March 2021 – jeffersonvann

THE READY STONES

THE READY STONES

Luke 19:36-44 CSB

³⁶ As he was going along, they were spreading their clothes on the road. ³⁷ Now he came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen: ³⁸ Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven! ³⁹ Some of the Pharisees from the crowd told him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” ⁴⁰ He answered, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out.” ⁴¹ As he approached and saw the city, he wept for it, ⁴² saying, “If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ For the days will come on you when your enemies will build a barricade around you, surround you, and hem you in on every side. ⁴⁴ They will crush you and your children among you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in your midst, because you did not recognize the time when God visited you.”

Today we are celebrating Palm Sunday. It is the Sunday before Easter, and it commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem just one week before his resurrection.

There is no mention of the waving of palm branches in today’s text. But we actually have four different historical records of this important day in Scripture. The event was important enough that the Holy Spirit inspired all four Gospel writers to describe it. John’s Gospel mentions the palm branches. Matthew’s Gospel reveals that there were actually two donkeys, and Jesus rode on one of them – the colt. All three synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) mention that the people put their garments on the animals and spread them on the road he took as well.

This was a day to praise God for Jesus and all the miracles he had done (37-38).

“the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen”

They saw him cure blind people, lepers, paralytics and people suffering from all kinds of problems.

They saw him control nature, calming storms, walking on water, and turning water into wine – stuff like that.

They saw him master the supernatural, casting out demons and restoring those who had been driven insane by them.

They even saw him raise people from the dead – Jairus’ daughter, the widow’s son from Nain, and Lazarus at Bethany.

This day – this Palm Sunday – was a day of public praise and worship to commemorate God’s amazing Son who had come to show us all what his Father in heaven was like. The people had wondered what God was really like. Was he mad at them? But seeing Jesus, they dared to believe that there was …

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!”

They dared to believe that God did not want to destroy them, but to forgive them. They dared to expect not God’s wrath but his grace!

This was a day to celebrate the arrival of God’s chosen king (38).

The prophet Zechariah had predicted this day. He had said:

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey (Zechariah 9:9).

Can you imagine the stir? Can you imagine how excited the people were when this amazing miracle worker chose to enter into the city of Jerusalem this way?

This must be the guy! This must be the coming king who is going to replace Herod, and even overcome mighty Caesar!

This was a day to decide the fate of Jerusalem (41-44).

“As he approached and saw the city, he wept for it, saying, “If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days will come on you when your enemies will build a barricade around you, surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you and your children among you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in your midst, because you did not recognize the time when God visited you.”

The city could have accepted Jesus as their king, and it looked like they were ready to do that. But that was not what happened.

The crowds were going wild, but the religious leaders tried to stifle them. They tried to get Jesus to calm them down. They said …

“Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”

But Jesus was not about to stop this riot of praise. He told the Pharisees…

““I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out.”

They were ready stones. They were ready for king Jesus to come and take over. I wonder if we are as ready for Jesus to take over as those stones were.

There is one more thing that happened on the first Palm Sunday, and not a lot of people talk about it. But it is just as much a part of the triumphal entry story.

This was a day to celebrate resurrection (John 12:17-18)!

You see, there was one particular miracle that had jump started Palm Sunday. We learn about that from John’s gospel.

Meanwhile, the crowd, which had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify. This is also why the crowd met him, because they heard he had done this sign.

Palm Sunday’s festival of praise had been a result of Jesus’ raising of Lazarus from the dead.

Jesus had taught concerning two time periods – two hours. We would use the word windows. His first hour was the window of his earthly ministry. During that hour, those who are dead would hear his voice and live. But there will be another hour in which all who are in their graves asleep will hear his voice and wake up. That will be during Christ’s second coming.

The promise of another life – a permanent life beginning at the resurrection and never ending is something to praise God about. We – God’s people who trust in Christ for our salvation will be the recipients of that promise. That is something to make some noise about. And if we were to keep quiet about that, the stones are ready to cry out!

DANIEL’S HOPE

Daniel 12:1-3, 13 CSB

1 At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress such as never has occurred since nations came into being until that time. But at that time all your people who are found written in the book will escape.
2 Many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, and some to disgrace and eternal contempt.
3 Those who have insight will shine like the bright expanse of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

13 But as for you, go on your way to the end; you will rest, and then you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance at the end of the days.”

