John 5
Witness matter throughout the Bible: H1697 dabar--business, occupation, acts, matter
Exodus 18:16 - When they have a matter, H1697 they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.
The Torah ...............
Numbers 31:16 - Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel H1697 of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter H1697 of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.
The prophets ..................
1 Samuel 16:18 - Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, H1697 and a comely person, and the LORD is with him.
The writings ...........................
1 Kings 15:5 - Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter H1697 of Uriah the Hittite.
The Torah ...............
Numbers 31:16 - Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel H1697 of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter H1697 of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.
The prophets ..................
1 Samuel 16:18 - Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, H1697 and a comely person, and the LORD is with him.
The writings ...........................
1 Kings 15:5 - Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter H1697 of Uriah the Hittite.
Ezra 10:16 - And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. H1697
John 5:21-22,24-27 21 Just as the Father raises the dead and makes them alive, so too the Son makes alive anyone he wants. 22 The Father does not judge anyone but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 24 Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever hears what I am saying and trusts the One who sent me has eternal life — that is, he will not come up for judgment but has already crossed over from death to life! 25 Yes, indeed! I tell you that there is coming a time — in fact, it’s already here — when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who listen will come to life. 26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has given the Son life to have in himself. 27 Also he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
SON OF GOD/SON OF MAN
Fatherhood implies source. When we claim someone as father, we claim him as the source of who we are, suggesting we are made of the same “stuff.” This is what Yeshua was claiming when He called God His Father. The religious leaders understood His claim, which is why they persecuted Him.
Yeshua shocked the religious leaders of His day when He spoke of God as His Father. At this time, the Hebrews generally had no concept or understanding of God as Father in a personal way. Therefore, Yeshua’ claim of such intimacy offended them.
After His unprecedented claim to intimacy with God, Yeshua went on to compare His activities and authority with those of His Father. Essentially, they were the same.
See: John 5:21-22; 24–27
Yeshua stated that He had the power to give life and the power to execute judgment over men, both of which were the purview of God alone. It is significant that Yeshua refers to Himself as the “Son of God” in relation to His authority to give life, and as the “Son of Man” in relation to His authority to judge.
Only God can give life, and since the Son of God is of the same essence—the same “stuff”—as the Father, the Son can also give life. On the other hand, the only one qualified or “legal” on earth to render judgment upon men is one who is an offspring of man.
In order to qualify this offspring must be without sin, because only someone who has no sin of his own can bear the sins of others. No one except Yeshua has ever met this qualification, but He met it perfectly. Born of a woman, born of a virgin, born into the ancestral line of David, Yeshua was a “son of man” because He was fully human. He was, as Paul said, the second “Adam.”
It was necessary for God to become a man in order to unleash His love and power in the earthly realms. By design, God gave dominion of the earth to mankind, and only humans have “legal” jurisdiction here.
That is why whenever God wants to do something in the earth He seeks to work through human agents. In Yeshua He has the perfect man to initiate His work.
2 Corinthians 5:21 God made this sinless man be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with him we might fully share in God’s righteousness.”
A KINGDOM OF IGNORANT KINGS
ig·no·rant [ˈiɡnərənt] ADJECTIVE
1. lacking knowledge or awareness in general; uneducated or unsophisticated:
The problem for so many of us is that we don’t know who we are. We have become a kingdom of ignorant kings: ignorant of our identity, ability, power, and authority. Long ago we forgot, (if we ever knew), all that the enemy stole from us.
Deposed, defeated, and dejected, like the prodigal son we sit in the mud and stench of the pigsty, nibbling on dry corn husks, never lifting the eyes of our spirit to behold the riches of our Father’s estate that are ours if we will only reach out and claim them.
Our greatest enemy today is neither ha satan nor sin, because Yeshua defeated both at the cross. Power is not the problem, either. We have power. That is why God did not send power to fix our problem. Our greatest enemy today is ignorance.
Either you want to know or you just don’t want to. Reminds me of the movie the Matrix--where the guy who sold everyone out to have a luxurious life. This person chose to stay in the matrix instead of the reality that life as everyone else knows it is a lie. What we don’t know is killing us; or at least depriving us of a full and abundant life!! The antidote for ignorance is knowledge, so God sent us His Word—His living Word in the person of His Son.
As long as we live in HaSatan’s darkness, we will never know that we are prisoners in our own territory, slaves of an illegal despot. We will never know we are the rightful rulers of this planet or that the devil is already a defeated enemy.
Because we don’t know any better, because we don’t realize the power we have, we allow HaSatan to run our lives, ravaging our bodies with sickness, draining our finances, destroying our marriages, messing up our kids with drugs and alcohol, and generally wreaking havoc.
