WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An international Sunday school lesson commentary
For Sunday April 13, 2014
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A MESSIANIC PRIEST-KING
(JESUS sacrificed for HIS people)
(John 19:1-5, Jeremiah 23:5-6, & Zechariah 6:9-15)
In the biblical Greek, the word
used for “truth” is “aletheia”, and it means “in harmony with reality”. To compromise the truth, is to not stand behind the truth at all.
We either hold fast to the things of GOD, or, we allow ourselves to be deceived
by satan, just as when we doubt GOD’s
goodness, we automatically become attracted to satan’s offers. When we deny the truth,
we are no longer in harmony with reality.
In Jeremiah 23, verses 5-6, the prophet Jeremiah delivered this
message from the LORD;
“For the time is coming when I will place a righteous branch on
King David’s throne. HE will be a KING WHO rules with wisdom. HE will do what
is just and right throughout the land. And this is HIS name: “The LORD is our
righteousness”. In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in
safety”.
In Zechariah 6:9-15, the
prophet Zechariah paints a rather vivid description of a coming MESSIAH WHO
would be both a KING, and a PRIEST, and now we know that that PERSON was, and
is, CHRIST JESUS our LORD. JESUS
completely filled the office of priest, as it is described in the Old
Testament, and as it is taught in the New Testament in the book of Hebrews
(Hebrews 7:1-14). HE fulfilled the “Aaronic Priesthood” type, as one who offers
up gifts and sacrifices, and as an interceder for the LORD’s people. JESUS’
priesthood is also compared to that of Melchizedek, the historical, obscure
figure to whom even Abraham paid tithes (Genesis 15:17-20).
JESUS, like Melchizedek, is a King/Priest.
As King/Priest, JESUS heads the Christian Church, which makes it a holy and
royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:5 & 9). And so, the Christian Church is a
Priesthood, whereby every believer is a priest. And the fact that the Church is
a priesthood, makes CHRIST, WHO is the head of the Church, our High Priest.
JESUS received priesthood by divine
appointment from GOD. Like Melchizedek, HE did not derive HIS priesthood from
HIS lineage, and there are no descending priests who succeeded HIM. As priests
under CHRIST, Christians must offer a fivefold sacrifice;
·
Their
own bodies (Romans 12:1, Philippians 2:17, 2 Timothy 4:6, James 1:27)
·
Praise
to GOD (Hebrews 13:15)
·
The
sacrifice of good works (Hebrews 13:15)
·
Sharing
gifts of money and service to those in need (Romans 12:13, Galatians 6:6, &
10, Titus 3:14)
·
Be
intercessors in prayer for others (Colossians 4:12, 1 Timothy 2:1)
In John 19 we see that the Jews delivered JESUS into the hands of
Pilate, and despite his finding JESUS innocent, Pilate tried to compromise the
truth of his findings (John 18:38-39 & 19:7)). He convinced himself in the
end, that he had done all that he could, but actually, he
knew even deeper in his heart that he had long ago, through his problems with the
Jews, tossed away his option to do the right
thing. Through his earlier actions against the Jews, he had already set himself
up to be blackmailed by the Jewish hierarchy in Jerusalem.
The “permissive will” of GOD, allows for man to do many things,
and ultimately, through JESUS’ death, we also
receive GOD’s wonderful and abounding grace. However, GOD, through HIS infinite wisdom,
will never allow “grace” to trump “truth”. The “TRUTH” presented itself to
Pilate that day, in the person of JESUS CHRIST, and he decided to put TRUTH to
death.
As for the Jews, in order to carry out the death of JESUS, they
abandoned every principle that they ever had, especially on that day, when they
uttered these infamous words to Pilate, as it is recorded in John 19:15, where
they state, “We have no King but Caesar”. It was a final abandonment of the GOD
that they had always preached, that, they served.
The Jews denial of King JESUS put the final brush strokes on a
tragic painting, of a maddened mob, that had been driven by anger. Driven by
their hatred for JESUS, the Jews lost all sense of proportion, and they totally
forgot about the mercy, they themselves, had so often preached about in the
temple. They forgot all justice, and, in the end, they denounced GOD, and JESUS
as their King, and they professed Caesar as the only king they would follow.
Never before, in the history of man, has hatred’s insanity
presented itself before us this vividly, and hopefully, it never will again. There
can never be a “right time” to do the “wrong thing”, as Pilate and the Jews
ultimately did. They took the most beautiful LIFE, that ever did live, and
then, they snuffed it out, on a cross.
A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official
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