CommentsNEW
Commentaries (any words in reg. print are from the Bible)...
What was, is & is to come
We've seen several instances of Jesus performing "works" specifically on the Sabbath & several in which the Sabbath ia not mentioned (e.g., see Capernaum1 B.2. vs. B.4. & PerMtMkLk1 A.6.). This was Jesus appealing to both the hard-core Jews & the crowd-- a climate similar to today's Christian & non-Christian society. But looking ahead:
- we have Colo 2:16-17 (what was), do not let anyone judge you with regard to a religious festival or a Sabbath day-- these were a shadow of things to come;
- we have Hebr 4:1 (what is), the promise of entering His rest still stands-- having been freed from the shadow, we yet gather together corporately to rejoice in the promise, to experience the Holy Spirit in our midst (not just in our hearts 24-7);
- we have Hebr 4:9 (what is to come), There remains, then the actual entering of a Sabbath-rest-- & v. 9 says, make every effort to enter that rest (all shall enter Heaven-- strange that their works shall follow them means that the degree of working-for-him now determines the depth-of-rest then).
What Jesus did for me!
- Having been placed in a foster home when I was 3 mos. old;
- having essentially started from ground zero in 3rd grade when my teacher determined I needed glasses (so that I was no longer just stuck in the back of the room & assumed to be mentally retarded);
- having climbed from ground zero rather quickly (considering that ground-zero was in 3rd grade), so that I was pretty much on top of things academically & athletically into college;
- having been reduced to... well, sub-zero in college when I was mugged & in a coma, followed by PT & OT to learn how to feed myself, walk, talk, clothe myself, etc., etc.;
- having had to deal with double vision & short-term memory issues these 40 yrs. since-- all that, & I'm far above being a basket case.
All that made me maybe below 98% of all Americans. But then I don't need any more fingers & toes to count the days I've been disease-sick my entire life; & I've been able get & hold full-time jobs; etc., etc.-- that puts me above maybe 98% (for 1, I've come to realize I'm extremely thick-skinned about criticism & remaining persevering)...
But this is hardly about me-- true, none of those "bad" things resulted from sin I did. Point is, God intervened when I was in college, to keep me from becoming how I would have become (the upward spiral-- already I had the attitude of being cock-of-the-walk). Not that I never sinned; not that I haven't seized the privilege of confessing sin once I became a Christian. Sure I learned obedience by the things which I suffered AND by repeated confessed/forgiven sin-- but Jesus learned obedience by the things which He suffered. Period! He knew no sin.
"It's amazing!" Sure I bore the weight of sins off-n-on now for 60 years-- but Jesus bore the sins of the entire world, all in the slightly more than 1 yr. of his ministry (see page Ministry Itin'ry from the list in the left column).
Just 1 more thing; there you will see the idea that 1 of the feasts he went to in Jerusalem was the optional Feast of Lights (Dec. 25th):
In Isa 42:6 God declared via the prophet (addressing Jesus), I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness; I will take hold of Your hand. I will keep You & will make You to be a covenant for the people & a light for the Gentiles,
And in Isa 49:6, It is too small a thing for You to be MY Servant to restore the tribes of Jacob & bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make You a light for the Gentiles, that You may bring MY Salvation to the ends of the earth.
Revival; Adoption
This commentary appears to be about 2 subjects, but really I'll deal with the 1st subject quickly-- by saying that I decided to delete the commentary I had written earlier about revival, in which I appeared to be pre-criticizing my church when I said that if there is no membership growth from the revival just about to start in my church, there was in fact no revival!
I went to another church's revival, and in the 1st 10 seconds the record was set straight-- the emphasis on the word re-vival is not on "vival" (fellowship), but on "re" (more). I.e., revival = more fellowship. I doubt any of them knew me, let alone what I had written-- likely that was just to preclude discouragement in their own church. But I don't want to be guilty of discouraging my church!
But about adoption: I've been maintaining (in large part because of agreement from others) that we are not yet adopted (but due more to my old understanding of Romans 8:23, that we're waiting for adoption-- physical redemption). Actually, I've already covered this (see PSALM 74 Roma). The short of it is that I decided it's much more logical to consider ourselves spiritually adopted than to consider us foster. The tradition (at least in most states) is that 1 remains foster (with his original name) until the natural parents sign over their rights-as-parents, at which time the name is changed to the adoptive parents' name. Compounding this was those places in Reve in which it is said that overcomers will get a new name.
But then I got to thinking: could it possibly be that God must get "permission" from Satan to redeem us physically-- when he had no such need in order to redeem us spiritually. And then I discovered that not only would overcomers get a white stone & a new name, but Jesus himself will get a new name-- see PSALM 102 Reve<1>&<2>. You might also want to check out PSALM 24 Beatitudes7.
Hope
It is curious that I opened up the paper today, & there were 2 huge messages about hope: 1, about the the damage done locally, by a recent tornado to a community here in AR (Mena); 2, about the ongoing struggles nationally, due to the economy (jobs, homes, etc.). In light of a commentary I wrote recently (see Apology to Roman Catholics below), it's even more curious that both of them were inspired by Catholics (the opening-of-doors by the Catholic Church in Mena, & an Easter message by the Pope).
But even more curious than that is, I just commented about 1stPet 3:21 (see PSALM 138 Prior to Jesus' Mission John..., per Luke) this way (1st quoting Luke 3:3): He [John the Baptist] went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins [just hoping for a connectection w/ God (hoping for hope)]. There was no possible response-of-oath to God (the oath did not exist); whereas today, due to Jesus' shed blood, per 1stPet 3:21 we can make a pledge (answer/response) of a good conscience to GOD in response to his invitation. See Heb 7 (esp'ly v. 28). We have hope! We can produce fruit!