Tuesday Evening Program

Transcript

so

[Music]

thank you brother chairman good evening brother and sisters

now i hope the teenagers can see me

because according to brother bob within three years i become invisible

i nearly killed myself laughing in bed last night over that one i thought that was good

but well brothers and sisters tonight i'm gonna go slower how about that because i haven't got any set well i've got to set time to finish but my notes don't demand any climax you see so i'm sorry for going quick in the abraham studies but i want to go slower tonight because i want to show you what i think

is one of the most is not one of but the most satisfying method of interpreting the bible

now i've had many people come to me and they say brother john how do you go about your study well there is you can give all sorts of advice about that

but brothers and sisters one of the great things is memory

memory is a very large part of bible study

and you want to do all in your power to retain your memory and one of the things you can do to retain your memory is this

when you buy a bible and you become familiar with it when it wears out buy one exactly the same

now that's good advice that's not meant to be funny that's serious you never ever ever change your bible

and i would tell you this too you don't change your versions when you're reading because you're going to destroy your memory believe me brothers and sisters this has been the most valuable asset to me has been my memory my education in the world was zilch

i'm uneducated one of those galilean fellows but but i have a memory and i can remember things and i read things and i say hey i remember when i read that before and what i want to show you tonight is this satisfying method of bible exposition satisfying for this reason but i believe that i hope i can anyway i hope i can demonstrate to you tonight that when you see these things they're going to be self-obvious they're going to be obvious to you it's true

you see we might quote a verse of scripture and we may say we think it means this and someone else might say yes but i think it means that

and one of us might be right and both of us might be wrong

but when the bible

quotes the bible

then you've got god telling you what his word means

and it's not a question of getting down and looking at the text and trying for your mind to invent a meaning that might be there but just watching the page to be told what's there and it's absolutely thrilling when you see that happen now i've got several examples i've got here tonight i don't think we're going to get through all of them because i want to go slowly over this i want to show you some of these gems of the scripture and they're all in the life of the lord jesus christ because he is the word made flesh

and and i know we believe that

but brother and sisters in my study of his life which has now gone over about 10 or 12 years in our class at enfield i've come to really believe that

that everything he did everywhere he went and everything he said was rooted in the old testament scripture

now i want to show you that and how he was able to allude to those scriptures that when you go have a look at the context of them it's absolutely magnificent and the meaning is obvious when you see it but you just have to have a memory

now take this one in luke chapter four

the lord goes back after his baptism to nazareth where he was brought up

and as his custom was he goes into the synagogue

and they deliver unto him the book of the prophet isaiah

by the way that's a quotation in itself but we won't deal with that just that very statement comes from isaiah 29 and when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written and he quoted isaiah 61.

the spirit of the lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance to the captives and the recovering of sight of the blind to set it liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the lord now that's the middle of a sentence

and when he got in the middle of that sentence luke records what he did very deliberately he stopped in the middle of a sentence he closed the book

he went over and gave it to the minister of the synagogue

and sat down

and the fact that that was unusual was proven that every eye in the synagogue was on him they were fascinating as luke

what on earth would he be stopped in the middle of a sentence for and why did he deliberately close that book

deliberately give it to the minister and deliberately sit down

i want to take you back where he quoted because he's quoting this is taken from the septuagint version i want to take you back to the old testament to isaiah 61 and we're going to find out what it was that made him sit down at that point

now i understand that everybody in this room has got two hands

so with the other hand i want you to turn up to numbers leviticus rather leviticus 25

i want isaiah 61 first and then we're going to go over to leviticus 25.

