Participants: David Asscherick, James Rafferty, Jeffrey Rosario, Ty Gibson
Series Code: TT
Program Code: TT000021
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00:01 [Music]
00:11 [Music] 00:21 As we continue our discussion through the Bible we need to 00:24 remember that we're coming from somewhere right? 00:26 There's a story line. 00:28 There's a narrative. 00:29 And so when we come to the New Testament the New Testament 00:32 doesn't exist in a vacuum there's backdrop, there's some, 00:36 there's a stage, there's something going on. 00:38 There are characters these characters have enacted aspects 00:44 of the story and as we move into the New Testament we see that 00:47 Jesus is the fulfillment of this Old Testament narrative, this 00:53 trajectory, this steady, moving story that comes to completion 00:59 in the person of Jesus Christ. 01:01 The gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are basically four 01:06 different angles on the fulfillment of this story line. 01:10 Some of it deals with creation looping all the way back to Adam 01:13 and Eve. 01:14 Some of it deals with Abraham and beginning with him in Israel 01:18 and then filling out the details of how Jesus fulfills on behalf 01:22 of humanity and God's idea. 01:24 -And it's all unique, they're all complimentary and 01:27 harmonious. 01:28 --Yeah. 01:29 --It's like 4 witnesses at the scene type thing. 01:30 --Exactly. 01:31 So where do we go first? 01:33 I think a good place to begin is where nobody wants to begin the 01:36 New Testament with the genealogies. 01:38 I mean. 01:39 --The most exciting parts of the Bible. 01:41 --You want to put yourself, if you want to put yourself to 01:45 sleep just get comfortable and read the genealogies. 01:49 But it's there for a reason, yeah there's something there. 01:52 --When I read a story a number of years ago about Willie 01:56 Nelson, the country music singer and he was in jail for something 01:59 early in his life and he was. 02:02 --For the same thing he's always. 02:03 --Well whatever, I don't know a lot about him I just know that 02:06 he was in jail and he was telling this story about how 02:10 somebody had given him a Bible and he thought yeah, you know, I 02:13 do need to get my life on track and so he picked up a Bible and, 02:15 it was just a New Testament, you know, like probably the New 02:19 Testament, Psalms and Proverbs or something. 02:21 And so he picks it up and he starts reading and he starts 02:23 reading of course in Matthew chapter one which is where you'd 02:25 start if it was just a New Testament. 02:27 And he became so frustrated, he's like how can this and he 02:31 just threw it against the wall and he's like this is, what is 02:33 this to me. 02:34 And the truth is, is that while many people wouldn't go quite 02:36 that far to throw it against the wall or just to disregard it at 02:39 that point. 02:40 The genealogies don't make, especially in Matthew, they 02:42 don't seem to make a lot of sense to us. 02:44 But Matthew is making a point and it's a very important point 02:48 especially to the audience to whom Matthew is very likely 02:52 writing and it's largely a Jewish audience largely a Jewish 02:54 context. 02:56 Unlike, say Luke, who's writing to a broader audience as a 02:59 Gentile he has not only a Jewish perspective but the gentile 03:02 perspective as well. 03:04 But in the genealogies of Matthew, we don't have to go 03:07 through all of them but we can open up Matthew chapter one 03:09 verse one where it just says the book of the genealogy of Jesus 03:14 Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 03:17 Now for Matthew he has just touched on the three major 03:21 figures in the history of the Jewish faith and religion, it's 03:26 all there. 03:27 There's the Jesus guy, there's the Moses guy and there's the 03:30 David guy. 03:31 These are the guys and excuse me Abraham I said 03:33 --You said Moses. 03:35 --I said Moses. 03:37 -You meant Abraham. 03:38 --So Abraham he takes the story back to Abraham that's where 03:40 we've been going then you have David as the man after God's own 03:43 heart, etc. We've not really developed that, we might. 03:45 And then he begins to go through, look at where he starts 03:47 in verse two, Abraham begot Isaac. 03:49 What if, that's a very interesting place to start 03:51 unlike Luke when he tells the genealogy story of Jesus he goes 03:55 all the way back to Adam. 03:56 Of course he would be inclined to do so as a Gentile. 03:59 He wants to tell the larger universal picture. 04:01 Matthew's not denying that but he's making a specific point 04:02 here. 04:04 He starts with Abraham now as he sort of develops this watch what 04:07 happens here when he comes to the conclusion of all the 04:09 genealogies, verse two, you know Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot 04:11 Jacob, Jacob begot Judah and his brothers, etc. By the way Andrew 04:14 Peterson has a really great song that is the genealogies I don't 04:18 know if you've ever heard it or not. 04:20 Oh it's awesome, isn't it? 04:21 It's awesome. 04:22 It's just this great song where he sings the genealogy, Andrew 04:25 Peterson. 04:26 You should check it out. 04:27 Anyway now look at verse 17 here's the point he's making he 04:30 said so all the generations from Abraham to David, these are the 04:35 key figures remember, are 14 generations. 04:38 And from David until the captivity in Babylon are 14 04:40 generations and from the captivity in Babylon until 04:43 Christ are 14 generations. 04:45 So in Matthew's thinking these are the high points. 04:48 Abraham is a high point, David is a high point, the Babylonian 04:52 captivity is a high point that's really a low point. 04:54 It's a high point in history but it's the low point of Israel's 04:57 experience because as we've already talked about the 04:59 fulfillment of the curse of Deuteronomy 27 to 30 if you do 05:02 this, this, this, this is what's gonna happen. 05:04 But it's interesting that he crafts this very purposefully in 05:07 3 groups of 14. 05:09 He says there was 14, there was 14, and there was 14. 05:14 Well what is that? 05:15 It's 6 groupings of 7. 05:18 Right? 05:19 There's 7/7, 7/7, 7/7 and this is hugely significant biblically 05:25 speaking because in scripture, of course the 7th day is the 05:29 Sabbath. 05:30 It's a day for rest. 05:32 It's a day for cessation from the normal activities. 05:34 But 7-7's right? 05:37 Then you have what's called the jubilee, right, the 50th year. 05:41 --Liberation. 05:42 --The liberation where debts, all debts were settled, all 05:46 slaves were set free. 05:48 --Land is returned. 05:49 --Think of it like a Sabbath on steroids, right? 05:51 So you have the Sabbath which is the 7th and then you have 7 of 05:54 those so it's 7 cycles of 7 this is the thing. 05:57 And Matthew's making a very important point here and that is 06:00 that there was the 7/7 the 7/7 the 7/7 and Jesus comes 06:05 introducing and inaugurating the jubilee. 06:10 --Yeah wow yeah. 06:11 --So here's a very interesting thing we'll just skip from 06:13 Matthew. 06:14 --Well I want to go back to Matthew. 06:15 --Yeah stay in Matthew, stay in Matthew. 06:17 -There's something that has to be, we have to call attention to 06:19 in chapter 1. 06:20 --Ok do it. 06:21 --And verse 21 so in the genealogy Matthew is basically 06:27 invoking the language of liberation, the language of 06:31 jubilee to describe who Jesus is and what he will do. 06:35 --It's the language of Exodus. 06:36 --Yes and the language. 06:38 --It's coming out, it's liberation, it's freedom. 06:39 -That's right so then in verse 21 and she will bring forth a 06:42 son, this is Matthew 1:21 bring forth a son and you shall call 06:47 his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. 06:52 This is fascinating. 06:53 The word that is used here, in the Greek, the word that Matthew 06:57 purposefully uses is the word sozo. 07:02 Now we think of salvation in a very limited sense. 07:06 --Some of us do. 07:07 --Yeah in our local, cultural, western, Christian way of 07:11 thinking. 