Circumcision of heart, chapter 1
Feb 9, 2,020. God’s 11th Month, Sh‘vat 12, year 5,780
To: 23,496 family units, gifted with a desire to be atOne with God.
Worshiping in spirit and truth is to know God’s awesomeness and that He reveals knowledge and truth. He makes people members of His family, “His church” gives eternal life and a circumcision of heart to His people; gifting them with belief IN Jesus’ faith saving. Jesus does say; “this is eternal life - that they know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom You sent.
(John 17:3; Now this is eternal life — that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You sent.) Knowing God is only through His revealing Himself. We can’t know Him through denominational devotionals, church attendance, hearing preachers or scripture readings. God the Father calls, gives desire and effort. (Phil 2:3; ‘KJV’ “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.) (’Net Bible’ “For the One bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort — for the sake of His good pleasure — is God.) Brain power, smarts, intellect, theology training nor work of any kind can make one a believer IN God as He manifest Himself to be through His prophets and apostles.
Concluding Jesus’ third day in the tomb, He was spiritually resurrected to His former position “the spiritual likeness of God His Father.” Because of fear of the temple authorities His apostles had gathered in a locked room when Jesus appeared saying “peace be with you.“ His disciples understood none of these things until He blew on them, saying ‘receive the Holy Spirit.”
(John 20:20-23; On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the disciples had gathered together and locked the doors of the place because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And after He said this, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.”)
Days before Jesus had told them what was going to take place, but they understood none of these things. (Luke 18:31-34; “Then Jesus took the twelve aside and said to them, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For He will be handed over to the Gentiles; He will be mocked, mistreated, and spat on. They will flog Him severely and kill Him. Yet on the third day He will rise again.” But the twelve understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what Jesus meant.”)
The significance of these things are still hidden from the world and is the reason Jesus spoke in parables. (See Matthew 13:10) Understanding the Holy Scripture is spiritually gifted to those who’re born again, as Jesus explained to Nicodemus. The spiritual principle of Jesus blowing on or breathing on; so they’d understand is explained in relationship to people’s being ‘born again’ at John 3:8; “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above. The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”)
Matthew and Luke recorded Jesus’ emotion over Jerusalem.
Jesus wept over Jerusalem as He thought about the end of this age’s destructions. (Matt 24:15; “So when you see the abomination of desolation – spoken about by Daniel the prophet – standing in the holy place (let the reader understand.) (Abomination of Desolation? Such was the actions of Antiochus IV in 167 B.C. who did abominable things regarding sacrifices. (A future representative type is likely to do similar abominations.) The words of Jesus seem to indicate that Antiochus was not the final fulfillment, but there’d (from Jesus’ perspective) still be another fulfillment. Specifically to the Antichrist and not likely fully realized until the period of the great tribulation at the end of this age. (See Mark 13:14, 19, 24; Rev 3:10).
(Matt 24:16-22; Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. The one on the roof must not come down to take anything out of his house. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For then there will be great suffering unlike anything that has happened from the beginning of the world until now, or ever will happen. And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved. But for the sake of the Elect those days will be cut short.”)
(Luke 19:41-44; “Now when Jesus approached and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, “If you had only known on this day, even you, the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. (43) For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side. They will demolish you and your children within your walls – and they will not leave within you one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”) (Remember Jesus is doing the prophecy, so we do expect it’s fulfillment
Jesus revealed His deity but the experts didn’t understand.
(Luke 20:41-44; “But He said to them, “How is it that they say that the Christ ‘one who has been anointed’ is David’s son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘The Lord said to My lord, “Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’ If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how can He be his son?”)
(It was a common belief in Judaism that Messiah would be David’s son in that He would come from the lineage of David. On this point the Pharisees agreed and were correct. But their understanding was nonetheless incomplete, for Messiah is also David’s Lord. With this statement Jesus was affirming that, as the Messiah, He is both God and man.)
Don’t follow the majority; endure to the end.
(Luke 21:5-7; “Now while some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and offerings, Jesus said, “As for these things that you are gazing at, the days will come when not one stone will be left on another. All will be torn down!” So they asked Him, “Teacher, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that these things are about to take place?”
(Luke 21:8-9; He said, “Watch out that you are not misled. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He and, ‘the time is near.’ Do not follow them! And when you hear of wars and rebellions, do not be afraid. For these things must happen first, but the end will not come at once.”
(Luke 21:10-19; Then He said to them, “Nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and famines and plagues in various places, and there will be terrifying sights and great signs from heaven. But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you, handing you over to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and governors because of My name. (13) This will be a time for you to serve as witnesses. Therefore be resolved not to rehearse ahead of time how to make your defense. (15) For I will give you the words along with the wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will have some of you put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of My name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.”)
Morning of the eighteenth day of Nisan; which would arrive
at the next sunset; “falling on the first day of the week that year.”
(Luke 24:1-11; “Now on the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women went to the tomb, taking the aromatic spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood beside them in dazzling attire. The women were terribly frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? (6) He is not here, but has been raised! Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then the women remembered His words, and when they returned from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. (11) But these words seemed like pure nonsense to them, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb ‘on the morning of the eighteenth day of Nissan.’ He bent down and saw only the strips of linen cloth; then he went home, wondering what had happened.”) (Ask yourselves, why were they not already believers?)
(John 21:1-14; “After this Jesus revealed Himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. Now this is how He did so. “Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael (who was from Cana in Galilee), the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples of His were together. Simon Peter told them, “I am going fishing.” “We will go with you,” they replied. They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. (4) When it was already very early morning, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. So Jesus said to them, “Children, you don’t have any fish, do you?” They replied, “No.” He told them, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they threw the net, and were not able to pull it in because of the large number of fish. (7) Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” So Simon Peter, when he heard that it was the Lord, tucked in his outer garment (for he had nothing on underneath it), and plunged into the sea. Meanwhile the other disciples came with the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from land, only about a hundred yards. When they got out on the beach, they saw a charcoal fire ready with a fish placed on it, and bread. (10) Jesus said, “Bring some of the fish you have just now caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and pulled the net to shore. It was full of large fish, one hundred fifty-three, but although there were so many, the net was not torn. “Come, have breakfast,” Jesus said. But none of the disciples dared to ask Him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. (14) This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to the disciples after He was raised from the dead.”)
(John 21:24-25; This is ‘John’ the disciple who testifies about these things and has written these things, and we know that His testimony is true. There are many other things that Jesus did. If every one of them were written down, I suppose the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”)