right

and you'll see brothers and sisters when we get here what i mean by memory

you don't have to be an einstein to have a good memory you just got to have a good memory

in isaiah 61 this is the quotation and this is an expression here which is not in luke

but which gives us the whole meaning is why he stopped in the middle of a sentence and sat down

and we read in verse 1 the spirit of the lord god is upon me because the lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings under the meek he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of prison to them that abound

to proclaim the acceptable year of the lord and that's when he sat down

but it goes on to say and the day of vengeance of our god to comfort all that mourn

see the verse is about the year

the year the acceptable year of the lord and the day of vengeance

now the little phrase the two words

which are the key to what he meant are those two words in word verse one proclaim

liberty

because when you read them they are a clear echo of leviticus 25 that's where they are coming from

we come back to leviticus 25 we read about the year of jubilee

okay

verses 9 and 10

then thou shalt cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land

and ye shall hallow the 50th year

and here it comes proclaim liberty

throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof it shall be a jubilee unto you and you shall return every man unto his possession and ye shall return every man unto his family and you think about it

you know we were taught many years ago and we all believed this and it seemed so logical to us that the reason that jesus stopped in the middle of a sentence because he couldn't read on we thought because what was coming was in the future the day of vengeance about god we said was in the future and therefore he stopped there because it was in the future brothers and sisters it's exactly the reverse

now you see when he quoted isaiah 61

and stopped at the year of the lord and sat down get back to isaiah 61 you get the two words proclaim liberty

they take you back leviticus 25 and the vinegar 25 it says on the 10th day

in the 49th year on the 10th day of the 7th month they blew the trumpet to proclaim the year of jubilee

the acceptable year of the lord

and the reason that the lord stopped brothers and sisters was because

it wasn't because the day of vengeance was future it was because it was then right there and then that he was fulfilling it now you come back to luke chapter 4 and see what it says

look what it says

let's read it again

you see it's the day that come first the year that followed

they proclaimed the year of jubilee on that day of atonement which came first so the day of atonement was first then the year followed later on and so we read in verse 19 to preach the acceptable year of the lord he closed the book gave it again to the minister and sat down and that's symbolic in jewish terms brothers and sisters of a finished work

and the eyes of all them with the synagogue were fastened on him

and he began to say unto them this day

is this scripture fulfilled in your ears and he said that sitting down

and there sitting down was a work that was being accomplished this day

is that scripture fulfilled in your ears and the message was loud and clear to those people in the synagogue if they wanted to be in the kingdom of god at the final jubilee period with the year speaks of the of the millennial reign of christ there's no way they're going to be there unless they first accept the atonement that he was offering them

and so it was the atonement that was present it was the kingdom that was future

you see the point

and therefore he was telling them that and he told them that sitting down

now brothers and sisters just listen to this

the jews you know never understood the principle of the day of atonement when they offered two goats

one was to be slain as the scapegoat and the other one was to be let go free into the wilderness

and the idea behind that of course it was god exhibiting the death and the resurrection of our lord

but the jews never understood the resurrection principle and because they confessed on the head of the live goat all the sins all the transgressions all the iniquities and all the uncleanness of the children of israel they were very superstitious and they thought you know if that goat comes back into the camp he'll bring back all our sins with us but not understanding that it was the life of the lord that bore away that that gave us the opportunity of life we're reconciled to god by the death of his son was saved by his life and they never understood that

and you can pick up any jewish history book do you like

and i recommend you read edishain dr edersheim's work on the jewish traditions in his temple and services in the days of the lord on page 139 and he'll tell you what they did with the goat

they led it to a brow the hill

and pushed it over backward just have a look at verse 28

and all day in the synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath

and rose up and thrust him out of the city

and let him under the brow the hill where upon their city was built that they might cast him down headlong

now you imagine that

and you know brothers and sisters they wouldn't have done that because they understood what they were doing they would have done that in their anger in their envy but he would have known and when the lord turned around and walked back down to the crowd because that was not the way he was going to die and they shrunk before him he walked through that crowd he would be thinking to himself how typical that was of the jewish attitude

now if you were reading carefully in isaiah you would have noticed that he said to preach the acceptable year of the lord and the day of

vengeance of our god

why did isaiah change that when it should have been the day of atonement and the lord would have known brothers and sisters

by the very change of the prophet from the day of atonement of the day of vengeance that they weren't going to accept him

and anybody who did not afflict their souls and accept that great national offering on that day was themselves rejected by the vengeance of god

and he would know by the very term of the prophet that they would not accept him and so as he left as he came to the end of his ministry he brought his disciples together and said now you beware because these be

the days of vengeance

now you see how wonderfully that is done

how the lord by standing up in that synagogue and doing that was to draw their attention that wonderful principle that if they want to be in the kingdom of god well here's their atonement

and if they don't accept that they never can be the kingdom because if they never blew the trouble on the day of atonement the year of jubilee would never be ushered in now what a marvelous application of scripture that is

they just come to john chapter four

and with your left hand genesis 33.

