Jesus a King Above this World

Jesus a King of a Kingdom Above this World

As daylight was breaking, the Jews brought Jesus to Pilate in their determination to kill Him. Pilate was not a Jew but a Roman who had been appointed governor over the land. The governor went out to those assembled and asked why they had brought Jesus to him. One of the charges was that Jesus Himself had said that He was the Messiah and a king.

When Pilate learned this, he asked Jesus if He was the king of the Jews. In answering this question, Jesus clearly implied that His authority was so great that even Pilate was subject to God (John 19:11). His defense before Pilate reveals so much about the nature of the kingdom. “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). It is vital that we understand His kingdom and its relationship to the world.Jesus is King

His kingdom is NOT of this world. The concept of a kingdom in the mind of Herod, the Jews and many in Christendom is impacted because earthly kingdoms have a king who has great authority and sits on a throne. Yet, the words of Jesus indicate another kind of kingdom. Some even view that a time will come when He will sit on a throne in Jerusalem ruling the world. Hear the words of Jesus. I am a King. I have a kingdom. The kingdom that I have is not like the kingdoms of this world.

His kingdom is IN this world. There were eighty-four messengers who affirmed that the kingdom was to be established in the first century—John the Baptist (Matt. 3:2); Jesus (Matt. 4:17); the apostles (Matt. 10:7); and the Seventy (Luke 10:9). Those in sin were delivered from sin and brought into that kingdom (Col. 1:13). It was a reality. It was visible. However, it was spiritual in nature and not of this world. Jesus used these words to describe those in the kingdom. They are in the world, but not of the world (John 17:11-16)

His kingdom is ABOVE this world. The primary difference between these two concepts of kingdoms is that the kingdom of Jesus is above all kingdoms. It is repeatedly described as the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is that King of kings. He is above all kings. The kingdom is kingdom above all kingdoms.

His kingdom is FOR this world. Why is the kingdom in the world? It is because it is the salt of this earth and the light of this world (Matt. 5:13-14). It is not here simply to be a gathering of worshipers each week. It is like the church in Thessalonica whose impact was such that “…the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place” (1 Thess. 1:8). We are here for this world and to give it the hope of heaven.

Entrance into that kingdom involves a new birth, being born again as His Spirit leads us to a baptism in water (John 3:5).  Let us know how we can help you!

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Raising Your Ebenezer

Raising Your Ebenezer

What or who comes to your mind when you hear the word “Ebenezer”? In all likelihood it is the miser created by Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol—Ebenezer Scrooge. Now a second question is, how long has it been since you talked about Ebenezer? You may not be aware of this, but this past Sunday you sang this very word! It was in the second verse of “O Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” which we sang together and said, “Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by Thou help I’ve come.” You told God that you had raised your Ebenezer. What on earth did you raise? What is an Ebenezer?

Before answering that question, let’s take a moment to consider what singing it is all about. If I do not understand the meaning of the words I am singing, I am “singing in an unknown tongue.” Paul said that he would not sing in a language which he did not understand. “I will sing with the spirit and the understanding” (1 Cor. 14:15). Yet, we often do. What is that Ebon Pinion that brooded o’er the vale? What is a vale? We sing about the Rose of Sharon—who or what is Sharon? What do we mean when we sing about “my pillow a stone” in “Nearer, My God, to Thee”We really need to pay greater attention to the words as we sing.  

What is my Ebenezer? The word certainly predates Dickens’ Ebenezer, which was published in 1843. It is a Hebrew word which literally means “stone of help” and was a geographical location in Palestine. That place was where the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant and killed the two sons of Eli. The magnitude of the loss of this holy vessel is highlighted as we read that when Eli heard of this loss he fell over backwards, broke his neck and died.

Twenty years later, Samuel called all Israel to an assembly at that location in Israel. The Philistine army (who had returned the Ark to the Jews) assembled to attack the Jews. When the Jews repented and turned to God, Samuel took a stone and set it up as a memorial of their repentance and deliverance from their enemy. He called that stone “Ebenezer” and said, “Thus far the Lord has helped us” (1 Sam. 7:12).

