Notes for BSF
THE BEATITUDES (Matthew 5:1-12)
Blessed are those who (are)...
Poor in spirit (Isaiah 57:15; 61:1; Luke 18:10-14)
Mourn (Isaiah 61:2-3; Romans 7:22-24; James 4:8-10)
Meek (Psalm 25:9; Matthew 11:28-29; Zephaniah 3:11-12)
Hunger and thirst for righteousness (Psalms 19:7-11; 42:1, 2, 11)
Merciful (Matthew 18:21-35)
Pure in heart (Psalm 24:4-5; Matthew 6:21-24; 1 John 3:2-3)
Peacemakers (Romans 5:1; 2 Corinthians 5:19-20; Ephesians 2:15-17; 4:3)
Persecuted because of righteousness (John 15:18-20; 17:14; Romans 8:17; 1 Peter 3:14-16; 4:16)
GREAT IS OUR REWARD IN HEAVEN (Matthew 5:11-12)
Salvation is only the beginning
Matthew 5:12, NKJV
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
When we receive Christ with our heart, we receive salvation, and our eternity is sealed by the Holy Spirit. This is but the first step in a Christian's walk. Once we start our journey as a follower of Christ, we are guided by the Holy Spirit to do the will of God. That is, our walk in Christ is revealed in our works -- and we will all be rewarded on day for the works that we do.
We will be rewarded for our works
1 Corinthians 3:9, NKJV
... Each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
We will be rewarded according to our own labor. Each of us have our own responsibilities to fulfill and should do so with great care. No one can get rewarded for our efforts, just as we cannot get rewarded for someone else’s efforts. Hence, there is absolutely no value in comparing ourselves against others, because God does not judge our works based on what others have done. Rather, God judges each of our works based on the abilities ("talents") He has given us (Luke 19:11-27). We may not all be given the same amount of talent -- We may not all be born with the best parents, the best brains, the best whatever -- but Jesus expects each one of us to do the best we can with what we are given. We may envy those who seem "just have it all," but remember, "For everyone to whom much is given, from him, much will be required" (Luke 12:48)!
Serve with all our HEART
1 Corinthians 3:12-15, NKJV
Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
Jesus has already laid the foundation of our lives. Upon this foundation, what do we choose to build our lives with? The best of materials (gold, silver, previous stones) or the worst of materials (wood, hay, straw)? In other words, when we do the works of God, how do we do it (Matthew 6:3-6, 16-18; Colossians 3:23-24; Hebrews 11:6)? What is the condition of our heart? Do we do it because we want to be awarded, because we want to be glorified? Or, do we do it because we are grateful for the love that God has shown us, because we want to glorify Him?
When we do good deeds in the name of the Lord, we should do it out of our HEART, not to show off to people to see how “good of a person” we are, not to grudgingly do it only because "God expects us to." God doesn't expect us to do anything. He only wants us to know that He loves us -- and then, allow that love to transform us from the inside out. God knows our deeds. He also know our HEART when we do our deeds. If our heart is not with God, then the works we do is nothing but a ritualistic waste of time.
We are rewarded for our works; we are NOT saved by works
1 Corinthians 3:12-15, NKJV
Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
Our works, on Judgment Day, will be judged by Jesus. If our works stand righteous, we will be rewarded. If our works do not hold under Jesus' scrutiny, we will have no reward – We will not lose our salvation, but we will have no reward.
If we are ever caught between choosing to please God or man, think hard about the materials (gold or straw?) we are building upon the foundation Jesus has laid for us; think hard about how well our works would hold up against the judging fire of Jesus; and then, remember, our salvation and our rewards come from not just a man, but the one and only God-man, Jesus Christ!
Therefore, REJOICE -- Even more so when we are persecuted!
Acts 5:41, NKJV
So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.
1 Peter 4:12-14, NKJV
Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is reveled, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.
Walking with Christ is not easy. We look forward to great rewards, but until that Day comes, we will suffer persecution for following Christ (Matthew 10:16-26).
Although it's not fun to have to go through persecutions, there are some comforting thoughts:
1) On our part, we are glorifying God -- while our persecutors unwittingly blasphemes God
2) Again, unwittingly, our persecutors are indirectly complementing our faith for God! When we are persecuted for doing God’s work, rejoice, because that means we’re doing a good job! If we are doing a horrible job representing the Lord, His enemies couldn't be happier with our failures. It's only when we shine God's light where they want darkness would they jump up and try to stop us through persecution.
Hence, when we are persecuted, do not be discouraged. Take it as a compliment, remain encouraged, and look forward to our reward in heaven (Hebrews 10:35; 11:26)! Rejoice that we had been worthy of suffering disgrace for God!
WE ARE THE SALT; WE ARE THE LIGHT (Matthew 5:13-16)
Matthew 5:13, NKJV
... if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out...
Salt is used to not just to flavor food but to preserve food as well. It prevents the proliferation of microorganisms that spoils our food.
We are likened to be the salt of the world. And so, like salt, we should preserve the goodness of the world by staying true to the Word of God; we should prevent the proliferation of practices that promotes evil in the world by walking and living the Word of God.
Living as salt can be easy or hard, depending on our environment. If everyone around us is also salt, it doesn't take much for us to preserve the Word of God in the world. However, if we are the only few grains of salt in an environment devoid of other fellow Christians, we will have to work much harder.
This passage tells us that when the salt is no longer salty, it serves no purpose and needs to be thrown away. Additionally, Salt flavors food -- without food, salt serves no purpose. Applying this concept to us, if we claim to be Christians, but we don't live His Word, we don't uphold His Word, can we say that we keep Christ in the center of our lives? And if Christ is not in the center of our lives, how "salty" can we really be?
No matter how easy or difficult the task in front of us is, we must never lose the saltiness of our walk. If we are no longer effective representatives of the Word of God, are we really still walking with God? Instead of being salt, have we become part of the rot?
Matthew 5:16, NKJV
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Just as light is meant to reveal what darkness has hidden, we, too, should live as godly examples to reveal the Word of God to those around us.
Luke 11:35-36
Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.
Shine the light of Christ. Share the Word of God. Stand for God’s ways -- So that people may see the glory of God through our deeds.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Matthew 4
Notes for BSF
SATAN TEMPTS JESUS IN THE WILDERNESS (Matthew 4:1-11)
Satan tempted Jesus at His weakest moment (Matthew 4:2)
Satan didn't tempt Jesus at the beginning of His fast. No. Instead, Satan came at Jesus' most vulnerable moment, when He was hungry, tired, and weak. The reason is simple: Why fight us when we are strong? We are much easier to be taken advantage of when we are exhausted and too fatigued to fight!
Jesus, as man, resisted the temptations of Satan by relying on the Word of God (Matthew 4:3-11)
Each time Satan tempted Jesus, Jesus would speak the Word of God to deter the temptations.
Why is SPEAKING the Word so critical?
First, the sword is one of the two offensive weapons we have in the Armor of God to battle against Satan and his demons (Ephesians 6). (The other is prayer.)
Hebrews 4:12, NKJV
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Second, when God spoke His Word the first time, He created the first edge of the sword. When we speak his Word, we create that second edge! This is why when we SPEAK OUT the Word of God, there is POWER in those words, enough power to defeat Satan!
What might happen if we go up against Satan's temptations without the Word of God?
One biblical example is Adam and Eve. Both caved into Satan’s temptation when they chose to rely on their own reasoning rather than trusting in God's wisdom.
Jesus, on the other hand, relied not on His own thoughts -- especially when He was physically weak -- but on the Word of God. Every time Satan offered Jesus something, Jesus would faithfully look to God's Word for guidance and support.
We, too, can resist Satan's temptations by relying on the Word of God (Hebrews 2:14-18)
Jesus defeated Satan's temptations not because He was God. Jesus defeated Satan's temptations while He was fully man who relied on God's Word for guidance and strength.
Knowing the above, Hebrews 2:18 makes so much sense:
"Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."
When we are weak, we need to be aware that Satan is just around the corner, ready to take advantage of us. Yet, even though we are weak, we should have great faith, that if we depend on God's Word, we, too, can overcome any temptation.
Satan KNEW Jesus as the Son of God
Satan challenged Jesus by repeating this phrase, "If you are the Son of God" (Matthew 11:3, 6).
We learn two important details from this simple passage.
1) Jesus never corrected Satan's statement
2) Satan knows who Jesus is
What is the significance of these details?
For one, Jesus states that He is the Son of God. This statement is either true or false. For the believers among us, we obviously know it to be true.
For the non-believers among us, it is worth consider that if it is NOT true, that would make Jesus either a liar (in which case, He would know that it's not true but claim it's true anyway) or a lunatic (in which case, He would truly think He is God but really isn't). Take a look at the amount of evidence available and think this through, friends. Think of the implications of this fact because nothing else impacts our eternity more.
Second, while humans struggle about the God-hood of Jesus, Satan and his demons have no such struggle. They always recognize Jesus from miles away -- They need no convincing. Why not? Because they have witnessed His God-hood from the beginning of their existence.
What does this mean for us?
James 2:19, NKJV
You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble!
What is James' point? It is not enough for us to just recognize God is God. It is not enough for us to just acknowledge God is God -- because even the demons have this knowledge and look where they are fated! What we choose to do with this knowledge is key.
Many people misunderstand the Book of James and believe he proposes that we are saved by our works, in contrast to what Paul proposes, which is that we are saved by faith. However, there is no discrepancy between their teachings. Paul preached heavily on faith, whereas James focused on the NEXT step. Our faith should be reflected in our walk. If we claim we know God, and yet, we behave as if we don't, how are we any different than Satan and the rest of the fallen angels? As always, it's a heart thing. If our heart is with God, we will live a life that shows it.
Satan tried to tempt Jesus to circumvent the Cross
Why would Satan tempt Jesus?
The following is speculation, since it cannot be proven, but I do believe it to be a valuable brain exercise, so I thank you for indulging me.
Satan recognizes Jesus as the Son of God. Satan knows the Bible well enough to distort it and misquote it. Satan may not know God's complete plan for humanity, but he knows enough to know about the prophecies detailed in the Bible:
1) Satan knows Israelites are God's people, and he's never stopped going after them. If he could corrupt the bloodline, then the Messiah couldn't be born (Genesis 6). Alas, God intervened, and the bloodline of His people was preserved, bringing Jesus into the world.
