AUGUST 31 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#27 “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:12)

AUGUST 31  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#27  “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?”  (Matthew 22:12)

AUGUST 31  LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord I give You all Praise, Glory, and Honor for the Great Sacrifice that You Planned and Executed on my behalf, Lord Jesus I know that I am undeserving and that makes Your Sacrifice even greater still. Lord, add to the simple truth that we are underserving and that You were perfectly innocent and did not need us in any way, it is incomprehensible that You would become flesh and endure the temptations of the world to be our Savior?!? Jesus, help me Lord to be more like You in everything I do that my old selfish desires will be crucified with You and that I will be a new glorified creature in Your Resurrection.  {{In 2004 I wrote the following prayer which I think is very appropriate and relative to today: “Jesus, Jesus, Immanuel, God IS with us! You Lord are here and now, You hear me EVERY TIME I call Your Name from my heart, Your Holy Spirit indwells us and leads us through our daily lives. Take me and make me to conform to Thy Will. Lord, let my lips and my mind praise You continually for in our praise we are drawn nearer to You and the closer we can get to You, the closer we are to one day leaving this sin-filled world and our sin-filled ways. You are the Way, the Truth and the Life — You are the Messiah, the Son of God Most High. Glory and Honor to Jesus the Christ, our Savior, our Lord and our friend.” }}   AMEN

AUGUST 31  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is building His Lesson in this 3rd Parable on God’s Authority around a traditional “marriage” where the “father” arranges the “marriage for his son” and this Lesson is understood by all Israel. Jesus is able to hit at the core of the “traditions of men” by Teaching this “authority” issue because there is no questioning the “authority” of the “father”!!!. The accepted “tradition” in Israel of the father arranging marriages has literally been upheld by every Israelite for thousands of years. Jesus in using His 15 Phrases in His 3rd Parable to introduce the problem using the nations own “traditions” and once the problem is introduced, Jesus really drives the point home when He follows {Phrase 5} : “…[the certain king] sent out servants to call those who were invited to the wedding…” with {Phrase 6} “…the invited were not willing to come…”!!! Being invited to a marriage was understood on a very personal level by everyone listening to Jesus. It could also be for certain that everyone listening had been involved in a marriage, and many of the rulers had been in the position of arranging marriages for their own sons, and probably most everyone had at one time or another in their lifetime “excused” themselves from a wedding they had been invited to for some reason or another, so Jesus has again used a “Universal Experience” to Teach this most valuable of Lessons on “authority” in a way that could be understood by the entire nation of Israel using the “traditions of men” that all Israel had been living with for generations upon generations. Jesus places words in just the right order to Teach great Lessons with a single, perfectly placed word or phrase and {Phrase 7} “…again…” is one of those “Perfect” words for it Teaches the Truth of God that He is MERCIFUL, PATIENT, and GOES THE EXTRA MILE and will AGAIN and AGAIN do everything that He can to draw us to Himself!!! The word “…AGAIN…” placed at this point also points to the Message that John the Baptist and Jesus has been preaching and that is REPENT. By extending the invitation  “AGAIN”, God is saying that He is giving everyone a chance to “relent (repent)” from our unwillingness to accept His invitation as Jesus Taught in Parable 1 that “the son that had done the father’s will” was the one that “regretted [telling the father ‘no’] and went worked [as the father had commanded]” (Matthew 21:29) Jesus is using all these 3 parables in a specific order and now He is using the 3rd Parable in a specific word/phrase order to Teach the Truth of God in a way that everyone can understand! {Phrase 8} “…sent out other servants…” and {Phrase 9} “…tell the invited…” makes me think of another description that Isaiah writes of God “…the LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth…His understanding is unsearchable…” (Isaiah 40:28) and if we think of all that God has done from Creation to the Crucifixion to “invite” everyone to the kingdom of God, we cannot deny that God has done more that any of us would have done to provide a Path of Repentance to Eternal Life — we are not able in the first place to “Provide” eternal life for ourself so how do we even consider we could be gracious enough to provide for those who reject our every invitation to “come”, we haven’t even “Prepared” a place for our guests — God continually proves Himself Faithful and Just, ——— why or why do we reject His Mercy and Grace?!?!?!?!

