[Matthew 17:5b-7] "This  is my beloved Son, (Jesus, The Word of God) in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, "Arise, and do not be afraid."

 

God the Father personally invaded the space of the disciples Peter, James and John in this story and makes a declaration to them concerning Jesus. "This  is my beloved Son, (Jesus, The Word of God) in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" He points out to the disciples that, Jesus, who is the Word of God in the flesh, (John 1:1-4 & 14) is the Beloved Son of God, and that He is well pleased with Him and all that He has done, and will do. Jesus is the only One present that God the Father, says, He is well pleased with. This identification of who Jesus is by God the Father makes a clear distinction between that which is God, and that which is made in His image. Jesus who is the 'Incarnate Word of God' is fully God, and fully man, while Moses and Elijah are fully men, who are made in the image of God. But in the eyes of the disciples, Moses and Elijah who appeared on the mountain to talk to Jesus are held in high esteem as so declared by the statement Peter made to Jesus that led God to intervene in this event. After Moses and Elijah appeared in shining array to talk with Jesus, Peter said to Him (Jesus), "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, let us make here three tabernacles: (three places of worship) one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." But God quickly intervened and pointed out to them, that Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God, is God, and the One they are to worship, listen to, hear, and follow, because He alone has the words of Eternal Life.

 

Let us also note as soon as God spoke to the disciples in this story, they fell on their faces and became very afraid. To me, this description of the reactions of the disciples is an example of how we as Christians are to respond to the Word of God today when it is revealed unto us by the Holy Spirit. The disciples by falling on their faces before the voice that spoke to them shows us the reverence they had toward the One speaking to them. The fact that they were afraid when they heard the voice from heaven shows the respect they had for the power of the Word they heard. We, today, do not have that same reverence for the revelation we receive from the Holy Spirit who is just as much God, as the Father is who revealed unto the disciples who Jesus was in this story. When we come to the point in our relationship with Him that our reverence for the things of God equals that of the disciples who followed Jesus in that day and time, we will become the church God intended for us to become when He brought it into existence on the day Jesus ascended into heaven.

 

Another note of interest is that people today are still just as confused as to who Jesus is as was His disciples on this day. To get a full understanding of what all has taken place in this story, begin reading in verse one and continue through to verse seven. Besides Jesus, there were two other shining people who appeared on the mountain top. Because each of them were shiny, Peter thought they were all worthy of having a tabernacle (a place of worship) built for them. We still see this lack of knowledge of the Holy in operation today. Men build temples to every shiny character that appears to them. They think because a shiny thing appears to them that shiny thing or person is worthy of their worship. Do not be deceived! Take notice; in these scriptures God the Father, quickly points out to Peter, James and John, that there is only One Person He is fully pleased with; and that person is Christ Jesus, the Anointed Word of God, who came to earth, took on a fleshly body named Jesus, sacrificed His life for our sins, arose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father to rule and reign with Him over all of creation forever and ever. He alone is worthy of our worship. No angel, no man, not anyone else in creation, shiny or not, is worthy of this honor, but God alone.

 

Dear brothers and sisters, it has never entered into the mind of natural man the value God has placed on our life. There is not enough money in all of the universe to buy the soul of even one person. That is how valuable we are to God. Because we cannot see how valued we are by God, we fail to understand that God loves us more than He loved His own life. Because we cannot see these eternal qualities of God, man belittles man and makes himself of no value in the eyes of other men. This is why God Himself personally delivered His salvation message to man in the manner He did. If we can believe He loved us enough to forgive us of our sins and save us from the eternal punishment that was to come, we can believe He saved us to manifest Himself in us so that we might understand how valuable we are to Him, and that we might relay that message to other men that they too might be saved.

 

If we can understand this simple precept; that God Himself lived inside the fleshly body of Jesus, and this event that unfolded on the world's stage was so important to Him that He personally delivered the Good News to man. He did not entrust His salvation message to angels, nor man because of the significance of the event. God delivered the message, suffered the rejection, and paid our penalty. No angel was worthy, no man was worthy, only God Himself could complete such a task. And that is why He pointed out to Peter, James and John the error of their thinking. Let us understand why this is so important. We are natural men born into a natural world and most of us only understand things that happen in the natural. If we can understand how man deals with some situations we can understand how God deals with other situations. For example, when our government deems something to be of the utmost importance to the welfare of our nation that could affect the well being of it citizenry, the President of the United States does not entrust his message to an emissary, an ambassador, or a statesman; he personally delivers the message to the intended hearer. He doesn't make a phone call, and he doesn't send an email. He climbs aboard Air Force One and goes personally. That way there is no room for misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the news he bears.

 

It was so important to God that the people of Israel saw Him, and witnessed His works, and that they had an opportunity to personally accept or reject His message, that He did not entrust His message to a subordinate. This is why a popular religion in our country is treading on dangerous ground. They have believed a message they call a new gospel that they themselves admit was delivered by an angel. No angel could purchase the redemption of man because they are not on the same level as man and God, therefore God did not then, and does not now empower angels to deliver information of this magnitude to His children, and especially when that message not only has to be preached, but demonstrated through the shedding of His own blood to make atonement for the sins of man. When God completed His work on Calvary and in hell, there was no need for another gospel to be delivered. The demonstration of the gospel God preached was more than enough to atone for the sins of man. When Jesus said, "It is finished." It was finished forever, and no one or no thing would ever again have to suffer as God did on that day, and the three days following. When God concluded His work, it was completed forever. Now all man has to do is believe it, accept it, and live it, to join Him in eternity forever enjoying their rightful inheritance as children of the Most High God.  OTBP

 

 

[Luke 4:16-30] "So He (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath Day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." The He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." So all born witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?" He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to me, 'Physician heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in your country."  Then he said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way."

 

In this story Jesus comes to His hometown of Nazareth, enters the synagogue and gives a teaching to his friends and neighbors telling them of His ministry and what would happen to Him at the end of His earthly ministry. As He tells them what is going to take place, we see His Words being fulfilled in their actions. Let us understand at this point that every action Jesus made and every word He spoke had significant meaning for the modern day believer. And when the believer understands that everything thing He said and everything He did when He was on the earth had a spiritual singificance, then we will begin to understand the scriptures. When Jesus was on the earth He was dealing with natural man; so the things He did at the time had to be done in such a way natural man could understand them. The Holy Spirit or the ministry of the Holy Spirit had not yet come to earth to take up residence inside man, so Jesus acted out and spoke words that natural man could understand of which the Holy Spirit would later reveal the spiritual significance of that teaching to His disciples. The story of His rejection at Nazareth and their attempt to kill Him is a microcosm of His overall earthly ministry to Israel and His rejection and crucifixion by the nation of Israel at the end of His ministry.

 

You may be thinking,"Brother, I don't see all of that in this story." Well then, let's dig in and break down the different verses and we will find the relevance." In the first three verses Jesus describes His reason for coming to Israel and what God had sent Him to do while He was on the earth. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." The description Jesus is giving of His eartly ministry is being quoted from the book of Isaiah the prophet who had written these lines many centuries before Jesus arrived on earth. Jesus ended that part of His teaching with, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." At this point the hometown folks are fine with what He has had to say. They made the statement, "Is this not Joseph's son?" To me this sounds like the hometown folks were in awe of Him as the people of Israel were by the works He did among them at the beginning of His ministry. I don't think His friends and neighbors expected to hear the quality of the teaching they had just witnessed when He arose to speak to them. Much like we are when a local boy gets up to speak to the congregation in our own churches. We don't expect a whole lot from them, but we give them polite applause when they are finished whether they did good or bad. 

 

Jesus begins to describe the reaction of the Israelites to His ministry by saying, "You will surely say this proverb to me, 'Physician heal yourself!" Let it be noted that this is precisely what the Jewish chief priest stood before His cross on the day He was crucified and said to Him, [Matthew 27:42a] "He saved others; Himself he cannot save. And Jesus continued with [Luke 4:23] "Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in your country." And the chief priest said to Him, [Matthew 27:42b] "If He is the King of Israel, let Him come down from the cross, and we will believe Him." With this next statement in [Luke 4:24] "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country." Jesus is describing for the people of Nazareth that His ministry would be rejected in Nazareth by His friends and neighbors just as all of God's prophets had been rejected by the Israelites.

