”

We recognized the voice and the manner of speaking, but none of us had ever seen anyone just appear in the middle of a secured room. No one moved toward him as yet.

Perhaps you, like John believe; the question is, what do you believe? We all struggle with belief. One of the things that recently challenged me was the passages about having faith like a grain of mustard seed.

Luke 17:5-6 NASB The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” (6) And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.

Having had a mustard seed between my fingers, I pinched them together and you can see no light between them; that is small, and are you telling me that I don’t even have that? If that is what it is all about, my lack, or their lack of faith, then we have no hope. But we do have hope and it is in the grace and mercy of the Father, and that Jesus Christ himself stands as our mediator. He does this because we are broken and weak without Him. As a participant in Celebrate Recovery I am consistently saying, I am a grateful believer. I now know why, because in my worst moments he is always faithful and I live in him. Give him your life, allow Him to give you life and heal you.

Posted in In Christ, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Belief, Christ, disciples, Faith, God's word, Gospel of Luke, Holy spirit, hope, Jerusalem, Jesus, jew, John, Mary Magdalene | 2 Comments

What an odd statement.

Posted on 02/22/2014 by remso

This is important to me. We are in the last innings of this ball game.

A Voice in the Wilderness

(7/21/13) Our usual men’s Sunday morning bible study.

The leader opened in prayer, asked if someone wanted to read the passages, which they did. He then turned to the group and said anyone have anything to say about what was read, giving me the impression that he had nothing.

I always have something to say. I operate on the principle of always be prepared to give witness to the faith that is in you. So, I waited several long, silent moments to see if anyone else would jump in, and then I started with verse one of John chapter 10.

The gospel of John is awesome, powerful, and consistently demonstrates that Jesus was God. Mere moments into the points I started to make I was cut off.

One of the men in our group has seminary training and feels that his dominance and voice is mandatory for most discussions. This…

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Posted in Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Belief, Bible, Christ, Christianity, deception, end times, future, God, HolySpirit, Jesus, Jesus Christ, prophecy, rapture, Scripture | Leave a comment

The letter I wish I had received.

Posted on 02/20/2014 by remso

One of the things I am doing to better myself and find a place of normalcy inside my head, is to be involved in a book study with some of the guys from church. There are only three of us in this group, and I know both of them well enough but we are getting to know each other better with each meeting. As you might imagine a small group allows for relationship building, the whole idea. The book we are reading, again, is, Wild At Heart, by John Eldredge.

Cover of "Wild at Heart: Discovering the ...

Cover via Amazon

I have been through two “boot camps” based upon this book and participated in a book study with this book before, but this time I think I am getting it. What changed? Me! And our leader said, “We all have the field manual that goes along with this book, so let’s answer those questions and come back each week prepared to talk about what we wrote.” Now consider that I have already been in a recovery group for nine months at this point. And I, with a little prompting, decided to answer the recovery questions that our manuals ask us with all the honesty I could muster. As you can imagine that was at first very difficult because you have to battle through a slew of emotions, especially when you have no self esteem, and you trust no one.

Recently, I had scrambled to get the questions answered for chapter four of the manual but could not get them all. Wouldn’t you know it, the last thing he asked as he skipped around some of the questions was the last one. I had not made it that far and had not even looked at it. Just looking at the question made my heart sink. With the premise that dad is now dead and going through his effects, you find this letter addressed to you. The question started off with, “What would you have loved to hear from your father? … what would you long for it to say? Is there an apology? An affirmation? Then Eldredge asked us to write that letter. I could hardly speak. I could not do the question justice by improvising at that moment.

I took some time, finished the other questions, sat myself in the backyard and wrote that letter, sobbing most of the way through it. It seemed that as I wrote about various aspects of my youth, the very things that created this person I became, seemed to drain away. I cannot remember anything so freeing.

I have had to do some difficult things in recovery such as: writing and reading amends letters to people that I needed to say sorry too. This is especially hard when these same people created such havoc in me. But amends is not about the pain, nor how they react to my amends; it has everything to do with my healing and relationship with God.

One of those letters was to me, forgiving myself. I wrote it and read it to my sponsor, hoping that I would obtain a great release from the anguish I felt, but I felt very little. My sponsor suggested strongly that I go to the park, find a quiet place there, read it to God like a prayer, and then burn it. The silly thing resisted burning. Thinking back on my persistence at getting that paper to burn, perhaps there is a slow, gradual healing from it and I do not see it yet, and the idea that this paper resisted burning could be symbolic in many ways; one being the enemies resistance to release us from his grip.

Writing this letter from dad to myself was very emotional, and I think healing in many ways. I was so excited about what this started in me that I have been telling anyone that will listen what I did. Finally I am sensing some relief from the pains inside.

So, with that I am going to share this letter with you.

