Category: Suffering

Behold, the Lamb of God!

4/28/2024

Every year Pesach is celebrated, and every year the Jewish nation awaits their Messiah. When we visited Israel two years ago, I was able to speak with a Jew at the Pool of Siloam. He questioned me about Jesus, and told me that the Jewish people are fearfully awaiting the coming of the Messiah, because they are told that he was coming soon, ready or not. To get ready, they are told, they must do enough good works. Sometime between now and the end of the 6000 years of the world, he will come. If they are ready, it will be to set up his kingdom. If they are not, it will be to judge them. He asked me about our Messiah. We talked about how Jesus, a Jew, is the passover lamb, crucified for our sins to bring us back into a relationship with God. We talked about how He is coming again, and all those who place their faith and trust in Him have no fear of His coming, but only joy and anticipation!

It was deeply sad to me that, for many of the Jews, a "veil lies over their hearts," so that they cannot see that their Messiah has come.

Yet hidden in their own Seder meal is the very heart of the gospel. Moses prophesied that a “Prophet like” him would come, One whom God’s people must listen to. The Messiah, a prophet deliverer like Moses has come, was rejected, suffered and died for our sins to reconcile us to the Father and rose again to give us new life! This good news is first for the Jews, then to the Gentiles. Not only that, but the Exodus story is prophesied to repeat itself, when our Messiah returns for His people. On that day, The Suffering Messiah will come as the Triumphant King! God’s people will be delivered and the Enemy we see before us today, we will see no more forever! (Ex. 13:14)

As we meditate on this holy and deeply meaningful feast, I invite you to join us as we discover the meaning behind each element and the incredible hope we have as we await our Messiah, Jesus, who will return again for us!

The week of Pesach, of Passover, begins on Nisan 14th with a Seder meal and concludes with the bringing of the Firstfruits and rituals in readiness for the Harvest.

Yeast Removal

Each household was commanded to examine and remove all leaven from their homes. Ridding all forms of yeast, or leaven, from the whole household was meticulously done for days. All breads with any leaven were abstained from for the entirety of the seven day festival. This represented the close examination of our hearts by the Holy Spirit to remove any sin against God or others. We are to repent of any wrong and remove anything within our homes or families and even throughout our whole church family that causes us to turn away from obedience to God (Exodus 12:8, 15, 13:7, 1 Cor. 5: 11:27-29).

Fast of the Firstborn

Some Jews have the practice that the firstborn in every family fasts on the eve of Passover from sunrise to sunset. This comes from the firstborn son being consecrated to God alone as the Firstfruits of the womb. Instead of sacrifice their firstborn, they would instead redeem him with a sacrifice (Ex. 13:13-16). In addition, it is in memory of their redemption out of Egypt, the house of slavery to dead, unending work. Both Pharaoh and Herod killed all the male Hebrews babies two years old and under, in their attempt to prevent the Messiah/Deliverer from coming (Ex. 1:22; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Chapter 9.2; Matt. 2:16). This Deliverer had been prophesied in each instance by wise men who instructed the ruler about the coming Deliverer. In an outstanding reversal, it is God who brings Pharaoh’s second attempt at killing the firstborn back upon him, when the Angel of Death comes to take the Egyptians firstborn, and passes over the firstborn of all under the blood of the sacrificial lamb.

Cessation from Work

During the first two and last two days of Passover observant Jews will abstain from all work, resting in the finished work of God. This symbolizes the finished work of Christ in his life, death and resurrection and how believers are to enter into His work and refrain from any form of trying to earn their own salvation through good works or observance of the Law (Genesis 2:2; John 17:4, 19:28-30; 1 Cor. 5:1-9; Hebrews 4:9-10).

Seder Meal (Last Supper/Communion)

1. Kadesh — Kiddush (“Holy,” or “sanctified”)
The wine is blessed at the start of the meal. This cup of sanctified wine represents the blood of Christ, poured out in death for us. His side was pierced on the cross, blood and water pouring out as He prophesied at the Seder meal (Last Supper)(Luke 22:20-21, John 19:34). There are four cups of wine:

The Cup of Sanctification
The Cup of Deliverance/Judgement (deliverance for those who repent, judgment for those who refuse
The Cup of Redemption
The Cup of Acceptance

2. Urhatz —Wash
Washing is first performed in preparation for eating. A towel is wrapped on the arm of the one serving. This person goes around to each of the participants, pouring water over the hands from a pitcher into a bowl. In Jesus' time, this would have included foot washing because of the many miles of walking through dust with sandaled feet. Jesus represented this washing when He wrapped a towel on himself and washed the feet of His disciples, declaring them fully “clean.” This further signifies how Jesus washes His bride, the Church, with the water of the Word, cleansing her and preparing her for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb when He returns for His Church. (John 13:1-17, Eph. 5:26)

3. Karpas — “wool”
Any vegetable that is not bitter may be eaten. Common vegetables used are celery, parsley, onion, or potato. Dipped in salt water for purification and seasoning, they remind us of the baby boys cast in the Nile and the tears shed by the slaves.
In its meaning of “wool,” it is used in the Hebrew scriptures to demonstrate Christ types, who as a “lamb before His (wool)shearers was silent, so He did not open His mouth” at His trial and crucifixion (Isaiah 53:7:
It is used to describe Esther’s royal robe when she went before the King after three days, risking her life to intercede for her people and gaining their freedom on the day of Passover.
It describes Joseph’s “coat of many colors,” made of wool, torn and dipped in the blood of the goat as his brothers when they sold him into slavery.
It describes Tamar’s torn “coat of many colors” as she was defiled by her brother, her blood being shed.
Finally, they remind us of Jesus’ command to rejoice at our own persecution as believers, stating that we are the salt of the earth in order to bring the purification of Christ to others. Though we are favored by our Father, just as Esther, Joseph, Tamar and Jesus, and wear the royal robes of righteousness, through suffering, we allow others to “taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Matt 5:10-16, Psalm 34:8)

4. Yahatz — “Divide”
Three matzahs (unleavened breads) are used in the ceremony, represented the triune nature of God. The middle matzah is broken and the larger part saved for the conclusion of the meal, signifying Jesus’ body, broken for His people (Luke 22:19). The saved portion signifies the return of the Messiah at the end of time. The matzah is unleavened, representing the innocent and sinlessness of Christ. It is pierced through many times, representing the piercing with the spear by the soldier at Christ’s death as well as the flogging He received in order to save us from our sins: 5But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5

5. Magid — Narration of the Exodus story of redemption from slavery

The plate of affliction. The plate with the symbols of affliction is lifted up.
The shankbone of the Paschal lamb or kid: the zero’a of the paschal sacrifice is included because the word zero’a literally means “arm,” alluding to the verse which states, “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm . . .”;

Boiled egg: In Aramaic (spoken by Jews at the time of Jesus), an egg is called bey’a, which also means “pray” or “please.” Thus, the foods silently plead, “May it please the Merciful God to redeem us with an outstretched arm.”

Bitter herbs: These signify the bitterness of the death. The word bitter in Hebrew is “marah,” and was included in the names of the women, three different Marys, who attended Jesus’ cross, burial and witnessed to His resurrection.

Invitation to the nations. An invitation to the stranger and foreigners is to join the Seder meal, signifying the invitation to the world, including Gentiles, to become part of the Body or Church of Jesus.

