The Acts of the Apostles 17

Subtitle: Lying to the Holy Spirit I

Acts 5:1-6.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 11, 2022.

What a horrible thought it is to lie to the Spirit of God.  What a horrible thought it is that a sin might be judged by God on the spot by striking a person dead.  It sounds like it must be something in the Old Testament, but today’s story is here in the New Testament at the beginning of the Church. 

These are the things that God would have us contemplate today.  Furthermore, they are the things that should convince us that God is not playing games, and that this day of grace that we are in is still deadly serious.

I think that we might be surprised at who did not survive if God were to strike dead every single person who was lying to the Holy Spirit in the American Church.  Through the prophet Moses, God warns “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23 NKJV). 

Of course, it is rare for God to strike people dead on the spot for even gross sin in this life, but the question is not when will it happen.  The question is will He strike me with eternal death.  Whether during this life, or when you stand before Jesus the judge after death, if you have not been living for Christ, then it won’t matter much that He gave you more time.

Let’s get into our passage.

Ananias becomes a cautionary example (vs 1-6)

Last week, we looked at Barnabas and how he was an encouraging example, or an exemplar, for believers.  It is not by accident that the very next story is a cautionary example about a person doing something similar to what Barnabas did, but lying to the Holy Spirit about it.

We all can think of examples in our lives of people to emulate and others to avoid.  However, you may not have someone that is at the level of an apostle like Barnabas, or on the other side, at the level of Ananias and Sapphira for bad.  Ultimately, this lesson teaches us that following Jesus is not a game that we can play.  Of course, Jesus is the perfect encouraging example.  However, people like Peter, John, Barnabas, and Paul show us that we can rise above our sin and weakness through Christ. 

Of course, to do so, we must take our sin seriously, and we must take Christ’s salvation seriously.  There is a tendency for us to think of the Church Age as a time of grace in which sin is no longer a big deal.  It is all covered by the death of Jesus, hurrah!  Yet, the writer of Hebrews warns us in chapter ten that if a person was put to death without mercy under the Law of Moses if two or three witnesses testified, then an even worse punishment awaits those who trample the Son of God underfoot, treating his blood of the new covenant as a common thing, and insulting the Spirit of Grace (28-29). 

Luke leaves out many details that we would like to know.  However, it is apparent that Ananias sells a plot of land of some sort and then donates the money to the church.  From Peter’s reaction, we can know that in some way Ananias has made it known that he is donating all the proceeds of the sale.  This could have been a legal stipulation in the sale document itself, or it could have simply been a public declaration before the church and, or, its leaders.

In verse 2, the phrase ‘kept back’ has a connotation of embezzlement, which lets us know in advance that he is doing something wrong.  The point of the story is not for us to judge for ourselves the scenario.  We don’t have all of the facts to do so.  The point of the story is to caution us against a severe sin.  Notice the difference.  Luke is not trying to put us in the judgment seat.  He is trying to keep us out of the defendant seat.

When Ananias brings the money to the Apostle Peter, he is rebuked on the spot for his sin.  How did Peter know?  He knew by the help of the Holy Spirit.  In terms of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we would say that Peter was given a word of knowledge by the Spirit.

Of course, any leader in any group could covet such near omniscience.  Thus, tyrants will do openly to get information on everyone what cults do openly, but with more seduction in getting the information.  Such leaders will build networks and systems of gathering information on all of your secrets so that they can use it against you in order to further their power.  Woe to those who would pervert the Church of Jesus for their own empowerment and glory.

Yet, this is not what Peter is doing.  This is something that is pure and clean and comes from the pure and clean Spirit of God.  Peter rebukes Ananias, and it is a fearful day for those who are sinning.  Yet, rebuke also opens the door for repentance.  Thus, it is a strange day in which things can go in vastly different directions.  I will either repent and be cleansed, or refuse and be hardened even more.

When we look at the specifics of the rebuke, Peter twice refers to his sin as, vs 3, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit,” and vs 4, “You have not lied to men, but to God.”  Of course, he did lie to men, but his sin is far worse than that.  He is lying to God Himself.

How has he lied to God?  First, he has lied to leaders whom he knows to be full of the Holy Spirit.  He has lied to a body of believers who are Spirit-filled.  Interesting question here, had Ananias been filled with the Holy Spirit?  Is it possible that a person could be filled with the Holy Spirit, but then lie to the Holy Spirit?  We don’t know specifically with this case.  However, King Saul had the Holy Spirit come upon him and he prophesied.  Yet, he later turned to the witch of Endor for occultic help because his rebellions against God’s Spirit had caused God to leave him.

Peter mentions Satan.  Satan is at work here, and Peter knows about Satan stirring your baser notions in order to get you to resist what God is doing.  Listen friend, don’t play fast and lose with the things of God.  It won’t be worth it in the end.  Even if you get away with it for all of your life, you will regret it when you stand before Jesus.  Just as Israel drew near God with their lips while their hearts were far from Him, so can we.  In fact, all of life is a challenge asking us if our worship and strong talk was all lies.  From time to time, Jesus challenges us, “Will you too go away?

In verse 4, Peter describes just how needless this sin was.  It was his property.  No one forced him to sell it.  After the sale, it was his money to do with as he would.  No one forced him to declare that he would give all of the money to the church.  Why didn’t he just make it clear that he would only give part of the proceeds?

