The Why of God's Judgment

 The Logic of God's Judgment

 Book of Amos Chapters 1 through 4

 

As we take a look into the Book of Amos, we should realize that the Ten Tribes called Israel had moved away from God from the very first day of separating from Judah.

 As we study this book of prophecy, we will see that God has given this nation a last chance to repent and return to the truth of Jehovah and worship as God had given them in the Books of Moses.

 None of the kings of this divided nation called Israel had any interest in the truth of God nor the worship of the LORD Jehovah.

 We know the Lord is patient with His people, but there is an end to that patience, and after patience runs out, it is replaced with judgment.

 God always has to overcome His compassion for His people to bring judgment, but He will.

 It is these lessons we read about in the Old Testament that we can learn how God will react to these same types of things today.

 Rom 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. 

 1Co 10:6  Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 

 1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 

 We can visibly see how patient God is with the world we live in today, but the Old Testament proves that God's patience will end, and judgment will come.

 God will not allow wickedness and sin to continue indefinitely!

 The Book of Amos is a book of judgment!

 For one hundred and eighty years, the Northern Kingdom had rebelled against the LORD.

 Amos preached a message that focused on the coming judgment of God.

 Amos was just a lowly shepherd from Judah who prophesied mostly in Israel, showing us that God can use anyone willing to serve Him.

 *****Amo 1:1  The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

 In the Scriptures, earthquakes are mentioned as tokens of God's power, but also as a means of fine-tuning the timeline of the Scriptures.

 Job 9:6  Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. 

 Earthquakes are also tokens of God's presence.

 Psa 68:8  The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. 

 Earthquakes that we are more familiar with are those that are from God's anger.

 Psa 18:7  Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. 

 God's fierce anger is still in the future.

 Isa 13:13  Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. 

 Isa 29:6  Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. 

 Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. 

 *****Amo 1:2  And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. 

 Amos was chosen because, in his preaching, he could roar, and his message was that God would soon roar out of Zion.

 In fact, Amos begins where the Book of Joel ends.

 Joe 3:16  The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

 Zion was the same as the city of David to Amos.

 1Ki 8:1  Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. 

 Amos first begins to prophecy judgment on all those nations that have had any dealings with Israel.

 The LORD speaks from Zion, which He had assigned to be the central place of worship of the Jews and also the central place of government, as formed by King David.

Israel was to have a theocratic government. A government that followed the Word of God.

 God speaks to all His people, and He includes strangers.

 Zion is the dwelling place of the LORD, spiritually and soon will be physically for one thousand years!

 A roaring of the lion can be heard from five to eight miles, but God's roar will be heard from any location upon this earth if He so chooses.

 A lion's roar is aimed as a threat to his enemies, and the roar of God in judgment will be directed at His enemies, the enemies of the Church and the enemies of Israel.

 Jer 25:30  Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. 

Jer 25:31  A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD. 

Jer 25:32  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. 

Jer 25:33  And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground. 

 This is another reason why the Lord Jesus is known as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He will roar in judgment sooner than we think.

 *****Amo 2:6  Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; 

Amo 2:7  That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name: 

Amo 2:8  And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god. 

 What was wrong with Israel in the day of Amos and still so today?

 This sent waves of shock through the crowd that Amos was preaching to, for in their mind they would say to you, "There is no way God's judgment would fall on them".

 They are so wrong because they know the key to God's Grace is obedience to His Word. Why would God not judge those who refuse to obey Him?

 To the world today that misunderstands God's nature. Yes, God is Love, and because of this, He is long-suffering.

 His long-suffering means He is waiting for the world to repent and turn from its wicked ways, but it never will, so eventually God's justice must prevail on those who live wickedly, or He would not be the God of truth.

 Israel was feeling really good about everything when Amos was preaching about judgment on all those other nations, but their attitude changed when Amos began with God's judgment upon Israel.

 The Judgment of God is coming to this world, and the only way to miss it is to repent and turn back to our Creator. Our God is also our Creator!

 God has warned this entire world.

 Mat 3:7  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 

Mat 3:8  Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: 

 2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 

2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 

2Pe 3:11  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 

2Pe 3:12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 

 God's justice must prevail!

 These verses describe to us the crimes of Israel.

 1) We see a perversion of justice. The judges took bribes and condemned the righteous.

Keep in mind, Judas took silver to condemn our righteous Savior.

 For the very smallest of bribes, they rejected the cause of poverty in their own nation.

 Eze 13:19  And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies? 

 They continuously broke the Laws of God.

 2) They desired that the poor be removed from the earth.

 This sounds like today, when our politicians remind us that if not for the poor and the elders there would be plenty of money to waste on other things, while they intentionally try to move the middle class into that poor category.

 Those who are poor are also those who are depressed, even though depression can attack anyone, no matter their status.

 It is many of those who are poor who are almost forced to do crooked and evil things in an attempt to survive.

 We cannot defend this, but we can acknowledge it.

 The world continuously ignores the dignity of human life if you are not a part of their crowd.

 3) For a man and his father to go into the same maid could be said to be incest, which was forbidden and could be seen as organized prostitution, but it is certainly fornication.

 Eze 36:20  And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land. 

Eze 36:21  But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. 

 4) Those who were well off would take the outer clothes of those who had fallen on hard times, as a pledge. These would be the clothes they wore during the day and covered themselves with at night.

 Those who stole those clothes would think nothing of wearing them to the House of God.

 They engaged in hypocritical worship by worshipping at every altar in any place of worship, even those places where idols were worshipped.

 Israel's worship of Jehovah had become corrupt.

 Before we pray and worship at any altar, we had better be sure we are in a true House of God!

 5) Israel rejected the Lord as the source of their blessings since the Lord removed them from the Iron Furnace of Egypt.

 *****Amo 2:9  Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. 

Amo 2:10  Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. 

Amo 2:11  And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.

Amo 2:12  But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. 

 As we read the Old Testament, we read over and over how God had blessed this nation and had forgiven their many sins.

 It was the Almighty God who had destroyed the Amorites and allowed Israel to take over their cities and their homes.

 They were certainly wicked people, but Israel was falling into the same trap of judgment.

 It was the Almighty Living God who had saved Israel from Egypt, where they had been slaves for nearly four hundred years.

 It was the Almighty God who had sent to them His prophets from their own nation, and they had murdered many of them.

 6) Even the Nazarites who had committed themselves to live righteously and devote themselves to the Lord were forced to drink wine against their vows.

 I absolutely cannot see how those of a certain religion can serve wine at communion, knowing God said not to drink wine at all.

 We have to make a vow to live righteously to be saved!

 Those who interfere with God's children will truly suffer the wrath of God.

 Mat_18:6  But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Mrk_9:42  And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.

