The crowd was thinking, “We are God’s kingdom. Israel is God’s kingdom. The Messiah by the power of God’s hand will fight for God’s kingdom.”
Jesus knew their thoughts. So he asked them questions. He taught them parables. “What is the kingdom of God like?”
“It is like a mighty kingdom getting all kinds of tribute from other nations so that no one in Israel will be oppressed nor need to work,” they answered him in their heart.
Jesus continued asking them questions. He wanted them to consider something else. “What shall I compare it to?”
“Oh no. Here comes another one of his parables which we don’t understand.” Most in the crowd silently moaned.
Jesus taught them about a mustard seed which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree and the birds of the air perched in its branches.
“Israel is small, but with God fighting for us we will grow to encompass the world, bigger than Rome,” some uttered. “But why would he let others dwell in our kingdom?”
Jesus knew those on the outside did not understand because their hearts were closed to God. To those who put their faith in him, he told another parable, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
By this Jesus meant that God’s kingdom does not destroy other nations. God’s kingdom changes other nations. Together they become a new creation much better than the former.
Jesus healed a crippled woman on the Sabbath as he made his final trip to Jerusalem. He had healed on the Sabbath before and been criticized. (Luke 6:6-11, 14:1-6, Matthew 12:1-8, 11-12, John 5:1-18) The synagogue ruler was reasonable because, from his point of view, the people could have waited a day to be healed and thus not disrupted the service, including reading the Word and the sermon, thus breaking established worship order, and according to them, the Sabbath law calling for rest. The religious leaders had narrowly defined what it meant to rest and not rest on the Sabbath. The religious Jewish leadership had taken God’s direction, “Remember the Sabbath… on it you shall not do any work…” (Exodus 20:6) to extremes that were not acceptable to God. Jesus often pointed this out. The traditions that they created became a burden.
From the woman’s point of view, she had to be healed now because she did not know if Jesus would be in her village tomorrow. She was desperate and Jesus is the helper of the despondent. Why wait for tomorrow to be healed when Jesus is here now waiting for you to come and be healed?
From Jesus’ point of view, this woman was a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had kept bound for eighteen long years. Jesus untied her from her stall and led her to his healing water. From Jesus’ point of view, the synagogue ruler was a hypocrite who suppressed the woman. He did not care that she was set free from Satan’s chains. The man was more concerned about his status than praising God.
From the people’s point of view, they were delighted with all the wonderful things Jesus was doing. Whose view do I have? Jesus’? The synagogue ruler’s? The woman’s? Or the people’s?
Jesus’ parable is a continuation and graphic explanation of his warning to the people, “Repent or else…” The man who owes the fig tree in his vineyard is God. The fig tree is often used in the Bible to represent Israel, thus referring to the misguided Jews who came to Jesus wanting to incite Jesus to start a revolt against Pilate and the Rome Pilate represented. They stubbornly continued in an opposite direction than God wanted them to go.
The vineyard represents the kingdom of God. God had planted Israel in his kingdom. Like the man in the parable, God wanted Israel to bear fruit, meaning he wanted them to be his messengers to the world. They were not. They bore no fruit for the three years Jesus had preached, taught, and done miracles. They did not put their faith in him. They did not follow him. They did not obey him. Instead, they wanted to kill all of their enemies. No matter how much Jesus had taken care of the fig tree for the three years of his ministry, they did not bear fruit. God wanted to cut them down.
Jesus pleaded for God to give them some more time to change their ways. He would send his disciples to dig around it and fertilize it. They would continue his work exponentially. Jesus told his Father, “If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.” The Jews did not bear fruit and in 70 AD they were destroyed by Rome. Similarly, I can take Jesus’ parable as a warning to bear fruit as God intends for my life or else…
Jesus was told of a horrible act committed by Pilate. Perhaps the messengers thought Jesus would proclaim a woe or curse on Pilate. Maybe they wanted this to be the catalyst to start a war against Rome. Jesus did none of these things. Rather, Jesus indirectly focused on the messengers through an indirect association.
The main point of Jesus’s response is repeated twice, “…unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Repent is a feeling of regret, a changing of the mind, and/or a turning from sin to God. As a feeling of regret, the term can apply even to God. This feeling is enough to change one’s mind regarding the subject and thus change one’s actions hopefully for the better.
“Perish” is “apollymi” in the original Greek meaning to die or be destroyed especially in a violent or untimely manner, and to pass from existence. Jesus was warning those who delivered this grim news. Their motive in telling Jesus was all wrong, they needed to change it, and if they didn’t they would exist no more.
When someone dies a terrible unexpected death like the Galileans or the eighteen many believe they deserved it. “Deserves them right,” we say. We judge them of either a known or unknown sin. Jesus teaches here that such things are not for me to judge. Rather, I am to judge myself and change if I need be. If I find myself judging another I should repent and change myself.
The general concept Jesus is speaking about here is that through cause and effect and patterns we know what will happen in the physical world in regards to the weather. Predicting the weather in the next few hours based on what we see and feel in the atmosphere is possible.
Similarly, the Old Testament reveals a lot about Jesus’ first coming. Any Jew could have studied the Bible and looked at what was happening in John the Baptist’s and Jesus’ ministry to know that the Messiah had come as the Lamb of God. But most did not. Thus, they deprived themselves of knowing the needed truth to make a good and right decision.
The future would be bleak for the generation that rejected the Messiah. A war with Rome that would lead to the nation’s destruction would come. A war that Israel would not recover from for almost two thousand years. The result for generations of Jews that would follow them would be rejection and persecution from one nation after another. Jesus’ rebuke to the crowd was a warning to not reject him as the Messiah and the result their rejecting would have. Jesus called them hypocrites.
Who is the modern hypocrite? The modern hypocrites do not study the Bible, pray, meditate, and see what is going on in the world around them. They do not seek God’s plans from theirself through personal study, prayer, and meditation. Their only chance to gain understanding and see from God’s perspective is from what other people tell them is in the Bible the few days they go to church, but even then something else is on their mind. They do not study themselves. They will be surprised when they experience what they did not prepare for.
Some believe that Jesus came to bring peace on earth. Here, Jesus said he did not. The misconception rests on the misunderstanding of who Jesus is and what he did when he came. The world has always had war, people fighting each other. The belief amongst many Jews was that the Messiah would forcefully stop the actions of those who were “sinners” and Gentile heathens, there would be a war, and many would die. Those who would remain would be on God’s side. Through this peace would come to earth. Or so they believed.
This thinking was wrong. The Messiah was coming to bring peace with God in a person’s heart, not between two opposing sides. A sinner is converted into a saint if they accept what Jesus did for them on the cross.
Jesus had been talking about his coming baptism, that is the crucifixion. Now he states that this would bring division. When faced with the cross and the implication of it a person has to make a decision, accept or reject. This binary decision causes division. Some accept.- some reject. The human conversion is from the love of God, not vengeance. The love of God is not forced on someone. The love of God seeks faith, hope and love. Some accept – some reject. Thus, division.
Jesus states that division will occur, even in families. Why? When a person accepts Jesus’s death for their sins, they become a member of the family of God. When a person rejects Jesus’s death for their sins, they remain in the house of Satan. These two sides are a division amongst mankind, even in a family.
Jesus speaks of a consuming fire. The fire here is not the chemical reaction that results in light and heat. Rather, this is a descriptive word used to illustrate an ongoing action/reaction after Jesus completes his work. What was that work; preaching, teaching, raising disciples, the cross, his resurrection, his ascension, or the work of the Holy Spirit he would send? Theologians have taken the fire here to refer to anyone and several of these.
After Jesus’ death and resurrection, he sent the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit took the seed that Jesus planted and acted to quickly spread it all over the world. His work was and is like a violent altering consuming fire.
Luke 3:16 reveals more. Matthew 3:11 is the same. They record John the Baptist saying, “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
Keys to “fire” being the Holy Spirit is that Jesus wanted it to come, being God’s nature which is always good. Jesus places this after his death. He was just talking about his disciple’s responsibilities. Jesus states that he is distressed until it is completed. Finally, Jesus uses “baptism” as a descriptive word for his suffering and death, the second part of this bi-fold revelation. The fire that Jesus is speaking of continues still.
“Of corroborative value is the personal history of Peter (John 21:18, 19; 2 Pet. 1:14). Jesus foretold that Peter, then middle-aged (“when you were younge”), would die at an infirm old age (“when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will gird you”). If we try to save the imminence of the Parousia by saying that Peter could have been martyred at any time, we forget that his infirmity and old age were not imminent. And if we say that the prediction concerning Peter was not common knowledge among Christians until long after his death, we overlook the presence of other apostles on the occasion of the prediction. Furthermore, John writes of the incident in order to correct a misimpression which had arisen concerning his own death. The whole matter, then, must have received some publicity in the early Church.
“To claim that these delays were “general in nature, without specific length;” merely avoids the issue. Whether general or specific, long or short, the delays were delays and, by being stated, rendered the second coming non-imminent to the apostolic Church. Moreover, the delays were not entirely general in nature. The specificity of the great commission (“in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth”), of the promise that Paul should bear witness at Rome, and of Peter’s old age as a time of infirmity to the degree of inability to dress himself make the delays much more pointed than the doctrine of imminence can allow.
“Again, to claim that “the delays had been fulfilled by the time the exhortations to watch were written” runs afoul of historical facts. At least those exhortations to watch in the epistles appeared in writing before the disciples could have fulfilled the great commission, before Paul had completed his extensive missionary efforts, and before Peter had reached old age, become infirm, and died. From the very beginning, even before the written exhortations, Christians knew that they were to watch through the oral ministry of Jesus and the apostles and prophets. In one of his earliest epistles Paul already commends believers for their watchfulness (1 Thess. 1:9, 10). The point remains that if watching could not have connoted imminence in the apostolic age, it need not connote imminence now.
“But should we not think that all else was contingent upon the second coming, that an “only if Christ does not return beforehand” qualified every other expectation? Possibly, but only possibly, in connection with the personal circumstances of Peter and Paul. It is very hard to think, however, that an imminent return of Christ might have taken away sufficient opportunity to fulfill the great commission. Moreover, when imminence becomes the ruling principle by which all else was and is rendered contingent, even the events of the tribulation do not have to take place; they might “die on the vine” just as the great commission and the predictions concerning Paul and Peter would have done had Jesus returned beforehand.” This ends the quote from “The Church and the Tribulation” by Robert H. Gundry.
Peter wanted to know if what Jesus said was for everyone or just the disciples. Jesus answered with a parable. His answer should be considered to accompany the previous. Today’s BDBD is a continuation of yesterday’s. The quote below from “The Church and the Tribulation” continues yesterday’s.
“Jesus bases the parable of the servants on the presupposition of a delay in His coming, for without the delay no interval would have provided opportunity for the servants to display their true colors (Luke 12:41-48; Matt. 24:45-51). And when Jesus has the wicked servant say, “My master will be a long time in coming,” He tacitly admits that there will be a delay. As the wicked servant’s eternal judgment “with the unbelievers (or hypocrites)” shows, the contrast in servants distinguishes true disciples, whose characteristic it is to watch, from false disciples, whose characteristic it is not to watch. The necessary delay made no difference to the expectant attitude of the true servant, but it revealed the falsity of the wicked servant. Jesus does not condemn recognition of delay, but the attitude that takes selfish advantage of the delay. Moreover, readiness denotes not so much tiptoe anticipation as faithful service day by day: “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants to give them their rations at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes” (Luke’s version).
“We might suppose that the long period of delay required in the parables would be satisfied by “a few years.” But a few years is all the delay post-tribulationism requires. Jesus could not have given in good faith the great commission with its worldwide extent (“all the nations” and “the remotest part of the earth”) without providing a considerable lapse of time so that the disciples might have opportunity to perform the task. The long-range missionary endeavors of Paul may not possess independent argumentative weight (Paul’s journey to Rome was contingent on the Lord’s will, Rom. 1:9, 10). Yet as the Lord’s commission for him to go “far away to the Gentiles” (Acts 22: 21) and to witness before “kings” (Acts 9:15) and as the promise in Jerusalem that he would “witness… at Rome” (Acts 23:11; cf. 27:24) link up with the great commission generally, they gain considerable weight.
