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LUKE CHAPTERS 23 & 24 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel See previous page Lk 23,1-5 (18ca) Sin >> False Judgment lacks evidence >> Charges not defined as crimes >> Persecuting the body of Christ -- These verses go with verses 20-25. Stirring up the people with teachings previously unheard were the same accusations that the enemies of Paul spoke against him to the magistrates of his time, knowing that the rulers wanted peace throughout their kingdoms above all other concerns. These were excuses they perpetrated against Paul, having him examined under a whip and thrown in prison without formal charges filed against him on numerous occasions, and they had Jesus crucified using the same fraudulent methods. Why did the enemies of Jesus charge Him with this particular "crime" of being a troublemaker? Jesus didn’t cause trouble for Pilate, but He did cause trouble for the religious leaders of Israel, and they tried to use this to convince Pilate that Jesus would eventually challenge Pilate's ability to maintain law and order within his jurisdiction, but Pilate wasn’t buying it. Pilate didn’t want to get involved in their petty religious tussles; instead, He wanted to know what Roman laws he had broken and what crimes He had committed. The goal of these religious hypocrites was to make their problem relevant to the governor, but they never succeeded in this; instead, they had Jesus crucified by stirring up the crowd and challenging Pilate's ability to maintain law and order, the very accusation they held against Jesus. (75k) Thy kingdom come >> Motives >> Jealously manipulating people -- These verses go with verses 18-25 Lk 23,1-4 (178k) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Hypocrisy >> Jesus rebukes the Pharisees >> Rebuked for accusing Jesus of Sin – It was a boldfaced lie when the high priest accused Jesus of instructing the people not to pay taxes to Caesar; in fact, Jesus said just the opposite in Mat 22-21, “Then he said to them, ‘Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.’” His answer was short and sweet and to the point, denoting a finality to His interest in discussing politics. Lk 23-1,2 (23d) Sin >> Pride wants to be first – What was the greatest motivation for these people to hand over their own Messiah to be crucified? Most people would say it was money, and that would be a good answer, but there is something even more valuable than money to the sinful nature of man, and that is pride. Jesus publicly humiliated the Pharisees on numerous occasions, but instead of competing against Him for the hearts of the people, they sought to eliminate Him to protect their egos, who were invested in the business of religion. In this way, pride was tied to their love of money. Jesus said in Mat 23,5-7, “Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them `Rabbi.” These are things that money can’t buy, the perks that go along with being wealthy notables. They would have had Jesus crucified for the sake of money alone, but pride explains the violence by which He was so brutally murdered. The anger and rage that these people held against the Lord, money simply could not fully explain. The sinful nature is about greed, lust and pride, but that list is actually backwards. Pride is primary, and let money and lust battle for second place. The reason money seems primary is that it holds the key that unlocks the other two, but that doesn’t mean its more important. Everybody values their pride above their wallets, being the very center of man’s heart, and the prime motivator of the sinful nature. Without pride, man would not covet his money; without pride people would be content with enough, but pride is what pushes people to want more, so they can lord themselves over those with less. They can never have enough because it affords them prestige and makes them automatically popular. These are things that money can’t buy, but neither are they accessible without money. However, there are wealthy misers who are not the least-bit interested in popularity, suggesting that possessing of money does not make one popular, but the spending of it. (164i) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is at enmity with God >> The world hates God – None of these accusations were correct, except that Jesus was Christ the King. The religious leaders who delivered Jesus to the Romans for crucifixion were actually waiting for this man to appear as their Messiah, and when He finally came, they had Him crucified. (177h) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >> Misunderstanding Jesus (182b) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Self deception >> Believing you know God when you don’t Lk 23-2,3 (17i) Sin >> Unrighteous judgment >> Ignorance >> Speaking truth without knowing it KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 23-3 (54f) Paradox >> Opposites >> A few words shy of the kingdom – Pilate’s only concern was, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus answered him, “It is as you say.” Essentially Jesus told him, ‘I choose not to hear the question you just asked Me, but prefer to hear your statement of faith by transposing two words, “Are you…?” to ‘You are…!’ Had Pilate said these two words in reverse, Jesus no doubt would have said what He said to the scribe in Mk 12-34, “You are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven.” (85a) Thy kingdom come >> Your words can lead to your own demise >> They will keep you out of heaven Lk 23,4-12 (16g) Sin >> Man’s willingness to be evil >> Instinctively acting against righteousness – The fact that they dressed Jesus in a gorgeous robe and weaved a crown of thorns for His head and used a reed to beat it into His scalp, as stated in other versions of the gospel, reflecting the emotional state of the Jews regarding Him, reflected also the contemptible malevolence of mankind in general, going all the way back to Adam. Wasn’t that the level of violence Adam used when He disrespected God’s command not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? How they treated Jesus defined the very height of sin. Man's reaction to Jesus was a manifestation of what sin does to God; it treats Him with contempt. Lk 23-4 (27c) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Condoning evil can bring a curse on your life -- This verse goes with verses 13-25 (155d) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Witness of the believer >> Conscience >> An evil conscience keeps us from believing God >> Knowledge of evil testifies against our deeds -- This verse goes with verses 13-25 Lk 23-5 (179e) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Stir up the crowd >> Stir up the crowd for a godly motive Lk 23,8-12 (184b) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Darkness >> Hiding behind your own imagination >> Hiding behind a false authority – Herod thought He was being terribly disrespectful that Jesus refused to answer any of his questions or even speak to him, but there was something that Herod didn’t understand; he too was standing in the presence of royalty. He was in the presence of a king far superior to his own majesty, and for Jesus to answer His questions would have lowered Himself. Herod and Pilate lorded themselves over Him for the moment, but once that moment had past, they would never hold authority over Him again, nor would anyone, except His Father. Their authority over Him was actually granted by His Father (Jn 19-11). Lk 23-8,9 (222g) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Do not give what is holy to dogs >> God shares no intimacy with dogs >> God does not speak to dogs – Why do you suppose Jesus did not answer Herod? What was He supposed to say to Him? Herod wanted to see a magic trick, but God did not send His Son to entertain mankind but to save them from their sins. God had Jesus perform miracles before the people to give occasion to believe in the gospel and be saved, but Herod would not be saved no matter what rabbit Jesus pulled out of a hat. Herod wanted Jesus to be his court jester, and he would have locked Him in prison and pulled Him out at banquets and parties where he would have invited all his friends to watch his latest form of entertainment, charging an exorbitant entrance fee. Eventually, Herod would have tired of Him and dispose Him in any of a hundred ways. (241c) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Obstacles in the way of the kingdom >> Ask but don’t receive >> Asking with wrong motives Lk 23-12 (65f) Satan Brings Unity (Key verse) (65g) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Satan unites the world for the cause of persecution – These two kings found common ground with each other and became friends on that very day, who before Christ were at enmity with each other. Ultimately Pilate condemned the Lord to the cross, yet ironically he had the lesser sin compared to Herod and the Jews. Jesus was in Pilate’s jurisdiction and was forced to decide against Him, whereas Herod the heathen sought joyfully to make sport of Him. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 23,13-25 (27c) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Condoning evil can bring a curse on your life -- Th ese verses go with verse 4. Pilate found no guilt in Christ and wanted to release him, but the Jews threatened a riot if he did, which would have gone on his record opening the possibility that Caesar would have deemed him unfit to rule. He literally washed his hands of Christ in front of the people, as though he could remove the stain of sentencing an innocent man to crucifixion, certainly not in the eyes of God. Pilate was unscrupulous, evidenced by becoming friends with Herod, who treated the Lord with contempt; they found something in common with each other that day; both were willing to sacrifice Jesus for their careers as governor of their respective provinces. Pilate said, “I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him… I will therefore chastise Him and release Him” (v22). If Pilate found no guilt in Jesus, then why would he punish Him? This is an affront to everything that is just and right, though he was trying to keep from murdering the man, thinking that if he flogged Him it would suffice the Jews. This is what man has done throughout the ages: punish the innocent. Had Pilate been a just man, He would have given His own life for Jesus, but that would have gone against the predetermined plan of God. He wasn’t willing to sacrifice His own life for anybody; He wasn’t even aware at the time that Jesus was the Son of God. Even if He did know this for certain, He probably still would have sent Him to the cross, because he was an unbeliever. (155d) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Witness of the believer >> Conscience >> An evil conscience keeps us from believing God >> Knowledge of evil testifies against our deeds -- These verses go with verse 34. Lk 23,17-25 (37a) Judgment >> The cross >> God judged the sin of the world through Christ -- These verses go with verses 39-43. Barabbas represented the scapegoat as mentioned in Leviticus 16,8-10, “Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the LORD's lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness.” For them to release Barabbas was to excuse themselves for their sin, in that Barabbas represents all of mankind. We have been caught red handed, proclaimed as sinners by God Himself, so it stands to reason according to the carnal logic of sinful flesh in rebellion against God to release a sinner and crucify the Son of God. None of us are any better than the Jews who had Jesus crucified. Lk 23,18-25 (75k) Thy kingdom come >> Motives >> Jealously manipulating people -- These verses go with verses 1-5 (168c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Do not conform to the world >> Do not conform to the world’s rejection of God -- These verses go with verses 35-43. The people who cried for Jesus’ blood didn’t hate Him at all. In fact, most of them knew someone who was healed by His hand. He walked their streets and preached the gospel to them, yet they cried for His blood, why? The religious establishment stirred up the people, and they abandoned all reason; they just went with the crowd chanting, ‘Crucify, crucify Him.’ They wanted to conform to whatever was happening, just like when Jesus happened down their streets, they wanted to be part of that too. Now it was the Pharisees’ turn, and so the people joined their cause. They didn’t have anything against the Lord; they just wanted to fit-in. This crowd-mentality, the innate pressure to conform, was the cause of Nazism, the Second World War, the Holocaust and millions of people slaughtered for reasons nobody understands to this day. We would think conformity refers to the most evil of all evils, but it always abandons reason, whereas true evil exists in the mind. That is, the knowledge of sin is what makes sin utterly sinful, according to Rom 7-13, the Law increased sin, which effected “my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.” The knowledge of sin has this effect. Had God never told Adam and Eve about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, it would not have been evil for them to eat its fruit. The knowledge of evil defined their sin when they ate from the tree, but crowd-mentality doesn’t think what it is doing; it just follows the crowd. Therefore, to the general population of Israel crucifying Jesus was not their great sin; instead, it came later in rejecting the gospel of salvation through the blood of Christ. See also: Adam's knowledge of evil; Act 3,17-19; 175j KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 23,20-25 (18ca) Sin >> False Judgment lacks evidence >> Charges not defined as crimes >> Persecuting the body of Christ (179d) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Stir up the crowd >> Stir up the crowd through jealousy Lk 23-26 (14m) Servant >> Ministry of helps >> Helpers fill in the gaps >> They are always there when you need them – Some say that Simon of Cyrene was the father of the sons of thunder: James and John but that Simon their father was not a believer. Maybe he came into his faith later when Peter preached the gospel, but that is pure conjecture, especially since he was a wealthy man. Some of the greatest Christians in the world have immediate family members who didn’t believe in God. The Bible says that if we believe in the gospel we shall be saved, “You and your household” (Act 16-31), but Paul was talking about the man of the house. If the husband believes in God, generally His family will follow him in his faith. Lk 23,27-31 (3a) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> Get out of His way >> Do not seek your own righteousness – These were professional mourners who mourned at funerals and other occasions for a living. With what little strength that remained in Him, Jesus confronted them on His way to being crucified and exposed the hypocrisy of their hollow cries. He spoke as though these things would happen to them, but in reality was speaking about a time that would come in the last days, as though to ignore the 2000 years that lay between Him and the time this prophecy would be fulfilled, illustrating the fact that God lives outside the realm of time. (49i) Judgment >> Judgment day >> He will come like a thief in the night – Jesus was prophesying about endtimes that God will come like a thief in the night, similar to Jesus' crucifixion must have seemed to the disciples. One day they were communing with Him; the next day He was being led to slaughter, just like in AD 70 when the Romans came and took away their place and their nation. What happened to Jerusalem in AD 70 was a microcosm of what will happen again in the last days. The Jews regained sovereignty of their nation in 1948 and have been repopulating their homeland ever since, but a day is coming when Jesus words will be fulfilled again and the Jews will be forced to evacuate Jerusalem at a moment’s notice. Someone is coming to take Jerusalem hostage; the antichrist. This is the reason all the nations of the world will come against Jerusalem in attempt to destroy the Holy City in the advent of Armageddon. It would be better if they didn’t have children in those days, for they will slow down the parents in their quick departure, for if anyone gets caught within its borders, they will be killed. Mk 13-18 also says, “Pray that this will not take place in winter.” Jesus is not telling the Jews to pray for God to be gracious and let this happen in springtime, but suggests that it will happen all over the world at various stages of the seasons, meaning that Jerusalem is a microcosm of a worldwide siege that will happen in the last days. When Jesus quoted the Old Testament saying, “…to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us,’” He was referring to the wrath of the lamb, quoted again in Rev 6-16, which according to the sequence of endtime events falls at the end of the seals of Satan’s wrath. They will say this after the world has committed horrendous atrocities against the Lord’s anointed, and God will send forth an earthquake marking the beginning of His Trumpet judgments on an unbelieving world for martyring His saints and for rejecting the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (159e) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit >> Counterfeit godliness >> Counterfeit repentance (173k) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Man’s Religion >> Deeds that are not initiated by God >> Traditions of men Lk 23,33-38 (244j) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Literal manifestation of God’s word >> His cross is the manifestation of truth – The sin of Lucifer was that he wanted to be like God, but in order to achieve his goal He first had to usurp the throne of God, meaning that if he could, he would have killed God. Apparently, the same is true with impenitent man. Lucifer didn’t have much of a plan, though he assembled a band of angels and made an attempt on the throne, but he was cast from heaven to the earth. When Jesus came in the weakness of human flesh, Satan saw His vulnerability and an opportunity to murder Him, which he foolishly perceived would give him access to the throne, though he had no idea what to do with the Father. Somewhere in Satan’s wicked, little heart he knew that murdering the Son of God would effect his own downfall, because he knew that Jesus had never sinned, so His death was illegal in terms of the Law of Sin and Death, which requires sin to be the cause of death, but he denied these facts and had Him murdered anyway. Of all the traits the Pharisees had in common with the devil, the fact that they could not personally and legally murder Christ was probably the most significant; instead, they had the Romans do it for them, just like the devil used man. Obviously the resurrection of Jesus Christ canceled His death, but it also canceled the power of sin for every person who would believe in Him for eternal life. Once Jesus uttered these words on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing,” there can be no sin that God cannot forgive, except rejecting His blood sacrifice for the redemption of man. If we reject the sacrifice of God's Son, we are rejecting the basis of God's forgiveness. See also: Satan wants to be God; he wants His throne; Mk 16-19,20; 67d KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 23-34 (31l) Gift of God >> Gift of His grace >> Forgiveness is a function of God’s grace – “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” encapsulates the opposite meaning of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Yet, keep in mind that God was able to forgive the apostle Paul, and he was a murderer of Christians. (120g) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Forgiveness >> Forgiveness is an act of mercy >> We have forgiveness through the blood of Christ (155d) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Witness of the believer >> Conscience >> An evil conscience keeps us from believing God >> Knowledge of evil testifies against our deeds -- This verse goes with verse 4. The passage in Heb 9-7 that speaks of “sins committed in ignorance,” implies a type of knowledge that is absent from the act of hanging Jesus on a cross in full knowledge that He was the Son of God, which was the sin of the Pharisees and chief priests. God has placed us all between a rock and a hard spot in that without believing in Jesus Christ as Savior of the world, we cannot be saved, but by faith in Him we are obligated to walk according to that faith. The Old Testament example of God leading the sons of Israel from Egypt to the promise land were days when God filled the nation with His presence, enforcing the laws to the letter. Anyone dishonoring God by breaking His laws was immediately killed, because they were sinning in the very presence of God. After Israel was settled in the promise land, they forsook the Lord, and it says that all the people acted more treacherously than the nations they subverted, yet in the days of Joshua it only took one man to bring Israel to its knees by violating the ban (Joshua 7,10-26). Also look at Ananias and Sapphira in Act 5,1-11. God was very close in the beginning days of the early church, and those who sinned back then were sinning in the very presence of God. Compare that with the Church today in apostasy; God acts differently with His people based on His closeness to them. The sin of Adam and Eve was also committed in full knowledge. Therefore, the closer we get to God, the greater our knowledge and the more sinful our sin, but the more distant we are from Him, the less sinful. This may be partly the reason people resist a closer relationship with God, but resisting faith in Jesus is itself a very grievous sin, so on the one hand we have those who refuse to know God, which is sin, and on the other hand