The wine cups are refilled.
The youngest person at the seder asks the Four Questions and responses are given.

The Four Children
These signify four kinds of people who respond to the gospel: wise, wicked, simple, and one who does not know how to ask. Jesus’ parable of the farmer who sows his seed represents the gospel being shared with people. There are four kinds of people who receive His Word: 1) Those who hear, but Satan comes and takes it away so they will not believe to salvation; 2) those who receive it with joy, but because they do not press onto maturity through a deeper understanding and relationship with God, only persevere in the faith for a time until they give into temptation; 3) those that are consumed by the cares, riches and pleasures of this world and bring no fruit of the Spirit because they never reach in maturity in God; and 4) those who are honest and good in heart, who having heard the Word, hold tightly to it and bring much fruit with persevering patience (Luke 8:5-15).

The Ten Plagues. The word “plague” is also the word “stricken.” Just as Jesus was stricken, so also the evil of the world will be stricken at the end of time as the Lamb of God avenges and delivers His holy people who have suffered at the hands of those who refuse to repent (Rev. 15).

Cup of Suffering. Since our “cup of salvation” cannot be regarded as full when we recall the suffering of the Egyptians, a drop of wine is removed from the cup with the mention of each plague. This signifies the remainder of the suffering which we as believers will endure as we also drink the Cup of Suffering given us by our Father (Mark 10:38-40, John 18:11, Col. 1:24)

Dayenu (It Would Have Been Enough). Let all present join in the refrain thanking God for all the miracles he bestowed upon the Israelites.

The cup is again lifted in joy, thankful for God’s deliverance, ready to praise Him with the first word of the Psalm of praise (Hallel). Two Psalms of the Hallel, Psalms 113-118
Drink the wine, with the blessing of salvation.

6. Rohtza — WashReady to eat, the hands are washed before the meal, as is required at any meal. It is similar to the previous hand-washing, but now all wash with the usual benediction as the hands are dried.

7. Motzi Matzah — Eating MatzahThe first food at the meal is the matzah, the unleavened bread. It is blessed before being eaten.

8. Maror — Bitter HerbsSmall pieces of horseradish are dipped into haroset (a sweet paste symbolic of mortar) to indicate that overemphasis on material things results in bitterness.

9. Korekh —The Passover lamb or kid (young goat) was sacrificed in memory of the blood of the lamb or goat that was put on the doorframe of the houses of Egypt in order for the angel of death, which was bringing judgment, to pass over them and spare their families. In ancient times, the Talmudic scholar Hillel ate the three symbolic foods (lamb, matzah, and bitter herbs) together so that each mouthful contained all three. Thus, the symbols of slavery and liberation were intermingled.

10. Shulhan Orekh — MealThe joyous feasting gives us the feeling of human fellowship in harmony with God.

11. Tzafun — DessertNow the afikomen. Either someone has “stolen” it, or parents can hide the afikoman when it is first put aside (Step 4) and let the children look for it during the meal to win a prize. The larger piece of matzah, the unleavened bread which was broken and hidden is now found and shared among those present. This represents how the body of Jesus was hidden from the sight of His disciples as he ascended into the clouds, with the promise that He will return one day in the same way He ascended and that every eye will see Him on that day! Those who pierced Him will mourn for Him as for an only, beloved son (Acts 1:9-11, Rev. 1:7). Just as the matzah is hidden, it is found by the children and they are rewarded, so also Jesus is coming soon, and says to us, “My reward is with Me!” (Rev. 22:12)

12. Barekh — “Let us praise!”This is the usual “bentschen,” grace after meals, including, of course, thankfulness for the Passover holiday. Fill the cup before this grace and drink the third cup at its conclusion, with the usual “bore p’ri hagafen” blessing.

Door for Elijah. At this point in the seder, they open the door for Elijah, who by tradition is the forerunner of the Messiah, the harbinger of hope, and sing “Eliyahu Ha-navi.” At Jesus’ transfiguration, there was both Moses and Elijah who came and talked with Him. Moses represents the 5 books of the Law that witness against our sin, while Elijah represents the Prophets who prophesied of the Messiah’s coming. Afterward, the disciples asked Him about this, and Jesus declared that Elijah would come, but also had come in the form of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah. Malachi 4 prophesies of the Judgment Day of the Lord, the second coming of the Messiah, wherein Moses’ Law would testify to our guilt and the prophets would testify to whether we have received the Messiah. Elijah would come again, and if the hearts were not restored, would “strike” the land with a decree to bring them all under the curse of those devoted to destruction.
This is prophesied for completion at the end of time, when the two witnesses will stand and strike the earth with plagues before being martyred and resurrected (2 Kings 2:11, Jude 1:9, Matt 17:1-12, Malachi 4:1-6, Rev. 11:3-13, Zechariah 4:11, John 6:30-46, Luke 16).

13. Hallel — Psalms of PraiseThe rest of the evening is given over to hymns and songs. The Hallel is sung, including Psalm 118, a messianic prophecy of the rejection of Messiah by the leaders of Israel, the Messiah’s death and resurrection and how He becomes the gateway to God for His people (Matt 26:30, Psalm 118).

14. Nirtzah — “Accepted”Nirtzah means to be accepted. Because of the Lamb’s sacrifice, we are included in the righteousness of Jesus when He offered the payment for our redemption price in the form of His life. God accepted us in His Beloved and we are also to accept one another in Jesus in the same way. At this conclusion, they sing L’Shana HaBa’ah B’Y’rushalayim [Next Year in Jerusalem] (Eph. 1:6, Rom. 15:7).

Bringing the Firstfruits (Bikkurim)

By law, the Israelites were commanded to bring the first of their crops and the firstborn of their children or animals to the temple (Ex. 23:19; 34:26, Num. 15:17–21; 18:12–13; Deut. 26:1–11). If it was a crop, it was given to the Levites. If it was an animal or a child, it was redeemed. All firstfruits, however, belonged to God. Jesus became the firstfruits, the firstborn from among the dead in order to redeem all other firstborns (Col 1:18). Just as the firstborns were redeemed before the Exodus from death by the blood of the sacrificial lamb, so when Christ became our Lamb He redeemed us and became the firstborn among many brothers and sisters (Rom. 8:29).

The Resurrection of Christ would begin the first day of the counting of the Omer--on Nisan 16. This harvest counting would give time for the harvest to be fully brought in and completed.

As we continue our studies into the Book of Acts and the work of the Holy Spirit in beginning the Harvest of all souls, let's prayerfully consider how we can follow Jesus, our forerunner.

Isaiah 53

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
9And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief;
when his soul makesh an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11Out of the anguish of his soul he shall seei and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.

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You, Follow Me!

4/20/2024

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We have a lot of kids. If you might believe it, sometimes it's hard for me to concentrate, get work done, or rest well in our home. :) But I still need to be present and available. So Jeff built me a little cottage as a retreat. I love going out there and looking at the trees, listening to the wind and the water in the creek. God restores my soul there.

