AUGUST 21 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#24 “Is the power and authority of baptism from heaven or from men?”” (Matthew 21:25)

 

AUGUST 21  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#24  “Is the power and authority of baptism from heaven or from men?””  (Matthew 21:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, You Lord are the Only Begotten of the Great I AM, yet You came to earth in the form of a baby to live a life as we must live, in the flesh and dependent on God’s Spirit! Lord, we cannot comprehend God, the Truly Divine, the Creator and Sustainer of all life and all that exists in the universe and it is truly impossible for us to imagine a God that does not need anything or anyone to sustain Himself, why would so Powerful and Supreme a Divine Being conceive and execute a Plan of Salvation for a world of sinners and send His Only Begotten Son into a sinful world with the single purpose to “SAVE” the world from ourselves!?!?!? O Lord, I beg Your Forgiveness for all the times that I fail to see Your Plan for the world and Your Plan for me — You do not need us for anything but yet You present us the opportunity to “enter into Your labors” with You and by our belief in Your efforts that our sins will be forgiven and we become heirs to eternal life!!!! Lord Jesus, forgive me, for I am a sinner whose only HOPE IS GRACE!!      AMEN

AUGUST 21  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JQ#24  “Is the power and authority of baptism from heaven or from men?””  (Matthew 21:25)     Jesus really makes it easy for us when He asks this “power and authority” Question in terms of “baptism” being from “heaven” or “men” — there is no way to answer His Question without addressing our core Christian beliefs on their most basic level. We must first logically admit that somewhere the doctrine of “baptism” began and we can read historians writing about this era in Jewish history as a man named John who lived off locusts and wild honey in the wilderness outside of Jerusalem with a single purpose in life — not to gain possessions of any kind, nor to rise to any position of “power and authority”, but this single purpose by this man with a different lifestyle was recorded in the Holy Scriptures as: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.” (John 1:6-7) The mission of John is recorded in the Scriptures as “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’” (Matthew 3:1-2) The Scriptures which were well known by the Jews of John’s generation and these Jews were well aware that the prophet Isaiah had written 800 years earlier about the Messiah as well as a “forerunner of the Messiah”, saying of this forerunner, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord…” (Isaiah 11:1)  John was recognized as being from God and doing the work of God for the “Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask [John], ‘Who are you?’” (John 1:19) John, knowing that they were referring to the Messiah because of the success John had achieved with the multitudes preaching “Repentance” and that the “kingdom of heaven was at hand”, John told them “I am not the Christ” so the priests and Levites asked “why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ?” John then told the authorities that he baptized with water but that “After me comes a Man who is preferred before me … I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.” (John 1:15-34) So when Jesus asks the Question built around “the baptism of John”, all Israel was aware that John was a prophet of God fulfilling a prophecy of Isaiah about the Coming Messiah — all Israel also knew that John the Baptist was sent by God to preach “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”, and all Israel, especially the religious rulers knew that the multitudes had gone to John the Baptist in the wilderness “around the Jordan…and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.” (Matthew 3:4-6) This Question Jesus is now asking them about the “baptism of John” could only be answered for the Truth of God that it was, John was not the Christ but he was “baptizing” in the wilderness of Jordan all who confessed their sins against God and preaching “Repent”. John the Baptist clearly stated this was all about God and the “kingdom of heaven” so now when the religious leaders attack Jesus and demand to know “by what authority” Jesus is doing His miraculous works, Jesus makes them face the Truth of God that “baptism” and the “confession of sins” has only One True Authority — the One True God!  So when Jesus ties the “Baptism of John” together with “power and authority” and gives the rulers the choice “from heaven or from men”, the only answer that can be given is to admit that MEN HAVE NO AUTHORITY OR POWER EXCEPT THAT WHICH GOD PERMITS — TRUE POWER AND AUTHORITY COMES ONLY FROM GOD IN HEAVEN!!!!! The rulers knew that they had to give Jesus an answer or lose all authority but they also realized, that if they admitted the Truth of God that they were going to lose all authority! Jesus, being the Master Teacher has presented the “Question” and now He is going to use a parable to give us the “Answer” and sum up the “Baptism of John” and the TRUTH of GOD’S PLAN OF SALVATION! Do you need additional Lessons or are you ready to give Jesus an honest answer to His Question: “The baptism of John — is it from heaven or from men?”  Jesus is saying to us:“God the Father and His Heaven is real, I am His Only Begotten Son sent from Heaven with the PLAN OF SALVATION FOR ALL MANKIND and the Truth of God  is : REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND!!!”  

