Things To Come-pt.2
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
5. For Christians are not distinguished from the rest of mankind either in locality or in speech or in customs. 2For they dwell not somewhere in cities of their own, neither do they use some different language, nor practise an extraordinary kind of life. 3Nor again do they possess any invention discovered by any intelligence or study of ingenious men, nor are they masters of any human dogma as some are. 4But while they dwell in cities of Greeks and barbarians as the lot of each is cast, and follow the native customs in dress and food and the other arrangements of life, yet the constitution of their own citizenship, which they set forth, is marvellous, and confessedly contradicts expectation. 5They dwell in their own countries, but only as sojourners; they bear their share in all things as citizens, and they endure all hardships as strangers. Every foreign country is a fatherland to them, and every fatherland is foreign. 6They marry like all other men and they beget children; but they do not cast away their offspring. 7They have their meals in common, but not their wives. 8They find themselves in the flesh, and yet they live not after the flesh. 9Their existence is on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. 10They obey the established laws, and they surpass the laws in their own lives. 11They love all men, and they are persecuted by all. 12They are ignored, and yet they are condemned. They are put to death, and yet they are endued with life. 13They are in beggary, and yet they make many rich. They are in want of all things, and yet they abound in all things. 14They are dishonoured, and yet they are glorified in their dishonour. They are evil spoken of, and yet they are vindicated. 15They are reviled, and they bless; they are insulted, and they respect. 16Doing good they are punished as evil-doers; being punished they rejoice, as if they were thereby quickened by life. 17War is waged against them as aliens by the Jews, and persecution is carried on against them by the Greeks, and yet those that hate them cannot tell the reason of their hostility.
“Betrayal” = “What do you think of when I say that word?”
You might think of a high school classmate, or a church pastor, or a co-worker.
What if you heard that word and the first thought was: “my parents,” “my brother,” “my relatives,” “my children,” “ my friends.”
You might think that is preposterous.
You might believe that to be impossible.
You would be wrong.
Jesus tells us, in this passage, and others, that some of our closest relationships may end up in our betrayal or even death by betrayal.
And the motive will be because you and I live for the name of Jesus Christ, the Jesus Christ of the Bible.
Let’s look at the context:
Read vv. 13-15
= the reactions we are supposed to have when persecuted.
We are to prioritize the Lord’s testimony.
We are to prioritize the Lord’s vindication.
We are to prioritize the Lord’s wisdom.
But, notice that the statement in v. 12 that “they” will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, “DELIVERING” you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governor's for My name’s sake.”
Verb “delivering” and “betrayed” are the same.
The idea is that of being pointed out for arrest in the social context of being considered a menace, or felon, fit only for apprehension.
Illustration:
35 And He said to them, “When I sent you out without money belt and bag and sandals, you did not lack anything, did you?” They said, “No, nothing.” 36 And He said to them, “But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one. 37 “For I tell you that this which is written must be fulfilled in Me, ‘And He was numbered with transgressors’; for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment.” 38 They said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is enough.”
Jesus Himself will be cast as One who is a menace to the society in which He lived.
He was accused of overturning Rome, Judaism, Jerusalem, and the lives of leadership.
These accusations were all accusations from people who were what the Bible calls “Malicious Witnesses.”
1 “You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. 2 “You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice; 3 nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute. 4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. 5 “If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him. 6 “You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute. 7 “Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for I will not acquit the guilty. 8 “You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just. 9 “You shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.
16 “If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing, 17 then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. 18 “The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. 20 “The rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. 21 “Thus you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
11 Malicious witnesses rise up; They ask me of things that I do not know. 12 They repay me evil for good, To the bereavement of my soul.
11 Teach me Your way, O Lord, And lead me in a level path Because of my foes. 12 Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence. 13 I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. 14 Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.
Jesus Himself warned His disciples of the reality of being falsely accused by malicious witnesses who want nothing but to discredit you at the deepest level so that you might lose your courage and effectiveness in your walk with Christ.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Therefore, Jesus tells His disciples, and the saints of old testify that, as a redeemed person whom God loves and who has nothing but kindness, love, and mercy in his heart, will be maligned, mistreated, despised, and even betrayed by those relationships closest to him.
v.16
v.16
16 “But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death,
16 παραδοθήσεσθε δὲ καὶ ὑπὸ γονέων καὶ ἀδελφῶν καὶ συγγενῶν καὶ φίλων, καὶ θανατώσουσιν ἐξ ὑμῶν,
“But” = contrast with vv. 13-15
Carries thought from v. 12.
The persecution that will characterize the church age is spoken of in v. 12 and picked up again in vv. 16-19.
12 “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake.
“betrayed” = key word here.
= to be handed over.
In the positive sense, “to entrust.”
In the negative sense, “of an unjustified act of handing someone over to judicial authorities betray (MT 10:4);” ANLEX
This teaching is repeated in Matthew and Mark as well.
9 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 “At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.
9 “But be on your guard; for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them. 10 “The gospel must first be preached to all the nations. 11 “When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit. 12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. 13 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
But, what is interesting is that Jesus taught this to the disciples in the first year of His ministry.
16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 “But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; 18 and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19 “But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. 20 “For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. 21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 22 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. 23 “But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.
Notice:
“I send you out.” = apostles
“Sheep (plural) in the midst of wolves” = disciples among the ungodly
“be shrewd but sinless” = above reproach and eyes wide open. They want to devour you.
“Beware of men” = ALL MEN.
① to be in a state of alert, be concerned about, care for, take care w. dat.
② to pay close attention to someth., pay attention to, give heed to, follow
③ to continue in close attention to someth., occupy oneself with, devote or apply oneself to
Matthew 7:15 - beware of false prophets
Matthew 16:6 - beware of the leaven of Pharisees.(men using God for personal gain through strict adherence to personal efforts of merit with God, even with His own Word).
Luke 12:1 - beware of hypocrisy/hypocrites
Luke 17:3 - beware of the times when you brother sins. You need to go to him to lead him to repentance.
Luke 21:34 -beware of being consumed with this life.
I can tell you how they will do it too.
John 16:1–3 (NAS): These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling.
2 “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.
3 “These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.
v.17
v.17
17 and you will be hated by all because of My name.
Keyword: “hated”
1 Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had sojourned, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the records of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic. 4 His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms. 5 Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.
18 When they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer! 20 “Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!” 21 But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, “Let us not take his life.” 22 Reuben further said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hands, to restore him to his father. 23 So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him; 24 and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it. 25 Then they sat down to eat a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 “Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. 28 Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt.
31 So they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood; 32 and they sent the varicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” 33 Then he examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” 34 So Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. 35 Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him. 36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.
Don’t underestimate the end product of the love of the world.
The love of the world will take you farther than you think you will go.
The love of the world will take you places you thought you would never go.
The love of the world will compel you to do and think things you never thought you would.
Why will they hate us?
19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
The problem is NOT with the disciple.
The problem is with the unrighteous party.
Jesus said that his disciples need to be prepared to be hated by everyone, even those closest to them.
This is the way it will be in ministry.
Conclusion
Conclusion
35 Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; 36 and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. 39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.
Next week:
Next week:
v.18
18 “Yet not a hair of your head will perish.
v.19
19 “By your endurance you will gain your lives.