One In Jesus

Jesus is the Messiah

(Act 2:22-28 ESV)  “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know —  23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.  24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.  25 For David says concerning him,

“‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;  26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope.  27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades [not hell but the realm of the dead], or let your Holy One see corruption.  28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

Peter says to the audience that “you” crucified and killed him (v. 23). Really? Many were a 1,000 miles away at the time. But it makes sense if we see the crucifixion as part of God’s covenant history — as the working out of the prophecies of Deu 28 – 30.

God sent the entire nation into Exile. He promised to bring back the nation if they would repent and return to him — and yet the leaders of the nation crucified the Messiah! This is the furthest thing from returning to God! The nation itself was under judgment, and this was no way to escape judgment. Continue reading →

Acts 1

So with all this in mind (and I know it’s a lot of material), let’s take a fresh run at the first part of Acts — and read as a Jew would have read Luke’s book.

(Act 1:4-5 ESV)  4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me;  5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

While Jesus does not deny the continuation of water baptism (which is plainly taught in Acts and elsewhere in the NT), he places an unambiguous emphasis on the baptism of the Holy Spirit promised by John. The outpouring of the Spirit, according to the Prophets, would mark the coming of the Kingdom. Continue reading →

Idolatry?

So this leads to a question I’ve been trying to get to — In what sense were the Jews of Jesus’ day idolaters? The curses of Deu 28 aren’t only for idolatry but they are especially for idolatry. Moreover, the Prophets continually warn against many sins, but idolatry is far and away at the top of the list.

In fact Deu 30 contrasts returning to God and receiving circumcised hearts with —

(Deu 30:17-18 ESV) 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them,  18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.

So did the Jews of Jesus’ day worship false gods? Well, Jesus saw Satan’s path to the Kingdom as idolatrous. Luke and Jesus seem to agree with Satan that he had the rule of the Jews at that point. For Jesus to seek to establish his throne my any means other than the cross would be idolatrous because it would be to worship Satan.

When the Jews rejected Jesus as Messiah (all but a remnant), they thought they were choosing God, but they were in fact rejecting God because Jesus is God the Son. You can’t worship just part of the Trinity. You can’t reject the Son and accept the Father. It’s a package deal. Continue reading →

The Jewish revolts against Rome

The consequences of the first Jewish revolt against Rome are summarized in the Wikipedia —

The defeat of the Jewish revolt altered the Jewish diaspora, as many of the Jewish rebels were scattered or sold into slavery. Josephus claims that 1,100,000 people were killed during the siege, a sizeable portion of these were at Jewish hands and due to illnesses brought about by hunger. “A pestilential destruction upon them, and soon afterward such a famine, as destroyed them more suddenly.” On the order of 97,000 were captured and enslaved and many others fled to areas around the Mediterranean. …

Titus reportedly refused to accept a wreath of victory, saying, “There is no merit in vanquishing a people forsaken by their own God.”

It gets worse. In the early Second Century, the Jews rebelled yet again. Continue reading →

John the Baptist

John the Baptist began preaching at the Jordan River —

(Luk 3:7-10 ESV) He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.  9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  10 And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” 

John begins by promising “wrath” — a word used but one other time in Luke —

(Luk 21:23 ESV) Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people.

And this is a reference to the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in AD 70. So while John certainly might have been speaking of God’s wrath at the Judgment Day, it seems more likely that he is speaking of the curses of Deu 28 to be repeated in about 40 years at the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome. Continue reading →

For purposes of the next few posts, I’ll focus on Luke and Acts. Luke fits naturally with Acts, and only Acts records the dawning of the Kingdom at Pentecost. But long before we get to Acts 2:38, we need to work our way through parts of Luke.

The Magnificat

Early on, Luke record’s Mary’s words to Elizabeth regarding the impending birth of Jesus (called the Magnificat from the first word in Latin (v. 46)) —

(Luk 1:50-55 ESV)  50 “And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.  51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;  52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate;  53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.  54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,  55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

In response to word that the Messiah will soon come, she praises God for rejecting the wealthy and proud and caring for the humble and poor in remembrance of his covenant with Abraham. Continue reading →

Isaiah begins with a warning against ignoring the plight of the vulnerable of society —

(Isa 1:11-20 ESV)  11 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.  

12 “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?  13 Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations — I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.  14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.  15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.  16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,  17 learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.  

18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.  19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;  20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” 

What was required for the readers of Isaiah to repent? Well, to “learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” This is a plea to the nation of Israel, which is now known as “the church.” Continue reading →