APRIL 30 THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 16) Conclusion to Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

 APRIL 30  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  (Day 16)  Conclusion to Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily  Prayer    

JESUS, today is a new day that You have given us and with each new day that you bless us with You also renew Your Mercies. Lord Jesus we give You thanks that You would come from Your Glory in Heaven to take on flesh and live on this earth a Perfect Life, though confronted by the same temptations of the flesh as we are tempted! Even though You were tempted on a greater scale than we, You Lord Jesus being innocent, in Obedience to the Father’s Will, You would go willingly to the cross and die for our sins! Lord, eternity will not be long enough for us to give You all the Praise, Glory, and Honor due to the Chosen One who died for our sins. Lord Jesus, each day is a transition so Lord each day let us look to You to lead us in paths of righteousness for Your Name’s Sake.      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has been Teaching us in the review of the JQ#1-JQ#13 JESUS QUESTIONS to “understand” that life is both “physical” and “spiritual” and Jesus has pointed out in JQ#1-JQ#13 the great extent that God has gone through to provide for us the “understanding” of how the Kingdom works and about our “spiritual responsibility” to God and His Eternal Kingdom. For the last 16 days the Holy Spirit has given us a “summary” of JQ#1-JQ#13 as God’s Way of making sure that we are given enough information and insight to His HOLY WORD that we can ”truly understand” His Lessons and apply them to our Daily Lives that we may Honor God by living according to His Way. The theme through these first 13 Lessons Jesus Taught by asking a Question and by studying the “context” and observing how Jesus Lived His Life as the Perfect Example, we will be able to give Jesus an honest answer to His Teaching Questions. God demonstrates the depth of His concern that we “understand” His Word  by  JQ#14 where Jesus directly addresses the issue with His disciples — “Jesus said to them, ‘Have you understood all these things?” (Matthew 13:51)  — Jesus, as the Master Teacher,  uses His own Life to insure we “understand” God’s “intent” for sending His Only Begotten Son to the earth and taking on flesh and living among us (See John 1:14  “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”)  Just the very fact that we have The Holy Bible and it is full of God’s Words like mercy, grace, forgiveness, sanctification, redemption, sacrifice, and eternal salvation, those words alone should be enough for us to TRUST GOD but when God goes that “extra mile” by actually coming down to earth, taking on flesh, and living among us so that He could know what life in the flesh is really like ——— therefore Jesus the Son of God Himself, can say “I know what it’s like to live in the flesh” ! Because Jesus knows what it is like to live in the flesh, we can TRUST JESUS to give us the Perfect Advice on how to live in a “Way” that honors God the Father! The essence of the JESUS Questions is not for Jesus to “gain knowledge from us” but to “enlighten us in the Way” and it is important enough to God that we really “understand” that Jesus asks everyone the specific question: “Do you understand all these things that I have been Teaching you with these Questions?”  Therefore let us transition from our “review” of the first 13 JESUS Questions and pause to remind ourselves that the JESUS Questions are for our “Spiritual benefit” and it is of great importance to God the Father that we “understand” the TRUTH OF GOD contained in each JESUS Question Lesson. Jesus asks His Questions in a specific order, Teaches a specific Lesson,  and each Lesson builds upon the previous Question and all done in specific order that we might “understand the TRUTH OF GOD” contained in His Holy Word. The Scriptures are written that we may KNOW GOD and the better we UNDERSTAND HIS WORD the more INTIMATE WILL BE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF GOD and the more JOY we will have in living our Daily Lives for HIM!

APRIL 29 THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 15) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

