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The Lord and His Disciples
Even though
the young Rabbi from Nazareth was and is the Messiah,
and the King of Israel, and the Son of God, and
worthy of Israel’s greatest respect and honors,
love, admiration and devotion, when the One who
is rightly called Immanuel came among us, the
majority of Israel were like parched, dry ground,
far from God and spiritually blind, and were about
to reject the Messiah - and Yeshua knew it. And,
Messiah knew that that was God’s plan for His
life. And He wanted to make sure that His disciples
knew that, so when it happened, they would not
lose faith in Him, and know that He was a true
prophet. And so before He died, He said this to
them:
"The
Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected
by the elders and chief priests and Torah-teachers,
and be killed and be raised up on the third day."
And, what
is true of the Lord will be true of His disciples,
and He wanted those first followers, and also
us, to know that we too must endure rejection
and suffering.
And
He was saying to them all, "If anyone (anyone
- this does not just apply to apostles, pastors
and rabbis. This is for anyone, for everyone,
including you!) wishes to come after Me
(to be My disciple, to join themself to Me and
share My destiny, and enjoy the good things I
offer), he must deny himself (give up his
right to determine his life, and his personal
goals and agenda, and his will, and he must submit
his life to the will of God, and find God’s goals
and agendas), and take up his cross daily (be
willing to suffer rejection and death each and
every day) and follow Me (follow My example,
and take up My mission).
For
whoever wishes to save his life (by living
for self, living for his own goals and priorities)
will lose it, but whoever loses his life for
My sake (for My sake, for Me, to accomplish
what I want done, to further My agenda), he
is the one who will save it. It is a very
bad deal for a man to become the richest, most
powerful man in this doomed world, if that accomplishment
is followed by the Day of Judgment and the Second
Death in the Lake of Fire.
What will
help us reject the temptations of the world, and
be willing to deny ourselves, and be willing to
suffer in this life as one of Messiah’s committed
followers? We need to know that just as the Messiah’s
sufferings and rejection were temporary, and were
followed by great and lasting honor and power
and happiness - our sufferings will also be temporary,
and we will receive eternal honor - if we remain
loyal to the Crucified One and His mission!
We need
that vision of the Suffering Messiah high and
lifted up, and greatly exalted; victorious and
powerful and eternally alive! And, that is exactly
what the Holy Spirit now gives us. Luke records
one of the of greatest spiritual experiences that
happened to the disciples - seeing Yeshua’s transformation
on a mountain in northern Israel. That great vision
was a foreshadowing of the rejected yet overcoming
King in His eternal glory - and a foretaste of
ours as well!
So, after
Yeshua gave His disciples this warning and this
call to join Him in suffering, He started preparing
them for a great vision some of them were about
to have. But I say to you truthfully, there
are some of those standing here who will not taste
death until they see the kingdom of God.
King Messiah
is not talking about some of His first century
disciples living until His Second Coming. He is
telling them that some of them are about to experience
a foreshadowing of the King in His glory, seeing
the Lord Messiah as He will be after His resurrection;
and when He comes again and rules the world from
Jerusalem. Some of them are about to see the King
Messiah as He will be throughout eternity in the
New Jerusalem, that huge and glorious and eternal
city that has no need for the sun or the moon
to shine on it, because its source of light is
the glory of God, and its lamp that lights it
up is the Messiah!
Some eight
days after Yeshua said these things, He took His
inner core of disciples - Peter, James and John,
and went up on a mountain in northern Israel to
pray. And while He was praying He was transformed
- the appearance of His face was different, and
His clothing became white and gleamed. And suddenly
two of Israel’s greatest men of old appeared with
Him in a glorious and magnificent state - Moses
the great Savior and Lawgiver and prophet, and
Elijah the great prophet who never died, who is
the forerunner of the Second Coming of the Messiah.
Messiah Yeshua, radiating power and light, and
Moses and Elijah, started talking about Yeshua’s
upcoming death and resurrection and ascension
back to Heaven.
Peter,
James and John had been sleeping, and they woke
up, and saw this amazing event, and then heard
the voice of God the Father speak from Heaven
(something that is extremely rare, and lets us
know that something very very important is being
communicated): This is My Son, My Chosen One;
listen to Him!
