Matthew 21:23-27 Origin? Heaven!

Matthew 21:23-27  Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him.  “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked.  “And who gave you this authority?”  Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question.  If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.  John’s baptism—where did it come from?  Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”  They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’  But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”  So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”  Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

Many people in Judea heard of John’s birth to the Pharisee Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth.  They knew instinctively God was in this miraculous event, so they were open to listening to him in the wilderness.  To them John was a special person, anointed by God from birth.  All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things.  Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?”  For the Lord’s hand was with him.  (Luke 1:65-66)  Now in his 30’s John was preaching a very hard message for the people, but still they went out to the wilderness to hear him.  John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’  For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.  The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”  (Luke 3:7-9)  Their willingness to hear such words from John revealed they understood John was a prophet.  His call to repent; addressing them as vipers was tolerated because they knew of his beginning.  His addressing the people as vipers would dry up any ministry outside of God’s divine will.  The people should have ignored John’s ministry as a plague, but instead his ministry was popular, drawing people away from their towns, even Jerusalem, into the wilderness to hear his words.  John’s ministry was not in the temple, under the auspices of a priest, instead he was located in the wilderness away from Jerusalem and the temple, the center of the Jewish religion and the anointed place of God’s dwelling.  The wilderness was not where the people brought their gifts and sacrifices to God.  When Jesus asked the Pharisees where did John get his authority to minister, He knew they dared not answer the question wrongly, for the people believed strongly that John functioned under the direct authority of God.  If the Pharisees contradicted the people’s assessment of John’s ministry, they could cause a rebellion to erupt against their authority over the people.  If the leaders

 said, John received his authority from God, Jesus would ask them why they were not followers of John’s words.  What should we do then?” the crowd asked.  John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”  Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”  “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.  Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”  He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”  (Luke 3:10-14)  Jesus knew the priests were extorting money from the people by using their religious positions of privilege.  They were telling the people it was better to swear on their gifts brought to God than upon the temple itself.  The gifts on the altar belonged to the priests, but for the people to swear by the temple, would not garner the wealth they desired for themselves.  Woe to you, blind guides!  You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.  (Matthew 23:16)  Jesus knew the priests were hypocrites.  They  could not answer Jesus’ question.  They feared they would lose their position of deference with the people, so they said nothing.  Instead of being true shepherds, concerned about the people’s welfare above their own, they were concerned mainly about accruing wealth for themselves.   Jesus expresses his disgust for them by saying, Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.  (Matthew 23:5-7)  They were living fleshly lives to honor and bless themselves, not to bless the eternal souls of the people.  True shepherds protect their flock with their own lives, the flock comes first, not their own needs.

Jesus knew the hearts of the priests; their duplicity, their hypocrisy, so He would not answer their question: By what authority are you doing these things?  He knew they did not really want an answer: they just wanted to trap him, make him say He had no Levite lineage to minister in Israel.  The spiritual hierarchy came from the loins of Aaron.  Jesus was not a Levite, so He had no spiritual kinship to say anything about God, let alone heal people.  Because Joseph, his earthly father, was from the loins of David, it was a king’s heritage, but He was not a spiritual leader from the loins of Aaron and Moses.  Consequently, Jesus had no right to attack the Sadducees and Pharisees or to denigrate the temple environment.  He was not a part of the religious structure of the Jewish religion.  But Jesus had no need to express his right to minister, for He knew they understood that He was doing things that no man from the beginning of time had done.  They understood fully that Jesus was a powerful man with the validation of God on his head.  He was doing acts that totally impressed them and the people, acts beyond the understanding of natural man.  After Jesus healed a blind man by placing mud on his eyes, the blind man was confronted by the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.  They asked him about Jesus, the man who dared to do work on the Sabbath.  Who had given him the authority to work on the Sabbath?  The blind man did not know where Jesus went or who Jesus was.  He thought this man, Jesus, might be a prophet, but he did not care who Jesus really was, for he was blind and now he sees.  This was enough for him; he need not know anything else about this man who brought healing to his eyes.  But the priests and the teachers of the law were not pleased with the man’s answers about Jesus. They wanted the blind man to confess that Jesus must be a sinner; they wanted the people who had seen this miracle to understand that no good man could be working on the Sabbath.  He must be evil.  He must come from the dark world, not from God’s domain.  The man answered, “Now that is remarkable!  You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.  We know that God does not listen to sinners.  He listens to the godly person who does his will.  Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.  If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”  (John 9:30-33)  As with the focus for today, the hypocrites were afraid that their favored position with the people would wane if they admitted that Jesus was getting his power directly from God.  This would mean that Jesus was displacing the priesthood and the teachers of the law.  For them, this could not be; it could not be allowed for their livelihood, their significance, would disappear in the Jewish culture.   Jesus and his ministry was an anathema to the religious elite.

