WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE JESUS’ DISCIPLE?

The short answer to the above question is, “It takes all of you!” This is probably the reason why our Lord Jesus often times cooled off the enthusiasm of potential candidates for discipleship by urging them to consider its costs (Matthew 19:16-22, Luke 9:57-62).”  If one truly desires to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, it is imperative that s/he first heeds the words of our Lord and counts the cost of discipleship. A church that does not teach the principles of discipleship is doomed to lose her spiritual influence in society and to become a spiritual nursery filled with immature Christians

What is the meaning of  the word “disciple”? Disciple refers generally to any “student,” “pupil,” “apprentice,” or “adherent,” as opposed to a “teacher” Jesus Christ took time and clearly explained to His disciples what it takes to become one of His disciples. To be a disciple of our Lord demands that Jesus becomes the most important thing in our life. Discipleship centers upon the issue of dependence and submission.

After analyzing what the New Testament teaches about discipleship, we must conclude that the Lord Jesus clearly defined the following requirements of becoming His disciple:

1. The disciple of Jesus Christ must be a new spiritual creature and a citizen of God’s Kingdom. The first condition of discipleship is that one has already become the recipient of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. There is no discipleship without salvation. Jesus metaphorically explained this: “No one sews a patch of un-shrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved” (Matthew 9:16-17). Without the miracle of the new birth, no one can completely devote him/herself to Christ.

2. The disciple of Jesus Christ must daily crucify his/her own self. Informing His disciples about the events leading Him to the cross, Jesus emphatically told them that every true disciple must also bear a cross. “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). Taking up our cross daily describes our willingness to lay aside all self-seeking and ego-centric ambitions: It means that our utmost desire and ambition is not to satisfy ourselves, but to please our Savior and Lord.  It means that Jesus, not ourselves or anyone else in this universe, is the object of our supreme worship and affection. Pleasing Him is the driving motivation of our lives, of our activities, and of our choices. Jesus didn’t mince words: “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27).

3. The disciple of Jesus Christ must pursue the teachings of the Kingdom of God as taught by Christ. By definition, a disciple is a student and a follower of his master. A disciple of Christ must strive to learn, understand, and apply the principles of the Kingdom. We can only live according to what we know: the more we know Christ’s teaching and character, the more we can emulate His lifestyle and character. Philippians 2:5 exhorts us to “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” A disciple is called to embrace the mind, the attitudes, the purposes, and the destiny of his/her Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.

4. The disciple of Jesus Christ must place Jesus above those dearest to him/her. The fourth requirement Jesus underscored is that our love for Him must have priority over any other human being: “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters… he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). This verse doesn’t mean that we, as disciples of Christ, cannot love God and our family at the same time. The Bible clearly teaches our obligations to our husbands, wives and children (see Ephesians 5:22-25; 1 Timothy 4:8). What Jesus means is that our love for Him must have primacy over any other affection and our bond to Him more inseparable than to anything else.
Exegetically, these words don’t have the same punch in our American society as they delivered back then and still do in certain countries nowadays. For instance, in Muslim or Hindus communities the new converts are confronted with the ultimatum to choose between Jesus and family, and many Christians have been totally disowned and disinherited because of their faith in Christ, the Savior, and many have paid the ultimate price when they proclaimed their allegiance to the Lord Jesus.
Our relationship to Christ must have priority not only over family members; our union with Him must take priority over all forms of human relationship. Being a true disciple of Jesus Christ will often times lead to enmity with the surrounding world. Jesus did not hide this reality: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus clearly warned His followers of the dangerous outcomes of their decision: “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become as his teacher, and the slave as his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!” (Matthew 10:24-25). Against this background, Jesus warns of the possibility that some disciples would be asked to pay with their own lives: “Anyone who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:38-39).
What our Lord means is that our love for Him must have precedence over any other. Our attachment to Him must be greater than any other. While husbands are to love their wives (Ephesians 5:25), they are to love the Savior more. No human relationship should be more intimate, no human bond more inseparable than that between the disciple and his Master.
The disciple of Christ may not desire persecution, but he can depend on it.


5. The disciple of Jesus Christ must place his/her devotion to Christ above material possessions. After Jesus taught about the true riches, He declared, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Rich and affluent people of the world clearly have a problem with this condition of discipleship, but so do most of us that are the citizens of the most affluent nation in the world, The United States of America, especially when Jesus adds, “So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions”(Luke 14:33).
This simply means Christ’s disciples must love God more than they love money and what it can buy. However, this doesn’t mean that the Bible teaches that one can become a Christian only after disposing of all his or her material possessions; most likely it refers to the attitude towards material possessions: “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:24, NKJV, italics mine). Paul explains: “The love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang” (1 Timothy 6:10). He continued to instruct those who were rich in material things to be rich in good works, and not to trust in the uncertainty of riches (1 Timothy 6:17-19). In the life of a disciple of Christ nothing must compete with his/her devotion to and dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

6. A disciple of Jesus Christ must be fruitful and multiply him/herself. Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:24-25). Like our Master, who died and through His resurrection reproduced His life in us, we also must reproduce ourselves in others and produce disciples of Christ. This is the heart of the Great Commission: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Only a disciple who died to himself and to this world is capacitated to reproduce himself in others!
What does it take to be a disciple of Lord Jesus Christ? A “disciple of Christ” is someone who has been called first to intimately know Christ and His salvation, then to daily pick up his cross and follow Him by placing his devotion to Christ above any other human, above any material possession, and any other philosophy. Following his Master, the disciple is becoming more and more like Him, emulating Christ’s thinking, feeling, and living. In obedience, Christ’s disciple embraces the goal to disciple others, from every nation, understanding that the Great Commission is Christ’s commandment, not suggestion!

7. The disciple of the Lord Jesus must value following Jesus Christ above life itself. The basic instinct to preserve life is inherent in all of creation. Discipleship demands a devotion to the Lord Jesus that surpasses the instinct to preserve our own life. The history of the church sufficiently proves that this requirement has resulted in the death of countless Christians through the centuries. Once again, we Americans can scarcely comprehend the demands of discipleship as faced by many of our persecuted and oppressed brethren. Perhaps even in our own lifetime conditions in our nation may become such that we will come to appreciate the significance of this requirement of devotion to Christ above life itself.

8. The disciple of Jesus Christ must daily die to self-interest. Even as our Lord spoke of His destiny leading Him to a cross, so also every true disciple must also bear a cross. “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27). Our cross must not be confused with the cross of our Lord. His was a cross borne once for all, while ours must be taken up daily. “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).
His cross was the instrument which put to death the sinless Son of God. Taking up our cross involves the daily putting to death of the selfish desires and ambitions of the old self, our lower nature (cf. Romans 6:1-14; 1 Corinthians 15:31; 2 Corinthians 4:7-12;Colossians 2:20; 3:11). There is a “Christian” song which is nicely done, but its theology makes me cringe. The words go something like this (be grateful I don’t attempt to sing it):
Must Jesus bear the cross alone And all the world go free? No, there’s a cross for everyone
And there’s a cross for me.
Now I would agree that all of us must suffer in this life and bear the reproach of Christ. Paul calls this: “… Filling up that which is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (Colossians 1:24). As Christians, we will suffer and be persecuted for the sake of Christ, even as our Lord told us. But our sufferings are not atoning; they contribute nothing to our salvation, nor to anyone else’s.
Taking up our cross daily is speaking of our willingness to lay aside all self-seeking and selfish ambition. It means that our desire and ambition is not to satisfy ourselves, but to please the Savior. He, rather than self, is the object of our supreme affection. Pleasing Him is the highest, most compelling motive of our lives.
We, like the disciples, do not come out looking very good on this point. Over and over the disciples evidenced a jockeying for position, and a desire to get ahead of the other eleven. And repeatedly our Lord rebuked and instructed them on this very point (cf. Matthew 18:1ff.; 23:11-12; Mark 9:34ff.; Luke 9:46-43; 22:24,26). The supreme example is that of our Lord who looked not after His own pleasure and comfort, but Who was obedient to the point of infinite suffering and death for our salvation (Philippians 2:4-8).
Putting all these elements together we can conclude that true discipleship puts Jesus Christ above everything and everyone else. We esteem His fellowship above that of any other. We consider it a far greater thing to be related to Him than any human kinship. We see His purposes, His desires, as vastly more important than our own.
On a human plane, discipleship is something like joining the armed forces. No one can sign up and yet retain his autonomy. (At least, this is the way it used to be!) When you are enlisted, your own interests are subservient to your superiors. You eat when you are told, you get leave when it is granted. You contribute to a greater cause by making yourself expendable to that cause. And so, to some degree, it is with discipleship (cf. Luke 9:57-62).


