Good times!Just a brief update on the Wolf family. They are doing well, but need your continued prayers. All the kids are in school and Larry's niece is there helping with mid-week coordination with the kids. Larry recently had a work trip to Dallas. That was a time for Larry to continue to seek refuge in the Lord, while he continues to grieve the loss of his wife. It was tough for the kids, particularly Lexie, when Larry went on the trip. Much of the dust has settled from November and December and they are getting to some normalcy. Larry has been out surfing with Keith and is looking forward to the tamer waves of spring and summer. Trinity just celebrated her birthday with family and friends. Larry and the kids need continued prayer while they gets their family life into a normalized routine and while they seek the Lord in this phase of life without Peggy.
So, just like Peggy would do in a disciplined fashion, let's move forward in our study of God's Word.
The next block of verses to focus on is John 2:18 to 22...with particular focus on verses 18 and 19.." So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show us, since You do these things?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.""
Now let's explore these two verses. Picture the circumstance, Jesus just made a scene. Jesus was talking to the guys who were in some sort of authority over the temple or an area at the temple. They wanted to understand why there was so much commotion. This is pivotal, because this is one of Jesus' first public confrontations with the "Jewish Power Structure". Not to go to deep here, but here are somethings to consider:
1.) God Almighty created some strict rules regarding temple protocol in the Old Testament of the Bible, through His interface with Moses.
2.) God put man in charge of this process.
3.) Man conducted this protocol and tradition for centuries.
4.) Gradually the traditions and process became warped in order to manipulated the crowd (as opposed to SERVING the crowd).
5.) Jesus shows up (God Almighty in human form) and is enraged!
So here we are in a bit of a stand-off. The corrupt power brokers of the time are asking Jesus....who gave you the authority to turn these tables over and disrupt our system.
Jesus COULD have given them His resume..like this.. "Hello, let me introduce myself. I am the Lord Almighty, the Messiah. I created the heavens and the Earth out of nothing. I've created all that is seen and unseen, in fact I created YOU! I created the rules for this Temple that you have corrupted! I decided to come in human form to be at your level to confront you and show you how to live!" But............. Jesus didn't take this approach.
He choose to lay down a sign and refer to the temple being destroyed and how in three days He will rebuild it or raise it up. The temple built by man was about to become obsolete, because Jesus to me was now taking it back and identifying Himself as the Temple.
While at the time, I am sure many were confused at what He was saying. Jesus knew that they would remember what He said, but also knew that they would think He is "off-his-rocker". So look at what Jesus was doing...He was weaving delicately : minor miracles; "off-his-rocker" comments; major miracles; and public confrontations with the Jews political officials and religious leaders. He was viewed as a poor man from lowly Nazareth who drops into the core of the Jewish society and starts to confront the corruption of God's plan.
This is all very interesting to me. You can see Jesus' careful and calculated strategy to rock the core of the corrupt society. He is laying an example of boldness in the face of insurmountable power. He is showing us to do the right thing no matter what people think of us. Yah, they may think we are "off-our-rocker", but we know it is right! What is even more amazing, Jesus is now using US to expose the corruption and dark ways of our society. He is empowering us through His example, the Holy Spirit and our faith to overturn some tables and go against the "norm" for what is right.
"Dear Jesus, Thank you for your strong example of continually exposing the right, when we are being looked at as being different." Amen.
So, just like Peggy would do in a disciplined fashion, let's move forward in our study of God's Word.
The next block of verses to focus on is John 2:18 to 22...with particular focus on verses 18 and 19.." So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show us, since You do these things?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.""
Now let's explore these two verses. Picture the circumstance, Jesus just made a scene. Jesus was talking to the guys who were in some sort of authority over the temple or an area at the temple. They wanted to understand why there was so much commotion. This is pivotal, because this is one of Jesus' first public confrontations with the "Jewish Power Structure". Not to go to deep here, but here are somethings to consider:
1.) God Almighty created some strict rules regarding temple protocol in the Old Testament of the Bible, through His interface with Moses.
2.) God put man in charge of this process.
3.) Man conducted this protocol and tradition for centuries.
4.) Gradually the traditions and process became warped in order to manipulated the crowd (as opposed to SERVING the crowd).
5.) Jesus shows up (God Almighty in human form) and is enraged!
So here we are in a bit of a stand-off. The corrupt power brokers of the time are asking Jesus....who gave you the authority to turn these tables over and disrupt our system.
Jesus COULD have given them His resume..like this.. "Hello, let me introduce myself. I am the Lord Almighty, the Messiah. I created the heavens and the Earth out of nothing. I've created all that is seen and unseen, in fact I created YOU! I created the rules for this Temple that you have corrupted! I decided to come in human form to be at your level to confront you and show you how to live!" But............. Jesus didn't take this approach.
He choose to lay down a sign and refer to the temple being destroyed and how in three days He will rebuild it or raise it up. The temple built by man was about to become obsolete, because Jesus to me was now taking it back and identifying Himself as the Temple.
While at the time, I am sure many were confused at what He was saying. Jesus knew that they would remember what He said, but also knew that they would think He is "off-his-rocker". So look at what Jesus was doing...He was weaving delicately : minor miracles; "off-his-rocker" comments; major miracles; and public confrontations with the Jews political officials and religious leaders. He was viewed as a poor man from lowly Nazareth who drops into the core of the Jewish society and starts to confront the corruption of God's plan.
This is all very interesting to me. You can see Jesus' careful and calculated strategy to rock the core of the corrupt society. He is laying an example of boldness in the face of insurmountable power. He is showing us to do the right thing no matter what people think of us. Yah, they may think we are "off-our-rocker", but we know it is right! What is even more amazing, Jesus is now using US to expose the corruption and dark ways of our society. He is empowering us through His example, the Holy Spirit and our faith to overturn some tables and go against the "norm" for what is right.
"Dear Jesus, Thank you for your strong example of continually exposing the right, when we are being looked at as being different." Amen.
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