2) Since Satan couldn't prevent Jesus' birth, the next best thing is to have Him killed (Matthew 2:16). Alas, God intervened and helped Joseph and Mary to take Jesus into safe country.
Now what? Satan keeps trying.
As Jesus prepares to start His ministry, here comes Satan, ready to thwart God's plan again. If Satan could prevent Jesus from fulfilling the prophecy of dying on the Cross, then he would have succeeded in breaking God's promise.
By offering Jesus all that glory (Matthew 4:9), Satan was really offering Jesus a way around the Cross. His temptation was essentially asking Jesus, "Why die and be tortured? You can have all this kingdom right here, without suffering." If Jesus had fallen prey to this temptation, humanity would not have any way to salvation!
The key here is that there is no way around the Cross. Jesus' blood is the only agent that can free us from our sins. Additionally, we learn that the Word of God is our eternal source of food and support, that we should not test God, and that we should worship God and only God.
Satan fell from Heaven because he wanted to be worshiped like God. And here, even as he tempted Jesus, he still sought to be worshiped. From Jesus’ responses, we learn that by using God’s Word, we can overcome Satan’s temptations and remain firm that we worship God and only God.
It may be tempting to say, "Well, of course, Jesus could resist Satan's temptation. He is God!" However, we do need to bear in mind that when Jesus was man on Earth, He was fully man and did not live as "God trapped in a man's body," so to speak. He battles all that we battle. And so, we ought to realize that Satan will always be there to offer us the easy way out -- especially when we are at our weakest, ready to give up. Hang in there, hang on to God's Word!
JESUS BEGINS HIS MINISTRY AND CALLS HIS DISCIPLES (Matthew 4:12-25)
Jesus fulfilled the following prophecies
Isaiah 9:1-2
Jesus is the light that shines on His people, who will lead His people.
Isaiah 11:1-3
Jesus is a direct descendant of Jesse.
The following is also true of Jesus: The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
Jesus' disciples left their lives to follow Jesus
When called, Jesus' disciples immediately dropped what they were doing and followed Him. These disciples were uneducated and relied on the only skills they have to make a living: fishing. Jesus comes and tells them that He would make them fishers of men. They trusted Jesus enough to let go of the only thing they know, to let go of what they know is comfortable, and to step into the unknown with Him. They didn't just leave their way of leaving -- They also left their families.
Matthew 10:35-37, NKJV
For I have come to "set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law"... He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
Why would Jesus say that?
Romans 1:1-4, NKJV
The Gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to e the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
Understand this: Jesus came to bring us Light, to bring us the Truth. Jesus came as Truth, the Word. Jesus also comes to bring us the Good News, that through Him, we receive eternal salvation. This Truth is so significant, it literally dictates whether we spend our eternity with God or without God (the definition of Hell).
So, do we follow Jesus or not?
When placed in a vacuum, it is not hard to make this decision. Follow Jesus, eternal life. Reject Jesus, eternal condemnation. Not very hard. BUT. We do not live in a vacuum. We live in a world where we are constantly exposed to Satan's temptations -- one of which is our ties to this world. Satan will use whatever he can get his hands on to keep us tied to his world, be it money, power, or people -- or more specifically, loved ones.
Jesus is not telling us to go against people. Instead, He is using this message to make a very strong point: Anything we hold more dear than God is the thing that will rip us away from God and put us right into the palm of Satan's hands.
We shouldn't hear Jesus' message and think, "Why is Jesus making me choose between loved ones and Him?" But instead, we should see the bigger picture: If we cannot stand strong with Jesus to secure our salvation, how can we go and preach the Good News to loved ones and make sure they also accept salvation through Jesus? Focus on the eternal, and Jesus' message becomes very clear. Our love for the people around us has no real value if it costs our eternal life in God. We have to love them so much that we are able to see past the material, to keep fighting the demons that blind their eyes until... until they are saved!
Do we have that kind of commitment? Doesn't our loved ones deserve that kind of commitment? If we truly know Jesus, doesn't He at least deserve that kind of commitment?
SATAN TEMPTS JESUS IN THE WILDERNESS (Matthew 4:1-11)
Satan tempted Jesus at His weakest moment (Matthew 4:2)
Satan didn't tempt Jesus at the beginning of His fast. No. Instead, Satan came at Jesus' most vulnerable moment, when He was hungry, tired, and weak. The reason is simple: Why fight us when we are strong? We are much easier to be taken advantage of when we are exhausted and too fatigued to fight!
Jesus, as man, resisted the temptations of Satan by relying on the Word of God (Matthew 4:3-11)
Each time Satan tempted Jesus, Jesus would speak the Word of God to deter the temptations.
Why is SPEAKING the Word so critical?
First, the sword is one of the two offensive weapons we have in the Armor of God to battle against Satan and his demons (Ephesians 6). (The other is prayer.)
Hebrews 4:12, NKJV
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Second, when God spoke His Word the first time, He created the first edge of the sword. When we speak his Word, we create that second edge! This is why when we SPEAK OUT the Word of God, there is POWER in those words, enough power to defeat Satan!
What might happen if we go up against Satan's temptations without the Word of God?
One biblical example is Adam and Eve. Both caved into Satan’s temptation when they chose to rely on their own reasoning rather than trusting in God's wisdom.
Jesus, on the other hand, relied not on His own thoughts -- especially when He was physically weak -- but on the Word of God. Every time Satan offered Jesus something, Jesus would faithfully look to God's Word for guidance and support.
We, too, can resist Satan's temptations by relying on the Word of God (Hebrews 2:14-18)
Jesus defeated Satan's temptations not because He was God. Jesus defeated Satan's temptations while He was fully man who relied on God's Word for guidance and strength.
Knowing the above, Hebrews 2:18 makes so much sense:
"Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."
When we are weak, we need to be aware that Satan is just around the corner, ready to take advantage of us. Yet, even though we are weak, we should have great faith, that if we depend on God's Word, we, too, can overcome any temptation.
Satan KNEW Jesus as the Son of God
Satan challenged Jesus by repeating this phrase, "If you are the Son of God" (Matthew 11:3, 6).
We learn two important details from this simple passage.
1) Jesus never corrected Satan's statement
2) Satan knows who Jesus is
What is the significance of these details?
For one, Jesus states that He is the Son of God. This statement is either true or false. For the believers among us, we obviously know it to be true.
For the non-believers among us, it is worth consider that if it is NOT true, that would make Jesus either a liar (in which case, He would know that it's not true but claim it's true anyway) or a lunatic (in which case, He would truly think He is God but really isn't). Take a look at the amount of evidence available and think this through, friends. Think of the implications of this fact because nothing else impacts our eternity more.
Second, while humans struggle about the God-hood of Jesus, Satan and his demons have no such struggle. They always recognize Jesus from miles away -- They need no convincing. Why not? Because they have witnessed His God-hood from the beginning of their existence.
What does this mean for us?
James 2:19, NKJV
You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble!
What is James' point? It is not enough for us to just recognize God is God. It is not enough for us to just acknowledge God is God -- because even the demons have this knowledge and look where they are fated! What we choose to do with this knowledge is key.
Many people misunderstand the Book of James and believe he proposes that we are saved by our works, in contrast to what Paul proposes, which is that we are saved by faith. However, there is no discrepancy between their teachings. Paul preached heavily on faith, whereas James focused on the NEXT step. Our faith should be reflected in our walk. If we claim we know God, and yet, we behave as if we don't, how are we any different than Satan and the rest of the fallen angels? As always, it's a heart thing. If our heart is with God, we will live a life that shows it.
Satan tried to tempt Jesus to circumvent the Cross
Why would Satan tempt Jesus?
The following is speculation, since it cannot be proven, but I do believe it to be a valuable brain exercise, so I thank you for indulging me.
Satan recognizes Jesus as the Son of God. Satan knows the Bible well enough to distort it and misquote it. Satan may not know God's complete plan for humanity, but he knows enough to know about the prophecies detailed in the Bible:
1) Satan knows Israelites are God's people, and he's never stopped going after them. If he could corrupt the bloodline, then the Messiah couldn't be born (Genesis 6). Alas, God intervened, and the bloodline of His people was preserved, bringing Jesus into the world.
2) Since Satan couldn't prevent Jesus' birth, the next best thing is to have Him killed (Matthew 2:16). Alas, God intervened and helped Joseph and Mary to take Jesus into safe country.
Now what? Satan keeps trying.
As Jesus prepares to start His ministry, here comes Satan, ready to thwart God's plan again. If Satan could prevent Jesus from fulfilling the prophecy of dying on the Cross, then he would have succeeded in breaking God's promise.
By offering Jesus all that glory (Matthew 4:9), Satan was really offering Jesus a way around the Cross. His temptation was essentially asking Jesus, "Why die and be tortured? You can have all this kingdom right here, without suffering." If Jesus had fallen prey to this temptation, humanity would not have any way to salvation!
The key here is that there is no way around the Cross. Jesus' blood is the only agent that can free us from our sins. Additionally, we learn that the Word of God is our eternal source of food and support, that we should not test God, and that we should worship God and only God.
Satan fell from Heaven because he wanted to be worshiped like God. And here, even as he tempted Jesus, he still sought to be worshiped. From Jesus’ responses, we learn that by using God’s Word, we can overcome Satan’s temptations and remain firm that we worship God and only God.
It may be tempting to say, "Well, of course, Jesus could resist Satan's temptation. He is God!" However, we do need to bear in mind that when Jesus was man on Earth, He was fully man and did not live as "God trapped in a man's body," so to speak. He battles all that we battle. And so, we ought to realize that Satan will always be there to offer us the easy way out -- especially when we are at our weakest, ready to give up. Hang in there, hang on to God's Word!
JESUS BEGINS HIS MINISTRY AND CALLS HIS DISCIPLES (Matthew 4:12-25)
Jesus fulfilled the following prophecies
Isaiah 9:1-2
Jesus is the light that shines on His people, who will lead His people.
