Christ's primary focus was on "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. As was just so elegantly discussed, the destruction of the herd only makes sense if we remember that God never liked unclean food to begin with. OS Supported: Windows 98SE, Windows Millenium, Windows XP (any edition), Windows Vista, Windows 7 & Windows 8 (32 & 64 Bit). Over the centuries, many scribes spent an enormous amount of time, energy and resources copying them, thereby lending credibility to them. He dispatched Lucius Annius with a force of cavalry and an army of foot soldiers, who took the city on the first attack, slaughtering a thousand young men, taking their families captive, plundering and burning the city and the surrounding towns (Jos. Also, wouldnt that be a type of sin and another example of how he may not have perfectly kept the Law? While foretelling death and doom was often part of a prophets job description, the real task of each true prophet was to be an example to the people and to get everyone on board, or back on board, with the Law of God. Problem was, not even the pigs could withstand the madness these demonic forces manifested. (we dont invent stories to let people know Jesus has power over the Tooth Fairy, do we?). This food is unclean and defiling for you. Also, He is sometimes more open with outsiders/Gentiles than Jews because the negative reaction by the Jewish leaders would hinder his ministry more than rejection by Gentiles. Derek Thomas was reminding me this morning that Ridderbos, in his famous book, The Coming of the Kingdom, records seventeen different interpretations that he had found of this particular parable. Interested in joining the Ligonier team? The majority admits they are clueless and throw their hands up, stating the herd was just a , The pastors attempts to laugh off the haunting question about the meek and lowly Son of Man killing all the pigs is, Besides the jokes being in poor taste, they make his sermon seem less than professional. GERASA, GERASENES (, ). WebRoman Empire Map - Large Map of the Roman Empire in the Early First Century - Click around on the Places. For less than $5/mo. In his description of the boundaries of Perea, Josephus mentions Gerasa as one of the cities on the eastern boundary between Perea and Arabia, the other border cities being Philadelphia and Sebonitus (Jos. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.". But isnt it a funny coincidence that pork happens to be on Gods list of forbidden food. For centuries, land wars are a type of a national sport among Middle Eastern nations. And it is reveals a great deal comparing the reactions of the Gentiles in the two towns. Jesus enters enemy territory in two ways. The power and the person of Jesus Christ. Later, Leviticus 11 explains to His Chosen People that He had chosen only ritually clean/pure animals for them to eat. Sinai. (Pastor Piper was right after all, almost!) This one verse alone, without all the extra proof from Jesuss joke, should convince us that his commandments are the 613 commandments of the Law of Moses. Such a contradiction in character! The demons freak out that Jesus is there because its not time for them to be tormented by Him yet. You know that because the people tell Him to leave. WebInhabitants of Gadara, known from an alleged miracle of Jesus (Matt. The good pastor actually believes that a Jewish man can rationally decide the best sleeping quarters Tomb or no tomb? 2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. 8:513) and the Syrophoenician woman whose daughter was possessed (Mark 7:2430), the Jews received the bulk of His attention, and He spent most of His time in the predominantly Jewish regions of Galilee and Judea. Origen says this is a good example of how Biblical writers simply were not concerned to precisely identify certain sites. The ruins also show evidence of a dozen churches, dating in the Byzantine period (4th-7th centuries) indicating that this once was a large Christian community. "It became one of the proudest cities of Syria." Worse yet, dont trust one who says Scripture evolves. Thy powers bring loss to us and ours. ]. You may simultaneously update Amibroker, Metastock, Ninja Trader & MetaTrader 4 with MoneyMaker Software. II. Does he really believe Mark 5 is Biblical material just for laughs? Both of our good pastors assume that the people in Gerasene (Gadarene or Gergesene) were Gentiles in Gentile territory, partially because of the pigs, partially because of the demoniacs and partially because, The good pastor John MacArthur assumes in his video, [I stretch my hand out to the Jews] who sit by the graves and lodge over night in the tombs, who eat the flesh of pigs and the broth of corrupted meat from their pots. Late Latin Gerasenus, Gergesenus, from Greek Gerasnos, Gergesnos, from Gerasa, Gergesa ancient town in Palestine. As well, every place the Master went on his travels was inside of the Land of Israel; he never went to Gentile territory. * And if one doesnt believe demons exist ..same question: why invent a false story to make the point that Jesus has power over demonic creatures that dont exist? Its true! If you eat a swine/hog that has killed eaten a poisonous snake and you eat that hog, you will be poisoned and die. Something else to ponder about the Son of God is his other title, The Good Shepherd: David, the son of Jesse, was another selfless, compassionate shepherd. They have therefore made important decisions about the proper treatment of animals. The pastors attempts to laugh off the haunting question about the meek and lowly Son of Man killing all the pigs is pathetic. Jesus though he was The Prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15-18 and John 1:21) had to play by the same laws. To feed the spectators who came there purposely to see those crazy chain braking tomb dwelling lunatics! We do not find demons under every pew and under every rock. Here is a prophesy that Christians love to quote: You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110.4) because it connects to Messiah Jesus. The account occurs in all three Synoptic gospels; in Mark (the shortest gospel) the story is in the longest and most detailed version; Matthew 8.2834 is the shortest, He seen himself demon possessed people that had extrodinary powers. Cant we be candid in our search to know God? Of course not. Herod had massive building projects all over Israel. Thats right, adding