Category Archives: Nineveh

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The Messiah’s Secret – The Crimson Worm

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The  Messiah’s Secret  – The Crimson Worm.

 
(picture taken from our hay field overlooking town of Haslingden, Rossendale )


This year our summer in the North of England has been the warmest that we have had for a long time. It has been so warm that I had to sit in the shade especially hay making in June, however, we didn’t erect a shelter).

In the Middle East the temperature reaches over a hundred degrees especially in the region where the city Nineveh was located on the eastern bank of the Tigris river opposite the modern city of Mosul in Iraq.

Young people’s talk.  
Jonah the prophet was called by God twice  to take a message to the people of Nineveh. In our reading we find that this is the second calling and this time Jonah responded. He went through the streets proclaiming,“Yet forty days, and Nineveh will be overthrown.” Afterwards he found a place to sit and watch over the city, where he built himself a shelter.(A child came and sat on a chair in front of the picture of a shelter.)


It was very hot: the sun shone (hold up the sun) and the wind blew.(hold up the picture of the wind)

Overnight a plant appeared and it protected him from the heat of the sun’s rays, and the sultery wind blew 
God sent a worm, which was not like the worms we find in the soil.It was round and scarlet in colour and about the size of a small pea. The worm ate the root of the plant. 
(Tolaath – from the same root, refer to the cochineal insect. Unger’s Bible Dictionary. Coccus ilicus. Scarlet worm. Biblehub.com)
When it is time for the female to lay her eggs, which is only the once in a life time, she climbs onto a tree and lays her eggs under her body. 







The eggs are  protected by her crimson shell . When the eggs hatch the mother dies and the  young worms feed on their mother. 
She gives her life to create new life which speaks of Jesus dying for us so we might live for ever.
Jonah liked the plant and was angry that it had died.
God was teaching Jonah that just as he liked the plant and felt sorry for it. God loved the people of Nineveh and took pity on them.
God says to us, I love all the people in the world even those who don’t know me yet and God wants us to tell people about His love for them.

Readings Jonah 3: 10. 4: 11. Matthew 20: 1-16.                                                                 

The prophet Jonah was called by God twice to go to the city of Nineveh with a message
The two calls are quite different in their content. The difference lies in the change of one single word. The word ’against’ in the first call was to ‘preach against’ the city, in the second to ‘preach to it’ the message. The first of Judgement, the second a message of grace and mercy which resulted in repentance and salvation for the Gentiles.

On the first occasion, Jonah disobeyed; on the second he fulfilled. Between the two calls, Jonah had a most gruesome experience, dying in the stomach of the whale, and then being miraculously resurrected and deposited on dry land.                                                                            
In our reading after Jonah’s second call he was given a message that he clearly believed that God would bring judgement on the city, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh will be overthrown.” But the King and people of Nineveh believed him and they repented.                                                       
Jonah was displeased, and being a prophet of Israel, he was worried about his reputation.
Even though he knew that God was merciful and not easily angered. The outcome was not how he had discerned it, Jonah wanted to die, his pride had been injured, he had not expected the city to repent.

We read in verse 10. God had changed his mind about destroying the city of Nineveh. “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God repented of the evil which he had said he would do to them; and he did not do it.”
God had pity on the people of Nineveh even though they were enemies of Israel, God saved them from destruction as they repented from their heart. “All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to me I will not cast out.” John 6: 37

The visual aid revealed that God was showing Jonah his love for all the people who he had created. And he was showing future generations the way of faith and grace, illustrated through the plant and the worm.

Many Biblical scholars see this as depicting Law and Grace
The plant that sprang up was the law and the worm that ate the root of the plant represents the new covenant by faith and grace in Jesus.
The plant represents Jonah’s reliance upon himself: when he built his shelter and his pity for the plant which really was in fact his self pity at being left without the plants shade .And his pride, his self esteem had been injured, having discerned the message as a word of condemnation that was punishable under law.

