Thursday, March 28, 2024

John 19:17-30, The Seven Last Words of Christ (2)

Here are numbers 4-7 of the words of Christ from the cross.  The first three involved His concern and provision for other people.  These words today emphasize His relationship with the Father and the completion of His earthly ministry. 

WORDS

SCRIP.

TRUTH

My God, My God, Why?

Mt. 27:46

Isa. 53

1)    The REALITY of His bearing our sin!

2)    He was there for us, on our behalf …

a)    Not figuratively, symbolically, 

mythically.

b)    But factually, He atoned for us.

3)    Propitiation: the Father’s wrath 

was satisfied.

I thirst!

Jn. 19:28

Heb. 2:10-18

1)    He had been offered a drugged 

drink earlier, but to take it then 

would have been to dull the pain.

2)    He was fully human, tasted death 

fully.

Done!

Jn. 19:30

Heb. 10:11-18

1)    “I thirst” called attn. to the person; 

“It is finished,” to the work.

2)    Many sacrifices culminate in 

ONE sacrifice, once for all.

3)    The veil torn in 2; redemption 

complete so men can know God.

4)    There is nothing to do but to 

receive!

Father, into Thy hands.

Lk. 23:46

Acts 2:22-35

1)    We are saved by the faith(fullness)

 OF Christ.

2)    These words clearly and plainly 

anticipate the resurrection; His death 

was not the final event.

3)    So for us: we are saved by grace 

through faith … a faith that unites 

us with Christ in His death/burial/

resurrection!

Man of sorrows what a name

for the Son of God, who came

ruined sinners to reclaim:

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Luke 23:33-46, The Seven Last Words of Christ (1)

On “Good Friday” in 1968, I had a blessed experience with the Lord.  I was working in downtown Los Angeles while I was at Biola.  My boss, at the Ace Print Shop, permitted me to go around the corner to the Church of the Open Door (the original location of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, and where J. Vernon McGee was pastor during my Biola years) and attend part of their Good Friday services.  They had 7 half hour segments, each with a congregational song, special music and one of their pastors speaking on one of the “seven last words of Christ” from the cross.  Growing up in my church, I don’t remember an emphasis on the seven last words.  Perhaps that was why it meant so much to me in 1968, and why I have preached on them in my own ministry.  For two posts I would like to present these words of Jesus, along with brief notes from one of the occasions when I have led a congregation in the study of these words.  May the Lord encourage you in your faith in Christ as you meditate on what our Lord considered important during those hours at Calvary.

WORDS

SCRIP.

TRUTH

Father, forgive them…

Lk. 23:34

Rom. 5:12-14

1)    Jesus prayed (1st, 4th, 7th sayings).

2)    Did not pray for Himself.

a)    Prayed for those around Him.

b)    Thus He condemned himself.

3)    This saying reminds us WHY He 

was there & WHO put Him there.

Amen. With me.

Lk 23:43

Rom. 4:5-8

1)    Classic illus. of

a)    “faith alone”.

b)    The inability of man to please 

God by works.

2)    No clearer picture that “God 

justifies the ungodly.”

Woman, behold thy son…

Jn. 19:26-27

Mt. 1:20-23

1)    This speaks loudly of the 

uniqueness of Christ as Savior!

2)    The point is NOT the 

importance of family.

a)    Though He was fulfilling 

a family responsibility.

b)    Mary had been there 

at the start, Jn 2.

c)    Mary had been with others 

who thought He was crazy.

3)    The point is that Mary 

too needed salvation!

a)    After the cross Jesus & 

Mary were not family.

b)    Rather they are Savior/

Believer (Ac 1).


Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Isaiah 1:18; Lev. 14:4-7, The Crimson Thread

Let’s complete our thinking about why our sins are as scarlet or crimson.

