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| Jesus' teachings on Hell, part 3 |
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Mat 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
This has a long prelude:
Commissioning the twelve
Mat 10:1 And when He had called to Him His twelve disciples, He gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.
Mat 10:5 Jesus sent out these twelve, commanding them, saying, Do not go into the way of the nations, and do not enter into any city of the Samaritans.
Mat 10:6 But rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Here Jesus gives an emphatic instruction that they were only to preach the Good News to the house of Israel in other words the Jews.
Mat 10:7 And as you go, proclaim, saying, The kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
Mat 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. You have received freely, freely give.
The Jews were waiting for a warrior Messiah and the reestablishment of the Davidic kingdom. The disciples are instructed here to proclaim the kingdom is at hand. The proof of this would be that they would:
1. Heal the sick
2. Cleanse the lepers
3. Raise the dead
4. Cast out demons
Healing the sick makes sense all on its own if seen only as physical. Notice that there are three specific conditions highlighted, the lepers, the dead, and deliverance of demons; all of these are indications of sickness.
Now did any of the disciples raise the dead? No. There is only one account of Paul raising a “dead” young man that had fallen to his death. Acts 20:9-12 but even here it most likely he was not dead in the first place. In fact it was only with Jesus who we have real accounts of raising the dead.
We need to look at the sickness and demonic deliverance side of this ministry.
We need to define what is sick.
G770 ἀσθενέω astheneō as-then-eh'-o
From G772; to be feeble (in any sense): - be diseased, impotent folk (man), (be) sick, (be, be made) weak.
G772 ἀσθενής asthenēs as-then-ace'
From G1 (as a negative particle) and the base of G4599; strengthless (in various applications, literally, or figuratively and morally): - more feeble, impotent, sick, without strength, weak (-er, -ness, thing).
I have highlighted some alternate meanings other than physical ailments.
Now with leprosy, you need to read this article to see that in fact that Tzaraath which is what leprosy was translated from was not in fact leprosy but could be a number of skin diseases and even things like dry rot/mould in houses; in essence a biological disorder of various fungi.
Needless to say, this was seen as a punishment from God and not a disease per se and as such these people were usually excluded from the community and were in modern day terms excommunicated. The fear was not of physical infection threats but rather moral infection.
Like I have mentioned earlier, in the other two studies, here in Leviticus 14 we again see the ignorance of the Levite Priests. Remember, the Hebrews had elected to hear from Moses as opposed to directly from God.
Exo 20:19 And they said to Moses, You speak with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, lest we die.
Now the Levites obviously had some cleansing ceremonies and one would assume there were cures for bad hygiene. However here we clearly see a blame shift taking place; enter religion and bondage and guilt trips.
I am sure Jesus was very aware of these lewd practices and traditions and that is why leprosy was singled out. Notice it speaks of cleansing the lepers and not healing the lepers; there was obviously a natural remedy for these diseases.
Let us look at the cleansing of lepers by Jesus
Mat 8:2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.
Mat 8:3 And Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, I will; be clean! And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Mat 8:4 And Jesus said to him, See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest. And offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.
This is paralleled in Mark 1:40-45.
So we have one cleansing of lepers carried out by Jesus. Do you not find that odd?
And Jesus was in the house of Simon the leper when a woman came with an alabaster vial of pure, costly ointment of spikenard. And she broke the vial and poured it on His head (Matt 26:6-7)
So clearly, Jesus was not threatened by any threat of infection. This too was likely indicative of Jesus spending his time with the rejects of the day and not with the elect of the day. Lepers were outcasts.
Jesus was the only One who raised the physically dead. Could it be the dead that were to be raised were the spiritually dead?
Let us look at the phrase “raise the dead”
Raise G1453 ἐγείρω egeirō eg-i'-ro
Probably akin to the base of G58 (through the idea of collecting one’s faculties); to waken (transitively or intransitively), that is, rouse (literally from sleep, from sitting or lying, from disease, from death; or figuratively from obscurity, inactivity, ruins, nonexistence): - awake, lift (up), raise (again, up), rear up, (a-) rise (again, up), stand, take up.