The Letter I wish I had received.

Dear Oz,

I failed you and I am so sorry.

When you were young I failed to understand or care about why you were struggling in school. I wish I had pursued every avenue on your behalf. I had no idea how great the humiliation was going to be for you and how that would have effected you. I have been reading your writings since you began, and I see that you would have been great for you do have a good mind and you could have done anything you wanted in life.

I am so sorry that I did not show you respect by not listening to what you had to say. Instead I believed the lies your brother told me and beat you for it. If only I had listened to you; you were trying to tell me so many things, and I refused to listen.

I failed you as a father by not coming to your aid when that thug slugged you in the face, and I humiliated you by locking you in the car with all my friends looking on. You were only a child and deserved my protection. Son, please, I beg of you to forgive me for that.

Son, please forgive me for stepping aside as mom mentally emasculated you. I deeply regret not encouraging you to defend yourself, not only with your hands but with your words also. I can see how the damage carried carried all the way into manhood. I now know that if I had been the father you needed you would not have lived in fear all your life, and no one deserves that; especially a fear of me. I would have worked with you as you learned to stand your ground. I did not know how to do this well either

, so we both would have learned.

Son, I would have had those talks with you about sexuality. Again, we both needed to learn something, but the biggest area effecting both of us, would have been the lesson on boundaries and how not to cross them. I am so sorry for I crossed yours all the time.

Given the chance to do it over we could have practiced communication skills; I by listening to you. Again, please forgive me. If I had known I would have done things so differently.

Son, it is never to late to say I love you, and I do. A lesson that I have learned to late, is that a real man is not ashamed to show his love to his son, especially his first born.

I love you

Dad.

Posted in Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Belief, celebrate recovery, Christianity, deception, Faith, Forgiveness, future, God, healing, Holy spirit, hope, Jesus, John Eldredge, letter, sponsor, The wound, thoughts, Wild at Heart | 2 Comments

It is hard to imagine the despair.

Posted on 02/18/2014 by remso

Having gone to the tomb and finding it empty the ladies are confronted by an angel who tells them to go and tell the disciples, but John did not tell us that. We need to look at Mark’s gospel which would have been conveyed to him by Peter. Peter had not been there, so how did Peter know all this? Mary (We cannot exclude that the others were there with her.)

What is the report? The tomb is empty; Jesus is gone, and someone who just appeared out of nowhere told us to go tell the disciples.

Do John and Peter analyze all this information, comparing it with the comments that Jesus had made and make some decisive conclusions that motive them to investigate for themselves because they need foundational information for their next sermons?

Get real! What you hear barely registers – you are still in shock. The man that loved you like no one else ever had, and while you stayed by his side he took care of every need you had has died and was buried in that tomb, and now he is gone. You don’t even have a plan; you merely respond and run to the scene.

John 20:3 Moffatt NT So Peter and the other disciple set out for the tomb;

Even though Mark conveys that the ladies ran trembling from the tomb, that does not mean that they, at least Mary Magdalene, did not do what the angel told her. We do not see the angels demanding a hasty conveyance of the message, but the implications are there. Merely to be a character enveloped in the moment would imply that you would run with all haste.

Where did Mary find Peter and John? That is not given to us, but can be assumed. You probably do not just rent out a room for your Passover meal, so this had to be a relative of one of the men and we can assume, to some degree, a disciple.

In time Jesus will tell the followers, all 120 of them, to wait in the upper room. This may have been the same room that they had the passover in, and may well be where they found Peter and John. Distraught, you either run to seclusion or to a familiar place. Having been told Mary ran to the familiar place and found Peter and John there.

As we have worked through John’s gospel it is hard to imagine the despair they felt as Jesus told them that he, the best thing that ever happened to them, was to be brutally murdered (a voluntary act on his part) and taken from them.

I do not think we can accurately imagine how they felt, or what they thought as they heard these words – the tomb is empty, and an angel said, he is not here. Looking at a picture recently coming out of Syria, I see a small boy, approximately 2-3 years old, standing in front of an older man sitting on the ground. They both seem to be in the street. What the boy is looking at we do not know, but he is crying in anguish because horrible people have wantonly slaughtered his mother because she is of a differing religion. Anguish, despair, loss of direction, no sense of purpose, and no idea of what is to happen next. Maybe that is what they felt.

John 20:4 NASB ” The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first;…”

I have heard deeply spiritual sermons that seemed to focus on Peter coming second. We know that Peter was very disappointed by his own actions and you might think that it showed in his lack of enthusiasm in running. Get over it; he ran; John just ran faster.

What were they hoping to see? Perhaps nothing; perhaps they just needed to verify that the tomb, which bordered upon impossible to get into, was empty. Why do we crane our necks, some even stopping to look at the horrid car crash, as they traverse the freeway? What are you hoping to see? Why should these men be so different, except that Jesus was like family with one exception; he gave them hope.