For a while my daughters lived in the cottage while our parents were living with us. After they were able to move into other rooms again, the cottage was left cold, empty and uninviting. Of the many things needed out there, the top concern I had was heat! I searched the internet for the perfect heater. I love to read and have a lot of books, so I wanted it to have bookshelves attached. After some time, I found a little, white electric fireplace with bookshelves on either side. It was delightful! I could go out there with a cup of tea and enjoy watching the fake flames dance around. It was great-- until two weeks later the fireplace stopped working.

Oh, the flames still danced, it still looked like it worked, but there was no power to the heat element. All it could do was look pretty. It couldn't function in any purposeful way to chase away the cold in that little room. It needed to be connected to a genuine source of real power.

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” John 21:15

We must hear and 0bey by agape-loving God.

In John 21, John introduces us to Jesus’ commissioning of His disciples on His third appearance to them after His resurrection. The disciples had just gone out fishing, mirroring their original calling by Jesus. Now, after breakfast, Jesus has three questions for Peter, and three questions for us. "Do you love Me?"

John, the author of this gospel, refers to Peter as Simon Peter. His original name was Simon. It is the same name as Simeon, and comes from the Hebrew verb, “shama:” to hear and obey.

The Shama was the commandment of God which the Israelites would recite first in the morning and last at night every day of their existence, which Jesus claimed to be the Greatest Commandment:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Deut. 6:4-5

This was Simon’s name. He carried this around with him daily. He was to hear and obey God out of gratitude for God hearing his cries for salvation.

But John reminds us that Simon has another name, “Peter.” Why?

To understand Simon Peter’s second name, we need to go back to the beginning of the book, to John 1:40-42. Andrew had just been at John the Baptist’s Jordan River baptism, where John the Baptist identified Jesus as the Messiah when the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus as a dove and remained. He announced Jesus as the Lamb of God who would “take away the sin of the world!” It was then that Andrew went and got Simon and told him that he had found the Messiah and brought him to Jesus.

Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas (Peter)” (which is translated, A Rock). John 1:40-42

But here in this passage Jesus specifically refers only to his original name. Why? We will get to that in a bit, but for now we also need to see that Jesus keeps referring to Simon as the son of Jonah.

Jonah means “Dove.”

But there is also another story of Jonah. It is the story of a prophet that God commands to go to his enemies to tell them of God’s pending judgment who wanted God’s grace for himself, but not for his enemies. The story ends with us as the readers not being told whether Jonah ever allows God to change his heart.

Simon is a son of Jonah. He is frail, weak and full of false bravado. He hears God, he receives God’s grace for his three times’ denial of Jesus and every other wicked thing he had done—but he still doesn’t want to give God’s grace to the evil Gentiles, like the Romans, who had taken over his country and abused them.

Next Week we will start a series in the Book of Acts, and we will find that twice God uses this story with Jesus in John 21, in the story of the Acts of the Spirit in the birth of the Church. Simon will truly be Simon son of Jonah, with a redemptive ending!

So Jesus asks the question, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”

More specifically, Jesus asks “do you have agape-love for me?” This is God’s sacrificial love for us. God so agape-loved the world that while we were still sinners, living in hostile rebellion to God, He gave His only, beloved Son to die to redeem us. That is the agape-love of God. “Simon, son of Jonah, do you agape-love me more than these?

We must agape-love God more than anything in the world.

“More than these.” To whom or what is Jesus referring?

To find out, we need to go back to Jesus’ original calling of Simon Peter in Luke 5:1-11. Jesus had just spoken to the multitude from inside Simon’s boat. Afterward, He tells Simon to put the boat out into the water to catch, and Simon, after protesting that he had tried all night and caught nothing, hears and obeys Jesus. They catch such a great amount of fish that their nets begin to break. In Simon’s awe of this miracle, he falls down at Jesus’ knees in repentance and fear, proclaiming, “go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man!”

And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him. Luke 5:10-11

Back in John 21, we must remember, Jesus had just risen from the dead. Where does Peter go? Fishing. Jesus’ renewed calling of Simon Peter in John 21 recalls his realization of his sinfulness and the grace given to him. Jesus had originally told him not to be afraid. Simon, however, had been very afraid at the cross, to the point where he denied Jesus three times. So after Jesus’ death Peter goes back to fishing, because it’s what he knows, what he loves, what is safe, and what provides him the life that he wants: one of success and safety.

There is a grammatical structure in the Greek that point to what Jesus is talking about with his phrase “more than these” in both accounts. In the Greek, these words “all” and “more than these” grammatically end the same as the object to which they are referring. In Peter’s original calling, when they “forsook all,” the grammar indicates that the “all” is referring back to the boats. In John 21, “more than these” is also referring to the fishing, to the fish and to his livelihood from this career. The antecedent, the words earlier referenced are the “so many great fish, 153 of them.” Jesus is asking him, “Do you agape-love me more than you love fishing? More than you love this boat, this net, this job, this income, this world?”

Jesus clarifies this further in Luke 14:25:

Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:12-14, 25-33

Back in John 21, Simon’s response to Jesus’ question, Do you agape-love me more than these” is sad and unsatisfactory. He has no power over fear. Simon said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I have phileo-affection for You.”

Peter has a self-awareness. He doesn’t use agape-love, he uses “affection.” He loved Jesus like he might his brother or his family. To agape-love God means to love Him more than anything else. It is a comparison word, and by comparison our love for Him should be so much more than anything else in this world that people might consider the natural love we have for people who are close to us to be in comparison a hatred. That is the difference between the agape-love of God and the phileo-affection that Simon has for Jesus.

If we love Jesus, we must Shepherd His Church.

"Jesus said to Simon, 'Feed My Lambs."

Jesus had just called His disciples “children” at the beginning of their encounter with Him. To feed a sheep means to give it nourishment. To feed a lamb is to give it milk, because it is not yet ready for solid food. Milk is the Word of God, but it is the easy word of God. The gospel, the commands, the elemental principles of God’s word. “As newborn babes,” 2 Peter 2:2 tells us, we are to “desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.”

This command to Simon is part of The Shama:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Deut. 6:4-7

If we agape-love Jesus, we will feed those new to Jesus, the little children who are new to the faith, the milk of the Word of God as they grow. We will spend our waking hours looking for opportunities to share with them who God is, what His nature is, and how we can follow Him better.

Milk is for the immature, for the worldly, those not taking the steps of walking in the Spirit.

Paul talks to the Corinthian Church in 1 Cor. 3:1-3 about their pettinesses and sinful, worldly lifestyles as Christians and challenges them:

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? 1 cor. 3:1-3

Simon was still a “child” because he was still focusing on the world and what he could get out of it. Jesus was calling him to maturity, to forsaking the world and preparing to live out his calling in a way that would no longer just focus on his own need for grace, but also for the world’s need for salvation.

Jesus said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you agape-love Me?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I have affection for You.”

He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”

Sheep are mature adults, mature Christians. To shepherd means to not only provide pasture and calm waters, but also protection from thieves and predators. They are ready to grow on more than just milk. As we shepherd our families and those God has placed into our lives, they will need to be led to where they can learn more about God. They need protection and wisdom from the enemy's lies and deception. They need to be led to still, quiet places where they can have their soul restored in the Lord's presence. They need to be taught how to be discerning between God's voice and the enemy's voice:

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Heb. 5:11-14

Peter was still worldly. He was still focused on what he could gain out of this for himself. He was “supposing that Godliness was gain” (1 Tim. 6:5).