Luk_17:2  It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

 Israel at this time was no different than the nations and peoples God had removed from Canaan Land!

 Have you noticed how the Church is following in these same steps?

 If you are in a godly church today, it is a must to resist any change that goes against the Word of God! All the Word of God!

 Jer_6:16  Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

 We cannot be so foolish as not to walk in the truth of God.

 What is a hypocrite? A hypocrite is a person who pretends and is deceitful.

 Claiming to believe in the LORD is not enough to become acceptable to God.

 A true believer will do their best to follow the LORD!

 A true believer will do their best to be obedient to all the Word of God.

 A true believer will do their best to live righteously in this world.

 A true believer will be looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 

Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 

Tit 2:14  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. 

 A hypocrite is deceitful.

 What did the Lord Jesus say we needed to watch out for in the end times?

 Mat 24:4  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 

Mat 24:5  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 

 We cannot allow false so-called Christians to destroy our churches!

 1Jn 2:3  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 

1Jn 2:4  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 

1Jn 2:5  But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 

1Jn 2:6  He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. 

 *****Amo 2:13  Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. 

Amo 2:14  Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself: 

 In response to any rebellious attitude and opposition of people in answer to His concerns, God has no choice but to react in "Judgment".

 Sin is a heavy burden that will take us into the pits of Hell, when God is so willing to forgive if we will repent and return to Him.

 Why would anyone want to go to Hell to spend an eternity there?

 The Northern Tribes of Israel were guilty of extreme wickedness, and God judged them by sending them into captivity into a nation that worshipped idols and rejected Jehovah.

 God is saying that His cart is so heavily loaded with sin that anything He rolls over will be crushed into non-existence.

 God will have removed His compassion.

God will have removed His mercy.

God will have removed His grace.

God will have removed His love, and this leaves only His "judgment"!

 God had stated that He hated Esau and the Edomites no longer exist as a people.

 God is telling sinners that He hates sin, and the Lord Jesus will say, "I never knew you," or to Him, you did not exist.

 Mat_7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

 Are those Ten Tribes of Israel still lost?

 The “lost tribes” were not entirely lost — many integrated into local populations, and some groups, like the Samaritans, preserved their identity.

 The one thing we know for sure is that there are Jews scattered all over the world, and many of them have gone back home to Israel.

 We can say that there are no lost Tribes of Israel because God knows where they all are.

What did God do?

God shows them instances of judgments He had sent at various times to correct His people.

 *****Amo 4:6  And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 

Amo 4:7  And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.

Amo 4:8  So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 

Amo 4:9  I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 

Amo 4:10  I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

This is not some form of toothache, but it is famine.

Their teeth would be clean because they had nothing to eat.

The Laws of Moses, which they were so proud of, stated: Deu 28:48  Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he hath destroyed thee. 

Deu 28:49  The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; 

In all the years since God had taken Israel out of Egypt and formed the nation that they are today, they have never truly repented of rejecting God and His Word.

God disciplines because He loves us, not because He hates us!

The stubbornness of Israel's rejection caused God to be harsher with His people.

All God has ever asked from any of us is to repent and turn back to Him.

The LORD sent famine and hunger, and this famine struck every city so that each city would not have the resources to feed its people.

Next, God sent drought, and God sent this drought three months before harvest time, so there would be very little to harvest.

They had three months to repent and save their crops, but they were too stubborn to give in.

They would hear about rain in another city, but by the time they got there, the water would be used up.

When they did have enough water for meager crops to grow, God sent the blight and the palmerworm.

Blasting was the damage caused by the scorching East wind.

Eze 17:10  Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the furrows where it grew. 

Mildew would also ruin some crops. Mildew is caused by fungi from dampness and is the opposite of conditions caused by drought.

The locust swarms and disease would take anything that was left of their crops.

They faced economic devastation, but they still would not repent.

War, drought, and famine always end in disease, sickness, and plagues among the people. 

These would be the same type of plagues that God used on Egypt, but they still would not repent.

So, God sent war.

The young men, the pride of most nations, were slain with the sword of their enemies. This is what war does. War removes many of the next generation and affects a nation for years.

God took away their ability to defend themselves.

The stink of unburied carcasses lay everywhere, and even more disease came to Israel.

*****Amo 4:11  I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

Amo 4:12  Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. 

Amo 4:13  For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name. 

God reminds them that their sin was counted just as hideous and wicked as the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, and they would have perished if God had not plucked them out of the fire.

Their homes were burned, their cities were burned, and everything they had left was burned, and they have been to if God had not plucked them from the fire.

There was only one thing left to do, and it was for God to come to this earth and take care of this rebellion Himself.

We should all ask ourselves, "Are we ready to meet the God of the Bible?"

God's judgment is certainly coming to this world.

Judgment is inescapable for those who refuse to repent and return to the Creator.

God will not send an angel.

God will not send the death angel.

God will come Himself, and if He comes in His glory, no one will be able to stand before Him.

There is only one way out to safety, and it is by repentance and returning to the God who made us.

Act 17:29  Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. 

Act 17:30  And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 

Act 17:31  Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. 

We can meet God in the clouds, or we will meet God in "judgment," and we do not have much time left to decide!

Amen

Lean Not on Your Own Understanding

 Amaziah-The King Who Stopped Short of the Goal

 Book of 2 Chronicles Chapter 25

 

I think the greatest thing we can learn from the Old Testament is "what not to do".

No matter how powerful we become upon this earth, we are very, very small compared to God!

 Over and over, we read how people went against the Word of God, and God had to take away His hand of blessing.

You see God does not cause our problems; He just removes His hand of blessing that would have stopped most of our problems.

God wants us to allow Him to dictate how we live our lives to gain the greatest blessings while we are alive and even greater blessings when we join Him in Heaven.

God wants to deal with us as any good Father would.

We are foolish people when we do not realize that God wants to bless us and not take away our blessings.

 People believe that God does so many things to them, when actually it's the Devil who has more freedom when God removes His hand of blessing and protection.

 We get a bird's eye view of these things in the Books of the Kings and the Chroniclers, and in the divided nation, we see how leaders rebel against a loving God, and it did not go well for them.

None of us like discipline, but for all of us, a little discipline is necessary.

 Throughout the Old Testament, God dispensed His theocratic kingdom through mediators, the prophets.

 God appointed human leaders through whom He revealed His will and made Himself known. He still does this today.

 The final ultimate form of God's theocratic kingdom will be the Millennial Kingdom governed by Jesus Christ.

There is no more important subject in the Old Testament than the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ!

 The Old Testament looks forward to all the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, and it gives us true history so we can better understand.

 We must understand that God deals with Israel to bring her to a place of Spiritual blessing in which she will be the agent for God to bless the nations of the world.

 We now know that this will not take place until after the Rapture of the Church and the Seven Years of Tribulation, which the Church will miss.

