He Would Be
King:
Angels or wise men came bearing
gifts to the anointed King. Without repeating the Christmas story, God himself
came to earth to die. God picked the birthplace of David for His own birth: Bet Lehem – “the house of bread” was the
chosen place. (I am always amazed at the meticulous planning God used to
foretell His coming and the significance of places, starting of course, with
Adam – “man” referencing mankind. 403).
Adam was a simile of God in the flesh who was called Jesus, a theophoric indication that Jesus Is God!
The Hebrew people always had a
problem with syncretism. They just could not give up their romances with other
gods! Because of that ten Hebrew tribes were lost to oblivion, and the
remaining two carried off. Darius the Mede allowed some to come home after
seventy years of exile, to recreate their nation and their Church. It was in
Jerusalem that Ezra the priest read the scripture which had been hidden away
for all those years. Each day he merely read the Word without commentary, for
the Word speaks for Himself! 404
Now as God came down to earth,
it seemed to the Jewish leaders that there was another claiming to be God. They
rejected God’s presence even though their Messiah Is the Christ – called Emmanuel – “God With Us”, another
theophoric Name. Although they were expecting a king on the order of the
Maccabees, He who was born was just Joshua (Hebrew; Yeshua) which was one of the most common names of the day. As
Joshua became popularized because of he delivered the Hebrew people to safety,
Jesus – transliterated “Joshua” is “God Who Delivers”. Perhaps the Hebrews were expecting a general
on the order of Joshua but with a Maccabean majesty. They didn’t get what they were expecting! A
King was born of the seed of David. Whereas the Maccabees were not heirs to the
throne, Jesus was!
Antipater was an Idumean – an
Edomite – who was a strong supporter of John Hyrcanus II of the Hasmonean Dynasty
– the Maccabean. As a favorite of the emperor of Rome, Mark Antony, Herod I was
allowed to be King of Judea. Although he was only half Jewish, Herod was raised
as a Jew and was King of the Jews (Judea). 405
“Jewish” is a nationality. From
the Table of Nations, Jews are descended from Noah’s son, Shem (pronounced shame). Most of the Shemites (Semites)
are either from Esaw (Edomites) or Jacob (Israelites). Israelites are called
Hebrews to distinguish them from their cousins the Edomites. The first mention
of the word “Hebrew” in scripture is “Abram, the Hebrew” 406
“Hebrew” is derived from Shem’s son Eber and means “one from the other side”. 407
Perhaps, the Hebrews transitioned from the antediluvian world to the
postdiluvian through Eber who which is the last known Semitic line to speak the
original language after it was encrypted after Babel. Thus, Hebrew is a
language group – the lingua humanana 408
– which is also called the “Adamic Language” in the Jewish Midrash.
The importance of the Jewish people
in killing God is paramount, not because they killed God but they were the
accused. Throughout history, the traveling Church, has always been accused of
persecution, and as such have received persecution. Judaism, the religion of
the Hebrew-speaking people, and the Jewish race, have been blamed for the death
of God. Thus, for the Gentile people, even Christians, the Jews were scapegoats
– to be released in the wilderness in place of the sacrificial goat,
representing Jesus. Indeed, for the Christians in general throughout the ages,
the Jews have been the “goat” that escaped and have been hunted ever since! Who
better to blame for killing the sacrificed goat than the one which escaped?
They deserved death – to be their own atonement – but the Lamb was sacrificed
in their stead!
Ask most any Christian, who killed God? Most will answer, the Jews did. But did they really?
It seems that the wise men from
the east, maybe kings themselves, had a degree of prestige in Herod’s viewpoint
because to protect his Hasmonian Dynasty, this “new born king” was a threat to
him. Perhaps Jesus was a pretender to Herod’s throne! Because of the
recognition Jesus received, and the gifts brought to him, it seemed that Jesus
was anointed. Imagine if you will, long before, when Saul was king, along came
David, destined for the throne. Saul feared David and sought to kill him – the
boy who would be king. Now, along came “the son of David” from the “house of
David” who was the legitimate heir to the throne of Judea – the bit that remained
of David’s Kingdom. 410 Even
the commoners later accepted Jesus as heir because he was of the line of David
through Joseph and because he worked miracles. At the birth of Jesus, God,
anointed Himself King and Herod feared Him.
