That's very interesting, kyredneck. That last Passover for Jesus at Jerusalem is a most interesting one. From the time that He approached the city and prophesied of its impending fall in Luke 19, He steadily builds one message after another to the climax in Matthew 23, "behold your house is left unto you desolate." The very next thing we see recorded in scripture after that famous sermon is Jesus telling His disciples of the complete destruction of the temple, which was shocking to them. The Jews did not know the time of their visitation. What great lesson is there is that for us today, because the same Jesus walks among the golden candlesticks now. As Paul said, behold therefore the goodness and severity of God.
There's much meat in your post I wish I could comment on Brother. You reference Mt 23 which I have heard designated as the 'Woe Chapter', and that for good reason. Christ pronounced many judgments upon that generation during this last appearance to Jerusalem. But I would like to expound on the text from Mt 21 a bit more.
Winman makes a valid point, as he often does, concerning the element of 'faith' in this passage:
....This passage is clearly speaking about faith, and Jesus is teaching his disciples if they can believe in God's promises and not doubt, they can perform miraculous works......
This is the verse he refers to:
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you,
If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do what is done to the fig tree, but even if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea, it shall be done. (v 21)
Winman's 'take' on this passage is typical of what is generally believed, the emphasis being put on
'If ye have faith, and doubt not”, as a lesson for the importance of our faith when Christ was actually speaking of the faith of His disciples, and all the while missing the real underlying prophetic message of it. And there's actually nothing new in what Christ had to say to His disciples here, He had told them this before.
The faith of His disciples was to be VERY instrumental in bringing about judgment on, and casting this mountain into the sea. Indeed, it was through their eyewitness accounts given to the Jews that the Spirit, the Comforter, convicted the Jewish world of the judicial murder of Christ. Just as the Jews judicially murdered Christ, so did God convict the Jews, in a judicial manner through His witnesses the disciples, of the crime. God first reversed the Jew's unrighteous judgment on His Servant and declared Him to be righteous by raising Him from the dead, and then He judged those Jews as guilty for that murder. I've posted on this topic before; here it is once again:
When Christ commissioned the twelve apostles He foretold them:
But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their
synagogues they will scourge you; yea and before governors and kings shall ye be brought for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up,
be not anxious how or what ye shall speak [
HAVE FAITH AND DOUBT NOT, MT 21:21]: for it shall be given you in that hour what ye shall speak. For
it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you. Mt 10:17-20
In the Olivet Discourse He foretold them:
But before all these things, they shall lay their hands on you, and shall persecute you, delivering you up to the
synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name`s sake. It shall turn out unto you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts[
HAVE FAITH AND DOUBT NOT, MT 21:21] , not to meditate beforehand how to answer: for
I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to withstand or to gainsay. Lk 21:12-15
In the Farewell Discourse He foretold them:
They shall put you out of the
synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God.....And he, when
he [the Comforter] is come,
will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye behold me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged. Jn 16:2, 8-11
The 'world' meant here is not the human race in general. This is the 'world' that Christ is referring to:
Jesus answered him, I have spoken openly to
the world; I ever taught in
synagogues, and in
the temple, where all
the Jews come together; and in secret spake I nothing. Jn 18:20.
To paraphrase the 8th verse:
When the Spirit comes, He will convict the Jews of the judicial murder of Christ, and will declare Christ to be righteous in that God has raised Him from the dead, and will pass judgment upon this generation.
Read, listen, hear the Spirit convict the apostate ecclesiastical system of the Jews, through the testimony of His witnesses, of the murder of the Righteous One, and declare Him indeed to be righteous. Take note, in all these examples given, of the redundancy of the message from the Comforter to the Jews;
YOU KILLED HIM, BUT GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD.
Acts 2:
4 And
they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spake forth unto them, saying, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and give ear unto my words.
22
Ye men of Israel, hear these words:
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know;
23 him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,
ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay:
24
whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that
God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.40 And with many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying,
Save yourselves from this crooked generation.
Acts 3:
12 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people,
Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this man? or why fasten ye your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him to walk?
13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified
his Servant Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied before the face of Pilate, when he had determined to release him.14 But
ye denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted unto you,
15
and killed the Prince of life; whom God raised from the dead; whereof
we are witnesses.
23 And it shall be, that
every soul that shall not hearken to that prophet, shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.
Acts 4:
8 Then
Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said unto them,
Ye rulers of the people, and elders,
9 if we this day are examined concerning a good deed done to an impotent man, by what means this man is made whole;
10
be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even in him doth this man stand here before you whole.
Acts 5:
27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them,
28 saying, We strictly charged you not to teach in this name: and behold,
ye have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and
intend to bring this man`s blood upon us.
29 But Peter and the apostles answered and said, We must obey God rather than men.
30
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging him on a tree.
31
Him did God exalt with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins.
32 And
we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
(continued next post)