 The Mosaic Covenant was conditional and a demonstration of God's Holiness.

 All those who would enter into fellowship with our Holy God would have to meet His Holy Standard.

 Jer 31:31  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 

Jer 31:32  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 

Jer 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

Jer 31:34  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. 

 The Prophets of the Old Testament teach us how God will achieve this with Israel.

 We know the Messiah will rule this earth from Jerusalem, but the Messiah first came as a suffering Messiah through whom God offers forgiveness of sins.

This forgiveness is for the whole world, but each individual must acknowledge it.

1Jn_2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

 The one thing we see in all the Bible is the continuation of sin in the human race, and there is only one race in all the Scriptures.

 Red, yellow, black, and white, we are all sinners in His sight, but we are all forgiven if we trust what God has done for us.

Rom_3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

 We know the Messiah to be a descendant of King David.

 2Sa 7:12  And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 

2Sa 7:13  He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. 

2Sa 7:14  I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: 

2Sa 7:15  But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. 

2Sa 7:16  And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. 

 This is the purpose of God to gain as many as will accept Him into His Heavenly Kingdom.

 The Old Testament gives us the history of Israel in the way God moved these people to fulfill His purpose for them.

 Our lesson continues to show us how the divided nation of Israel and the kings in the line of David continued to fail God in His purpose, but the plan of God continued to move forward, as it still does today.

 How many of us stop short of the goals God has set for us because we have slipped backwards from time to time?

I know I have. I am a work in progress.

I also know that God does not ever change. This is why we need to study the Old Testament to learn from the mistakes made then.

 *****2Ch 25:1  Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. 

2Ch 25:2  And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart. 

 After our salvation, God the Father gives us opportunities to earn rewards that will be in Heaven when we get there.

 When an opportunity arises, we must grab it, or else we will lose that opportunity.

 God gave opportunities to the Kings of Judah to become great kings, but most of them let pride and discipline be their downfall.

 Pro_16:18  Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

 In fact, God provides opportunities to every national leader because it is God who put them in place.

 We know we just do not see great leaders anymore.

The leaders of today are poisoned by the wickedness of this world.

What did God say on the day of Noah?

Mat 24:38  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

God says the world keeps going as it always has, disregarding the sin that is in this world.

We here in America have great hope for the one who sits in the chair of the president today, but we do not know as of yet.

All we know is that he was the best choice to change the direction our nation was following, and he still is. 

Opportunities are lost by God's people because we just do not know how to discipline ourselves in the Word of God.

 When we as Christians meet the Lord Jesus in the clouds, He will probably remind us of all those lost opportunities.

 In the Books of the Kings and Chronicles, we see the lost opportunities of the leaders of Judah and Israel.

 Judah had nineteen kings and one queen, and most of them were wicked rulers.

 We must completely understand that God is not going to allow us to live like a bunch of pagans.

 Amaziah was the son of Joash, also written Jehoash, and was the ninth King of Judah.

 Joash was the son of Ahaziah, King of Judah, and the only one of his children who escaped from the wicked Queen Athaliah when she killed her own grandchildren.

 At the age of seven, Joash became King of Judah, and for twenty-three years, he did right in the eyes of God because he was led by Jehoiada, the High Priest of Israel.

 When Jehoiada died, Joash fell into the hands of bad advisors, and he revived the worship of Baal and Ashtaroth.

 When he was rebuked by Zechariah, the son of the High Priest, he had Zechariah stoned to death in the Temple.

 He had allowed the people to build worship centers on former pagan sites, and God was not pleased.

 He failed to remove the High places where the worship of false gods took place.

 False worship began to intermingle with the worship of Jehovah, and God was not pleased.

 These same things still happen today, and some inside the Church.

 People just never change from their wicked ways because they cannot without God in their lives.

 Ecc_1:9  The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

 Not too much later, he was assassinated by two of his own servants.

 Even though Amaziah was known as a mostly good king, we find that Amaziah was much like his father, King Joash, and never truly committed himself to the Lord.

From time to time, Amaziah would worship idols instead of the Lord.

We have a lot of our leaders who claim to be Christian, but the fact remains that any leader who only gives the Lord part of his heart is not really a leader at all and certainly does not belong to God.

God is an all-or-nothing God.

Amaziah did not close the "high places," which were places where false worship took place.

Amaziah did not serve God with a perfect heart.

Once Amaziah returned from his captivity in Israel, he was not much good to the people of Judah, and a conspiracy was made, and he too was assassinated.

 We cannot just be guided by the Preacher; we must be guided by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.

 Amaziah began his reign by punishing the murderers of his father but not their children in obedience to the Word of God, but this was about all he did in obedience to the Word of God

Amaziah was not going to be the new King David.

He actually helped to bring idol worship into Judah.

 Amaziah numbered his army and became a foolish king.

 *****2Ch 25:5  Moreover, Amaziah gathered Judah together, and made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers, throughout all Judah and Benjamin: and he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield. 

2Ch 25:6  He hired also a hundred thousand mighty men of valour out of Israel for an hundred talents of silver. 

2Ch 25:7  But there came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the LORD is not with Israel, to wit, with all the children of Ephraim. 

2Ch 25:8  But if thou wilt go, do it, be strong for the battle: God shall make thee fall before the enemy: for God hath power to help, and to cast down. 

2Ch 25:9  And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give thee much more than this. 

 Amaziah found that he had three hundred thousand men who were able to go to war.

 Notice that a man had to be at least twenty years old to serve in the army and physically able.

 Then Amaziah committed a no-no.

 He hired a hundred thousand mercenary soldiers of Israel.

 If we are God's people, then we must trust that God will provide for our victories in life.

 If Amaziah had gone to war with the help of this mercenary army and won, then he could have bragged about how great he was instead of how great God is.

 The man of God stepped in to warn him.

 It is important to God that we turn away from evil associations with the enemies of God.

Our job is to witness to them the truth of God, but we are not to become a part of the lost crowd.

 It was Edom who had refused to allow the nation of Israel to travel through their land in the exodus from Egypt.

 It was Edom who had helped round up escaping Jews to give to Nebuchadnezzar.

 We should remember Edom was established by Esau, the brother of Jacob.

We would think that one side of the family of brothers would help the other side in their time of need, but not Edom. Edom is Esau

What did God say? Rom_9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Mal 1:2  I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, 

Mal 1:3  And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. 

 Eventually, Edom and Moab were taken over by the Nabateans.

 King David had conquered the Edomites, and so would King Amaziah without the help of that mercenary army.

 This would not have happened had he kept that army with him.

 It is God who has the power to help, but He also has the power to take down, as many who have faced Israel have found out.