AUGUST 20 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#24 “Is the power and authority of baptism from heaven or from men?”” (Matthew 21:25)

 AUGUST 20  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#24  “Is the power and authority of baptism from heaven or from men?””  (Matthew 21:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

Jesus, Your grace is sufficient for all our needs, Your Love covers all our sins and iniquities — Your Resurrection has forever sealed the promise of God to His Creation therefore our Eternity is secure through our belief in the shed Blood of the Lamb of God!  God has gone through such great efforts to supply our needs, both physical and spiritual as we read about God’s efforts and promises in the Holy Scriptures, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1) and from Genesis to Revelation the Scriptures document all the faithful promises of God and His great work in His Creation so that the Scriptures close with “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” (Revelation 22:21) Indeed You Lord are the Alpha and the Omega and Your Mercy and Grace is all we need from the beginning to the end. So this believer also looks forward to the last promise “Surely, I am coming quickly.” and I pray “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is addressing the greatest problem of every generation that ever lived, from Adam and the forbidden fruit to our modern day worldly desires to “do our own thing” — we are self-serving and are constantly declaring that it is our “right” to control our own destiny but in our self indulging demands we all make the universal mistake of failing to honestly ask ourselves, “Who and where does the Supreme Authority to declare ‘right and wrong’ really come from?” Then when we are confronted with the Truth of God that He and He alone has already established and maintains “righteousness” and has already given mankind a set of commands by which we can know “right from wrong”, mankind rebels and reverts to making up our own self-serving rules and doctrines. We are all guilty, every generation looks with lust at God’s Power and Authority and each of us fall to the temptation of listening to the Original Great Lie of the serpent as we hear, “For God knows that in the day you eat [of the forbidden fruit and decide for yourself what is “TRUTH” that] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God…” (Genesis 3:5).  Each of us in our desire to have “authority and power” look to be like the True Power and Authority which is God and fail to see that with great power and authority comes great responsibility and that is where we fail miserably, for we all desire to be “God-like” and desire in our fallen heart to wield the “power” and look grand and glorious in our self assumed “authority”. We assume it is our “right” and then immediately we abuse both “power and authority” and end up short of meeting our responsibility to the world and others as we blindly serve our selfish desires and lusts.  Jesus asks the “from-heaven-or-from-men-true Authority” Question to each of us in order to make us stop and consider what we see in the world for there is sin and death all around us — we recognize that there is “evil” that consumes everyone and everything yet we do not recognize the Truth of God that God Alone is Sovereign in His Creation and that ALL POWER AND AUTHORITY is from GOD! Simple Spiritual Blessings of God that we encounter in our daily lives like “Forgiveness”, “Love”, “Repentance”, and “Grace” are not bestowed upon us by the “doctrines of men” but we know they exist therefore we must acknowledge the True Spiritual Source! Therefore Jesus is pointing out the “simple” Truth that mankind ALWAYS falls to the temptation to assume personal “power and authority” for our selfish needs and each fallen generation tries to justify our weakness by proclaiming the Great Lie — “If there is no God, then there is no ‘right’ but that which our “selfishness” declares as ‘right’!!!”   We however, by choosing to partake of the forbidden fruit, fail to recognize the Truth that it is God Himself  that declares that the fruit is “forbidden” and it is God Himself Who declares the “consequence” of our actions — we have the “right to choose” our actions only because God Himself has granted us “Free Will” [see A. W. Tozer “Knowledge of the Holy”] — but the Truth of God is that God as the Supreme Power and Authority has given His Creation the “right to choose” but He also through His Supreme Authority has reserved His Divine Right and Authority to determine the Consequence of our actions and choices — we are free to choose but God determines the consequence of our choice {{THE DIVINE LAW OF CHOICE AND CONSEQUENCE}} — the only way we can ever truly “be like God” is to choose to live our lives and make our choices based upon the “choices and standards” of God through His Holy Word in which God Himself has declared already the acceptable way to live, and has provided for us the Perfect Example in His Only Begotten Son, Jesus, who is reminding us with this Question on “power and authority” that we must decide for ourselves if we are going to usurp God’s position or are we going to let God be God and provide for our daily physical needs and our eternal spiritual needs — if we stop and think we will have to admit, we cannot create “the heavens and the earth” nor do we have any control over “eternity” so what makes us think we should have “power and authority” over them?!?!?!?  