Let’s say it was a plot of land that was worth $10,000 USD.  If he simply gave 10%, it would have been a $1,000, which is a significant donation.  Even $100 would be helpful to people.  In fact, any gift you give for the work of Jesus is significant, whether $1 or $10,000, because it is given to God.  It is holy.  The widow only gave a mite, and yet our Lord said it was greater than those who gave bags of Gold.  God does not judge value as we do.

Jesus does not force people to give to his mission.  You are free to give what you want.  But, the case of Ananias shows that, though we are free from constraints by the Lord, we are not nearly as free from sin in our hearts.  Ananias was free to give in relation to God, but his sin held him in bondage and led him to the slaughter.  Sin had taken root in his heart somewhere along the line, much like Judas before him.

And that is where the problem lies, in his heart.  In verse 3, Peter says, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie,” and in verse 4, “Why have you conceived this thing in your heart.” 

Peter is not saying that Satan made Ananias sin.  Satan can’t make anybody sin.  In fact, you are quite capable of being tempted by your own flesh without his help.  However, he is a real influence, a real interloper, nonetheless.

It is one thing for a temptation to “fill” our heart or mind.  This is being a fallen human being in a fallen world.  However, you can keep from playing with that temptation.  Notice the use of the word “conceived” by Peter.  This should bring to mind the picture that James gives us in James 1:14-15.  “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.  Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.”

Notice the progression.  It begins with the temptation within our heart and mind.  If we do not nip it in the bud in that moment (bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ), we will then be dragged away and enticed by our own desires.  It is not Satan dragging us off.  It is our own desires.  At some point your desires conceive.  You have given yourself over to do the sin.  You first want to do it, and then you plan to do it.  Eventually conception leads to birth.  This sin will come out into the world through words and deeds.  They may be hidden and done in secret, but into the world the little sin babies will be hatched.  And, when sin has grown to full maturity, it brings forth death.

We must guard our hearts!  O, how our hearts are laden down with impure desires that only serious warriors will rise up against and slay by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Yet, you actually have to take possession of your heart before you can then guard it.  This picture can be seen through Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land.  Picture the Promised Land as your own soul.  When you get saved, your life is full of many gigantic strongholds of sin.  You look like a Lilliputian compared to them, and you are!  However, God has promised to give you victory if you will attack the strongholds relying on His help.  Too many Christians have settled for a small plot of victory, and have allowed the enemy quarter in their own hearts and mind.  Such activity will not last us because the Holy Spirit is always calling us to rise up and fight!

After Peter’s rebuke, we are told that Ananias falls down and breathes his last.  He dies on the spot.  There is no sense that Peter knew that this was going to happen.  Though God revealed the sin of Ananias, that is not reason to automatically believe he knew death was coming.

So, why was God so harsh?  Perhaps, He determined that it was important at the onset of this group to make it clear that, even when God is being gracious, He is not to be mocked.  Every man is a liar and the judgments of Jesus are righteous and true.  We can be assured that sin has take deep root in the heart of Ananias, and he is boldly lying in the face of the powerful working of God through the Apostles.  It is hard to understand how he could be so bold, but such is sin.  It blinds us to our true condition and danger.

Our theology can so promote grace that we no longer have people who are afraid to sin.  In general, you do not have to fear that God will strike you dead for sinning today, but in the words of Johnny Cash, “Sooner or later, God‘ll cut you down.”  Sin that is not fought by the help of God’s Spirit will breathe death into your life and the life of people around you.  It is not just a matter of your eternal destiny.  It is also a matter of whether you are a source of sin and death in this life, or a source of life that comes from the Spirit of God.

God’s desire is for you to fight the sin that He reveals in your life.  His word shows us what sin is, and His Spirit helps us to see it in our life.  In short, the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, and points us to the righteousness of Jesus.  Yes, we are to believe in Jesus for salvation, but we are also to continue believing in Jesus for taking possession of our soul, sanctification.  The Holy Spirit really can strengthen you and help you to get victory over strongholds of sin in your life, but He won’t repent for you.  He won’t get you out of your bed in the morning and force you to pray for strength.

The problem is not that God is mean and scary.  The problem is that we don’t take God serious enough to take sin serious enough.  Imagine that your sin is so horrible that God Himself had to become a man in order to pay the price for it.  Yes, it is easy to imagine that Hitler’s sin is so bad that it would take that, but not mine (of course, we would never say those words).  To the degree that you think sin is not a big deal is to the degree that you diminish the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.  However, the more you see the glory and majesty of the righteousness of Christ, then the more you see the depths of shame and dishonor our sinful ways are towards God and one another.

Christian, we must become convinced that sin is breathing death into our life and the lives of the people we love.  We must desire to destroy its hold on our hearts, and we must learn to lean on Jesus for victory in the way that David did when standing against Goliath.

We have to stop here today.  We will pick up with the story next week.   Until then, I pray that the love of God will convince us to cast off any dalliance we may have with sin, and to turn our eyes unto Him.  Only He can give us victory against sin, the world, and the devil!

Lying to the Holy Spirit audio

Where Are We Headed? Part 5

Isaiah 25:1-12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on April 17, 2022, Resurrection Sunday.

We will finish this series today.  We started off by talking about the fine sounding promises of the elite of this world: creating utopia, everyone learning to get along, science solving every problem, etc.  The problem is that at the end of every one of these promises is a road full of brokenness and being used. 

It is not like science was invented 20 years ago and we just need to give them more time.  The great powers of this world know that people see this, and so they build ever new forms making the same old promises.  They manipulate us to rebel against the old forms, which they created by the way, and put our hopes in the new forms. 