The Supreme
Being was communicating - not just to Peter, James
and John, but to all of mankind, that Yeshua is
His Son, who shares His name and nature, deity
and essence, and His eternal uncreated life. Yeshua
is also the Chosen One, chosen by the Father to
share everything with Him; chosen by the Father
to rule over mankind; chosen by God the Father
to be the Messiah, the Savior, the Redeemer, the
Lord, the Judge, the Life-giver and the Hell-Sender.
The Father
chose this One above everything and everyone else
to be close to, to be pleased with, to love, to
share with, to accomplish everything through,
to exalt. And, if we are to be acceptable to the
Father, we must choose what He has chosen. We
must choose His Chosen One too! If you do not
chose the One whom God has chosen, you will find
that you are not chosen by God! You may be part
of the Chosen People, but you will not be a Chosen
Person!
Yeshua
has been chosen above all the greatest men among
the Chosen People - above Moses and Elijah - great
men that they are. Yeshua has been chosen above
the other prophets and priests and kings of Israel;
and of course Yeshua has been chosen above all
the political and religious leaders of every other
nation.
This
is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him! Yeshua
has been chosen to speak for God. He, more than
anyone else, reveals who God is. He is the ultimate
prophet who has God’s words, who speaks to us
all that God commands Him (Deuteronomy. 18:18).
He is able to tell us, more than anyone else,
the name of God, the mind of God, the plan of
God, the salvation of God, the hope that God has
for us! By all means, listen to Moses! Most definitely
listen to Elijah and pay the closest attention
to the prophets of Israel, but most of all listen
to God’s Chosen One! Listen to the Son of God
who is in fact the very Word of God, who perfectly
communicates everything that God wants communicated
to mankind! God the Father, the Supreme Being,
our Maker, our Creator and our God, told us that
we must listen His Son and Chosen One. That is
His command for all of humanity - for the Chosen
People and everyone else.
Have you
chosen Him above everyone and everything else?
Have you
chosen to listen to Him more than to anyone else?
And, then,
after listening to God’s Son, you must go help
rescue the rest of humanity who are part of a
demonically controlled world. Take Messiah’s message
to the people of the world. Deny your self, and
lose your life for Messiah’s sake, and ignoring
the shame, look forward to the eternal honor that
awaits those who carry on Messiah’s great mission!
Messiah
came down from this great mountain-top experience
with Peter, James and John, who for a while, did
not report to anyone else this great vision of
Moses and Elijah talking with the transformed
Yeshua, and the powerful statement uttered by
the voice of God. I suspect that what had happened
was so overwhelming that they needed time to understand
it.
The next
day a huge crowd met them. In the crowd was a
man who had an only son who was terribly tormented
by a demon. The man had asked Messiah’s followers
to remove the demon, but they were not able to
exorcize, But the concerned father, not giving
up, asked Rabbi Yeshua for His help. Yeshua was
annoyed that His disciples weren’t able to pray
and have the demon removed. But unlike His disciples,
their Rabbi always had enough faith, and He rebuked
the unclean spirit, which promptly left. The boy
was instantly and completely freed from this demonic
torment!
The Lord
is greater than the disciples. Leaders of Messiah’s
Holy Community may fail. We may let you down,
but never give up faith in the Messiah! We might
fail, but you, keep seeking Yeshua! The Church
might fail, but the Lord of the Church never will!
This boy
is a symbol of humanity - controlled and tormented
by demons, under the authority of the dominion
of darkness; not at peace, in fact periodically
screaming and convulsing. The Lord’s disciples
are still trying to rid humanity of the destructive
and dehumanizing control of these unclean spirits.
Sometime we succeed and sometimes we fail. But
know that the Lord of the Church will one day
completely vanquish these very real enemies, and
free the remnant of humanity from our long demonic
nightmare!
Messiah
knew that a demonically controlled world would
reject Him at His First Coming. Even though prophecies
about His suffering and rejection are part of
the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jewish people did not
understand that the Messiah would be rejected
and suffer and die - not even His closest disciples.
But, He wanted to help them understand, and prepare
them for His rejection and suffering and death.
