Tag Archives: Kenite

John

The Religious Response John 11:46-57

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In the last segment, Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead, which is the seventh sign in the book of John. Many of the people who saw it believed upon him. Now it’s time to check in on the ones who didn’t.

John 11:46 But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done. (47) Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. (48) If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

Let’s understand what they are saying here. The belief was that the Messiah would come and re-establish the kingdom like it was under king David. So what we have here is a worry that everyone will follow Jesus, that Jesus will rise up to claim He is the Messiah and try to take Jerusalem from Rome, and that He will fail.

One the surface, their worry isn’t misplaced. Ever since Judah had been placed under Roman rule, “messiahs” had been popping up and rallying the people to rise up. Rome would then kill these “messiahs,” along with many of their main supporters, and the people would return to the daily grind of oppression and high taxes. But if we take a closer look at what they said, we will see that there is more to this tale. Look at verse 48 again, and see what their first concern is: That the Romans will take away THEIR PLACE.

Under the Romans, the “chief priests and the Pharisees” had a pretty cushy existence. They had money and power, and people with money and power do not like to see anything that will upset the status quo.  I mean, consider the flip side. Jesus rises up, claims He is the Messiah, defeats Rome, and establishes a Davidic kingdom. Would Jesus, a man who has openly opposed them since the beginning of His ministry, keep them around in their same positions?

John 11:49 And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, (50) Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. (51) And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; (52) And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.

To prophesy means to speak the future, or to speak the words of God. That doesn’t mean the speaker always understands what he or she is saying. Here, God is honoring the position of high priest and making his words come to pass, but clearly for Caiaphas, he means that if Jesus is taken out of the way, then the nation doesn’t need to suffer at the hands of the Romans.

John 11:53 Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.

Naturally! What else are good religious folk supposed to do with their day?

John 11:54 Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples.

On most bible maps, you will find Ephraim just northeast of Jerusalem, but the true location of the city/village today is unknown.

John 11:55 And the Jews’ passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves.

This was a custom/law, to go to Jerusalem every year for the Passover.

2 Chronicles 30:5 So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written.

John 11:56 Then sought they for Jesus, and spake among themselves, as they stood in the temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast? (57) Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should shew it, that they might take him.

The seventh sign, bringing Lazarus from the dead, leaves Jesus as the enemy of the state. Only the most wicked of men would seek murder for a solution to their problems and concerns. This just adds to their status as the sons of satan.

Thus we see that the seventh sign, bringing Lazarus from the dead, leaves Jesus as an enemy of the state, or more accurately an enemy of the religious community. It’s very easy for us today to sit back and say that we are not like the Pharisees and Sadducees and that we wouldn’t wish Jesus dead, that we would instantly recognize a work of God. Perhaps that is true, but in closing I would ask you to stop and ponder a work before you condemn it. Pause to at least ask yourself (or better yet ask God) if this is just another person or movement out for itself and its own glory, or if it is of God, and you simply do not yet understand. Look at the fruit of that work before you label it, because even the disciples struggled to keep up at times.

God Bless

John

John 8:42-44 Jesus Calls out the Sons of Satan

In the last post, we kinda left off in the middle of a conversation between Christ and these Jews, where these Jews are claiming to be sons of Abraham, to which Christ responded, “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.”

This in turn made them angry and they responded by saying, “We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.”

I began that post by saying that we had come to the group mentioned in Revelation 3:9, Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

Then when we got to John 8:37, where Jesus agrees with them that they are Abraham’s seed, I told you how I felt Christ was saying that it didn’t matter who your father was, but what mattered was that once you are baptized into Christ then you are Abraham’s seed.

I don’t want to take away from that message because it’s true that no matter who you are, if you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you too CAN become a child of the living God. But today, we are going to focus on this synagogue of Satan.

John 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. (43) Why do ye not understand my speech?even because ye cannot hear my word.

Remember Nicodemus? He was a pharisee as well and, while he didn’t always understand Jesus, he asked questions so that he could understand. He believed Jesus. How do we know he believed him? Because in chapter 19 of this same book, we see that he brings myrrh and aloes to Jesus and helped with His burial.

John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

What on earth is He talking about? Satan. Who was the first murderer? Cain of course. And who was Cain’s father? Despite what many think, it wasn’t Adam. It was Satan. This is why God said to the serpent in Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

He wasn’t speaking about apple seeds. He was talking about children and his children did bruise the heel of our savior when they drove the spike through it when nailing Him to the cross.

We will be doing a more in depth study on this topic, as it deserves further study, but for today let’s get a second witness to this by turning to Matthew.

Matthew 13:24-25 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: (25) But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

A tare, for those of you who don’t know, is a plant that while it is growing in the field looks just like the good wheat, until it comes to harvest time. Thus a farmer is unaware of them until they begin to bear fruit, and he has to deal with them is because they are poisonous. Their fruit will kill you.

Matthew 13:26-29 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. (27) So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? (28) He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? (29) But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

The reason we aren’t to gather them up early is because, not only are they hard to spot, and you could grab the wrong ones by accident, but their roots are also intertwined with the wheat and pulling them up would harm the good roots.

Matthew 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Christ here gives us some other parables, and I encourage you to read them in their entirety as they are important, but for the sake of brevity and the topic we are covering, we will jump down to his explanation.