“It may be countered, with an appeal to Paul’s statement “the gospel… was proclaimed in all creation under heaven” (Col. 1:23), that “the extensive preaching of the gospel in the first century might… satisfy the program of preaching to the ends of the earth.” However, Paul wrote his statement during his first Roman imprisonment, some thirty years after Jesus gave the Great Commission, an interval more than four times as long as the tribulation. And Paul had not fulfilled his intention of visiting Spain, where the Gospel had not yet been preached (Rom. 15:20, 24). Evidently, he himself did not regard the great commission as fulfilled. Apparently, then, in Colossians 1:23 Paul is not affirming a fulfillment of the Great Commission but is setting the universality of the Gospel (the good news is for all men, even though it has not reached all men) in opposition to the esotericism of the Colossian heresy.
One more quote will continue on a special Sunday BDBD. I normally do not post BDBD on Sunday because I encourage all to attend a Bible believing and teaching congregation near their home.
Jesus wants his faithful servant to always be “dressed and ready”, eagerly and patiently waiting for his coming to take us away to be with him for eternity. (1 Cor. 15:51-52, Phil. 3:20, 1 Thess. 1:10, 1 Tim. 6:14, James 5:8) The servants being “taken away” (“rapture”, only found in the Latin Septuagint) at the last of the seven trumpets is the next occurrence in the church’s calendar. (The first six trumpets are for the world. See https://stephenricker.com/novels/the_believers_future.htm) The seventh trumpet is when Jesus will appear in the heavens before touching the earth (Acts 1:9-11) and his angels reaping the harvest of believers (1 Thess. 4:13-18). We shall be changed and see him with our own eyes (Psalm 17:19, 1 John 3:2). We will then descend with him to earth.
Jesus taught his servants in many parables like this one to “keep watch” for his sure coming. (Matt. 13:30, 21:34, 24:32, 25:13, 19, Mark 4:29, 12:2, 13:35) The word “imminence” meaning, “something is about to happen” is not in any English translation of the Bible. Yet, Jesus’ servants have always looked to his coming to take them away. Habakkuk 2:2-3 states, “Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it lingers, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” What then does Jesus mean by telling us to “keep watch”? Does “keep watching” imply imminence? Many who call themselves Christians believe in imminence, that is, that Jesus can return at any time since his ascension. Is this in line with Jesus’ parables like this one? And what of the claim that the gospel must be preached in the whole world before he came again which did not happen until recent years? Below is a quote from “The Church and the Tribulation” by Robert H. Gundry in chapter 3 under the heading “Expectation and Imminence”.
“If the second coming could not have been imminent for those originally commanded to watch at the time they were so commanded, then the commanded expectancy could not have implied imminence of the event looked for. It then becomes unnecessary for us to regard Jesus’ coming as imminent, for we have received no further and no different exhortations. In other words, if a delay in the Parousia of at least several years was compatible with expectancy in apostolic times, a delay for the several years of the tribulation is compatible with expectancy in current times. Jesus clearly indicates to the early disciples that His coming will be delayed for some time. The express purpose of the parable concerning the nobleman who went to a “far country” is that the disciples should not think “the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately” (Luke 19: 11-27). “While the bridegroom was delaying” also intimates delay (Matt. 25:5). In the parable of the talents, Jesus likens His return to the lord who “after a long time” came back from a far country (Matt. 25:19).
Jesus will start his final long journey to Jerusalem after teaching this series (13:22, 31, 14:25, 17:11). While walking from town to town, he will seek to focus his disciples’ attention on his death, resurrection, and ascension and on what they are to do when he is gone.
These three verses concern his kingdom which the Father is pleased to give to them (32). Jesus tells his flock not to be afraid, for the kingdom is theirs. Jesus is speaking to believers, who already possess the kingdom. His command is to believers who should seek the spiritual benefits of the kingdom, rather than the riches of the world (33).
The treasure-full purses we are to pursue are heavenly and thus do not wear out and will never never be exhausted. Heavenly treasure which we acquire by faithly obedience now will never be stolen nor dropped through a hole in our purses because a moth eats through it.
Many faithful have often sacrificed worldly treasure in obedience to their King’s call. They value his treasure more than the wealth of this world. They know and believe what Jesus offers is better than fine living.
The heavenly treasure is the approval of our heavenly Father, which is represented as wealth stored up in heaven, ready to be enjoyed hereafter. The earthly treasure is not only wealth (though that is its most striking exemplification), but everything lower than God Himself on which men set their hearts,—honor, fame, pleasure, ease, power, excitement, luxury, and animal enjoyment.
Rebuking worry Jesus said, “But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
The Kingdom of God is where King Jesus rules completely and unquestionably. (John 14:15-24) The bride of the Kingdom of God thinks about him, loves him, and lives to enjoy him and fulfill his will. Luke 17:20-21 records, “Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the Kingdom of God is within you.” Jesus transfers people from being subjects of the worldly kingdom to subjects of God’s kingdom. The transformation starts in the heart, mind, and will continue until one’s whole being is changed. (Rom. 12:2) Paul calls it circumcision of the heart. (Rom. 2:29) Colossians 1:13-14 states, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Mark 10:13-15 states, “People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” The Kingdom of God is where Jesus rules the humble repentant heart.
People who are subjects to this world’s kingdoms have their minds and hearts set on this world. They do all they can to build up a stockpile of goods for themselves. A famous bumper sticker reads, “The one with the most toys wins.” After Jesus told the parables concerning the Kingdom of God (seeds parable), he finished with, “The secret of the Kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'” (Mark 4:11-12) A person whose heart is set on this world will not be given the secrets of Jesus’ kingdom. If a heart willingly is transformed, Jesus will reveal his truths to it.
Jesus tells me to seek first the kingdom of his Father (aka the Kingdom of Heaven). Jesus has mentioned the kingdom of God at least thirteen times before (4:43, 6:20, 7:28, 8:1, 10, 9:2, 11, 27, 62, etc.). The kingdom of God is mentioned over 1,300 times in the Bible.
Many of Jesus’ parables concern the Kingdom of God, especially in the coming chapters. Jesus stated that he “preached the good news of the Kingdom of God” from town to town. (Luke 4:43, 8:1, 9:11) Jesus sent out his disciples to preach about the Kingdom of God. (Luke 9:1) Jesus often told people, “The Kingdom of God is near you,” or at least something similar. (Matt. 12:28, Mark 1:15, Mark 12:34, Luke 10:9, 11, 20) When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, the second subject (after honoring God our Father) he told them to pray for was The Kingdom of God’s coming. “Thy kingdom come,” he taught his disciples to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
The question is often raised, or at least should be raised; what is Jesus asking us to seek when he said, “…seek his kingdom”? What was Jesus referring to when he spoke of the Kingdom of God? Is it a real place? Is it in this world? Is it the church (congregation)? Is it in heaven or is it heaven itself? Is it something yet to come? Is it some mystical realm in another dimension? Will it be on the moon or some other planet in a galaxy far away? Is it the same as the Kingdom of Heaven? Sadly most today including many modern Christians have either no idea or the wrong idea of the Kingdom of God because most, including modern believers, seldom take time to think about the Kingdom of God let alone talk about it and study what the Bible has to say about it.
Worry is mentioned four times in the universal mending subject in this passage. Worry can affect all; no matter being rich, poor, or of moderate income. A sociable elite and a society outcast will worry about an unfathomable future. Living on the north and south poles, on the equator, and anywhere in between will not stave someone from worry. Worry is in the fabric that binds our bones. We could fall to pieces at any moment.
Jesus prescribes the only salve to worry. He does not merely command, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.” Nor does he not merely give the reason not to worry, “Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.” Nor does Jesus stop at giving me the illustrations of the worry-free raven and the lilies of the field. No, Jesus does not stop here.
Jesus points to the problem and solves it. The medical ointment to worry is faith. “O you of little faith!” (28) The faith that Jesus prescribes is faith in God’s love. “How much more valuable you are than these!” (24) “Your heavenly Father knows…” (30) God love me. Believe it. Live it. Set my mind, will, and emotions on God and his kingdom. (31) Get my faith priorities right. Then my bones will be free of worry.
Investing involves time. Both long-term and short-term investments must be considered. Short-term investments should not endanger long-term investments.
Investing does not only involve finances. One must also invest in the body, mind, and emotions. Physical planning determines what, when, and how much I eat and includes proper physical exercise. Mental investing demarcates what, when, and how much I allow my senses to feed my mind and includes proper mental exercise. Emotional investing delimitates what, when, and how much I control and exercise emotions. These four; financial, body, mind, and emotions are short-term investments.
Jesus’s parable reveals a fifth investment, the premiere investment. This investment is in God and his kingdom. This is the only long-term investment. The rich man in the parable gave the short-term investments his undue attention while ignoring the long-term investment of God and his kingdom. Jesus taught his disciples, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal… But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:19, 33)
The Lord has graciously allowed me to see people in many parts of the world. Several years ago on a short mission trip, he sent me to one of the poorest nations in the world. where most of the people were friendly, happy, and satisfied. Upon my return, I traveled through many of the richest nations in the world where people were hostile, depressed, and wanting more. A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. (15)
John the Baptist said concerning greed, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely–be content with your pay.” (Luke 3:11-14)
Apostle Paul wrote, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:12-13)
Considering some who taught false doctrines that included “Godliness is a means to financial gain,” the Apostle Paul wrote, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:6-10)
Live and rejoice in God at the moment and be thankful for what he supplies today. Worrying about tomorrow is like smoke in the wind. “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6)
Many noble children of God have praised God for wonderful works in others, helped the poor, and forgiven those who sinned against them. They did not deny Jesus in the face of suffering, famine, poverty, and humiliation. They have stayed in Jesus’ light and drink from the heavenly fount.
These often dissolute humble pilgrims have not been perfect by anyone’s standards. However, when they sinned they returned humbly to their master and asked for forgiveness wanting all the more to be given another chance to walk the path of salvation. Their destination is the celestial city.
When insulted they have turned the other cheek through the wisdom of Jesus and the strength of the Spirit. They return pain with prayer and supplications. They put vengeance in the hands of their master as King David did when Saul was trying to kill him.
The healed warrior did not insult God nor slandered those who hated them. They prayed in closets and whispered their pleas in the middle of the night. They have been alone and been treated as outcasts. Their fate is eternal wholeness though in this age they have at times been broken.
The witnessing child of the Holy One has been brought before synagogues, rulers, and authorities on account of the life they have given to the honor of Jesus. Their concern was not their defense for they trusted their master. The Holy Spirit filled them. He had taught and will continue to teach them. The words they speak are not their own. Their lips produce melodies of peace and love. They humbly have learned the Spirit’s message of reconciliation.
Jesus makes it clear that my decisions now will lead to actions that will set my future for the rest of eternity. If, when pressed before others to admit that I have faith in Jesus, I must not deny him, doing so will bring shame before the heavenly hosts in my future. Note though that Peter denied Jesus three times when Jesus was arrested as Jesus foretold, and Peter was forgiven by repentant Peter as Jesus said in verse 10.
However, Jesus promises that if anyone blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven in verse 10. Matthew 12:31 and Mark 3:28:29 are similar claims Jesus makes about this subject. The context of all three passages clarifies that the unforgivable sin is claiming the work of the Holy Spirit is evil and the work of Satan. This is what the Pharisees and the teacher of the law were stating about the work of Jesus (Mark 3:30).
If I were told that there is a hungry lion in the next room and I am going to be sent into it I would be afraid. If I am told there is an evil man in the next room and he is angry with me and I am going to be sent into it I would be afraid. If I die an unrepentant and unforgiven sinner and stand before the judgment seat of God I would be frightened.
Someone would say, “I would never be afraid of God.” Jesus says there is a reason to be afraid of God. “Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yet, I tell you, fear him.” Solomon wrote, “…if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding… then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.” (Proverbs 2:3, 5)
Jesus is talking to his disciples. He concludes by reassuring them of his unfailing love for them with a comparative illustration. God cares for sparrows which man considered nearly worthless. Now much more is a person who believes in and follows the teachings of Jesus.