AUGUST 30 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#27 “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:12)

AUGUST 30  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#27  “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?”  (Matthew 22:12)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord, Giver of all things good in my life, I can only give You praise for the change that Your Love has made in my life and I pray that because of Your Love that others will see the “change” and that Your Love will change them as well. Lord I know it was a small thing but I felt Your Grace so full with the opportunity You gave us with the McKenzie Acre boys and girls — Lord I pray for Your Love to be poured out on them and last night showed me that it will be through being obedient to Your command to “love one another” that we are indeed sharing You and Your Love with our world — Lord what a gift it is for “giving” and “forgiving” and to just see others through Your eyes, may I in the future let Your Love pour out of me into these kids and see that “change” that only Your Love can bring about in our lives.   AMEN

AUGUST 30  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has placed this 3rd Parable at the end of 3 Parables on the “Authority of God” for a specific reason and it could be argued from the Book of Revelation that there is great significance in Jesus being the Lamb of God and in the End Time that all heaven will rejoice “…for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready…” (Revelation 19:6-9) Jesus has been Teaching about the problem of how “Israel” has treated “her God” ——— the prophet Isaiah after writing about the “Suffering Servant” in Isaiah 53 and continues in Isaiah 54 writing about Israel: “For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.” (Isaiah 54:5)  Therefore all Israel understood Jesus Teaching about a “marriage” and soon they will see with their own eyes what John the Baptist had declared about Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:29) and all the pieces will fit as during this Special Passover when God will “provide Himself the lamb” as Abraham promised Isaac on Mount Moriah before Israel became a nation. Jesus Teaching this 3rd Parable about {Phrase 1} “The kingdom of heaven is like…” {Phrase 2} “…a certain king…” who {Phrase 3} “…arranged a marriage…” fits into the traditions and the Holy Scriptures that Israel has been living with since Abraham arranged a marriage for his “Promised Son” Isaac and the fulfilling of God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob pertaining to the nation of God’s chosen people, Israel. However, Israel had become so entrenched in her “traditions” and “doctrines of men” that they as a Holy Nation had been led away from the “command of God” which is the main problem Jesus introduces starting with {Phrase 4} “…for his son…” (which Jesus had already Taught about the chief cornerstone being “rejected by the builders” and had become the great “stumbling block” for the God’s chosen nation) — Jesus never introduces a “problem” without immediately pointing to the solution which Jesus in His Divine Role as the Master Teacher, details the problem which illuminates the solution to the problem He details with {Phrase 5} “…[the certain king] sent out servants to call those who were invited to the wedding…”. Israel knows as a nation that God has been sending out His servants in the form of prophets, judges, kings, and even His enemies as servants to fulfill His covenant with the nation Israel whom God has called to be a “chosen peoples”. It is obvious that at this Passover that Jesus will fulfill His Divine Task of being the Passover Lamb and this is necessary because {Phrase 6} “…the invited were not willing to come…” This is a problem with our spiritual journey that each pilgrim takes to find our God and the Land of Promise that He has prepared for us. If we do not reach our destination it is not because of a shortcoming of God but because we have not followed His Path for our life — God has prepared and God has provided but we have strayed from His Plan and are “not willing to come” even though we have been “invited” by the King Himself — how long will you “make excuses” not to attend this Marriage Feast and the Wedding of the King’s Son? 

AUGUST 29 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#27 “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:12)

AUGUST 29  THE JESUS QUESTIONS    JQ#27  “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?”  (Matthew 22:12)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, my Lord and my Redeemer, my Rock and my Salvation, You are the Calm in my storms ——— Lord Jesus I can only give You Praise for You are Worthy!  Lord I wake each morning and my thoughts are again turned to Your Grace and Mercy because each day as I rise I know I am rising because You have been Gracious and Merciful to this sinner and were it not for Grace and Mercy to carry me through my guilt and shame, I simply would not make it through my days. Jesus I come and bow my heart, my head and my soul to You and place my worthless self at the foot of Your Cross and ask that You lead me down Your Paths of Righteousness through this Valley of the Shadow of Death just one more day, I know that I am lost without You. Lord Jesus, this I KNOW — You ARE MY LIGHT, MY HOPE, and MY JOY  which are my “Way”, my “Truth” and my “Life” on my Journey to You!!!   AMEN

