That’s A Belief! (Luke 7:1-10)

July 7, 2024

For five seasons in the 70’s and 80’s, Charlie’s Angels followed the adventures of groups of female detectives who had been recruited into the Charles Townsend Agency. In 115 episodes, viewers never saw Charlie’s face. Quite unusual to have the person whose name is in the title of the show not appear on the screen. Even so, Charlie’s angels carried out their missions every week.

There’s a remarkable person in Luke 7. The heading in your Bible probably says something like, “A centurion’s faith,” yet, the centurion never appears on the page. All the action, all the messages come through people he sent on a mission. And even though we never see his face, at the end of the story we’re told that Jesus was astounded at this man’s faith.

Sometimes our culture uses the word “faith” to talk about spirituality in a non-specific, benign way. When an interviewer doesn’t want a confrontation, they’ll talk about faith instead of saying the word Christian or Hindu or Muslim. It can be a group-everyone-together kind of word.

Our secular culture is generally fine with you having “faith” in some far-off sense – something you do when you’re on your own time – but keep it to yourself. Don’t bring it to work with you.

But for a Christian, faith is the most crucial aspect of who we are, what we think, and what we do.

Here are a few of the things the Bible tells us about our Christian faith:

We’ve been justified by faith.^[1] We’re saved by grace through faith.^[2] We cannot please God without faith.^[3] We walk by faith.^[4] We live by faith.^[5]

Faith should absolutely define a Christian’s whole life. In this text, we’ll see how this centurion’s faith changed his understanding, shaped his attitudes, and motivated his actions. It made him who he was and made life-changing differences for the people around him.

Luke 7:1 – When [Jesus] had concluded saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum.

Jesus had just completed what we sometimes call the Sermon on the Plain. It’s the Sermon on the Mount, but in Luke we’re told that the Lord gave it after coming down from a hilltop and standing in a level place. Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount multiple times in different places. After this delivery, He and His disciples and a large crowd walked with Him into Capernaum.

This sermon is maybe the most important teaching in all of Jesus’ ministry and all of church history. In it we are confronted with what faith really means and what it really does in the life of a Christian. We learn about how Christians have joy in suffering, how we totally redefine what is important in this life, how we must love our enemies and show them mercy because God our Father is merciful.

After preaching this message, Jesus had a chance to practice what He preached – to show those who had been “listening” the reality of these commands and how to live the sermon out.

Luke 7:2 – ²A centurion’s servant, who was highly valued by him, was sick and about to die.

Centurions were serious warriors – “prestigious members of a relatively small class of military leaders,” some ranking like a knight in the empire.^[6]

This particular centurion had a servant who was very sick. Matthew’s Gospel uses a term that indicates the servant was just a boy^[7] and he tells us the servant was paralyzed and in “terrible agony.” The word used there is one that means being tortured.^[8]

This servant was highly valued by the centurion. He wasn’t valuable as property but as a person.^[9] This was genuine care – the servant boy was precious to the centurion. He wasn’t just some stone-cold killer, but a man with a heart beating in his chest. Not what you’d expect from a Roman centurion, but that’s because this man had been transformed from the inside out.

Luke 7:3 – ³When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, requesting him to come and save the life of his servant.

What did the centurion hear? First of all, he heard that Jesus was back in town. But it’s clear he had heard a lot more about Jesus. We discover that the centurion had heard a lot of things but he made his own decision about what he thought about Jesus.

Here’s what we know: We know he had contact and relationship with the Jewish elders in the area. We know he paid to build a synagogue for the Jews. That’s probably a good indicator that this centurion was what was called a “God-fearer,” meaning a Gentile who believed in the Jewish God and embraced much of the Jewish religion, though they weren’t circumcised. They would attend synagogue and worship there, but they didn’t follow all of the purity laws.^[10]

What would this centurion have heard about Jesus in the synagogue, from the Jewish elders? Capernaum served as Jesus’ headquarters at the time.^[11] He would’ve been well-known there, but the news of Jesus’ miracles had already spread far and wide,^[12] but as that news spread, so did the resistance among the Jewish religious elite. By this time, Jesus had already been labeled a blasphemer by the scribes and Pharisees.^[13] They were already following Jesus around to complain that He ate with tax collectors and that His followers didn’t fast the way they did.^[14] And as recently as Luke chapter 6, we are told the scribes and Pharisees were “filled with rage” after Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath and were actively conspiring against Him.^[15]

So, the centurion would’ve heard a lot of things. But then he considered the truth on his own. He did not allow the local elders or the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem to determine what he thought. We’ll find he had a remarkably robust understanding of Christ, but in the moment he might say, “Ok, I know you don’t like this Guy, but I’m pretty sure He can save the life of my dying servant.”

Don’t let other people decide truth for you. Jesus once said to those who believed in Him, “If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”^[16] We live in a time where it’s commonplace to let someone else tell you what to think. But, God invites you to seek His wisdom, and He promises that it will not be withheld from you.^[17] The centurion heard a lot of things about Jesus, but he sought the truth of these things himself.

In the second part of the verse: “He sent some Jewish elders to [Jesus].” Now, I find this funny because these guys did not like Jesus, did not believe in Jesus, were part of the greater conspiracy to kill Jesus, but, they felt indebted to the centurion and wouldn’t deny his request.

The message they were asked to deliver was, “Come save the life of this servant.” Maybe the story is giving us a hint about how upset they were, because they didn’t actually get the message right. The centurion never asked Jesus to come to his house, but just if He would heal this boy.

Luke 7:4-5 – ⁴When they reached Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy for you to grant this, ⁵because he loves our nation and has built us a synagogue.”

Some linguists suggest that the Jewish elders were sharp and demanding of Jesus. They say the Elders didn’t request at all, but were summoning Jesus,^[18] and kept on hastily beseeching Him.^[19] The literal rendering of what they said to Jesus was, “He for whom you will do this is deserving.”^[20] Now, why? Why did they categorize the centurion as worthy? “Because he did things for us.”

Isn’t it telling – the Jewish elders hated that Jesus spent time with tax collectors, or when He said Gentiles were worth saving, but it was ok for them to like this Gentile, because, after all, he shelled out for their building.

People love to show grace to some but not others. We’ll overlook a thousand flaws in a friend or someone we think will get us something, but that other guy? Oh I hate that guy! Look at those flaws. Look at the mistakes he’s made. He is not worth kindness or grace or the time of day.

Jesus showed grace to Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot and Nicodemus the Pharisee and the woman caught in adultery and the rich young ruler and the Syrophoenician woman and the lepers and Jairus, the leader of the synagogue in Capernaum, whose daughter had not yet been raised from the dead. He very well may have been part of this delegation.

Jesus cares about you, not because of what you can do for Him, but because He has loved you from before the earth was created.^[21] Now grace doesn’t mean He’s fine with the life we’re living. Whether someone was a wealthy Pharisee or a penniless sinner, Christ called all to repentance and to forsake their sin and to devote themselves to God. But grace is extended freely to all.

Luke 7:6 – ⁶Jesus went with them, and when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, since I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.

Have you ever prayed, “Oh, Lord, You’re doing too much for me. Don’t worry about helping me out so much.” I certainly haven’t! But, in a sense, that’s exactly what the centurion said. This time he sent some friends out, making sure they got the message right.

It must have been a comical scene. We have to speculate a bit, but Jesus and the Jewish elders…they aren’t buddies, but there they are walking together. And now this other delegation comes up and says, “No, stop, you don’t need to actually come. It’s too much hassle for You.”

Let’s notice what the centurion did. First, he didn’t send a message berating the Jews he sent. They messed up, but he wasn’t mad about it. He didn’t try to distance himself from them or call them out. He was gracious even though they made a mistake.

Second, he acknowledged that Jesus is Lord. Now, maybe he was just being respectful, but what he said next indicated that he had a faith in Jesus as the Christ.

His belief in Jesus not only gave him hope that his servant might not die, but it shaped the way he thought of himself. From the human perspective, he’s a great warrior, a great leader, wealthy and successful, respected by friends and foes alike. The leaders of the Jews said, “This guy is worthy!” But he considered Christ and evaluated himself and said, “Oh, I’m not worthy at all. Who am I that Jesus would come to my house? I have no place to demand anything from God.”

Faith in a heart grows fruit in a life. Everyone worships something. Everyone puts their hope for the future in something. And, like a tree, that faith grows and produces fruit. In the centurion’s heart we see the fruit of humility, kindness, meekness, a willingness to trouble himself on behalf of a servant.

The centurion was the total opposite of Naaman. Remember Naaman? He was another Gentile military commander in need of healing. When the man of God didn’t come out to meet him, he pitched a fit. “Do you know who I am?!?” But here, the centurion says, “I know who I am. I don’t deserve it. I’m not clean enough. I’m inadequate.” And, on a spiritual level, he was absolutely right.

C.S. Lewis once wrote this to a friend: “The one essential symptom of the regenerate life is a permanently horrified perception of one’s natural and (it seems) unalterable corruption. The true Christian’s nostril is to be continually attentive to the inner cesspool.”^[22]

The centurion’s message continued:

Luke 7:7 – ⁷That is why I didn’t even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.

His faith was his own, not determined by what other people said. His faith had shaped his heart and his attitude toward himself and others. And here we see a glimpse of how big this man’s faith was. The centurion believed that Jesus speaks and the cosmos obeys. And he belied that though he was unworthy, God desires to save. Do we believe these things? Do we really think that Jesus’ love and righteousness and grace and power are the answer to the problems in this world?

Luke 7:8 – ⁸For I too am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under my command. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

The centurion acknowledged that Jesus commands everything! He’s not summoning Jesus, even though the centurion has a lot of earthly authority. Instead, he put himself under the authority of this Teacher from Nazareth and in his request submits to whatever Jesus’ decision would be.

In his analogy, he assumes that Jesus’ commands are good and that they are compassionate. “Say the word. Give the command. And when You do, compassion and mercy and goodness will be the result.” The unbelieving world sneers at the commands of God. It accuses God of arbitrariness and repressiveness, but God’s commands are good because He is a God of love and compassion.

And now, the response:

Luke 7:9 – ⁹Jesus heard this and was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found so great a faith even in Israel.”

There are only two times that we’re told Jesus was astounded like this (your version may say He marveled). One is at the great faith of the centurion and the other is at the lack of faith in Nazareth.^[23] Where He should have found faith, it wasn’t there.

Many people had a very hard time believing Jesus. The scribes and Pharisee struggled of course. But so did the disciples. Even John the Baptist, Jesus’ own cousin, the forerunner of the Messiah sent by God, in a few verses would say, “Hey…are You really the Christ?”

How’s our faith? What group might we fall into on this spectrum? The centurion wasn’t better than us. He didn’t have some special understanding. In fact, we have way more revelation and understanding than he did. It’s not a question of cleverness or specialness, it’s a matter of willingness. The centurion, despite the cultural, relational, personal pressures, decided to surrender to the truth that had been revealed to him and to live by faith. He allowed his living faith to shape his mind, his perspective on life, and his activities.

And because of that, Jesus had the opportunity to do something unique: to heal from a distance. “Well, big deal, of course Jesus can do that.” It was a big deal. We know Jesus can do that, but they needed to see that He could do that. To see that He was even greater than Elisha. Remember how Jesus pointed out that He was greater than Solomon, greater than Jonah. He wanted the Jewish people to understand that He really was the Messiah they had been waiting for and here the Lord has this special opportunity to heal from a distance because of the centurion’s faith.

Luke 7:10 – ¹⁰When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant in good health.

Luke leaves out a few last details. Matthew records that Jesus said, “Go. As you have believed, let it be done for you.” And the servant was healed that very moment.^[24] The centurion didn’t have to buy his way into relationship with Jesus. He didn’t have to prove his “deserved” it. He agreed that he didn’t deserve it. And the Lord was so excited to minister to him and his dying servant.

This kind of faith is possible for any of us. And our lives are each an opportunity for God to do something unique for His glory – to reveal His love and kindness to a needy world. If faith is alive and well in our hearts, we will be more like the centurion, less like everyone else in the scene. Living faith keeps a proper understanding of how poor in spirit we really are, but holds confidently to what we know is true about our Savior – His power, His grace, His desire to work in and through our lives. It’s not always easy. I find myself feeling like the disciples in Luke 17 saying, “Lord, increase our faith! I don’t think I can live out the Christian life.” But we can. And God is with us to accomplish it in us if we are willing to surrender to Him, exercise our faith, being strengthened and encouraged in it as we walk by faith and live in faith.

Footnotes[+]

Footnotes
↑1	Romans 5:1-2
↑2	Ephesians 2:8
↑3	Hebrews 11:6
↑4	2 Corinthians 5:7
↑5	Romans 1:17
↑6	Harper’s Bible Dictionary
↑7	Bob Utley The Gospel According To Luke
↑8	Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary Of Old And New Testament Words
↑9	The NET Bible First Edition Notes
↑10	The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary
↑11	Utley
↑12	Luke 4:14, 37
↑13	Luke 5:21
↑14	Luke 5:29-33
↑15	Luke 6:11
↑16	John 8:31-32
↑17	James 1:5
↑18	John T. Carroll Luke: A Commentary
↑19	A.T. Robertson Word Pictures In the New Testament
↑20	Carroll
↑21	Ephesians 1:4
↑22	C.S. Lewis Letters To Malcom: Chiefly On Prayer
↑23	Mark 6:6
↑24	Matthew 8:13

Freaked Out Mr. Fox (Luke 9:7-9)

February 4, 2024

Last year, an Oregon family received the worst delivery possible: an urn full of ashes and an accompanying death certificate, notifying them that their beloved 23-year-old son was dead. He had been living in a recovery center and had not been in contact with his family for several years.

Three months after hearing the news, the family was contacted again. Their son, Tyler John was alive and ready to talk to them on a video call. The newspaper outlet reporting the story called “this bizarre story of resurrection an urn-ormous mix-up.”

In Luke chapter 9, Herod, the phony king of Galilee, received a similar shock. It seemed like someone he thought was dead was back. That’s bad news if you’re the one who killed him.

In the opening chapters of this Gospel, the Savior arrives and gets to work. Though kings and devils and doubters stand against Him, He cannot be stopped. He heals the sick, raises the dead, commands wind and waves, casts out demons, teaches enormous crowds, and gathers disciples.

Not everyone understood Who Jesus really was. Most of us come to these chapters knowing the rest of the story. We know Jesus is the Messiah, the GodMan Who came from heaven to make a way that human beings can be forgiven of their sins and receive everlasting life. But, at the time, it wasn’t so clear for many. Even Jesus’ disciples struggled to apprehend His identity.

Luke chapter 9 highlights the fact that most people were wonder Who Jesus really was. From the countryside to within the palace walls, Jesus was being discussed. We have this interesting scene shown in three of the four Gospels, where Herod is concerned and confused, talking about Jesus, confronted with this reality and then we see the response.

