Author Archives: Mark

Holy Spirit

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For Pentecost 2022, I was looking at the term (logos) Holy Spirit and found this interesting fact. Out of the New Testament writers, Doctor Luke uses Holy Spirit the most. (These are approximate numbers because translations are different.) Holy Spirit is used 100 times in the New Testament, 55 of those are used by Luke. The Greek doctor, who traveled with Paul and spent time with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and John, mentioned the Holy Spirit more than all the other writers combined. In his Gospel, it appears 13 times, with the rest (42 or 43) being in Acts. Luke wrote these letters to Theophilus (friend of God).

Other Tidbits

  • Ruach HaKodesh or HaKo’desh is Hebrew for Holy Spirit. Ruach is breath, wind, or spirit.
  • Hagios Pneuma is Greek for Holy Spirit. Pneuma is breath, wind, or spirit.
  • If you look in the KJV, use the term Holy Ghost instead of Holy Spirit.

When Did the New Testament Begin?

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Please vote for when you think the Old Testament ended and the New Testament started.

  1. She gave birth to her firstborn Son (Luke 2:7).

2. Baptism by John (Matthew 2:15).

3. Jesus sent the Twelve out (Luke 9:2).

4. It is finished (John 19:30).

5. The sound of wind came from Heaven and filled the house (Acts 2:2).

The Sermons on the Mounts-War and Rumors

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In Matthew 24 Jesus has finished His sermons on the Temple Mount, for the leaders and the crowds, and is going to the Mount of Olives. The disciples comment about the stones of the Second Temple, built by Herod, and Jesus predicts they are coming down. (Rome accomplished this in 70 A.D.) Back on the Mount of Olives, the disciples ask when the end will come, this is the start of several lessons about the end times and the kingdom of God. Jesus, in Matthew 24:6, uses the phrase, “wars and rumors of war”. Mark 13:7 and Luke 21:9 also are references, Luke has the term revolutions.

War or Battle

We do not tend to think of these as the same thing, but in the Greek (Strong’s 4171) they are the same word or from the same root word-polemos. There are a few times polemos is translated as the word fight. The occurrence of this word/idea is rare in the Gospels but not in the Epistles. (Mounce Reverse Interlinear NT) The above verses account for most times it is translated as war with Luke 14:31 being the other time, it talks about a king planning a war.

I find it interesting that Paul and the other Epistle writers talk about war, battles, and fighting more than Jesus did.

Rumor

Akoe (Strong’s G 189) is the Greek word for a rumor. This is a root for many words that deal with hearing or reports.

In studying the idea of rumors, I found two Old Testament verses that cover rumors very well. These are from the NIV.

Jeremiah 51:46 tells us to not lose heart because a new rumor shows up every year.

Ezekiel 7:26-Calamity upon calamity will come, and rumor upon rumor.

The major difference between then and now is these reports can appear in minutes instead of months.

Fight

To introduce the difference between fight and battle and not talk a little about it now, did not seem right. In the New Testament, several words (5 to 8) are translated as the word fight. They indicate levels of conflict and possible places. One is strictly about fighting over words.

On the Mounts

 For those that want to think Jesus just walked about saying love, love; I will point to these sermons before His death. These interactions should be classified as fighting and the whole morning in the Temple as battle after battle, or a war.

The types and shadows of these days started with Abraham leading Isaac to the mount to be sacrificed, Joshua’s journey into the Promised Land, David’s return after the death of Absalom, and Elisha’s trip to Mt Carmel.

Jesus cleansed the Temple and ended the curse of fig leaf acts started by Adam and Eve. He silenced the religious leaders and prophesied the end of the Second Temple. Jesus’ sorties from the east bank included raising a dead man, healing blind eyes, and bringing a sinner back to the Father. He cried over Jerusalem and announced His death, then still did a victory ride into the city to fulfill the words of Zechariah 9:9.

Yes, there have been wars and reports of wars, how could we expect anything else. Come, Lord Jesus!

Many or Polys

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Greek Interlinear Bibles can be the start of grand studies, like this one about many or polys. This study started in John 15:5 with us bearing much fruit and then went to Matthew 24 or Holy Tuesday when Jesus was teaching on the Mount of Olives. (Now, if you are a Greek scholar, please bear with me, I am not.) Polys and its various forms can be translated-many, much, great, loud, and various other words that speak to these ideas. Poly in science class was always many of something, so I am stuck on that. In John, I like the sound of many fruits, not just one type or a lot of just one thing. The Strong’s number is G4118 and several others. Matthew 2:18 is another verse that could be affected. Ramah’s voice weeping with many mourning (people) and a lot of it is probably what happened.

Matthew 21—25 is currently catching my attention because of the Sermons on the Two Mounts. Seven polys in Chapter 24 are a lot, and it led to a verse in John that I found interesting. His disciples asked Jesus about His second coming, so this is one of the several pure-teachings (non-parables) He gave that day. The references below are KJV, I added the Bold effect. I used Bible Gateway.

Matthew 24

5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

(If these verses and that teaching upset you, may I suggest you learn about Jesus and the work He did on the cross. Fear and doubt are not from Jesus. Producing much fruit will help also.)

30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

All of this led to John 6:66-From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. The back story of that verse is important. Jesus had fed the 5,000 and the people liked the free meal ticket. In verses 57 and 58, Jesus said He was the heavenly mana, and that people needed to be eating His flesh and living forever. Cannibalism is not okay and I am sure the crowd went with that thought first. Another level of stumbling occurred because Jesus implied that His work was greater than what Moses had done. One more level is that Jesus claimed to be from heaven and that He could supply life everlasting.

Personally, I loved the 666 of the reference and how it perfectly matched with the end-time message in Matthew 24. God has a sense of humor!

Many thoughts or few, I found polys an exciting study. 

Psalm 130

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Psalm 130 is a song of ascent. This probably means that pilgrims sang them as they traveled to Jerusalem to go to the Temple/festivals. It is becoming clear that each has its own tone or voice. This one seems about contrition and waiting on God. I imagine it had a mellow or easy listening tune.

An element of this psalm is its use of Lord and LORD. Many English translations use this technique to distinguish between Adonai and YHWH (Jehovah). I am going to wander a bit here and talk about different names that are used for lord and how God is referred to in more casual conversation. The Chosen highlights some of this and many people may miss it.

Lord-This is the word Adon (Strong’s H113) or Adonai (y) (H136). This is more of a title than an attribute. They also used lord for humans-Ex. Sari called Abram adonay. My NIV Concordance has some form of this word used over 900 times in the Scriptures. Americans do not use lord, unless we are talking about an important person in the UK, so I know I don’t really appreciate this title.  

LORD-Christians know this word as Jehovah, but Hebrews/Jews do not say this name out of reverence, so they may use Adonai or Hashem (The Name). We can replace it with the Eternal (I like this.) This is an attribute of who God is. It is a shame that we have reduced it to slang and cussing.

Back to Psalm 130-This is one of thirty-five Psalms that use Adonai (Lord). This has a pattern of using Jehovah (H3068) and then Adonai. We see this in 1+2, 3 (has both), and 5+6. Verse seven has two Jehovah in it. Verse three uses Yah for LORD. Waiting and hope seem to be the main ideas for this song of ascent, with forgiveness and redemption being the reason for waiting and hoping.