Yeshua is the light of the world. Light means knowledge. He came to show us who we really are and to expose the enemy’s false kingdom. To put it another way,Yeshua came to introduce us to ourselves and to call us to become the people God always knew we could be. He came to call us home.
THE POWER TO CHANGE OUR LIFE
It is a matter of grooming our Kingdom mentality, of learning to think, talk, and act like the royalty we are rather than like the galley slaves the devil has told us we are. Unfortunately, this is not a natural mindset for us, and most believers have trouble making the change.
In a very real sense, Kingdom mentality is a warrior mentality. When necessary, kings go to war to defend their domain. They are willing to fight to the death in order to preserve their kingdom or to repel an attacker.
Kingship is all about protection, exercising authority, and reclaiming conquered territory. Sometimes it is even about taking the war right into the enemy’s camp. The enemy is always lurking about somewhere, seeking to divide and conquer, to destroy our lives and to devour our substance.
Kingdom mentality faces the enemy square on and says, “No way! This is mine, and you are not going to rob me anymore! I am a king and a child of the King, and He has given this territory to me!”
We must be willing to fight for what we know is ours.
We must be ready to stand firm, take authority in Yeshua’s name, and reclaim what is ours by right.
PRIESTS WHO ARE ALSO KINGS--BRING IT!!!
Exodus 19:5-6 5 Now if you will pay careful attention to what I say and keep my covenant, then you will be my own treasure from among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you will be a kingdom of cohanim for me, a nation set apart.’ These are the words you are to speak to the people of Isra’el.”
God is after building on earth a Kingdom of kings and priests; not two separate classes or castes, but two offices combined in the same person. God’s original plan was for both king and priest to be the same person, but ever since the fall mankind has been trying to keep the two separate.
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS
Yeshua fulfilled this when He came to earth. Like Adam, Yeshua was (and is) a King. When Pilate asked Yeshua, “Are You the king of the Hebrews?” At the same time, Yeshua is also a priest. The New Testament Book of Hebrews presents Yeshua as the great high priest who intercedes for us before the Father:
Yeshua is the example, the prototype of what God desires for all His children. He wants us to be like Yeshua, kings and priests in the world: kings to faithfully represent His government and execute His authority on the earth.
John 18:33 So Pilate went back into the headquarters, called Yeshua and said to him, “Are you the king of the?”
Hebrews 4:14-16 14 Therefore, since we have a great cohen gadol who has passed through to the highest heaven, Yeshua, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we acknowledge as true. 15 For we do not have a cohen gadol unable to empathize with our weaknesses; since in every respect he was tempted just as we are, the only difference being that he did not sin. 16 Therefore, let us confidently approach the throne from which God gives grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need.
He wants us to be priests who will represent His love, grace, and mercy to a world of people stumbling in the darkness with no knowledge either of Him or of His Kingdom. This is the purpose that lies behind His call to each of us when we came to Christ.
1 Peter 2:9-10 9 But you are a chosen people, the King’s cohanim, a holy nation, a people for God to possess! Why? In order for you to declare the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; before, you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
GOD’S SUPER AGENTS IN A DARK WORLD
We, the Church, the “called-out ones” of Christ, are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” called of God to “declare” His praises to a dark world. A royal priesthood is another way of saying that each one of us is both a king and a priest.
Our Lord has called and commissioned each of us as His ambassadors—His agents —in leading those still trapped in darkness into the “wonderful light” of His Kingdom. Paul described our special calling this way:
As followers of Christ, children of God, and citizens of His realm, we have no priority greater than proclaiming His Kingdom. Yeshua devoted His earthly ministry to proclaiming the Kingdom, and His priority is ours as well.
CHAPTER EIGHT PRINCIPLES
• The Kingdom of God must be our highest priority; Yeshua gave us no other commission.
• Whatever we see in the physical world has a corresponding greater reality in the spiritual world.
• God sent Christ, His only begotten Son—the second “Adam”— to undo the curse brought upon mankind by the first Adam.
• Our Father is always working, and we should be working also.
• Only God can give life, and since the Son of God is of the same essence—the same “stuff”—as the Father, the Son can also give life.
• Because He fulfilled His father’s will perfectly and without sin, Yeshua the Son of Man was qualified to judge the race of man.
• In Christ, we are authoritative on earth because we are human, just as He was.
• If you are a believer, you are a saint, and if you are a saint, you are an heir to the Kingdom of God.
• Kingship is all about protection, exercising authority, and reclaiming conquered territory.
• God’s purpose is to restore the offices of king and priest into one.
• The Kingdom of God is all that matters, and apart from the Kingdom of God, nothing matters.
“There is nothing as powerful as a Concept, and nothing more dangerous than a Misconception.”
Shema Selah we are set apart for His purpose and plan!! Walk in the Kingdom of heaven and turn away from the kingdom of darkness!!
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