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STAND & COMFORT Newsletter March 30, 2002 "LET THESE SAYINGS SINK DOWN INTO YOUR EARS" (Luke 9:24) Before He entered Jerusalem for the last time, Jesus forewarned his apostles of the events that would occur. He wanted them to know He would need no defense, that things would not really be suddenly, uncontrollably falling apart, that all hopes for God's kingdom were not falling by the wayside, that events would happen exactly as God had ordained for them to happen. On at least two occasions, He told them, Mat 20:18 Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, I like the words Jesus used here: "Let these sayings sink down into your ears." It brings to mind a recent happening when one of my very young granddaughters went to the doctor for a checkup and the doctor exclaimed during the exam, "There's a little shiny pink bead way down in her ear"! He checked the other ear and there was a bead there, also. Apparently, while playing dress-up, she'd placed these beads in her ears to simulate earrings and they'd dropped down into the ear canal without anyone knowing it. But that is what Jesus was saying to His apostles, "Hear this to the point that it sinks down into your ears and you really hear what I am telling you: 'I will be betrayed, condemned to death, mocked, scourged, and crucified, but I will rise on the third day.'" But because fear has a way of closing the ears to things that don't want to be heard, they didn't hear Him. Instead, they feared what He was saying, and this fear would increase to the point where their fear of the Jews would force them into seclusion. Jesus said other things that also indicated what the future held for Him: John 10:15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. When the time of fulfillment came, one of the apostles, speculatively Peter, tried to defend Jesus in the garden: Mat 26:51 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear. Jesus told the apostles He could call for 12,000 angels to deal with those who came to take Him away, but there was something much more important to be accomplished, and it did not depend on His being freed from the Romans. That something was that "the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it MUST be" (v. 54). So as scripture began to be fulfilled, He took the use of the sword out of their hands. Earlier, Jesus had warned them, Mat 26:31 . . . All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. What were the apostles to do now? Jesus would not allow them to use the sword, while the Romans stood armed to the hilt. There was only one thing left to do, and that was to flee, and flee they did. Peter, mustering up some courage, followed Jesus and the guards to the high priest's palace and went into the courtyard and sat down by the fire: Mat 26:58 But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest's palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end. Peter followed, but at a distance. One wonders what state of mind Peter was in at this point. He had to be sweating, probably almost shaking, nervous, tremendously on edge, trying to be strong and faithful, while Self pushed him to the point of denying he knew Jesus. He watched from afar off, and his courage soon drained dry. Questioned three times if he was one of the ones with Jesus, he denied it three times, before running away and crying it all out in the darkness of the night. Where were Jesus' disciples when He died? Scripture tells us that there were some who watched the crucifixion from a distance: Mat 27:55 . . . many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him: Mark also tells how the women who ministered to Jesus watched from afar: Mark 15:40 There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome; Other verses mention this fact as well, but it was always women and some men who were not of the eleven. Only John approached the cross with Jesus' mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene (John 19:25-27). Where were the apostles? The apostles were in hiding, "mourning and weeping" (Mark 16:10). Jesus was dying and now "fear of the Jews" (John 20:19) was in full force. But Joseph of Aramathia, in spite of that same fear, managed to receive the body of Jesus for burial: John 19:38 And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. Again, it was the women, not the apostles, who followed to see where Jesus' body was laid: Mark 15:47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid. They witnessed which tomb he had been placed in, and when they arrived there again on the third day, an angel appeared and told them, "He is not here: for he is risen, as he said" (Matt 28:6). I can imagine the apostles still hiding in fear while the angel at the tomb was telling the two women that Jesus was risen AS HE SAID. What good news, what an awesome, overwhelming message the women would carry to the apostles. The awe they must have felt, and anticipation of the joy on the apostles' faces must have raced through their minds and emotions: Luke 24:6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, "And they [the women] remembered his words." How easily they believed. The angel told them, and then the Lord appeared and told them again, and they remembered what He had said. "He IS risen, just like He said!" They rushed back to the apostles and delivered their wonderful news in what had to be a very emotional scene, and the apostles reacted incredulously and "believed them not." Except for Peter . . . maybe. He may not have believed, but he couldn't quite discount their words. He had to see for himself: "Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre." The amazing thing about Jesus' resurrection is that in spite of His telling them beforehand exactly what was going to happen, the apostles and other disciples still struggled to believe it. When Jesus appeared to two very sad followers on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:17), they told Him how some of their assembly had even gone to the sepulchre and had seen for themselves that the body of Jesus was not there. They were most likely referring to Peter and John: Luke 24:24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. Here we have Jesus' body missing and they were sad, and though Jesus was walking with them and talking to them, who he was was hidden from them. Most likely the question running through their minds was "What happened to His body"? Maybe the rumor that the body was stolen had already spread. These disciples were sad and unbelieving in spite of all the testimony that He had indeed risen from the dead: Luke 24:21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. How could they not believe? Let's look at the facts. Jesus' body was missing. An angel had told the women that He was risen, and that is why His body was not in the tomb. Two disciples had checked out the tomb. And yet they "believed not" (Mark 16:10). What Jesus had told them before Calvary did not sink down in their ears. In dealing with the two followers on the Emmaus road, Jesus didn't waste any time on their sadness and unbelief. He called them fools, because they were looking at circumstances and trying to figure out the things that astonished them instead of looking to the Scriptures: Luke 24:25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Apparently, the two sensed something concerning Him who spoke to them, for they invited Him to stay and eat. As He broke bread with them, they suddenly recognized Jesus, and then He disappeared. Luke 24:32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? They ran to the apostles and told them: Luke 24:33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, The