Isaiah 11:1-3
Jesus is a direct descendant of Jesse.
The following is also true of Jesus: The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
Jesus' disciples left their lives to follow Jesus
When called, Jesus' disciples immediately dropped what they were doing and followed Him. These disciples were uneducated and relied on the only skills they have to make a living: fishing. Jesus comes and tells them that He would make them fishers of men. They trusted Jesus enough to let go of the only thing they know, to let go of what they know is comfortable, and to step into the unknown with Him. They didn't just leave their way of leaving -- They also left their families.
Matthew 10:35-37, NKJV
For I have come to "set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law"... He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
Why would Jesus say that?
Romans 1:1-4, NKJV
The Gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to e the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
Understand this: Jesus came to bring us Light, to bring us the Truth. Jesus came as Truth, the Word. Jesus also comes to bring us the Good News, that through Him, we receive eternal salvation. This Truth is so significant, it literally dictates whether we spend our eternity with God or without God (the definition of Hell).
So, do we follow Jesus or not?
When placed in a vacuum, it is not hard to make this decision. Follow Jesus, eternal life. Reject Jesus, eternal condemnation. Not very hard. BUT. We do not live in a vacuum. We live in a world where we are constantly exposed to Satan's temptations -- one of which is our ties to this world. Satan will use whatever he can get his hands on to keep us tied to his world, be it money, power, or people -- or more specifically, loved ones.
Jesus is not telling us to go against people. Instead, He is using this message to make a very strong point: Anything we hold more dear than God is the thing that will rip us away from God and put us right into the palm of Satan's hands.
We shouldn't hear Jesus' message and think, "Why is Jesus making me choose between loved ones and Him?" But instead, we should see the bigger picture: If we cannot stand strong with Jesus to secure our salvation, how can we go and preach the Good News to loved ones and make sure they also accept salvation through Jesus? Focus on the eternal, and Jesus' message becomes very clear. Our love for the people around us has no real value if it costs our eternal life in God. We have to love them so much that we are able to see past the material, to keep fighting the demons that blind their eyes until... until they are saved!
Do we have that kind of commitment? Doesn't our loved ones deserve that kind of commitment? If we truly know Jesus, doesn't He at least deserve that kind of commitment?
Ezekiel 20-21
Home Bible study with Dr. Chuck Missler
EZEKIEL 20: A HISTORY OF ISRAEL’S REBELLION
Chapters 20-24 contain the final predictions concerning the judgment of Jerusalem. Under every facet and circumstance, man has sought to be rebellious and to go any way other than that which the Lord had ordained. Ezekiel 20 thus reviews the history of Israel seen from God’s point of view.
Israel’s rebellion…
in Egypt (Ezekiel 20:5-9)
in the Wilderness (Ezekiel 20:10-17)
of the 2nd generation (Ezekiel 20:18-26)
upon entering Canaan (Ezekiel 20:27-29)
of Ezekiel’s generation (Ezekiel 20:30-32)
of the Diaspora and Selective Return (Ezekiel 20:33-39)
in the Kingdom Established (Ezekiel 20:40-44)
God refuses the inquiries of His people (Ezekiel 20:1-3)
God refused to respond to the inquiries of Israelites. This ought to be surprising to any Christian with a mature prayer life! We see here that as great as God’s mercy is, there can come a time when God deems enough is enough. The moral state of the Israelites precluded them from capability of knowing the Will of God (Psalm 66:18; Proverbs 28:9; John 7:17).
One of the interesting things about Ezekiel’s prophecies to his people was that they were not collective calls to repentance (as was the case for Jonah’s preaching, or the preaching of other prophets recorded in the Bible). The whole burden of Ezekiel’s prophecies, up to about Ezekiel 25, had to do with the certainty of God’s judgment that was coming, and why it had to come.
God charges Israel of her rebellion in Egypt (Ezekiel 20:4-10)
God goes back to the very beginning when He called these people out of the land of Egypt, delivered them out of their slavery there, and brought them into the wilderness.
“... I chose Israel” (Ezekiel 20:5)
The basis here is God’s sovereign choice (Cf. Exodus 6:1-4; Deuteronomy 7:6; Jeremiah 33:24; Isaiah 40-66; Genesis 15:17-21) – It wasn’t that the Israelites (or even us, Christians, today) who chose God. GOD FIRST CHOSE US.
“... idols of Egypt” (Ezekiel 20:7)
God highlights the idolatry of Israelites. Their idolatry is also hinted in other verses (Leviticus 17:7, 18:3; Exodus 6:6-7; Joshua 24:14, etc.).
Leviticus 17:7
They must no longer offer any of their sacrifices to the goat idols to whom they prostitute themselves. This is to be a lasting ordinance for them and for the generations to come.
“Goat idols,” in Hebrew, is “seirim,” which was the symbol of the false god, Pan, whom the Israelites have gone “a-whoring” (using Dr. Missler’s terminology).
The call of God by Moses was as much to them to separate from idols and follow Jehovah as it was to Pharaoh to let them go forth; hence the need of their being removed out of the contagion of Egyptian idolatries by the exodus. Israel did not invent the golden calf; they were falling back to a practice that they had observed in Egypt (resembling the Egyptian ox, Apis; Cf. Exodus 32:4).
The problem of idol worship is that it isn’t just some meaningless sense of superstition. There is involvement of evil spirits, and participating in idol worship often grants entry into our lives for the evil spirits.
His Name’s Sake
God would have been justified to just wipe out the Israelites. Repeatedly, however, He extended His mercy and grace to them for His Name’s sake.
The relationship was not just between God and Israel: It was intended to be a demonstration, a form of visibility, to the nations around there. He did this only for His name’s sake, for His glory among those nations.
God was attempting to communicate to all nations that He was a righteous God, therefore He had to judge sin. On the other hand, He wanted to demonstrate His mercy. However, that ran the risk of being misunderstood by the nations around them that He was not powerful enough to enforce His own laws.
Moses understood the significance of God’s Name’s sake and used that when he negotiated; he would plead on behalf of His Name’s sake (Exodus 32:12, Numbers 14:16).
God would thus make a very dramatic demonstration to show Himself strong, not only to the Egyptians but to all the world. And the name of God was indeed heard throughout the world—For example, during the days of Joshua, Rahab admitted to the two spies that she and her people (Gentiles) have heard of the Hebrew God.
God charges Israel of her rebellion in the wilderness (Ezekiel 20:11-20)
All the way through this part of Ezekiel, we see many statements of “I, I, I”—Emphasizing that God is the primary agent of action here. Yes, God called on godly men to bid His Will, but the greater point here is that GOD DID IT. God led them out of Egypt; God led them into the Wilderness; etc.
God is showing us here that the Law gives life (Ezekiel 20:11-20). Ezekiel recognized, almost in the very language of Deuteronomy 30:16-20, as fully as the writers of Psalms 19 and 119 had recognized, the excellence of the Law.
Why couldn’t the Israelites keep the Law? Because there was no enablement of keeping the Law mentioned by Paul in Romans 8:3 – and because they couldn’t keep the Law, they were dead in their sins. Worse, there was also no provision of life, mentioned in Galatians 3:21, and so they remained dead in their sins.
Both the enablement of keeping the Law (Romans 8:3) and the provision of life (Galatians 3:21) did not become available until the arrival of Jesus Christ!
“… my Sabbaths” (Ezekiel 20:13)
Note that the Sabbath was first instituted at Sinai, as if it were an exclusively Jewish ordinance (Genesis 2:2-3), but it was then more formally enacted, when, owing to the apostasy of the world from the original revelation, one people was called out to be the covenant-people of God (Deuteronomy 5:15). The Sabbath was a sign that the Lord was their God, and they were His people (Ezekiel 20:20; Exodus 31:12-17; Isaiah 66:2-4). The Sabbath was a SIGN of their covenant relationship with God.
The observance of the Sabbath contemplated by God was not a mere outward rest but a spiritual dedication of the day to the glory of God and the good of man. Otherwise it would not be, as it is made, the pledge of universal sanctification (Exodus 31:12-17; Isaiah 58:13-14). All sanctity will flourish or decay, according as this ordinance is observed in its full spirituality or not.
The generation that went into the wilderness rebelled against God, and He let them die in the wilderness. They “rebelled” in the very place where death and terror were on every side and where they depended on His miraculous bounty every moment!
“... for the sake of my name” (Ezekiel 20:14)
Psalms 95:11; 106:26; Numbers 14:20-35; Cf. Hebrews 4:1-11
Israel “profaned” God’s holy name (Cf. Ezekiel 36:20). The Third Commandment deals with our ambassadorship (Exodus 20:7) — Proverbs 30:9 is one of the verses that validates this view.
God charges Israel of her second generation having rebelled against God (Ezekiel 20:21-26)
The next generation of Israelites was also rebellious and no better than their fathers (Numbers 25:1, 2; Deuteronomy 31:27). The Israelites fell into the fearful apostasy on the plains of Moab at the close of the wilderness sojourn.
“… among the nations and scatter them” (Ezekiel 20:23)
This was known as the period of Diaspora (not just the Babylonian Captivity; Cf. Deuteronomy 28:63-68).
“ So I gave them other statutes that were not good and laws through which they could not live” (Ezekiel 20:25)
Since the Israelites would not follow God’s statutes that were good, God gave them their own (Ezekiel 20:18) and their fathers’ statutes, “which were not good” – These statutes were spiritually corrupting and subsequently destroyed them. This was an example of righteous retribution (Cf. Psalm 81:12; Hosea 8:11; Romans 1:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:11; Isaiah 63:17).
On the plains of Moab (Numbers 25:1-18), in chastisement for the secret unfaithfulness to God in their hearts, God permitted Baal’s worshippers, proving the inward unsoundness of the tempted. This ended necessarily in punitive judgments.
“I defiled them” (Ezekiel 20:26)
God judicially gave up the Israelites to pollute themselves. This was a just retribution for their polluting of God’s Sabbaths (Ezekiel 20:24).
God charges Israel for rebelling against God upon entering Canaan (Ezekiel 20:27-29)
“…any high hill” (Ezekiel 20:28)
This refers to Canaanite idolatry.