APRIL 29  THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 15)  Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, again we pray “Give us this day our daily bread…” with all the confidence that the “good work” You have begun in us will be completed and that we will proclaim like King David “The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want!” Lord Jesus, each time I feel circumstance start to cloud up my “Joy”, I stop and remember that You Lord are eternal and that everything You have done is because You chose to “love” me even though I am a sinner and that You have a “plan” for me to have a “hope and a future” and that this time on earth is but a “vapor” that is but here today and gone tomorrow while Your Mercies Endure Forever! Lord Jesus, I trust that Your Rod and Your Staff will provide me with all my needs so that I will proclaim also “surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has been Teaching us with the first 13 JESUS Questions to know what is expected of all those that choose to “Follow Jesus” in terms of “discipleship” and to understand that life is both “physical” and “spiritual”. Jesus then transitions us to a deeper level of understanding as Matthew records an interesting section of Jesus Teaching us how to view the world from God’s Perspective highlighted by Matthew 12:14 “Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.” This attack by the “legalist” and the way Jesus responded to it begs the transition question: “What do our enemies tell us about ourselves?” There are many ways to look at each situation that life confronts us with that on the surface may appear to be “damaging” but when we have learned to “Trust in God” we will look at these circumstances with “spiritual” eyes and see the “Truth of God”. One such instance happened as I was reading the introduction to JQ#13 and how Jesus had addressed a situation with a group of Pharisees that had come to bring accusations against Jesus for they had been plotting “against Him, how that they might destroy Him.” It was at this point that the Holy Spirit directed me to make a note that after writing the “Summary Review” for The Jesus Questions 1-13 that I was to come back to this scripture and write a separate article on what we can learn about ourselves by asking ourselves who our own enemies are and what they accuse us of! This seems like a strange question until it is studied in the context of what kind of “witness” that was given about Jesus by His “enemies”. The thought was placed in my spirit to consider that Jesus could have built a very impressive resume just from the statements that His enemies had made trying to find fault in Him and I thought to myself “What kind of enemies do I have and what kind of witness would they have about my Christian character?” For example we read in Matthew 12:24 “Now when the Pharisees heard [Jesus was casting out demons and healing the blind and the mute, and often Jesus did these miracles on the Jewish Sabbath] they said, ‘This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.’” The reason that the Pharisees were out to get Him was because Jesus had healed a man with a withered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath in response to being asked if it was “lawful” to heal on the Sabbath. Jesus did not answer with words to be disputed by the “law makers” in a legal debate — Jesus answered the question by performing a miracle on the Sabbath and then gave His questioners an “in-your-face-Truth-of-God” answer as He healed the man then said “Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:12) and then Jesus turned and healed the man. The Pharisees then started building up Jesus’ resume as they exposed themselves like they did in Matthew 12:24 by accusing Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebub. By making the accusation the Pharisees were acknowledging and documented the fact by way of their accusations that indeed Jesus had been casting out demons, in fact the Pharisees were admitting that Jesus had been doing many miracles which could not be denied and each time they accused Him, they added to His resume because they said the things He was “doing” were illegal by their laws — in other words, they did not claim that Jesus was NOT doing miracles, the Pharisees claimed that the miracles that He WAS DOING were either against the “Law” of the Pharisees or that the “Power” Jesus used to DO the Miracles was some power other than God! So the enemies of Jesus were actually being a witness to the miracles of Jesus because if He hadn’t done these miracles the Pharisees could not accuse Him of anything. If we had to let our enemies take the stand and accuse us of “Living for Jesus”, what kind of evidence could they present to a jury that we might be found guilty of being called “Christians”?

APRIL 28 THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 14) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

 APRIL 28  THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 14) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34) 

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, aside from Your Mercy and Grace, there is no good thing in me, all I have accomplished in my life is worthless for as much worldly success as I have had, it is only temporary and of no consequence to that which is eternal. Lord Jesus, thank You for Your marvelous gifts of Grace, Mercy, Salvation, Forgiveness, and Peace! Lord, thank You for the reminder that the “Gifts of God” are priceless and that they cannot be earned by works nor is there any earthly thing that can be valued enough to purchase these “Gifts”. Only the Blood of the Only Begotten of the Father Himself can be found worthy enough to purchase this Gift of Righteousness and therefore let us forsake the “hay and stubble” upon which we have formerly established this earthly house and build our heavenly foundation on the “Rock” ——— “This Rock is Jesus”!!!       AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus continues His line of “serious” Questions about our relationship to the Father with JQ#13:

Lesson 13  JQ#13  “Is your life a plus or minus in God’s kingdom?”     