Dead G3498 νεκρός nekros nek-ros'
From an apparently primary word νέκυς nekus (a corpse); dead (literally or figuratively; also as noun): - dead.
Now if the translators had said “Waken the dead” we would have an entirely two different understanding. The way the two Greek words are used here is the same as we would say “Live life to its fullest.” With that in mind we could say
Waken from sleep, from sitting or lying, from disease, from obscurity, inactivity, ruins, nonexistence the dead.
Now that has a whole lot more meaning than simply raise the dead don’t you think?
By now you should see, the religious order of the day had the folk obscured from God, inactive apart from the Levitical rituals, they were essentially in ruin and as far as a relationship with God went, nonexistent. There was no life in them. They were dead.
Fast forward 2000 years, what has changed? We have dead religion, we have rituals, we have no more now that what those folk had back then, hopelessness.
Lastly we have the casting out of demons.
In Mark we see:
Mar 6:12 And they went out and proclaimed that men should repent.
Mar 6:13 And they cast out many demons, and anointed many who were sick with oil, and healed them.
In the Luke account we see that 70 were sent out and;
Luk 10:17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us through Your name. (Literal)
Luk 10:18 And He said to them, I saw Satan fall from Heaven like lightning. (metaphorical)
Luk 10:19 Behold, I give to you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the authority of the enemy. And nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luk 10:20 Yet do not rejoice in this, that the evil spirits are subject to you, rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven.
I need to digress here to address these verses.
The disciples recognized by whom they had authority over demons yet Jesus opens with I saw satan fall from the heavens like lightning. Traditionally this is tied up with Revelation, Isaiah and Ezekiel where Lucifer is cast out and becomes satan who also was the serpent in the garden.
Jesus was in fact stating what He was seeing happening. Satan was being cast out falling from the heavens (high places – minds of men) at His Name. He then goes on to say authority is given to tread on serpents and scorpions. Now was Jesus being literal here? No. He is highlighting the authority we have over the enemy.
I dare you to go stand on a Cobra, rattlesnake or a poisonous scorpion with bare feet and legs. If you have no anti-venom, be prepared to die.
rejoice because your names are written in Heaven. Is this now literal or is Jesus still speaking metaphorically?
Literal? Well then that means; you must cast out demons, you must tread on serpents and scorpions or else your name is not written in heaven?
Jesus could have said this differently. Rejoice that this has been revealed to you, you now have the realization of who I am. Do I have another witness to this? Yes I do.
Mar 4:11 And He said to them, To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But to those outside, all these things are given in parables.
Luk 8:9 And His disciples asked Him, saying, What might this parable be?
Luk 8:10 And He said, To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But to others I speak in parables, so that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not understand.
Up to this point, the disciples were all appointed/called and sent out. Nothing they did was of their own free will but delegated to them by Jesus. He had though various teachings revealed the kingdom of God and they had, had the opportunity to go exercise this. Let us see if my two witness texts line up?
Luk 10:21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in Spirit and said, I thank You, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the sophisticated and cunning, and have revealed them to babes. Yes, Father, for so it was pleasing before You.
Luk 10:22 All things are delivered to Me by My Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son will reveal Him.
Luk 10:23 And He turned to His disciples and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see.
Luk 10:24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen them, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard them.
See here, there is a distinct principle that revelation takes place. So it is not about having your names written in the “Big Book” in a pie-in-the-sky heaven now is it?
It is important to understand the context and even more important to see the hidden spiritual message too. What I have shown here is merely by detailed understanding of context and a touch of the spiritual.
Mat 10:9 Do not provide gold nor silver, nor copper in your purses,
Mat 10:10 nor a bag for the journey, nor two coats, nor sandals, nor staves. For the workman is worthy of his food.
They are told not to make any financial or natural preparations for this.
1. No gold nor silver nor copper in their purses
2. No bag for the Journey
3. No change of coat
4. No extra sandals
5. No Staves
A workman is worthy of his food.
Again this part is cherry picked by the faith movement and although holds truth is not really what Jesus was talking about.
Think about it literally. You get sent on a mission. You will pack a suitcase (bag) right? There will be at least a change of clothing (change of coat) more than one pair of shoes, OK you would not likely pack a stave. Now Jesus is saying do not even do this. Why is this? Let us read on.