Sources
Bethesda Romanian Pentecostal Church

Bob Deffinbaugh

Was Jesus' Resurrection Fabricated?

Was Jesus' Resurrection Fabricated? by Romans

Last week,  we celebrated Jesus' Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Right here at this chat room, and  many of us partook of a sunset Communion Service the night before.  This week in our Discussion, we are going to focus on the New Testament's accounts of the Resurrection.

There has been a story that has floated around for about 2,000 years that takes the position that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ never happened.... that the whole thing was fabricated by Jesus' distraught disciples following His crucifixion. Tonight we are going to go through this position with a fine tooth comb and examine the merits of these suspicions. And we will do so in 16 points to verify whether the Resurrection was fabricated.

My main source for tonight's material is one of my favorite books, written by Frank Turek and Norman L. Geisler. The title is, “I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist.” I give these authors full credit for the main framework of what I am presenting in this Discussion. There are points and Scriptures that I have added, but the basic material is theirs.

I do recommend this book very highly, but I also must tell you that there are many portions of this book that are difficult to read. And by “difficult” I mean that some of the material in the beginning of the book is dedicated to debunking and refuting some elements of Theory of Evolution, and it can be a bit difficult to follow if you're unfamiliar with some of the claims and scientific terms of the Theory, and the so-called science that is used to support the Theory.

On page 231 the authors of “I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist” present a list to determine in the entirety of the New Testament is historically reliable. This is an important first step because it was these same witnesses who also contributed to the radical shift in worship away from what had been long-established.

There are seven basic points, here, in order to establish the reliability of the New Testament:

1.) Do we have early testimony? This  would have a positive impact on accuracy, and tend to make the reader less concerned with embellishments that may have crept in over time;
2.) Do we have eyewitness testimony?
3.) Do we have multiple and independent testimony? We don't really want to hear a fantastic tale from only one person;
4.) Are these eyewitnesses trustworthy? This consideration is at least as important as the number of witnesses telling the story;
5.) Do we have corroborating evidence from other supporting or even neutral writers, and, in our case so many centuries later, from archaeology?
6.) Do we have the corroboration of opposing or “enemy” writers? If key elements of a claim are acknowledged by hostile sources, this can be considered valuable evidence; and
7.) Does the testimony include embarrassing events or details about the author or authors? If it does,  we can generally look to those events or details as being true. The inclusion of details that would tend to make the author look bad or even ridiculous, is a good indication that the claim being made is a true one.

I am sure you are aware that there are many who doubt the Truth of the New Testament in general, and the Resurrection in particular. So tonight, we are going to approach their doubts from a very different perspective. We are, ourselves, going to perform the same brainstorming that the disciples would have had to if they fabricated the Resurrection, in order to see if the critics and doubters' claims hold any water.

I normally and routinely use the King James Version of Scripture in these Discussions, but tonight I will be using The Living Bible Translation. Something about, as I was comparing the two translations just seemed to fit better for tonight's topic.

Think of it! The One Whom they were sure was the Messiah, the Savior of Israel was plotted against by the religious hierarchy, arrested, tried with false witnesses, and crucified, and all in less than a 24-hour period. The disciples had to have been shaken to their very foundations. Everything they believed, and everything they believed in was completely and unexpectedly turned on its head, in spite of, what we see with 20/20 hindsight, the announcements to them from their Lord and Master Jesus,  that everything that DID happen, was exactly what He repeatedly told them WOULD happen, but they never did quite get it.


Seven weeks transpired between the Resurrection, and the Day of Pentecost, when the disciples suddenly burst onto the scene making declarations of Jesus' being raised from the dead. So they had all the time they would have needed to concoct their stories, tie up the loose ends, dot all the “i”s,  cross all the “t”s, and get the details of their claims strait before Peter preached his first Sermon.

Now, think about it.... really think about it... if we were the disciples, and we are going to fabricate a story that we were going to preach, that we had found the Messiah, and that we were part of His Inner Circle, and that He was the One Who was just crucified, but He had been resurrected, how would we paint ourselves in our fabrication? The story is all ours. We can go in any direction we choose to go... we can add any claim and any detail.

Would we not paint ourselves as being the most dedicated, the most faithful, the most humble followers of the Messiah that we are claiming to have found. Would we not invent details about our bravery,  and our leader's unwavering loyalty to this Messiah, the leader whom Jesus hand-picked to lead us? Would we not also clearly convey the idea that even though Jesus was a controversial preacher Who confused many of His listeners, that we always understood the meanings of His parables and doctrines?


If we are going to invent a scenario that was going to completely upset the whole Society with News of our identification of the long-awaited Messiah, and then say He was crucified, and then say He came back from the dead, and then go on to introduce an absolutely revolutionary rearrangement of the  long- established National Religion, having 1,500 years of an God-ordained procedure, and method of doing things, we are going to have to paint ourselves as heroes in this story... we are going to have to portray ourselves as the wisest ... the most anointed... the most insightful... and the most fearless followers  before, during  and after this Messiah's trial and crucifixion., would we not? And we would also paint ourselves as the first witnesses to discover that His tomb was empty because we would have been brave enough to go to the tomb, Roman Guard or no Roman Guard to make that discovery!


Well, let's look, first, at the four Gospel Accounts, and see if this is how Matthew, Mark, Luke and John presented themselves in their writings. How did the authors present themselves? The authors included embarrassing details about themselves that fabricators would never have included.

1.) They painted themselves as basic dim-wits in all four Gospel Accounts, especially along spiritual lines of understanding and perception:

Matthew 16:6-9: “Later, after they crossed to the other side of the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring any bread. “Watch out!” Jesus warned them. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “You have so little faith! Why are you arguing with each other about having no bread? Don’t you understand even yet?”

Mark 9:30-32: "Leaving that region, they traveled through Galilee. Jesus didn’t want anyone to know he was there, for he wanted to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.” They didn’t understand what he was saying, however, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.”

Luke 18:31-34 “Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus said, “Listen, we’re going up to Jerusalem, where all the predictions of the prophets concerning the Son of Man will come true. He will be handed over to the Romans, and he will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit upon. They will flog him with a whip and kill him, but on the third day he will rise again.” But they didn’t understand any of this. The significance of his words was hidden from them, and they failed to grasp what he was talking about.”

John 12:15-16 “Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it, fulfilling the prophecy that said:
“Don’t be afraid, people of Jerusalem. Look, your King is coming, riding on a donkey’s colt.”
His disciples didn’t understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy.”

2.) They had the chance to make themselves super-hero defenders of the Messiah of Israel. Instead, they didn't hesitate to portray themselves as being too sleepy to watch with Jesus on His last night on earth:

Mark 14:32-41: “They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go and pray.” He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Then Jesus left them again and prayed the same prayer as before. When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open. And they didn’t know what to say. When he returned to them the third time, he said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But no—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.”

