APRIL 01 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?* “What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)

 APRIL 01  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?*  “What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Precious is the Name above all names — Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.  Lord just the simple fact that we have the Name Jesus to call upon should make everyone stop and ponder why we even have the Name Jesus and what it has meant to generation after generation. We call on You “in season and out of season”,  we call on You with both Praise and Prayer, we moan the Name in utter desperation, and we shout from our hearts the Name Jesus in adoration for Your Unconditional Love that You have showered so Graciously on a lost and dying world —  with the Name Jesus there is Eternal Hope!  Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is accused of a very, very serious issue — especially when you consider that Jesus has been performing miracle after miracle that could only be accomplished by the anointing of God and that Jesus referred to God as “MY Father in heaven”, and to then be told by the Pharisees that He was guilty of doing that which was not “legal” on the Sabbath!?!?  This JESUS Question is very serious because it pits the “authority of man” against the “Authority of God” and as such, this JESUS Question should be treated soberly and given the “Divine weight” it is due! In JQ#12-03 the “circumstantial evidence” and “direct testimonial evidence” were compared and according to the U. S. Supreme Court they are “intrinsically no different” and for the record it was also established that “much Scientific Evidence is circumstantial”.  Since the accusation occurred over 2000 years ago we must make our “judgement” from circumstantial evidence for obvious reasons. The issue of “legality” always has been and always will be the greatest issue that every society must face! It is through the legal system of any society that the society either prospers or is stifled altogether! Indeed, when the question “Who decides what is legal?” is asked it must be answered proportionally to the gravity of the question, as a society can destroy itself with a corrupt legal system that is like a vicious cancer and corruption always will bring death upon the body, “man’s legalism is always corrupt” and always will bring death to the organism it is allowed to grow in! Let us start with establishing the “scene of the crime”, and “examine the evidence”, and then each individual must be their own “judge and jury” and in full honesty every individual must come to the “verdict” that their conscience, after considering the “evidence”, allows them to come to within their own intellect. Before any trial starts in the United States or any witness is called to testify, the “court” is brought to “order” and witnesses are required to take an “oath” on The Holy Bible. Because the “Oath” itself is going to be part of the “evidence” for answering the question “Who decides what is legal?”, the traditional “Oath” used by U. S. presidents and U. S. military personnel will be quoted at this time: “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God!” Please note that the “Law” is very clear that the “Oath” is taken with one’s left hand on “The Holy Bible” and the right hand raised to God asking that God Himself be a “witness" that the following “testimony” is “true”!  The obvious intended symbolism is that the “left hand” is closest to the heart and is placed firmly on the Word of God and the right hand which is his strength he raises toward God openly exhibiting that there is nothing of man’s desire or of man’s strength that will be used in this decision and only the Truth of God, Witnessed by God who is TRUTH and only God knows the intent of every man’s heart! Yes, the “OATH to GOD” is part of every testimony yet we have defiled the “Oath” and it has allowed “CORRUPTION” to overtake our court (legal) system!!! We will begin our trial of “legality” by establishing the accusation brought against the “Accused” and the circumstances that caused the accusation to be made. I submit the previous eyewitness account from the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 12 beginning with verse 1 and concluding with the accusation itself in verse 2: “At that time Jesus [the Accused] went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat [the alleged crime]. And when the Pharisees [the accusers] saw it, they said to Him, ‘Look, Your disciples are doing what is not LAWFUL to do on the Sabbath!’[the accusation]”(Matthew 12:1-2)  Therefore we can establish the “scene of the alleged crime” to be in “the grain fields” and at the scene of the crime we can establish from the eyewitness account written C. A.D. 50 (which could have been less than 20 years after the original charges were brought against the accused) that in “the grain fields” were at least two disciples of Jesus and Jesus Himself plus at least two observers from the Pharisees for a minimum of at least 5 persons being “eye witnesses” at the scene of the “crime”. The charge itself was from the Pharisees that had seen the disciples consuming “heads of grain” in the “grain fields”. To establish the “TRUE Law of the Sabbath” do we accept man’s “interpretation” of the existing laws ruling the Sabbath, or should we refer back to the “original” Law as given to Moses from God Himself? Do you now see how this “minor” incident and “accusation against Jesus” in a grain field becomes the “major” implied question: JQ#12 — “Who decides what is legal, God or man?”