Jesus had become very popular. Films about the gospels often show Jesus, the twelve apostles, and perhaps a few others walking down lonely dirt roads. However, the gospels make it clear, such as verse one that many thousands of people would gather at their stops and also walk with them (10:1). Jesus was very popular with the average person though the leaders constantly opposed him.
Jesus uses yeast as the similitude’s focus making this similar to Matthew 16:5-12 and Mark 8:14-21 which also uses yeast to illustrate a truth. However, those two gospel accounts record different times.
Hypocrisy is like yeast. Practiced even a few times in secret will affect the whole person and even those around them. Hypocrisy changes a person in ways that are not visible at first. It is slow, corrupting, and unstoppable. Hypocrisy is a pretense to being what one really is not, especially the pretense of being a better person than one really is.
A hypocrite is like an actor in a play, except a hypocrite often falsely believes they are the hero of the drama. They expect and want people to celebrate their delusion… their deception. Everyone is a hypocrite at one time, and then another, and another. The character of a follower of Jesus is to contain sincerity. Christian love (Romans 12:9; 2 Corinthians 6:6; 1 Peter 1:22), faith (1 Timothy 1:5; 2 Timothy 1:5), and wisdom (James 3:17) should be sincere.
Jesus pronounces one final woe upon the Pharisees, who barrage him with questions to trap and discredit him (5:21, 5:30, 6:2, 11, 19:47-48, 20:19-20, 22:2). Jesus claims that they have taken away the key to knowledge and hindered those who are entering (52).
In 7:30, Luke comments, “The Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves because they had not been baptized by John.” God’s purpose for them was to lead people to the Messiah. Now the Messiah arrived and they did all they could to lock people out.
The very persons who should have opened the people’s minds and hearts concerning the law obscured their understanding by faulty interpretation and an erroneous system of theology. They kept themselves and the people in ignorance of the way of salvation, or, as Matthew puts it, they “shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces.” (Matthew23:13)
Do I share the good news? Or am I like the Pharisees and shut the door on others?
Who is helped when an elaborate tomb or memorial is built? Surely, it is not for the person who died. Does the family benefit from a pile of stones with a shiny plaque? Does the society that pays for it profit? After a few years, no one even notices it. Perhaps a few who visit a city will take five minutes to look at it and be reminded of the long-dead and soon-forgotten. An intricate tomb is usually built to make the statement, “They were somebody great, but not as great as me who built this monument.”
In Jesus’ day, Jerusalem was littered with monuments built at locations they believed were prophets’ tombs. Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy. Their forefathers harassed, persecuted, and killed most of the prophets. Now centuries later their descendants build their tombs.
Outwardly the Jews appeared to honor the prophets in building and rebuilding memorials, but inwardly they rejected the Christ the prophets announced was coming. They lived in opposition to the teachings of the prophets, just as their forefathers had done. Some Christians build memorials in their home to honor God while in their hearts they still despise others. How can we believe we love God when he cannot even love others?
“Expert(s) in the law” is a term used mostly by Luke (7:25, 30, 37 45-46, 52, 13:3). However, Matthew once referred to a man as “an expert in the law” (Matthew 22:35). They were “scribes”, most of which were a sect of the Pharisees trained in writing skills and used to record events and decisions (Jeremiah 36:26; 1 Chronicle 24:6; Esther 3:12; Matthew 23:2). During the exile in Babylon educated scribes apparently became the experts in God’s written word, copying, preserving, and teaching it. Ezra was a scribe (Exra 7:6). By Jesus’ time a scribe was a profession (Mark 2:16).
When an expert in the law heard Jesus’ first three woes he protested, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.” He did not receive Jesus’ words properly as he would have if he believed that Jesus was the Messiah. God’s word is received based on the beliefs and prejudices of the hearer. A believer would be conscious stricken and humbly ask for forgiveness. A hypocrite would be insulted.
Jesus replied with the fourth woe, “You load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.” They did so by adding rules and regulations to the authentic law of Moses (Matthew 15:2). They did not help the people and they found ways to circumvent the regulations they made. They did not shepherd people. They were wolves who kill and destroy.
Am I insulted by God’s word? Do I burden people and do not help?
Jesus continues his confrontation with the religious leaders by citing six woes. A woe is deep distress and misery, as from grief.
The first woe is for being exact and zealous for the observation of religious traditions and rituals while neglecting justice and the love of God. Jesus cited that their love for others and God should be as exact as their tithing of spices and all kinds of garden herbs.
The second woe is the love of exaltation. So they exalted themself and loved when people honored them. Pride and self-ambition are detestable sins, especially when Jesus expects me to teach humility.
The third is they were like unmarked graves. Walking over a grave would defile a person for some time until they would perform a ceremonial wash. It did not matter if the grave was marked or not. The people that the Pharisees taught did not know it, but they were being taught that which made them unclean.
When studying the Bible it can sometimes be hard to understand the point of a passage, chapter, or the entire book. I should not give up. Rather, I should ask the Lord of the Word to reveal to me so I may do that which is important.
The Pharisees and all the Jews held onto traditions that many began believing were as important as the Law of Moses. They considered these traditions a form of worship. (Matthew 15:9; Mark 7:3) For example, “When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.” (Mark 7:4)
One day, a Pharisee invited Jesus to eat with him. He noticed that Jesus did not engage in their ceremonial washings. Jesus’s response deserves considerable self-examination.
Jesus replied, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.” God considers what is inside more important than religious ceremonies, traditions, and practices. Love and charity are more important than ceremony.
“What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.'” (Mark 7:20-23)
Jesus continues his response to those who ask for a sign from heaven (16).
First, he uses the similitude and proverb in verse 33. Jesus would give no sign to them to show that he was the Messiah at this time because it would do no good. Jesus preached and did works openly, not in secret. The light is already shining brightly and they choose to remain in the dark.
The blessed who hear the word of God and obey it, as stated in verse 28 come to him, see the light, and believe. Blessed are those who see, believe, practice, and share the light with others.
Second, Jesus uses the parable in verses 34 to 36 to say their problem is with their eyes. Though it receives the light it chooses not to see it. What the eyes see, if we choose to accept it will affect our whole being. If when we see Jesus and accept the light of truth the power of the Holy Spirit will enter our soul and we will be whole.
What the eye is to the body, so the soul (the mind, will, and affections) is to the whole person. If those who asked for a sign from heaven will only regard His work and teaching without prejudice, then their own consciences will testify that Jesus has a real mission from God.
Look around and consider carefully what is seen. For soon the light will be no more, the sun will set and your day will be over.
When the religious leaders claimed Jesus was driving out demons by Beelzebub’s authority, they also tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. When they said, “…from heaven,” they meant something that clearly only God could do. They believed that Satan would command other demons to come out of someone. Jesus taught the silliness of that statement. Then he answered their request for a sign from heaven.
As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” A man coming out of the mouth of a fish after being in its belly for three days, marching into an enemy capital city, and preaching repentance or punishment will come is clearly a sign of heaven. Satan could not and would not do that. That is the sign that Jesus’ generation would receive.
Jesus was saying that he would die, be buried for three days, and then come out of the tomb, which is the mouth of the earth. Only God could do that. But even then the religious leaders would not believe that Jesus is the Messiah of God. Miraculous signs from God are not enough for a hard and proud heart to believe.
Jesus continues by telling those who rejected him that the people of Nineveh will stand up, meaning rise from the dead at judgment with this generation and condemn it. They repented at the preaching of Jonah, the man who came forth from the mouth of a fish, and now Jesus who is greater than Jonah is among them and they rejected him.
Jesus’s parable illustrates what will happen to a person and society that does not have God’s presence after it has been freed of demons. Jesus continues to address the comment that he drives out demons with the power of Satan.
When asked Jesus will drive out a demon. That is only the beginning of a life’s restoration. A person’s actions and thoughts must be cleaned up and kept clean. I need to keep my side of the street clean. Most importantly one must allow God and his word to dwell in the heart. The Spirit of God will live in the heart if allowed.
When the Holy Spirit lives in the heart, a demon will not enter. Satan cannot creep in, stay in, and plant thoughts in the brain if the Holy Spirit dwells. Oil and water do not mix. Satan will constantly bombard a person from the outside, but he will never live where the Holy Spirit dwells.
However, when the evil spirit returns and finds the Holy Spirit is not allowed in, it will bring seven more wicked with it to dwell in the same person. The person has a relapse and life spirals down again. All improvement is lost. Yet, hope remains for God through the grace offered because of Jesus will forgive again when a heart is humble and asks for help a second and third time.
Jesus teaches through a parable that he has ultimate power. Jesus attacks Satan who also has power. Jesus overpowers Satan and utterly defeats him. Thus, Jesus rescues people from Satan’s evil rule. Satan never wins.
Addressing the religious leaders, Jesus also teaches that a person is either against him or for him. Neutrality does not exist. The one who does not intentionally support Jesus opposes him. Is a person who goes to church, but does nothing in the kingdom of God neutral? No.
I was captive in Satan’s dungeons. Jesus defeated Satan and rescued me. He brought me into his fold and made me a citizen of the kingdom of God. Jesus always wins. Why would I return to the dungeon?
Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit knows everyone’s thoughts to the deepest crevices, the dark hidden places, thoughts that haunt our every moment, and the soul’s joy. So, Jesus knew the thoughts of those who came to him. Jesus knows every thought through the Spirit right now.
The jealous and fearful religious leaders were attempting to rationalize their objections to Jesus with the opinion that Jesus was driving out unclean spirits by Satan. They could not accept that Jesus had authority over all spirits because he was the Messiah and the Lord of Israel, the heavens, and all the earth. Jesus points out the ridiculous assumptions they made about the kingdom of Satan.
Jesus first tells the religious leaders and all who want to hear that Satan leads a kingdom. If Satan drove out those who followed him he would cause division that would turn into insurrection and civil war that would eventually end the kingdom of Satan. If Satan gave power to Jesus, who opposed him in every way, Satan would be supporting an attack on himself through his enemy.
Secondly, Jesus points out that some of their followers had driven out demons. Jesus did not say whether the followers of the Pharisees actually drove out demons, but they claimed to drive them out by the power of God, and Jesus claimed the same. So to accuse Jesus of using Satanic power was implicitly to condemn their own followers as well.
Jesus firmly states that he drives out demons with the finger of God. This is nothing for God Almighty. Jesus’ word is the finger of God.
Jesus had been driving out demons for three years. So did the twelve and the seventy-two when he sent them out. Now a great crowd followed him. The religious leaders were jealous. Their pride and pay were hurt. They attacked Jesus’s character and ministry. They claimed, “By Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” (15; Matthew 12:24) Other people tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. (16) They believed and spread the gossip that Jesus was a fraud, not sent by God, and working with evil forces.
The very people God chose to be a witness to the world opposed Jesus every chance they could. They had no evidence that their statements and beliefs were true. They relied on their religious institutions and propaganda to keep them in the people’s favor.
I must always examine my heart to see why I say what I do and why I do what I do. The religious leaders believed God called them to instruct and lead the people. As their power and influence increased, so did pride and fear increased in their soul. Pride and fear began controlling their actions. Good intentions not rutted in the work God has established will drive a person to oppose God’s work.
Jesus’ teaching in these three verses is among the best that illustrates prayer is a religious word that means personal communication with God, my Father. The communication is similar to that of a father with a child. It is not business communication. It is not a drama or a play. It is not a political or legal exchange. Prayer is an exchange between parent and child, creator with creation, exulted with blessed. Prayer is personable, emotional, honest, logical, and open communion.
Jesus is conveying to his disciples to have prayer boldness, persistence, and assurance that God answers his children. Jesus’ teaching is that if a loving human father who has flaws and sins (evil from God’s perspective) gives good gifts when asked, then how much more will my Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
The Lord’s prayer in verses 2 through 4 does not include asking for the Holy Spirit. Yet, here Jesus is saying God will give the Holy Spirit if I ask. The Holy Spirit is the highest gift that God the Father can give. As fish and eggs sustain physical life, so the Holy Spirit sustains spiritual life in a very personal, loving, and powerful way. Ask and you will receive. Be persistent and wait for the Lord to supply. The disciples would not receive the Holy Spirit until Pentecost, four to six months from this moment.