Empty! What does that imply? Back to it’s original state. If grave robbers had come they would not have taken the time to leave grave cloths.

We have a clear indication of what they might have expected.

Matthew 16:21-22 NASB From that time Jesus 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, and be raised up on the third day. (22) Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.”

Peter even challenged Jesus about it, but this only added to Peter’s disillusionment, and John tells us none of them believed.

If you read the 20th chapter of John you will see that John indicates that after having seen the clothes lying as they were he believed. Belief has such varied depths of understanding to it. I personally know people who have a belief in Jesus, but we are cautioned to look at the fruit that comes off the tree as an indicator. (Don’t judge one bad apple coming off a tree that may be filled with good apples, as an indicator of the health of the tree. Occasionally the tree can become infested. Should you be a horticulturist then you would know to be observant, take action, and stop the infestation that could destroy not only the fruit but the entire tree. Your fast actions can help to maintain that tree for its lifetime. You should also understand that a well maintained tree has its own natural defense system and often includes the nutrient flow. In a pine tree you would call this sap, and in a well watered tree the sap flow is strong enough to inundate the boring beetle or push it back out. Locally, we lost a large quantity of forest due to drought and beetle populations that went out of control. Ordinarily the trees themselves would have been their own defense but rain had been sparse.)

Have you ever heard the sentence, “hindsight is twenty twenty”. It means, looking back I can see clearly what was going on; at the time I could not. John wrote this almost 90 years after Jesus death, and possibly 40 years after Mark wrote his gospel.

You can easily look back and see that when John chose to finally step inside the tomb, and saw the grave clothes, not strewn about hastily but placed in different locations, was the point in time where something changed in him. Suddenly this was becoming real to him. Kind of like my tree story a moment ago there was a point at which God stepped in, did some maintenance work and changed the direction of John’s life.

Many of you have already looked back. Could you see twenty twenty? Did you see your need for Jesus Christ? All it takes is for you admit that you have messed up and that you need him. Ask him into your life. He will take the burden of your sins off you – He did this on that cross so many years ago. He merely has been waiting for you to accept that he did it for you. The moment you do this a new life begins in him, along with the assurance of a life with the Father in eternity.

Posted in Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Belief, Bible, Faith, future, Gospel of John, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Matthew, hope, Jerusalem, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, Peter, prophecy, thoughts | 1 Comment

Were there any witnesses?

Posted on 02/13/2014 by remso

That’s the kind of question you might ask at a crime scene. Oh man, that just made me think of the safety films we had to watch at the phone company. A company vehicle waits for the train to go by and then pushes the accelerator hard unaware that a train is coming on the second set of tracks. Blam! The next question was, did you as a driver get out of your vehicle and ask for witnesses.

Alright it wasn’t exactly like that but there was a demand placed upon us as drivers to get witnesses because everybody out there was going to look at the large corporation as having deep pockets and the story will quickly change and it will be your fault.

Wait a minute. The disciples did not put Jesus on that cross; how could anyone possibly say that it was their fault? It is an odd world we live in. One where wrong has now become right, if it is not solidly that way the fine citizens our nations are trying to make it so. Consider the demand that the same chief priests that put Jesus on the cross made of Pilate now that Jesus was dead. They demanded that Pilate put a guard at the tomb because those scoundrels talked about him rising from the dead after three days and we do not want them stealing the body and making false claims that it happened that way.

There would be only one good way to combat false claims, witnesses.

I presented the earlier post with a focus on Mary Magdalene. I believe she is secondary to the theme, but John has given her a status almost on a level with Peter. Peter was a father of the early church; did Mary Magdalene carry that kind of importance or weight? Not that I know of. Why then is Mary focused on here?

I can conjecture, based on knowledge, that Jesus, at a time when women were as useful as cattle, raised them up, showed them respect, and given a golden opportunity to condemn one, (This occurred one Sabbath as he was teaching a crowd that gathered around him in the outer court of the temple.) he diverted those that accused her, forgave her, and sent her on her way.

John 20:2 NASB So she *ran and *came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and *said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

This is another place where John tells only what he needs the reader to understand, and here he focuses on Peter by not mentioning her name again.

I suspect that John cared deeply for Peter. After three years you are either like family or you cannot stand the sight of each other, and John was keenly aware of how the events of the last week have affected Peter.

John’s gospel, written to the Jewish community of believers, by most accounts almost 90 years after Jesus death, did not focus on the negative impact Jesus death had on Peter, but on Peter’s importance. Anyone studying John’s gospel has seen Peter’s struggles. In fact all the disciples struggled. As much as we want to believe that the thoughts in their heads were filled with sunshine and flowers they were not. One of the prominent examples of this is when Thomas challenges Jesus with what he sees as utter foolishness.