Now, this is important: It would be one thing to admit they went to sleep before He was arrested... even before He was on trial. But it would be absolutely unthinkable to invent that fact years later when they put pen to paper, and recounted the events in writing. But that is exactly what they did, which  lends powerful credibility to their testimony. If they did not hesitate to admit something that put them in such a bad light. The rest of their claim, however hard to believe, is much easier under those circumstances to consider, and even accept.

3.) They are rebuked and opened by Jesus and each other for glaring mistakes.

In their Accounts, besides citing their lack of understanding, their Messiah openly rebukes them, at one point even calling their recognized leader “Satan”! In Mark 8:31-33 we read, “Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” Then , later, in their epistles, Paul challenges Peter openly in Galatians 2:11 : “But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong.”

4.) They painted themselves as egotistical during the Last Supper:

We read this amazing Account in Luke 22: 21-24 “After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you. “But here at this table, sitting among us as a friend, is the man who will betray me. For it has been determined that the Son of Man must die. But what sorrow awaits the one who betrays him.” The disciples began to ask each other which of them would ever do such a thing. Then they began to argue among themselves about who would be the greatest among them.”

5.) The they painted themselves as also being filled with self-doubt during the Last Supper:

Mark's account adds in Mark 14:19: “Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one?”

6.) They painted themselves as deserters:

We read in Mark 14:27: “On the way, Jesus told them, “All of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’

7.) They utterly failed to hide the flaws and human weaknesses of the recognized human leader of their Movement.

Their leader, if this were a fabrication would have been someone with outstanding spiritual qualities from beginning to end: Instead what do we find?

a.) In the beginning, how did Peter describe himself? In Luke 5:8, we read one of the first things Peter says to Jesus is: “When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be around you.”

b.) During Jesus' ministry he is depicted as having wavering faith. Notice the Account when Jesus walked on the water in Matthew 14:25-31 “About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!” But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here! Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” “Yes, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”

c.) And then at the end, while Jesus is on trial for His Life, Peter denies Jesus three times, even after being told he would do just that: We read in Mark 14: 29-30: "Peter said to him, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

And deny Him he did, even calling curses down on himself just as the rooster's crowing interrupts Peter's third denial.

8.) They painted themselves as cowards:

Not only did they deny and abandon Jesus, after His crucifixion, the women who followed Jesus went unescorted to His tomb at dawn, that was being guarded by Romans soldiers. Where were the disciples? Even after hearing multiple reports of different women who reported they found the tomb empty, or had seen angels who reported Jesus was alive, or Mary's report that she had seen and spoken to Jesus, where were the disciples? John tells us in his account in John 20:19: “That Sunday evening, the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.”

9.) The authors carefully distinguished their words from Jesus' words.

If you are inventing a Messiah, a Resurrection, and a drastic departure from a major established religion, what would be an easy way to resolve doctrinal disputes? The easiest way for the disciples to solve theological disputes that arose among the new believers was to simply fabricate more quotes from the One you've identified as the Messiah. Yet Paul who wrote 13 of the New Testament's 27 Books, quotes Jesus rarely, and always specifically states when a doctrine or position is his own: Notice in 1 Corinthians 7:10-12: Paul is giving advice regarding marriage “But for those who are married, I have a command that comes not from me, but from the Lord...” Then he prefaces his next advice with these words, “Now, I will speak to the rest of you, though I do not have a direct command from the Lord.”

10.) The authors included embarrassing details and difficult sayings of Jesus.

a.) In their Accounts, Jesus is reported to be considered out-of-His-mind by His own mother and brothers! Notice in Mark 3:20-21: “One time Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again. Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat. When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.”

Verse 31: “Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them.” They apparently thought that He had gone off the deep end.

b.) His own family doubted and seemingly mocked the idea of Jesus' Messiahship: In John 7:2-5 we read, "But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters (or Tabernacles), and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!” For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.”

c.) They admitted in their writing that His ministry was a great source of debate and controversy among the people: we read in John 7:12: "Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.”

d.) The Gospel writers also dutifully record some of the unflattering and defamatory comments made about Jesus during His ministry: He is called “a drunkard,” a “glutton,” “illegitimate,” “a friend of sinners and tax collectors,” “a deceiver,” “demon-possessed,” and a “ madman.” They record that He ate in the house of tax collectors, spoke with a Samaritan woman, allowed a prostitute to wipe his feet with her hair, and acknowledge that Scripture itself identifies “anyone who is hanged on a tree is under God's curse.” This is hardly the kind of material pretenders and fabricators would include in their Accounts if they were trying to be the fishers of men their Messiah appointed them to be!

e.) They report that the One they have identified as the Messiah, offended most of His followers with the “hard sayings” that came out of His mouth: “ In John 6:51-52 we read that Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

Verses 61-64 tell us, "Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” Then finally in verse 66, we read: "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”

11.) The authors included events regarding Jesus' Ministry and Resurrection that the authors would not have invented.

a.) The Sanhedrin was the Jewish Council of Rulers who conspired to provide false witnesses to testify against Jesus and have turn Him over to the Roman Governor to be crucified. Yet, John not only includes a favorable meeting with a Member of that Council in the 3rd chapter of his Gospel Account, (namely Joseph of Arimithea, ) but this same individual is depicted as stepping forward after the crucifixion to beg the body from Pilate (while the disciples are off cowering somewhere), and he goes so far as to provide the tomb in which Jesus was buried! If we were going to invent this whole scenario, it would be both pointless and senseless to include such positive details of the same ruling Council that, at the time these Accounts were written, was doing everything in their power to have imprisoned or killed as many of your followers as they they could get their hands on!!

b.) Luke also records that many priests had become converts to Christianity. If this were not so, this certainly would have been easy to verify. And, if it were not true, then Luke's credibility would have been completely trashed for including this unfounded detail in his Gospel Account.

c.) All four Gospel writers report that it was women who were the first witnesses to the Resurrection. Why do you suppose this was an unusual thing to include in the narrative? Because in that culture, a woman's testimony was considered so unreliable that it could not even be used in a Court of Law! And yet, not only do we have women bravely going to the tomb to anoint the body despite  the presence of  members of the Roman Guard (some say dozens of soldiers) being there, the first woman to actually see the Risen Christ is earlier identified as someone who had been demon-possessed.

Notice in Luke 8:1-2: "Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons;”

Now just stop and think about this: If you were a lawyer trying to prove a case, would your Star Witness be someone whom you also tell the Jury had been possessed with seven demons? OK – demon possession is something that is readily acceptable as a diagnosis. The skeptical public thinks of it more in terms of a movie plot than actual event. So we'll modify it just a tad: If you were a lawyer trying to prove a case, would your Star Witness be someone whom you also tell the Jury had just been released from an insane asylum? Think! That would have the same impact on your court case, as the disciples naming Mary Magdalene as one of the first witnesses of the Resurrection!! IF this whole thing was fabricated as so many charge that it was, what sane males in that culture would name women, that included a former demoniac,  as the first witnesses of Jesus' empty tomb, when they could have made it themselves, the brave male disciples, or just Peter and John,  or made up ANYONE ELSE to be that witness? It makes no sense whatsoever... unless it were true, and they were mere reporting what actually happened!

12.) The authors included more than 30 people who have been historically confirmed.

If the Gospel writers had fabricated the people or events that were included in their various Accounts, it would have been immediately exposed as fraud by their contemporaries. They could not have gotten away with fabrications about Pilate, Caiaphas, Festus, Felix and the whole bloodline of Herod. And the disciples knew this or they would have simply and conveniently omitted these names and events rather than risk being so easily exposed as fabricators. There are no records of any such accusations involving the historical participants whom they named. In fact, one skeptic attempting to expose the New Testament as not being an historical account, was so overwhelmed, especially by Luke strict attention to detailed and verifiable facts, that the skeptic became a believer!

13.) The authors writings include divergent details of the events they wrote about.

