When The Lord Questions You

Luke 20:41-47.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 20, 2015.

In the previous chapter we saw how Jesus wept over Jerusalem because of the hard hearts the people there had, especially the leaders.  This chapter has given us snapshots of the last week before the crucifixion, in which Jesus speaks to the people in the temple area.  This last attempt to turn their hearts runs into stiff opposition from the religious leaders.  Today we see that Jesus somewhat turns the table on them and asks them his own questions.  However, we should be careful of thinking that Jesus is only giving them a taste of their own medicine.  Rather, he specifically asks about a passage that is key to explaining who the Messiah really is and why they stumbled at the way Jesus spoke of his connection with The Father.  They claim to know so much.  But, if they would simply admit that there are some unexplained things in the Scriptures, they would be in a better position to accept what God was trying to reveal to them.  Jesus was the Son of God come down to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Jesus Exposes Their Willful Ignorance

There is nothing wrong with being ignorant.  All of us have areas of ignorance, no matter how smart we are.  No one can know all that mankind “knows,” much less all that is possible to be known.  Being ignorant is not a problem.  But, willful ignorance in the face of God’s revelation is a sin that we should be quick to repent of. 

The religious leaders questioned Jesus in order to undermine the authority that Jesus had with the common people, and to find fault with him.  Now God can handle our questions.  We can question Him, but we must recognize that when we are done He may have some questions for us.  This is part of the error of those who scoff and mock the Bible with questions that are clearly intended to manipulate how it looks rather than to find truth.  Go ahead and mock God’s Word, but also recognize that God will in turn have His time of questioning you.  Would you survive the same tactics against yourself that you employ against Him?  Honest questioning for the sake of Truth is not a threat to God.  But dishonest questions as a covering for sin and rejecting God will be shown for what they are.

They were calling Jesus a heretic because he called himself the Son of God.  I will share a couple of examples.  In Luke 19 Jesus told a parable about the owner of a vineyard.  At the end the owner sends his son to the caretakers and they kill him.  It was clear to the religious leaders that the owner was God, the vineyard was Israel, and they were the caretakers.  Notice that Jesus casts himself in the parable as the son of the owner.  This was not lost on them.  They resented and rejected his characterizations.  In John 10:30 Jesus said, “ ‘I and my Father are one.’  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.  Jesus answered them, ‘Many good works I have shown you from my Father.  For which of those works do you stone me?’  The Jews answered Him saying, ‘For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, and because you, being a man, make yourself God.’”  It is being disingenuous to say that they misinterpreted Jesus.  He knew what he was saying.  His “oneness” with the Father was a bold claim of sharing in the divine nature of God.  We also have Luke 22:70 when Jesus is on trial.  They ask him point blank if he is the son of God.  What is the response of Jesus?  “You rightly say that I am.”  This was not their main point for rejecting Jesus.  They had already done this from the beginning.  Yet, it became the leverage they needed to cover their evil desire to execute him.  So is it really blasphemy to claim that the Messiah would be the Son of God?  This is the heart of what Jesus is asking them when he points them to Psalm 110 in this passage.

First of all let’s establish the fact that the Messiah would be the son of David.  This was accepted by all parties involved.  It is in 2 Samuel 7:12-17 that God promises David that his kingdom and throne will be established forever.  God would not reject the claim of David’s family to the throne like He did with Saul.  Thus David’s line becomes essential moving forward.    The prophets picked up on this and added further revelation.  In Isaiah 9:6-7 we are told that One would sit on the throne of David who will be called: Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.  Several of these titles pose some problems if you are contending that the Messiah will not have a divine nature.  Thus this coming Messiah would fulfill all that was missing in those earthly kings of David’s line.  Each successive king quickly proved that they were not the messiah and so Israel waited.  In Micah 5:2 it says, “You, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”  Again this coming messianic ruler is spoken of in terms that go beyond a mere human.  Yes, we can interpret it to mean that the prophecies about his coming are of old, though he is not.  But, it is phrased in such a way that doesn’t negate that his existence would be from ancient times.  Lastly, at the announcement to Mary of her coming pregnancy by the angel Gabriel, it says in Luke 1:32, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.”  So the messiah is the ultimate Son of David.  But it was being revealed to the people of the first century that he was more than a man.  He was the Son of God.  This was not in contradiction to Scripture and only made some Scriptures more understandable.  This leads us to Psalm 110 which Jesus quotes from in today’s Scripture portion.