we have those who know God, which increases the violation of their transgressions. Either way we are equally sinners in the eyes of God. What breaks the tie is that there are no promises and no blessings and no benefits to resisting faith in Jesus Christ. To the degree that we are committed to knowing God is the degree to which we should be committed against sin in order that we might be free. For this reason God will not even show Himself to those who are in bondage to sin, because they would go on sinning in the presence of God and destroy themselves. (186a) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Unwilling to obey the revelation from heaven >> Unwilling to walk in God’s ability– This statement, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” is the message of the cross, and note that it implies an absence of knowledge. He said “They know not what they do,” meaning that the cross is capable of forgiving sins committed in ignorance, but not sins committed in full knowledge of the truth. This refers to blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the unpardonable sin. The cross is ill-equipped to forgive this sin in that it undermines the very foundation of God’s forgiveness, which is faith. That is, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the spirit of unbelief. Case in point, the barbaric Roman soldiers who physically hung Jesus on the cross, though they were evil beyond compare, they were actually unaware that He was the Son of God. They were the specific people whom Jesus had in mind when He spoke these words, but the Pharisees who knew full-well that He was the Son of God, whose sin is therefore a glaring example of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, were incapable of being saved (Mat 23-33). Lk 23,35-43 (168c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Do not conform to the world >> Do not conform to the world’s rejection of God -- These verses go with verses 18-25. They were saying, ‘If you perform a miracle now, we will believe in you.’ Why didn’t they believe in Him after the previous 50,000 miracles? What would one more do to make them believe? They mocked Him on the cross, which said more to prove they did not believe, and their unbelief revealed how far they were from God. There are many in our own generation who have this same mental framework hardwired into their brains. Jesus went to the cross in hope that God would save a people for His own possession through Him, not the people who would mock Him, but those who would believe in Him for eternal life. (221h) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Kingdom hidden behind the veil from the world >> God hides his divinity from man’s corruption >> He hides behind the veil Lk 23,35-39 (168g) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world listens to itself >> The world speaks it’s own language (201c) Denying Christ >> Whoever is not with Jesus is against him >> You are against Christ when your unbelief materializes >> If your heart is not with Him your deeds are against Him Lk 23,35-38 (156j) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of salvation >> You will know them by their words (242g) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Worldly pressure >> World pressures you to forsake God – Pilate was under a lot of pressure from the people; he would have been charged with a riot had he not given them what they wanted. Pilate could have sacrificed his fame, his position and authority as governor for the belief that Jesus was the Son of God, but doing so would have allowed a riot to form to keep Jesus from being unjustly crucified, and there probably would have been more deaths as a result of the riot. It would have been a lose-lose proposition to go any other direction, for not even God would have gotten His way. It was useless, Pilate had to go with the flow; there was nothing else he could do, but he did write this inscription and placed it over Jesus’ head; people told him to take it down, but he was adamant about its wording. Lk 23,35-37 (19i) Sin >> Hardened heart will twist your mind – Prior to this day, Jesus walked among the people for years and spoke the word of God to anybody who would listen, and He performed countless miracles in the eyes of many who witnessed His crucifixion. Everyone had the opportunity during His 3½-year ministry to come to the realization that His only desire was to love the people and show them the way to God, so to hang Him on the cross was the height of human depravity. Therefore, the cross proves that if God allowed degenerate man into His heaven, he would eventually organize an effort to usurp His throne, just as Lucifer tried to do, being the reason God has one hell for both man and demon. Once they nailed Him to a cross, they had the audacity to dare Him to use God’s power to save Himself from encroaching death. Of course they were incognizant of the fact that they were fulfilling God’s predetermined plan. At the same time they were revealing the full scale of human depravity, that those who would nail the Son of God to a cross simply don't belong in heaven. Therefore, the cross of Christ represents both the grace of God to those who receive Him and the legitimacy of eternal damnation to those who reject Him. God had no choice but to create a hell and throw unbelieving man into it after the crucifixion of Christ. God could blink out of existence those who refuse to worship Him, but then they would no longer be an eternal soul made in His image, and God refuses to allow man’s insolence to dictate what kind of creation He should make. Then they say, ‘Maybe God should not have made man in the first place.’ Now they are telling God what He can make and what He can't make. Just like they have the attitude that what they do is none of His business, so what He does is none of their business. See also: Cross (Jesus' flesh was shredded with a cat-o-nine-tails); Mat 20-28; 209i KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 23,39-47 (37a) Judgment >> The cross >> God judged the sin of the world through Christ – A common criminal made one of the most amazing statements in the Bible, “This man has done nothing wrong.” He probably meant that Jesus didn’t do anything to warrant crucifixion, but he may have known a little more about what he was saying, that Jesus never did anything wrong in his whole life. Jesus feared God’s hatred of sin, knowing that He would be punished for every sin that man committed. The revelation of these things has yet to be revealed, though we know He descended into hell, as it says in Eph 4-9, “He descended into the lower parts of the earth,” and there He deposited man’s sin. Although personally free from sin, God raised Him from the dead an innocent man, rising from the grave and from hell itself. Now, everybody who believes in Jesus can receive forgiveness of sin and the promise of eternal life, but everybody who does not obey Him, his sin and unbelief is waiting for him in hell. It will infiltrate his body, mind and spirit, so the person who goes to hell will become sin, even as Jesus became sin for us (2Cor 5-21). Man's unbelief nullifies Jesus' payment for sin that He purchased on the cross with His own blood. Hell is the place where all sin is quarantined from the rest of creation. All filth and ugliness, wickedness and hatred and bitterness and godlessness dwell there. It is a putrid place of horror and condemnation, and all who reject God’s offer of eternal life will go there. (208a) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Salvation verses >> The kindness of God >> The cross – The sixth hour was noon to them, and by nightfall He was already dead, but the criminals on either side of Him were still alive, so they broke their legs to accelerate their death. They discovered that Jesus was already dead, so they made sure of it, piercing His lung and heart with a spear, and out poured blood and water, indicating that He had died from heart failure due to blood loss. He hung on the cross all afternoon. How He survived that many hours after His flogging was a miracle in itself. Lk 23,39-43 (29g) Gift of God >> God is on our side >> He stands beside us through hardship (227f) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> Depending on Jesus to have compassion >> Depending on Jesus to receive us Lk 23,39-41 (19e) Sin >> Mocking God Without a cause >> Uncontrollable circumstances – The sinner crucified next to Jesus who did not believe in Him considered his lack of faith to be a good thing, putting his stamp of approval on it just as we do regarding the things we believe. This is how the world feels about God; this wretched sinner nailed to a cross actually spit at Jesus essentially on his deathbed. What are the chances of a guy like him ever coming to know the Lord? In his most helpless situation, everything taken from him, still sees no need for God. There are people like him everywhere, who wouldn’t get saved for a million dollars. We could get them to say the sinners prayer if we paid them well enough, but we could never get their hearts to move in the Lord’s direction even if we nailed them to a cross. (40a) Judgment >> Jesus is the judge >> Jesus judges the world’s unbelief – Everyone heard about Jesus; they all knew what He proclaimed and witnessed the healings he performed and the kindness He showed the world. His kindness touched many hearts while others couldn’t care less. These two guys with contrasting beliefs represented their society as well as our own, even representing people-groups and nations that would rise in the judgment to condemn others from a lack of faith. Jesus said in Mat 12-41,42, “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.” There will be some nations that endured great travesty and loss yet continued to believe in God, while other nations enjoyed tremendous blessings from the Lord, and as a result forgot about God. (96l) Thy kingdom come >> Having a negative attitude about sin >> Having an attitude of unbelief – These two men had vastly contrasting belief systems, one believing that Jesus had never sinned while the other holding Him in contempt as just another sinner, one bearing witness against the other. They may have even been friends since childhood, having much the same nefarious lifestyle, but one had a vastly different perspective than the other. People’s point of view is ultimately revealed in their attitude about God. They might have all kinds of ideas and beliefs and theories about everything, but their attitudes and opinions about God are the main components of their lives even if they don't believe in Him. The one criminal may have believed in God his whole life but couldn't correct his way, for his statement sounded like he had been thinking about this a long time, and it also sounded angry with his friend possibly for leading him the wrong way throughout their friendship. Being crucified next to Jesus nullified the ill-effects of his unbelieving friend, since