Throughout the Bible, we see references made against the “groves” and the “high hills.” Why? “Groves,” “high hills” are phallic symbols and such that point to Canaanite idolatry. Canaanite idolatry also included perverse sexual practices.
Bamah (Ezekiel 20:29) means “high place” in Hebrew. “Ba” means “to go;” mah means “where.” Bamah thus is a contemptuous pun, because it literally means “going nowhere.”
God charges Israel’s rebellion in Ezekiel’s generation (Ezekiel 20:30-32)
The questions asked by God were obviously rhetorical questions with the implied answer of the Israelites continuing to choose to defile themselves with false idols.
“Am I to let you inquire of me, you Israelites?” (Ezekiel 20:31)
This is paired with the opening verses. All of the above charges were a part of the presentation to the elders of Israel who had come to inquire of God. God was basically saying, “Shall I be inquired of by YOU?!”
The Israelites have for nineteen centuries dispersed among all nations, without a home, but still remained a distinct people. This is a standing witness for the truth of the prophecy given so long ago.
Passages up to this point have all been historical: Egypt, the deliverance, the wilderness wanderings and so forth. Now, we are shifting to the future.
Ezekiel 20:33-39: The Devine Re-Gathering
Ezekiel 20:40-44: The Future Blessing
The Diaspora and the Devine Re-gathering (Ezekiel 20:33-39)
The scattering of His people and then the re-gathering mentioned through these passages aren’t just speaking of re-gathering them from Babylonian captivity. This idea of scattering and re-gathering is stated throughout the Bible (see notes below), and as hinted by these passages here, it reaches far beyond their current Babylonian captivity. Despite scattering His people, God tells the Israelites that He intends to bring them back into the land. God’s purpose with Israel will yet be fulfilled.
The Re-gathering
• The Diaspora: The Israelites were dispersed into all the nations (Deuteronomy 30:1-11) and re-gathered in stages (Ezekiel 36).
• “The 2nd time”: May 14, 1948 (Isaiah 11:11-16). The first time the Lord re-gathered His people was after the Babylonian captivity. The second re-gathering of God’s people started on May 14, 1948 to the present day.
Israel is going to attain their role. What God had wanted them to do was be the mechanism by which He could show Himself strong throughout the earth. They failed at that all through history, but in this period, they are going to achieve that destiny (Isaiah 49:17-23; 60:1-22; 61:4-6; Cf. Isaiah 61:7-10; Jeremiah 23:1-8).
It will be interesting to note how the “north country” (Jeremiah 23:8) is earmarked in these forthcoming passages. The country that is predominately north of Israel is Russia, the descendants of the Magog (the Scythians). We will get into this more in Ezekiel 36, 37, 38, 39; Cf. Amos 9:11-15 and Zechariah 10:8-12).
“… as you pass under my rod” (Ezekiel 20:37)
The concept of being “passed under the rod” is like a shepherd counts sheep (Cf. Leviticus 27:32; Jeremiah 33:13; Matthew 25:31-40).
“… you will loathe yourselves” (Ezekiel 20:43)
When God gives the insight to see our sin, we are filled with loathing. Job experienced that in Job 42; so did Isaiah in Isaiah 6 when he saw the Throne of God and realized the righteousness of God, he loathed himself. Apparently Israel will also, when they realize, as they look back at their history, they will loathe themselves for their unbelief and for the evils they have committed against the Lord.
EZEKIEL 21: THE PROPHECY OF THE SWORD (Ezekiel 20:45-21:32)
Up to this point, the mercy of God has been extended, but now coming judgment is inevitable and there is no alternative.
The sword in view here is Nebuchadnezzar. In 588 BC, he had a campaign to quell the revolts of Tyre, Judah, and Ammon, the three principalities that were revolting against him. He launched a siege which ended in 586 BC with the destruction of Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 21 is one of the most important chapters in the Book of Ezekiel as it makes it very explicit that the King of Babylon is going to remove the last king of the Davidic line until Messiah comes (Ezekiel 21:25-27).
“... south... south... southland” (Ezekiel 20:46)
Three different Hebrew words were used for each “south.” The three Hebrew words used each also additionally mean “right hand,” “brilliant/midday,” and “dry land,” respectively. Each also describes, respectively, Jerusalem, the holy places, and the land of Israel.
I am about to set fire to you (Ezekiel 20:47)
The whole idea of a fire is judgment. The green tree is generally an idiom for that which bears fruit; and somebody righteous and dry is typically someone spiritually withered (e.g., Luke 23:31).
Ezekiel complains that by this parabolic form of prophecy he only makes himself, and it, a jest to his countrymen. God therefore permits him to express the same prophecy more plainly in Ezekiel 21:1-32.
Future Judgment of Israel
This judgment determines who in that day enters the Kingdom (Psalm 50:1-7; Ezekiel 20:33-44; Malachi 3:2-5; 4:1-2). Israel’s glory is yet future (Romans 11:26). Ancient methods are also to be restored (Isaiah 1:26; Judges 2:18; Matthew 19:28).
Other Future Judgments
• Sheep & Goats (Matthew 25:31-40)
• Bema Seat of Messiah (2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15)
• Of Fallen Angels (Jude 1:6)
• Great White Throne (Revelation 20:11)
Plus the two most critical for us:
• This world (at the cross) (John 12:31)
• Self-judgment (to avoid chastisement) (1 Corinthians 11:31-32)
“For on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD, there in the land all the people of Israel will serve me, and there I will accept them. There I will require your offerings and your choice gifts, along with all your holy sacrifices” (Ezekiel 20:40)
The time is coming when He will accept their offerings and will welcome their offerings: the Kingdom period (Isaiah 66:18; Zechariah 14:16-19).
“I am against you” (Ezekiel 21:3)
This is the first time He has said this about His city of Jerusalem. The righteous and the wicked take the place of the “green” and the “dry” tree (Cf. Ezekiel 20:47).
“... my sword...”
The “sword” is the fire of Ezekiel 20:47 (Cf. Ezekiel 21:5; 30:24-25; 32:10). The sword drawn against Israel is Nebuchadnezzar (Cf. Ezekiel 21:19; 12:13; 17:20).
“… it will not return again” (Ezekiel 21:5)
The time for judgment has come.
“Groan before them with broken heart and bitter grief” (Ezekiel 21:6)
The Lord was instructing Ezekiel to express his breaking heart and emotion, in order to convey, through him, the intensity that God felt here.
“Every heart will melt with fear and every hand go limp; every spirit will become faint and every leg will be wet with urine” (Ezekiel 21:7)
This was speaking of the coming judgment of Nebuchadnezzar on them in 588-586 BC.
Titus the Roman came in 70 AD and leveled Jerusalem—just as Nebuchadnezzar is about to do in Ezekiel’s time (Cf. Isaiah 24:17; 66:16; Luke 21:26).
“Mark out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to take” (Ezekiel 21:19)
There is a fork in the road, and God asked Ezekiel to now draw a map: Southwest it went to Judah and Jerusalem; Southeast it went to Rabbath-Ammon. The prophet was commanded to mark on the sand, or possibly on a brick or tile (Cf. Ezekiel 4:1), two lines representing two roads which the king of Babylon and his army would follow. These roads come forth from the same land, Babylon, and follow the same route hundreds of miles to the Orontes Valley before diverging.
In Greco-Roman times, Rabbath was called Philadelphia; today it is known as Amman. It is situated at the source of the Jabbok, twenty-five miles northeast of the Dead Sea. Rabbath-Ammon lay on one road and Jerusalem on the other. Both were guilty of conspiracy against Babylon (Jeremiah 27:1-3).
Divination (Ezekiel 21:21)
One way of divining known by the Greeks was to put arrows into a quiver, with names (in this case probably Rabbath and Jerusalem) written on them. Another way was to consult images (Judges 18:18; Hosea 3:4). A third way was hepatoscopy, familiar in Greek, Etrurian, and Roman divination: They would cut open an animal, typically a sheep, and depending on the marks of the liver, decide what the choice might be.
The Lord was not here sanctioning the use of divination. He knew how the Babylonian king was going to do it and, of course, the Lord had it come out so that Jerusalem was the king’s choice (Proverbs 16:33).
“Take off the turban, remove the crown. It will not be as it was” (Ezekiel 21:26)
God is speaking of Zedekiah, who was to be brought low, and there will not be another king to sit upon the throne of David “until Shiloh come.”
“The crown will not be restored until he to whom it rightfully belongs shall come; to him I will give it” (Ezekiel 21:27)
This is Ezekiel’s first distinct reference to the personal Messiah, who will have the right to wear the crown and will be a true king (Cf. Genesis 49:10; Isaiah 2; Ezekiel 34:23). The repetition expresses the superlative degree (Cf. Isaiah 6:3; Jeremiah 22:29).
The key here is that the Messiah will not just be the King but also the High Priest. There are only 3 groups of people who are both kings AND priests: Melchizedek, Jesus, and the Church.
Hebrews 5-7: Jesus as the High Priest comes after the order of Melchizedek, not Aaron.
(Cf. Psalm 110:2-4; Isaiah 9:6; Zechariah 6; Psalm 72; Isaiah 9:6; 42:1; Jeremiah 23:5; 33:17)
Jacob’s Final Prophecy
Genesis 49:10
The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.
The Scepter
The scepter refers to their tribal identity and their right to apply and enforce Mosaic Laws and adjudicate capital offenses: jus gladii. Even during their 70-year Babylonian captivity (606-537 BC), the tribes retained their tribal identity. They retained their own logistics, judges, etc. (Ezekiel 1:5,8). [Josh MacDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, pp. 108-168.]
Shiloh
Shiloh: he whose it is -- “The scepter will not depart from Judah until He comes to whom it belongs.” The term “Shiloh” was understood by the early rabbis and Talmudic authorities as referring to the Messiah. [Targum Onkelos; Targum Jonathan; Targum Yerusahlmi. Cf. The Messiah: An Aramaic Interpretation; The Messianic Exegesis of the Targum, Samson H. Levy, Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, 1974.]