Jesus’ parable. The labourers were under law who had worked all day had expected more than what was agreed with the vineyard owner. The denarius represents Salvation and a day represents a life time.  Those who Jesus described as ‘the last first and the first last were under grace. Jesus is both the last and the first. When John saw Jesus, “I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand upon me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18. And the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore.” Revelation 1:17, 18. This as I understand it,( in verse 12) makes us all equal in Christ as Paul wrote in his letter to the Colossians,  “And have put on the new nature, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Sythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all.” Colossians 3: 10,11.

The crimson worm under grace was a prophecy relating to the Christ,.  Psalm 22: 6-8.  “But I am a worm, and no man; scorned by men, and despised by the people. All who see me mock at me, they make mouths at me, they wag their heads; He committed his cause to the Lord; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him.”                                                                                         
The Psalmist prophecy was fulfilled when the passers by along with the chief priest and scribes mocked and wagged their heads at Jesus on the cross saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself.” In Mark 15: 29-32.                                                                                                                   
In Paul’s letter to the Romans he  wrote, “ the wages of sin is death”
Jesus bore all sin upon the tree and died and God delivered Jesus from sin that leads to death. Three days later God raised Jesus up from the grave.

The scarlet worm that God used to illustrate his grace.
The female worm firmly attaches herself to the tree and dies, so that her young feed on her and take up their new life from their mother.
Three days later the worm changes colour from scarlet to white, it speaks of death, resurrection and ‘Christ in us.’ 
             
 In Paul’s letter to the Galatians,  “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in my flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.” Galatians 2: 20.  God calls us to die to sin and self. We feel how God feels about sin and were we once relied entirely on ourselves in every aspect of daily life, we now look to Jesus.

The scarlet worm continues to bless us after her death:The dead worm’s  white wax was scraped off the tree to used for polishing wood, it’s called shellac
The crushed worm was once used to make medicine to regulate the heart beat and its’ colour was used as dye.


Prophesies for the end time in John’s Book ‘Revelation.  
Jesus blesses us in many ways: we  have fellowship with the Trinity Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and other Christians. Now as we pray we find that Jesus is guiding us, watching over us. Jesus relies on us to serve him through the things he calls us to do like telling people about the prophesies that are leading up to the ‘Great Tribulation’ great in the sense of being a great catastrophe. This ia a warning to the world that John wrote about in Revelation 7: 14. 18:9. Matthew 24. 
 It’s part of the churches ministry to make this prophecy known in order to bring nations to repentance.                                                      
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The Messiah’s Secret – Jonah

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In England we have sweets called Liquorice Allsorts
All sorts of people work in the Lord’s Vineyard
Christians from all over the world work together serving the Lord Jesus.

 
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The parable of the labourers in the Vineyard.
The 5 vines represent the five occasions when the owner of the Vineyard went out to hire labourers to work in his Vineyard. At the end of the day the labourers were paid their wages.
A day represents a life span.
A Denarius represents the gift of eternal life, Salvation.

The first labourer represents becoming a Christian at an early age.
The second becoming a Christian maybe as a teenager and so on until the last one were someone who has towards the end of their life become a Christian.
We can not earn the gift of eternal life we can only receive it through faith in Jesus.
It is not about being a good person; we need to accept Jesus as our Saviour to receive the gift of eternal life.
This parable gives us insight into the nature of the Lord showing us his priority of belonging to him.

Jonah
The prophet Jonah lived around 800 BC, during the reign of Jeroboam II. He lived in a town just north of Nazareth in Gath-hepher. Jonah’s name means ‘dove’ which reminds us of the dove was sent out from the ark by Noah to find evidence of dry land and returned with an olive leaf. Genesis 8:10, 11. The Holy Spirit was sent into the world at Pentecost.
Jonah was sent by God to Nineveh to preach against their wickedness that was before God.
However we read that he did not want to go to Nineveh. Put yourself in his shoes, Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, it was like asking someone to go to Moscow during the cold war and tell the atheist leaders that God was against their sin. God was asking Jonah to do something big. In his humanity he was reluctant to go.
Instead he went and boarded a ship heading for Tarshish. Soon after setting sail a storm blew up, as a result of taking on water they threw items overboard in an effort to save themselves and the boat. The sailors assessed their situation by casting lots, the lot fell on Jonah. Casting lots was quite a common amongst the nations to discern the outcome of a situation. The Hebrews used Urim and Thummim to discern God’s will. On the underside of the High Priest’s breastplate was a pouch in it was kept two pebbles one white the other black these were the Urim and the Thummim. Exodus 28: 30.