Just as Saul pursued David to
murder him, Herod followed suit with the son of David. As heir to the
Hasmoneans, Herod feared the legitimate heirs – the line of David! His fear and
pride required him to murder the boy Jesus. 411
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men,
was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in
Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under,
according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
Always before, the world had vicariously endeavored to kill God by
killing the Church. Now, for the first time in history, mankind saw God
face-to-face. God showed Himself for the first time for one reason only – so
that He could be killed! Ironically, it was mankind who, if he saw God
face-to-face, who would die. 412 Now those who was to see Him
face-to-face could be saved! Note that Herod I wanted to kill Jesus without
having ever seen him. Not to be, for the time had not come, Joseph and family
took God now Named Jesus to Egypt to see the sin that Moses saw!
Some theologians believe that Joseph taught Jesus Holy Scripture in
Egypt. That is foolishness. In John
chapter 1, John explained that Jesus is God, and that when God spoke it was the
Word now made flesh who spoke it. Jesus knew scripture because He Is God and
testified several times to that! When they saw Jesus, they were seeing God! 413
One of the most important claims in the Bible is with the simple expression as
Jesus walked on water is, “it is I”. 414 That claim literally was,
“I AM”! Jesus there on the water claimed to be JHVH – the One True God! From
his ability to control the waters, it was obvious that Jesus Is God in the
flesh!
Herod established it – Jesus is the victim. Because Jesus is the face of
God, God can be killed by killing Jesus. It is doctrinally important to
understand that killing Jesus was more than killing a man. The murder attempt
was on God Himself. Bill “O’Reilly co-authored Killing Jesus. 415 In that commentary, O’Reilly examined
the forsenics of killing the Son of Man - Mary’s son. In this commentary, the
evidence is presented that the Son of God was crucified, focusing on Jesus’s
fleshly attribute of God. Jesus’s death fulfilled his purpose “Yahweh saves”!
God had to die that mankind could be saved. It’s not the race that He created
but each individual within the race. Satan seeks to kill God. He found out that
it was easier that One should perish
rather than all! With God incarnated, Satan has his One and only opportunity to
physically kill God.
It wasn’t even Satan’s idea! All the righteous biblical patriarchs looked
forward to God’s death as a means to salvation. Adam knew that, Noah did, and
Abraham did too! Even sinful King David knew that God would die for mankind.
Because Satan is God’s self-proclaimed adversary, God picked him to do the
dirty deed. In the beginning Satan spoke through the Serpent. Judas Iscariot
was the wily serpent the next time 416 after Herod failed. In between, Satan had one more trick up his
sleeve.
However, in war there is collateral damage. Innocent people are killed
because they are in the way. With Herod, there was the “Massacre of the
Innocents”. Like Pharoah before him, Herod, the not so great ordered
infanticide is his quest to kill God! This was prophesied By Jeremiah years
before Jerusalem was ever destroyed. 417 Satan cares little for
collateral damage and killing male children under two years old was just part
of his scheme. Even the unborn in this modern age is Satan’s calculated attempt
to foyle God!
Life is sacred to God; so sacred that he commanded, “thou shalt not
kill”. 418 Satan kills with impunity, or so he thinks! Even innocent life is a valuable tool to
demean God. When killing becomes a matter of convenience, it’s perturbs God’s
disposition. God is an angry God, 419 and the reason He’s angry is
because of hatred, of which murder is the worst form. 420
Some believe the Massacre of the Innocents never happened because it wasn’t
recorded in history. Another tactic of Satan is that the victor writes the
story. Of course, Herod was no victor, but it is not likely he would have even
allowed that to be recorded! Who would? Christians have an obligation to accept
the Bible as truthful. 421 Hence, God is truth and Satan was a liar
from the beginning. 422 Chico
Marx once said, “Who are you going to believe; me or your lying eyes?” I ask, “Who
are you going to believe; God’s truthful Word, or Satan’s lying mouth?” It’s firm
for the Christian: if God said it, it’s
truthful.
