AUGUST 22 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#24 “Is the power and authority of baptism from heaven or from men?”” (Matthew 21:25)

 

AUGUST 22  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, O the joy of starting each day knowing that You are always

 there, my Lord and my Redeemer, my Shepherd that leads me

 beside still waters! Thank You Jesus for  the Mercy that is 

renewed daily and Your Grace that You bestow so faithfully on 

all that call upon the Name of the Only Begotten of the Father and 

believe that God came in the flesh, was tempted in all ways that 

we are tempted, yet You were without sin — what a glorious 

thought that You suffered the trials of this world yet You remained

 perfect so that You could introduce Redemption through 

Your Perfect sinless Life — Godly Redemption bought by the 

Precious Blood of the Lamb of God exchanged for the lives of 

sinners unable to save ourselves — I cannot fathom “why an 

ALL POWERFUL GOD” would die for a sinner such as I, 

but I believe and therefore I rest in the Assurance that Your Grace 

is Sufficient for ALL my daily needs and for my Eternal Security

 and Future. Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow, Praise 

to the Son who gave Himself for the atonement of sin, and Praise

 to the Holy Spirit that lives within believers and guides us

 in paths of Righteousness and teaches us the “Way”.           

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus proved Himself to be the Messiah sent from God each time He 

confronted the problem of mankind moving away from the “command

 of God” —— Jesus always exposed the lie spawned by the “doctrines

 of men” in their selfish desires “to be like God” for the “lie” is always

 exposed by the True Light that always illuminates the Truth of God. 

Jesus was in the temple doing the work of the Messiah in the sight 

of all Israel and yet the rulers, the chief priests and the elders dared 

to question His “authority” —they did not deny the “works” that Jesus 

was doing. Their blindness to the Truth of God however made 

them revert to the “traditions of men”, for until Jesus took over control

 of the temple the chief priests and elders had been in “control” 

of the multitudes because the people had been led to believe that 

the chief priests and elders were the only “authority” in Israel.

 Spiritual blindness prevented the chief priests and elders 

from seeing the Truth of God that the kingdom of heaven was at hand

 and they failed to repent but continued in their sin against God 

by questioning the authority by which Jesus was doing God’s Holy Work! 

Jesus asked the 

“Baptism-of-John” 

Question  because the 

ONLY ANSWER 

that could be given was

 “all authority comes from God”. 

Matthew records the chief priests and elders response to the Question

 Jesus posed to them:

 “And they [the chief priests and elders] reasoned among 

themselves, saying, ‘If we say, from heaven, He will say to us, 

Why then did you not believe [John]? But if we say, 

From men, we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.’” 

(Matthew 21:25-26) 

It was at this point that the chief priests and elders made the universal 

mistake of all generations that face the Universal Question of “God” 

when they reasoned the 

“TRUTH of GOD” 

but mistakenly thought that they would get out of the problem by 

not giving an answer (sound familiar?) — 

“So [the chief priests and elders] answered Jesus and said,

 ‘We do not know.’” (Matthew 21:27) 

It was at that point that all authority was clearly and undeniably with 

Jesus as He then used the 

“power and authority of God” 

to Teach this 

Truth of God 

as Jesus Taught the parable of the two sons ——— 

He started the Lesson in the classic way, ——— 

Jesus now has the undivided attention of the chief priests and the elders

 and so Jesus begins the Lesson by making us put on our thinking caps:

 “But what do you think? A man had two sons…” (Matthew 21:28) 

describing that the man went to his two sons and asked them to 

go work in his vineyard, one son said “yes” but then did not go work

 in the vineyard and the other son replied “no” but then later “repented”

 and decided to go work in the vineyard as the father had requested. 

Jesus ended the Lesson with another Question,

 “Which of the two sons did the will of his father?” (Matthew 21:28-31)

 Of course, when put in such simple terms, the chief priests and 

elders gave Jesus the right answer: 

“They said to [Jesus], [the son that did as the father had asked]” 

and Jesus then pronounced judgement on them for not answering 

His previous 

“Baptism-of-John” Question which had just as obvious an answer —

 “Jesus said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors

 and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John 

came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not

 believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and 

when you saw it you did not afterward relent and believe him.” 

(Matthew 21:32) 

 The Lesson everyone should take away from this “refusal to answer God”

 mistake is most important: 

(L1) Baptism is real because sin against God is real. 

(L2) Denying the reality of “baptism” or “God” has no bearing on the

 Truth of God that God EXISTS! 

(L3) God will present us the opportunity to “believe” but we must use our

 God-given Freewill to choose to “Trust God” 

instead of “trusting the doctrines of men”. 

(L4) ALL POWER AND AUTHORITY IS FROM GOD 

(L5) Ignorance or refusal to answer in not an acceptable response before 

God, the Supreme Authority,

 because refusal to answer God is the same as “denying God”!

  God will Judge each individual according to Truth of God that God has

 already firmly established and will be fairly administered to all — 

we will get our “Just Rewards” as already determined by God Himself

 for whatever actions we choose to take in our lives. Jesus asks

 this Question of all generations and we must give Him an 

honest answer, remember that 

God knows your thoughts and nothing is hidden from God 

— so how will you answer this Question God has placed before you —

 

“Is the power and authority of baptism

 from heaven or from men?” 

(JQ#24 — 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)

 

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

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

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!!!”