MARCH 31 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?* “What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)

 MARCH 31  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?*  “What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, today I start my prayer to You with a desire to do honor to Your Name by doing all that my limited abilities will allow me to do to share “God’s Truth” and instill in others a desire to know and to love God on a higher plane than ever before!  Lord, as I started my day today by reading one of my prayer’s written to You in 2004, I am impressed by how wonderful You have been to me all these years as I have been seeking You and Your Truth! Lord I pray back to You these many years later a portion of that 2004 prayer — “Your Truth” is timeless: “Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit, there is none but Thee. We in our unworthiness only magnify Thy Grace. Our filthy sin only makes Your Love shine brighter than can be described — and so our worthless lives become priceless treasures with but a drop of Your Grace. Let Your Light, Your Truth, and Your Love be our Way and our Life!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees as He and His disciples were eating heads of grain while walking through a field and the “legalistic” Pharisees admonished Jesus:  “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” (Matthew 12:2) It was at this point that Jesus answered the “legalists” by asking a series of Questions in reply to their accusation of “legality” against what Jesus Himself was “allowing” His disciples to do — the following series of Questions (Matthew 12:4,5,10,11,12) can be summarized as JQ#12 — “Who decides what is legal, God or man?”  The Pharisees are in essence declaring that Jesus is guilty of doing “what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath” because He is allowing His disciples to engage in an “unlawful” act on the Sabbath, and being the “Leader”, He must be held personally responsible for their “lawbreaking”! This “accusation” of “allowing His disciples to do “illegal” activities on the Sabbath made Jesus also “guilty by association” at best but at worse Jesus is “guilty of being ignorant of God’s Law” By making this accusation that Jesus is breaking “Jewish Law” the legalists have set up a “trial” between “man’s law” and “God’s Law” — and instead of Jesus being on “trial”, the Pharisees and thousands of years of “legal tradition” will be exposed as “hypocrites” by the Truth of God as Jesus basically presents His case against the “religious legal system” established by the “doctrines of men” verses the “Commandments of God” and His Divine Argument against all “legalists” can be summarized by this JESUS Question JQ#12 — “Who decides what is legal, God or man?”  (Matthew 12:4,5,10,11,12)  In order to establish the “facts” in this “trial” of “God vs. man” we must establish as best we can all the circumstances of the accused, establish “motivation” of the actions of the accused, and then “examine” all the “evidence” of the event in question. To establish these facts we must refer to writings and historical documents of this historical event for there are no living eyewitness; however we must seek to show by the eyewitness accounts that the event in question can be established as fact by circumstantial evidence. The event in question actually took place over 2000 years ago and “logically” therefore, the “accused” must be proven to be present at that event or “legally” there can be no trial! If we cannot establish as “fact” that a “crime” occurred, then how can someone be “accused”?  Legally it is imperative that the “accused” must be proven to be present at the scene of the crime and then the accused must be “proven” to be “guilty” of performing the actions that resulted in the accusation! Let us begin with the original charges and produce what circumstantial evidence that is available to us using trustworthy historical documents and recorded facts. Let us start with a modern definition from a current legal dictionary.  In an article titled: “Circumstantial Evidence: Legal Definition of Circumstantial Evidence” we read: “Information and testimony presented by a party in a civil or criminal action that permit conclusions that indirectly establish the existence of a fact or event that the party seeks to prove.” The article also cites the U. S. Supreme Court from Holland v. United States, 348 U. S. 121, 75 S. Ct. 127, 99 L. Ed. 150 [1954] as the court stated: “circumstantial evidence is intrinsically no different from testimonial [direct] evidence.” and the article concludes: “Thus, the distinction between direct and circumstantial evidence has little practical effect in the presentation or admissibility of evidence in trials.” Contained in the article is a reference to “Scientific Evidence” and states: “In addition, much Scientific Evidence is circumstantial, because it requires a jury to make a connection between the circumstance and the fact in issue.” The first Circumstantial Evidence that should be established by the definition of circumstantial evidence is that circumstantial evidence is also known as indirect evidence and in its own definition states: “[Circumstantial evidence] is distinguished from direct evidence, which, if believed, proves the existence of a particular fact without any inference or presumption required.” Two things to note as we present circumstantial evidence is (1) “Proof” is established by “belief” for both circumstantial evidence (“…because it requires a jury to make a connection…”) and indirect evidence (“…which, if believed, proves…”). (2) “Circumstantial evidence" is also known as “indirect” evidence and as such has the legal standing equivalent to “direct evidence” and is also equivalent to “Scientific Evidence”. Therefore the first circumstantial evidence presented in order to establish “proof” is  Exhibit 1 CE — To establish “proof”, “belief” must be involved, regardless of the type of evidence used. The Holy Bible is a collection of 44 identified eye witnesses that have been used thousands of years and has been considered trustworthy for that same period of time.  Exhibit 2 CE — The Bible: John 20:31 states “…these [eye witness accounts] are written that you may “believe” that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God…” . Therefore if “proof” is established by “belief” in “circumstantial evidence” that the U. S. Supreme Court declares as “legal”, then we need to ask ourselves why we don’t “believe” the Bible “since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…” (Hebrews 12:1)??? Or the more important question for our world today is “Why do we refuse to accept as Truth that which was proven over 2000 years ago and since the initial proof has been witnessed by thousands and verified by millions of eye witness accounts?” If Jesus is not the Resurrected Christ why are there so many witnesses that saw Him dead and actually talked to Him after His Resurrection and why do millions of “believers” declare that Jesus  is still Living today and He is still talking “TRUTH” to those that will listen!?!?!?

