Kingdom Come

“And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem…then sent Jesus two disciples…ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me…All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet:

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass…and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be…to the ends of the earth.” (Zechariah 9:7-10)

“And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers...And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. 

And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them…a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And…cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest…This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.”  (Matthew 21)

So far, so good, but Jesus is waiting for the rulers to cry “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

Which they didn’t do.

From John 11:

“Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha…When Yahweh’s Savior / Yeshua  heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby…he abode two days still in the same place where he was.”

• Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.
  • His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews / Rulers of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
• Yeshua answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him… 

What?! Sounds like totally disorganized thinking, what psychiatry labels as “flight of ideas” no sequencing of thoughts at all. “The Jews are trying to kill you” followed by “There are twelve hours in a day.” But no. You have to keep Yeshua’s foundational message in mind, which he repeated over and over as the fundamental premise for faith in his message.

Yeshua is calming his disciples – “I still have time to accomplish my work before darkness / destruction, death has its time.

This is absolutely consistent with his work recorded in Genesis 1. See the post “In the Beginning God” if this isn’t making sense to you.

Back to the Lazarus incident.

•  “These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
  • Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
• Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.
  • Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellowdisciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him. [Yep, even Yeshua’s disciples can’t take him at his word yet, they need to see another miracle.]

And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. [His main audience who Yeshua wants to convince, because God PARTNERS with HIS HUMANS!”

Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Yeshua was coming, went and met him: Then said Martha unto Yeshua, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But! [That doesn’t matter because]  I know [WHOM I HAVE BELIEVED AND AM PERSUADED] that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee [like the other prophets Elijah, Elisha, etc.].

• Yeshua saith unto her, [You are right]. Thy brother shall rise again. 
  • Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day [but I’d really like him to rise again right now, please!]
• Yeshua said unto her, I – I! – am the resurrection, and the life – [the Promised Seed of the Woman Savior]: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
  • She saith unto him, [slowly, falteringly, staring up into his intense eyes] Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

This is it! Martha is not basing her faith on what this preacher-man Jesus has said, but on what the word of God says, the promise that God would send the Seed of the Woman to rescue humankind from the curse of sin and death. And this is what Yeshua is waiting for – humans to believe and receive him as the Savior of mankind.

Mankind has dominion including FREEDOM TO CHOOSE. If an individual doesn’t CHOOSE to believe, Yeshua can’t save him from the consequences of his free choice or there isn’t really freedom, right?

And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.

Why? Because she remembers and is applying what Jesus taught.

• “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
• Again I say unto you, That if [just a minimum of] two of you [manifesting the likeness of God of unity in diversity] shall agree [with my father’s will] on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven [in order to effect “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10]
• For where two or three are gathered together in my name of YHVH, there am I [and my father are one] in the midst of them. ” (Matthew 18:18-20)

Out of that massed crowd of so-called followers of Jesus bewailing and lamenting the death of Lazarus, there was only one person with the faith to apply Jesus’ teaching. And it wasn’t a single one of the twelve disciples who accompanied the Lord Jesus full time for the last three and 1/2 years and were ordained apostles by him.

As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him…she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Yeshua therefore saw her weeping [hopeless], and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled…wept.

Is there going to be enough faith in the mix to empower a miracle?

God-controlled energizing miracles, like human-engineered magic, require hyperdimensional forces to override the four dimensional laws of physics, some of which are the spiritual attributes of faith, hope and love.

Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?

Yeshua therefore again groaning in himself [hasn’t anyone been paying attention to his purpose – to redeem from DEATH!] cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Yeshua said, Take ye away the stone.

• Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
• Yeshua saith unto her [glaring deeply into her eyes and enunciating slowly and meaningfully], Said. I. Not. Unto. Thee, that, if – IF – thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
• THEN they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid.
• And Yeshua lifted up his eyes, and said, Father [prayer, another hyperdimensional force], I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
• And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin.
• Yeshua saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
• Then many of the Jews / Rulers which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Yahweh’s Savior / Yeshua did, believed on him. 