·       To complete our initial word studies, let’s look at Isaiah 1:18.  “Red” is Adam.  “Scarlet” (sani, 42x in OT) and “crimson” (tola, 43x in OT) are both related to a particular insect according to Gesenius.  Strong describes it thus: “the insect ‘coccus illicis,' the dried body of the female yielding colouring matter from which is made the dye used for cloth to colour it scarlet or crimson.”  Over half of the uses of sani in the OT are in Exodus where scarlet thread and material was part of the Tabernacle. On eight occasions, in the NKJV, tola is actually translated “worm” (including Ps. 22:6 and Jonah 4:7).

Now, why are our sins said to be as scarlet and red like crimson?  Let me start with Jamieson, Faucette and Browne commentary: “The rabbins [sic] say that when the lot used to be taken, a scarlet fillet (not a piece of meat but a ribbon or band) was bound on the scapegoat’s head, and after the high priest had confessed his and the people’s sins over it, the fillet became white; the miracle ceased, according to them, forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem, that is, exactly when Jesus Christ was crucified; a remarkable admission of adversaries.  Hebrew for “scarlet” radically means double-dyed; so the deep-fixed permanency of sin in the heart, which no mere tears can wash away.”  JFB also points out that “scarlet” was the color of Jesus' robe when bearing our sins (Mt. 27:28), as well as the color of Rahab’s thread (Josh. 2:18) that brought salvation to her household.

I did do a little checking on this idea, and sure enough, there is a section in the Torah that talks about this in connection with the cleansing ritual in today’s reading from Leviticus.  In that passage we see that the cleansing of a leper required two birds, one being killed and the other left alive.  The blood of the one was sprinkled on the one to be cleansed, using the live bird and a scarlet cloth.  Interesting.  The article is at, https://www.thetoray.com/article/scapegoat-the-origins-of-the-crimson-thread.  It did not mention the part about changing from red to white, although many people refer to this without giving specific credit to an original source.

Here is another consideration from Henry Morris (Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Baker Book House, 1985, p73), which speaks of the worm: “When the female of the scarlet worm species was ready to give birth to her young, she would attach her body to the trunk of a tree, fixing herself so firmly and permanently that she would never leave again.  The eggs deposited beneath her body were thus protected until the larvae were hatched and able to enter their own life cycle.  As the mother died, the crimson fluid stained her body and the surrounding wood.  From the dead bodies of such female scarlet worms, the commercial scarlet dyes of antiquity were extracted.  What a picture this gives of Christ, dying on the tree, shedding his precious blood that he might ‘bring many sons unto glory’ (Heb. 2:10)!  He died for us, that we might live through him!  Psa. 22:6 describes such a worm and gives us this picture of Christ (cf. Isa. 1:18).”

By these comments we can then remind ourselves.  Sin is like leprosy in that it goes deep into the soul and spreads to every aspect of our lives.  The reddishness is a sign of the presence of this disease.  Thus, our sins are as scarlet, red like crimson.  Further, death has passed upon all men because all have sinned in Adam/the man (Rom. 5:12).  We agree with Morris: the red gives us a picture of Christ, solving the issue of sin by taking our reddishness upon Himself, being numbered with the transgressors, and shedding His blood for our cleansing.  Hallelujah!

Monday, March 25, 2024

Lev. 13:18-23; Isaiah 1:18, Why are sins like scarlet? (1)

(We are going to turn our attention this "Holy Week" to posts related to the death and resurrection of Christ.  We will, Lord willing, return to complete our studies in John's Gospel on April 2.)

When was the last time you did some reading in Lev. 13?  It’s one of those parts of Scripture where, if you are reading through the entire Bible, and don’t want to skip anything, you might, nevertheless, read as fast as possible.  You might ask, if “all Scripture is inspired of God and is profitable …”, how is this profitable to me?  You might understand how it benefited Israel in the OT but wonder about it now.