AUGUST 19 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#24 “Is the power and authority of baptism from heaven or from men?”” (Matthew 21:25)

 AUGUST 19  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#24  “Is the power and authority of baptism from heaven or from men?””  (Matthew 21:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, You are Worthy of ALL our adoration and praise! You Lord are the One True Shepherd that feeds His lambs and leads us to green pastures. Lord, we may read or hear a disturbing report from the “authorities” of our generation that declare that You are “outdated” and worse, You are “dangerous”  and the “multitudes” keeps believing the “Lie” and misses Your “Truth” — O Lord, You are the Prince of Peace and only through belief in You and Your Death, Burial, and Resurrection is there any Hope for mankind! These ARE the END TIMES and all Christians will have to be given another boost in Faith in God or many will be lost because of this modern day persecution on Your Church and on You, the Messiah, the Chosen One, our Savior and Redeemer — Forgive us Lord for listening to the deceiver, strengthen our Faith, and let us proclaim Your Truth and be bold in our witness that You Lord are our Hope for You Lord are the Way, the Truth and the Life!!!!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is now Teaching the Ultimate Truth of God, and He is directing His Teaching at all who would demand of the Messiah, “By what authority” does the Son of God do the works of God? Jesus knows that God the Father has sent Him down from heaven to bring the same message that John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand” — Jesus has brought the message of  “REPENTANCE” to Israel and has been Teaching by miracles and parables what the kingdom of heaven is like, but in His last week on earth Jesus is giving His “final answer” by asking the Ultimate Question that covers all the TRUTH OF GOD contained in the scriptures about God the Father, His only begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit — “For God so loved the world that He {{will give}} His only begotten Son {{Jesus, the Messiah}} that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)  Looking at the Question that Jesus asked the “chief priests and the elders of the people” will reveal the fulfilling of all that God has desired for His chosen people — simply that those that follow God will Trust in His provisions for our daily needs and for our eternity. God desires that “no man should perish but all would come to a saving knowledge” of His Only Begotten Son Jesus who was sent to die a substitutionary death on the cross as the Lamb of God, becoming the propitiation of our sins against God. God has declared the penalty for sin is death and in providing for our salvation God has provided an acceptable Sacrifice to pay that penalty. The Question Jesus is asking must be considered as a type of formal exam of the Truth of God for contained within the Question is the summation of what we truly believe and can accept about God. First, let us look at the “Question” in the context that the “rulers and authorities” of the temple were asking Jesus who had demonstrated that by His actions Jesus IS the Messiah because through Jesus and His Miracles performed in the Power of the Holy Spirit of God the prophecy of the Holy Scriptures was fulfilled before their very eyes, and yet these “rulers and authorities” were questioning Jesus about His authority???? Jesus answered their question by asking this truly “Spirit-loaded” Question “The baptism of John —where was it from? (and to make sure there was no confusion, Jesus makes the answer multiple choice) From (a) heaven or (b) from men?” (Matthew 21:25) There are several elements that we normally don’t think of that Jesus makes surface with this all important Question and here is a short list for your personal consideration before you give your “best and final answer” to Jesus, who is about to go to the cross and be crucified, suffering a cruel death to pay the penalty for your sins; therefore, giving Him an honest answer is the least you can do, don’t you think? Here is the list: (1) baptism: just what is “baptism” and what does it accomplish? (2) who is John and why was he “baptizing”? (3) why was Jesus using “John” and “baptism” to illustrate “authority”? (4) is there any “earthly” reason to be “baptized”?  (5) is there any validity in “the authority” of “heaven”? (6) how can one prove “heaven” and the “Ruler of heaven” exists? (7) is having “Faith” in “things unseen” a reasonable explanation for “John”, “Baptism”, “Jesus”, and “heaven”? These are elements of the Question you must consider or you can’t answer this Question — but keep in mind, this could well be your “final answer” before the “Teacher” grades your test!!!!!  