Of course, we should start asking ourselves a couple of questions.  Can they actually deliver such promises?  And even more insidious, do they really intend to deliver these things for every one?  Perhaps, this is their utopia and it requires a seething mass of humanity in shackles everywhere.

Twenty-nine centuries ago, God showed the prophet Isaiah that the capital cities of each nation, even Israel, were full of sin and tyranny over the people.  He promised two things: judgment on the cities and their elite, and salvation for the oppressed.

Let’s begin to look at Isaiah 25.

The world’s false promise of salvation

We should note that chapters 13 to 23 in the book of Isaiah are prophecies of judgment against each nation and its leading city that was around Israel.  Israel is included in this series of dooms (Samaria in Isaiah 17 and Jerusalem in Isaiah 22).  Chapter 24 becomes the climax and template for the book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ, or The Apocalypse.  It is sometimes called Isaiah’s Apocalypse.  It pictures the whole earth devastated under the wrath of God’s judgment.  This is not just a judgment on a particular nation, or city.  This is something that encompasses all of the nations. 

On the heels of this, chapter 25 is essentially a hymn of praise, a rejoicing over God’s saving judgment in chapter 24.  Humanity has been oppressed by other humans who have prostituted themselves to power, money, and even wicked spiritual beings who truly manipulate things on this earth.  The day will come when God will unleash a final salvation of the poor and needy from the oppression of the wicked.

In some ways, nothing has changed today, other than the oppression becoming more sophisticated and deceptive.  However, Resurrection Sunday and the Cross of Jesus the Christ is a reminder from God that He has not forgotten His promise.  The death and resurrection of Jesus shows us that our greatest problem is not billionaires and an elite shadow-government.  Rather, our greatest problem is our own sin and tendency to rebel against trusting God and His promise. In a sense, we are discouraged by the “success” of the wicked, and drawn into their world of compromise to whatever individual degree we choose.  If Christ did not do what he did 20 centuries ago, none would be saved from the wrath of God that even now looms over this world like a dark shadow because we all would be complicit.

Chapter 25 speaks of a particular city, even though the preceding chapters make clear that all the great cities of the earth will be judged.  It is called a “fortified city,” “a palace of foreigners,” and “the city of the terrible nations.  Note that the term terrible has the idea of awe and fear inspiring.  The shock and awe of the great nations of the earth is seated or headquartered in a particular city.  This is parallel with the city Babylon the Great that is destroyed in The Revelation.

This city is the city that rules over the world, and has changed locations throughout the centuries.  In fact, in keeping with Revelation’s harlot imagery, we should see the capital cities of the world as prostituting themselves saying, “Pick me!  Pick me!  I want to be the seat of power and authority in the earth.”  Of course, they do not cry out to God and His Anointed One Jesus.    Instead, they build an Olympus like system of oppression over the common people, and propagate themselves through a dog-eat-dog climbing of the mountain.  Those who are able to raise themselves up out of the sea of humanity and sit atop the pinnacle of earthly power become the modern demi-gods of this world.  Such is the true actions of Satan, always promising godhood to those who serve him and his purposes. 

This “godhood” is not all it is cracked up to be as the “demi-gods” realize that they are simply slaves to the devil and his angels.  The revelation of the One True God is that these beings will all suffer the second death and their greatness will be no more. 

Today, we see this same model and struggle.  The powerful cities of the earth merely struggle with one another for the “privilege” of being the next city that rules the world and oppresses at will, projecting power globally at will.  This final city is the one that Isaiah refers to and John as well.

In verse 4, we are shown that the poor and needy are under great distress.  The terrible ones of the earth blast against them like a storm against a wall, and like a hot desert wind serving as the furnace of their affliction.  They need refuge from the storm and shelter from the heat.  The elite have never cared for the average person of this world, the poor and needy.  No matter how much they may give lip service to it, they only care about themselves in the end.

Verse 7 mentions a covering of evil that has been cast over the nations.  This covering can also be seen as a veil.  It has several layers that are spiritually connected.  Ultimately, there is a veil of spiritual deception that has been instigated by the devil and his angels and cast over all the world.  Second Corinthians 4:3-4 says,

“…even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.…” 

Also, those powerful men and women of the earth, who have learned to also operate behind veils of intentions and actions in order to manipulate the masses for their ends, create evil covers.  Of course, at our current stage there are often competing veils.  However, even this competition is a kind of a veil.  In the end, they are all on the same team working towards the same ends.  Things are never as they seem with these people, and with these spiritual beings.  There is always enough truth to sell the poison and lies mixed into it.  This is their mode of operating.

Lastly, in verse 11, Isaiah prophesies that God will bring down their great pride and the trickery in their hands.  Their tricks are similar to the veils.  The tricks represent the plans they operate behind the veils.  Their cunning craftiness seems to work to their great gain, but God will eventually bring it down on their heads.  “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”  Matthew 8:36 (NKJV).  This judgment day is true for the individual powers as each empire replaces another one, and it is true globally as God promises an end to this dog-eat-dog wrestling of the terrible ones on the earth, and the oppression is puts on humanity.  In fact, it is time to admit that even Washington D.C. has taken its place as a city of the terrible nations oppressing the poor as they vie for power over the world.  Like little children, our state capitols are in her tresses scooping up what little tidbits they can from their mother’s industry, i.e., prostitution.

Enough about the wickedness of this world and its judgment.  This is a chapter about celebrating God’s final judgment!  Hallelujah!