I ask for what I wish, seek for what I miss, and knock for that from which I feel shut out. Jesus gives assurance that I will receive, find, and the door will be opened. The point in these two verses is confidence and faith in God.
I have owned a coo-coo clock for many years. The other day, I was changing the time after a long vacation trip when the hour arm snapped off. It flew quicker than my eye could see. I heard, “Ting,” for it hit something somewhere in the direction I logically believed it had flown. I did not see it, but I believe it went that way.
Not much was in the direction I logically concluded it flew. However, when I looked and looked again it was not to be seen. Still, I cannot find it. Every once in a while I know I will look for it again in the hope that it can be found. The clock will not be whole and correct until its hour arm is back on. I cannot be sure I will ever find the coo-coo clock hour arm.
However, Jesus wants me to be sure that I will get what I ask God for. I just need to be persistent in faith. I am reminded of the Syrophoenician woman who was persistent in asking Jesus to heal her daughter of demon possession. “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” (Matthew 15:27; Mark 7:28)
Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
After Jesus taught his disciples topics to include in their conversations with God he told some parables. The first concerns a friend who comes asking at midnight for food to serve to an unexpected traveling friend. He is not asking for selfish things. He is asking so he can help another.
“Yo, neighbor,” he calls as he bangs on the door and repeatedly rings the bell. “Open the door man. I know you are home.” He looks in the window. Across the street, a light turns on a porch. “Come on man. Open the door. I need food, three loaves of bread will do. My buddy showed his face at my door, stopping while on a journey. He’s hungry and I do not have anything to give him, not even leftover pizza crust. You and I ate up all my food at the game party on Sunday.”
An answer comes over the door speaker. Another light turns on across the street. “Stop ringing the bell fool. The security system is set, the doors are all locked and the kids are down for the night. Leave me be. They got school tomorrow and I gotta go to work early. Leave me be. I cannot give you anything.” The friend at the door rings the doorbell a few more times. “I am not leaving till you give me the food.” His friend inside gets up and supplies what is asked for.
Jesus makes the point of this parable in verse 8. The man inside would not give him what he requested because they were friends. Yet, he was forced to give what was requested because the friend urgently pressed the point to annoyance. He was persistent.
Therefore, keep asking again and again, and continue in prayer. Apostle Paul wrote, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:18)
Jesus taught this prayer to his followers, those seeking to learn from and follow him. After Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist he was full of the Holy Spirit. Luke 4:11-12 states, “Jesus… was led by the Spirit into the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.” Perhaps Jesus was thinking of this when he taught his disciples to pray, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Some old manuscripts do not have the last half of that verse.) The period of temptation was hard.
God does not tempt (James 1:13). The devil and those who follow him are the tempters (Matthew 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 3:5). Temptation’s power over me is only when I have an evil desire. If I had no evil desire, then I could easily resist temptation. Temptation would have no power over me. If an evil desire remains in my soul, then I can fall when tempted (James 1:14).
Maturity in the Lord contains the moral strength to resist sin. Defeating the tempter is resisting sin which is hard. Adam and Eve did not resist temptation’s allure. Their desire led to sin, and their sin led to death (James 1:15). Growth to maturity continues when I am tempted and resist its allure. I fight off the evil desire in my soul. When I pass the test, the evil desire is reduced in power over me. Do not entertain the evil desire in my mind. If I do, then the power of evil increases. Then, when tempted I am less likely to resist that which destroys soul, body, mind, family, and society.
Jesus taught his disciples what to pray, including asking God for the forgiveness of sins against him (4a). Then he taught them to tell God, “…for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.” The original Greek reads, “…for we forgive everyone who is indebted to us,” which is like Matthew 6:12, “…as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Sin is a debt, to be either paid back or as Jesus teaches to be pardoned. If someone sincerely apologizes and asks me to forgive them, then I am to forgive.
We are not making a request for a debt against me can only be forgiven by me. Rather, Jesus intends me to declare a statement of truth, a confession that am doing to others what was done unto me. Jesus used several parables to get this message to sink into thick skulls and hard hearts. Many messages have been given on love; God’s love, and how I am to love. Well, one way I am to love is to forgive others.
Jesus makes it clear, the two go hand in hand. I should not ask for forgiveness and then not forgive others. If I am expecting God to forgive me, then I better forgive those who owe me. Not only is forgiving others good for others but forgiving others is good for me. For one thing, it teaches me just how hard forgiving me is for God. And in some cases forgiving a debt someone owes me could be similar to sacrificing that which I love. Can I so carelessly ignore God’s sacrifice to forgive me?
“And forgive us our sin” is a direct word-for-word translation from the original Greek, “Kai aphiemi hemin hemon hamartia” (a transliteration). There are no extra words and no excluded words. To appreciate what is being asked of God, I need to understand and accept that I possess sin (hamartia). So, what is sin? What is hamartia (“Chata” in Hebrew.)?
“Hamartia” and “chata” literally mean “to miss the mark”. When these words are used to describe sin, they mean that the person has missed the mark that God has established for the person’s life and being. It does not mean that I discover who I am, sin and all, and accept that this is how I was made and intended to be. I was not made to sin, that is I was not made to miss the mark. Rather, I chose sin. I chose not to live to God’s potential and intent for me. Sin is choosing to miss the mark I can hit. And that mark is good. God’s mark for me is not bad, wrong, or misfortune. God’s mark for me is goodness and good accomplished. All humans except Jesus missed God’s personal mark for them. Therefore, sin is more than violating God’s law.
Sin this like this. I create an item to do something specific and good. My creation is perfectly made to accomplish my intent and that intent is good for the item I created. I give that device the ability to make choices. From the beginning, the item makes choices that keep it from meeting the good intent that it was made for. The choices rotten the device to a point where it is incapable of completing its good and perfect intended purpose. The device missed the mark and in the process destroyed itself.
When I say, “And forgive me my sin” I am asking for absolution and to be made right again.
Jesus continues teaching his disciples the topics that are important to pray about. He had mentioned these prayer topics including a few more during The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:9-13). “Give us each day our daily bread,” is stated both times.
God is the one who gives me food including physical bread. The Lord God gave the Israelites a substance to eat that was like unleavened bread while they were in the desert after they left Egypt. The Israelites called it manna (Exodus 16:31). Manna came with eating instructions that included only collecting enough for each day except Friday and Saturday (Sabbath). On the Sabbath, no bread would appear on the desert floor, so they were to take a double portion on Friday.
After Jesus fed the 5,000 who sat all day to listen to his teaching he left them. They followed because they wanted more free food. They asked for manna like their forefathers had been given (John 6:30-31). “Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world… I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:32-33, 35)
Jesus is life. In him is the life of men. Without him I am dead. Without Jesus in me, I will die and my body will decay. With Jesus I am. Without Jesus, I am not.
Conversations with God His Father were an essential and desired part of Jesus’ life. For three years, his disciples watched him pray in solitude. John the Baptist also prayed and taught his disciples to pray. Now Jesus’s disciples asked him to teach them how to pray.
Elsewhere, Jesus taught them when and where to pray. He also gave them examples of what not to do when praying. Here, he started by giving them an example of what to pray about.
“Father…” God is my loving Father. He gives and maintains my existence. He is the breath of life. He provides substance. He disciplines me. He teaches me. He is always with me. Most of all, he loves me, as all righteous fathers do. All he does is based on love. God my Father so loved me that he sent his one and only Son to die for me. As was done for me, so I should do to others.
My heavenly Father is holy. Holiness is being perfect, transcendent, and pure, thus evoking adoration and reverence. My holy Father, God evokes respect, reverence, and awe. He is frightening beyond belief. He is perfect power, wisdom, existence, and perfect love and beauty. My Father, God is life, the desire of all mankind. God is ecstasy perfection.
My Father is invincible. He has an everlasting kingdom beyond human imaginations of holy perfection. His kingdom has been coming and will continue to come. No power in heaven, earth, or hell can prevail against my Father’s kingdom. He is always advancing. He is never retreating. His perfect love cannot be denied.
God is, always has been, and always will be my Father.
Martha and Mary both loved Jesus. Martha opened her house to him and his disciples. Martha wanted to be a good host, so she was busy with all the preparations that had to be made. Mary listened to Jesus while sitting at his feet. She was listening carefully to what Jesus said. Martha was upset with Mary because she wasn’t helping her with the preparations. She did not say anything to Mary about it, but she did say something to Jesus. She complained. She was hurt. She believed Jesus didn’t care for her because Mary wasn’t helping and he did nothing about it. Martha felt less than. Martha was worried and upset. Jesus acknowledged Martha’s feelings. He knew she was preparing food for him and his disciples. However, he said, “Only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” I cry because I identify with Martha. I am always busy with the Lord’s work. I need to make sure I do the one thing that is needed, listen to Jesus at his feet; meditate, pray, and study.
Jesus explained to a self-righteous religious leader, a Bible teacher what love for a neighbor is with a now well-known parable. It is known as “The Parable of the Good Samaritan”.
Jesus and the Bible expert agreed that if a person loved God and neighbor they would inherit eternal life. Jesus told him if he did this he would live. The Bible teacher was challenged because he knew that he did not love everyone all the time. They had just entered Samaria. He, like most Jews of the day, did not love Samaritans. In fact, many hated Samaritans. So here he stood wanting to test Jesus (25) and instead found himself tested.
The religious Bible teacher tried to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” He would have taught others that a neighbor is a person we know. Religious teachers in that day said, “A stranger and an enemy are not our neighbors. We do not have to love them.” Jesus with this famous parable states that my neighbor includes strangers and enemies. Samaritans and Jews were practically enemies. Yet, the Samaritan in the parable showed mercy to a Jew when a Jewish Levite and Jewish Priest did not.
Jesus taught simply during the Sermon on the Mount. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48)
When I am asked similar questions twice, I grow annoyed. When I am asked a third time, I grow tired of answering. However, Jesus finds new ways to articulate an answer when asked similar questions over and over again. Jesus was often asked, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? and, “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment?” Many believe that practically applying the answer to the latter is the answer to the first.
The rich young man in Matthew 19:16 asked the first because he kept the latter. Then an expert in the law asked the second believing he could obtain the first by keeping the latter (Matthew 22:36 and Mark 12:28). Now another expert in the law who was listening to Jesus stood and asked the first because like the rich young ruler, he wanted to obtain eternal life. Jesus’ answer is remarkable. Luke is the only one to record this exchange.
When the expert in the law asked the question that binds humanity, “How to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied with two questions. “What is written in the Law?” Then Jesus personalized it, “How do you read it?” Of course, an expert in the Low of Moses would have greatly studied this subject, because he would have been asked this. He answered Jesus from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.
Jesus agreed. “Do this and you will live.” If I were to stop there and read no more I could wonder how does this not conflict with, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, – and this not from yourself, it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8) No conflict exists with the two statements for the person who acknowledges their inability to keep perfectly the requirements of eternal life, love God and love neighbor. I try, but am unable to do these all the time. Jesus perfectly illustrates this to the man who did not accept his inability to love God and people perfectly all the time. This is in tomorrow’s BDBD.
What is hidden and what is exposed is the subject of Jesus’s joy through the Holy Spirit. God reveals the truth to whom he chooses when he chooses. The hidden thing that Jesus refers to is Satan falling from heaven as fast as lightning because Jesus gave authority to the laymen evangelists in his care to drive out demons. The Father committed this authority to Jesus and Jesus confirms it to those he chooses. They were not wise and learned. They are his little children.
Jesus’s statement, “No one knows the Son except the Father” is shocking because we Christians say we have a personal relationship with Jesus. Yet, he says none of us knows him. But this is unsurprising when I think about my relationship with my children and wife. I have a personal relationship with them, but I do not know them. I know some things about them, but I do not know their thoughts, I often do not understand the motivation of their actions, and I often wonder what they think. Why do I think these things? Because I really do not know them.
