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.
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.
Richard Blanchard (1925-2004)
It would have been much easier to follow the Jordan River up to Galilee.
There are two possible routes, both cumbersome.
Nobody draws water in the middle of the day unless they have to.
Jesus spoke in Aramaic, which makes the statement “I am” even stronger. Jesus claimed he is God.
As opposed to the previous “I am” Jesus said “I am” at many other occasions. These are normal I ams, and does not in any way imply divinity or eternity.
The last word is “cosmos”. Jesus really is the savior of the universe.
The piezoelectric effect
of tears, this we must not neglect.
For the climate change cries
that bring tears to their eyes,
is power that powers their sect.
From wattsupwiththat
From the UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK and the “now if we can just keep people wailing about climate change we’ll have sustainable energy” department. Reports are that “weepy Bill McKibben” will be the first large scale electric tears generation facility. Eric Holthaus will be in the control group:
Irish scientists can now produce electricity from tears
A team of Irish scientists has discovered that applying pressure to a protein found in egg whites and tears can generate electricity. The researchers from the Bernal Institute, University of Limerick (UL), Ireland, observed that crystals of lysozyme, a model protein that is abundant in egg whites of birds as well as in the tears, saliva and milk of mammals can generate electricity when pressed. Their report is published today (October 2) in the journal, Applied Physics Letters.
The amount of electricity generated is negligible, but the emotional tension generated can produce strong emotional power.
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.
Nabonidus cylinders from Ur (around 540 BC) are noteworthy. The cylinders state:
“As for me, Nabonidus, king of Babylon, save me from sinning against your great godhead and grant me as a present a life long of days, and as for Belshazzar, the eldest son -my offspring- instill reverence for your great godhead in his heart and may he not commit any cultic mistake, may he be sated with a life of plenitude.”[3]
The written Aramaic and Hebrew writings recorded only the consonants. The context determined what the words meant and how they were pronounced. Writing four words on the wall without context made it impossible to really determine what the saying meant, apart from inspiration from God.
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts, absolutely.
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.
This chapter of the letter to the Hebrews was instrumental in solidifying my faith after salvation. It got a little lengthy, but enjoy!
“a body you prepared for me” is from the Septuagint, “but my ears you have pierced” is from the Hebrew Psalm. When a servant wilfully gave himself away to serve his master, the master pieced his ear to show voluntary bondage.
Jeremiah 31:33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
Let us take a look at the theology of covenants, this ties in naturally with this letter.
According to dispensation theology there are ten major covenants in Scripture.
Covenant theology has simplified all the covenants into just three
Dispensation theology emphasizes God manifests himself differently in the different dispensations, and yet He is the same God yesterday, today and forever.
We are now at the dispensation of grace, commonly known as the Church Age.
We go back a few verses in Hebrews 10
Jesus closed the scroll after “to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD“, stopped mid sentence and did not read the end of the verse “and the day of vengeance of our God”
This gap defines the time of grace!
To determine which of these options is the right one, I turned to
To know which of these dates is true it would help to know when Jesus was born.
Enter
Dionysius set the birth of Jesus Christ to Dec 25, 1 BC, and the death at 33 Anno Domine, the only year according to the lunar calendar that made Good Friday occur on a Friday. ( check https://lenbilen.com/2017/04/14/when-was-the-crucifixion-of-jesus/ ) He was only off by a few years. The dates are now set to:
But it is getting even more complicated. Without vowel marks the word for seven can have three meanings dependent on how it is pronounced.
That’s when it hit me.
I had fallen into the same trap as so many before me. We live in the age of grace!
The word for today is “today”.
Now back to where we left off in Hebrews 10.
Bur the book of Hebrews also comes with warnings!
Here I am borrowing from a slide series from somebody else. I can no longer find the source, but thanks, whoever it was.
Knowledge of the truth is not what saves you.
A fortiori simply means that the argument in verse 29 is much stronger than the one in verse 28
And then there is
This then excludes option 1
Between option 2 and 3: God be the judge.
Verse 38 convinced me I had to be baptized in a believers baptism, even though I had been baptized as an infant. It really had nothing to do with salvation, that was settled at the time of belief. It was an act of faith and obedience to remain in close fellowship with God. And my living hope is that God will keep His promise, He will keep me eternally secure even if I lose my mind, which still may happen late in this life, but will be fully restored in the life to come.
1. According to Roman Catholic doctrine no man can know if he is saved.
2. This is the Arminian position.
3. This is the Calvinist position.
4. This seems to be the position of the author.
The difference between Arminius’ and Calvin’s five tenets.
Numbers 20:8 “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”
9 So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
This is a clue to what the impossible verses really mean. Think of Jesus as the rock, which he is. God told Moses to speak to the rock , not strike it as he did the first time, but instead he struck the rock twice. Jesus was struck once at the cross for our sins, from now on we speak to Christ. The Hebrews came out of the sacrifice culture, and some looked wistfully at the time when they could atone for their sins yearly. The temple was still standing at the writing of this letter, and the pressure was high to go back to their old ways. After the cross there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, and this is why it says “To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 