Matthew 12:24-45

Our life cannot count for anything that has earthly value or is prized in the eyes of sinful man. Jesus asks us to evaluate our life in terms of God’s Kingdom for Jesus knows that we cannot earn enough money or collect enough things on this earth to justify our entrance into God’s Kingdom, thereby making our physical accomplishments as worthless as they are finite! Jesus has brought our understanding of God to the point that we are aware that our Faith in God and our relationship with God will have the only bearing on our eternity and Jesus is revealing to us that the physical things of this earth are going to pass into nothingness while the spiritual aspects of our soul are going to be carried with us as we enter into eternity through the doorway of death that all souls must use as we exit this present mortal physical life and enter into the eternal spiritual existence God has intended for each soul He creates. If we spend our earthly time collecting earthly treasures then when our physical life is terminated we will find that everything finite is terminated as well and the only thing that passes through the doorway of death are those things that have “eternal spiritual value” —Jesus had taught this to Nicodemus when He discussed the kingdom of God with the most learned religious man of his day: “Jesus answered and said …’Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’” (John 3:3) and to clarify that it is a “spiritual vs. physical” conflict Jesus tells Nicodemus “…Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:5-6) So Jesus makes it clear that we are first born of flesh and while in the flesh we must seek to understand the mysteries of God and by gaining the knowledge of God we will be born of “His Spirit”, for as our earthly fathers gives us physical life of the flesh, our Heavenly Father will give us the eternal life of His Spirit, for flesh cannot enter into the kingdom of God, only Spirit. The total value of our physical life therefore can be summed up as either a “spiritual” plus or a minus in God’s Kingdom, so each of us must ask ourselves, “Does our Spiritual life add up to anything good in God’s eyes?”

APRIL 27 THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 13) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

 APRIL 27 THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 13) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34) 

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord of Life, You are greatly to be praised, Your Name is to be lifted up by all men and one glorious day every tongue will speak the Name above names, Jesus. Lord, there will be those that will regret not having called on that Name for salvation while still residing in these earthen vessels to transport us through the “physical” life, for without calling on the name Jesus, the “physical” cannot be transformed to the “Spiritual” for You are the Giver of All Life, both the “Physical” and the “Eternal”, and though it is as simple as “asking”, it is also the most difficult task because the “asking” must be done from a “humble” heart. Lord I thank You that You have changed my heart and now I pray for those that do not know the earthly peace of the confidence of Heaven, through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, that their “spirit” will yield to Your Divine Holy Spirit’s leading them to an understanding of the TRUTH OF GOD.      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus gives us Divine Guidance for our “Spiritual health” through the Subject Lesson and the Order of His Teaching Questions and through the first 11 JESUS Questions, Jesus has outlined the plan for our discipleship by developing the proper perspective of both the Kingdom and the King of Heaven. Starting with JQ#12 Jesus “gets real” with our perspective of our “relationship” with God during our life on earth! 

Lesson  12  JQ#12  “Who decides what is legal, God or man?”       

Matthew 12:1-23

This JQ#12 question of “Who decides…?” really “cuts to the bone” but when we consider that this Question comes immediately after Jesus asked about our “Spiritual Expectations” of Him in JQ#11 this JQ#12 JESUS Question is very serious indeed! First of all Jesus states that He is who He is because of the Father’s Will and not because of any “personal expectations” on our part and then Jesus makes the most practical application to why our beliefs should be based on the “Truth of God” and not some “interpretation” of what we think we believe! A.W. Tozer told this “Truth of God” in his book “Knowledge of the Holy” when he begins his book with: “What comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Tozer is pointing out the “Truth of God” that if we have the wrong idea of God then our “eternal soul” is in jeopardy. There is not enough “money” or “power” in the world to justify thinking wrongly about God for God alone determines the “Truth” and man has no power to change the “Truth of God”, and no man ever will!! Jesus tries to call our attention to the fact that we can know the “Truth of God” for it will be revealed to us but our obligation is to believe it when we see it. Jesus told the disciples of John who were looking for the “Coming Messiah” to look at what Jesus had actually been doing in His ministry and not what other men were claiming what “they thought” He was doing and the same is True for God, all we have to do is look at what God has done and what He is still doing today and admit that only God can accomplish those things! We must then accept the Truth of God that He ALONE is in control of every thing that happens in His Creation and not what some men say “they believe” about God. Our personal belief does not change God, God is ‘Unchangeable” — our “belief” changes us and it is not just a matter of “life and death” at stake, our personal belief in God is a matter of “where will our soul spend its eternity”!! Jesus warns us that we must see Him as the True Messiah for it is the only path that leads to the Kingdom of God and that it is God that is the Creator of our souls and it is God alone that determines the final and eternal resting place for each man’s soul. The “evidence” for God sending His Son Jesus is overwhelming, however, God gives us “Free will” so the responsibility to examine the “evidence” is up to us ——— but regardless of the “verdict” we pass after reviewing the evidence, the “Truth of God” remains unaltered. Don’t you think that “accepting” the “Truth of God” carries greater reward than us trying to change that which cannot be changed? 