Rejoice for Yahweh really saves!

Yahweh is the name given to Moses at the burning bush.  It speaks to God’s eternal being.  He is not only the always existing one, but also, He is what He always will be.  This word has historically been transliterated into English as Jehovah.  Regardless, it is not important to get hung up on the change of language and misunderstanding of scholars.  In the end, the One True God knows when we are faithfully referring to Him.  Many people knew the proper spelling and pronunciation of God’s name in the first century, but they perished because their hearts were far from Him. 

As I said earlier, this chapter is a hymn or psalm of praise as the dust settles from chapter 24. The righteous are seen rejoicing that God’s counsels of old have proven to be faithful and true.  Imagine it.  In Isaiah’s time (700s BC), the counsels of God were already ancient, starting with Adam and then to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, to David, to Isaiah and lastly to Jesus.  In all of these, God has counseled us to trust in Him and His plan to save us.  If we do, we will not be put to shame, but all of those who cast Him aside and join the terrible ones will be put to shame.  Yes, it doesn’t look like that here on earth, but what we see today is not the whole sum of reality, nor of our existence.  Even now, those same counsels are a strength for the needy.  It gives us faith and purpose.  It gives us understanding and wisdom. 

We understand that Christ came to deal with our greatest enemy first, and it is our job to go to war against that great enemy within that seeks us to join the prostitution of the earth.  My sin and the desire of my flesh for it is the Goliath that I must slay!  Before we can deal with the tyrants of the world, we must all deal with our own inner tyrant screaming to get out.  This is why all revolutions ultimately fail.  Without facing truth, we only replace the old system with a new system destined to be corrupted and prostituted.  Praise God that He has revealed the things behind the curtains of today in the days of old, and we have these counsels faithfully preserved by His grace.

The salvation of Yahweh of course involves His judgment of those terrible ones.  You can picture the 2^nd Coming of Christ and his judgment against the kings of the earth along with the spiritual interlopers operating on the earth.  That day is coming as sure as the dawn.  We can even rejoice today as the Spirit of God opens our hearts to the truth that only He can deliver.

The great corruption across the world is part of the deception of the devil.  When his man the Antichrist comes forward, it will be a mockery, a trick, that pretends to put down the “wicked of the earth” for the sake of humanity.  Yet, his true intentions will quickly become seen.  By his fruits you will know him.  I don’t plan on being around to have to figure it out, but the counsels of God have warned the world of an arch-deceiver that will stand over all the earth at the end of time with an iron fist over religion, politics, and the economy.

Yes, there will be a revolt against the current political world in order to make room for a “grand new age of enlightened global governance.”  However, it will be done by people who are spiritually in chains to their sins, and they will only build a platform for the greatest evil this world has ever known.  Hallelujah that He promises to bring it down and remove it completely!  Here is a quote from Isaiah 24:21-22. 

"It shall come to pass in that day that the LORD will punish on high the host of exalted ones, and on the earth the kings of the earth.  They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; after many days they will be punished.”   

Note that it is referring to heavenly and earthly beings.  The rejoicing is not so much about their fate as it is about God’s relief for our oppression, and His restitution of righteousness.

Verse 8 talks about God swallowing up death forever, and wiping the tears from all faces.  Note that this identical to the language given to John in Revelation chapters 20 and 21.  The death of death and the destruction of the grave is something that seems to be mere poetry.  However, the resurrection of Jesus becomes God’s proof that He is greater than all of the things that oppress and hold us back from the destiny that He has for us.  Even death will flee away before the power of our God! 

The salvation of Yahweh is not just a temporary salvation during my short existence on this earth, but goes forward into eternity.  The shocking salvation of Yahweh is just as awe-inspiring, and even terrifying, as the actions of the terrible ones, but it is different in that it is good and righteous.

The tender picture of the Creator of all things wiping the tears from our eyes is what God wants you to know about Him, and to believe in Him, to trust in Him, to bring you to that precious moment.

Verse 6 pictures God creating a feast for the poor and needy after He has put down the terrible ones.  This is already spiritually true in Jesus.  At the cross, Jesus neutralized the only true weapon Satan could wield against us, our sin and the law.  Even now, we have a spiritual smorgasbord that Christ has given us in His Word, and gives to us daily by His Holy Spirit.  We can walk in these ancient counsels that continue to prove faithful and true.

This leads to verse 9 where the people celebrate by saying, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He is saving us.  This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation!”  Some versions say that He will save us, or in the future.  That is a possible translation.  However, the word simply means that it isn’t done.  In the context of God’s recent judgment here (recent within the prophecy, but still future to the hearers of the prophecy), it is better to translate it as something that is started, but is still continuing.  It’s not completed yet.

Friend, God has loved you with an everlasting love, but He is also truth.  Your sin, my sin, has to be dealt with.  Jesus did his part to pay the price for our sins.  However, can we do our part by repenting of not putting our full trust in him?  Can we begin trusting in Jesus today and start walking a life that is founded upon God’s counsels?  May we realize that without God, this world has nothing for us, but with Him it is an amazing world of God’s grace!  Don’t prostitute yourself by casting off God in order to get more of this world.  It will only bring pain in the end.

Yahweh Saves! audio

Putting Life to Death

Mark 15:33-47.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 21, 2021.