When we are raising our children, the goal isn’t just that they feed themselves, clothe themselves and clean up after themselves. When they are newborns, we do everything for them. As they grow and starting to eat solid food, we still do much of the work for them. But the goal is so much more. We are raising our children to not only provide for themselves, but to be able to provide for a family and their community. To be a blessing to the world. That is maturity.

Jesus is telling Simon will need agape-love to shepherd His church. It is a sacrificial love that lays down one’s life, one’s dreams, one’s success and reputation. In fighting off predators and protecting the sheep, there is necessary risk that we must accept. As a parent, we understand this. We know that caring for our kids means that we may need to place ourselves into harm to make sure that our kids are protected. We know that there will be sleepless nights, long hours, and challenging times trying to provide for them.

This is something that is very challenging for us to accept. It was challenging for Simon, because he loved and cherished his life. In Matthew 16 The Jewish rulers come to Jesus asking him to prove himself as the Messiah. Jesus tells them the only sign they will be given is the Sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the sea serpent for three days and three nights, so Jesus would be in the grave for three days and three nights before his resurrection. Jesus was suffer the cross before the life. The Jewish rulers were looking for a conquering messiah, one who would conquer, decimate and humiliate their enemies, raise them all to power, fame and wealth, and make everything amazing. This is what Simon also wanted from a Messiah. As we go on in Matthew 16, Jesus then warns his disciples to be wary of the problem the Pharisees have. Then in verse 15 he asks them this very important question: Who do you say that I am? It is Simon's answer that defines his identity:

Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter (a small pebble or easily moved stone), and on this Rock (a large, cliff-side rock used as a foundation to build structures) I will build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”
But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Matthew 16:16-28

It was by the Spirit of God that Peter recognized the power of God in the Son of God! It was by the frailty of his humanity that he resisted the calling to suffering of His same Messiah. Again, in John 10:11-13, Jesus reminds us of the difference between sharing the gospel for worldly gain vs one taking care of the Church out of agape-love:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. John 10:11-13

But Jesus knows that Simon doesn’t have this kind of courage in him. He knows he’s just a Peter, just a movable, little rock. So when Jesus is telling Simon Peter to Shepherd His Sheep, he is reminding him of his need to understand his frailty as Peter, not just Simon. Simon would need to depend entirely on the Spirit of God to accomplish the work of shepherding God's people. It would only be on the Rock of Christ that the Church would indeed be built and that not even Hell’s Gates could stand up against the onslaught of the Church of Christ to redeem the world that God loves!

Simon Peter should not be afraid. But he is. He is afraid of the cross. He is afraid of death. And this is preventing him from being who he is called to be: one that shepherds Christ’s church.

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you have phileo-affection for Me?”
And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I have phileo-affection for You.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

Jesus knows all things. Yes, he knows that Simon Peter only has an affection at this point. He needed Simon to know it. He needed Simon to know the kind of love that was necessary. He knows us too. He knows our fears. He knows our conflicting allegiances. He knows that we struggle to give up what we cannot keep to gain what we cannot lose.

He knows it’s hard.

But if we have even affection for Jesus, we must follow Him by taking up our cross and caring for His people.

Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”

The very cross Simon ran from would become the death he died. The fear he faced would be changed into courage by the Power of the Spirit and out of the love that he would be given for God and for the world. Jesus knows this about you too. The Bible says that God always finishes what He starts. He will carry us on to maturity and complete the work He has begun in you and in me (Phil 1:6). Jesus knows this and isn’t afraid that He can’t accomplish this work in us!

But what do we do? I think we are so much like Simon here. We compare ourselves to others in this process. When my kids are young, they often want to divert our learning conversations to avoid applying to themselves what they need to do. "What about her?" "What about him?" they ask. "Don’t they have to do their chores too?" "Why are they getting to stay up late and I have to go to bed?" "Why did they get a date and I haven’t yet?" We look around and wonder what God’s trying to do with someone else. That’s exactly where Simon goes when the conversation gets uncomfortable:

Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?”
Jesus said to him, “If I desire that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”
Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?”

Simon was likely also remembering Jesus’ words in Matt 16:28:

Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Matt 16:28

John was the only one of the disciples who, according to church tradition, lived a long life and died naturally. John was enabled to see the revelation of Jesus’ second coming in the book of revelation.

Peter sees John following Jesus. John hadn’t run at the cross. It was John who brought Simon into the room where Jesus was standing trial. It was John who stood at the cross, watching Jesus die. It was John who believed as soon as he saw the empty tomb. John is already following Jesus. But Jesus isn’t talking to or about John. He’s talking to Peter. We do that, don’t we? Try to distract ourselves with God’s dealings with others. "What about them, Lord?" "See how they messed up?" "What about them, Lord, aren’t you going to ask them to do something hard?" "Your people aren't getting it right." "What about them, Lord, are they going to have to do it too?"

But Jesus’ response to Simon Peter is the same as to us: If He desires a different outcome for someone else, what is that to us?

“You, follow Me.”

Have you counted the cost to follow Jesus? Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength? Do you love the people of the world as you love yourself? Are we willing to follow Jesus, even to the cross?

Peter wasn’t ready for any of these things. He was just a weak, double-minded human who was frail and too small to accomplish the great task that Jesus had assigned for him. We feel that. If we are real with ourselves before God, we know we don’t have what it takes to love like God loves, to lay down our lives every day for others, to risk our lives to save our enemies. But Jesus isn’t asking us to be strong, He is asking us to connect into Him as our Source of Power so that we can walk in His strength, doing His works, and allowing God to use us to build His Church on Jesus Christ, the immovable Rock! As we will see next week, a Power was coming from God that would give them and us exactly the kind of courage that we need to love God and shepherd His Church.

As we lean into Jesus’ hard questions for us this week, let’s not get distracted with what God is doing with other people. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to show us what things in this world—our families, friends, work, reputation, comfort.

What are the things that we are clinging to that prevent us from loving God with all our hearts? Are we willing let His Spirit fill us with the power to accomplish what He's called us to do?

References:
1Strong's Greek: 4074. Πέτρος (Petros) -- "a stone" or "a boulder," Peter, one of the twelve apostles (biblehub.com)
2Strong's Greek: 3404. μισέω (miseó) -- to hate (biblehub.com)

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I Have Seen My Redeemer!

