Rev Autrey
Member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2016
- Messages
- 49
"... And Sat Down At The Right Hand of God"
One of the hardest parables of Jesus for us as Christians to understand is the parable of "The Right Hand of God." (Mark 16:19). This is because in our fevent desire to say he is not our God, we have completely missed it's spiritual implications. That is, Jesus is the God we have always been looking for, and the God we are so desiring to have a closer relationship with.
Let me explain:
Jesus said to to the High Priest in Mark 14:62: "I am, and you will see me, the Son of Man, sitting at God's right hand in the place of power and coming back on the clouds of heaven." Now to the average non Hebrew this sounds as if Jesus is saying that he as the Son is now at the place of power by God's side. But such a statement does not upset us today, so why did it have such blasphemous tones to the High Priest?
See, in the old days when they asked YHWH God how he freed the Jews from Egypt and brought them through the Red Sea, he said he did it by his strong right hand. This was God's constant reply all through the writings of the prophets and the Psalms.
For example, David said this to YHWH God in Psalm 63:8, "I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night. I think how much you have helped me, I sing for joy in the shadow of your protecting wings. I follow close behind you, and your strong right hand holds me secrely."
And in Psalm 118:13 David says this to his enemies: "You did your best to kill me, O my enemy, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song, he has become my victory. Sounds of joy and victory are song in the camp of the godley. The strong right hand of the Lord has done glorious things!
In other words, David was of the mindset that if God's strong right hand is holding him securely, this means that God is holding David securely. This means that David is equating God's right hand with God himself; meaning that what God's right hand does, God does.
So in the minds of David and the Jewish leaders of Jesus' day, the Hebrew phrase "at the Right hand of God" or sitting "at the right hand of God" was another way of saying God. We see this phrase used all through the Gospels; as the Gospel writers express what they already knew about Jesus, and what Jesus' own Apostle John said about him in John 1:1: "and He was God." And what Thomas said if him in the Upper Room: "... My Lord and my God."
And this is the same God who appeared to Abraham on the Plains of Mamre in Genesis 18:1. And the very God who said of himself in Isaiah 45:21-23: "What idol ever told you they would happen? Was it not I, the Lord? For there is no other God but me, a just God and Savior, no not one! Let all the world look to me for salvation. For I am God and there is no other. I have sworn by my own name, and I will never go back on my word: Every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will confess allegiance to my name."
This is why the High Priest were so upset with Jesus. He knew that by Jesus using the paraboic term "The Right Hand of God," Jesus was claiming to be that God. And to him this was unthankable!
Matthew 26 says it like this. "Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horrow, shouting; 'Blasphemy! Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?'
"'Guilty!' they shouted. 'He must die!'
"Then they spit in Jesus' face and hit him with their fists. And some slapped him, saying 'Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who hit you that time?'"
See, Jesus knew in advance that he would by rejected as God by his own people. This is why he said to the Jews in Luke 19 (NLT): "They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you.”
And it is also why Jesus did not identify himself by using this parable earlier or at the start of his ministry. The timing was not right. His intent was to die only at the time he had planned from the foundation of the world! As it says in Revelation 13:8: "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship (the Beast), whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."
In the Book of Luke we see Jesus mother, Mary, useing the same type of Hebraism to sing the praise of her son Jesus as her God: "Oh, how I praise the Lord my God. How I rejoyce in God my Savior. His mighty arm does trenendous things! . ... For he promised our ancestors-Abraham and his children-to be merciful to them forever. This is why Elizabeth said to Mary, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my God should come to me. ..."
(PS, Jesus also used the terms "the Father" and "the Holy Spirit" to describe himself. I will say more on this later.)
So as I said above, todays Christians don't understand the meaning of the parable "the right Hand of God" because we have defiantly set our minds against any posibility of Jesus being our God. And like the Church people before us, we will not let Jesus teach us. That is, we forget about what Jesus said to us in Matthew 11: "Come to me, all of you who are wery and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
And Jesus' yoke is easy because all he asks of us is to believe in him as God! But sadly, we don't!
This means that we have a chain reaction of unbelieving Church people. And this has been going on for the past 1700 years. And to speak more plainly, we as unbelieving Church people teach our unsuspecting children to be unbelievers, too. We say it like this. "I learned this in Sunday School when I was a child, and I will not change it now." So as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4: "For the people's minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the (Bible) is read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only be believing in Christ (as their God).
