Category Archives: Jesus

Christmas – Verses of Jesus

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Christmas – Verses of Jesus

Christmas candle 1John 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (NIV)

Matthew and Luke have genealogies for Jesus; Matthew 1 is for Joseph and Luke 3: 23 – 38 is for Mary. John 1 is also a type of genealogy as well as a mission statement but it is a verse that could precede even Genesis 1:1.

Genesis 3: 15 speaks of the Seed (singular) of the woman and how there would be enmity between the Seed and the snake. The snake gets a crushed head and the Seed gets a strike at His heel.

Revelations 12:1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. (NIV) (The bold words in the verses are my emphasis.)

Christmas is a time of joy for mankind as we celebrate Jesus. The turmoil that some people experience at this festive season has its roots at the beginning of our age but the answer is still the promise that was given to Eve – JESUS.

Verses are from https://www.biblegateway.com

 

Reflections On The Resurrection #6 – Ascension

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The Bride Needs Time to Get Ready!

In reflecting on the Resurrection it is important to understand the Jewish roots for this time period.  Jesus came to fulfill all of the Law and the prophetic writings about Himself.  In doing this study a phrase kept showing up in the Gospels about Jesus “opening the disciples minds to the Scriptures.”  It is easy to think that as Christians we have received the revelations and we know it all but the uneasy feeling that if men who were raised in the Word of God and were taught by Jesus needed their minds open it may be time to do more studying and listening to the Lord.

This website (http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Spring_Holidays/Shavuot/shavuot.html) brings out things that I did not learn in Sunday School.  This time period after Easter is known as the “Counting of the Omer” and symbolizes the time from the exodus out of Egypt to the receiving of the Commandments on Mount Sinai.

His_Ascension008Ascension Thursday forty days after “First Fruits” (which was barley) is in the time period that wheat is maturing for harvest (Jubilee).  Jesus has been teaching and eating with the Disciples as they have left Jerusalem traveled to Galilee and then back to Jerusalem.  Imagine the concentrated teaching on His Kingdom that He is giving them but even with everything they have seen the question that is asked in Acts 1 is, “Are you restoring Israel at this time?”

Jesus’ plan was bigger than just Israel because He had been telling them to go into the world.  John 14: 15 -31 however tells what He had planned before they could go to the world.  This is part of His discourse during the Passover meal before the Disciples paradigm was shattered and their reality was changed.  There are two things Jesus offers them in these verses – Peace and the Holy Spirit.  The peace was immediate but the Holy Spirit was going to have to wait until Jesus was gone (John 16:5 – 16).  In verse 28 and 29 He talks about going to the Father, I always thought that was about Easter but it may foreshadow the Resurrection/Ascension and the day of Pentecost.

There are several “forties” periods in Scriptures and I know that many times people associate it with testing but Jesus will not test what He has not taught.  These forty days have been a learning experience for the Disciples but I will still ask why leave at forty?  So as I pondered His ascension another “shadow” showed itself and that was the Bride needed time to get ready.  So the next ten days of pray and the election of Matthias are part of the picture of what we should be doing while we wait for Jesus to return as the angels said He would in Acts 1:11.

 

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HYSSOP, CEDAR WOOD, SCARLET WOOL

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Numbers 19: 6  The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. (NIV) (See my post-Jesus Asked for a Drink )

Cedar Wood  If you do a search on what wood was used as Jesus’ cross you get the basic answer that no one knows.  Some answers are curt and use verses like Numbers 19 to make their point that it was cedar; a nice American tradition is that the cross was Dogwood.  The problem with that is I could not find a species that grew in the Holy Land area.  I would probably throw my vote for cedar as the cross just because the type and shadow needed to be fulfilled.  The Hebrew for cedar is erez and it refers to the tenacity of the root of the tree.  My idea of cedar is the Eastern Red Cedar just because I grew up in the south and that is only one I know but I know that the Cedars of Lebanon are not like that.