The authors had seven weeks between the Resurrection and Peter's first preaching on Pentecost to get their stories straight. And then they had an additional 30 or so years before these accounts were committed to writing. Surely in that space of time, if these Accounts were fabricated, it would have been a simple matter for them to put their heads together and produce a cohesive and homogenized Account, and put all their ducks in a row, eliminating any and all variations in the details or the story flow. But what do we have instead? Besides alleging fabrication, critics are also to point out, what they consider to be, contradictions from one account to the other! But these are neither contradictions nor embellishments: All we need do is harmonize the individual contributions of an account to see that they each serve to provide different details of the same events. If there are any contradictions here, it is the critics themselves who want their cake and eat it, too. Are the New Testament Accounts of Jesus' birth, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection fabricated? And if they are, why would the fabricators not also take special care to get their final draft into more of a “copy-cat”  presentation? And of course, if they had done that, the critics would simply have changed their accusations from that of there being contradictions, to charges of collusion among the New Testament writers!

14.) The authors abandoned the rites and observances of Judaism, a religion with centuries of having been practiced.

What are some of the long-held beliefs and practices the disciples and apostles willingly abandoned by claiming that Jesus rose from the dead, and sent them forth to make believers of all nations?

They abandoned the exclusive relationship between God and The Jewish nation, the Law as delivered by Moses, circumcision being required for believers, the Sacrificial System, the Levitical Priesthood, the Sabbath, the Temple as the supreme place of worship, the Holy Days, the strict Kosher diet, believing in the Messiah as a Sacrificial Lamb preceding His expected coming as a Conquering Warrior to throw off Roman rule.

15.) The authors adopted an entirely new set of beliefs, some of which the Old Testament never prophesied.

There are no Old Testament Prophecies that foretold the coming of the Church Age. Yet, here were the preachers of that very age, which not only drastically altered traditional practices and beliefs, but included the welcoming in of Gentiles from all over the earth as equals: Gentiles as accepted fellow-worshipers... Gentiles as fellow-believers... Gentiles recognized as “Abraham's seed!...Gentiles as joint-heirs to inherit the Kingdom of God along side the Chosen People!

16.) And lastly. the authors maintained their beliefs under any and every kind of trial, opposition, and persecution, None of the arrests, beatings, whippings, death threats or actual executions that included crucifixion, ever succeeded in forcing so much as even a false confession of fabrication from any of the Apostles or disciples!

Paul sums up better than I ever could, the consequences of maintaining what some call a fabrication: We read in II Corinthians 11:21-28, we read: “But whatever they dare to boast about—I’m talking like a fool again—I dare to boast about it, too. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm. Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches.”

All this for a fabrication? All but one of the original Apostles who spread the Gospel died as a martyr. That was John, who lived because the execution attempt failed. So he was exiled to Patmos. So the accepted executions rather than deny the truth is unanimous among the Apostles.  But am I to understand that they all went willingly to their deaths in order to perpetuate a fictitious account of a  man Whom they misidentified as the Messiah, Who was crucified and remained dead? Name one other person, or group of people who have gone through all that the writers and believers of the New Testament went through KNOWING that it was all made up! Yes, there are martyr for other religions who also died for what they believed was true. But this is not about mere belief, this is about the prospect of all of the Apostles going to their deaths for fictitious claims that they helped to invent! There are none who have or would have died for a fabrication they knew to be false. And neither do they exist among the writers of the New Testament. They became martyrs who went willingly to their deaths, rather than deny the Truth about Jesus.

What we have in our hands when we read their writings recorded in the New Testament, are the true Accounts of the Life, Death and Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There simply is no other reasonable or sane conclusion that can be drawn when you consider all of the facts, all of the details, all of the material, and all of the contributing factors.

This concludes this Evenings Discussion, Was Jesus Resurrection Fabricated?

Romans, delivered on April 12th, 2012

Discussion for Sunday April 15

This Sunday we will continue our discussion of Romans chapter 7.

Here are some questions for thought. Feel free to bring your own questions to the discussion. These are not multiple choice questions. However, they are multiple thought questions. All interpretations and understanding are welcome.

Audio Bible reading.

In your own words, describe the comparison between the death of a woman's husband and our death to sin through Christ's death on the cross. 7:1-6

Is the principle advocated in 2-3 of marriage being a lifelong obligation generally accepted today?

In your own words, describe Paul's past experience with the flesh and how you can relate to his experience. 7:7-13

Does the law provoke us to sin?
Have you seen this effect in children?

In your own words, describe Paul's present dual nature and how we struggle with this dual nature also.

What is the difference between serving in the old way of the written code and the new way of the Spirit?
Are we still slaves to sin in our on mind?
If you have been born of God and died to the law, then why do you sin?



Bible study guidelines that may help:
http://the4gospels.net/current/pdf/BibleStudy.pdf

He is Risen!

Easter Devotion click here.

Discussion for Sunday April 8

This Sunday we will continue our discussion of Romans chapter 6. A good chapter to discuss on Easter Sunday.

Here are some questions for thought. Feel free to bring your own questions to the discussion. These are not multiple choice questions. However, they are multiple thought questions. All interpretations and understanding are welcome.

Audio Reading of discussion scripture.

6:1 What verse in chapter 5 is Paul referring to? Rom 5:20
Why do we not continue to sin?
6:2 What does Paul mean when he says "we who died to sin"?
6:4 What does this support about baptism?
6:6 Where else in the New testament is this term "old man" used in a similar way?
" no longer be slaves of sin"? What verse comes to mind when you read this?
6:16 What does this verse mean to you?
6:18-19 What type of slave is the believer?
6:21 what is the fruit of sin?
Summarize what Paul is saying in this chapter.


Bible study guidelines that may help:
Study help.

Newness

“Newness” by Romans

Good Evening, and welcome to this Installment of our regularly scheduled Thursday Evening Bible Discussion. This is the second time that I can recall conducting a Discussion on a topic based on a request. The first time was a request several years ago by Shadowlou, that I do a Bible Study on the Seven Deadly Sins. We were members of another Christian Chat Room, then. Were it not for her original request, I don’t believe that this door would have opened for me. And now, I am beginning to publish expanded versions of my Notes as Kindle eBooks. I just ePublished my posted Notes on Doubt, but not before I doubled the  length, enhanced the Notes with addition Scriptural support, and added defense strategies for combating doubt. It is now available on Amazon as my third eBook, this one titled “[i]The Bible Talks About Doubt[/i].” So I just want to say, before we begin, Thank You so much, Wendy (Shadowlou) for planting that seed.

I recently received an e-mail from Joyful  requesting that I build a Bible Study around the word, “new.” And so, the subject and title of this Evening Discussion is “Newness.”

Let me ask all of you, when you think of the word, “new” as it appears in Scripture, what comes to mind?

For centuries, and following the requirements of the Old Covenant, the children of Israel sacrificed animals as part of their worship of God. Without that background of sacrifice, the crucifixion of Jesus would be nearly impossible to understand. We read in Hebrews 9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? The New covenant, itself, has its basis in the Sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus made this clear in Mark 14:24: “And he said unto them, This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many.” Chapter 9 of Hebrews brings things into focus beginning in Verse 15: “And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.”

I would like to give share expanded background on the practice of sacrifice in the worship of God.

In spite of the fallacious claims of some books and commentaries that I have read, the tenets of Christian worship is not borrowed or based on the practices and doctrines of pagan religions. Christianity is, at once completely new, and yet the basis for what we understand and observe goes back to Adam and Eve. God's Plan of Salvation was acted out and recorded for our learning and edification very early in Genesis. When our first parents sinned, and they covered their own nakedness with aprons of fig leaves, they were still hiding in the bushes when God came to the Garden that Evening. We read, later, that God, Himself, provided clothing for them using the coats of animal skins. Notice the Account in Genesis 3:21: “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” The clothing was not made of leaves, or cotton or wool. An animal had to be sacrificed... blood needed to be shed in order for God to make the clothing that He provided Adam and Eve.