that the lord is moving out of judea and he must go through samaria

we read that in verse three he left judea and departed again at a galilee and he must go needs go through samaria

then he comes to a city of samaria which is called psycha

now note this brothers and sisters don't miss this near

to the parcel of ground

that jacob gave to his son joseph

now jacob's well was there

jesus therefore being wearied with his journey

sat thus on the world look how john puts that

you want to treat this bible with utmost respect look how that's put

so he comes to this little place in shechem which was called cycad little village there by shechem and there was jacob's well

and there was that little piece of ground that little territory that jacob gave to his son joseph and he's wearied with his journey says john and in that sense of weariness he sat thus on that well and you can picture the scene as the lord came there knowing this was saturated with history as he sat down and he was tired and weary he sat down he went ah and he'd relax at that well he'd think immediately of jacob at that world why would he

because of genesis 33.

and it was the very action of sitting there i believe in that weary state that would have triggered off this thought in his mind and he would have been prepared for what was going to happen he would have been well prepared for what was going to happen now here's the word coming alive and here's the lord jesus christ interpreting this and he would have known exactly what was going to happen

we run through this and so we read that jacob's on his way back from peyton aram and chapter 32 of genesis he was crippled by god he struck him on the thigh and made him limp terribly he was in awful pain

but in genesis 33 and verse 18 it says and jacob came to shalem

a city of shechem now they're not two name places

he actually came to shechem

shalem is an adjective

it's a related word to shalom

peace

and the word shalom means to be made one

but the word shalem

means to be made whole

to be made whole

and you imagine jacob coming to shechem and he's going oh he's got this he's shockingly crippled and he comes to shackle and

he sits down and oh

and god healed him

and jesus come there

oh

right there

you see what happened then in genesis 33

and he bought a parcel of a field

where he had spread his tent at the hand of the children of hamor shechem's father for a hundred pieces of money so there's your little parcel of ground which he later on gave to joseph and he erected an altar there and called it el eloa israel you know what that means god the god of israel and right there jesus said the woman of samaria salvations of the jews

god god of israel right there

so you see what's happening

by the very action of sitting down experiencing exactly the same as jacob experienced right there he sat thus on the well

now brothers and sisters

why did jacob give that little piece of ground to joseph

and what did it mean

you see it wasn't a double portion of the firstborn no it was it was quite singular it was just an extra piece a little piece of ground that jacob gave to his son joseph now we've only got to work out as jesus would have well and truly known all this and far more than we would ever know to know what was going to happen at that well

because this is what it was all about

you see joseph had two sons he fleming manasseh

born in egypt

and when jacob came down there he adopted those two boys into his own family in reality he really did he wasn't just being emotional like a grandfather he really meant it

and he said thy two sons who were born in egypt shall be mine

as reuben and simeon are mine so heath frame and manasseh shall be mine he said in genesis 46 and he says the children you shall have hereafter shall be yours but these boys are mine

and so you see

joseph whose name means the increaser

increase the family of israel by adoption

and jesus is knowing that that little piece of ground therefore was symbolic of the gentile

segment of the hope of israel which was given by jacob to joseph and it had that symbology that the family of god was about to be increased by adoption now you think that's a bit stretched listen to this you know about barnabas we won't turn this up because you probably know the record