The question that Jesus asks is this.  How can you say that the messiah is the son of David when David calls the messiah his Lord?  How can an earthly descendant of David also be his lord?  Now when we look at the verse we need to recognize that in the Psalms there are two different words being translated as Lord, in fact you will notice the first “LORD” is in all caps (or small caps) and the second is only capitalized.  This is because the translators are letting you know they are two different words.  Here is a rough translation that helps us see this.  “YHWH said to my adonai….  The first is a reference to the name of God given to Moses at Mt. Sinai.  Historically it has been translated as Jehovah or Yahweh.  The second is a term that refers to a king, master or teacher.  The word always places the person in authority another class (i.e. king to citizens, master to slave, teacher to disciples etc…).  Thus David is literally revealing that he saw the messiah (who would be a descendant of him) as his king and master.  When Jesus asks them how they can call the messiah the son of David, he is not doing it to say they are wrong. But, instead, he is taking them back to a messianic passage and saying, if statement one is true then how do you understand statement two.  Now the answer that is being revealed in the days of Jesus is that the body of Jesus was biologically from the line of David.  As a side not on this biological aspect of Jesus, we should note that the creative act of the Spirit in causing Mary’s pregnancy is not explained further.  Thus even the biology of the body of Jesus is at least partially from David and possibly also from God.  Yet, the spirit of Christ is from before David and has existed from the beginning. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  Jesus was the prophesied “Right hand” of God accomplishing salvation for himself. 

Though these were new truths that God was revealing regarding His plan, we must note that none of it is contradictory to the Old Testament.  This is the problem.  The religious leaders claim to know the truth and will not accept what Jesus is saying.  Yet, Jesus shows them that the very Scriptures they claim to know point to the very things that he is revealing.  Thus they are choosing to reject this new light.  This is what I meant earlier by a willful ignorance.  You might ask yourself this.  Is God trying to open my eyes to something that I am resisting and rejecting?  We know that God is working everyday to open the eyes of people to the Truth and yet many reject it.  One day you will be questioned by God himself.  He will expose the flimsy arguments that we use and give back to us according to how we questioned Him.  I encourage those who don’t accept Jesus as both man and divine to be careful how they deal with God’s Word and Christians, His people.  Do you want to be dealt with in the same way by Him?

He Exposes Their Sin

In verse 45 Jesus turns back to the people and warns them about the sin of the religious leaders.  Those who are going to follow Christ must first learn to avoid the pitfalls that keep people from accepting Jesus.  First, Jesus points out the misplaced desire and love that these religious leaders have.  Their desire was for public attention and the adoration of people rather than to please God.  They were filled with pride regarding their godliness, and yet, they did not really love God.  Instead, they loved to be honored and have the best.  There is nothing wrong with wanting people to approve of our actions.  But when that desire goes outside the proper boundaries it becomes an inordinate desire.  They desired man’s applause more than God’s.  They desired the authority that they had for their own purposes and ends rather than for the purposes of God.  This same sin is rampant today within the churches of the USA.  Our churches are overwhelmed with people who have inordinate desires and misplaced loves.  At the end of the day they are serving their own ego at the expense of the work of God.

The religious leaders also were taking advantage of the desperate within society.  Devouring widows houses is a reference to the way they would worm their way into receiving the money of widows while they live and in their deaths.  The term devour depicts the beastly nature of their actions.  They preyed upon the desperate situation of the widows in order to enrich themselves.  They loved money rather than those widows for whom they were to be a protection.  The love of money has infiltrated the churches of this country to the point that it has become a mark of godliness to be rich.   Although there is nothing wrong with being rich, we must recognize how inordinate desires and love pulls us away from God and in the “name of God” we pursue whatever our heart wants.  As long as we slap a Jesus sticker on it in the end, we are living godly.  If God rejected such mockeries then how much more will He reject those who bring ridicule to the Son of God whom we are supposed to be serving?

Jesus also points out their false piety.  They pray long prayers, not because they love talking with God, but because they love putting on a show for the people.  They are not as pious as they depict.  Such pretensions are false and are revolting to God.  We tend to follow spiritual leaders who look pious and godly.  Many are being misled because they foolishly do not look to the Scriptures.  God has warned us and exposed the methods of the unrighteous.  Don’t let yourself fall into the trap of trying to please men.  Focus on pleasing God and let the chips fall where they may.

