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(Christ’s eternal) ANGUISH

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11) *

Jesus’ agony on the cross was for all to see, the spectacle of suffering was the deterrent the Romans intended; but Isaiah says Jesus endures spiritual torment.  Can it be that Jesus suffers even as he is glorified?  

The word translated ‘anguish’ is עָמָל amal which means trouble, labour or misery.  It intimates a sustained burden from which there is no escape.

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SINNER

 ‘I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.’  (Luke 5:32)

Challenged as to why Jesus associates with sinners, Jesus’ reply no doubt stunned the Pharisees who studiously upheld the Law of Moses and thought themselves ‘righteous’, that is, in a place of right standing with God.

The word that translates ‘sinners’ is the Greek adjective (substantival – acting as a noun) ἁμαρτωλός hamartólos, literally ‘falling well-wide of the target’, but here stands for the most blatant and inveterate of transgressors.

Who is Jesus speaking about?  Every single human being that ever lived apart from himself.

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COMMAND

‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’ (Matthew 28:18-20)

This known as the Great Commission, is Jesus’ final instructions before he ascends heavenwards.  Here ‘command’ translates the Greek verb, ἐντέλλομαι entellomai, to charge or enjoin, to issue injunctions or instructions.  The aorist tense, conveying a single and discreet action, is in the first-person singular, ἐνετειλάμην eneteilamen.

In the companion post to ‘Obedience’, it is seen that Jesus expects discipleship to be based on obedience to his commands.  On other words, obeying to his commandments is the foundation of the relationship.  It is non-negotiable.

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Obedience

‘Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
    as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
    and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
    and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
    he has rejected you as king.’ (1 Samuel 15:22-23)

The Hebrew word that is translated ‘to obey’ is שָׁמַע ‘to hear’.  When God speaks, all must not simply hear, but listen and take heed.   The same imperative proceeds what Jesus defines as the Greatest Commandment:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  (Deuteronomy 6:4)

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Gaza

Samson did not know that the Lord had departed from him.  Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza.  (Judges 16:20c-21)

Biblically, Gaza is probably best associated with Samson, whom God turned over to his enemies as a result of his inveterate disobedience.

Gaza, עַזָּה or Ghazza, was one of the five city states of Philistia, the ancient kingdom of the Philistines.  And were a thorn in the side of Israel, as seen by God’s reprove of Joshua:

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TAKEN

‘Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.’  (Matthew 24:40-41)

Jesus is speaking to his closest disciples and the context is his return, ‘the coming of the Son of Man’; however, what Jesus is describing, where some are ‘taken’ while others are not, is usually referred to as ‘the Rapture’.  The word ‘rapture’ comes to English from the medieval Latin raptura which means to seize forcibly, (it is also the derivation of ‘rape’).  

The Greek verb Matthew employs is παραλαμβάνω paralambanó and although the verb lambanó is an active verb that conveys the sense of aggression, it is modified by the prefix para ‘close or alongside’.  That people are ‘taken’ may be forcible and one without consultation, but does this suggest that this is something to be feared?

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ARMAGEDDON

For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty… and they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.  (Revelation 16:14&16)

Armageddon has become the byword for complete and utter catastrophe; but in the Bible, it is location associated with several battles.  Transliterated from Hebrew to Greek, Ἁρμαγεδών, this is Harmagedon, from הַר har, ‘hill country’ and Megiddo, a city in the old tribal land of Manasseh overlooking the Jezreel Valley.  Today, the site is known as Tel Megiddo and is found 19 miles south-east of Haifa in the north of modern Israel.

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CONVICTION

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  (Hebrews 11:1)

A conviction is a firmly and strongly held belief and in the ESV Bible translation it stands for the Greek word ἔλεγχος elegchos, which can mean ‘test’ or ‘proof’, but here it means to believe fervently.

A court conviction is the decision based on solid and compelling evidence, and it is the verdict based on the balance of that evidence. 

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ASSURANCE

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  (Hebrews 11:1)

The Bible provides the most succinct definition of Christian faith and it comes in two parts.  This post will look at the first part and for that it is necessary to understand the word ‘assurance’ (for the second part, please see subsequent post, ‘conviction’).

Faith in Jesus is the condition he himself sets for deliverance from death.  Speaking before the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus says to his sister Martha:

‘I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live… (John 11:25)

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SABBATH REST

there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his… (Hebrews 4:9)

The focus of New Testament book known as ‘Hebrews’ is apostasy; specifically of those Jews who had previously made a profession that Jesus was the Messiah.  Under Roman rule, Jews and their strict observance of the Law of Moses was more than tolerated, it was facilitated.  There was no greater example of this than special dispensation to have day of rest – the concept of having a day off each week being anathema to the commercially minded Roman.

‘Rest’ translates the noun κατάπαυσις katapausis, derived from the verb katapauó, the combination of the preposition kata ‘down from’ and pauó ‘to make to cease’ or ‘hinder’.  Classically, katapausis could mean a lull, or the state of being becalmed, but in New Testament Greek it stands for repose and was used to represent the ‘inactivity’ of the Sabbath.

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