John 18:2-9 records the arrival of a mob to arrest Jesus in Gethsemane. Since he customarily stood toe to toe with adversaries, Jesus “went out”—to the entrance—to meet them. What happened there characterizes him when facing issues that demanded revelation of his TRUE identity.
When he asked, “Who is it you want?”, we can be sure they fairly spat out the hated name Jesus of Nazareth. For that’s when the Master let them KNOW exactly who he IS, as he customarily did at critical junctions…John 4:26, 6:35, 41, 48, 8:58 as examples. He used the Greek translation of the Hebrew words spoken by God to Moses in Exodus 3, ego eimi. We can be sure the words hit them like a Category 5 Hurricane, driving every last one backwards:
The declaration of his Identity as God Almighty convinced them:
Then, having proved his point, and seeing them helpless on the ground, he asked again, “Who is it you want?”
And, in return, much more quietly and respectfully, “Jesus of Nazareth, sir.” “I told you that I AM—the same words quietly spoken. “If you are looking for me, then let these men go,” sweeping his arms toward the Eleven—hunched in a circle. And they left…hurriedly, frantically, like a covey of quail disturbed by footsteps of the hunter. Jesus had always been faithful to them, and they repaid hm by being faithless in the crisis. However, it served a future purpose: it released his men from being collateral damage to Christ’s arrest. More importantly for Christ, he was going…where none of his disciples could. He would do…what none of them would. He would experience… what none of them could understand. End Part I
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God freed humanity from Law to Grace; from legislation punishing misbehavior to Grace that inspired righteous behavior; from fear of Judgment to the blessing of Forgiveness. All because God DID NOT impose circumcision on Cornelius and the men of his family and friends. Meaning that the rite characterizing all Jewish men as children of Abraham wouldn’t be imposed on Gentile men who accepted Christ as Savior and Lord.
In the finale of this series Praise God for a few of the benefits of being saved by Grace alone through faith in Christ—each benefit equal in importance. First, his Perfection compensates for our failures in discipleship, however zealously we try to succeed. No believer will be lost for failing to succeed, for Christ succeeded in being God’s Perfect Man. And his complete humanity eclipses our human limitations. Second, his Forgiveness, instantly granted when we repent of our sin and confess it to him I John 1:9. That maintains our freedom in Christ from guilt. Third, each believer has the pleasure of personally entering God’s presence when we pray. The curtain between our personal lives and God’s Unapproachable Being has been removed and Christ’s High Priesthood bridges the difference between us Hebrews 4:14-16. Fourth, all members of God’s family, wherever we live, however different our worship styles and cultural distinctions, UNITE in our common faith in Christ and in our allegiance to him as God’s Only Begotten Son. Knowing that ONE DAY, God will remove all differences from us Matthew, 15:12-13, I Corinthians 3:10-15. Fifth, the death that God warned Adam would follow if he ate from the tree of Knowledge and Good and Evil, has been sovereign over every generation. The Rest of the Story, however, IS, I Corinthians 15:5-58, Revelations 20:11-15. And these benefits only the first few of many more to come. Fini Simon Peter proved a bewildered, but obedient, servant of Christ’s grace in Acts 10:1-22. Note Luke’s account of both.
First, he adamantly refused God’s order “to get up…kill and eat.” Second, he repeated his objection to all three appearances of the visions and God’s command. Third, the Spirit’s direct orders moved him to obey, whatever he thought…
Note that he used his experience in Acts 10, in the same orders given by the Holy Spirit, in Acts 11:1-18, when criticized by the circumcision party when returning from Caesarea to Jerusalem. He had a particular spiritual-growth experience in Caesarea. He realized that the people he considered unclean, and not subject to forgiveness, had been pronounced clean by God and particularly subjects of forgiveness Acts 10:27-48. An ominous omission in their discussion must be noticed: no reference to circumcision occurs. Though it hadn’t been imposed on Cornelius, the Judaizers had been offended. And, in a losing cause, they devoted themselves to guarantee it would NOT BE ignored again when evangelizing Gentiles. End Part IV The large number of Jewish priests who became Christians, Acts 6:7, likely inspired by God’s action in tearing the Temple veil, surfaced two issues that threatened early church unity.