barnabas was not his right name acts chapter 4 says his name was joseph

what did he stand for joseph means the increaser to add to

and adding to the family of israel by adoption of people born in egypt but adopted by jacob into the family of israel that's what joseph stood for in the record so here's this barnabas chap and his name is joseph and with news in acts chapter 11 when news came to the jerusalem ecclesia that gentiles were coming into the truth in antioch up in syria they were worried about it they didn't want this to happen they were fearful that there'd be an influx of these you know these loose and liberal gentiles which would destroy judaism and they were worried about it so they sent forth barnabas

who when he came and saw the grace of god says luke was glad

for he was a good man and full of the holy spirit of faith and much people were added

to the lord and they were gentiles and his name was joseph

and they were added to the family of god gentiles by joseph

so here is the principle of this little piece of ground the very fact of sitting there in that weary state he sat thus on the world triggered the mind that he was jacob and jacob had given that will to the gentiles we know that because the woman of samaria told us we wouldn't know that from the genesis record she told us that our father jacob gave us this swell and the man that dug the well speaking of the promises of god had given it to the gentiles so it was all fitting into the framework

but there was one other reference brothers and sisters

a classic in genesis 49

absolutely wonderful

in genesis 49 we have the blessings of jacob upon his sons

just have a look at the blessing of joseph

verse 22 of genesis 49

joseph

is a fruitful bowel

even a fruitful bowel by a well

whose branches

run over the wall now what that means is this that that well was an exceedingly good world and therefore they would have protected it with a parapet they would have built a little parapet around that

to protect that from the animals coming up there that they might draw water and the thing not cave in

and so joseph is a fruitful bow and he's a fruitful bow by a well

whose branches

run over the wall the margin of my bible says

whose

daughters whose daughters

run over the wall

if that will represented the promises brothers and sisters the wall around it was the law that the jews had built to keep gentiles away

and here he is

sitting there

ah oh

jacob came here and did that

he bought a little parcel of ground here belongs to joseph

he increases the family of god by adoption

that's the principle of the thing

somebody's going to come up here

then he would have thought of genesis 14

49. he jacob is a proof of our bio well and that's where he is he's by this well and daughters are going to run over that wall and here she comes

and up come the woman of samaria he was all prepared for it wasn't he

incredible and up she come and the lord patiently spoke to her

coaxed her along and brought her to the understanding of the truth

and a daughter ran over that wall and became an adopted israelite and joseph had increased the family of god by adoption [Music]

now listen to this she went back to her compatriots

and spoke to him about this wonderful man that she had met we come back to john chapter four

just around this a little cameo off of the as it is written

she went back brothers and sisters and and she told them about this wonderful man and they got him to stay with him for two days

so verse 40 says so when the samaritans would come unto him they besought him that he would tarry with them and abode their two days and many more believe because of his own word now listen to what they said and they said unto the woman

now we believe

not because of thy saying but we have heard him ourselves and know

that this is indeed the christ the savior of the world they're the only people that ever called him that that's the meaning of joseph's egyptian name

zaphnath pania means exactly that

and these samaritans called him that the savior of the world joseph's egyptian name so you see brothers and sisters here is a man there's a walking bible

he was imbibing his father's word not only in what it said but in the very circumstances of his life in the very places that he was it was breathing the bible

and in the very act of sitting there

that wonderful mind would take all that in and he'd be fully prepared for that woman and as a daughter of god she was to run over that wall

and drink deeply of the living water of life what a remarkable book this is

it's a wonderful thing to be able to to trace that through like that

now let's look at luke chapter 12.

luke 23 rather we'll take that one first let's have a look at luke 23.

the lord is on his way to the cross

and the women were weeping that there were professional mourners that were hired by the jews to weep for condemned criminals some of them may have been sincere and some of it was very insincere and in luke 23 we read in verse 28 but jesus turning under them said daughters of jerusalem weep not for me but weep for yourselves and for your children

but behold the days are coming in the which they shall say blessed are the baron and the womb which never bear and the perhaps which never gave suck

then

shall they begin to say to the mountains fall on us and the hills

cover us that's from hosea chapter 10

and verse 8.