AUGUST 18 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#24 “Is the power and authority of baptism from heaven or from men?”” (Matthew 21:25)

 AUGUST 18  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#24  “Is the power and authority of baptism from heaven or from men?””  (Matthew 21:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Thank You Lord for being the Great Physician, the Great Healer, the Master Teacher. Lord Jesus You have guided those that are our earthly physicians and earthly teachers and You Lord give us the abundant life as You take us safely through the Valley of Sickness and the Darkness of Spiritual Ignorance and bring our bodies and minds back to health. Jesus, I thank You for the infirmities that You allow in our lives and I pray that the Holy Spirit will keep our heart, eyes, and mind open during these times of doubt and trials that we will always see Your Healing Hand and Teaching Spirit at work in our lives, both the physical and the spiritual. Lord Jesus, forgive me when I get caught up in the world and fail to see that everything should be used to glorify the Father instead of getting lost in self-pity — Lord Jesus, Praise, Glory, and Honor to the Son that was Obedient unto death to the Will of the Father, forgive me when I fail to honor the Father and the Son while enjoying the Abundant Life You have laid before all who will believe.   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is entering Jerusalem the day after His Triumphal Entry which was met in Jerusalem with “mixed reviews” and the immediate “cleansing of the temple” did not win Jesus any friends on the Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce! Jesus had cursed a fig tree outside the Eastern Gate which can only be viewed in light of all the other actions Jesus has performed in the name of God as a curse on those that would defile the temple of God, His Holy City,  and all those that were seeking to worship God “in Spirit and in Truth” (John 4:24). Therefore His curse was not on an isolated single fig tree but on the Sanhedrin itself, the Sanhedrin being the most influential spiritual body in all Israel and they were cursed because they we abusing their “power and authority” by defiling the command of God in order to further the “doctrines of men”! Jesus had told His disciples that the “power and authority”  He had displayed in His cursing the fig tree and the tree’s immediate destruction was a product of “Faith, Prayer, and Belief” ——— the Lesson to learn from Jesus cursing the fig tree is that God and God Alone IS the SUPREME AUTHORITY and the SUPREME POWER!!! Jesus curses the fig tree, Teaches the Lesson on “Faith and Belief” and then enters Jerusalem through the Eastern Gate — keep in mind that this is the last week on earth that Jesus will spend in His earthly form and His every action, breath, and Word will be full and overflowing with the Truth of God so it is important to consider every move made by Jesus in this most important of weeks!!! “Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?’” (Matthew 21:23)  Jesus is the Master Teacher and He always takes our questions and uses His Question to laser focus a Truth of God onto the problem at hand and at the same time Jesus will present a Question to us that will reflect that Truth of God and illuminate the solution for us. He has been demonstrating that everything Jesus does is to Teach the Truth of the One True Living God and Jesus has made it clear that He is here on earth to do the “Will of His Father in Heaven”. In this particular case, Jesus answers the chief priests and elders of the people with what I consider to be (by virtue of where and when it was asked) the summation of all the Truths of God that Jesus has spent 33 years in the flesh Teaching to all who would listen as Jesus asked (JQ#24) “The baptism of John —where was it from? From heaven or from men?” (Matthew 21:25) By asking this Question in the temple of God in the city of Jerusalem and by directing the Question at those that had been wielding power and authority over the multitudes, Jesus has set up the ultimate confrontation between the “commands of God [from heaven]” and the “doctrines [originating from] men” — a confrontation between what God has clearly stated in His Holy Scriptures as “TRUTH” and what man in a self-assumed position of authority has defiled and manipulated and then has handed down as the “doctrine [of men]”. Not only has Jesus set up the ultimate confrontation but this Question points to the Ultimate Truth of God — God is the Living God and is still and forever will be involved in His Creation. The First Truth of God from JQ#24 is that the scriptures tell of a forerunner to the Coming Messiah and that prophecy was fulfilled by John the Baptist. When John came on the scene, the question was asked by the rulers and authorities, “Are you the Messiah?” John had answered “no” and said that he was there to “witness” and point to the Messiah when He arrived and then John kept preaching “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” and John kept baptizing. John then declared as he saw Jesus coming to him to be baptized, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:15-29)  When Jesus asked about the “baptism of John”, the chief priests and elders were really over a barrel for they had to recognize the fact that “baptism” is real and they knew that John had not come to them for “approval” to baptize so there was no way that the Sanhedrin could claim “authority and power” over the actions of John the Baptist. Now what were they going to do with the “True authority and power of God” that Jesus was demonstrating in the temple of God in God’s Holy City of Jerusalem? The Question Jesus asked sitting in the temple is still of utmost relevance today, what would your response be if Jesus sat down with you and asked, “The baptism of John — is it from heaven or from men?” — what answer could you give?!?!?!?!    

