March 12, 2023

―The Strong Man Is Reclaiming His Kingdom―

Mountains as a place of divine revelation and spiritually significant moments;
MARK 6:46
And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.

MARK 9:2
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them.

MARK 11:1
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples…

MARK 13:3
And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately.

MARK 14:26
And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

DEUTERONOMY 11:29
And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

GENESIS 22:2
He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

1 KINGS 18:42
…And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees.

EXODUS 19:3
while Moses went up to God. The LORD called to him out of the mountain…

ZECHARIAH 14:4
On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives…

The intensity and spiritual importance of the moment;
LUKE 6:12
In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.

The calling to Himself, and the reduction of the crowd;
JUDGES 7:2
The LORD said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’

MARK 15:44
Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead.

MATTHEW 18:32
Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.

The response to His call;
JOHN 10:27
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

ISAIAH 43:1
But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

The setting apart of the Church;
JOHN 17:12, 24
While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me…Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am…

This call creates a distinction between those who follow after Him desperately seeking healing, or are simply caught up in the spectacle of these strange events, and those who are truly summoned by God to follow after Him as disciples.

Apart from this sovereign call, the Church does not exist.

―The Strong Man Is Reconstituting His Kingdom―

The “creating” of the Apostles and the reconstituting of true Israel;
JOHN 15:16
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you…
JOHN 15:19
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

GENESIS 1:1
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

GENESIS 1:5
God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night…

The Son of God: Creator and Purpose of Creation;
COLOSSIANS 1:16
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

Salvation will always be “from the Jews,” though Jesus has now imported new meaning into true Israel;
JOHN 4:22
You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

The problematic twelfth Apostle;
Ἰούδας (Judas)
Ἰουδαῖος (Jew)

MARK 11:13–14, 20
And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves…14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it...20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.

Jesus will be betrayed by a friend;
JOHN 13:18 (See Psalm 41:9)
I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, “He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.”

MATTHEW 26:50
Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do” …

―Being with Jesus―

Discipleship is relationship before it’s a task;
MATTHEW 28:20
“…And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

ACTS 4:13
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

To be with Jesus is much more than idyllically sitting at His feet, for there is no other way of knowing His strength and trustworthiness;
MARK 4:34
He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

MARK 8:34
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me…”

Jesus appointed twelve nobody’s;
2 CORINTHIANS 12:9
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 CORINTHIANS 4:7
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

Dressing ourselves in Christ’s robes instead of our filthy garments;
ISAIAH 55:1
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

JOHN 7:37
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Their (and our) twofold equipping;

3/12/2012