Clothing is often symbolic of righteousness. We put on the righteousness of Christ when we accept His sacrifice in our steads. This helps us to understand what the Apostle Paul's meant when he wrote beginning in Romans 13:11: “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”

Matthew Henry writes of those coats of animal skins, “The beasts, from whose skins they were clothed, it is supposed were slain, not for man's food, but for sacrifice, to typify Christ, the great Sacrifice… God made them coats of skin, large, strong, durable, and fit for them: such is the righteousness of Christ; therefore put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Sacrifice is a vital element of Christianity. The sacrifice of animals goes back some 5,000 years. But contrary of the charges of our critics, this practice in ancient Judaism, and the concept of Sacrifice in Christianity is not borrowed or based on pagan worship. If anything, just the opposite it true. Why do I say that? Sacrificing to God, as worship, is first named as being performed by Noah when he and his family first disembarked from the Ark. Noah's example of offering a sacrifice is the reason why so many pagan cultures have incorporated sacrifices into their religious practices. Sacrificing to God was a known worship practice when God confounded the languages of the people at the Tower of Babel.  When they dispersed, the knowledge of God that they passed on diminished and was altered over time. We read of this taking place in Romans 1:25 and 28: “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator,” and Verse 28: “... they did not like to retain God in their knowledge.” They changed the identity and nature of the One being worshiped. The one True God became a myriad of deities that included animals and insects and celestial bodies, but they apparently maintained the practice of sacrifice in the worship of those deities. And those practices were departures from true worship, and not the original pattern which the Bible used as its blueprint. As I said, just the opposite is the case.

I felt that, for some here,  a good background regarding sacrifices, or refresher for others here tonight, would be a good thing. The word “new” occurs frequently in regard to the notion of sacrifice.

Our next occurrence of the word “new” is in regard to Jesus' teachings. They were something of a startling and controversial departure from what the observant Jews of His day were accustomed to. We read of their reaction to His ministry in Mark 1:27: “And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.”

Baptism is a public declaration of our having accepted Jesus' sacrifice for our sins. Baptism is the picture of our entering into the death of Jesus Christ with Him. We read beginning in Romans 6:3: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

We are, each of us, new creations in Jesus Christ: We read in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Can you appreciate the power of that single Verse? Notice how this is brought into greater focus in a [i]new[/i] commentary that I am introducing this Evening: Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible: “Therefore if any man be in Christ,.... There's a secret being in Christ from everlasting; so all that are loved by him, espoused unto him, chosen and preserved in him, to whom he was a covenant head, surety, and representative, are in him, united to him, and one with him; not in such sense as the Father is in him, and the human nature is in him, but as husband and wife, and head and members are one: and there is an open being in Christ at conversion, when a man believes in Christ, and gives up himself to him; faith does not put a man into Christ, but makes him appear to be in him: and such an one "is a new creature"; or, as some read it, "let him be a new creature": who understand being in Christ to be by profession, and the sense this, whoever is in the kingdom or church of Christ, who professes himself to be a Christian, ought to be a new creature: the Arabic version reads it, "he that is in the faith of Christ is a new creature". All such who are secretly in Christ from everlasting, though as yet some of them may not be new creatures, yet they shall be sooner or later; and those who are openly in him, or are converted persons, are actually so; they are a new "creation", as the words may be rendered: , "a new creation", is a phrase often used by the Jewish (h) doctors, and is applied by the apostle to converted persons; and designs not an outward reformation of life and manners, but an inward principle of grace, which is a creature, a creation work, and so not man's, but God's; and in which man is purely passive, as he was in his first creation; and this is a new creature, or a new man, in opposition to, and distinction from the old man, the corruption of nature; and because it is something anew implanted in the soul, which never was there before; it is not a working upon, and an improvement of the old principles of nature, but an implantation of new principles of grace and holiness; here is a new heart, and a new spirit, and in them new light and life, new affections and desires, new delights and joys; here are new eyes to see with, new ears to hear with, new feet to walk, and new hands to work and act with: old things are passed away: the old course of living, the old way of serving God, whether among Jews or Gentiles; the old legal righteousness, old companions and acquaintance are dropped; and all external things, as riches, honours, learning, knowledge, former sentiments of religion, are relinquished:”

The whole idea of our being renewed from the inside out predates by five centuries the actual events that brought it about. We read in Ezekiel 36:26-27: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”

There is a corresponding New Testament acknowledgment of this Prophecy having been fulfilled in the Church with the establishment of the New Covenant. We read beginning in Hebrews 10:15: “Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way , which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” Like the Old Covenant, the New Covenant includes things very familiar to those to whom this epistle was written: The Laws of God, but now they were to be written on our hearts and minds and not on tablets of stone. Sin offerings are referred to, but now, this new Offering of the Lamb of God in the Person of Jesus Christ only needed to be offered once.  The veil of the Temple was torn that once restricted the people of God from the Holy of Holies. It is identified as the flesh of Christ through which we now can now enter with boldness. There is a high priest in the Old Covenant who offered sacrifices for sins daily, including his own sins, but this High Priest is new and very different: We read beginning in Hebrews 7:24: "But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.”

The New Covenant provides us a new and living way with greater access to God. It provides a far more intimate relationship with God, and a deeper understanding of His great Love for His people.

We already spoke of being buried with Christ in baptismal waters. When we come up out of that watery grave, a picture of our being raised with Jesus to new life is presented. The Apostle Paul tells us beginning in Romans 6:5: “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.”

Allow me to read, again from Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible: “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death,.... The nature and end of baptism are here expressed; the nature of it, it is a "burial"; and when the apostle so calls it, he manifestly refers to the ancient and only way of administering this ordinance, by immersion; when a person is covered, and as it were buried in water, as a corpse is when laid the earth, and covered with it: and it is a burial with Christ; it is a representation of the burial of Christ, and of our burial with him as our head and representative, and that "into death"; meaning either the death of Christ as before, that is, so as to partake of the benefits of his death; or the death of sin, of which baptism is also a token; for believers, whilst under water, are as persons buried, and so dead; which signifies not only their being dead with Christ, and their communion with him in his death, but also their being dead to sin by the grace of Christ, and therefore ought not to live in it: for the apostle is still pursuing his argument, and is showing, from the nature, use, and end of baptism, that believers are dead to sin, and therefore cannot, and ought not, to live in it; as more fully appears from the end of baptism next mentioned; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life; for the end of baptism is not only to represent the death and burial, but also the resurrection of Christ from the dead, which is here said to be "by the glory of the Father", some read the words, "unto the glory of the Father"; meaning either, that the Father might be glorified hereby; or that Christ, being raised from the dead, might enjoy glory with the Father, as he does in human nature; but rather the phrase expresses the means by which, and not the end to which, Christ was raised from the dead: and by the "glory of the Father" is meant, the glorious power of the Father, which was eminently displayed in raising Christ from the dead; and as baptism is designed to represent the resurrection of Christ, which is done by raising the person out of the water, so likewise to represent our resurrection from the death of sin, to a life of grace: whence it must be greatly incumbent on baptized believers, who are raised from the graves of sin by the power of Christ, to "walk in newness of life"; for since they are become new creatures, and have new hearts and new spirits given them, new principles of light, life, grace, and holiness implanted in them, and have entered into a new profession of religion, of which baptism is the badge and symbol, they ought to live a new life and conversation.”

Our former habits, tendencies and practices, and priorities need to be uprooted and replaced with living to the Glory and Honor of God in both word and deed. The Apostle Paul tells us about our becoming a new man. Notice how he tries to cover all of the ways we need to be renewed from the inside out, and do an about face and begin to live a different life. We read beginning in Ephesians 4:22: “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” As I said earlier, the new man is new from the inside out!