Today we discern what the will of God through Godly wisdom or a word of scripture prompted by the Holy Spirit or a word of prophecy through the gift of prophecy. We do not cast lots.

When the lot fell on Jonah, he owned up to the sailors what his God had called him to do, to take a message to the city of Nineveh which he had not fulfilled. He offered them a solution to throw him overboard, but the sailors were reluctant to offend Jonah’s God, so they tried to row to the shore, but it was to no avail, the storm grew worse. In desperation they threw Jonah overboard, as he fell into the sea a whale swallowed him whole, as a result he storm abated. He spent three days and nights inside the whale then the fish vomited him out onto dry land.

In this account we can discern the cross of Jesus.
Jonah had turned away from God, but he could not hide, he recognised his sin as it was brought to light. To save the sailors and the ship he was prepared to die. He died inside the whale and God resurrected him as he was vomited out on to dry ground.

When we recognise our sin against God, we realise that Jesus was prepared to lay down his life for you and me, so through faith in what Jesus has done for us, just as God raised Jesus from the dead so he raises us into his newness of life which is eternal. This act of God transforms the way we think feel and behave. We realise that God the Father loves all people, he loves the sinner but hates the sin.

It is only as we know about sin, that we seek to be saved from it.
We read that God asked Jonah to go again to Nineveh, this time to tell them to repent or after 40 days the city would be destroyed. Jonah went and gave the message as a result the King brought his people to repentance in sackcloth and ashes.

Maybe he had been persuaded by a previous prophecy that Jonah saw fulfilled; the land of Hamath would be restored to Israel. 2 Kings 14: 25

Jonah’s displeasure
Instead of being pleased and glad with Nineveh’s repentance Jonah was displeased, he was angry. Theologians say that it was because his prophecy the destruction of the Assyrian city of Nineveh was not fulfilled.

Why was Jonah displeased?
I believe that his displeasure and anger arose from jealousy, which is another part of this prophecy given to us in the life of Jonah.

The first part
The life and witness of Jonah reflects the sign Jesus gave to the scribes and Pharisees
Jesus spoke to the scribes and Pharisees giving them a sign, the sign of Jonah.
“For as Jonah was three days and nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” Matthew 12: 40, 41.
Jesus fulfilled the sign: Two of Jesus’ followers were travelling to Emmaus when a stranger joined them and walked with them. As they walked the disciples spoke to the stranger about the events that had recently taken place at Jerusalem saying, “And how our chief priests and rulers delivered him (Jesus) up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, and who said that he (Jesus) is alive.” Luke 24: 20-23
Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day.

The Messiah’s Secret
Cleopas and the other disciple state that they were not aware that the Messiah had to die before he could be received by the nation as their Messiah.
“And how our chief priests and rulers delivered him (Jesus) up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel.” They were not aware that Jesus had to be raised from the dead before he could be received as their Christ, even though he had told them several times that he would be raised from the dead, but it was hidden from their understanding. “For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon; they will scourge him and kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things; this saying was hid from them, and they did not grasp what he was said.” Luke 18: 32-34
On the road to Emmaus, the stranger replied, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24: 26,27.
Jesus opened up their understanding to the scriptures that proved he was the Christ.

Continuing Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 12 the King of Nineveh had brought the city of Nineveh to repentance. “The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”
Jesus foretold of his rejection by the Jewish leaders. At and after Pentecost when the apostles proclaimed Jesus for the first time that he was the Christ, the Jewish leaders instead of bringing the nation to repentance they rejected Jesus as their Messiah and later were jealous of the Gentiles who accepted Jesus as their Saviour.

The second part
Jonah’s response to the Gentiles shows that he was jealous because the Assyrian people were loved by God, who he regarded as his enemy.

