Broken

You have heard the expression … "Dust to dust." That's what we came from and that is what we will be in the end. We are just clay, shaped by God our creator, into an earthen vessel, like a pot or a pitcher.

What are pots or pitchers used for? They are designed to hold or carry something; let's say, like water. Water is a good example. It is necessary for life. We drink it, cook with it, bath in it, grow food with it, fish in it, play in it and on and on, etc.

I want to take you back to a day years ago when a man called Jerubbaal, found another use for three hundred empty earthen pots or pitchers. He is better known as Gideon, a farmer's son, and as such was employed in the business of agricultural.

In fact, on the day I am speaking about we find Gideon at home threshing wheat in private, working under an oak tree so as to hide his wheat from the Midianites.

Judges 6:1 … "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years." God had allowed the Midianites to conquer Israel and steal not only their crops but livestock as well.

Vs. 11 … "And there came an angel of the LORD …" and sat under that very same oak tree or one near it, if perhaps Gideon was working in a clump of oaks. The word LORD means …"Self Existent One, eternal Jehovah, the Lord."

I believe whenever the (angel of the LORD) appeared, it was always Jesus … "the Word of God" … manifested in bodily form. After Jesus became flesh, born of Mary, the angel of the LORD … never again appears to man.

Observe how the Lord found Gideon … all alone. God often makes Himself known to you when you are alone, out away from the noise and madness of this world. Silence and solitude many times opens the door and creates an opportunity for God to speak not just to us but with us.

Vs. 12 … "And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valor."

Vs. 15 … "And Gideon said unto Him, who me? I am the least in my father's house. I'm not a man of valor, just a farmer." (My translation)

So, here we have this young farmer, doubting himself … just like we do many times … even after the Lord tells him in person, that he is the one chosen by God to free Israel from the Midianites.

Vs. 36-40 … Gideon wants even more assurance then just the word of the Lord (if that is possible) so he asks for a wet wool fleece which God honors; but even that is not proof enough. He now asks God for another fleece … but this time Lord, make it dry. Again God, in His loving patience does what Gideon asks of Him and finally convinces him that it would be by God's hand only and not Gideon's that will cause the Midianites to be defeated in battle.

Gideon has now gathered thirty-two thousand men for his army. But God said it was too many … He didn't need all of them. So Gideon sends home all the men who were fearful. Now he has only ten thousand men left with him.

But God says to Gideon … "No, still too many men."

So God tells Gideon … "Take them down to the water and have them drink. Only those who continue to watch as they lap the water out of their hands will be your army."

Gideon now has only three hundred men left out of the original thirty-two thousand he started with. Okay God says … "That looks about right. With this few men, no one in Israel can boast of their own victory."

Judges 7:16 … "And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers."

Vs. 17 … "And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise."

This reminds me of the Apostle Paul when he wrote in 1st Corinthians 11:1 … "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ." In the Amplified Bible it reads this way … "PATTERN YOURSELVES after me, follow my example, as I imitate and follow Christ (the Messiah)."

Vs. 18-21 … So Gideon, and all the men that were with him stood every man in his place around the enemies camp in the middle night and blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the lamps in their hands, and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon. And the enemy ran and fled. (Edited)

So today, what can we learn from the story of Gideon? I have already made the comparison of the clay pitcher with the man that God formed from the clay.

Genesis 2:7 … "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground …"

That's why God named the first man Adam. The word "man" in Hebrew is … "aw-dawm" or Adam … which means red or ruddy, made from red clay dust.

We are a vessel (like that pitcher) and God has made us for a purpose. So, if we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour … the Holy Spirit has placed within us a measure of the life that Christ had within Him.

In John 1:4-5 we read … "In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness …"

We are vessels … just like the earthen pitchers Gideon and his army used to carry their lamps in. The light needed to rout the enemy with was … hidden in their vessels … but the pitchers had to be broken to expose the light hidden within.

Many times God allows … LIFE … to be the source needed to crack open or break the outer shell so that the light in the heart of our vessel can be exposed to the world. Sorry … but that's the hard truth. Many times He doesn't intervene for reasons only He knows.