07:12 We think salvation is basically getting out of punishment, 07:15 getting into heaven when we die. 07:17 So that's what 07:18 --Which is not the biblical way of thinking. 07:20 --Yeah not the biblical way of thinking, the word sozo 07:22 literally means liberation. 07:25 It means deliverance. 07:27 Jesus will deliver. 07:28 He will liberate. 07:29 Jesus is inaugurating a new exodus and he's leading people 07:34 into a new liberation. 07:36 So I just wanted to add that. 07:38 --No that's brilliant. 07:39 --The genealogies are invoking jubilee in Matthew's account. 07:43 --That's right. 07:44 --But jubilee for the purpose of liberation. 07:47 That's the point he's setting the captives free. 07:51 --And here's something that I love about that, thanks for 07:53 bringing that up about the sozo, I love that this is not Matthews 07:56 sort of, he's not laying this over. 07:59 This is not just his theological take away. 08:02 This is not something he's forcing in. 08:03 This is something he learned from Jesus himself. 08:06 This whole idea that Jesus, and I think that you're gonna take 08:08 us a little bit later to Jesus and Moses, Jesus and Moses. 08:10 If you go to Luke's account, Luke, in Luke chapter 4 he is 08:16 returned to his hometown, Nazareth and he goes into the 08:21 synagogue which we have no real equivalent for a synagogue, 08:24 church is really nothing like a synagogue. 08:27 The synagogue was not just the place of meeting for Jews. 08:30 It was a civic place. 08:31 It was a town hall. 08:32 It was just the place where people met. 08:34 It was certainly spiritual but it was not only a spiritual 08:39 building just a meeting place for the Jews. 08:41 And so it says here in verse 16 so he came to Nazareth where he 08:44 had been brought up, I'm in Luke 4, and as his custom was he went 08:46 into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to 08:49 read. 08:50 Now this is, there's so much language here that's important 08:52 and he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. 08:56 When he opened the book, now this is key, he found the place 08:59 where it was written. 09:00 Now almost certain they had assigned readings in the time. 09:02 So you know today's assigned reading was whatever Isaiah 12 09:04 or Isaiah 13. 09:06 So he's handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. 09:07 --He pre-empted maybe? 09:09 He found the place or they assigned it. 09:10 --No that's the point he found, it says he found the place. 09:14 So whatever the assigned reading may have been that day, when 09:17 they handed the scroll, and it wouldn't have been just as nice 09:19 and easy as us just looking at, these are large you know, 09:22 rabbinical scrolls. 09:23 And he's looking, it's huge. 09:27 --There's no verses 09:28 --No chapterization so he must have known, the point here is 09:31 that he had to know scripture to find it. 09:33 To find something in this large scroll where you're just trying 09:35 to remember oh yeah....so I like, in my mind's eye I like to 09:40 just see them all there, why isn't he reading the assigned 09:41 reading? 09:42 What? 09:43 And he's looking and he's looking. 09:44 --We assigned Malachi. 09:45 --Yeah that's right. 09:46 He, he found the place and then here verse 18 and he's actually 09:50 quoting from what we would call I think Isaiah 49. 09:53 What we, in other words after the versification, the 09:55 chapterization of scripture. 09:57 He finds the place. 09:58 --Or 61 isn't it. 09:59 --Is it 61? 10:00 You probably are correct. 10:01 --Go ahead just read it. 10:02 --The spirit of the, it is 61, the spirit of the Lord is upon 10:05 me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel that is to say 10:09 the good news to the poor. 10:11 He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim 10:13 liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, 10:16 to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the 10:19 acceptable year of the Lord. 10:22 That's jubilee language. 10:23 --And he closed the book. 10:24 --I love this he closed the book and there must have been some 10:27 portant, something about the way that he read it or the way that 10:33 he carried himself because look at this, he gave it back to the 10:35 attendant and he sat down. 10:37 So all is well but watch this and the eyes of all who were in 10:40 the synagogue were fixed on him. 10:42 Something about his manner, the way he carried himself and then 10:45 look at this, he senses that, you know how it is when you're 10:47 in a room and you can just sense that everybody's looking at you. 10:50 What he says is mind blowing, verse 21 he began to say to 10:53 them today, now he's, he's just extracted a passage from 10:57 their history. 10:59 --It's bold. 11:00 --30 year old guy, Rabbi. 11:01 --Which would have been a huge passage to them. 11:03 --Hugely important. 11:04 --They knew what the implications were. 11:06 They're staring at him for a reason. 11:07 --To have the audacity to say today this passage is. 11:10 --And look at the word here today this scripture is 11:11 fulfilled in your hearing. 11:14 And that word right there fulfilled you could make a case 11:16 that that is the single most important word in all of the 11:19 gospels. 11:20 For Matthew, for Mark, for Luke and even for John that Jesus was 11:25 doing something that was bringing Israel's history to a 11:28 climax. 11:29 It was filling the old story, it was a new exodus. 11:32 --You know can I just I mean I hope we continue this theme of 11:36 the new exodus but there's all through the gospels there's 11:39 these little hints, you're talking about, fulfilled. 11:41 And some of them are more obvious than others and some of 11:44 them, I believe, I think Jesus had a sense of humor and 11:47 sometimes he would drop these things knowing that they had no 11:52 clue what he was saying but they would eventually figure it out. 11:55 One example of that if you guys will just in Matthew chapter 18 12:00 where he's talking to Peter in verse 21 Peter comes up to Jesus 12:04 and he says Lord how often shall my brother sin against me and I 12:09 forgive him? 12:10 Like should I do it 7 times? 12:13 Is what Peter asks and then in verse 22 Jesus says not 7 but up 12:20 to 70 times 7. 12:23 And this goes back to what you're saying so he pulls out 12:25 Isaiah, reads a messianic passage that was obviously a 12:29 messianic passage and says today this is fulfilled. 12:31 But he does it in sort of ways is here you could just imagine 12:35 Peter would walk, turn around, walked away like scratching his 12:39 head like 70 times 7 what in the world is he talking about? 12:44 But of course we have the prophesy in Daniel 9 where 12:48 Daniel, he's been praying and just remembering the covenant of 12:53 God and God gives a prophesy of 70 weeks 12:58 --which is 70 times 7. 13:00 --7 days in a week 70 times 7 when the Messiah would come 13:03 here's the word, fulfill the covenantal promises. 13:08 So I love these little things here where the text doesn't even 13:11 say that Peter got it. 13:12 He was just like uh, ok. 13:15 It could've been who knows how long afterwards till he got it. 13:19 --It was very good textural reason in the rest of the 13:20 gospels to believe he didn't get it. 13:22 I mean the disciples obviously did not understand the kingdom 13:25 of God or any of the prophesies of the Old Testament the way 13:29 that Jesus did. 13:30 --But here's an incredible thing though that I think is in the 13:33 passage Peter is asking a question about individual 13:39 forgiveness, how often should I forgive my brother right? 13:45 Individual forgiveness. 13:46 Jesus takes that question of individual forgiveness on the 13:51 horizontal level, human to human and then he turns in vertical by 13:57 referencing Daniel 9. 13:59 And he blows this thing up and he's basically saying he's 14:03 taking that experience and he's hinting at, he's indicating that 14:09 right now Peter while you're asking the question of 14:11 horizontal human to human forgiveness something monumental 14:16 is taking place and that is a vertical divine forgiveness to 14:22 the point of perfection. 14:24 And the number 7 indicates perfection. 