 Amaziah gave this army a hundred talents of silver, which he had promised, and sent them away, but they were not satisfied with that.

 King Amaziah had to choose between losing the hundred talents and losing the war with the Edomites. He chose to win.

As the servants of God, we cannot allow ourselves to be pushed into disobedience because of others, especially by those who do not know the Lord as their Savior.

Satan smiles every time this happens.

We must be led by the LORD and not by the circumstances we face in this world.

 *****2Ch 25:10  Then Amaziah separated them, to wit, the army that was come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again: wherefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great anger. 

 One man wrote that this army was disgraced by this rejection and disappointed with the spoil they hoped to gain and sent home empty.

 It is believed that a hundred talents were probably given to the officers who raised this army, and the soldiers themselves got nothing. This is the way greed works.

 You cannot trust an angry army of a hundred thousand men!

 They returned to Israel with great anger.

 *****2Ch 25:11  And Amaziah strengthened himself, and led forth his people, and went to the valley of salt, and smote of the children of Seir ten thousand. 

2Ch 25:12  And other ten thousand left alive did the children of Judah carry away captive, and brought them unto the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, that they all were broken in pieces. 

2Ch 25:13  But the soldiers of the army which Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even unto Bethhoron, and smote three thousand of them, and took much spoil

 What did this man of God say? It may be okay to hire others who have the same hope in God and have an interest in Heaven, but God will never allow us to associate with those whom He has given over to the Devil.

 We cannot expect godliness from those who are ungodly.

 Amaziah was now convinced that he was stronger without the army of Israel than he was with them.

 The Valley of Salt ֶwas a significant geographical and military location in the ancient Near East, mentioned in several Old Testament passages. 

It is generally identified with the southern end of the Dead Sea, in the arid and salt-impregnated plain between Judah and Edom.

 It is believed to be part of the Arabah, a broad plain at the Dead Sea's southern end, bordered by salt mountains, salt marshes, and brackish water.

 Twenty thousand men of Edom died in this war with Judah.

 Ten thousand of them were just murdered, but we should understand what God said.

 This place is now called Petra. Selah and Petra are the same.

 2Ki 14:7  He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand, and took Selah by war, and called the name of it Joktheel unto this day. 

 The name Joktheel means subjugated of God.

 Today, many liberals would scream bloody murder at such a thing, but God does not ever forget the cruelty of His enemies.

 Eze 25:12  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them; 

Eze 25:13  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword. 

Eze 25:14  And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord GOD.

 Oba 1:10  For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. 

 Edom or Esau is a picture of sin, the old nature of the flesh.

 Edom had always behaved as a merciless enemy of God's people and was judged for it.

 We cannot feel sorry for God's judgment of sin!

When armies were victorious in those days, they would take plunder, which could include men, women, children, cattle, and any other wealth of the defeated army.

Since there were no prisons, the defeated army was often killed to keep them from seeking revenge.

We could feel sorrow for any people if we had the opportunity to lead them to the Lord, and we did not even try.

 Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 

Col 3:6  For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 

Col 3:7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. 

 While Amaziah was occupied with Edom, those soldiers from Israel showed just how foolish it was for Amaziah to associate with them.

 We next see that Amaziah becomes a foolish king.

 *****2Ch 25:14  Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them. 

 We might ask ourselves, "Why would Amaziah do such a thing"?

 The only answer is that he was not completely sold out to Jehovah!

 Of all the sins we commit, false worship is the worst besides rejecting the Lord Jesus, which has no forgiveness!

 Exo_34:14  For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

 What Amaziah should have destroyed, he began to worship.

He bowed down to these false gods on more than one occasion, and he became a fool.

If false gods cannot save us, why would we consider them gods?

America is full of people today who worship material things and figures of the imagination.

No one has ever seen God, so no one can make an idol that is in His likeness.

It’s the same for Jesus Christ. We do not know what Jesus looked like except to know He took on the resemblance of the Jews.

Jesus was likely a first-century Jewish man with olive-brown skin, short black hair, a beard, and a modest, stocky build, standing around 5 feet 5 inches tall.

Isa 53:2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 

We should not have objects of worship for either one, for they are no more than idols.

What had God said?

 Deu 7:5  But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. 

Deu 7:6  For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. 

Even a picture of said Jesus Christ can become an idol if we see it as a thing to worship.

 Another King of Judah had failed God's people.

 Amaziah had potential, but he became a failure.

 Amaziah became boastful and arrogant because of his military victory, which he would not have had if he had not listened to the man of God.

 This arrogance would cost Judah a great deal more!

We should realize that if the Kings of Judah had all lived by the Word of God, then God would never have allowed Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Jerusalem, and the Middle East would be far different from what it is today.

It is the same for the Church today. If the Church is obedient to the Word of God, it will thrive because God's plan works while our plans fail.

The truth is, at this moment, the Church is failing because it has allowed the world to get inside the Church, and man's laws have overcome God's laws.

Just because a judge can decide the fate of certain people, only God can decide the true fate of all people.

Amaziah challenged the king of the Northern Kingdom, King Joash.

*****2Ch 25:18  And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle. 

2Ch 25:19  Thou sayest, Lo, thou hast smitten the Edomites; and thine heart lifteth thee up to boast: abide now at home; why shouldest thou meddle to thine hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee? 

2Ch 25:20  But Amaziah would not hear; for it came of God, that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they sought after the gods of Edom.

We get a close-up view of what pride can do to us if we fall into its trap.

God may have allowed Amaziah to be victorious if he had not begun his worship of false idols. 

 Truth be known, it was probably Joash, King of Israel, who had sent that army back into the land of Judah.

 We can see that the areas and the cities that are mentioned were once part of Israel, and Samaria was the chief city in the kingdom of the Ten Tribes of Israel.

 God was on the side of Amaziah until he turned his back on God and began to worship idols.

 One of our greatest problems we as humans has been that we think we are far more important than we really are

Many of us walk around thinking we are some great things, but we are nothing without the Lord Jesus Christ.

 Without the love of God, we are nothing!

 It is Okay to take a little pride in our accomplishments and our achievements, but we must never think we did those things under our own power.

 We must never look upon others as being of less value than we are!

 Self-pride and self-righteousness are enemies to our relationship with our Righteous and Holy God.

 Psa 10:2  The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

Psa 10:3  For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth. 

Psa 10:4  The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. 

 When we go to others to solve our problems and not to God, we are just asking for failure.

 When we say goodbye to God, He will say goodbye to us.

 He will never force us to follow Him or His Words!

 2Ch 25:22  And Judah was put to the worse before Israel, and they fled every man to his tent. 

2Ch 25:23  And Joash the king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, at Bethshemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.

 The arrogance of Amaziah cost his nation dearly; even the House of God was plundered.

He was captured and was a prisoner to Israel until the death of Joash.