This was prophetic when we read of the jealousy of the Jews when the Gentiles accepted Jesus as their Messiah. God’s love for the Gentiles not just of the people of a city but every person in every nation of the world.

At Antioch in Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas were asked by the Gentiles to tell them about Jesus.
“The next Sabbath the whole city gathered together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted what was spoken by Paul, and reviled him. and Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.” Acts 13: 44-46
The Gentiles brought into the New Covenant.

Jonah’s jealousy instead of being glad that the Assyrians had repented he constructed a booth, a shelter made of branches to watch over Nineveh. We read that a plant grew up alongside of him, this must have raised his expectations as it gave him shade from the sun’s rays. But a worm destroyed the plant. This is a picture of what jealousy does it eats away at a person’s heart. It is destructive. Jonah was so affected by his jealousy that he wanted to die.
“Set a seal upon your heart for love is as strong as death jealousy is as cruel as the grave.” Song of Songs 8: 6

Jonah’s pity for the plant, he was thinking of the shade that it gave him. The Lord pointed out to him that the plant grew in a night and perished in a night. Jonah had no part to play in how the plant lived or died.
But he had a part in saving the people of Nineveh with God by taking God’s message of repentance to them.
For us today we have a part in working with the Lord taking the good news of God’s saving grace to the people of our community. May we have the courage to pray for the Lord to give us a heart felt burning love, his love for how feels about people that are outside of the Christian faith.

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“The Messiah’s Secret – The Messiah’s Secret Revealed”

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The Messiah’s Secret – The Messiah’s Secret Revealed Blog

Using the Revised Standard Version (RSV) Bible.

Visual Aids are used in this talk.
A Cross is made of textile material large enough to accommodate items on the following list.

Adam & Eve (small dolls)
Picture Wilderness
Bible (small Bible)
Picture Jesus on the Cross
Picture Resurrected Jesus
Picture Two Trees
Girl (small doll)
Picture Jerusalem at the time of Jesus
Picture Whale

Material large enough to accommodate the largest object.
A piece of cloth is cut to form two crosses and then sewn together along the dotted lines.
Leave open the four ends to enable the objects to be placed inside the cross and pulled out at the appropriate time.

Objects are placed inside the cross.
Each one is pulled out in turn and its significance explained.
The verses of scripture can be handed out and read at the appropriate time.

The cross a place of change, a cross roads.
Life is often described as a journey and at some point we may be challenged to take a step of faith in the direction of Jesus.

Faith
Helicopter Pilot
An example of having faith has been explained to me by a Helicopter pilot when landing a helicopter at night on a Rig in the North Sea.
The pilot should not use his own judgement, he has to put his faith in the instruments to safely land on the Rig Helipad at night.
Having faith is part of our freedom to choose and it’s hard to put our faith into something that we can not see, like the pilots instruments making calculations of height, distance and speed for him.
The Bible describes faith “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11: 1
The Bible is like the instruments, we take from it the promises of God that has been given to us by Jesus to direct our walk in life. We focus not on ourselves but on Jesus the light of the world.

The writer of Genesis was inspired by God to write the account about the creation.

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve were told by God not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Eve was tempted to eat from it, by the old serpent, the Devil, Satan. Adam also was tempted to become like God himself knowing good and evil, both fell to his temptation. As a result they were separated from God.

Adam in succumbing to the temptation gave the devil power over mankind’s heart and soul which changed our nature we became self centred, self ruled. Sin, death, pain, sickness and disease entered into the world.
Adam was created in the likeness of God. Adam’s son was born in the likeness of his father Adam and not in the likeness of God. Adam’s fallen nature became hereditary. Genesis 5: 1, 3
God gave to human beings a promise that he would send a saviour to save us, from the power of the devil and renew our fellowship with God. Genesis 3:15 This promise was realised in Jesus and it’s through faith in him we discover that it is true.

Wilderness Temptations

Mary the mother of Jesus gave Jesus his humanity. God the Father of Jesus gave him his divinity as the Son of God.
Jesus the Son of man was the one who God used to restore our relationship with God that the first man Adam lost.
Romans 5 verse 19 puts it this way “For just as though the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man many will be made righteous.”
Where Adam fell into temptation, Jesus didn’t although he was severely tempted by the devil in the wilderness. The devil attempted to undermine Jesus’ role as the Son of man.