John 11:14-16 NASB So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, (15) and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.” (16) Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”

To give Peter the prominence here is notable and may have had a deeper meaning to the early Jewish church.

Mark’s gospel does not show Mary Magdalene running with determination to find Peter, but being instructed to do so they fled in bewildered and seemed to say nothing to anyone for a time. You can read one version and walk away satisfied that you have all the answers in the world; at least for the moment. If I only read John’s version then many of the characters get to leave their super hero capes on. But the reality is, they were human.

Mark 16:1-7 NIV When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. (2) Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb (3) and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” (4) But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. (5) As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. (6) “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. (7) But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'” Mark 16:8 NASB They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

The fact that the gospels vary in retelling the story merely demonstrates how others interpreted it, or how it affected them. It is said that Mark’s gospel was conveyed to him by Peter. Considering that Mark’s gospel had been written before John’s, and John may have read it, does that diminish what transpired?

The point is that there were verifiable witnesses, a central focus of John’s gospel.

Ask yourself a question. Given the comparisons of the gospels and that no one indicated Mark was there; how would he have known any of this?

Introduction to Mark’s gospel. Written between 50 and 65 AD

“…. the writer of it was not one of the twelve apostles, but an evangelist; the same with John Mark, or John, whose surname was Mark: John was his Hebrew name, and Mark his Gentile name, Act_12:12, and was Barnabas’s sister’s son, Col_4:10, his mother’s name was Mary, Act_12:12. The Apostle Peter calls him his son, 1Pe_5:13, if he is the same; and he is thought to have wrote his Gospel from him (a), and by his order, and which was afterwards examined and approved by him (b) it is said to have been wrote originally in Latin, or in the Roman tongue: so say the Arabic and Persic versions at the beginning of it, and the Syriac version says the same at the end: but of this there is no evidence, any more, nor so much, as of Matthew’s writing his Gospel in Hebrew. The old Latin copy of this, is a version from the Greek; it is most likely that it was originally written in Greek, as the rest of the New Testament.” (John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible, Dr. John Gill (1690-1771)

“Mark wrote to a community that needed to be reminded that God heard prayers and would work through their witness and faith; they also needed to be reminded that this might cost them their lives in persecution. Finally, they could be reminded through the failure of the disciples in Mark that if they had not yet achieved the radical lifestyle their Lord’s words demanded, he would still work with them patiently to help them get to that level of commitment.” (The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, Copyright © 1993 by Craig S. Keener)

I add this because I keep hearing it in my head. Those that record history tend to show a favorable spin to the one that pays them. You can see some of this as you dip into Josephus or Tacitus’ recollections of Jewish interactions with Rome. Mark’s gospel may have carried a favorable spin toward Peter. Strangely John’s gospel refers to himself often as, “that other disciple whom Jesus loved.” But here in John 20 there is a heavy focus on Peter, which makes a tremendous amount of sense, and Mary Magdalene, a person whose name we all recognize but hardly pay attention to until she comes to the tomb. Suddenly John brings her to the forefront. (It might be safer to say the Holy Spirit for some reason has brought her to the forefront. Why is that?)

If you stumbled onto this page and do not know this Jesus of Nazareth who rose from the dead, you can. Ask him to make himself real to you. Accept him as the ruler over your heart and he will come. He promises us a restored life in eternity with Him. It is not difficult. The difficulty comes when others see a change in you and ask you what happened. Many of you will be under the penalty of death for doing something so bold. God will give you courage to open your mouth. I say this because should you ask him to make himself real to you the dream will be vivid and you will recognize him immediately. Your life will not be the same after the man in white comes to you. (Many of you have already seen him. There are those around you that know this man. He will lead you to those who can explain even more.

This life that I have in Jesus Christ is real.

Posted in Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Belief, doubt, Gospel of John, hope, Jesus, John, Mark, Mary, Mary Magdalene, Peter, Pontius Pilate, thoughts, witnesses | 2 Comments

And on the third day

Posted on 02/10/2014 by remso

(I will confess that my notes, covering ten verses, are ten pages long. I am not one of those post a day people, my brain does not work that efficiently. And prepping for bible study takes me several days. Because I do not want to inundate you I am cutting this into segments.

One other thing. I fairly consistently end each of my posts with a tie into how you can have this life in Christ that the disciples found. I suppose it is as simple as what the thief on the cross did; he acknowledged that Jesus was a man who had done no wrong. He said this because he had an understanding, and we are not given any clarity on that prior to these men being hung on their crosses. That understanding was translated into him acknowledging Jesus and as simple as it seems, having a faith in him. Jesus Christ put himself on that cross for you, to gain your freedom from the bondage of sin. He rose from the grave so that you could have a place secured for you with the Father. Place your faith in him, and let him grow inside of you.)