MARCH 30 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?* ——— “What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)

 MARCH 30  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?*  ———  “What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, I am overwhelmed again by Your Grace and Endless Mercy! Lord, the more I try to get rid of self and decrease, You seem to pour out blessings so rich that I pray for humbleness to know that it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with You! Lord keep me knowing that all that I do for the kingdom is nothing more than my “reasonable service” and that all the good that has come my way is just “crumbs” from the King’s Table. Lord, as I walk for this season on Your Holy Ground, my prayer is that I will keep my focus on Glorifying God and know that after the mountain top there is a valley where my “reasonable service to others” will be used for the uplifting of Your Kingdom!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is a historical fact. The Holy Bible is the most published book, ever, and that is just another fact. The Holy Bible contains a consistent dialog throughout its 66 books even though the books were penned by various writers of which 44 have been identified over a period of over 1500 years. That single fact that there is a unity throughout the writings contained in the Holy Bible sets the Holy Bible apart from every other writing of any language or any nation or any people in the recorded history of mankind! Add to the unity exhibited in the Holy Bible the additional fact that the writers were from different cultures, different eras in history, and different social and economic strata yet each writer maintained this remarkable unity of thought! That single unique fact can not be matched by any set of writings previous nor will any set of writings in the future be able to supplant the Holy Bible as “The Book”! The Holy Bible has been printed in 2,454 languages and is “The All Time Best Seller” with over 5 billion copies having been printed! These “facts” can be found from more accepted scholarly sources than any other document ever printed and that also is a “fact” that makes the Holy Bible a completely unique entity. Not to get off track here, let me point out that the topic of JQ#12 deals with “legality” and if “legality” itself does not rest solidly on “facts” then legality itself does not have a “leg to stand on”! Jesus not only Teaches us God’s Truth with each Lesson but Jesus does so in a logical sequence that is the secret to the “Unity” discovered and documented in the Holy Bible and that secret is that God is in control of every thing in His Creation and only because He IS the Creator can He accomplish the Divine Unity that is a “fact” easily established by the Holy Bible. This “fact” is unique to the Holy Bible and the Creator God of the Holy Bible. It is important to establish as historical fact that Jesus walked the earth and just like court records of any legal proceedings, the Holy Bible has recorded the statements of eyewitness accounts of the events recorded in the Holy Bible. The “fact” that recorded statements of so many different people over such an extended period of time documenting that they have observed the same exact “Truth” should establish “precedent” that cannot be questioned in any court anywhere in the world — in any and every legal system ever established.  It is with this “legal” establishment of the “facts” of these eyewitness accounts that we begin our “trial” of JQ#12 Jesus Question “Who decides what is legal, God or man?” by taking a statement from Jesus Himself that as after He had asked the Question on legality to the “lawmakers” of His time on earth (the Pharisees) that Jesus said to the lawmakers: “But if you had known [God’s Law] … you would not have condemned the guiltless.” (Matthew 12:7)  The beginning of American Jurisprudence was established by our forefathers using God’s Law as the moral basis for making decisions and I question how it is that man has gained enough “wisdom” in 2000 years that we have now “legally” abandoned the Eternal Living God and excommunicated Him from our legal system — especially when we have so great a cloud of witnesses that know for a fact that God is not dead for we still receive blessings from Him on a daily basis? To legislate God out of the legal system is equivalent to making the oxygen in air and water illegal to consume!!! Without God, there is no TRUTH!!!