he had someone to lead him into the Kingdom of Heaven who was the very owner of it. Lk 23-39 (184k) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Abusing the grace of God >> Dragging God’s Grace Through The Mud >> Dishonoring the grace of God (186g) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> The reprobate >> Man’s role in becoming a reprobate >> After they reject God’s faith how can they believe? (202g) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Running from God >> Running from the word of God >> Running from the gospel – This is what the world thinks of people who hang on crosses, having lost all their power; they assume Jesus failed. That is the way it goes with the world; the loser gets hung on a cross. In gross contrast, Jesus hung there by the predetermined plan of God as the means by which God would forgive the world, but the criminal hanging next to Him didn’t see it that way; He saw Jesus as a loser just like Himself. He mocked Jesus with the others, knowing he would soon die. Some people have destroyed their conscience to such an extent that they are incapable of believing in Jesus to their last breath. Take the other guy hanging next to him who may well have been partners, committed crimes together, yet they were two different people. One believed in the world’s darkness, while the other sinned because he didn’t know what else to do. He didn’t like what he did or the direction of his life or where it led him; finally on the cross he saw a glimmer of light, something he had been seeking his whole life and never found; he met Jesus dying next to him. Had he met Jesus earlier, he may have become one of His followers. (223g) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Miss God >> Missing the point >> Miss the meaning of being with Jesus KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 23,40-43 (57f) Paradox >> Opposites >> To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (117f) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Rest in Jesus (Sabbath) >> Rest in His mercy – Obviously the man was not hurling abuse at the Lord with his hands because they were nailed to a cross, so he was spitting at Him and mocking Him, acting as though he were one of the crowd, but he was in fact one of the spectacles of that day. The fact that both criminals' hands were nailed in place proved that neither could do anything good or evil, yet one was pardoned and the other was condemned, proving that we are not saved by our good works. The unbelieving criminal saw life continuing as usual, so what does it take for the godless man to realize his need of Christ? Some people can deny their own mortality all the way to the bitter end, to his very last breath. He clung to his life and to his cross and to that moment as his only possession, a capricious selection of interplaying memories that he erroneously dubbed reality. Meanwhile the other man asked Jesus to remember him when He entered His kingdom. Both criminals proved that a person can be saved or condemned purely by the words of his mouth. The believing criminal was probably never baptized, and he performed no good works in His name. He only made a simple request, and his request was granted. Jd-22,23 says, “Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear-hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.” Can anyone be saved on his deathbed (or on a cross)? The Bible says yes he can! (119i) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Curse of sin is broken >> Curse of death is broken (193l) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Run to God >> Run to God in your freedom to choose righteousness (210a) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Jesus is our sacrifice >> Jesus paid the price for us >> Jesus saved from death by submitting to the cross (228e) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> Comforted >> God comforts us in our shame (229i) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Partaking >> Partaking of Jesus >> Partaking of Jesus’ suffering >> The sin nature partakes of Jesus' suffering (237l) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> The Church is transferred to the kingdom >> Transformed from death to life – Three and a half days after Jesus' death, God raised Him from the dead, so where was He in the meantime? There is much debate about what really happens at the point of death. Some say we remain in the grave sleeping until the resurrection, other say our spirit is whisked to heaven. Some debate the existence of purgatory and the meaning of Abraham’s bosom (Lk 16,19-31), while others contend whether there is a heaven at all or an afterlife, but Jesus said to His new convert, “Today, you shall be with Me in paradise.” Paul said in 2Cor 5-8 that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, which is essentially what Jesus said to His believing friend hanging next to Him. What happened to Jesus when He died? Obviously, He went to paradise, but it says in Eph 4,8-10 that He first descended into the lower parts of the earth, meaning hell. Also it says in 1Pet 3,18-20, “...He went [to hell] and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.” Then He rose from the dead and ascended to His Father in heaven. Jesus experienced hell for us all, but it doesn’t say that he actually suffered there. He went to hell to dump the sin of the whole world. After Jesus made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits, He went to a place called Abraham’s bosom and led its occupants to heaven (Eph 4,8-10). According to Jesus’ statement to the criminal crucified next to Him and other passages, the sequence goes like this: Cross -- Death -- Hell -- Resurrection -- Ascension -- Abraham’s bosom -- Heaven. That was Jesus’ route, and He is now seated at the right hand of the Father, but what happened to the criminal after he died? His spirit went to Abraham's bosom for a few days and waited for Jesus to make His rounds, but when we die, we will go directly to heaven where all of God's saints reside who have died in faith. See also: Absent from the body is to be present with the Lord; Lk 23-43; 224i / What happens to people when they die; Jn 10-28; 57f Lk 23-40,41 (26h) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Death is the result of sin (41d) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Be like Jesus >> Jesus overcame sin (194j) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Yielding >> Confessing your sin to God Lk 23-42,43 (209a) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Personal relationship >> Being married to God >> We go where He goes (238c) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Transferring the kingdom >> The kingdom is transferred to the Church >> Born again >> Born of the Spirit by the resurrection Lk 23-43 (224i) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> The people of heaven >> Traits of the people who make it to heaven – 2Tim 2-11 says, “It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him” The word “death” has multiple meanings in the Bible, and Paul was implying them all in this verse. When we physically die in Christ, we go to heaven and live with Him forever; this is reminiscent of the criminal who died next to Jesus on a cross. The believing and the unbelieving criminals died next to Him, but only one of them went to heaven. The believing criminal who died next to Him obeyed Jesus from the heart, since his hands were literally tied, and he couldn’t do anything to obey the Lord. The obedience of the believing criminal is the kind that ushers us into heaven; in Romans Paul called it the obedience of faith (Rom 1-5). The believing criminal’s confession of faith was that this Man had done nothing wrong, meaning He was “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens” (Heb 7-26). He knew they ulterior motives for crucifying the Lord; in fact, they crucified Him for the very reason that He was innocent of all sin, and the world hated Him for it. See also: Absent from the body is to be present with the Lord; Lk 23,40-43; 237l KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 23,44-49 (37j) Judgment >> Jesus emptied Himself of all His blood – It was the way Jesus died that communicated He was truly the Son of God, like cutting down a giant tree of an endangered species and counting the rings to determine its age. What happened to turn on the light in people’s minds that He was the Son of God that they refused to understand while He was alive? There were many who challenged Him that if He climbed off the cross, they would believe in Him, but that was a lie. God judged our unbelief in Christ on that faithful day; He visited His Son on the cross to see for Himself the events that transpired. God’s hatred of sin He spent on His Son that day, being what caused Jesus to sweat drops of blood (Lk 22-44), not from fear of the cross or fear of torture or fear of death but fear of God. (253f) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Father and Son glorify each other >> Holy Spirit honors the Son through the Father >> Father honors the Son who honors the Father – When Jesus said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my Spirit,” based on the reaction of the people standing around Him, it was perhaps the greatest showing of His relationship with the Father. When they saw and heard Him die this way, they suddenly realized this man was truly the Son of God, not because of what He said, but how He said it. He expressed Himself in such a way that only a person who truly had a relationship with God could have spoken. They saw the intimacy of His relationship as it was unraveling; it was emotional and dramatic; it was profound and real. Lk 23-44 (184d) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Darkness >> God controls darkness >> God hides unbelief in darkness – From the sixth to the ninth hour darkness fell over the whole land; some say it was an eclipse, others say it was a dark cloud. An eclipse is something we could prove just by working backward 2000 years and seeing if an eclipse occurred then. Indeed, we could pinpoint the very day that Jesus was crucified, but since this is something someone would have already done, the eclipse theory is unlikely. Therefore, it was probably a dark could, one so dark it blocked out the sun to the point that no one could see for three hours. A cloud like this is what Jesus meant by, "the sign of the Son of Man" (Mat 24-30). It didn’t say that it rained. Clouds and darkness are iconic to the visitation of God, as in the example on Mount Sinai. Clouds and darkness, thunder and lightning, fire and smoke were all present when Moses ascended the holy mountain. God dwells in this environment whenever He visits mankind, and so it is very likely that the Father visited His Son and heaped upon Him all the sins of mankind. God came to judge His Son in darkness to bestow darkness on Him, and all the people lived in darkness, apart from the knowledge of God. The Father hid Jesus in the darkness of their unbelief who murdered Him. The Bible teaches about the darkness of man’s ignorance; there is also spiritual darkness, referring to Satan’s belief systems that he conveys to man, but God has a darkness too. He dwells in it, hides in it from the darkness of man's unbelief. So, it shouldn’t surprise anybody who believes in God but lives like the world that at the end of the day he is no closer to God than yesterday, because God hides from his unbelief. He will not come near it. Lk 23-45 (205h) Salvation >> Salvation is based on God’s promises >> New covenant >> The old one is obsolete – The veil obscured the view into the Most Holy Place, which at that moment was torn in half from top to bottom, so the way into the Most Holy Place has now been made available. It was torn in half from top to bottom, suggesting that the earthquake could not have done it but an angel. Jesus has taken away the veil through His own death, not through His resurrection mind you, so that we are now able to enter into the most holy presence of God and spend as much time with Him as we want. This suggests that the power of the cross is not in the resurrection, but actually in His death, and that His resurrection completed his total victory over death, like James said about our works completing our faith. It says thick clouds and darkness came over the area that day at the time of Jesus crucifixion, obscuring the sun and their view of God, who leaned forward to get a closer look at what mankind has done to His Son. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 23,50-56 (222a) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Kingdom hidden behind the veil from the world >> The Church is hidden from the world – The Sabbath actually helped the disciples get through this arduous 3½-day period between Jesus’ death and His resurrection, which no doubt seemed like an eternity. These were times of great confusion and danger. They didn’t know He was going to rise from the dead, though Jesus tried to tell them on numerous occasions. The Sabbath helped them, in that it caused the whole nation of Israel to shut down for a day, otherwise the religious leaders would have formed a posse and went looking for them, and having found them would have reported them to the Romans, who would have hauled them away to possibly suffer the same fate as their Lord. Lk 23,50-53 (14e) Servant >> Ministry of helps >> Being in charge of the details – This linen cloth belonging to Joseph is the Shroud of Turin. (141d) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears witness to the new >> It bears witness to Jesus >> Prophesy about Jesus’ ministry >> Jesus as the savior– Joseph of Arimathea was waiting for the Kingdom of God like everyone else at that time. It says in Lk 19-11 that as they were nearing Jerusalem the people were expecting the Kingdom of God to appear immediately. They had many Old Testament passages that spoke about Jesus’ second coming, but the people of the day completely missed the first coming of Christ. Although it is written in their ancient manuscripts, a person of the time would have needed to be a theologian and fervently serving the Lord to perceive the things written regarding His first visit. Many of the Old Testament prophets wrote about His first coming, but no was able to tell Israel that Jesus was the expected one, except John the Baptist, whom the Pharisees rejected. Lk 23,50-52 (233e) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the kingdom >> Seek the kingdom with your essence >> Seek the Kingdom of God with your whole life – Joseph of Arimathea understood the Old Testament prophecies about the second coming of Christ with the rest of Israel, yet his faith in God continued after the death of Christ, because his heart was right with the Lord. That is all God expects from any of us in any generation. Those whose hearts were not with the Lord were devastated by the disappointment of unfulfilled prophecy, according to their interpretation of it, and so it will be in the last days when endtime prophecy is not fulfilled according to many people’s expectations. Those with a good heart like Joseph will roll with the changes, so that it won’t hardly matter what happens, but whose hearts are not with the Lord will find the fulfillment of endtime prophecy very confusing, and adding disappointment to hardship, many will fall away. The only thing we need to prepare for endtimes is a heart that is steadied on Him. What about those who expect the Rapture to occur as one of the first events of endtime prophecy; what will they do when it doesn’t happen as expected? What will they do when they suddenly realize they should have prepared their hearts to face adversity that God will use to ready His people to receive His kingdom? Will they lose their faith, or will they be like Joseph who faithfully offered his resources and services to bury his vision of the future after being disappointed? Joseph’s attitude was that he wanted the Kingdom of God to materialize, but got Jesus Christ instead, who is the embodiment of God's kingdom, and later the Kingdom of God did in fact spiritually appear on the day of Pentecost. Those who expect the Rapture to come first better have Joseph’s attitude of accommodation, so they will be prepared when the Rapture finally does occur. _________________________________ LUKE CHAPTER 24 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 24,1-12 (20g) Sin >> Doubt is the consequence of the fear of death – The women told the eleven what the angel said, quoting the very words that Jesus spoke to them, that He would be handed over to sinners, be crucified and rise the third day, but His disciples did not believe their report. It’s not that they didn’t want to believe it; they just didn’t want to be further disappointed. What was happening to them was traumatic. They obviously were less accustomed to the resurrection from the dead than they were to the finality of death, though they saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. (86b) Thy kingdom come >> Belief >> Treating the knowledge of God as fact >> Believing is the result of the resurrection – Peter and John were the first ones to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ without actually seeing Him alive, so we can say that Peter made up for denying Christ days earlier. Note also that he went to his house instead of joining the group without filing his report with them about the empty tomb, since there was nothing more he could add to what they already knew. It may have been quite some time since he had seen his own family members, and he reported to them what he had seen and heard. Lk 24,1-11 (20b) Sin >> Nature of sin >> Unbelief >> Unwilling to acknowledge the facts – Why did the disciples react in unbelief to Jesus’ resurrection? They were all surprised and amazed when the realization finally hit them that their Lord did in fact return from the dead. It was as though they didn’t want to believe it, though He kept telling them prior to His crucifixion that these things would happen, the knowledge unable to append itself to their apprehension. It is easy to understand that the disciples didn't want to believe their Master would be killed, but why didn’t they want to believe He was raised? Most exhausted all other possibilities before considering the idea that He rose from the dead, but Peter and John, when they learned of the empty tomb quickly ran to see for themselves. When they found it empty as they had heard, they didn’t know what to think. They walked with Him for three years and saw Him perform thousands of miracles. All the evidence was there; the stone was rolled away, and the body of Jesus was missing; still His resurrection was unfathomable to them. They didn’t want to believe it just to be let down again. Their dreams had been crushed once, and to believe in Him again only to rediscover that it wasn’t true would have been too much for them to bear. They must have looked back on their past and seen it as a fairytale. Memories poured in that they shared with each other, caught between reality and the hope, unable to trust anything. Lk 24,4-7 (15f) Servant >> Angels are messengers from God >> They are sent to change our perspective – The angels spoke exactly what the Lord spoke to His disciples, yet when Jesus said it, they could not hear Him. Now that they were hoping for the resurrection they were open to the message. They couldn’t hear it while He was alive in the flesh because they didn’t want to believe such a ghastly fate would befall Him, suggesting that it is possible to refuse knowledge to the point of being unable to hear the words, not that the disciples couldn't physically hear. If we don’t want to believe something, we can block out the words themselves from our minds. The truth we reject becomes food for the birds, or as Jesus said, an opportunity for the devil to come and steal the word from our hearts. In the parable of the sower, the seeds that fell on the road that the birds ate is what happened to the words that Jesus spoke to the disciples about His death, burial and resurrection. The demons came and stole the word from their hearts that they refused to believe. Soon as the angels spoke the same words to the disciples, they immediately remembered hearing Jesus tell them. See also: God cursed the creation through Satan; Jn 1,10-13; 119k Lk 24-4,5 (113c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Heaven’s clothes >> Clothe yourself with good works – The men who suddenly stood in front of the women in dazzling apparel were angels who came to convey a message, calling Jesus the living one. The Bible uses clothing to symbolize our works, meaning these angels delivered the dazzling message that Jesus is not just alive, but that He is the very epitome of life. Jesus was without sin; and though He lived in a body that craved sin, He never once yielded to it. This level of perfection is unimaginable even to angels, for not one of them could have maintained perfection in a body of sin as Jesus did. God could have sent Michael or Gabriel, but they would have failed. The only person who could do this was God Himself, because of His absolute perfection and hatred of sin. The angels feel the same way about sin, still they would have succumbed to it. It is good that God feels this way about sin, for now we know He will never do anything wrong or evil to us. God could never entrust His creation to any created being, but rules over it by His own authority. Anyone else would make a mess of everything. Look at the lesson of Lucifer; God gave him the reins of this creation, and he promptly cursed it with his rebellion. See also: Jesus retains the sins of those who don't believe in Him; Rev 19-12; 253ec KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 24-4 (215j) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> Suddenly >> The Kingdom of Heaven appears suddenly >> Angels appear without