We have been following God’s progressive revelation in scripture as we have examined two passages from the Old Testament.

When we examined Job’s declaration of his hope, we learned that death is real, and that it will mean returning to the dust. But the good news is that we have a Redeemer who is also real. Our Redeemer is going to stand on our dust and restore us to life, and we will see him with our own eyes. There is going to be a resurrection.

Jesus said the same thing. In our Easter theme verse, John 14:19, Jesus said “Because I live, you will live too.”

Last week, we looked at Isaiah’s declaration of hope in the same resurrection. He told his people “Your dead will live; their bodies will rise” (Isaiah 26:19). His people were discouraged because they did not have victory. They seemed like failures. But Isaiah reminded them that their God does not fail. They could trust in the resurrection because it was something God was going to do for them.

Today’s lesson is from Daniel. God revealed the future to Daniel. He learned of a succession of empires that would rule over the earth in the coming centuries.

• The Babylonian empire under Nebuchadnezzar
• The Medo-Persian empire under Cyrus
• The Macedonian or Grecian empire under Alexander
• The Roman empire under the Caesars

Today’s text comes from the last chapter of Daniel. In it, God gives Daniel a brief glimpse of a future further than ever. He shows Daniel what is going to happen at “the end of the days” (13).

Let’s walk through what Daniel learned.

Daniel learned of a future time of unparalleled distress (1a)

The days of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon will come to an end. The days of Cyrus’ Persia will come to an end. The days of Alexander’s Greece will come to an end. The days of the Caesars’ Rome will come to an end. What will be left will be an age of mixed empires, symbolized in a vision by feet of iron and clay. Then God’s kingdom will come to earth, symbolized in a vision as a stone cut out without hands (Daniel 2:34). The stone will strike the statue and crush it, and then the stone itself will become a mountain and fill the whole earth (Daniel 2:35).

Human history as we know it is going to come to an end, and God’s permanent kingdom is going to begin.

Daniel learned this about that point in the future:

“At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress such as never has occurred since nations came into being until that time.”

Michael is the archangel Michael, and he oversees the people of Israel. He will be waging war with the dragon at the end of time according to Revelation 12:7. It is no stretch to conclude that this battle will result in a time of unparalleled distress on earth.

Next, Daniel learned that some of his people would escape that distress (1b).

God told Daniel that “at that time all your people who are found written in the book will escape.”

Not all of Daniel’s people will escape that worldwide cataclysmic event. But some of them would. Particularly, all of them who are found written in the book will escape.

Now, what book is he talking about? The apostle Paul mentioned some of his fellow missionaries, and he said that their “names are in the book of life” (Philippians 4:3).

The book of Revelation mentions that “book of life” six times. It says that on judgment day, anyone whose name is not found in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire and will experience the second death. But those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will inherit the holy city, new Jerusalem, have the glory of God in their midst, and will never again experience death, mourning, crying or pain.

That is the great escape, and Daniel learned that he would be in that number.

But Daniel also learned that some of his people would not escape, but would have another permanent destiny (2)

“Many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, and some to disgrace and eternal contempt.”

Dr. John Roller wrote that this verse is “one of the most beautiful statements regarding the resurrection of the dead in Scripture” (God Is In Control, 64.). But he did have to explain that the Hebrew word translated “many” in the verse does not imply that some Israelites will not be raised. The word means a large number – lots of people.

Roller explains that “Each one of the billions of people who have ever lived and died (and are now sleeping in the dust of the earth according to Daniel 12:2) will someday awaken – return to conscious life – and be judged.”

The result of the judgment will be that some of Daniel’s people will inherit permanent life. But some of them will not. They will inherit disgrace and permanent contempt. Roller says they “according to hundreds of other passages throughout the Bible, will be completely destroyed – even the memory of them being considered shameful and worthy of contempt throughout all the ages of eternity.”

Daniel learned that he would be raised from the dead at the end of days (13).

By this time, Daniel is starting to sing “Lord, I want to be in that number when the saints go marching in.” And he learns that he will.

• “But as for you, go on your way to the end; you will rest, and then you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance at the end of the days.”