AUGUST 17 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#24 “Is the power and authority of baptism from heaven or from men?”” (Matthew 21:25)

 AUGUST 17  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#24  “Is the power and authority of baptism from heaven or from men?””  (Matthew 21:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, You Lord are forever the Unchanging Faithful One, full of Mercy and Grace. We are nothing next to Your Glory, we are weak and we have no good in us if we have no God in us! Apart from You we find we live our lives selfishly and think we can do our own thing if we just build up enough “spiritual brownie” points — Lord I know better     and I beg Your forgiveness for even this slightest of touches against my total and unyielding faith in living a totally surrendered life to You.  I pray to completely abandon self, take up my cross daily, and live only a “life in Christ”.  Lord Jesus, I pray for the day when I will know that I shall never look back or even think of looking back. There is no excuse for my ever turning from You or taking my eyes off You for even the slightest of seconds. Forgive me, for when I am not looking at You, I am looking at self and it is when I am “in self” that I sin, but when I am “in Christ” my true life begins again!!!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has just made His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem but was met with contention by the chief priests and elders so Jesus left Jerusalem and spent the night in Bethany. Now as He returns to Jerusalem He curses a fig tree and “Immediately the fig tree withered away.” (Matthew 21:19) Instead of entering into a debate among ourselves as to “why” Jesus would “curse” a fig tree, we should instead consider the eyewitness accounts and then look at the other actions of Jesus to see if He “explains” the “why” for us. “And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, ‘How did the fig tree wither away so soon?’” (Matthew 21:20) The eyewitnesses were the disciples of Jesus and this is not the first “miracle” they had seen Jesus do — they had observed Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, they had seen Jesus feed the multitudes with a small boy’s lunch, and they had witnessed demons being cast out and every infirmity brought to Jesus, Jesus healed them all; however, when the fig tree withered and died “immediately” these disciples “marveled”. Perhaps not all of these disciples that were following Jesus in Jerusalem were with Jesus earlier in His ministry when He taught “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1) and then Jesus called those that lord themselves over others as “Hypocrites!” (Matthew 7:5) Then Jesus rebuked false teachers and He declared, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing …you will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit…Every bad tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  (Matthew 7:15-20)  There is much correlation to be made from the circumstance in which this “fig tree” was cursed in the village of priests and judges in the walled village of Bethphage that stood as the Supreme Court over Israel and were supposed to be handing down decisions based on the Holy Scriptures and not the doctrines of men! It can easily be seen that since Bethphage means “house of unripe figs” that Jesus has passed the sentence of death onto the Sanhedrin for being a “bad tree” that has not produced good spiritual fruit and therefore this “Supreme Court” is now cut down and will be thrown into the fire! It makes sense that just yesterday Jesus executed the Divine Duties of the Office of Messiah and cleansed the temple of God in Jerusalem and today Jesus is addressing the source of the problem and is pronouncing sentence on those who have been found guilty of defiling the temple of God by abusing their “office” and “responsibility” of handing down Godly decisions! Instead, the ‘religious rulers’ had made the temple a center of commerce instead of a house of prayer!?!?!   Jesus said that you will know a tree by the fruit that it bears and He demonstrated by the cleansing of the temple that He had indeed “come in the name of the LORD” !  We can see that the temple was defiled by the fruit of commerce and that unGodly fruit could only have been produced by an unGodly tree which we know was planted and watered by the Sanhedrin! We know also that the Sanhedrin was not an office instituted by God, but was formed and maintained by men as they handed down judgments based on what they thought was “best” for Israel. Once the disciples saw the fig tree wither away immediately, Jesus made it clear that the Lesson He intended for the disciples was about their “faith” because when they asked “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?” (Matthew 21:20) that “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea, it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive'.” (Matthew 21:21-22) When one considers the context, one can quickly see Jesus Teaching and these last Lessons on “Faith” and “Obedience to God” should be studied and not doubted — our attention should not be on “why” we think Jesus did what He did with the fig tree, our attention should be firmly fixed on the fact that Jesus cursed a fig tree outside the eastern gate and at His command, the tree withered away immediately — where do you think the “power and authority” to accomplish this miracle came from, “from heaven or from men?” !?!?!?!?