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry.” Matthew 4: 1, 2.

Three Temptations
1/ The devil suggested to him, “If you are the Son of God command these stones to become bread.” No human being can change stones into bread. But Jesus could have done so because he had the power of God as the Son of God.
If Jesus had responded as the Son of God and changed stones into bread to feed his hunger He would have gone from being like us, to being like God.
It would have disqualified him from claiming victory over Adam’s fall. Jesus could only save us by being one of us, having flesh and blood.

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews confirms this view.
“Since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has power over death that is the devil.” Hebrews 2: 14
“For because he himself suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.” Hebrews 2:18
“Jesus is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15

Thankfully Jesus didn’t respond as the Son of God, but as the Son of man. He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
Like us Jesus needed food for his physical body and like us he needed to be strengthened by the word of God.

2/ The devil took Jesus to the highest point of the temple at Jerusalem. Using verses of scripture the devil suggested to him that if he jumped off the pinnacle God’s angels would prevent him injuring himself.
Jesus as the Son of God knew that he had to suffer and die on the cross at Jerusalem.
Jesus’ response as the Son of man, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”
When we are tempted to test God for the purposes of safeguarding our own interests not to do so.

3/The devil fraudulently offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he would bow down and worship him.
Jesus as the Son of God could have disputed the devils ownership of the kingdoms of the world.
Jesus the Son of man said, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” God is sovereign over all the kingdoms of the world and the universe.

Jesus was one of us.
Jesus in his humanity was full of the Holy Spirit which enabled him to face the full force of the devil and his scheming. Jesus’ prayer and fasting kept him focused on his spiritual battle against the devil.

Bible
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour, and the day of vengeance of our God; and to comfort all who mourn.” Isaiah 61: 1, 2.

In the synagogue at Nazareth Jesus stood and read from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18, 19Jesus doesn’t complete the last sentence; and the day of vengeance of our God; and to comfort all who mourn, instead he closed the book and sat down.
Jesus personalised those words from Isaiah because they were about his ministry as the Messiah. He didn’t finish the second verse in Isaiah 61 and go on to proclaim the day of vengeance because he had to be killed and raised from the dead before the day of vengeance could happen.

The Nation of Israel was expecting the Christ, to bring in the Day of Vengeance, a day of Judgement. The Pharisees were expecting Jesus to make a judgement on the woman caught in adultery, but he didn’t, instead he asked if any of them were without sin to cast the first stone.
Jesus during his ministry had said, “I came not to cast a fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled. But I have a baptism to be baptised with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished.” Luke 12: 49, 50.

“The Messiah’s Secret” page 47“
Jesus was referring to the fire of the Day of Vengeance, the Day of the Lord. The fire not yet kindled, not until after he brought in the good news of the impending kingdom, gathering the nation together. A loving heavenly Father giving the people who had fallen away from his laws, the opportunity to receive salvation through Jesus. He taught salvation through the laws of Moses, (Zacchaeus) without the generations of added precepts, whereby the Jew was blameless through good works, deeds, feeding the hungry, giving to the poor, helping the widows, observance of the law, the Day of Atonement.
His Father was dwelling in the temple at Jerusalem where they were still under the law. He was preparing the nation for the judgement to come. In Mark 9: 43, 44 he says that if one of your members causes you to sin, it would be better to enter life maimed than go to hell, to the unquenchable fire, with two hands.
Jesus did not come as a judge to condemn the people. In Luke 12: 50 he says “For I have a baptism to be baptised with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished.” The baptism was of his death and resurrection. He was constrained to bring in the fire of judgement until his death, resurrection and ascension had been accomplished. His death was a secret; it was hidden from the Jews.”
The disciples and followers didn’t realise at the time that the Christ had to die at Jerusalem, even though at the Transfiguration he had spoken of his departure which he was to accomplish there.
Luke 9: 31

