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Subject:
The Death of Our Lord
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And the angel of the Lord suddenly stood
before them, and the glory of the Lord shone
around them; and they were terribly frightened.
Luke 2:9 (NASB)
Luke 2:9 is part of an account of foretelling our Lord’s birth. It explains the fearful nature of men who came in contact with the supernatural and the unknown. Two other Bible translations state: “fear came on them” and; “they were filled with great fear”. A third translation seems to stand out: stating they were simply “terrified”. Likewise, as humans, we often can be fearful of coming in contact with the supernatural. We are earthy…but we also have the capacity to be influenced by spirit, because God has given us a spirit (Job 32:8). God is a Spirit (Jn. 4:24). Angels are spirits (Heb. 1:13-14) and demons are spirits, also. There are spirit powers in realms around us. These “messengers” (whether good or bad) have the ability to influence our thinking. When coming in contact with satanic powers, the struggle in our spirits and minds can be so intense! The Bible compares the struggle to…wrestling…not with flesh, but wrestling with spiritual foes. We read where Jesus wrestled with satanic power, as He was led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. We also see Jesus… (Heb. 2.9) who was made “a little lower than the angels” for the suffering of death…that He by the grace of God should experience death for every man. He not only experienced death, but (vs 14) destroyed him that had the power over death, that is the devil. And this is GOOD NEWS, because in time past (vs 15), many under the law were terrified at the thought and consequences of death but He has come and given us an understanding that death has no sting and the grave has no victory over those whose lives are preserved in Christ Jesus! So, we don’t have to live daily lives of fear. He was born, died, and rose from the grave to save us from the consequences of sin and adverse spiritual powers! Praise God that we live a life through the Spirit… springing up to eternal life!
The popular gospel artist, Cece Winans sung “but there is still a war that rages….” So…while we wait for eternal life, there are two main areas our Lord wants to preserve during every struggle: our hearts and our minds (Phil. 4:6-7). These are two main areas mankind’s enemy often attempts to attack and defeat with terror. God doesn’t want us terrified by our adversary because there is One who ever lives and we can live victorious lives through Him!
And they that went before, and they that followed,
cried, saying Hosanna; Blessed is he that
cometh in the name of the lord.
(Mark 11:9)
We are told about a great crowd near Jerusalem who had come to worship there. The crowd waited their turn for their King to pass by. At one point there became an eruption of praise! Some understood Him as the Son of David, who would deliver the people from Roman rule! Others recognized Him as being the One who worked miracles. How intense this crowd must have been! Many spread their coats on the road and others cut and used branches from the trees. What a significant moment! Prophecy was being fulfilled concerning their true king! They shouted Hosanna! Hosanna means, “Lord, save us!” Their shout reflected hundreds of years of Jewish captivity! The King, the Son of David, had suddenly come to His temple! Even though they did not understand the full significance of the moment, what catches my attention is…EVERYONE SHOUTED! EVERYONE wanted to be delivered. NO ONE was passive and didn’t feel the need for deliverance. EVERYONE was caught up in the wave of adoration and EVERYONE released their praise! EVERYONE experienced the moment! What do you do when the presence of the king is in your sanctuary…check your phone? Look at others who praise? Think about your problems? Or, do you allow others to hinder your praise? You owe Him praise!
To many…this type of praise is foreign, but to those who are sensitive to the King’s presence, praise becomes a lifestyle. They can’t wait to “catch the Hosanna wave”! True worshippers and praisers understand this. They look for opportunities to rejoice and praise God. We can learn from angels, who consistently give God glory with expressions while in the presence of God. Angels have not been redeemed. If you have been redeemed, you consistently owe Him praise! Start by doing that in the place He has established, which is His sanctuary!
There are two great themes in the book of Hebrews. The one and greatest theme is Jesus is far superior than any man, created being, or Old Testament system. The second theme is less known and deals with the dangers of the writer’s readers returning to their former lifestyles. It seems they desired to be enslaved again in futile practices of religion and not worship Christ. He also sets forth many strong warnings about some readers not continuing to follow Christ the way they did before.
