Classic Christianity – New Years P5 (01-03-20)
Synopsis
When you think of all the things spoken the prophets, that were fulfilled in Christ, and how sovereign God is, that everything He has said has come to pass, who, in their right mind, would not come to come and choose life? The star stooped over the place where Jesus lay, just as it was spoken through the prophet. Jesus shall be called Emmanuel, and we see the transfiguration, where a voice from heaven says, “Listen to him. This is My Beloved Son”. God spoke to Joseph and Mary through dreams, and what was spoken through the prophets was fulfilled, such as Jesus would called a Nazarene. Numerous miracles were performed through Jesus, as the prophets of old said he would do when he came. John the Baptist was visited in prison, and Jesus told his disciples to report these things to him while he was in prison. Jesus himself, at various times said that he would die, but on the third day, be raised again. Then, after Jesus’ resurrection, he appeared to over 500 people, many at that time who were still alive. And during that time, Jesus spoke to two men on the road to Emmaus, and tells them, beginning with Moses, all that would happen, as spoken through the prophets, was fulfilled in him. What more evidence do people need that he is the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world?
Yet, people, in their natural selves, are so proud of heart and so low to believe. Even Thomas, a disciple of Jesus, doubting Thomas, would not believe unless he saw the nails in Jesus hands and the hole left in his side by a spear. Even the spear thrown in his side, after he died on a cross, was fulfilled as spoken through the prophets, and that no bone will be broken. Thomas saw and believed. But Jesus said, “Blessed are those who do no see, yet believe”. You have the Jewish religious leaders, so proud of heart, that Jesus told a story about a poor man named Lazarus and an unnamed rich man. Lazarus died and was observed at the bosom of Abraham, but the rich man was in hell, in agony in the fire. He called out to God in agony, asking to warn his family who were still alive to not go to his place. Jesus replied, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’
People today are looking for signs and wonders just as in the days of Christ. Jesus said to them, “No sign will be given except the sign of Jonah.”. Jesus prophesied about the end of the age, saying, “Just as it was in the days of Noah so too will it be in the time of the Son of man, when He comes again. They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up until Noah entered the ark, and all were destroyed in a flood, except a few, Noah and his family.” Jesus even said, “Wide is the road to destruction, and many there are who travel on it. Make every effort to find the narrow road that leads to life.”
If you are looking for a sign and wonder to increase your faith, seeking miracle and signs and wonders, and excitement, and you say, “Marvelous, what did it do for you?” If it increased your faith, then something is wrong with your faith. If your faith is not big enough to believe Jesus for his resurrection, then something is wrong with your faith. If you keep needing a reassurance, then something is wrong. People who keep saying, “I need. I need.” or “I thirst. I thirst.”, when Jesus said when you drink of regular water you will thirst again, but when you drink of my water you will never thirst again (John 4:13-14). All of these things set in motion, not so we become sign seekers or miracle seekers, but so we can put our faith squarely and securely in revealed truth as it relates to the person of Jesus Christ. So it says they did not understand what he was saying.
So the same appeal Christ Jesus made to men is the same appeal today. Come to Christ for life. He did everything you need to receive life. He died on a cross, shedding his blood, that was of such eternal quality, to take away the sins of the entire world. There is no sin that has not already been paid for. The only sin that cannot be forgiven is the sin of the rejection of the Son of man, who has provided everything you need for life and godliness. Having ascended back to His Father, sitting at the right hand of God, He has sent His Holy Spirit of life to dwell in men, to those who put their faith in Him, and Him alone, in what he accomplished for you by his death, burial and resurrection. Will you not come to Him for life?
But you hear lies from the world, that the bible is a myth. Or you listen to all these religious leaders or atheists or scientists of the world. Do you listen to Darwinism, Panentheism, saying God is in everyone and everything, the spiritual formation or false meditation practices, wrapped in a Christian veneer, the New Age teachings pointing you to the Chief Architect of the World, or Lucifer, the so-called wisdom of this age, the ecumenical spirit toward a false world leader, the New Apostolic Reformation, the Kingdom Now crowd, the Calvinists who teach a false concept of election, the Protestants who teach 1 John 1:9 out of context, the Catholics who deny the finished work of the cross, the Church of Christ who say you must be baptized by their waters to be saved, the Muslims, the Mormons, the lies of the Jesuits and Masonic lodges, who disguise themselves as the enlightened ones, pointing to Satan who disguises himself as an angel of light, saying that you can become God, the same lie in the garden of Eden.