12/18/2022

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There was also a prophetess named Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, who was well along in years. She had been married for seven years, and then was a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming forward at that moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the Child to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke 2:36-38

“Daddy’s home!” the high-pitched, jubilant cry of my little sister rent through the air of our larger, middle-class home. Pulling her nose and hands off the panes of the bay window overlooking our driveway, her cry was echoed by less than jubilation. The repeated phrase bore more the sound of a panic-stricken, pubescent middle-school boy. While the fun began with the advent of my father, so did the ensuing scramble of “pick-up time.” It was a time that Mom had tried to instill in us, and was supposed to initiate at 4pm so that my dad could come home to a clean house, a warm dinner, and an excited family waiting to welcome him, grateful for the long hours he had put in at the office. Quite honestly, it was a time that rarely began until we heard the familiar sound of his car in the driveway.
Beth reached as high as she could with her chubby fingers and swung the door open toward herself, backing up with it until the opening was wide enough to run through. She rushed out to greet him, heedless of the door standing open, the cold air springing to take advantage of osmosis, or the rush of adrenaline and activity behind her to make preparations. Legs and duplos must we swept off the floor, laundry and toys on the stairs taken up to the rooms, schoolbooks stuffed haphazardly into shelves, sometimes never to be found again, and a multitude of small items that no one knew where they belonged and would find their home in any stray crack or cranny, couch cushion or basket. If the item was too large, it would find its way to the basement ping-pong table, which was conveniently large enough to hold a massive amount of confused items. It is not always beneficial when kids are “helping” to clean, after all.
The fun would begin when Dad was home and all the boring work of the day was over. Perhaps he would play games with us, hide and seek in the dark, cards, or wrestle in a tickle battle on the floor. Surely he would read us a missionary story and a chapter from a fiction novel, using all the right voices and sound effects. Undoubtedly, he would pick out his stack of books to read and try to eat his cheerios in peace before bed. That was my favorite time. When everyone was else was gone, it was my turn to find any questions I could come up with to spark a conversation and gain one-on-one attention.
My mom used to say that she loved it when Dad would come home, because he would chase the demons away. All the frustration of dealing with us, all the mess and the work, the bad attitudes and the arguments—Dad would come home and make it all better. Every day we waited. Every day we listened for the sounds that meant life would be great again.
I imagine that in a very small way, this is a bit of the expectancy of the time in which Anna lived. While our difficulties were vastly more bearable with the love we experienced in our family, the darkness of the oppression that Anna lived under with the Roman occupation and extreme abuse of her rights she likely suffered because of her gender, her social status and her ethnicity would have greatly intensified the longing she and her fellow Israelites would have felt for the coming Redeemer.
Here we see a repeat of a name that we may be familiar with from the Old Testament—that of Hannah, the mother of Samuel. In Hebrew, her name is “Channah,” and in Greek it is “Anna.” Her name means to be favored by grace. A more literal picture of the Hebrew word is that of a benefactor leaning toward someone who is coming with a humble request in order to bless and give to them their needs.
Anna’s name is meant to bring to mind the story of her namesake, Hannah, in 1 Samuel 1, who was bereft of children. In her grief, she fasted, prayed, and shed tears with loud groanings “to the one who could rescue” her in her situation, and she “was heard because of her obedience (Heb. 5:7).” Asking for a child, she vowed to dedicated him for a lifetime service as a Nazirite if the Lord would hear her request. Together with her husband, Elkanah, “God is Redeemer,” they kept their vow and dedicated their young son, Samuel, “Heard of God,” for a lifetime of Nazir, or sacred and set apart service to the Lord.
Luke tells us that Anna was the daughter of Phanuel, and does not list her husband. Phanuel’s (Peniel) name means “the face of God,” and is meant to bring to mind the story of Jacob wrestling all night with the angel of the Lord in order to blessed by God. At daybreak, Jacob is blessed and given a new name. Realizing at once that he had in fact been wrestling with the Lord Himself, Jacob “called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared. The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel....(Gen. 32:30-31).”
Anna came from the tribe of Asher, which means “happy/blessed,” and “level/straight,” which refers us back to the story of Leah and her wrestling (Gen. 30:8) with her sister for her husband’s love and the favor of God. After giving birth to Asher, Leah named him “happy” or “blessed” because she believed that her happiness would be guaranteed now because she had been given children.
Luke informs us further that Anna was “χήρα,” which is to be bereft, sterile, barren, or stripped of inhabitants or riches. While she was a widow in our common vernacular, this word was also used of those who had no provision or protection for themselves, but relied solely on God’s provision for them. It also included women who were single and without family support, or those who had been set apart under a Nazir vow and were, therefore, bereft and dependent upon God for their needs (Ex. 38:8, 1 Sam 2:22).
Anna very well may also have served in the same capacity as a ministering woman at the tent of meeting, which likely included Nazirites as well as Kohathite Levitical women serving and ministering (Ezra 2:65-70, Neh. 7:66-73, 1 Chron. 25:5-6). This group of ministering women would have depicted an early form of what would later become the ministering women serving in the church in the order of the “χήρα,” mentioned in Acts 6 and 1 Timothy 5 with its lists of qualifications that rival that of the presbyteroi just mentioned in the book, as well as concluding with the payment given to them, or to those ministering in the word of God, that of double payment. Acts 6 men who were appointed to be sure to wait on tables were likely given the responsibility of administering the payments of currency to these ministering women, since the word for table also carried the idea of banking, and since the Hebraic law and current culture of the day dictated that those who served were to be paid daily.
Anna was married for seven years, the Biblical number of completeness. Since she was married a complete amount of time, one would assume that it was surely enough time to have had children of her own. The text, however, shares nothing with us of any children, but rather of her day and night living and ministering in the temple. This indicates that she was childless—bereft in more ways than one. Though the Luke’s account in chapters 1 and 2 show us two other bereft and childless women whom God impossibly blesses with children, one in her old age (Elizabeth) and the other in her youthful virginity (Mary), Anna, whose name would have constantly reminded her of her own hope for children, remained childless.
Additionally, being bereft of children after her husband’s death likely would have qualified her for the Levirate law (Deut. 25:5-10), where her deceased spouse’s brother would have been required to redeem her monetarily and then taken her and raised up children for her husband by her. This would ensure that both the widow and the deceased husband would maintain a portion in the land of the Promise. Their name would not be cut off from their people. We find an example of this law as Boaz acted in this capacity as a kinsman-redeemer in the story of Ruth. If Anna had consented to this Levirate arrangement, she would not have remained a widow or bereft, and it may be that though that was available, she instead devoted herself as a Nazirite to wait for her redemption from God, instead.

We must prepare the way for our Redeemer!

Anna must have thought of the children her namesake had asked for and been given by God. Hannah was “heard of God.” No doubt Anna’s own lifestyle of fasting and prayer included not a few tears for her own lack. She may not have felt “heard,” and given the fact that she remained single until old age, she likely had no more hope for being “heard of God” in this capacity. So where was God’s favor? Where was His grace on her life? Without children and as a widow, she would have been presumed by others to be cursed for sin of which perhaps only God knew. And yet Luke makes it plain that she is a godly woman, ministering in the same way we see the apostles “ministering before the Lord” in Acts 13:2 in a liturgical sense.
However, just as her predecessor Hannah did not drown herself in sinful pleasures or addictions, but rather poured out her soul in faithful service and ministry to the Lord, we see Anna so doing. We don’t see her remain idle in her sorrow.
Instead, we see her invest in others and allow herself to be so filled with God that she regularly prophesied. We see her dedicating herself to the ministry, and spending her days and nights fasting and praying and proclaiming God’s Word. It is highly likely that the very people to whom she had prophesied regularly were many of the very ones whose hearts were waiting expectantly for the “redemption” to come. Just as her descendance from Asher suggests, we see her “preparing the way for the Lord, and making “straight paths for Him.
We may find ourselves in a situation similar to Anna. Do you find a lack somewhere, a bereftness? A removal or stripping of your resources? Does this cause you pain and grief?
What do we do when our resources are removed? Do we spend our energies out in self-pity, “look anxiously about” us, or desperately search for ourselves the resources we think we must have in order to find ourselves rescued? Or do we start waiting upon the Lord as his servants, with praise, worship, fasting and prophesying the divine message of expectancy to a dark and waiting world?