Let’s pull out key scriptures found in this great book and explore the writer’s secondary intent given to the readers of the book of Hebrews. Here are a number of scriptures in Hebrews that show the seriousness of anyone who desires to return to their former lifestyle apart from Jesus being central.
HERE ARE THE WRITERS CONSTANT WARNINGS:
Heb. 2:1 We aught to give…heed…lest…we should let them slip
2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation
3:6 If we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
3:7 Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts…when your fathers tempted me
3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God
3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end
4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it
4:11 Let us labor…to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief
4:14 Let us hold fast our profession
5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again….
6:1 Leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection
6:8-9 That which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. But, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation
6:11-12 We desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: that you be not slothful…
10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering
10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together
10:35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward
10:38 Now…the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition…
12:1 Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us…
12:3 Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
12:12 Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees
12:25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven.
The warning are very real and they apply to us today! Don’t turn back!
The word “hope” is often associated with a person’s expectation of God’s final deliverance or salvation. In the Old Testament, God was the object of the righteous. They waited for His salvation. Many of the Old Testament saints also hoped for the final deliverer (Messiah), who would establish His kingdom on earth. We, (the church), look (or hope) for Him, also. He is the risen One: the “first-born” from the dead, and our hope is that we will (like He did) rise; and we will meet the Lord in the air. Hope, in large part (for the church) has to do with our trust that God will one day physically deliver the righteous from earth to heaven. It is a hope in a final deliverance or resurrection. New Testament scriptures are mainly used IN THE HANDOUT BELOW, to attempt to define the word hope. The object of hope in a number of the scriptures from the handout refer to either God the Father, or the Lord Jesus Christ. Hope, therefore, is often in expectation of the Person, Jesus, who God has made both Lord and Christ (Messiah). Hope (not always, but in large part) speaks of something more eternal than faith. This means, for example, that the word “hope” is rarely defined as someone believing that God will heal them of a condition. Faith, many times, is a word better used for our belief in “temporal” healings and believing God for His temporal “blessings.” Our faith in temporal things can waiver. For example…let’s say someone had faith to believe God to “fix” some condition. Years went by and the condition remained. Over those years, they had highs and lows. There were times they believed God with great faith and other times doubts crept in. The point is, again, our faith often waivers and we can become of “little faith” (Matt. 8:26). Here is another example: we have faith that God will heal a sick loved one. They die. We question why. What went wrong? Did we have enough faith? We often wrestle with our inability to have faith in God for temporal healings. But, we should never lose HOPE in the person of Jesus; the One who controls death and life. That’s why we are at peace when we have prayed and had faith that God would heal a loved one…only to watch them pass away. It does not take away from…nor diminish…our hope in the existence of the person of Christ or God. Faith waivers, but hope in God should never waiver. Examine this scripture: “Lord, I believe [in other words, I have faith], but help my unbelief.” We see from the verse that this man’s faith waivered, but not his hope in the existence of God. It is possible to have little faith to believe for something and yet have hope in the Eternal One. Here is how Hebrews 6:18-20 reads: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the HOPE set before us: Which HOPE we have as an ANCHOR OF THE SOUL, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus…. This verse reminds us that hope is more eternal. (This doesn’t mean that the word hope is in all instances defined as eternal, neither is faith always considered temporal.) The hope we have in Jesus should never waiver, because the hope we have in the person of Jesus ANCHORS our souls and hope is not volatile like our faith can be. We can sometimes lose our faith, but we must not ever lose our hope. We see an instance where the disciple Peter and the other disciples lost their HOPE. The angels told the women that Christ was risen, the bible states that the men did not believe them. In other words, the Son of God had died, and their was no HOPE in His resurrection. This would have been the saddest occurrence in the bible had Jesus not have shown Himself alive to his hopeless followers. Explore the handout below to view scriptures explaining the difference between faith and hope.
PCAFI Christian Ed. Aux. (ICEA) Articles 