AUGUST 29  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus as the Master Teacher, Teaches using very specific “words” and “word order”. Jesus started this series of Lessons in the temple of God in this specific week leading up to the Passover where Jesus is going to fulfill the prophecy of the “Suffering Servant” written by the prophet Isaiah 800 years earlier about the Coming Messiah. The first thing Jesus did after entering Jerusalem was go to the temple and put God’s temple in order by driving out all who were making it a “den of thieves” instead of “a house of prayer”.  Once in the temple, Jesus demonstrated the Power of God by doing the work of God as Jesus performed miracle after miracle for everyone that came to Him in the temple and made their requests and prayers known to the “Son of David”. Jesus left Jerusalem that evening to stay in Bethany but returned the next day and continued “driving out” all that was against the “commands of God” and had been defiled by the “doctrines of men”! These actions of Jesus had caused the ruling authorities in Jerusalem who had not been consulted by Jesus, to confront Jesus and since they could not deny the “works” that Jesus had been doing, the ruling authorities questioned Jesus as to His “authority”!? (Side note: It is this author’s opinion that these “ruling authorities” were proving Jesus right in exposing their “inadequacies” — I was taught at a very early age that you do not question the man doing the work, especially if he has a big stick in his hand and the work he is accomplishing is going to benefit everyone concerned.) Once Jesus had His “authority” questioned, He began a series of Lessons to not only prove His “authority”, He was Teaching in a way that He proved that those questioning His “authority” already knew where His “Authority” was coming from but simply refused to admit the Truth of God. Jesus accomplished this by first cursing the fig tree, then when first questioned about His “authority” Jesus asked about the “baptism of John” which had been a “hot topic” for the ruling authorities since the multitudes had been seeking out John the Baptist in the wilderness around the Jordan and were “Repenting” of their sins against God and were being baptized by John who witnessed that his calling was to be “…the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord…” (John 1:23). Once Jesus had everyone’s attention on the baptism of John, Jesus asked, “The baptism of John (which was now an accepted FACT by all Israel) — where was it from? From heaven or from men?” (Matthew 21:25) The answer was obvious so Jesus moved to the first of three parables to teach details of God’s Authority, Parable #1 (Matthew 21:28-32) Taught that God has called us to “obey” and we either choose to “obey” His commands or we choose to “disobey” God, and it is not what we say we do that God acknowledges, it is what our actions prove about us that God is going to fairly judge us by, therefore we learn the Truth of God that we condemn ourselves and God only passes judgement on our actions, we are either guilty of disobeying God and will be punished according to our choice or we will be rewarded for obeying God. Jesus then moved to Parable #2 (Matthew 21:33-46) where Jesus taught that God has a plan for mankind and God will provide all the tools and circumstances we need to accomplish the task God places before us, but if we take the “provisions” of God and try to take “possession” of God’s Authority for “personal gain” that again our actions will determine our final judgement, God’s Authority is Supreme and we cannot alter or change in any way God’s commands or His Plan for man, even if we refuse God’s constant attempts at correcting our misguided course and poor life choices, up to and including denying that He has no “authority” in our lives or even if we crucify His Son! Now Jesus is completing this series of Lessons on “authority” by Teaching the 3rd Parable (Matthew 22:1-14) about a “certain king” who “arranged marriage for his son” and just like Jesus Taught these Lessons in a specific order to get us “on point”, Jesus is now Teaching the Truth of God in this 3rd Parable by a specific word order and selection of 15 phrases that we must look at each individually in the order in which Jesus gave them to see God. Jesus told Thomas, one of His disciples (also known as “doubting Thomas”) “…if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father…” (John 14:9) This would be a good time to look again at the 15 Phrases in this passage in Matthew 22:2-4 and then look at how Jesus reveals the “Father” to us through this passage in this 3rd Parable, unless of course you are not interested in knowing the answer to the Question that will determine where you will spend your “eternity”!?!?!?! 

AUGUST 28 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#27 “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:12)

AUGUST 28  THE JESUS QUESTIONS    JQ#27  “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?”  (Matthew 22:12)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, You Lord are the Faithful One, for each day, regardless of where I am or what ever changing circumstance I may find myself in, You are always there, the Good Shepherd, and I can hear Your gentle voice beckoning me to the fold and once again my Faith belays my fears as Your Light dispels the darkness. Lord Jesus, Praise You for Your Great Sacrifice as the Lamb of God, giving Your Holy Divine Self for this lost sheep, O the Mystery of God! Lord let me hear nothing but Your Voice and know that green pastures, still waters, and Salvation have been secured by the One who needed no one but Sacrificed Himself  “Once-For-All”!!!       AMEN