We must wait expectantly on the Lord!

Familiar with her own need and lack of a redeemer for her bereft state, attuned and practiced to the voice of the Holy Spirit, Anna was ready to recognize the Redeemer when she saw Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. Anna knew that God gives his people a more lasting portion eternally, and she was happy to trade physical redemption for spiritual redemption by her Redeemer. In the midst of Anna’s day-to-day service, she experienced a favor far greater than that for which she may have longed—that of seeing the face of her God and living to tell of it!
While this was true of Anna, it is also true of us. As we go about our daily ministry in our homes, our churches and our communities and most especially in our day and night ministry to the Lord Himself, He meets us in our day-to-day with His Living Presence. As we practice listening to the voice of the Spirit and walking in obedience, we become more and more attuned to the words that direct us into the situations He wants to use to bring us favor:

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore, he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:18-21

Through His Word, His Spirit, the spiritual understanding He imparts to us and our situations, He enables us to “see Him” and live to tell about our experiences of His presence! He reveals Himself to us, and gives us the opportunity to participate with Anna in preparing the way of the Lord, of making straight paths for Him!
We are never too late, and never too old. As long as we are serving God right where we are, the Divine appointments and opportunities for sharing the good news of the Light of the World will be brought to us.
What about us? How can we practice listening and obeying the voice of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives? How have you noticed the encounters becoming sweet and divinely appointed in your day-to-day?

We must tell the good news!

After a lifetime of “wrestling” with God night and day, as her father’s name suggests, Anna receives the blessing that showed the favor and grace God had extended to her—that of seeing her Redeemer with her own eyes and living to tell the story! Just as Hannah was enabled to prophesy of the future Messiah’s redemption (1 Sam 2) because she came to the Lord in her bereftness and ministered to the Lord in it, so Anna was enabled to prophesy of her present Messiah’s redemption because she came to the Lord in her bereftness, emptiness, and lack, and ministered to the Lord in it. In the process of their emptiness, God filled them with His Spirit. God, who is rich in mercy, gave Anna the joyous opportunity to tell all who were waiting for their Redeemer that she had seen Him, and their long wait was over!
As we anticipate Christmas morning, we have a red Farmer’s truck with the numbers 1-25 on it. There is a little magnetic snowflake that marks off the days til Christmas has arrived. Above it are filled their stockings, the curvature of candy canes spilling out of the edges and mysterious and some no-so-mysterious bulges sticking out begging to be squeezed and guessed at. A little distance away, misshapen packages lay under our tree. Although the kids are not allowed to handle them, they do seem to keep realigning in strange and different piles. While they each are understandably excited to receive the unknown gifts, their anticipation is greatly increased by the fact that they each also earn and purchase gifts for one another, and they love to watch their siblings open the gifts they themselves have given. They are not only anticipating their own joy, but the joy that comes from bringing joy to people they love.
Anna shared the good news of the Redeemer to “all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.” In the Greek, the word for waiting is most often used in the “middle” voice, meaning the subject is doing the action herself as well as receiving the benefit of the action. It carries the strong idea of waiting actively, expectantly, “ready and willing to receive all that is hoped for....” Those to whom Anna shared the good news of their redemption were anticipating in an active and eager readiness His long-awaited arrival.
While Anna spoke to those actively waiting for their Redeemer to come at the beginning of Luke, Jesus our Redeemer speaks to us at the end of the book, telling us to actively and eagerly wait for His return!

Are we waiting for redemption? What can we be doing today that increases our anticipation and joy? What can we do for others that changes their outlook on what their tomorrow may hold for them? How can we find ways to share the unfailing hope and joy that we have with those who have none?
As you anticipate the joy and the sorrows of this Christmas season, with its good and painful memories, its bereavements and its abundance, I pray that you will find joy and delight in the grace and favor that God has given to you through the gift of His Son, Jesus. As you learn to see the many ways in which He leans toward you in order to bless and give you every "good and perfect gift," may you overflow with a joy that radiates that goodness to the lives you touch!

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Gethsemane's Dawn

4/14/2022

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perílypos
from 4012 /perí, "encompassing" and 3077 /lýpē, "sorrow") – properly, being sorrowful "all-around," i.e. engulfed in sorrow.1

On the night Jesus was betrayed to be crucified by His disciple, Judas, Jesus spent the evening with His other disciples in the Garden of Gethsamene, a grove of olive trees on the Mt. of Olives near Jerusalem on the night He was arrested:

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:36-41

The Garden was called Gethsemane because in Hebrew the word comes from two words, “gat,” which refers to a place for pressing oil or wine, and “shemanim,” which means oils.2 These gethsemane stones were used in three different pressings to extract the oils.3 Arlene Bridges Samuels details the process that the olives would go through to extract the valuable oils:

"During Roman rule, olive presses numbered in the thousands—in groves scattered all over Israel and the Roman Empire. Large and small presses made of stone crushed the harvested fruit. The larger presses included stones suspended with ropes from wooden crossbeams—stones that weighed up to a ton. The pulp eventually underwent enough crushing that the precious commodity could be emptied into clay jars. The refined oil was used in cooking, anointing oil, and Temple lights.
In Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV) we read this compelling verse, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” Like the wooden beams holding the stones on the olive presses, our Savior Jesus bore the wooden beams of the crucifixion tree crushed under the incalculable weight of our sins." 4

Stay Here

Are you in a season of painful suffering? Perhaps your circumstances feel so calculated at times. It will often seem that there is a specific intent by a corrupt force to produce the most pain. The timing and effectiveness of the suffering these things produce for us is insidious and well planned.
In James 5:13, the word James used for trouble was “kakopathéō” It combines the use of “kakós,” which means a malicious evil flowing out of rottenness, with “pathos,” or pain.
As followers of Jesus, we experienced all-encompassing sorrow at times when we are walking in God’s will. We ourselves face the crushing weight of troubling and malicious circumstances created by an evil and malevolent enemy who wishes to destroy any hope or future we have.

For me, when pressure increases and life feels crushing, my reaction is often to long to get away. I find myself googling places in sunny, warm locations, where I can feel freedom from the responsibilities, anxieties and pressures that come along with loving. Greece sounds particularly appealing right now, as the deceptive warmth of spring sunshine in Oregon darkens to another week of snow in April!
The Word of God teaches us that pain brings the temptation to come out from under the authority of God in order to do what is more pleasant to us. We are tempted to think that we are smart enough to have a better way of accomplishing heavenly purposes. We may believe that our alternate methods are more effective.
In the story of King David, his son Absalom certainly believed this. Absalom had experienced very painful and malicious suffering as a result of his sister Tamar’s rape by their half brother. This suffering was accutely compounded by the distinct lack of justice from their father David.
Absalom believed he could do things better than his father. His misguided actions are understandable, though wrong. He staged an elaborate and extremely intelligent coup, first stealing the hearts of the people over to him. He waited outside the judgement room for those who wanted justice from the king. He asked those who came for their story, and always agreed with their perspective of the events. He said that if he was king, he would make sure they had justice. He initiated doubt in the hearts of the people over whether their king cared about their situation and would give them justice in the end.
At the height of Absalom’s military takeover, King David was exiled from Jerusalem and was fleeing with the people for his life. It was at this very place, the Mount of Olives, that King David, the father, walked up the hills, weeping as he went for the great betrayal of his son and the loss of so many lives.
It was here too that Jesus’ submission to His Father, the King of the universe, became a stunning reversal of the story of Absalom with his father, the king of Israel. (2 Samuel 15:30-31). Rather than take things into His own control, rather than build His own kingdom in His own way, Jesus stayed in the Garden at a high cost in order to bring the Kingdom of God under God’s authority.
Jesus stayed, knowing that His own betrayer would be coming quickly.

