Posted on 04/17/2014 11:35:37 AM PDT by SkyPilot
U2 frontman Bono talks about his faith and answers the question "Who is Jesus?" in the video below. Click play to watch.
Link Here with Video (2 mins 46 secs)
(Excerpt) Read more at charismanews.com ...
That must’ve been one of her posts that I missed reading as I was into my enjoyable Resurrection Sunday activities.
You did well. You tried your best and made many valid points with references, as many others did. Your sharing about the Spirit was a blessing to read.
Perhaps it won’t be a total waste of us trying to be good stewards of our time. We can pray so.
He is Risen. He is Risen Indeed!
Joel 2:
[32] And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of YHVH shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom YHVH shall call.
For something this important, these are not minor details. This the most important element of the whole thing.
For two such busy ladies, you seem to have enough time to congratulate yourselves and validate each other’s spiritual superiority. But that’s okay... it’s nice to see you take a little time out for yourselves.
What a beautiful post! Thank you, Caww.
I read it aloud with my husband sitting beside me. It gave me chills of joy. GOD BLESS YOU!
......”Jesus could not make them understand, God could not make them understand...”.....
But HE did in fact do so....there was much work to do within their minds over the mere three years he was with them...have you ever attempted to speak with someone who has very defined religious beliefs? Try to tell them you are God on first meeting and you’re done right then and there.
He had to help them understand that all the laws and prophets, they were already familiar with, pointed directly to Him as the one written of....He was there, He had arrived just as it was written HE would.....while at the same time introducing to them that he was going to be murdered by their religious leaders and not go out as the Warrior King they believed he should be...... Amidst all this HE had to “Prove” what he was saying about himself by his actions, and by the miracles he would perform to support what HE said.
How long would it be before you’d call it rubbish if it was taught in short order?... What about their attention span...not to mention the daily work of maintaining the motley crew.
(I think Universities determined a 4 yr. degree because the first year students are learning how to go to college! They don’t understand it’s “different” than high school. You have to think...you have to process the entire setting and the system your now in)
Many of Jesus’s diciples dropped what they were doing and went with Him...from fishermen to tax collectors, even thieves and began a journey they hadn’t a clue where they were going or why...figure that one!..But they did go...so what was it about the man that could so attract them?
So you get the picture I think....Jesus never forced anything on them...but wanted them to “come along” til that place they ‘knew who he was’, ....not just about Him.
Bless your little pea-pickin’ heart, Darlin’.
Yes. Hold on. Let's pause a minute... which prophecies would have helped them recognize him as "the one written of?"
He was there, He had arrived just as it was written HE would...
Yes! Yes, that's right. Just as it was written. And it was written in ways they could understand, right? Such as... what? What prophecies helped them to understand who he was?
Many of Jesus’s diciples dropped what they were doing and went with Him...from fishermen to tax collectors, even thieves and began a journey they hadn’t a clue where they were going or why...figure that one!..But they did go...so what was it about the man that could so attract them?
Yes, that's what I'd like us to figure out, to agree on before we go any further. Why did they follow him? What attributes did he have that convinced them that he was the Messiah? I mean, the Messiah as they originally expected him to be?
It’s always wonderful to share and affirm another’s Christian faith and witnessing. And to also share in the burden and sorrow of an apparent failure...one with a terrible Eternal cost.
I’m not giving up on you though Lady, perhaps God is still at work with you. I will pray that it be so.
Yes, I am willing to agree that there were some who understood what the scriptures had to say and what/Who to look for.
You seem to believe Jesus was not raised from the dead and therefore that the tomb was not empty. But let’s try a brief thought experiment. Initially (to get started), this brief hypothetical will require more from your heart than from your mind:
If the tomb were in fact empty, what evidence would necessarily be different from the evidence currently available?
1. Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem —Micah 5:2
4. Messiah was to enter Jerusalem in triumph — Zech 9:9(Yes, this one looks good. Especially as two verses before it, it says that he will be governor, and two verses after it suggests he will negotiate peace treaties with "heathens."
18. Messiah is now at God’s right Hand — Psalm 110:1(Kind of. They believed that Israel's king would be blessed.)
Before we go any further, do you understand why I have separated out these 3?
Understood them as YOU understand them? Who? Which disciples understood it before the crucifixion?
I meant I was not giving up on the power of God to soften your heart for the Good News of Jesus Christ.
But you knew that.