But be of good cheer …

Psalm 34:18 … "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."

Psalm 51:17 … "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise."

So expose the light of Christ that is within you … or your vessel may need to be "broken" to allow it to properly shine.

Many times God puts our "Faith" on trial. A trial is the act of testing something, trying something to find out about it, an examination process or the act of undergoing testing.

Gideon was tested … are we any different?

The Three Days

I have been asked to give a short discourse on the following question …

"Where was Jesus during the three days His body was in the tomb?"

I feel very inadequate trying to answer this question, so as always I will rely on what little I believe the Word hints at concerning this subject.

The three days … wow. Where do I start? Some question why Jesus made the statement to Mary Magdalene in the Garden when He said to her in …

John 20:17 … "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father …" K.J.V.

The word "touch" in this verse is "haptomia," and in the original Greek means to attach oneself … in other words … to grasp hold of, to hold back, and to restrain from leaving.

The Amplified Bible says it this way … "Jesus said to her, Do not cling to Me [do not hold Me], for I have not yet ascended to the Father."

It's not so much (as some teach) that Jesus, had not yet presented Himself to God the Father now that He was purified and set free from all the world's sin that had been placed on Him as He hung on the cross. Some have said that no one was allowed to touch Him because it would have tainted Him in some way before He (for whatever reason) had ascended in bodily form to His Father. I don't believe this was what He was saying to Mary.

I think Jesus was simply saying to her … "I am going to leave, don't try to hold me back, don't try and keep me here." (My translation)

It is just my speculation but I believe Mary Magdalene had a special type of relationship with Jesus. (No, they weren't lovers or married like many have tried to say today.) Jesus had changed her life; they enjoyed being together, laughing, eating, walking, perhaps just sitting on a hillside talking and sharing time together.

In my mind I can see her giving Him hugs, perhaps even brushing His hair away from His eyes, you know, little things that showed her love for Him. If she had been used to touching Him, no doubt she reached for Him out of habit, to hold on to Him again. I think that's why He said what He did to her.

She had seen Him die … but here He was. I have no proof of this, but I believe it was this special relationship He had with her that is the reason she was allowed to be the first one to see Him after His resurrection, even before His disciples.

Of all those who traveled with Him, she may have been the one who had the most complete understanding of His life changing, cleansing power of salvation. It was she who had seven devils cast out of her by this man called Jesus who came into her life. Mark 16:9 … "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils."

Bishop Pearce wrote the following about her …

"Mary Magdalene is commonly thought to have been a prostitute before she came to the knowledge of Christ, and then to have been a remarkable penitent. As such, historians and painters represent her: but neither from this passage, nor from any other of the New Testament, can such a supposition be legitimately drawn. She is here represented as one who had been possessed with seven demons; but Mary Magdalene, by her behavior, and constant attendance on Jesus in his life-time, at his crucifixion, and at his grave, seems to have exceeded all the other women in duty and respect to his person."

Jesus speaking to Mary Magdalene was one of the first things that happened at the end of the three days. So, what was He doing during the three days?

The Apostle Paul states in …

Ephesians 4:8-10 … "Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)" K.J.V.

I like how the Amplified version reads …

"Therefore it is said, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive [He led a train of vanquished foes] and He bestowed gifts on men. [Ps. 68:18.]
[But He ascended?] Now what can this, He ascended, mean but that He had previously descended from [the heights of] heaven into [the depths], the lower parts of the earth? He Who descended is the [very] same as He Who also has ascended high above all the heavens, that He [His presence] might fill all things (the whole universe, from the lowest to the highest)."

Okay, simple talk that even I can understand; Jesus became sin on the cross …

2nd Corinthians 5:21 … "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

Since Jesus died as a sinner in our place on the cross; (the cross not being the punishment for sin, just the vehicle for death) the punishment for sin was then and still is today … "Hell" and then after judgment … the lake of fire.

Therefore, I believe Jesus paying "the full price for sin" means at death He went into the underworld, ("Hades" in the Greek /"Sheol" in Hebrew) the place of torment, to be punished for our sin. Jesus taught about this in Luke 16:19-31. The example Jesus gives is of Lazarus in Paradise and the rich man in Hell. Both of these places are in the bowels of the earth with a great gulf fixed between them.