The Scepter Departs
Herod the Great died. Herod Antipater had been murdered. Herod Archelaus was appointed “Entharch” by Caesar Augustus but was broadly rejected: Dethroned, Banished (6-7 AD), Cf. Josephus, Antiqities, 17:13.
Caponius was appointed Procurator—the legal power of the Sanhedrin was immediately restricted and the adjudication of capital cases was lost. This was normal Roman policy (Cf. Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 2:8.). After the death of the procurator Festus, when Albinus was about to succeed him, the high priest Ananius considered it a favorable opportunity to assemble the Sanhedrin. He therefore caused James, the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, and several others, to appear before this hastily assembled council, and pronounced upon them the sentence of death by stoning. All the wise men and strict observers of the law who were at Jerusalem expressed their disapprobation of this act... Some even went to Albinus himself, who had departed to Alexandria, to bring this breach of the law under his observation, and to inform him that Aranius had acted illegally in assembling the Sanhedrin without the Roman authority. [Josephus, Antiquities, 20:9]
The priests officially mourned: “Woe unto us for the scepter has departed from Judah and the Messiah has not come!” (Cf. Babylonian Talmud, Chapter 4, folio 37.) They believed the Word of God had failed! The scepter had, indeed, been removed from Judah, but Shiloh had come.
While the Jews wept in the streets of Jerusalem, a young son of a carpenter was growing up in Nazareth. He would present Himself as the Meshiach Nagid, Messiah the King, on the very day which had been predicted by the Angel Gabriel to Daniel five centuries earlier (Daniel 9:24-27)!
From Zedekiah down to the Lord Jesus, there has been no one in the line of David who ever sat on that throne. Ezekiel is saying that no one would ever be able to do so. The Lord Jesus is the only One who will.
Right now He is sitting at God’s right hand, waiting until His enemies are made His footstool when He comes to this earth to rule (Cf. Genesis 49:10; Isaiah 2:1-4; Matthew 3:2).
“This is what the Sovereign LORD says about the Ammonites and their insults” (Ezekiel 21:28)
Ezekiel now turns to the other city: denouncing judgment against Ammon, without the prospect of a restoration such as awaited Israel. Rabbat of the Ammonites was the other city mentioned in Ezekiel 21:20 along with Jerusalem. The lot fell on Jerusalem as the first one to be dealt with.
Now it is Ammon’s turn.
Ammon
Ammon and Jerusalem, though enemies, had allied against Babylon. When Nebuchadnezzar decided to attack Jerusalem, Ammon was relieved and happy. They were thankful that Jerusalem would suffer in their place. In fact, after Jerusalem’s fall the Ammonites organized a coup that caused the death of Gedaliah, the governor of the land appointed by Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 40:13-41:10).
The Ammonites tried to set up another government in Israel that would be opposed to Babylon—probably so Nebuchadnezzar would again attack Judah instead of Ammon! Five years after the fall of Jerusalem, Ammon was destroyed for aiding Ishmael in usurping the government of Judea against the will of the king of Babylon (2 Kings 25:25; Jeremiah 41:15).
Ammon, too, had false diviners who flattered them with assurances of safety; the only result of which will be to add the Ammonites to the headless trunks of the slain of Judah, and “whose day” of visitation for their guilt “is come.”
Ezekiel is speaking of the judgment of the Ammonites, but we also have again the expression, “when their iniquity shall have an end,” suggesting the end of this age (Cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:8).
“You will be remembered no more” (Ezekiel 21:32)
In contrast to Israel, there would be no future restoration for Ammon. The sword is against Ammon in this latter part of Ezekiel 21. Ezekiel 25 is going to deal also with this judgment against Ammon. Ammon rejoiced at the fall of Jerusalem, as did Edom as well. Of course Edom is the subject of Obadiah’s prophecy, while Ammon is the subject of both this and some subsequent remarks.
MESSIANIC AGENDA (Matthew 23:37-39)
• The Purpose of all history
• The Tragedy of all history
• The Triumph of all history
History is God’s answer to man’s questions!
The Purpose of All History
Matthew 23:37
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings…
The purpose of all history is that God might gather His children together. (Jerusalem is a synecdoche for all of Israel). The image of the mother bird gathering and covering her brood is a familiar one. Moses used it in his farewell sermon (Deuteronomy 32:11). It is a picture of love, tender care, and a willingness to die to protect others. Jesus did die for the sins of the world, including the nation of Israel. Sadly, “His own received Him not” (John 1:11).
The Tragedy of All History
Matthew 23:37-38
… and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate.
The Triumph of All History
Matthew 23:39
For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
“... until”
Jesus left the nation with a promise: He would one day return, and the nation would see Him and say, “Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord!” This is a quotation from Psalm 118:26, the great messianic psalm that was quoted so many times in His last week of ministry. The crowds had used those very words (Matthew 21:9).
THE 69 WEEKS (Daniel 9:25)
Daniel 9:25
Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
The Meshiach Nagid -- “The Messiah the King”
The prediction is to the presentation of the Messiah the King (dygIn Nagid = “ruler, captain, prince,” is first used of King Saul, 1 Samuel 9:16, 10:1). On several occasions in the New Testament when they attempted to take Jesus as a King, He invariably declined, “Mine hour is not yet come.” (John 6:15; 7:30, 44) Then one day, He arranges it.
The Triumphal Entry
Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Luke 19:38-40
Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
Jesus held them accountable to recognize this very day (Luke 19:41-44)!
Judgment Declared
Luke 19:41-44
As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.
The Interval
Daniel 9:26
After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
Rabbinical Confirmations of Daniel 9:26
• Messianic; prior to the Temple destroyed [Yalkut, Vol II, 32b, p.79 Nazir edition.]
• Messiah to exit prior to 33 a.d. [Midrash Berishit, p.243 Warsaw edition; re: Yakov Prasch.]
Hosea 5:15
Then I will return to my lair until they have borne their guilt and seek my face-- in their misery they will earnestly seek me.
EZEKIEL 20: A HISTORY OF ISRAEL’S REBELLION
Chapters 20-24 contain the final predictions concerning the judgment of Jerusalem. Under every facet and circumstance, man has sought to be rebellious and to go any way other than that which the Lord had ordained. Ezekiel 20 thus reviews the history of Israel seen from God’s point of view.
Israel’s rebellion…
in Egypt (Ezekiel 20:5-9)
in the Wilderness (Ezekiel 20:10-17)
of the 2nd generation (Ezekiel 20:18-26)
upon entering Canaan (Ezekiel 20:27-29)
of Ezekiel’s generation (Ezekiel 20:30-32)
of the Diaspora and Selective Return (Ezekiel 20:33-39)
in the Kingdom Established (Ezekiel 20:40-44)
God refuses the inquiries of His people (Ezekiel 20:1-3)
God refused to respond to the inquiries of Israelites. This ought to be surprising to any Christian with a mature prayer life! We see here that as great as God’s mercy is, there can come a time when God deems enough is enough. The moral state of the Israelites precluded them from capability of knowing the Will of God (Psalm 66:18; Proverbs 28:9; John 7:17).
One of the interesting things about Ezekiel’s prophecies to his people was that they were not collective calls to repentance (as was the case for Jonah’s preaching, or the preaching of other prophets recorded in the Bible). The whole burden of Ezekiel’s prophecies, up to about Ezekiel 25, had to do with the certainty of God’s judgment that was coming, and why it had to come.
God charges Israel of her rebellion in Egypt (Ezekiel 20:4-10)
God goes back to the very beginning when He called these people out of the land of Egypt, delivered them out of their slavery there, and brought them into the wilderness.
“... I chose Israel” (Ezekiel 20:5)
The basis here is God’s sovereign choice (Cf. Exodus 6:1-4; Deuteronomy 7:6; Jeremiah 33:24; Isaiah 40-66; Genesis 15:17-21) – It wasn’t that the Israelites (or even us, Christians, today) who chose God. GOD FIRST CHOSE US.
“... idols of Egypt” (Ezekiel 20:7)
God highlights the idolatry of Israelites. Their idolatry is also hinted in other verses (Leviticus 17:7, 18:3; Exodus 6:6-7; Joshua 24:14, etc.).
Leviticus 17:7
They must no longer offer any of their sacrifices to the goat idols to whom they prostitute themselves. This is to be a lasting ordinance for them and for the generations to come.
“Goat idols,” in Hebrew, is “seirim,” which was the symbol of the false god, Pan, whom the Israelites have gone “a-whoring” (using Dr. Missler’s terminology).
The call of God by Moses was as much to them to separate from idols and follow Jehovah as it was to Pharaoh to let them go forth; hence the need of their being removed out of the contagion of Egyptian idolatries by the exodus. Israel did not invent the golden calf; they were falling back to a practice that they had observed in Egypt (resembling the Egyptian ox, Apis; Cf. Exodus 32:4).
The problem of idol worship is that it isn’t just some meaningless sense of superstition. There is involvement of evil spirits, and participating in idol worship often grants entry into our lives for the evil spirits.
His Name’s Sake
God would have been justified to just wipe out the Israelites. Repeatedly, however, He extended His mercy and grace to them for His Name’s sake.
The relationship was not just between God and Israel: It was intended to be a demonstration, a form of visibility, to the nations around there. He did this only for His name’s sake, for His glory among those nations.
God was attempting to communicate to all nations that He was a righteous God, therefore He had to judge sin. On the other hand, He wanted to demonstrate His mercy. However, that ran the risk of being misunderstood by the nations around them that He was not powerful enough to enforce His own laws.
Moses understood the significance of God’s Name’s sake and used that when he negotiated; he would plead on behalf of His Name’s sake (Exodus 32:12, Numbers 14:16).
God would thus make a very dramatic demonstration to show Himself strong, not only to the Egyptians but to all the world. And the name of God was indeed heard throughout the world—For example, during the days of Joshua, Rahab admitted to the two spies that she and her people (Gentiles) have heard of the Hebrew God.
God charges Israel of her rebellion in the wilderness (Ezekiel 20:11-20)
All the way through this part of Ezekiel, we see many statements of “I, I, I”—Emphasizing that God is the primary agent of action here. Yes, God called on godly men to bid His Will, but the greater point here is that GOD DID IT. God led them out of Egypt; God led them into the Wilderness; etc.
