Jesus burst into the Court of the Gentiles, whip in hand, fire in eyes, denunciation on lips. His independence of existing authority, his disregard of their vaunted position and his majestic Presence left no doubt that a new religious order had begun in Israel. His appearance there introduced 3 ½ years of spiritual violence against Satan in as many ways as he dared invade God’s people. Yesterday’s blog Jesus allowed no interference in his ministry. Today, Second, in Christ’s miracles. In them he pitted his spiritual power against Satan’s curses. In each Christ’s FORCE trashed every satanic stronghold.
To give a hint of his mastery of every issue contested, consider: if we found a leper and declared him clean, would the leper’s flesh heal before our eyes? If we found a man with an arm shriveled at the shoulder, and we declared it grown, would we watch as it extended full length and strength? If we stood before a verified corpse and declared it ALIVE, would we see his heart begin pumping, his blood begin circulating, his eyes flutter open, his limbs move and he stands—up and at ‘em—to rise and walk? Third, in devastating the evil spirit world. If we found a man in a cemetery, naked by habit, wild with rage, flesh cut and festered, alternately shrieking his pain and weeping in despair—and headed like a speeding arrow AT us, what would we do? Jesus faced such a demoniac, Mark 5:1-20. Perhaps the worst case he confronted since a Legion—so many he couldn’t count—of demons monopolized him. Legion kept shouting his defiance at Jesus as the Holy One of God. And Jesus kept shouting for the Legion to exit the man’s brain and body. Christ’s FORCE ultimately had the demons begging for mercy. Now...in every other exorcism, Jesus simply ORDERED the demons OUT—and out they came. This time they begged—notice the word—to be sent into the swine, and Jesus allowed it. Why only this time did Jesus allow the new possession to evict the previous? Because of the monopoly of evil the man experienced. To let there be no doubt to the exorcised man, Jesus let him see that what had so depraved him had left him for good by seeing the demons control and ruin the pigs. Understand that every situation demanded SPIRITUAL FORCE when Christ confronted Satan. And Satan left squealing and wailing and protesting, but DEPARTED. Every time. Without fail. Original Spiritual Force banishing derived spiritual force. Hallelujah!
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This longer-than-I-expected series continues with a study of Christ’s persona. John the Baptist proved tough as the diamond in the rough he seemed to be. Yet his adamantine nature seemed but a single stone unearthed in Israel when Jesus of Nazareth appeared as an entire mine full of brilliant diamonds coalesced into ONE immovable, impenetrable, unconquerable TREASURE!
Consider a few of many ways this remarkably forceful man impressed people. First, he allowed only himself the right to determine his ministry. See Mark 2:1-12 for an example. - Petitioners came wanting healing - Jesus instead forgave the cripple’s sin - Religious bureaucrats fumed at the pronouncement - Jesus removed the cripple’s paralysis to prove he HAD forgiven his sin See Mark 3:1-6 for another. - Enemies glared, daring him to heal on the Sabbath - Defying their hatred, he did See Mark 3:20-21, 31-35 - Concerned with his sanity, his family came to take him home: treating the 30-something Jesus as a mental incompetent - Unable to access him personally, they sent word person by person to him in the house - Back came his scorching rebuttal exploding in their faces Mark 8:27-33 - The disciples scaled spiritual heights by declaring Jesus God’s Christ - Not until then, but regularly after, Jesus began to teach them his rejection, death and resurrection - They in concert agreed that Simon, who had been their spokesman earlier, should correct his mistaken view of what being Christ meant - He tried: when Jesus saw that all of them agreed to correct him, he called Simon a satan and (perhaps) pointed to the rest as accomplices in his sin See Luke 19:1-10 - A stubby man took extreme measures to get a personal look at Jesus - As the only person Jesus saw anxious enough to see him that he climbed a tree, he invited himself to lunch, the only time we know he took that initiative - Which elicited blistering criticism from the attending crowd - To them, Zacchaeus proved the one person in Jericho unfit to host Jesus - Which proved their lack of spiritual savvy; Jesus saw a son of Abraham under that flab The point of these illustrations from scripture is Christ’s refusal to let either friend or foe dictate what he did, said or planned. Skeptics, take note: Jesus isn’t impressed by your unbelief. Superficial Christians, take note: you can never understand Jesus by standing so far away. Only bird-dog disciples qualify to understand, those always pointing directly at him. Only they can hope to even come close to appreciating his iron-willed forcefulness. End Part VIII Christ’s cleansing rampage of the court of Gentiles heartened the Baptist. He may have been an eyewitness of it. His disciples would have been there and carried the news to him if not. It excited hm. He wondered what the Nazarene’s next project would be. Jesus had a wide choice since John had planted an ax at the foot of so many tree-targets. One would be Jewish hirelings in Rome’s employ as tax collectors. Another the lack of a social conscience in Israel. So many walked-in-rags unseen by the few in linen. Even Roman soldiers could be told to mind their manners around Jewish people. Having conquered gave no excuse for brutalizing them, including their constant extortion of money for perceived offenses.