It was during the three days His body was in the tomb that the spirit and soul of Jesus went first to the torment side of the underworld, the compartment of Hell. No one knows for sure how long Jesus had to suffer punishment for us … one hour, one day, two days, we just don't know. It wasn't the full three days because Jesus had other things to accomplish for us.

Next, after this unknown period of time in Hades, Jesus crossed over to the Paradise side, called Abraham's bosom where He led to Heaven all those righteous O.T. saints that had been held captive in Paradise against their will instead of where they wanted to be … in Heaven where God was. (The Paradise side is now empty.)

They were not allowed into Heaven because at death their sin was still there; it had not been done away with, it had only been covered by the blood of an animal sacrifice. Jesus hadn't died yet. When Jesus, the true Lamb of God died on the cross, His blood didn't just cover their sin … His blood took all their sin away … allowing them to enter into God's presence in heaven.

Jesus … "led captivity captive" … this phrase is also expressing Christ's conquests and triumph over sin, the world, death, the grave and every spiritual enemy of those who are now His people. This is said to be especially true in light of the fact that Christ has spoiled and triumphed over Satan and his principalities and powers.

Paul is referring to this in Colossians 2:15 when he wrote … "And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it."

The allusion here is to the public triumphs of the Romans, in which captives were led in chains, and exposed, in open view to all.

The writer of Hebrews also tells us some of what Jesus was doing during the three days in question.

Hebrews 9:12 … "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."

Hebrews 9:23 … "It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these."

Just as Moses took the blood of calves and goats and sprinkled both the people, the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry; Jesus took His own blood, the better sacrifice and likewise sprinkled the heavenly things themselves.

By doing so during the three days, Jesus has now secured us for all time from the curse and condemnation of the law and from the wrath to come for those who are not in Christ Jesus.

Christ stands between God and the judgment of the law, and by fulfilling it, covers all the transgressions of the law; and being above it, is able to suppress all its accusations and charges brought against us.

Honestly, it doesn't say when Jesus did these things, but I believe it had to have been done during the three days, while He was operating in the spirit realm before He took up His new glorified body.

I also believe during the three days … that Jesus went to a spiritual prison reserved only for the fallen angels and shared, talked with or as the following verses say, preached to them. But I don't believe it was to give them another chance.

1st Peter 3:19 … "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison …"

2nd Peter 2:4 … "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment …" ( The word hell in this verse is "Tartaros," not Hades; it's a different place than the Hades or Hell we know about.)

Jude 1:6 … "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, (and started operating in the human realm, see Gen. 6:1-4) he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."

In truth … the Bible is silent, unclear about what Jesus was doing during the three days His body was in the tomb. One thing I do know though is this … what ever Jesus was doing was enough. He succeeded in securing our salvation.

Revelation 1:18 … "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."

I believe He got them during the three days.

No Reputation

Jesus is supposed to be our example … our goal is to be like Him. I don't know if goal is really the right word. A goal is a plan intended to achieve something and when it is achieved you can then terminate your behavior used to achieve it. So if you do, you are then no longer acting like Him.

Of course I don't need to worry about achieving it … I personally believe this goal is out of reach. Why do I say that? Let me explain.

I have always said … the reason Jesus could become a man and be tempted in all points yet without sin … was because He didn't have a father with a fallen sin nature that was handed down from Adam.

Because none of us have or can reach the goal of becoming like Jesus … I started looking around for the reason or really an excuse as to why we can't or maybe don't.

John 3:34 states "… for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him."

Ephesians 4:7 … "But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ."

I felt like the reason Jesus could live as a man without sin was because He had all the gifts of the Holy Spirit operating in His life. God did not limit Him as He has with us, with just a small portion, a measure of the Spirit and grace … He had it all. That gave me that excuse I was looking for.

Jesus was all man … at least He looked like man … Mary gave birth to a child who grew as a man. His earthly body came from Mary; that made Him human … but His Spiritual nature came from God … that's why He was able to fulfill all the Law, yet without sin.