AUGUST 28  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is Teaching this 3rd parable about what the kingdom of heaven is “like” while sitting in the temple of God in the City of David with just a few days left before He will be Sacrificed as the Lamb of God on the Passover!  With only days left in His earthly ministry there will not be a “jot or tittle” that will not bear Divine meaning — with that “importance” of detail in mind, there must be some significance that this 3rd parable is about a “wedding”?!?! If one looks at both “tradition” and “logic” there are several very important points that make “marriage” VERY relative for this 3rd parable. First let’s look at the words and the order Jesus presented them in this parable: {Phrase 1} “The kingdom of heaven is like” … {Phrase 2} “a certain king” … {Phrase 3} “arranged a marriage” … {Phrase 4} “for his son” … {Phrase 5} “sent out servants to call those who were invited to the wedding” … {Phrase 6} “[the invited] were not willing to come” … {Phrase 7} “again, [the certain king]” … {Phrase 8} “sent out other servants” … {Phrase 9} “tell the invited” … {Phrase 10} “I [the certain king] have prepared” … {Phrase 11} “my dinner” … {Phrase 12} “my oxen” … {Phrase 13} “and [the] fatted cattle are killed” … {Phrase 14} “all things are ready” … {Phrase 15} “Come to the wedding”. (Matthew 22:2-4)   These 15 Phrases are “loaded” with meaning and when put them together with the circumstance and the “Teacher”, then these 15 Phrases take on both “Divine” and “eternal” meaning for all who will “listen” … as it is said three times in the final book in the Holy Scriptures, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says…” (Revelation 2:29; 3:13; 3:22).  To stop and sit at the feet of Jesus and to hang on His every Word is the Way to heaven, the Truth of God, and Eternal Life — it is the way to wisdom — it is how we will “know God” for Jesus has been Teaching with every step, every word, every miracle, that if we know the Son, then we will know the Father! The Old Testament teaches about the Almighty God and the prophets who foretold of God’s Anointed, the Chosen One, the Messiah and the New Testament teaches that “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” that those that “Repent” and “believe on Him” will be “Forgiven” and that they “shall not perish but have everlasting life”!!! Jesus, the “Only Begotten Son” of “the Certain King” has been Teaching that God still cares and that God Almighty is “Abba Father” who is still standing with open arms calling out to His Creation — “COME” — “LISTEN” — “FOLLOW JESUS”, for God is calling, Jesus is calling, and the Spirit is calling in a “still, small voice”, to all who will “hear” and accept the “Wedding Supper” Invitation, “Come … all is prepared!!!”  “Don’t you think it is time to start choosing what you are going to wear to the wedding?!?!?!?”

AUGUST 27 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#27 “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:12)

AUGUST 27  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#27  “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?”  (Matthew 22:12)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, O Precious Jesus, how sweet the Name!!! Jesus, as I awake to a new morning, I am immediately made aware of Your Presence, the Name rolls out of my heart and off my lips, unspoken, but yet it is loud enough that it carries all the way to the One that gave His Perfect Life for my wretched soul and I am made aware instantly that as soon as I spoke His Name that His Mercies were renewed fresh for me to start another day, not alone, not afraid, not weak, but ready to walk in His Footsteps on the Paths of Righteousness for His Name’s Sake — my heart says “Rejoice!” and I say again, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus”!        AMEN

AUGUST 27  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has introduced this third parable establishing that the Lesson is about “a certain king” who all Israel recognized as God Almighty and fits into the rhetoric John and Jesus has been preaching all along — “the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind in all of Israel that God Almighty is the “certain king” and that “heaven” is His Kingdom! From the Genesis account of the Fall of Man the Israelites were familiar with the introduction of the Messiah and the promise of “deliverance” from the Tempter (Satan) as God pronounced the curse on Satan and Eve as God said to Satan, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3:15) All Israelite girls would wonder if their pregnancy would be a son and if a son then would that son be the Messiah?  The Psalms contains many Messianic Psalms which King David had written, many of which were written in the City of David in which Jesus is now teaching this parable of the “certain king” that was going to “arrange a marriage for his son” so many in Jerusalem were aware of this passage: “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed…He who sits in the heavens shall laugh…[and declares]…I have set My King on My holy hill in Zion…The LORD said, You are My Son, today I have begotten You…I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession..Be instructed, you judges of the earth…Kiss the Son lest you perish in the way of His wrath…Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.” (Psalm 2) Now Jesus has fulfilled all the prophecy of the coming Messiah and is about to fulfill Isaiah’s “Suffering Servant” prophecy found in the Tanakh (the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament) and yet just days before His death Jesus is Teaching this parable of “a certain king” [God in heaven] who is going to arrange a “marriage” for His Son — the contemporaries of Jesus were listening to “men” who said Jesus was not the Messiah even though Jesus had fulfilled enough Messianic prophecies that it was already astronomically impossible for anyone but Jesus to be the Messiah and yet the “rulers” would not yield to the obvious Truth of God that His Only Begotten Son had been born of flesh and has accomplished everything required of the Messiah and this “Son of God” was Jesus of Nazareth who was sitting in the temple Teaching this important parable — everyone was caught up in the “Son of God” issue like all who read these passages and fail to ask the question, “Who was going to be the bride?” This is a good question for everyone to consider:  “If God Almighty indeed arranged a marriage for His Son then there will be offspring of that union, for if God arranged the marriage, won’t He bless the Union with children?” And there still is the question of who is the “bride”?