In our rush for progress, there are many things that society appears to be trying to jettison.  It is true that there are often obstacles that I need to remove or find away around in order to progress in life.  However, the influence that Jesus Christ has upon many people throughout the world, has been moving to the top of the list.  The argument is being developed that Christians and the Bible are holding back the USA, even the world, from creating a society that is truly Utopia.

Now to be clear, it isn’t Christians and the Bible per se.  The challenge will come against “those kind of Christians” who interpret the Bible “in that kind of way.”  O, how ancient is the human tendency to tell itself that if we just rid ourselves of “those people” then we can be a greater society.  Of course, this is impossible.  The type of person who would think such a thought, and go along with it, is twisted already.  Such people cannot build a true Utopia, no matter how much science they follow.

The Bible tells us that Jesus is not only the Truth, but the Life of men.  “In him was life and the life was the light of men.  And, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”  (John 1:4-5 NKJV).  Think about how all life on this planet eventually dies, while new life rises up to take its place.  This is bad enough.  Humans must die, while others take their place.  However, there are situations in life in which life is purposefully extinguished.  The devil led Adam and Eve into an act that extinguished something of the life in them, that is why Jesus called him a “murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44).  Cain also extinguished something of the life in his brother Abel.  Yet, it is in Jesus that we see the true heart of humanity.  All people murdered by other humans up to that point were imperfect, and we can always tell ourselves that we were justified by their imperfections.  In Jesus, we didn’t just put to death a life.  In Jesus, we were putting to death The Life, the One who gave life to us in the first place (at least we were attempting to do so).  This is our problem.  We want God to go away, disappear, pretend that He doesn’t exist…, even die, so that we can do what we want, but with His stuff.  “God, go away, but leave your stuff for us to play with.”  This is a horrendous definition of Utopia because it believes it can exclude the giver of life and still have life.

When Jesus was put to death on the cross, he was offering us a way back to the Fullness of Life and we tried to snuff that out.  Newsflash: True Life cannot be snuffed out.  Yes, they killed his mortal life, but not his eternal life.  God knew our hearts and had incorporated such evil in His plan of salvation.  Know this; if the life of Christ dwells in you, you too cannot be snuffed out.  Yes, you may be killed, but they cannot snuff out eternal life, and this is the joyful inheritance that God has given to all of humanity who will turn from their sins and believe in what Jesus has done, and what he is telling us to do.

The death of Jesus

In our passage, we come to the point of the death of Jesus.  He will be on the cross from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, six hours.

At noon, a darkness comes over the land that lasts until Jesus dies three hours later.  This cannot be an eclipse for two reasons.  First, Passover always occurs during the full moon.  By definition, solar eclipses can only happen during the new moon.  Lunar eclipses can happen at the full moon, but they do not darken the whole land during the day, which leads us to the second point.  Solar eclipses only last minutes for the totality, not hours.

Through the years, many conjectures have been made for what caused this darkness: a sandstorm, a volcanic eruption in the region, storm clouds, etc.  Whatever the cause of this darkness, it is strange enough by itself, but when added to the crucifixion of Jesus, it gives an ominous picture.  The literal event becomes symbolic of a spiritual event.  God had sent them light and they tried to snuff it out.  Therefore, God sends a spiritual darkness upon them.  This is prophesied throughout the Old Testament.  The Apostle Paul refers to it when he says, “But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.  But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.”  (2 Corinthians 3:14-15 NKJV).

Simultaneously, the darkness becomes symbolic of the dark night of the soul of Jesus, as the Father must abandon his son to a punishment he didn’t deserve.  By the way, it is interesting that Amos 8:9 prophesies of a time when it will be dark at noon by God’s doing.

Mark then tells us that Jesus cried out with a loud voice in the Aramaic language, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  This statement of Jesus has at least two purposes.  It stands to let us know how he feels in that moment as he approaches his death.  The Father is not stepping in and protecting him from injustice.  The Father is also placing all of humanity’s sins upon him.  The separation of relationship in the moment is something that even the eternal Son of God had never known.  Most likely, this was the most horrible part of his crucifixion.

Secondly, Jesus is actually giving a direct quote of the first verse of Psalm 22.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize that he is directing our attention to that passage.  What Scripture verse would you quote when you were being executed unjustly?  It would be one that would fit the situation well enough to highlight the injustice.  When you read Psalm 22 (a great homework assignment by the way), it sounds as if it was written by Jesus on the cross.  For 20 verses, David describes a horrible plight of oppression and torture at the hands of others.  Verse 21 has a clear change.  “Save me from the lion’s mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen!  You have answered me!”  The rest of the psalm then goes on to praise God.  Clearly, Jesus intends for us to make the connection.  He is going to die, and it will look like God has not heard him, but has forsaken him.  However, Psalm 22 promises that the moment will come when God will answer him.  It wouldn’t be the case for Jesus and it won’t be the case for you!  No matter what injustice you suffer, even death, God has not abandoned you and will resurrect you to keep His promises.

Mark then tells us that Jesus gave a loud cry and gave up his last breath.  He doesn’t tell us what that cry was, but from the Gospels of John and Luke, we have at least two sentences Jesus spoke as he came to his death. 

“It is finished!” (John 19:30).  The task that Jesus had been sent to do had been accomplished.  He could now die and bring the torture to an end.  However, the word Jesus uses for being finished was also one that would be stamped on a bill to show that the transaction has been finished.  In modern parlance, we would say, “Paid in full!”  Jesus had paid the price for our sins completely, through his suffering of our penalty.  The wrath of God is poured out upon him and he dies.