14:26 I had a guy one time when he was struggling to forgive he said 14:31 you know I've seen this passage and I did the math I'm not 14:34 gonna...is that how many times and he was trying to get literal 14:37 with it. 14:39 Jesus is basically indicating a total and perfect atonement for 14:43 sin atonement perfect forgiveness and in the larger 14:47 context of the story a perfect liberation is under way, right 14:53 now in Christ. 14:54 And at the foundation of that liberation is forgiveness. 14:58 -That's right. 14:59 --So to dumb it down Jesus was saying treat others the way I 15:02 treat you. 15:04 --You know I love this too because when David was bringing 15:07 out Luke chapter 4 and we look at these passages the thing 15:11 that's startling about these passages and the way that Jesus 15:15 applies them is he's very inclusive of the Gentile 15:18 nations. 15:19 --Great point. 15:20 --First of all he applies the need to be liberated to the Jews 15:25 and that is, that is, that causes them to be indignant 15:27 "What do you mean we need to be liberated?" 15:29 Then he goes on to talk about how God has consistently and 15:33 continually been able and willing and eager to reach the 15:37 Gentiles and do things for the Gentiles when the Jews where 15:42 steadily abstinently separated from them. 15:43 You know what I'm saying, now this same thing is brought out 15:47 in John chapter 1 because you remember the whole story, the 15:49 whole story is that in the beginning Satan comes to Adam 15:53 and Eve and Satan completely eclipses the view of God, what 15:57 God is like, misrepresents him and all through the Old 16:01 Testament God is trying to re-introduce himself to the 16:04 human family. 16:05 And he does this to a specific nation, the Jews. 16:07 But Satan comes in subtly and misrepresents God over and over 16:12 again. 16:13 God is exclusive. 16:14 God loves us he doesn't love you. 16:16 You need to do this in order for God to love you and accept you. 16:18 And God is not like that at all. 16:20 So when John introduces this logos, this representation of 16:24 God that is going to dispel darkness, the darkness of the 16:28 character of God, this is what he does. 16:30 He said the word became flesh and dwelt among us. 16:34 This was the true light which lightens every man that comes 16:41 into the world. 16:42 And I think about this on my own experience because I was raised 16:45 Catholic, Roman Catholic and I didn't know anything about the 16:50 history of religion. 16:51 I didn't understand what Catholic and Protestism was all 16:54 about. 16:55 I didn't know any of that I was just raised Roman Catholic. 16:56 I was always on my mom's side. 16:58 But I was proud about that there was something, there was a way 17:01 that my mom used to say we're Catholic, Roman Catholic that 17:05 made me feel like I was better or in some category, I was part 17:09 of something. 17:10 I was in some category that, you know, and so I was proud of 17:12 that. 17:14 And then I remember years later of course I become a Protestant. 17:16 Well I didn't know I became a Protestant I just accepted 17:18 Christ. 17:19 --There ya go. 17:21 --And I gave up some of these things but there was something 17:22 again that in me that said I'm a Protestant. 17:25 I'm not a Catholic I'm a Protestant. 17:28 And then I became a Seventh Day Adventist. 17:30 --There's something in you that makes you. 17:32 --Well you've really arrived now. 17:35 --Really arrived now. 17:36 And then I started understanding the story. 17:40 The story that God is in love with the entire human race and 17:46 that I am simple a vessel, I am simply a channel through which 17:49 God wants to communicate this light and dispel this darkness 17:52 about his, his love, his search for man. 17:55 --I cannot tell you how deeply resonate I am with that because, 17:59 and I'll just kind of poke fun at my own church here a little 18:02 bit and not just poke fun but it's a rebuke I think, to me and 18:05 to my church and that is that, and even to the larger Christian 18:10 denomination. 18:11 We'll say things like is he an Adventist? 18:15 No he's a non-Adventist. 18:16 That shows, 18:17 --Is he born again? 18:18 --no he's not born again. 18:19 Is he a Christian? 18:20 No he's a non-Christian. 18:22 What it shows is that we divide people, as soon as you were 18:24 Catholic you're world was divided into 2 groups of people, 18:28 Catholics and non-Catholics. 18:30 --And not's. 18:31 --That's right. 18:32 And then he became a Protestant and your world, whether you knew 18:33 it or not, you didn't know you had become a Protestant but when 18:36 you did later figure that out there's Protestants and 18:38 non -Protestants and then even Adventists. 18:39 There's Adventists and non-Adventists where Jesus 18:41 doesn't see Jews and non-Jews. 18:45 He sees his children. 18:46 --The world. 18:47 --He sees the world. 18:48 And so I so love this that you're bringing this out because 18:51 you do see a universality there in Luke chapter 4 to proclaim 18:54 liberty to the captives. 18:56 The other thing I wanted to bring out about that and you 18:58 made a great point on this and it reminded me of something that 19:01 Jesus said. 19:02 When Jesus starts announcing this, when he starts using this 19:05 jubilee language and people frankly were upset with Jesus. 19:08 I mean he was a controversial figure because they way that he, 19:10 I'm gonna say it, re-interpreted the story. 19:14 He was telling a different story then the Rabbis were telling. 19:17 And when Jesus starts telling his version of the story they're 19:20 like, we don't need liberation. 19:23 We don't need, and when you said that the Jews are like we don't 19:25 need liberation, it reminded me of when Jesus is in this intense 19:28 dialogue, one of the most intense dialogues in scripture 19:31 in John chapter 8 and they're discussing fatherhood and the 19:34 truth shall make you free and this whole, I'm not going to get 19:36 into it. 19:37 But in the middle of it, talk about selective memory. 19:40 Some of the religious leaders say to Jesus in John chapter 8 19:43 verse 33 and they answered and said we are Abraham's 19:46 descendants and we have never been in bondage to anyone. 19:50 --Whoa. 19:52 --Wow. 19:53 [Laughter] 19:54 --What? 19:55 Not to Egypt, not to Assyria, not to Babylon, not to Greece, 20:00 not to Rome, not to the Persians. 20:01 --When have you not been? 20:02 --Yea that's the point. 20:03 It's like really? 20:04 --How about Rome in the present tense? 20:05 --Of course how could they have been so 20:07 --He could have said do you know where you are? 20:09 --I know. 20:11 --This to me is a great example of how when the facts be damned 20:15 if we have a perspective. 20:16 --Can I add one thing to this though? 20:18 --Yes, please. 20:19 --Jesus in John chapter 8 again does this remarkable thing like 20:23 we were pointing out in the Matthew text, 70 times 7, where 20:26 Jesus takes the human level and then he blows it up to a cosmic 20:31 pardent that's underway, a cosmic forgiveness that is for 20:34 the whole human race. 20:35 Well he does the same thing here. 20:37 They're thinking we've never been in bondage to anybody. 20:39 They're thinking on the national level on the human level and 20:43 Jesus says your captivity is deeper than you know. 20:49 --That's right. 20:50 --You're of your father, you think that Abraham is your 20:52 father, you're of your father verse 44, the devil. 20:56 You are in captivity in a way on a level to a death that you're 21:01 not even aware of. 21:04 And then Jesus says hey the reason you are, the reason I 21:09 know you are in captivity to the devil is because he was a 21:11 murderer from the beginning and you're plotting my murder. 21:14 Violence is in your picture of God. 21:20 You think you're serving God by perpetrating violence against me 21:23 and others. 21:25 But that violence reveals that your picture of God is 21:28 completely distorted and this is so amazing. 21:32 He's essentially saying to them you on the conscience level of 21:35 your mind think that you're worshipping God simultaneously 21:39 the character traits you ascribe to him prove that you're 21:42 worshipping the devil while applying the name capital F of 21:46 God the Father. 