The significance of the words “thus far” must not be overlooked. They look backwards to see the past where God helped the Jews, and by implication show the confident assurance that He would help them regardless of what adversity they faced. The Jews saw providence in that stone.

Thus, when we sing about our Ebenezer, we call upon the Fount of Every Blessing and verbalize what Samuel verbalized—my God has helped and will help me!  It is an affirmation of praise to our Helper and our faith in Him. Never forget to raise your Ebenezer!

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God the Foundation of Government

Why God Should Be the Foundation of Government

The first line of the original draft of the Declaration of Independence was, “We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness.” When Jefferson asked Benjamin Franklin to edit the document, he crossed out “sacred and undeniable” and replaced it with “self-evident.” Why? Franklin preferred that the truths under consideration come from man’s reason than the Creator’s revelation.

Truth that rests on God’s revelation means the unchanging word of God serves as the underlying basis for government. Truth that rests on man’s reason results in fickle public opinion making the law. The difference is between a government that fundamentally stays the same and one that changes with popular opinion. Today, the nation no longer looks to God for its foundational truths, but human wisdom. Many do not want to be governed by the founding documents. They want to make law without submitting to a constitution. This is just tyranny, totalitarianism disguised as “democracy.” It entails the notion that “might makes right.” It means the slavery of the citizenship to an all-powerful human government.

By contrast, divine truth preserves freedom and limits government. Only when a society recognizes the existence of God is freedom elevated above tyranny. God gave the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel instead of an earthly king to preserve freedom, not to limit it. Once Israel said, “Give us a king,” they orchestrated their own demise. The result was a downward spiral into war, poverty, exploitation of the weak, and eventually slavery. It is truth and only truth that makes us free (John 8:32).

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Three Days and Three Nights

Three Days and Three Nights

In Matthew 12:40, we read, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”    There is some confusion within the brotherhood on what day of the week Jesus died on the cross.  We all know that Saturday was the Jewish 7th day of the week and Jesus rose on the first day of the week.  Jesus died before the Roman soldiers could break His legs on the evening before the Sabbath day.  So how do we get three days and three nights between the day Jesus died and the first day of the week?  The Purpose of this study is to examine the history of the Passover and the associated feast and use that help establish the precise day that our Savior died on the cross.

Perhaps one of the most key verses of scripture to help pinpoint this day is found in Mathew 27:62 which reads, “The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate”  This was the day after Jesus died and the text clearly says it was “after the day of preparation.”  This would mean that Jesus died on the day of preparation.  See also Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, and John 19:31.  The day of preparation was the day the Jews prepared the Passover lamb followed by the eating of the Passover lamb that same evening.

The Relevant scriptures on the Passover in the Old Testament are found in Exodus 12:1-28; 43-51, Leviticus 23:4-8, Numbers 9:1-14, and Deuteronomy 16:1-8.

The time of the Passover lamb sacrifice was twilight on the 14th day of the first month which was Nisan, Leviticus 23:5,  “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD’s Passover.”  The first day of Nisan coincides roughly with the first of April.  This is the day of preparation where the Passover lamb is killed, prepared and eaten.   Exodus 12:6  “and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.”  Then the blood was put on the doorposts and lintel of the houses, Exodus 12:7  “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.”  They then prepared and ate the Passover lamb that night, Exodus 12:8,  “They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.”  They were to break no bones during the preparation, (Exodus 12:46), which is a foreshadowing of Jesus who also had no bones broken.

Jesus is our Passover today, 1Corinthians 5:7, “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”  Of significance is the fact that as our Passover today, Jesus’ death coincided with the sacrifice of the Passover lamb.  Jesus died on the same day the Passover lamb was killed, (Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, and John 19:31 & 42).