However, when both preached in the Judean countryside, John heard that Jesus spoke of God’s concern for people, not his anger at them. The very people John labelled little snakes! And why would the Nazarene perform miracles for them, when he saw them as subjects of pain and suffering? It confused the eremite. And when Herod Antipas’ long hand snatched him from his baptismal sight and imprisoned him near the Dead Sea, John began a long descent into spiritual depression. Now...lest we misunderstand: John’s appeal had nothing of the anarchist’s call to violence in the early 20th century. Or of the 21st century anarchist’s call for disruption, leaving otherwise more-rational people trapped in an emotional fervor they refuse to escape. They aim only to harm, create fear and divide people—the old “revolt against it somehow” of the early anarchists. John’s single goal was Revival. To turn Israel from the religious somnolents they had become to the Davidic-led heroes of their golden age. Revival his method, their personal return to what Moses could lead them to become his goal. And he saw the Nazarene’s method a departure from his prophetic-denunciation method. He couldn’t see, due to his obsession with instant judgment, that Christ’s cleansing of the Temple offered Israel a symbol of what would happen to both temple and national life if they rejected him as Messiah. Jesus later used Pilate’s murder of Galileans, and the accidental death of 18 dead in Jerusalem, to tell the parable of the infertile fig tree Luke 13:1-9. The owner wanted the useless tree uprooted and burned. The caretaker pleaded for one more year of particular care before destroying it. In essence, Jesus’ 3 ½ year ministry offered Israel the spiritual fertilizer that would have called to fertility any spiritual life left dormant in the culture. That it didn’t meant the spiritual life had departed beyond recall from the body politic of Israel. When the Romans came, they served as garbage men, carting away a corpse. John understood God’s judgment on Israel’s future. He didn’t, because his nature couldn’t, factor in the rousing spiritual power Jesus Christ expressed in his ministry, delaying the PUNISHMENT! End Part VII Before studying Christ’s colossal Presence in Ministry, consider an outline of Matthew 11:1-30. The entire context concerns the Kingdom of God in Israel, As It Related To:
John’s Evaluation of Christ’s Ministry 1-3 - Considered his judgment on nation the norm - Considered Christ’s mercy to sinners an aberration Christ’s Commitment to His Norm 4-6 - Continued doing what he had been - Challenged John to believe, not doubt Christ’s Evaluation of John 7-11 - A forceful man of prophetic stature - Renowned as Messiah’s forerunner - Least spiritually educated man in the new order The New Spiritual Order 12-15 - John introduced, Jesus activated - Changed emphasis from impersonal, formal religion - Heart and soul of Messianic kingdom would be obedience to Christ Israel’s Response to Both John and Jesus 16-19 - John too ascetic - Jesus too social The National Privilege and Condemnation 20-24 - Highly honored by Christ’s presence - Particular punishment by rejecting him The “People of Force” Inheriting God’s Kingdom 25-30 - The kind God always honored - Jesus successful in recruiting them - Forceful by accepting their spiritual limitations and Christ’s infinite spiritual power Studying this outline will help you better understand the Master’s harvest of unexpected people. See also I Corinthians 1:18-31. End Part VI John’s arrest silenced his bellowing against Israel’s Top-Hat, Refrigerator religious life and his demand for soul-searching leading to repentance. With his removal Jerusalem expected the ferment raised to settle into quiet: Judea again complacent, Galilee of the Gentiles irrelevant.
Only to learn that the Galilean rabbi, who had smashed his way into national prominence months before by cleansing the Temple, had surfaced as a magnetic influence in the Northern Province. More troubling to the leaders, he continued John’s irritating demand for repentance based on the kingdom of God being near Mark 1:15. What did he mean, since the nation had no need of repentance, having already possessed the kingdom of God? They would be shocked out of their sandals by the answer. We do know: they immediately armed themselves with suspicion and fear of the newcomer. Though they hadn’t seen him as Galileans had by being up-close and personal with him. He spoke to them in a voice quieter than John’s, but with far deeper penetration of their minds. They could brace themselves for the earthquake, wind and fire John preached; but felt an inexplicable dread of the Nazarene’s quiet assumption of Authority in every work spoken, claim made or miracle performed. It filled them with a sense of awe never before possessed and encouraged obeisance before him never before experienced. Though he preached a positive message of hope, they felt ever-less worthy of his smiling message of God’s love for ALL and for each as if the only one LOVED. They couldn’t fathom why their Creator’s LOVE would at once terrify and comfort them. They had become accustomed to John’s hard-edged REPENT or ELSE!, since the kingdom of God was near. Hadn’t every prophet of old demanded repentance or judgment? But when the Nazarene said the kingdom of God was near, he so forcefully emphasized its proximity it seemed to have arrived in him. It stirred their expectations as John hadn’t moved their repentance. The rabbi’s very presence changed the impossible into the probable and the probable into CERTAINTY! What did it all mean? They hadn’t seen ANYTHING YET! End Part V Churches used to count their influence by how many baptisms they performed annually. Today ministers evaluate their influence by how many attend services over a weekend: “Oh, we had 4, 5, 6 thousand in all four/five/six services.” Neither way of measuring influence proves sufficient. It isn’t the number being baptized, or attending, but did they hear the Gospel Message preached at some depth? As Leon Appel used to say, “I know how many people we had in church Sunday; I don’t know how much of the Church got into the people.”
