On The Road To Emmaus

[Beetow]

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● Luke 24:13-27 . . And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded
unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Well; I'm not positive about all the things Jesus may have expounded concerning
himself, but I think we can probably guess a few.
_

 

[Beetow]

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● Ps 16:8-10 . . I have set The Lord always before me. Because he is at my right
hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my
body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to sheol, nor will you
let your Holy one see decay.

That prophecy is very useful in an unexpected way, to wit: it connects to Acts 2:25-30
which, in so many words, declares Jesus is one of David's paternal descendants.

"Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is
both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a
prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of
his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne . . ."

So then, if Jesus really is one of David's blood relatives, then of course Jesus is also
one of Adam's blood relatives too because David descended from Adam.

"From one man He made every nation of men" (Acts 17:26)
_

 

[Beetow]

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● Ps 110:1 . . The Lord said to my lord: Sit at My right hand, till I make your
enemies your footstool.

There's two distinctly different Hebrew words translated by the English word "lord"
in that passage

The first is Jehovah (a.k.a. Yahweh) which is a name restricted to God's use. (Isa
42:8)

The second is 'adown which is a common word for superiors and/or seniors in the
Old Testament; both human and divine. For instance: Sarah referred to her
husband as 'adown (Gen 18:12) The people of Heth addressed Abraham as 'adown
(Gen 23:5-6) Abraham's trusted servant referred to his master as 'adown (Gen
24:12) Rachel addressed her father Laban as 'adown (Gen 31:35) Jacob addressed
Esau as 'adown (Gen 33:8) And God is spoken of as 'adown too. (Isa 1:24 and Isa
3:1 et al.)

Jesus said Ps 110:1 pertains to Christ (Matt 22:42-45) who his audience believed
was David's descendant. But in ancient Jewish culture, fathers were superior to
their posterity; so Jesus asked his audience how it could be that David's son would
outrank him.

Well, the thing is: biblical preeminence relative to primogeniture is transferable, i.e.
it can be taken from a senior and bestowed upon a junior, for example: Ishmael to
Isaac (Gen 20:11-12) Esau to Jacob (Gen 25:23) Reuben to Joseph (Gen 49:3-4 &
1Chr 5:1) and Manasseh to Ephraim. (Gen 48:13-14)
_

 

[Beetow]

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● Mic 5:2 . . But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah-- too little to be among the clans
of Judah --from you one will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth
are from long ago, from the days of eternity

NOTE: I believe it would be a mistake to assume that passage is saying the
ruler is an eternal being when a better application would be that the ruler's
birth was scheduled very long ago; before the world began. (1Pet 1:18-21
& Rev 13:8)

Anyway: although the Bible gives a location for the ruler's birth, it doesn't give a
date for it. However, the Bible does give the date of his official presentation;
beginning with Zech 9:9 which says:

"Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king
comes to you: righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a
colt, the foal of a donkey."

That prediction was fulfilled during what is customarily known as Palm Sunday.
(Matt 21:1-10, John 12:12-16) The date of that event can be determined with little
difficulty from Dan 9:25 in combination with the 1st and 2nd chapters of the book
of Nehemiah.

* If perchance someone out there wants to give this a try, be sure and use
prophetic years of 360 days in your arithmetic instead of solar years or the
result won't come out right. Also; be very sure to begin your reckoning with
Artaxerxes' decree to rebuild Jerusalem rather than Cyrus' decree to rebuild the
Temple as those two projects were not concurrent.
_

 

[Beetow]

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● Ps 110:4 . .The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: "You are a priest
forever, in the manner of Melchizedek."

Now the interesting thing is: Mel's wasn't a succession kind of priesthood like
Aaron's, nor was Mel's restricted to a particular nationality nor a particular family.

Anyway; Mel was a high priest (Heb 5:10) which is a sacred trust exercised by one
man alone rather than a responsibility shared among a guild of priests. And the
position isn't something men win, viz; the high priesthood is neither an
achievement nor a career path. In other words: men don't compete for the job
because it's an appointment (Heb 5:4-6) In point of fact; a lifetime appointment,
i.e. the high priesthood is a position that the man occupies till he's deceased.

Well; Jesus came back from death with immortality (Rom 6:9) so we need not be
concerned that he might some day be replaced. (Heb 7:23-25) In other words:
Jesus is the last of his kind; hence there won't be any more after him.

Now, Mel was a high priest on Earth, whereas Jesus is a high priest in Heaven (Col
3:1) which implies Jesus has direct access to God's ear-- a tremendous advantage
for folks for whom Jesus is their mediator between God and Man.

● Heb 4:14-16 . .Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through
the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we
do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we
have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-- yet was without sin.
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

The Greek word translated "confidence" basically pertains to all out-spokenness,
i.e. candid, man to man, heart to heart, and straight from the shoulder, so to
speak. So let's not be trying God's patience with rote prayers when we are so
strongly urged to just be ourselves.
_

 

[Bruce.Leiter]

.
● Ps 110:4 . .The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: "You are a priest
forever, in the manner of Melchizedek."