Lastly, Jesus states that these leaders will receive a greater condemnation.  Why is this so?  They will receive greater condemnation because they spend their days studying and writing about the Scriptures and yet reject the very things the Scriptures are trying to teach, and they reject the very one who authored the Scriptures.  They receive a greater condemnation because they declare that they have the truth and force others to come under error and miss the truth.

Friend, the day will come when God will judge each and every one of us.  How will it go for me in that day?  It will not be the fact that we have sinned that will be the issue.  No, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Rather, it will be the fact of how we dealt with that sin.  Did I submit and plead guilty before the court of heaven?  Did I then cling to Jesus, the Son of God, to be my teacher and savior?  These men refused to hear what God was trying to teach them from the Scriptures and thus they missed the blessing He had for them.  Make sure you don’ t miss God’s blessing for you!

WhenTheLordQuestions Audio

Our Choice Of King

Luke 19:28-44.  This message was given by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 2, 2015.

Today we are going to look at what is called the Triumphal Entry of Jesus.  The week before he was crucified, Jesus came to Jerusalem in such a way as to make it very clear that he was presenting himself to Israel as their Messiah.

This sets up an important theme of the New Testament.  God is the King of the whole world and yet we really do not want Him.  When given the choice the majority of mankind will reject God and choose to serve someone else.  Let’s look at this passage.

Jesus Present Himself As A King

Israel had been waiting for a particular king to come who would be God’s Anointed One (Hebrew= Messiah, Greek= Christ).  The prophets had promised the people that God would raise up a perfect king who would be anointed by His Spirit to give Justice and Peace to Israel and the world.  It was popular among the common people to believe that Jesus was this Messiah.  But up to now he had rebuffed any attempts to make him king.  However, in this event, Jesus openly declares himself as the Messiah of God and King of Israel.  This puts the ball into the court of the leaders of Israel: What will you do?

The passage starts out with Jesus giving some very specific instructions to his disciples.  He must have a donkey’s colt to ride on.  If you don’t know your Old Testament prophecies you would miss that Jesus is purposefully fulfilling a prophecy from Zechariah chapter 9.  Now some people say that the reason Jesus appears to fufill the Old Testament prophecies is because he conspired to make it look like he did.  However, though it is true with this one prophecy, most of the prophecies were out of his hands.  He couldn’t determine where he would be born and perform the amazing signs surrounding it such as: the star, the wise men, the angels, and the shepherds, etc…  Thus Jesus fulfills this prophecy on purpose so as to give the people of Israel a choice.  Will they agree with him and accept him, or will they reject him?

Now when we look at the prophecy in Zechariah 9, we see that Jesus is everything that it said.  It says very clearly that the messiah would present himself to Israel on the back of a small colt of a donkey.  Verses 9-10 say, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.  I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off.  He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from The River to the ends of the earth.”  Notice once you get past the setting of his arrival on a donkey’s colt, you get to the character and administration of this king.  He would be just, upright, and doing what is right with all men.  The ministry of Jesus demonstrates what true justice looks like, whether he is rebuking the Pharisees or having mercy on a woman caught in adultery.  The messiah would also have salvation.  The stories of the healings and grace of Jesus are the heart of salvation.  It is a word that simply means to be delivered, rescued, or avenged.  Even the name of Jesus means “God is salvation.”  It also says that the messiah would be lowly.  Now, the word for lowly is not just humility of attitude.  It means poor and afflicted.  Thus Jesus is born into a poor family.  He lives as a poor person.  He has felt the crush of a society that cares less for the poor.  Why a donkey’s colt?  He does not ride in on a battle horse, but on a small beast of burden that has never been used before.  It also says that the messiah would cut off the means of military ability and instead speak peace to the nations.  This is critical because most people in Israel missed this.  They wanted a king to rise up and destroy the Romans.  But Jesus allowed himself to be crucified and spoke a gospel of peace to Rome and the rest of the world.  The word cut off in this prophecy is the same word that is used in the prophecy of Daniel 9:26.  There it says that the messiah would be executed.  Thus the work of Jesus would “execute” or kill Israel’s ability to fight.  It should be noted that Jesus was not just speaking peace to the nations.  He was also speaking peace to Israel.  He was not the King they wanted in their hearts.  Do we really want world peace?  It is easy to give lip service to such concepts and yet go on to do everything that keeps it from happening.  This is where we are as a world today.  We say we want peace and yet we choose the wrong leaders and the wrong kings. 