When Paul was attacked by the religious leaders, he defended himself by saying he had studied under the most respected rabbi in the Jewish culture at that time.  I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors.  (Acts 22)  Being thoroughly trained in the law could take up to ten years under a respected authority.  Gamaliel was not just an ordinary rabbi: he was the leader of the Sanhedrin.  He was a rabbi of rabbis.  Consequently, Paul used the name of his teacher as a way to escape death, but this did not help Paul much, for they ignored this fact and still wholeheartedly desired to kill him.  Finally Paul had to appeal to Caesar in Rome to escape death at the hands of the Jewish elite.  Jesus knew that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law did not seek an answer from him to follow him.  They wanted to murder Jesus.  Therefore, they wanted to trap Jesus with an answer that would displease the people.  They desired a statement from Jesus that would cause anger to rise up in the people against him.  In another scene, talking about taxes to Caesar, the hypocrites were using their hatred for Jesus by trying to trap him into saying something that would disturb his followers.  But Jesus knew their hypocrisy.  “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked.  “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this?  And whose inscription?”“Caesar’s,” they replied.  Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”  (Mark 12:15-17)  The hypocrites hatred toward Jesus was unceasing; their hatred towards Paul was unceasing.  The devil hates the truth; he will not accept anything that is different from his desires of evil.  No matter how much light a Christian displays, the devil will confront it with disinformation, confusion, and lies.  When Jesus was before the Sanhedrin, people were brought in to lie about him.  When Paul was defending himself before Festus, people were brought in to lie about him.  The devil hates truth, hates light—he will do everything possible to eliminated the Good News from man’s existence  He disassembles, destroys, confuses the message that Jesus saves.  Sadly, a religious cast system even in today’s environment will distort the truth of the gospel.  As Christians we must always be alert to divisive words, words that destroy the church rather that unite.  Words lacking love, portraying anger and bitterness are the devil’s tools.  Teachers of the law and the Pharisees knew Jesus was love, peace, a healer, a doer of good works; but hatred consumed their hearts.  They wanted to kill him.  Jesus did not answer them, for nothing He said would dissipate the anger they had for him.  They knew the Good News would displace their favored position with the people.  For the Good News that Jesus came to save sinners would replace the priesthood.  Jesus would bring God to people who sought him, not the religious leaders.  They could not stand for the Good News to exist.  They had to destroy Jesus, to put away this man of God. But my friends, they failed, for Jesus exists in us today because of the power of God is in us just as it was at work in the world when Jesus walked the dusty roads to the cross. 

Matthew 21:18-22 Have Faith, Don't Doubt!

Matthew 21:18-22  Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry.  Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves.  Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!”  Immediately the tree withered.  When the disciples saw this, they were amazed.  “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.  Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain,  ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.  If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

In talking about God and his goodness with a little girl that we were babysitting, the question of God and his answering of our prayers came up.  This little girl of strong belief in God, innocently and openly said, if God does not answer my prayers, “I would not believe in him.”  She was very young, but she had a firm belief in God.  She knew her God would answer prayers.  Her simple faith that God would always be there to answer her wishes revealed a strong faith.  Sometimes adults view God and prayer in the same way.  If God is real, he has to answer our prayers, meet our concerns.  Does not Jesus say explicitly, If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.  No ambiguity in that statement for sure.  Consequently, people possessing this understanding of God and his will for us often struggle when disaster hits their lives.  They become confused because should not a good God keep them from life’s struggles.  A good God would not allow wars, tornados, hurricanes, devastating fires, abuse, accidents, and the like to happen to good people.  A loving God would protect people of faith from calamities, especially if the people of faith prayed earnestly to escape the natural vicissitudes of life.  People who were raised with this attitude about God and his protection sometimes find it difficult to still believe in the existence of God when disasters hit their lives.  How can one understand when a tornado swirls through a community, destroying some homes but leaving others unscathed.  Some people are praising God for saving their homes from destruction, but others are mourning their loss of a home.  One testifies of God answering prayer, while others reflect in tears the loss of their dwelling places, their prayers unanswered.  Is God capricious, caring only for some and not others?  Does God not care?  Or do some have stronger prayers of faith than others, causing their houses to be saved?   Does God only answer some little girls who believe in him, and leave other young children’s prayers unanswered?  Where is God in the vicissitudes of life?  

Jesus cursed a fig tree for not providing the fruit He desired.  We do not know if this tree was a mature tree, capable of producing ripe figs or a young tree less than 3 years, unable to produce ripe fruit.  That is not part of the story, but we do know that Jesus was not pleased with the tree.  He causes it to wither from the roots.  The fact that the tree dies so quickly startles the disciples.  They had seen other miracles such as the calming of the wind and the waves, but to see this tree die so quickly impresses them.  As Mark tells the story, In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.  Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look!  The fig tree you cursed has withered!”  “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.  (Mark 11:20-22)  This tree reacts to Jesus’ words immediately, revealing that life comes from the will of God.  Nothing can exist without the blessing of God, and without God’s blessing, death is the result.  This is a major focus of the story of the fig tree.  God determines life and death; therefore, we must have faith in the God of existence.  Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.  Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?  I tell you, no!  But unless you repent, you too will all perish.  Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no!  But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”  (Luke 13:1-5)  God determines existence.  Unless we repent and get right with God, our eternal souls will not experience eternity with God in his household.  Eternal life, of course, comes through Jesus Christ.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes IN HIM shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes IN HIM is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  (John 3:16-17)  The fig tree did not provide Jesus what He wanted, so He cursed the tree and it died.  The disciples’ amazement at this quick transition from life to death caused them to ask the question: How did the fig tree wither so quickly?  Jesus deflects their question to what He wants them to know.  Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.  This life and death question was in their hands.  His power caused this fig tree to wither.  The same power was in them if they had faith in him as Lord and Savior.  In the eternal sense, Jesus was saying, you can move mountains that impede life in people.  You can cause their fruitless lives to die and to experience a fruitful life that satisfies God.  Jesus was not telling the disciples to be landscape artists, choosing locations for mountains.  He is not telling them to specialize in agriculture, making trees produce better figs more quickly.  He uses these human concepts of mountains and trees to explain how to help people find God by releasing them from sin and death.  Calamities happen: people experience wars, accidents, divorces, sicknesses, hurts of all kinds; but God deals with people to deliver them, to save them from eternal death.  God loves people.  Whether He answers their immediate and sometimes desperate prayers or not, He is still the giver of life.  He wants every fig tree (person) to produce abundant fruit.  Jesus desired the disciples to know that their faith in him would bring them power.  Whatever they asked in Jesus’ name under the will of God would be done.  Christians under the authority of God and his will possess power that changes lives.  If we wholeheartedly believe IN JESUS CHRIST and if we abide IN JESUS, we contain the power of God to move mountains, to elevate the valleys, to make the path smooth so that people might find God and enter the promised land.

