Words of Jesus Podcast - Traditions Caused Jews To Miss Elijah And Jesus

Episode Date: May 12, 2023

Dedicate to becoming Christian. It takes time to build the character to stand. We must know and use the Scriptures as the foundation to test traditions. False doctrines must be discarded to hear the message of "The Word of God." The people of Israel missed John-the-Baptist [Elijah] and Christ because of traditionAs you go through this podcast series examine your Jesus, your Messiah, to determine if He is the Savior of the Scriptures. The anti-Christ is coming. It will take understanding to reject him. ***Ch. 38 - Jesus Speaks of the Bread of LifeJohn 6:22-71The next day the people on the shore he had left sought Jesus but could not find him. They knew that no boat had been there but the one his disciples had entered, and they knew Jesus had not entered it with them.            Many other boats came to the place where he fed the five thousand. Those on these ships, hearing that Jesus was gone, sailed to Capernaum, taking with them many from the shore who were also searching for Jesus.            They found Jesus teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum and they said to him:             “Master, when camest thou hither?”            Jesus answered them, saying:            “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ‘Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.’ Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you; for him hath God the Father sealed.”            They said to him:            “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?”            Jesus replied:            “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”            Then they asked him:            “What sign showest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? What dost thou work?Our fathers ate manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from Heaven to eat.’”            Jesus answered:            “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ‘Moses gave you not that bread from Heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from Heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from Heaven, and giveth life unto the world.’”            They said:            “Lord, evermore give us this bread.”             Jesus said:            “I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that ye also have seen me and believe not. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from Heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and...

Think Red Ink Ministries presents the Words of Jesus series. Don Harris here, your host. And we're going to continue today in our chapter 37 that we began in a previous show. And Jesus is still speaking about himself as the bread of life. We'll back up a little on the reading and get you up to speed. I am, Jesus says, the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that ye also have seen me and believe me not. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will, which he hath sent me, that all which he hath given me i should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day and this is the will of him that sent me that everyone which seeth the son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and i will raise him up on the last day. Here we have Jesus making the promise of the resurrection. The resurrection used to occupy a place in the Christian's mind of the blessed

hope. Unfortunately that's been changed today. It's been exchanged today for now the blessed hope means the fable of the rapture. And so people's blessed hope is that one day the Lord is going to come and extract them from all this pain and worry and confusion and troubles and strife and the devil and the influence of evil and wicked in the world and we're all going to be sucked off the

earth like a giant electrolux is going to come and pull us all up millions of people from the earth all naked i understand i don't know how that's going to work but nevertheless uh this now today that has occupied the place in the christian mind of the blessed hope. It was never supposed to be the blessed hope. The blessed hope has always been the resurrection. Still is as you read the scriptures to the Apostle Paul and of course by inference Jesus Christ's words tell us that this is our hope that one day that we will live again. The scriptures talk about, in the book of Revelation, it talks about the last enemy

to be destroyed is death. Friend, I don't know, if you want to boil down religion, isn't it really finding that place that we all know should be which is eternal life um and you know laying theology and doctrine in your beliefs and your and all the fables and paganism and everything that's all the hodgepodge that we call Christianity today, if it's all boiled down to one particular idea, it is that we get out of this world, if we can, we may be able to conquer the last enemy, which is death. And it's, you know, ironically, it's done through death.

Death has come upon all men, and it's come upon us because of sin. It's a very uncomfortable thing to talk about, to die, but it's only because that we are carnal that we feel that way. Had, I think, at the end of our lives, when we start considering the end of our lives, we start thinking about, well, probably the most important things, and in a lot of cases, the things that we should have been thinking about all the time that we are alive

which is not only the preservation of ourselves but also the ones that we love because it is a sobering thought to realize that no matter what people's eternity is going to look like whether it's going to be that everlasting destruction or it's going to be that everlasting destruction or it's going to be everlasting life, if it ends in perishing or if it ends in life according to the gift

that God wants to give us. It's a very sobering thought to consider that no matter what life you're talking about and no matter what end you're talking about, you're talking about people. These are people. These aren't just things. You know, hell's not full of mannequins. Hell is full of people who have mothers and fathers and who have children of their own. And they lived on this earth and cared not a thing about the