Cross

Jesus won the victory over the devil’s power and influence over us. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus was praying, he was deeply distressed in his soul because as a human being he was wrestling with his own will. Jesus knew that in order to save us he had to suffer and die by crucifixion. His choice was to call upon 20 legions of angels to his assistance to defend him against being arrested or to do his Father’s will and go through the process that would lead him to die a horrible death on a wooden cross. Peter or John who where there in the garden praying with Jesus, heard the words that Jesus prayed aloud. “ Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done.” Luke Chapter 22:42
Soon after, Jesus was arrested without any resistance and taken to the high priests house.
Jesus had died to his own will and was willing to do his Fathers’ will and go to the cross,
Jesus resisted temptation to self determine his own life.
Through Adam’s fall we prioritise. We have a basic instinct to look after self and self preservation.
It is as we recognise our separation from God is through our self centeredness that we come to Jesus to make us right with God, through the price paid for our transgression and his life laid down for the sin of Adam and Eve. We are baptised into his death and raised in the likeness of his resurrection. Set free from the power of the devil over our soul, our fallen nature, a new creation in Christ.

“The Messiah’s Secret” page 73
“No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up that who ever believes in him may have eternal life.” John 3: 14, 15

Moses had led the Nation of Israel out of slavery from Egypt. When they were making a detour around Edom through the wilderness the people complained to Moses because they had no food or water. A large number of deadly snakes came among them and many of the people died. They came to Moses Asking to be forgiven for complaining and asked if God would take away the snakes. Moses prayed to God and he was told by God to make a bronze snake and put it onto a pole, so that everyone who had been bitten should look at the snake on the pole and they would live.” Numbers 21: 4-9

Jesus used this incident, in the exodus from Egypt, to demonstrate his death and resurrection. As a result of the fall of the first man Adam sin and death came into the world. (Serpent representing death)The second man Jesus through his victory over sin and death won eternal life (the dead serpent lifted up on the pole representing forgiveness and healing).

“The Messiah’s Secret” page 138
Adam and Eve had their eyes were opened to good and evil, and as a result they felt the need to cover their bodies. God cursed the serpent and prophesied that through the seed of a woman the Messiah would bruise the head of the serpent, and the serpent would bruise the heel of the Messiah.
A curse was also placed upon the woman that in child bearing her pain would be great and her husband would rule over her. The curse that God put upon Adam, he would sweat and toil the ground for food all his life, the amount of weeds would increase the toil. After death he would return back to the ground, dust, from which he had been created.
The serpent lifted up on the pole represents life over death, Jesus the second Adam. The victory over the serpent’s power over death has been won by Jesus in his death and resurrection. Jesus as a result bruised the head of the serpent.
The serpent bruised Christ’s heel; this happened when Jesus suffered the agony of the wooden cross, the death by hanging on a tree, crucifixion. Deuteronomy 21: 23. Genesis 3: 15. John 19: 5. Romans 5: 17, 18.

The crown of thorns that was placed upon his head by the soldiers at his trial, redeemed the earth
and Adam from the curse God put upon him. Matthew 27: 29
Eve through the victory of the cross has been redeemed from the curse that God placed upon her. Matthew 23: 10. There is no marriage in heaven between believers. Luke 20: 35, 36.
Through faith in Jesus we are cleansed by his blood from the sin of Adam and Eve and all our past sins.
The Son of man had to die and be lifted up so that those who believe in him and follow him receive eternal life.”
“The Messiah’s Secret – Revealed”
As a human being Jesus had to die on the cross and be raised from the dead to save us from the fall of Adam and Eve before the nation of Israel and the peoples of the world could be reconciled back to God. The disciples of Jesus proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah for the first time at Pentecost.

Jesus is risen

We understand from Luke’s gospel that the disciples at first didn’t believe when they heard from the women that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Their words seemed to them like an idle tale, and they did not believe them. Luke 24: 11.
During his ministry Jesus prophesied his resurrection but the disciples didn’t understand until they went into the empty tomb and saw the linen cloths lying on the floor.