Some use today’s scriptures as one might use a Monopoly card for getting out of jail free.  All we must do is pray hard and nothing bad will happen to us in this life.  They believe calamities of this world will not happen to Christians of strong faith.  They are like the little girl in some ways, believing God has to come across when they pray.  Sadly, implied in this kind of belief is that if God does not protect them at all times, they will question God in their faith.  However, faith must endure as God’s love endures.  God has never quit on his creation.  Even though man is intractable in his rebellion to God, even though his wickedness is intrinsic in his nature, God has never quit on mankind.  In Jesus’ death, God pays a ransom for the souls of men.  Jesus on the cross is completely in the hands of Pilate, owned by Pilate, the Roman.  Jesus was sold to the world by God.  Now, Pilate after the crucifixion could do whatever he wanted with Jesus’ body.  The ransom for the deliverance of people from sin was completed, Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders.  With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away.  (John 19:38)  God released us from the bondage of sin through Christ on the cross.  He freed us not so we might have lives free from the struggles of life, but to rescue the sick and dying from the hands of the evil one.  At the funeral of Lazarus, Jesus wept about the hopelessness of the human condition: all will die, all will struggle through adverse circumstances of life.  But we do have a hope, not yet realized, eternal life.  Jesus told the disciples, If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.  If you believe what?  That eternal life is on the horizon.  Jesus is not informing the disciples that a mountain should be moved, or that a tree should produce plentiful fruit.  He is not telling them they should be landscape experts or agricultural specialists.  He is talking about life and death.  He is sending them to the people of the world, to preach the Good News.  Most of them will die a martyr’s death.  Paul was beaten, stoned, ostracized, abused, mistreated in every way; but his faith in God never wavered.  We too follow the disciples.  Life is not always fair, justice is not always a part of our lives: the Bible says that in this life there are many trials.  We also feel the sting of ostracism when we talk to the world about our Savior Jesus Christ.  They do not recognize the need to know Jesus as their Savior.  But Jesus said, Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.  (John 14:12-14)  Jesus came to do the will of the Father, that in his name all mankind could be redeemed to God.  Therefore, everything we ask in Jesus’ name should come under the will of the Father to save mankind from eternal death.  Jesus could only reach a few with this message of eternal life; but we, his followers, have reached billions with this message of Good News.  Jesus went back to the Father and sent us the Holy Spirit.  Through the power of the Spirit many have found Jesus Christ as Lord.  In lands and areas of great darkness, places of demonic control, supernatural miracles from God’s hands through the faith of his servants have brought freedom to the captives.  Friends around this breakfast table, perform God’s work with power and authority.  Release the mountains in people’s lives.  Give their shriveled lives, eternal life for the glory of God.   

            

Matthew 21:12-17 Hosanna!

Matthew 21:12-17  Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there.  He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.  “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”  The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.  But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.  “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.  “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?”  And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