Luke 23:46 also tells us that Jesus says, “Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit.”  Whether this last part is also cried out or not is immaterial.  Even in a moment of feeling forsaken, Jesus teaches us the wisest thing ever.  When you have nothing left, don’t turn your back on God.  Instead, commit yourself into His hands.  He can be trusted even when it doesn’t look like it.  Much of our problem comes from not speaking these words each day as we approach our own daily crucifixion (metaphorically).  Every day for the Christian is crucifixion day, a day when I will put my own flesh to death.  My flesh won’t like it, but we must commit our spirit into the Father’s hands and trust His way, trust the Savior Jesus that He has given us.

Jesus spoke at least seven things from the cross and they are all worth meditating upon.  You will have to look through all of the Gospels to find them, but take the time this week to do that (Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, John 19).

As Jesus gives up his last breath, the darkness over the land comes to an end.  In truth, this is the moment of most spiritual light for the earth.  God is dead on a cross.  Jesus has perfectly shown us the love of the Father despite all of our accusations against Him.  Light is about to be sent out to the ends of the earth through the apostles and disciples of Jesus.

Several other things occur at his death that serve to underscore the gravity of what is happening.  Mark mentions that the veil in the temple was torn in half.  Mark leaves out that there was a powerful earthquake, which serves as the mechanism of ripping the large veil (about 4 inches thick).  The veil separated the area called the holy place.  It had the menorah, the table of bread representing the tribes of Israel, and the altar of incense.  Priests came into this area each day.  However, behind the veil was the ark of the covenant, which served as the footstool of the presence of God on earth.  This was the most restricted place in all of Israel.  Only the High Priest, on only one day of the year, and only observing the correct rituals, could enter into this space where God’s presence dwelled.  The ripped veil represents that the way into the presence of God has been opened up by the great High Priest Jesus.  Believers would no longer need an earthly priest to mediate for them every year.  They could go directly to God, and His “throne of grace.”  The next time someone complains to you about the restrictions on foreigners, women, common men, and common priests, remind them of this moment.  We want God to be all-powerful, but not dangerous.  That is because, we want a god that we can control, that is safe.  God is holy and just.  None of us dare approach him without the wisdom of how to do that.  However, in Jesus God opens up the way so that every man, woman and child can approach Him through repentance and faith.

At this point, the centurion, whose job it is to make sure Jesus dies, is overwhelmed by what he sees.  “Surely, this man was the son of God!”  Luke adds, “a righteous man.”  He had seen many rebels and murderers put to death, but the death of Jesus was something altogether different.  The manner of Jesus and the spectacular events surrounding his death convinced this Roman soldier that Jesus was a righteous man who was the Son of God!

Mark tells us that there were also many of the female followers of Jesus watching all of this.  In Luke, we are told that the crowd disperses, beating their breasts in a show of anguish and grief.  They too are shocked by what they have seen.  This was a tragic day, a day when the lights went out in Jerusalem, a day when they crucified an innocent man.

The burial of Jesus

Jesus has expired in his physical frame around 3:00 PM, and the Sabbath quickly approaches.  It is at this point that a rich man named Joseph, from the town of Arimathea- it was northwest of Jerusalem by approximately 8 miles- asks Pilate for permission to bury the body of Jesus.  Joseph was member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling elders of Israel.  He had dissented to the council’s actions earlier that morning.  This is who he is.  We are also given information about Joseph’s spiritual condition.  He lived waiting for the Kingdom of God.  He wasn’t giving it lip service, but actually looked for it to happen.  The Apostle Peter gives a similar exhortation to believers in 2 Peter 3:11-12.  Knowing that all the things of this earth and the universe are going to be dissolved by fervent heat, what sort of people ought we to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the Day of God?  We need to be a people who are waiting and looking (even hastening) the coming of the Day of God, the Second Coming of Jesus.  It was people who had given up on the Kingdom of God that gave themselves to crucifying Jesus.  Don’t give up spiritually on God.  Those who wait on Him will be glad that they did in the end.

When our hopes go beyond this world, and are not desperately seated only in the material plane, then we are spared the desperate acts that, in trying to grasp at life, actually put true life to death.  Jesus warned us.  “Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.” (Mark 8:35 NKJV). 

Pilate then confirms that Jesus has truly died and gives Joseph permission to remove the body and bury it.  We are told that Joseph wraps the body in a new, expensive linen and lays it in a new, rock tomb that is sealed against intruders by a large stone.  No doubt, this tomb had been intended by Joseph to be for his family, but now was given in service to the Lord.

All of this is observed by the women mentioned earlier.  They witness where Jesus is buried, and eventually go home for the Sabbath, preparing spices for his body, to bring when the Sabbath is over.

It is good that we pause in this valley of death, at the moment when all seems lost, and life seems dead.  Part of what Jesus is showing us is that the Life of God cannot truly be extinguished.  I’m not saying that Jesus didn’t actually die, but that this cannot be the final word.  We are more than bodies, and Jesus is more than a human spirit.  In Christ, we are given assurance that our exit from this world is not the final word on our life.  Those who put their faith in God will rise again as Jesus will soon show us in the next chapter.  The life of God will cause us to shine like the stars.  However, no amount of “following the science” can do anything but lead us into dead ends.  Only God can give us what we seek.  Put your faith in Him today!

Putting Life to Death audio

Trapping Jesus-Theology

Mark 12:18-27.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 16, 2020.