The wall of Jerusalem was broken down for about six hundred feet.

The treasures of the Temple were stolen.

The treasures of the king's house were taken.

Many royal hostages were taken back to Samaria.

It should be very clear that God will judge us for our sins against Him and His Word.

 *****2Ch 25:24  And he took all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God with Obededom, and the treasures of the king's house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria. 

2Ch 25:27  Now after the time that Amaziah did turn away from following the LORD they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they sent to Lachish after him, and slew him there.

It should be easy to see that the Bible is always right. Pride does go before our destruction.

When we say goodbye to God, we begin walking on dangerous ground.

Our biggest problem from the beginning of time is that we just think too highly of ourselves.

Joash was even more wicked than Amaziah.

We see that wicked people can see through the motives of other wicked people much better than we can.

Almost all wicked people are driven by the same motives!

We would be wrong if we cannot see that God is using Joash to punish Amaziah.

Amaziah would enter his own home as a prisoner and see it plundered by Joash.

A section of the wall of Jerusalem is destroyed, and Joash goes too far when he plunders the House of God.

Joash takes hostages from the house of Amaziah to make sure Amaziah does not plan to retaliate.

Joash's advantage was a surprise attack, but more importantly, God's help. Other than God punishing Amaziah, Israel was no stronger than Judah.

God had already given Israel over to destruction.

After Amaziah's exile, he ruled in Judah for fifteen more years, but he was never the same, and he accomplished nothing else during his reign.

He never returned to the Lord, and in a conspiracy, he fled Jerusalem and was assassinated, but he was still buried with his fathers in the city of Judah.

Amaziah had the potential to be a great king, but once he left the Lord and filled his heart with apostasy and self-pride, he was just a figurehead sitting upon the throne of Judah and never accomplished anything for God's people.

We just must not squander the opportunities God gives us to fulfill the purpose He has for us.

If we just follow the Word that God has given us we live a good life here on earth and a much better life in Heaven.

1) Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2) Rom 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

3) Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not

These are mine right now but what are yours.

Amen

My Savior Lives

 Jesus Is Alive

 Book of Luke Chapter 24

 People sometimes ask, what is the greatest discovery that has ever been made throughout the history of our world?

Immediately, they think about material things or certain medicines.

 That answer should be simple. The greatest discovery that has ever been made in this world is the empty tomb of the Lord Jesus Christ!

 His tomb is still empty today because it was a borrowed tomb; the Lord Jesus only needed it for three days.

 Much of this world does not know this, and most of the world does not believe this is true to their loss.

We should be very clear: if the Lord Jesus Christ had not risen from the dead, there would be no such thing as Christianity.

Christianity would be just another religion serving a false god.

 The empty tomb and our risen Savior have to become a personal discovery for each individual on this earth.

 If my God cannot do the impossible, then He cannot be my God!

If my God is not alive, then I am no more than a fool and bound for Hell with no means of salvation.

 The Passover is past. The Lord Jesus was buried just before six PM on the day of the Passover.

The first day following Passover was to be a holy convocation treated as a special Sabbath, and it did not matter what day of the week it was; it could well have been on a Friday.

Lev 23:5  In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover. 

Lev 23:6  And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. 

Lev 23:7  In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 

It was on Tuesday when the Lord Jesus had these words.

Mat 26:2  Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. 

Two days after Tuesday would be Thursday. The words of Jesus are more reliable than calendars; this Passover was on a Thursday. 

The day after the preparation day, which was Passover, would be the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was treated as a Sabbath, a High Day. Then, in this particular year, the true Sabbath would follow that day, meaning that when Sunday came, Jesus would have been in the ground for three days and three nights. 

The Lord Jesus had been in the grave three days and three nights just as He had said.

At least this is where my Bible study leads me.

Mat_12:40  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so, shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Jhn_19:31  The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

 Luk 23:54  And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. 

Luk 23:55  And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. 

Luk 23:56  And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. 

 *****Luk 24:1  Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 

Luk 24:2  And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. 

Luk 24:3  And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. 

 It was the death of the Lord Jesus Christ that would bring the history of this world and eternity to their fulfillment according to God's plan.

 God plans that every living soul be provided with the opportunity for atonement.

The day of atonement was the only day of the year in which the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, but not without blood, which he offered for himself.

On this day, he wore none of his colorful clothes to enter behind the Veil but wore white linen clothes.

On this Passover, the Lord Jesus offered His own blood for the atonement.

When the High Priest fulfilled his purpose, he left those clothes in the Holy of Holies just as the Lord Jesus left His white linen clothes behind, and He is not only our Mediator, but He is our true High Priest.

 Rom 5:11  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. 

 The meaning of the word is at-one-ment, and it means the state of being at one or being reconciled to God.

Until you are washed in the blood of Jesus, you cannot be reconciled to God! 

Atonement is reconciliation. It signifies the truth of the Gospel which flows from the death of Jesus Christ.

 The Lord Jesus Christ died in our place! The Lord Jesus Christ took our punishment, which we were rightly due for the sins we committed against our Heavenly Father, our Creator.

 Our guilt was imputed to Him, and this is why He came at the First Coming.

 2Co 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 

 1Pe 2:24  Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 

 Heb 9:28  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. 

 This was God's plan, and it was executed by His only begotten Son.

 The Old Covenant is over, and the New Covenant has begun.

 These women were not aware of these things, yet all they knew was that the body of the Lord Jesus Christ had not been properly cared for, and it had been three days.

At four days, the body of Jesus would be corrupted.

Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had rushed to get the body of Christ into a grave on the day of Passover.

 The Lord Jesus had been dead three days, just as He had said.

 Mat_12:40  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

 The Lord Jesus Christ arose on the first day of the week, which is Sunday on the Jewish calendar.

 We now look at Monday as the first day of the week and Sunday as our Sabbath.

 Act 20:7  And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

 This Sunday would have had its beginning at six o’clock the previous day, and these ladies came to the Tomb of Christ early that next morning.

 Because His resurrection had occurred just as He had said, another order of things had occurred.

 It was love that brought these ladies to the tomb of Jesus, and it is love and truth that should bring us all to the cross of Jesus.

 Death reigns no more in our earthly flesh if you are reconciled to God.

The curse of Adam has ended for you.

 The rules of death have been broken by the Lord Jesus Christ.

 Why? Because His tomb was empty, but that was not all.

 1) The Scriptures were opened: Luk 24:27  And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. 

 2) Eyes were opened: Luk 24:31  And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. 

 3) The mind is opened: Luk 24:45  Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

 4) Heaven was opened: Luk 24:51  And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. 

 That stone was not rolled away to let the Lord out of that grave. He was already out before the angels rolled away that stone.