Jesus continues the hidden which he exposes with, “No one knows the Father except the Son and those whom the Son chooses to reveal him” Jesus confirms that he and he alone are the only true source of information about the Father. The Holy Spirit, whom Jesus sent after he ascended into heaven, is in fact the Spirit of Christ. Thus the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, is the one that now reveals the Father to us, and the words of Christ recorded in the Bible are also the way we can learn of the Father, but without the moving of the Holy Spirit in our hearts the words I read would be misinterpreted.
The laymen evangelist teams were joyful when they returned because demons submitted to them in his name. Jesus acknowledged that Satan fell as fast as lightning from heaven because of their work that trampled on snakes and scorpions. Jesus described the evil spirits who rebel against God as the lowest and most dangerous of creatures in Palestine. As a warning to spiritual pride, he tells them what is joy worthy. It isn’t that demons submit. He says, “Rather, rejoice that your name is written in heaven.”
Jesus gives each believer a mission and all that is needed to accomplish that mission. The mission will have difficulties. He calls mission, “carrying your cross daily.” The ability to achieve that mission is only possible because God gives me the authority, power, and all that is needed for me to accomplish the mission. I should be thankful. But never prideful as I have seen some “successful” clergy and staff do.
I am glad that my name is written in heaven. I have teary joy that I have a place in heaven, a home where I am welcomed and loved. Heaven is a place where my Father and my Lord and Master are. They know me and acknowledge me. They do not judge me. They shepherd me.
Jesus is still instructing the seventy-two laymen evangelists before they enter the Samarian mission field. They are to be attentive to the people’s reaction to the good news. If the town welcomes them they are to eat what is given them, heal the sick, and preach, “The kingdom of God is near you.” They are to practice what Jesus has taught and teach what Jesus has practiced.
Jesus tells the seventy-two (or seventy) that if the people of a town reject their message they are to give a non-violent visual display of the result of rejection. The town can keep its dirt because even the dirt will not be part of the kingdom of God. Even though the town rejects them, the disciples are to preach, “The kingdom of God is near.” Perhaps one or two will leave the town to walk with the disciples.
Jesus’ instruction continues with the theme of the outcome of those who reject or accept the message of the kingdom of God. The disciples are not to take the rejection personally. Jesus preached and performed many miracles in Korazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. Many there did not accept Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. The citizens of these Jewish towns will find it worse on the day of Judgement than the gentile towns of Tyre and Sidon. Jesus visited those towns and did few miracles and many believed (Mark 3:8, 7:24-37).
As I dispense the message of Jesus and his kingdom Jesus says, “He who listens to me listens to Jesus; he who rejects me rejects Jesus; but he who rejects Jesus rejects him who sent Jesus.” I do not need to be apologetic or sentimental.
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Jesus gives the thirty-six laymen evangeliic (i.e., missionaries to their region) pairs some instructions before they go to their mission field. I, like most Christians, am a layman evangelist; that is, I do not receive pay from my local congregation. I can learn some good advice from this on how to obtain a hundredfold crop.
Jesus does not give a detailed plan for which village to visit and when to do so, nor does He tell them which towns to avoid. He simply said, “Every town and place where I am about to go.” (It isn’t a quote, only Luke’s comment.)
First, I must show love and respect to those who accept the good news Jesus taught me. I am to bless them verbally with words of peace. I am to love them as I have been and still am loved. They may or may not accept the mission of grace. I am not to grow angry or seek revenge. Instead, I am to expect to remain a man of peace.
I am to accept where God opens the door by staying where he opens people’s hearts. If a ministry is bearing fruit, then water and fertilize it. Sure, some aspects may be unpleasant for a while, like learning Java and Perl (HTML and CSS were not as bad). Yet, God has appointed me and is working through me. I am blessed.
So keep working in the field that shows eternal kingdom potential. If I receive support from his work then thank God and be blessed. However, in over thirty years of online evangelical ministry, I have never received enough to pay the mission bills let alone eat and drink from offerings. Still, I see many coming every day to read and hear the good news. So, I stay in the house of online ministry, the modern-day tent evangelism. Personally, I believe that tent evangelism is better because it was more personal. However, that type of ministry was my before and my now is as God instructed me through a pastor to begin an online ministry. I am staying in this house now.
Before Jesus went through Samaria, he sent 36 pairs (seventy-two lay persons) ahead of the group traveling with him. The twelve apostles were not sent with them. The laymen were instructed to go into every town and place where he was about to go. Luke did not use a Greek adjective that would designate them as men. Rather, he used the adjective “heteros” which could include male and female, though considering the culture none were probably a pair of women.
With a passion for bringing many people into the kingdom of God through faith in him, Jesus regretted that not enough had accepted his call to follow him. This is perhaps why Luke recorded right before this passage three rejecting the call and Jesus’s response to their rejection. Luke, as a layman, not a leader like the apostles understood the importance of accepting Jesus’ call to the laymen’s mission field.
Jesus told the seventy-two laymen, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Jesus refers to laymen as field workers. We are the ones who prepare the field, plant the seed, look for weeds, and harvest the crop which is actually little different than the call of the twelve.
A layman’s call is not easy. We are lambs working amongst wolves. We have to live by faith that the Lord will meet our personal financial needs and our mission’s financial needs. We live by faith, not by wealth’s strength. Our mission is a one-by-one encounter. We depend on God and the companion he calls to walk with us. Few laymen are remembered in history, yet church history would have stop if not for their continued mission work.
When people hear the good news, they either quickly reject it, accept it superficially, conditionally, or wholeheartedly and absolutely. Jesus’ parable of the soil types is meant to help those who follow him understand this and be prepared (Matthew 13, Mark 4).
Luke 14:25-34 records that Jesus will tell the crowds who follow him to Jerusalem short allegories concerning deciding to follow him. He concludes with, “…any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27, 33)
The first man publicly decided to follow Jesus wherever he would go. Jesus’ allegories of foxes and birds having homes and he does not are meant to tell the man that he must leave everything, expect not to return, and expect to live in uncomfortable and unpleasant places.
The second man Jesus invited to follow him. The man wanted to delay because he wanted to “bury his father”. It is unlikely his father had just died because he would have been too occupied with funeral preparations to see Jesus. Most likely he believed his father would die soon and he wanted to delay following Jesus till his father passed. Commonly, death is impossible to predict. It could have been years.
Jesus’s reply would be a stunning instruction to his fellow Jews, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Most in Jesus’ day considered burying their parents a commandment of the Law of Moses. Jesus told him that the spiritually dead could bury the physically dead, and the spiritually alive should preach the kingdom of God.
The third man publicly declared that he wanted to follow Jesus. Jesus’ answer is simple. As soon as I decide I am to be ready to work. The allegory of the plow reminds of Elisha being called by Elijah to follow him (1 Kings 19:19-20). Understand and be prepared mentally.
Samaria was a region sandwiched between Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. Perea was the eastern neighbor on the other side of the Jordan River and The Mediterranean Sea was its western shore.
The people of Samaria and the Jews had dissension since the time of King Solomon (John 4). The Jewish return from Babylon centuries later did not change the discord caused by social and religious differences. The disciples were no different than their fellow Jews.
Jesus however was different. Jesus did not exclude the Samaritans from his ministry during, as he called it, “The year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:19) As Jesus headed south from Mount Herman to Jerusalem he decided to pass through Samaria as he had done at least one time earlier. Jesus sent messengers on ahead to get things ready for him. At this time a crowd was following him (52).
The Samaritans in this village knew that the band of Jews preparing to stay in their town were going to The Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah, The Feast of Lights). The old differences of religious opinions arose mostly stemming from the fact that when Jews returned from Babylon centuries earlier excluded the Samaritans from helping in the rebuilding of the Temple. They did not welcome Jesus.
The Apostles James and John were fiery fellows. They asked Jesus if they could use their God-given power “to call fire down from heaven to destroy them.” (54) Elijah, the ancient prophet who lived in this area had done this (2 Kings 1:9-16). Luke records that Jesus rebuked them. This is probably how these two disciples were given the name “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17).
I learn two things. First, to use God’s given gifts as he intends them to be used, not for personal vendettas. Second, to be open-hearted and help those working in God’s mission field even if they are one of “me”.
Luke records in verse 51, “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” Luke marks time so the reader will relate to Jesus and the disciple’s mindset and heart. The two were very different. Jesus would leave and the disciples were not ready. For me to relate I need to understand what was happening at this time.
Luke uniquely records the events in verses 51-56 and many that follow, up to Luke 18:14. The unique accounts are mostly parables. The three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) record many prior events; Jesus sending out the twelve, feeding the 5,000, Peter’s confession, Jesus’ transfiguration, healing a boy with an evil spirit, and the disciple’s argument about who is the greatest. Then Luke records unique events until the Synoptic Gospels record the same event again, people bringing little children to Jesus (Luke 18:15, Matthew 19:13, and Mark 10:13).
The events are recorded only in Luke, which records Jesus’ trip from Galilee to Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah, The Festival of Lights). The festival is in December (winter in Palestine). John 10:22-39 records some of Jesus’ activities during the festival in Jerusalem. After Hanukkah Jesus stayed across the Jordan far east Judea (perhaps Perea), not near Jerusalem. (John 10:40-42)
Luke 13:22 marks Jesus’ final trip to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover, which is in the spring. Matthew 20:17 and Mark 10:1 also record the start of this final journey. Where he started is not clear but might be somewhere in the south of Galilee and north of Samaria (Luke 17:11). Jesus’ passion would be during the coming Passover, around four months from 9:51. Twice already Jesus told them what would come to pass. They did not understand Jesus. They held onto the false teachings about the Messiah taught by the religious leaders. They were not ready. They were about to be surprised, frightened, and crushed. They did not listen to Jesus. How many now have a wrong understanding of Jesus’ second coming?
Jesus’ teaching here is related to the former concerning the disciples’ pride. The Twelve were more exclusive than Jesus. Jesus’ disciples wanted to stop a man who they believed was practicing faith without Jesus’ official license and authority. He was not “one of them.” They were greater, and he was lesser, was the thought that drove the disciples to want to stop him. Happily, they asked Jesus before they stopped him.
Jesus told his disciples to not stop the man who was driving out demons in Jesus’ name. Then he gave them a brief lesson. “Whoever is not against you is for you.” Jesus contrasted the opposition the religious leaders were giving them because they were not taught by one of them to their request to stop the man acting in Jesus’ name because he was not one of them. The disciples’ hearts were fermenting the yeast of the religious leaders.
Institutionalized religious education has its benefits. However, it has just as many inherited problems and even hindrances to the spread of the gospel. Silo-authority mentality and niche-group practices can be more harmful to a believer than the threat of world mentality. Neither Jesus, John the Baptist, many of the prophets, and even the Twelve went to the equivalent of a seminary school in their time.
The disciples were presumptuously proud. They argued about who was the greatest among them (46; Mark 9:33-35). The argument came from their pride and ambitions. Pride is an arrogant or disdainful conduct or treatment caused by a high opinion of oneself; our skills, accomplishments, state, possessions, or position. Pride is easier to recognize than define, easier to recognize in others than oneself.
Many biblical words describe this concept, each with its own emphasis. Some of the synonyms for pride include arrogance, presumption, conceit, self-satisfaction, boasting, and high-mindedness. It is the opposite of humility, the proper attitude one should have in relation to God. Pride is rebellion against God because it attributes to self the honor and glory due to God alone.
Jesus knew the disciples’ thoughts and hearts (47). Jesus does not want his disciples to be proud. So, he teaches me with a simple illustration with a child. “Then he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all–he is the greatest.'” Humility is the opposite of pride.
Proverbs 11:2 states, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” And Proverbs 22:4 promises, “Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life.”
Jesus rebuked the evil (unclean, unholy) spirit. Jesus has authority over unholy demons because he is the ultimate power. Evil spirits fear his power. They leave when he says, “Leave” (Zechariah 3:2; Mark 1:25; Luke 4:25, 39; Jude 1:9). Luke states that the boy was healed. Jesus gave the boy back to his father. The people marveled at Jesus’ power and authority for the boy was cured.