There’s a critical difference. And it misses the point to say, as many do, that “At least they were in church.” That begs the question, which is: what is the preacher’s purpose whenever he stands to speak? THIS: to let the people SEE JESUS John 12:21. Every preacher is accountable to God for THAT Commission, however few or many hear. Every minister’s burden, in every service, then, is to proclaim God’s word to the audience. Only then has he discharged his duty to Christ. How many preachers, especially in black churches, can say with Paul, I serve my community best by “preaching the Gospel”? Not by protesting, being on Community boards, demanding social justice. Revivals have vanished, sadly considered unnecessary. We have religious experts, in BIG churches, now to determine the best way to impact our communities. Which would have been the very argument of every religious leader in Israel when John preached: THEY, not he, had the education, experience, connections and credentials to make policy. Motivation is another favorite explanation of todays’ leaders. It gains nothing to call people sinners when trying to attract them to God, they say. But, interestingly, the only people in Israel offended when called SINNERS were the religious leaders. Other groups, as Luke 3:10-14 records, agreed with John and wanted to know HOW they could REPENT. Are there any churches willing to believe that Matthew 28:18-20 remains Christ’s marching orders for his people, based on human sin he died to forgive; and based on his authority to save ALL people, based on his ability to grow his church if his directions are followed? That, wherever his people go, they are to live the gospel so influentially that others want to know what inspires them I Peter 3:15. And when asked, willingly give an account of the grace that saved them and can save ALL others. That then tells them how to be forgiven: have faith in Christ, repentant of egotism, confess Christ and be baptized for forgiveness Acts 2:38, 3:19. A query: how many churches will use singing, entertainment and good fellowship to attract people but will expect Christians, by lifestyle and verbal witnessing, to look the lost in the eye and urge them to repent so they won’t perish eternally? Believe it or not; that makes evangelism direct, simple, interesting and possible for every believer. End Part IV Assigned and anchored to a specific role, the Baptist lacked patience with those lacking either. Understanding both his and Messiah’s God-given stations, he instinctively humbled himself. He would be best man, Messiah the groom. His role would diminish, Messiah’s would expand. He would be servant, Messiah his Master.
Assigned a role perfectly fitting his eremitic nature, he lived among a few in desert isolation and dressed as the prophet he knew himself to be. Offering praise sparingly, he flattered none, and bowed before only ONE. Confident in his prophetic calling and fearing none, he scattered his protests freely, whatever the offender’s place or power. Attacking with harsh invective everything he saw wrong in society, he particularly denounced the religious quackery practiced by high and low alike, masking their empty souls by addiction to ceremonies, customs, traditions AND the rectitude of their enshrined forefathers. Then, to show he had no fear of authority, he turned his anger from the religious which could but hector him, to the political, which could and eventually would silence him. Wherever his shouts sounded, DOOM threatened. The single voice echoed ominously in city palaces, the hovels and narrow avenues. A herd of wild, uncontrolled horses galloping down cobblestone streets couldn’t have terrified them more. So powerful had he become that the populace wondered if he could BE Messiah Luke 3:15. And so impressed had the sacred seventy become that they sent a delegation to question him John 1:19-28. End Part III Since Jesus referenced John with himself in the context, consider the Baptist as a forceful man. Using Luke 3:1-20 as one of other powerful texts, notice how spiritually-violent his message began: you brood of vipers—little snakes. We’re not surprised he labeled the leaders “little snakes”. But Luke pictured the common people in the same scathing terms.