MARCH 29 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#12 “What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a). <<< *???Who decides what is legal, God or man???* >>>

 MARCH 29  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#12  “What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a).     <<< *???Who decides what is legal, God or man???* >>>

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer   

JESUS, all Praise, Glory, and Honor to the King of kings, my Lord, my Shepherd. Lord my God, Your ways are so wonderful that my lips cannot speak nor my words express how in the midst of a storm that just the thought of “JESUS” can calm my fears. You work things out for our good in ways we cannot imagine and therefore we sing “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!” Lord, keep my heart, mind, and soul all on You and You alone, for “Thou art worthy, worthy is the Lamb!”    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is always Teaching us a Truth of God with every word and action that has been recorded in the Holy Scriptures and in this section in Matthew Chapter 12 that starts “At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain to eat…” (Matthew 12:1) Jesus is going to introduce and address a problem among Israel which could very well be at the top of all the problems that Jesus was sent TO EARTH to address as Matthew records, “And when the Pharisees saw (…Jesus and His disciples plucking heads of grain on the Sabbath…), they said to [Jesus], ‘Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!’” (Matthew 12:2)  Do you see the problem that has surfaced and where the source of the problem is with this section of scripture? Jesus has Taught with His previous Questions (1) “What is your Spiritual Value?” (2) “What are your Spiritual Expectations?” and now Jesus is going to be direct and ask bluntly (3) “Who decides what is legal, God or man?”  When I embarked on this project “Living For Jesus —Daily Devotional” I did not know what road the Lord would lead me down, what doors He would open, and what doors He would close, but I did know one thing for sure, I desired desperately in my heart of hearts to be His faithful servant and disciple! I have the benefit of having a lot of water go under my bridge and I have been in some terrible storms, I have stumbled and despaired but every time I get down to my last hope I find once again that the only “True Hope” is the One Eternal Hope that is always there, JESUS! When the Holy Spirit directed me to start “journaling” back in 2001 with a verse from Matthew 6:33 “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” I could not fully comprehend the significance of “seeking God” but the verse has been a Guiding Light to my life and all these years later as I sit and start this JESUS Question  JQ#12  I can still hear the Holy Spirit encouraging me to “stay the course” for ALL  ANWERS are found in God. The JESUS Questions have made this writer appreciate the “Divine Teaching” attribute of Jesus and I can appreciate why He was called the Master Teacher! JQ#11 was a 6 part lesson on “What are our spiritual expectations of Jesus” which had followed JQ#10 “What is your spiritual value?” and now that Jesus has us thinking in terms of the “spiritual” vs. the “physical”, Jesus now introduces His next concept and that is “God vs. man”!  (I would add here that God is Spirit and man is flesh so appropriately this Jesus Lesson is also about the one great battle in life that we ALL must fight: “The Spiritual against the Physical”!!!).  When this was revealed to me from the Holy Spirit while reading to find the “next question” I was immediately struck with the obvious answer that “God vs. man” is a “NOLO CONTENDERE” — NO CONTEST! Just the thought that man could even begin to contend with God now seems totally ludicrous to me but then the Holy Spirit called my attention to the fall of man, the fall of Satan, the Israelites forgetting God right after walking through the Red Sea, and example after example of those that knew God yet rejected Him?  Let’s begin JQ#12 “Who decides what is legal, God or man?” by reading the Questions that Jesus asked (JQ#12a-e) in Matthew 12:4-12. The context for JQ#12 starts at Matthew 12:1 and runs through Matthew 12:23 — Jesus brings our attention to the “Question” in order to “Teach” us the answer, Jesus NEVER asks us a question without giving us the obvious answer!   To get a “feel” for the “gravity” of the situation take a “leap of Faith” into God’s Word  and read this passage and ponder JQ#12 “Who decides what is legal, God or man?”  with the “expectation" of learning yet another “Truth of God” — and if that doesn’t motivate you enough then imagine yourself putting on some “boxing gloves” and getting “into the ring” with God Himself. When the bell rings, are you going to throw a punch or duck?!?!