The People Give Lip Service

As Jesus approaches Jerusalem, the crowds recognize what he is doing and loudly give full-throated declaration of his kingship.  Yet, I call this lip service because in one week the cries will change to “crucify him.”  What went wrong?  It wasn’t their understanding of who he was.  The people clearly understood that he was the messiah.  They throw down their cloaks and strip off palm branches to wave and throw on the path.  Thus they rolled out the red carpet.  They even use as their chant a declaration of his kingship by quoting Psalm 118, which is a prophecy about the messiah.  “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”  The leaders also clearly understood that Jesus was presenting himself as messiah and that the people were accepting it.  They become incensed because they have already made up their mind that Jesus could not be the messiah.  So they turn the situation to Jesus.  Rebuke your disciples!  Thus they challenge Jesus to reject his own calling as messiah.

The response that Jesus gives helps us to see that he knew who he was.  He was not making himself messiah.  God the Father had given this to him.  Thus it wasn’t up to Jesus.  Jesus will be honored because God the Father has determined it to be so.  The question is, Will you honor him or dishonor him?  Jesus has fulfilled the prophecies of the messiah, but which side of this fulfillment will you be on?  Will you be helping it and receiving it, or will you be standing against it?

They Miss Their Opportunity For Peace

It seems odd to us that he would not be overjoyed at this moment.  It appears as if everything is working and he has the crowds of people on his side.  But Jesus knows the truth of where it was all heading.  He knows that the praises will not last.  Within the week they will call for his death.  This one who knew what was in the heart of a man also knew that these praises were mostly people caught up in the mania of the crowd.  Their praises would disappear like the morning mist in the heat of trial and when things didn’t go their way.

This breaks the heart of Jesus.  He weeps as he approaches Jerusalem.  Yet, he does not weep over what is going to happen to him.  He is weeping because he knows what their rejection of him will bring upon themselves.  He knows what bloodshed lies ahead.  As they reject the one who speaks peace they receive the fruit of such choices: war and bloodshed.  Within 40 years Jerusalem would be surrounded by the armies of Rome and become a slaughter house.  The sad thing is that they didn’t have to make that choice.  Even then God was putting a path of peace before them.  There was a remnant of Israel that embraced this offer of peace and because they believed that Jesus was the messiah, they avoided the slaughterhouse that Jerusalem would become.  Why do we reject the very things that would make for our peace in order to embrace things that will destroy us?  This is the plight of God: that He is the only one who can give peace, but mankind resents Him for that.

Thus a day of visitation had arrived for Israel.  It is a day in which God comes into our life and puts a decision before us.  Our choice in that day determines what we will receive.  It is in essence a last offer of peace before judgment is poured out.  There always comes a day of visitation for individuals, nations, and ultimately one for this whole world.  Have you been waffling in regards to your own beliefs about Jesus?  Know this.  God has been working to help you see Jesus as the Anointed One that He has sent.  If we will put our faith in him we will come to know the peace of God.  But if we reject it we will be caught up, not only in our own judgment, but also in the judgment of our nation.  It is very clear that the USA is in the midst of a national rejection of Jesus.  May God help us to repent before it is too late.

Choice of King audio

The Kingdom of God

June 7, 2015-Luke 17:20-37

Today we have a portion of Scripture that deals with the Kingdom of God.  In the book of Daniel it was prophesied that God would establish a kingdom that would smash all the empires of this world into bits and fill the whole earth.  This promise and many others like it seemed to be a pipe dream to many in the first century.  The big question would be, “When is it really going to come?”  Even today, we have that same sense with the second coming of Jesus.  It is easy to let the question of “when” turn into cynicism that it is never going to happen.  In this passage Jesus gives us a key understanding to aid the believer’s faith and hope.  In essence he reveals that we are already participating in the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is Already Here

Jesus is approached by the Pharisees regarding the question of when the Kingdom of God would come.  They knew that the prophets promised an anointed leader from God who would judge the nations of the world and lead Israel into a Kingdom of God.  This raising up of Israel under the banner of the Messiah was what a believer at that time was looking towards. Here is a man whom many are saying is the Messiah, and who has amazed them with his understanding of Scripture.  Thus they want to know what he thinks about the Kingdom.  The answer Jesus gives to the Pharisees is to basically tell them that the Kingdom of God is not a visible kingdom. 