AUGUST 26  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#27  “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?”  (Matthew 22:12)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS I come today praising You for that “fresh anointing” that You bestowed on me yesterday for I had re-prayed a 2004 prayer asking that You would grant Your Holy Spirit in my life and Lord You proved Yourself Faithful in answering YET ANOTHER prayer.  Lord today  I pray that even though I am in the world that today I will not be “of the world” but that I will be a conduit of Your Holy Spirit that You have so abundantly granted me in my life and Your Spirit will flow out of me to that one that You will place in my way today that needs Your Holy Spirit — so let my spirit be yielded to Your Holy Spirit so that the desires of my flesh will give way to the surrender of my Faith and through Your Grace I will be a blessing to someone that needs what only the Christ can offer, Peace-Love-Joy and a Hope and a Future in our Lord Jesus Christ.     AMEN

AUGUST 26  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus paints a very clear picture of God and the kingdom of heaven with this third and most important parable that Jesus used in pronouncing the fate of the religious rulers of Israel and all those that reject God and fail to see His purpose for His creation! So let us look at this very, very important parable (Matthew 22:1-14) in enough detail to find the Truth of God that Jesus is Teaching. Jesus starts the parable with: “The kingdom of heaven is like…” (Matthew 22:1a) so there is no doubt that Jesus is talking about “heaven” and if we look at the simple phrase “kingdom of heaven” then we know that there will be “king” that is the Supreme Ruler over the Kingdom of Heaven and in this phrase we can easily assume that the “king” of “heaven” is that “Supreme Ruler”. When Jesus continues “…the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king…” then the religious rulers and everyone in Israel knew and accepted that God is the “certain king” for “God created the heavens and the earth…” (Genesis 1:1) and that God Himself is the Supreme Ruler over His Creation which includes the “heavens and the earth”! Jesus has introduced this third parable Lesson as being about the Supreme Power and Authority over the entire creation of God and that the Truth of God is Eternal! Jesus concludes His introduction of the parable with “…a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son…” so after the phrase about the “certain king” arranging a “marriage” for “his son”, the chief priests and Pharisees knew that the “certain king” is the Almighty God and that He is the Supreme Ruler over all creation, however, the concept of God having a Son and then God having “arranged a marriage” for Him is what the chief priests, religious rulers of Israel, the scribes, the Sanhedrin, the Sadducees, and the Pharisees were having a problem with  — because instead of embracing Jesus as the Son of God they were missing the main point of the Father God and His Begotten Son Jesus and God’s Plan of Salvation for the whole world and all future generations!  So this third parable is most important when we consider that Jesus IS the Son of God, that Jesus fulfilled ALL the prophecies of the Chosen One, the Messiah, and that Jesus is about to complete the Plan of Salvation as the Lamb of God!!!  The Holy Scriptures teach that as Abraham was about to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac who asked his father, “…but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? and Abraham said, ‘my son, God will provide for Himself the lamb…’” (Genesis 22:7-8) This ties back to the “Baptism-of-John” Question which started this series of “power and authority” Lessons that Jesus is Teaching in His last week on earth before being crucified at the end of the Passover Week. It was John who baptized Jesus and John bore witness of Jesus. When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to him to be baptized in the Jordan River, the forerunner of the Messiah announced:  “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” and immediately after baptizing Jesus, John saw “the Spirit of God descending from heaven” and remained on Jesus — at which point John declared: “And I have seen and testified that [Jesus] is the Son of God.” (Genesis 1:26-34). Therefore this third parable joins together all the Holy Scriptures and all the prophecies except the crucifixion and the resurrection on the third day which are about to be fulfilled so that the Apostle John will write after the death, burial, and resurrection “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17).  Jesus Himself had said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill [the Law and the Prophets]” (Matthew 5:17) When we think of the significance of this third parable in the fulfilling of prophecy and God’s Master Plan we can take a deep breath of gratitude that with only a few days left on earth that Jesus is being so thorough in His Teachings of God’s Plan ——— The Divine Plan for mankind which the Apostle John summarized for us: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) — Jesus is always Teaching, the question is “Are we believing what Jesus is teaching?” 