warning -- This verse goes with verses 27-29 Lk 24-5,6 (254g) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is the life of the Spirit >> Jesus is the substance of God’s life >> Jesus conquered death because He is life – For the women to be terrified means that these angels didn’t look human. It says they were wearing dazzling apparel, meaning they were glowing; a light emanated from them. One of the angels asked a wonderful question, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead?” The angel meant more than that Jesus rose from the dead; he meant that Jesus was the very epitome of life. This is in fact the very reason Jesus rose from the dead, because nothing could possibly hold Him in the grave. Trying to kill Jesus would be like trying to find a better place to put the ocean. If the devil killed Jesus, where would he put Him? Paradise is where He belongs! Death is not equipped to hold the essence of life. Death can only hold that which is dead, but it cannot hold for long that which is life indeed! Death had the power to hold Jesus in the grave for 3½ days, and it had to let Him go, like a bobber pops to the surface the moment the fish quits tugging on it. Lk 24-5 (53b) Paradox >> Opposites >> Of life and death >> Death cannot hurt you – The angels didn’t call Jesus the living one just because God raised Him from the dead, but also because Jesus is the very epitome of life, and note that He was also without sin. Jesus is the source of all life through His absolute perfection before the Father. He raised Him from the dead because He was without sin, and He raised Him from the dead because He is the epitome of life; these two are one. Lk 24,13-52 (39d) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death >> Witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection Lk 24,13-35 (169g) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is blind to God >> God blinds their eyes – Cleopas and his friend were talking with the very man who was the subject of their conversation without knowing it, and they said of Him that they were hoping He was the fulfillment of many Old Testament prophecies depicting the redemption of Israel. What did they mean by that? What was Israel hoping from their Messiah? Their Old Testament contained many prophecies about His coming, but they only understood the ones pertaining to His second coming (the Millennium). Based on this, they used the word redeem to mean vindicate them from the nations of the world, to set them apart from the gentiles, especially from the Romans at that time who had enslaved them. As a result of these Old Testament prophecies, all of Israel had been living under a state of expectation for centuries waiting for their Messiah to come and establish His eternal kingdom, using their nation as a seed for His glorious empire with them reigning at His side and using Jerusalem as His capital city. This was their meaning of redeeming Israel. However, God had other plans, since Israel's chronic disobedience landed them a place at the tail end of Roman rule; God was more interested in redeeming His people from their unseen enemy--sin. Lk 24,13-27 (182f) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Three causes of interpreting Scripture falsely >> Because they do not understand the Scriptures – Jesus pretended to be unaware of the buzz in Jerusalem about a recently crucified prophet mighty in word and deed. They asked Him how He could not have known about this, and He said, “About what?” In a way Jesus was not being straightforward with them. He caused them to think He was someone other than Himself, acting detached from the local gossip. These two guys were full of faith and love for God, the sadness of heart unfathomable. Had they known they were in His very presence, they would have rejoiced, so why did He disguise his identity? The simple answer is that God loves faith. What is more, Jesus could not have imparted His word over their ecstasy; they would not have heard a word He said over their joyful cries of standing in the presence of the resurrected Christ. It was the word that Jesus wanted them to know, and in order to convey it He pretended to be someone else, not lying but not telling the truth either. Lk 24,13-16 (78a) Thy kingdom come >> God ministers to people through the humble >> The humble are invisible to men, but God sees them KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 24,15-19 (63a) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Righteous deception >> Jesus deceives His people – Jesus was being something less than forthcoming about Himself with his friends along the road to Emmaus. Some people would gasp, saying, ‘What heresy that God would deceive His people?’ The fact is, deception is not intrinsically evil. Most people lie to cover up a sin, but we can also lie to protect people, usually from themselves, such as our children. We sometimes tell them things that are not exactly truthful, and this is what Jesus did to His friends on the road to Emmaus; He deceived them for their own good. Later it said that their hearts were burning inside them while He was speaking (v32), in essence saying that they should have known it was Him, because who else knew the Scriptures like that and could make them feel that way? They knew He was speaking the truth, so why didn’t they recognize the Spirit of His words? Lk 24-16 (171k) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Outward appearance >> Outward appearance is not important (246c) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Literally unable to acknowledge the presence of God – Jesus didn’t wear different clothes or change the shape of His face, but prevented them from recognizing Him. It wasn't something Jesus did to Himself but something He did to them. When somebody is in the midst of a miracle, it seems like a dream, and we know that anything can happen in a dream. It happened this way to Peter when he thought he was seeing a vision as an angel rescued him from prison (Act 12,5-11). Lk 24,22-24 (142k) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> Having a reputation for knowing God >> known as being intimate with God – This story amazed the two men on their way to Emmaus, because the women who originally spoke these words would never be so cruel as to lie about something like this, for they loved the Lord with all their hearts. So, they were a credible source, and that is what amazed them the most. Sincerity of heart is what made their account of His resurrection believable. Lk 24,25-27 (50dc) Judgment >> Last Days >> Jewish Led endtime revival >> Israel prophesied to restore the gentiles to salvation – Reading the story of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ from the Bible, we shake our heads at the disciples, thinking they should have known better, but going through it at the time must have seemed like a completely different story, since Jesus' first coming really wasn’t all that clear in the Old Testament. Think if it had been perfectly spelled out in advance in their Old Testament like it is in the New, how it would have changed the outcome. The Jews would have expected a Messiah like Jesus to come and would have expected someone to nail Him to a cross, and would have stood around waiting for it to happen, not wanting to be the ones to do it. So, we have stumbled on the principle that the prophets cannot explicitly describe the future or else it will not come to pass. However, there is a alternate view of this: man is so spiritually slow of heart that most would not believe what God was about to do even if it were described to them (Habakkuk 1-5). The Old Testament well documents the age of Millennium, but there is an event that must happen before that, a Great Endtime Revival headed by the Jews. There is enough evidence in both Old and New Testaments to see this future event, but the Church so far is completely silent about it, probably because Christians today are no more spiritually unaware than Israel at His first coming, or the first century Church of the 2000-year age of grace that lay before them, or the last days' Church of that same age about to close on them. This suggest that God has a surprise in store for the Church just like He surprised man throughout the ages. What did Jesus think about all this? "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!" He blamed them for not knowing, and He will blame us for not knowing. (107c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Word of God creates faith – Jesus would come to a village and preach the gospel to a people who had heard about His miraculous powers, but what about the first village where He preached? Nobody was aware that He was a miracle worker then, so how did He create faith in them to believe in miracles? He did it through their Old Testament prophets. Jesus was the fulfillment of their ancient writings; the people of Israel were waiting for a man just like Him to appear, and when He demonstrated His knowledge of Scripture, He was then able to perform miracles among them, and they were able to believe in His word, and they could have confidence that He was their Messiah. Building faith is a step-by-step process. God works through His word for our good, not only to increase our faith but also to heal our bodies. (141f) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears witness to the new >> It bears witness to Jesus >> Prophesy about Jesus’ death -- These verses go with verses 44-47. There were many passages of Scripture sprinkled throughout the Old Testament pertaining to Jesus, for example, one entire chapter devoted to the suffering servant in Isaiah 53, but to combine them all and develop a cohesive story of the gospel would take the Holy Spirit leading the reader into these truths. Complicating the matter further, Israel had abandoned their God shortly after the reign of Solomon and never fully returned to Him, though there were some kings who returned Israel to the Lord. Consequently, there were very few people with any spiritual insight during this time, not one prophet in 400 years before Christ, yet their were some to whom God revealed His plan, John the Baptist and Simon (Lk 2,25-35) to name a couple. Therefore, being slow of heart is at least partly to do with not having their facts straight. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 24-25,26 (20e) Sin >> Nature of sin >> Having a hardened heart – Jesus accused His two companions of not understanding the Scriptures, though nobody else did either, which was the whole problem with Israel. He expected His disciples to anticipate His resurrection because He personally told them about it (not these particular two guys), yet since it was not concisely written in the prophets that He should rise from the dead, they were hesitant to believe Him. Anyone could have approached Jesus during His 3½ year ministry and He would have answered his questions in the presence of all. He told them many times that the son of man would suffer at the hands of sinners and then be raised from the dead, but they resisted this knowledge, because they didn’t want to believe it. Refusing to believe the truth for any reason is the result of a hardened heart. (98f) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> (Faith à Suffering à Glory of Christ) >> The cross – Israel had forgotten that they were serving a righteous and holy God and needed their sins forgiven before they could proceed in a divine relationship with Him. They thought they were ready to meet God as they were, but the best of them were woefully unprepared, much less the leaders of Israel who actually had Jesus crucified. It was necessary for Christ to suffer mistreatment by His own people before He could forgive them, that when He reentered His glory, He would be evermore glorified, and thus raise the throne of His Father ever higher in the eternal heavens. Jesus was glorified with the Father throughout past eternity before He took on human flesh and visited mankind, but when He paid for those who would come to Him seeking eternal life, He entered a greater glory with His Father because of the “suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God might taste death for everyone” (Heb 2-9). (138b) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Reproof >> Jesus reproves His disciples for their unbelief – The entire nation of Israel was completely in the dark about the will of God for His Son. Had Israel adopted the heart of Him who led them from Egypt, they would have served God through the centuries and been in a better position to estimate God’s next move, but as it was the only thing they could understood was their own interests. Jesus verbalized His expectation for the people to know God's will, since He plainly told them about it, yet whether they should have known these things before Jesus came is questionable. Prophecy is not meant to predict the future, but to recognize the signs of the times. After everything had happened, they should have looked to the Scriptures for the prophecies that spoke of a suffering servant, particularly in Isaiah chapter 53, who would pay for the sins of mankind, sprinkled like seasoning throughout the Old Testament. Israel, however, was not looking for a suffering savior, but for an awesome and powerful Messiah to save them from all their enemies. That is the only Messiah they wanted just like today, the only Messiah we want is one who will Rapture us from all the problems of the world that we have caused by our own apostasy. (197a) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Spiritual laziness >> Rebelling Against what God wants you to do >> Refusing to renew your mind (221f) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Kingdom hidden behind the veil from the world >> God hides from the mind of man >> He hides behind man’s slowness of heart -- These verses go with verse 45. Jesus was saying, the Scriptures were clear enough that they should have known, since He personally told them, but in fact nobody understood the Scriptures well enough to understand what God was doing, not even His own disciples. This is how blind Israel was to the first coming of Christ, and His second coming will be the same. He will come with a surprise twist to the “foolish and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken?” KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 24,27-32 (69b) Authority >> Discernment >> Discerning the Truth – The two men on the road to Emmaus spent much time with Jesus and never knew it was Him, and when they finally recognized Him, He vanished. Had they recognized the truth, they would have recognized Jesus, because He is the truth. His lesson to them (and to us) was that they should have known it was Him by virtue of the truth itself. This is how He dealt with people after His resurrection. They should have known it was Him, their hearts burning within them while He explained the Scriptures. They got all excited and were falling in love again with the truth just as they did when they walked with Jesus in the flesh, but because He didn’t look the same, they assumed it wasn’t Him, nor did they credit what He was saying with the truth. Do we do the same; do we go by appearance or by the words that a man speaks? If someone’s words cause our hearts to burn within us, then we should consider that such a person has the Spirit of God, His outward appearance being irrelevant. If we think a person who looks a certain way is incapable of the truth, we will miss the things that God has for us, but if we are able to discern the truth from any source, we will receive it regardless who is speaking. God would have it that we could even glean from a fool the few times he speaks the truth, for it is the truth that matters, not the person who is speaking. People look for glamorous, spellbinding orators of the gospel, though the the truth is not in their mouths, but we forgive them for that, because they look like they should know the truth. Cleopas and his friend were able to feel the truth, though they were not technically able to discern it until they recognized Jesus. They realized it was the truth only after they discovered who was speaking to them. That is, only certain people could tell them the truth, people of reputation, such as their pastor or their personal guru. What they say is automatically the truth without need to scrutinize, but everybody else is incapable of convincing them of anything, not even a shrouded version of Christ has any clout with them. Jesus' complaint was that they cared about the source of truth more than they cared about the truth. In other words, they cared about who was saying it more than what He said. (118f) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Seeing through the eyes of your spirit >> Eyes of discernment Lk 24,27-29 (215j) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> Suddenly >> The Kingdom of Heaven appears suddenly >> Angels appear without warning -- These verses go with verse 4. Although Jesus is not classified as an angel, He presented Himself in a way they didn’t recognize Him, which according to Heb 13-2 is common with angels. These two men were forming bonds with Jesus as they did prior to His crucifixion. The same person had the same affect on them, though He had a resurrected body that camouflaged His identity. You would think they would have recognized Him, having such a knowledge of the Scriptures with an attractive pull on them, using passages sprinkled throughout the Old Testament, quoting them verbatim, verses that were written of Him that He should suffer in order to redeem a people for His own possession, who are zealous for good works (Tit 2-14). All the elements were present with the Lord as they intimated their hope that He would redeem Israel, and He did redeem them along with the rest of mankind from sin, which is their greatest enemy, if only they knew that. God was not ready to redeem Israel from their enemies on a physical level just yet, though His redemptive plan has always progressively led to this ultimate goal since Adam fell into sin. Every time God does something He takes another step toward the final goal of manifesting His redemption to the point of refashioning the natural realm into conformity with His power in the process of subjecting all things to Himself (Phi 3-20,21; Rev 21,1-7). See also: Same God both the Old and New Testaments; Heb 12-21; 87m Lk 24-31 (147d) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> God exercises authority over every living thing -- This verse goes with verse 36. Jesus didn’t change His appearance to a more recognizable form; rather, their eyes were opened. Jesus blinded their minds through their own blindness; their lack of discernment for the truth concealed His true identity. We know the devil regularly blinds people’s minds to the glory of God, but God does it too, and it is possible that they both do it the same way. Sometimes we can’t think of something; maybe we are working on a math problem, or maybe it’s a word-find puzzle and we can’t see the word in the maze of letters, or else we’re looking for a certain shape and color; it’s right in front of us but we can’t see it. No matter how so-called spiritual we get, we’re never going to understand spiritual matters, how our mind can be blocked from seeing certain things. It is just as mysterious as suddenly being able to hear the voice of God ringing in our ears. It is just as mysterious as being unable to see Jesus, though he is standing right in front of us. So why did Jesus keep these men from recognizing His true identity, and why was He so elusive after His resurrection? He wanted to teach the disciples that the truth can come in many forms and from many sources. Since they didn’t recognize the man telling them great truths about God, they didn’t listen to Him like they would have had they known it was the Lord. They would have hung on His every word and taken notes; instead, they dismissed His words as mere conjecture. ‘If Jesus were here, He could tell us,’ they were probably saying in their hearts. Jesus wanted them to discern the truth regardless of the source, because He would soon be gone, and he would send the Holy Spirit in His place, who will speak in their hearts. Jesus wanted them to develop a hearing ear. They would soon need the skill of discerning the truth when they hear it regardless of the source, and they will meet other people who know the truth, and they will need to discern it in them, no matter who is saying it. If we can hear the truth coming from God within us, then we can hear it coming from anyone. (224a) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> Describing the kingdom after he makes all things new >> Description of the resurrection -- This verse goes with verses 36-43 Lk 24,33-35 (230a) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Partaking of Jesus >> Partaking of communion – Communion is very important to God. Paul devoted an entire chapter in First Corinthians to securing our reverent behavior during this one and only perpetual new covenant ceremony. It is perpetual in that He has called us to communion whenever we come together. We need to be careful when attributing certain powers to communion, as though a person could partake of it and somehow be cured of spiritual slowness as in the example of Cleopas and his friend who recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Anything to which we attribute spiritual significance can be easily turn into an incantation of witchcraft, for we know even unrepentant sinners can ingest bread and wine in the name of the Lord, but this does not have the power to change their hearts. We take communion in remembrance of His suffering and forgiveness of sin. Communion symbolizes the assimilation of the Spirit and the word, the bread representing the word of God and the wine representing the Holy Spirit. Working the grace of God operating these two levers through prayerful study of the Bible, is essentially how we come to know God. Jesus eagerly desires to break bread with us all one day in the Kingdom of God (Lk 22-15,16), but in the meantime he wants us to continue taking communion among ourselves, maintaining the importance that Christ attributed to it, who promised to be among us as we remember the price of admission into His kingdom that Jesus paid with His own blood. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 24,36-43 (20i) Sin >> Doubting miracles – Jesus stood in front of them and testified that they still had doubts, so what would it take to finally remove all doubt? These were His chosen disciples who were His future apostles of the Church. Doubt is common to us all. Jesus rebuked His disciples, because it was getting old to constantly run into their doubts along every step and at every turn. Why did Jesus go to great lengths to convince His disciples that He was physically alive, and that they were not seeing a ghost? Believing in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ is paramount to Christianity, and God used the bodily resurrection of His Son to prove that our bodies too will one day rise from the dead in like manner. Jesus did everything He could to help them believe, because the last thing they needed were doubts after He ascended to heaven. Their doubts were allayed, and the Scriptures were written devoid of doubts about the physical resurrection of their Master and Lord! The apostles were destined to do exploits for God, and as a result they would suffer their own persecutions and be martyred for their faith in Jesus, and they needed absolute confidence in the Lord to accomplish the objectives that God had for them. Namely, they would establish the Church in the first century, which was a huge undertaking. They didn’t need the devil coming to them at an opportune time asking them if it was really the Lord in that room with them, or just an aberration, perhaps a bit of oatmeal stuck in the craw. (208c) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Salvation verses >> The expectations of God >> God expects us to repent and be saved – Jesus spoke to His disciples in the same tone that He spoke to the two men on the road to Emmaus. He expected them to know the truth about Him, and to not be surprised by His crucifixion and subsequent resurrection. He expected them not to be afraid but rejoice over the love of God for them. God doesn’t want us to remain ignorant of Him but to understand His will and dressed in readiness with the expectation of knowing His will based on the Scriptures and what He has personally spoken to us. He wants us to know what He is doing. This was God’s plan from the beginning, and now that He was standing before them in a resurrected body, having been raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, they should have had a party prepared for Him when He returned, but this is speaking in hindsight, which is 20/20. (224a) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> Describing the kingdom after he makes all things new >> Description of the resurrection -- These verses go with verse 31 Lk 24-36 (147d) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> God exercises authority over every living thing -- This verse goes with verse 31 Lk 24,41-43 (37d) Judgment >> Judgment of God on His Son >> Jesus’ humanity >> He was a man Lk 24,44-53 (149j) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Authority of the rhema given to evangelism >> Being prepared by God personally – They worshipped God more after Jesus rose from the dead than they ever did before His crucifixion, suggesting that they preferred God’s plan over their own. Part of their joy resulted from finally understanding the riddle of God’s will in Christ. For three years the disciples walked with the Lord thinking that all this would eventually lead to the physical revelation of God’s kingdom suddenly appearing on the earth as prophesied in the Old Testament according to their teachers that indoctrinated them long before they met Christ. They were brainwashed into believing a certain way, and not even Christ could sway them from their beliefs. After His resurrection they understood that His kingdom must first manifest on a spiritual plane before it would materialize in the physical realm. This was the revelation that Jesus had been trying to get across to them the whole time they were together, and they never even came close to understanding it until Jesus rose from the dead. He reiterated Himself one more time, and this time it clicked. Part of the reason they didn’t understand it at first was they didn’t want God’s plan; instead, they wanted their own wishes to come true. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 24,44-47 (141f) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears witness to the new >> It bears witness to Jesus >> Prophesy about Jesus’ death -- These verses go with verses 25-27. Jesus was careful to convince his disciples that He wasn’t a spirit or an aberration in verses 36-43, and then He turned to the Scriptures and showed them according to prophecy that the Christ was to suffer and die and rise again on the third day. Question, which of these had the greater impact on the disciples: His resurrection or the Scriptures that testified of Him? Answer: the Scriptures, but only after He was raised from the dead, for what good were the prophecies if they never came to pass? The Scriptures were many hundreds of years old even at the time of Christ. Over the centuries men of great skill and care transcribed the manuscripts to preserve them throughout the generations (thus the title Scribe). These manuscripts were the most valuable possession to the nation of Israel, for they testified about their Messiah who was to come, who would deliver them from their greatest enemy, which is sin, and in Jesus' day those prophecies were being fulfilled, and the disciples needed only to read for themselves the things that were written about Him so many generations before He was born. This was far more convincing than Jesus eating a few pieces of fish. The Scriptures had a much greater impact on them than Jesus Christ standing right in front of them, and we have the Scriptures too. It is not just the age of the Scriptures that has authority, but the words themselves. We can read and know for sure that the Bible is from God and that all things have their proper fulfillment, just as they were fulfilled in the hearing of the disciples. All we have to do is believe them, but we must also properly interpret them, which Israel did not do, being the reason they missed the visitation of Christ, and consequently killed Him and inadvertently fulfilled the predestined purpose of God that He had planned from all eternity. Lk 24-45 (46c) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Subjecting your flesh >> Knowledge is our weapon (118e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Seeing through the eyes of your spirit >> Eyes of your soul – This verse speaks of Jesus after He rose from the dead. Remember that Jesus before His crucifixion often spoke to His disciples to no effect; but now that He had been raised from the dead, He was able to reveal the Scriptures to them. He could finally speak and they understand what He was saying. In so many cases before this Jesus tried to tell them things about Himself and about the Old Testament Scriptures, but they just couldn’t seem to hear Him. Two things changed at the resurrection of Christ. First, when the disciples met Him alive again, they finally were able to realize that God had a plan different from theirs, different from the one they thought He had. They were finally able to give up their preconceived notion about Christ bringing forth a kingdom that was prophesied in the Old Testament that Israel had been seeking, and is still seeking, that we call the Millennium. They wanted Jesus to deliver them from their enemies the Romans, but in God’s mind their enemy was sin. The second thing that changed was that when Jesus ascended into heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit in His place (Jn 14,16-20). Therefore, when it says He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, it means that the Holy Spirit did it. This correlates with Peter's good confession after Jesus asked him, “But who do you say that I am?” He said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.’” (Mat 16,15-18). Note that the revelation of the Holy Spirit was the rock that Jesus named "Peter" at his good confession. Jesus spoke to them, and the Holy Spirit revealed what He was saying, meaning that Jesus and the Holy Spirit were operating as one. (221f) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Kingdom hidden behind the veil from the world >> God hides from the mind of man >> He hides behind man’s slowness of heart -- This verse goes with verses 25&26 Lk 24,47-49 (149b) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Three key messages in evangelism >> Repentance Lk 24-48 (144b) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> The Church bears witness of Jesus >> It bears witness of the cross KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 24-49 (68e) Authority >> Jesus Delegates the Holy Spirit to us >> Sent from heaven (113d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Heaven’s clothes >> Garments of power – Being clothed with power from on high is a concept that is misunderstood by almost everybody in the Church today. The Pentecostals, the Charismatics and the prosperity teachers never got it right, and the Evangelicals never even tried. Instead, they felt safer abandoning the whole idea of the anointing and preferred rather to sit in judgment against those who would attempt to understand this mystery. The promise of the Father, the indwelling Holy Spirit, is something the Church embraces, accepting it as the definition of our salvation, though ironically the teaching of being born-again has declined in recent years. However, the Church fails to understand that the same Spirit of salvation who dwells in us also wants to rest upon us, clothing us with power in the form of good works that God has prepared for us beforehand, enabling us to live a godly life and to proclaim His gospel to the world that others may be saved. The anointing is the power of God to perform His will, where God is in control, who uses His Spirit to work in us and in the world. (191a) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Baptism >> Immersed in His Spirit (205c) Salvation >> Salvation is based on God’s promises >> According to promise >> Promise of the Holy Spirit Lk 24,50-53 (237h) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Transferring the kingdom >> The Church is transferred to the kingdom >> The ascension >> Jesus’ ascension Lk 24-52,53 (121d) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Hope >> Expectation >> Hope is the expectation to receive >> God initiates His interest