It challenges all of us to consider Who Jesus is and what that means – to pause for a moment and set aside our distractions, our desires, our activities, and preconceptions and to acknowledge the reality of Jesus Christ, how we can know Him, and what difference that should make in a life.

Luke 9:7a – ⁷Herod the tetrarch heard about everything that was going on.

There are six Herods mentioned in the Bible. They were all from the same, extended family. It was not a good group. The three we’re most familiar with were all killers. This one, called Herod the tetrarch is also known as Herod Antipas. His father was Herod the Great, who killed the babies in Bethlehem after the birth of Jesus.

He ruled over a fourth of the territory of Israel. He wasn’t really a king – more like a governor – only allowed to exist as long as Rome’s Emperor said it was ok. That didn’t stop him from cosplaying as a king. He even had a political party that supported him and stroked his ego – the Herodians.

He had authority over two regions, but he mainly operated in Galilee. He built Tiberias as his capital on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. He was a man of great success, great achievement, but also a man of great vice and corruption. He threw wild parties, stole his brother’s wife (who was his niece). He was jealous of titles and always looked out for his own interests.

His life of excess was interrupted in Luke 9. Suddenly, he could not escape hearing about this Jesus and the things He did. The Lord had just sent out the Twelve with power to heal and preach about the Kingdom of God. For a man like Herod, this was no longer just whispers of a backwoods rabbi with a few admirers. This was a growing movement – one unlike anything the world had ever seen. One that made bold claims backed up with undeniable proofs.

Jesus’ influence wasn’t only in villages or up in the hills. The wife of Herod’s very own steward not only believed Jesus, she was a key financial supporter of His ministry. In Acts 13 we learn that one of Herod’s close friends was also a believer in Jesus.

“Everything that was going on” can also be translated as “all that was coming to pass.” It’s a small distinction, but throughout these verses we should notice an emphasis on the prophetic nature of Jesus’ presence and ministry. The people having these conversations weren’t only saying, “Can you believe what’s happening,” there was also a palpable sense that something was unfolding.

That’s still true of God’s activity today. The Bible reveals that Jesus Christ is not only still alive, He is not only still working, He is accomplishing an eternal plan that will be completed in full. We discover this plan in God’s Word. There, on its pages, we see the beginning, the middle, and end.

If you’re a Christian here today, it’s good to be reminded that your spiritual life is not just about your circumstances right now, or reactions to problems today. The Lord does have strength for today – He is mindful of whatever situations you find yourself in presently – but there is a worldwide, cosmic plan that is still unfolding. And God has invited you to have a specific part in that plan and He invites each of us to walk with Him and discover what assignments, what opportunities, what position He’s set aside for us in that plan.

Luke 9:7b-8 – [Herod] was perplexed, because some said that John had been raised from the dead, ⁸some that Elijah had appeared, and others that one of the ancient prophets had risen.

We’ll hear Herod’s thoughts in the next verse. For now, we see his confusion. He wasn’t just puzzled, he was quite disturbed. One dictionary defines this as, “perplexity amounting to despair.” Another source says “perplexed” means, “unable to find a way out.”

Rumors were flying. Maybe John the Baptist was back. That would be bad news for Herod. If not John, maybe this miracle-worker was actually Elijah. For Jews, that would signal the end of the age, a major advance in God’s plan. For Herod, a God-mocking unbeliever, that wouldn’t be good news. He knew what Elijah had done to kings like Ahab. These Herods were worried about their status and keeping control of their pretend kingdom. Remember how paranoid Herod the Great was when wise men from the east came saying a new King of the Jews had been born. He didn’t know Who Jesus was, but no matter Who He was, Herod was worried.

Did you notice that all of the rumors had a resurrection emphasis? Maybe an ancient prophet has risen. Maybe Elijah is back. Maybe John is raised from the dead. Their guesses weren’t right, but it was undeniable that Jesus’ ministry had a supernatural, life-from-death quality to it.

In chapter 8 He literally raised a girl from the dead and she wouldn’t be the only one. But, even beyond those miracles we see that encounters with Jesus weren’t just about making things a little better in the here and now, or providing short-term fixes to problems. Jesus Christ brings new life.

Jesus said that if we want to live forever in heaven we must be born again. When a person is born again, we are made alive in Him – pulled out of the jaws of death, given a new heart, a new spirit, a new mind, a new perspective. The resurrection power of God starts transforming us now. We are “raised up” presently in purpose and spiritual provision and then those who are born again will be raised up out of the grave to live forever and ever in the heavenly Kingdom with God Himself.

When Christianity becomes diminished to the short-sighted level of “Your Best Life Now,” or just about God making me feel better or making my circumstances easier, then we have seriously underestimated the power of God, the plan of God, His purpose in saving us and providing for us. Christianity is about resurrection. It is about life over death. We are set free from the old, dead nature, the old, dead systems, the old, dead snares of sin and now God has shared with us His power. We will share, Paul says in Romans 6, “in the likeness of His resurrection.”

Herod was not comforted by Jesus’ resurrection power. He was condemned by it.

Luke 9:9 – ⁹“I beheaded John,” Herod said, “but who is this I hear such things about?” And he wanted to see him.

We learn in Matthew and Mark that Herod was convinced John was back, or at least that the spirit of John the Baptist was now on Jesus. That made Herod paranoid because it exposed his guilt.

You see, before he died, John told Herod, “You’re in sin and need to repent.” That made Herod quite angry, but he was torn. On the one hand, he wanted to kill John. His wife wanted it, too. But he was afraid the people wouldn’t stand for it. He also knew that John was righteous and so he was afraid to actually kill him. So, to try to shut John up, Herod threw him in prison.

But then something strange happened: Herod started talking to John. And, we’re told in Mark 6 that Herod even liked listening to John. How can that be? How can a man want to kill somebody but, at the same time, feel compelled to talk to him about spiritual things?

The answer is that the Holy Spirit was reaching out to Herod the tetrarch. Despite his wickedness, despite his guilt, despite his unworthiness, God sent an offer of peace to him. God was willing to send His best people to share the truth with this terrible man. Even though Herod was terrible, God loved him, just as He loved Pharaoh in Joseph’s time, Abimelech, Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, Jeroboam, and so many other unworthy kings. Just like He loves you and me.

God gives a genuine offer of peace to every person on earth. He did for Herod. And we see that Herod “wanted to see Jesus.”

Ok! So does that mean Herod was seeking the truth? Sadly, the answer seems to be a very definite “no.” The Bible promises that if you seek the Lord, you will find Him. Looking at the evidence we see that Herod had no real desire to learn about Who Jesus really was. He had no intention of surrendering to God and turning from his sin.

He did not go to see Jesus, like Nicodemus did. He could have. He did not invite Jesus to his home like other civic leaders did. He could have. He would’ve heard that his steward’s wife was a disciple of Jesus. He could’ve spoken to her plainly about the Lord. He didn’t.

He wasn’t seeking the truth. He was scared of retribution for the things he had done. By chapter 13 we learn that Herod wanted to kill Jesus. It was then Jesus said, “Go tell that fox I’ve got real power and I’m not afraid of you and My work cannot be stopped.” Herod wasn’t looking for truth. He was a fox – a jackal – a thief and destroyer, out for his own interests. He wanted to hide his guilt, maintain his sad little throne, and hold onto his power as long as he could. He just wanted to find a way out of the conviction he was feeling.

Herod would finally get to see Jesus. It was the day of our Lord’s crucifixion. Pilate sent Him over to Herod and Herod got all excited because he thought he was going to see Jesus perform some wonder, some miracle. He was no longer perplexed, no longer paranoid. He just wanted a show. He kept trying to talk to Jesus – kept asking Him questions. But, by then, it was too late. Jesus had absolutely nothing to say to this man who refused to answer God’s calls when they came.

Now, if you’re not a Christian here today, Jesus still has something to say to you. He’s not silent. That’s why He allows us to eavesdrop on this palace conversation. He wants to communicate to all of us today, whether we be kings or peasants, rulers or servants.

If you’re not a Christian, God’s message is that you are a hell-doomed sinner who needs to be rescued from their guilt. You may think of yourself as a king or queen. You may enjoy great success or achievement. You may think religion is for suckers.

But here is the reality: The real King, the King of heaven and earth, the One Who holds your life in His hands has pronounced you guilty of sin against His law. The penalty for that sin is eternal death. Success won’t save you. Making political moves won’t save you. Wealth can’t save you. Good deeds can’t save you. Only Jesus Christ can save you and He wants to save you.

In Acts 4, we read:

Acts 4:12 – ¹²There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.

You need to reckon with this question that perplexed Herod: Who is Jesus? Do you believe He is Who the Bible says He is? Do you know what the Bible says about Him? Many people have mistaken His identity.

Some think of Jesus as make believe. He’s not. He is altogether real. He is alive right now. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is busy unfolding His plan to establish His forever Kingdom.

Some think of Him as a good teacher, or the founder of a new religion. It’s just like how the people talked in these verses. Is He John? Is He Elijah? Maybe He’s this or that.

The truth is, John the Baptist was simply the herald. Jesus is the King Who was and is and is to come. John said he wasn’t even worthy to unstrap Jesus’ sandals.

Elijah was a prophet of God who lived for a brief time and gave some messages from heaven to people. Jesus is God, Himself. Jesus was there with Elijah – the Angel of the Lord – Who empowered Elijah and directed him.

The ancient prophets of Israel had a dramatic place in Israel’s history, but they all pointed people to the Messiah Himself – the One on whom all history pivots and rests.

Herod had been brought face to face with some of these truths. His response was “how do I find a way out of this?” But he couldn’t escape. Instead, he simply ignored the reality of Jesus. But ignoring the truth wouldn’t help him. In fact, it just pushed him further and further away from the very Person Who wanted to rescue him from his sin until it was too late.

He had this opportunity to discover the truth and to have Jesus change his life, but instead of seeking, he ignored. He busied himself with other things. He never learned the truth.

If you aren’t sure Who Jesus is, we’d invite you to respond to this offer of life He’s giving you. It will require you to actually speak to God and invite Him into your heart and life.

One commentator wrote, “Who Jesus really is cannot be discovered through second-hand reports and rumors.” But you can know Him today. If you seek Him, you will find Him.

If you are a Christian here today, that means you know Who Jesus is. It’s good to be reminded the truth about our King. But there are some secondary applications for us. One is that some people who are close to you may not understand Who Jesus is. It is our privilege to not only try to introduce Jesus to them, but also to represent Jesus to them.

Another important principle for us is that our goal as servants of God is to broadcast Jesus, direct people to Jesus, glorify Jesus. This whole scene with Herod happened because the 12 were going from place to place preaching about the Kingdom. As a result, Herod wasn’t talking about Bartholomew or Peter or Thomas. People were talking about Jesus. We should not be upset or disappointed if we are not acknowledged or if people aren’t impressed with us. Isn’t it better to have the affectionate attention of God Himself, Who delights in us?

The more we understand Who Jesus is, the more we understand who we are. Our value in His eyes. Our place in His plan. The spiritual wealth and privilege and authority we have because we belong to Him. We know that we don’t need to be perplexed by this life and we don’t need to try to find a way out. We’re on our way in – into His forever Kingdom, where we will rule and reign with Him, the true King Almighty, Who was and is and is to come.

The Greatest Story Seldom Told (Luke 7:11-17)

October 29, 2023

Have you heard about The Greatest Story Never Told? That’s the title of a 6-hour documentary produced in 2013 that suggests Adolf Hitler and his Third Reich really weren’t so bad. It has a shocking number of 10/10 ratings on IMDb, calling it excellent, eye-opening, life-changing truth. I don’t know about you, but I’m glad this is a story that’s never told.

The Gospel of Luke contains a true story that is less-often told. Obviously it’s right here in our Bibles but, when it comes to the stories about Jesus we frequently reference, or write songs about, or put in curriculum and children’s Bibles, this one isn’t usually in the list for some reason.

Even when we think about the people Jesus raised from the dead, this story seems to be the last one we remember. There’s Lazarus, of course, and Jairus’ daughter. But there’s another story, found only in Luke, full of hope and full of tenderness and full of God’s heart toward you. One commentator writes, “In many ways this is the loveliest story in all the Gospels.”

Our story begins in verse 11, with Jesus on the road.

Luke 7:11 – ¹¹Afterward he was on his way to a town called Nain. His disciples and a large crowd were traveling with him.

After what? It was after Jesus gave what we refer to as the Sermon on the Mount – only in Luke it’s the Sermon on the Plain. It was a teaching Jesus gave multiple times. After finishing, Jesus was asked to come and heal a centurion’s servant. He did, without even entering the house, proving that He wasn’t just a guy with good ideas or valuable philosophy – He was something much more.

That healing took place in Capernaum. Now, Jesus and the crowd with Him, started walking 25 miles or so to this little city of Nain, which was at the base of Mount Hermon.

The question is: Why was Jesus going to Nain? Jesus said He only did what the Father wanted Him to do. He was led by the Spirit from place to place. Every single place He visited, He could’ve stayed forever doing His work of healing and teaching. So, why Nain that day?

As far as the Bible is concerned, this funeral we’re about to see was the only reason. There are no other stories recorded about this place or Jesus’t time there.

Luke 7:12 – ¹²Just as he neared the gate of the town, a dead man was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the town was also with her.

In verse 14, Jesus will call him a “young man.” The term means a youth, under 40, in the prime of life. So, I’m sorry to report that I and many of you are no longer in the prime of our lives.

There would be no celebration at this funeral. No appreciation of a life well-lived. The young man’s death would’ve been practically a death sentence for his widowed mother. No husband, no other sons. This woman is now “all alone in a hostile world.” Today, she’s crushed by grief, tomorrow she’ll be helpless, totally dependent on the charity of others.

Her son probably died within the last 24 hours. It was customary for Jews to bury the dead quickly. But that means that while Jesus was healing the servant of a Gentile occupier, this young man was taking his last gasps of breath.

Now, remember: A crowd is with Jesus. The disciples were with him. They knew Jesus could heal from afar. I think it’s very possible that at least a few of them thought, “Why were we helping a Roman soldier while a son of Abraham was left to die?”

We might think something similar today. God could heal everyone of every sickness and injury. Every cancer patient. Every amputee. Every quadriplegic. If He’s a God of love, why doesn’t He?

One reason is that more than a physical healing, you need a personal encounter with God. There’s a work of the soul that is more pressing, more urgent than any physical suffering we face. When the lame man was lowered through the roof, to Jesus the first thing He did was forgive the man’s sins.

Now, God does care about physical suffering. This story and so many other prove that. And one day God will heal every single sickness and sorrow, every single malady and hurt in His forever Kingdom. But in the here and now, though God does still heal in some cases, more often we are called to endure suffering that His strength may be made perfect in our weakness.