As I prepared for bible study (we are diving into John’s gospel chapter 20), as usual I am confronted by things that grab my attention. Not wanting to spoil the story I will tell you that John explained that while no one else seemed to believe, (We assume that these disciples of Jesus were superheros and all of them were incessant and notable believers from day one) he did.

I think one of the dominant questions is: What did John believe?

You can only find the answer to this question by asking some others. That is why I opened with the verse from Matthew, because to some degree it answers the question – what did John believe this day?

Matthew 16:21 NIV From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

John 20:1 NIV Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.

Why the prominence of the first day of the week?

Keep in mind that John was writing to a Jewish audience with the intent of establishing that Jesus was God, that Jesus did what he said he would, and that there was conclusive evidence to back up what he said. John himself being an eyewitness. He later, in 1 John, makes this point once again. We were there!

1 John 1:1 NIV That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched–this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.

This idea of Jesus coming out of the tomb, no matter what that means, was such a fearful thing to the chief priests that they requested guards to be placed at the tomb.

Matthew 27:62-64 NIV The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. (63) “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ (64) So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” Matthew 27:65-66 NIV “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” (66) So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Someone stealing the body; was that really the reason that the chief priests (Annas and Caiphas) made this plea to Pilate, or was it because they could not have reasons to doubt their own rebellion against God? (Can you say blasphemy?)

Hung on the cross and then placed in the tomb before sunset Friday evening marked the beginning of the three days. Sunday morning, being the first day of the week (highly significant) marked the end of the three days.

I did not give this idea of “the first day” adequate time, but thoughts have developed as I am making this post. Jesus emergence from the grave on the first day of the week could easily mark the beginning of the new covenant.

Jesus, hanging on the cross said, “it is finished”. Ask yourself, what did that mean? His life being over? No because only days later they saw him and ate with him. You don’t eat fish with a dead man. One could play the conjecture game for hours, but the biggest clue that answers the question about what was finished took place as he partook of his last passover meal with the boys before his death.

Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Matt 26:27-29, NIV)

I have heard that Superstition had the Jewish community convinced that the soul roamed around in the tomb for three days. To wait that long and find Jesus alive would have established that for Jesus to be alive would only be through the power of God. When they found him alive after the three days where was he? Outside the tomb. Come on! He let them handle him.

Strangely John only gives us an account of one coming to the tomb so early in the morning, but there were others.

Why did John focus on Mary Magdalene? There was something about her that got John’s attention, and I do not think it was instantaneous. I believe that John saw the depth of Mary’s love for a long time.

Mark 16:1-2 NIV When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. (2) Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb.

Luke’s gospel tells us that Joanna had been there also.

Luke 24:9-10 NIV When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. (10) It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.

Who was Joanna? Seeing that this was outside of the scope of John’s conversation I am not so sure we need to focus to deeply on this. You can see a big portion of her importance by reading Luke 8:3. Just note that John’s version differs from the others, indicating that he had a alternative motive for writing than Mark did. Mark’s gospel is believed to have been written while he was in Rome with Peter, and many are solidly convinced that Peter dictated it to Mark. Mark also wrote this to a gentile audience (Romans) some 30 to 40 years before John wrote his gospel.

I cannot read John’s gospel without seeing the Jewishness of it. An example of this for me is the opening sentence of chapter twenty. My gentile mind immediately thinks Monday when I see a statement like, “it was the first day of the week”, but the Jewish mind immediately recognizes that is was Sunday morning and Sabbath has ended giving all these characters the right to “work.” It is this emphasis that I think he wanted us to understand.

I offer this commentary.

Came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary – From Mary Magdalene Christ had cast out seven devils. Grateful for his great mercy, she was one of his firmest and most faithful followers, and was first at the sepulchre, and was first permitted to see her risen Lord. The “other Mary” was not the mother of Jesus, but the mother of James and Joses (Mark). Mark tells us that “Salome” attended them. Salome was the wife of Zebedee, and the mother of James and John. From Luke Luk_24:10 it appears that Joanna, wife of Chusa, Herod’s steward (see Luk_8:3), was with them. These four women, Mark says Mar_16:1, having bought sweet spices, came to anoint him. They had prepared a part of them on the evening before the Sabbath, Luk_23:56. They now, according to Mark, completed the preparation and bought more; or the meaning in Mark may be merely that, “having bought” sweet spices, without specifying the time when, they came now to embalm him. ¹

1Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible (1798-1870)

Posted in Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Bible, blasphemy, disciples of Jesus, future, God, Gospel of Matthew, hope, Jerusalem, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jews, John, Mary Magdalene, Matthew, Pilate | 3 Comments

“We have no king but Caesar;” a chilling declaration.