women had come to the apostles and told them of the angels and Jesus' appearance to them, and they hadn't believed. After Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, she too went and reported the news, and they didn't believe her: Mark 16:10 And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And now these two followers ran to Jerusalem and excitedly announced this same good news, and Mark records the apostles' reaction: Mark 16:13 And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them. But after they'd related this encounter, Jesus Himself appeared to the apostles and the disciples who were with them: Mark 16:14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. Luke describes the scene this way: Luke 24:36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. Even with Jesus standing there in front of them, "they yet believed not for joy, and wondered" (v. 41). Here were the men who were to take the gospel to the world, and they had not yet laid hold of the fact that Jesus was risen from the dead! Jesus rebuked them for rejecting all the testimony they'd heard, and for not believing it was He now standing in their midst. They'd seen that His body was gone from the tomb, they'd heard testimony from different sources, and now here He was standing in their midst, and they still thought they were seeing a spirit of some sort. Jesus' own apostles and closest disciples should have recognized, from the scriptures and from Jesus' teaching, the significance of His crucifixion and resurrection. But they didn't, and the Lord had to open their understanding and teach them more about His purpose. So He taught and encouraged and rebuked and strengthened them, and they finally overcame their fears and doubts and wonderings. By Pentecost, they were ready and prepared for every good work, and embued with the power of the Holy Spirit, they began to take the gospel to the Jews and to the world. There are many lessons in this summary, and maybe the Lord spoke to you about yourself and your relationship with Him as you read through this. But the words that stood out to me while writing it are these: "Let these sayings sink down into your ears." As prophesied in Scripture, Jesus has come and has returned to heaven, but the Scriptures also say that He is coming again, after a period of great tribulation: Acts 3:21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. We in our day are not excused from having Jesus' words of warning "sink down into our ears." He is not done speaking, and His words to us are even more clear than those to His apostles and first disciples. Some of His warnings are: Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. Jesus made no apologies for believers having to go through such things. When He went up to Jerusalem, He knew that Peter would deny Him and the apostles would flee, and that He would be crucified and then raised up on the third day. That was just the way it was going to be, and so He warned them. He stated that these things would in fact happen, and that His followers only had to listen and understand and set their faces like flint. But they ended up filled with doubts and wonderings, shaking in the corner of a dark secluded room. There are those who doubt that things that are happening today will lead to the events prophesied in Scripture. But the worst thing one can do is deny Jesus' warnings, or treat them lightly. The sarcasm, flippancy, arrogance and apostasy in the body of Christ today shows that many have not let His sayings "sink down into their ears." The more the shofar is blown and the shout is heard for "revival," and the more Christians soak their billions of dollars into the effort, the more the world slides down the tubes. People are crying for answers while the apostate Church binds itself to Rome and struggles to conquer the world. The world cannot deal with sin and the more it tries to deal with it, the more sin it manifests. It will do so until the antichrist comes on the scene and the mystery of iniquity has its desire. Nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, earthquakes, famines, disease, nervousness, panic, tranquilizers, rumors, prescription drugs at their highest selling point in history, unite this, tolerate that. The more peace is pursued, the more trouble there is. The more "peace, peace" becomes the cry, the more war increases. The only thing the world can be one in is the rejection of Jesus Christ as the only solution to humanity's problems. But instead of preaching Christ, the apostate Church offers itself as the catalyst to a false world unity and a non-scriptual peace that won't come until Jesus comes back according to the Scriptures. Let this sink down into our ears. The apostles and first disciples were told over and over again what was to happen and it proved to be a traumatic experience for them, such as with Peter. They even had Jesus in the flesh, in their midst, teaching and telling and warning and preparing them, and yet there were fears and doubts and wonderings and loss of direction when things began to happen. As with the disciples, we need to be very serious about the times we live in and the words of Jesus concerning these times. We cannot dilly-dally with understanding the truth, lest we surrender the truth of Scripture and find we are not able to endure to the end. The truth is to be stood on no matter what comes, and to stand on it means that one has to have it first - in its proper context. Many have some truth, but it is perverted. That is why we need to get the truth about the truth down in our ears, where we know it and stand on it and hear it, so that when the persecution and hatred and betrayals begin, we "remember his words" (Luke 24:8). Remembering the Lord's words means remembering them in their proper context. We each need to check ourselves out. We each need to forsake being "right," standing on private revelations that makes us cocky and sure and at the same time deceived. All seven of the churches of Revelation received the same warning, "He that hath an ear, LET HIM HEAR [sink these words down into your ears] what the Spirit saith unto the churches" (Rev 2:11). The disciples overcame because the Lord was merciful and took 40 days to get them on track. We too are called to overcome. We do not have the Lord here in the flesh to teach us, but He has given us the Holy Spirit to teach us those things which are to come and to point to Jesus in the full canon of Scripture. We have been given all the spiritual Q-tips we need to get these things down into our ears. Do you have something you believe but aren't sure about? Have you taken the time to really study it and check it out in its proper context? Are you absolutely ready to endure through the times ahead? Now is the time to be sure. Check your ears and see what is there. What have you heard that is lodged in there that will aid you in your endurance? Anything? Something? Is it just spiritual earwax that actually clogs your hearing? God has given us His Spirit, His word, a regenerated spirit and a brain to read and understand Scripture. These things give us ears to hear. Do we? I hope so, because with all that is swirling around today we need to heed the signs of the times and those things which will hinder us from persevering and enduring to the end. Every one of us will be answerable to Christ alone one day, and He will be looking to see and hear that which we have remembered according to His word. ============== This newsletter will be sent out whenever I think there is something the body of Christ needs to consider, to build it up, to give it encouragement or comfort in hard times. To sign up for this newsletter, email Ed at edju@velocity.net |