 That stone was rolled away to allow these women who loved Him so much to go inside and look at an empty tomb.

 This was the first victory of God's amazing grace.

 Now, mercy and grace are the rules God will use toward all mankind.

 These ladies were perplexed about what they had seen.

 *****Luk 24:4  And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: 

 One of the best proofs of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the testimony of these ladies.

They witnessed the body of the Lord Jesus being placed into that tomb, and they now see that the tomb is empty.

 They knew He was dead, and they knew where He had been laid, and the door had been sealed.

It was the penalty of death to remove this seal unauthorized.

 None of those who came to the tomb of Christ had believed Him when He said He would be three days in it and then He would arise from that death until it took place.

 As they arrive, they see the stone rolled away, and no one man could do such a thing, and they knew that they could not do it themselves.

 Mar 16:3  And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? 

Mar 16:4  And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.  

It was the angels who rolled away the stone.

 Mat 28:2  And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. 

 An angel of the Lord cannot lie; they are only messengers.

 The body of Jesus Christ was not in the tomb.

 These angels had taken on the form of humans.

 They looked like men, but their clothing was not of this world but shining garments.

One angel was on each end of the slab where the Lord Jesus had lain, which gives us the vision that the mercy seat was no longer in the Holy of Holies.

 Jesus is first called Lord Jesus in this passage after His resurrection, for He is now our risen Savior. 

 What was the message of the angels?

 *****Luk 24:5  And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? 

Luk 24:6  He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 

Luk 24:7  Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. 

Luk 24:8  And they remembered his words,

 They were not so much afraid of those angels as they were about the missing body of Christ.

 The truth is, God the Father has fully accepted the work of His Son for our atonement, and life has returned to Him.

 Joh 10:17  Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 

Joh 10:18  No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. 

 The Lord Jesus becomes the Living God because death cannot hold our Savior!

 Not many living will stay in a dead man's tomb for very long.

.These angels also reminded these women of what the Lord Jesus had said before His death.

 We had better be clear in our hearts, we do not honor a dead Savior, we honor the Living God!

 Because they now remembered the words that Jesus had spoken, they had conviction and boldness to witness to others this truth.

 The Lord Jesus had declared that the grave could not hold Him.

 Heb 7:8  And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.

 Rom 1:4  And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

 Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 

Eph 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,  

It is the power of His resurrection that removes any doubt that the Lord Jesus is the true Messiah, God in the Flesh.

 None of those who had followed the Lord Jesus had truly accepted that He would arise from His death.

 They had not accepted that He would die until it happened.

 It is an eye-opening event when we realize that we were wrong about God!

 God is who He says He is!

God does as He says He will do!

 *****Luk 24:9  And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. 

Luk 24:10  It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. 

Luk 24:11  And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. 

 What is the greatest lesson we can learn from this passage? 

We need to pay attention to what the Lord Jesus Christ says!

 The Lord Jesus always speaks the truth!

 Not finding the Body of Jesus puzzled these women when it should have brought faith.

 Many will say that an empty tomb is not proof of a resurrection.

 Full belief required the appearance of Jesus Christ.

 Faith would know that He is alive!

 We should understand that the Holy Spirit did it this way so the Church would know that the grave was empty and it was the actual body of Jesus and not some ghost.

 Many commentators will say that those two angels are Moses and Elijah, but the Bible does not lead us in this direction.

 The angels quickly told these ladies that if they wanted to see the Risen Savior, they had come to the wrong place.

 We know our Savior cannot be bound by any tomb, and you will never find Him there again.

 The angels told these ladies to remind the eleven Apostles that He would meet them in Galilee.

 The angels also said, “Do you not remember what Jesus said?"

 Luk 18:31  Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. 

Luk 18:32  For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: 

Luk 18:33  And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. 

 The body of Jesus Christ had not been removed; Jesus had walked out of that grave, going straight through the rock because it was the angels who rolled that heavy stone away.

 The enemies of Jesus were still rejoicing, but this rejoicing was about to end.

 It took a while for these women to believe that the Lord had risen from that grave, and the Apostles did not believe these women.

 The greatest sin in all the Bible is to not believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

 The Apostles had no excuse for rejecting the truth of the resurrection, for the Lord had told them He would arise on many occasions.

 They did go to Galilee, but they were quitting. They felt they had no one to serve after the death of Jesus.

 This is where they would witness the truth of the Lord Jesus.

 There is a lack of clear direction. They are no longer full of the Lord Jesus, and activities they previously abandoned for Him have a chance to creep back in.

 It is never a good time to quit on Jesus!

 Mar 16:14  Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. 

 Joh 3:18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

 Peter was still suffering because he had denied Christ.

 *****Luk 24:12  Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass. 

 Many say that those linen clothes lay in that grave just as they were wrapped, meaning that the body of Jesus had passed through those wrappings, leaving them in place.

 Jesus had folded the napkin that was over His face and laid it in another place, and we all know the meaning of this. "I will be back."

As I said earlier, the High Priests would always leave those white linen clothes in the Holy of Holies, so that the empty tomb had become the Holy of Holies, and that place in the Temple was no longer important. The Veil had been torn into two pieces.

 Peter came to the tomb of Jesus.

 Peter saw what manner His clothes were laid.

 Peter departed, wondering within himself what had actually happened.

 What we now know is that it is dangerous not to understand the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 We cannot spiritualize the Word of God because it will lead to unbelief and serious problems.

 All we need to do is be open to the evidence that the Holy Spirit gives us in the Gospels.

 1) The tomb is empty.

2) Jesus has risen just as He said.

3) The Holy Spirit will convince us of the truth if we listen to Him.

 Joh 8:23  And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. 

Joh 8:24  I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. 

 Act 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. 

 The risen Messiah was not some spirit, He was not some vision, not some phantom, not a hallucination or the figment of man's imagination, He was the risen Savior.

 One day, not so far into the future, we will have a glorified body just like the Lord has.

 *****Luk 24:44  And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

Luk 24:45  Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 

Luk 24:46  And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 

Luk 24:47  And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 

Luk 24:48  And ye are witnesses of these things. 

Luk 24:49  And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. 

 The road to Emmaus is another great picture of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but our lesson goes to the teaching of the Lord Jesus to the Apostles after they knew that the resurrected Christ is the same Christ who had died for their sin and ours.

 Now that these Apostles know that Jesus is a risen Savior, they can better understand the lessons He had taught them.

 All prophecies up to the point of the Cross had been fulfilled just as they were written.

 Jesus makes a point to teach these men that every word of God would be fulfilled just as written.

 We can depend on the Word of God and a proper translation of the Word of God, such as the KJV.

 Many translations are nothing but trash and should be done away with.

 1) The death of Christ and the Resurrection had to take place just as they happened. Some of the brutalizing of our Savior was unnecessary, but foretold.