Note that he preached “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,” meaning repentance of sin followed by baptism for forgiveness. The apostle Peter preached the same message: “Repent and be baptized every one of you for the forgiveness of your sins” Acts 2:38. Are we now to believe that, while John preached baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and Holy Spirit-inspired Simon Peter preached baptism for forgiveness of sins, Jesus didn’t consider baptism essential to forgiveness? The ONE both John and Simon represented? To faith-only people interpretation of Scripture depends on one’s theology; one’s interpretation of scripture doesn’t determine theology. That’s the legacy of A.T. Robertson. Focus also on “repent”. In a culture where everyone considered himself righteous, John demanded each adult must “repent”—as the unrighteous. Simon Peter made the same demand on Pentecost, seeing the entire Temple-attending, animal-sacrificing, priesthood-led generation “corrupt”, including every adult in it. Relate John’s vocally-violent message to the contemporary church. Because church leaders have opted for the least invasive path into people’s lives—including music, fellowship and entertainment—they consider repentance as obsolete as REVIVALS! Indeed, both are nothing but religious atavism to these leaders. End Part II Matthew 11:12, an overlooked verse in understanding the Master’s powerful personality, also calls Christians to imitate him. Called the Lion of Judah for a reason, he’s no Hollywood cat, representing a celluloid industry of myth and illusion, throwing off a couple harmless growls.
See him instead as a snarling, fang-exposed, claws-extended champion of God’s Truth against all satanic falsehoods. See him devouring entire societies and shredding entire cultures and nations as they defy the Living God. His people must be as forceful standing with him against everything in society that defies him, even when the one opposing him lives in our family or friendship circle. For example, a lady considered Jesus such a “sweet man” he would find some way to exonerate Judas. Her emotional wish collides with Christ’s rational, immutable condemnation of Judas Mark 14:20-21. The word translated as forceful in the NIV is also translated as violent in other versions. The Greek word occurs seven times in the Gospels, six as something violent, one as something pressing, as in pressing on something. Equivalent English words are strong, forceful, tough, potent, virile, vigorous. In a sense, translating it as violent is perfect—if we understand the spiritual context. Particularly if we see it as individuals appearing in a culture intending to move people and nations from one spiritual persuasion to another. Then you have a collision of two forces, one imbedded, the other even more potently original. Very much as Paul understood his change on the Damascus Road. He saw it, I Corinthians 25:8, as an abnormal birth—extromati, from which we get our word trauma—as equal to abortion. So...appropriately...something more VIOLENT than Saul’s obsessive HATRED of Christians changed him from one spiritual state to another Acts 9:1-9. Saul’s violence against Jesus demanded a greater, not an equivalent, violence from Jesus to prove a greater force than UNBELIEF existed. (Skeptics, take note.) All of that introduced by a LIGHT greater than the noonday Syrian sun that opened Saul’s mind as it closed his eyes. End Part I As David embodied the model God wants followed when he reproves, corrects, disciplines or punishes us, Cain embodied what must be avoided. David admitted God’s justice; Cain bewailed God’s prejudice. He unconscionably killed Abel but instantly censured God’s sentence as MORE than he could bear! Amazing hypocrisy!
But murder in Cain’s mind began with his rejection of God for his rejection of Cain’s offering. He gave, not the first-fruits of his husbandry, as an act of faith, but what he thought adequate. When God refused to honor it by fire, he hated God. A lack of scruple that encouraged him to kill his spiritual superior. Then, when Cain cursed the soil by killing Abel—mankind’s second abuse of creation—God turned it to a curse on Cain. Which the hardened, self-willed sinner adamantly defied by “building a city” Genesis 4:12, 17, intending to be a settled resident, not the “restless wanderer on earth” God foretold. Since even the wicked can teach us something useful—learn these lessons from Cain. First, our entire life-style of behavior and decisions are determined by our relationship with God. Never underestimate this truth. Second, Cain’s response to God explains why, to this day, some people readily admit they’re wrong merely by have it called to their attention; while others refuse any suggestion of faulty behavior, however clearly demonstrated. The former want to change; the latter see no reason they should. Christians appealing to the unsaved to accept Christ’s sacrifice for their sins should be prepared for both reactions. Some people will breathe a sigh of relief that the correction wasn’t MORE severe; others will glare in revulsion that it was so pitiless. Indeed, some sinners will be delighted that faith, repentance and baptism are the steps taken to forgiveness; others will consider any requirement from God a maximum restriction on their free-will. The first response makes God an admirable benefactor; the second a never-satisfied dictator. The Cain-disposition considers any limitation on behavior unacceptable, all freedom of behavior too little and any penalty imposed “more than they can bear.” Even if their sin is cold-blooded murder. The inconsistent philosophy against capital punishment is a Cain-response. No matter how violent the crime, or merciless the criminal’s acts against innocent people, the murderer shouldn’t be executed. God’s word dashes the theory to bits and pieces, and human standards of justice follow, demanding the heaviest punishment for the worst crime. Of which murder is the poster child of infamy since it arrogates to us what God reserves as his right alone Genesis 9:5-6. One final admonition. When, as faithful believers in Jesus, we experience what: we can’t explain; seems unfair to us; is more than we can bear—always seek God’s strength to endure. Ask God to help us learn in the situation what would make us stronger witnesses for Jesus. Never...never...question WHY we’re asked to bear the burden. That leads to Cain’s response to correction, not to David’s. Fini |
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