MARCH 28 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

 MARCH 28  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord, another morning I awake and it is overwhelming to think that You ARE Lord and that You ARE right here to answer my prayers and concerns and provide for my daily bread. Lord, how did I live all those anxious years trying to make it through this valley of the shadow of death without You? Jesus, I will continue to lift up my praises to You for what You’ve already done, which is much more than I deserve, and I will give You Honor for the Grace You have given to me and the Mercy that You renew daily each morning. Lord, forgive me of all my shortcomings and strengthen me as I daily try to Glorify God.    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is the Master Teacher and the previous Lesson the Master Taught using the sparrows and copper coin Question was Taught by the Son of God to make us aware of our “Spiritual value” to the kingdom and “our Father in heaven” — now Jesus is asking us another simple Question to make us aware of another Kingdom Truth that our “Spiritual expectations” of the Messiah affects our “spiritual vision”.  A. W. Tozer in his book “The Knowledge of the Holy” addresses JQ#11 in a powerful way as Tozer titled the first chapter “Why We Must Think Rightly About God” and in his opening prayer to start Chapter 1 Tozer prays: “O Lord God Almighty, not the God of the philosophers and the wise but the God of the prophets and apostles…[those that do not know the True God] worship Thee as a creature of their own fancy…[but] enlighten our minds that we may know Thee as Thou art, so that we may perfectly love Thee and worthily praise Thee. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen”.  Tozer’s first sentence in his insightful book is a most powerful thought about how important our “thinking” about who God really is and answers JQ#11 perfectly when Tozer writes: “What comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”  Tozer in my mind is most likely answering the Jesus Question about our “spiritual expectations” of God with that opening prayer and his first sentence to open that first chapter; and if we look at the context in Matthew 11 immediately following JQ#11 found in Matthew 11:7-9 Jesus encourages our personal discipleship and prays to the Father: “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.” (Matthew 11:25)  Tozer, if he intended it or not, is giving all the right answers to JQ#11 as he writes an entire book about who God really is and states in an opening prayer that we should know God as He reveals Himself to us and not the God conjured up by “[wise and prudent] philosophers”. Tozer says that we ourselves should “think rightly about God” and then Tozer makes it clear that the “most important thing about us” is what we “expect” from “God”. Just after Jesus had asked the multitudes, “What did you ‘expect’ to see?” He immediately draws our attention to great cities that would come under future judgement because they had different “Spiritual expectations” for the Messiah therefore they “saw” the Divine work of the Messiah but rejected “His mighty works…and did not repent!” (see Matthew 11:11-24) Then after Jesus announces the judgement on those that have “false expectations” of the Son of God, Father God, and the Holy Spirit, Jesus assures us that if we will accept Jesus as the Son of God sent by the Father as the True Messiah then Jesus will reveal Himself and the Father to us through the Holy Spirit of Truth! Jesus concludes that if we “Come to [Him],” then He will “give [us] rest”. Jesus concludes with this promise: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:30) Be honest, were your “Expectations of Jesus”  to find “rest” for your troubled soul? Our “expectations” ARE directly linked to our “faith” and how often did Jesus say TO THOSE HE HEALED, “Your FAITH has made your well.”?