We continue looking at the various teachings that Jesus gave within the temple compound during the week leading up to his crucifixion.  Some of these teachings are initiated by Jesus, but some of them are initiated by the various groups that did not like Jesus.  The antagonists today are a group called the Sadducees, more on them in a bit.

The trap today has to do with theology.  What does the Bible actually teach?  As the Sadducees try to trap Jesus with his own words, we are given a proof once again that Jesus cannot be trapped by mankind.  He doesn’t just know the truth; he is the truth.  As you listen to this passage today, I pray that you will come to understand that the modern world is not any better at “trapping God” than the ancient world was.

We may have greater technology, and we may have furthered the discussion of philosophy to a finer point, but we are still fallen creatures trying to prosecute the one who is not fallen.  It won’t work.  In the end, Jesus will be proven true and all who stand against him will be proven to be liars, lying to ourselves internally, and lying to the world externally.  Trying to trap Jesus is to trap ourselves in the end.

Our only hope is to surrender to Jesus and ask him to save us because we cannot save ourselves.  Let’s look at this passage.

A question about the resurrection

Our question today has to do with whether or not there is such a thing as a bodily resurrection of those who have died.  Although it is not precisely stated that way, Mark makes it clear up front that the Sadducees do not believe that a resurrection day was promised by God, and this is the source of their question.

So, who are these Sadducees?  Let’s take about 6 minutes to look at the history that has led up to this point.  During the 500’s BC, Israel was defeated by the Babylonians (modern day Iraq).   Many of the Israelites were taken back to Babylon as captives.  Then, the Persians defeated the Babylonians (they were from modern day Iran).  The Persians allowed the Jews to return to Israel in order to rebuild their country, Jerusalem, and the temple.  This was going on from the end of the 500’s through the 400’s BC.

The next change happens as the Greek empire under Alexander the Great rises up and defeats the Persians.  From 330 BC to 167 BC, the Greeks dominate Israel and the apex of their control comes under Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) who ruled from Antioch, Syria.  Over the course of these 160 years, Israel was heavily influenced by the Greek culture, which called itself Hellas and its peoples the Helenes.  By the end of this period, many Jews had adopted Greek ways, using Greek names, refusing to circumcise their young, and adopting a Greek calendar, which changed the days on which the feasts of the Lord landed.

It is in this context that Antiochus Epiphanes lights the fuse of Israel by outlawing Jewish rituals, mandating the worship of Zeus, and slaughtering a pig to Zeus on the temple altar in Jerusalem.  The next 50 years (167 BC to 110 BC) would be a tug-of-war between the Greeks and the rebel Israelites.  It would also be a fight between Hellenized Jews who wanted a Greek government and those who wanted to stay faithful to the Old Testament and Yahweh.

During this time, a number of priests left Jerusalem and developed the Qumran community in the wilderness above the Dead Sea that we know by the Dead Sea Scrolls.  They saw Jerusalem and its priests as corrupt and so they went into the wilderness to wait for Messiah to show up and fix everything.  The priests who stayed in Jerusalem called themselves the Sadducees, which is a Greek form of the Hebrew name Zadok.  The family of Zadok was the High Priest family.  Even though the high priests were starting to compromise, the Zadokites or Sadducees felt that the High Priest should be followed without question.   They were made up of the High Priest, the priests faithful to him, and many of the upper class in Israel.  At some point, a more conservative group who had not gone into the wilderness began to separate themselves from the Sadducees, and that is the Pharisees.

The Sadducees did not believe in human spirits, or angels (see Acts 23:7), and thus they did not believe in a holding place for departed spirits (the grave) or a possible resurrection of these spirits.  They were essentially the liberal “Christians” of their day.

Now that we have established who these Sadducees were, let’s look at their approach to Jesus.  Instead of asking Jesus to prove from Scripture that there is a resurrection, they use a different strategy.  They remind Jesus of the Kinsman Redeemer law mentioned in Deuteronomy 25:5.  They then share a hypothetical story about a man who marries a woman, but dies without a child being born, i.e. no heir.  The Law of Moses required the nearest kin, like a brother, to marry the woman and father a child with her that would legally carry the name of the man who died, and inherit his estate.  This may seem strange in our modern culture, but this was very common throughout the ancient world.  Their cultures were family and tribe oriented.  Everything was done to keep the family and tribe strong, especially things having to do with offspring and inheritance.  A widow had a problem.  Who would take care of her?  However, if she was childless then she had another problem.  Who would take care of her in her old age?  The family also has a problem.  What shall we do with the dead brother’s estate, allow it to be severed and spread among the rest of the tribe, or legally supply an heir for him?  Whether or not you think this is the proper way to deal with these things, the duty of a kin was to protect the name and inheritance of his close relatives.  In fact, the whole story of Ruth centers on this law.

Now, in our hypothetical story, a second brother marries the woman, but dies before an heir is conceived.  The same thing continues happening with all of the seven brothers, until the wife dies in the end having never had a child.  This hypothetical situation sets up the absolute worse-case scenario for this law.  It is similar to what happens in the story of Judah and Tamar.  Tamar marries Judah’s firstborn, but he dies before a child is conceived.  Then, Judah’s second son is married to Tamar, but he refuses to help her become pregnant.  He dies as a judgment from God.  So now, Judah’s third son should marry Tamar, but Judah is gun-shy.  He suspects that his third son will die too, and so he creates a ruse to keep the marriage from happening.  So, most likely this story would never actually happen.  Most people would see the woman as cursed and refuse to marry her at that point.