God is showing us here that the Law gives life (Ezekiel 20:11-20). Ezekiel recognized, almost in the very language of Deuteronomy 30:16-20, as fully as the writers of Psalms 19 and 119 had recognized, the excellence of the Law.
Why couldn’t the Israelites keep the Law? Because there was no enablement of keeping the Law mentioned by Paul in Romans 8:3 – and because they couldn’t keep the Law, they were dead in their sins. Worse, there was also no provision of life, mentioned in Galatians 3:21, and so they remained dead in their sins.
Both the enablement of keeping the Law (Romans 8:3) and the provision of life (Galatians 3:21) did not become available until the arrival of Jesus Christ!
“… my Sabbaths” (Ezekiel 20:13)
Note that the Sabbath was first instituted at Sinai, as if it were an exclusively Jewish ordinance (Genesis 2:2-3), but it was then more formally enacted, when, owing to the apostasy of the world from the original revelation, one people was called out to be the covenant-people of God (Deuteronomy 5:15). The Sabbath was a sign that the Lord was their God, and they were His people (Ezekiel 20:20; Exodus 31:12-17; Isaiah 66:2-4). The Sabbath was a SIGN of their covenant relationship with God.
The observance of the Sabbath contemplated by God was not a mere outward rest but a spiritual dedication of the day to the glory of God and the good of man. Otherwise it would not be, as it is made, the pledge of universal sanctification (Exodus 31:12-17; Isaiah 58:13-14). All sanctity will flourish or decay, according as this ordinance is observed in its full spirituality or not.
The generation that went into the wilderness rebelled against God, and He let them die in the wilderness. They “rebelled” in the very place where death and terror were on every side and where they depended on His miraculous bounty every moment!
“... for the sake of my name” (Ezekiel 20:14)
Psalms 95:11; 106:26; Numbers 14:20-35; Cf. Hebrews 4:1-11
Israel “profaned” God’s holy name (Cf. Ezekiel 36:20). The Third Commandment deals with our ambassadorship (Exodus 20:7) — Proverbs 30:9 is one of the verses that validates this view.
God charges Israel of her second generation having rebelled against God (Ezekiel 20:21-26)
The next generation of Israelites was also rebellious and no better than their fathers (Numbers 25:1, 2; Deuteronomy 31:27). The Israelites fell into the fearful apostasy on the plains of Moab at the close of the wilderness sojourn.
“… among the nations and scatter them” (Ezekiel 20:23)
This was known as the period of Diaspora (not just the Babylonian Captivity; Cf. Deuteronomy 28:63-68).
“ So I gave them other statutes that were not good and laws through which they could not live” (Ezekiel 20:25)
Since the Israelites would not follow God’s statutes that were good, God gave them their own (Ezekiel 20:18) and their fathers’ statutes, “which were not good” – These statutes were spiritually corrupting and subsequently destroyed them. This was an example of righteous retribution (Cf. Psalm 81:12; Hosea 8:11; Romans 1:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:11; Isaiah 63:17).
On the plains of Moab (Numbers 25:1-18), in chastisement for the secret unfaithfulness to God in their hearts, God permitted Baal’s worshippers, proving the inward unsoundness of the tempted. This ended necessarily in punitive judgments.
“I defiled them” (Ezekiel 20:26)
God judicially gave up the Israelites to pollute themselves. This was a just retribution for their polluting of God’s Sabbaths (Ezekiel 20:24).
God charges Israel for rebelling against God upon entering Canaan (Ezekiel 20:27-29)
“…any high hill” (Ezekiel 20:28)
This refers to Canaanite idolatry.
Throughout the Bible, we see references made against the “groves” and the “high hills.” Why? “Groves,” “high hills” are phallic symbols and such that point to Canaanite idolatry. Canaanite idolatry also included perverse sexual practices.
Bamah (Ezekiel 20:29) means “high place” in Hebrew. “Ba” means “to go;” mah means “where.” Bamah thus is a contemptuous pun, because it literally means “going nowhere.”
God charges Israel’s rebellion in Ezekiel’s generation (Ezekiel 20:30-32)
The questions asked by God were obviously rhetorical questions with the implied answer of the Israelites continuing to choose to defile themselves with false idols.
“Am I to let you inquire of me, you Israelites?” (Ezekiel 20:31)
This is paired with the opening verses. All of the above charges were a part of the presentation to the elders of Israel who had come to inquire of God. God was basically saying, “Shall I be inquired of by YOU?!”
The Israelites have for nineteen centuries dispersed among all nations, without a home, but still remained a distinct people. This is a standing witness for the truth of the prophecy given so long ago.
Passages up to this point have all been historical: Egypt, the deliverance, the wilderness wanderings and so forth. Now, we are shifting to the future.
Ezekiel 20:33-39: The Devine Re-Gathering
Ezekiel 20:40-44: The Future Blessing
The Diaspora and the Devine Re-gathering (Ezekiel 20:33-39)
The scattering of His people and then the re-gathering mentioned through these passages aren’t just speaking of re-gathering them from Babylonian captivity. This idea of scattering and re-gathering is stated throughout the Bible (see notes below), and as hinted by these passages here, it reaches far beyond their current Babylonian captivity. Despite scattering His people, God tells the Israelites that He intends to bring them back into the land. God’s purpose with Israel will yet be fulfilled.
The Re-gathering
• The Diaspora: The Israelites were dispersed into all the nations (Deuteronomy 30:1-11) and re-gathered in stages (Ezekiel 36).
• “The 2nd time”: May 14, 1948 (Isaiah 11:11-16). The first time the Lord re-gathered His people was after the Babylonian captivity. The second re-gathering of God’s people started on May 14, 1948 to the present day.
Israel is going to attain their role. What God had wanted them to do was be the mechanism by which He could show Himself strong throughout the earth. They failed at that all through history, but in this period, they are going to achieve that destiny (Isaiah 49:17-23; 60:1-22; 61:4-6; Cf. Isaiah 61:7-10; Jeremiah 23:1-8).
It will be interesting to note how the “north country” (Jeremiah 23:8) is earmarked in these forthcoming passages. The country that is predominately north of Israel is Russia, the descendants of the Magog (the Scythians). We will get into this more in Ezekiel 36, 37, 38, 39; Cf. Amos 9:11-15 and Zechariah 10:8-12).
“… as you pass under my rod” (Ezekiel 20:37)
The concept of being “passed under the rod” is like a shepherd counts sheep (Cf. Leviticus 27:32; Jeremiah 33:13; Matthew 25:31-40).
“… you will loathe yourselves” (Ezekiel 20:43)
When God gives the insight to see our sin, we are filled with loathing. Job experienced that in Job 42; so did Isaiah in Isaiah 6 when he saw the Throne of God and realized the righteousness of God, he loathed himself. Apparently Israel will also, when they realize, as they look back at their history, they will loathe themselves for their unbelief and for the evils they have committed against the Lord.
EZEKIEL 21: THE PROPHECY OF THE SWORD (Ezekiel 20:45-21:32)
Up to this point, the mercy of God has been extended, but now coming judgment is inevitable and there is no alternative.
The sword in view here is Nebuchadnezzar. In 588 BC, he had a campaign to quell the revolts of Tyre, Judah, and Ammon, the three principalities that were revolting against him. He launched a siege which ended in 586 BC with the destruction of Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 21 is one of the most important chapters in the Book of Ezekiel as it makes it very explicit that the King of Babylon is going to remove the last king of the Davidic line until Messiah comes (Ezekiel 21:25-27).
“... south... south... southland” (Ezekiel 20:46)
Three different Hebrew words were used for each “south.” The three Hebrew words used each also additionally mean “right hand,” “brilliant/midday,” and “dry land,” respectively. Each also describes, respectively, Jerusalem, the holy places, and the land of Israel.
I am about to set fire to you (Ezekiel 20:47)
The whole idea of a fire is judgment. The green tree is generally an idiom for that which bears fruit; and somebody righteous and dry is typically someone spiritually withered (e.g., Luke 23:31).
Ezekiel complains that by this parabolic form of prophecy he only makes himself, and it, a jest to his countrymen. God therefore permits him to express the same prophecy more plainly in Ezekiel 21:1-32.
Future Judgment of Israel
This judgment determines who in that day enters the Kingdom (Psalm 50:1-7; Ezekiel 20:33-44; Malachi 3:2-5; 4:1-2). Israel’s glory is yet future (Romans 11:26). Ancient methods are also to be restored (Isaiah 1:26; Judges 2:18; Matthew 19:28).
Other Future Judgments
• Sheep & Goats (Matthew 25:31-40)
• Bema Seat of Messiah (2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15)
• Of Fallen Angels (Jude 1:6)
• Great White Throne (Revelation 20:11)
Plus the two most critical for us:
• This world (at the cross) (John 12:31)
• Self-judgment (to avoid chastisement) (1 Corinthians 11:31-32)
“For on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD, there in the land all the people of Israel will serve me, and there I will accept them. There I will require your offerings and your choice gifts, along with all your holy sacrifices” (Ezekiel 20:40)
The time is coming when He will accept their offerings and will welcome their offerings: the Kingdom period (Isaiah 66:18; Zechariah 14:16-19).
“I am against you” (Ezekiel 21:3)
This is the first time He has said this about His city of Jerusalem. The righteous and the wicked take the place of the “green” and the “dry” tree (Cf. Ezekiel 20:47).
“... my sword...”
The “sword” is the fire of Ezekiel 20:47 (Cf. Ezekiel 21:5; 30:24-25; 32:10). The sword drawn against Israel is Nebuchadnezzar (Cf. Ezekiel 21:19; 12:13; 17:20).
“… it will not return again” (Ezekiel 21:5)
The time for judgment has come.
“Groan before them with broken heart and bitter grief” (Ezekiel 21:6)
The Lord was instructing Ezekiel to express his breaking heart and emotion, in order to convey, through him, the intensity that God felt here.
“Every heart will melt with fear and every hand go limp; every spirit will become faint and every leg will be wet with urine” (Ezekiel 21:7)
This was speaking of the coming judgment of Nebuchadnezzar on them in 588-586 BC.