Do you not test and see if what they are telling you is true? But how can you if you do not believe the bible is God’s word? The god of this world, Lucifer, also known as Satan, has you ensnared and trapped. You are blind and do not see. Every archaeological find confirms places and events, as recorded in the scriptures, testifying that what Jesus said is true, and what was recorded down through the prophets of the Old Testament, happened just as God foreordained. Do not listen to lies! Find the truth in God and His word! His words have been recorded down for us through men who were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
The truth revealed in the scriptures did not come from men. God Himself wanted people to know Him, to be restored to the proper relationship to Himself, as He originally designed for man at the moment He first created Adam and Eve. You were created with free will. You can choose to accept Christ as Savior and Lord, or reject him. Many a madman have rejected Him, and that has caused havoc, heartache and pain, unbelievable atrocities, in this world. There are many who thought they were righteous by their religion and failed to see their state of spiritual death. Do not be like them. There is no one who is righteous. All of have sinned and fallen short of the perfect standard of God. Choose life. It is offered as free gift to you, but came at a great price to God, who sent His only Son for us, for you and me.
Transcript
Matthew 2:9
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen [in the East] when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
We can sit here all day long and talk about that being a normal star in the sky. We have people talking about how the planets all lined up and that is how it happened. I do not care how you line up the stars, a star does not lead you to a place. This star we are talking about is something special that God put there. It was not something that could be explained by the study of stars. It was a unique thing in the sky. That star, the only thing you could call it, but it was a light that led them to the place of Christ Jesus, and then stopped. Stars do not start and stop. Have you noticed that? So it stopped over the place where the child was.
Matthew 2:10-12
10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.
Jesus was not born in a house. He was born in a manger, wasn’t he? Then it said that Joseph and Mary returned back to Nazareth, after they had completed all the purification rites. Now, why they are back in Bethlehem, we do not know. It could be that they moved back there after being in Nazareth. They moved back to be close to the temple, recognizing the fact their son was someone special, and recognizing that Jerusalem is the holy city. It could very well have been that they decided they needed to be there close to Jerusalem, and educate this boy in Jerusalem. We do not know those things, and we do not need to know those things. What we do know is that they are back in Bethlehem, for some reason or another, living in a house. That was after the birth. This was in a two year period. So we do not know when, within that two year period, but as we read on what Herod did, I assume it was closer to the one or two year period, as we will read about in a moment.
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Matthew 2:11
Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Maybe that is how they got the three wise men, because one had the gold, another had the frankincense, and another had the myrrh? Just like us to presume such things. Nevertheless, those gifts were given to Jesus.
Matthew 2:12
12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
So we assume they were in Bethlehem. Instead of going back from Bethlehem through Jerusalem, they took an alternate route and escaped Jerusalem for fear of their lives.
Matthew 2:13
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.
Here is another dream.
Matthew 2:12-18
“Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”[Hosea 11:1]
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”[Jeremiah 31:15]
So here was Herod, and he had learned the time from the Magi as to the approximate time of the birth of the Messiah, the time then they had seen this star leading them to the Messiah, and he knew that if he set a rule to kill every boy under two years of age, he would be sure to get this one. So in an attempt to kill one child, he ended up killing every boy under two years of age. How many of you have a child under two? How would you like to take that baby and have someone rip him out of your arms to cut his head off? Can you imagine the lament and the heartache of mothers and fathers, seeing their children dragged from their homes and killed, for no reason. Why? Because of this madman that was so egocentric, that he said, “no one is going to be king in Israel”. So he goes out and kills every boy in Israel. Every one of us who have had children, can imagine taking a one year old and almost a two year old, and having him snatched out of your home to be murdered by a maniac. That is what took place.
We ask ourselves sometimes, “Where was God in all this? Where was God when John the Baptist was beheaded? Where was Jesus, his relative?” We ask ourselves that question sometimes. “Where was God in all this?” The answer to that is God was exactly where He has always been, on His throne.
Isaiah 6:1-3
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
Psalm 47:8
8 God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne.
When God created man, He created man with a free will, did He not? He could have created us as a robot. We would just be robots running around down here. If you were a robot, could you love God by free will? No. And if God was going to create a creation in whom He could love and interact, then He had to create a creation in such a way that could respond to that love and interact with that love. In order to do that, in the foreknowledge of God, in His creative work, He created man with a will.
He also created the angelic beings with a will. And some of those, one third, chose to follow Satan to this earth, in rebellion to God, right out of heaven. Angels were not propagated. They were created individually, by the hand of God, yet with a will could choose to turn their back on God.
Isaiah 14:12 (KJV)
12 How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How are you cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations? 13 For thou has said in your heart; I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the North. 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the most High.
Revelation 12:9 (KJV)
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
So you and I were created with a will. I have to say “Thank God for that”, because if I did not have a will, how could I be choosing to love God? How could you make choices? You couldn’t. You would be a robot, just like these things you turn on with a remote control.
James 3:9-11 (NIV)
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?