Now the interesting thing is: Mel's wasn't a succession kind of priesthood like
Aaron's, nor was Mel's restricted to a particular nationality nor a particular family.

Anyway; Mel was a high priest (Heb 5:10) which is a sacred trust exercised by one
man alone rather than a responsibility shared among a guild of priests. And the
position isn't something men win, viz; the high priesthood is neither an
achievement nor a career path. In other words: men don't compete for the job
because it's an appointment (Heb 5:4-6) In point of fact; a lifetime appointment,
i.e. the high priesthood is a position that the man occupies till he's deceased.

Well; Jesus came back from death with immortality (Rom 6:9) so we need not be
concerned that he might some day be replaced. (Heb 7:23-25) In other words:
Jesus is the last of his kind; hence there won't be any more after him.

Now, Mel was a high priest on Earth, whereas Jesus is a high priest in Heaven (Col
3:1) which implies Jesus has direct access to God's ear-- a tremendous advantage
for folks for whom Jesus is their mediator between God and Man.

● Heb 4:14-16 . .Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through
the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we
do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we
have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-- yet was without sin.
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

The Greek word translated "confidence" basically pertains to all out-spokenness,
i.e. candid, man to man, heart to heart, and straight from the shoulder, so to
speak. So let's not be trying God's patience with rote prayers when we are so
strongly urged to just be ourselves.
_

Isaiah 53 describes Jesus as our Substitute in his suffering and death (verses 1-9) as well as his resurrection (verses 10-12). The result must be that we need to overcome our old, sinful nature and put on God's new nature more and more in our lives. The key is constant prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

 

[Beetow]

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● Gen 3:15 . . I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your
offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

Just about everybody on both sides of the aisle concurs that prophecy predicted
Christ; and in point of fact, the new testament emphasizes a woman brought Jesus
into the world, viz: he didn't just magically appear on the scene out of nowhere.
(Luke 1:26-31, Gal 4:4)

FAQ: Who are those "your offspring" spoken of in Gen 3:15?

REPLY: According to John 8:38-44 they're people.

FAQ: How so?

REPLY: The Serpent-- a.k.a. the Devil (Rev 20:2) --has the power of death (Heb
2:14) and the ability to tamper with the human body and the human mind in ways
not easily detected. (Ps 51:5, Luke 13:16, Mark 5:1-5, Eph 2:2)

FAQ: Are you suggesting the Devil tampers with people's birth so that they come
into this world with a demonic nature instead of a divine nature?

REPLY: Yes.

● 1John 3:7-8 . . Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices
righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of
the Devil; for the Devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for
this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the Devil.
_

 

[Beetow]

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● Gen 49:8-10 . .You, O Judah, your brothers shall praise; your hand shall be on
the nape of your foes; your father's sons shall bow low to you. The scepter shall not
depart from Judah, nor a ruler from between his feet

That prediction looked ahead to Jesus' tribal affiliation.

● Heb 7:14 . . It is clear that our Lord descended from Judah

The pathway for Jesus' connection to Judah was via David; who himself was of the
same tribe. (Matt 1:2-6)

The line from Judah to David can be easily traced in the old testament. It's a pretty
interesting journey as it takes Bible readers into and thru the little story of Ruth: an
amazing girl.

● Ruth 4:17 . . And the women, her neighbors, gave the baby a name, saying
"There is a son born to Naomi" and they called his name Obed: he is the father of
Jesse, the father of David.

* Ruth's baby was accounted her deceased husband's posterity in matters pertaining
to inheritance due to a law relative to childless kinsmen. (Deut 25:5-6)
_

 

[Beetow]

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● Dan 9:25-26 . . Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall
be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and
the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah
be cut off,

Now, that last sentence, the one that says Messiah shall be cut off, has somehow
escaped the notice of a pretty good number of the Jews' rabbinical scholars. And
Daniel wasn't the only prophet to mention this; Isaiah did too.

● Isa 53:8 . .Who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of
the living

In other words: Messiah was not only supposed to die, but also to leave behind no
posterity.

The thing is: the Jews were expecting an immortal monarch who would liberate
them from foreign dominance and usher in the glorious theocratic kingdom as it's
depicted by the prophets. Because he didn't do as expected. quite a few modern
Jews honestly believe they have sufficient justification for refusing to consider Jesus.
_

 

[Beetow]

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● Isa 7:14 . .The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call
him Immanuel.

The new testament applies that prophecy to Christ.

"They will call him Immanuel-- which means "God with us" (Matt 1:23)

Well; there is no use in looking for a black and white example of the people
speaking of Jesus by that name because there isn't one. However, it isn't
necessarily an ID tag when it can also speak of divine patronage, for example:

"And fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying: A great prophet
has arisen among us! And: God has visited His people! And this report concerning
him went out all over Judea, and in all the surrounding district." (Luke 7:16-17)
_