Tuesday, May 22, 2007

WHO IS HE?

READ JOHN 7:40-53

40) The multitudes were thinking about the prophet that Moses had predicted in Dt. 18:15. "However, in their theology, they believed the prophet was not the same individual as the Messiah (cf. Jn. 1:19-21)" (The Feasts of the Lord)

41-43) "Some believed He was claiming to be the Messiah - and, of a truth, He was. However, still others debated this notion with, "Has not the Scripture said that the Christ [the Messiah] comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was? . . . These were ignorant that Jesus was, in reality, a descendant of David, and that His birthplace was Bethlehem. So John recorded, "there was a division among the people because of Him." (The Feasts of the Lord)

44-53) QUOTE: "In the wake of these disturbing events the religious leadership called an emergency security meeting. it was a meeting of the chief priests, those twenty-four priests who were head over the twenty-four divisions of the priesthood (I Cor. 24:1-19). They were aristocratic Sadduccees who controlled the Temple worship. Also present were the Pharisees. They were the perpetuators of the oral extra biblical traditions within Israel. They controlled the synagogue worship. These two groups, usually at great odds over theology and engaged in religious power struggles, were united in their hatred of Jesus. "They summoned the officers to give an account as to why they had not arrested Jesus. The officers were Levites who patrolled the Temple compound and enforced Temple law. They were the security force, the Temple guard, who responsibility it would have been to arrest Jesus for interrupting the service. A few days earlier, the officers had been commanded to arrest Jesus (Jn. 7:14, 30-32), but now they had missed the perfect occasion to do so. The officers, too, had been stunned by His statement, for they answereed in their defense, "No man ever spoke like this Man!" (Jn. 7:46). After being rebuked in great rage, the officers were sent away." (The Feasts of the Lord)
I HAVE QUOTED MUCH THIS TIME FROM THE BOOK THE FEASTS OF THE LORD BY KEVIN HOWARD AND MARVIN ROSENTHAL. AN EXCELLENT BOOK AND WELL WORTH READING.

1 comment:

The Fox Den said...

Interesting stuff!