The day following the sacrifice and eating of the Passover lamb, the Jews then observed the feast of unleavened bread which lasted for 7 days.  The first and seventh days of the feast of unleavened bread were Sabbath days where no ordinary work was to be performed.  In Num 28:16-18 we read  “On the fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD’s Passover, and on the fifteenth day of this month is a feast. Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work.”  And in Leviticus 23:5-8, “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD’s Passover.  And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. But you shall present a food offering to the LORD for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.

The day immediately following the day of preparation was called a sabbath day, even though it did not fall on the 7th day of the week.  Mark 15:42-43  “And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Then in John 19:31 we read, “Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.”   This was no ordinary Sabbath day.  “That Sabbath” was the first day of the feast of unleavened bread.

Jesus Christ was crucified the day before the sabbath (Mark 15:42). The Jews always honored the first day of the feast of unleavened bread as a special “high” sabbath, no matter what day of the week it fell upon (Exodus 12:6; Leviticus 23:7; Numbers 28:16-18). John’s gospel says Jesus was crucified on the “the preparation of the Passover” (John 19:14), and that the following Sabbath day was “an high day” (John 19:31). These Scriptures plainly show that the ordinary sabbath was not meant. Christ was crucified on the day before the “high day,” or first day of the feast of unleavened bread.

Scripture is clear that Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:9, Luke 24:1-6)  Scripture is also clear that Jesus spent 3 days and 3 nights in the tomb.  Matthew 12:40, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Most scholars believe Jesus was crucified and buried on Friday and spent Saturday in the tomb and rose on Sunday.  That is not three days and three nights.  Since the Sabbath following the day of preparation was different than an ordinary Saturday, we can count backwards from Sunday morning.  If Jesus had been crucified on Thursday, He would have spent Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday night in the tomb, which is three nights.

Scripture places Jesus’ death at the ninth hour of the day in Matthew 27:46-50, Mark 15:34-37, Luke 23:44-46.  The Jewish ninth hour is about 3:00 PM on our clocks.   If Jesus died at 3:00 PM-ish on Thursday, he would have been “in the heart of the earth”  The rest of the day on Thursday, all day Friday and Saturday.  A Thursday crucifixion works out to three days and three nights and does not contradict scripture.  Moreover, it works out perfectly with the day of Preparation for the Passover lamb and the first day of the feast of unleavened bread which is a sabbath day.

It is this Bible Student’s conviction that Jesus Christ was crucified and died on Thursday, which would be the 4th day of the Jewish week, spent 3 days and 3 nights in the tomb and was resurrected on the first day of the week.

I would like to thank James Burton Coffman for His scholarship and brother Seth Turbeyfill for his research notes, assistance and his insatiable hunger for the truth on this subject which inspired me to study it in depth.

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God’s Community of Love

God’s Community of Love

I love the Church because It is God’s community of love. God created people to live in love and fellowship with one another. This was His original plan in the garden of Eden. He said about Adam, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18). Marriage was the immediate application of this pronouncement, but the church was the ultimate goal and purpose that God had in mind (Ephesians 3:11, 5:32). God wanted a community of love to exist in which He Himself would participate. He created that initially, but Satan spoiled it when man sinned. The story of the Bible is God’s work in rebuilding that community through His sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. In Christ, God has finished the work that He began and created the new Eden. The church is the fellowship of humanity and God in one body, Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:16-22).

The community of love is exclusive. God does not extend fellowship beyond His body, the church. This is where He dwells with His people today. That is the point of Ephesians 2:21-22. “In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” God lives in and with His people, the church, the body for which Christ died and shed His blood, and He will not dwell in any other. Jesus Christ is His habitation (John 1:14) and His bride is the body of Christ (Ephesians 5:23). This makes the church God’s unique and only dwelling place. It is God’s community of love.

As a human, I have a need to love and be loved. My need extends to God and other people. Given that the church is the unique community of love in which God dwells, I need to love and participate in the church. Moreover, I need to love God and have a relationship with Him by Jesus Christ. The church is where God fulfills these needs that He created. When I choose to love God and His people, my need to love and be loved is satisfied and God’s purposes are fulfilled in me, and God achieves atonement. There is no other place where this unique mix of love, community, fellowship, and unity with God and His people exist.

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