MARCH 27 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

 MARCH 27  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord, I come before You this morning with so much  “thanksgiving” in my heart that I fear my words will once again fall short of glorifying You, for my words are from a finite intellect trying to glorify the Infinite Knowledge, Mercy, and Grace of Jesus Christ!!!  Lord indeed Your Ways are higher than my ways and Your Thoughts higher than my thoughts but Lord look again into my heart and may the Holy Spirit speak my “heartfelt-thanksgiving” in words of praise worthy of the Honor due You. Lord Jesus, I pray again these words first prayed from my heart in 2004: “Lord, strengthen my resolve to make every day-to-day choice with the desire to live my life to glorify God!”    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus, used the context of this simple Question to make it of Divine Significance by the fact that Jesus asked this Question “to the multitudes” (Matthew 11:7a) just after declaring Himself to be the Messiah to the disciples of John the Baptist. The Question alerts us to where our “focus” should be as we try to answer His Teaching Question about our “spiritual expectations of God”. Jesus began His Teaching of the multitudes with this question: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7b). We know that it is a Teaching Question because Matthew states in verse 1 of Chapter 11 that Jesus had “finished commanding His twelve disciples” and that Jesus had “departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities” (Matthew 11:1) hence we can know that Jesus intends to “teach and to preach” — and through our study of the previous JESUS Questions we know that His Questions are all rhetorical for Jesus is God and therefore is ALL-KNOWING, so we can come quickly to an understanding that Jesus, being ALL-KNOWING, does not ask Questions to gain knowledge but rather, Jesus asks Questions to get us focused on a specific topic in order for us to see the Truth of God that Jesus Teaches with each Question/Lesson. With JQ#11 Jesus is asking us to stop and consider all our “expectations” and specifically our “spiritual expectations of the Messiah”. We can easily paraphrase JQ#11 from “what did you go out…to see?” to “what are your [spiritual] expectations?” and since Jesus had just detailed His list of “Divine” accomplishments proving Himself to be the “MESSIAH”, one should be able to make a direct correlation from the “works” Jesus performed in the name and from the Power of God with how the prophets and the Holy Scriptures had described the Messiah, plus John the Baptist declaring himself to be a “messenger of God” sent to declare to Israel that the Messiah is soon coming, and then John seeing Jesus declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) one would wonder how all Israel was not proclaiming loudly that Jesus IS the MESSIAH!?!?!  What Jesus Himself had accomplished in His ministry so far and had been publicly witnessed by the multitudes, ONLY the Messiah could accomplish what Jesus had been doing! There had never been anyone before Jesus that so completely fulfilled the requirements of the Messiah and there has been no one after Jesus that has fulfilled even one or two, let alone one man that fulfilled ALL of those Divine Attributes belonging Uniquely to the Messiah! Jesus by His Divine accomplishments proved He is the Messiah so why didn’t those that saw Jesus performing miracle after miracle including healing, casting out demons, and resurrecting the dead, and many, many, more signs believe that He was the Messiah without Him having to “lay it out” for them??? My pastor Steve McDonald uses the phrase: “Jesus lays the cookies on the bottom shelf so everyone can reach them” and Jesus had been performing Divine acts unique to Messiah so why couldn’t the multitudes who had seen, heard, and experienced Jesus in the flesh understand by their own observation that Jesus IS the Son of God and God’s Messiah? The same is true today because each generation has had God revealed to them, and today we have the Holy Bible that “lays the cookies on the bottom shelf” for us, so why don’t we reach out and listen to Jesus and give Him a serious personal answer to this serious personal Question Jesus asks each of us as individuals, “What are your spiritual expectations of Jesus?”  Why don’t you take a bite of the cookie being offered and understand Psalm 34:8 “Taste and see that the Lord is good…”?  