let's have a look at the context of hosea

he's on his way to the cross

just an example of the context of jose you see brothers and sisters it's a question of running these things back and carefully reading the context and just see the whole sweep of what he's saying what he's trying to allude to the things we that he's trying to get people to think about

and here is a case in point where the lord was instructing us to read between the lies

now i'm going to read certain statements to you from hosea chapter 9 verse 7

right through to hosea chapter 10 verse 8 and you listen to them

and just imagine this as the lord quotes hosea 10 and verse 8 but look what precedes it chapter 9 verse 7

the days of thy visitation are come

and when he rode upon that cult into the city and he came to the broward olivet he looked over that city he said this if only you knew the days of your visitation

if only they'd known that this was the era that god was going to visit them to try and save them but they didn't know it the days of thy visitation have come the next thing he did brothers and sisters was to get off that little animal and he went towards the temple and he looked at a fig tree and he saw it had all had leaves on it but there was no fruit verse 10 of chapter nine

i found israel like grapes in the wilderness

i saw your fathers as the first right in the fig tree of their first time and he come looking for the early things they were not there

he cursed that fig tree

because it represented the nation of israel all leaves and no fruit

the next thing he did was to go into that temple

and overturn the tables and the money changes and chased out all the animals they were selling and drove them out of the house look at verse 15.

halfway through the verse

i will drive them out of my house

having done that brothers and sisters he came out and it was peter that noticed that fig tree

and he said lord the fig tree's dried up from the roots

look at verse 16 of chapter nine

he frame is smitten

their root is straight up

and then when they finally had

lied about him and procured the sentence of death from from the pontius pilot they did so with the words of chapter 10

and verse 3

for now they shall say

we have no king and all you've got to put there is but caesar

and on the way to the cross he quotes chapter 10 and the bottom of verse 8 they shall say to the mountains cover us and to the hills fall on us

isn't that a remarkable sweep of prophecy

and it's all in order exactly as the lord performed it and it's all between the lines

that's no coincidence brothers and sisters and his mind would have been there as among many other places as he spoke those words to his contemporaries

you like this isn't that interesting now you take john 19. look at this

the soldiers

gamble for his clothing

and in john chapter 19

and in verse 23

we read then the soldiers when they had crucified jesus took his garments and made four parts to every soldier apart and also his coat now the coat was without seam woven from the top throughout they said therefore among themselves let us not rend it but cast lots for it whose it shall be and then of course he quotes psalm 22

that fulfilled the psalm that they parted my raiment among them and cast lots upon my vesture and so forth and it was a fulfillment of psalm 22 but there was a reason they didn't tear it

and the lord hanging on the cross watching that scene brothers and sisters his heart would have been full as he watched that happen because he knew exactly what that symbolized

and let me tell you

under the law of moses

when the high priest and his sons got up in the morning

they the sons put on their white garments for their duty and they were fully dressed with their white garments on and the priests the high priest put the undergarments of white upon himself but he's not fully dressed

the next row be put on was called the robe of the ephod

and this all is found in the in the book of gen in the book of exodus chapter 28

but we won't turn this up and this robe of the ephod said this

it had a hole

in the midst of it

now a piece of cloth

with a hole in the middle in new testament terms is one woven without seeing

and they had to get that hole and they had to sew it up it says like a coat of mail

so they got to work on this collar sewing and sewing and sewing and sewing and they made it like a band of steel and the reason was that it'd be not rent

now the priest would pull that over his head and it would grip him around the neck

and then he would put on top of that the garments of his priesthood the colored garments of glory and beauty now you see what's happening he's got the same undergarments as his sons but he's got extra clothing on top he's got the clothing of the high priesthood and between the two sets he's got this robe which is gripping him around the neck then they anointed him on the head psalm 133 unity this is unity they anointed him on the head it ran down through his beard even aaron's beard not anyone's beard the high priest with maturity

and ran says the authorized version to his skirts that is totally wrong it ran to his collar

didn't go any further and the word skirx in psalm 133

is exactly the same word for that hole in exodus 28 and what was happening was this the head of the body was anointed and the collar was saturated now brothers and sisters because nobody could tear it