21:48 --He definitely wasn't looking for a popular. 21:51 --No, no, no, no. 21:52 --He wasn't looking for 21:53 --You see what I'm saying? 21:54 --Not only do I see what you are saying but they saw what Jesus 21:55 --Oh they saw it. 21:56 --Well they did because their response look at it verse 40 21:58 you, when you start to lose an argument, when somebody starts 22:01 to lose an argument, when their case is not logically or 22:04 evidentially sustainable what do they do? 22:05 They start saying well you, it's called ad hominy. 22:08 So look at this verse 48 this is their answer when Jesus is 22:11 bringing out this larger bondage that you are describing, didn't 22:16 we say that you were a Samaritan, you got a demon. 22:18 In other words they couldn't even deal with the force of his 22:21 logic and the force of the evidence that he was bringing to 22:23 bear. 22:24 And they were like. 22:25 --Basically they say you're possessed. 22:28 --They are trying to shrug him off. 22:31 --The thing I, and I know we have to take a break here but 22:33 the thing I want to close with and this is so important is if 22:36 you're dealing with anybody who's addictive or who has a 22:38 problem whether it's alcohol or drugs or just a problem, any 22:41 kind of a problem, it is axiomatically the case that you 22:45 cannot get help for those kinds of things until you recognize 22:49 that you have a problem. 22:51 So Jesus here is like hey you're free, the son shall make you 22:53 free, which is John 8 you shall be free indeed. 22:55 And they're like what do we need to be free for? 22:57 --Yeah we don't have a problem. 22:58 --We don't even see it. 22:59 --Free from what? 23:00 --So Jesus is constantly scanning the horizon, this is 23:02 much of the story that the gospels are telling, scanning 23:05 looking for people who get it. 23:07 And the only people that he can get in the beginning to buy into 23:09 his telling of the story is some fishermen, a tax collector, I 23:13 mean it's just like, he's at the dreads, he's scraping the bottom 23:16 of the barrel just to get somebody to buy into it. 23:18 --But the people that are most religious are most insulated, 23:22 those who are most in the paradigm that we're it, we're 23:31 the people of God are the ones that are most blind which comes 23:33 back to a point we made yesterday and that is that the 23:36 best place in the world to hide from God is religion. 23:38 That's the best place to take cover because as we quoted from 23:45 Jeremiah there is an inheritance of lies in this great 23:49 controversy. 23:51 We do need to take a break but boy this is pretty exciting what 23:53 we're learning. 24:06 Hi I'm Ty Gibson welcome to Digma.com. 24:08 I am so excited about this website because you're about to 24:12 discover a powerful new way to share life transforming messages 24:17 and videos with your family, friends and anybody else on the 24:20 planet who has access to a computer. 24:24 Digma is a Greek word. 24:25 It basically means to show or to reveal something by means of a 24:29 pattern or an example of some kind. 24:32 It's the second half of paradigma from which we get the 24:36 English word paradigm as in paradigm shift. 24:41 And so what you're going to find at digma.com is a growing 24:43 library of short videos and transcripts dealing with 24:46 paradigms and fundamental questions. 24:50 What's the meaning of life? 24:52 What is our origin and destiny as human beings? 24:56 What happens when we die? 24:58 Does God exist or are we alone in this vast universe? 25:03 Why is there so much evil and suffering in our world? 25:07 An estimated 70% of Americans have a computer right in their 25:11 home and stay in touch with family and friends by email. 25:16 And more than 400 million people are active on Facebook and 5 25:21 million new users are signing up every week. 25:25 We are literally in the midst of a communications revolution of 25:30 massive proportion. 25:32 This is granting the gospel direct and easy access to 25:36 millions upon millions of homes and hearts. 25:41 And that's what digma.com is all about. 25:44 Its tool for leading our family and friends on an exciting 25:48 paradigm shift by revealing the truth of God's creative power 25:53 and his incredibly beautiful character in contrast to our 25:58 world's popular misconceptions about who God is. 26:15 Jeffrey during the break you were just chomping at the bit 26:17 with some exciting point in the gospel of John that continues 26:21 the application of Jesus to ancient Israel. 26:27 I don't know what the point was. 26:29 --Well I even not even continuing the application I 26:32 think it sets the stage for everything we're saying and 26:34 everything that I'm thinking we'll get to say. 26:37 Because when Jesus comes what we're establishing here is he's 26:42 coming as the covenant. 26:43 I think we established that Isaiah 42 something. 26:47 --Yeah 42 26:48 --That the Messiah will be the covenant. 26:51 He's not coming to bring a covenant. 26:53 He is the covenant. 26:54 So when you look at the gospels they're telling a story and I 26:57 love this very simple point in John chapter 2 where we find the 27:02 story of the wedding at Cana and when Jesus attends this wedding 27:08 and he performs his first miracle. 27:13 John chapter 2 verse 11 says this is the beginning of signs 27:17 that Jesus did while in Cana of Galilee and he manifested his 27:22 glory and his disciples believed in him. 27:26 So here's the point. 27:28 The first miracle Jesus performs, we can say the first 27:31 public manifestation, this is like his introduction. 27:36 Hello my name is Jesus the Messiah pleasure to meet you, to 27:39 the whole world, right? 27:41 And to history he does that, he selects a marriage, a marriage 27:47 ceremony. 27:48 I think that's profound because what sets the tone for the rest 27:51 of his life is the marriage motif and what is a marriage? 27:54 It is an event, a ceremony celebrating a covenant that is 28:00 entered into by two parties. 28:02 So Christ begins his whole earthly ministry at a ceremony 28:08 that represents a covenant. 28:09 And that takes a symbolic meaning that everything that we 28:13 read on the life of Christ is preaching which we'll get into, 28:15 his miracles, his healing. 28:17 Everything he does is just an acted out, an acting out of the 28:24 covenant between God and man that Christ is coming to 28:27 represent. 28:28 --Jeffrey it's even more explicit in the immediate 28:30 context here because if you loop back to chapter one of John 28:34 you're calling our attention to chapter 2 verse 11 first miracle 28:39 at the wedding feast. 28:41 Go back to chapter one verse 29 when Jesus is first entering 28:46 onto the stage of public ministry. 28:49 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, well that's 28:52 verse 29 behold the Lamb of God but that's not the one I'm 28:54 looking for. 28:55 --35? 28:56 --No the bridegroom one where is it? 28:58 Where is it, where is it? 29:00 It's in, oh man, Jesus is introduced as a bridegroom in, 29:09 it's there. 29:11 --Is it in John one? 29:14 --Actually it's in chapter 3. 29:17 So Jeffrey it's after the marriage feast, the miracle at 29:21 the wedding feast and look at chapter 3 and verse 29 John the 29:27 Baptist is basically acknowledging Jesus in a certain 29:31 character. 29:32 He who has the bridegroom, he who has the bride is the 29:36 bridegroom but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears 29:39 him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. 29:43 Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. 29:46 Here's what's happening 29:47 --There's the word fulfilled again. 29:48 --Yeah there's the word fulfilled too. 29:49 But here's what's happening here Jesus has performed this miracle 29:52 at the wedding feast earlier but now John the Baptist basically 29:56 is being questioned by his disciples, those who he's been 29:59 teaching. 30:00 Hey are you the one we're looking for? 30:03 Are you the Messiah, basically and John the Baptist 30:05 interestingly he says no, no, no, no I'm just the best man. 30:09 --Yeah there you go. 30:11 --I'm the friend of the bridegroom. 