APRIL 26 THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 12) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

 APRIL 26  THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 12) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34) 

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Jesus, Jesus, “sweetest Name I know, fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go” ———.  Lord Jesus, You deserve all praise because Your Life makes our life have thoughts like those expressed in songs as we sing about Your Name, “the sweetest Name I know”, “fills…every longing”, “and keeps me singing” are expressions not associated with any other name except the Holy Name of Jesus! There is a reason that it is Jesus and only Jesus that causes these responses and that reason is called “TRUTH”, for Jesus IS the Son of the Living God, His Holy Spirit dwells within us, and our hearts are filled with His song, and our desires are satisfied, so Lord I simply speak Your Precious Name once more to start my day ——— JESUS!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has led us to a realization of the importance of our concept of the “spiritual” life that we are living in conjunction with this earthen vessel we call the body. The concept of the “soul” is not foreign to us but the “eternal consequences” dictated by our stewardship of our souls is usually overlooked as we are blinded by the physical desires that are pushed on us by the world and its desires and lusts.

Lesson 11 JQ#11 “What are your ‘Spiritual Expectations of Jesus?” 

  Matthew 11:1-30

Jesus has been gracious in His Lessons for they make us aware that our individual bodies define who we are “physically”, HOWEVER our physical bodies are “temporary” and  do not define who we are “spiritually”! Jesus Teaches that it is what we DO with our bodies that determines our “character” and “our character” is “purely spiritual” — but the body and the daily aging process is God’s reminder that our time on earth and this earthly body is only “physical” and is “temporary” but our “HOPE” resides in knowing that there is something beyond the “physical” and Jesus Teaches us to be aware that the “physical” is finite but the “spiritual” is “eternal”. The more we can focus on the “spiritual” aspect of our lives, the more we are aware that “stewardship of our own soul” has “eternal” implications. Jesus always goes the extra mile in His Teachings so in JQ#10 Jesus makes us aware of our “Spiritual Value” and then when He has our attention on the “Spiritual” in general He then asks a very specific serious Question in JQ#11: “What are your ‘Spiritual Expectations’ of Jesus?”  Jesus made it clear in His response to the disciples of John the Baptist that the Messiah is the One that does the Holy Work of the Messiah!  John the Baptist had been preaching in the wilderness about the “Coming Messiah” and the need to “Repent” so John’s followers were “expecting the Messiah” but they were not sure because their “spiritual expectations” of the “Messiah” had been shaped by the religious leaders whose “personal expectations” of the Messiah had evolved over several generations of leaders of the nation Israel. Jesus is warning that our “personal expectations” DOES NOT DEFINE the True Messiah. What Jesus is Teaching us is that if we try to make Jesus fit our “personal expectations” then we might miss seeing the True Jesus because He does not fit our “personal expectations” of Him! Many of the Jews had “expected” a Messiah that would be a powerful king and free them from the Roman government —they did not want a Messiah that made them aware of their spiritual shortcomings and was preaching the need to “Repent” and receive “Forgiveness of their sins” which included thinking wrongly about what and who the True Messiah would be! Jesus Taught that He was not going to “make any claims” but rather Jesus was confident that everyone that knew the scriptures would recognize the True Messiah because of the “Works” that would be accomplished by the Messiah. Jesus pointed John’s disciples to what His Ministry had accomplished and left it up to all those that had observed what He had achieved through the Power of God to determine if anyone but the Messiah could perform these miracles as foretold by the scriptures when Jesus listed His accomplishments that had been witnessed by the multitudes: “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Go tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.’” (Matthew 11:4) Do you “expect” Jesus to be a “genie in a bottle that grants your wishes when you rub a magic lamp” or do you “expect” a Savior that has come to give you “forgiveness and eternal life”? What more could anyone do to demonstrate that the Messiah is God’s Messiah and not our “personal expectations” of Him?