the things of god and um it's it's a very you know it's a very sobering thought but um i know because you know we feel like we do about our loved ones um we just have a hard time believing that old uncle harry is uh not going to see the kingdom of God. But he may not. He just may not. I think at the end of our lives we realize that we spend a lot more time considering our children's education and we've considered their careers and we've considered whatever little troubles they have in their lives from day to day more so than we've considered whatever little troubles they have in their lives from day to day,

more so than we ever considered their eternal life. And I think that is the underlying sadness when it comes to death, that I think we start to see it in its reality. In that, there's no more chance. There's no more opportunity. There's no more opportunity. There's no other time. I think that as people get older, they start to consider the time that was wasted, the wasted years, the wasted opportunities, the wasted conversations conversations that could have been turned toward the building of character and such in people's lives the building

of responsibility the the acquisition of of good and proper goals I think that men and women are going to start to consider. I know I have since I've gotten older. You just look over your life and you think, what a wasted opportunity that was. Friends, this comes from our childhood up. We knew better. We know better now. And unfortunately, it seems that even now, it's just simply not

enough. It's just, the efforts that we put forward in our life are just simply not enough. The truth is, is that what Jesus came to do, he said he came to do the will of his Father, and the will of his Father is to find those who are called, show them a way, show them the way so that they can attain everlasting life. And when you boil Christianity down, all spiritualism, all of it it seems to always point toward the life

after this one. As much as perhaps the atheist, the agnostic does not want to think about or refuses to think about it is a, death is very much a part of life. Death is as much a part of life as birth is. It's just on the other end of it. And so our goal is to, not to escape death by vitamins and minerals and exercise programs and wonderful medical technology and these kind of things. But our goal should be that we prepare ourselves for eternal life.

You're going to find that if you've gotten the gift of 80, 90 years of life that's a wonderful gift but it's hardly even a drop in the bucket when you consider, even if the eternal life, which by the way is hardly spoken of in the scriptures in any other terms other than what Jesus had to say about eternal life, the prophetic history that is laid out for us in our scriptures

really only show us the thousand-year reign of Christ. And after that, it's going to be something else. There are people who don't like me to talk about the fact that at the end of that thousand-year millennial reign of Christ there's still going to be an entire wash of people that are going to be carried away. You know people say well you know this isn't it if I if I make it to the kingdom of God there's still another. Yeah there's still another. The Bible says that at the end of that thousand years when Satan is loosed he's going to carry away. You know like the sands Satan is loosed, he's going to carry away. You know, like the sands of the seashore, he's going to carry away

thousands, perhaps millions of people that have lived for a thousand years with Christ as king on this earth. And Satan bound, by the way, which is going to be a much more difficult judgment because you're not going to have anybody to blame but yourself. I say you get in practice on that right now, that we should take responsibility for our eternal life. I think that it is man's duty from the time that he's

born that he consider his eternal life and make provisions for that very thing i think that it's incredibly important for him to the to the exclusion of all else that we do live lives of of righteousness and of honesty and of goodness one toward the other because we must have some assurance of eternal life or we are as paul says if there's no resurrection we are of all men most miserable because we don't get to do you know what we want to do because we're supposedly or should be slaves of of the lord jesus christ that and servants that we do what He wants done. And then even at the end of all that, if there's no resurrection, we are of all men

most miserable, just as He says. However, the reciprocal of that is true. That no matter what troubles or trials or problems you have in life, if it pans out that we stand before our God who looks at us and says, well done, well done, you did well, you did just fine. Enter into the joy of the Lord. I think it is comparable to the labor pains

that are so soon forgotten when you lay that little nasty little bundle into the into the arms of the mother she forgets all the the pain that it took to bring it to pass and i really feel that that's the way we're going to feel when we when we do attain resurrection and jesus took the time here to say that this is the point in everything that we have done. When Jesus made himself out to be, or I think revealed himself to be the bread of heaven, there were church people that had real problems with what he had to say.

As a matter of fact, as we continue to read, the Jews murmured against him because he had said that he was the bread which came down from heaven. They asked, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it that he then saith i came down from heaven there was a there was a common understanding among the jews that when messiah came we would not know who he was that he was going to be a mysterious figure i I think that this parallels very

well the idea that many people have about the Antichrist being some powerful red-tailed horned devil or whatever. He's going to be this nasty human being that's going to stand up and call himself God and he's going to sit in the temple of God showing himself that he is God and all the idiots in the world are going to fall at his feet. But the fact is that we have developed an idea of who the Antichrist

is pretty much like the Jews developed an idea as to who Elijah was to be when he returned and therefore they were so staunchly set in their idea of who this Elijah figure should be, could be, will be that they missed the actual Elijah when he was here on the earth. Jesus said, you know, Elijah has come already.