In the above focus, Jesus comes into the temple with anger in his spirit.  He overturns the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.  He drives these merchandizers out of the temple, showing God’s anger at its defilement.  Jeremiah prophesied this expression of contempt many years prior to the event.  The people were willing to carry out a religious function, but their hearts were far from God.  They thought their sacrifices made them right with God no matter what was in their hearts.  But Jesus’ rejection of the people making money from the sacrifice of birds and animals revealed that God knew the hypocrisy in their hearts.  The exchanging  of a variety of currency to the acceptable currency of the temple: the Tyrian shekel, was not to serve God better, but it was for making money.  The worshipping of a holy and righteous God was lost in this secular commercial enterprise.  Even the Tyrian shekel with its image of a pagan god on one side was an abomination.  The temple of God was a sacred place, a holy place, not a place for secular activity.  But instead of a place of consecrated activity, the brazen spirit of fleshly man made the Temple a place to make money.  Jeremiah speaks of this cavalier attitude towards God’s temple, telling them that God said,  Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place.  Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!”  If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.  But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.  “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things?  Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you?  But I have been watching!  (Jeremiah 7:3-11)  Jeremiah reveals that God is watching the people desecrate the temple with their hypocrisy, living worldly lives and then sanctimoniously sacrificing animals in the temple.  Their very presence in the temple with unthankful, wayward hearts disrespects the God who made them.  Their willingness to live lives disobedient to God and his likeness corrupts their worship.  Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things?  Their eat, drink, and be merry attitude corrupted the temple.  Lacking sincere hearts, they carried on the ritual of sacrifices.  Jeremiah says God has been watching the lives of the Israelites: their unthankfulness, their waywardness, their unwillingness to remember they were once slaves to a froward master, Pharaoh.  They trust in the temple of God in their midst rather than true repentance.  But this is false security, believing God’s mercy and grace will cover them no matter what they do.  Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!  The Lord’s temple does not ensure security of a soul if the heart is wicked.  One cannot say that I can do anything I want in the flesh, and the Lord will provide mercy and grace to me.  God demands obedience, a willingness to reflect his goodness to the world.  Jeremiah foretold that the Jewish people will be safe in the land of Israel if they dealt justly with each other, treated the foreigner well, took care of the fatherless, cared for the widows, did not murder, and served God only.  Jesus enters the temple, knowing the Israelites are trusting their religious traditions, activities, and inheritance more than their obedience to God.  John the Baptist calls the religious leaders a brood of snakes; Jesus calls them vipers.  Their hearts lack obedience to the everlasting God.  They were content with their religious lifestyle and worship, but Jesus reveals God’s anger with them because of their hypocrisy, their willingness to serve the world’s manna rather than God.

Jesus quickly reveals the true purpose for the temple by healing people there.  The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.  His compassion for the people expresses God’s love for them.  The leaders of the Jews had little compassion for the people; Jesus, the true shepherd, cared for the people.  He was castigated, ridiculed by the Sadducees and the Pharisees for healing on the Sabbath.  Jesus told them that if they really cared for the people as they would care for an ox on the Sabbath, they would rejoice when people are delivered from their infirmities on the Sabbath.  Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”  But they remained silent.  So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.  Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?”  And they had nothing to say.  (Luke 14:3-6)  The Pharisees were not true shepherds, for they lacked sympathy for the blind, lame, and sick.  If they would have been true shepherds, they would have responded positively to Jesus’ question, but they were silent because they had little love for God’s people.  The people were without shepherds.  Therefore the people wander like sheep oppressed for lack of a shepherd.  “My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders; for the Lord Almighty will care  for his flock, the people of Judah, and make them like a proud horse in battle.  (Zechariah 10:2-3)  Jesus loved the people; he wept over Jerusalem.  He told his Father to forgive the Jewish people for crucifying him.  Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”  (Luke 23:34)  Jesus would leave the 99 sheep and seek the one that is lost.  Jesus would heal the outsider, the lost, the blind, the lame, the sick, all of those who are not in the fold.  The children who saw Jesus’ compassion for the lost in their society disturbed the environment of the temple by crying, “Hosanna to the Son of David.”  This shouting of the children disturbed the false shepherds.  Indignantly, they asked Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”  Jesus refers them to Psalms 8:1-4.  Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!  You have set your glory in the heavens.  Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.  When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?  The children recognized the glory of these miraculous healings, as great as the glory of the heavens.  By praising Jesus, they were staving off the devil’s accusations against him.  Jesus, the Creator of all things, cared for people.  Why would He even be mindful of them?  He cared for the children because Jesus reflected God’s love for the world.

Often Christians excuse the waywardness in their lives by extolling God’s grace and mercy, not necessarily wrong because God is merciful and full of grace.  But we must be aware of what the Jewish people were claiming about God’s covering when they exclaimed we have the temple in our midst.  This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!  Therefore, we can do anything we desire.  God’s temple will always cover any wrongdoings that we desire.  Yet should we misuse our temple for our fleshly desires or purposes?  We even exclude some of the word of God when we go astray.  We write our own Bible.  We accept the temple’s regulations when it is convenient, and we avoid the sanctity of the temple when we choose to reject it.  But Jesus came into the Jewish temple and turned over the tables and chased the evildoers out of the temple.  In our own lives, we cannot allow God’s holiness and his righteous claims on our lives to be ignored.  If the fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians 5 is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, then these are the attributes that should be revealed in our temple where the Spirit dwells.  If we choose to have only a few of God’s attributes manifested in us at all times, we have written our own Bible.  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.  (Matthew 5:9)  If we depend on our own secular wisdom rather than God’s wisdom, we have written our own Bible.  The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.   Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.  (James 3:17-18)  If we choose when we want to be reverent or submissive to God’s authority, we write our own Bible.  The Jewish people through their actions in their temple believed they could write their own holy script.  But they were wrong.  Jesus’ actions in the temple reveal how wrong they were.  Jesus, a man of peace, displayed his appropriate anger towards the hypocrisy of people claiming one thing but doing another.  By commercializing the temple’s environment, they were actually displaying their disdain for God’s authority in their lives and in the temple.  We who express Jesus by mouth must hold the authority of God as preeminent in our lives.  If we live without enduring love, love of God, and love of our fellow man, we are living in opposition to God’s intentions for us.  If we display discord, bitterness, anger, and even rage towards others, we are writing our own Bible, and we will not escape with such intentions.  When our carnal wisdom and knowledge displace God’s goodness and love towards others in the world, Jesus will overturn the self-willed tables in our temple.  He does not allow our worldliness for personal gain to replace true servanthood to God and others.  The mighty God who is evident in the galaxies and stars in heaven should be revealed in us.  Hosanna to God is our praise and should be the praise of all who experience God’s love.  Let the Spirit of our holy God be in us at all times.  Of course, we fail often, but repentance should be at our lips so that the galaxies and the stars will be seen through our lives.  Glory to God forever, and ever.  Amen!  