“The Messiah’s Secret – Revealed” page 105“
After the resurrection the man at the tomb dressed in a white robe told the women that Jesus would see them in Galilee. He had made a particular request for them to tell ‘the disciples and Peter,’ Peter had denied Jesus at his trial and he was probably feeling very upset. Peter hearing from the women, what the man at the tomb had said, ran to the tomb. Mark 16: 7
Peter’s name was particularly mentioned by the man at the tomb and this showed the Lord’s love for him, he and John ran to the tomb and although John out ran Peter he stepped back to allow Peter to enter the tomb before him.
John in his Gospel wrote that they believed when they saw the linen cloths lying and the napkin that had been on his head rolled up in a place by itself. He went on to say that at the time they did not know the scripture that he must rise from the dead.”
John 20: 9
Prophesies found in the Psalms about the resurrection:
“For thou dost not give me up to Sheol, or let thy godly one see the pit.” Psalm 16: 10.
“That he should continue to live for ever, and never see the Pit.” Psalm 49: 9
Abraham believed in the resurrection of the dead.
Hebrews 11: 17-19.

On the evening of the day of the resurrection.
Jesus came into the house where the disciples were gathered and said, ”Peace be with you.” He showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. He said again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them , and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus breathed new life into the disciples, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God.
John the Baptist said that the Messiah would baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Luke 3: 16
John’s word fulfilled on the evening of the day of the resurrection.

At Pentecost the Holy Spirit came into the world
Peter standing with the other disciples proclaimed that the prophesy of Joel had been fulfilled with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit . . . before the day of the Lord comes . . . And it shall be whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. “Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you shall receive the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and your children and all that are afar off.” Acts 2: 16 – 21, 38, 39.

2.000 years later and still these words prevail.
The Holy Spirit’s coming into the world is to reveal the truth concerning Jesus who has saved us from the power of eternal death held by the devil and to equip those who believe in Jesus with the love of God, the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Nine years after making my commitment to follow Christ, the Holy Spirit opened the eyes of my understanding to know Jesus as my Saviour. I was amazed to find that it all that I had read was true about him. I was filled with the presence of God, his love, and his word. I felt at one with creation and I had no longer a fear of death. I knew God as my Father and my creator. My life found purpose and fulfilment and a hope for the future, eternal life with Christ.

The Tree of Life.

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

Verse 6. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Jesus informs us what the word flesh means in Mark 7: 14-23. It is not what we eat that defiles a person, food coming into our bodies through our mouths, but it’s what comes out of our heart and mind that defile us thoughts of fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. Jesus bore these sins that defile a person’s heart for us on the cross.
The death and resurrection of Jesus has the power of the Spirit of God to create a new nature within us, transforming our hearts and minds, writing God’s commandments into our hearts. To feel how God feels about sin, to seek the ways of God, to find fulfilment for our lives.

Paul wrote about crucifying the flesh, meaning when wrong thoughts come into our thoughts to reject them. If we submit to them, it’s like us going and eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, instead of the tree of life which is Spirit.
“We have become partakers of the divine nature. For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly and sisterly affection and brotherly and sisterly affection with love. For if these things are yours and abound, they keep you from being unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:4-8

Cross working from within the heart.

At some point on our Christian journey we will each come into some kind of suffering, God will allow this to happen as part of our growing in faith to become more dependant upon the Lord for his help and for our needs. Also it acts like a refining fire, where we are blameless in Christ, Jesus died for our sins and we have been raised to a new life in Christ, but we are not faultless.

Extracts from “The Story of Job” by Jessie Penn Lewis
(Welsh Rivival)
“It doesn’t matter when suffering comes if the person is truly yielded to Christ. The Holy Spirit will gather every thread of pain and weave it through his loom into a beautiful pattern of the life of Christ.
New Christians experience the joy and delights, emotional and many secret manifestations of God and mountain heights of uninterrupted union and communion with God.
They will also experience wilderness temptations, trails, conflict, dryness, inward and outward darkness and distress.