And they did to him, they did to him, they, who is they? The church did to him whatsoever they listed, whatever they wanted. And they did not give him the proper respect. All right, I realize that there's a spiritual force at work here. However, I don't think we should discount the fleshly idea of the confidence, ego, whatever you want to call it, of men who have educated themselves into believing that they know exactly who this figure is to be.

Friend, they didn't know who Elijah was. Had they known who Elijah was, then they probably would have found that the figure in their midst of John the Baptist depicted him perfectly, to the point that they knew, and I've never figured out how they knew, but probably some ancient writing that we do not have today, but they knew that Elijah would be born on Passover day. The fact that Jesus was born at the Feast of Tabernacles shows this six month

time span between these two cousins which knowing that Jesus was born at Tabernacles we know also that John was born at the Feast of Passover fulfilling their own prophecy about who he was

supposed to be but they missed him. Jesus said that this horrible thing that happened to John the Baptist, which was the fact that he was not recognized as Elijah, as the forerunner of Jesus Christ, he said, these very things are going to happen to the Son of Man. They think they know who the Messiah is supposed to be, but here I am in the midst of them and they don't recognize me. And he says here that I came that they might believe on me.

The Jews murmured and said, there's no reason to believe in you. We know who your father is. Jesus would say, so? We know who your mother is? Jesus would say, so? Well, you know who your mother is. So? And your sisters and your brothers, they're all here with us. Aren't you just a carpenter's boy? And Jesus is saying, what is your problem? Well, their problem was is that their tradition, their teaching, whatever scripture writings that they

had received with the Lord and those that they wrote themselves did not allow for them to entertain a Messiah that they knew where he came from. And Jesus is, you know, just baffled by this. You know, where do you get these ideas? You're going to let your tradition overrule your understanding of who Messiah is? Yes, they are. And yes, we are. And as I was trying to say, and I hope I've made myself clear that

our education can lay out a certain pattern. and if life does not follow that pattern, then we feel no obligation to pursue that line of thinking. As a matter of fact, we feel like that we're going against a scripture, we're going against the leadership of the Lord, but in fact, we're just going against what our seminary said. You know, when the bible talks about antichrist we have a tendency to understand or at least interpret that word very much like we do the word antifreeze and by that i mean that antifreeze is a chemical that does not allow

freezing and so it is the antithesis of water water Water freezes, antifreeze doesn't. And so I think that when we hear the word antichrist, we think that this is a person, and I realize that the scripture uses the term in this way, but that he stands against everything that Christ stands for. And so we think that he's going to be a devil he's going to be a horrible person a horrible entity that is to be shunned and to be feared and to and look antichrist means false christ well i don't know if you've ever seen a 22 bill but you can pretty much bet that it's not real. But if you see a $20 bill, somebody hands it to you as a cashier, you might want to hold it to the light. If they hand

you a $100 bill, doubly so. Because we know that when counterfeits appear, they're not counterfeits of a new bill or, you know, trying to pass off a new denomination of bill, but they're trying to pass off a bill that looks exactly like the one that we all value. Friend, when the Bible talks about the Antichrist, it's talking about a false Christ. Now, if I were going to try to convince you that the man sitting next to me, and no, I'm not crazy. I don't think anyone's sitting next to me. But if there was a man sitting here at the table and I wanted to convince you that he was Christ, I would want to make sure that his hair looks like you think Christ's hair looks like. I would want him to be dressed like you

think Christ looks like. I would want the shoes on his feet to be sandals and not Bruno Mali's. I would want him to speak in Elizabethan tones, perhaps have a little English accent to what he has to say, because I want him to be the Christ that you think he is so that I can palm him off, pass him off as the Christ himself. I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that he looks like the Christ that you are expecting. Friend, that's why, if you want to know what the Antichrist looks like,

why, you know, one of these days I'll share with you my Jesus picture collection and show you all the depictions of Christ from, you know, as long as we've had the ability to paint or draw or cameras and sculptures and all the other things that capture images of people, I can show you that these Christs all pretty much look alike. Any one of them in their particular garb, or the way they speak, or what they do, or what they stand for,

as long as it easily mixes with or is the Christ you expect, the easier it is to pass him off. So when we talk about an antichrist, what are we talking about? We're talking about somebody who, hey, are you listening to me? We're talking about somebody that you are going to believe is indeed Christ.