I want you to notice the three R’s in this passage. They are not Readin’ Ritin’ and Rithmatic. But there are three R’s.

Daniel discovers that he is going to rest. His life is going to come to an end, and he’s going to fall asleep in death. He’s not going to get his reward at death. His reward is coming when his Redeemer stands on the dust and calls it back to life. Until then, he waits unconscious in the grave. The most common figure of speech in the Bible for death is sleep.

Then, Daniel discovers that he is going to rise. He’s going to hear the voice of Jesus and wake up from his sleep. The most common figure of speech in the Bible for the resurrection is the word “awake.” When Paul argues for the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, the word he uses is egeirō.

Egeirō means you are not the person God intended you to be, but He can change that. Sin has imprinted itself on your life so that you begin dying the moment you begin breathing. You have an appointment in the cemetery – the sleeping place. But the good news is that our God has promised to wake you up. He will restore you to life again, and a permanent life.
Daniel discovers that once he has risen, there will be a third R. He will receive his allotted inheritance.

That inheritance is eternal life! He’s not going to wake up to fall asleep again. Lazarus did that. Jesus raised him from the dead, but he eventually died again.

But when we wake up, it will be to sleep no more!

“Ain’t no grave gonna keep my body down,
Ain’t no grave gonna keep my body down,
When I hear that trumpet sound,
I’m gonna get up out of the ground,
Ain’t no grave gonna keep my body down.”

Finally, Daniel learned to follow God’s great commission for his life (3)

Here we get the “so what?” of the resurrection. Don’t miss this. There is a reason you are going to be blessed with a resurrection to eternal life.

“Those who have insight will shine like the bright expanse of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

We are saved for the purpose of leading others to righteousness.

Jesus said “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

He commissions those whose names are in the book of life to so live their lives that they draw others into that same destiny.

ISAIAH’S HOPE

Isaiah 26:14-19 CSB

“The dead do not live; departed spirits do not rise up. Indeed, you have punished and destroyed them; you have wiped out all memory of them. You have added to the nation, Lord. You have added to the nation; you are honored. You have expanded all the borders of the land. Lord, they went to you in their distress; they poured out whispered prayers because your discipline fell on them. As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pains, so we were before you, Lord. We became pregnant, we writhed in pain; we gave birth to wind. We have won no victories on earth, and the earth’s inhabitants have not fallen. Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For you will be covered with the morning dew, and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.”

In our preparation for the celebration of the resurrection of Christ, we have been looking at some Old Testament witnesses of the hope of resurrection. Last week we listened to wise, patient Job, as he declared his confidence that his Redeemer would one day stand on the dust that Job disintegrates into and raise him from the dead.

This week, we move several centuries into Job’s future to the time of the writing prophets. Isaiah is serving as God’s spokesman to the nation of Judah. The people of Judah are discouraged. Isaiah wants to encourage them, but at the same time, he has to admit that his people are not ready for God to intervene as he has in the past. What do you say in such a time as that?

Isaiah reminds Judah that their former lords are dead (14)

In the previous verse, Isaiah told the LORD that “lords other than you have owned us.” He was talking about the kings of other nations – like the Pharaohs of Egypt, who had dominated God’s people.

So, now Isaiah reminds them that those foreign kings are now dead as door-nails. They are not alive somewhere under the earth. Their spirits are not going to rise up and dominate God’s people again. God has punished and destroyed them. He has even wiped out all memory of them.

Prophets don’t just tell the future. They are also very good at reminding us of the past. This gift is especially helpful when we are depressed about our present circumstances. We need somebody every once in a while to slap us in the face, and remind us of what God has done for us.

Judah needed that. They needed to be reminded that Pharaoh’s oppression and slaughter and slavery is in the past. Sihon and Og are dead. Goliath is dead. There is a long line of enemies who sought to destroy God’s people, and they couldn’t do it. Instead, God punished and destroyed them.

“Where are those other lords today?” Isaiah asked. They are not alive. God has wiped them out.

Isaiah reminds Judah that God miraculously expanded their nation (15).

He turns his eyes to God in heaven, but he keeps writing, because God knows what he is going to say, but Judah needs to hear his prayer:

• “You have added to the nation, Lord. You have added to the nation; you are honored. You have expanded all the borders of the land.”