AUGUST 25 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#27 “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:12)

AUGUST 25  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#27  “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?”  (Matthew 22:12)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, You are worthy, You are the Holy One, You Lord and only You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. What is man that God the One True Creator with Infinite Wisdom and Knowledge would create a universe of this magnitude and then create man to have dominion over the creation?! Why did God create only man in His image and  endow man with the greatest of all gifts — Freewill!! God then in His Infinite Wisdom allowed for our shortcomings by providing for our Salvation through the sacrifice of Himself ——— the Creator giving Himself for the created!!! O Jesus, what a great Sacrifice  You made for a world that has so horribly abused our gifts that You so freely and abundantly bestowed upon us — and with our abusing and defiling Your Gift of Freewill we have brought shame on ourselves as a consequence of our disobedience! Praise You O Lord, my God, my Savior. I pray for anointing daily from Your Holy Spirit that my sin against Thee will be no more!   AMEN

AUGUST 25  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus was confronted as to His “authority” by the chief priests, religious leaders and the elders and Jesus responded by Teaching them in three consecutive parables that only God has “authority”! The first parable was about a man asking his two sons to go work in a vineyard, the second parable was about a landowner that built a vineyard and leased it to vinedressers who refused to give the landowner his rightful “fruits” and the vinedressers not only refused to surrender to the landowner his rightful dues but they killed, beat, and stoned the landowner’s servants who came on the landowner’s “authority” when they tried to collect from the landowner’s vinedressers. When the landowner sent his son to the vinedressers they killed the son as well. The second parable was prophetic of the purpose of Jesus being in Jerusalem on this Passover and it was also God’s judgement on the chief priests and religious rulers that refused to accept Jesus as Messiah at which point Jesus pronounced, “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you [Israel] and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.” (Matthew 21:43) The chief priests and the Pharisees which Jesus had been in confrontation with throughout His earthly ministry “perceived that He was speaking of them” and instead of repenting they “sought to lay hands on Him”.  (Matthew 21:45-46) Jesus continued teaching them by parables as He gave them the 3rd parable “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son…” (Matthew 22:1-2) Jesus has now used parables that include (1) a man who sent his sons into his vineyard to work and asked the Question “Which of the two sons did the will of the father?”, (2) a landowner that built a vineyard and leased it to vinedressers who did not meet the obligations of the “lease” and actually killed the landowners son, and now Jesus presents (3) the third parable that ties all three together and adds additional impact to the Question: Where does authority originate from, heaven or men? In the third parable Jesus starts out “the kingdom of heaven” which is clearly where True Authority comes from and then Jesus says that heaven is like a “certain king” and then announces that the king “arranged a marriage for his son” which brings in the traditions of Abraham and Isaac and then the start of the nation of Israel through the twelve sons of Jacob. Surely all the chief priests and religious leaders that spent all their time studying the Holy Scriptures had to see that Jesus is painting a picture of God the Father arranging the Marriage of His Only Begotten Son, the Messiah!!! The parable continued as the “certain king” [God] sent out his servants [God’s prophets] to call those that were invited to the wedding [Israel], and they were not willing to come.” (Matthew 22:3)  It seems hard to believe that the religious rulers could not see that the work Jesus was doing could only be done through and by the True Power and Authority of God just as Nicodemus had said upon observing the miracles that Jesus was doing among the people, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with Him.” (John 3:2) Even with seeing the works of Jesus and knowing that He was sent from God they were nonetheless blinded to The Truth of God that Jesus is God’s Only Begotten Son and the “Chosen One”, the Messiah. Our generation has all the God-Breathed Holy Scriptures and a “cloud of witnesses” that Jesus is the Son of God but we are blinded by our “selfish desires” and we too are “not willing to come [to the wedding feast” — when will we ever learn?