Abdication:
When there is a pretender to the
throne, oftentimes before assassination is attempted, the unwritten humane rule
is to allow the king to abdicate. Many have done that, most notably Russian Tzar
Nicolas II in 1917 by the revolutionary Russian government. 423 In
like manner, Satan tried to get God to abdicate – to renounce his throne and
the dignity of His authority. 424 Because he is not as clever as he pretends,
Satan used the same temptations to tempt God as he did to tempt Adam and Eve
back in the Garden. It worked before and would surely work again! Satan promised things to get God to abdicate: (1) lust
of the eyes, (2) lust of the body, and (3) pride of life. 425 These
things are materialism, hedonism, and egoism, respectively. 426 In
the beginning the serpent tempted with beauty, great food, and prestige; the
same materialism, hedonism, and egoism. 427
Satan asked of Eve: What is your
pleasure? Eve responded by eating of the fruit, confusing Adam, and disobeying
God. Her defense mechanism was to blame the serpent, and Adam, in turn, blamed
Eve! Jesus did not eat of the fruit which the serpent offered and had no need to
blame anyone! Adam and Eve suffered guilt; Jesus did not! Thus, God’s innocence
was established. 428
And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Wherefore, as by one
man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned.
It is imperative to know that an
innocent “Man” was killed although others were the guilty ones! Just as the
crooked power-seeking judge in a rump courtroom, Satan has no qualms about
character assassination. In fact, Satan laughs when the just are done unjustly.
That’s just the nature of the “beast” because the Beast is one nature of Satan.
The three are the dragon, the first beast and the second. They are Satan, the
antichrist, and the false prophet. 429 Just as the Holy Trinity is
the traits of God, perhaps the Unholy Trinity are the traits of Evil.
God
is the Existence of “good” for only God is good. Therefore, evil is the absence
of goodness, and is represented by Satan, just as “good’ is by Jesus. Goodness
is total righteousness. Evil is total depravity. It seems that mankind,
although depraved, has a spiritual void which must be filled. Most choose depravity
and others righteousness. Calvinists believe that man is so depraved – totally –
that he cannot choose good at all. Many have an issue with that because of
guilt. Adam tried to cover his own shame with fig leaves to no avail. He had neither
the power nor authority to do that but that was his will. Adam had some degree
of self-examination, knowing that he needed reprieve. However, it took the Word
– Jesus pre-incarnate – to actually cover his sin. 430 Not by
coincidence, the blood of an innocent animal was killed the first time for the
covering of sin.
The
Unholy Trinity is real just as the Holy Trinity is! The three may be the Evil,
the Autocratic ruler who claims to be God, and the withered Church. All are
evil natures of Satan! It was this mutant beast who confronted God and wanted
his authority and throne. It was God’s time to laugh because it was all His
already. Satan acted as if he was god but God had self-awareness. Jesus knew
that He was God. Just as mankind is born with a sinful nature, God was “born”
good with no propensity to sin. Jesus knew that he was God from the beginning,
and as John the Baptist said, “the one who came after me was before me!” 431
403 Merriam-Webster Dictionary;
“Adam”.
404 Holy Bible; Nehemiah 8:5
405 Wikipedia; “Herod the Great”; “John
Hyrcanus”.
406 Holy Bible; Gen 14:13
408 Morris Jastrow, Ira Maurice Price,
Marcus Jastrow, Louis Ginzberg, & Duncan B. MacDonald; "Babel, Tower
of", Jewish Encyclopedia; Funk & Wagnalls, 1906.
409 Holy Bible; Numbers 16
410 ibid; mat 9:27; Mat 12:23 and
several others.
411 ibid; Mat 2:16
412 ibid; Exod 33:17-33
413 ibid; John 14:9
414 ibid; John 1:20
415 Killing Jesus; Henry Holt &
Company: New York, New York; Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard; 2013.
416 Holy Bible; Mat 27:3
417 ibid; Jer 31:15
418 ibid; Exod 20:13
419 ibid; Psalm 7:11
420 ibid; 1 John 3:15
421 ibid; John 17:17
422 ibid; John 9:44
423 Woods, Alan; 1999; The First
Russian Revolution.
424 Holy Bible; Mat 4:1-11; Mark
1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13.
425 ibid; 1
John 2:16.
426 Wikipedia; “Temptations of Christ”.
427 Holy Bible; Gen 3:5-6
428 ibid; Rom 5:11-12.
429 ibid; Rev:11:7; Rev 13:1-10;
Rev 17:7-18.
430 ibid; Gen 3
431 ibid; John 1:15
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