They had defined God’s kingdom within a very narrow sense:  the messiah coming, judgment of the nations, and Israel raised to rule over the earth.  This had kept them from recognizing the very, real, but invisible, rule of God that existed already.  They were looking for signs that such things were about to happen.  The truth is, no matter how amazing Jesus was, there was no sign that he was going to judge the nations and rule over the world from Jerusalem.  Jesus tells them that the coming of the kingdom is not something that can be observed with the eyes.  Sure if you know what you are looking for you can recognize the Kingdom of God.  But this is precisely what their problem was.  The Kingdom of God is not like the kingdoms of this world.  It does not have a capital city with well defined borders, palaces and armies that can be seen in this world.  This is not the same as saying that God doesn’t have a real kingdom.  No, His kingdom is very real, but you won’t observe it with your eyes.

He then explains that the Kingdom of God is within the hearts of faithful believers.  The kingdom was already present in the lives of those who trusted God and followed Him.  Now it would be easy to see this as only referring to those who believed on Jesus.  However, I think his point is broader than that.  Even those prophets, who never saw Jesus, still believed on the promises of God and lived lives surrendered to the rule and authority of God.  They had experienced His kingdom within their hearts and had expressed it into the world they lived.  We see this same dynamic in the Lord’s Prayer.  Notice that it begins with recognition of God’s rule in heaven and praying for it to be the same on earth.  Such a prayer is surrendering one’s self to be a vehicle of it.  “Lord, rule in me first; so that your rule may be seen in this earth.”  The faithful have always prayed for and lived out the rule of God.  In that way they have always experienced the Kingdom of God.  Now this is not a denial that there will never be a day when there is an observable kingdom that rules over the nations of the earth.  Rather, it is the correcting of an error that sets us up for disappointment and unbelief.  If we always live as if God’s promised kingdom is way out there somewhere, we will grow weary.  But if we live every day knowing that God’s Kingdom is ruling within me and being expressed into my life, then I am only awaiting the next phase of that Kingdom.  If we see now as lacking, we will miss the experience of the very, real Kingdom of God in the now.  In fact we may miss out on the future Kingdom experience because our faith and hope gives out.  Recognizing God’s kingdom now readies us and strengthens us for his coming.  I am experiencing more than a down payment now.  I am experiencing the heart of what is to come, even though it isn’t obvious to the untrained eye.

Jesus Will Leave and then Come Back

In verse 22 Jesus turns towards his disciples and gives further understanding.  The Pharisees needed to quit looking ahead and enter into the Kingdom of God as it was then.  But the disciples were the ones who were entering into and experiencing the Kingdom of God through Jesus.  They could rightly look ahead, but needed understanding.  Part of that understanding was that Jesus was going to go away for a while and then later come back.  He says to them that the day will come when they will long for just one of the days of the son of man.  This future longing will not be satisfied, “you will not see it.”  This passage is an important balance to those who say that Jesus and his disciples expected him to come back in their lifetimes.  Here, Jesus points out a future longing that will not be satisfied.

He goes on to point out that in the midst of this longing for him to be physically with them, people would speculate about his coming.  “He is here, or He is there!”  In other passages this speculation is connected with false prophets, false teachers, and even false christs.  Matthew 24:23-24 says, “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it.  For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”  People are never more vulnerable to shams and cons than when they want something badly.  This longing that should be in the heart of true believers will be plied upon by deceivers.  Jesus warns us not to trust any who claims to be the Christ, know when he is coming, or where he is.  There are many such examples today.  Those who point to some Christ figure who is already here but hasn’t shown himself yet, are charlatans.  Jesus points this out by telling us that his coming will be as obvious as lightning in the sky.  The coming of Christ will be no secret or invisible coming.  There is no time where he is on earth waiting for mankind to be ready for his revelation.  No. He will be revealed at his coming in an obvious and glorious way.

Yet, before he leaves, he must suffer rejection.  This is a small line in the context of the future coming kingdom.  But he speaks of the work of salvation on the cross and his victory over death in the resurrection.  The messiah must be rejected by this world and leave.  Thus the believers hope is place in the return of the rejected King.