 

But I (Jesus) tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." As a result of the kings of Israel rejecting the ministry of the prophets Elijah and Elisha no one in Israel was helped except for a widow in Zarephath, and a leper from Syria named Naaman. Let us note that Jesus used these two examples of the widow and the Syrian who were gentiles or unbelievers to foretell what would happen after His death. If you have read the Book of Acts which is also known as the Acts of the Apostles; you will soon learn that after Jesus was crucified, the Jews who rejected Christ also rejected His disciples by killing some, imprisoning others, and driving many of them out of Israel to the uttermost parts of the world where His gospel of Good News was more readily accepted. And just as the Israelites rejected all of God's prophets, God rejected and judged the nation of Israel in AD 70 because they rejected His Christ and His disciples. The Apostles left Israel and went to the gentile nations (the widow and the Syrian) with the news of the finished work of Christ, and all of them died in foreign lands in the service of their Lord.

 

The next line says His friends and neighbors in Nazareth were "Filled with wrath, rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down the cliff." The earlier words Jesus spoke that had been received with joy soon turned to anger and thoughts of murder. The people who should have been the most open to the Words of one of their own, were the most closed to the words they heard. The nation of Israel whose Messiah came to them in person to deliver them from the powers of darkness, rejected, took Him outside the city of Jerusalem, the city of peace, and crucified Him on Calvary's Hill. They killed the Lord of Glory who had come to save them. The hatred and the murderous thoughts and actions of the Israelite people are clearly seen in the actions of the friends and neighbors of Jesus who led Him out of the city to the brow of the cliff with intentions of killing Him.

 

And lastly, "Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way." How exactly Jesus did this I do not know, but I do know that He had complete control over all spiritual powers operating on the earth. So I am assuming He used His authority to bind the murderous spirits that wanted to cast Him off the cliff. However, I do understand that, "Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way." is the same as after He was risen from the dead and the Holy Spirit had come to live in man, that His teachings were preached throughout the land of Israel (passed through the midst of them) and on into the utter most parts of the world. (went His way.) And the gospel that was being preached at that time is still (on its way) being preached around the world even as I write these notes. OTBP

[Mark 1:21-28] "Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He (Jesus) entered the synagogue and taught. And they (the attendees) were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean (evil) spirit. And he (the unclean evil spirit) cried out, (through the mouth of the man) saying, "Let us alone! What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are-the Holy One of God!" But Jesus rebuked him, (the unclean evil spirit) saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!" And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. Then they (the attendees) were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean (evil) spirits, and they obey Him." And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee."

 

Jesus entered the synagogue in Capernaum and taught the people. Their conclusion was that when He finished His teaching that it was with authority (anointed) that He taught them, and not as the scribes. Which tells us there is a difference between anointed preaching and religious teaching. Jesus taught them the Word of God and the scribes taught Jewish tradition as God's Law. We see this taking place in a lot of churches in America today and that is why they are drying up and dying off. Then the story tells us there was a man in their presence who was possessed with an evil spirit. This sentence tells us three things about evil spirits: One, evil spirits or demons are in churches. They can't be in churches unless they go to church, and in many cases they have gained control of the churches they attend; two, they can and do live inside some people; and three, the actions of the possessed person takes on the characteristics and attributes of the demon in them.

 

The next thing the story tells us is that evil spirits or demons can speak through the mouth of the people they indwell. This evil spirit said to Jesus, "Let us alone! What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are-the Holy One of God!" The evil spirit recognized the Son of God as being the Spirit of God inside Jesus, "I know who you are-the Holy One of God!" The demon also knew they had already been judged and sentenced to destruction in the fires of hell and acknowledged this when the demon said, "Did you come to destroy us?" The spirit also said to Jesus, "Let us alone! What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? This demon knew who had the authority to do what, and it wasn't him. Had the demon not said anything to Jesus, Jesus would not have cast him out. But since the demon pointed out to everyone present that Jesus was the Holy One of God, Jesus told him to, "Be quiet, and come out of him!" It is not the responsibility of demons to reveal unto people who Jesus is. The revelation of Christ Jesus is the job of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, not demons.

 

Let us depart from this story for just a second that we might understand that everything in the spiritual realm responds to who has the authority to do what. Satan and his demons are at the very bottom of the power structure because they rebelled against God and God stripped them of any kingdom rights, declared them unfit for living in His kingdom, exiled them to this present space, and sentenced them to hell. The power structure in the kingdom of God is as follows: The ultimate Authority is God the Father, The Word of God, who is The Son of God that took upon itself an earthly body named Jesus, and The Holy Spirit, these three are in perfect harmony, next in line is man, then comes the angels of God who are the servants for God and man, and lastly is Satan and his horde of demons. Satan has no authority in God's kingdom, and can only operate through the ignorance of mankind. Once man understands who God is and that He is for man, Satan has to move on to people who lack understanding to get his evil accomplished in this earth. He can do nothing in this earth without the assistance of man. If man didn't help him, he wouldn't be able to do anything other than just hang around in the atmosphere surrounding earth. He has no authority on earth or over man since Jesus stripped him of this power when he took the keys of death, hell, and the grave from him when He (Christ Jesus) arose from the dead. At that time The Son of God transferred ownership of the earth back to man in whose hands it was originally before Adam gave the deed to it to Satan when he sinned in the Garden of Eden. Earth belongs to man. It is the home of man, and one day after God has done away with Satan forever, He is going to bring heaven down to earth and make His home with us.

 

Now back to the story; next, "when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him." What did the demon do? He threw the man down in the floor in the midst of the people, began kicking and screaming, throwing a tantrum before leaving the body of the man. Simply, the demon did not want to leave. He wanted to stay. Does this last statement sound familiar to you parents. Maybe we can now understand why we need to spank the little bottoms of our children when they throw a tantrum in the middle of a group of people embarrassing us because they want their way after they have been told to stop doing something. This demon didn't want to obey Jesus, he wanted to stay. He wanted his way. He didn't want to give up his human habitation. And parents, our children don't want to obey us all the time either. That's why they throw the tantrum. And that is precisely why we have to show our children we are the boss from time to time. Otherwise, if we let them get away with what they want to do when they want to do it, they will embarrass us time and time again. And despite what child psychologist say, children that aren't made to mind when they are younger don't grow up to become better citizens. They grow up lacking self control, are argumentative, rebellious, and have a desire to control the lives of other people. These are the very same attributes that were exposed by Jesus in the actions of the evil spirit in this story.

 

Lastly, the people present saw the kingdom of God and the presence of evil locked in battle, and the greater authority won. Their eyes had  been opened even though they didn't understand it, and they went around spreading the Good News of the conflict to the whole area surrounding Galilee spreading the fame of Jesus as they went. OTBP

 

Trouble cometh to everyone. Jesus said in [John 16:33] "In the world you shall have tribulation; (trouble) but be of good cheer, I have overcome the the world." Trouble should not be foreign to a Christian. If it is I would question my relationship with the Lord. Every Christian can expect trouble to come in some form. It's a guarantee. Trouble is coming. When? When you least expect it to show up. Trouble never comes at an appropriate time, he (trouble) only comes when he is least expected. If we could head off every problem that comes our way we wouldn't need a savior, but since we can't prevent trouble from coming, and we don't have the answers to life's problems, we need the help of the One who does. As a young man, I thought I was bullet proof, but as I grew older I realized I didn't have all the answers to life's problems and how dumb I was to think I did. A poet once said, "No man is a island." That poet was a smart man. In life we don't have to go looking for trouble; trouble comes and finds us. And because he does we oftentimes find ourselves caught up in a situation created by someone other than ourselves, and there's a good chance we don't know the person who started the problem. How is this possible you ask? All people are interconnected in some way just because we are human and what one person does affects the lives of other people. And depending upon the size of the problem the number of people that will be affected by that problem can be a very large number. 

 

No where is this more clear than when one business owes another business a debt. In most cases the business who owes the debt does so because people owe them, and when those people don't pay, that business can't pay their debt, and when they can't pay their debt, the businesses they owe could very possibly have a hard time meeting their obligations. In almost every situation, if it were possible to trace the problem back to its roots, we would find the problem started because some business or some person or group of people in the line of buying and spending did one of two things. They got greedy and kept the money for personal reasons, or they over spent expecting money to come in that doesn't come in. In almost every business problem it will come back to one of those two areas. And when a business gets greedy and holds back more than they should, or they overspend counting on money to come in that doesn't, they create a cycle of pressure that is felt through a large portion of the business world. When this happens the businesses who are owed puts pressure on the businesses who owe them, and that business in turn puts pressure on the people who owe them, and up and down the line the pressure goes like a wave of the sea affecting the lives of countless businesses and people. What this tells us is that if this problem is to be solved someone in that affected line has to change the way they conduct business. And more than likely they will have to eat their loss; and move on under a new game plan. If they keep using the cycle of with holding more than they should, or spending what they don't have, they will never escape the pressure put on them by the people in line ahead of them.