Now, does that scare the hair off your head well it ought to especially when we're living in the day where we're believing that jesus is going to come in a rapture and we're all going to every eye shall see him i'm afraid that when when it comes to the time that the antichrist is revealed to us, he's going to look exactly like the Jesus you always thought he should be like. Look at the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Is there not a white horse in that group? Well, when Jesus comes, he's coming on a white horse, isn't he? Well, the first white horse is the Antichrist.

The second white horse is Christ himself. Friend, we are in for serious trouble if this is indeed, as I've always believed, the strong delusion that's going to damn everyone who believes it. Why would God send a strong delusion that's going to damn everyone who believes it. Why would God send a strong delusion? That they all might be damned. That's what the Bible says, that they all might be damned who love not the truth when they heard it. Friend, there is nothing more important in your life than knowing truth. If there is anything more important than knowing it, it's loving it. You don't have to know all

truth not to be deceived by the Antichrist, but you do indeed have to love truth. And here the Jews are explaining that we're sure, we are absolutely positive you are not the Messiah because you don't fit our description, our understanding of who the Messiah is. Therefore, you cannot be who you say you are. They tried this on the disciples. They went to the disciples and said, you know, this guy you are following around is not the Christ. What? No, he's not the Christ. He can't be the Christ. Why can't he be the Christ? Well, because the scriptures are clear

that before Christ comes, Elijah is going to come, and he hasn't come. So how could this be the Christ? Well, they sat around and bit their fingernails and wondered about this until they finally got to Jesus and said, what about this idea that Elijah has to come before you do? What is that all about?esus says elijah did come and they missed him they did to him whatever they wanted to they treated him like

dirt they killed him they beheaded him well when did this happen john the baptist john the baptist this is elijah which was for to come and all of a sudden it occurs to them my goodness the religious leadership missed this elijah walked among us and we didn't even know that how could that be jesus says jesus tells them the same thing is happening to me right now. I'm here and they don't believe what I say. They will not come to me that they might have life. Well, how in the world does this happen? Friend, I'll tell you how it happens. We have more than one teacher.

That's how it happened. We go to sources that we have no business going to. That's how this happened. Church, that's how this happened. The pressure on a pastor to preach 104 sermons a year. He's got to come up with something. And so, you know, he preaches this, preaches that, preaches what he's heard. It starts to settle into people's thinking. They can't separate between their own decision making processes, their own deductions, their own ideas, and what the scriptures are actually telling us. And certainly not make any distinction between that and what the

Father reveals to them in silent meditation. So here we are, not recognizing Christ, not recognizing Elijah. We killed every prophet that ever was sent to us and now here comes the antichrist and you think that you're going to know what he looks like i'll tell you what he looks like think about jesus in your own mind and you know it's okay we're not going to talk about your silly ideas or the fact that he's wearing a robe or he's got a sheep under his arm or any of the rest of that stuff. Just think about it. What does he look like? Buddy, you're looking at the Antichrist. Everything that you

think Jesus stands for, that's what the Antichrist is going to seem to stand for. How many times have you explained to somebody what you found in the scriptures when you start to think red ink? And you start saying, well, you know, that's not what Jesus said. This is what Jesus said. And how many of you have ever had somebody look at you and say, that's not my Jesus. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. It just puts goosebumps on my back.

You know, well, you know what? Your Jesus is coming and he's going to make himself known to the entire world. my goodness, it just puts goosebumps on my back. You know, well, you know what? Your Jesus is coming, and he's going to make himself known to the entire world. And you're going to follow him around, and just like Matthew 24 says, you're going to be one of those who says, come, see, here's Christ.

And Jesus is telling the ones who are here, go not forth. Don't do it. They'll come here that says that there'll be people that'll come on the earth that'll say, I am Christ. Believe them not. Well, who in the world is saying I'm Christ?

Well, there's so much to talk about here. And that clock just keeps on ticking. All right, till next time. Think Red Ink, my friend. Bye-bye. You've been listening to Don C. Harris of Think Red Ink Ministries. Email don at thinkredink.com. That's thinkredc.com. That's ThinkRedInc.com.

Join us again for the next episode in the Words of Jesus series. you