 None of these things should have been a surprise to these men, and certainly not to the Scribes and Pharisees who were supposedly Bible scholars.

 The Lord Jesus had preached these things Himself.

 2) It was necessary that the death of Christ and His resurrection take place. His death was imperative, or we would still be bound with our sin, unforgiven.

 His resurrection also had to take place, showing us the power of God and our own future resurrection of our bodies.

 The Lord Jesus gave us His own division of the Bible of that day.

 The Law

The Prophets

The Psalms

 Basically, the entire Old Testament.

 3) The Lord Jesus opened their eyes so they could understand:

 1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 

1Co 2:15  But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 

1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. 

 4) These prophecies had to be fulfilled.

 Christ had to suffer a terrible death and then rise from that death.

 Repentance and forgiveness must be preached.

 The Holy Spirit and the Power of Heavenly Father must be sent.

 Every believer was to be equipped for witnessing the truth of God.

 The source of the Holy Spirit and His Power can come from God the Father only.

 Jesus Christ was to send the promises of God the Father.

It was God the Father who made the promises.

We are to wait upon the Lord Jesus Christ to return while praying for the promises of God.

 God the Father is the source of all power.

 Act 1:8  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

 His work finished, the Lord went home to be by His Father's side.

 *****Luk 24:50  And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 

Luke closes his Gospel with the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He had remained on earth for forty days since His resurrection.

The Lord Jesus came to this world on a mission to save the people of this world, and He provided a means of salvation and reconciliation with God to every individual who has lived since that time.

His ascension closes His earthly ministry, but it opens His Heavenly ministry, His mission of intercession for the world.

He now bears witness through the lives of those who believe Him.

He is now the propitiation for our sins.

1Jn 2:1  My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 

1Jn 2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 

1Jn 2:3  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 

God's Son returned to the right hand of God the Father.

His ascension proves that Heaven is a real place!

Php 3:20  For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 

Php 3:21  Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. 

His ascension assures us that we have a very special Helper in Heaven who really loves and cares for us.

Amen

The Most Innocent is Crucified and Buried

 Mock Trials, Crucifixion, and Burial

 Book of Luke Chapter 23

 

Who is this Jesus?

 Luk 22:67  Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe: 

Luk 22:68  And if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go. 

Luk 22:69  Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God.

Luk 22:70  Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. 

 This is the Jesus who was born of a virgin.

 Luk 2:11  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

 This is the Jesus who received His commission at His baptism.

 Luk 3:21  Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, 

Luk 3:22  And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

 This is the Jesus who was proclaimed at His first sermon.

 Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 

Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 

 This is the Jesus who was proclaimed by His disciples.

 Luk 9:20  He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. 

 This is the Jesus of Nazareth.

 Act_22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

 This Jesus is the Son of Man: Luk 22:69  Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God. 

 This Jesus is the Son of God: Jhn_11:4  When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

 This is the same Jesus, who the Scriptures prove is God's Messiah, and was rejected by the Jews.

 This is the same Jesus who was crucified for all the sins of this world.

 This is the Jesus that should not be seen as a helpless idealist who died in weakness, but who was and who is the Lord of Glory.

 1Co_2:8  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

 What were the charges against the Lord Jesus Christ?

 1) Jesus was charged by the Sanhedrin Court with perverting the nation of Judah and with committing sedition against Rome, which was a false charge.

2) Jesus was charged by the Sanhedrin Court with disobeying the Laws of Judah and not paying His taxes, which were all false charges.

3) Jesus was charged by the Sanhedrin Court with claiming to be king and being a rival to Caesar, which was also false.

 *****Luk 23:13  And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, 

Luk 23:14  Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him:

Luk 23:15  No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him.  

 We first saw Pilate, who was the great compromiser.

 It is by this Roman that the most innocent man to have ever lived, the Lord Jesus Christ, was put to death.

 This was the greatest tragedy in human history, though it was deemed necessary by God the Father.

 He found no fault in Jesus because there were no faults, as these Jews brought only false charges, and they knew it.

He had sent the Lord Jesus to Herod, who also found no faults in the Lord Jesus.

He gave in to worldly pressure.

 Herod was also a compromiser who used this instance to repair his relationship with Pilate.

 Pilate hated the Jews because of their religion, and the Jews hated Pilate for the same reason. He worshipped idols.

 Among the things he had done was that he had stolen money from the treasury of the Temple for a water project, and he was never forgiven for this.

 Pilate was certainly a wicked man.

 Pilate knew that these same elders and High Priests would go to Caesar if he did not do as they requested.

 We see that they all were worried about their standing and their riches, all material things.

 Pilate decided to appease the Jews because it was certain that they would cause Him trouble in Rome.

 Pilate was concerned about himself, not truth and justice.

 A compromising man is self-centered. They will always protect themselves at the expense of all others!

 Pilate said, "I will just chastise this Jesus and let Him go".

 Pilate subjected our Lord Jesus to a horrible punishment of scourging, just to try to satisfy the religious leaders of Judah.

 He thought that the sight of Jesus after this cruel treatment might perhaps cause the people to pity Him.

 The High Priests had the people in such a false uproar that they made a tragic mistake.

 Mat_27:25  Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

 *****Luk 23:16  I will therefore chastise him, and release him. 

Luk 23:17  (For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast.) 

Luk 23:18  And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas: 

Luk 23:19  (Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.) 

Luk 23:20  Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them. 

Luk 23:21  But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.

 The Romans had a custom of releasing a prisoner on certain special days and Pilate brought this custom to Judah. It was never a Hebrew custom.

 At the time of the Passover, Pilate would release a prisoner from his cells, many just political prisoners, and Pilate decided he could release our Lord Jesus, and all sides would be satisfied, but the elders and the High Priests so stirred up the people, and they would have no part even in this.

 Pilate may have tried many ways to release the Lord Jesus when all he had to do was just release Him; he had this power all along.

 The Lord Jesus was completely innocent and Pilate knew this.

 We see that word envy: Mrk_15:10  For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.

 What is the truth of envy? Envy leads to strife, division, railing, and sometimes murder.

 We see all these things in this mockery of a trial of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 

 There was a man named Barabbas who was the guiltiest prisoner in Pilate’s cells at that time.

 He was a murderer.

He was a thief.

He was a seditionist.

He was an insurrectionist.

He was guilty.

 There are some who say that this Barabbas was also named Jesus, but this is not true.

 In the Armenian version of the Scriptures, it says: "whom will you that I shall deliver unto you, Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus that is called Christ?"

 The Armenian Church does not follow the Doctrine of the Apostles, which is the Doctrine of Jesus Christ.

 One commentary says this text was written by a bigoted transcriber.

 Matthew wrote that Barabbas was a notorious prisoner.