 

Our own government is a prime example of keeping too much back for themselves, and spending money they do not have, then raising taxes or creating new taxes to take away yet more of the taxpayers dollars in an attempt to make their ends meet. Government doesn't seem to understand that when they take away more of my money, it affects my buying power, and if I have less to spend, then my inability to spend and buy affects the lives of many other people, so the end result is government continues to create a bigger problem for themselves. If I don't have money to spend and buy, but government keeps taking more of the little I have, the less and less I have at my disposal; and at some point I will run out of money and become a person dependent upon them to assist me in living. That should not be the aim or purpose of government. Raising taxes and tax rebates will not remove their debt problem. The answer lies in accountability and to stop spending what they do not have. If government is the example for the people and the government continually overspends and raises taxes in an attempt to offset the difference, are they not teaching the businessman and the common man that spending what you don't have is a good practice? What the government is saying to the businessman by example is: If a business needs more money to meet their financial obligations all they have to do is raise their prices and increase the interest rate on what is owed them and they will have more money at their disposal. That approach may work for a while, but eventually the higher prices and increased interest rate will catch up to the business, and in the end we end up with an economy like we have in our country today. 

 

We are a country that is so blessed in so many ways, but our government leaders have created a massive debt problem they don't know how to solve. Our debt problem arose out of greed and overspending. Now we are borrowing money from our enemies to finance the interest on our debt. It's insane, and the interest on our debt continues to grow by the day; and we are in danger of placing the future of our children in the hands of our enemies. Do they not realize that overspending started the problem and cutting back will solve the problem? The problem didn't arise overnight and it will not be resolved overnight, but cutting back will eventually allow it to run its course and die. Did our own government not adapt laws that tell us, if a person owes money to another and that person cannot repay it, the person that is owed has the right to take possession of the person's property to compensate them for the money that is owed them? Does our government not think that at some point in time our enemies are not going to hold us accountable for our debt? And if we can't pay what they demand, and according to our own laws they have the right to take possession of the future of our children. I am not an educated man, but I understand enough to know that we cannot keep doing things the way we have and expect to continue in the lifestyle we presently enjoy. At some point in time we are going to have to stop and consider what we are doing to our children. If we truly love them, we will show them by stopping the madness before it is too late. It's fine for me to spend what I have if I want in whatever manner I want, but it is not alright for me to mortgage the future of my children to finance my greed. And in a nutshell that is what our country is doing to our children's future. At this point in time our government leaders are doing nothing more than exponentially increasing an ongoing problem that the shock waves from it will be felt for generations to come if we don't realize we have a problem and do something about it before it swallows us up.

 

Yes, trouble cometh to everyone, but what we do when trouble comes determines the outcome. The example I used concerning the spending habits of our government is a prime example in what not to do to solve a problem. Problems are like bombs in that if they are not taken care of and handled properly they become so large they explode and the fall out from the explosion affects the lives of many people. Problems like bombs cannot be ignored. They have to be handled carefully, thought through, and a rational decision made on how to best deal with the situation if we want to see an end to the problem. Problems come to affect change in a person's life, a business, a state, or a country. If we, the state, or country, refuse to change, that problem will grow exponentially and create so many other problems for us our life will be ruined, and our chance of recovery is very slim.  That is unless we go to the One who has the answers to our problems, and the answer always begins with repenting, turning away from our old way of doing things, and adapting His plan as our modus operandi. If we will do the right thing, our life and our country will turn around. If a person, state, or country doesn't take into consideration the impending results of their troubles and continues down the road they are presently on, destruction awaits and more trouble than we can get out of cometh. OTBP

[John 5:16-23] "For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal to God. Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. "For the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. "For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, "that all should honor the Son just as the honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him."

 

"For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath." In the preceding verses of scripture we are told by John what Jesus had done that so enraged the Jews. John tells us that Jesus had gone to the Pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath Day and healed a man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years. And when the Jews learned of the miracle Jesus did they sought to kill Him because in their minds He had broken the Sabbath Day. To a normal person the actions of the Jews in this story is an idiotic display of stupidity. Who in their right mind would accuse a man of doing evil who had just healed a man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years? As we read the story we see that John is not only telling us the story, but is presenting to the reader a clear picture of how a religious system works. Religion blinds the eyes of a person to the truth, and anyone who doesn't do things the way they think they ought to do them are wrong and that person deserves to be punished as an evil doer. It didn't matter to the Jews that this man had been a burden to his family and friends for all that time. All they were concerned about was that Jesus had broken one of their rules. The picture John is presenting is that in a religious system all people must abide by their interpretation of the rules at all times, while they themselves enjoy the liberty of breaking them at will. Such as it was wrong for Jesus to heal a paralyzed man on the Sabbath, but it was okay for them to loose their animals from the stall and take them to drink. This is hypocrisy in its highest form. It's the "Do as I say, not as I do." syndrome parents use on their children. It doesn't work for the parents, and it didn't work for the Jews, but it does expose a persons hypocrisy. As John shows us; in a religious system rules are the most important thing. Not people or their problems, just the rules. In this case we see the naked truth about religion; not just the Jews system, but every religious system whether it be in the USA or India. They all operate the same way. There is no lee way for interpretation, the religious person is always right, and everyone else is always wrong. As John shows us in this story; the Jews would have rather seen this person remain in his suffering than for his healing to come on a day set aside to worship God. They did not understand that God made the Sabbath Day for man and not man for the Sabbath. If they had of understood this, they would have understood that healing, be it on the Sabbath or any other day of the week, is an act of worship to the majestic power of the Lord God. 

 

"My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." Jesus attempted to explain to the Jews who was really doing the work, but they would not listen. "Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal to God." The Jews knew at some time the Messiah was coming, but they didn't have a clue how God would present Him to the world. When they heard a man telling them He was the Son of God, they went ballistic and desired to kill Him even though they were witnesses to the works He was doing among them. Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. "For the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. "For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, "that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him."

 

Here John is giving us a discourse on how God has set up His kingdom on the earth. "Jesus, the Word of God, the Son of God, can do nothing of Himself." In other words, until God speaks, nothing happens. As Jesus explained to the Jews, "the Son can do nothing of Himself." But once God has ordained a thing, God Himself is involved in the work, thus His Word and He, are co-equals in the work. As Jesus was telling the Jews, whatever the Father does, the Word does likewise, because the Father is the power behind His Word when His Word is at work, just as Jesus explained to the Jews after He had healed the paralyzed man at the Pool of Bethesda.

 

In the statement, "For the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will."  The Father is the power of the Word to perform His desires, and the Father gives life to whom He will. The Word of God is simply the activated release of power from God the Father to accomplish His will in creation. God has so arranged it "that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him." Jesus tells us that we are to honor the Son, who is the Word of God, just as we honor the Father and that he who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father. It is impossible for a person to say they love Jesus, the Word of God without loving the Father, and we cannot say we love the Father without loving the Son. To say that we love one, but not love the other makes us a liar because God and His Word are one. They perfectly agree on everything. It is another impossibility for a God of truth and love to act differently than what He has told us He does in the Word. We know this is true because the prophets of old foretold what the Word of God would do when He was sent to earth. The Word of God fulfilled every prophecy in the Old Testament concerning His coming, dying, and resurrection, plus the giving of new life to all those who would believe in Him after He ascended back to heaven to sit at the right hand of His Father. OTBP

[John 18:28 - 40] Then they (the chief priest and those with them) led Jesus from Caiaphas (the high priest) to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they (the priest) themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. Pilate went out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this man?" They answered and said to , "If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you." Then Pilate said to them, "You take Him and judge Him according to your law." Therefore the Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death." That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke signifying by what death He would die. Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus. and said to Him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus answered him, "Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning me?" Pilate answered Him, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you to me. What have you done?" Jesus answered , "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here." Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are you a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice." Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" And he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no fault in Him at all. But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" Then they all cried again, saying, "Not this man, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a robber...  Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!" Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away." [John 19:15-16]

 

Even though the hour was early the news that Jesus has been taken captive by the Jewish leadership and taken to the Praetorium to be judged by the Roman court had spread like wildfire through the people in Jerusalem. The story I am writing my message from makes it clear the Jewish leaders wanted Jesus dead. After making the accusation before Pilate, "If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you." And only after it became clear to them that Pilate wanted to free Jesus did they state their real reason for bringing Jesus before the Roman court, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death." However their reason for wanting Him dead puzzled Pilate, so when he began questioning Jesus and focused his inquiry on the Jews accusations that Jesus had made Himself a King. Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you a king then?"  Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice." After making it clear to Pilate that His kingdom was not a present danger to the Roman government, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here." At this point Pilate has determined the accusations of the Jews against Jesus were groundless and sought to free Him with the proclamation, "I find no fault in Him at all." But the Jews would not hear of this. They had gone to far to turn back. If Jesus were found innocent and released by the Romans, never again would they be in a position to bring any kind of charges against Him. If He were not put to death at this time, they were fearful they would lose their power over the people and they were determined that was not going to happen.

