170402SundayReport

prevent Jesus from dying on the Cross, because Satan knew once that had happened, all
the prophecies that pertained to this Day would be fulfilled. And most importantly, Satan
knew that his time was now certainly short. He was defeated. Yes he would continue to
this day to fight a losing battle, but he knows with great certainty, that he will be totally
defeated when Christ comes again to claim his Bride, the Church, the very people whom
he died for so many years ago. Yes, he died, but he also rose again in a glorious
resurrection, defeating death and Satan.
Jesus very clearly delineates the difference between believers and non-believers. ‘You do
not hear the words of God...because you are not of God.’
As the skeptics continued to bait Christ he kept answering them with Spiritual concepts.
‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.’
These ‘learned’ Jews immediately jump on that saying, not realizing that Christ was
speaking of spiritual death. They just don’t get it, they are blind to the truth that Jesus is
sharing with them.
So, Jesus answers by saying if he honored himself it would be nothing, it is my Father
that honors me, (the very God you say is yours). But you don’t know him, (now the
kicker) ‘but I know him’. ‘ if I should say I know him not, I would be like you all, ...a liar.
But I do know him.
In fact, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day (this time period of Christ’s earthly
ministry). [Abraham] saw it and was glad. The learned Jews then challenged Jesus to
the fact that he wasn’t even fifty years old, ‘how could he have seen Abraham?’
Now the fait accompli, ‘...Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before
Abraham was, I am.’ To any Jew who had a basic knowledge of the Hebrew scripture,
this pronouncement, I AM, was what God told Moses, it is what God told Abraham, it
was what God told many of his prophets. I AM was the Creator God telling his creations
he is Eternal. I AM is, was and is to come....in other words always, Eternally now.
So, of course, the Jews picked up stones to kill 6 Jesus. He just told them he was God. This
was blasphemy. These so called wise ones had read the word but did not understand the
word. They were familiar with the words of the Hebrew testament, but did not
understand what Jesus was saying. They did not understand that Jesus was revealing at
the time, that he and God the Father, were the same.
Let us not just read the Word of God, let us take the Word of God to heart. Let us read,
digest and inwardly absorb the Word so it becomes the very fiber of our Spiritual
existence, that the Word becomes our very life 7 .
A
LMIGHTY God, whose compassions fail not, and whose loving-kindness reacheth
unto the world’s end; We give thee humble thanks for opening heathen lands to the
light of thy truth; for making paths in the deep waters and highways in the desert; and
for planting thy Church in all the earth. Grant, we beseech thee, unto us thy servants, that
6 Killing what or whom we do not understand is a typical human action. Not good, but typical.
7 Note the Collect for the Second Sunday in Advent:
The Second Sunday in Advent
The Collect.
BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in
such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy
Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us
in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
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