Let’s look back at these crowds. There’s a large crowd with Jesus and a large crowd with the woman. They meet on the road outside the city. The crowd with Jesus had, undoubtedly, been full of excitement. “Look at what Jesus can do!” But I wonder if the wind came out of their sails as they heard the wailing and the screams of sorrow. After all, this young man wasn’t dying, like the servant of the centurion had been. This man is dead.

By the way, it’s not a case of people not realizing someone isn’t actually dead. That happens from time to time. Remember: Luke is a doctor. He’s dead.

Luke 7:13 – ¹³When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said, “Don’t weep.”

There were many people gathered – many more than are here today. But Jesus had specific, personal focus on this one person. It was the woman Jesus had compassion on, not the young man. I suspect the young man was enjoying the glories of paradise in the place called Abraham’s Bosom. And at the polar opposite was his mother. It was her darkest hour.

The people of Nain came to mourn with her. But other than helping to bury her son, there was nothing anyone could do for her. In the future, they might be able to throw her some scraps so she wouldn’t starve. But other than that, there was no hope. All of them felt bad for her, but then there’s Jesus. And His heart went out to her in action.

Luke uses the strongest word possible to describe Jesus’ pity on her. The root word refers to the yearning of the viscera. His heart was going out to her. This is a God of active love.

He walks over and says, “Don’t weep.” Now, this is not something you should say to a person at a funeral. But Jesus can. We read it and we think, “Well, He’s about to do something, so it’s fine.” That’s true, but no one in this scene knew He was going to raise this man from the dead. Jairus’ daughter hadn’t been raised yet. Neither had Lazarus.

Luke gives us a subtle commentary on this scene when he says, “the Lord saw her.” This is no mere rabbi. This is the Lord. The “supernatural master over all. The ruler who exercises authority.” His words of comfort weren’t empty cliches. When He speaks, the cosmos bends.

Did you know the Lord has the same compassion for you that He did for this woman? Psalm 145 tells us His compassion rests on all He has made. He knows your hurt and your fears. He knows the thoughts that fill your mind. The tears that fall from your eyes and evaporate He collects and stores in a bottle. He is a loving, merciful Rescuer Who wants to envelop you with His grace.

Luke 7:14 – ¹⁴Then he came up and touched the open coffin, and the pallbearers stopped. And he said, “Young man, I tell you, get up!”

Let’s notice: The funeral was still happening – the pallbearers were still walking. And notice that no one asked Jesus to do anything.

But this is Who the God of the Bible is. Without being asked, He brings Himself into humanity’s need. While Adam and Eve were in rebellion, while they were fleeing from God’s presence, He comes and calls to them. When Hagar runs, hopeless into the wilderness, God goes there to save her. As Saul of Tarsus plunges headlong into hate and murder and blasphemy, the Lord meets him on the road to make him an offer of peace. At just the right time, while we were helpless and destined for an eternity in hell, Christ died for us, the ungodly, the undeserving, the undesirable.

This young man would’ve been carried not in a coffin like we think of, but on a bier – a slab of wood, essentially. And though his body was dead, it’s clear that this fellow was alive somewhere because Jesus could speak to him and he could hear.

Touching a coffin would’ve made Jesus ceremonially unclean. But as usual, Jesus didn’t care. He wasn’t afraid to lay his hand on a coffin. He wasn’t afraid to enter a Gentile’s house. He wasn’t afraid to embrace lepers. That’s how great His tenderness and compassion are for the people of earth.

And so, Jesus stands in front of the procession. The pallbearers are forced to stop. And Jesus says, “Young man, I tell you.”

The doctors had said there was nothing they could do. The neighbors had said, “It’s time – we have to bury him.” The grave smiled and said, “You are mine.” But Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior said, “I tell you, get up.” Someone wrote, “Jesus claimed as His own what death had seized as his prey.”

If you are born again, if you’ve been saved by Jesus, death has no power over you. It does not rule you. It cannot threaten you. All the sting and all the victory has been taken away from the grave.

Jesus has authority to tell death what to do. All authority on earth and in heaven has been given to Him. You may be dying, you may be sick, you may be weak, you may be poor, you may be afraid, you may be confused, you may be discouraged or depressed or in doubt. Jesus Christ is Lord and His compassion does not fail. He has love for you and grace for you and wants to walk with you day by day in this life, ultimately uniting with you in eternity where you will live forever with Him. There is no other rescue from death. There are no other options that lead to life. It is Jesus, only Jesus.

Luke 7:15 – ¹⁵The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

Luke’s training leaks through again in his writing. “Sat up” is a technical medical term for a patient sitting up in bed. What did he say, I wonder? Of course it’s not recorded. He had been conscious in the next life, and so I imagine him saying, “You can’t believe who I saw over there!”

This would’ve been an absolute scene. I watched some videos of medical professionals pulling pranks on their coworkers. When the body bag starts moving, people freak out. Wouldn’t you? It’s amazing that Jesus didn’t have to raise a few more dead people after the heart attacks they might’ve suffered!

According to the Mishnah written between 30 BC and 200 AD, when a Jew was prepared for burial, the jaw would be bound shut. And so, similar to Lazarus being unbound, this young man was set free from his bonds and became a living testimony of God’s power and grace. God saves and He frees us. Frees us to preach and to testify and to share the Good News of what He does.

What was now the purpose of his life, more than ever before? To support and serve. Jesus “gave him to his mother.” She was in need and the Lord met her need by giving her another person. The Lord could’ve done a miracle of money or a miracle of food supply. Instead, He gave her a person. This man would have to die again someday. But, aren’t we glad?

Now, similarly, God sends us to serve others, to support one another, to be in relationship with others as living representatives of God’s grace and power and kindness. Yes, we will have to suffer in this life. Yes, we will face physical death one day. But we know what’s on the other side. And we know a life lived in service to the Lord is worth it the trouble and the difficulty.

Paul once said, “Listen, I’d rather be physically dead, because then I get to be in heaven. But if I stay in this life, that’s a benefit and a necessary thing for the people God has sent me to serve.”

Luke 7:16 – ¹⁶Then fear came over everyone, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people.”

The people weren’t wrong, their understanding of Jesus was just incomplete. We can’t blame them. Even the disciples didn’t really understand the Lord until after His resurrection. We on the other hand have the full revelation of Who Jesus is and we should respond accordingly.

Why did they call Jesus a prophet when He didn’t prophesy? It’s because this scene closely mirrors the story of Elijah. In 1 Kings 17 we read about how Elijah, the great prophet, encountered a widow at the city gate. Shortly after, her only son became sick and died. Elijah had compassion on her, appealed to the Lord, the son was raised and then he “gave him to his mother.” Luke uses the exact phrasing that we find in the Septuagint version of 1 Kings.

Jews knew this story. And they knew that they should be watching and waiting for another great Prophet to arrive. One that would arise from among them and have the very words of God in His mouth. Jesus was demonstrating He was the Prophet. He was greater than Moses, greater than Elijah. Elijah had to cry out to the Lord multiple times, asking God to raise the widow’s son. Jesus walked up to the coffin and said, “I say get up.”

The people were starting to catch on. They gave Him the highest title they could think of and said, “God has visited His people.” Fred Craddock points out, “God’s visitation may be in wrath or in mercy, but for Luke it is always an act of grace.”

Do we recognize God’s grace? Have we understood Jesus as He has been revealed to us? Have we given Him the highest title of honor and praise from our hearts? Do we realize He’s visiting us now?

Luke 7:17 – ¹⁷This report about him went throughout Judea and all the vicinity.

This was a story worth telling!

Let me tell you a story – one that’s about you.

The God of heaven and earth knows you and loves you. He hand-made you in your mother’s womb. Because of sin, you’re going to die one day. Whether you acknowledge God and receive His forgiveness or not, one day He is going to call you out of the grave. Only He has the authority to do so. But He will for every single person listening today, and every other person to ever exist. Those who have been born again will be called out the grave like children being called home into an everlasting inheritance in heaven. Those who are not born again will also be called out of the grave, not by a Father, but by the Judge. And they will be brought before the Great White Throne judgment. They will each be found guilty of sin and the wages are death. Their destiny is eternal, conscious torment in the Lake of Fire. Which version of that story will be told of your life?

Recently, we watched the epic classic Ben Hur with the kids. There’s a great scene where Judah Ben Hur stands before Pontius Pilate and he must make a choice whether he is going to pledge himself to Rome or to the Jews. Pilate is standing in the room where he officiates, his throne in the background. He says, “I crossed this floor in spoken friendship…but when I go up those stairs I become the hand of Caesar, ready to crush all those who challenge his authority. If you stay here, you will find yourself part of this tragedy.”

Christ Jesus is not worried about you challenging His authority. All authority forever belongs to Him. He is concerned that you will perish for your sin. He does not want that – His compassion is too great. He came from heaven into the horror of earth so that He could make a way – one way – that we could be rescued from sin, rescued from death, and have hope.

He’s going to call you out of the grave one day, but He’s already calling to you now. Calling for you to be saved. Calling for you to walk with Him and to receive His strength and His grace and His love even now. It’s not only about the next life, it’s about this life, too. His love extends from eternity all the way into this very moment. Will you hear Him and follow Him and be a part of the story?

There Was An Old Woman Who Lived To Serve Jews (Luke 2:36-38)

December 25, 2022

They are called the 400 silent years.

It is the time between the Old Testament and New Testament, during which no inspired Scripture was written.

It would be wrong, however, to say that God did not speak. He certainly spoke to Anna as a “prophetess.” She may have been over 100yrs old. That cuts deep into the 400 so-called silent years.

God speaks. He’s a talker, with lots to say. He reveals Himself to us so that we can know Him.

He speaks to everyone through the wonders of the created universe. You could call it, “Creation Evangelism” or, “The First Testament.” “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard” (Psalm 19:1-3). Design demands a designer; creation, a Creator. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth.”

God reveals Himself to each person through his or her conscience. Everyone has a conscience. Our conscience gives us an awareness of what is right and what and wrong. Don Stewart writes, “Humanity knows intuitively the difference between good and evil, right and wrong. Furthermore, they know from their conscience that they will ultimately be held responsible for their behavior.” Another commentator said, “Conscience is the voice of God in the soul.”

God speaks to you from the Cross upon which Jesus was crucified. If you listen, you hear, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Most of you recall Verizon’s “Can you hear me now?” ad campaign. No matter where the tech was, you could hear him on Verizon’s superior network.
It’s Christmas and God has brought you here so He can chat you up. If you are not a Christian, then His Creation… Your conscience… & The Cross where He took your place in death that you might live…

They are the very voice of God drawing you to Himself.

Only a fool says “there is no God” as you experience and explore the wonderful world He has created.
In your conscience, you know that you are a sinner.
With your attention drawn to the Cross, God’s Spirit provides the ability for you to repent and believe.

Since you know He is speaking…“Can you hear Him now?”

We will spend the next few minutes with Anna. We’ll see her living in the Temple, always ready to serve her fellow Jews.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

We start asking kids this question when they’re in elementary school.

A poll revealed that the #1 career among children is Professional Athlete. Rounding out the top ten: Doctor, Don’t Know, Teacher, Veterinarian, Firefighter, Scientist, Astronaut, Engineer, and Law Enforcement.

I couldn’t find, ‘Widow who lives in the Temple serving God with fasting and prayers.’ Most likely, Anna didn’t aspire to the career that would occupy the majority of her very long life. Nevertheless, that was her calling and she went about it as a gift from the Lord.

Some of us are in our dream job. One or more of you might go as far as saying you hate your job. You might have upward mobility. Perhaps you are stuck, can’t start over. The possibilities are many.

Anna didn’t choose the course of her life, but no matter the twists and turns, she walked her course to please God.

Luk 2:36 Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity;

Asher was one of Jacob’s sons. He was the progenitor of one of the tribes of Israel. When you search the Bible for him, you find his greatest achievements stated in the form of prophecies: “Bread from Asher shall be rich, And he shall yield royal dainties… Let him be favored by his brothers, And let him dip his foot in oil” (Genesis 49:20 & Deuteronomy 33:24).

It sounds like he owned a day spa.

When the tribes of Israel inherited their land, Joshua assigned to Asher western and coastal Galilee. It was a region with some of the most fertile land in Canaan, with rich pasture, wooded hills, and orchards. You could say of Asher that he was materially well-off.

He is remembered as a privileged, wealthy land owner, rancher, and farmer. God is not opposed to wealth, only its potential to trip you up in your walk with Him. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. The love of money is what motivates people to lie, steal, cheat, gamble, embezzle, and even murder. Jesus warned that “you cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24). By one estimate, stock market losses wiped out $9 trillion American’ wealth this year. Meanwhile, Heaven is cranking out the dividends to those who invest with God.

The Bible encourages us to counter the hold money may have on us by being thoughtful, generous, hilarious, regular givers to the work of God.

We can’t know if Anna was once, or even then, materially well-off. We can say that she spent most of her life living meagerly. She’s an example to us of being rich in faith.

Her dad, ‘Phanuel,’ is mentioned nowhere else. Nothing is known about her family, or her deceased husband’s family. Whether or not any relatives were still involved with her, her daily contact was with the Temple servants. They would be like family to her.

Don’t think of her as some crazy oracle, the kind highlighted in fantasy movies. Prophets didn’t necessarily predict the future. Technically, we would list Anna with the godly Old Testament women called prophetesses: Miriam (Exodus 15:20); Deborah (Judges 4:4); Huldah (Second Kings 22:14; Second Chronicles 34:22); and the wife of Isaiah (Isaiah 8:3). The scope of their speaking for God can be ascertained by reading the relevant passages. What I get out of them is that they advised with wisdom derived from the written word, and they revealed the will of God. We could say that they functioned in the office of prophetess to advise about the will of God.

Anna’s ministry, whatever its scope, assured the people God was not silent. He was behind the scenes, prepping for the fulfillment of His promises to them. If in your walk with the Lord He seems silent, know that He is behind the scenes, prepping for the fulfillment of His promises to you.

BTW: Sometimes silence can be effective, edifying communication.

Luk 2:37 and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the Temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

What happened to her husband? Did they have children during their seven years of marriage? If not, why not? Still a relatively young woman when her husband died, why did she not get remarried? Don’t know. Don’t know. Don’t know. Don’t know.

She may have been 84 years old, or widowed for 84 years. If she married in her teens, she would be over 100.

At some point she “did not depart from the Temple.” If someone spends a great deal of time somewhere other than home, we say they live there. Anna really did live there.

Another big part of her being a prophetess was to “[serve] God with fastings and prayers night and day.”

Anna was on-call, day and night, to pray for you.

“Fastings” can be translated, “Going without eating.” I buy Chaplain gear from a website called ColdDinnerClub. The name represents firefighters & police officers not being able to finish a hot meal on account of their commitment to serve. Anna was often not able to finish her meal, and, in addition, she practiced the discipline of fasting.