Keep Watch

When faced with his impending suffering, Jesus knew what He must do. Just as the olives are pressed three times, Jesus went three times to pray to His Father, humbling Himself to the point of death and submitting His own will to that of the will of His Father in prayer:

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God
something to be grasped,
but emptied Himself,
taking the form of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled Himself
and became obedient to death--
even death on a cross.
Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place
and gave Him the name above all names,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11

The only effective way to not enter into agreement and unity with the temptation we face under extreme sorrow is to first humble ourselves to acknowledge God’s sovereignty, authority and perfect plan. In that humility we then have grace cast our anxieties upon Him and to pray for His grace to help in our time of need (Heb. 4:16).
It is by faith that we can continue to thank Him for His goodness and plan. Even though we cannot see the outcome of our sorrow now, we can trust by faith that God has a resurrection waiting on the other side of the cross!
We each have our Gethsemanes. Perhaps it is serving without honor. Maybe those around you do not value your sacrifices for them. Maybe you suffer with difficult finances, and things look like they cannot be resolved. Some of us may be asked to serve with health problems, pain and disease. Perhaps our place of ministry is small, insignificant and unnoticed by others. Maybe people around you try to even punish you or increase your problems in order to pressure you to stop serving Jesus.
All the while the enemy whispers that our Father isn’t fair, doesn’t see, and won’t deal with the concerns we have. He falsely promises that if we choose our own way that we will get justice, happiness, and glory. He tries to make us believe that he has the power to give us the kingdom, when in fact that kingdom has already been won by Christ.
Jesus’ promise is something far better, and is based on reality rather than illusion. Instead of the elusive happiness of a crumbling and decaying world, there is the sure hope of eternal life with no sorrow, no pain, no death and no evil.
On the other side of the cross, there is a resurrection!
The new life that Jesus rose to is available to us in Jesus. The very will of the good Father that we submit to is the same will that desires eternal life and resurrection for us:

For my Father’s will is that everyone
who looks to the Son and believes in him
shall have eternal life,
and I will raise them up at the last day.
John 6:40

So let’s stay and keep watch, friends. There is a joy set before us! He is risen!

1Strong's Greek: 4036. περίλυπος (perilupos) -- very sad (biblehub.com)
2That the World May Know | Gethsemane and the Olive Press
3Prayer: The Garden of Gethsemane - FaithGateway
4The Perfect Lamb Crushed in Gethsemane - CBN Israel
5Strong's Greek: 2553. κακοπαθέω (kakopatheó) -- to suffer evil (biblehub.com)
6Strong's Greek: 2556. κακός (kakos) -- bad, evil (biblehub.com)

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The Power That Remains

4/6/2021

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Have you ever been fascinated by mountain climbers? I just think it's incredibly daring and awe-inspiring. They train intensively for the altitude differences in oxygen levels and physical exertion. They research and prepare the proper equipment and layers of moisture wicking clothing, and for most of them, they hire a competent and experienced guide.
  As much as they train or prepare, though, things can go wrong.
I remember a few years back when an extended family member had been training rigorously for a climb. Unfortunately, he broke his leg shortly before the trip was to start, and disappointedly he wasn't able to go with his team. During the week he had been set to go, Nepal was hit with a severe earthquake and avalanches began on the mountain he was set to climb--Everest.
Tragically, all the training, protection and guidance couldn't stop the injuries and even deaths that resulted from an unforeseen and uncontrollable force of nature.
In my studies this week, I saw some of the same devastation in the life of King Saul. In 1 Samuel 16, we find that after his rejection of God, he made a progressive series of poor and destructive choices that avalanched over his kingdom and family.

After the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, a spirit of distress
{evil, bad, wicked} from the LORD began to torment {terrorize, startle} him. Saul’s servants said to him, “Surely a spirit of distress from God is tormenting you.
1 Samuel 16:14-15

  Without the Spirit of God, Saul was susceptible to the mental torment of an evil spirit.
Earlier in 1 Samuel we see that when Saul was anointed as king, God sent His Holy Spirit to rest upon Saul and empower him with courage, passion and wisdom to get the tasks done that the Lord gave him for his position over the people.
Once Saul, however, had thoroughly rejected God as his own king (1 Sam 13:13-14; 14:11-26), God in turn rejected Saul, and by consequence, the Spirit of God was removed in order that Saul and all the people of Israel could see just how evil power without godliness could be (1 Sam 8:7-18).
After the Holy Spirit and presence of God was removed from Saul's life, it was a natural next step for Saul to be harassed by an evil spirit. While we see from the passage that God sent the evil spirit, displaying the sovereignty of God, we also know from Saul's own free choices that he was dwelling on the very temptations that the evil spirit enticed him with...jealously, evil suspicions, envy, murder, deceit, malice, debilitating fear, worry, and discontent.
The word used in the Hebrew for the evil spirit “tormenting” him, means to terrorize, bring fear, make one easily startled. He became unable to properly handle the ministrations of the kingdom, being often brooding, enraged, distracted, anxious and rash.
While God indeed is sovereign in this situation, Saul also made his choice. He chose to serve the evil of his own heart rather than to repent, which in turn led to an open invitation by his spirit to other evil spirits. Spirits of fear, of lust, of pride, and of murder.
Jesus tells the story in Matthew 12 about a man who had been freed from an evil spirit, and had “swept his house clean, and set it in order.” The healed man's spirit was free and clear and in completely order, free to make its own choices. Tragically, the man's choice was to leave his own spirit empty. In so doing, he became a target for the evil spirit who had previously occupied his body. Going to arid places, Jesus tells us, the evil spirit sought seven other spirits more evil than itself and invited them to come with him to reoccupy the empty man's body, since there was an open vacancy. “The final condition of that man,” Jesus tells us, “was worse than the first.”
   A few years ago we owned a delightful dark chocolate brown newfoundland puppy. He was fluffy and cuddly and playful. Very quickly, though, we discovered that we enjoyed him better without that "wet dog" smell that is so classic to long-haired dogs. Now, newfoundlands are bred to be water rescue dogs. Their coats are extra insulating and warm, and they love to play in the rain and snow, making him a perfect dog for our mountain home. What we learned, though, is that if we shampooed his coat it would temporarily strip the natural oils from his fur and take away the natural waterproofing with which he was created. Without the oils saturating his fur, the moisture would have access to his skin.
Jesus' story illustrated that the only way to not be occupied by evil was to be filled with the Holy Spirit, effectively shutting the door against any unwanted occupation.

Submission to God, His will and His spirit
results in a saturation that repels evil.

