*Peter a Title Designating Leadership* Immediately after the decisive battle to overcome Satan, two of the disciples of John the Baptist saw, with John, Jesus. Jesus asked them to follow him to his home. One of these was Andrew, son of Jona. He called his brother, Simon bar-Jona. Jesus looked on Simon, and said to him, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas [in Greek, PETER], meaning a stone (John 1:42). In Mark 3:14, 16, we read: And he [Jesus] ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach....And Simon he surnamed Peter. A surname is, according to Webster, an added name derived from occupation. The surname Peter had for centuries been a surname or TITLE, designating a religious LEADER, HEAD or HEADQUARTERS. Peter was the first and chief apostle. An apostle is one sent forth to proclaim or preach. So, at the very beginning of his earthly ministry, preparing the FOUNDATION for the Church, Jesus Christ chose his chief human apostle and the other original 11. They, with the prophets whose writings were preserved from the days of Gods first chosen Congregation (and NATION), Israel, were to form the very FOUNDATION of Gods CHURCH. Jesus himself was to be not only Founder but HEAD, and chief corner stone of the CHURCH (Eph. 2:19-21; 5:23). *Importance of a Firm Foundation* Prior to age 30, Jesus had been a carpenter--also building with stone as well as with wood. He well knew the FOUNDATION should be laid first, before the structure itself. But Jesus had himself chosen his apostles. He said to them later, Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you (John 15:16, 19). Now Jesus began proclaiming the gospel MESSAGE God the Father had sent into the world by him as Gods Messenger (Mal. 3:1). We read of it in Mark chapter 1: The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God....Jesus came into Galilee, preaching [proclaiming, teaching] the gospel of the KINGDOM OF GOD, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel (Mark 1:1, 14-15). And, from Matthew, And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom (Matt. 4:23). This prophetic message (gospel) of the KINGDOM OF GOD will be explained in detail in Chapter 7. It was the GOOD NEWS of the future establishment on earth of the GOVERNMENT OF GOD, restored and administered by the divine GOD FAMILY--the KINGDOM OF GOD, to replace the present evil world of Satan. Jesus proclaiming of this amazing future NEWS--combined with his miracles of healing, turning water into wine and others, caused great excitement. Immense crowds followed him and his disciples. He was teaching his disciples to become the future apostles, while he preached this message to the public. *Why Pharisees Opposed Jesus* The news proclamation had spread to Jerusalem. There the Pharisees, scribes and Sadducees became alarmed by it. The Pharisees were a Jewish religious sect some of whom occupied minor--yet to them important--government offices. The Roman Empire then ruled over Palestine. The Romans sent a district king and a limited occupation army to supervise rule in Judea. But the Romans set some of the Jewish Pharisees in offices of lower civil rule, under the Roman king. These were well-paying political jobs, and these Pharisees did not want to lose their jobs or their power over the people. These Jewish rulers and their chief priests completely MISunderstood Jesus gospel message. They knew he proclaimed a government that would take over and rule ALL NATIONS of the earth. What they MISunderstood was the TIME and NATURE of that kingdom of God. And a professing Christianity still misunderstands it today. They assumed Jesus was a subversive, intending himself, immediately in his human lifetime, to overthrow the Roman Empire and set up his own kingdom. Immediately they feared being accused of sedition and disloyalty, losing their jobs and probably being executed as subversives. So they opposed and denounced Jesus. Traditional Christianity has really never understood this basic reason for Pharisaical opposition and persecution of Jesus. The Pharisees included unscrupulous politicians. At the time of the first Passover to occur during Jesus ministry, the spring of A.D. 28 (almost exactly 100 time cycles--1,900 years--before I kept my first Passover), Jesus went up to Jerusalem for the Passover. While there, a notable Pharisee named Nicodemus came to see Jesus secretly by night. He feared having fellow Pharisees know he had talked personally with Jesus. Nicodemus said, Rabbi, we know [we Pharisees know] that thou art a teacher come from God. The Pharisees KNEW JESUS WAS THE MESSIAH! They were familiar with Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 53. The Pharisees KNEW Jesus was the prophesied Messiah. But they understood only one Messianic appearance. So they supposed he was planning to overthrow the Roman Empire then! Of course Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he launched immediately into the fact that the KINGDOM OF GOD, ruling all nations, could not be set up UNTIL the time of the NEW SPIRIT BIRTH--the time of the RESURRECTION!
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 11:09:32 +0000
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