In Matthew 16:1-4, there is a passage about the Pharisees and Sadducees wanting conclusive evidence that Jesus was the Messiah –they demanded that He give them a sign from heaven. Jesus rebutted, stating that they routinely observed and reacted to heavenly signs related to the physical world –for example, observing the color of the sky to know when it was safe to travel on the sea.
Jesus went on to say that since they did not have faith, the sign for them to watch for was one recorded in Jonah. Why did He say that they didn't have faith? Because they were asking for a sign –a spiritual sign– that they had already been given and forgotten. A sign that had shown in the heavens –the star of Bethlehem– about thirty years earlier– and it was widely known about! The first to recognize it were the Maji (the "Three Kings") who went to King Herod in Jerusalem asking the whereabouts of the Child King –the One they knew to be the Messiah –God's Anointed One.
Herod acted interested –asking the Maji to report back when they found the Child so that he too could go and worship. But his lie was not convincing and the Maji did not return. To ensure success in finding this King that might take over his empire, Herod had the Scriptures searched to find out where the birth was to take place. The answer was found in the book of Micah –prophesied so many years before.
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. (Micah 5:2)
Herod then ordered the death of every boy in and around Bethlehem that would have been born about the time that the sign appeared in the heavens. This was reported all over Israel; even the Pharisees and Sadducees heard about it!
The Pharisees and Sadducees –those of the time who were very religious, but had no faith– knew the Scriptures extremely well. Remember when He told them in John 5:39-40 "You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you possess eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life."?
Since they knew the Scriptures, there was another sign that they should have seen; it's the prophecy in Isaiah which describes Jesus' birth.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)
You might wonder what that reference to the sign of Jonah was about. Those religious zealots ignored the birth and earthly life of our Savior. But they could not ignore His death and resurrection because it was going to happen in just a few days. Not only that, but they too were going to experience their own death and subsequent appearance (resurrection) before the God's great white throne where they will once again face our Lord. But, of course, that time it will be too late for them.
Today we can read about that sign in the heavens and realize that the Creator of this world came here to live with us. The Son of God was given to us; He was born as a child like us. This was all so that we can know Him and His Father personally. Unlike those Pharisees and Sadducees, we study the Scriptures diligently to know Him and His ways more. He is our eternal life and He is who we celebrate this Christmas season.
The Lord's last supper occurred the evening before His crucifixion. It was after twilight and –according to the Hebrew time table– was the beginning of the "day of preparation" for the Passover Feast. The Passover is celebrated with the community as a whole at the synagogue. It's also a Hebrew tradition to celebrate it with family, friends, and neighbors, the evening before that.
When God told Moses the date for the Passover to be celebrated –the 14th of Nisan, He was announcing the date on which His Son Jesus –the Lamb of God– was going to die. He also announced the day that He –Jesus– was going to be put on public display for all to see the perfection of His Son. It was the "Triumphal Entry" and it was going to happen on the 10th.
Jesus' last supper was celebrated in the traditional manner –with His family and friends on the Day of Preparation. We don't know who the woman was that lit the candles, but it was probably His mother –after all, Mary was the one who brought the Light of Men, the Light of Life, into this world. They had drank the first cup of wine –the Cup of Joy, washed, eaten the karpas, displayed the three matzos (the Trinity), broken the middle one (wrapped half in a linen napkin and hid it away –buried it), repeated the story of the Exodus, drank the Cup of Judgment after dripping the ten drops, washed again, eaten the bitter herbs, and eaten the traditional meal.
It was at this time that He stood up and raised up the half of a matzo that had been wrapped in linen from its burial place –foreshadowing the resurrection. And He said "This is my body, it is broken for you." The middle matzo is called the Afikomen. Ironically, it's the only Greek word in the entire Seder meal as if to call special attention to it. The word "Afikomen" means "I have come". That's what His disciples heard when He spoke those words to them that night. He then broke that half and they ate it –all of it. They ate the Bread of Life –foreshadowed by the manna given to their fathers in the wilderness. His body is gone –it can no longer be seen. (It exists only in those who belong to Him –His bride.) Then He lifted the third cup of wine –the Cup of Redemption– and explained that it represented His blood that was going to be shed for them. That was the price that was going to be paid for restoring men to a righteous relationship with God. When God said "I have redeemed you by My outstretched arm", He was referring to Jesus' arms that were stretched out on the cross for our redemption.
The rest of the story...
If you have read through the topics on this site and would like to have a deeper and more personal understanding, there is a way for that to happen. I would be privileged to speak with you and your group about some of the most critical concepts with which we Christian should be intimately familiar. As important as these concepts are, they don't receive nearly the emphasis they deserve –leaving us to either figure it out on our own or worse –to rely on secular teaching.
Your New Identity in Christ: On any given Sunday, we hear powerful sermons about the changed lives that we are supposed to be living –and we dutifully attempt to follow out those directions. But within a matter of days or even hours, the spiritual power surge escapes –leaving us with the need to be kick-started the next time the church doors are open.
Although the actions we are to perform do logically seem right, they aren't natural for the person we know that we really are –the actions become a forced act of a play. There is, however, a simple solution fully described in our Bibles; why it's not taught routinely, is unimaginable. By knowing what happened the instant we became Christians is foundational to living the life of that new being.
Understanding who we are as new creations in Christ leads us out of bondage to the old sinner who was crucified with Christ on His cross. It frees us to live as fruitful ambassadors, avoid being hypocritical witnesses, and to experience that elusive abundant life.