Was there a gamble with that? Is there a gamble in giving man a free will? What is the gamble? Even though we are created by the hand of God, we could choose to rebel against God. We have a will today, don’t we? I could choose to live a life that is commensurate with who I am as a child of God, and I could also choose on occasion, to live contrary to that. That is some of the things James is talking about. How can it be that out of the same mouth, to praise God with the same tongue that you curse man. That should not be? True, it should not be. But is it possible? Yes. Why? One day I choose to praise God, and another time I choose to blast you. Is that true or not? So free will was given to man. God had to do that.
Genesis 2:15-16
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
If free will is given to man, then can people, like Herod, choose who needs God? Can a man say, “I want to be God”. I want to tell you, if Lucifer said, “I want to be God”, then we could too? Can we not? Is not the temptation given in the garden of Eden, that you could be like God. You can choose. This was the temptation: “You do not need God to teach you right from wrong and good from evil. Choose it yourself. You do not need God for those things. You determine right from wrong and good from evil. You control what is going on.” I am absolutely convinced that is what indwelling sin is, that propensity inside each and every one of us, to control everything.
We want to control, do we not? I want to be in control. After all, if I am the center of the universe, I want the universe to flow around me. If I am center, I want everyone to please me and do what I want them to do to please me. I want everyone to treat me the way I want to be treated. We are self centered, egocentric and we want to control everything. That is indwelling sin.
Colossians 1:16-18 (TLB)
16 Christ himself is the Creator who made everything in heaven and earth, the things we can see and the things we can’t; the spirit world with its kings and kingdoms, its rulers and authorities; all were made by Christ for his own use and glory. 17 He was before all else began and it is his power that holds everything together. 18 He is the Head of the body made up of his people – that is, his Church – which he began; and he is the Leader of all those who arise from the dead,[firstborn from the dead] so that he is first in everything;
Is that not what God does? Does He not control the universe? We say, “I could do it better.” I love that song that Tony Bennet did years ago. “If I ruled the world, what a wonderful place it would be.” “If I just ruled the world.” In the flesh, I look at that and say “that is a good song”. It kind of describes me. That is the way we are. We have to understand that. That is a desire that is in your flesh and in my flesh, that is there, and it raises its ugly head any time you let it. Any time we are not allowing Christ to control our lives, that propensity to want to control is right there.
Colossians 3:15
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
Galatians 5:16-18
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
So what we are dealing with here is this. Are we going to allow Christ to control our lives or are we going to allow our flesh to control our lives. He gave us a will. If God gave a will, how is he going to stop a Herod from killing those babies? What is He going to have to do? He would have to take away the will of Herod, wouldn’t He? Or, just blast him. Well, if you just blast everyone who chooses not to do the will of God, what will you have to do? Just turn us all into apes. Where do you stop that?
Where was God when Hitler was annihilating the Jews? Same place he has always been. And, He gave Hitler a free will, and Hitler had a choice. All his life, Hitler had a choice, to walk with God or feed his own egocentric nature. What did he choose to do? So he started out killing one, then two, then it was easy to kill more. So then he killed millions. Where was God? The same place as He always was. What could He do? Kill Hitler. Why did He not figure that out? If he killed Hitler, there would be another one right behind him, and He would end up having to kill all of us. So we have to understand that as long as God chose to give man free will, you will find evil in the world and you will also find the righteous. All of it is a choice. We are in the driver’s seat in regards to making a choice, to be controlled by God or to be controlled by Satan. Stop it. How are you going to stop it? The only way you are going to see non free will is if He jerked free will out of every person and made robots out of us. Then you will not see any evil at all. As long as we have free will, you will see good and you will see bad. Is that true in your own family? If it is true in your own family, then why would it not be true in the rest of the world?
2 Thessalonians 3:16
16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.
These people will come in and say we want peace in the world. How are you going to have peace in the world until you have peace in a country. How are you going to have peace in your country until you have peace in your own state? How are you going to have peace in your own state if you cannot have peace in your own county? How are you going to have peace in your county if you do not have peace in your city? How are you going to have peace in your city if you cannot have peace in your home? How are you going to have peace in your home if you cannot get along with each other?
1 Thessalonians 5:2-4
2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.
That is where Christ is relevant in international peace. So we are right down to the thing that when God created man with free will, we have the opportunity to choose. That answers questions like this, “Where was God when these little babies were being killed?” He was right there we has already been, on His throne. He was calling to them right where they were, “come to Me”. Man with the same tenacity was saying, “No. I am doing it my way.”
Matthew 2:17-18
17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”[Jeremiah 31:15]
The children are gone.
Matthew 2:19-20
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
I would also assume, that after that had taken place, he figured he had gotten the Messiah. So he had no more worry that this king was annihilated.