30:13 But the one who has come for the bride, that's Jesus. 30:16 So in explicit language just like you were saying Jeffrey 30:20 Jesus is entering public ministry as a groom searching 30:24 for his bride. 30:26 He's come to establish covenantal love with his people. 30:29 Isn't that incredible. 30:30 --It is. 30:32 That's awesome. 30:33 --Right there in John 3 I've always loved this and I think it 30:35 continues to paint the picture of the kind of person that Jesus 30:38 was. 30:39 At the end of verse 26 I just read verse 26, they came to John 30:42 and they said Rabbi he who was with you beyond the Jordan to 30:45 whom you testified, behold he is baptizing and everyone is coming 30:48 to him all are coming to him, this is the report of their 30:50 disciples to John. 30:51 Man your decreasing in popularity and he's increasing 30:54 in popularity. 30:55 And then of course he says famously no man can receive 30:57 anything unless it be given him from heaven. 30:59 But then jump down to verse 32 it is an interesting little just 31:01 in position here. 31:03 John continuing to speak and he says and what he has seen, he 31:06 declares what he has seen and heard that's what he's talking 31:09 about, he testifies. 31:10 Look at this and yet no one received his testimony. 31:12 That is to say no one is believing what he is saying. 31:14 So what a fascinating little contrast here. 31:17 He says everybody is going out to see this guy but nobody 31:19 believes what he is saying. 31:21 Because he's popular, he's provocative, he's performing 31:24 miracles. 31:25 There's something new, there's something fresh about him. 31:27 The people aren't buying it. 31:29 This doesn't sound like the Rabbi. 31:30 This doesn't sound, we've not heard this version of the 31:33 stories. 31:34 I've always loved it, he's super popular but super misunderstood. 31:37 In fact, just very briefly and I know we're gonna go there but 31:41 just really makes this point. 31:43 After Jesus gives the Sermon on the Mount, we'll kind of move 31:46 back to and go to that. 31:47 I love that Matthew records in Matthew chapter 7 the response 31:52 of the people to Jesus radically new, radically different 31:56 teaching. 31:57 In John, excuse me Matthew chapter 7, this is after Jesus 32:00 first public address, so we have the first miracle, his first 32:03 public address and they're just like what was that. 32:06 Look what he says in verse 28 and so it was when Jesus had 32:09 ended these sayings that the people were astonished at his 32:13 teaching. 32:15 For he taught, why? 32:16 Why were they astonished? 32:17 Because he taught them as one having authority and not as the 32:18 scribes. 32:20 That is to say they've never heard this version of the story. 32:24 At this point in first century Judaism there is a longing for a 32:27 Messiah. 32:28 There is a longing for deliverance but the deliverance 32:30 that they're longing for is from Rome, it's from oppression and 32:34 they really think that there's gonna be a military. 32:37 --Merely physical. 32:38 --That's right a governmental, national liberation. 32:43 And Jesus comes and he's dealing with it, as you said, on a whole 32:45 nother level, a whole different, like sub terrain and he's gone 32:48 underneath and they're just like who is this guy and why is he? 32:53 But there was something that was attractive about him something 32:55 that was beautiful, something that was simple and 32:56 nonpretentious and accessible, 32:58 couple that with the healings and the miracles 33:01 and Jesus was profoundly popular but in a really unassuming and 33:06 humble way. 33:08 So he 33:09 --So that was what was so popular and attractive about 33:10 him. 33:11 --That's right he was attractive but grossly misunderstood. 33:13 What are you saying because years of rabbinical 33:16 interpretation, centuries we should say of incorrect 33:19 rabbinical interpretation is just clogging the heads of the 33:23 religious people so that when Jesus finally starts to call 33:26 people he can just you know as we said scrape up a few 33:29 fishermen here a tax collector ok now I can start with 33:32 something that's largely fresh. 33:35 --Essentially what we're saying is that, is that there is no 33:39 sharp break between the Old Testament and the New Testament. 33:44 We're dealing here with more of a continuum. 33:47 And Jesus steps on the stage of human history to fulfill, to 33:56 fill in the story that is Israel's history but to redeem 34:02 and to reconcile and to achieve success and victory on every 34:09 level then there was failure to be the one truly successful 34:14 covenantal successful Israelite. 34:17 I don't like the word successful but you know what I'm saying. 34:19 --I don't mind that word. 34:20 I like it. 34:21 --Yeah, so he's fulfilling covenant. 34:24 I think we need to understand that. 34:26 This is what we're realizing Jesus is coming and point by 34:29 point he's fulfilling covenant faithfulness. 34:33 --We went in our, I think it was in our last session, we went 34:37 through those points, some of those points. 34:38 --It was kind of Hodge podge. 34:40 --But we covered. 34:41 --It would be great if we covered it again. 34:43 --Maybe we should do that. 34:44 --Yeah in order we should move through. 34:45 So where does it begin Jesus is, he's born, we call it the 34:49 incarnation then what? 34:52 --In terms of the recapitulation of Israel's history? 34:54 --Yeah, yeah. 34:55 --Well the circumstances around his birth involve man named 34:59 Joseph who's his earthly father having dreams and the dream is 35:03 essentially an angel appearing to him saying take the child 35:06 into Egypt. 35:09 Right? 35:10 Get the child away from here because someone's going to hurt 35:12 him. 35:13 In fact, we'll just pick it up in verse Matthew 2, if we want 35:17 to go through this chronologically which I think we 35:19 should. 35:21 I think this, to me this is a point I didn't understand this 35:22 until I'd been a believer for about 10 years. 35:25 --That's a crime. 35:26 This should have been one of the very first things that I was 35:28 taught and was explained to me hey this is, as you said it's 35:32 not like Old Testament, that mean old scary God doing all 35:35 those, you know arbitrary, and then here's the nice new 35:37 graceful God there's just absolute continuity. 35:40 And the more that we can get that into the minds of fellow 35:43 believers that's, look for the thread. 35:46 --Not only more do we get it into our mind David but it will 35:49 redefine in many ways what we call salvation and how we 35:55 understand the gospel. 35:56 --I heard a preacher say one time and I think he was exactly 35:59 onto it that this is the most useless page in all the Bible. 36:03 That this page right here, this page, what it, there's nothing 36:07 on it. 36:08 There's no text on it right? 36:09 In other words there's no scripture on it. 36:11 That page right there what's it doing there? 36:13 It's, I know I was tempted. 36:15 [Laughter] 36:17 What is this page doing here? 36:20 It communicates discontinuity, psychologically it's saying that 36:26 there's that and there's this. 36:27 --And psychologically there's something to the fact that you 36:29 can't do it. 36:30 --There's no reverence for it. 36:31 [Laughter] 36:33 --We want so badly 36:34 --That's because of 36:35 --you still haven't transitioned. 36:36 --You're tempting me, you're tempting me. 36:38 --So it's a transition now. 36:40 What, what, what, what, forget transition the continuum 36:43 --The continuum 36:45 --Yeah what's going on there. 36:46 We've located our bearings in none other than Egypt. 36:49 --Matthew chapter 2 verse 13 now when they had departed behold an 36:52 angle of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream arise, take 36:55 the child and his mother flea to Egypt and stay there until I 36:59 bring you word. 37:00 For Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. 37:02 That is very similar to what happened in national Israel's 37:06 history. 37:08 --By the way, by the way if you want biblical evidence for the 37:11 continuum let's just go back to the genealogy. 