AUGUST 16 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#24 “Is the power and authority of baptism from heaven or from men?”” (Matthew 21:25)

 AUGUST 16  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#24  “Is the power and authority of baptism from heaven or from men?””  (Matthew 21:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, thank You Lord for Your daily “Manifest Presence” that You bless us through the Filling of the Holy Spirit in the lives of all who keep a place prepared for You in our humble and contrite hearts. King David who was known as a man “after God’s own heart” knew about Your Manifest Presence and prayed that You would create in him a clean heart and a steadfast spirit for it was through preparation of his heart by the Holy Spirit that David would again know the “joy of salvation” and David pleaded as I do, “And uphold me by Your generous Spirit” (Psalm 51) Daily Lord Jesus I stand in need of Your Mercies that are renewed each morning so I rise and give You Praise and lift up my offering of Thanksgiving ——— You have answered my prayer and You are leading me down paths of righteousness for Your name’s sake, the Name above all names, JESUS!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus left the conflict in Jerusalem and strolled through the Kidron Valley to the Mount of Olives to the humble town of Bethany where He “lodged” in a home where He obviously felt welcomed, He needed a good night’s rest in the company of loved ones for He is going to return to Jerusalem in the morning and this is going to be a very intensive week for Him which will result in His death on a cross on the eve of the Passover Feast. (Matthew 21:17) Jesus spent the refreshing night in Bethany and rose early and headed back to the Eastern Gate: “Now in the morning as He returned to the city, He was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, ‘Let no fruit grow on you ever again.’ Immediately the fig tree withered away.” (Matthew 21:18) This “curse” on the fig tree has received a lot of questions and there has been much debate — for Jesus to pronounce this “curse” had to be significant! This fig tree has been defended with excuses that it was “not the season for figs” — but those that defend the “fig tree” and suggest that  Jesus could have made a “mistake” here are probably doing so from inside the walls of Jerusalem and have never themselves considered what possible motive might Jesus have had to “curse” a poor defenseless fig tree outside the Eastern Gate!?!?  I must admit that for years and years that I would feel uncomfortable reading this passage in Matthew 21:18-22 and the other uncomfortable passage where Jesus said, “I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:23) but when the “curse” is looked at as part of a “Divine Statement” that Jesus makes about the “doctrines of men” and the religious leaders that were promoting “traditions of men” for their convenience, the context surrounding this debated passage of the fig tree curse makes sense. The context begins with Jesus and the disciples “when they drew near Jerusalem” (Matthew 21:1) and Jesus sent two disciples to collect a donkey and her colt from the village of Bethphage just outside the Eastern Gate. (Matthew 21:2-6) Jesus then made His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday where He was greeted with mixed reviews; some asked “who is this?”, while others cried “Hosanna to the Son of David”, and others were wrongly explaining “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.” (Matthew 21:7-11) However, once Jesus was inside the city “Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, ‘It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer’, but you have made it a den of thieves.” (Matthew 21:12-13) While in the temple Jesus began to use the temple for its intended purpose to minister to the multitudes but even though Jesus was healing all that were brought to Him in the temple, the chief priests and scribes saw “the wonderful things that [Jesus] did” but they became “indignant”. Jesus rebuked the chief priests and scribes in the temple and then left the city to lodge in Bethany for the night. (Matthew 21:14-17) “Now in the morning, as [Jesus] returned to the city, He was hungry.” (Matthew 21:18) If we fail to understand the “context” of the “curse” on the fig tree, then we are left to be blown about by the winds of ignorance and apathy and all we can hope to do is to not be blown over a precipice or into a pit, however if we study “where and when” Jesus did what He did and “who” Jesus did it to, then we will have the Truth of God revealed to us. Clue: Bethphage is located just outside the eastern gate and it was a walled village built by the Sanhedrin (the Supreme Court of Israel) and was populated by priests. The name Bethphage means “house of unripe figs” and the Sanhedrin that was controlling the religious lives of Israel by handing down their “doctrines of men” to the multitudes and claimed the “authority” over their lives that is reserved only for God Himself. Since Jesus was returning to Jerusalem from Bethany and was heading to the eastern gate, then it is most likely that Jesus is in Bethphage and possibly near some of the chief priests and scribes that Jesus had confronted on Palm Sunday! It makes more sense to think of the “curse” being on the Sanhedrin in Bethphage and not just this one poor defenseless fig tree because the “curse” happened after bookend confrontations between Jesus and the chief priests and elders. This is a pretty important final week in the earthly ministry of Jesus and I am sure He would not waste His time on “petty curses” against a fig tree, or do you think there is some mistake here and it just happened to get caught on “tape” {{how utterly careless is that of God to let a mistake made by His Perfect Son get written down in God’s Holy Bible for all generations to read?}}