Jesus spoke of praying, giving, and fasting as spiritual disciplines. I doubt any of us would claim to be satisfied with our praying, giving, and fasting (Matthew 6). These disciplines, however, are not a one-size-fits-all program. Talk to God about your praying, giving, and fasting.

Are you thinking what I’m thinking? She was pretty spry for her age. Pilates?? No, God measured out her physical health.

If you have your health, do you have everything? Of course not. What is the condition of your soul?That’s the essential thing. Charles Spurgeon writes, “I venture to say that the greatest earthly blessing that God can give to any of us is health, with the exception of sickness. Sickness has frequently been of more use to the saints of God than health has.”

Luk 2:38 And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

Anna came just when Simeon was holding baby Jesus and prophesying about the royal family.

The words, “that instant,” are truly amazing. Simeon, Anna, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus converged in a fleeting moment of time. It was a case of right place, right time, in God’s providence. He had foreseen the free actions of these people, and then He saw to it that their meeting came to pass for His glory.

If I asked you to name a spiritual “that instant” moment in your life, most of you could do so. If you were saved later in life, not from an early age, the moment you received the gift of salvation was at “that instant.”

As long as you are on Earth, you should expect “that instant” moments.

We aren’t told how Anna “gave thanks.” It may have been silently, in her heart. Maybe it was out loud. It probably describes not just her immediate reaction, but an ongoing one. We can assume that she was thankful prior to this. Now she would take gratitude to an entirely new level.

I’m reminded of the apostle Paul and what he described as the thorn in his flesh. After praying about it, the Lord revealed to Paul that it would not be taken away. Paul reacted, saying, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (Second Corinthians 12:9-10).

God’s answer wasn’t “No,” it was grace, sufficient grace. Paul was grateful. That is ‘next level’ gratitude.

Anna “spoke of Him to all…” As a prophetess, she already did this, but now there was a renewed excitement that expressed itself in her sharing.

“All those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem” were godly Israelites who hoped for the arrival of their promised Messiah. Here that hope is called “redemption.” A redeemer was a certain person described in the Bible, who had a very important role in their tribal culture. The Jews connected the Messiah to the person in the Law of Moses known as the “kinsman-redeemer.” Our friends at gotquestions.org put it like this:

The kinsman-redeemer is a male relative who had the privilege and responsibility to act on behalf of a relative who was in trouble, danger, or need. The Hebrew term (go el) for kinsman-redeemer designates one who delivers or rescues (Genesis 48:16; Exodus 6:6) or redeems property or person (Leviticus 27:9-25, 25:47-55).

Another commentator said,

“A kinsman-redeemer was someone who redeemed what was lost. This could be the other persons’ property, their freedom, or even their name. The kinsman might also be called upon to exact revenge on someone who may have killed their relative. In short, the kinsman was a rescuer and restorer.”

Summarizing our redemption as Christians, one author said, “To be redeemed is to be forgiven, holy, justified, free, adopted, and reconciled.”
Commenting on our need to be redeemed, Dave Hunt said, “The more clearly we see the infinite chasm between God’s glory and our sinful falling short thereof, the greater will be our appreciation of His grace and love in bridging that gulf to redeem us.”

There were four requirements you had to meet to be go el:

You had to be kin.
You had to be willing.
You had to be able to redeem.
You had to pay the price in full.

Jesus was Israel’s go el.

Jesus was God in human flesh. He became just like you and me, our kin, which put him in position so that He could redeem us.
Jesus gave up His life for us as a sacrifice of His own free will.
Because Jesus was God, He has the ability to redeem us.
Jesus paid the redemption price. We are told, “He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people…” (Titus 2:14).

If you want to understand redemption, read the short Book of Ruth in your Bible. It tells the story of a go el rescuing and restoring his kin. It tells it as a love story.

God redeeming you by sending Jesus as your go el is a love story; it is THE love story.

The holiday season is for most people a fun time of the year, filled with parties, celebrations, and social gatherings with family and friends. For many people, it can be a time filled with sadness, self-reflection, loneliness, and anxiety. You either know someone who has suffered loss for whom the holidays hit hard; or you are that someone.

Anna was that someone. We need to be careful to not suggest a backstory for Anna that is purely speculative. One thing for sure is that she had suffered the loss of her husband. She remained widowed all her very long life.

No one chooses that path to walk on. Little girls don’t aspire to widowhood.

Some little girls will get a bride Barbie doll this year, but not widowed Barbie, with coffin Ken.

We might immediately admire Anna’s life devoted to God, living in a makeshift room in the Temple, praying and fasting night and day, blessed with getting to see Jesus, the Redeemer. At the same time, I think the majority of us look at Anna and say, “See you; wouldn’t want to be you.”

You have, or you will, suffer loss on your way to Heaven. It might be great loss, by our reckoning. Anna can minister to you in your loss.

It isn’t a matter of trying to be like Anna. You are an Anna already. In fact, you’re better off than Anna, spiritually, because you have God’s Spirit in you.

Anna didn’t overcome loss by praying and fasting and living at church. She didn’t discipline herself out of depression. She was on a walk with God, and she accepted that her path went through the loss of her spouse, and all these other things that followed.

You don’t know where your path will lead me, let alone you. On Earth, it will involve greater or lesser loss, on account of the problem of sin.

The psalmist wrote, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 76:3). It would have been a good life-verse for Anna. Let it be yours while waiting for your own; or, if you have been given a life-verse, let it fill your heart.

Simeon Says: Wait (Luke 2:22-35)

December 18, 2022

Simeon awoke every morning with the imminent hope he would see the Messiah.

Does that sound like anyone you know? Christians in the Church Age awake to the imminence of Jesus’ return to resurrect and rapture us.

One day, and we don’t know how many days it was after Simeon initially received the prophecy, that day came. God the Holy Spirit directed him to the Temple. His excitement must have been palpable.

Undoubtedly others knew of the prophecy. Seeing Simeon, with an extra bounce in his step, they may have followed him.

“There He is,” God’s Spirit announced. Where? Is it that guy? Is it that guy?

“Simeon – He is that 40-day old in the arms of His teen mother.”

It is a good bet Simeon figured that, when he saw the Messiah, it would be ‘deliver’n time,’ not diaper’n time. We are so familiar with the Christmas story that we assume Israel was waiting for a baby to be born. They were not.

Simeon, however, was anything but disappointed. He blessed the little family, then went away hopeful.

Throughout the Bible we find God working in unusual ways that we could never predict. Sending a baby to do a Messiah’s job isn’t strange for Him:

He sent a stutterer to be His voice to Pharaoh.
The youngest, least obvious teenager was His choice for King.

His work in your life will be no less unusual. It is His signature as the craftsman who is completing His good work in you.

Brother Andrew put it this way: “I am a fool for Christ. Whose fool are you?”

With that under our belt, so to speak, let’s take this wonderful passage verse-by-verse.

“Simeon Says, “Wait”

Do you think of little Jesus like Boss Baby – an infant with the mind of an adult? We sing, Mary, Did You Know? The better question might be, “Jesus, what did You know?”

The subject of how Jesus processed the world as an infant isn’t discussed in Scripture. The only appropriate verses I can think of are in the Gospel of Luke where the baby in Elizabeth’s womb, John the Baptist, “leapt” when Mary came to visit pregnant with Jesus. He and cousin Jesus were definitely not normal babies.

If we are careful doing so, I think we can make a few suggestions as to how Jesus would look back upon His infancy.

Luk 2:22  Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord
Luk 2:23  (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “EVERY MALE WHO OPENS THE WOMB SHALL BE CALLED HOLY TO THE LORD”),
Luk 2:24  and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A PAIR OF TURTLEDOVES OR TWO YOUNG PIGEONS.”

The Law God gave to Moses when Israel exodus-ed Egypt required Jesus be circumcised (Leviticus 12:3), and presented as their firstborn to God (Exodus 13:2 & 12). It was also necessary to bring an offering for Mary’s purification after childbirth (Leviticus 12:1-8). Jesus would be 40-days old when Simeon encountered Him. .

As a newborn, Jesus kept every requirement under the Law thanks to the obedience of Joseph and Mary. We are informed in the Book of Hebrews that Jesus “learned obedience” (5:8). It means that He was fully immersed in being human. As a Jew, He must obey the Law. He would throughout His lifetime perfectly obey God and the Law of God, first with the needed assistance of godly parents, then on His own.
Both in the womb and now 40-days having emerged from it, the Lord had not only fulfilled prophecies of His virgin birth, but was perfect. Jesus learned to walk in holiness before He learned to crawl as a toddler.

Luk 2:25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

In the Gospel of John, we are told that Jesus “came to His own.” He came to Israel, as their “Consolation,” i.e., the Messiah. His own, however, received Him not. That is an understated way of reporting that they hated Him and had Jesus crucified.

Towards the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus lamented over the Jews in Jerusalem. He said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Matthew 23:37).

Every Jew could have been a Simeon.

Jesus is the Savior of all men, especially those who believe. He draws all men to himself by the agency of the cross. God is not willing that any perish, but all come to eternal life. Whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

The leadership hardened their hearts and resisted the grace of God. Yes, God’s grace is resistible. The first Christian martyr, Stephen, substantiated it when he accused these same Jews, saying, “You always resist the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:51).

But there was Simeon; and there were others like him, believers. This would greatly encourage Jesus in His mission, just as it would any of us with a mission, to find faithful followers.

Simeon was “just and devout.” The two words summarize Simeon’s walk on Earth:

Towards men, he was motivated to do what was “just,” meaning right.
Towards God, he was devoted above all other persons or things.

This is another way of saying, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ ”(Matthew 22:37-40).

It is always a good idea to reflect upon your love for God. It can easily wane as we wait for Him. Not always out of disobedience. We can leave love for Jesus in the dust of our zeal to serve Him.

As for “your neighbor,” Jesus told a parable, The Good Samaritan, so that we would not ask, “Who is my neighbor?, but, “Whose neighbor am I?” You are everyone’s neighbor, to do good to them and thereby glorify God. You make the invisible God, visible.

“Consolation” sounds weird to English ears. I immediately think of a consolation prize for losers. We describe someone as inconsolable.

Simeon used it hopefully. The nation would be consoled when the Deliverer came:

He would deliver them from the oppression of other nations.
More importantly, He would deliver Jews and Gentiles from the oppression of the malevolent ruler of this world, of sin, and of death.

Luk 2:26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

Was Simeon an old man? Nothing in the text indicates his age.

He lived in a state of imminence. The Messiah might appear any moment. Imminence is a big thing to us. Jesus could return any moment to resurrect the dead in Christ, and nearly simultaneously rapture living believers.

It seems that it was widely known that the Holy Spirit had “revealed to him” this marvelous promise. In that way, it was a shared promise. You could get up every morning and check the obituaries in the Jerusalem Daily News. If Simeon wasn’t listed, then you still had a chance to see the Messiah.

Luk 2:27 So he came by the Spirit into the Temple…

Maybe the Holy Spirit gave him a strong impression to go to the Temple.

Maybe he had a dream, or a vision, or a prophecy.

Maybe another God-fearing believer received the message from the Lord to give to Simeon.

Or a bunch of seemingly random coincidences suddenly seemed to him God’s providential direction.

God the Holy Spirit is multi-lingual, especially when it comes to communicating in unusual, non-linguistic ways. He especially likes to ‘sign’ things to you. Throughout our walk with Jesus, we will learn SSL – Spirit Sign Language.

If you are not receiving anything from the Spirit, one possibility is that you are not listening. All of us understand the husband who is not really listening to his wife. Whether it is on account of the game on the television or something else, he’s not hearing her. Or those scenes when someone isn’t listening and the speaker starts stating absurdities.

A first step to listening is to believe God’s Spirit ‘speaks’ to you. Then go through the Book of Acts and note the various times and ways the Spirit ‘spoke’ to the apostles and disciples.

We read, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son… who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person…” (Hebrews 1:1-3).

Baby Jesus was the first step in revealing God to His creatures on Earth. Coming as a baby by itself shouts volumes about God’s understanding of, and use of, power and sovereignty. Human infancy isn’t exactly a strong position to take in a cosmic war against supernatural creatures bent on your destruction.

Satan is the ruler of this Earth. From the Garden of Eden forward, he has been trying to stop the coming of the Messiah. With all of his many resources, both natural and supernatural, how easy would it be to simply kill the promised Christ as an infant. In fact he tried to do just that.

Satan incited brutal King Herod to “put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men” (Matthew 2:16).

Sidebar: Secular scholars try to discredit the slaughter by saying there is no historical record of it. One may yet be found. Without minimizing the event, mathematicians have calculated the likely number of male children in Bethlehem and its districts who met Herod’s criteria – 12. Significant, sure, but not exactly newsworthy when dealing with a despot who regularly killed his own family members.

Luk 2:27 So he came by the Spirit into the Temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law,

I can’t speak for Simeon, but I know what I’d have thought. When I saw the Deliverer, I’d be expecting deliverance! An infant deliverer meant decades more of waiting for the political aspect of deliverance. Think Moses.

This is the third time our attention is drawn to God the Holy Spirit’s ministry in Simeon:

“The Holy Spirit was upon him” (v25).

The Holy Spirit “revealed to him” (v26).

He “came by the Spirit” (v27).

God’s Spirit did not indwell him. The indwelling of God’s Spirit is a gift promised to believers in the Church Age.

Jesus promised that those who believed in Him would receive the Spirit of God. This includes all believers. Are you a believer?

Then you don’t need to seek Him, per se; He lives in you.

I always liked the comic book Green Lanterns. They are intergalactic peacekeepers who receive superpowers from power rings. A Green Lantern’s ring is charged using the energy from a power battery that resembles an old-fashioned lantern made of dark green metal. A Green Lantern’s ring must be recharged every 24hrs.

Ever hear of Hour Man? He was chemist Rex Tyler, who created Miraclo which granted him super-strength and endurance, but only for one hour.

Do you think of God the Holy Spirit as if He is a power source that wears-off and needs replenishing?

The Spirit is not a power but a Person with power. His presence in you makes it possible to obey God’s Word. What God says to do, you can do.

Luk 2:28 he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:

Simeon wasn’t a priest or Levite. Joseph and Mary were from far away. Simeon may have been a complete stranger to them when he found them. Was there an awkward moment in which Simeon clearly wanted to hold their baby?

Again I want to stress I have no idea what Jesus perceived. But this is a marvelous moment for Him on Earth. A human being who was waiting for His coming held Him in his hands. God had come in human flesh as promised 4000 years prior.

Luk 2:29 “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word;

There is nothing to indicate Simeon died soon thereafter. Let us suppose for a moment that he did not. His life had been all about waiting for the fulfillment of this promise. Now, that part of his life had ended, pretty abruptly. He would have to transition into a new ministry.