While the people were distracted by amazement at Jesus’ power, Jesus pulled his disciples aside and told them, “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.” This was the second time Jesus told them (Luke 9:22), only this time he added, “Listen carefully…” Again, they did not understand for they did not consider it the first time they heard it. “In one ear and out the other,” as the old saying goes.
If the disciples had thought about what Jesus was saying at this miracle, they would have learned that Jesus could easily stop his suffering and crucifixion from happening. This would have saved them from confusion and humiliation when it happened.
When Jesus was arrested by the temple guards Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant, probably a boy. Jesus did not command an army of angels to fight for him. He did not command his disples to fight for him. Instead, Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” (John 18:11) Listen to Jesus today and not be ashamed tomorrow.
Jesus and three of his apostles came down the mountain after Jesus was transfigured to find a large crowd, confusion, and arguing. (Mark 9:14-15) The commotion centered around a father who wanted Jesus to drive an evil (unclean) spirit out of his boy.
The signs of demon possession in the New Testament include: speechlessness (Matthew 9:33); deafness (Mark 9:25); blindness (Matthew 12:22); fierceness (Matthew 8:28); unusual strength (Mark 5:4); convulsions (Mark 1:26); and foaming at the mouth (Luke 9:39). Most of the New Testament references to demon possession appear in the Gospels and represent the outburst of satanic opposition to God’s work in and through Christ. The gospel writers made clear distinctions between diseases and the work of demons in and through a person. (Matthew 4:23-24)
The nine apostles who did not go up the mountain could not drive the unclean spirit out (40). Interesting because a short while before when Jesus sent all twelve apostles out they could. (9:1-2, 6; Mark 6:7, 13; Matthew 10:1, 8) To them Jesus said, “O unbelieving and perverse generation how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” (Matthew 17:19-21; Mark 9:28-29)
Considering my own faith, or rather lack of faith, I am ashamed. I know and accept all the Bible says and enjoy exploring its great riches. I commune with God in prayer and meditation. I meet with fellow believers regularly. Yet, on a day-to-day basis, when life comes at me like a manic, I am no different than the nine apostles. Lord, put up with me as I seek today to apply faith.
I, like Peter, when fatigued and stressed have spoken foolish and witless words only to regret having said them. Peter’s statement was so silly that in a rare instance, Luke inserted a comment into his historical account of Jesus’ transfiguration on Mont Herman. He adds, “He (meaning Peter) did not know what he was saying” (33) Young Mark, probably instructed by Peter added, “…they were so frightened.” (Mark 9:6) Both men who were much younger than Peter, were explaining, perhaps even excusing Peter for suggesting something so ridiculous.
What did Jesus’, Peter’s, James’, and John’s lives consist of? Moving, preaching, moving, healing, moving. Before this miraculous event Jesus taught a multitude (~4,000 men+women+children) near Bethsaida on the northern shore of The Sea of Galilee. (Matthew 15:29-39; Mark 8:1-13) They traveled to other places including Caesarea Philippi (north of the Sea of Galilee) where God revealed to Jesus’ disciples through Peter that Jesus was indeed the Christ that all Israel was waiting for. Jesus added to this the shocking news that he would be crucified by the religious leaders and be raise to life three days later.
Then Jesus leads his disciples around 10 miles (16 km) north and over 6,000 feet (2,000 m) up to the ever-snowy peaks of Mount Herman. Jesus prayed as was his routine. However, the disciples started dosing off and doing whatever they could to get warm. Then, surprise, Jesus transfigured looking like an angel and started talking to Moses and Elijah who appeared out of nowhere. Then came Peter’s scatterbrained idea. Well, that’s me too when I am fatigued and stressed.
What to do? Have God the Father appear and tell me, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” For me, this is prayer, meditation, studying God’s word, and obeying.
Jesus prayed often, and often alone. Praying was one of Jesus’ habits. A habit is another word for routine, except prayer is not a mechanical procedure or activity. (Matthew 6:5-7) Prayer is personal communion with God. David’s Psalms are good examples of personal communion with God. Hence, this is the reason Jesus usually prayed alone.
However, eight days after explaining to his disciples how he as the Messiah, the Son of Man would suffer, die, and be raised again on the third day, and how they must daily carry their crosses to be raised from the dead, Jesus brought three disciples with him up a mountain for his prayer retreat. Most scholars believe this was Mount Herman though the three gospels that record this event do not name the mountain. (Matthew 17:1; Mark 9:2; Luke 9:28)
All three accounts say that Jesus’ appearance changed. Matthew and Mark used the Greek word “metamorphoo” meaning transformed and transfigure. Science uses the word metamorphoses derived from the Greek word to describe the changing of a caterpillar to a butterfly. Metamorphoses means to change into a wholly different form or appearance.
After Jesus informed his disciples that he would suffer, die, and be raised from the dead he promised them, “I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.” (29) What Peter, John, and James witnessed was the fulfillment of that promise.
I take many things from this event. One is that when I am raised from the dead Jesus tells me that I will be like him and the angels. The Apostle Paul wrote, “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed– in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:50-53)
Jesus revealed to his disciples what it meant to be Christ, the Son of God. As the Christ, Jesus suffered many things, was rejected and killed, and on the third day was raised to life (22). Now, he said to them all what it meant to be one of his disciples. This is very important to me. Reading these verses reminds me of David’s Psalms which BDBD went through all year (2024).
First, as a disciple I follow, that is “come after” Jesus. Though some translations translate the Greek “come with” the meaning is that Jesus leads the way as an example and I follow his way as a disciple. Jesus individualized and distinguished the meaning of being a disciple by saying “…he must deny himself and take up his cross DAILY and follow me.” That is a serious humble pie to digest.
Second, Jesus compares cross-carrying to the way of the general populous. They save their life while I, as a disciple lose it (24). Jesus is recorded saying this in all four gospels and in two he is recorded repeating it more than once. (Matthew 10:38-39, 16:24-25; Mark 8:34-35; Luke 9:24, 14:26-27, 17:33; John 12:25)
Third, whoever loses their life by daily carrying their cross while following Jesus will save their life (24). Motivating his disciples Jesus asks the rhetorical question, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” (25)
Fourth, Jesus defines very clearly what it means to save my life by carrying my cross. (26-27) Jesus is talking about overcoming death forever. Just as Jesus rose from the dead after baring his cross, so death will not have power over me. The body will die or be changed. However, I will live forever happily ever after.
When Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say I am? Peter said “The Christ (Messiah) of God.” Christ means anointed one. The anointed one implies that the Christ is the: 1) Great Prophet. (Deuteronomy 18:15,18; Isaiah 55:4,; Luke 24:19; Acts 3:22, 7:37) 2) Only High Priest. (Psalms 110:4; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 6:20, 7:24, 9:24) 3) Eternal King or Lord. (Psalms 2:6; Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:5, 28:18; Luke 1:33; John 10:28; Ephesians 1:20-23; Revelation 11:15, 12:10,11, 17:14, 19:6) 4) Savior. (Duet. 32:15; 2 Samuel 22:3, 47; and 1 Chronicles 16:35; Isaiah 43:3,11,15) 5) True Shepherd. (Genesis 48:15, 49:24; Psalm 23:1, 80:1; Zechariah 13:7)
Jesus strictly told his disciples not to tell anyone (21). Why? There are several reasons: 1) The average Jew had a misunderstanding of the life and ministry of the Messiah. This is seen clearly in the Essenes’ writing and the response of the people after the feeding of the five thousand. (John 6:25-71) Later they would crucify him because of this misunderstanding. 2) The people needed to come to this revelation on their own as God inspired them (as God had inspired Peter) because they were committed and were in love with him. 3) God’s time for mass revelation was yet to come. Once the Jewish leaders asked him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:24-30)
Jesus referred to himself as “The Son of Man” using a title that the prophet Daniel used to identify the Christ. Jesus often called himself the Son of Man. (Luke 5:24, 6:5, 22; Matthew 13:37, 12:40, 12:32, etc.) Daniel 3:25, 7:13, and 10:5-6 all refer to the Messiah as the Son of Man. Jesus was indeed man, fully flesh undergoing all the aspects of humanity.
Christ appears five hundred and one times in the New Testament, each time referring only to Jesus and his kingship. Today, many people believe that Jesus’s sir name is Christ. It is not. People having sir names only started a few hundred years ago. Before that, people had only one word for a name.
However, sometimes when referring to a person, people would say that he was the son of someone. For example, James was called the son of Zebedee to distinguish him from James the son of Alphaeus (Matt. 10:2-3). In other cases, a person’s title and/or position was added to their name (i.e. King Herod, Tiberius Caesar, etc.). These practices did not mean that those men had sir names (although this did happen in some cultures centuries later). Thus, it is the same with Jesus.
Christ is not Jesus sir name; it is his title. “Christ” refers to Jesus kingly position. Christ is a Greek word with the same meaning as the Hebrew word Messiah. Jesus being the Messiah refers to his kingly lineage stemming back to King David and at the same time looks to his future reigning as King of Israel and the world. When the Bible states Jesus is the Messiah; that is the Christ, it means that Jesus is the King, God’s anointed one.
Throughout human history only two types of people were anointed with oil; kings and priests. (Exodus 29:29, 40:15, Lev. 7:36, and 1 Samuel 2:10, 35, 10:1, 15:17, 15:13) Oil poured over their head was a symbol of the Holy Spirit coming over them. Jesus, the Christ, is God’s special anointed one. (Ps. 2:2, Dan. 9:25) Jesus was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit as king and priest. (Luke 4:16-24, Acts 10:38)
David’s account of God’s judgment is in the future tense: “God will shoot… suddenly they will be… He will turn… He will bring them… will shake their heads… All mankind will fear… They will proclaim… and ponder.” This is true for every psalm -9:8, 72:2, 96:10, 13, 98:9, 110:6 to name a few. Judgment is sure to come, but when? It could be in this life, but this is not a guarantee. A final judgement is coming and Jesus will be the judge.
Jesus said to those who continued in their unbelief, “There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.” (John 12:37, 48) Apostle Paul said to the men of Athens, “For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31)
Jesus explained the Parable of the Weeds to his apostles, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:37-43)
Like a faint rainbow in the sky is not seen by everyone, so the judgment to come exists if one looks for it.
David examines his enemies’ contemptuous self-confidence while he prays to God for deliverance. and in doing so he defines many who are against Jesus and many in my age. Verse 5, “They encourage each other in an evil plan; they talk about hiding traps and say, ‘Who will see them (and us)?’” (HCSB) In Psalm 35:7 he wrote, “They hid their net for me without cause and without cause dug a pit for me,” In Psalm 140:5 and 141:9 David wrote, “Proud men have hidden a snare for me; they have spread out the cords of their net and have set traps for me along my path.” “Keep me from the snares they have laid for me, from the traps set by evildoers.”
Verse 6 David wrote, “They devise crimes and say, ‘We have perfected a secret plan.’ The inner man and the heart are mysterious.” (HCSB) In Psalm 83:3 he wrote, “With cunning, they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish.” “Though they plot evil against you and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed,” (Psalm 21:11)
The gospel writers were quick to comment so the readers would understand that David was prophesying about Jesus’s day’s religious and social leaders. Jesus said, “They do this to me, so they will do it to you.” Yet, he did not say, “Strike back at them.” Instead, he said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:43-45)
With so many physical battles that David fought against enemy nations and enemies within Israel, I would think that David would have written Psalms about physical battles. Perhaps he would write about the fear of the battle or the fear of losing the battle. Perhaps he would write about his anger toward God for allowing the enemy to attack with swords and arrows again and again. Perhaps he would brag about victories as so many other rulers of his age. Yet, very few Davidic psalms concern physical battles. No, David does not write many psalms about physical battles.
Instead, the majority of Davidic Psalms are about asking God for salvation from noisy crowds with lying tongues and wicked mouths (2). Battles with sharp tongues and whispered conspiracies are what many of David’s psalms concern (2-3). Behind the conspiracy plots and ambush shots at an innocent are hearts that hate and envy (4). Those who want more with unsettled minds and hearts invent reasons to destroy and kill with poisonous words. Others are just angry. Hate and anger shoot off their mouths without fear (4). Jesus experienced the exact same use of clever false words to impair the Truth.