AUGUST 15 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#24 “Is the power and authority of baptism from heaven or from men?”” (Matthew 21:25)

 AUGUST 15  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#24  “Is the power and authority of baptism from heaven or from men?””  (Matthew 21:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord Jesus, thank You for letting me see who I really am, a sinner, a dirty unclean disobedient child of God! I say again Thank You for letting me know that everything I do is but filthy rags … everything but one … Obedience to the Father’s will — for now that I know that You KNOW who I am and You have called me HOME  even though it is You that I have sinned against!?!?!?   I can say again, “Thank You Lord”!!! Knowing that I am a sinner is a good thing because I know that You KNOW and so there is nothing to hide from the One that says to my soul, “I know you are a sinner, that’s why I died on the cross for you! I KNOW you are a sinner —BUT — You are a child of the KING, REPENT and come HOME to the FATHER who FORGIVES.” When I know I am a sinner and know how worthless I am, it gives me gives me Great Spiritual Strength to know that if I OBEY the Father, and REPENT of my sins, that He stands WITH OPEN ARMS REJOICING and I hear Him say, “For this [child] of mine was dead [in sin] and is ALIVE AGAIN” [Luke 15:24] — “kill the fatted calf and we will celebrate!”    Sin is good for one thing, when you REPENT from your sins, you have a Loving Father calling you HOME!!!   OBEY the Father that KNOWS you are a sinner, REPENT and COME HOME to the FEAST HE HAS PREPARED for you!!!!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus leaves Jerusalem and walks to Bethany to spend the night and we wonder why He would leave the temple of God that He had just cleaned out and the city of God where He had just been declared “King” by the multitudes?  But it is not a mystery when we consider that Jesus had declared that He “knows the hearts of all men” (John 2:24) and “destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up”! (John 2:19) Jesus knew the mood in Jerusalem in spite of what the “multitudes” were “saying” so Jesus is demonstrating that by His leaving the city of Jerusalem and going to the little village of Bethany that our Spiritual Reality is not what we say with our lips but what we believe with our hearts! We know that the “houses” in Bethany were not like the grand houses in Jerusalem but then maybe Jesus wasn’t going to a “house” in Bethany but He was most likely going to a “home”. In fact, Bethany was the “home” of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus and also Simon the leper. There are no big houses in Bethany so why would Jesus choose to abandon the “big city” and go “lodge” in a humble dwelling? There can be only one explanation, Jesus was going where there were people whose hearts had previously “welcomed” Jesus and He knew that He would feel “at HOME” with them! Bethany was a special place to Jesus, not because of the real estate in Bethany but because of the “real state” of some special hearts that made their “home” in Bethany, humble hearts, welcoming hearts in Bethany that Jesus simply could not find in Jerusalem!!! Therefore, Jesus shows us that He will “lodge” where there are warm hearts that welcome Him into their “home” because He is not concerned with the structure of the house! Jesus is showing us that what is on the outside is called the house but how we prepare the inside is what makes a “house” a “home”! Have you prepared a “grand house” for the admiration of the “multitudes” or have you prepared your “home” where Jesus would be comfortable “lodging” there?  God is demonstrating with every step Jesus takes toward Bethany that what is in our heart is of more value than what is in our bank accounts! Jesus was called the “Son of David” by the multitudes during the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem; however, much of that could have been mass hysteria for the masses soon changed their rhetoric to “crucify Him”, but if they had read the scriptures they would have read where King David himself had written: “For You [LORD] do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart — these [sacrifices] O GOD, You will not despise.” (Psalm 51:16-17) The mystery is solved for me for I know that the hearts of Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and Simon the leper were grateful hearts, open and welcoming to Jesus but in Jerusalem all Jesus had encountered were empty defiled temples and greedy, ungrateful hearts — so which would you choose? Would you rather “lodge” with friends and loved ones or stay in a fancy room filled only with rejection? Bethany is sounding like a pretty good place to spend the night don’t you think?  At least Jesus thought so ———