Saturday, May 11, 2019
The Lord of the sabbath.
From Mark Chapter 2:
27 Then Jesus declared, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
While God walked the Earth He spoke with wisdom such that a sentence above, His response to being accused of working on the Sabbath, takes months of thinking on to understand. I'm writing this today to share several months of thinking, and hearing answers, into a quick blog read.
The context is Christ being accused of sin by the religious pharisees because the apostles pulled and ate grains on the Sabbath.
Geocentric to heliocentric.
"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath". Jesus here asserts His authority and immediately shifts the paradigm. Man was given the sabbath by God for rest, not as a means of enacting some earthly law of control disguised as religion. The world revolves around Him, not vice versa.
Jesus is God.
"Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath". 'Son of Man' is an old testament term for the Messiah, son of Adam, who would redeem the world. The son of Man created man, and created the first commandment. The son of Man is Lord of man and the Law. With this remark Jesus says, I AM God, and I created you and I created the first commandment. Read it again, it is all there, it is absolutely astonishing how boldy He states he is God almighty.
But what about all this, we know there are many other instances of healing on the Sabbath Jesus was accused of sin. This is the incredible beauty of Jesus Christ literally in action. When He created the world, the Word of God rested on the 7th day. When the Word of God redeemed the world, He does not rest. His redeeming work is continuous, constantly healing, never resting.
What a wonderful God we have loving us 24-7.
Friday, April 29, 2016
20160429 - The bread of life - What is it? (John 6:29, ground truth)
Background items:
Bread: food, provision, dough, money
Manna: "what is it?"
Ecclesiastes 11:1: Cast your bread upon the waters (to do good without expecting reward)
___________________
Jesus' spectacular stroll on Sea of Galilee to Capernaum leads to a critical truth event in His teaching. It is the critical truth I ground all my belief system upon.
Jesus skipped the boat trip that night to avoid the throngs of hungry semi-believers who sought Him for their next miraculous meal. When they catch up with Him in Capernaum, Jesus starts teaching about the food he provided earlier - it isn't what they really need. The manna He provided to the wondering Israelites, that physical provision He gave them is an image of the true bread of life which endures to everlasting life.
Jesus tells the hungry throngs not to labor for food which perishes, but labor for bread which provides everlasting life. The crowd is eager to do some work for God, they ask, "how do we work for this everlasting bread of life?"
And the truth from God's lips for how to reach Him for eternity is bewilderingly simple. It is not work like earning bread, there is no puke to clean up, sins to do less, method of kneeling and bowing in sync with various bells - Jesus tells us: "THIS IS THE WORK OF GOD, THAT YOU BELIEVE IN HIM WHOM HE SENT". John 6:29.
Believe on Jesus, that's all. How can this be? What is it? What is the bread from heaven? What is manna? Nothing less than and nothing more than Jesus Himself. So much in fact He takes the metaphor to the ultimate extreme and calls us to eat His flesh and drink His blood for provision. He is all we need, and the only work we can do to 'earn' Him is believe in Him.
Background items:
Bread: food, provision, dough, money
Manna: "what is it?"
Ecclesiastes 11:1: Cast your bread upon the waters (to do good without expecting reward)
___________________
Jesus' spectacular stroll on Sea of Galilee to Capernaum leads to a critical truth event in His teaching. It is the critical truth I ground all my belief system upon.
Jesus skipped the boat trip that night to avoid the throngs of hungry semi-believers who sought Him for their next miraculous meal. When they catch up with Him in Capernaum, Jesus starts teaching about the food he provided earlier - it isn't what they really need. The manna He provided to the wondering Israelites, that physical provision He gave them is an image of the true bread of life which endures to everlasting life.
Jesus tells the hungry throngs not to labor for food which perishes, but labor for bread which provides everlasting life. The crowd is eager to do some work for God, they ask, "how do we work for this everlasting bread of life?"
And the truth from God's lips for how to reach Him for eternity is bewilderingly simple. It is not work like earning bread, there is no puke to clean up, sins to do less, method of kneeling and bowing in sync with various bells - Jesus tells us: "THIS IS THE WORK OF GOD, THAT YOU BELIEVE IN HIM WHOM HE SENT". John 6:29.
Believe on Jesus, that's all. How can this be? What is it? What is the bread from heaven? What is manna? Nothing less than and nothing more than Jesus Himself. So much in fact He takes the metaphor to the ultimate extreme and calls us to eat His flesh and drink His blood for provision. He is all we need, and the only work we can do to 'earn' Him is believe in Him.
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