And so,
while everyone was marveling at all that He
was doing, He said to His disciples, “Let these
words sink into your ears; for the Son of Man
is going to be delivered into the hands of men".
He who
is the Lord of Heaven and Earth, and the One through
whom the universe was made and is sustained, would
shortly and willingly allow Himself to come under
the power of weak and sinful and cruel human beings,
who would mistreat Him, dishonor Him, torture
and crucify Him. Luke tells us that Yeshua’s followers
did not understand this statement. Therefore they
were surprised when His time of trouble came and
not ready to help their King.
Instead
of seeking the understanding they needed, so that
they could be prepared to stand by their Rabbi
and King and Friend in His hour of need, and fulfill
their duty to Him, they began to argue which one
of them was the greatest! Instead of denying self,
and being committed to assist the Messiah and
then carry on His all-important mission, the disciples
were squabbling over who was the greatest - who
was the most important and most deserving of the
highest position and greatest honors!
This is
not what being a disciple is about! This is not
what following the Crucified One is about! It
is about the King, not weak human beings who often
fail. It is about us pointing people to Him, since
He is the source of salvation. Human beings need
to learn about Him, and get to know Him, and get
connected to the One who is our salvation.
It is
about us working together as a team under the
Team Leader - Messiah. It’s about us working together
as a body under the Head - Yeshua. It’s about
us coming together as a mission driven community,
with the mission being the focus - not us and
our status. It is about us carrying on His mission,
which involves rejection and suffering, even death.
It is not about us receiving praise and honors!
The highest praise and honors come later to those
who are the most faithful, who are willing to
suffer the most, who fulfill their responsibilities
to the King the best.
Yeshua,
close to God and hearing from God, and Himself
very astute, knew what His followers were thinking,
and knew their values were wrong and their attitude
needed correction. And so He took a child and
stood him by His side, and said to them, “Whoever
receives this child in My name receives Me, and
whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me;
for the one who is least among all of you, this
is the one who is great”.
Each follower
of Messiah, whether he is great or small, important
to many others or not very influential, is gifted
by and sent by the Messiah, and represents the
Son of God. It’s about Him - not us. It’s about
the One who sends, not the one who is sent. It’s
about the Gifter more than the one who is gifted.
It’s about the One we represent - not us.
Every
son and daughter of God is important, and worthy
of honor and praise because they are all connected
to and joined to the Son of God, who is connected
to and joined to God the Father, who is supremely
worthy of honor! It’s about God the Son and God
the Father being honored and praised - not weak
and frail and flawed and sometimes failing human
beings through whom They choose to work.
The one
who realizes this, and embraces this, and humbles
himself, and is not concerned about himself and
his status and his position, and is focused on
the Messiah and His mission, and gives honor to
all believers simply because they are made in
the image of God, and are joined to Messiah, and
represent Him as He enables them to, is the one
who is truly great and in the right time will
be honored by God, whose honor is worthy and lasting!
The one
who is focused on the Messiah and His mission
is not threatened by others who advance the Messiah
and His mission - even if they are not part of
their sphere of influence. John answered and
said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons
in Your name; and we tried to prevent him because
he does not follow along with us." But Yeshua
said to him, "Do not hinder him; for he who
is not against you is for you."
It’s not
about our name, it’s about His name. It is not
about us - it’s about Him. It’s not about people
coming into our sphere of influence but into the
Master’s sphere of influence. It’s not about our
status, it’s about His mission. If the Lord’s
agenda is being advanced, that is good for us,
not bad for us.
To summarize,
Yeshua is the Suffering and Crucified Messiah,
but also the victorious and glorified King. The
is the Son of God. He is God’s Chosen One. We
must listen to Him. He is the One greater than
the disciples, who always succeeds where we fail.
He is the One who will crush the head of the serpent,
and remove all demonic influence from humanity.
He willingly allowed Himself to be delivered into
the control of sinful men - out of love for us,
to make shalom with God, and everlasting life,
possible. He overwhelming succeeding in His mission
and ministry, by using truth, and humility and
graciousness.
We must
take up His mission, adopting the same attitudes.
It is not about us - it’s about Him! It’s about
humility, selflessness, faithfulness to the Messiah
and His all-important mission. May these truths
be fulfilled in each one of us!
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