I have been the victim and portrayer of a wicked tongue. Jesus warns me, “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” (John 5:14) Jesus said this to the man he healed by the Bethesda pool in Jerusalem. The healed man’s mouth was getting him in trouble. Lord, cleanse my heart’s tongue and make me new with strength to fight the tongue within.
David states that those seeking his life will get what they deserve. He knows this because the Lord God is a just God. David quickly fled Jerusalem to the desert of Judah, and those who supported him fled, too. The wicked used their mouths to spread lies, while all who love and fear God used their mouths to spread God’s glory and honor. God judges the hearts of men. From the heart, the mouth speaks.
Speaking of his authority to Jesus said, “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out–those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” (John 5:20-30)
David was in a desiccated barren land because his son was attempting to take not only the throne the Lord God set him on but also his life. (2 Samuel 15:23-28, 16:2,14, 17:16, 29) What thoughts consume as dusk chilled arid winds float desert beast’s howls? What inhabits a dusted desert mind? Self-pity, fear, and doubt? Perhaps, woe for the accompanying family and friends? Or anger and bewilderment towards the Lord? Not so with David.
David remembered the Lord through the watches of the night? His mind’s sky twinkled with what he had seen and experienced in the sanctuary (2)., the power and glory of the Lord God showed brilliant a thousand million ways. David sang in the shadows of the Lord’s wings as desert owls housed their chirping chicks. His soul clings to the Lord tighter than dowel feathers to their parents’ mighty wings. He was too young to fly and just old enough to stand. So the Lord propped David up.
The title of this short implicit prayer (like 62) states that King David (11) wrote this psalm in the Desert of Judah, a vast north-south desert east of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, south of Jericho, and west of the Jordan River and the Salt Sea. After leaving Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives is a desert stretching through Jericho to the Jordan River. Perhaps David wanted to appear to make his way to the Transjordan, east of the Jordan before heading south into the Desert of Judah.
The occasion therefore would have been when Absalom, his eldest son at that time tried to take the throne from David. (2 Samuel 15:23-28, 16:2,14, 17:16, 29) The trip through the desert would have been hard and slow, especially for the children, and especially since the exit out of Jerusalem was too quick to prepare water, food, and clothing. David purposely left the Ark of the Covenant where he visited with God in Jerusalem (2, 2 Samuel 15:25)
David compares his desire for God to his thirst for water in a dry and weary land where there is no water (1). David exclaims that God’s love is better than life (3). David is not stating that he wanted to die nor that he didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead. Rather, he thirsts for God because of God’s loving kindness. God’s love is more durable, comfortable, and satisfying than the present life. What better reason to hope for the future because God with his unending love is in it? David was hungry physically and in his soul (5). Yet, he knew that God would satisfy his soul with the richest of food (5).
Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)
How much does a breath weigh? If one were to exhale on a scale, would the needle move? In David’s day, scales were used to determine the value of precious metals by placing them on one side and common weights on the other. When the sides balanced, the metal’s value was determined. Whether of low or high social status, all people are like a breath on the scales: impotent and ineffective. They do not even move the needle.
The last stanza (9-12) picks up on the fact stated in the previous (5-8). Trust in God for in him and only him is rest and hope for no man or woman should be trusted. Though my riches increase I should not set my heart on them.
Since this is true I should not even trust in myself. If I were to be tempted to extortion or thievery, I should not trust in the wealth they will bring for what is achieved one day is the fall of the next.
God is the only one worthy of trust. Surely he will reward each person according to what he has done. (12). Jesus taught, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Luke 16:10-13)
God is the focus of this middle stanza. Find rest in him. Hope and expectation come from him. He is one’s rock, salvation, refuge, and fortress. In God, I am not shaken when trouble comes. Salvation and honor depend on God. David’s counsel is to trust in him at all times and to pour out my heart to him for God is our refuge.
Antonin Dvorak, a Czech classical composer, wrote “Biblical Songs”, a ten-song cycle whose text is from the Psalms. It has been suggested that he was prompted to write them with news of his father’s death. Dvorak experienced Jesus, the Rock in a most personal way when trouble entered his soul. He expresses self-counsel prayer through melody meter.
The theme of each of the ten songs is:
1st, Psalm 97, “Darkness and thunderclouds are round about Him.”
2nd, Psalm 119, “Lord my shield, my refuge and hope.”
3rd, Psalm 55, “Hear, oh hear my prayer.”
4th, Psalm 23, “Oh, my shepherd is the Lord.”
5th, Psalms 144 & 145, “Songs of gladness will I sing Thee.”
What possesses a soul that wants to assault and topple another? Why delight in taking down someone weak and unhealthy? Why have so much more than others and crave for someone else’s crums? Why house ill thoughts in the heart? (3-4)
Do you know that this person whom your heart curses finds rest in God? (1) Look and see, if you dare, that their salvation is in Jesus, the rock. (1-2) He is their fortress. (2) Though you may succeed in destroying the faithless, this man of faith can be killed, only to be resurrected in power and glory. “I will never be shaken”. (2)
Many have gone out into the gospel mission field on the prayers and support of the church. Not enough said, “Here I am, send me,” (Isaiah 6:8) to the great commission. So God is bringing multitudes across the border to our cities, towns, and villages.
Some are sinners intent on prospering through oppression and crime; a punishment for our unfaithful Messianic testimony. Others are desperate. Some have become victims of evil. All need to hear the gospel of Jesus and witness the love of Christ.
Corruption looking for votes has supplied the possibility of revival. “The harvest is plentiful. But the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:37; Luke 10:2) “Here I am. Send me, your worker into the harvest field.”
David’s faith in God is his assurance that God listens, accepts vows, and gives those who fear God an inheritance. David believes in eternal life. David believes in the Messiah who will come and live for generations and dwell in God’s presence forever. Jesus said, “I and the Father are One.” (John 10:30) And, “No one has seen the Father except the Son who is from God; only he has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.” (John 6:46-47) God’s love and faithfulness protect a man of faith such as this.
The circumstances for this short psalm are not given though some scholars link it to Psalms 42 and 43 (one psalm split in two). Others point out that since a king’s long life is asked in verse 6 it may refer to David’s emotional and mental state when his son Absalom attempted to gain the throne through David’s murder (2 Samuel 17:21-29). Later Jewish interpretations applied this psalm, especially considering verses 2 and 6 to the Messiah, and many in the church point out that this psalm is fulfilled in Jesus, David’s great Son.
David, the author states that with a faint heart, he is crying out to God from “the ends of the earth”. He may be at a cliff edge on the heights of Mount Hermon (Mount Mizar) as mentioned in Psalm 42:6. Poetically David envisions himself at the edge of Hades, the existence of the dead in the depths of the earth (63:9). His heart is so faint that it will stop beating. The heart in the Bible is the center of the human spirit, from which spring emotions, thoughts, motivations, courage, and action. The wellspring of life (4:7, 23). David is at the end of his life trek.
David asks God to miraculously take him higher, to a high rock. God is most commonly referred to as a rock of refuge in the Psalms (2 Samuel 22:3; Psalm 18:2, 31:2; 71:3). For David, heaven is like the tent of meeting that he put The Ark of the Covenant in. David wants to be taken to God’s lodging, where he can be forever. That would happen later because David had faith in the Lord Jesus.
When I am driven either physically or metaphorically to the ends of the earth I need to turn to Jesus who is my rock of salvation and hope of deliverance. One day I will be with him forever. Until that day my hope is in the eternal divine presence to come. “He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.” (Psalm 18:10)
The fact that this psalm is a corporal lesson to be learned and used by future generations of God’s people is in the use of “us” and “your people” throughout the psalm. What is another lesson the people who have angered God and repented because they fear him are to learn?
David and later future kings of God’s people asked the rhetorical questions for the people and before the congregation of Israel, “Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?” Kings normally lead the soldiers to the battlefield. However, David teaches through the answers that follow the questions that the Lord leads the army of men who fear the Lord. God is the banner they follow into battle (4), not the nation’s banner. Later the Lord Almighty told the prophet Zechariah to tell King Zerubbabel, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit.” (Zechariah 4:6)
Jesus taught a seldom mention truth that parallel’s this lession. “There were some present (while he was teaching) at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them–do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.'” “Then Jesus told this parable: ‘”‘A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'”
David prayed (5) and then confidently spoke of the Lord his God and the God of Israel’s victories (6-8). He knew that God would deliver his people because the Lord purposely and precisely told him of the results of the coming victories against neighboring enemy nations. David was reassured by the word of the Lord Jesus. Jesus’ words recorded in the Bible are a reassurance to me. Though attacked, victory is definitely on the way.
The play on the names of cities and territories is significant to David. I read of them, but will not go into detail now. For example, some were once the holds of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul. Now they are David’s who returned them to the rightful owners according to Moses and Joshua. The places named were on both sides of the Jordan River given again to the rightful tribes. Jacob landed in and settled in Shechem when he returned to the promised land after having many children (Genesis 33:17-18). Now Israel reclaims the land from other nations because of assured victories at the right hand of God.
The first teaching is thus the Lord God gives, takes away, and then returns. He always keeps his promise. Job said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” (Job 1:21)
The psalm’s title states that this was written as a teaching tool. Israel was attacked and lost the battles. The eventual victories are recorded in the parallel historical accounts 2 Samuel 8:3-14 and 1 Chronicles 18:3-12 (perhaps also 2 Samuel 10). However, the victory is not how this teaching psalm begins. Actually, only the title states that they won the battles. This teaching psalm never states they won. It only ends with the hope of victory through the Lord God.
Rather, than being an account of victory, the psalm teaches that the Lord their God was angry with Israel. The exact reason he was angry is not indicated because it is unimportant to the lesson. The main teaching point is that the Lord was angry with them and yet, his covenant bond with them was not broken. God rejected them momentarily. Desperate times came. Defeat is interpreted as a sign of God’s anger. Yet, as a good loving parent can be angry with their child’s misbehavior, so the Lord Israel’s God was angry with his child Israel.
Psalm 30:4-5 states, “Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” And as Jesus taught, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matthew 5:3-4) When rebuked by my loving God I need to morn and pray. Those who fear God will see his banner of hope (4).
David wrote in verses 9-10a, “O my Strength, I watch for you; you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God.” Then in verse 17, “O my Strength, I sing praise to you; you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God.” The only different words are “watch” and “sing”; “shamar” to “zamar” in Hebrew. He was playing with words, perhaps to emphasize faith that brings the deliverance and salvation of his God.
Jesus often praised people’s faith. “Your faith has healed you,” was often repeated (Matthew 9:22; Mark 5:34, 10:52; Luke 8:48, 18:42). The first definition of faith in the AHD is, “Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, an idea, or a thing.” Hebrews 11:1-2 defines it this way, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” Then the rest of the chapter gives many examples.
My faith in Jesus is not a crutch or a scapegoat. Rather, it is a strength that makes me well. Faith in Jesus is what gives me eternal life. I am sure that Jesus is the Creator Word who came in the flesh as Immanuel God, died for the forgiveness of my sins, rose from death on the third day, and ascended to heaven where he sits at the right hand of God. I believe he will come again, transform my body to be like him to be with him for eternity in eternal bliss. Jesus is my fortress and my loving God. He is my strength that delivers me from my enemies, the dogs that prowl about the city outside my home every evening howling unsatisfied.
Can the evildoers and bloodthirsty be witnesses to the truth and Jesus? Anything is possible with God. Perhaps they will submit to the grace and truth of Jesus with a confession of faith, like Saul, who became Apostle Paul, or Peter who fell before Jesus after the great catch of fish. “Go away from me Lord for I am a sinful man,” Peter prayed (Luke 5:8).
David believed that even if they did not repent, all the earth could know that God ruled over Jacob because of what would happen to the unrepentant if his prayer was answered. (13) He prayed that they would not be killed, but rather wander homelessly about the earth becoming a reluctant witness to God’s faithfulness to his people. (11) Either way David asks God not to allow the enemies to escape the full consequences of their malice (12-13).
The choice is mine. Will I submit to the grace and truth of Christ? Or will I become a wandering homeless man? Will I speak words of kindness and truth? Or will I be a blaspheming liar and gossip? Hosea 9:17 says, “My God will reject them because they have not obeyed him; they will be wanderers among the nations.”