I'm not really interested in "using my heart" to understand historical events.
Don’t be afraid. Just look at those 3 and tell me if you can see how they are different from the others.
None of what you list would necessarily be different.
Remember, in those days a historian or anyone else would be risking his and his family’s life if he were to write anything giving credibility to the teaching of the apostles.
Pilate was a company man—a yes man to the emperor. He wanted nothing to do with controversy, and he was afraid of the Jewish leaders.
No duh!....of course they were expecting a military messiah; no one is denying that....Until Acts chapter 2...when the Holy spirit fell upon the disciples, when the Living word of God empowered them to preach, teach, heal and Old Testament prophecies were revealed to them in a way God always had intended for his word to be interpreted....thru the Lens of Jesus Christ, God in Flesh, died and raised again. At the time of Jesus birth we know of at least 4 folks that really got it...Mary, Joseph, Simeon and the prophetess Anna.
from Luke 2: And when the days of her purification according to the Law of Moses were accomplished, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord
23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord: “Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”),
24 and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord: “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for Him after the custom of the law,
28 then he took Him up in his arms, and blessed God and said,
29 “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word;
30 for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation,
31 which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people,
32 a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.”
33 And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him.
34 And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against
35 (yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was of great age and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity,
37 and she was a widow of about fourscore and four years. She departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
38 And she, coming in that instant, gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
Job knew Christ as his redeemer who would resurrect him, a millennia or so before Christ came upon the scene:Job 19:25 As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. 26”Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; 27Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another.
Finally: several passages from Isaiah...cross reference them with the prophecy of Simeon...and tell me again there weren’t folks who didn’t know Christ’s real mission at least in part...despite the common conception of that day of a military messiah. Note the mention of God’s light being offered to GENTILE NATIONS,!
Isaiah 9:2
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
Isaiah 11:10
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
Isaiah 42:6
“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles,
Isaiah 49:6
he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
John 3:16-17:”For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17”For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.…
Cross reference the above verses with John 3:16-17. By the way he was speaking to Nicodemus, one of the priests who also realized that Jesus was not the military Messiah...but one who wanted to make other sons of God...out of the whole world if it were possible!
You make a snarky issue of Christ not asserting himself as the son of God, when asked but in fact the record we have says he did on multiple occaisions. With Pilate, he simply said that he had a Kingdom not of this world, and that those who had delivered him to Pilate had the greater sin.
You see this as being of great significance that Christ didn’t say...I’m God in flesh (and your really gonna get it), but yet the record indicates mentioning a Kingdom not of this world was enough to upset Pilate. Magistrates deal with all kinds of people who claim they are God or Devils and tend to think they are crazy or lunatics...they will treat them leniently and put them on public record as being mad. Christ being on the mission to die so that men would live, couldn’t afford to get caught up into a legal argument questioning his sanity.
From what we know of Pilate from the secular scraps of history available to us and the biblical accounts, he washed his hands of the matter, released Barabbas, and sent Jesus to his death. The Chief priests reminded Pilate that anyone claiming to have a Kingdom would be an affront to Rome, and there, I believe Pilate saw his way out of the mess.
Pilate was already under some criticism regarding his offending the religious sensibilities of the Jews and the historic record says he was later recalled to Rome to answer for his brutality in putting down a Samaritan uprising.
I believe Pilate hated being made a catspaw to snare an innocent man and have him killed which is why he had inscribed in HEBREW, GREEK, an LATIN...Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews. Interesting that it wasn’t Aramaic, but Hebrew; and since Hebrew was the language spoken in the Temple, Pilate really must have wanted to embarrass the Chief priests deeply and make it sting!
I use several versions in my study....but you do have to be careful not to miss the point of the conversation by getting caught up in verbage too much...I prefer the International Version of the Bible for it’s a translation not a pharaphrase....and in todays language rather than old English as the King James...but lets not get sidetracked into versions...that is BTW a distraction.
I did however explain why Jesus didn’t say a word Piolet then....Christ had already answered him in their conversation prior. Did you expect Jesus would browbeat him?
You’re rather flitting between occasions...of when Jesus was asked who he was.....I thought you wanted to stay at the time he was in front of Piolet....which actually is wise because things get overlapped and the confusion you are now having.
Only because they were seen as the followers of a fake prophet. Had he really been risen, all he'd have to do is appear before that High Priest, and Pontias Pilate, and that would have been it. They would all be vindicated.
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