The World Will Not Be Ready For His Coming

Starting in verse 26, Jesus gives two examples from the Old Testament to inform us.  The first has to do with Noah and the global judgment that came at that time.  Noah lived in a society that had been warned of God’s coming judgment, but had rejected it.  They had plunged headlong into a path of rebellion against God and His Word.  By Noah’s day, most people scoffed at the idea of a judgment.  Yet, God had given Noah specific instructions on how to avoid the coming judgment.  This is a picture of how God is dealing with this generation.  He will give the world plenty of warning and He will faithfully give instruction on how to avoid the coming judgment.  But only a few will take advantage and be saved.  The world will not be ready as a whole for the coming of Christ.  Instead it will be focused on enjoying life rather than escaping judgment.  The things Jesus mentions are not necessarily wrong.  The emphasis is not on the moral nature of the actions.  The emphasis is on the lack of wisdom.  They continue on with life in the midst of judgment being poured out on the earth.  A wise man looks ahead and prepares for the future.  The ancient world perished, not for lack of knowledge, but for lack of faith in God’s warning.  The cares of this world had pulled their hearts away from Him and choked out any faith.  They lived for the kingdom of man rather than the kingdom of God.  The believed only in the kingdom of man and held out no hope for the kingdom of God.

Next we are reminded of Lot.  The people of Sodom and Gomorrah had done the same thing.  Lot had continually warned them against the wicked things they were doing.  They pretty much had told him to shut his mouth.  Yet, on the day that Lot left Sodom, the judgment of God rained down upon them and they were caught off guard.  Again, this happens, not for lack of knowledge.  They just didn’t believe.

This is how it will be when Jesus returns.  God will pull out the righteous and rain down judgment upon a world that would rather serve its own kingdom rather than His.  Jesus refers to it as a day of the son of man being revealed.  His true glory and righteous judgment will be unveiled and made known to the world.  This is the same word that is the title of the book of Revelation.  A world that scoffs at a quaint idea of Jesus will get a rude awakening on that day, only too late. 

Starting in verse 31, Jesus gives several warnings to us as disciples, so that we will not experience the judgment of God.  He warns against attachment to the things of this world.  Our desire to save and hold on to the things of this world will jeopardize our salvation.  He then tells us to remember Lot’s wife.  She had done exactly this.  Even though she had the information on how to be saved, and even though she was in the middle of being physically saved from the judgment, her heart was still connected to Sodom.  Salvation is not about geography or biology, it is a matter of the heart.

Thus the day of Christ’s coming will be a day of separation.  It will separate the righteous from the wicked so that judgment will only fall upon the wicked.  Jesus gives several scenarios in which he reiterates that one person will be taken but another left.  Two people will be in bed, or two women grinding their grain, or two men in the field.  The point in these issues is not the ratio, but rather it is about the separation.  Many who are close in every respect will find that they are left while others are taken.

At this point the disciples as the question, “Where, Lord?”  In all likelihood they are wondering where the ones will be taken to.  However the answer of Jesus is clearly in reference to the judgment of the wicked.  So that poses the question to us, “Are the wicked those who are taken or are they the ones left?”  I believe that the two illustrations of Noah and Lot, which are the context of this statement, give us the answer.  In each case the righteous are taken out of the way so that the judgment coming will be upon the wicked.  It is also clear in Revelation that the judgments of God are poured out on the whole earth.  Thus the wicked would still be on the earth.  Jesus seems to disregard the concern for where the righteous are going to be taken and focuses upon where the judgment will fall.  Like a decaying body laying out in a field will be surrounded by the eagles that seek its flesh, so the wicked all across the world will find themselves unable to escape the circling judgment of God.

Friend, have you made sure that you will escape this judgment?  The only way of escape is to put your trust in Jesus and turn towards him as you leave your sins behind.  Make sure that your salvation is sure today.

Kingdom of God Audio

The Identity of Jesus

As we have studied through the Gospel According to Luke, we have seen that Jesus had been with his disciples for a while and they have seen many amazing things: healings, exorcisms, miraculous supply of bread and meat, and a storm commanded to stop.  All of these beg the question, “Who is this guy?”

In Luke 9:18-27 we have a section where Jesus tests his disciples to see what conclusions they have made about him.  They obviously think he is worth following, but Jesus wants them to answer the question of his identity.