Matthew 13:36-38 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. (37) He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; (38) The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

God planted good seed in the garden. Satan came and planted his seed. “Well that is talking about the Son of man, that’s Jesus. That isn’t talking about the garden of Eden.” That’s true in part because Jesus here is not only giving us the physical seed, but also the spiritual. What does Christ tell us in this self same chapter?

John 8:56-58 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. (57) Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? (58) Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

Jesus was around long before He showed up wrapped in swaddling clothes. Do you see how He used I AM there? That’s exactly the same name He used when He came to Moses in the burning bush. God is the same yesterday, today, and guess what, He will be tomorrow.

God did not just wake up one day and go, “Gee these Israelites suck I’m going to just open Myself up to all these gentiles and teach them a lesson.” No it was part of His plan from the beginning. That is why He gave us the prophecy about the bruised heel the very moment Satan came to tempt man kind, because He knew that man was weak.

We don’t know how long Adam and Eve were in the garden before the serpent came, but we do know they had full bellies and wanted for nothing and still they couldn’t cut it. We also know that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came and, even after being hungry in the desert with the sun beating down and His lips split, He told Satan to take a hike.

Regardless of whether you want to buy into the notion that the sons of Cain are represented here or not, the fact remains that there are two trees, two vines you can be attached to. The first is the tree of life which is to say Christ. Israel is the natural, physical seed, but salvation was opened to all spiritually. The second is Satan’s tree, which has gone by many names over the years, but those that are attached to it are are his children, physical or otherwise. I’d suggest you make sure you know which one your attached to, and make sure it is love that is pumping in from the root and nothing else.

We will finish out this eighth chapter of John next time. Until then stay in His word and God Bless.

Topic Discussions

Was Jesus a Jew?

These days, there appears to be a lot of confusion about whether or not Jesus was a Jew. While I believe that most people do not question whether or not He was born of the tribe of Judah, we will cover it anyway before we go further into the meaning of the word, Jew.

Turning to Matthew chapter 1 will bring us to a long genealogy. This genealogy brings us from Abraham to Judas, who is the father of all the members of the tribe of Judas, then continues on all the way to Joseph, the husband of Mary.

Joseph as many of you know, didn’t have anything to do with Jesus’ conception, making his genealogy moot. Mary’s genealogy is a bit more hidden, but can be found in the pages of Luke.

Luke begins his gospel, not with Jesus, but with “a certain priest named Zacharias.”

Luke 1:5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

We are told here that Elisabeth is of the daughters of Aaron, which means she is from the tribe of Levi. Later in the chapter we learn that Elisabeth is Mary’s cousin:

Luke 1:36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.

Thus making Mary at least half Levite. Why only half Levite? Let’s back up to when the angel told Mary she was to conceive as a virgin.

Luke 1:30-33 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. (31) And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. (32) He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: (33) And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

So let’s answer the question, why only half Levite? Because we see that in verse 32 it tells us He will be given the throne of His father David, who we all know was a member of the tribe of Judah.

Why then is there a lot of confusion about whether or not Jesus is a Jew? It is because of the word Jew itself, not only what it means, but who calls themselves Jews.

Jew (n.)

late 12c. (in plural, giwis), from Anglo-French iuw, Old French giu, from Latin Iudaeum (nominative Iudaeus), from Greek Ioudaios, from Aramaic jehudhai (Hebrewy’hudi) “Jew,” from Y’hudah “Judah,” literally “celebrated,” name of Jacob’s fourth son and of the tribe descended from him. Replaced Old English Iudeas “the Jews.” Originally, “Hebrew of the kingdom of Judah.”

Clearly the word doesn’t go back as far as the tribe of Judah itself, but has come to be the word we use in English to describe those who are descended from Judah himself along with those from the southern kingdom called Judah, which mainly included not only members of the tribe of Judah, but Levi and Benjamin as well.

This is why Paul called himself a Jew despite being of the tribe of Benjamin

Acts 21:39 But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.

Romans 11:1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

Jesus himself had no problem being called a Jew despite the fact He was a Galilean.

John 4:9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

So what on earth is the cause of the problem? The problem lies with the kenite.

Revelation 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

Revelation 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

Personally I am not a huge fan of the word Jew. I much prefer to use the word Judah because among other things, it is more precise, however the rest of the world uses the word Jew to describe what they believe to be the tribe of Judah, and all of Israel, and it is our job, as Christians, to go out and preach the Word of God, not to confuse others.

Remember that when the Holy Spirit descended upon Peter and company on Pentecost day they did not try to change the way people understood their language. For the Holy Spirit will use your language to make itself understood.

Acts 2:5-8 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. (6) Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. (7) And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? (8) And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

If you speak in a language or a vocabulary that no one understands, then it is certainly not from God.

1 Corinthians 14:9-11 So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. (10) There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. (11) Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.

Many of you out there know who the synagogue of Satan is and that they, the kenites, call themselves Jews, but that doesn’t change the meaning of the word and it certainly wont change what the world believes the word means. So why would we argue and fight about the meaning of the word when the wise already understand who the synagogue of Satan is, but it confuses and turns away the young in Christ? Despite how difficult it can be sometimes we have to remember that Christ told us in Matthew 13 that the reapers are the angels and that we are not to gather up the tares lest we root up some wheat as well.