 

Pilate convinced of the innocence of Jesus proposed a deal to the high priest, "But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" But, never in a million years did Pilate expect to hear what he heard next. "Then they (the Jews) all cried again, saying, "Not this man, but Barabbas! Now Barabbas was a robber..." I can just see the look of surprise on Pilate's face when he heard the Jews request for a known robber to be released into their midst instead of this righteous Man who was innocent of the charges they had brought against Him. And, the Jews weren't done. They wanted Jesus dead, and they were willing to go to whatever lengths necessary to achieve their end. "Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!" The Jews cried. Pilate couldn't believe what he was hearing coming from the mouths of these seemingly peaceful people. He then asks the question, "Shall I crucify your King?" And the chief priest responded with, "We have no king but Caesar!" Their last response had to make Pilate smile, but in the back of his mind he knew if they would turn on an innocent man with such ferocity in favor of a thief, they would turn on Rome in a heartbeat given the opportunity to do so.

 

 Envy is worse than a disease that robs the body of its health. Envy eats at the soul and robs a person of the will to do the right thing for the right reason. Envy is pure hatred, and when unleashed it will drive a person to do things they themselves think they are incapable of doing. And we have been shown in this story the extreme lengths envy will go to achieve an end. The Jews because of their envy did not realize the depths of their insanity when they said to Pilate, "We have no king but Caesar." They did not understand that with that statement, they had by their own words declared before all of creation that they (God's chosen people) were not subjects of God, but of Caesar, (the head of an evil state) and they did not understand that with that declaration God's justice would fall upon their heads because they had abandoned the one True God who brought them up out of Egypt centuries before. In another gospel it tells us they went one step further in their declaration before Pilate that day, "Let His blood (the blood of the Son of God) be upon our heads and the heads of our children." [Matthew 27:25] And so their blood was upon their heads for the next two thousand years. They and their children underwent unbelievable sufferings and hardships because of their act of treason that day at the Roman judgment seat. 

 

The Jewish nation who was, is, and will always be God's chosen people have never repented of their sins against God that day. And to this day they still do not understand why they have suffered the way they have. When they made the declaration before all of creation that God was no longer their King, and that they had replaced Him with an earthly man who was completely evil, they has unwittingly joined forces with Satan, the enemy of God and man, and gave him (Satan) authority to cast them out of their homeland and spread them around the world suffering mercilessly at the hands of their enemies for many many generations climaxing with the purging of their sins by the Nazi holocaust just preceding their return to their homeland in 1948. If the Jewish people had eyes that see, they would have read and understood that it was the words of Pharaoh, King of Egypt spoke that pronounced the punishment that would come upon him and his people for attempting to kill the first born of the Jews during the days of Moses when God had determined to set them free. It is sad because until this day the Jewish people continue to suffer because they do not yet understand nor accept responsibility for the actions of their fathers who rejected the God they think they serve. But God has not given up on them, and one day they will come to understand who Jesus was, is, and will always be: Jesus said in [John 3:17-18] "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved, he who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." So we see this statement is not all inclusive as many think, but only includes those who make the Son of God, their Lord. OTBP 

 

Then Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me, but in Him who sent Me, and he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. And if anyone hears My Words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My Words, has that which judges him - the Word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak." [John 12:44-50]

 

Jesus begins with "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me, but in Him who sent Me." So Jesus who is the Word of God is clearly identifying with God the Father, the author of the Word that people accepted as being the Word of God based upon what they saw Jesus doing; or they rejected God's Word (Jesus, the fleshly body of the Word of God) because His Words were contradictory to their long standing traditions. Jesus was saying to them in this passage because a person believes the Word, they were not really believing in what they heard or even saw, but in actuality they were believing in God Almighty, the Father, and Author of His Word. This is important for us to understand because God and His Word are inseparable. God's Word paints for us a clear picture of Himself and what His will is for man. What God's Word says, is precisely the way He is, therefore we can count upon Him to perform His Word. If words reveal the character of a person, and they do; if God's Word did not work the same for every person, then that Word would reveal unto us that God's character was that of a liar. God is not a liar. Jesus then tells the people following Him, "...he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me." God loved the people of Israel and because they couldn't see Him, they were having a difficult time adhering to His commands, so God the Father sent His Son, His Word, into the world, clothed in a fleshly body named Jesus, so His people could not only hear Him speak, but could see Him physically, and they could see His will for their life expressed through the works, Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God, was doing for God's people. So when the people who saw the works Jesus was doing and believed in Him, Jesus told them they were not seeing Him, but they were seeing God the Father in action through the works He was doing that delivered them from their physical, mental, and spiritual problems.

 

Jesus in keeping with His normal teaching pattern began teaching the people with things they understood. In this case He is using words and actions before proceeding on to Light and Darkness.  "I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness." He builds on His teaching about words and actions with light and darkness. He tells them the reason God sent His Word in human form into the world was to show them the will of the Father, and if they understood what God had did, then they would understand that the things He was teaching and doing shed Light on the kingdom of heaven which would dispel the Darkness they had been living in. He is portraying for them the difference between the two kingdoms operating on the earth, the one He is from, and the one they are presently living in. God's desire was for His people to leave Darkness and enter into the Light where all things become known and are clearly seen, thus they would no longer stumble around in the darkness of this world under the power of Satan, but would have the light of life living in them so they could clearly see what the will of God was for His people.

 

Jesus knowing that people are afraid of change and only the most daring of them would leave the darkness of this world to enter into the light He brought into the world would understand the things He was teaching them. The Light of God reveals the Truth of God, of which God wanted His people to know, but many of His people rejected the Truth in favor of the darkness they were living in (their traditions) and tried to destroy the Light, but darkness can not destroy Light. All darkness can do is try to evade light until light comes and darkness gives way. Jesus continues with, "And if anyone hears My Words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My Words, has that which judges him - the Word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day."  Here is a dire warning from Jesus to God's people, "If they do not believe that Jesus is the fleshly body of the Word of God, that was sent into the world to be a perfect sacrifice for their sins, they would be judged by the Word of God on a later date because they rejected not God's Word, but God Himself, who sent His Word into the world to save the world." This warning is just as much in effect today for the people of the world as it was on the day Jesus, the Word of God gave it to the people of Israel. God's Word brings light and understanding, those who accept it as such will receive eternal life as the following statement given by Jesus illustrates as He concluded His teaching on recognizing God, " And I know that His (God the Father) command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."  The same Word of God that came into the world to save the world, will be the judge whom unsaved man will face at the end of time for their rejection of Him, not necessarily because they rejected the Word of God, but by their refusal to come to the Light of Truth of God's Word, they were rejecting God Himself. And as Jesus so aptly revealed for us in these passages of scripture those who do not believe God's Word, will be rejected themselves by the very One they rejected in this life. OTBP

The story line from which this scripture was taken began back in chapter nine, verse thirty-five, of the Gospel of John with the opening of the eyes of a man born blind. This man was later kicked out of the temple where he worshiped because of his testimony of the goodness of God. Jesus later found the man and asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"  Jesus said in response to the man's desire to get to know the Son of God, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."  [John 9:40-41] Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?" Jesus then explains to the Pharisees that He is the True Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, and the Shepherd knows His sheep, leads up to the statement Jesus made in [John 10:38] "Though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in Him. Jesus had identified for them the work of the devil and the work of God back in [John 10:10] when He said, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy, but I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it (life) more abundantly."