or subtracting from Scripture, according to Scripture, is illegal. I beg You, do not torment me. Then, if you look in verse 38, he begs Jesus that he might be with him. Now not only did the Jewish people not eat bacon, and not only were they forbidden by Moses to eat bacon, but they were not allowed to raise bacon even to sell it to the Gentiles. three Apparently Gerasa was rebuilt by the Romans before the revolt began, prob. This means that these miracles are especially meant to teach believers something. The final battle requires a different strategy, one that involves a cross. To save this word, you'll need to log in. It seems Jesus allowed the demons to destroy the pigs so that the people could see just what demons are up to when they assault people. Fourthly, Jesus specifically went to the land of the Gentile Gadarenes or Gerasenes, east of the Sea of Galilee, to minister to them. It's amazing Jesus comes to shore and it's obvious that He has immediately commanded the spirits to leave the man because they remonstrate with Him. This now then is our fifth fact in a nutshell. The first two are in the Authorized Version. Israels real enemy is Satan. Instead of recklessly freeing the doves into the air (as erroneously shown in The Jesus Film and other Bible movies), Scripture records with precise detail that Jesus only knocked over the chairs of the pigeon owners, and/or told them to take their feathered property and leave (Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:15; John 2:16) he didnt use his whip on the birds or fling them into the air to be attacked by falcons or eagles. Ive not heard that theory before. e. James Gibson. Do you remember? (Note that Luke omits Jesus journey to Tyre and Sidon, see also Mark 7:24-37). Most translations interpret the Hebrew to say, Canaanite, but both are more than possible and perhaps the double meaning was intended by the prophet. So these four miracles show Jesus reaching out to Gentiles, either in Galilee or even in even more Gentile territory across the river. This is a noteworthy fact because not every event in Jesuss ministry was thrice written down. (Jos. The apostle had been busy preaching in Demetriuss hometown of Ephesus and Pauls message about the one true God was catching on. 3 He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; 4 for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and And low and behold, two gospels specify that Jesus didnt go into Tyre (part of modern Lebanon), but that he was only in the vicinity of the city (Matthew 15:21; Mark 7:24 and Mark 7:31). But with all this talk about tenderness, what on Earth could have changed Jesuss tune and made him treat the swine the way he did? Therefore, I repeat again that I believe the pastors are dishonest for not admitting this fact. Those famous four are sufficient to back up the Church's bias and with them one could pretend they say, Christ is the [dead] end of the Law [of Moses] (Luther and Calvin taught this), or maybe it means something very vague like, an end of a law is Christ. For a more advanced discussion of the vague quality of the text have a look at George Howards scholarly article. And because they did not hear Him, they lost even what they had. Ligon Duncan (MDiv, Covenant Theological Seminary; PhD, University of Edinburgh) is the Chancellor & CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary, the John E. Richards Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, and the President of RTS Jackson. No products in the cart. They were to teach the Gentiles about Him (Acts 13:4647). And did the Gospels writers believe the explanation was so obvious they didn't need to write one? Lets use his recording to the event as our jumping off point: Every Bible passage is either a historical narrative piece (such as the one we just read), a legal and/or procedural document (the majority of the Five Books of Moses), or it is a poetic passage (like Psalms, Proverbs and much of the Prophets). Our ways are not as Thine. Doesnt Pastor MacArthur know his Bible? Therefore he had every right to judge the Jews and how they used land. These authors were Biblical (Peter, James, Paul, Hebrews, etc) and to a lesser extent, non-biblical (Josephus, Pliny, etc). In other words, to paraphrase what Gertrude told Hamlet, Methinks the good pastor doth protest too much. If we agree Messiah wrote the Law of God, we should then wonder why on earth he would come to Earth to take what he authored out of circulation or to annul it? His sermon should have given us some point, some excuse, or some logical explanation for it all. But Jesus still ministered to them: crowds from Tyre and Sidon came to see and listen to Him ( Mark 3:78 ). One unambiguous (but hotly debated) verse that supports this doctrine is, 1 John 5:7: For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. So if we agree Messiah is part of the Godhead, then logically we agree Messiah also co-authored, with the Father, the Law of God. Matthew tells us there were two demoniacs, while Mark and Luke only I asked him how could it be that Jesus carried on an intelligent, protracted, two-way conversation with an illness after the illness was excised out of the man. David was a good example of what Jesus meant by the shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Compared to this, Jesuss behaviour toward the pigs appears extremely callous: giving vile demons permission to slaughter swine is not exactly compassionate. He's the friend of sinners. It's a glorious picture of Jesus love for lost souls, even a Gentile. He said, If you love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15). The following Scripture wont disprove Gods love for all animals, deny the Almightys unalterable character, declare the commandments null and void, nor claim all meats clean (kosher). Why do I say that book? But what does Leviticus says about, And also the pig; although it has a hoof splitting in half and it has a hoof clearly tearing in two, the pig doesn't bring back up its cud to chew. Since I believe the word of God is our playbook for life, what is Jesus telling us? I've ended up, and Ill explain it later, giving the title The Man Jesus Renamed. Now that may peak your interest because in the passage no name is ever given for the man, either before or after his conversion, so you may be wondering why I've named it that.
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