Matthew Henry has this to say about the new man: “The apostle charged the Ephesians in the name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus, that having professed the gospel, they should not be as the unconverted Gentiles, who walked in vain fancies and carnal affections. Do not men, on every side, walk in the vanity of their minds? Must not we then urge the distinction between real and nominal Christians? They were void of all saving knowledge; they sat in darkness, and loved it rather than light. They had a dislike and hatred to a life of holiness, which is not only the way of life God requires and approves, and by which we live to him, but which has some likeness to God himself in his purity, righteousness, truth, and goodness. The truth of Christ appears in its beauty and power, when it appears as in Jesus. The corrupt nature is called a man; like the human body, it is of divers parts, supporting and strengthening one another. Sinful desires are deceitful lusts; they promise men happiness, but render them more miserable; and bring them to destruction, if not subdued and mortified. These therefore must be put off, as an old garment, a filthy garment; they must be subdued and mortified. But it is not enough to shake off corrupt principles; we must have gracious ones. By the new man, is meant the new nature, the new creature, directed by a new principle, even regenerating grace, enabling a man to lead a new life of righteousness and holiness. This is created, or brought forth by God's almighty power.”

This next occasion of the word new is in regard to correction that Paul had to give to the Church at Corinth. They had tolerated, and even seemed to be proud of tolerating a man who was a member, but who also was having a relationship with his step-mother. This was not right and good behavior for Christians in the eyes of God. Paul figuratively refers to the Congregation as a new batch of dough being unleavened at for the Passover Season. Paul uses the concept of leaven, or in the translation I used, yeast, to represent those things we need to remove from our daily lives. We read in 1 Corinthians 5:7: “Get rid of the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough, since you are to be free from yeast. For the Messiah, our Passover, has been sacrificed” (International Standard Version). Matthew Henry had this to say regarding this passage: “Christians should be careful to keep themselves clean, as well as purge polluted members out of their society. And they should especially avoid the sins to which they themselves were once most addicted, and the reigning vices of the places and the people where they live. They were also to purge themselves from malice and wickedness-all ill-will and mischievous subtlety. This is leaven that sours the mind to a great degree. It is not improbable that this was intended as a check to some who gloried in the scandalous behaviour of the offender, both out of pride and pique... Christians should be careful to keep free from malice and mischief. Love is the very essence and life of the Christian religion. It is the fairest image of God, for God is love (1 Jn. 4:16), and therefore it is no wonder if it be the greatest beauty and ornament of a Christian.”

The love that God would have us manifest in our lives is both an ornament of great beauty, as well as a Badge of Identification. The Apostle John quoted Jesus saying, in his Gospel in John 13:35: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

And he wrote of it, again, in his first epistle in 1 John 5:2: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.”

For many people, when the words “Commandment of God” is used, they think of a menacing order that is thundered from the heavens that is received with dread and trembling. But Jesus also gave us Commandments. In keeping with the tonight's theme of newness, we read in John 13:34: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”
Jesus' new Commandment is that we are to love one another as He has loved us. Let me ask all of you,

How has He loved us?

And how should we love one another?

From Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible:
For the phrase, “A new commandment I give unto you,.... As parents, when they take their leave of their children, in their dying moments, give them proper instructions and orders, and lay their dying injunctions on them, so Christ taking his leave of his disciples, gives them his; which were, that they love one another: as brethren in the same family, children of the same Father, and fellow disciples with each other; by keeping and agreeing together, praying one for another, bearing one another's burdens, forbearing and forgiving one another, admonishing each other, and building up one another in faith and holiness: and this he calls "a new commandment"; that is, a very excellent one; as a "new name", and a "new song", denote excellent ones; or it is so called, because it is set forth by Christ, in a new edition of it, and newly and more clearly explained, than before; and being enforced with a new argument and pattern, never used before.”

From Gill's Exposition, The phrase “as I have loved you; (is) to be observed in a new manner, not "in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the spirit": … as Christ has loved his people freely, notwithstanding all their unworthiness and ungratefulness, so should they love one another, though there may be many things in them observable, which are disagreeable; as Christ loves all his children without any distinction, so should they love one another, whether poor or rich, weaker or stronger, lesser or greater believers; and as Christ loves them not in word only, but in deed and in truth, so should they love one another with a pure heart fervently, and by love serve one another.”

David, in the Psalms, writes of our having a new song: We read beginning in Psalms 40:1: “I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.”

The was a promise of new tongues: We read in Mark 16:17: “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;”

Of course we remember on the Day of Pentecost when the Church was born, that the disciples were all speaking in new tongues that enabled them to preach the Gospel to many  nationalities, and all in their own languages, bringing thousands to repentance and salvation.

As faithful believers, Scripture speaks of our being given a new name: Notice, beginning in Revelation 2:17: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”

We read of Abraham in what is known as the Faith Chapter. Does anyone know what that chapter that is? Hebrews 11:8: “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

As Christians, we are Abraham's seed as it tells us in Galatians 3:29: “And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

As heirs with Abraham, we also look for that city, whose Builder and Maker is God. We read of it in Revelation 3:12: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God:”

And then another new name is referred to: as this Verse closes with Jesus' words, “and I will write upon him my new name.”

Everything we see in the Universe, as magnificent and breathtaking and awe-inspiring as it is, is merely a temporary backdrop like cardboard scenery in a stage play. Scripture gives us a preview of this future where we read in Revelation 6:14: “And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.”

But God has something all ready to take its place. The New Jerusalem will be a part of it. We read of our Glorious and Eternal home beginning in Revelation 21:1: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”

Is it any wonder why Satan is jealous of us, hates us and wants to deprive us of the unimaginable joy waiting for us for Eternity which God has in store for us?

I will close with a comment from my old friend, Matthew Henry: “This new Jerusalem is the church of God in its new and perfect state, the church triumphant. Its blessedness came wholly from God, and depends on him. The presence of God with his people in heaven, will not be interrupt as it is on earth, he will dwell with them continually. All effects of former trouble shall be done away. They have often been in tears, by reason of sin, of affliction, of the calamities of the church; but no signs, no remembrance of former sorrows shall remain. Christ makes all things new. If we are willing and desirous that the gracious Redeemer should make all things new in order hearts and nature, he will make all things new in respect of our situation, till he has brought us to enjoy complete happiness.”

This concludes this Evening's Bible Discussion on “Newness.”
Romans, delivered on March 8th, 2012

Christ, Our Passover

Christ, Our Passover
by John W. Ritenbaugh

What Is the Passover Anyway?
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The idea of human sacrifice is repugnant to our modern sense of decency and civility. We feel that those who practiced this act of appeasing the gods were ignorant savages of by-gone times. However, it is beyond question that Jesus of Nazareth, the only begotten Son of God, was crucified—sacrificed—for the forgiveness of our sins. He is the propitiation, the appeasing force, by which we can enter into God's presence. God, the righteous Judge of all mankind, provided Jesus Christ to pay the incalculable price for sin.

God's judgment is perfect. Notice how the psalmist describes the quality of His judgments in Psalm 111:2-4, 6-9:

The works of the LORD are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them. His work is honorable and glorious, and His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and full of compassion. . . . He has declared to His people the power of His works, in giving them the heritage of the nations. The works of His hands are verity and justice; all His precepts are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness. He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever; holy and awesome is His name.

God's judgments are great! But only those who have experienced and deeply considered them know how truly great and exalted they are. In addition, all of His judgments and works are righteous, a characteristic that points to eternal rather than temporary effects. God's judgments are not only right, they are eternally right! God does not deal in situation ethics—His laws, His morals, His ethics, work every time, all the time!

Further, He never makes decisions or exercises His power arbitrarily. Because His Word and works always harmonize with the immutable dictates of what is right, they are sure and trustworthy guides for us. Thus, trusting in them and making them a part of our lives will always be right. For this, among many other things, God should be reverenced.