 Mat 27:16  And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. 

 These disciples of the Devil had their way with Pilate because he was just as wicked as they were.

 Psa 69:4  They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away. 

 One thing is missing. When the truth is known, it should be proclaimed and not compromised!

 This is the only thing that our politicians know how to do today: compromise with the Devil and his ways.

 Compromise weakens principles.

Compromise weakens life!

 God will never accept compromise!

Much of the Church has compromised with the world today, and they will find that God will not accept them.

 1Jn 5:11  And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 

1Jn 5:12  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 

 They cried crucify Him, crucify Him.

 Luk 23:24  And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. 

 The Lord said the same thing that we say about our children. We just cannot fathom how our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will survive in this wicked world if the Lord Jesus does not return soon.

 Luk 23:28  But Jesus, turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. 

 The Lord Jesus was crucified, and the Lord Jesus Christ died a real death.

 *****Luk 23:44  And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 

Luk 23:45  And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. 

Luk 23:46  And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. 

 The sixth hour would be midday, around twelve o’clock, when the Sun was high in the sky.

 At this very moment, the brightest time of the day, it became completely dark.

 This was not an eclipse of the Sun, and it can be proven.

 An eclipse of the Sun only lasts about six minutes, but this darkness at the death of Jesus Christ lasted for three hours.

 Another proof is that the time of the Passover is the time of the full Moon, and Eclipses of the Sun do not take place at the time of the full Moon.

 The Sun withdrew its rays when the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for us.

 If He had not been made sin, there would be no means of salvation.

 The Sun of Righteousness is led into darkness.

 Ecc_3:16  And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.

 In those places, people are selfish and ambitious. The greatest injustice in the place of justice is the trial against the Lord Jesus.

 Mal_4:2  But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

 The sun is the symbol of dominion over the day (Gen_1:16 ). Thus, the day of the LORD is marked by His dominion over Sunday, but truly every day.

 Jesus is the day star.

 2Pe 1:19  We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 

 The "daystar" appears in each of us once we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior.

 He is the bright and morning star: Rev 2:28  And I will give him the morning star. 

 Rev 22:16  I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. 

 At this time, the light of Our Daystar was out because the Lord Jesus had taken on all the sin that this world had committed.

 It was darker than it had been since that first Passover.

 It was so dark you could feel the darkness, and it did not feel good!

There is no goodness in darkness!

 Exo_10:21  And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.

 There was no light anywhere to be seen for three hours.

 This darkness tells us just how much God hates sin!

 In the darkness, all of mankind also stood in the darkness, having no way to see God.

 For three hours God forsake His Son.

 This was the thing that the Lord Jesus hated the most.

 God had to break fellowship with His own Son for three hours.

 The Lord Jesus Christ hung lonely on an old wooden cross between Heaven and Earth.

 The Earth did not want Him and lifted Him, and Heaven closed itself above Him.

 God had stopped the Sun from shining, and the Glory of the Lord went dark for a period of three hours.

 That is not all: The veil of the Temple was ripped from top to bottom because the Almighty God had ripped what could not be ripped by man.

 The way to God has now been opened, and it is through His Son.

 Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ was dead, but He could not stay dead and still be God!

 God dwells in darkness, and He invites the entire world to come to Him by the Light of His Son, Jesus Christ.

 The Lord Jesus said, "Father, into thy hands I commend My Spirit".

 The work that provided every human being a way to Heaven to live with God was now finished; all we need to do is accept this truth as fact.

 The unshakable foundation of the Kingdom of God had been laid!

 Psa 31:5  Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. 

 The Lord Jesus came to die, and this work was now complete.

 *****Luk 23:47  Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man. 

 This thing that happened got the attention of a man who had fought many battles and survived but was still in the hands of the Devil.

 He had been in charge of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, but he knew he was never in charge at all.

 He had made sure that Jesus was nailed to the cross, but since that time, all these things that happened were between the Lord Jesus and God the Father.

 No one could have changed what happened.

 Old Satan was celebrating, but his joy would not last exceedingly long!

 This Centurion was a Gentile, and the Church would soon turn to the Gentiles who began to see the truth of Jesus Christ in the coming generations, but we must understand that God will soon turn back to the Jewish people, and almost all of them will believe what they first rejected, and God will close the Door to the Gentiles.

 Rom 1:28  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind,

 Rom 1:32  Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

 It was time to place the Body of Christ into a borrowed tomb.

 *****Luk 23:50  And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just: 

Luk 23:51  (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God. 

Luk 23:52  This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. 

Luk 23:53  And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.

 This man we know of as Joseph of Arimathea was a secret believer who failed to confess the Lord Jesus publicly until His death.

 He had ignored what the Lord Jesus had said.

 He had stepped forward for Jesus, but only after His death.

 The Bible does say that he had not committed to the false trial and deeds of those who had pushed for the death of Jesus.

 He was afraid to stand up for God, and there are many like him today in the Church.

 This is a question we should ask ourselves: would we take a stand with Jesus if that time came to us?

 We need to be settled on this question now!

 We must never be afraid to make a public confession of our faith!

 Joseph was a highly educated member of the ruling body of Israel.

 He was a good and just man to those around him.

 He was a man looking for the Messiah.

 He was a man looking for the Kingdom of God.

 These things meant nothing because he was a man who refused to stand up for Jesus, who was also the Messiah, as Scripture proved so easily.

 He feared the loss of his position more than his fear of God.

 Joh 19:38  And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. 

Joh 19:39  And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. 

Joh 19:40  Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. 

 Here we see another man named Nicodemus, a man similar to Joseph.

 Luk 9:26  For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.

It makes no sense for us to be this way because it just makes us losers.

Luk 12:4  And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 

Luk 12:5  But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. 

Our fear does not come from God; it can only come from the Devil.

2Ti 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 

2Ti 1:8  Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; 

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Joseph got his courage back at the death of our Savior, and he went to Pilate to demand the body of Christ because he knew that the Romans usually just dumped the bodies of crucified criminals.

Pilate, being fed up with the Jesus matter, still did not want the disfavor of the Sanhedrin Court and gave the body of Christ to Joseph, who was a part of the Sanhedrin Court.

Every secret believer needs to go to the foot of the cross and meet the Savior who died for us there.

Joseph is careful with the body of Jesus and laid the body of Jesus in his own tomb he had prepared for himself.

When the Lord Jesus Christ was born, He was wrapped in swaddling clothes. Now, as He has died Jesus was wrapped in clothes again.

While everyone else is preparing for the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, the Lord Jesus is laid in a borrowed tomb.

Many who had stood by the Lord wanted to get close to Him now, but there was no sign of the eleven disciples.

The cross had changed many lives just as it does today.

Just remember we serve a Living Savior who can never die again.

Amen