Proof that Yeshua is the Promised Savior who frees mankind from the bondage of sin and death!

But! In defiance of the proof! Nicodemus’ legal colleauges decided to secure their petty temporal political power by eliminating Yeshua altogether.

Now this is psychosis. A human being believing that he/she can defeat the One who holds power over death.

• But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Yeshua had done. 
• Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place [top of the heap, highest authority] and nation [brotherhood of rulers]. 
• And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Yahweh’s Savior / Yeshua  should die for that nation; And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. Then from that day forth they took counsel [conspired] together for to put him to death [assassinate their rival]. 

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem [idiomatic for the rulers], thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, [prophecying to a later generation of rulers in Jerusalem, including, by the way, a young Pharisee named Saul who fortunately for us Gentiles was converted to the Melchizedekian paradigm] Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord / YHVH [not David!]” (Matthew 23)

Calling out “Blessed!” means giving once’s resources to that individual, i.e. submitting one’s self as a subject to Jesus as King, which was done by multitudes of the common people.

But fulfillment of this Melchizedekian prophecy requires overthrowing the current World Ruler on whom the current Hellenized rulers, AKA Jews, depended for political, social and economic power. The Romans would indeed swoop in and, as they had done previously with the Hasmoneans, replace their ineffective quislings with more effective governors. In fact, this is exactly what they did shortly after this.

But the Jewish rulers were between a Rock and a hard place because, if they allied with Jesus they would also lose their power because they would have to hand it over to him. The high priest, usurper that he was, knew the scriptures well enough to know that “the Christ / Messiah / Anointed One” is AKA “the Son of YHVH God,” i.e. Melchizedek.

“And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy.” (Matthew 26:63-65)

Nowhere in scripture is there a law that says an individual can’t claim to be the Son of God.  How else would scripture be fulfilled? This is utterly denying the Word of God.

Like Herod’s law to slaughter the infant boys, this was a new law passed by the current lawmakers on the spot to safeguard their illicit power granted to them by the Roman god, son of god Caesar.

“Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe…

• When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.
• Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.
• The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. 
• When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid [because pagans know what that means – this is a superhuman spirit-powered individual.] And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.” (John 19:5-11)

The viciousness of the rulers’ power struggle with Jesus betrays their deep terror that he could win it, as he had already won the hearts and minds of the people. Their desperation is recognized by both the locally ethnic king Herod and the foreign overlord Pilate, who began to feel a mix of emotions toward the man who is causing such a stir. They express awareness that he is being treated unjustly, and they have had so many power struggles of their own with the Jews that it is only reasonable that they consider making him their new regional religious / political ally. However, Jesus wasn’t playing that game, so Rome’s men then maintained, and even strengthened, their uneasy alliance with the existing local political-religious rulers.

“And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing. And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him. And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate. And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves. And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him: No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him.” (Luke 23:8-15)

“And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar…We have no king but Caesar.“ (John 19:12-15)

The Jewish rulers were very serious when they publicly proclaimed their subjugation to Caesar. Given their recent bitter loss of autonomous power to Caesar and his minion Herod, this underscores just how utterly opposed they were to Jesus becoming their king, and diagnoses how truly anti- Messiah / Christ they were.

It is extremely important that we sidebar here to impress the point that John always uses the label “Jews” to refer to the rulers / lawmakers / judges, contrasting with “the people” who are those ruled, see John 7.

This class distinction, so well understood in the Roman terms patrician and pleb. was fundamental to all ancient through medieval societies. The rise of democracy in relatively recent times was supposed to eliminate a powerfully oppressive class, but its continued existence can be recognized in the enduring favored status and prerogatives afforded to European royalty, the fundamental identity of Communism as class struggle, and favored status of wealthy individuals who become the elite everywhere.

If we bear in mind that “the Jews” who clamored for Jesus’ death were a small fraction of the entire nation we can avoid the mistake of calling the entire nation – who became known as Jews after the exile from the land of Judea – “Christ killers.”