The people are discouraged and depressed. They come to Isaiah with a long list of things they expect God to do for them. So, Isaiah has his own list. He reminds the people through this prayer that God has already blessed them. In fact, they expanded into a nation because of his miraculous help.

They had forgotten to count their blessings. We sometimes forget to do that. We get so caught up with our list of what we want God to do for us now, that we forget to name our current blessings, one by one.

What Isaiah is trying to do is bring his discouraged and depressed nation back to reality. They need to see how big God is. He is bigger than their problems. He has already shown them in their own history that nothing is too difficult for him.

Isaiah laments the lack of victory that Judah is now experiencing (1-18).

The prophet was not unaware of how bad it has gotten for his people. He talks about how they are pouring out whispered prayers while God seems to be not listening. He adds himself by changing the pronoun to “we.” He says. Lord we have been writhing in pain like a pregnant woman, but all we have given birth to is wind.

• “We have won no victories on earth, and the earth’s inhabitants have not fallen” (18).

Isaiah says that this was not what any of them expected. They knew God was with them. Why haven’t they overcome all their enemies in battle?

“Are we dead Lord? Is that what it is?” Isaiah knows that God is not dead. He doesn’t need a movie to tell him that. But he wonders if his nation has lived its three-score and ten and its time is up.

So, what is God telling Isaiah. What is he revealing to the prophet? Are we dead, God? God says … Yes. But.

Isaiah challenges Judah to expect a resurrection (19).

It is in this context that the Holy Spirit inspired the prophet to declare another amazing prediction of a coming resurrection.

• Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For you will be covered with the morning dew, and the earth will bring out the departed spirits (19).

God tells Isaiah that his people are dwelling in the dust like they are already dead. But being dead is not a problem if you have a God who can raise the dead.

So Isaiah tells that dead nation of Judah to wake up and sing. The earth is going to bring out its departed spirits. They are covered in dust right now, but they will soon be covered with the morning dew. They are just skeletons right now, but God is going to raise them as whole living bodies.

This sounds very much like the confidence Job expressed. Isaiah was saying, remember when Job said that even after his body died, that his Redeemer would stand on his dust and raise him to life again? Well, Judah, God’s going to do that for you as well.

In his previous chapter, Isaiah had said:

• “When he has swallowed up death once and for all, the Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove his people’s disgrace from the whole earth, for the Lord has spoken. On that day it will be said, “Look, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he has saved us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him. Let’s rejoice and be glad in his salvation” (25:8-9).

The apostle Paul actually quotes that text in his chapter on the resurrection:

• “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:52-54).

Paul knew that Isaiah was not just talking about a “spiritual revival”. Isaiah predicted an actual revival: the dead coming back to life. And Paul knew who was going to make that happen. God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord, it sometimes seems like we are dying every day. It seems like death is swallowing us all up. But we trust you to raise the dead. We believe that you are going to swallow up death itself in your victory. We choose to wake up and sing. Thank you for the hope of the resurrection.

JOB’S HOPE

JOB’S HOPE

Job 19:23-27 (CSB)

“I wish that my words were written down, that they were recorded on a scroll or were inscribed in stone forever by an iron stylus and lead! But I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the end he will stand on the dust. Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet “I will see God in my flesh”. I will see him myself; my eyes will look at him, and not as a stranger. My heart longs within me.”

We are approaching the Easter season, when we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus from the tomb. Jesus told his followers that his resurrection was just the beginning. He said “Because I live, you will live too” (John 14:19 CSB).

Easter is special for us because Jesus was raised from the dead. It is also special because every time we think of his resurrection, we are reminded of the biblical hope of our resurrection.

There are some things in nature that remind us of this hope as well.

Every night, darkness comes, and the world falls asleep in darkness, awaiting the light of dawn and new life in the morning.

Every year, winter comes, with its darkness, dormancy and stillness. Spring wakes the world up to new life again.

But Easter is different. Easter is outside any normal cycle. When we celebrate Easter, we celebrate a miracle. Our Lord was dead in that tomb and then he was brought to life again. The holiday of Easter gives us hope like nothing else. It looks squarely into the chains and darkness of mortality and death and does not deny it. But it gives us hope in another life – a life to come – a permanent life.