As I read this recently, I gave this some thought.  First, I have heard some pretty good sermons that used leprosy as an illustration of sin.  There are some pretty good comparisons.  Maybe that’s why it's still profitable today.  But then, in connection with that, I noticed that indications of leprosy that the priest looked for were reddish color, whether the sore was getting deeper or spreading.  As I was thinking about this, my brain pulled up Isa. 1:18: Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.  This raised another question: why are sins described as “red?”  I am familiar with the black and white idea.  That is the sharpest contrast in colors it seems, and makes sense.  But why red? 

Well, I went to work, starting with a check of several OT words for “red” and associated colors like scarlet and crimson.  Consider the following.

·       The word for “red” that you should know, if you are an English reader and don’t read Hebrew (like me) is Edom.  “Esau” means hairy (Gen. 25:25) but “Harry” was also called Edom or “Red” after he sold the birthright for some of Jacob’s red (adom) stew (Gen. 25:30).  His descendants were the nation of Edom.

·       Here’s something interesting.  “Adam” means “red.”  Now wait, you might say.  “Adam” means something like father of mankind doesn’t it?  The first use of the name is in Gen. 2:15, where the NKJV says “the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden.”  Then, in 2:19 God brought the animals “to Adam to see what he would call them.”  When used as a masculine noun, this word appears over 550 times in the OT and is most often translated “man/men.” As the Heb. scholar Gesenius said, “perhaps so called from the idea of redness.”  It is used as a proper name around a dozen times.  I’ll mention one passage in Job (31:33) where Job is defending himself and says, If I have covered my transgressions as Adam (or, a man), by hiding my iniquity in my bosom  Job is using the man/Adam as an illustration of the wrong way to deal with sin.

·       Here’s another interesting thing.  In Lev. 13-14, the term “reddish” (used 6 times and nowhere else in the OT) is literally, adamdam.  Gesenius calls it a “reduplicated” form. 

We will conclude this subject in the next post.

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Psalm 140

Let us briefly consider this Psalm which has a tremendous message for us today given the ascendency of the wicked to places of great power.

·         140:1-5: The nature of the proud.  Note that David’s enemies were not always kings with armies.  As with us, he was often attacked by people with warring words and with schemes to make him stumble (discredit him) or get him off the narrow path where they could catch him in a trap.

·         140:6-8: The nature of the God in whom David trusts.  God IS the strength of David’s salvation; God HAS sheltered David in the past.  This encourages David’s faith.  David’s concern is that if the wicked succeed then they will be exalted rather than God.  That is an issue that is important enough for what follows.

·         140:9-11: The imprecations of David’s prayer.  This may sound a bit over the top.  Perhaps you would think that today we should pray for their salvation.  We should, certainly.  But we should also pray that they will be absolutely frustrated in their plans, because their success denies the glory of God.  So David’s prayer is correct for us as well!

·         140:12-13: The confidence of David’s prayer.  Not only is God’s glory at stake; God’s faithfulness to the humble is at stake.  Since David knows God’s heart he is emboldened in this prayer.  The righteous tend to be on the short end of earthly power, given the god of this age.  But God exalts the humble and desires their presence forever.

Let us not deal with the deceitful, powerful people of our day by complaining about politics and politicians.  Let us rather come before God lest they be exalted.

Saturday, March 23, 2024

John 9:6-25, A Man Who Didn’t Know Any Better

Jesus performed the miracle, bringing sight to a man born blind.  Now John takes us through the steps by which the formerly blind man comes to believe in Jesus.  Remember, Jesus had not asked the man for any “commitment” before the miracle.  And yet, by the end of the chapter, the man had come to faith in Christ.  Let’s note the various steps he took to come to that conclusion.

·       9:6-12: Jesus was the man who told the blind man to wash in the Pool of Siloam.  The acquaintances of the man were a little confused, which is to be expected.  Some could not believe this was the man, even though his appearance was not significantly changed.  The man assured them he was, and when asked who had healed him his answer was simply, “a man called Jesus.”  He had not seen Jesus since he didn’t regain his sight until he washed the mud from his eyes.  Furthermore, he had not been part of the debate going on in the temple area over Jesus and His claims.  He didn’t take up sides.  He didn’t know any better than what he had experienced through his encounter with Jesus.