My wife Peggy kept speaking to me over the years about how Jesus … emptied Himself … when He became man. She said … "By doing so He stripped Himself and laid aside all that was God … He left it behind in Heaven" … or did He?

Paul speaking about Jesus writes in Philippians 2:6-8 … "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

Paul is explaining just how much Jesus gave up to become flesh. Jesus being one with God and in the form of God … became like men and was born as a human.

"But made himself of no reputation …" This translation by no means conveys the sense of the original meaning. Accordingly the words … no reputation … would make it seem that Jesus consented to be just an average man without any distinction or special honor among men; even that He was willing to be despised and rejected.

The Greek word that was translated into "no reputation" in the K.J.V. is "keno" which literally means … "to make empty, to make void, and to abase." This Greek word "keno" is translated "no reputation" only here in this verse; everywhere else in Scripture it is translated properly as "empty, void or to abase."

These three verses in the Amplified read … "Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God, God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be … retained,
But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant, in that He became like men and was born a human being.
And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!"

I can understand why the translators used "no reputation" instead of "emptiness."

The idea is to show Jesus is now "nothing" in respect to His former rank in Heaven; so they now apply to Him this … "no reputation" … phrase as He lays aside "His equality with God" and becomes … "as nothing" … as He assumes a more humble rank in respect to becoming man.

Since the translators didn't use the words … "to make empty" … that leads me to wonder if they believed Jesus really emptied Himself of all that was God.

Notice the words used …

K.J.V. … "the form of a servant, the likeness of men, found in fashion as a man."
Amplified uses … "to assume, became like men."

Whether we agree or not on how much Jesus emptied Himself … we have to admit something was different about Jesus. He wasn't normal. How could He be?

Think about this …

If He was God in Heaven as the Word, how could He divest Himself of His divine nature … that would be IMPOSSIBLE. He could not … CEASE TO BE GOD … just as God could not cease to be Holy.

It could be conceivable that He might have laid aside for a time, the GLORY of who He was in Heaven, so that the outward signs of His position in Heaven as the Word of God might have been withdrawn for a time.

It is also conceivable that Jesus temporarily ceased exercising the power and authority He held in Heaven while on earth as a man. But the many recorded miracles are proof He could and did operate in that power from time to time while on earth.

Yet all this supposes no change in the divine nature. When the sun is blocked by a cloud or when it sets, there is no real change to its glory or light; the sun itself isn't changed. So it might have been … with the Son of God.

There is much to us which is obscure about Jesus; the Scriptures are nearly silent in regard to the actual change, but the language used does not imply as much that He laid aside His being God, but rather He laid aside all the glory which is involved in the phrase … "being in the form of God" … when He took upon Himself another form … "the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men."

How was it that He emptied Himself of all the grace He had in Heaven? Did He not have that grace with Him when He walked in the dust of the earth as a man? Did He not walk showing mercy and love? God is love. Did He not fulfill all the Law? How did He do that if He emptied Himself of all His divine nature? We can't.

John Gill in his commentary states … "His divine nature was not in the least diminished by His human nature, for all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily. Although He took that which He had not before, (flesh) He lost nothing of what He had. The glory of His divine nature was covered and out of sight; and though some rays and beams of it broke out through His works and miracles, yet His glory, as the only begotten of the Father, was beheld only by a few.

The form of God in which He was, was hid from them; He voluntarily subjected himself, He was not thrust down into this low estate by force; but this was Christ's own act and deed. He willingly assented to it, to lay aside as it were His glory for a while, to have it veiled and hid, and be reckoned anything, yea a mere man, and not be God."

Colossians 1:19 & 2:9 … "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell …" and … "For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily."

Paul states that Jesus possessed the "fullness" … whatever it is that makes God, God. Jesus, as man, was not merely God-like, but in the fullest sense, God.

He remained part of the Godhead; there was never a time when He wasn't a part of the Godhead. Yet He conducted Himself … AS IF … He were empty.

With the study of God's Word, God reveals who He is and how He always operates within His love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, faithfulness and patience. Did not Jesus have all these attributes of God while on earth as a man?

We are made in "God's image" … but we aren't God. Jesus was made in … "the likeness of man" … but was He only man?