Matthew 21:7-11 Sing Hosanna!

Matthew 21:7-11  They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.  A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”  “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”  “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”  When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”  The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

The whole city of Jerusalem was stirred about this man, Jesus, who was coming to them on a colt.  They had heard rumors about Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth.  The Jews, suffering under the harsh treatment of the Romans, had been waiting for this moment of rescue from their harsh overlords.  Zechariah 9 had been taught many times in their Jerusalem synagogues.  Now, they thought this might be the time of fulfillment of the prophet’s words.   Some of them in Jerusalem were already followers of Jesus, the man of miracles and wonders.  They and others covered Jesus’ way into Jerusalem with their own cloaks to show their respect and allegiance to him.  Many cut branches from trees and spread them on the road to usher in this man of power.  Jesus was anticipated by many as being their deliverer from the hated Romans; therefore, they shouted Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest heaven.  For them on that day, Jesus was the messenger of God sent from the highest heaven.  The word Hosanna has a variety of connotations, but all of them imply “save.”  The people greeted Jesus with joy because in their minds He was bringing salvation to them from their enemies.  But I will encamp at my temple to guard it against marauding forces.  Never again will an oppressor overrun my people, for now I am keeping watch.  Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!  Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!  See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken.  He will proclaim peace to the nations.  His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.  Zechariah (9:8-10)  No longer would the Jews have to learn war to defend themselves.  The chariots of war will be gone, the warhorses will disappear from the land, and the battle bow will be broken. What a joyous day that will be when war leaves the hearts of men.  They were happy and smiling on that day when Jesus, their proclaimed savior, entered Jerusalem.  They believed their long anticipated day of deliverance had finally arrived.  Of course, Zechariah’s prophecy would be fulfilled completely some day, but in that day, Jesus was coming to Jerusalem to release men permanently from the oppression of the evil one.  He was coming to the seat of power of the Israelites’ religion, the temple, to overturn the tables of corruption and selfishness.  He was coming to defeat the hierarchical structure of the priests, for He was from the tribe of Judah, David’s clan, not from the tribe of Levi.  Once again, a man after God’s heart would take control of the land of Israel.  But Zechariah’s prophesy does not end at the borders of Israel: He will proclaim peace to the nations.  His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.  Surely, the people who greeted Jesus that day with hosanna did not fully realize that He came not only for them but also for the Romans and people around the world.  His salvation would extend over all people everywhere.  He, the Prince of Peace, would establish peace in the hearts of mankind, changing the world from a place of violence and corruption to a place of peace and mercy.  Men would possess the wisdom of God in their lands: But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.  Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.  (James 3:17-18)  A harvest of righteousness would be the inheritance of mankind.  But not yet, some day.

This day of greeting Jesus with shouts of Hosanna was a day of acclamation for the Jewish people.  The word, Hosanna, was probably upon many people’s lips.  However, not many days in the future, the words, “crucify him” would be shouted with fervor from many of the same lips.  From the heights of the day we call “Palm Sunday” to the lows of the dark day of crucifixion, we find a span of only a few days.  The whole city was stirred with the emotions of both events.  Of course, seeing their savior bound and punished by the hated Romans brought great disillusionment to the people.  How could their anticipated deliverer seem so weak, effeminate, unlike the warrior they expected.  How could a man supposedly sent by God, who comes in the name of the Lord from the highest heaven, now be the captive of the Romans. To them Jesus was now a betrayer of their highest expectations to become free from the Romans.  Jesus was a humiliation to them, even Pilate toyed with their affections by placing a humiliating statement at the cross: King of the Jews.  This man Jesus was their King, a weak and emaciated man, unable even to come down from the cross.  Compared to the Romans, this King of the Jews had no power, no kingdom, no land, no authority to do anything.  He could not even protect his own self from the Romans; how could He defend the Jewish people from their enemies.  Impossible!  Now the Jerusalem people were stirred with hatred.  They believed Jesus had betrayed them.  He was a charlatan of the worst order: the great pretender was He.  Consequently, an evil man, Barabbas  was released to freedom that day because the Jewish people would rather have this criminal, this revolutionary released than this helpless man, Jesus.  Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.  (Luke 23:19) At least Barabbas fought against the Romans, a man of strength, not like this helpless Jesus.  Releasing Barabbas angered Pilate, for Barabbas was a threat to Rome, so he placed his anger on Jesus’ back by having him flogged with a lead tipped whip.  The Peacemaker was whipped and crucified.  The evil, violence, and disruption personified in Barabbas won the day.  He was free to do his wicked will, but Jesus was bound and crucified with nails in his hands and feet.  Jesus, the Son of God, died, Barabbas, the murderer, lived.  

