Friday, April 3, 2015

ACCORDING TO JESUS, HOW MANY HOURS ARE THERE IN A DAY? IN A NIGHT?

Have you ever taken the time to wonder how the people who set important dates could have squeezed 3 days and 3 nights between sundown Friday and sunrise Sunday? Or do you just accept it as another 'Mystery" of God? According to Jesus Christ, in John 11:9 he is quoted as saying :

"Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. KJV

We all know that there are 24 hours in a complete day, so reciprocally, there must be 12 hours in a night as well. So, a day and a night = 1 complete day or 24 hours. But, just to be sure let's take a look at the context of John 11, which is the subject of "raising Lazarus from the dead." In verse 6 we read, that after Jesus found out that Lazarus was sick, he continued to stay where he was for 2 more days. This is incredible in and of itself. Most of us would scurry right over and start praying. But Jesus waited 2 days before departing. John 11:7-11 goes on to say:

Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.
8 His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.
11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

In the 2 days since Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he died. But Jesus told his disciples that Lazarus was "sleeping." His disciples replied with: "Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well." I get such a kick out of these guys! These disciples were so tired from following the Lord around, they couldn't wait to get some sleep. When Jesus told them Lazarus was sleeping, they were probably thinking to themselves, "that lucky dog, I wish I was getting some sleep!" I can just see Jesus now, shaking his head and looking up to heaven, saying, "O Lord, O Lord, what am I going to do with these guys?" Jesus had to have a great sense of humor.

John 11:13-15
13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

By the time Jesus got there, Lazarus had been dead 4 days and was all ready in a cave grave, corrupting and stinking away. 3 complete days, or 72 hours, is as long as the body can go without decaying or as the Bible puts it, corrupting. And we know that the Lord Jesus suffered no corruption:

Acts 2:3131 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

What we need to see, is that when God says something, that is what he means. To corroborate what he said, he even brought Jonah into the picture: Jonah 1:17
Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
To get even greater clarification, let's go back to the beginning:
Gen 1:55 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

It can't get much clearer than this, but still Christians are willing to fight tooth and nail to hang on to Tradition. Many will say, "what difference does it make?" It has to do with the Integrity of God's Word: Can it be believed? God does not want people just to take things on "faith," that His Word is Truth. He can prove it's truth and he wants people to be able to do the same. But, when we celebrate or commemorate or venerate Christ's life and death and resurrection on days which are biblically impossible, it makes it more difficult for the unbeliever to believe.

Jesus was raised from the dead by sunset on Saturday, at which time Sunday began in accordance with eastern Biblical Times. Counting backwards 3 days and 3 nights means he was dead and buried by sunset on Wednesday. Why? Because Thursday, which began at sunset was a "High Day," not the weekly Sabbath:
John 19:3131 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

A High Day is a particularly special Sabbath, a day of holy convocation to The Lord God, which in this case was the first day of The Feast of Unleavened Bread and fell on Thursday the 15th of Nisan, which, again, began at sunset on Wednesday the 14th.

When the Bible says 3 Days and 3 Nights, that is what it means. It does not mean 2 nights and 1 day which is what you have if Jesus was dead and buried before sunset on a Friday. There is no Good Friday in the Bible.

God Bless and Happy Resurrection Sunday


Wednesday, April 1, 2015

SINCE 4 WERE CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST, why doesn't anyone teach it?

John 19:32-33
 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.
33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:
KJV

To the student of the Bible these 2 verses should "stand out like a sore thumb" in contrast to what is traditionally taught. Here is what we have:

  1.  Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, (the first among those who were crucified that day)
  2. and of the other which was crucified with him. (One of the ones crucified WITH, at the same time as Jesus was)
  3. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: (when they came to Jesus----think about this------if there were only 2 crucified with him the soldiers would have come to Jesus 2nd, if he was between the 2 or Jesus was at the end of the three).
John makes a distinction between the first crucified and the one crucified along with him showing that everyone was not crucified at the same time.

Luke 23:26, 32-33
 And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. KJV

Here we have:
  1. Simon a Cyrenian carrying Jesus' "cross" behind him.
  2. Cross is the Greek word, stauros, a stake, pole or post
  3. 2 Malefactors, kakourgos, workers of evil
  4. Led with him, sun, accompanying him
Contrary to tradition Scripture clearly teaches that Jesus did not carry a physical piece of wood, particularly not a 2 member piece of wood with one member perpendicular to the other. These 2 evildoers were led with him and crucified with him, at the same time as him.

Matt 27:35-37  And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down they watched him there; And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. KJV

After they crucified him they: (These things took a little bit of time to do).
  1.  and parted his garments, casting lots: 
  2. And sitting down they watched him there; 
  3. And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. KJV
Matt 27:38 Then were there two thieves, leistes crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. KJV

These 2 are a specific kind of malefactor who came up to be crucified after the other 2 who were led with Jesus. One could easily say that I am just splitting hairs here, if it were not for this verse 44:

 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. 

