Monday, December 11, 2023

HAVING A RIGHT PERSPECTIVE OF YOURSELF

The disciples followed Jesus wherever He went. Disciples were not the same each time, but probably a rotation of people. For instance, many of the same crowd that waved palm leaves when Jesus entered Jerusalem for his impending triumphal ride were likely there the following week when He was crucified and yelling, “Crucify Him!”

Disciples were not just followers of Jesus but pupils. They followed Jesus to learn about Him. Of course, Jesus was God in the flesh, just as He contended, but was seen by many as a king of Judea. Those who followed Him would soon discover that he was a different sort of fellow; He was not a ‘king’ but more so a servant. He was very unlike King Herod or his eldest son.

His kingdom was and is not of this world, but His pupils knew history; kings had power and those who followed kings obtained power, so their question should have been anticipated, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” They were there to learn, so this was a very significant question.

Who do you think is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? not withstanding the obvious; that God is the greatest there as He sits on His throne.

They were seeking who of themselves would be greatest in the Kingdom of God. Usually, the greatest in the kingdom would be the royal family — anyone of the gens of the king. Usually, the oldest son would be greatest and at that period in Israel’s history, Antipater should have been the greatest there. He, however, was killed on orders of his father, as one of the contenders for Herod’s throne. Antipater was noted for his deception, blaming everybody but himself to be adversaries of Herod.

Antipater was the epitome of who should not be the greatest in the kingdom of Herod. He was a plotter and schemer. He believed that as the oldest that he deserved to be king.

Herod had eliminated many who would have been greatest in his kingdom and most of those were his immediate family.

Herod had tried to eliminate Jesus as one of the contenders for his throne. He tried to murder Jesus, the newborn king, in the massacre of the innocents. In his will, Herod, according to Josephus, plotted revenge that after he died, his death would not be announced, but the contenders for his throne be slaughtered.

Antipas died because of he was the eldest and would be king based on the law of primogeniture. However, Caesar would need to ordain any candidate for kingship.

Antipas was far from innocent. He was the author of court intrigue. Herod would determine who would be his heir and it would not be Antipater, Mariamne (his wife), Alexander nor Aristobulus (his sons), or even other close relatives. Who would be greatest in the Herodian kingdom changed from day to day.

No wonder the students questioned Jesus about the line of descent in His Kingdom. Would it be one of the apostles? One of the Herodians, A member of the Sanhedrin? One of the chief priests? Or even one of them?

Jesus proved to be different; “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 18:3).

Both Alexander and Aristobulus were humble and neither ever sought to be king, but like Jesus, they were killed.

Antipas was arrogant and deceptive. His M.O. was to diminish others to elevate himself. As it turned out, the Herodians skipped a generation. Herod Agrippa (the grandson) was the last king of Judea, replacing the Herodian throne that had been empty since AD 6.

There was no king in Israel, and just as in days past, things went wild! During the time of the judges, “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Jud 17:6). The same was true when Judea had no king from AD 6 to AD 41 from the day of Jesus’s majority until after His death.

Jesus was obviously the greatest in the kingdom of Judea when the disciples asked that question. Were they aware that Jesus was the legitimate king of the Jews as the ‘son of David’? Surely, as students they would know that. Wisely, though, they were more concerned about the Eternal King and His court, not just the Judean kingdom which was just a small part of the Herodian kingdom.

By asking that simple question, they identified Jesus as ‘King of kings.’ They wondered who would be next in line in heaven after Jesus, in the same manner as who was in line for the Herodian throne.

By the same token, the apostles were wondering about that as well, to wit: 

Answered Peter and said unto Him, “Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed you; what shall we have therefore?” And Jesus said unto them, “Verily I say unto you, ‘That you which have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of His glory, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel’” (Mat 19:27-28)

 The short answer may have been, all you apostles will be equal but none but Me shall ever be king in heaven!