37:13 --K. 37:15 --I'm not saying genealogy, I'm just saying the genealogy is the 37:18 reason for the continuum. 37:19 --There ya go. 37:20 --There it is. 37:21 It is actually going back to the Old Testament and saying here we 37:23 go. 37:25 And it just moves...and it doesn't come to the part where 37:26 ok let's stop here and put in a new chapter. 37:29 It is the reason for the continuum. 37:31 --I'm getting so tempted, here's what I'm gonna do. 37:33 I'm just gonna fold it in half. 37:35 That page I'm just gonna fold it in half. 37:37 There we go. 37:40 So it's not entirely gone but it's mostly gone. 37:43 I just can't bring myself to. 37:45 --It's ready, it's ready. 37:48 --Laying the ax to the root. 37:50 -- You were saying it's very similar 37:51 --Very similar to national Israel because you have Abraham, 37:54 Isaac, Jacob, the descendants of Jacob, the 12 tribes, Joseph. 37:57 Joseph was a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions. 38:00 His brothers hated him. 38:02 Many of us know the story of Joseph and the coat of many 38:04 colors. 38:05 But all of this happens because he begins to have these dreams. 38:08 And the dreams are that a famine is coming in the land and his 38:11 family needs to move to Egypt. 38:14 There's a death threat and there's safety there. 38:16 Right and so we have the same thing. 38:18 --Now we have another Joseph here. 38:19 --We have a Joseph having dreams saying hey this is a dangerous 38:21 situation. 38:22 Death threat, get into. 38:23 --Last program we talked about, last conversation we talked 38:25 about just the verse 15 there out of Egypt I have called my 38:28 son. 38:29 --Ok so that's next thing I would say. 38:31 So the first one that they're called into Egypt and then God 38:34 appears to Moses and says hey go tell Pharaoh, and here it is, to 38:39 let my 38:40 --people 38:41 --not just my people but my son, my first, well who is Jesus? 38:44 --Singular. 38:46 --He's the son of God. 38:47 Let my son go. 38:48 So number one called in. 38:50 --Yeah but let's just, can we just go along that for a minute? 38:52 --Yeah do it. 38:53 --When Jesus is called the son of God we speak those words so 38:56 easily and almost everybody who's familiar with the Bible at 39:00 all and definitely all believers refer to Jesus as the son of 39:03 God. 39:05 But we need to ground our minds in the fact that that language 39:08 the fact that Jesus is the son of God is a direct reference to 39:12 Jesus being the son of God in the sense that he is Israel. 39:16 --That's right. 39:17 Absolutely 39:18 --And he is 39:19 --And he's Adam. 39:20 --The son of God has a name. 39:21 --Very few people would make that connection. 39:22 --And his name is Israel. 39:23 --By the way here's another interesting point and that is 39:24 that Jesus is conceived out of a miracle birth. 39:29 Now go back to Isaac, go back to Jacob. 39:34 --Yeah, yeah, yeah this is miraculous. 39:35 --Abrahams a miraculous birth. 39:39 Jacob. 39:40 --Abraham is a miraculous birth? 39:42 --Has, has, 39:43 --Oh got it. 39:44 --Jacob 39:45 --So Isaac is the miraculous birth. 39:47 --Same thing, all the way through you have one miraculous 39:50 birth after and the parallel is right here. 39:52 --That's interesting. 39:53 --Ok guys right there push the pause button. 39:54 We don't want to but push the pause button and we're gonna 39:59 come right back after the break and continue these parallels. 40:08 Digma videos are short engaging messages designed for opening up 40:12 discussion with individuals and groups regarding the character 40:15 of God as well as for your own personal spiritual growth. 40:19 For your free DVD sample collection of Digma videos call 40:23 877-585-1111 or write to Light Bearers, 37457 Jasper Lowell 40:30 Road, Jasper, OR 97438. 40:33 Once again for your free DVD sample collection of Digma 40:38 videos call 877-585-1111 or write to Light Bearers, 40:45 37457 Jasper Lowell Road, Jasper, OR 97438. 40:50 Simply ask for Digma DVD 3. 40:55 So we're looking at the parallels between Jesus and 40:59 Israel's history and we've seen that we're oriented in Egypt and 41:03 then Jesus comes out of Egypt. 41:06 So the language here is deliberately giving us the sense 41:10 that a new Exodus is taking place. 41:13 --That's right. 41:15 --Jesus immediately coming into public ministry does something 41:19 specific. 41:20 He's baptized and the baptism of Jesus runs parallel to Israel as 41:28 a nation corporate Israel marching through the Red Sea 41:32 into the wilderness. 41:33 Jesus comes out of his baptism and immediately goes where? 41:37 --Into the wilderness. 41:39 --Into the wilderness so again let's flush out these parallels 41:42 what's happening there? 41:44 --Well first of all Paul explicitly says in 1 Corinthians 41:47 10, we don't need to turn there, he says basically that they were 41:51 all baptized as they went into the sea, you know, through 41:55 Moses. 41:56 --So he parallels the baptism language with the Red Sea. 42:00 --With the Exodus language 42:01 --And now we have Jesus chronicalogically doing the same 42:03 thing. 42:04 --In, as Matthew in particular is telling the story his word is 42:08 the word that we've seen over and over again. 42:10 In 2:15 this was fulfilled, in 2:17 this happened that it might 42:15 be fulfilled, in 2:23 that it might be fulfilled, in 3:15 that 42:19 it might be fulfilled. 42:20 All the way through, I mean just, I think he uses the word 42:22 some 20 times or more than just fulfilled, fulfilled, fulfilled 42:25 and the interesting thing is, is that the specific things that he 42:29 says are fulfilled are the passages from Israel's 42:32 scripture. 42:34 So he's quoting a verse whether it's in Jeremiah or Isaiah or 42:36 one of the Psalms largely in the prophets and he's saying oh that 42:40 was fulfilled in Jesus, oh that was fulfilled in Jesus. 42:43 But our point here is that these were not just random piece mill 42:47 things that were being pulled. 42:48 But the real thing that was being fulfilled is Jesus 42:51 retracing the trajectory of national Israel. 42:56 And so we've got the into Egypt, out of Egypt, baptism, 43:01 --Red Sea. 43:02 --which is the Red Sea, then the wilderness experience. 43:03 -Yeah and it's specified in Matthew's gospel that Jesus was 43:08 in the wilderness for a specific period of time, 40 days 43:12 paralleling, of course, the fact that Israel was in the 43:16 wilderness of temptation for 40 years. 43:19 --There is one small little niggle that we have to be clear 43:23 about, when the children of Israel came out, 43:26 just think back to that. 43:27 When they came out of the Red Sea they journed to the mountain 43:29 and scripture says that that was a journey of about a month. 43:33 Ok. 43:35 Now the 40 years in the wilderness doesn't come until 43:37 after Mt. Sinai. 43:38 So I think it's important that we recognize, not just for our 43:41 purposes here but just in general that it was not God's 43:43 will even close to his will for the children of Israel to be 43:47 wondering around aimlessly for 40 years. 43:50 The real wilderness journey was from Egypt to the mountain, 43:55 which was about a month. 43:56 So we'll say 40 days. 43:58 So it certainly is a parallel to the 40 years but the real 44:02 journey was from here to here because the next thing that the 44:05 encounter is the mountain where they receive the law and the 44:07 principles of God's covenant with them. 44:10 And that's exactly what Matthew does here, you have the 44:13 wilderness, Matthew chapter 4 the temptation and then where do 44:17 we go? 44:18 Jesus' longest public address in the entire gospel of Matthew and 44:22 all the gospels is, I mean the whole chapter of Matthew 5, 44:26 Matthew 6 and Matthew 7 referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. 44:30 And what Jesus does here is phenomenal because he has this 44:35 refrain that he uses 6 or 7 times and the refrain is you 44:38 have heard, but I say. 44:41 You have heard and what he's quoting. 44:43 --It's the authority again. 44:44 --There's the authority thing. 