13 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
A terrible human atrocity, the holocaust in Germany is an example of this. Some look at this event and say that the Jews who were in the camps were treated this way for the sin they committed. But the Lord makes it clear, instead this happened to warn all Jews that unless they repent and return to the Land and to God they too will perish. 1Kings 8:46 “When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive to their own lands, far away or near; 47 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’; 48 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; 49 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. The Lord’s goal with the holocaust was to cause the Jews to repent. As a result God brought them back to their dwelling place. This is what this “mean time” the festival of Trumpets is all about, reflect on your sins and repent, return to God. This is very specific, they pray toward the land, the city and the temple. God has not answered this prayer until they are given Jerusalem back and are able to rebuild the temple.
The obvious question here is what was their sin that Pilate did this to them? But the Lord doesn’t tell us, and I think that is because Pilate is not Lord, we don’t need Pilate telling us what to repent of. Jesus is Lord and He just told us: 12:47 And that servant, who knew his lord’s will, and made not ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; The Lord has told us His will. We are praying that His will would be done, and we are required to make ready. If we don’t make ready we will be beaten.
4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
Jesus is still teaching about prayer. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others that trespass against us”. The Jews trespassed against the Lord when they crucified Him. They suffered greatly because of this, the temple was destroyed and they were dispersed among the nations for 2,000 years ending in the holocaust. Hitler turned 6 million Jews into a peace offering. That suffering caused them to repent, God heard, and God forgave them. God forgives us as we forgive others. The US sinned when the twin towers fell killing thousands on 9/11. We attacked a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 destroying it. The people who orchestrated 9/11 played you. Many were not buying the idea that Saddam Hussein was behind an attack carried out by Al Qaeda. Saddam was a secular ruler, Al Qaeda was fundamentalist jihadist group. So they lied about weapons of mass destruction. On CNN, Condi Rice said that "there will always be some uncertainty" in determining if Iraq is obtaining a nuclear weapon but said, "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." They knew they were lying, which is why they sent Colin Powell to the UN. So how stupid do we have to be? The very day of the 9/11 attack Dick Cheney is already telling Richard Clark, the chair of the counter terrorism group, to blame Iraq. When it becomes clear that Iraq was not behind this do they then focus on who was? No they fabricate a lie about WMD’s so that we would attack Iraq. We were played. That is why more than 3,000 architects and engineers in the US have signed a petition disputing the official report. Those that were responsible for writing up the report have refused to respond to the criticism. Unless we wake up and repent of this sin, fabricating reasons to go attack innocent bystanders to promote the agenda of an evil age we will all likewise perish. This is what the festival of trumpets is all about, reflect and repent. Prepare to meet thy God.
6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”
What about me? I had nothing to do with Jesus crucifixion, I was against going to war with Iraq. There are many who have not hurt anyone, what about them? Are they bearing fruit? If you aren’t bearing fruit why should you use up the soil? You would be more valuable as fertilizer and wood for a fire. Once again, reflect and repent, prepare to meet your God. “I didn’t do anything” is not a persuasive argument when you appear before the Lord.
10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
Stand up straight. You are a fig tree of the Lord, you need to bear fruit. You need to stop being played by these evil rulers, so quick to go and kill and destroy some poor 3rd world country. You need to return to the land God gave you, the inheritance that God has given you. Amos 2:4 This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not relent. Because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed, Yes, Amos enumerates six sins for why they will be judged. But he sums them all up in the seventh, you rejected the law of the Lord, you didn’t keep His decrees, and you were led away by false gods. Imagine some pastor being given a dream where he sees the coming judgement and wrath of God, the Lord tells him “brace yourself” and you interpret that to mean to move your investments to gold and to buy a gun! You don’t think you have been led astray by false gods? Stand up straight! “Brace yourself” means to set yourself to take up your cross and follow Jesus to Jerusalem.
14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath,
There is a contrast between those who are praying that the father’s name would be hallowed, versus those who want their own name to be respected. Keeping the Sabbath was all about revering God the creator. Releasing this woman from Satan’s bondage so she could stand up straight and praise God does that. It seems to me that only Satan would have an issue with that. Pride, ego, jealousy of others, this makes us one with Satan. No wonder God swore “lest they should enter my rest”. You want to enter the sabbath rest? Then your testimony must be “that it is no longer I that live but Christ who lives in me”.