APRIL 25 THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 11) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

 APRIL 25  THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 11) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34) 

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Praise be to the King of kings, the Eternal Light. Lord Jesus, Thy Word is TRUTH, Thy Way is PERFECT, only through You can we HOPE that our life can count for anything! Aside from our belief in You, we have nothing GOOD in us. Lord I pray for a RIGHT SPIRIT in my life so that it can be said that I do what is RIGHT in the eyes of the Lord — You are my strength and my very PRESENT HELP, I can do all things with You as my LIGHT leading me in PATHS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus continually moves us forward in the kingdom as He first builds on His last Lesson and during the present Lesson He points us to where all His Lesson/Questions are leading next. Of course the “Final Destination” is Eternity in Heaven with God Himself but Jesus always keeps us equipped for handling the “Now” (while we are still in our physical earthly bodies and “in the world”. Jesus  leaves Lesson 9 with three earthly miracles (1) a woman who had a “flow of blood” for 12 years was healed just by touching His garments and Jesus said; “Be of good cheer, daughter, your faith has made you well” (Matthew 9:22) and (2) Jesus raised a dead girl when “He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose (Matthew 9:25) and thirdly (3) two blind men were healed as they cried out “Son of David, have mercy on us!” (Matthew 9:27)  It was at this point that Jesus asked the Question that reveals the TRUTH of JESUS and His Healing Powers as He queried the two blind men, “Do you BELIEVE that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28).  Jesus then confirms the source of His Power as He heals the blind men and then reveals the TRUTH of GOD: “According to your faith let it be to you.” (Matthew 9:29) Jesus used these (3) miracles and tied them to “Personal Faith in God” and JESUS Teaches us that if we “believe” that Jesus is who He says He is and and can do all things through the Power of God that the Son of David WILL HAVE MERCY ON US!!!— Jesus then confirms our “belief in God” with these three miracles then He moves to His next Teaching Question:

Lesson  10  JQ#10  “What is your ‘Spiritual Value’?”                Matthew 10:1-42

Jesus has just demonstrated His “Spiritual Power” and plainly tells us that His Power is from God because JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD and was sent to bestow Mercy and Grace on a lost and dying world and these 3 miracles were accomplished by the Power of God!!! Then JESUS effectively tells us that if we have “FAITH IN JESUS” that we also will have great “Spiritual Value”. Jesus started JQ#10 with the easy Question to answer about “two sparrows” having “value” therefore we are of more value than two sparrows in God’s Eyes but He then turns our thinking towards some very serious reasons why we should “believe” that God IS “in Control”,  that Jesus IS the Son of God, and why we have “Spiritual Value”! There are some very serious “consequences” if we do not “believe” as Jesus warns us “… And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28) So Jesus transitioned from a light-hearted Question about sparrows to a very serious discussion about destruction of “both soul and body in hell.” Jesus uses the light-hearted and the very serious to create a contrast that really gets our attention and the Lesson here is that we have “both soul and body” and while the “body” is “finite” and will die and be buried, our “soul” is “eternal” therefore we should give great consideration to what we are doing with our “Personal Faith in the Eternal God” to recognize the grave importance of our “Spiritual Value”! Jesus Teaches in JQ#09 that there is a great miracle-working “Spiritual Power” at our disposal that is proportional to our “Faith in God” and then He Teaches in JQ#10 that our “Faith in God” will have “Eternal Consequences” for our “Soul”, so where do you think Jesus is pointing for JQ#11?