44:45 Now what he's quoting from is their own text. 44:47 You have heard that it is said that you shall not lust after a 44:50 woman but I say unto you whoever lusts after, you know looks at a 44:53 woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her 44:55 already in his heart. 44:56 What is he doing? 44:57 Here is Jesus on top of the New Testament Sinai handing the law 45:02 down, now here's a crucially important point, not as a new 45:05 thing, not as standing in opposition to the old thing but 45:08 in opposition to the incorrect interpretation of the old thing. 45:13 --He indicates that in chapter 5 verse 17 do not think that I 45:16 have come to destroy the law or the prophets. 45:21 I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 45:24 --There's that word again. 45:25 --There's that word again, Jesus is not destroying the law, he's 45:28 not negating the law. 45:30 He's not abolishing the law. 45:31 Jesus is setting it in its proper perspective and giving it 45:36 all the glory that it really possesses. 45:41 --That's powerful, what do you think of verse 20 because we're 45:43 talking about righteousness by faith. 45:45 And after he makes that statement, shortly after he 45:48 says, he says let me break it down to you in verse 20, what 45:52 I'm trying to say is that, the punchline is unless your 45:54 righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and 45:58 Pharisees you don't have part of the kingdom of heaven. 46:01 --Now can I just add something there Jeffrey? 46:03 And that it that when it says unless your righteousness 46:06 exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, there's 46:09 one of two ways we can look at that. 46:11 Either Jesus is saying they were picky, you need to be 46:14 ultra-picky. 46:15 Either Jesus is saying they were very fastidious about the letter 46:21 of the law but you need to be absolutely perfectionistic or 46:25 Jesus is saying that you need to have a righteousness that is of 46:29 an entirely different quality. 46:32 --That's exactly where I was going because to the listener 46:34 who would have been aware you would've been like, seriously? 46:41 Thank you it was a pleasure to meet you. 46:42 This is not going to work. 46:43 How are we gonna do this? 46:44 Unless he was talking about, as you said, a different kind of 46:47 righteousness. 46:48 --We know that he's talking about a different quality of 46:49 righteousness and not just more of the same because in Matthew 46:53 23, I mean I'm jumping way ahead here, we'll go back of course. 46:57 But in Matthew 23 verse 23 whoa to you scribes and Pharisees 47:01 hypocrites, pretenders. 47:03 There's a surface, there's a pretentious, there's an outward 47:07 compliance with the law, hypocrites for you pay tithe of 47:10 mint and anise and cumin and have neglected the weightier 47:14 matters of the law, justice, mercy and faith. 47:17 --There ya go. 47:18 --And Luke's gospel adds love. 47:20 So Jesus is reaching deep and then he uses the metaphor of the 47:24 inside of a cup and a platter and the outside. 47:27 He used the metaphor of a white washed tomb, that's fuill of 47:30 dead man's bones on the inside but it looks 47:33 good on the outside. 47:35 So he's not talking in Matthew 25, the sermon on the mount, 47:37 he's not saying you need more of what the scribes and Pharisees 47:41 have, just be more picky. 47:43 He's saying no you need righteousness that is from the 47:47 inside out. 47:48 You need a quality of righteousness that is prompted 47:51 by the covenantal love of God. 47:53 --That's why they're like we've never heard anything like this 47:57 before. 47:58 --Who is this guy? 47:59 --What planet did this guy come from? 48:00 --When you go back to Matthew chapter 5 Jesus here, again, is 48:04 coming, not to do away with the law, now notice this here in 48:08 verse 17 not to do away with the law or the prophets. 48:10 He's bringing it all together. 48:11 He's not just talking about Sinai alone because Sinai is the 48:15 principle upon which all that God has given us is based. 48:20 --That's right. 48:21 --But notice verse 18 for verily I say unto you until heaven and 48:25 earth pass one jot or tittle from all of the law and the 48:29 prophets have spoken, all of the Old Testament instruction, all 48:33 of the prophecies that have been given to Israel, not one jot or 48:36 tittle shall in no wise pass from it until all of it be what? 48:40 --Fulfilled. 48:41 --So Jesus is coming now to fulfill the law and the 48:47 prophets. 48:48 He's coming as the covenant keeper, as the one who is going 48:51 to fill up the full meaning of all that God has done and all 48:54 that God has promised and all that God has said. 48:56 --I'm so deeply memorized, I'm so glad that you brought that 48:59 out because too often, especially in our community of 49:01 faith when you hear the word law you instantaneously assume 10 49:05 Commandments but that is not the way that the New Testament 49:08 writers use the word law, almost never. 49:10 When they say law they mean the writings of Moses and the often 49:14 mean the entire Old Testament. 49:16 And here this division of the law and the prophets he's saying 49:19 don't think I'm doing away with the Old Testament, what we would 49:21 call the Old Testament, what they would just call the Hebrew 49:23 Scriptures. 49:24 Don't think I'm doing away with the Hebrew Scriptures I'm 49:26 fulfilling and that's a point where they're like, you're what? 49:30 You think you're the fulfillment, that's 49:31 --But it's down there like 49:33 --This guy talks, he talks a big talk is basically what they're 49:35 saying. 49:36 He speaks with authority. 49:37 --Could we use this language that Israel's history is a 49:40 microcosm of God's plan and purpose for humanity and Jesus 49:47 is the macro reality that fulfills? 49:50 He's the one. 49:52 --And it definitely includes the teaching. 49:53 --I'm sorry I didn't hear that I was busy trying to drink 49:56 Jeffrey's water. 49:57 --Say it again, say it again. 49:58 It was an accident because he 49:59 --the language that I'm using here that I think would be 50:03 helpful just to wrap our minds around it is that Israel's 50:06 history is a microcosm of God's plan for humanity and Jesus is 50:12 the macro reality, he's the macrofullfillment of that 50:17 history on behalf of all of 50:19 --what's the text in Isaiah that says that when Messiah comes, 50:22 when the servant comes he will magnify the law. 50:25 --Isaiah 41? 50:26 --Isn't it 41 yeah here it is 42:21 the Lord is well pleased 50:32 for his righteousness sake. 50:33 He will exalt the law, King James, magnify the law and make 50:37 it honorable. 50:38 So this is not a diminishment of Israel's scriptures and history. 50:41 This is a magnification to include James' earlier point. 50:46 Not just this little isolated, favoritism, hey you're my 50:48 people, this universalization of. 50:53 --But no let's not use this point he's gonna make it 50:55 honorable the law of the transcript of God's character 50:57 it's his, it's who he is. 50:59 Jesus comes to dispel the darkness and to make honorable 51:03 who God is and what he really represents. 51:05 Pharisees haven't done that. 51:06 --James you continue to bring that up and I appreciate that 51:09 you keep us grounded in the fact that there's not only the 51:12 rabbinical first century thing going on here, there is a deeper 51:15 conflict with an enemy. 51:18 --Stretching all the way back to Genesis. 51:19 We're continually, and rightly so, reaching into Israel's 51:23 history and as far back as Abraham. 51:25 And James is saying well the gospels also are reaching all 51:28 the way back to Genesis. 51:29 --Well look at this, look at this in Matthew's account, 51:32 Matthew chapter 1 verse 5 and Solomon begat Boaz of Rahab. 51:39 Ok now when you look at the next line and Boaz begat Obed of 51:44 --what verse are you in? 51:45 --Matthew 1 verse 5 51:46 --Five, ok. 51:47 --And Boaz begat Obed of Ruth. 51:52 Here are people, here are people, at least in the context 51:56 of the genealogy of Christ, here are people who have come out of 51:59 these other nations, Ruth was not in her genetic line, she was 52:04 not an Israelite. 