Jesus Wants Us To Know Him

It is easy to think of God as a being that keeps hidden and doesn’t want us to know Him.  He is invisible, which questions if He is really there, and He is seemingly silent.  Of course, the Bible contends that God has often “shown” Himself to man and often “spoken” to man.  However, He doesn’t do so all the time and especially not at the command of a person.  Yet, here we see the actions of Jesus letting us know that God really does want us to know Him.  As Francis Schaeffer has stated, He is here and He is not silent.  Like any good teacher, Jesus has let their experiences and his teachings stew within his students.  Now it is time to stir up the pot with the question we find in verse 18, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”

The word on the street was that Jesus might be John the Baptist come back to life.  Of course for those who were familiar with John’s ministry, this is ludicrous.  John actually baptized Jesus and told his followers that Jesus was the One that he was preparing them for.  He clearly proclaimed Jesus as Messiah to his followers.  Another idea was that Jesus was Elijah.  This guess comes from the book of Malachi where there is a prophecy that states Elijah will come before the Day of the Lord.  The last guess is more of a catch-all.  Jesus may be one of the other prophets come back to life.  All of these are merely speculations of those who are clearly not intimately connected to these circumstances as the disciples were.  Thus they take on the look of a conspiracy theory.  The problem with conspiracy theories is that there is no end to the speculations that can occur.  Even when there is no conspiracy, you can still make up several like a person imaginatively writing a novel.  Who can know the difference?  If a person stands up and says, that is not true because I was there.  The person with the conspiracy theory only needs to accuse them of being part of the conspiracy.  Thus we are left either paralyzed, not knowing what to believe, or grasping at ideas that have nothing to do with the truth.

Jesus next presses the point home.  “But who do you say that I am?”  This is the more important question that Jesus is leading up to.  Peter is the bold one of the group and so he speaks what is most likely the belief of all of them, except perhaps Judas. “You are the Christ of God.”  We will touch on this more in a moment.  But for now let us recognize that those who were closest to Jesus believed that he was the Messiah that they had been waiting for.  They knew the speculations of the crowd fell far short of who Jesus was.

It is interesting that Jesus forbids them to proclaim this publically.  Why wouldn’t Jesus want to be publically proclaimed as Messiah?  Doesn’t he want people to know who he is?  Yes he does.  But he is not running for the office of Messiah.  He is not trying to get elected to a position.  The Messiah or Christ was not chosen by people, but chosen by God.  So the people needed to come to this conclusion on their own, rather than pressured by Jesus or by his disciples.  Also, Jesus knew that if he proclaimed himself Messiah, the religious leaders would quickly arrest him and have him killed.  So this delay gives him more time to minister throughout Israel and let people see for themselves who he was.  Jesus relied more upon the Spirit of God speaking to people’s heart about who he was then him telling them.  This would be more authentic and not manipulated.  We must notice that after his death and resurrection, Jesus commands his disciples to now proclaim publically who he was.  Of course He would be absent having ascended into heaven.  Yet, the Holy Spirit would be working in the hearts of people to help them receive it.  Why some receive the witness of the Holy Spirit and others reject it is a mystery that we may never completely understand.

Who Is He?

So who is Jesus?  Peter declared him to be the Christ (Greek) or Messiah (Hebrew) of God.  These terms literally mean “Anointed One.”  They point to the prophecies in the Bible of a man who would be chosen by God and anointed with power by Him in order to restore righteousness within the government, society, and individuals.  This Anointed One would also put down those in rebellion against the God of heaven.  This wasn’t just within Israel.  God’s Anointed One would bring salvation and Judgment to the Gentiles as well and thus would become King over all the earth.  Now the other gospels record this as well.  However, they also reveal that Peter’s answer was longer than Luke records.

In Matthew 16:16 Peter also says that Jesus is the “Son of the Living God.”  Now there is no conspiracy here.  Maybe Luke’s source only remembered the first part.  These testimonies of what Peter said do not conflict.  One is just longer than the other, or more detailed.  So Peter also saw that Jesus was not just a man.  He saw him as divine.  He is called son because his body was the miraculous creation of the Spirit of God within Mary.  She conceived without ever being with a man.  This is just as impossible as it is for dirt to come together and form Adam.  Both are direct creations of God.  So Jesus as a man is the direct creation of God or the Son of God.  Of course, in His divinity he is not created.  John makes this clear in his Gospel- John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  He goes on to declare that the Word became flesh in the person of Jesus.  So he is more than a man chosen by God and anointed by him.  But even more, he is a man inhabited by the Word, and second person of the Triune God.