 

In [John 10:10] Jesus outlines how a person can tell the difference between the works of the devil and the work of God. If anything steals, kills, or destroys, it does not come from God, but from the evil one. And if anything adds life to a person that work is of God. He couldn't have made it any simpler for a man to distinguish between who does what on this earth. In verse 38 Jesus in talking to the religious Jews who were resisting His teachings to the point they wanted to stone Him; and who represent the modern day church that does not believe that God wants His children to prosper, and be in health, even as their soul prospers, [3 John 2] said to them, "Though you do not believe me, believe the works." People may not be able to understand the scriptures, but they can certainly understand works, and according to the works performed, they should know who's behind it. If people do not believe the word or the works, it is because they choose not to believe, not because they do not see. If people are feeding and clothing the poor, the devil is not the one influencing those people to feed and clothe the poor, that work is of God. If a person takes food and clothing away from the poor, the people who are robbing them are being influenced by the devil, they are not of God. God is a good God, and He adds to a person's life, He does not take life's necessities away from them. The devil is the thief who steals, kills and destroys. According to Jesus, who is the Son of God, the Word of God, who came to earth in the flesh to show us the Father. [John 1:14] "The Word became flesh (or, The Word of God took upon Himself a flesh and blood body named Jesus) and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Satan is the author of everything that steals, kills and destroys, not God.

 

The prophet Isaiah gives us a description of the work the Father sent His Son (The Word of God) to do while He was on the earth and that those who receive Him as their Savior would continue to do after He had ascended back into heaven. [Isaiah 61:1-3] "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, (the Word of God) because the Lord has anointed me (The Word of God) to preach good tidings (the good news that God isn't mad at mankind) to the poor; He has sent me (The Word of God) to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes (a new life). The oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He (God, the Father) may be glorified."

 

As Jesus said to the man born blind, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind." As the story illustrates the man born blind received his sight and recognized Jesus as being the Son of God, and the Pharisees who were born with sight were blinded by their refusal to hear (accept) the Word of God, and take notice of the works He was doing. People who refuse to hear God's Word and accept the good works He does on earth will be judged. And it will not matter if they are in or out of the church, or what church they attend, they are blind and their blindness will cost them their eternal future.

 

The Jewish people trusted in the traditions of the their leaders and their leaders loved their traditions (which is a twisted version of the truth) to the point they served their devil inspired traditions and not the God who had delivered them out of bondage some centuries before. The tradition's the Jewish people were observing was the reason the Son of God, the Word of God came into the world. He, The Truth,  came to save them from their traditions which had led them into captivity under the hand of the Roman Empire and had separated them from the God of their fathers. Jesus said to the Pharisees, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture." Jesus spoke to the plainly, "I am the door." He was telling them, "There is no other way to enter into God's sheepfold (kingdom) but by Him."  He continues, "All who ever came before Him, or after Him, are thieves and robbers, and the true sheep do not hear their call." (My paraphrase.) When the Son of God made this statement, He removed forever any thought that there might be some other way into heaven. He called those people who mislead or preach there is more than one way into heaven, thieves and robbers, who rob people of their hope for salvation.

 

He told those who did not understand, to look at the works He was doing right before their very eyes, that those works would be the proof they needed to know He was, is, and will always be, the Savior of man, the doorway into the kingdom of God. No one else had ever opened blind eyes or cast out demons before He came to earth, or promised to return for those who believe in Him and take them to heaven to be with Him on a future day. The prophets of God in the Old Testament, under the Law of Moses, had raised the dead, healed the sick, fed the poor and performed miracles, but the thieves and robbers Jesus is talking about preach hate and murder, war and famine, the sacrificing of their children to appease an angry god, and that they must worship everything under the sun as being a god from animals to flies.

 

John 1:14 tells us, "The Word (of God) became flesh (took upon Himself a flesh and blood body by the name of Jesus) and dwelt among men and they beheld His glory." That flesh and blood body was crucified by man, placed in a grave, and after the Word of God which indwelt the body of Jesus returned from serving our punishment in hell, returned to earth, once again took upon Himself the earthly body of Jesus with the nail holes in the hands and feet, and the spear wound in its side as evidence that the Word of God had been on the earth and walked among men. That body man killed will accompany Him when He returns for those who believe in Him and everyone will see for themselves the nail holes in His hands and feet. It would suffice us to know that not one of the bodies of the thieves and robbers who came before or after Him was raised from the dead. Their bones are still in the grave and the flesh is gone, but their lying spirits that deceived their fellow man into following them is in hell where they will remain forever, suffering torment beyond imagination. When Jesus said, "I am the door of the sheep." or "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father except through me." [John 14:6] He meant that there is no other way into the kingdom of God except through Him. And those who do not believe He is the only way into the kingdom of God and that no one goes to the Father except through Him is just like the Pharisees that loved tradition more than God. As Jesus said, "Though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in Him." OTBP

 

 

 

 

Mankind wonders what the will of God is for their life and if they don't discover what His will is they walk about in a confused state of being. The good man wonders why bad things happen to them, and nothing ever seems to happen to the bad man. It would appear that what we think is right and should be normal is reversed and many times the bad seem to be rewarded for their badness and the good suffer because of their goodness. Somehow what we see happening around us doesn't seem quite fair nor logical to the mind of man. The bad man is supposed to be punished because he is bad, and the good man is supposed to be rewarded for being good. But it appears that the thief who wears a suit is rewarded for robbing mankind, while the good man dressed in jeans and boots is punished for doing the right thing. This leads a lot of people to believe that being bad is good and being good is bad. While it may appear the bad are rewarded and the good are punished, one day the scales will be balanced and every one will be rewarded for what they did in this life. The bad man will be punished and the good man will be eternally rewarded. We do not like to think that it might be God's will that we suffer in this life for doing good while the bad man prospers, but we see what appears to be an injustice to the good man happening all around the world and appears to be growing in magnitude. But the good man must remember, temporary prosperity has nothing to do with eternal rewards.

 

In [Matthew 10:27-22] Jesus sheds some light on the way things are and what man's role is in life regardless of what situation he many find himself in or where he might be. The subject Jesus uses to illustrate this line of thought is a sparrow. No one gives thought to, nor are they overly concerned with what happens to a sparrow because sparrows are small and seemingly insignificant and only play a minor role in creation. But, let's listen in to Jesus teach on the insignificant sparrow and the fear of God that man is to retain. "Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Therefore whoever confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, him I will deny before my Father who is in heaven?"

 

When teaching Jesus always picked out common everyday natural things people were used to seeing to illustrate a spiritual principle. And as He often pointed out every thing God created has a role to play in creation. In this particular instance Jesus is pointing out to us since God created every thing, He has a moral obligation to meet the needs of each thing. This includes the needs of man as well as the sparrow Jesus used in this example. God creates each thing to fulfill a specific role in creation, therefore neither the sparrow or man can change God's will for the life of each. God placed one sparrow in one part of the world and another sparrow in another part of the world and He did so for a reason and many times His reason is known only to Him, but each sparrow has a particular role to play in whatever part of the world they might have been placed. Since the sparrow is of little value in God's overall plan they are are not considered to be of much value. Even though they are considered to be insignificant they still have value and are therefore needed. But their overall purpose is not as great as that of mankind.

 

So as Jesus teaches on the value of a life and God's will for that life, he outlines for man what man's role is to be, but He is also teaching us that God is concerned about the needs of both the sparrow and the man. Jesus tells us the role of man is to listen and to tell what we know about God to those who may not, or have not heard about Him. The second point he listed is that man is not to be afraid of what other people might think even if it means we have to forfeit our life for obeying God and repeating what we hear from Him. He then tells us that repeating what we have heard from Him is so important to the Father that we are to fear God or hold God in such high esteem that we do as told because God is the judge who will judge our responsiveness to His commands. His last statement tells us that God is the one who supplies our needs and places us in this world where He wants each of us to be, and that there is nothing we can do to change where we are in life, or who we are in life unless He makes the changes anymore than we can count the number of hairs that are on our head. So we are not to even dwell on the fact that the bad may seem to be doing better than we are, or that we are not doing as well as think we ought to be, but our objective is to obey God and confess Christ before men so that He will confess us before His Father in heaven on the day when the heavenly rewards are passed out.

 

There is one line in this teaching talking about the sparrow that says, "And not one of them (the sparrows) falls to the ground apart from "Your Father's will." This is one line no man wants to think about. We do not want to think that what we may be facing could possible be God's will for our life, but in reality Jesus is telling us that what happens to us in life is not in our control but in the hand of the Father, and that nothing that happens to us is unknown to Him. Therefore it just might be God's will for us to suffer and the bad man prosper just as the following line explains, "But the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows..." 