52:05 She wasn't a Jew. 52:06 You see what I'm saying? 52:07 So there's a clear revelation here by Matthew purposely 52:12 including in the genealogy these different gentile believers. 52:15 --And not only gentile believers but shady characters. 52:18 --Shady characters, absolutely. 52:19 --Because to a Jew to see these people as part of the lineage of 52:21 Jesus they would have said what? 52:23 --And get this, get this, so when we include these shady 52:27 characters immediately what does he do? 52:28 He says and by the way if you think the shady characters only 52:31 come from the Gentiles remember David begat Solomon verse 6 with 52:36 her that had been the wife of Uriah. 52:38 In other words God again is being inclusive but he's 52:42 showing. 52:43 --The pedigree is not looking good. 52:45 --He's showing there's no difference. 52:46 --So God is in the company of the outcastal society, guys a 52:48 quick side point. 52:49 Should we, could we say then that Jesus teaching us that the 52:54 Old Testament is beautiful? 52:56 Because if the sermon of the mount, if the sermon on the 52:59 mount is beautiful an elevated code of everything ethic, 53:03 morality, righteousness, 53:05 --social interaction 53:06 --and if that's beautiful and yet all that is is a fulfillment 53:09 of the law and the prophets. 53:11 In other words, Jesus is summing up and giving us the essence of 53:14 the law and the prophets then basically he's telling us this 53:17 is how you read the Old Testament. 53:19 --Exactly, over and against the rabbinical misinterpretation of 53:21 what it was. 53:22 --Which is why it's beautiful 53:23 --He has to take that apologetic posture. 53:25 You have heard but I say, you have heard but I say. 53:27 You could even say, now we don't want to be misunderstood 53:30 on this, you wouldn't need a sermon on the mount if the Old 53:33 Testament had been correctly understood. 53:36 He would say keep up the good work. 53:37 --I want to get back to something here that I think is 53:40 important when you talked about the story of Willie Nelson and 53:42 that is this you don't have to read past verse 6 to recognize 53:46 in the first book of the New Testament that this book was 53:49 written for us. 53:50 Now I'm going to share a little bit about myself. 53:53 I was born to a father who was black, a mother who was white 53:58 who were not married and this is going back to late 50s early 60s 54:03 I was born in '62 and never married. 54:06 And so back then in those days to be 54:08 --There's a stigma attached. 54:09 --Yes, now when I read the first 6 verse of Matthew's account of 54:16 the genealogy of Christ I'm thinking like ok. 54:17 --You're gonna be alright. 54:18 Everything's gonna be alright. 54:20 --I'll be ok. 54:21 --You're in good company. 54:22 --Society today 54:23 --So genealogies preach the gospel. 54:24 --Yes. 54:25 --Amen. 54:26 --In society today you are an outcast, I can't tell you how 54:29 many years and even to this day how difficult it is sometimes to 54:32 say to people well my mom and dad never actually married. 54:35 Well my mom and dad never actually marr, well my mom and 54:38 dad weren't actually married. 54:39 You know what I'm saying? 54:41 But when I read these first 6 verses I'm like oh I'm in good 54:42 company. 54:44 [Laughter] 54:45 Here's Rahab, here's Ruth, here's the one who was born of 54:50 Uriah's former wife. 54:54 I mean 54:55 --The pedigree is not looking good. 54:57 When we come to 54:58 --But it is good. 55:00 --Of course, amen for anyone who is an outcast. 55:03 --For sinner's hallelujah 55:04 --Willie Nelson, whoever else it is good. 55:06 --When and there's so much more that can be said about Jesus and 55:09 the gospels but something that I just feel like I would be remiss 55:12 if we didn't point out is that the very first thing that Jesus 55:15 says, we went through the into Egypt, out of Egypt, through the 55:19 baptism, into the wilderness and then here he is on the New 55:21 Testament Sinai, you know here he is in the sermon on the 55:25 mount. 55:26 What's the first thing that comes out of his mouth? 55:27 It's not this nice, cute little innocuous phrase. 55:32 This is something, Jesus has been thinking about this for, 55:34 who knows, 20 years? 55:36 I mean this is calculated. 55:38 It's intentionally calculated in a single phrase to tectonically 55:42 upend the whole of first century Jewish thinking. 55:46 And we know that because when John the Baptist was baptizing 55:49 people some people came out, some of the religious leaders 55:52 came out and John anticipated their objection to what was 55:54 going on. 55:56 He said I know what you are thinking. 55:57 Don't even begin to say within yourselves that we have Abraham 56:00 as our father. 56:02 See this is, he's tapping into first century Jewish psyche 56:05 here. 56:06 Hey we're alright. 56:07 We're connected because we are the descendants of Abraham all 56:08 is well. 56:09 And Jesus is constantly pushing back against this idea that your 56:13 genealogical attachment to Abraham is the thing. 56:15 So when he stand up there he's speaking not just, as you said 56:18 Ty, into a vacuum. 56:19 He is speaking into a very specific social, theological, 56:22 psychological situation and that situation is if we are the Jews 56:26 we are God's people full stop. 56:30 --We have a monopoly on the truth on God's salvation, on 56:33 blessing. 56:35 --So when Jesus opens his mouth look at what he says, the first 56:38 thing he says blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the 56:43 kingdom of heaven. 56:45 --What? 56:46 --It's revolutionary. 56:47 --What totally rev...that's the best word. 56:48 It literally is revolutionary. 56:52 We think of Jesus turning over the tables in the temple which 56:53 I'm sure we'll get to, this is turning over, he's turning minds 56:57 over because what he is saying is 56:59 [Laughter] 57:01 --Flip. 57:02 --You're not God's people if you know that you are elite and 57:05 elect and special. 57:07 You are members of God's kingdom if you know that you are 57:09 spiritually impoverished. 57:11 --If you think you're elite and special that's evidence that you 57:13 are not. 57:15 --You are not, blessed are those who recognize their spiritual 57:18 poverty. 57:19 I'm gonna tell you about a whole new kind of kingdom. 57:21 And it's a kingdom, and I tell ya there's gonna be a near riot 57:24 when Jesus has the audacity to say, to a Roman Centurion, I've 57:28 not seen so great faith in all of Israel as I see in this Roman 57:33 Centurion. 57:34 What he's saying is that the kingdom is not just for some 57:37 special little enclave of God's favorites. 57:39 The kingdom is for those who recognize their covenant 57:43 unfaithfulness, their spiritual poverty and lethargy. 57:47 --Jesus in the beatitudes with the series of blessings on those 57:53 who are completely unsuspecting that this is what will come out 57:59 of his mouth, Jesus is basically saying everybody you think is 58:03 not blessed is blessed. 58:06 It's a great universion. 58:09 He's turning it inside out and upside down. 58:12 --Right side up. 58:13 --Yeah right side up. 58:15 [Laughter] 58:16 Upside down is right side up. 58:17 It's incredible what he's doing here. 58:19 --Like I said earlier when somebody was quoting something 58:22 and I said it's no wonder they killed him. 58:24 I mean 58:25 --Well they had to. 58:26 --Of course, he was just 58:28 --They shouldn't have but they had to. 58:29 --Right well he was such a threat to both the Pharisees and 58:33 the Sadducees and just the establishment. 58:34 We talk about revolutionary Che Guevara or whoever, like 58:38 modern revolutionaries. 58:39 This guy, who does he think he is? 58:42 And that's gonna come up, who do you think you are? 58:45 And he's gonna give some answers and people will be like 58:48 [whistling] 58:49 --In this sermon on the mount I think what we're realizing is 58:51 that Jesus is redefining righteousness as love and he's 58:57 redefining Israel as inclusive of the entire human race, in 59:02 God's plan in the potential that is in Christ. 59:06 Amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17