The Word of God

When we compare God's works with man's, what a difference we see! The closer we look at man's, the more flaws we see. Yet, when we scrutinize God's works, we just see more perfection. Man is finite; God is infinite. Man is mutable; God is immutable. Man is imperfect; God is perfect.

Consider how adept God is in using one creation to do many different jobs. Air, for instance, is invisible and appears to be weightless, yet it will support the flight of an airplane weighing many tons. In supplying the lungs with oxygen, it supports life. Air also supports combustion, but when separated into its component parts, some of its gases can put out a fire (carbon dioxide), while others greatly intensify fire (oxygen, hydrogen). Air conveys heat and cold, scents and sounds. It holds moisture, moves ships and other things besides. In contrast, man must create special tools for every purpose, and our attempts are often quite clumsy.

Because we have been subtly trained since infancy to seek quick answers, our studies of His Word tend to overlook how profound He is. We often just accept what God says without really searching it out. But like His works, God's Word is just as much His creation as air.

How infinitely deep and broad God's Word is! Its uses are virtually inexhaustible. Consider how the ministry applies a familiar scripture to one subject, and a few weeks later, another will use the same scripture to illustrate a different subject altogether!

The writer of Psalm 119 has this to say about God's Word: "Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law. I am a stranger in the earth; do not hide Your commandments from me. My soul breaks with longing for Your judgments at all times" (verses 18-20). He had the correct idea! We are pilgrims on our way to the Kingdom. We have no idea how long the journey will be, nor have we ever been this way before. If we ignore God's Word, we will surely wander aimlessly; we will stray from the path.

So we cannot merely look on its surface—we must delve into the Bible! Digging is hard work! God's instruction is scattered throughout His book (Isaiah 28:9-10). Each section—even each verse!—may have multiple purposes, even as air does in the physical creation. From this principle, it is easy to see that we can understand the Bible on many levels and give them several applications.

What Is He?

Think of this principle in relation to Christ. Notice how the people of His own day perceived Him:

For even His brothers did not believe in Him. . . . And there was much murmuring among the people concerning Him. Some said "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people." . . . The people answered and said, "You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?" . . . "But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?" (John 7:5, 12, 20, 26)

Even then, opinion was greatly divided about Him.

» To the average Jew, He was a mysterious fellow, a Man not really understood but liked. Jesus did fantastic things on behalf of the common man, which appealed to his curiosity.
» The Pharisees and Sadducees considered Him an arch-rival, a competitor, the ringleader of a new cult and a threat to their authority and popularity.
» Generally, the Romans saw Him at first as little more than a curiosity, a magician, but in the end they condemned Him as a troublemaker, a traitor. Pilate called Him "just" (Matthew 27:24) and found "no fault in Him at all" (John 18:38). Yet to avoid a seditious riot, he sentenced Him to be crucified.

But what is He to you? It is very important to answer this because Passover is all about what He is. The Bible shows Christ as Creator, Prophet, High Priest and King. He is the Redeemer of Israel and in a multitude of situations, Savior and Deliverer. He is Provider, Healer, Apostle, Judge, Avenger and Forerunner. In all, the Bible gives Him over two hundred guises. At Passover, though, the focus centers primarily on Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God slain for the sins of the world, a human sacrifice of the most sublime quality.

When we ponder what Christ means to us, we should include Romans 10:4: "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." In this regard, Paul says that Christ is the object of the Bible. The law, as one aspect that represents the whole plan of salvation, is the instrument that broadly describes God's righteousness. Like everything in God's purpose, the end—the goal—of the law is to bring us "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13).

Jesus fulfilled the law in that He perfectly exemplified God's desires in everything He did (see Matthew 5:17). He personifies perfect love and government. He is the perfect man yet also God in the flesh. He is the Standard toward which men are to strive.

Not a Mystery to Us

Christ, Paul and John use the term "mystery" to refer to Christianity itself or some aspect of it. Jesus uses it in Matthew 13:10-11:

And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given."

To a Greek-speaking person, a mystery was not a difficult puzzle to solve, but a secret impossible to penetrate. A biblical mystery is a teaching that is impossible to understand until the meaning is revealed, then it becomes plain. Greeks used the term to describe something that was crystal clear to insiders, but unintelligible to outsiders.

Only "insiders," those who are obedient to God's will (Psalm 111:10), can understand the fullness of Christianity. As a result of our submission, we understand the plan of salvation far better than any "outsider," no matter how intelligent.

Where is the balance point? What is His true nature? Is not the gospel of the Kingdom of God the totality of the message, life, works and promises embodied in Jesus Christ of Nazareth? The gospel reveals Jesus as:


» The Creator, the One through whom the Father made all things.
» The very Son of God who revealed the Father.
» The Head of the church and Dispenser of the Holy Spirit.
» The Savior who was crucified and resurrected after three days according to the Scriptures.
» The Conqueror of Satan and the soon-coming King of kings.
» The High Priest of the rank of Melchizedek, who sits at our Father's right hand to make intercession for us.
» The Firstborn, our Elder Brother, the Captain of our personal salvation, who loves us with an intensity we cannot fathom even in our deepest, most profound moments.

In short, Jesus Christ is everything we are not, yet are striving to become! He is the Standard, the Example, to whose stature we are conforming ourselves. Therefore, we cannot ever allow what He was and what He accomplished, what He now is and what He will accomplish, to stray very far from our minds.

Though people could look at Jesus with their eyes and hear Him speak with their ears, they could not understand who He was or grasp the implications of His message to them personally. But a miracle has happened to us. Our minds have been opened, and the truth has been revealed to us.

Thus, Jesus says in Matthew 13 that His parables—in reality, most of the Bible's teachings—are not just general illustrations of moral and spiritual truths, but powerful, life-changing messages! Grasping their fuller and deeper meanings depends upon our active recognition and application of Jesus as Savior, King and High Priest in our lives. He reminds us of this in John 15:5, "Without Me you can do nothing."

Preparing for Passover

The apostle Paul gives these instructions regarding Passover:

And when He had given thanks, He broke [bread] and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. (I Corinthians 11:24-29)

The "cup" symbolizes the blood Jesus spilled in sacrificing His life. God is saying that through the blood of Christ, He is "sealing" His agreement of salvation with us. Though He had already promised it, Christ's blood certifies His agreement to justify us in preparation for salvation (Romans 5:9-10).

Such a monumental sacrifice must be fittingly remembered! If Passover becomes a mere ritual or pious habit, it loses its significance because Christ is not really being remembered with understanding and appreciation. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul describes the brethren as rushing through the service, their minds so focused on their own bellies that they were treating each other with selfish disregard. Passover's purpose is not just to remember certain historical events, but to grasp the point of Christ's death. If we fail to comprehend its meaning, we are much more likely to treat His death unworthily.

Though we will not deal with them here, Paul covers three major subjects in I Corinthians 11 and the chapters surrounding it: 1) our relationship with God, 2) our relationship with other members of the church and 3) spiritual liberty. Their common factor—the unique means by which all three are made possible—is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Taking Passover Worthily

Understanding Christ's sacrifice properly determines the quality of our observance of the Passover. To prevent taking it in a careless and unappreciative manner, Paul charges us to examine ourselves, discerning the Lord's body (I Corinthians 11:28-29). "Examine" means to test, prove or scrutinize to determine whether a thing is genuine. "Discern" means to separate, discriminate, to make a distinction for the purpose of giving preference.

A major factor that enables us to take Passover in a "worthy" manner is seriously reviewing our spiritual and moral failures in contrast to the perfect glory of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This Man lived thirty-three-and-a-half years without committing even one sin!