Peter in his sermon on Pentecost referred to the days after Jesus’ resurrection as the last days.  The Barabbas contingent in life will always be scoffers and persecutors.  They will consider Jesus as dead and absent from their existence.  Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.  They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?  Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.  (2 Peter 3:3-4)  For them, Jesus was never powerful then and will never exert power in the future.  He is dead, Barabbas is alive.  The world will continue as it has always been.  The powerful will rule, forcing their will on the weak and vulnerable.  They, the powerful and strong, are containers of evil, doing their own thing, living for their own purposes.  When Peter talks to Ananias, a member of the Christian community, but a liar, he says, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?”  (Acts 5:3)  Ananias’ heart was filled to the brim by Satan.  He was willing to go against the Holy Spirit, who was present in the Christian church.  From the very beginning, Satan has corrupted and hardened the hearts of humankind, making people unwilling to follow God and his righteousness.  In the time before Noah, the people were totally corrupt and violent.  God repented of making such people, who in their freedom chose rebellion and evil.  Barabbas was a man of evil, a man of rebellion.  The Jews chose him over the man of peace.  They wanted a violent man who would defend their rights, win back their freedom through force.  The world still wants that kind of man.  We choose force rather than servanthood.  We choose “our rights” over the rights of other people.  We have little patience with leaders who do not defend us with violence and ferocity.  As the scoffers, we know everything is the same as it was from the beginning.  Even for some wayward Christians, Palm Sunday never happened.  The man of peace never fully arrived in our lives.  We choose Barabbas to defend us, not Christ.  We claim the Christ of peace, but when things get really tough, we demand our rights, our pound of flesh.  That is who we are in the flesh, and the flesh is still too strong in our lives.  We have not been crucified with Christ as Paul describes our Christian lives.  (See Galatians 2:20)  That is who Peter was when he denied Christ in front of the world—in the flesh.  Jesus knows our hearts: He knew Peter’s heart when Peter proclaimed loudly that he would always be there for Jesus.  But after the resurrection, the women at the tomb are told, Go tell Peter, the denier, to meet me in Galilee.  Jesus knows our hearts.  He knows the depths of our love, the quality of our allegiance to him.  But his love is greater than all of our intestinal fortitude or desires.  The angel tells us that Jesus will meet us on the other side of the resurrection.  He paid the supreme price for all of us.  There are no special people around this breakfast table, no super righteous at this meeting place.  Yes, we are willing to greet Jesus on Palm Sunday with happiness, but are we willing to follow Jesus who sometimes seems powerless in our lives?  When we struggle and life has gone sideways on us, are we willing to visit Jesus daily to hear his voice or have we become disgruntled, removing ourselves from his presence?  Nevertheless, the presence of God is always near us, even at our mouths, if we are willing to express praises to him: Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest heaven!  Our Savior is here today with us!  Sing his praise.  Amen!  

Matthew 21:1-5 Riding on a Colt!

Matthew 21:1-5  As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her.  Untie them and bring them to me.  If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”  This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

The Prince of Peace is coming, prepare the way for him.  Riding on a colt: this is not how a prince or king will come to a place where he desires to show his authority.  No, he would not be riding on someone else’s colt, indebted to others for his transportation.  But the Prince of Peace who spoke the world into existence rode to Jerusalem on a colt that was not his own.  He was beholden to the benevolence of others.  Jesus came in humility and turned the whole world upside down.  He was the chief of counter culture.  He owned nothing.  “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”  Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”  (Matthew 8:19-20)  He had no place under his sole possession where He could lay his head.  He moved from city to city, relying on others for a place of rest or for food to eat.  In Jerusalem He stayed in an olive grove with his men at night.  The Pharisees criticized his disciples for eating grain from a field with unwashed hands.  This grain could have been used by the Israelites to help the poor and the indigent.  “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.  Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you.  I am the Lord your God.”  (Leviticus 23:22)  The disciples probably took advantage of this law of God; otherwise, they would have been stealing someone else’s grain.  Jesus lived dependent on the goodwill of others and on the laws of benevolence in his society.  He did not have two cars in the driveway or a house with room to spare, accommodating hallways, a large entryway, and rooms not occupied every day.  No, Jesus the King of the universe lived counter to the expectations of the culture.  In today’s focus, Jesus sends his disciples to commandeer a donkey and its colt.  Not by force, but by asking in the name of “the Lord.”  Who is “the Lord,” the owner might have asked?  But he doesn’t, for he either knows Jesus or he knows the term “the Lord” means someone of importance.  By riding on the colt, Jesus symbolizes a person of a different quality, not like the world’s princes or kings.  Such people of authority would come riding on a powerful steed, symbolizing power and authority.  But Jesus is not a king as the world perceives a king.  As He tells Pilate: My kingdom is not of this world.  If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders.  But now my kingdom is from another place.  (John 18:36)  The kings and princes of the world rule by power, subjecting others to their wills.  But Jesus by riding humbly on a colt reveals that He is something other than these kind of rulers.  He is the King of Peace, coming to unite people to God the Father.  Jesus who owns nothing of importance, only his gown and clothing, willing gives his life, his blood for the people who cry, “Crucify him!”  He fulfills the requirement of his Father to love his enemies.  He displays God’s love for all people in the world, both Jews and Gentiles, one with knowledge of the law and the other ignorant of God’s righteousness.  For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations.  His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.  He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.  For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.  (Ephesians 2:14-18)  He came to preach peace, bringing us not only to the Father God, but also to each other.  He came to unite, not tear down.  Man’s propensity is to tear down, to separate based on human values—they are a law to themselves.