 

There is another scripture that tells us, "He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" [Micah 6:8] This scripture tells us what the whole duty of man concerns. According to this scripture whether or not the bad man prospers and we suffer is not what we are to dwell on, but complying with His commands to do justly, love mercy and to walk humbly with our God, is far more important to God than what the bad man appears to be accomplishing in this life. His reward is coming just the same as ours, and when that day comes, Jesus promised to confess us before His Father and that is when the wages of sin will receive its just reward. OTBP

 

"So let it be done for you" is a line taken from [Matthew 8:13]. These words that Jesus spoke were the end to a conversation that began in verse 5 and continued through verse 13. "Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented." And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard it. He marveled, and said to those (Jews) who followed. "Assuredly, I say to you. I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from the east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you." And his servant was healed that same hour." [Matthew 8:5-13]

 

This story is only eight verses of scripture long but it outlines for us how to get our needs met. Let us understand, that Jesus, the Son of God had not come to earth to minister to anyone at this time but the Jews who had a covenant right (or a working arrangement with God through Abraham, the faithful father of Issac and Jacob, the patriarchs of the Jews) to be healed and set free of their problems. The kingdom of heaven would not be fully opened to the people of the gentile nations of the world until the Holy Spirit came to earth on the Day of Pentecost.

 

The story tells us this Roman centurion who was a captain over a hundred soldiers had a servant at home who was paralyzed and tormented. By rights Jesus didn't have to do anything for this man because the Romans were heathens who worshiped many gods with their most prominent god being Caesar, and who were at this time enslaving God's people. So for a captain over a hundred roman soldiers to be pleading with a Jew for the life of his servant tells us something about the centurion and the value he placed on the life of this servant. This servant was perhaps a faithful friend, adviser, or a valuable comrade, but regardless of what position he held under the centurion, the fact that the centurion came to Jesus shows the centurion cared about people, otherwise he would not have done anything in his servants behalf, friend or otherwise.

 

The story also tells us the Roman centurion was a wise man, a deep thinker, who had come to understand that if a man developed a problem such as his servant had, and there wasn't anything man could do about it, but Jesus was setting people free from these same types of things, there was another level of authority on earth far greater than natural man possessed. Since he understood how authority works because of his position as a centurion in the Roman army, he understood the works Jesus was doing was also based upon authority. And if the centurion's servant was to be healed, the centurion would have to go to the man operating on that higher level of authority and appeal to Him to honor his request. Since the centurion understood authority, he also understood that a person of lesser authority when they come before one of higher authority, must do so humbly. So fully understanding protocol because of his position in the Roman army, the centurion knew that the higher authority has the power to have your head removed if you show disrespect for him or his office and do not humble yourself when you come into their presence. The centurion may not have fully understood exactly what authority Jesus was using to set the people free, but he understood that Jesus was a man operating on a whole other level of authority, and therefore he showed Jesus the proper respect due a person of higher authority. He went humbly to Jesus in behalf of his servant based upon his understanding of how authority works requesting Jesus do something about the condition of his servant lying at home paralyzed and tormented. Based upon the centurion's understanding of authority, he knew that when Jesus gave the order for something to be done, it would be done without hesitation just as it would be in the Roman army. Therefore he said to Jesus when Jesus offered to go to his home and heal the servant, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed." Once again, based upon authority, the centurion understood that an order given in Rome, carried the same power in Jerusalem, so even though Jesus was in Capernaum when He said his servant was healed, it didn't matter where the centurion's servant was at the time, he would be healed based upon the command that was given.

 

Dear God, help us in this modern day time to come to the understanding the centurion possessed concerning authority, and help us to understand that there is a natural authority, and there is a higher spiritual authority, and when we follow the same protocol the centurion followed, our request will not only be heard, but be granted just as his was. 

 

The centurion said to Jesus, "For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." The centurions understanding of authority caused Jesus to be amazed and say, "Assuredly, I say to you. I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from the east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom (those who are supposed to understand these things) will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

 

Jesus was quick to point out to the Jews who followed Him and who should have understood authority based upon their relationship with the living God, why He said this man had great faith, and why their understanding was so small, and why their inability to comprehend what this centurion knew would cause them to be cast into hell's fire where Jesus described the torment as, "Weeping and gnashing of teeth." 

 

Folks, Jesus did not pound His teachings on spiritual matters into the heads of the Jewish people, and He does not pound them into our heads today. He expects us to read the Word, meditate in the Word, and do what the Word tells us to do if we want our needs met. Just as He expected the Jews to learn about His Father through the works He did, and learn from Him that they could do the same works He was doing if they would strive to understand what He was teaching them through His works. He told them they would do greater works than He was doing if they would read, and meditate on the scriptures and learn from them what God had done for them. The only possible way we will understand our authority is if we think about the works He did understanding that He was dealing with spirits who had created problems for man, and come to understand that He removed the spirit behind the problem and the person was set free. The centurion understood authority and Jesus said the man had great faith. Those that never come to the realization of that truth live in the flesh, do not know who they were created to be, thus they never follow protocol when petitioning the Lord with a request, and Jesus said they would pay the price for their lack of understanding. For the person who comes to understand authority, Jesus said, "So let it be done for you." OTBP

[Psalm 34] David, the shepherd boy turned soldier, and soon to be King of Israel, an outcast of the people he loved, wrote this Psalm during a very trying time in his life. The present king of Israel, King Saul, his father-in-law, had chased him out of Israel because he was jealous of David's popularity among the common folk; and David left the country and the people he loved to live with the enemy he had fought for years and of whom he had killed many. As he thought upon his circumstances and the possible outcome, he lifted up his voice to the Lord in worship and penned this Psalm. As you read his Psalm you will come to understand that in this particular song David is encouraging himself to remain faithful to the God he loves and to his father-in-law, King Saul. David's life has for many years been fraught with fears from friend and foe alike, and he is concerned with what is to come of him, his family and those who have followed him into this strange land. He has wives and children to look after, an army of misfits to control, and more responsibility than any young man in his late twenties should have. At the time he wrote this Psalm he is a man without a country, a man without a home, a man alone and ever aware of the danger that is only one step behind his every move. As I read this Psalm I could see in my minds eye David walking alone in a deserted place where he poured his heart out to the Lord, confessing his faith and confidence as he walked, trusting the God he loved had not abandoned him, and thinking at some point in time things were going to work out for him if he survived that long. After all, God had anointed him and promised him he would be king of Israel some years before, but as he writes this Psalm and thinks back about all the things that have happened to him over the years, those things that had been promised to him are present in his mind, but they seem so far removed from his life. David has seen God's hand at work in his life and knows that even now in this hostile place God is with him. And as he begin his song with praise you can see his faith begin to surface as he states, "I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears... The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them... The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry... The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles... Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all." David is confessing what he knows is true about the God he loves. He knows the Lord will not disappoint him, and when the time comes God will raise him up to be king of Israel just as He said He would.

 

"Have we not all felt this same way at some time in our life?" We know the good things God has promised us in His Word, but instead of seeing those promises fulfilled, our difficulties increased, and, we, too, sometimes wonder if God has forgotten about us. I have. And as a matter of fact, I am in a place right now that there doesn't seem to be a way out, I am surrounded on every side by financial debt so large it appears I could be swallowed up by it at any given moment, but truthfully, I am not looking for a way out, I am pressing into God's Word because God is faithful to His Word, and just as David encouraged himself, I, too, encourage myself daily. I am not a gifted musician as David was, I do not have a beautiful singing voice. So instead of singing songs of worship, I write as a means of expressing my adoration to God and encouraging myself in the Lord, and hopefully as you read my writings you are encouraged as well. OTBP 

 

[Psalm 34:1-22] "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord: The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his trouble. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good: Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. They eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil. To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all. He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned."

 

In the opening stanza of this Psalm David gives us the key that will bring God on the scene every time trouble shows it ugly head. "I will praise the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth." God inhabits heart felt praise. He is drawn to praise like a fly is to sweets. He cannot help Himself. He is worthy of all praise. We can never thank Him enough for what He has done for us. Notice, David's encouragement began with praise because he understood praise gets a person through the gates of heaven into the very presence of the almighty God, and the confession of our faith in His ability to deliver us from the hand of the enemy is music to His ears. God honors His Word, and our confession of His Word in the ability of God to deliver us from evil activates the angels that are all around us.