A synoptic text here is needed from Luke.
Luk 10:7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking the things shared by them; for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Do not move from house to house.
Mat 10:11 And into whatever city or village you enter, inquire who within it is worthy. And there abide until you go away from there.
Mat 10:12 And when you come into a house, greet it.
Mat 10:13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come on it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.
They are told to:
1. Inquire who is worthy
2. Abide there (Luke adds they are not to move from house to house)
3. Greet the house
4. Let their peace come upon that house
5. If found to be unworthy, their peace was to return to them.
So the money part is understood here as they would be provided for but why no change of clothes?
Luk 22:35 And He said to them, When I sent you without purse and wallet and sandals, did you lack anything? And they said, Nothing.
Think of a hitchhiker. Now which one will you be more likely to pick up, one with little or one with much baggage? Likewise a stranger coming to the home of someone, who would likely be invited in, one with no luggage or one with much luggage?
Let us look at the word Inquire
Inquire G1833 ἐξετάζω exetazō ex-et-ad'-zo
From G1537 and ἐτάζω etazō (to examine); to test thoroughly (by questions), that is, ascertain or interrogate: - ask, enquire, search.
At a first reading inquire who is worthy sort of suggests asking around who are the good folk here and of course that would be really subjective. However to ascertain, interrogate, search out has the whole different meaning.
Remember they were told to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead and cast out demons. By this they would not be mixing it up with the religious but the outcasts and the oppressed.
Using deductive reasoning, surely these miracles would have been heard of and the religious would certainly have been curious who these simple folk were performing these miracles. I know it does not say so this could well be written off as speculative. OK on the literal sense, let’s look at it this way;
Come into town, ask who the good folk (worthy) are, go to them, do you think they would be invited in as stragglers? I guess not.
So if you do a few healings and miracles, cast out a few demons, cleanse some lepers and wow before you know it, the news of the pair of strangers would spread like wild-fire. Now who do you think would be the first to come make an official enquiry?
The religious, the Pharisees? Obviously the followers of the Levitical laws had no supernatural powers and now the two strangers perform outside of their rituals healings and deliverance. Now they would be invited into the homes of the influential don’t you think? Surely the best meals would be offered and shelter to sleep over? It still happens today.
This is called reading the white BTW.
They would invariably get the question “By what authority do you do these things?” (sound familiar?) The door would be opened and then the strangers would be able to tell of Jesus of Nazareth and to witness of Him and His works. We shall see how accurate this assumption of mine is.
Now there would be questions and answers, and I am sure that the strangers would have said much the same to these pious and righteous as what Jesus said to His unbelievers, “The sick are healed, the lame walk, the lepers cleansed…” Taking this further, here now were complete strangers and some would embrace them and accept the message but very likely the religious of the day, the Pharisees would feel threatened as now their “powers” would be up for questioning by many. Likely these would be the ones that ran them out of town.
Mat 10:14 And whoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when you depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
Mat 10:15 Truly I say to you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.
They are told whoever does not receive them of hear their words:
1. They are to shake off the dust from their feet
2. A judgment worse than Sodom and Gomorrah awaits those.
The worthy therefore were the ones who embraced the message of the kingdom.
Mat 10:16 Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.
Mat 10:17 But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the sanhedrins, and they will scourge you in their synagogues.
Mat 10:18 And you shall be brought before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them and the nations.
Mat 10:19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak; for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak.
Mat 10:20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.
1. They are sent out as sheep among wolves
2. Told to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves
3. Foretold that they will be delivered up to the sanhedrins to be scourged in the synagogues
4. Brought before governors and kings
5. A testimony against the nations
6. Told not to prepare what they should speaks as it will be given of the Holy Spirit
Aah so my interpretation is not so far fetched after all is it?
Who are the wolves? Is that the world or the religious?
The wolves are the false teachers, the ones holding to dead doctrines of men, the ones who rob people of a relationship with God through dead rituals, false teachings.
Act 20:29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Jesus goes on to say:
Mat 10:21 And brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. And the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death.