Stay safe,
Rev. Autrey
One of the hardest parables of Jesus for us as Christians to understand is the parable of "The Right Hand of God." (Mark 16:19). This is because in our fevent desire to say he is not our God, we have completely missed it's spiritual implications. That is, Jesus is the God we have always been looking for, and the God we are so desiring to have a closer relationship with.
Let me explain:
Jesus said to to the High Priest in Mark 14:62: "I am, and you will see me, the Son of Man, sitting at God's right hand in the place of power and coming back on the clouds of heaven." Now to the average non Hebrew this sounds as if Jesus is saying that he as the Son is now at the place of power by God's side. But such a statement does not upset us today, so why did it have such blasphemous tones to the High Priest?
See, in the old days when they asked YHWH God how he freed the Jews from Egypt and brought them through the Red Sea, he said he did it by his strong right hand. This was God's constant reply all through the writings of the prophets and the Psalms.
For example, David said this to YHWH God in Psalm 63:8, "I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night. I think how much you have helped me, I sing for joy in the shadow of your protecting wings. I follow close behind you, and your strong right hand holds me secrely."
And in Psalm 118:13 David says this to his enemies: "You did your best to kill me, O my enemy, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song, he has become my victory. Sounds of joy and victory are song in the camp of the godley. The strong right hand of the Lord has done glorious things!
In other words, David was of the mindset that if God's strong right hand is holding him securely, this means that God is holding David securely. This means that David is equating God's right hand with God himself; meaning that what God's right hand does, God does.
So in the minds of David and the Jewish leaders of Jesus' day, the Hebrew phrase "at the Right hand of God" or sitting "at the right hand of God" was another way of saying God. We see this phrase used all through the Gospels; as the Gospel writers express what they already knew about Jesus, and what Jesus' own Apostle John said about him in John 1:1: "and He was God." And what Thomas said if him in the Upper Room: "... My Lord and my God."
And this is the same God who appeared to Abraham on the Plains of Mamre in Genesis 18:1. And the very God who said of himself in Isaiah 45:21-23: "What idol ever told you they would happen? Was it not I, the Lord? For there is no other God but me, a just God and Savior, no not one! Let all the world look to me for salvation. For I am God and there is no other. I have sworn by my own name, and I will never go back on my word: Every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will confess allegiance to my name."
This is why the High Priest were so upset with Jesus. He knew that by Jesus using the paraboic term "The Right Hand of God," Jesus was claiming to be that God. And to him this was unthankable!
Matthew 26 says it like this. "Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horrow, shouting; 'Blasphemy! Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?'
"'Guilty!' they shouted. 'He must die!'
"Then they spit in Jesus' face and hit him with their fists. And some slapped him, saying 'Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who hit you that time?'"
See, Jesus knew in advance that he would by rejected as God by his own people. This is why he said to the Jews in Luke 19 (NLT): "They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you.”
And it is also why Jesus did not identify himself by using this parable earlier or at the start of his ministry. The timing was not right. His intent was to die only at the time he had planned from the foundation of the world! As it says in Revelation 13:8: "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship (the Beast), whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."
In the Book of Luke we see Jesus mother, Mary, useing the same type of Hebraism to sing the praise of her son Jesus as her God: "Oh, how I praise the Lord my God. How I rejoyce in God my Savior. His mighty arm does trenendous things! . ... For he promised our ancestors-Abraham and his children-to be merciful to them forever. This is why Elizabeth said to Mary, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my God should come to me. ..."
(PS, Jesus also used the terms "the Father" and "the Holy Spirit" to describe himself. I will say more on this later.)
So as I said above, todays Christians don't understand the meaning of the parable "the right Hand of God" because we have defiantly set our minds against any posibility of Jesus being our God. And like the Church people before us, we will not let Jesus teach us. That is, we forget about what Jesus said to us in Matthew 11: "Come to me, all of you who are wery and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
And Jesus' yoke is easy because all he asks of us is to believe in him as God! But sadly, we don't!
This means that we have a chain reaction of unbelieving Church people. And this has been going on for the past 1700 years. And to speak more plainly, we as unbelieving Church people teach our unsuspecting children to be unbelievers, too. We say it like this. "I learned this in Sunday School when I was a child, and I will not change it now." So as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4: "For the people's minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the (Bible) is read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only be believing in Christ (as their God).
Stay safe,
Rev. Autrey