But we know from Luke 23:39-40 that only one malefactor reviled Jesus while the other did not:

39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
KJV

There can be no doubt in your mind what the Scriptures teach on this subject, that 4 were crucified with Christ, not just 2. Now John 19 makes sense. There were 5 people crucified in a line with Jesus in the midst of them
John 19:18

18 where they crucified him, and with him two others, on this side, and on that side, and Jesus in the midst.
YLT

Here's how the KJV reads:

18 Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.
One is not in the texts and was added by the translators. "on either side" are the Greek words enteuthen kai entheuthen.  Kai is usually translated as "and," and serves as a copulative, Here enteuthen is translated as on and side. When  enteuthen is repeated as it is here, it means both sides:
  enteuthen 
NT:1782  from the same as NT:1759; hence (literally or figuratively); (repeated) on both sides:

(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)



It is unbelievable to me how many versions and translations have missed this: 2 on both sides! 

This should cause you to wonder how much more they've misrepresented the God-breathed Word, but, unfortunately, it probably won't because hardly anyone really cares. After all, most Christians are more content with 2,000 years of Church Tradition than they are with the truth.
Does the truth matter to you?


















Sunday, February 15, 2015

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER?

Exodus 20:12 tells us, to "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

The Epistle to the Ephesians puts it like this: Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), 3 that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. Eph 6:1-4 NASB

     The reason I am writing about this is because of all the parents we have spoke with in the past couple of years who are experiencing quite the opposite, with some of their children. I feel that it has grown to a point that some light needs to be shed upon it. Since the commandment is reiterated in the church Epistles, it is just as viable to New Testament believers as it was to the old.

     The promise accompanying the commandment is,when you honour your father and your mother "you will live a long, prosperous life." I would like to submit that doing the opposite will result in a shorter, poorer and unhealthier life. I have copied some popular Commentators on the subject in the following quotes:

"[Honour thy father and thy mother] There is a degree of affectionate respect which is owing to parents, that no person else can properly claim. For a considerable time parents stand as if were in the place of God to their children, and therefore rebellion against their lawful commands has been considered as rebellion against God. This precept therefore prohibits, not only all injurious acts, irreverent and unkind speeches to parents, but enjoins all necessary acts of kindness, filial respect, and obedience. We can scarcely suppose that a man honours his parents who, when they fall weak, blind, or sick, does not exert himself to the uttermost in their support. In such cases God as truly requires the children to provide for their parents, as he required the parents to feed, nourish, support, instruct, and defend the children when they were in the lowest state of helpless infancy. See the note at Gen 48:12. The rabbis say, Honour the Lord with thy substance, Prov 3:9; and, Honour thy father and mother. The LORD is to be honoured thus if thou have it; thy father and mother, whether thou have it or not; for if thou have nothing, thou art bound to beg for them. See Ainsworth.


        [Honour thy father and mother] This word was taken in great latitude of meaning among the               Jews: it not only meant respect and submission, but also to take care of a person, to nourish         and support him, to enrich. See Num 22:17; Judg 13:17; 1 Tim 5:17. And that this was the               sense of the law, as it respected parents, see Deut 27:16, and see the note at Ex 20:12. 

(from Adam Clarke's Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1996, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Matthew 15:4. [For God commanded ...] That is, in the fifth commandment (Ex 20:12), and in Ex 21:17. To "honor" is to obey, to reverence, to speak kindly to, to speak and think well of. To "curse" is to disobey, to treat with irreverence, to swear at, to speak ill of, to think evil of in the heart, to meditate or do any evil to a parent. All this is included in the original word.

(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Matthew 15:1-9 The sanction of this law in the fifth commandment, is, a promise, that thy days may be long; but our Saviour waives that, lest any should thence infer it to be only a thing commendable and profitable, and insists upon the penalty annexed to the breach of this commandment in another scripture, which denotes the duty to be highly and indispensably necessary; He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death: this law we have, Ex 21:17. The sin of cursing parents is here opposed to the duty of honouring them. Those who speak ill of their parents, or wish ill to them, who mock at them, or give them taunting and opprobrious language, break this law. If to call a brother Raca be so penal, what is it to call a father so? By our Saviour's application of this law, it appears, that denying service or relief to parents is included in cursing them. Though the language be respectful enough, and nothing abusive in it, yet what will that avail, if the deeds be not agreeable? it is but like him that said, I go, Sir, and went not, ch. 21:30.

(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible, PC Study Bible Formatted Electronic Database Copyright © 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All Rights reserved.)

Mark 7:10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:

Matthew 15:4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.

Ex. 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother - by expressions of respect and reverence for them, as instrumentally the representatives of God, and by every token of attention and considerate regard for their support and comfort. This commandment holds a high place in the rank of social duties, and comes next in order after the law of the Sabbath, with which it is associated (Lev 19:3). Love is the sentiment required to be cherished toward our fellow-men (Lev 19:18), but honour or 'fear' toward parents.
(from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

As you can see, there is a lot more to this commandment than meets the eye. Jesus concluded the matter with this and so do I, Mark 7:16  If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. KJV