Tag: Christianity

Isaiah 39, peace for our time.

History repeats itself

Yet we are called to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

The Dome of the Rock was originally a church. Now it is a shrine.

Inside is the stone on Mt Moriah, where Abraham offered up his son Isaac. It is also the spot Islam claims in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, peace be upon them, joined in prayer. https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/24/moses-jesus-and-muhammad-joined-in-prayer-where/

There is no temple for the Jews, only the wailing wall remains.

Jerusalem also has a Christian quarter with many churches.

For the Muslims is the famous Mosque on the bottom of the Temple Mount.

The farthest place of prostration is claimed by Muslim to be Jerusalem.

No, the Islam system never changes, conquest only.

The burden of Jerusalem, according to the prophet Zechariah:

Isaiah 1, a rebellious nation, a sinful nation, the LORD’s judgment and restoration.

No other book of the Old Testament contain as many prophecies as the Scroll of Isaiah. In fact there are so many that it was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Isaiah most probably was written in its final form around 400 A.D.

Then in 1947 A.D. a complete scroll of Isaiah was found in the cave of Qumran, and it gives the timeline of its writing as around 700 B.C.

The scroll they found was a copy, copied no later than 140 B.C. and possibly much earlier, and with that discovery a hundred years of critical biblical analysis was rendered obsolete. They found fragments of most of the Old Testament books, but also much material about day-to-day life around Jesus time, which helped in understanding many terms in the Hebrew language, the meaning of which had been lost.

Here is a list of the prophecies in Isaiah

and their fulfillment in the New Testament.

The NIV translation of the Bible uses “the LORD Almighty” instead of “the LORD of Hosts”. The LORD of Hosts is more true to the Hebrew text.

John 19, the crucifixion, the seven last words, the burial, the special Sabbath.

Psalm 22:18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

A Psalm of David: Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

The word Elohim is plural. Eli or Eloi is “my God” in the singular. They had never heard it in the singular, so they thought Jesus called for Elias!

This was the moment when Jesus became sin for us.

Meanwhile, back in the Temple, the scapegoat having been released, the Passover lamb was placed on the altar.

Jesus was the Passover lamb, sacrificed outside the camp on Golgatha. The veil that separated the holiest area from the rest of the temple was rent from top to bottom to signify the end to all offerings. Jesus was offered once for all time.

This was now late on 14th of Nisan, the Passover.

 

It is now Thursday afternoon, and the next day is a special Sabbath.  Then comes the normal Sabbath on Saturday. This is not all that uncommon, it happens every seventh year on average, and this was the case in A.D. 30. The preparation means to prepare meals for two days as well as the passover meal before sunset. (  https://lenbilen.com/2017/04/14/when-was-the-crucifixion-of-jesus/ )

John 9, Jesus heals a blind man (on the Sabbath), spiritual blindness.

A map of Jerusalem today.

An areal view with the temple mound . The pool of Siloam is between point A and B

Here the formerly blind man says “I am.” The context determines if it refers to the eternal “I am” or just means ” I am”.

“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me….
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.”

John 8, The sinful woman, the validity of Jesus’ testimony, before Abraham was born, I am!

The verses 7:53 to 8:11 are not in the earliest manuscripts, but have been added later, maybe as late as around 1100 A.D. The stylistic differences hint at not being written by the apostle John. They did however exist as a separate document from the first century, and were added to complete Jesus dialogue at the feast of Tabernacles. The verses could have been placed elsewhere, since they break up Jesus dialogue at the Temple. However, they were at some time accepted as inspired and are included in most manuscripts (Textus Receptus).

“Go and sin no more”, Jesus last words to the woman, after not condemning her for her past but looking to the future.

John 7, Jesus teaching at the feast of tabernacles.

Technically it was Jesus’ half brothers, since Jesus was adopted by Joseph.

From Leviticus 12:3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. It was an absolute command, and had to be performed on the eighth day, even if that was a Sabbath.

John 6, Jesus feeds five thousand, He is the bread of life, walks on the water and has the words of eternal life. Many disciples abandon him.

Five thousand men, not counting women and children.

Twelve baskets left over after all were satisfied!

The Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias) is about 8 miles wide at its widest point.

“I am, not fear ye”

Some comments on “eat of my flesh and drink of my blood.” Jesus explained that the Word was his flesh, but he didn’t explain what the blood meant. The disciples knew from Genesis 9:4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. 6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

Jesus was clearly pointing to the future complete atonement on the Cross, but this was before the Cross, so how were they to get it? It did not make sense until fifty days after his death, burial and resurrection when the Holy Spirit came “like a mighty wind”.

Then it became clear that His flesh symbolizes the word of God and his blood symbolizes His sacrifice on the cross and saving us from all our sin.

John 1, In the beginning was the Word.

Alone in the world the New World Translation (Jehova’s Witnesses) claims that “the word was a god”. But then again, JW do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as one person of the triune God.

Tekna – teachable ones, not just sons

Verse 16 is very interesting. The second half reads in Greek “και χαριν αντι χαριτος”  which literally translates “and grace instead of grace” King James translation reads “and grace for grace, which lost a lot in the translation. The first “grace” is in the accusative, the second in the genitive. A better translation would be ” and proactive, dynamic grace instead of grace more like mercy. The Old Testament concept of grace is more like mercy, the New Testament concept of grace is best expressed in Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Notice the world “sin” is singular.

There are many songs on “the Lamb of God”

Here is an example of the importance that the sin is in singular.

 

Hebrews 12, Looking unto Jesus, God’s discipine, do not refuse God!

Proverbs 3:11 My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: 12 For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. (KJV)

Again, the new covenant is mentioned.

This is the fifth and final warning in Hebrews. Let us review them:

It always helps with a song to wake up to in the morning.

 

 

This warning is real and echoes the words of Jesus

 

It is the confession that is the key to building the church.

In this chapter we got four more “let us” to encourage and admonish us.

Genesis 41, Pharaoh’s dreams, Joseph’s interpretation and rise to power.

Here let me interject a story from my childhood. In Sweden at that time we had Christianity as a subject first thing in the morning every day in the lower grades. My younger brother was in first grade, the teacher always started with Genesis, and had come to this passage in the Bible. I was in middle school in town, and his elementary school was local. Anyhow, upon hearing the story he exclaimed “It is the same with my big brother, he eats and eats and is never getting any fatter” The story spread from our village to town, and I got yet another nickname.

It was an early dream of Climate change.

Climate Change is “best” solved by taxation of the abundance, but unlike today that abundance was not to be spent immediately, but be put in storage for the lean, dry years.

The famine is recorded in hieroglyphs, like in the tablet below.