 

Even though David didn't leave the land of the Philistines immediately after he wrote this Psalm, it did come in God's timing. Despite the seriousness of his situation, David continued to offer up praise out of a pure heart and God met all of his needs while he was in the land of his enemy. I, too, know that God is working in my situation just as David knew He was working in his. The bible teaches us patience is a virtue, a blessing, and when we are in a difficult situation we are to keep our eyes on the great God we serve, and off the situation. Otherwise, the devil will fill our mind with doubt because he can make the problem to appear to be a lot bigger than what it actually is, and if we maintain our focus on the problem, defeat follows closely behind. I don't think most people understand that the angels of the Lord encamp around about the righteous, but God has assigned them to us for a reason. Those angels are there to protect us from the evil surrounding us. David understood praise brought the presence of God on the scene, and the protection of the angel of the Lord was activated by the words of faith in the God he served. How wise we would be if we understood the love of God for His children and applied this simple lesson to our life. OTBP

This morning about 4:45 am we had an earthquake here in east central Illinois and the epicenter of the quake was located some 20 miles southeast of where I live. The quake itself measured 5.2 on the Richter Scale and the earth shook for about ten or fifteen seconds that I recall. I was fast asleep when the quake hit, so I at first thought it was a tornado since they are more common in our area than earthquakes. But once my foggy mind cleared I realized both the earth and the building was shaking and it was not shingles being torn off the roof as I first thought. It was only after I was fully awake that it dawned on me, we don't have a shingle roof, we have a rubber roof, and the noise I was hearing was not wind blowing, but a building creaking and groaning from the stress placed upon it by the rolling shock waves passing beneath it. Then at 10:14 am we had a fairly strong aftershock which was the fifth and measured 4.5 in intensity and lasted for about twenty seconds causing the building to once again shake and roll. This time I was awake and in the office when it came. The aftershock was strong enough that it rattled the windows in my building and the drawers in the file cabinets that sit beside the computer I am writing this message on. Earthquakes and aftershocks are a rarity in our rural area but this is the second we have had in the area in the last three and a half years. The last one was in 2004 and measured 4.4 on the Richter Scale but was located farther east than this last one. By the time my feet hit the floor earlier this morning everyone in my house was awake and up walking around checking to make sure everyone else was okay. We were, so the kids went back to bed.

 

Shortly after the 4.5 aftershock hit, a man who helps me periodically, called; and after talking to him for just a couple of seconds I realized just how frightened this man was. He told me he had cancelled going to his daughters birthday party later in the day because he wanted to ride the aftershocks of the quake out at home. He said he was thinking about disconnecting the gas line that supplied the gas to his home for fear the pipes would break and his house would catch on fire or blow up while he was gone. Then it dawned on me how frightened other people must be, and how little they really know about what is going to come upon the earth in the coming days, weeks and years. I didn't tell my friend, but what we experienced today is nothing in comparison to what is coming. When a major catastrophe comes men tend to blame the results of the damage on man, just like they did with the flooding of New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. Man can prepare the best they can, but there is nothing man can do to prevent what is coming except deal with the aftermath of the destruction that will be left behind by the catastrophes. As we know, our national resources were stretched to the limit after Katrina and the hurricane that hit Texas and the wild fires in and around San Diego, California because our government had never dealt with so many catastrophes happening so close together. Hopefully our government learned from their mistakes and our money, time and resources are not squandered in such measures as it was during that time.  

 

The bible tells us Matthew 24 that these things are going to come and they are going to grow in number and intensity until the end of time. If we have any understanding at all, we can see that hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes, flooding, famines, wars, and many other things that are mentioned in that chapter are occurring at a rate exponentially above any other time in recorded history. Why is that? If you really want to know... time is short. Time is winding down. The end of time as we know it is drawing closer with each passing day and if you want to know what is going to happen to men as time winds down, read the book of Revelation, the last book in the bible.

 

What the earth is experiencing at this time is only the beginning of woes. [Matthew 24] These present things are only the warnings God is issuing to man to change the course of their life. How do I know this is true? I'm glad you asked. In the first half of Matthew 24 Jesus gives us a description of the events that will lead up to the real tribulation that is reserved for a time to follow shortly upon the heels of this present time. The last half of Matthew 24 and the Book of Revelation of Jesus Christ to the apostle John tells us of the judgments of God that will be poured out upon sinful man for a period of time for rejecting God as being God. Jesus also tells us that the beginning of the judgments of God will begin when the "abomination of desolation" stands in the holy place." And in verse 21 "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be." He tells us in verse 36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only." 

 

I was reminded of what the scriptures say in Matthew 24 when my friend called this morning because he was scared of the earthquake. Folks, this world is not going to get better in the future. We have entered into the time of the beginning of woes Jesus talked about in Matthew 24. The times are getting worse by the day and it is going to get a lot worse before it is brought to an end, but that doesn't mean you have to be one of those people who curse God and dies. You can make your eternal salvation secure today. God will hear your request and grant you salvation if you will ask Him to forgive you of your sin, turn away from your wickedness, and ask Him to come live in your heart. He will do it. Ask Him! He's not mad at you. He loves you. Make the choice to turn your life over to Him today.

 

The quake that woke me us this morning woke me up at just about the time I normally get up. So I looked at the quake as God's wake up call to me telling me it was time to roll out of bed and greet the day. I got up, put on the coffee, took a shower and started my day, but this quake did not take place at the time most people get up, though it was a reality check from God addressed to all those who experienced it. There are many people who felt the intensity of this quake who know their life is not right with God. And if this quake had been a more severe one, it is possible that you would not be here right now reading this warning message. And that is exactly what this message is; it is another warning just as surely as the quake this morning served as a warning. There were many victims in New Orleans who did not survive the wrath of Katrina whose life was not right with the Lord. There had been many hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico before Katrina that missed New Orleans, but Katrina had the name of the city of New Orleans written all over it. And there is no guarantee the next catastropic event that occurs in this world won't be in the area you live.  

 

If we do not heed the warning signs when they come and a person's life is not right with God and they die, their chance to repent of their sins is gone forever and they go to hell forever because of what they didn't do, not because of what they did. Every sin man commits will be forgiven except one. That is denying the Holy Spirit's leading to surrender your life to Jesus Christ and make Him Lord of your life. You will not be sent to hell because you are a thief, or a murder, etc., though hell is filling up with such people, a person is sent to hell because they did not accept the finished work of Jesus Christ as the atonement for their sins and would not let Him be their Savior. So if you experienced this earthquake that was felt hundreds of miles away in every direction from the epicenter, consider yourself to have had another warning in a series of warnings, another chance to get it right. Don't continue to ignore God's warning signs that are ever increasing in frequency and intensity.

 

Somehow God is going to get the attention of all peoples. If it takes natural disasters, war, famine, or whatever. He will get our attention. The question is, "Are we smart enough to understand what is happening and is going to continue to happen until God says, enough of this, and His judgment begins in earnest?" The natural disasters we have seen taking place around the world so far are only warnings of what is to come if we don't change the course we are following. They are not God judging man. God is giving us a chance to repent and turn away from our sins. Judgment is coming, but it will come later. What we are presently seeing are warnings in much the same way as a warship fires a warning shot across the bow of another ship warning them they are treading with disaster if they continue on their present course. Real judgment would be firing barrage after barrage of shot at the other ship with the intentions of sinking it and ending its threat. What we are seeing right now are small events occurring sporadically here and there around the world as depicted in MATTHEW 24, but when God's judgment begins in earnest as seen in the BOOK OF REVELATION, it will have world wide affect affecting the lives of millions upon millions of people with whole cities and populations being destroyed in a single judgment. God's judgments of which there will be many as foretold in the BOOK OF REVELATION will increase in intensity and magnitude until man has been brought to his knees and admits that God is God and there is no other. Jesus told us, "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be." [Matthew 24:21] Now is the time to think about your future, before your future catches up to you in the present, and you are not prepared to meet it face to face. OTBP 

 

 

The forgotten generation is not the one before us, but the one behind us. Every thing we do as parents, as a community, and as a country affects the generation of people behind us. If we leave them a mess to contend with, they have the chore of straightening our mess out. If we leave them in a position they cannot overcome, they will become slaves to the thing we left them to deal with. In the Old Testament there is a story of such a group of people who forgot their children, and as a result their children were taken into captivity and passed into oblivion. The story is of the ten tribes of Israelites that made up the nation of Northern Israel and the sins they committed. God warned them of what would become of them if they didn't get their lives straightened out. They didn't and the history of their failure is recorded in the Book of Hosea for our understanding. [Hosea 4:6] My (God's) people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. (Hosea is addressing the leadership, the religious leaders, and those men and women who had families, and the responsibility of educating and training their children in the things of God.) Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children."

 

God's warning to the people of Northern Israel stated; if they did not turn back to Him, or reacquaint themselves with Him, they would no longer be His priest or chosen people who He ordained to be a shining example of His Goodness (a light) to their neighbors, and their enemies. It wasn't as if the people didn't know what was right, they simply weren't living right. God called their rejection of His Word, "forgetting" or failing to apply what they knew. If a person does not apply what they know, that information is useless and cannot help them. In the case of these people it wasn't as if they didn't know the right thing to do, they did. They had been taught the right thing to do from birth, but they simply wasn't applying what they knew because they found other things to do in life they considered to be more important than obeying the Law of their God.