It can be hard to do something like that, since so much of your identity is wrapped up in what you’ve been doing. If the Lord tells you to stay, stay. But if he tells you to go, to move, then do it.

“Peace” came from Simeon realizing God kept His Word. Some dialogue from Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan came to me. Kirk asks Khan something like, “How do I know you’ll keep your word?” Kahn replies, “I’ve given no word to keep.”

God has given His Word to keep, in these 66 marvelous books, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Everything we need for living life in a godly way is found between its covers… Or in your Bible app.

Luk 2:30  For my eyes have seen Your salvation
Luk 2:31  Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,
Luk 2:32  A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.”

Notice Simeon says Jesus will “bring revelation to the Gentiles,” then the “glory of… Israel.” It seems out of order. Shouldn’t it be to the Jews first, then Gentiles? But that is precisely what occurred:

In His first coming, rejected by His own, Jesus put Israel on hold while the Gospel would go out to the Gentiles. The apostle Paul stated at the end of the Book of Acts, “the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!” (28:28).
In His Second Coming, all Israel will be saved. Quoting Paul again, “Blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved…” (Romans 11:25-26).

Luk 2:33 And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him.

Make note that Luke says, “Joseph and His mother,” using the wording appropriate to the virgin birth.

Parents, have you ever felt inadequate in raising children? That’s a rhetorical question, by the way. How inadequate must Joseph and Mary have felt to raise Jesus in light of so much expectation upon Him.

The best they could hope for was that He would grow up to be a godly master craftsman. It is all they knew, all that they had to impart.

They knew God. They entrusted Jesus to God. Chip Ingram said, “Remember that you are not called to produce successful, upwardly mobile, highly educated, athletically talented machines. Giving your children great opportunities is good; it is not, however, the goal of parenting. Christlikeness is. Above all, seek to raise children who look and act a lot like Jesus.”

Luk 2:34 Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against
Luk 2:35 (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

David Guzik writes, “The ‘fall and rising of many’ would be shown in the way that Peter repented, but Judas despaired; in that one thief blasphemed, the other believed. Jesus is like a magnet that is attractive to some, but others are repelled from Him.”

Jesus was a “sign,” which here could be translated, target. We use the phrase, “He has a target on his back.” That’s the idea.

Mary would be more than heartbroken. A “sword” would pierce her heart. Hers would obviously be a unique suffering, seeing as Jesus was born to her in such a unique way. No one would be able to say to her, “I know what you’re going through.”

Multiple commentators note four main lessons we learn from Simeon: We wait, we watch, we worship, and we work.

Simeon ‘says’ each of them.

I encourage you to read and reread the story of Simeon with those characteristics in mind. Ask the Lord to reveal your progress or regress in each of them. Then yield yourself to His leading in order to wait-watch-worship-work as you walk.

Lady Sings The News (Luke 1:46-55)

December 26, 2021

Jesus Refulsit Omnium
Corde Natus ex Parentis
Adeste Fideles

It isn’t tongues… I don’t have a brain tumor… It’s not from Parkinson’s.

These are not spells from Harry Potter. I’m not making fun of President Biden.

They are the Latin titles for what music historians consider the oldest Christmas hymns:

Jesus Refulsit Omnium translates to, Jesus, Light of All the Nations, written by St. Hilary of Poitier in the 4th century.

Corde Natus ex Parentis translates to, Of the Father’s Love Begotten. Christian poet Prudentius wrote the poem that inspired this song in the 4th century.

Adeste Fideles is the familiar, O Come, All Ye Faithful, from 1841.

Away in a Manger, Silent Night, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing… These are probably what come to mind when you think about traditional Christmas carols. As classic as these songs are, they’re not old.

There is in the Bible the overlooked oldest of the hymns of Christ’s birth.

You might know it by its Latin name, Magnificat.

It is found in only one place, in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke.

The Magnificat is one of four hymns recorded by Luke in response to the birth of Christ. The other three are:

Zechariah’s Benedictus (1:67-79).
The angels’ Gloria in Excelsis Deo (2:13-14).
Simeon’s Nunc Dimittis (2:28-32).

Luke presented Christmas as a musical; or at least having its own score.

Christmas is a time for song. I feel sorry for those who refuse to celebrate for one reason or another. They miss out on so much praise.

BTW: Have you been told that our celebration of Christmas has pagan roots? There is historical evidence that the opposite is true. One historian wrote,

The pagan festival of the “Birth of the Unconquered Sun” instituted by the Roman Emperor Aurelian on 25 December 274, was almost certainly an attempt to create a pagan alternative to a date that was already of some significance to Roman Christians. Thus the “pagan origins of Christmas” is a myth without historical substance.

http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=16-10-012-v#continue

Or Google Calculating Christmas.

We don’t want to ruin the Magnificat by picking it apart. Happily, it suggests it’s own three movements:

In verses 46-49, God’s calling upon her life draws praise from Mary.
In verses 50-53, Mary sings about the Messiah transforming the world.
In verses 54-55, Mary’s song finds its crescendo in God’s trustworthy promises and prophecies.

Let’s set the scene within which this song was sung. Finding herself pregnant after the angel Gabriel’s visit, Mary went to see her cousin, Elizabeth, to see if Elizabeth was also pregnant like the angel had said. Elizabeth was visibly pregnant, being six months along in her pregnancy with John the Baptist. He went full Pentecostal, leaping inside her womb when Mary arrived. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth spoke a blessing over Mary.

Mary began to sing:

Luk 1:46 “My soul magnifies the Lord,
Luk 1:47  And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
Luk 1:48  For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
Luk 1:49  For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name.

Magnificat is Latin for “magnify.” In her case, Mary magnified God by rejoicing in Him.

The Doctrine of the Virgin Birth is implied in the Old Testament. It wasn’t revealed until later on, in the New Testament. No one in Israel was anticipating a miraculous virgin birth. The Jewish leaders would accuse Jesus of being illegitimate.

Mary was a young, betrothed girl, pregnant out of wedlock. Her condition was considered shameful socially and morally.

Mary chose to believe God and rejoice.

Do you believe God? Then choose to rejoice in your circumstances.

We applaud the person whose human spirit cannot be broken. William Wallace yelling, “Freedom,” while being disemboweled gets Mel Gibson an Academy Award. Why do the smallest things rob our joy as believers? Why does anything?

You’ll notice that Mary sang about things in the past tense as if they had already occurred. Scholars call this the ‘prophetic past-tense,’ meaning it hasn’t happened but it most certainly will because God has prophesied it.

Mary was 15 years old, maybe 16 tops. God has a habit of calling upon youth:

David was the youngest in his family, just a youth, when he slew the Philistine giant.

Daniel and his three friends were youths when taken captive to Babylon.

Jeremiah is thought to have been 17 years old when God called him.

A godly young man or woman, boy or girl, has the same Holy Spirit in them as an adult. God wants to use young people.

Mary was no theologian. Her song was spontaneous and inspired. She sang it with joy for an audience of three – two of whom were in utero.

There are two ways we can approach Mary’s song:

We can approach it intellectually by looking at its various parts.

We can approach it devotionally by taking it as a whole.

We are going devotional. Our understanding of ‘devotional’ is discovering what the Bible says to us without taking it out of its original context.

Looking at the Magnificat devotionally, we can say that it describes every servant God calls

Mary’s service was unique in the Christian story, sure. There are a lot of saints like that, whose names are known for a unique part they played.

You are an unknown. To people, that is, not to God. But you are no less loved or blessed than Mary or any other servant. It is impossible for Jesus to love one servant more than another.

“My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.”

Is God your Savior? If not, receive Him – right now!

Jesus is the Savior of the whole world, especially those who believe.

“Spirit” refers to the immaterial part of humanity that connects with God.

Human beings are souls. In its most basic sense, the word soul means “life.” It has been called the “life essence of the body.”

Humans are born spiritually dead, with souls blackened by sin. Believe Jesus and you are born again, born spiritually. You receive a new nature, and the Holy Spirit.

“For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.”

A paraphrase of these words is, “God took one good look at me, and look what happened – I’m the most fortunate woman on earth! What God has done for me will never be forgotten.”

God took one look at you. You were dressed in filthy garments. You were born with a sin nature and you were a sinner. There was nothing about you to commend you to God.

Mary looked just like that, too. There was nothing holy about her, nothing to set her apart.

You were just what He was looking for, to save and transform, to perfect you to meet the Father as His bride.

“All generations will call me blessed” doesn’t only apply to Mary:

Think of all the Bible’s hero’s and heroines whose names are upon our lips.

Think of all the ‘famous’ Christians not in the Bible we called blessed.

You are no less blessed, though you work in obscurity, no one ever knowing your name. (You might be better off).

“For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name.”

Our God is “holy,” which in part means that on account of His perfection, He can do nothing wrong or evil. We can therefore trust that “great things” are happening in our lives as we walk with Him.

I admit sometimes I apply this wrongly by thinking, “That’s just great, Lord.” We don’t always recognize all things working together for our good, but we know they are because God is almighty and He loves us.

A new movement in the song begins in verse fifty:

Luk 1:50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation.

From “generation to generation,” God oversees history. He has the watch. He acts providentially to fulfill His promises and push forward His agenda of redeeming the human race and His ruined Creation. No matter how much the plan of redemption seems to be in jeopardy, believers in every generation, “those who fear Him,” experience God’s mercy.

Luk 1:51  He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
Luk 1:52  He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly.
Luk 1:53  He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty.

Throughout history there are “proud,” “mighty,” and “rich” individuals who hold earthly power. They always seem to be winning. They are not. Time after time, God has “scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.” Think of Pharaoh and Moses and you get the idea.

The reversals listed herald the changes to come in the future Kingdom of God on Earth

Satan is the current ruler of this world. At one point in history he had a throne in the city of Pergamum. God had a church there. Believers may be “lowly” and “hungry,” but the church cannot fail.

I should rephrase that and say, “believers will be lowly and hungry (in need).” The Church Age in which we find ourselves is a time when we magnify the Lord in our weaknesses and sufferings. The apostle Paul wrote,

2Co 12:7  And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
2Co 12:8  Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
2Co 12:9  And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2Co 12:10  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

God can and does heal. Healings are few and far between, if we are honest.

Either the church is failing, as many suggest.

Or we are living in a time during which having a thorn in the flesh is more a testimony then healing it would be.

The final movement of the Magnificat is about Mary’s people, the nation of Israel:

Luk 1:54 He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy,
Luk 1:55 As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever.”

God determined to call out a special people for Himself, and through that special people He would bless the whole world with the Messiah. He chose Abram to be the father of that new people, the nation of Israel. He would later change Abram’s name to Abraham.

God’s unconditional promise included land. It was a specific land, an actual property, with dimensions specified, to be Israel’s forever.

Joel Richardson writes, “Among the most critical matters of urgency for the church in this hour is acquiring a biblical view of Israel. Exposing the spreading cancer of anti-Semitism, arrogance, and misinformation within the Body of Christ is one of the most important challenges of our day.”

If anyone deserved to be abandoned by God, it was Israel. Their history is full of rebellion and idolatry. God continually “helped” Israel, calling them His “servant.”

We serve an incredible Promise Keeper. If He has begun a work in you, He will complete it – despite your efforts to go your own way.

Think of your life as a musical, e.g., PG the Musical.

What is the audience experience as folks watch your musical? What is your score on Rotten Tomatoes? Because you can be sure people are watching.

Here’s a better way of thinking about it. Each of us, as believers in Christ, are writing our musical. Our thoughts, our actions, our decisions, all contribute to it.

Mary’s song was a Magnificat.

Our song, our musical, can likewise be a Magnificat as we choose rejoicing

Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Disbelief

December 22, 2019

Most popular non-Biblical Christmas story of all time?

I didn’t say your favorite. Most popular. And it’s not Die Hard. BTW: You die hard Die Hard fans – Do NOT Google Die Hard + Ambulance while you’re here. Do it later.

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, was an instant classic. It’s full title is, A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas.

Published on December 19, 1843, the first edition sold out by Christmas Eve. By the end of the year thirteen editions had been released.

In 1849 Dickens began public readings of the story, which proved so successful he undertook 127 further performances until 1870, the year of his death.

A Christmas Carol has never been out of print and has been translated into several languages. The story has been adapted umpteen times for film, stage, opera, and just about every other media:

There have been at least 23 motion picture adaptations.
62 theater adaptations.
4 operas.
29 television adaptations (with new ones every year).
5 graphic novels.

Then there are the radio performances, recordings, and straight-to-DVD’s. It’s almost impossible to count what are classified as ‘derivative works,’ where the storyline, or a character, are utilized.

For all its popularity, you almost never hear anything about what inspired Dickens.
There are good reasons to believe that Dickens had a Bible story in mind. But not one that most people would in any way think of as representative, or even appropriate, for Christmas.

It’s the story of the Rich Man & Lazarus. It is found in the sixteenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Let me read it to you in its entirety:

Luke 16:19  “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.
Luke 16:20  But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate,
Luke 16:21  desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
Luke 16:22  So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
Luke 16:23  And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
Luke 16:24  “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’
Luke 16:25  But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.
Luke 16:26  And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’
Luke 16:27  “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house,
Luke 16:28  for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’
Luke 16:29  Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’
Luke 16:30  And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
Luke 16:31  But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”

Try reading that before opening gifts on Christmas. It will certainly set a mood. It’s reminiscent of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Yet this WAS Dickens’ inspiration:

First, there is the Rich Man – Ebenezer Scrooge – who sees his death, and there is a poor ‘man’ – Tiny Tim – who is going to die.

Second, it is made clear that like the Rich Man, Scrooge, beyond death is headed to torment in the afterlife.

Third, around the time A Christmas Carol was published, Dickens wrote a short biography of Jesus for his children, titled The Life of our Lord. The “Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man” was one of only eight stories that Dickens chose to include in that volume.

Fourth, a passage in a book titled, The Oxford Illustrated Dickens, mentions the Rich Man & Lazarus in a sentence together with Scrooge.

Fifth, and most significantly, the Sunday after Dickens was buried in Westminster Abbey, Dean Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, preaching on exactly this parable, spoke of Dickens as the “parabler” of his age. Stanley said that “By [Dickens] that veil was rent asunder which parts the various classes of society. Through his genius the Rich Man… was made to see and feel the presence of Lazarus at his gate.”

The story of the Rich Man & Lazarus is often called a parable. It isn’t. It doesn’t follow the rules of a parable:

For one, in a parable there are people or things that represent other things. In the Parable of the Sower, for example, the seed represents the Word of God; and the soil, the various conditions of the human heart. In the story of the Rich Man & Lazarus, everything is itself – not a representation.