Matthew 2:21-23
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
What we have tried to do here is to see how this Lord Jesus Christ, how he was born, being led again by God, in all ways, and then we back to Luke. We lost those first few years of Christ. There is no record of that. But what is interesting to me, is when we were in Israel, there is a city that is outside of Nazareth. I believe if I was not mistaken, it was called Sepphoris. It was there in that city, which is just a few miles from where Jesus was in Nazareth, that there was a huge building project that took place (Sepphoris – Building Project), that very easily could be that Jesus and his family would have been working there in carpentry.
Mark 6:3
3 “Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
Luke 3:23
23 Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli
Even more important than that, Jesus’ grandfather, was the head of the synagogue there. That is where they trained rabbis, in that city Sepphoris. When you realize that Jesus was called a rabbi, and he could not be called a rabbi if he had not been schooled in the rabbinical training, in as much as his grandfather, Heli, was the head of this Jewish seminary, to train for rabbinical work.
Mark 9:2-7
2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
It makes sense to me that is where Jesus was in this period of time, being trained in rabbinical schools. His knowledge of the scriptures was unbelievable, which you can attribute to him being God. It all makes sense that he was being trained in rabbinical school in his grandfather’s rabbinical training place. Otherwise, why would they call him rabbi? There are a lot of things being discovered today through archaeological findings that are shedding light on these early years of Jesus. When I go to Israel, our guide that we had the last time, will be our guide again. He is the one who showed us this information in some of the archaeological findings surrounding it. He also showed me a book that had been written in regard to this subject. I am going to pick that book up and come back and share that with you. So it is very much a possibility that Jesus was studying in a rabbinical school.
Luke 2:41-51
41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover.
We know that every year they went to the feast. This could explain why they were there when the wise men were there.
Luke 2:42-44
42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends.
They would go in great caravans. Being children, they would say, I would like to go back with my cousins. Everyone was safe for everyone was with family. So they assumed everyone was safe. But then when they found out he was not there, they went back looking for him.
Luke 2:45-48
45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this?
Does that sound just like a mother? “Why are you doing this to me? I have been worried sick. My father and I have been anxiously looking for you.” Do you think she might have been angered by this? Anger is a secondary response to fear. This is a typical example of that. My first response is that I fear my child is gone. Then when you find him, you would like to scold him. Often you find the root of your anger is fear. Then you find your anger is the secondary response to fear. So instead of dealing with the anger, deal with the fear.
Luke 2:48-50
Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
Now, is that not something? Here is Mary and Joseph, who had an angel reveal all this to them, through a dream from God and a virgin birth. You would think that would make them think. Yet it says they did not yet understand what was going on. I do not have any problem at all understanding this. That is why people go about seeking signs and miracles, and more and more signs and miracles, and you would think one would do. No, after one, I need another one. If your faith is built upon signs and miracles, then you are always going to need one. That is why Jesus said, “Blessed are those who do not see and believe” and “You people are an adulterous generation, always looking for a miracle. I will show you a miracle. Watch me being raised from the dead.”
Matthew 16:4
A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.
John 20:24-29
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
In the final analysis, Jesus is saying to us, in regards to the final miracle that ought to be enough, that “if you cannot believe me that I have been raised from the dead, then it is no fault of mine. I have given you every sign you need”. You see, folks, even though we know the virgin birth was a virgin birth, man could still say, “Not so sure about that”, and it could be debated. But when someone is raised from the dead, that is a hard one to debate.
Luke 16:19-31
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
The final miracle of God, that he said, “I am going to give to you and if you cannot believe me in regard to who I am with that miracle, then you are not going to believe anything. I am not going to show you any other miracle.” I see people today seeking miracle and signs and wonders, and excitement, and you say, “Marvelous, what did it do for you?” If it increased your faith, then something is wrong with your faith. If your faith is not big enough to believe Jesus for his resurrection, then something is wrong with your faith. If you keep needing a reassurance, then something is wrong. People who keep saying, “I need. I need.” or “I thirst. I thirst.”, when Jesus said when you drink of regular water you will thirst again, but when you drink of my water you will never thirst again (John 4:13-14). All of these things set in motion, not so we become sign seekers or miracle seekers, but so we can put our faith squarely and securely in revealed truth as it relates to the person of Jesus Christ. So it says they did not understand what he was saying.
John 6:35-37
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
John 4:13-14
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Luke 2:51-52
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
He was not an unusual child. He was obedient to his mother. It is interesting to study those first years of Jesus Christ, and try to understand that. What is interesting to me is this. My mind flashes back. I imagine those who went to Israel, when talking about going back there, we rode on a bus, on a back road that takes you into Jerusalem. If anyone was not saved on that bus, they would have been saved after taking that bus trip. You were looking down these cliffs. All those women sitting in the center of the bus. It was a remarkable thing thinking about how all of these things were revealed for one purpose, and one purpose only, and that is so we could come to know Christ.