But there is another condition which the Bible shares with us about torment from evil spirits, one of which believers should also be aware. It is not an occupation, but it is an exterior pressure that brings suffering internally. An occupation or indwelling of an evil spirit gives it mastery over a person, and enslaves a man to do evil. In contrast, though, suffering experienced by a believer from an evil spirit results in the power and glory of Christ and increased ministry!
My husband and I are currently leading a youth group at our church. Over the course of the year, I have noticed that whatever Biblical principle I am about to share in our ministry ends up coming very close and raw in my own life, and I far too often find myself confused at the particular and unique trials and feelings that I go through.
Confused that is, until I start to work on the next passage for our studies, and find the very answers to my own situation and needs! To be truthful, I am both a little annoyed at this and very grateful. I wish I didn't need to go through even a taste of each problem before I shared it, but it does help me to understand the frustrations and challenges that are involved in working through these principles with the Lord, and I am so very grateful that He does know how to help me handle them!
This last week, I found myself often coming under a particularly frustrating attack on my nerves. It was debilitating. I am used to having the end of a long day or when my blood sugar is low be very challenging or stressful for me, particularly with noise or mess. But this particular morning was unique in that I was thoroughly rested, well fed, and with no greater than normal noise level. I found that all of a sudden every noise was excruciating, my work on homeschooling or on the computers were met with every kind of roadblock and frustration, and that my soul seemed completely overwhelmed.
Not only that, but even with my holding in my feelings so that the kids wouldn't be disturbed (I certainly can't say that I have the self-control to never spill my frustrations onto my kids, but this morning I had been extra careful), I started to hear the little kids reacting to this spiritual attack in the middle of what had been a peaceful morning, and they were completely unable to cope. It dawned on me after a bit (I should have noticed it sooner!) that it was spiritual in nature, rather than just a typically difficult day. I prayed silently, submitted our school day and agendas to the Lord, asked for His help and peace and Spirit to comfort us, and commanded any evil spirit to leave in Jesus' name. Within moments God's Spirit had restored my calm and peace completely, and the kids were peaceful again as well, praise the Lord!
The funny thing is, and rather embarrassing to admit, I forget those moments so very easily! Even today, as I was trying to sit down to write out this devotional, the very same thing happened. This time, it wasn't until I started reading through the passage that it dawned on me that the spiritual attack was happening again, and that I needed to deal with it in the Lord. Once again, as soon as I did, His peace and comfort returned and I was free to work without impairment.
While that is so simple and wonderful, though, there have been many times where whatever trouble it was that I pleaded with the Lord to remove just remained in my life, and I had to live with the problem while living in His peace in the middle of it, sometimes for years, and some that are still ongoing for me.
In 2 Corinthians 12:17 the Apostle Paul shares with us his story of great favor, blessing and revelation from the Lord, and his subsequent suffering in order to not give himself over to sin. For Paul, it was very similar—an evil spirit to bring him suffering. However, because Paul's spirit was indwelt with the Holy Spirit, he had an entirely different outcome: “Lest I should be exalted above measure, there was given me a thorn [stake, impalement] of the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet[beat, pound in] me.”
Paul doesn't share with us in this context to what he was referring, whether it was a physical ailment, emotional trauma, mental agony or spiritual temptation, but whatever it was left him feeling weak and inadequate for what he was called to do. The words he used suggest to me that it was his own form of bearing the cross, the impalement of the cross, from which Jesus Himself prayed also to be spared.
Therefore, when Paul asked Jesus three time to remove this evil spirit, this acute suffering, Jesus would not, but replied to him:

  “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Paul's response is both awe-inspiring and humbling at the same time:

“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,
so that Christ's power may rest on me.”

Honestly, this is hard for me. Being weak and inadequate while allowing God to use me is not really what I had hoped for in my dreams of a future in ministry or parenting. Dealing with pain, frustration, uncertain physical outcomes and spiritual attacks on my family definitely wasn't.
But if my weakness and inadequacy makes Christ's power more evident, if it increases His glory and leads to more healing and wholeness for myself, my family and the people God brings into my life, then I want it. It does feel backward to me, but a couple of verses come to my mind, "for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God....But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him." (1 Cor 1:18, 27-29)
What about you? What things in your life does the Spirit put his finger on and say, “This....[pain, unfinished story, brokenness, weakness, insufficiency].....this is what I want to use to bring people to Me? This...is how I will bring you the very most blessing.....

"This...is what makes My power rest on you...and remain.”

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Your Presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation, and renew a right spirit within me."
Psalm 51:10-12
A Psalm of David
after he sinned with Bathsheba

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Behold, the Lamb of God!

Yeast Removal

Fast of the Firstborn

Cessation from Work

Seder Meal (Last Supper/Communion)

Bringing the Firstfruits (Bikkurim)

You, Follow Me!

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” John 21:15

We must hear and 0bey by agape-loving God.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Deut. 6:4-5

Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas (Peter)” (which is translated, A Rock). John 1:40-42

We must agape-love God more than anything in the world.

And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him. Luke 5:10-11

If we love Jesus, we must Shepherd His Church.

Jesus said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you agape-love Me?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I have affection for You.”

He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”

Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Matt 16:28

I Have Seen My Redeemer!

We must prepare the way for our Redeemer!

We must wait expectantly on the Lord!

We must tell the good news!

Gethsemane's Dawn

perílypos
from 4012 /perí, "encompassing" and 3077 /lýpē, "sorrow") – properly, being sorrowful "all-around," i.e. engulfed in sorrow.1

Stay Here

Keep Watch

For my Father’s will is that everyone
who looks to the Son and believes in him
shall have eternal life,
and I will raise them up at the last day.
John 6:40

The Power That Remains

Author

Archives

Categories

Behold, the Lamb of God!

Yeast Removal

Fast of the Firstborn

Cessation from Work

Seder Meal (Last Supper/Communion)

Bringing the Firstfruits (Bikkurim)

You, Follow Me!

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” John 21:15​

We must hear and 0bey by agape-loving God.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Deut. 6:4-5

Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas (Peter)” (which is translated, A Rock). John 1:40-42

We must agape-love God more than anything in the world.

And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him. Luke 5:10-11

If we love Jesus, we must Shepherd His Church.

Jesus said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you agape-love Me?”He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I have affection for You.”​He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”​

Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Matt 16:28​

I Have Seen My Redeemer!

We must prepare the way for our Redeemer! ​

We must wait expectantly on the Lord! ​

We must tell the good news! ​

Gethsemane's Dawn

perílypos ​from 4012 /perí, "encompassing" and 3077 /lýpē, "sorrow") – properly, being sorrowful "all-around," i.e. engulfed in sorrow.1​

Stay Here

Keep Watch

​For my Father’s will is that everyonewho looks to the Son and believes in himshall have eternal life,and I will raise them up at the last day.John 6:40​

The Power That Remains

Author

Archives

Categories

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” John 21:15

Jesus said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you agape-love Me?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I have affection for You.”

He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”

Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Matt 16:28

We must prepare the way for our Redeemer!

We must wait expectantly on the Lord!

We must tell the good news!

perílypos
from 4012 /perí, "encompassing" and 3077 /lýpē, "sorrow") – properly, being sorrowful "all-around," i.e. engulfed in sorrow.1

For my Father’s will is that everyone
who looks to the Son and believes in him
shall have eternal life,
and I will raise them up at the last day.
John 6:40