Separation from the world
A holy sorrow for sin, without any sense of guilt. An abiding sorrow for sin is a holy suffering, needful for spiritual progress. It maintains the believer the principle of perfect repentance, it deepens humility it kindles the feelings of gratitude. It keeps the heart in touch with the blood of Jesus. It worships the deity of God. It intercedes for others and thirsts for the perfect reign of God, when sin will pass away, like a tide going out.
The sorrow for past sins, is a blameless fruitful form of suffering, under the Holy Spirit and is free from despair, despondency or of bitterness.

The Holy Spirit will at times let a true, humble heart feel the malice of others, painful shootings through the heart. This is real inward suffering; this painful sense of being despised by our fellows, yielded to God in humble prayer will bring great tenderness and love.”

Jerusalem at the time of Jesus

A word I was given on 30th May 1996 was that, “The disciples were setting up the kingdom in at the beginning of Acts.” It was as I understood to be in preparation for his return with the angels of God. Mark 8:38
Jesus during the 40 days after his resurrection spoke to the apostles about the kingdom of God. After Jesus’ ascension the apostles and followers of Jesus gathered in the upper room in the house where they were staying at Jerusalem. Jesus had told them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, the coming of the Holy Spirit in to the world.

“The Messiah’s Secret – Secret Revealed.” Part Eight page 169
At the beginning of the Acts of the apostles Luke recorded that there were 120 people present in the upper room, this was the number required to form a town according to the rules of the Mishna, one tenth being the officers. Matthias took Judas’ place to make up the number to twelve, one tenth. (Peake’s Commentary on the Bible. Before the Mishna came into being the Jews had the oral law which became both the Mishna and the Talmud.)
It’s no coincidence that the number gathered in the house were the exact number required to set up a community. The problem of being one short to make up the required number of officers was prophesied in the Psalm quoted by Peter. Acts 1: 20. Psalm 109: 8
Thousands of people became part of the community of believers after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

The Messiah’s Secret – Revealed. The Apostles proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah for the first time at Pentecost. Jesus had to die and be raised up from the dead and ascend into heaven before the nation of Israel could receive Jesus as their Messiah. We read in Acts 7: 56 Stephen gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, was he standing in readiness to return with the angels of God?

Whale

The Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection, nor angels, nor spirit, but the Pharisees did believe in the resurrection of the dead. When Jesus was in conversation with the Sadducees and Pharisees he told them of his resurrection, he gave them a sign of the prophet Jonah.

“The Messiah’s Secret – Secret Revealed.” page 179- 181“
An evil an adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”
Matthew 12: 39
James Bartley found alive inside a whale. Dake’s Annoted Reference Bible page 1961
“The April 4th 1896 Literary Digest gave a story of a Mediterranean whale that demolished a harpoon boat. Two men were lost. One found alive in the whale’s belly a day and a half after it was killed. James Bartley lived with no after effects except that his skin was tanned by the gastric juices.”
Jonah was in the body of a fish for three days and nights and lived. The people of Nineveh when they heard Jonah’s message from God they repented. When the King of Nineveh heard of God’s message he repented and made a proclamation that all the people of Nineveh should repent.

The leaders and people of Jerusalem, through the apostles had heard the kingdom message of repentance and forgiveness and had seen the signs of the resurrection and the pouring out of God’s Spirit in the last days. Thousands of people did accept the apostle’s message and repented and joined them, but the majority of the leaders of the Sanhedrin, rejected the apostles message that Jesus was the Christ they would not bring the nation to repentance.

“The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgement with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold something greater than Jonah is here.” Matthew 12: 41
Jesus saw how sinful the nation’s leaders were. They had not accepted the Baptism of John and they did not believe the Gospel of the kingdom and the prophesies concerning Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Jesus continued Jonah’s prophecy as explained in Matthew Chapter 12 verse 43 when he said, “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.” He ends with the words, “And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. So it shall be with this evil generation.”
Through the baptisms of both John and Jesus for the repentance of sin, the majority of the people of Israel had been cleansed from their sin. Through the rejection of Jesus as the Christ this prophecy in Matthew’s Gospel had been fulfilled. Within a short period of time the nation was brought to its knees. In AD 70 Jerusalem was destroyed and the people where scattered throughout the world.”