Category Archives: Jesus

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

http://clipart.christiansunite.com/1395484861/Easter_Clipart/The_Resurrection_Clipart/The_Resurrection016.jpg 

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

http://clipart.christiansunite.com/1395312061/Communion_Clipart/Communion005.jpg

The Birth of a New Adam

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Why do a post about Adam during Christmas?  The first week of Advent was to reflect on the Old Testament shadows and prophecies of Jesus and since Adam was “a pattern of the one to come” (Romans 5:14) my reading went to Genesis, Isaiah, and several other places.  Most references to Adam outside of Genesis are family tree notations like 1 Chronicles 1:1, Luke 3:38, or Jude 1:14.  1Corinthians, 1Timothy, and Romans actually do some of the explaining of the “pattern” so I am comparing the first Adam and the second Adam (Jesus).

Adam 1

Adam 2

Other comparisons that are interesting: Adam sewed fig leaves together; Jesus cursed a fig tree before His crucifixion.  Eve came from Adam and the Bride is found in Jesus.

Notable things in Adam’s life – He was the first to operated on, first to make clothes, first to blame some else for his mistake, named all the animals in the Garden, first gardener, and the first to bury a child.

A word about Eve; evolutionists have come to the conclusion that there must have been an “Eve” who birthed all of mankind.  I saw a program where they spent forty minutes stating why there had to be one (Eve) and twenty minutes denying the concept.  The problem here is dual evolving of human DNA is unbelievable and I am sure that mathematically it has to be impossible.

In Hebrews, the first chapter, Jesus is clearly shown as “The Son.”  Several quotes from the Old Testament such as “You are my Son today I have become your Father” from Psalm 2:7, other verses that are mentioned at the beginning of Hebrews are     2 Samuel 7:14, and Psalm 45:6,7.   Several other verses that tell of things to come are Psalm 110:1 and Isaiah 8:17 where everything is put under His feet showing Lordship of all things.

The word “Adam” comes from a word that means, “to show blood”, “be flushed, or to turn rosy or ruddy.”  This possibly referred to his color. This leads to a question I just did not understand, “Why did God “hate” Esau (Edom)?”  He was a type of Adam (the sinner-man) being the firstborn and he was “red.”

Since Jesus was a second Adam, if we are found “in Him” we are a completely new and different race of people.

Seven Miracles in John

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From the Book of John, we Christians, have selected seven miracles to explain John 20:31. These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. (NIV) Why only seven are highlighted I do not know? Seven is the number of completeness and these are expounded more but John did mention other miracles than just these seven.  (There are two other posts listed below that show other miracles that are mentioned in John.) We also limit the “I am” statements Jesus makes.

John 14:12 gives us a promise from Jesus that we will do greater miracles than these that are shown. The word greater carries the component of more in number, not more fantastic. I chose to think “the more” comes from all of the Church performing miracles. The seven miracles highlighted here in John are amazing and worthy of being looked at and studied.

The seven traditional outstanding miracles that John wrote about to Healing_the_Sick021show the people of his day that Jesus was the Christ are:

  1. Turning water into wine in Cana (2:1-11)
  2. Healing an official’s son in Capernaum (4:46-54)
  3. Healing an invalid at the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem (5:1-18)
  4. Feeding the 5,000 near the Sea of Galilee (6:5-14)
  5. Walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee (6:16-21)
  6. Healing a blind man in Jerusalem (9:1-7)
  7. Raising dead Lazarus in Bethany (11:1-45)

I found this and thought it was good.

Gary Shogren says: “I have no idea who made this up, but I’ve used it for years.”:

THE SIGN

T – turning water into wine
H – healing the nobleman’s son
E – elevating the lame man

S – supper for 5000
I – interim on the sea [walking on water]
G – giving sight to the blind
N – notification of Lazarus to “come forth”

http://www.journeyintotheson.com/grand-central-station/the-seven-signs-of-johns-gospel/

In the NIV the words “miracles” and “miraculous signs” are used twenty-four times with two of these being Jesus asking people why they would not believe (John 12:37 and 15:24).  John 2:18 and 6:30 are people asking Jesus to show them signs so they can believe.  Jesus comments in 4:48 that Jews will never believe unless they see signs and wonders, this sounds just like Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:22 when he says,” Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom.”

SIGNS FOR THE JEWS For years I have heard that these seven miracles were signs that the Jewish people believed the Messiah would do when he came to deliver them.  I have looked for why these particular miracles and where they originated but have not been able to find them.  What I did learn was that the ancient Hebrews, as well as modern Jews, are looking for a leader who would be a military and civic leader. See Vines Dictionary under the word for semeion which is number 4592 in the Greek Dictionary in Strong’s Concordance and this website http://www.jewfaq.org/mashiach.htm . (Note, the website does not believe Jesus is the Messiah and they tell why!) (Kurt Cameron and his guest on TBN in September 2013 said that other major world religions all wanted a part of Jesus, that may be but I do not think that Judaism is one of them.)  Since the Jews were (are) looking for a military and civic leader I guess they thought that the Messiah would “one-up” the leaders that they have had and be a combination of Moses, Elijah, and Elisha, and probably several others.  Since I could not find where they got the “list” of miracles I started my own:

  1. Turning water into wine in Cana (2:1-11) – Moses had water from a rock (the water/wine came from “rock” vessels) and changed bad water to good.  Jesus changed the water to wine.
  2. Healing an official’s son in Capernaum (4:46-54) Elijah and Elisha both healed a son, they had to touch the boy, Jesus did it at a distance.
  3. Healing an invalid at the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem (5:1-18) Elisha healed the captain with the seven dips in the Jordan (See #6), and the people left Egypt all healed to face forty (38) years of wandering. 
  4. Feeding the 5,000 near the Sea of Galilee (6:5-14) Moses and manna. Elisha feeding the one hundred (2 Kings4:42). 
  5. Walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee (6:16-21) Moses divided the waters why not walk on them.
  6. Healing a blind man in Jerusalem (9:1-7) (I got nothing.) Second thought, maybe the man said it in John 9:32 “Nobody has ever heard.” Jesus did something no other leader had ever done. A third thought, Elisha told Naaman to go wash in the Jordan, that is the second recorded case of leprosy being healed. A fourth thought, this has strong elements of the creative process of Man in Genesis.
  7. Raising dead Lazarus in Bethany (11:1-45) Elisha’s bones raised a dead man. Jesus called him out of the grave.

I remember someone saying that the seven miracles in John were more oral tradition than written fact, but it was fun thinking about where they may have started. Well, if you have/know where the seven signs or miracles of Jesus being the Messiah started, please let me know.

It is not considered one of the seven, but Jesus had a habit of hiding Himself!  So, I call it a Plus One.

In one of the comments, the greatest miracle was given in the form of a prophecy. Please see Seven Miracles of Jesus +1, +1, +++++ 

Jesus refers to Himself as the I am in John, giving more proof of who He is.

For other thoughts on miracles please see Miracles and Storms

I also used this blog as a reference:  http://considerjesus.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/seven-signs-in-the-gospel-of-john/ in writing my blog.  The artwork is from  http://clipart.christiansunite.com/Pictures_of_Jesus_Clipart/Healing_the_Sick_Clipart/