Jesus - Who do you say I am? (still working on)

 

I was watching a show about Jesus in the Gospels and there were some interesting statements being made about Jesus and His divine divinity. It got me thinking. I wanted to dig in a bit more as I had heard some of the ideas before in many sermons over the years. I grew up in a very strong Biblical teaching church, in addition to that, I was blessed to attend a private Christian high school where I was taught the Bible everyday for an hour. We would look at the context and historical references. I am going to have to dig deep into some old papers and even sermon notes (and even see what google has to say) for this but I think it will be worth it! I hope you, as the reader, will find what I dig up to be interesting as well. 

I am so burdened in my heart for people to truly know what they believe and why. The foundation for our Christian faith is based off the Jewish laws and traditions. From there we take their prophecies and we see Jesus emerge as the messiah. To me, if you look at the timeframes when things were written and then you pair that to the New Testament it is quite remarkable to see how God unfolds a plan. It's so intricate and spanned over well over 1000 years of writings, over 300 prophecies and  spanned 11 books of the Bible. This does not take into account all the different authors who did not all live in the same time span or even in proximity to one another. How can that happen without divine orchestrated intervention? How can one man fit all of these prophecies? If the Gospels were forged, how do all 4 disciples write almost the same account of events if they did not happen? In many cases, there were multiple eye witness accounts. As I mentioned earlier,  there are over 300 prophecies but for my sake in this post I will look at 29 but even to to have one man fulfill all of these, to me, is still a miracle all on its own. When you really lay this out, this is the actual claim of the gospels - Jesus was the messiah and a miracle from God and that God orchestrated all the events surrounding Jesus in order to fulfill each prophecy.

Lets dive right in, starting with when these books were written: 

1) Genesis - ~1450-1410 BC thought to have been written by Moses 

2) Isaiah - ~739- 681 BC Isaiah is known as the messianic prophet and served under the reign of kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah.

3) Micah - ~735-700 BC - during the reign of Kings Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah in Judah 

4) Hosea - ~753-722- during this time the northern kingdom of Israel, as it was on the verge of being conquered by the Assyrian Empire.   Jewish temple was built. Hosea wrote direct accounts of his life and prophecies later in his life. 

5) Malachi - ~450-430 BC - Malachi lives 100 years after Babylonian exile. Oddly enough Malachi did not leave identifying markers of his life. He preached messages of judgments as the people were turning away from God. 

6) Psalm - ~1500 - 500 BC by far the largest spread - Primarily written by King David 

7) Zechariah - ~570-420 BC - is an account of Zechariah's life and prophecies. He was a levite born in Babylon. Book of  Ezra it states that Zechariah and Haggai were together also in Nehemiah he is mentioned as well.

8) Matthew - ~55-65 AD, it is believed to live in Palestine when writing the gospel.

9) Mark - ~55-59 AD,  it is believed to live in Rome when writing the gospel.

10) Luke - ~58-65 AD, it is believed to live in Antioch Syria when writing the gospel.

11) John - ~ 70-85 AD,  it is believed to live in Ephesus and Patmos when writing the gospel.

Prophecies (Old Testament and New Testament Reference)

1) Genesis 22:18 (descendant of Abraham) (Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38)

2) Genesis 49:10 (tribe of Judah / house of David) (Matthew 1:1-17)  

3) Isaiah 7:14 - (Conceived by a virgin) (Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-38)  

4) Micah 5:2 - (Born in Bethlehem) (Matthew 2:6 and Luke 2: 1-20)

5) Zechariah 2:10-12   (Messiah would come and dwell in our midst) (Matthew 1:23) 

6) Hosea 11:1 (Taken to Egypt as a child) (Matthew 2:13-15)

7) Isaiah 40:3-5 (Anointed by the messenger of the lord) (Acts 10:38)  

8) Isaiah 11:2 (Anointed by the Holy Spirit) (Luke 4:18; Acts 4:27 and 10:38; Hebrews 1:9)

9) Isaiah 9:1 (Minister in Galilee) (Matthew 4:12-17 and Mark 1:14-16) 

10) Isaiah 35:5-6 (Messiah will perform miracles) (Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all account)

11) Isaiah 61:1 (Messiah will preach the good news) (Matthew 24:14, Luke 4:18, Luke 4:43, Mark 16:15)

12) Malachi 3:1 (Messiah will cleanse the temple and John the Baptist would prepare the way for the messiah) (Matthew 11:10 and Matthew 24)

13) Zechariah 9:9 (Messiah will enter Jerusalem as a kid riding on a donkey) (Matthew 221:1-11, Mark 11:1-1, Luke 19:28-44 and John 12:12-19)  

14) Psalm 118:22 (Rejected by the Jewish people) (John 5:18, John 7:52, John 8:39-59, John 10:22-43Luke 7:45-52, 

15) Psalm 41:9 (Messiah will be rejected by a friend) (Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all account)