Posted on 01/29/2014 by remso

I have not posted for several weeks. It feels like I have been busy, and I don’t even have a job right now. Since I became co-leader of a bible study I find myself prepping for it even if it is not my week to lead. I think that I operate on the principle of always be prepared. You find the basis of this in: 2 Timothy 4:2 NASB preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

Here is the problem; every time I have to lead I struggle with confidence issues. Don’t get me wrong, I am comfortable being in front of groups. Admittedly there is always a trace of shyness, but the biggest issue has to do with how I am received. With a very small group, pretty much the same four to six guys, every week, you effectively have them in your face (by that I mean we are separated by about five feet because of the way we set up the tables.) Another aspect of this group is that it was handed off to us with the admonishment that it is also a life group, and therefore we, as leaders, have to give the men an opportunity to talk, as needed. Often what is said triggers off some personal conversation, and I am okay with that

What becomes a problem is things like the last two weeks, where no one shows up until fifteen to twenty minutes after the start time. The other thing that has become a problem to me is the guy whose favorite saying is, “I take issue with that.” He has some form of theological training and a retentive mind.

I have never claimed to be right, that is why I include the scripture to back up my statements. Truth be known, I look at multiple translations. I get a sense, based upon what I think is reality, put flesh and blood on it, and then try to find a translation that seems to convey what I believe the Holy Spirit is trying to say. (Truth be known, I lean heavily upon the Holy Spirit.) Gather two or more people together and you will get a conflict over religious things. The key word here is religious. I will give you an example: At a recent book study the subject of the creation in Genesis came up. If God created man in his image then you have to answer the question, what is God’s image? Jesus told us that no one had seen God, and yet he also said, “if you have seen me you have seen the Father.” I think it is safe to say that God has an appreciation for the way we look. If you are paying attention and understand God’s love then you know that the way we look has nothing to do with the Hollywood version of beauty.

That said, here is the introduction to this weeks bible.

We are currently looking at John 19:16 – 24. I never made it that far. I was only able to get through three verses. I had to introduce the study by pointing back to a brief aspect we had covered the previous week. You will see that as I developed my thoughts.

It is a little long, but you should have seen my previous study notes that finished off chapter 18 of John’s gospel.

John 19: 16 –

Below are the questions for our next study:—

Why was Christ “delivered to them,” verse 16?
Why “in the Hebrew,” verse 17?
Why were two others crucified with Him, verse 18?
Why the inscription, verse 19?
Why in three languages, verse 20?
What is the meaning of verse 23?

The religious leadership of the nation, speaking on behalf of the nation, said, “We have no king but Caesar.” A chilling declaration, and yet a repetition of all this nation had ever done, turn their back on God. How does one do something like that and expect anything other than God’s wrath? A question like this implies that the person committing the act is aware of their sin. Perhaps they were, but what we see is a self absorption that ignored the foundation of the twisted religious ideals they held.

The death of Christ may be viewed from five main viewpoints.

From the standpoint of God the Cross was a propitiation [an antoning sacrifice] (Rom_3:25-26), where full satisfaction was made to His holiness and justice.

Romans 3:25 GNB God offered him, so that by his blood he should become the means by which people’s sins are forgiven through their faith in him. God did this in order to demonstrate that he is righteous. In the past he was patient and overlooked people’s sins; but in the present time he deals with their sins, in order to demonstrate his righteousness. In this way God shows that he himself is righteous and that he puts right everyone who believes in Jesus.

Numbers 21:7-9 NET Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD that he would take away16 the snakes from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. (8) The LORD said to Moses, “Make a poisonous snake and set it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks17 at it, he will live.” (9) So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole, so that if a snake had bitten someone, when he looked at the bronze snake he lived.

The image of the snake was to be a symbol of the curse that the Israelites were experiencing; by lifting the snake up on a pole Moses was indicating that the curse would be drawn away from the people — if they looked to it, which was a sign of faith. (Net bible notes)

From the standpoint of the Savior, it was a sacrifice (Eph_5:2), an offering (Heb_9:14), an act of obedience (Php_2:8).

Ephesians 5:2 NET. and live in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.

Hebrews 9:14 NET. how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.

Philippians 2:8 ESV And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

From the standpoint of believers, it was a substitution, the Just suffering for the unjust (1Pe_3:18).

1 Peter 3:18 AMP For Christ [the Messiah Himself] died for sins once for all, the Righteous for the unrighteous (the Just for the unjust, the Innocent for the guilty), that He might bring us to God. In His human body He was put to death, but He was made alive in the spirit,

From the standpoint of Satan it was a triumph and a defeat: a triumph, in that he bruised the heel of the woman’s Seed (Gen. 3:15); a defeat, in that through His death Christ destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil (Heb. 2: 14).