For these next few weeks, as we approach our celebration of Easter, I want to look at that promise of resurrection. I will be highlighting the fact that the resurrection hope is not just a New Testament phenomenon. So, we will be looking at the resurrection hope as defined by three Old Testament believers.

Today, I want to focus on the hope of a future resurrection that Job proclaimed.

Earlier in the book, we hear Job lamenting that “anyone born of woman is short of days and full of trouble. He blossoms like a flower, then withers; he flees like a shadow and does not last” (14:1). Job says “There is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its shoots will not die. If its roots grow old in the ground and its stump starts to die in the soil, the scent of water makes it thrive and produce twigs like a sapling. But a person dies and fades away; he breathes his last—where is he?” (14:7-10).

So, Job asks God “If only you would hide me in Sheol and conceal me until your anger passes. If only you would appoint a time for me and then remember me. When a person dies, will he come back to life? If so, I would wait all the days of my struggle until my relief comes. You would call, and I would answer you.
You would long for the work of your hands.” (14:13-15).

Job is a very old book, and there was not yet much solid content about the hope of the resurrection. But Job seems to be pulling that hope from somewhere with these words.

And then we come to today’s text a few chapters later.

Job wanted the world to know what God was doing in his life.

• “Oh, that my words could be recorded. Oh, that they could be inscribed on a monument, carved with an iron chisel and filled with lead, engraved forever in the rock” (Job 19:23-24 NLT).

Job was a man who was deeply misunderstood. So many bad things had happened to him that he was overwhelmed. He wished that he could make his case, and prove that all his suffering did not mean that he had failed God and was abandoned by him. He wanted to set the record straight, and to preserve the truth that his bad luck was not a judgment from God.

Job got his wish. His words were written down, and in the Bible of all places.

Now we know the rest of the story. We know that Job’s sufferings were not caused by his sin. They were a contest – a way of demonstrating his faith and faithfulness.

Job knew that he was going to die, but trusted God to redeem him from death by resurrection.

• “But I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the end he will stand on the dust. Even after my skin has been destroyed,
yet I will see God in my flesh.” (Job 19:25-26 CSB).

Job declared his faith in God with these words. His faith was not in himself. He did not say “I have an immortal soul which will survive the death of my body.” No, he said he had a redeemer who will outlast him.

Job mentions dust (Hebrew ‘afar עָפָר). This is the stuff that God used to create us.

• “Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).

Dust is what we are made of, and it is the substance we will decompose into after we die.

• “You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust” (Genesis 3:19).

So, Job was saying that when he died, he would eventually rot and return to dust, but that his redeemer lives, and his redeemer will stand upon that dust at last.

And what is this redeemer going to do then? His redeemer is going to raise him from the dead. Job knew this. His faith was in a future resurrection. His body is going to decay. But then the redeemer is going to come, stand on that dust, and speak to those bones, and they will reconstitute into a living, breathing man again.

In (literally, from) his flesh, Job will see God (verse 26).

This is the hope of the Bible – the hope of a resurrection. It is a hope not of release from a body but of reconstitution of the body. His hope was not that he would go to heaven and see God with his spirit, but that God would come down and give life to his eyes again, so that “I will see him myself; my eyes will look at him, and not as a stranger.” (Job 19:27a).

Job longed for the day of his resurrection.

“My heart longs within me.” (Job 19:27b).

Actually, the Hebrew text does not mention Job’s heart. It’s about his kidneys.

What Job literally said was that his kidneys empty out in his lap. In other words, he wets himself! This truth – that he will be raised to life again – is too much to handle. He can’t wait!

Is that your faith? Are you longing for the resurrection above all things?

That was the Apostle Paul’s faith. He said “I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith. My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.” (Philippians 3:8-11 CSB).

The biblical hope is a hope in a future resurrection. That was Job’s hope. That was Paul’s hope. That was Jesus’ promise. He said “Because I live, you will live too!”

Thank you Lord, for forgiveness through the blood of Christ, and the hope of a resurrection by the power of Christ. Thank you that we have a Redeemer, and that our Redeemer lives. Thank you that our Redeemer will stand upon the dust of our dead bodies one day, say the word, and we will come to life again. Thank you for the hope of imperishable, immortal, eternal, permanent life.