Those who followed Jesus all the way to their deaths would be judges, and there would be one King. Unlike Herod, Jesus would never need to worry about who would be king!

Jesus told the disciples the first step to greatness: You need to get there first before you worry about that! “Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 18:3).

Jesus was King of Heaven because He was the gens of God and the only legitimate heir to the Throne by blood. His was by the Law of Primogeniture — the firstborn son who should be king.

To enter the kingdom of God required conversion, a turning around, perhaps back to newborn children. In other words, to enter the court where God sits requires a rebirth (‘born again;’ John 3:7) wherein those who are converted are done so by engendering from God above.

God engendered to make Adam in His Image by breathing life into his forehead. As such, God imbued the mind of Adam with His Image, or Shadow. In other words, Adam had the Holy Spirit of God placed in his soul to make it alive.

Hence, born again is to die to the world to live in the realm of God. A Christian dies to the world by circumcising the heart, or the flesh.

Conversion is basically allowing God to cut off the flesh, not just the foreskin, but all the desires of all the flesh. The flesh is full of pride and lust. It is the idol to whom people bow and it requires appeasement.

To appease Antipas would have meant that Herod and Caesar would both agree to make him king. That would satisfy his fleshly desire to be great. However, Antipas died without ever becoming king.

Jesus satisfied his own qualification, speaking with the authority of God: “Whosoever therefore shall humble Himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 18:4).

Jesus was noted for His humility; He was the Servant of servants — He would even wash the feet of the apostles. He humbled Himself and qualified as greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, and for any others to be greatest there, they must follow His example.

“Whosoever” — any of them, not just the apostles — must humble themselves. That is to see themselves in a proper perspective; that they are of the Wicked One and deserve death. That is because their gens are of Satan (Lucifer) who seeks to be greatest in the Kingdom of God (Isa 14:13-14). The fact that any person seeks to be great disqualifies them as potential kings or even judges.

Rather than be concerned about greatness in heaven, they should have asked the question that Nicodemus asked, “How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?” (John 3:4). Of course, Jesus revealed how to be born again, but for now settle that you must be turned around from what you are; you must be changed.

That raises another question, just what are you before rebirth?

David found out and revealed it; “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51”5).

Rather than formed in the Image of God, the image was of the Wicked One (nahas) — like a snake.

You must have a right perspective of who you are. You must never have undue self-esteem because that is a prideful perspective. Like He called the Pharisees, ‘vipers,’ Jesus would see any sinner in the same perspective. We all are like our ‘father,’ the devil (John 8:44) and that is not something to have pride in, nor is it righteous to behold yourself with high estimation.

To change requires that you are not what you could be to be what you must be. Pertaining to your own selves, in the New Testament there are only two must be’s: (1) You must be born again (John 3:7), and (2) you must be saved (Acts 4:12).

‘Rebirth’ is the cause and ‘saved’ is the effect. Hence, to be made great requires rebirth by the Spirit of adoption by God (Rom 8:15). To enter heaven requires a great change, from a natural born child of the devil to a supra-natural child of God.

Just like Tiberius Caesar was adopted by Augustus to make him great in the manner of his adoptive father, anybody must be adopted God and be of His Household to be made great.

Humbling oneself is the criteria that Jesus used. That means understanding that you do deserve neither heaven nor greatness, but know that you are like a beast that desires a regenning to even be of God’s kind!

When John Newton wrote the song, Amazing Grace, he got it mostly right. ‘Such a worm as I,” is very close to, Such a snake as I.

To contend for greatest first requires that you understand that you are not now great. You must reconcile that you are more brutish than godly and seek genetic improvement that only God can provide. It is a simple procedure — you must see Jesus as God to be born again. It is not what you do, but to understand just who God IS and that as God, Jesus can do it, albeit you cannot change who or what you are by yourselves.

If you had the power to do that, then you would be the god. Humbling yourself is understanding that there in One True God and that is neither you nor any other contender for greatness.



 

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