nobody could tear it it formed one with the rest of the clothing

and therefore whatever was happened to the head

the body benefited that's unity

if someone got a pair of scissors and snipped around the bottom of that collar and created a gap the head would remain anointed but the body wouldn't

and so divine unity consists of hanging into that head so when paul wrote the colossians and of the ephesians he used that figure to the colossians he said they were not holding the head they'd let go they created a gap and when that gap is created the body's not in fellowship with god they've lost the christ

so the colossians are not holding the head they'd let it go

but the ephesians he said that we grow up into the head that every part of the body every sinew every vein every muscle he said is used in cooperation together that as brothers and sisters we we work together to grow up into that head and lock into it when we locked into it then whatever happens to the head happens to the body

and he's watching that piece of garment

i've never seen a piece like it

woven without seam

there's no way in the world that could ever be torn

soldiers had no idea of the significance but in the providence of god jesus watched them gamble for it and he knew brothers and sisters that when that happened

that unity would be affected by his death because that was the very symbol of that piece of garment and it's john that picks up that significance

just take while we're in john we might as well do a couple of hit while we're in john here in verse 17

and bearing his cross he went forth into a place

called the place of a skull which is called in the hebrew golgotha

and we say well the place of the skull so golgotha means the place of the skull well well it doesn't really mean that

it does have that significance but it's not its primary meaning and if we get the direction here from john that it's in the hebrew tongue then we'll take the hint and we'll go back and have a look where it is in the hebrew and again i wanted to turn the references up because you know that i don't tell lies that there's there

but you see golgotha is used primarily in only one sense in the old testament scriptures and that's the number people to number them

for example you read it in the book of numbers chapters one and two it says so many people according to their polls polls that's the word golgotha

numbered

and he was numbered with the transgressors that's what john says in the next verse and when they crucified him two others with him one on this side another and jesus in the midst he was numbered with the transgressors you know what brothers and sisters how that word is rendered elsewhere in the 16th chapter of exodus in verse 16 when they gathered the manor it says they would have taken oma

for every man those three words are golgotha

so they would have been numbered so that everybody shared equally with the manner

so they took an oma for every man in hebrews chapter 2 and verse 9 paul says he tasted death for every man

and here is golgotha in the hebrew tongue therefore indicating to us the representative nature of our lord's offering just a little hint from john in the hebrew tongue

now we'll stay in john for a while

let's have a look at verse 20

verse 29 rather

well take verse 28 after this jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished

that the scripture might be fulfilled now the word accomplished means finished of course the same thing is but in the greek it says these things are finished how do we know that

because you see brothers and sisters he knew that because he knew that he could not die before the jews killed that passover and were painting the doorposts and the littles with the blood he knew that that was the hour he had to die and there's a particular reason for that which we're not going to go into now but there's something else that was finished

and he knows it's finished and he's looking down on the ground and he can see that his father has provided everything necessary

his father is presiding over this whole affair he saw that with the garment he understood that by the name of the place where he was crucified and now he looks down there and he sees the very things he wants to see and he knows that the hour has come to finalize his sacrifice and brothers and sisters jesus never died in the sense that he just died

matthew mark

luke and john

all say he yielded up the

spirit the father had given into his hands he said i have power to lay down my life and i've got power to take it again the power to take it again was to live a perfect life and that guaranteed his resurrection the power to lay it down was with him brothers and sisters he had that power

and the father had given it to the hands of the son that power that at any time he could die when he liked but the father said you know what i want

and jesus knew therefore with the will of god being such as it was that men should be saved and not lost knew that he must complete that law it has to be completed because if it's not then it's not discharged it's his father's law you just don't remove it you've got to discharge it and he knows he's therefore got to do this for the salvation of the world but his father left it to him free will brothers and sisters but nonetheless the scripture had to be fulfilled

and so he watches the sun between the two evenings the hour has come for the passover and on that ground is what he needs now this is what happened

see under the law there was a very very significant offering the red heifer three reasons why it was