For another thing, parables do not name their characters. If this was a parable, it was the only one Jesus told that used a proper name. Lazarus was a real person, and the description of him was his true daily life.
You may also have heard the Rich Man referred to as Dives, as if that was his name. Dives means wealthy. The ‘name’ was given to him by translators and commentators to further emphasize to readers that this is not a parable.

Jesus was talking with men from a sect of the Jewish religion known as the Pharisees. They considered themselves right with God because of their meticulous adherence to the written Laws of God. Their wealth was, to them, evidence that God was pleased with their devotion.

In one place we’re told that these guys were so meticulous about giving God 10% of their wealth that they gave 10% of their spices to God. Here is what Jesus said:

Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”

You see where Jesus was coming from. For all their claim to scrupulously keep the Old Testament Law of God, they were not right with God.

Lazarus was beyond poverty. He had to be carried to the Rich Man’s gate to beg. He was covered in foul sores from head to toe. The household dogs had it better than him. They, at least, did get table scraps. With a little seasoning, I might add.

It was unthinkable to a Law-keeping Pharisee that such a person could be right with God. His destitute condition was, to them, a sign of God’s displeasure. He was getting what he deserved.

Lazarus wasn’t taken to a place of rest and refreshment because he deserved it. He was taken there because, in spite of his miserable condition in life, he believed God.

How can I say that? I can say that because he was greeted by Abraham, and the place was referred to as Abraham’s Bosom. We are told in the Old Testament that Abraham “believed God,” and it was accounted to him as righteousness. Not by works of righteousness that he had done, but by faith, was Abraham justified by God to be taken to his rest. All those taken to Hades, to wait with with Abraham, must have like-faith. They are there by faith, not works.

Hades. It is described as a temporary abode for a person’s spirit when it leaves the physical body at death. But not everyone is in the same part of Hades after death.

Luke 16:24  “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’
Luke 16:25  But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.
Luke 16:26  And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’

The Bible is very informative regarding the afterlife. The moment you die, your spirit leaves your body. From the creation of the world until the coming of Jesus Christ, the spirits of all the deceased went to Hades:

One part is a place of bliss and comfort, called Abraham’s Bosom. It was called Paradise by Jesus, when He promised one of the thieves crucified next to Him that “Today, you will be in Paradise.”
The other part is a waiting room of unrelenting conscious torment.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after His death on the Cross changed the population of Hades.

Jesus is described in the Book of Ephesians as having descended there, and evacuated those in Paradise, taking them with Him to Heaven.

Subsequently, when a believer dies, he or she is said to be immediately absent from their body, and present with the Lord, not in Hades, but in Heaven.

Jesus left behind in Hades all those who were not right with God by faith. They wait there until the final judgment.

If you’re not a believer – Death abruptly ends your opportunities to have faith in Jesus and be saved. There is no second chance after death. When you die, you will go to Hades to await your final destination, which is Hell. The Rich Man, Dives, is still there.

Luke 16:27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house,
Luke 16:28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’

Among the many things we can glean from this is that the Rich Man understood that religion could not save anyone. It could not make a person right with God. He wanted his brothers to know that it’s “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5).

Luke 16:29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’

Reading the Old Testament, it is abundantly clear that works cannot save you. Think again of Abraham, father of the Jews. He believed. It was by faith.

The Rich Man wanted Lazarus to preach; but he had already been a sermon. He had been a living sermon, in his suffering.

Here’s how: The Law that these Pharisees claimed to obey talks plenty about helping the poor and needy. Earlier we quoted Jesus saying that they, “neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”

The Rich Man had left “mercy” undone. While he weighed out his spices, to tithe, a fellow Israelite lay begging just yards away.

The very presence of Lazarus, and his treatment at their hands, condemned them as law-breakers. It revealed them as self-righteous, void of God’s righteousness.

Lazarus was thus called to a very hard ministry. That’s right; ministry. Do you ever think of him that way?

The Rich Man had guests all the time. Think of all the other Pharisees and scribes and visitors who would come to dine sumptuously with the Rich Man, and be confronted with Lazarus as a silent sermon.

What was his text? It could have been any number of passages, e.g., “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you” (Leviticus 25:35).

In life, Lazarus was carried. In death, he was again carried – but by angels. Are all believers carried? Probably not. I think Lazarus was carried after his death to remind us that after a believer dies, every pain and suffering, every sorrow and trouble, is immediately left behind. His being carried in like was overshadowed by his being carried to Hades.

Lazarus would no longer need to be carried, but he was carried one last time as a kind of representation of a life well-lived.

It’s not unlike what Bob Cratchit says quoting his invalid son, Tiny Tim: “He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.”

Think of it as street theater. In the Old Testament, God frequently instructed His prophets to act out a scenario in public. Lazarus probably didn’t realize that he was a street theater Gospel preacher to lost Pharisees.

Luke 16:30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
Luke 16:31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”

The Rich Man reasoned that if Lazarus returned from the dead, his brothers would believe.

In what classic Christmas tale does a man return from the grave to warn his partner? Jacob Marley does in A Christmas Carol.

A lot of people demand a sign from God. It seems like it would be effective. It’s not. Just a short time after telling this story, Jesus did raise a man from the dead, another man named Lazarus.

The result was that the Pharisees and the other religious leaders of Israel began to plot more earnestly to kill both Jesus and Lazarus.

Ebenezer Scrooge sees Tiny Tim’s death, and his own death and destiny, and it stuns him to action. His reformation reminds you of the Grinch’s heart growing three sizes larger.

Here, sadly, is where Dickens falls terrifically short. Let me read to you from the end of his Christmas Ghost Story:

… to Tiny Tim, who did not die, [Scrooge] was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.

BTW: The Total Abstinence Principle has nothing to do with alcohol or the avoidance of other vices. It is abstinence from being bitter, mean-spirited, angry, dour, greedy, grasping, self-centered, and unforgiving. It is moral self-improvement.

As he ended, Dickens kept using the word “good.” Be good; do good works. Improve yourself. In the sermon preached eulogizing Dickens, the minister concluded that his greatest achievement was that, “the Rich Man… was made to see and feel the presence of Lazarus at his gate.”

That was the extent of Scrooge’s reformation. Be good. It is what every religion, or philosophy, or psychology, tells you.

There’s a rhyme that puts this into perspective:

“Do this and live!” the law demands,
But gives me neither feet nor hands.
A better way the spirit brings,
He bids me fly, and gives me wings!

Without the indwelling spirit of God, we lack the power to be good, or keep a program like the Total Abstinence Principle.

Sadly, if Scrooge were a real person, he’d die to find himself alongside the Rich Man, in Hades. No amount of good works, or self-improvement, can save you.

Was Dickens a Christian? Historians disagree. He certainly had Christian influences that come through his writings.

If he was a believer, he didn’t feel the need to stress repentance and the Cross. A Christmas Carol doesn’t point you to Jesus. Scrooge wasn’t saved from sin, but from cynicism.

Scrooge needed Jesus. He needed a conversion; to be transformed by God, not merely to reform himself. He needed to be born again by repenting of his sin and believing Jesus saved him by dying on the Cross.

Why is being a good person not enough to get you into Heaven? Because no one is a “good” person; there is only One who is perfectly good, and that is God Himself. The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The Bible also says that the wages of our sin is death (Romans 6:23a).

God took action to save us. While we were in our sinful state, Christ died for the unrighteous (Romans 5:8). By His death on the Cross, He exerts an influence that draws all men to Himself. He is the Savior of all men; but not all receive His salvation. Only those who believe.
Salvation is not based on our goodness but on Jesus’ goodness.

If we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved (Romans 10:9).

This salvation in Christ is a precious gift, and, like all true gifts, it is unearned (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8–9). The message of the Bible is that we can never be good enough to get to Heaven. We must recognize that we are sinners who fall short of God’s glory, and we must obey the command to repent of our sins and place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Christ alone was a “good” – good enough to earn Heaven – and He gives His righteousness to those who believe in His name (Romans 1:17).

Most of you have had your wills freed by God’s prevenient grace in order to receive God’s indescribable gift of salvation in Jesus.

Rejoice. Your conversion and transformation are the better ending to the story.

No matter your condition or situation, you are doing street theater out in the world. Your life is a sermon.

If you have not received the Lord… It is our prayer that this year’s celebration of His birth will mark your new birth.

Crazy Rich Pharisees (Luke 16:19-31)

December 22, 2018

Ask someone what is their favorite Christmas movie, and most will answer with one of the classics:

Its a Wonderful Life
Miracle on 34th Street
A Christmas Story
Home Alone
White Christmas
Elf
The Santa Clause

Inevitably someone will say, Die Hard. After all, it was Christmas when John McClain saved Nakitomi Plaza.

A lot of folks, however, object because they just don’t think of Die Hard as having the proper Christmas spirit.

Ask someone what is their favorite Christmas Bible verse, and most will answer with one of the classics:

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Matthew 1:23 “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD, AND BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which is translated, “God with us.”

Luke 1:30 & 31 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

What if I suggested the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus?

If you’re not immediately familiar with it, let me read a portion to give you the gist of it:

I’ll bet none of your Christmas cards featured that parable. More than a few folks would object to that as a suitable text for Christmas. It seems to lack the proper Christmas spirit.

It might surprise you who did think of the Rich Man and Lazarus as an inspiring Christmas tale. None other than the man who wrote perhaps the most endearing Christmas fiction of all, Charles Dickens.

First published in 1843, it has never been out of print. There are umpteen dramatized or animated adaptations of it; there are new ones every year. I’m talking about, A Christmas Carol.

There is good reason to believe that the Dicken’s classic has its roots in the Rich Man and Lazarus:

First, there is a rich man – Ebenezer Scrooge – who sees his death, and there is a poor ‘man’ – Tiny Tim – who is going to die.

Second, it is made clear that Scrooge is headed to torment in the afterlife.

Fourth, the Sunday after Dickens was buried in Westminster Abbey, Dean Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, preaching on exactly this parable, spoke of Dickens as the “parabler” of his age. Stanley said that “By [Dickens] that veil was rent asunder which parts the various classes of society. Through his genius the rich man… was made to see and feel the presence of Lazarus at his gate.”

The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is, if you’ll pardon the pun, the Die Hard of the parables, in more ways than one.

From this day forward, every time you see, or read, a version of A Christmas Carol, it is my hope that you will think of the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus that inspired it.

By the way: Many scholars argue this is not so much a parable as it is a true account. They point out that it is the only time Jesus used real names – Lazarus, Abraham, and Moses.

The first thing I want to say is that the parable isn’t about being rich; it’s about being right – specifically, being right with God.

Jesus was talking with men from a sect of the Jewish religion known as the Pharisees. They considered themselves right with God because of their meticulous adherence to the written Laws of God.

For example, in one place we’re told that these guys were so meticulous about giving God 10% of their wealth that they gave 10% of their spices. Here is what Jesus said:

You see where Jesus was coming from. Their problem wasn’t that they were rich; it was that they were not right with God.

Behind all this is a fundamental biblical principal. It was stated most clearly by the apostle Paul when he said, “We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it – and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good” (Galatians 2:16 MSG).

Are you trying to be good? Do you think that if you do more good than bad that you will be accepted into Heaven when you die?

Then you are the rich man in this Christmas tale. You need to be rich in faith. If you’re not, you are the poor rich man.

Let’s meet the rich poor man. Lazarus was beyond poverty. He had to be carried to the rich man’s gate to beg. He was covered in foul sores from head to toe. The household dogs had it better than him. They, at least, did get table scraps.

It was unthinkable to a Pharisee that such a person could be accepted into Heaven. His condition was, to them, a sign of God’s displeasure. He was getting what he deserved in their minds.

It wasn’t simply that the rich man lacked compassion. His works-based understanding of God’s Law encouraged him to despise Lazarus.

This story is not about being poor, either. It is about being poor in spirit. Jesus promised, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mathew 5:3). Lazarus’ afterlife destination proves he was indeed among the poor in spirit – he was one who was rich in faith in God to save him.

We read elsewhere in the Bible, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The poor rich man and the rich poor man died and both arrived in a place called Hades.
It is a temporary abode for your spirit when it leaves your physical body at death.

I find it interesting that the rich man knew Lazarus’ name. I doubt he knew it in life; but he knew it in the afterlife.

The Bible is very informative regarding the afterlife. The moment you die, your spirit leaves your body.
From the creation of the world until Jesus Christ, the spirits of all the deceased went to Hades – described for us here. It is divided by a chasm into two areas:

One is a place of bliss and comfort, called Abraham’s Bosom in honor of the father of the Israelites. It was called Paradise by Jesus.

The other area is a place of unrelenting torment.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after His death on the Cross changed the population of Hades. He descended there, and took those in Paradise with Him to Heaven. Now when a believer dies, he or she is said to be immediately absent from their body, and present with the Lord in Heaven.

Jesus left behind in Hades all those who were not right with God by faith. If you’re not a believer – When you die, you will go to Hades to await your final destination, which is Hell.

Death abruptly ends your opportunities to have faith in Jesus and be saved. There is no second chance after death.
The poor rich man realized it, and begged for his family on the earth:

Is there really a place of torment? Is it forever? Speaking about Hell, John Walvoord wrote:

According to the Bible… Hell is just as real as Heaven. The Bible clearly and explicitly teaches that Hell is a real place to which the wicked/unbelieving are sent after death. We have all sinned against God. The just punishment for that sin is death. Since all of our sin is ultimately against God, and since God is an infinite and eternal Being, the punishment for sin, death, must also be infinite and eternal. Hell is this infinite and eternal death which we have earned because of our sin.

You don’t have to go there. In fact, God has gone to great lengths to keep you from going there. He has revealed Himself to mankind, and shown the way to Heaven.

Luke 16:29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’

Abraham’s testimony was that God has revealed Himself sufficiently for a man to have faith in Him, thereby entering Heaven after death and avoiding Hell. To an Israelite like the poor rich man, He had supremely revealed Himself in their Scriptures – what we call the Old Testament.

Today we have even more. We have the New Testament as well as the Old.

What about those around the world that have no Bible? They have the witness of God’s creation to their conscience. In fact, in one place God said He was the one Who scattered men everywhere in the hope they would seek after Him, and find Him.

God is not willing that anyone should arrive in Hades, or afterward be consigned to Hell.

The poor rich man reasoned that if Lazarus rose from the dead, his brothers would believe.

In what classic Christmas tale does a man return from the grave to warn his partner? Jacob Marley does in A Christmas Carol. It’s abundantly clear that Dickens had this parable in mind as he wrote.

A lot of people demand a sign from God. It seems like it would be effective. It’s not.

Just a short time later Jesus did raise a man from the dead, another man named Lazarus.
The result was that the Pharisees and the other religious leaders of Israel began to plot more earnestly to kill both Jesus and Lazarus.

Scrooge sees Tiny Tim’s death, and his own death and destiny, and it stuns him to action.

The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is meant to stun you to spiritual action.