The first: eating with Gentiles. To prove that no absolutist leadership existed in apostolic behavior, the circumcised believers criticized “Simon Peter for entering the home of, and eating in the home of,” Cornelius Acts 11:1-3. It’s surely not excessive speculation to identify those “circumcised believers” as those very priests. Simon Peter’s careful, step-by-step, recitation of Acts 10:9-48 certainly offers Christians the way to answer objections to God’s actions: from the Bible, verse by verse, with no diversion to any other source of authority. By the way, in Acts 28:23, the apostle Paul used the Law of Moses and the Prophets to convince Jewish leaders in Rome. A lesson in evangelism: convince unbelievers from God’s Word, not from our personal experience. End Part III This writer drove his family from Colorado Springs, Colorado to Las Vegas, Nevada, in February, 1968, to begin a ministry with Central Christian Church (CCC). We knew it had suffered two major splits in its five year life. We didn’t know how spiritually impoverished they left the congregation. For the first two years a series of conflicts and problems left this writer unsure of the congregation’s future.
Then, selecting more positive people as elders and deacons gave a glimmer of hope. For the new board voted to begin a Building Fund to replace the dilapidated structure housing the congregation. We promised the people the fund would be devoted ONLY to the new building. Previously, money in the fund went to pay weekly expenses. When we had built a modest fund, we decided to hire draftsman Fred Greil as an architect. Being dissatisfied in their church, he and Charlotte transferred their membership to CCC. I didn’t know it at the time, but THEIR Substantial Christian lives, along with 2-3 other families who came with them, began a SPIRITUAL RENEWAL in CCC that lasted until we left in 1974. That illustration relates to the impact Christ’s DEATH had on priests in the Temple when God clearly TORE the Babylonian tapestry between the Holy Place and Most Holy Place from Top to Bottom. Acts 6:7 records the result. Now…the addition of “a large number of priests” to Christ’s lordship seemed at the time a major success. However, the addition posed a great danger to Christianity’s future. While the priests brought religious convictions with them, they lacked the spiritual vivacity that characterized Gentile Christianity. End Part II NOTE: Family health issues and technical problems have kept us from posting blogs. V
Matthew 27:50-53 reveals that four events occurred at the moment Jesus died:
While each had meaning, consider the tearing of the Temple Veil for this blog series. First, while Jewish priests performed their services in the Holy Place, they witnessed an invisible cutting edge begin at the ceiling and slice a cleavage all 30 feet down to the floor. By checking and cross-checking that event with Christ’s death, they verified the Cause and its Effect on the Shielding Curtain. Second, that shocking experience made the most astonishing impact on the priesthood—to be covered in Part II. Third, for men practiced in the Temple ritual and its meanings, an unmistakable clarity convinced them:
Summary of Part I The Sanhedrin –
Unlike earthly kingdoms, which disintegrate with or shortly after the leader’s death, Christ’s kingdom only began with his death. And his resurrection proved the success of his death. Messiah of the Jews while he lived, he became Universal Lord of all history and eternity by rising form the dead. End Part I In I Corinthians 3:16 and I Corinthians 6:19 Paul calls Christians God’s temples. In the former as congregations of believers, in the latter as individual disciples.
In II Corinthians 9:7 the apostle referred to Christians as jars of clay which hold God’s Treasure—the Gospel—another way of saying we each embody God’s presence and message as his Temple. Meaning that our role in life even now in unredeemed bodies remains being his temples by having our spirits forgiven, cleansed and reconciled to God through Christ’s Grace. Which means that our relationship with the unforgiven imposes a responsibility on us we shirk by taking refuge in our humanity instead of taking advantage of our refined spiritual state. End Part I |
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