It is important to see that the Sadducees are employing a debating technique that is called Reduction to Absurdity.  Instead of rejecting your opponents view, you pretend as if it were true and show that it leads to an absurdity.  They feel that their hypothetical creates such an absurd situation that the initial idea of resurrection should then come into question.  The absurdity comes to the surface with the question, “Which of the men will have her as their wife in the Resurrection (that they don’t believe in)?” 

I would point out two things.  First, there is an inheritance problem here that they totally blow by.  The laws of the kinsman redeemer had nothing to do with the resurrection.  They were all about a woman having security and a man’s name not being lost within the tribe.

Second, the problem is not nearly as absurd as they make it.  It would be the same problem if we ask, “Whose wife is Ruth in the Resurrection, Boaz or Mahlon?”  The presence of seven guys doesn’t change the question, but they do make it more absurd.  Ultimately, you could just say that the Bible is silent on this issue and therefore God will make the judgment then.  This would resolve the issue without giving clarity about what exactly would happen.  God is just and He can be trusted to give a wise decision.  However, this is not how Jesus responds.

The answer of Jesus

Before Jesus gives his answer, he explains in verse 24 why the Sadducees are wrong on this issue, but he does so in question form.  The NKJV says that they are “mistaken,” but the idea is that they are being led astray, or off the path of truth.  He is posing a rhetorical question, “Are you not being led astray, or deceived?”  The answer is the obvious, yes, and that they should know it.

Why are they being led astray, or better, what is their weakness that has made them susceptible to error on this point? Jesus gives us two reasons.

First, they don’t know the Scriptures.  Of course, they know the Scriptures in the sense of having read them, memorized much of them, and taught them.  However, they don’t intimately know them.  They cruise over passage after passage assuming that they have the truth without recognizing the implications in them that run counter to their philosophy.  Instead, they use Scripture to back up their positions through proof-texts and human reasoning.  If they really understood Scripture then they would not be led astray by people such as themselves who posit absurd hypotheticals, philosophies, and the reasoning of men.  So, their first problem has to do with a real ignorance of the Scriptures and the proper understanding of what God was saying in them.

Second, they don’t know the power of God.  Of course, if you were to ask them if God was all-powerful, they would have said that He was.  However, they wouldn’t apply that power to the resurrection because they have already reasoned that it can’t be.  This same problem happens with those who say that humans don’t have freedom to choose Jesus because that would mean that God is not completely sovereign.  Yet, at the same time that they say that, they are limiting God’s sovereignty by refusing to accept that God could sovereignly choose to give men a free choice.  God has the power and sovereignty to give man a real choice so that he can really choose.  Human reasoning can become a barrier to actually hearing what the Word of God is saying.

When we understand just how powerful God is, the One who created the whole universe, visible and invisible, problems like this dissipate.  Many reject the Bible because of things that sound impossible.  However, if God does exist as the Bible depicts then it is not absurd that He can do that which we cannot conceive being done.

In verse 25, Jesus finally gets to the answer.  Here, he reveals that the Sadducees are assuming something that God never said in His Word.  It doesn’t say anywhere in the Bible that our marriages will continue into the Resurrection in any way.  Now, it is a natural tendency to assume things and not question those assumptions.  Their whole argument hinges on the reality of marriage within the resurrected age.  Jesus reveals that the resurrection will not be a glorified repeat of this world.  Instead, we will be like the angels of heaven.  Angels do not need to propagate their species because God made them immortal. 

Up until now, humans have been a mortal species.  Yet, then we will not be so.  Paul speaks of this in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.  In the parallel passage of Luke 20:34, Jesus adds some more color to the statement. 

“The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God; being sons of the resurrection.” 

The resurrection not only changes us as individuals, but it also changes us as a species.  We can’t properly imagine the resurrected state because we have precious little understanding of what that means.  We have only known mortality.

It is important to understand that Jesus doesn’t need chapter and verse to support what he is saying because he has come from the Father and knows the whole plan, whether it has been revealed before or not.  Thus, in a way, Jesus is revealing new truth.  He confirms the resurrection and he reveals that there will not be marriage there.  Men and women will stand side by side in glorified bodies that are no longer male and female as we know them here.  We will stand together as the adult children of God.  The image is that we as a whole are the bride of Christ.

Yet, the Old Testament does have many passages that hint at, and even declare a belief in the resurrection.  In Job 19:25-27, he says, “For I know that my redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.  My heart faints within me!”  What kind of kinsman redeemer can redeem a person from the decay of their body?  This is an amazing passage and there are others like it.

However, Jesus knows that the Sadducees do not accept doctrine that is not in the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Bible).  Thus, Jesus uses the Burning Bush passage in Exodus 3.  There, God tells Moses that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  If the position of the Sadducees was correct then He would have to say that He was the God of Abraham, et al.  Yet, He says that He is, present tense.  In some way, Abraham and the other patriarchs were still very much alive.  Their spirits were held in the paradise side of She’ol, or Hades, and God was not going to leave them there forever.  In chapter 12 of his book, Daniel saw the day when multitudes who “slept in the dust of the earth,” would awake and rise “some to shame and everlasting contempt,” and others “to everlasting life.” 

We must not settle for a cultural acceptance of Christianity, but rather pursue a relationship with the Father through Jesus, and the Scriptures that reveal him.  We can only come to know them intimately by the help of God’s Holy Spirit.  Praise the Lord that we serve a powerful God who has made clear His glorious future for those who believe upon Jesus Christ!

Theology audio