·       9:13-17: Jesus must be a prophet.  The man was brought before the Pharisees, apparently because what Jesus had done required the man to do work on the Sabbath, which it was.  By the way, it wasn’t necessarily Saturday.  The last day of the Feast of Tabernacles was a Sabbath, as was the day following.  Nevertheless, a debate ensued.  The Pharisees said that this “Man” was not from God because He violated Sabbath rules.  But others asked, if He is such a sinner how could He do the signs (miracles) that He did?  The debate continued.  But as for the man who had been blind, having heard the debate, he realized this “Man” must be a special sort of person.  “He is a prophet!” 

·       9:18-34: Jesus must be from God.  What followed was, essentially, a formal inquisition by the Jews, the leadership, on the matter.

o   9:18-23: First, the Jews took the position that the man had not really been blind.  So, they called in his parents, asking how he could now see if he had really been blind.  Their answer was true, although they were also trying to protect themselves from the authorities.  They knew he was their son and that he had been blind.  They had not been around when the healing took place.

o   9:24-34: Then they turned again to the man for questioning, and the man was anything but “protective” of himself.  The Pharisees even crafted a question, designed to bring some sort of explanation from the man that would give them a narrative by which they could spin the story to fit their position: “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.”  The man’s answer was as clear a testimony as you can give, which we will consider in our next post.

Take a moment to consider your approach to Jesus.  Are you wanting to define Him in a way that fits your desired outcome?  Or are you allowing the Bible to define Jesus and bring you to God’s desired outcome?

Friday, March 22, 2024

John 9:1-7, Joy From the Wells of Salvation

Jesus was hiding Himself from those who were intent on stoning Him to death.  But as He hurried out of the temple area, He saw a man who was blind from birth.  Probably he was sitting, begging, near one of the entrances into the temple area (a good place for beggars given the high traffic, especially during Feast time). 

The story begins with a conversation, instigated by Jesus’ disciples: who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?  As we said, they were in a hurry, but during a feast, “hurry” was a relative term as the temple area would have been quite crowded.  The crowds provided some cover as they sought to escape the stone-throwers.  But still, they were in a hurry, intent on finding a place to hide. 

Yet, both Jesus and His disciples noticed the man.  The question of the disciples turns on his being blind “from birth,” and is built on the assumption that our maladies are always someone’s fault.  Since he was born blind, it’s an open question: was it the parent’s fault or the man’s fault, for some sin the Creator knew he was going to commit and who therefore could be punished in advance?

Jesus’ answer shows the fallacy of this kind of thinking.  Sure, sometimes our problems are self-created by foolish or sinful actions.  But that is not the bottom-line assumption.  We would be much more accurate if we assumed that our trials provided an opportunity to glorify God. 

Having said that, we must also recognize that Jesus knew this situation to be of special importance to the purpose of His Father in sending Him to earth.  Even though they are intent on escaping a mob, Jesus knew He could not bypass this opportunity to do “the works of Him who sent Me.”

Jesus did not take the time to ask the man if He wanted to be healed, as He had done previously (Jn. 5:6).  He also did not just say, “Be healed!”  Instead, He spit on the ground and made some mud, put it on the man’s eyes, and sent him to the Pool of Siloam to wash it off. 

Why did Jesus do this?  I don’t think there’s any doubt but that His actions were meant to connect with the traditional daily “water ceremony” at the temple during Tabernacles (cf. post on March 11, 2024, second to the last paragraph).  If the purpose of the daily ceremony was to acknowledge Isa.12:3, Therefore with joy you will draw water, from the wells of salvation, Jesus’ use of the Pool of Siloam was a statement that the joy of salvation the Jewish people hoped for was here now! 

The Pool of Siloam has only recently been discovered in Jerusalem, by accident when city workers were working in the area.  It should be a powerful statement today, for the Jewish people and everyone of the validity of Jesus’ offer of salvation to all who believe in Him.