MARCH 26 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

 MARCH 26  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Lord I give You and the Holy Spirit Praise for the wonderful lesson on “Spiritual Expectations about Easter” that You Taught in our 3rd/4th Grade Sunday School class using John 3:16. Lord it is so exciting to see You move and as the teacher of these really bright young Christians I feel really “Blessed” to be learning about You through them!  Lord, may I never lose sight that You and the Holy Spirit are the Master Teachers and always keep me aware OF THOSE ANOINTED LESSONS when You have taken over so that I will not get in the way of THE SPIRIT’S TEACHINGS, especially one that Taught 3rd and 4th Graders both “how” and “why” they should “share” the Good News about the True Meaning of Easter! Lord, how my heart leaped as each one took their turn describing Easter as the Resurrection, all Praise, Glory, and Honor to the Holy Spirit for empowering them and to the Risen Lord for dying and defeating death that we may LIVE!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS always asks a simple Question which can immediately be rephrased as a Divine Spiritual Inquiry which is the case of JQ#11 which can be written as:  “What are your spiritual expectations of Jesus?” (Matthew 11:7). The actual JESUS Question asked in Mathew 11:7 is from a series of JESUS Questions asking basically the same thing as we read these Questions in Matthew 11:7-9. The important context of the Question was that the disciples of John the Baptist had come to question Jesus with the intent of determining if Jesus was the “Coming One” which is the sermon topic that John the Baptist had been preaching about in the wilderness. The multitudes had been traveling out into the wilderness to hear John the Baptist preach “Repentance” and the soon coming “Christ”.  John was considered by all Israel as a prophet and even the Jewish priests and leaders acknowledged that John was preaching in the Power of God!  We read in John 1:19-20 “Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ [John] confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ’” (John 1:19-20) From this passage we can determine that John had been preaching that the kingdom of heaven was at hand and that the long awaited Christ was “coming” and John’s message was so powerful that all Israel was talking again about the “Coming Messiah”. John’s Message about the “Coming Messiah” was so powerful that it had gained the attention of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem because John was the first prophet speaking the Word of God in Israel since Malachi, the last prophet of God who had spoken hundreds of years ago — God’s prophets had been silent now for about 400 years so John appears on the scene declaring “REPENT” and “the Messiah is Coming soon” and now everyone is “expectant” that the Messiah has come just as the prophecies of old had promised!  After John had “confessed” that he was not the Christ, John then quoted the prophet Isaiah: “[John] said: ‘I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘make straight the way of the Lord’” (John 1:23 & Isaiah 40:3) So when Jesus lists His earthly accomplishments to the disciples of John, Jesus was in effect telling everyone that because of “His works” that He had been doing among the people of Israel that Jesus was indeed the “Messiah” that Israel had been “expecting”!!!  The important thing to note here is that Jesus lists the events that proved He was indeed the Messiah but immediately after stating the Divine Truth that JESUS IS THE MESSIAH that Jesus turned and asked this Question to enlighten the multitudes — “What did you expect?” (Matthew 11:7-9A) and then added this statement about what they had expected to find: “A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.” (Matthew 11:9B)  As we read the Gospels and throughout the entire New Testament, Jesus is doing everything the prophecies said the Messiah would do and yet it took His death, burial, and Resurrection before even Jesus’ own disciples believed that Jesus was Truly the Son of God, the Messiah. The same problem exists in the Church today as we declare like a modern day Thomas : “…unless I see in His hands the print of the nails…I will not believe…” (John 20:25) Jesus knew there would be doubt and He is Teaching in JQ#11 that our “spiritual expectations” of Him will be guiding our belief about “who” Jesus will be in our lives! There is nothing more that Jesus needs to “do” to prove He IS the Messiah so the problem is simply a matter of our “spiritual expectations of the Messiah and our Belief/Unbelief” —Jesus is Teaching “us” here that if we are “expecting” a knight in white armor riding in on a horse leading a great army that we may actually miss the “real deal” of the True King riding in on a donkey— and the fault does not rest with God, the fault rests entirely on our “spiritual expectations of Jesus” — Jesus IS the Son of God - so, what are your “expectations” of Him??? 

SPIRITUAL TRUTH: THE MESSIAH IS WHO GOD HIMSELF DECLARES IS THE MESSIAH AND WHOM GOD ANOINTS WITH THE POWER OF GOD TO DO THE WORK OF THE MESSIAH AS GOD HAD PLANNED AND PURPOSED THE MESSIAH TO DO — THE MESSIAH IS NOT THE MESSIAH BECAUSE HE MEETS THE WORLD’S EXPECTATIONS OF HIM BUT THE MESSIAH IS THE MESSIAH BECAUSE HE MEETS GOD’S EXPECTATIONS — JESUS AND ONLY JESUS HAS FULFILLED GOD’S EXPECTATIONS OF THE MESSIAH — AND THAT’S THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH!!!