Born Again series: The Parable of the Sower

 Then Jesus said to them, “If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables?" Mark 4:13, NLT

Shema!

•     “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.” Mar 4.9, 23;
•       10 times on the lips of Jesus throughout the Gospels!

1. What is the seed?

The seed is called by various names which will end up meaning the same thing:

·       "the word,” 

·       “the word of God,"

·       "the word of the Kingdom,” i.e., the Gospel or good news.

NOTE the word of God is not the Bible, aka the scriptures!

 

2. What is the Kingdom? A Gospel of Peace

·       Dan. 2:44; Isa. 2:4; 11.6-9.

Repent and believe: Mar 1.14-15.

The Kingdom is always near but not here!

·       Ezekiel 30.3; Zeph. 1.14 writing in the 7th c. BC;

·       Joel 1.15, 9th – 5th c. BC;

·       Obadiah 15.15, 5th c. BC.

 

3. Born Again Now!

·       Rebirth by the seed = the word, 1 Pet 1.22-23;

·       Produce fruit now! Mat 3.8; 7.16;

·       Become children of God now! Jam 1.18.

 

4. You Choose: Different paths!

·       Rocks, thorns, Luke 8:13-14

·       Satan seeks to take away the seed: Luke 8:11-12; cp. 2Thess 2.10;

·       Choose the right path! Luke 8.15; cp. Col 2.7.

The Born Again process:

·       Hear and understand the word about the KOG: Eph. 1.13.

·       Act by repenting, changing your lifestyle/worldview: Mar 1.15.

·       Plant the seed deep in your heart/mind and bear fruit: Luke 13.19

·       Obedience of faith then comes by baptism: Acts 2.38.

·       Be led by the spirit-seed, renewing your heart/mind every day: Eph. 4.23.

·       Preach the Gospel-seed to all the nations: Mat 28.19.

3 Days and 3 Nights

The NT says Jesus was raised from the dead:

• on “the third day" (8x, Mark 9:31; 10:34, Luke 9:22; 13:32; 18:33; 24:7, 46; 1Cor 15:4).

• "in three days" (3x, Mark 15:29, John 2:19-20).

• "after three days" (once, Mark 8:31).

• and once Jesus said that he would be raised from the dead after 3 days and 3 nights (Mat 12.40).

But note that for Matthew the phrases "in 3 days" (Mat 26.61; 27.40) "after 3 days" (Mat 27.63) and "3 days, 3 nights" (Mat 12.40) mean the same thing!

So there are two biblical methods being employed here:

• The Hebrew way of counting time and

• Hebrew idioms.

When counting days, the Bible generally uses inclusive counting.

This means you include as day 1 the day you start counting.

For example:

• Genesis 42:17 says Joseph imprisoned his brothers for 3 days and released them on the third day, i.e., before the completion of a full 3 days.

• 2 Chronicles 10:5 the king says: Come back after 3 days.

Yet, v. 12b says the people reported back “on the third day just as the king had ordered."

NOTE: when in actuality the king had said after 3 days not on the third day.

• Esther 4:16 tells Mordecai to fast for 3 days, “and afterward go to the king" but then Esther 5:1 says she went to the king on the third day.

• Genesis 17:12 says that a child is to be circumcised at 8 days old.

But Luke 1:59 says Jesus was circumcised "on the 8th day." 

And Luke 2:21 uses the expression: 

"When 8 days were accomplished."

The Jewish Encyclopedia, Volume 4, page 475.

"Circumcision takes place on the eighth day, even though of the first day only a few minutes remained after the birth of the child, these being counted as one day."

In Luke 13:32 Jesus uses this method of counting inclusively when he says that he will keep on casting out demons and healing people “today, tomorrow and the third day.”

If we apply this method of counting to his resurrection it would look something like this:

Friday crucifixion (today), the Sabbath (tomorrow) and Sunday (the third day).

As we see in Luke 24.21 on the first day of the week, i.e., Sunday afternoon, the men walking on the road to Emmaus said it was "the third day since all this took place.”

That is, the crucifixion.

So counting backwards we have:

In Luke 24:21 the men were despondent because they knew that God, in OT prophecies like Hos 6:2, had promised to restore "Israel” (represented by the Messiah) “on the third day."

They were also expectant because God had performed many miracles on the third day:

• Exo 19:11 YHWH says to Moses:

”Be ready, because on the third day I will intervene with a miracle.”

• Gen 22.4 on the third day Abram was told to kill Isaac; Heb 11.19 adds that this was a type of the resurrection.

• John 2:1 On the third day Jesus performed his first sign-miracle at the wedding in Cana.

(See also 2 Kings 20:5, Est 5:1).

This was well-known by Paul when he writes in 1Cor 15.

3 For I handed down to you as of first importance what

I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

So the phrase 3 days and 3 nights is understood as a Hebrew idiom, i.e., a way of speaking and not to be taken literally, as a 72 hr period.

Because any part of a day is taken as the entire 24-hour period; which obviously would include the day time plus night time.

Thus, Mat 12:40 describes the same period of time as the other verses, i.e., the third day, Sunday, resurrection day.

This firmly places the crucifixion on Friday.

carlos@thehumanjesus.org

Born Again series: The Kingdom of God (handout)

                                         How do you get born again: John 3:1-5

1.    What is it?

·       Jesus’ purpose statement: Mar 1.14-15; Lu 4.43;

·       The promise of God to Abram, Gen. 12.1-4;

·       “It’s all about the Land,” Tom Cox;

·       The same promise of Jesus: Mat 19.27-29[1];

·       OT context, Dan 2:44; cp. 7:14, 18, 22, 27;

·       Always “near” never here: Mt. 3:2; 4:17; 6.10; 10.7; Mk. 1:15; 11.10; Lk. 10:9, 11; 11.2; 17.20; 19.11; 21:31;

·       The 3Rs  = Restore, Regenerate, Rebirth, Mat 19.28;

 

2.    Who are you ruling over?

·       The Widescreen Gospel: Gal 3.8, 29;

·       The “surviving [remnant] nations”: Isa 19.16-24; Ezek. 36.36; Zech. 14.16;

 

3.    Where will the Kingdom be?

·       Mount Zion, Jerusalem: Ps 2.6;

·       “On [not over, from heaven] the Earth: Mat 5.5; Rev 5.10;

 

4.    When will the Kingdom Come?

·       First, “no one knows…only the Father”: Mar 13.32; Acts 1.7;

·       In the OT “On that day” code word for the day of the Lord God, in the NT the day of the lord Messiah = his parousia;

·       Aka “the end of the age”: Mat 13.39; 24.3;

·       Immediately after the Great Tribulation: Mat 24.29.

 

 

carlos@thehumanjesus.org

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[1] Compare: Christian triple honor, 1Pe 1.7. Thus, “the kingdom of Christ and God”: Eph. 5.5; Rev 11.15; cp. Jesus = David, Mar 11.9-10.