Jesus came to Jerusalem where the Temple of God is located, in a manner opposite of the fierceness of authority.  He came riding on a colt, representing his nature of peace and goodness.  He came with a gentle spirit.  A gentle, humble spirit is seldom manifested in the rulers of this world.  Rather than gentleness and humbleness, boldness and brazenness are front and centered throughout their reign.  People because of their own fierceness want a ruler who tells them to beat up others or go to war, for he then speaks their nature of godlessness.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.  (Galatians 5:22-26)  Jesus came to Jerusalem not to judge the people, but He came there to reconcile them to God by giving his life for them.  He came to give them a right relationship to God and to others.  In the nature of Jesus, there is no need for laws, for everyone who is found IN JESUS will treat his neighbors and others as they want to be treated.  The Spirit of God’s nature manifests the love of God for people.  The prophet Isaiah speaks of this future King of Peace and his eternal righteous reign.  For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.  He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.  The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.  (Isaiah 9:6-7)  Jesus will establish a reign that will be full of justice and righteousness.  No law will be needed, for the law of the God of peace and harmony will be written on our hearts.  God will perfect us by making us into his likeness, one new humanity, with the old Adamic nature gone.  Jesus came to Jerusalem in a robe of kindness and love.  He died on a cross, asking God to forgive humanity for their anger against him.  Forgive them for they do not know what they are doing, for their nature of sin and rebellion is as familiar to them as the skin on their bodies.  They know of no other way to live in this world of the flesh.  They cannot and will not submit to the God of righteousness and goodness.  God still loves his creation: Adam.  He loved him so much that He did not destroy him for his disobedience.  He removed him from the Garden.  God’s love for Adam, for humanity, is beautifully carried out as Jesus humbly rides into Jerusalem.  He is riding to the cross.  He will die for those that the Bible says are enemies to God’s righteousness.  The Bible states, no one is good, not even one.  But Jesus came, riding on a colt, to redeem man, to create new creatures, born of man, but made new IN CHRIST JESUS. 

As we see in Micah, God asks us to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  (6:8)  Jesus fulfills every requirement to walk rightly in God’s eyes.  We sometimes do what is right and good, but other times we fail miserably to give mercy and goodness to other people, especially if we perceive them as enemies.  Any construct in our lives that is not based on God’s goodness and on his love for all people is problematic.  To satisfy God’s demands on our lives, we must be perfect, perfect all of the time.  Jesus is the one who is Perfect.  He is grace, He is mercy, He is love.  God’s demands on our lives are many.  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.  (Matthew 25:34-36)  These are activities that most of us are not very good at.  Yes, we might give a few dollars to the poor or indigent at certain times of the year.  Or, we might think of the disabled or the displaced occasionally.  But, Jesus is talking about this kind of life being a constant part of our nature.  We are to serve others humbly, going to Jerusalem on a colt to give our lives to God.  We sing in some churches: “I Surrender All.”   “All to Jesus I surrender.  All to Him I freely give.  I will ever love and trust Him.  In His presence daily live.  I surrender all, I surrender all.  All to Thee My blessed Savior.  I surrender all.”   But we know this is not true.  We are not going to surrender all.  Our storehouse of reserves is mainly for us and not others.  In other words, our lives are tainted with self.  Jesus’ life was not tainted with self.  He truly surrendered all.  He gave everything to his Father God, even his life.  When Jesus talked to the rich young man who desired to follow God, He asked for his wealth too.  The rich young man could not go that far.  The disciples who had given all to follow Jesus, understood the impossibility of following God in complete righteousness.  They questioned Jesus about who then could enter the kingdom of heaven if it is so hard to do.  Jesus replied, With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.  (Mark 27:10)  We should do good works; we should constantly think of doing good things for others.  But only Jesus fulfills the requirement of being good all the time to all people.  Therefore, it is only through God’s work of grace that we find acceptance with him.  His grace alone has set us free from sin and death.  All of this comes from Christ through the cross of redemption.  Dear friends, the best we can do is ride to Jerusalem humbly, following our Master, giving our lives for others.  

Matthew 20:29-34 Have Mercy On Us!

Matthew 20:29-34  As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him.  Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”  The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”  Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.  “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.”  Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes.  Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

When told to be quiet, they shouted all the louder.  This scene of the two blind men being healed is a good illustration of faith.  They repeated their cry for Jesus to have mercy on them many times.  Their persistent call for Jesus’ attention irritated the crowd; the crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet.  The crowd had little sympathy for them, maybe because many blind men or beggars sat along roads or in the midst of their town squares, asking for money and care.  If they would have cared for these blind men, they would have encouraged Jesus to stop and give these two blind men a few comforting words or maybe a few coins.  But because their hearts had become hardened to people who needed the welfare of others, they threw harsh words at them, told them to quiet down, not to disturb such an important man, for He might even be a prophet, a man from God.  They understood Jesus was an unusual person, perhaps a reincarnation of one of the prophets or even John the Baptist: On the way he asked them, (the disciples) “Who do people say I am?”  They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”  (Mark 8:27-28)  The people might have changed their daily routine to see Jesus, but the clamor from these two blind men disturbed the whole scene.  Their cries, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” were too much for the crowd to tolerate.  However, faith sometimes requires crying out incessantly.  Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.  He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought.  And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’  “For some time he refused.  But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”  (Luke 18:1-5)  In ending his teaching, Jesus asked a rhetorical question: However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”  What kind of faith?  Is it the blind men’s faith?  For sure, they believed Jesus could help them.  They wanted him to interact in their lives by healing them.  “Have mercy on us!” was their cry.  Do we actually have that kind of faith or have we removed the Jesus of power and authority from our lives?  Is Jesus more than just a hope of our imagination, a far away desire of something different in our lives.  The two men could not go to Jesus, for they were blind.  What they wanted from Jesus was for him to come to them and display his power by healing them.  Do we want Jesus to come to us and be involved in our lives as He desires?  Will this kind of faith of desiring Jesus more than anything be found in our lives, especially at the end of time?  

Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.  Jesus asked them, how do you want me to display my mercy on you?  Of course, He understood what they wanted, but he wanted them to say clearly what they expected.  “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.”  They were not asking for comfort, a few words to help them endure their plight; they were asking for sight.  They stated their concern before Jesus with a belief that Jesus could heal them.  In their blindness they had faith.  They had faith in the stories they had heard about Jesus, for they were not his followers up to this time.  Later, they did follow Jesus.  Immediately they received their sight and followed him.  They understood that Jesus was the miracle worker, the salvation of those who were hopelessly bound to the circumstances and vicissitudes of this life.  Jesus did not come for the well, but for the sick, for those who have experienced the heartbreaks of this world.  He came primarily for the helpless, the hopeless, the men and women on the side of the road.  Then why are not all men and women who are in need healed when they cry out for help?  Why do some of us go to our graves with the infirmities of this world draped upon our physical bodies?  Are we not people of faith?  Should not all of our hospitals be emptied out by people of faith?  Why sickness?  Why death?  In Jesus’ parable about the persistent widow and in his experience with the two blind men, the landscape of a different reality is revealed.  Faith is important to change the reality of life, but faith does not just resurrect the flesh from the grave or give blind men sight or women justice.  Faith as an enduring quality changes the landscape of this world to the reality of another world, changes the condition of men and women permanently from an earthly existence to a heavenly one.  Faith brings new creatures into existence, without fault, holy before God.  As the widow who received justice, we should be persistent in crying out for the needs of life.  As with the two men who received their sight, we should be praying for healing of our infirmities and sicknesses.  But in the land of Israel during Jesus’ time and during the times of the mighty prophets there were many sick and disabled.  In the disciples' time, there were many sick.  Peter, and the apostles healed many.  In Acts 5 all that came near Peter were touched, even his shadow brought healing to people.  These healings were light switches, revealing that the Holy Spirit was in the midst of humans.  Jesus confirmed He was the Messiah through his miracles.  The light of God’s reality and his intimacy was affirmed through miraculous events and healings and in the case of Sapphira and Ananias, their deaths.  The people were in awe of God’s power in their communities—many turned their lives over to the God of Existence.  Salvation spread throughout the world through the power of the Holy Spirit.  After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.  Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.  (Mark 16:19-20)  Miracles and healing exist today, especially in the dark places of the world where the word is not known to many.  These are light switches that turn on God’s light to a dark and despairing world.

We should have faith and confidence that God is in our actions every day, that He will work out his purposes in our lives.  Enduring faith will not be set back by the troubles and handicaps of this world.  For we know as Christians that anything we experience in this world is temporary, lasts only as long as we are in the flesh.  So positive experiences or not, our condition in life should be given to God.  Paul speaks of this enduring faith, I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.  (Romans 8:18-21)  Even creation has been brought into bondage of decay, living and dying as humans live and die.  But all of this is within the will of God, for his plan is for a more glorious existence for us than this fleshly world provides.  He will liberate creation from decay and bring freedom to his children.  Paul says knowing his own struggles in the flesh, I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  Whatever we are experiencing in our lives is insignificant compared with the glory that we will know when we are with God in eternity.  God has designed us as new creatures able to receive the glory that God himself basked in.  Paul says, in his glimpse into this mystery of a new creation, We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.  No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.  None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.  (1 Corinthians 2:6-10)  Paul’s words blow our minds, for he says we humans lack understanding of the glory that is set before us in eternity.  This mystery of God, planned before the beginning of time, exceeds our words, our sight, our hearing, our thinking.  We cannot even express what God has planned for his redeemed.  We stand speechless when trying to describe eternity, God’s glory.  We attempt to describe an afterlife with God with concepts and images we know: houses, lands, authority, time, and so on.  But God is the Magnificent Word that spoke everything into being.  The two blind men were crying out for the Lord’s intervention in their lives of flesh.  Jesus heeds their request: He has compassion on them and touches their eyes.  He performs a miracle, turns on a light switch.  Something unbelievable, something that could not happen, happens.  But He is the miracle worker, He honors people’s faith, they believe God is in control.  We who live in the land of the flesh, must honor God with faith.  We must not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:6-7)  With thanksgiving, knowing we are in God’s hands, we should submit our lives to him daily, knowing He answers persistent faith in his way.  Let us rejoice that He is with us in everything we do or endure.  He knows our needs even before we express them.  God is the lover of our souls.  He is proud of us who live by faith.  Because of his love for us, we have a future existence that is beyond our imaginations.  Walk by faith breakfast companions.