Who delivered up people for stoning and judgment by the Levitical laws? The Scribes and Pharisees and of course the religious elect.
Mat 10:22 And you will be hated of all men for My name's sake, but the one who
endures to the end shall be kept safe.
Who hated who? Those embracing the liberty in Jesus were hated by the “religious elect”.
Mat 10:23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee into another; for truly I say to you, In no way shall you have finished the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.
Who did the persecution? The “religious elect”.
Mat 10:24 A disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Mat 10:25 It is enough for the disciple that he is like his master, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more those of his household?
Who is Jesus talking of here? The sinners/outcasts or the “religious elect?”
Mat 10:26 Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and nothing hidden which shall not be known.
Mat 10:27 What I tell you in darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear, proclaim on the housetops.
Mat 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
This entire passage, the focus is once again on the “religious elect.” It is they that are threatened with Gehenna, it is their attitude that is under discussion, it is their religion that is under discussion. The worthy are the outcasts and the few religious that would repent from their ways and embrace the opportunity to have a relationship with the Father through one mediator, Jesus Christ.
So here we have the 4th reference to hell and hell is aimed at the religious neither the rejected nor the sinners.
See by now you should be seeing a pattern that hell, Gehenna, that place of destructions of the “unrighteous” the criminals the down and outs by Pharisaical standards, was the place Jesus said they will all end up in.
By now you should see, Jesus did not come to bring a new religion to replace the Old Covenant, He was abolishing the Levitical rubbish and fulfilling the law and He was showing the people a Father of Light and of Love.
Just like the times of the Pharisees, Jesus and Paul prophesied of the impending false prophets that would come and again mask this truth with pious religious nonsense and once again, make man captive to the satanic devices of men known as religion.
Religion is bondage.
Religion derives its meaning from the ancient word Religāre which literally means "to bind up" How much more opposite can one get. To say I am religious is to say I am in bondage. If you are yoked to Jesus only, that bondage will in essence be a light burden.
[Origin: 1150–1200; ME religioun (< OF religion) < L religiōn- (s. of religiō) conscientiousness, piety, equiv. to relig(āre) to tie, fasten (religāre to bind, tie; cf.
[Middle English religioun, from Old French religion, from Latin religiō, religiōn-, perhaps from religāre, to tie fast; see rely.] (source) How much more opposite can you get to: Whom the Son sets free, is free indeed.
Re - LEGION “for we are many”
Many reject my teachings as I teach a Loving God who will not torment His creation. How different is that to the passage and what I have shared here differ from that of the Pharisees? Was Jesus not also an offence to the religious?
Rom 9:33 as it is written, "Behold, I lay in Zion a Stumbling-stone and a Rock-of-offense, and everyone believing on Him shall not be put to shame."
Even today, the offence remains; the true message of Jesus.
Read Matthew 7 with this mindset and you will come away with a new understanding.
Blessings |
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| To add a comment to "Jesus' teachings on Hell, part 3" |
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| November 26, 2007 |
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Thanks for this teaching. I did again read Matthew 7. I cannot remember where this verse is but it goes something like this:
He that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
Cathy. |
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| November 26, 2007 |
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Hi Cathy
The only two things Jesus cast out were
1. Demons
2. Money Changers |
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| November 26, 2007 |
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Seeker,
Hell is for those who do not believe...or accept God's plan for Salvation. Respectfully, I would say that I myself wish that hell was not a reality. But having been chased by hell...before The Salvation Of My Soul...Well, it's there. He died for all...but all will not accept Him. He came to save all, but do not believe.
You have the right to your beliefs and I am sharing mine, considering myself the lowest of the low!
Blessings,
Cathy(Forgiven) |
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| December 28, 2007 |
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Well Cathy
Take the doctrine you have been taught and show me how God's plan works for those who never ever hear of Jesus before they die or died?
Romans 1:18-20 does not cut it as that was written to believers, not unbelievers.
Hell is a reality, the grave or the rubbish dump Gehenna, I am not saying it was not real, I am showing to whom the hell teachings were directed to. The way it is traditionally taught, proof texts are taken out of context and strung together to enforce a belief system.
Blessings |
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