A terrible human atrocity, the holocaust in Germany is an example of this. Some look at this event and say that the Jews who were in the camps were treated this way for the sin they committed. But the Lord makes it clear, instead this happened to warn all Jews that unless they repent and return to the Land and to God they too will perish. 1Kings 8:46 “When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive to their own lands, far away or near; 47 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’; 48 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; 49 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. The Lord’s goal with the holocaust was to cause the Jews to repent. As a result God brought them back to their dwelling place. This is what this “mean time” the festival of Trumpets is all about, reflect on your sins and repent, return to God. This is very specific, they pray toward the land, the city and the temple. God has not answered this prayer until they are given Jerusalem back and are able to rebuild the temple.
The obvious question here is what was their sin that Pilate did this to them? But the Lord doesn’t tell us, and I think that is because Pilate is not Lord, we don’t need Pilate telling us what to repent of. Jesus is Lord and He just told us: 12:47 And that servant, who knew his lord’s will, and made not ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; The Lord has told us His will. We are praying that His will would be done, and we are required to make ready. If we don’t make ready we will be beaten.
4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
Jesus is still teaching about prayer. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others that trespass against us”. The Jews trespassed against the Lord when they crucified Him. They suffered greatly because of this, the temple was destroyed and they were dispersed among the nations for 2,000 years ending in the holocaust. Hitler turned 6 million Jews into a peace offering. That suffering caused them to repent, God heard, and God forgave them. God forgives us as we forgive others. The US sinned when the twin towers fell killing thousands on 9/11. We attacked a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 destroying it. The people who orchestrated 9/11 played you. Many were not buying the idea that Saddam Hussein was behind an attack carried out by Al Qaeda. Saddam was a secular ruler, Al Qaeda was fundamentalist jihadist group. So they lied about weapons of mass destruction. On CNN, Condi Rice said that "there will always be some uncertainty" in determining if Iraq is obtaining a nuclear weapon but said, "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." They knew they were lying, which is why they sent Colin Powell to the UN. So how stupid do we have to be? The very day of the 9/11 attack Dick Cheney is already telling Richard Clark, the chair of the counter terrorism group, to blame Iraq. When it becomes clear that Iraq was not behind this do they then focus on who was? No they fabricate a lie about WMD’s so that we would attack Iraq. We were played. That is why more than 3,000 architects and engineers in the US have signed a petition disputing the official report. Those that were responsible for writing up the report have refused to respond to the criticism. Unless we wake up and repent of this sin, fabricating reasons to go attack innocent bystanders to promote the agenda of an evil age we will all likewise perish. This is what the festival of trumpets is all about, reflect and repent. Prepare to meet thy God.
6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”
What about me? I had nothing to do with Jesus crucifixion, I was against going to war with Iraq. There are many who have not hurt anyone, what about them? Are they bearing fruit? If you aren’t bearing fruit why should you use up the soil? You would be more valuable as fertilizer and wood for a fire. Once again, reflect and repent, prepare to meet your God. “I didn’t do anything” is not a persuasive argument when you appear before the Lord.
10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
Stand up straight. You are a fig tree of the Lord, you need to bear fruit. You need to stop being played by these evil rulers, so quick to go and kill and destroy some poor 3rd world country. You need to return to the land God gave you, the inheritance that God has given you. Amos 2:4 This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not relent. Because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed, Yes, Amos enumerates six sins for why they will be judged. But he sums them all up in the seventh, you rejected the law of the Lord, you didn’t keep His decrees, and you were led away by false gods. Imagine some pastor being given a dream where he sees the coming judgement and wrath of God, the Lord tells him “brace yourself” and you interpret that to mean to move your investments to gold and to buy a gun! You don’t think you have been led astray by false gods? Stand up straight! “Brace yourself” means to set yourself to take up your cross and follow Jesus to Jerusalem.
14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath,
There is a contrast between those who are praying that the father’s name would be hallowed, versus those who want their own name to be respected. Keeping the Sabbath was all about revering God the creator. Releasing this woman from Satan’s bondage so she could stand up straight and praise God does that. It seems to me that only Satan would have an issue with that. Pride, ego, jealousy of others, this makes us one with Satan. No wonder God swore “lest they should enter my rest”. You want to enter the sabbath rest? Then your testimony must be “that it is no longer I that live but Christ who lives in me”.