Genesis 3:15 GNB I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring’s heel.”

Hebrews 2:14 NASB Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

From the standpoint of the world it was a brutal murder (Acts 3:15). It is with this last-mentioned aspect of the death of Christ that our present passage principally treats.

Acts 3:15 ISV and you killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead. We are witnesses to that.

The previous portion was abstracted from Arthur Pink’s commentary on John’s Gospel.

John 19:16 Moffatt NT Then Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus,

Who now has possession of Jesus? The Jewish priesthood.

(Acts 2:23) This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

Let us not forget, however, that behind the governor of Judea, who delivered the Lord Jesus unto the Jews, was the Governor of the Universe, who “spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all” (Rom. 8:32). And why? Because He was “delivered for our offenses” (Rom. 4:25). Christ was delivered to death, that we might be delivered from death.

John 19:17 NASB They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.

Why would John make the declaration, “the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha”?

John’s Gospel is the only one of the four that contains a precise statement regarding the author’s purpose (John 20:30-31). He declares, “these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” (From the MacArthur commentary)

MacArthur continues by saying, “The primary purposes, therefore, are twofold: evangelistic and apologetic.”

While John made no effort to exclude anyone, you can see from some of his other writings that he wrote primarily to the Jewish community. The Revelation for example, is a predominantly Jewish book, and almost requires a Jewish mindset to assist in understanding.

Apologetics is the defense of your faith, and God certainly needs no defense, but if MacArthur is correct then John is mounting defenses against Jewish argument. In the immediate case the argument tends to form around the age old question of who killed Jesus. To gain the truth, which becomes important in light of the priesthood screaming out, “We have no king but Caesar”, Jesus answered that question personally by responding to Pilate’s questioning with,

John 19:11 NASB … “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

So God himself put Jesus on that cross just as Moses put the serpent upon the pole, so that all that look upon it can be saved.

John 19:18 AMP There they crucified Him, and with Him two others–one on either side and Jesus between them.

I think we can be comfortable with the idea that Roman soldiers performed the act of nailing Jesus to the cross. We know that Roman soldiers gambled to gain his robe, and pierced his side, but the Jewish religious leadership forced him to the top of that hill.

Why were there two others crucified with him that day?

Isaiah 53:12 AMP Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great [kings and rulers], and He shall divide the spoil with the mighty, because He poured out His life unto death, and [He let Himself] be regarded as a criminal and be numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore [and took away] the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors (the rebellious). [Luke 22:37.]

As I mentioned earlier, 1 Peter 3:18 tells us that, “Christ [the Messiah Himself] died for sins once for all, the Righteous for the unrighteous”. So the screams to crucifiy him and release Barabas to us, suddenly make more sense. God is busily injecting analogies all throughout these scenarios.

Now regarded as a criminal (because according to the high priest he broke the law of blasphemy, calling himself God) he, the righteous, is again contrasted between those who were guilty of sins.

Luke 22:37 AMP For I tell you that this Scripture must yet be fulfilled in Me: And He was counted and classed among the wicked (the outlaws, the criminals); for what is written about Me has its fulfillment [has reached its end and is finally settled].

Note: One of those hanging next to him was painfully aware of his sin, and of the righteousness of this Jesus hanging there, while the other was arrogant.

Luke 23:39 AMP One of the criminals who was suspended kept up a railing at Him, saying, Are You not the Christ (the Messiah)? Rescue Yourself and us [from death]!

Even this criminal hanging there had an awareness of who Christ had claimed to be. One might say, his awareness could have easily come from the placard that had been placed above the head of Jesus, but doesn’t that indicate that this criminal had the leisure and ease to turn his body so to read the sign, and how does that explain the depth of understanding that it took to make such a statement. To say, “are you not the Christ” is to acknowledge that he understood that Israel longed for and awaited a conquering king, and I, like priests that put you here, refuse to believe that. And yet the criminal hanging on the other side did.

John 19:19 AMP And Pilate also wrote a title (an inscription on a placard) and put it on the cross. And the writing was: Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews. John 19:20 KJV This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.

Keep in mind that nothing in scripture is insignificant. So what is the significance of this action?

This reading from the Amplified does not adequately convey the implications and effect of such a sign.

Whether it was common to indicate the crimes or not does not matter, for this day the utter foolishness of the charge was placed above his head so that all passing could understand why this “criminal” was being hanged; should not the public have the right to know.

If you had little understanding of the Torah then it may not have made that much sense, but every Jew would have, through oral history, known that they awaited a Messiah.

This is harshly contrasted when you think about the fact that wise men from the east came to seek out this awaited king, and found him. What did these wise men say? “We have seen his star.” So there were definite signs to indicate when, and prophecy to tell them where. (These were quite possibly educated men that were produced through Daniel’s training while a captive of Babylon – Daniel himself, had determined from scripture, that the time of captivity was coming to an end. It did not take a genius to figure these things out, it merely took an understanding and an mind willing to look beyond circumstances and tradition.)