Jesus clearly commends Peter for this answer.  He was correct.  However, he was missing a critical component to the identity of Jesus.  Yes, he is all those amazing things.  The type of person that we would all want on our team and yet look at the response of Jesus in Luke 9:22.  Jesus was also the one destined to be rejected.  In the way of the “Suffering Servant” of Isaiah, Jesus was also supposed to be rejected (You may want to read Isaiah 52-53 for further background on this.)  He would suffer many things at the hands of the elders and then he would be put to death.  Like a cornerstone that had been perfectly shaped and sent to the builders, Jesus presented himself to Israel and the leaders rejected him.  “We will not build with this stone,” they say back to God.  Yet, God would vindicate Jesus by raising him up on the 3^rd day.

Will You Follow This Man?

This third part of his identity is important.  Everyone wants to embrace Jesus on the first two points.  But who wants a hero who not only is killed, but asks you to pick up a cross and follow him?  It seems foolish to many.  Jesus knew that if he didn’t bring this up now they would have trouble receiving it later.  So he spends some time walking them through the issues of what it means to believe in him and to follow him as a disciple in verses 23-27.

In verse 23 he points out that to follow him will require denying your own desires.  The cross is an implement of death.  Thus dying would be a critical part of following Jesus.  I don’t have time to flesh this out completely.  Let’s just say, we may not always be put to death physically for following Jesus.  However, at every point that my flesh and this world tempt me to leave Jesus, I must die to that desire to leave him in order to stay with Jesus.  Whom will you choose?  When you madly lust after someone to whom you are not married and it pulls you to commit sexual sin, whom do you choose, Jesus or sin?  When Jesus says, “Forgive,” but your heart says, “No way,” whom will you follow?  When you are told that you need to follow a 21^st century Jesus, i.e. the new and improved Jesus who is not so offensive, whom will you follow, Jesus or Jesus+? 

Jesus then adds in verse 24 the issue of self-preservation.  Sometimes we refuse to die to sin because we lust so strongly for it.  However, other times we refuse to die because we are afraid to die.  Though Jesus doesn’t use the word courage here, I am going to apply it.  It will take courage to follow Jesus.  Self preservation may save your body, but it can get you spiritually killed.  Matthew 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  But, rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”  If I save my body, I have only done so for a few years.  Even if my actions of walking away from Jesus gains me 40, 50, or 60 more years, then I will stand before God and give account for having walked away from Jesus.  Such small amount of years in this body will seem so trivial in light of eternity.  It takes courage to face both physical death and emotionally dying to those sins that seek to pull us away from Jesus.  Jesus knew his disciples would need such courage.  We must give up the goal and direction of our life for Christ.  Notice in verse 24 the words, “for me.”  We are not called to just whimsically give up things or even totally deny ourselves any pleasures.  But, precisely where following Jesus clashes with my desires or society’s desires that is where I need to die.  You cannot hold on to two conflicting desires.  You will either follow Jesus or, like Judas, pretend you are following him, or you will merely walk away from him.

In verse 25 Jesus moves it up another notch.  Before, he dealt with self preservation, which only gains one’s physical life.  But here he posits being able to gain the whole world.  Being on top of the heap financially, musically, religiously, politically, in business, or among your friends, can all be temptations that pull us away from Christ.  All of these things can take your soul to hell if you let them pull you away from the directives of Jesus.  Jesus is not against accomplishments.  In fact there are great people who have chosen to follow Jesus.  But how many sell out Christ because they think it will help them get what they want?  Countless millions.  Whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord because without him our accomplishments are hollow and will not be worth it in the end.  We have to hold accomplishments in this world very lightly.   We have to be ready to let them go in order to follow Christ.  We have to guard our hearts so that they are not riddled with lusts that will keep up from Jesus.

Lastly, it requires refusing to be ashamed of Jesus before this world.  If we refuse to stand with Jesus before men, then He will refuse to stand for us before His Father.  When Jesus is crucified the disciples figuratively throw down their crosses and run.  They are scared.  Peter even denies Jesus to a young servant girl, he is so afraid.  Yet, this verse is not about a onetime thing.  After the resurrection the Spirit of God filled these men and enabled them to give the good witness and stand with Jesus even to the point of physical death.  They stood with Christ in the end and that is what matters. 

Today there are many, in the Church, who are ashamed of Christ and the Words in the Bible.  They may not say so, but they demonstrate it when they try to redefine Jesus and reinterpret the Bible.  They thus build a different Jesus, an idol.  What say you?  Are you going to follow the modern golden calves being created across this world?  Or, will you follow this man who is Chosen by God, Anointed with power to save and Judge, and is rejected by the majority of this world?