The action isn’t to do more good works – like buying a turkey for the Cratchit’s. It is to realize that no amount of good works can save you, but that faith in the risen Lord, Jesus Christ, does.

If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Call upon the Name of the Lord.
Then talk to someone you know who has identified themselves as a Christian.

My Heartburn Will Go On (Luke 24:13-35)

April 1, 2018

In the rebooted Star Wars universe, the non-trilogy films Rogue One and Solo have the further descriptor, A Star Wars Story.

On Easter Sunday our Bible text ought always to be A Resurrection Story. We can hardly overstate the importance of the physical, bodily resurrection from the dead of Jesus. Among so many other things, it guarantees believers that they, too, will likewise be raised in a glorious, sinless immortal body.

The apostle John put it this way: “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (First John 3:2).

No matter how much we talk about the resurrection of Jesus, however, there remains a great deal of confusion about Easter.

Maybe you’ve heard about the three blonde women who died and went to Heaven. In the interest of political correctness (but more so my personal safety), let’s call them three Italian men.

St. Peter told them that they could only enter Heaven if they answered one simple question, “What is Easter?”

The first Italian replied, “Oh, that’s easy! It’s the holiday in November when everyone gets together, eats turkey, and are thankful…”

“Wrong!,” replied St. Peter, and proceeded to ask the second Italian the same question.

He replied, “Easter is the holiday in December when we put up a tree, exchange presents, and drink eggnog.”

“Wrong!,” replied St. Peter, and proceeded to ask the third Italian the same question.

He smiled confidently and said, “Easter is the Christian holiday, that coincides with the Jewish celebration of Passover. Jesus and His disciples celebrated the last supper. Then the Romans took Him to be crucified where He was scourged and made to wear a crown of thorns, and was hung on a cross with nails through His hands and feet. After saying, “It is finished!,” Jesus dismissed His spirit. He was removed from the cross and buried in a nearby borrowed tomb which was sealed off by a large boulder.”

St. Peter smiled broadly, and was just about to open the pearly gates, when the third Italian continued: “Every year the boulder is moved aside so that Jesus can come out… And, if he sees His shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter.”

In the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel of Luke we find Emmaus: A Resurrection Story. It is about two disciples of Jesus who were confused about the first Easter.

Luke 24:13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.
Luke 24:14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.

I just realized I didn’t tell you how the three Italians died. They were taking a walk in the country when they came upon tracks in the ground. The first one said, “Those must be deer tracks!”

The second one said, “No, stupid, anyone can tell those are rabbit tracks!”

The third said, “No, you idiots, those are horse tracks!”

They where still arguing ten minutes later when the train hit them.

Luke 24:15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.

We most often describe our relationship with God as a “walk.” There are numerous references to walking with God in the New Testament. In the Book of Ephesians, for example, you are told to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called (4:1); you are told that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk (4:17); you are told that you should walk in love (5:2); you are told that you should walk as children of the light (5:8); and you are told that you should walk circumspectly (5:18).

Those, and the many other references, to walking with God are wonderful; but there is something behind them that we often overlook. The idea of walking with God should involve making progress, for sure; but it should mostly involve passion.

Lovers take walks. They don’t do it to get somewhere. They do it to be with someone. The progress that they make is not measured in distance, but in devotion. They spend time getting to know one another, deepening in their love. They usually arrive at the same location from which they started – but feeling very different about themselves, having made a romantic progress that puts everything in an entirely new perspective.

God loves to take walks with you. Right at the beginning of the Bible, in the third chapter of Genesis, God is described as being heard walking in the garden [of Eden] in the cool of the day, looking for Adam and Eve. It implies that walking along with them was a regular activity that God looked forward to.

Cleopas was one of the travelers; the other may have been his wife. We learn in the Gospel of John that her name was Mary (John 19:25). The thing that grabs you is that they did not recognize Jesus.

Luke 24:16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.

Somehow supernaturally they were prevented from recognizing that it was the risen Lord walking and talking with them. Scholars suggest a multitude of reasons why their eyes were restrained. I’m suggesting that it was because Jesus has a flair for romance.

In the many film versions of the tale of Robin Hood, he wears disguises, and even the woman he loves, the maid Marion, cannot always recognize him until Robin chooses to reveal himself.

Luke 24:17 And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”
Luke 24:18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”
Luke 24:19 And He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,
Luke 24:20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.
Luke 24:21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.
Luke 24:22 Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us.
Luke 24:23 When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.
Luke 24:24 And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”

They had the Word of God, and witnesses, that Jesus had risen from the dead:

The Word of God is summarized in their reference to the “third day since these things have happened.” More than once the Lord had told His followers He would be condemned to death and crucified, but be raised the third day.
The witnesses of His resurrection thus far included angels, women, and at least two of the apostles – Peter and John.

Still, they did not believe. Perhaps they were restrained in seeing Jesus because of their expectations of who He was and what they wanted Him to do:

They expected a conquering Messiah; they got, so they thought, a crucified man.
They expected a politician; they got, so they thought, a prophet.
They expected the Lion of the Tribe of Judah; they got, so they thought, a meek lamb.

Your expectations of Jesus should be based on the following:

He’s the One who took your place as Substitute and Sacrifice on the cross at Calvary.
He’s the One who saved you from death and Hell; Who fills you with His Spirit; Who is building your home in Heaven; Who will return to take you there.
He’s the One who, in the mean time, is at work changing you day-by-day to become what you were created to be.

Luke 24:25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
Luke 24:26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”

Jesus appealed to “the prophets.” I’d be remiss in my responsibilities if I did not mention that God, in the Bible, makes incredible predictions, and then brings them to pass. No other religious writing, or religion, can boast of such fulfilled prophecy.

If you are not a believer in Jesus, and think all this talk of His resurrection is some sort of fantasy… What can you say to the mathematical impossibility of Jesus fulfilling just eight Old Testament prophecies? The odds are expressed as one in 10 to the twenty-first power.

But Jesus didn’t fulfill eight prophecies. He fulfilled at least sixty-one.
(You may have heard, and I’ve probably said, there are more like three hundred prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. One mathematician puts it this way: “There are nearly 300 references to 61 specific prophecies of the Messiah that were fulfilled by Jesus Christ… The odds against one person fulfilling that many prophecies would be beyond all mathematical possibility. It could never happen, no matter how much time was allotted”).

Cleopas and Mary did not have what might be called a theology of suffering. It was inconceivable to them that the Savior would suffer and die – even though certain of their Scriptures said as much.

Are you hurting in some way today? I have a word for you:

Heb 4:15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Have you noticed that when people are hurting that they seek out others who can relate to their experiences? They find an individual, or a group, to ease the suffering. Jesus is the ultimate Person to seek-out, and to be comforted by.

Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

“Moses” is credited with writing the first five books of the Bible. Jesus gave them a systematic Bible study, starting with Genesis.

It’s interesting to note, in passing, that the very first Bible study the Lord gave after He rose from the dead was on prophecy.

It was arguably the greatest Bible study ever delivered:

Jesus undoubtedly told them that He was there, in Genesis, creating the universe.
That He was the promised Seed of the woman in the Garden of Eden Who would crush the serpent’s head, but be bruised in the process.
That when Abraham was instructed to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah it was a type of God the Father sacrificing His only begotten Son, Jesus, on the Cross on the exact same spot.
That the Passover lambs that were slain in Egypt and for centuries afterward were typical of Himself as the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world.

He may have described how each of the sacrifices in the Tabernacle represented Him; or how each piece of furniture in the Tabernacle pointed to Him.

Jesus probably reminded them that the words He spoke from the cross, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?,” were a quote from Psalm 22 – which perfectly predicted His death by crucifixion some 400 years before it occurred.

He undoubtedly mentioned Isaiah 53 and its predictions of the suffering Savior. We could go on-and-on.

I, too, wish we had the text of this study. But what I find fascinating is this: If you regularly attend a Bible-teaching church, you do hear this study.
And it’s as if Jesus Himself is talking to you, because it is God the Holy Spirit within you Who is teaching you.

Two disciples, walking along with Jesus – but they were restrained from seeing Him. Am I being restrained? Are you being restrained? It’s an important question to ask ourselves.
Our expectations (or lack of them); our culture; our prejudices; our preconceptions. Sin. All of these and more can restrain us from seeing the Lord.

Remember: This is a romantic story. Lovers understand what happened next. Jesus would have gone on further, but the two constrained Him to stay.

Luke 24:28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther.
Luke 24:29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.

In a moment we will read that their hearts were burning within them as Jesus talked on the road. Having not seen Him, they loved Him. Jesus kindled their love and thus they constrained Him to remain with them.

Jesus said He would never leave you or forsake you. He is portrayed as your Bridegroom, and you as His bride.

Eliminate this passionate element and your walk will become stale. He remains with you; but you are not realizing it. Eventually He will say something like, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

Luke 24:30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
Luke 24:31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

This, by the way, was not communion. They were simply sharing a meal.

There was something about the way Jesus handled the bread, blessing it and breaking it, that was unmistakable.

It’s like that with lovers. Certain very common behaviors are done in ways that become endearing. Do you remember this line in a Beatles song: Something in the way she moves attracts me like no other lover. The song goes on to mention other common activities that become precious when you’re in love.

The idea here is the same, only it’s a far deeper romance because it is Jesus Who loves you, and it’s with an everlasting love.

Jesus vanished from their sight. They would see Him again. But better than seeing Him: He would ascend into Heaven and send the Holy Spirit to live within them, and among them. He would be more present with them than ever before.

Luke 24:32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
Luke 24:33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem…

They didn’t finish their meal. They didn’t clean-up after themselves. It was difficult and extremely dangerous to travel so great a distance after dark. Love makes you do strange things.

Luke 24:33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together,
Luke 24:34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”
Luke 24:35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

Before Cleopas and Mary could give their report, the other disciples blurted-out close encounters with the Lord of their own kind. All of them talked only about Jesus. It was a sure sign of their love.

You can only really understand the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus if you factor in an element of romance. The way Jesus hid His identity from them, and then waited until they compelled Him to stay with them, are romantic elements in the story. Overlook the romance, and all you’ve got in this story is disappointment that the Bible study Jesus gave was not recorded for you. Factor in the romance and you realize that the Bible study is absent for a reason.

It’s absent because you are to discover it for yourself on a daily basis as you and Jesus walk along together.

All over the United States, and all over the world, pastors are finishing their Resurrection Story sermons by giving an altar call.
An altar call is when we call upon sinners who don’t know Jesus as their Savior to acknowledge their sin, repent of it, and receive the Holy Spirit.

We sometimes ask them to raise their hands… Or to come forward… And then lead we them in a sinners prayer.

I want to do something a little different. Altar calls are great, and biblical, but instead of an altar call, I’d like to do a roll call.

It’s simple: If you know that you are a Christian, who has received Jesus Christ as Savior, and have assurance that if the Lord came right now, or if you died, you’d be in Heaven… Raise your hand & keep it up for a moment.

If you did not raise your hand… What are you waiting for? We’ve presented a living Savior Who fulfilled Bible prophecy to a degree that is mathematically impossible. It is what we call evidence that demands a verdict.

The Bible warns you, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). There’s no question that you can answer at the Pearly Gates by which St. Peter will allow you entrance. Your destiny, and your afterlife destination, are determined in this life.

As we close with worship – come forward to be prayed for, and either rededicate yourself to Jesus, or receive the Lord:

Maybe you’re a believer, but your love has grown cold; come forward.

Maybe you’re not a believer; come forward, to receive the risen Lord.

40 Days Of Resistance (Luke 4:1-13)

February 4, 2018

“Are you with the Resistance?” This question was asked a couple of times to FN2187, later known as “Fin” in Star Wars 7.

Just in case you’re not a Star Wars geek, Finn was a Storm Trooper in the First Order. The First Order is the evil empire started by Supreme Leader Snoke, now led by Kylo Ren the once good Jedi who turned to the dark side. The mission of the First Order is to destroy the Resistance and rule the galaxy.

Finn because of his convictions left the First Order and escaped with the help of Resistance pilot Poe Dameron. After Finn’s escape he became a vital part of the Resistance and enemy of Kylo Ren and the First Order.

That’s Finns story, how about your story? You might not know it, but you are with the Resistance. Let me take a moment and explain.

You and I were once Sin Troopers in the devil’s evil dark empire. Paul in Ephesians 2:1-3 says,

1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.
2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.
3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. (NLT)

The unbeliever might not realize it, but they are not free, they are held captive by the devil to do his will. This was you and I before Christ.

Colossians 1:13-14 says but we were rescued from that evil empire by Jesus,

13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Christ pulled off the greatest rescue mission ever. God became a man, came down into this evil and dark world and rescued us. The rescue was accomplished through the cross. Christ now through His grace has made it possible for all to believe and be saved. Those who have put their faith in Jesus are delivered from the kingdom of darkness and placed in the kingdom of Christ as children of God.

The believer is also a vital part of God’s story of redemption. God wants to use you and I to rescue others from darkness. We do this by following the great commission, which is to go into the entire world and preach God’s rescue plan, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This brings us to our topic of spiritual warfare and resistance as seen in our text this morning.

While Jesus has defeated Satan and his demons at the cross and will ultimately defeat them at His second coming. Satan and his demons will continue to fight and oppose the work of God until the end.

Just as anyone who is associated with the Resistance becomes an enemy of the First Order in Star Wars, even so because of our allegiance to Christ and His mission we have spiritual enemies who will seek to oppose God’s work in and through our lives.

What are we to do? We can’t run or hide, Finn in Star Wars discovered that. Rather we’re to follow the example of Jesus and the New Testament Christians and join the Resistance.

In Luke chapter 4, we’ll see that Jesus at the start of His public ministry faces spiritual warfare and opposition from the devil for a period of over 40 days. Jesus remains on His mission and victorious by resisting the enemy and abiding in the word of God.

As we look at this account we will learn three things:

1. The Power Behind the Resistance
2. The First Order and Their Tactics
3. The Leader of the Resistance and His Example

First in verse 1 we see, The Power Behind the Resistance.

1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

The word “Then” links this verse back to Chapter 3. In chapter 3 Luke records Jesus’ baptism and genealogy. Both of these are significant as it relates to this passage.

The baptism of Jesus was the beginning of His public ministry as the Messiah or Christ. While Jesus was always filled with the Spirit, the Father nevertheless choose to give a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon Him at His baptism. The Spirit came down upon Jesus in the form of a dove.

The coming upon of the Holy Spirit at Jesus’ baptism bore witness to all that He was the Messiah or Christ which means Anointed One.

The coming upon of the Holy Spirit at Jesus baptism also serves as a reminder that our lives and ministries are to be dependent on the Holy Spirit and His power.

This becomes even more clear because Luke follows that account with Jesus’ genealogy. Jesus’ genealogy in Luke traces His line through Mary back to Adam.