To avoid taking Passover unworthily, we should not take it without seriously considering its meaning. If we fail to do this, instead of honoring Christ's sacrifice, we share in the guilt of those who crucified Him. However, awareness of sin should not keep us from taking Passover. It should drive us to it, for our grateful participation in eating and drinking the symbols enables our sins to be paid.

Despite our self-examination, the focus at Passover is not on ourselves but on the payment for our sins, the means by which we are forgiven. It is a time to concentrate on the most elementary precepts of our salvation, especially on the part Jesus Christ plays in it. Only by a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of any discipline, and energetically and skillfully using them, will we produce success in an endeavor. In this way of life, if we do not understand and use the fundamentals, we will not overcome sin.


Self-examination

We understand that we are to examine ourselves in the weeks preceding Passover and Unleavened Bread. Sometimes, however, we miss the purpose for the examination. Consider these two scriptures in relation to self-examination:

» Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Prove yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. (II Corinthians 13:5)

» For we dare not to class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. (II Corinthians 10:12)

If we are not careful in this, we can easily fall into two snares, both of which center on the self.

The most obvious one, expressed in II Corinthians 10:12, is that we will judge ourselves in light of other people. This fatal trap deceitfully provides us with self-justification for the way we are. The result is that we will not change or grow because we will be judging according to our own standards—and why change perfection? Self-examination by our own code produces self-righteousness.

The other dangerous snare occurs when our self-examination is so rigorous that we become very depressed and feel salvation is impossible. Brethren, this is just as utterly self-indulgent as the other! This "woe is me" approach is a not-too-subtle blast against God's judgment and grace for calling us and making things so difficult for us!

Anyone who compares himself to others is not exhibiting faith in God. He is telling God that His Son's life means little to him. Likewise, anyone who feels so morose with guilt that he threatens not to take the Passover is not exhibiting faith in God. He is telling God that He is unable to forgive that much.

At Passover, our focus should be on the payment for sin through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. God in His grace is willing to forgive our transgressions on the basis of Christ's death. During Unleavened Bread, the focus shifts to overcoming sin and coming out of this world through God's power, which is also part of His grace. At Passover, it is the grace of God to justify us through Christ's blood. At Unleavened Bread, it is the grace of God to sanctify us as we move toward His Kingdom and glorification.

The Value of Christ's Blood

I Peter 1:18-21 adds more information as to why we should value the sacrifice of Christ.

. . . knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Jesus lay dead and buried three days and three nights. His resurrection is the foundation of our faith, and His glorification is God's pledge to us that there is hope for our future. I Peter 1:20 emphasizes that "He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world" to be that sacrifice. That is not merely foresight, brethren, that is planning! God's plan included redemption from the very beginning.

Verse 19 stresses the value of His sacrifice by using the word "precious," translated "honor" three times in chapters 2 and 3. The Greek word means "to place a value upon," and this is exactly what we are to do in preparation for Passover! We are to assess the value of His sacrifice to us personally. What would you be willing to pay for His sacrifice?

Those who know Jesus Christ well place an immeasurably higher value on His sacrifice than do others who are acquainted with Him only casually or intellectually.

Verse 18 emphasizes "knowing." The Christian lives his life knowing the redemption Christ accomplished. The price of our redemption is the value we place on the Life given for our forgiveness. Our former lives were "aimless" because of the value we placed on possessions and our own satisfaction. Now our lives have direction because we count Christ's sacrifice as priceless!

Perhaps Hebrews 10:26-29 can help us realize the awesome value God places on His Son's sacrifice and provoke us to value it more highly.

For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

This is what the unpardonable sin ultimately accomplishes. Through willfully practicing sin, the sinner rejects the very basis of his covenant with God, the blood of Jesus Christ. If one deeply appreciates and values His sacrifice, he will not willfully practice the very actions that made that sacrifice necessary. God forgives with the understanding that the one forgiven has turned from sin and will continue to overcome it.

When God designed this creation, He considered His purpose along with our free-moral agency. He concluded that He had to devise a payment for sin so profound in its implications that the heirs of salvation, out of overwhelming gratitude, would drive themselves from sin. Such a price of redemption could not be the death of any common person or animal, for these have neither the worth nor the ability to pay for all sin. Only the sacrifice of the sinless God-man, Jesus Christ, could meet these qualifications.

What we see in Hebrews 10:26-29 is the end of a person who, by the very conduct of his life, reveals his pitiful assessment of that sacrifice. The author makes a three-fold indictment against this person. First, they repudiate the oath taken at baptism. Second, they contemptuously reject Christ. Third, they commit an insulting outrage against the merciful judgment of God.

The Lamb of God

Remember, the focus at Passover is on the Lamb, not our sins. Certainly, we should be aware of our sins to provide the contrast to the sinless, spotless and unblemished Lamb, but we ought not wallow in them. To the contrary, we should rather glory in the unique One who makes our deliverance possible.

Under the Old Covenant Passover, the lamb was separated from the flock on the tenth day of Nisan, giving each family four days to observe it more closely. Perhaps, at its birth or purchase, only the father of the family saw and examined it. But from the time of separation until the lamb was slaughtered, the family came to know it more intimately.

Perhaps this sacrifice will have more impact on us if we realize that for many Israelite families, the lamb may have been the family pet. Most Israelites were not ranchers with large flocks, but farmers with very few animals for meat. In such a situation, their animals became much like members of the family.

How often have you killed an animal you love? Even if you have had to do so, you probably avoided putting a knife to its throat! God devised an object lesson in Passover to illustrate its price as forcefully as only the death of an innocent can.

Sacrifice—THE Holy Act

Jesus says, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you" (John 6:53). He is everything to us. Words inadequately describe how much we need Him. He is our Savior, Lord, Intercessor, Brother, Teacher, Example, Strength and King. Passover forces us to focus in on our weakness and Christ's strength, our need and His abundance, our sinfulness and His perfection, our sentence of death and His offer of life.

The Bible sees sacrifice as THE holy act. It is the very essence of love. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16)—in sacrifice!

Therefore, when He came into the world, He said, "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—in the volume of the book it is written of Me—to do Your will, O God.'" Previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them" (which are offered according to the law), then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God." He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:5-10)

Here, Jesus is recognizing His body as a gift given so that the Father's will may be done. Animal sacrifices could not accomplish God's will, but the sacrifice of the sinless God-man, Jesus of Nazareth, could. It has the power to cleanse from sin so that a New Covenant, a whole new religious order, may be established based on a personal relationship—unparalleled in its intimacy—with our Creator.

A major weakness of animal sacrifices is their failure to produce a desire in the offerer to obey God. No animal life is equal in value to a human life. Though we may grieve at the loss of a pet, an animal's sacrificial death cannot have a real impact because it will not motivate us to do anything. But when a human dies for us, we feel it! We feel we owe something in return; indebtedness arises from our gratitude for what the sacrifice accomplished.

In our case, the most valuable Life ever lived was given. Gratitude, worship and obedience are the only appropriate responses to such a sacrificial gift as the body of Jesus Christ. There is no other acceptable sacrifice for sin that will allow us to continue living.

The theme of Passover is the awesome cost of salvation, which is manifested in the sinless sacrifice of Jesus Christ. His was not a mechanical sinlessness, but He was sinless, innocent, even while encumbered with the frailties of human nature just as we are. His was sinlessness with sympathy, empathy, compassion, kindness and concern for the helpless slaves of sin. Understanding this, we should feel revulsion that our sins caused such an injustice as His death to occur. At the same time, we should also express appreciation, indebtedness and thanksgiving by departing from sin.

The works of the LORD are great, studied by all who take pleasure in them. His work is honorable and glorious, and His righteousness endures forever. . . . He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever; holy and awesome is His name. (Psalm 111:2-3, 9)

His name is Savior, Redeemer and Lamb of God.

Human sacrifice? Just one, with the approval of the Father and the selfless participation of a unique God-man, Jesus Christ, was enough for all of time.