Titus the Roman came in 70 AD and leveled Jerusalem—just as Nebuchadnezzar is about to do in Ezekiel’s time (Cf. Isaiah 24:17; 66:16; Luke 21:26).
“Mark out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to take” (Ezekiel 21:19)
There is a fork in the road, and God asked Ezekiel to now draw a map: Southwest it went to Judah and Jerusalem; Southeast it went to Rabbath-Ammon. The prophet was commanded to mark on the sand, or possibly on a brick or tile (Cf. Ezekiel 4:1), two lines representing two roads which the king of Babylon and his army would follow. These roads come forth from the same land, Babylon, and follow the same route hundreds of miles to the Orontes Valley before diverging.
In Greco-Roman times, Rabbath was called Philadelphia; today it is known as Amman. It is situated at the source of the Jabbok, twenty-five miles northeast of the Dead Sea. Rabbath-Ammon lay on one road and Jerusalem on the other. Both were guilty of conspiracy against Babylon (Jeremiah 27:1-3).
Divination (Ezekiel 21:21)
One way of divining known by the Greeks was to put arrows into a quiver, with names (in this case probably Rabbath and Jerusalem) written on them. Another way was to consult images (Judges 18:18; Hosea 3:4). A third way was hepatoscopy, familiar in Greek, Etrurian, and Roman divination: They would cut open an animal, typically a sheep, and depending on the marks of the liver, decide what the choice might be.
The Lord was not here sanctioning the use of divination. He knew how the Babylonian king was going to do it and, of course, the Lord had it come out so that Jerusalem was the king’s choice (Proverbs 16:33).
“Take off the turban, remove the crown. It will not be as it was” (Ezekiel 21:26)
God is speaking of Zedekiah, who was to be brought low, and there will not be another king to sit upon the throne of David “until Shiloh come.”
“The crown will not be restored until he to whom it rightfully belongs shall come; to him I will give it” (Ezekiel 21:27)
This is Ezekiel’s first distinct reference to the personal Messiah, who will have the right to wear the crown and will be a true king (Cf. Genesis 49:10; Isaiah 2; Ezekiel 34:23). The repetition expresses the superlative degree (Cf. Isaiah 6:3; Jeremiah 22:29).
The key here is that the Messiah will not just be the King but also the High Priest. There are only 3 groups of people who are both kings AND priests: Melchizedek, Jesus, and the Church.
Hebrews 5-7: Jesus as the High Priest comes after the order of Melchizedek, not Aaron.
(Cf. Psalm 110:2-4; Isaiah 9:6; Zechariah 6; Psalm 72; Isaiah 9:6; 42:1; Jeremiah 23:5; 33:17)
Jacob’s Final Prophecy
Genesis 49:10
The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.
The Scepter
The scepter refers to their tribal identity and their right to apply and enforce Mosaic Laws and adjudicate capital offenses: jus gladii. Even during their 70-year Babylonian captivity (606-537 BC), the tribes retained their tribal identity. They retained their own logistics, judges, etc. (Ezekiel 1:5,8). [Josh MacDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, pp. 108-168.]
Shiloh
Shiloh: he whose it is -- “The scepter will not depart from Judah until He comes to whom it belongs.” The term “Shiloh” was understood by the early rabbis and Talmudic authorities as referring to the Messiah. [Targum Onkelos; Targum Jonathan; Targum Yerusahlmi. Cf. The Messiah: An Aramaic Interpretation; The Messianic Exegesis of the Targum, Samson H. Levy, Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, 1974.]
The Scepter Departs
Herod the Great died. Herod Antipater had been murdered. Herod Archelaus was appointed “Entharch” by Caesar Augustus but was broadly rejected: Dethroned, Banished (6-7 AD), Cf. Josephus, Antiqities, 17:13.
Caponius was appointed Procurator—the legal power of the Sanhedrin was immediately restricted and the adjudication of capital cases was lost. This was normal Roman policy (Cf. Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 2:8.). After the death of the procurator Festus, when Albinus was about to succeed him, the high priest Ananius considered it a favorable opportunity to assemble the Sanhedrin. He therefore caused James, the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, and several others, to appear before this hastily assembled council, and pronounced upon them the sentence of death by stoning. All the wise men and strict observers of the law who were at Jerusalem expressed their disapprobation of this act... Some even went to Albinus himself, who had departed to Alexandria, to bring this breach of the law under his observation, and to inform him that Aranius had acted illegally in assembling the Sanhedrin without the Roman authority. [Josephus, Antiquities, 20:9]
The priests officially mourned: “Woe unto us for the scepter has departed from Judah and the Messiah has not come!” (Cf. Babylonian Talmud, Chapter 4, folio 37.) They believed the Word of God had failed! The scepter had, indeed, been removed from Judah, but Shiloh had come.
While the Jews wept in the streets of Jerusalem, a young son of a carpenter was growing up in Nazareth. He would present Himself as the Meshiach Nagid, Messiah the King, on the very day which had been predicted by the Angel Gabriel to Daniel five centuries earlier (Daniel 9:24-27)!
From Zedekiah down to the Lord Jesus, there has been no one in the line of David who ever sat on that throne. Ezekiel is saying that no one would ever be able to do so. The Lord Jesus is the only One who will.
Right now He is sitting at God’s right hand, waiting until His enemies are made His footstool when He comes to this earth to rule (Cf. Genesis 49:10; Isaiah 2:1-4; Matthew 3:2).
“This is what the Sovereign LORD says about the Ammonites and their insults” (Ezekiel 21:28)
Ezekiel now turns to the other city: denouncing judgment against Ammon, without the prospect of a restoration such as awaited Israel. Rabbat of the Ammonites was the other city mentioned in Ezekiel 21:20 along with Jerusalem. The lot fell on Jerusalem as the first one to be dealt with.
Now it is Ammon’s turn.
Ammon
Ammon and Jerusalem, though enemies, had allied against Babylon. When Nebuchadnezzar decided to attack Jerusalem, Ammon was relieved and happy. They were thankful that Jerusalem would suffer in their place. In fact, after Jerusalem’s fall the Ammonites organized a coup that caused the death of Gedaliah, the governor of the land appointed by Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 40:13-41:10).
The Ammonites tried to set up another government in Israel that would be opposed to Babylon—probably so Nebuchadnezzar would again attack Judah instead of Ammon! Five years after the fall of Jerusalem, Ammon was destroyed for aiding Ishmael in usurping the government of Judea against the will of the king of Babylon (2 Kings 25:25; Jeremiah 41:15).
Ammon, too, had false diviners who flattered them with assurances of safety; the only result of which will be to add the Ammonites to the headless trunks of the slain of Judah, and “whose day” of visitation for their guilt “is come.”
Ezekiel is speaking of the judgment of the Ammonites, but we also have again the expression, “when their iniquity shall have an end,” suggesting the end of this age (Cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:8).
“You will be remembered no more” (Ezekiel 21:32)
In contrast to Israel, there would be no future restoration for Ammon. The sword is against Ammon in this latter part of Ezekiel 21. Ezekiel 25 is going to deal also with this judgment against Ammon. Ammon rejoiced at the fall of Jerusalem, as did Edom as well. Of course Edom is the subject of Obadiah’s prophecy, while Ammon is the subject of both this and some subsequent remarks.
MESSIANIC AGENDA (Matthew 23:37-39)
• The Purpose of all history
• The Tragedy of all history
• The Triumph of all history
History is God’s answer to man’s questions!
The Purpose of All History
Matthew 23:37
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings…
The purpose of all history is that God might gather His children together. (Jerusalem is a synecdoche for all of Israel). The image of the mother bird gathering and covering her brood is a familiar one. Moses used it in his farewell sermon (Deuteronomy 32:11). It is a picture of love, tender care, and a willingness to die to protect others. Jesus did die for the sins of the world, including the nation of Israel. Sadly, “His own received Him not” (John 1:11).
The Tragedy of All History
Matthew 23:37-38
… and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate.
The Triumph of All History
Matthew 23:39
For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
“... until”
Jesus left the nation with a promise: He would one day return, and the nation would see Him and say, “Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord!” This is a quotation from Psalm 118:26, the great messianic psalm that was quoted so many times in His last week of ministry. The crowds had used those very words (Matthew 21:9).
THE 69 WEEKS (Daniel 9:25)
Daniel 9:25
Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
The Meshiach Nagid -- “The Messiah the King”
The prediction is to the presentation of the Messiah the King (dygIn Nagid = “ruler, captain, prince,” is first used of King Saul, 1 Samuel 9:16, 10:1). On several occasions in the New Testament when they attempted to take Jesus as a King, He invariably declined, “Mine hour is not yet come.” (John 6:15; 7:30, 44) Then one day, He arranges it.
The Triumphal Entry
Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Luke 19:38-40
Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
Jesus held them accountable to recognize this very day (Luke 19:41-44)!
Judgment Declared
Luke 19:41-44
As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.
The Interval
Daniel 9:26
After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
Rabbinical Confirmations of Daniel 9:26
• Messianic; prior to the Temple destroyed [Yalkut, Vol II, 32b, p.79 Nazir edition.]
• Messiah to exit prior to 33 a.d. [Midrash Berishit, p.243 Warsaw edition; re: Yakov Prasch.]
Hosea 5:15
Then I will return to my lair until they have borne their guilt and seek my face-- in their misery they will earnestly seek me.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Matthew 3
Notes for BSF
JESUS KNOWS OUR STRUGGLES BECAUSE HE IS ONE OF US (Luke 2:40-52)
Jesus grew up in obscurity
Although the Scripture does not elaborate much on Jesus' life before his ministry, we get a glimpse of his childhood here and there. For example, a simple sentence or two describes that Jesus grew and became strong, that he grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.
We know Jesus as a great man, a great teacher, our great God! What many of us misses is that Jesus was also a great kid, despite the difficult situations he had to face.