Hyssop – Please see

https://ificouldteachthebible.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/crucifixion-thirst/

It is a post from God as a Gardener and is very informative on the topic of hyssop.  Like many words that are describing plants and animals in the Bible, we have a general idea of what is there now and infer what the Bible could have meant.

Scarlet Wool  This part of the verse was fun to search through.  Scarlet is tolaatha in Hebrew and deals with a crimson grub or maggot.  It mainly refers to the color that is gotten from the animal but a few times it refers to the animal itself:   Examples:

  •       Psalm 22:6  “I am a worm and not a man.”  David prophesying about how the Messiah would feel.
  •       Isaiah 66: 24  “their worm will not die” – A picture of an agony in Hell.
  •      Jonah 4:7  “God prepared a worm” the one that ate his vine and made him mad.

I will offer this as a fulfillment of the shadow of the scarlet wool, it was Jesus’ outer garment that they cast lots for.  It would have been stained red with His blood.  The cedar was the cross and the hyssop was the “pole” for the sponge with the drink for Jesus.

Jesus Returned

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The_Resurrection016

I know it sounds simple but unless Jesus had returned and showed Himself to people, Palm Sunday through Good Friday would have made no sense at all.  According to Matthew Jesus had been preparing the disciples for His returning after His death by telling them to meet at a certain mountain in Galilee.  Jesus however knew His disciples and without a little pushing they would not go to that mountain.  They seem to hunker down in the upper room and probably would have stayed there confused instead of going back to Galilee.  Mary’s encounter in the garden with the added instructions, “Go back to Galilee” was a faith and obedience builder.  When they did not leave he met the disciples on the road to Emmaus and finally had to show Himself.  I think He wanted them to leave Jerusalem and go to friendly territory to make them move.  According to Matthew even with all of the visits there were still doubters when they did go to Galilee.

Easter saw several groups “returning” from various places.  Mary Magdalene and the group of women seem to have gone to the tomb several times before she/they saw Jesus.  The disciples even though it was dark returned from Emmaus to tell the Eleven (Ten – no Thomas) that they had seen Jesus.

Jesus’ concern for the disciples had Him return to them even before returning to the Father.  John 20:17 is the phrase, “ I am returning to my Father and my God.”  I have heard several explanations as to why this had to happen but I think our sin that Jesus took on Himself and separated Him from the Father and that had to be corrected.

I guess I wish someone would have chronicled all of the next forty days but some things are just not for us to know.  The bits and pieces we have make them sound amazing and that the Disciples did move around quite a bit from Jerusalem to Galilee and back again.

Matthew 28:1-15, Mark 16: 1-14, Luke 24:1-49, John 20:1-23

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Jesus Eagerly Desired

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Luke 22:15 is the only Gospel account that records the statement, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”(NIV)  Luke, the only Gospel writer, who was not present for this meal gives us some very important details, like which disciples went and found the room (Peter and John) and comments of the sharing of the communion. (If all of the accounts had been exactly the same that would be a problem but variations would point that they are remembering it as they saw it/ were told about it.)

Communion005This was not the first Passover meal He had had with them but He included before “I suffer.”  I feel the disciples thought that the suffering, betraying, and death were in the distance future instead of that evening and the next day.  This few hours were very important for them and the direction Jesus wanted them to go.  If you put all of the accounts together it forms a serious block of teaching and Christian doctrine.  (Please note that Judas was allowed to stay through the foot washing and communion; I feel it sealed the guilt that would over take him the next day.)  Five chapters in the Book of John are centered on this meal and they contain marvelous prayers and teaching.

Jesus knew what He was about to face in the coming hours but the meal and what it represented was that important.  He “eagerly desired” the company of His friends and those few moments of fellowship when they would truly realize that He had come from God.  This love and joy on His part is in spite of the fact that they were about to leave Him alone to religious hatred and Roman cruelty.

See Holy Week – Thursday

Matthew 26:17-75, Mark 14:12-72, Luke 22: 7- 65, John 13:1 -18:27

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