Need more convincing? While the priests, that Pilate had to deal with, refused to accept any king other than Caesar, Simeon (Luke 2:25-29) and Anna (Luke 2:39) both recognized that the messiah was before them. Why? For they had been waiting for Him.

The sign, hung above Jesus, seemed to convey Pilate’s disdain for the heretical priesthood, and, though it may have been inadvertent, declared in multiple languages that this was the king they had been longing for hanging upon that cross. Even Pilate, without understanding, declared and emphasized that their king had come.

There is also that horrid comparison between Jesus the king, and the serpent he represented; the serpent which kills the world, hanging there, placed there by the high priest just as Moses had done. (Numbers 21)

John 19:20 KJV This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.

Arthur Pink stated, “Hebrew was the language of religion; Greek of science, culture and philosophy; Latin of law. In each of these realms Christ is “king.” In the religious, He is the final revelation of the true God (Heb. 1:2; John 14:9). In science, He is the Force behind all things. “By him all things consist” (Col. 1:17). “Upholding all things by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:3); so, too, in Him are hid “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). In jurisprudence, He is supreme; the Law-giver and Law-administrator (1 Cor. 9:21).”

John 19:21 ASV The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.

Arthur Pink noted that the phrase, “chief priests of the Jews” only shows up once, here. Pink seems to feel that, “the Holy Spirit thereby intimating that God no longer owned them as His priests: having rejected their Messiah, Judaism was set aside, and therefore its official leaders are regarded as serving the Jews, but not Jehovah.”

What are the implications of this?

Something we tend to forget because we base our understanding of scripture on the last movie we saw on the death of Christ, and though sufficiently graphic and bloody for most, it may not convey what was really going on. What this tells me is that Annas and Caiphas were both standing there, in a sense performing in detail the slaughter of this perfect lamb, and having laid hands so brutally upon Him, they are sending him off into the wilderness of death (or so they think.)

What it says to me is that they saw what Pilate did as an insult, in total opposition to all their screaming and demands. These claims, that Jesus made, were the ultimate insult as far as they were concerned, and their full intent was to make him go away as quickly as possible. How ironic that those words, nailed above his head, ring out through history, still declaring that this was the Messiah, willing to accept all those that recognize fully who he is, just as he did that criminal that asked him.

John 19:22 CEV But Pilate told them, “What is written will not be changed!”

While Pilate was able to see that there was no reason to kill Jesus, he did not seem to have the backbone to reject the demands of the chief priests. This statement demonstrates that he could stand firm when he wanted to.

Play a scenario out in your mind for a moment. What if he had taken the sign down? Would it make any difference?

I don’t think so, but it stayed, so God must have had a more significant reason. Again, the sign has rang out the kingship of Jesus throughout history.

John 19:23,24 ESV When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things,

It seems such a selfish and insignificant scene. Soldiers tend to do things that play into the dominance theme, and while we may not want it done to us, we think little of it. The images I pull up are all ones from movies and many make sense.

Why wouldn’t you strip the man down to a minimal amount of clothing if you wanted to do the most damage to his body?

The damage was done and he is still alive. With every nerve ending sending impulses to the brain, putting clothing back on him would only enhance the pain. And there is the act of cruelly leading him back out to the priesthood to show them their king.

What did he have on his body?

Not a beautiful white 400 thread count Egyptian linen sheet. He had the classic attire of any decent Jew.

Now how would I know this? Because when he asked the Samaritan woman for a drink she responded with,

John 4:9 ESV The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

How did she know that he was Jew?

He looked just like anybody else with one huge exception.

Numbers 15:38-40 ESV “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. (39) And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. (40) So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.

He wore the garments of a Jew, garments still worn today, and even in this it fulfills prophecy.

Psalms 22:18 ESV they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

[If you do not know this Jesus Christ I speak of, it is really quite simple, and takes a simple faith. Israel at one point merely had to look, in faith, at the serpent upon the pole. Jesus represented the same thing that serpent did when He was hanging there. All you have to do is look to him in faith that he will deliver you from the deathly sting of Satan. Do you have to believe that? No, and many of Israel chose not to believe it either and died in that lonely desert. This Jesus is real; he put himself willingly on that cross knowing full well what it would cost, but also knowing the reward the Father would gain, the restoration of a family, that is you. Ask him to come into your life and rescue you from the wrath that is about to be poured out upon the world. He already forgave you; your sins have been wiped away, and He did that knowing full well that you will mess up again, we all do. It is that faith that we place in Him that makes us whole. You are loved, wanted, and welcome, so just come to him.]