Jesus was a foreigner to his own family, a stranger to his mother’s own children (Psalm 69:8)
Jesus’ half-brothers, James and John, did not support Jesus or his ministry until AFTER Jesus died and was resurrected. In Psalm 69, we can get a hint of what Jesus went through when he was young. He grew up with the neighbors knowing that he had no (human) father. We can imagine back in those days, the kind of ridicule and despise Jesus received because of this. People were not kind to those who were born out of wedlock. Jesus had a difficult childhood -- not only did neighborhood kids mocked him, even his own half-brothers pushed against him!
As man, Jesus was temped (Hebrews 2:10–18; Hebrews 4:15–16; Hebrews 5:7-9)
Jesus was fully man, like us, of flesh and blood. And because he was flesh and blood, he suffered like we do; he was tempted like we are. And because he has lived through our pain -- He knows exactly what it means to be human -- we can look to him for practical guidance as we walk through life's valleys. Jesus is not just a king who sits on the throne and is completely clueless to the hard life of his people; he is a king who has literally walked in our shoes!
Jesus was obedient -- Not just to his earthly parents but to God as well (Luke 2:51; Hebrews 5:7-9)
I don't think we will ever be able to completely understand the concept of the Trinity in this life time. How is God 3 persons, and how could Jesus be both the Son of Man and Son of God? I don't completely understand this concept myself (and I look forward to learning all about it when His Kingdom come), but this is the main perspective I keep in mind:
While on Earth, Jesus was man and did not posses nor use his heavenly powers
Whenever Jesus healed someone, he always stresses, "Your faith has healed you." The miracles that Jesus performed were not the result of him being God but because of his FAITH in God the Father. I can say this with confidence because if his godly powers allowed Jesus to perform the miracles, then he wouldn't have been able to send his disciples out, who also healed many and drove out demons. Further, we learn that while Jesus was man on Earth, he was not fully aware of the Father's plan: "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Matthew 24:36, NIV)
In every sense, while on Earth, Jesus was man. Period. He didn't triumph over Satan's temptations (Matthew 4:1-11) or performed miracles because he had supernatural powers. After all, the miracles he performed were repeated by his disciples. Instead, his prayers were answered because he was obedient to God the Father. Jesus was up early at sunrise everyday to spend time with God in prayer. He had struggles, and he suffered pain -- but through it all, he prayed and followed God's will.
As we continue our own walk through life, it is encouraging to keep the above perspective -- that as one of us, Jesus showed us how to live depending completely on God.
JOHN THE BAPTIST POINTED TO JESUS, OUR MESSIAH (Matthew 3:1-12; Luke 1:5-25, 57-80; Malachi 4:5-6)
John 3:28
I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him.
As a great man of God, John the Baptist had a following of disciples. Never once though, did John ever claim glory for himself, because he knew God's will was to use him as an arrow to point straight to Jesus.
John 3:30
He must increase, but I must decrease.
And so, once Jesus came, John the Baptist slowly faded into the background, named as the last prophet of the Old Testament.
John the Baptist preached repentance and forgiveness of sins (Luke 3:1-20)
The main message of John the Baptist was for us to repent of our sins. He also preached on other topics (share our fortunes with others; do not take advantage of others; be content with what we have), but his life's work was to point people toward Jesus for our ultimate repentance and forgiveness of sins.
When we repent, we admit we are sinners and commit to turning away from sin. When God accepts our repentance, we are forgiven, declared clean.
John cleansed sinners with water. Water only temporarily cleans, and it cleans only our physical filth. To be eternally cleansed, water was not enough. This is why we need Jesus.
Jesus cleanses us with the Holy Spirit. When we repent of our sins and accept Jesus, the Holy Spirit dwells within us. We die in our old selves and are born again in the Holy Spirit. This cleansing of our soul is permanent. Through Jesus, we are forgiven and declared clean for the eternity.
JOHN BAPTIZED JESUS (Matthew 3:11-12)
John preached about Jesus
- Jesus is more powerful than John
- Jesus will baptize us with the Holy Spirit (while John could only baptize with water)
- Jesus will one day judge the world (clear the threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire)
The Holy Spirit works in the life of a Christian
When we accept Jesus and receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we don't immediately become the most amazing and perfect people in the world (as I'm sure our family and friends will readily confirm).
However, as we remain committed to the Lord, we will be guided by the Holy Spirit and begin to see our lives changed -- This is stressed by the entire book of James.
John bore witness of Jesus Christ (John 1:32-33)
"I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."
God announced Jesus as His Son (Matthew 3:17)
Matthew 3:13-14, NKJV
Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"
Since baptism is the public confession of our sins and acceptance of eternal cleansing of our souls of sin -- and Jesus is SINLESS -- why did Jesus sought to be baptized?
Matthew 3:15, NKJV
Jesus answered and said to him,"Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."
Jesus was baptized...
1. To fulfill ALL righteousness
2. To publicly declare his ministry
As Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon him, with God announcing to the world, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17, NKJV).
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit were all at the start of Jesus’ public ministry.
JESUS KNOWS OUR STRUGGLES BECAUSE HE IS ONE OF US (Luke 2:40-52)
Jesus grew up in obscurity
Although the Scripture does not elaborate much on Jesus' life before his ministry, we get a glimpse of his childhood here and there. For example, a simple sentence or two describes that Jesus grew and became strong, that he grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.
We know Jesus as a great man, a great teacher, our great God! What many of us misses is that Jesus was also a great kid, despite the difficult situations he had to face.
Jesus was a foreigner to his own family, a stranger to his mother’s own children (Psalm 69:8)
Jesus’ half-brothers, James and John, did not support Jesus or his ministry until AFTER Jesus died and was resurrected. In Psalm 69, we can get a hint of what Jesus went through when he was young. He grew up with the neighbors knowing that he had no (human) father. We can imagine back in those days, the kind of ridicule and despise Jesus received because of this. People were not kind to those who were born out of wedlock. Jesus had a difficult childhood -- not only did neighborhood kids mocked him, even his own half-brothers pushed against him!
As man, Jesus was temped (Hebrews 2:10–18; Hebrews 4:15–16; Hebrews 5:7-9)
Jesus was fully man, like us, of flesh and blood. And because he was flesh and blood, he suffered like we do; he was tempted like we are. And because he has lived through our pain -- He knows exactly what it means to be human -- we can look to him for practical guidance as we walk through life's valleys. Jesus is not just a king who sits on the throne and is completely clueless to the hard life of his people; he is a king who has literally walked in our shoes!
Jesus was obedient -- Not just to his earthly parents but to God as well (Luke 2:51; Hebrews 5:7-9)
I don't think we will ever be able to completely understand the concept of the Trinity in this life time. How is God 3 persons, and how could Jesus be both the Son of Man and Son of God? I don't completely understand this concept myself (and I look forward to learning all about it when His Kingdom come), but this is the main perspective I keep in mind:
While on Earth, Jesus was man and did not posses nor use his heavenly powers
Whenever Jesus healed someone, he always stresses, "Your faith has healed you." The miracles that Jesus performed were not the result of him being God but because of his FAITH in God the Father. I can say this with confidence because if his godly powers allowed Jesus to perform the miracles, then he wouldn't have been able to send his disciples out, who also healed many and drove out demons. Further, we learn that while Jesus was man on Earth, he was not fully aware of the Father's plan: "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Matthew 24:36, NIV)
In every sense, while on Earth, Jesus was man. Period. He didn't triumph over Satan's temptations (Matthew 4:1-11) or performed miracles because he had supernatural powers. After all, the miracles he performed were repeated by his disciples. Instead, his prayers were answered because he was obedient to God the Father. Jesus was up early at sunrise everyday to spend time with God in prayer. He had struggles, and he suffered pain -- but through it all, he prayed and followed God's will.
As we continue our own walk through life, it is encouraging to keep the above perspective -- that as one of us, Jesus showed us how to live depending completely on God.
JOHN THE BAPTIST POINTED TO JESUS, OUR MESSIAH (Matthew 3:1-12; Luke 1:5-25, 57-80; Malachi 4:5-6)
John 3:28
I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him.
As a great man of God, John the Baptist had a following of disciples. Never once though, did John ever claim glory for himself, because he knew God's will was to use him as an arrow to point straight to Jesus.
John 3:30
He must increase, but I must decrease.
And so, once Jesus came, John the Baptist slowly faded into the background, named as the last prophet of the Old Testament.
John the Baptist preached repentance and forgiveness of sins (Luke 3:1-20)
The main message of John the Baptist was for us to repent of our sins. He also preached on other topics (share our fortunes with others; do not take advantage of others; be content with what we have), but his life's work was to point people toward Jesus for our ultimate repentance and forgiveness of sins.
When we repent, we admit we are sinners and commit to turning away from sin. When God accepts our repentance, we are forgiven, declared clean.
John cleansed sinners with water. Water only temporarily cleans, and it cleans only our physical filth. To be eternally cleansed, water was not enough. This is why we need Jesus.
Jesus cleanses us with the Holy Spirit. When we repent of our sins and accept Jesus, the Holy Spirit dwells within us. We die in our old selves and are born again in the Holy Spirit. This cleansing of our soul is permanent. Through Jesus, we are forgiven and declared clean for the eternity.
JOHN BAPTIZED JESUS (Matthew 3:11-12)
John preached about Jesus
- Jesus is more powerful than John
- Jesus will baptize us with the Holy Spirit (while John could only baptize with water)
- Jesus will one day judge the world (clear the threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire)
The Holy Spirit works in the life of a Christian
When we accept Jesus and receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we don't immediately become the most amazing and perfect people in the world (as I'm sure our family and friends will readily confirm).
However, as we remain committed to the Lord, we will be guided by the Holy Spirit and begin to see our lives changed -- This is stressed by the entire book of James.
John bore witness of Jesus Christ (John 1:32-33)
"I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."
God announced Jesus as His Son (Matthew 3:17)
Matthew 3:13-14, NKJV
Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"
Since baptism is the public confession of our sins and acceptance of eternal cleansing of our souls of sin -- and Jesus is SINLESS -- why did Jesus sought to be baptized?
Matthew 3:15, NKJV
Jesus answered and said to him,"Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."
Jesus was baptized...
1. To fulfill ALL righteousness
2. To publicly declare his ministry
As Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon him, with God announcing to the world, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17, NKJV).
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit were all at the start of Jesus’ public ministry.
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