16) Zechariah 11:12  (Messiah will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver) (Matthew 26:14-16 and Matthew 27:3-10)

17) Psalm 22  (Messiah will die a humiliating death) stopped here

18)  Isaiah 53:3 - (Humiliating death - rejection)  (Luke 13:34; John 1:10-11)

19) Psalm 22:7-8  (Humiliating death - mocking)

20) Isaiah 52:14. (Humiliating death - beating) 

21) Psalm 22:16 - (Piercing of his hands and feet)

22) Zechariah 12:10 (Piercing of his side) (John 19:34; 1 Peter 2:24)

23) Isiah 53:12 - (Executed with thieves)

24) Psalm 22:18 - (Executioners will cast lots for his clothing) 

25) Psalm 69:21 (Gall and vinegar to drink) (Matthew 27:34 and 27:48, Mark 15:23, 

26) Psalm 34:20 (None of his bones will be broken) (John 19:36)

27) Isaiah 53:9  (Messiah will be buried in a rich mans tomb)

28) Psalm 16:10 (Will rise from the dead)

29) Psalm 68:18 (Ascend into heaven)

Holding on to Pigs?

 

I was scrolling on social media today when I came across a post that has such an interesting perspective on a story many of us have heard. It's the story about 2 demon possessed men where Jesus cast the demons into pigs and they ran off a cliff, I am parapharsing here. In this post, I am going to break down some interesting tidbits that I have learned while diving a bit deeper into this passage myself. There are a few things that I did not know nor did I really give much thought to.

First lets recount the story here:

“When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and died in the water. Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.”Matthew‬ ‭8‬:‭28‬-‭34‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The first thing that jumps out to me, is that even the demons knew who Jesus was. They called him "Son of God". They also knew that Jesus had the authority to choose where they should go. Interestingly they ask have you come to torture us before the appointed time - just as the Bible foretells, there is an appointed end point where the Son of Man will come and judge the earth. The demons acknowlege there will be a judgment day for them but interestingly they don't know when otherwise they would not have asked this question.  

In Revelation 20:10 "And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever." Now, at this time Revelation had not been written, but I do believe when the fall of Satan happened in Isaiah 14: 12-15 and Ezekiel 28 the Bible makes it clear of the judgment will be passed. I do believe, the demons knew what their fate was when they were trying to negotiate with Jesus- they knew Jesus had the authority to cast that judgement right there and then. They asked to be sent into pigs rather than be destroyed.  Once Jesus cast them into the pigs, they ran off the bank to their death. I don't think they saw that coming! Additionally, some biblical scholars believe the sea to represent the abyss. Several places within the Bible the abyss is referred to as place of the dead or the pit. These demons must have been quite powerful to throw an entire heard of pigs into the sea. Its hard to imagine the men who were overrun by these demons - the torture they must have endured!

Another interesting fact, these demon possessed men were likely Gentiles and not Jews. The reason being, is due to the raising of pigs where these men were found. Pigs for the Jewish communities were perceived as unclean and dirty animals and would have never been raised by a Jewish person. Some scholars believe this the first example of Global missions being represented.  

Now to the part that gets interesting - why did the people plead for Jesus to leave their region after he performed this miracle? I had always thought it was due to the destruction of their pigs. But what if there is a much deeper reason? Allow me to set the stage, in the midst of a miracle - two demon possessed men were miraculously healed - and a herd of pigs destroyed. Which of the two incidents had more significance? 

Try to imagine yourself there - if I were an onlooker at this, I would have been amazed by both events. Here was a man who had authority over the demons and then cast them out. The demons drove the pigs so mad they threw themselves off a steep embankment. Now, if I had been the pig herder, I would be furious! I mean there goes my lively hood over the cliff. But what about the two men? They were healed, freed and saved - maybe they had families, friends and children - they would have been rejoicing I would think. But what did the people do, they asked Jesus to leave. They would rather keep the status quo rather than risk him performing another miracle for fear Jesus would cause more chaos and destruction. It's all a matter of perception!  They would rather be comfortable than to be shaken-up, radically changed and freed from bondage. Let that sink in for a moment.

Does this situation maybe have more to say to us? Sometimes when God saves us or frees us from something there is more work that is needed. What things hold you back or cause you to stumble? Maybe friendships / relationships, idols you worship, substances you can't give up, or maybe your comfort - in order to be truly free you cannot keep going back to or doing what destroyed you. Something has to be given up and something needs to change or be torn down in your life. This aspect would be represented by the giving up of the "pigs".  This often times makes us feel uncomfortable. Let's face it, Change is HARD. But if we try and hold on to those "pigs" we stay enslaved, crushed and defeated. But what if you let that "pig" go? Maybe it's the very thing that will make you feel alive, free and whole again. 

Challenge question - what "pigs' are you holding onto in your life? What areas of your life need to be radically shaken up to reveal the things that are holding you back or keeping you enslaved?

I will leave a few versus to meditate on: 

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the barren land. Isaiah 43:18-19