One final mighty thrust and the First came through the door. The increased moonlight entering the cabin illuminated splinters flying in the air. The rush of fresh oxygen made the coals in the fireplace flash bright enough to make it hard for the First to see. He paused at the threshold to allow his eyes to focus.
The pause in the action allowed me to see one of the wolves that haunted me night after night and day after day like I had never seen them before. In the past I only caught glimpses of them; their teeth, their shiny fur, their muscular legs and sharp claws, their glowing eyes and their flaming nostrils, the pointy ears that crown their triangular heads, and the stank damp breath that came from their mouths. How I hated, feared, and revered the wolves.
As I sat there cowering in my corner I marveled at something that I had never seen before. The four legs of the First were attached to a board and his body was as stiff as the board. I shouted out loud in fits of self rage and excitement, “The wolves were taxidermies and the boards that they are mounted on are held by two large hands!”
My shout caught the wolves’ attention. The First quickly turned toward me. I panicked as I grabbed my rifle. I used this rifle every time the wolves came. It was thelamest rifle one could imagine. Its barrel was made of coiled leather and it contained no stock. If I wasn’t careful the barrel would go limp and fold down. The only way to make it stiff again was to snap it like a whip.
I snapped it and shouted, “Bang, bang! Crack, crack!” There was no need to load it because it fired imaginary harmless bullets. My only weapon against the wolves for all this time was a fake rifle, imaginary bullets and a loud cry, “Bang, bang! Crack, crack!”
My rifle and bullets did no harm to the wolves. It only scared them away. I knew the truth. My weapon was useless. So, the fear I had most was that one day the wolves would learn my defenselessness and kill me for the deception.
Yet, now I had just learned, the wolves had a deception of their own. They were not real. Sure, they were real in the sense that they could be sensed and feared. But they were not real wolves. Perhaps at one time they were real. But now they were dead and mounted on a piece of wood. Their only mode of transportation was someone else’s hands.
The relief I felt at the discovery was short-lived. With my cry, “Bang, bang! Crack, crack!” the First learned of my location. He turned and showed his death. In new fear and anxiety, I snapped my rifle and shouted, “Bang, bang! Crack, crack!” My deception worked again. The First turned and exited through the front door.
“Sun will be rising soon. Light will come and the wolves will go. I’ve lived to escape another night of fear.” Some relief came to me and some time to think.
“They are not real! They are not real! Why then be afraid?” A glimpse of confidence entered my heart. More confidence than my rifle and bullets gave me. “The wolves are not real! You are not real,” I shouted out with all my remaining strength.
“Crash!” Glass flew from the window before me. The wolves had broken down another barrier between me and them.
“First the door, now the window. I’m dead for sure!” The greatest fear I had ever known since the wolves started to come entered my heart. “I’m dead for sure!”
“You reek of fear and anxiety,” the one who crashed through the window sang.
Just as I was about to close my eyes fearing the worst, the new morning light coming from the rising sun blinded me.
Then came a pause, a silence, a stop in the action. When I opened eyes again the wolves were gone. The window I looked out of was different. Not only was it not broken; it was not made of wood. It was made of plastic. The next thing I noticed was that I was not sitting in the corner. I was in my bed. I was not in the cabin’s bed. I was in my house’s bed. In fact, I had no cabin at all. I had been dreaming again.
I got up to relieve myself and drink water from the bathroom sink. The dream was so vivid. My fear of the stuffed wolves was so great. How could I forget a dream and feelings like that?
When I set down the glass of water a thought was spoken into my mind, “Why do you fear and have anxiety over things that are not real? Why are you anxious when I am around? I, the Lord Jesus am your God always. You have nothing to fear, nothing to be anxious about. I am your protection. With me, the wolves are not real. Be safe. Be still. Find pleasure and comfort in me.”
I considered those words. I thought about my fears and what made me anxious. Yes, in Jesus they are not real. Sure, they are real in that they could be sensed and feared. But they are not real because in Jesus they are dead. Once they were a real threat. They could have killed me. Yet, now in Jesus, they are dead objects manipulated by the Evil One’s hands and he cannot touch me. He can only wave dead objects of fear and anxiety at me. In Jesus I am safe.
Time was unimportant until the wolves came. They made themselves a clock. They told me it was time to fear, time to fight, and time to stay awake. They disrupted my night and my day. They made havoc on my schedule – what little of one I had before they came. The wolves made it unpleasant to live in the woods. They made it unpleasant to live at all. Soon they will come and tell me the time of day, like a grandfather clock clanging against the wall.
I hate the wolves. Yet, I’ve relinquished that nothing can be done about them. Physically they come in the silence of night just before dawn. Mentally they stay with me all day long.
I hate the wolves. They control me. They take the pleasures of life from me. They threaten to end my life.
“Why don’t you leave?” you ask.
“Because I can’t. There is no way to leave; no way to escape. I do not know where to go or how to leave.
I tried to leave, several times. It is a long and winding trek out of the wilderness where the wolves live, many days and many nights. Eventually, each time I tried to escape, I was reminded of the wolves and lost my way out. No matter how hard I tried, I would eventually think about the wolves while hiking my way to freedom and revisit the fear and dread they bring. When I awoke from those awful day-mares I would discover that I was lost. The path out of the wilderness was lost.
I was lucky I suppose. Each time I tried to escape only to get lost, I found my way back to the cabin. Cabin? No, not a cabin. This place once a haven of leisure and pleasure has become a dark dank cell. Yes, I am trapped here in this wooden jail in the middle of the wilderness; just me and the wolves.
There! Do you hear it? The first sound, the first hint that they are out there, the beginning. “Who can hear us?” is how they reveal their appearance. I know the meaning. They are saying, “Neither the fearful man nor God can hear us. So we may speak and act what we think fit.” They encourage each other with their evil plans for me.
I whispered, “God I hate the wolves. Why won’t they leave me alone? Why do they keep coming? What wrong have I done? What ill did I do to deserve the wolves?”
I stood and looked out the window, shaking my fist as I shouted, “I hate you wolves! Die be damned you! Die!”
I stopped, shivered, stepped back out of the window, pressed my butt against the couch, and looked down. That was a mistake. My battle cry told them I was here and ready to fight. They love a good fight, the wolves do. I suppose that’s why they have not kill me yet. Without me, they would not have anyone to fight, to harass, to maim, and to bring fear. They love the smell of fear, and I reek of it.
Discouraged I sank to the floor and whispered, “Damn you for sweating fear.” Once again I lean against both walls, hiding in my dark dank corner.
I lowered my head scolding myself, “What have I done? I’ve given them a battle cry. Now they’re singing it with their hunting cry, ‘Sweating fear, sweating fear. Now he’s sweating fear. Still and rank. Still and rank with sweating fear.’ Damn.”
I pulled my thoughts together, searching for sounds. The First was standing alone just outside the door. I could hear him breathing. He was the bravest and the strongest, which says a lot because all of them are stronger and braver than I. I could hear him breathing the smell of my fear. The rest were pounding the ground as they were running around the cabin. They are howling, “Sweating fear, sweating fear. How he’s sweating fear. Still and rank. Still and rank with sweating fear.”
A thought came to me; a ray of hope; a cleverly devised plan. I crawled over to the door so only the First could hear me; just he and I would have words. I made sure to keep myself lower than the window. I did not want the others to see me crawling over to the First.
When I reached the door he sniffed deeply. He knew I was there. He could smell my fear and anxiety. For him it was no better place to be; an inch from me, smelling me through the thin cracks in the door.
Softly and cockily I spoke to him, the First one, “I know something about you. You are brave and strong. You love fear and you love to invoke it. If fear were meat you would live forever on it. But there’s something else I know about you. You are brave and strong because there are many of you. You always come in a pack you wolves do. If there was just one of you, then things would be different. If it was just you and me the tables would be turned. You would not be brave. You would not be strong. You would stink of fear. You would reek of anxiety. You would be hiding in this jail and I would be on the outside smelling you.”
With ferocity, the First smashed into the door. The door splintered and cracked. I slid away from the door. Then I knew I was wrong. Even if there was just one wolf and it was he, he would be on the outside and I would be on the inside sweating fear, sweating fear. Now once again I am sweating fear.
The First licked the door. I scurried into the same corner that I was in before. Banishing myself I thought, “Damn you for challenging the Wolf. He will make game of you tonight. Perhaps you will die.” Fear and anxiety poured off my brow.
The wolves control me. They are my clock. I hate the wolves.
I sat on a cold floor with my right shoulder against one wall and my back against another. I surveyed the surroundings. I was in a long one room log cabin. I noticed how it portrayed my circumstances.
The cabin was lit by eerie moonlight. The window to my right and in front of me was the only window that allowed the full moon’s shine to enter the room. Each wall had two windows with the exception of the wall to my right. In the place of my wall’s second window was a closed wood door. A few small slits between the door’s boards allowed a little more light into the cabin; not enough to give comfort, enough to reveal my location.
The bottom half of my window let a light breeze flow past and through sheer window dressings. The breeze carried a strong scent of pine and moss. The window’s dressings were the only motion in the room besides my rapidly pulsating chest.
The cabin was furnished with rustic furniture. To my left was a couch made of varnished logs and thick, fluffy violet cushions. The couch was paired by a chair. Between the pair was a small end table comprised of logs and an old crate. On the table sat a just-emptied kerosene lamp and a stack of misaligned hardback books that could give my mind an escape if there was no reason to stay alert.
The center half of the far end of the cabin consisted of a stone fireplace. Red coals slowly increased and decreased in luminescence. The coals shed little light on a very old rocking chair placed before the fireplace. Over the fireplace were two five-point deer antlers. I dared not expose my location by rekindling the fire.
In the left corner of the same wall that contained the fireplace, I saw the silhouette of a small unused bed. The bed was made of logs and covered with an unseen quilt and a long pillow. I longed to enjoy the bed and the comfort of sleep that it used to bring. Yet, I longed to but dared not walk to it, lay in it, and fall asleep.
Although the right corner of the opposite wall was dark I knew that it possessed a tall dresser and a small desk. I wished the desk contained a radio, a phone, or some other means to call for help. The only thing it contained was blank sheets of paper. Writing a letter for help would do no good. The closest post office was so far away I knew not where it was. I would remain alone.
The corner opposite the couch next to me contained a black iron stove, a small porcelain sink, a small wash tub, and a small wood table with two wood chairs. The silhouetted iron stove was the only item visible in that corner. It looked like a frozen soldier. Why couldn’t he come to life and fend for me? He would not. I would have to fend for myself.
The only other items in the dim room were wood shelves that lined the upper ends of all four walls. The shelves contained canned food, dishes, kerosene, rifle shells, traps, fishing gear, an ax, and other items necessary for an extended stay in the wilderness. It seemed that I had prepared for everything. I had not.
Fear, anxiety, and weariness caused me to stink of sweat. Was it the rank dampness in the breeze? “No,” I told myself. “The potent smell was fear and anticipation.”
My stench was because wolves came every night. For many months they came. They were as regular as clockwork. They became my clock. I purposely did not keep a clock in the cabin. The twenty-four hours in the day did not mean anything to me when I first arrived. I woke up when the first sunlight and the first birds rose. I ate when I was hungry. I worked when needed. I read in a chair on the porch when I wanted to relax. I fished and hunted when I wanted meat. I worked the garden and groves so I could eat vegetables and fruit. I went to sleep when the sunset.
What wrong did David do to King Saul? David did all the monarch asked and more. He was diligent at his army post. He played music for the king when asked. He kept the king’s honor and daughter in high regard. Yet, the king wanted him dead. What did David do besides what the king needed and wanted to deserve the king’s hate?
Power wakes some of the most evil tendencies in the human soul. The thoughts of the low and poor reveal that these tendencies are in their souls, too. If they had power and authority, the hidden thoughts would be put into motion. A good leader who lives in fear of God and love of neighbor is only found in Jesus. And yet he was despised. and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering… and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3) Let not the evil tendencies in my soul eliminate Jesus from my heart today.