 

Instead of following and practicing God's Law because things at the time were going very well for them, they began looking for ways to circumvent His Law. To me this sounds very similar to what we in America are doing today. Instead of us continuing on with doing what is right because we know it is the right thing to do, we are rewriting God's Law thinking we can somehow circumvent His Law, believing that everything will continue the way things have in the past, not understanding that the reason we are so blessed in this country is because God has been blessing us. God sent a messenger to the people of Northern Israel by the name of Hosea (which means Salvation) to warn them of a pending disaster that was coming upon them if they didn't stop rejecting His Law. He further warned them that if they didn't stop rejecting Him, their children would be the ones to pay the consequences for their wrongdoings. To make a long story short, they didn't stop what they were doing, and their children went into captivity in Assyria (modern day Iran) and were never heard from again. We in America are at the brink of no return just as the people of Northern Israel were at that time; and once again the nation of Iran is the enemy who desires our destruction and well as that of the portion of Israel that is left. God sent Hosea, which means Salvation to the people of Northern Israel to warn them of the coming destruction. Today we have been sent Jesus Christ, the Son of God, which also means Salvation; and just like the people of Northern Israel, we have reached the point where we are being internally destroyed because we are rejecting the knowledge of God's Law that was sent to protect us, and bless us, and to cause us to be a light shining into the darkness welcoming to our shores those who wish to escape the darkness of their present world.

 

It was not God's idea that the children of Northern Israel go into captivity and never be heard from again. His plan was to save them from the coming destruction that was looming on the distant horizon even as He sent His warning message. I believe He is doing everything He can in America today to save us from the pending disaster that is waiting to see if we will turn back to following God's Law or not. If we fail to act and fail to repent of our selfish ways, our children will pay the price of our disobedience. Just as it was the responsibility of the Israelite parents to educate and train their children in the things of God, our responsibility today is the same. If we do not prepare our children to obey the Law of God, we will lose them, and the enemy will be only too glad to take them off our hands, and enslave them before destroying them. Northern Israel failed to act accordingly and their children suffered destruction because they would not listen to sound advice from Hosea the prophet that God had sent to warn them, and we, too, will fall by the wayside of life if we do not teach and train our children in the things of God and how to become obedient to His Law. We cannot any longer attempt to circumvent His Law. Attempting such things is foolishness on the part of man. God's will and determined purpose cannot be changed by the words we write upon paper declaring such and such things as being legal, but we, His people can be changed by His Law if we will heed the advice of the Son of God and turn away from our wickedness before our children suffer the consequences of our selfish actions. OTBP

 

 

Since the day Jesus set foot on earth He has been a controversial person. Some say He was a great prophet. Some say He was a good man, and still others try to deny He even existed and is only a myth. But try as they might they cannot deny the works He did while He was on earth nor can they erase the record of His life and death from the secular history books. If there was some way for them to disprove He existed, then they would not be guilty of their sin, but because He came and died for them, they have no excuse for their sin and therefore are only fighting against His teachings in an attempt to cover their sin with ignorance and denial. These people are not alone in their quest, even the religious leaders of His day fought against Him in an attempt to hang onto their religious customs and traditions, but the common people gladly followed after Him because He preached hope and eternal life.

 

People today are still debating who Jesus was and what role He plays in the life of men. In the first century the religious leaders thought if they could have him killed they could stamp out what He stood for, and the Words that He spoke that gave people hope. But what they thought was an end to a means was in reality a beginning of something so big it turned the known world upside down. The religious leaders in Israel found out they couldn't stop His teaching from spreading, the Roman government couldn't stop it, the Roman army couldn't stop it, and there are people today who are trying to stamp out Christianity and attempting to remove it from the memory of mankind, but the harder they try to stamp it out the faster Christianity grows. They do not understand that the hate and violence they use against Christianity to try and stop it from spreading is actually the soil God uses to grow His church. People are so slow to understand that the devil who is using them to fight against God hasn't change tactics in two thousand years, and their end will be the same as it was for the leaders of Israel, the Roman government, and the Roman army. Their attempts failed and so will the attempts of this generation and Christianity will move forward just as it always has and will continue spreading until the Lord calls His children home to live with Him for eternity and forever and ever, while the devils crowd will suffer the opposite effect of eternal damnation, pain and suffering for resisitng the living God and what He desires to do for man.

 

If people could understand that Christianity is in a good way like a cancer in the human body in that the doctor thinks they have the cancer stopped in one area only to discover it has moved to another location and is growing at an even faster pace than it had grown previously. With the advent of today's technological advances and people having the Internet and satellite television it has become impossible for the people who hate Christianity to prevent the spread of it. While they work to pass laws prohibiting speaking about God in public places and make everything the Christian says about sinful things that are contrary to the Word of God a hate crime, they do not understand it doesn't matter what they try to do to prevent God from working in the earth, they cannot nor will they ever be able to kill the Word of God.

 

The men who killed Jesus did not understand that the body they killed was only the flesh and blood human body the Word of God took up residence in. Therefore they could not kill the ONE doing the talking, but could only destroy the house the Word of God lived in. Neither did they realize that everything they did was a part of God's plan for the redemption of mankind. They body of Jesus they killed was the sacrificial lamb God had prepared before the foundation of the world for the forgiveness of the sins of His people. All who would receive that sacrificial atonement and repent of their sins would be saved. Those who fought against Him and refused to acknowledge the work God performed in their behalf would be forever lost and pay their own penalty for their crimes against Him. Today man is trying to stop the Word of God from going forth and even from being talked about, but just as the religious leaders of Jesus's day worked in vain, so is the work of the modern day disciples of the devil. Nothing can ever prevent the Word of God from accomplishing what God has sent it to do. As long as there are people on this earth that will receive the finished work of Calvary and repent of their sins, the Word of God will continue to work in the earth granting salvation to as many as will receive Him, and there is nothing anyone, not man, not the devil, not man made laws, not education, nor anything else man can come up with can prevent the Word of God from going forth and doing what God sent it to do. Their work is in vain, but their punishment will be in earnest.

 

The one mistake the religious leaders of the first century made was in not understanding that it is not the fleshly body of man that speaks, but the spirit of man that lives in the human body. The voice of the body is the emotions, and the voice of man is his spirit. The spirit of man lives in our body in much the say way we live in a house. The house is not the real man, just as the body of man is not the real person, but only the covering in which the spirit man lives. You cannot kill the human spirit because it is made in the image and likeness of God who is a Spirit. The fleshly body of man is only that portion of him that touches the natural world in which we live, just as our home is the residence that is touched by the physical elements. The body is not, nor can it ever be the real person. However, when man is judged on the Day of Judgment by the very same WORD OF GOD they rejected, the house we live in will accompany the real us to that appointment, and the spirit, soul, and body which comprises the totality of man will be praised or rejected at that time.

 

Now let's look to Jesus who is our teacher to receive a more clear picture of what I just wrote. [Matthew 16:13-19] "When Jesus  came into the region of Caesarea Phillipi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"  (Here Jesus identifies Himself as the Son of Man. The human sacrificial flesh and blood body of the Word of God) So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Christ is the Anointed Word of God.) Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock (This true and exact understanding that I AM the Christ or Anointed Word of God that was to come into the world in human form) I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail (Nothing, Nada, no one shall prevail) against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, (Heavenly Power to do the Works I do and to speak in my behalf when I am gone from the earth.) and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ."

 

It is clear from these scriptures that Jesus first identified Himself as a human being with a flesh and blood body when He called Himself the "Son of Man", and after Peter's statement that He is the Christ, the Anointed Word or Son of the living God, Jesus praised Peter for letting His heavenly Father reveal this spiritual truth to him. Men of that day thought Jesus was the reincarnation of one of the person's the disciples listed in the scripture, they did not recognize Him as the One God had sent to save them. And because they did not recognize Him as the Son of the Living God, they killed the body in which He lived. People today are still trying to stamp out the Word of God, render it useless, and prevent it from operating in the earth by killing the human body of the Christian. But, they cannot, nor will they ever be able to kill the Word of God, but through their actions they help His cause to spread. This is vain thinking on the part of sinful man because their senses are dulled and their minds are darkened to the truth, eaten up with sin, never coming to the realization that an awful travesty is waiting for them just around the corner. Out of their line of sight stands the angel of God waiting for the command to bring justice into this world and punish unredeemed man for his impudence and ignorance of who God is and what He has done to save them from this awful hour coming upon the world because of their rejection of His righteous work. OTBP