Luke makes it clear to His readers that while Jesus was fully God, He was also fully man. Jesus the God man set aside the independent use of His attributes and was totally dependent on the Father for His power, leading and authority.

We see Jesus’ dependency on God’s power at the beginning of chapter 4. “Jesus was filled with the Spirit.” Jesus is going to enter this period of temptation and testing, not on His own power, but empowered and filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus did this to demonstrate to all believers the power available to us as we face opposition and carry out our missions.

The same Holy Spirit that gave Jesus His power is the same one given to each believer by faith in Jesus (John 14:17). The same Holy Spirit that came upon Jesus at His baptism is the same Spirit that will come upon us and empower us to serve God (Acts 1:8).

Next we see that Jesus was dependent on the leading of the Father. “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.”

The Holy Spirit is not a force or “The Force,” the Holy Spirit is a person. There is one God in three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

Jesus was not alone in the wilderness, He had the abiding presence of the third person of the Trinity the Holy Spirit who led Him.

The same is true for us! Jesus before He went to the cross, told His disciples that He was leaving to go back to heaven, it was to their advantage. If Jesus left He would send another helper, the Holy Spirit to come along side them.

The word “another,” is another of the same kind. Jesus during His three and a half year ministry taught the disciples and helped them. The disciples were dependent on Jesus. In the same way the Holy Spirit would come along side of us and walk with us through life.

The place that Jesus was led from was the Jordan River, to the wilderness. The wilderness is believed to be the barren dessert area northwest of the Dead Sea. Jesus will begin His public ministry with a period of over 40 days of temptation in the wilderness.
Does this seem like a waste of time? Why did God allow this time testing? It was not to see if Jesus would sin, Jesus is sinless.

God wants to demonstrate to the world that Jesus is sinless. Just as a dealership allows you to test drive a car to show it off, even so God allows all mankind to see this through the devil’s temptations. The devil is going to mean this for evil, but God allows them to reveal who Christ and His credentials.

Jesus is the promised, “Anointed One.” Prophets, Priests and Kings were anointed in the Old Testament, Jesus shows He is qualified to fulfill the role of all three.

First Jesus is “The Prophet” as prophesied by Moses in Deuteronomy 18. Moses promised that God would raise up “the Prophet” who would led Israel into Salvation and establish God’s Kingdom. The way they would recognize “The Prophet,” is that He would walk and teach in line with the revealed law of Moses. Jesus is tempted and three times quotes from the book of the law, Deuteronomy.

Second Jesus is “The Great High Priest”. Hebrews 4:14-16 says,

14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Jesus will be tempted in every area of sin and yet come out victorious. He is therefore qualified to minister and offer help to those in need.

Third Jesus is the King. Adam in the Garden was given dominion of this earth, but he forfeited it to Satan when he fell into sin by disobey God’s word. Jesus the Last Adam will not make this mistake.

In contrast to Adam, Christ will not face this temptation on a full stomach in a beautiful garden, but in extreme hunger in the wilderness. Jesus’ temptations will be greater, yet He will resist and remain in the will of God.
This morning if you’re in a time of testing or you are facing opposition, look to Jesus. Just like Jesus God has given you the power and help through His Holy Spirit for you to remain faithful to your mission.

This morning if you’re in a time of life that feels like an ineffective isolated wilderness look to Jesus. Just as God worked through His life, in His time and His way and did a good job, God will work through your life. God ways are beyond our understanding, He is able to work through our circumstances and reveal Jesus to all the world.

Now we come to our second point in verses 2, The First Order and Their Tactics.

2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.

Just as military personnel need to understand the character and tactics of their enemy so they can properly engage them, even so we need to know something about the character of our enemies and their tactics so we can resist.

The Character of our Enemy:

The devil was the one behind the temptation of Jesus during these 40 days. The devil is a created being, he is not the opposite of God, he is a fallen angel.

Before the devil fell be was a cherub who went by the name Lucifer. Lucifer will filled with pride and wanted be like God and be worshipped as God. God therefore cast him out of heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15 & Ezekiel 28:14-19).

When Lucifer fell, he deceived one-third of the angels of heaven to follow in his rebellion (Revelation 12:4).

The devil and these other fallen angels are now sealed in their rebellion, they are without grace and a means to be saved. The focus of these beings until their destruction is to oppose the people of God and the work of God.

The Tactics of the Enemy:

Here’s a brief list of how the devil and his demons oppose the people of God and the work of God.

He has attacked believers physical health (Job 1-2).
He accuses believers before the throne of God (Revelation 12:10).
He is behind the false teachings of the cults and world religions (1 Timothy 4:1)
He has deceived people by masquerading himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).
He does lying signs and wonders (2 Thessalonians and Revelation).
He is a murder, Satan uses the nonbelievers to persecute and even kill believers.
He blinds the minds of unbelievers to keep them in darkness (2 Corinthians 4:4).
He plucks the word from peoples hard hearts, as Jesus says in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:19).
He seeks to hinder missionary endeavors (1 Thessalonians 2:18).
He tempts believers to sin (Genesis 3 and Luke 4).

Temptation is a tried and affective tactic of Satan, it worked in the Garden of Eden and it has worked throughout human history. Why give up now?

The two reasons why the tactic of temptation is so affective is revealed in the epistle of 1 John.

1John 5:19 says, We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

1 John 2:16 says, For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

The unbelieving world is under the influence or sway of the wicked one. The innovative and new ideas that we see in the world to turn man from God and ensnare people in sin comes from Satan’s influence. These innovative ideas often fall into the three categories; lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life.

It is important for us to be aware of this and the world in which we live. Living in the United States in the 21st Century, it is easy to think only scientifically or naturally. We must not forget that there is a spiritual realm that influences the unbelieving world in which we live.

Also don’t forget the fallen nature of mankind and the fact that you have a flesh. The born again believer’s sin nature has been crucified with Christ, we power over sin, but we still have a flesh. The flesh are those evil desires and propensities that remain in our physical bodies.

So who are our enemies? It’s the devil and his fallen network of demons who control the fallen world system. Must resist their influences and their appeals to our flesh. The way that we do this by following the example of the leader of the Resistance Jesus Christ.

Third in verses 3-13 we see, The Leader of the Resistance and His Example.

While the born again believer still has a flesh, Jesus did not have a flesh, He is the perfect God man. That being the case when Jesus was tempted, He had no sinful pull from within. Rather his temptations were similar to Adam and Eve who were tempted from without to use their free will to disobey God’s word and will.

3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

The first temptation focused on what Jesus felt. Verse 2 makes it clear that Jesus had been fasting for 40 days, at the end of this 40 day fast He began to experience extreme hunger pains. Some say that Jesus was at the point of starving. The enemy seeks to take advantage of this apparent weakness in Jesus.

The enemy said, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

This is not a question, the “if,” is better rendered “since”. The temptation is, since Jesus is the all powerful Son of God, He was to use His divine power to command a stone to become bread to satisfy His hunger.

There was nothing sinful in and of its self with Jesus doing a miracle to turn a stone into bread. Jesus would later multiply five loaves and two fish and feed the multitudes.

What made this sin would be for Jesus to operate in His own way and in His own will. Jesus was to remain in God’s will, it was the Father who led Jesus out into the wilderness and called Him to fast. To do a miracle as a result of the temptation of Satan would be sin.

4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD OF GOD.’ ”

Jesus applies the tactic of resistance. Jesus resists this temptation on the authority of the Word of God. It is written! Regardless if He was the Son of God, or if He had all power, He was to remain in the will and word of God.

The passage that Jesus quoted is Deuteronomy 8:3. In Deuteronomy 8:1-3 God spoke through Moses to the children of Israel who just came through the 40 year wilderness wandering.

Before Israel went into the promised land and experienced blessing, God reminded them of their 40 years in the wilderness, it was to humble, test and teach them.

God taught Israel to trust God and His word for their provision during this period. God was faithful, verse 3 says for 40 years their garments didn’t even wear out, nor did their feet swell.

Jesus applied this to His 40 days in the wilderness. God was allowing Jesus to be tested to teach us.

I am pretty sure like me, you have never been tempted by Satan to turn a stone into bread. The enemies not dumb, that is not an area of weakness that he can attack.

The areas of weakness in the believers flesh are different, but the temptation is usually the same, which is to compromise holiness for the physical feeling of happiness and satisfaction.

Just like Jesus we must resist that temptation from the enemy and understand that true happiness and satisfaction comes from obedience to God’s word and will. Israel would continue to experience joy and blessing in the land if they remained obedience to God, if they forgot God they would not.

Jesus said, “Blessed” over and over in beatitudes of Matthew 5. God promises happiness and eternal satisfaction for obedience to God’s word and will. Don’t forget that when faced with the temporary satisfaction through temptation.

5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

The second temptation focused on what Jesus could see. The devil took Jesus up on a high mountain and in a moment of time flashed before Him the luxury, authority and glory of the greatest world empires.

Satan was like Robin Leach from, “Life Styles of The Rich and Famous.” Satan said, “All this could be yours right now if you worship me.”

Could Satan really give Jesus all this? The devil is a lier, so its hard to say for sure. Notice Jesus did not debate the enemy on this point.

In Revelation 12-13 were told that the future antichrist will rule the world in power, glory and authority from the devil himself.
Just as with the first temptation, there is nothing sinful about Jesus ruling over all mankind in glory and authority. Revelation 20 says Jesus will rule as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

What makes this sin if Jesus gave in is the means and the time in which Jesus would rule over all the world.

Jesus’ right to rule was not come from his worship of Satan, but His obedience to His Father’s will which would lead to the cross. The slain lamb is the only one who is worthy to open the scroll in Revelation 5.

The scroll is the Father’s will and inheritance. Jesus is able to execute God’s will and receive His inheritance because He prevailed by going to the cross and rising again from the dead defeated sin, Satan and death.

Time in which Jesus would rule would be decided by the Father as seen in Psalm 110:1.

8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND HIM ONLY YOU SHALL SERVE.’ ”

Jesus will use the phrase “Get behind me Satan,” again when He rebukes Peter for correcting Jesus when He told His disciples He was going to the cross (Matthew 16:23).

Satan’s mission was to stop Jesus from going to the cross because he knew as predicted in Genesis 3:15 that the cross would be his defeat.

Jesus then applies the tactic of resistance. Jesus resists Satan’s temptation to bypass the cross for the crown by applying the word of God to His situation.

Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy 6:13. The context of this verse was to remind the children of Israel that when they came into the land and experienced God’s blessings not to forget that it was God that brought them in and gave them this. Israel later forgot God and lost the blessings and received judgment.

Jesus knew that blessing could not be separated from obedience. Christ would rule and reign in glory as He saw at the end of Psalm 22. But before that time He obedience to the Father’s will must go to the cross as predicted at the beginning of Psalm 22.

Satan still uses the attractions of the eye to tempt believers to bypass carrying our cross for the glory of the world system. Satan is a marketing genius, he knows human weakness and crafts the world system and even situations to appeal to the weakness of the flesh, specifically through the lust of the eye.

Whatever those things might be don’t be deceived. Turning to sin and wordiness is to bow the knee to Satan. These things can’t bring lasting satisfaction that our soul longs for. Sin only leads to dissatisfaction and destruction.

Rather than being drawn away from God by what we see in the world, we’re to follow the example to those of the Resistance and keep our eyes on eternal things.

Think about Abraham. Lot saw the green pastures of Sodom, but they were detrimental to him and his family. Abraham walked by faith and was led by God looking for the eternal kingdom. Abraham was of those who Hebrews 11:13 says died in faith having seen the promises afar off.

Like Jesus and the godly saints of the past, we’re to resist temptation, looking ahead to the blessings that come from obedience to God.

9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.
10 For it is written: ‘HE SHALL GIVE HIS ANGELS CHARGE OVER YOU, TO KEEP YOU,’
11 and, ‘IN THEIR HANDS THEY SHALL BEAR YOU UP, LEST YOU DASH YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’ ”

The third temptation surrounded Jesus’ authority as the promised Messiah.

Satan brought Jesus up to the pinnacle of the temple which is the high area over looking the Kidron Valley. Satan then tempted Jesus to demonstrate His authority as the Messiah by throwing Himself down so God can rescued Him by His angels.

Jesus used scripture now the devil seeks to use scripture to accomplish his temptation. The devil quoted from Psalm 91:11-12. While this passage does refer to Messiah, the use of this passage is out of context.

When you read Psalm 91:11 you see that the devil left a part of that verse out which is, “To keep you in all your ways.” The Psalmist and Jesus knew that divine protection was available as they walked in the will of God, it was unthinkable to sin that grace might abound.

12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT TEMPT THE LORD YOUR GOD.’ ”

Jesus again applies the tactic of resistance. Jesus resists this attack by apply Deuteronomy 6:16 to His situation.

The context of Deuteronomy 6:16 is again God’s reminder to Israel to remember God when they came into the land. Israel was not to tempt God to respond in discipline for their disobedience of going after the gods of the Canaanites.

While Jesus had the authority as the Messiah, He would not tempt God by sin, rather He would remain obedient His will and word.

The enemy still tempts the believer to walk in pride. One way is to sin by walking in our own will and expecting God to follow along with us and continue to bless us.

While God is gracious and faithful to forgive us when we confess. We must not put God in the situation to act because of our pride and disobedience. We need to follow Jesus’ example of resisting temptation and abiding in the word of God.

13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

The devil offered to Jesus the types of temptations that mankind could face and He was victorious. Jesus therefore is the rightful leader and example for how to live the Christian life.

The Apostles and writers of the New Testament recognized this. When writing about the believers response to spiritual warfare they applied the principle of resistance they learned from the life of Jesus. Let me give you three examples:

Peter in 1 Peter 5:8-9 says,

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

The believer’s to resist the enemy and his attacks by being steadfast in the faith as revealed in the scriptures.

James in James 4:7 says, Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

The believers’s to submit to God’s will and word and resist the devil and his attacks. If you resist him he will flee from you.

Paul in Ephesians 6:13 says, Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

The evil day refers to anytime the believer experiences spiritual warfare. The believer is to take up the armor of God which is to apply the principles of scripture to their life. Applying the scriptures will enable us to “withstand.”

The Greek word Paul uses for “withstand” is the same word that was translated “resist,” in the verses we read in epistle of Peter and James.

The Apostles and New Testament believers who have the same nature like us learned from Jesus that they could remain victorious in our mission resisting the enemy and abiding in God and His word. When we do the enemy will flee.

Luke 4:13 closes by saying, “The devil departed from Jesus until an opportune time.”

The Star Wars movies are predictable there are always going to be battles between the enemy and the Rebels or Resistance. Even so until we go to be with Jesus or He comes for us, our battles will continue. What ever the time or the battle, we can remain victorious by resisting the enemy and abiding in His word.

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