I am He

This morning in my readings from the Gospel according to John, my attention was drawn to two passages in chapter 8, quoted below:

28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
29 And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
John 8:28 – 29  King James Version

56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
57Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
58Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
59Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
John 8:56 – 59  King James Version

The scribes and Pharisees who questioned the ancestry of our Lord in John chapter 8 could not believe and refused to understand the truth that our Lord Iesus came from God.

" . . . he that hath sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone;" said the Lord in verse 29.

Just before making that statement, Iesus had told his skeptics that when they had "lifted up the Son of Man" then will they know that "I am He", i.e. Iesus is the promised Messiah, the Christos, the Anointed One.

The expression lifted up was used in those days to refer to death by crucifixion, during which a convict was lifted up on a cross. See John 3:14; 12:32,33.

Later on in the passage, the Jews questioned the credibility of our Lord's assertion that Abraham rejoiced to see his day – perhaps referring to his advent and earthly ministry. They asked Iesus how he could have seen Abraham when he was not even fifty years old yet, to which our Lord gave his famous reply in verse 58, "Before Abraham was, I am."

John 8:58 comes across to me with a profound meaning — that our Lord had already existed in eternity long before Abraham came into being.

Brothers and Sisters in the Anointed One, let us hold fast our belief the words of our Lord, " . . . then shall ye know that I am He."

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About ten years ago, I wrote my observations from John chapters 7 and 8, that Iesus is the Anointed One who came from God. In another post that I wrote the following year, I elaborated on the need to understand correctly the expression "lifted up", that our Lord was crucified when he was lifted up on the cross.

• Do we really know him? (17Mar2013)
• Lift Iesus higher (16Mar2014)

Each day at the temple, each night on the hill

Each day Iesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives,
and all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple
Luke 21:37 – 38  New International Version

Our Lord Iesus showed us the necessity of spending much time alone in prayer with God each evening, even through each night, before he goes to teach in the temple each morning and through the day.

For each day he taught in the temple, he spent each night on the hill.

Brothers and Sisters in the Anointed Iesus, let us learn from our Lord how to find strength and wisdom from God by spending much time alone in prayer before we embark on doing His work.

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Last month I wrote briefly on similar observations from the Gospel of Luke chapters 5 and 6:

• Our Lord prayed alone (29Jan23)

The believers from Cyprus and Cyrene

After the disciple Stephen was martyred, a great persecution arose and many Jewish believers in the Lord Iesus had to flee to faraway places like Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch (Acts 11:19). There they continued to speak the Gospel of the Anointed One to the Jews.

One day something different happened.

Some men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and preached the Gospel of the Lord Iesus to the Greeks there for the first time. A large number of the Greeks believed in the Lord.

20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Greeks, preaching the Lord Jesus.
21 The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
Acts 11:20 – 21  World English Bible

We can make at least three observations about these Jewish men from Cyprus and Cyrene:

Firstly, they went with a Deliberate Purpose.

The men from Cyprus and Cyrene had made up their minds purposefully to preach the Gospel of the Anointed Iesus. They did not just go to the city of Antioch merely to trade, or to buy supplies, or perhaps to settle down in that new land. Instead, they preached the Gospel of Iesus when they reached Antioch.

It was not by chance nor by accident that the Greeks in Antioch heard the Gospel. It was by the deliberate purpose of the Cypriot and Cyrenean believers that resulted in a large number of Greeks turning to the Lord.

Secondly, they went to a Distant Place.

The city of Antioch (present Antakya) was a long way from Cyprus, more than 270 km by sea. It was even further away from the city of Cyrene (present day Shahat, Libya), a distance of more than 1,000 km on the North African coast. In those days it took much time and patience to travel such long distances.

The believers from Cyprus and Cyrene did not merely go out to a nearby village to spend a few days. They went to a city far from home, on a journey that was hazardous and fraught with great danger along the way. Perhaps they could not ascertain when exactly they would be able to make their way back to Cyprus and Cyrene.

They had to sacrifice much to bring the Gospel to the Greeks at Antioch.

Thirdly, they went among a Different People

Those men from Cyprus and Cyrene were Jews. Despite having believed in the Lord Iesus as their Christos, their promised Messiah of God, nobody among them had preached the Gospel of Iesus to any Gentile friends. In those days, many continued to hold fast the belief that only the Jewish race were the chosen people of God, that only Jewish people were called into the Kingdom of God.

It would have taken them much courage and conviction to preach the Gospel to Gentile "outcasts", to bring them into the Kingdom of God in the Name of Iesus His Anointed King.

Without them, the Gentile people in the city of Antioch would not have had the opportunity to enter the Kingdom and become part of the children of God our Father.

Brothers and Sisters in the Anointed Iesus. Let us learn from the examples of the believers from Cyprus and Cyrene. As many among us as are called, let us go out to preach the Word of the Lord with a deliberate purpose, even to a distant land, among a different people

May God help us. Amen

Why did the LORD drive out the Canaanites?

In Leviticus chapter 18, the LORD commanded Moses to warn the children of Israel against following the ways of the Egyptians and the Canaanites, that Israel "must not do as they do in Egypt, . . . as they do in the land of Canaan".

A long list of those things that Israel must not do is given in verses 6 - 23, as shown below. A further list of things they must not do is given in Leviticus chapter 19, with their corresponding punishments spelt out in Leviticus 20.

Leviticus 18:1 – 23  New International Version

1The Lord said to Moses, 2“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the Lord your God. 3You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. 4You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the Lord your God. 5Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.

6“ ‘No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the Lord.
7“ ‘Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her.
8“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; that would dishonor your father.
9“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.
10“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter; that would dishonor you.
11“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father’s wife, born to your father; she is your sister.
12“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your father’s sister; she is your father’s close relative.
13“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your mother’s sister, because she is your mother’s close relative.
14“ ‘Do not dishonor your father’s brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations; she is your aunt.
15“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife; do not have relations with her.
16“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; that would dishonor your brother.
17“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. Do not have sexual relations with either her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter; they are her close relatives. That is wickedness.
18“ ‘Do not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living.
19“ ‘Do not approach a woman to have sexual relations during the uncleanness of her monthly period.
20“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her.
21“ ‘Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.
22“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.
23“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.

Two verses in particular, tell us how grave and abhorrent these practices are in the sight of the LORD God Almighty. In Leviticus 18:24 and again in Leviticus 20:23, the LORD told the children of Israel that it was because of such ungodly and highly immoral behaviour that the LORD was driving the Canaanite nations our of their land before the eyes of Israel.

Leviticus 18:24 – 25; 20:23  New International Version

18:24

Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled.

18:25

Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants

20:23

You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.

Brothers and Sisters in the Anointed Lord Iesous, let us beware, lest we fall into the sin of behaving like the the immoral nations around us. Let us be careful not to fall into the ungodly practices like those of the Canaanites described in today's passage.

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About three years ago, I made some observations about the commands of the LORD recorded in Leviticus chapter 19, reading from the LXX Brenton, link below:

• Looking deeper into the Ten Commandments (11Aug2020)