APRIL 24 THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 10) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

 APRIL 24  THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 10) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34) 

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Thank You Lord for being our Savior, we never stop to think that You are our Savior because You chose to be that Perfect Sacrifice and not because You were forced by some circumstance or to repay an obligation of some great work done by mankind! You LORD can choose to do literally ANYTHING, You are the Creator of ALL THINGS and yet in Your Plan for mankind You made us in Your Image and then You planned that You would get intimately involved in our Salvation which meant You volunteered to give up Your Divinity, be born of flesh as we are born of flesh and then live a Perfect Life on earth while being greatly persecuted by Your own people! Then Your Plan called for the worst death imaginable on a Cross at Calvary so that all who believe in Your Plan can have the Best Life possible and to have that Best Life for all Eternity! Thank You just isn’t enough to repay You for Your Grace so my prayer is that every breath I take, every thought that I have will be used to LIVE the Life You have Planned for me.      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is not only “Asking Questions” He is Teaching in a Specific Spiritual Sequence and if you have not been reading these posts in the order that they are written, you will be missing one of the “blessings” that the Holy Spirit has intended for “The JESUS Questions” Project. The Holy Spirit has presented all these Lessons in sequence (or as Holy Scripture says “precept upon precept”) with each new Lesson tying into the previous Lesson and then leading into the next Lesson in such a Divine Way that the “sequence”  is a Divine Lesson in itself. This Divine Sequence of Lessons and Revelations of the Truth of God by the Holy Spirit is a logical sequence of Teaching us about our responsibility to the kingdom and how to live a life of “Love”, “Faith”, and “Obedience” which then leads us to “Trust in God” and to “Walk-the-Walk”!!! Logically, as a result of those Kingdom Tools and Attributes, we are logically led to “Sharing-with-Others” the LOVE OF GOD — and then the Holy Spirit seems at first glance to inject a “deviation” from the logical sequence of Lessons with a Question about being “a friend of the Bridegroom?”. 

Lesson  9  JQ#09    “Are you a friend of the ‘Bridegroom’?”        Matthew 9:14-26

The Holy Spirit, just after Teaching us to “put Feet to our Faith”, then throws in what on the surface seems like a light-hearted Question in JQ#09 “Are you a friend of the ‘Bridegroom’?”. This Question by itself can be taken light-heartedly but taken in context of the previous Questions which are themselves unified by their Revelation of the Plan of God for the Salvation of mankind through the Life of the Father’s Only Begotten and Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, we must stop and seriously consider what the term “Bridegroom” means in terms of God’s Divine Plan for mankind? On face value, the term “Bridegroom” can be understood by all peoples, all languages, all cultures, every nation, all races … et. al. and therefore the Holy Spirit has introduced a “universal” concept that exceeds all national, social, economic, and racial boundaries! The term “Bridegroom” implies that there is certainly a “Bride” and also a “Marriage” and therefore is the most logically all-inclusive concept that could be introduced!!! Let us stop and consider that the God of the Universe, the Creator of All Things who is the only  Eternal “uncreated and self sustaining” being, who certainly does not need His Creation to survive, why would this self-supported, self-sustaining Being choose to be bonded in “marriage” by a convention He Himself established as “Holy Matrimony”??? Further, consider that God called everything “Good” in His Creation except for His statement about the new man He had just created that was without a mate: “And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” (Genesis 2:18) and then “… the LORD GOD … put the man in a deep sleep … and made…a woman (from a rib taken from the man’s side), and He brought her to the man.” (Genesis 2:22) and that became the first marriage. “And Adam said: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh…” (Genesis 2:23) I personally get goose bumps when I think that Jesus Himself who is referred to as the Second Adam has been “put into a deep sleep” (called death) and from that sleep of death God the Father took part of the very “Spirit” of the Son and used that “Spirit” to create the Church just like He used Adam’s rib to create the first wife, Eve! To think about God giving His Son in Marriage is mind-bending at least — there could be volume upon volume written of the symbolism this “Marriage” of God’s only Son, Jesus!  ——— The Holy Spirit then introduces a Divine Concept with this “Marriage” concept and we are left to consider the next JESUS Question: “Who is the ‘bride’ and ‘Are you a friend of the ‘Bridegroom?’”!!!???