Living a Life of Legalism or Grace: Making choices founded on a set of rules or standards –no matter what their source– is by definition, living under legalism. Whereas, listening to and following the Holy Spirit is living by grace. Jesus told stories about how the two cannot be mixed, but His explanation of the unleavened loaf of bread tells it all – how even a little bit of legalism totally contaminates the whole of grace.
There are very few Christians who believe that they live a legalistic life. Rather, they believe that they are usually led by the Holy Spirit. The fact of the matter is that every one of us inherited a legalistic nature from mans' fall in the garden of Eden. Legalism is natural –it's the normal way of life that everyone was born into. Using our own knowledge and experiences, we follow Eve's example and choose what is good and bad for ourselves –and also determine whether other's behavior is acceptable or not. That's why we say things like "That's not what I would do" and "I'm not that bad." In our flesh, we are all unbridled legalists –judges of good and evil.
Even in our attempts to "do the right thing" we decide what is "right" based on a standard –maybe derived from the Ten Commandments, what our conscience says, what mom or dad or Pastor John taught us when we were young. Nonetheless, it's living by legalism –not grace. It's after recognizing the legalism in our lives that we clearly understand the guiding of the Holy Spirit and bear the fruit of the Spirit to the God we desire so much to serve.
Building and Restoring Relationships:
There's not a one of us who doesn't struggle with relationships. And it's all because of the expectations we have. We expect friends and spouses to –not betray our confidence –not gossip about us –be there when we need them –even like us when we're not likable. We expect our children to –be respectful –not embarrass us –follow our example –do what we say. In every case we will –given enough time– be disappointed. It's this disappointment –their not meeting our expectations– that destroys relationships.
Jesus told us to love one another as He loves us. His love is not selfish, never ending, always accepting, never remembering wrongs. What an impossible request! Why? –Because we have those expectations. If I were to ask you, "How can He can love us unconditionally?" You would probably answer, "He's God –He can do anything." Although that's true, the deeper reason is because He doesn't have any expectations of us that would result in His being disappointed.
To get out of this pattern –of setting standards and enduring the resulting disappointment– takes getting a firm understanding of the separation between our flesh and our spirit and understanding the difference between legalism and grace. Making decisions based on that understanding then enables you to experience life without disappointment, frustration and anger.
The pastor of the church my wife and I were attending was preaching on the commandment regarding adultery. It was the seventh week in a series on obeying the Ten Commandments. Each week the sermons became more burdensome –to the point that my wife was dreading Sunday mornings. They were no longer spiritually uplifting.
That week, he revealed a recent personal experience in which he and one of the elders were driving through the neighborhood and an attractive woman, wearing a very small bikini, was walking down the street. He made an excuse at the time to the elder about having to go back to his office for something; the real reason was so that he could take another look. The pastor explained that this was an example of adultery that plagued him –one that's very common for men. He summed up the sermon by telling the audience that at the end of the day, he needed to make things right between God and himself –to restore their fellowship– and that required his praying for God's forgiveness and repenting from those thoughts.
I knew in my heart that something was wrong with that message and kept asking God to help me to understand what the real intent of that law was. Within a few days I heard a message on the radio where a man was teaching on God's grace. He told about his own experiences where the normal things in Christian life seemed so difficult –actually impossible to bear. Unlike the usual teachers who quoted short passages to make their point, this man read long passages directly out of the Bible and he put them in context! The topics he presented were the same ones that I found so difficult. God has answered that request many times over. He has used life's situations combined with what is in the Bible to reveal what Christian life is and what it isn't. The section I call "Foundation Topics" deals with many of them.
Most evangelical Christians are familiar with stories about Jesus found in the New Testament. But have you wondered if there is more that can be learned about Him before that day when we see Him face to face? There is! And it's found in the Old Testament. There's an old saying: "The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed. And the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed."
The tale of Adam and Eve is so much more than mankind's fall from grace. Eve bit into sin's deception and swallowed rebellion against God –knowing that the result was expulsion from the garden. Eve represents you and I –the church –the bride. Adam had a choice to make. He could either stay in the garden and let the love of His life go into the wilderness alone. Or he could take on her sin and die for her. The punishment for him was death and toil; for her it was trouble with new birth.
The Old Testament is full of pictures –foreshadows– about Jesus. Jonah provides insight into our salvation and also what Jesus thought about during and after the punishment He paid for our sins. The seven days of Creation describes Jesus' purpose for joining us on this earth. In fact the first three days foretell of his birth, death and resurrection. The stories of Ruth and Deborah detail the working of the Trinity for our salvation. Sampson explains Jesus' relationships with three categories of mankind: "The world", Israel, and the Church. Those picture stories are in a section "Foreshadows about Jesus".
Its purpose is to communicate the Gospel truth of God's grace that took so long for me to learn and understand. I've gone to many churches over the years and found that most of them are based to a large degree on legalism. By that I'm referring to the theology where Christians stay on God's good side through their actions and attitudes. The simplest form requires doing our best to keep God's laws and commandments. The more subtle forms demand us to demonstrate certain spiritual gifts, to be baptized in a particular manner, to pray and read the Bible a minimum amount of time per day, or to follow well meaning traditions such as not drinking alcohol, using tobacco or dancing.
That all sounded so reasonable to me back then. The ranking members of those churches had great sounding reasons and arguments for what they believed. And I believed it too for a long time. But I thank God that He showed me that all of it was actually works of my flesh –wood, hay and stubble.
I'm not suggesting that the people in those churches were unproductive. No! In fact some of them have been the dearest of friends –supporting me in some of my most difficult times. However, they were missing out on an abundant life found by living everyday life in God's grace. In regard to their faith, their lives were primarily motivated by guilt. Basically, it came in two forms: Fear of lost fellowship with God and fear of condemnation by other church members.