really significant and unique of all the offerings and they were these

it was the only animal that was sacrificed entirely outside that camp

some animals the body was burned outside but the blood was brought to the tabernacle but here's an offering that's entirely made out there the only one that was

it was the only sacrifice under the law that could remove the taint of human death

if you fell over an animal you were unclean until the evening if you went back next day to bury the animal and made deliberate contact you were unclean until the evening and you washed your clothes in water if you touched the body of a man the bone of a man the grave of a man or if you're in the tent where a man died or if you rode a saddle upon which someone fell off and died if you came in proximity to the death of man

then you had to go outside the camp to the ashes of the hepa and the water and the and the sprinkling of those ingredients made you clean so it was the only one that could remove mortality

and thirdly

it was the only sacrifice efficacious over and over and over again because they had the ashes

a little pinch of them mixed with running water one heifer a huge animal would supply the ashes perhaps for the lifetime of one priest

so here's a sacrifice outside the law

it's a sacrifice that can remove mortality and law can't do that

and it's one sacrifice for sins forever

now

when eliezer

the high priest elect not the high priest that then was but eliezer the high priest to come was to make that sacrifice

and that animal was slain in his sight he had a what should die twice that he said in numbers 19.

jesus knew therefore the stark reality of what was happening knew that he had to watch that thing happen

and then he was to take a piece of cedar wood

he was to take a bunch of hyssop the priest and a scarlet thread

now if i gave you a piece of wood

a little bunch of hyzer that soaks up liquid and a scarlet thread what would you do with it

he'd make a mark

you'd put the hiss up there

he'd wind that scarlet thread around and that would be the mop you see by which they'd put in the running water which was mixed with the ashes and that was used to sprinkle

so i've got a piece of wood i'm the priest say i've got this issue and i've got the thread

and then the law of moses said

throw it in the fire

hey

in it goes the wood went in burnt scarlet's red went in burned the hyssop breathing burned

he sees the hour has come the air has come there's the sun in the right position he knows the passover is being fulfilled and now the law is going to be totally finished he comes to that unique offering and he looks down and he sees a piece of wood

and he saw the vinegar

which it was indicative of the weak wine of his blood and although john doesn't say this i'll guarantee that someone left a red thread there

and he said i thirst

now jesus didn't say that brothers and sisters to relieve his suffering because he he didn't do that on the cross he refused the drug they gave him he drank the cup to the full so when he said i thirst it had nothing to do with his personal uh satisfaction

nothing to do that at all it was a command from heaven and john said the soldier ran got the piece of wood grabbed the hyssop wound it on and touched his lip he said that's it

and the law went everything went with it and we're here today because of that

and you see what happened that he would have known those things disappeared into the fire

gone and hundreds of years later symbolically they turned up at the foot of the cross he saw them all down there

it's all over and so he called to his father and his father answered him didn't he took his life or he yielded up the spirit rather knowing was all over it says he yielded up the spirit he had no longer any need to hang on and the son cooperating with the father with his free will the father said you have power to lay down your life but you know what i want and the son willingly brothers and sisters went on breathing in agony until that moment of history when he called upon that soldier to do that action and by that he knew the law was gone and everything the lord ever spoke about was out of the way and the will of god could now be done to save men and women and for the kingdom of god

there's a whole lot more than that in the bible but that's my time is up but believe me brothers and sisters that is a very satisfying way of studying the bible just reading that record carefully listening for the echoes

and remembering them and running that back and having a look at the context

and sometimes you know we hear similar language similar language does not necessarily mean that there's a connection don't try and make a connection but when you've got the similar language or a straight quotation run it back and find whether the context is the same and if it's a quotation if it's an illusion it will be exactly the same i've never found it any different and i find that an extremely satisfying way to study the bible because i don't have to say what it means i just watch it i just watch it running through there and the father is saying to me john look at this look at that look at that and it's a very satisfying way to do it because i haven't thought about anything i've just stood there and watched it and remembered what was written and just linked it together and the message comes out brothers and sisters so crystal clear and when it does it's so obvious and so satisfying and now you begin to understand that the lord jesus christ was indeed the word made flesh