INTRODUCTION

Adam and Eve by Raphael (Raffaello Santi of Urbino), 1509-1511.

When God created Adam and Eve the world was good. They fell into disobedience and sin was brought into the world. This tainted everything and brought death to all. But before the creation God had a plan in place to restore mankind. Even as he put a curse on the world, he made this promise of a future redeemer:

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. Genesis 3:15

Although created by God, Adam and Eve inclined toward their own desires and by listening to Satan man became the Devil’s adopted offspring. But there would be a future offspring of woman, one not of any man, who would eventually crush the head of evil. His name would be Jesus.

However, in those early times, men grieved God so much by their depravity he considered wiping all off the face of the Earth. Still, he remembered his promise of The Redeemer and God never breaks a promise. God found one righteous man and his family to save a sample of each living creature. Noah was not the promised Redeemer of course. Noah did not redeem mankind. He merely preserved it and allowed it to start anew. The sinful nature that began with Adam was preserved along with mankind and the promise of a coming Redeemer was still needed.

Among the survivors, of the Flood God had used to destroy his creation were Noah’s three sons. All the people living upon the planet today descended from those three.

The inhabitants of what we call the Middle East basically descended from Shem. Thus they are known as Semites.  Shem’s grandson was Eber. Jewish tradition holds that Eber refused to help in the building of the Tower of Babel and he was allowed to retain his own language, the original language of mankind. Eber’s descendents were Eberites. However, the name Eber was sometimes shown as Heber (I had an Uncle Heber named for him) and in time his descendents and their language was called Hebrew. A further descendent of Eber was Abrams, who was renamed by God as Abraham. He was to become the great patriarch of the Hebrews and they were God’s Chosen people from whom the Redeemer would one day come and they were to show God’s way to the world. (The name Jew referred to those of the Tribe of Judah, but the name eventually came to mean all those of the Hebrew faith.)

Despite the fresh start, as the population grew, people again turned to wickedness, even the Chosen People. God sent prophets to warn them and call them to repentance, but they ignored and sometimes even killed these messengers. Finally, God dispersed the Hebrews and sent many into captivity in Babylon. The country of Israel and Judah was taken from them and Jerusalem and the temple destroyed. The Law itself was lost to the people for decades.

In 539 B.C., King Nabonidus surrendered Babylon to the Persian King Cyrus without a fight.  Within the year, the first Jews were allowed to return to their former homeland. By 516 B.C. a new temple had been built.

Ezra, accompanied by about 5,000 former exiles, arrived out of Babylon in 458 B.C. Nehemiah was overseeing the building of a reconstructed wall around Jerusalem, and after its completion in 445 B.C., Ezra stood and read the Law of Moses to the assembled people. (The Book of the Law had been rediscovered during construction.) Since the Law had been lost, the people were overjoyed at hearing it again. They forsook idols and returned to accepting the One and Only Mighty God.

Despite these incredible events, a mere 15 years later the Jews had strayed again. They were sacrificing blemished animals, showing their disrespect to God, and they were marrying foreigners. Why was it bad to marry foreigners? Because God had promised a redeemer and he had promised this redeemer would be a direct and unblemished descendent of Abraham and of David. If the Jews continued to marry with foreigners that ancestry would be lost and God’s plan could not be fulfilled.

So in 430 B.C., God raised up a prophet named Malachi who warned the Jews of coming judgment if they didn’t repent. His prophecies came with assurances of God’s love for them and a promise of salvation. And so it was with these words in Malachi quoting God that the Old Testament comes to an end:

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Malachi 4:5-6

We have 400 silent years between the Old and New Testaments; between the prophesies of Malachi and the Birth of Our Lord, Christ Jesus. Much changed in the world in those years.

Alexander the Great defeated Persia in 331 B.C. King Darius was killed by his own men. Alexander went on to rule the known world until 323 B.C., when he died under mysterious circumstances.

His empire was divided among four of his top generals and split into four sectors ruled thusly: Seleucus (Asia), Ptolemy (Egypt), Lysimachus (Thrace) and Cassander, son of Antipater over Macedonia/Greece. (Many think of Cleopatra VII [69 B.C. - 30 B.C.] as Egyptian, but she was Macedonian/Greek being the last Ptolemy ruler of Egypt, which upon her death became part of the Roman Empire. Her father was Pharaoh Ptolemy XII Auletes his sister, Cleopatra V Tryphaena, was most likely her mother. (Cleopatra VII was married to two of her own brothers, before having her famous liaisons with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony.)

The Jews, after Alexander, came under Seleucid rule. However, when the Seleucid King Antiochus defiled the Jewish Temple in 167 B.C. (a foreshadowing of the future Antichrist), Judah Maccabeus led a Jewish Army, which defeated the Seleucids. This began what is called the Hasmonean Rule of Palestine. However, in 63 B.C., the great Roman general Pompey captured Jerusalem and Israel once again lost its independence and came under Roman Rule.

In 42 B.C., Mark Antony appointed Herod tetrarch of Galilee. The Jews resented him because he wasn’t a Jew. He was an Idumean with an Arabian mother. (Idumea was the Greek name for Edom, which bordered Judea on the south. This was a land populated by the descendents of Esau, Edom being another name of his. Esau was the brother of Jacob. The Edomites were perpetual thorns in the side of the Israelites. Given the history between Israel and Edom, it is no wonder the Jews were not happy to have Herod named their king.)  During the Parthian War, Herod had to flee because the Jews sided with the Parthians. But after the war and order was restored, Rome reinstated Herod as the sole ruler of Judea. Thus in 37 B.C., Herod the Great was King of the Jews. He was ruling when Jesus was born.

During the Hasmonean Rule arose three important factions among the Jews: Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes.

The Pharisees were spiritual leaders to the extreme. They not only embraced the Law, but also began to add to it their own interpretation and traditions. They did, however, believe in an afterlife, the judgment of the wicked and a coming Messiah.

The Sadducees were an elite priestly group, yet liberally embraced Greek ways into their lives. They insisted on a literal interpretation of the Law rejecting the ideas of the Pharisees, including resurrection. Their lives revolved around ritual and the Temple. They disappeared from history with the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.

The Essenes didn’t like either of the other two groups. They became monks, moved to the desert and strictly obeyed dietary laws and being celibate. They are associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

During this time a body came into existence known as the Sanhedrin (sitting together). It was a ruling institution for the Jews, a sort of Supreme Court and legislature rolled into one. It consisted of 71 Jewish elders and was presided over by a President and a Chancellor. Members of the Sanhedrin did not gain a seat by election. The supplanted a sitting member on the council be establishing superior knowledge of the Law. (Nicodemus and Saul [Paul) held seats in the council at times.) Both Pharisees and Sadducees were members of this group.

Another group often mention is Scripture were the Scribes. These were akin to attorneys.

So when we come to the beginning of the New Testament and the birth of Jesus, the world is quite different than it was when Malachi talked of a coming prophet like Elijah. The Persian Empire has been replaced by the Roman Empire. The King of Judea is not of the line of David, but a non-Jew named Herod. The Jewish religion and tradition is not being directed by God’s chosen prophets, but is in the hands of the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. It is also a time when many Jews are earnestly expecting the promised Messiah to come as a king that will defeat Rome and rule as David once did. This is the world at the time the Christ came.

JOHN THE BAPTIST PREPARES THE WAY

JJOHN THE BAPTIST PREPARES THE WAY

John the Baptist by Leonardo da Vinci, 1513-16

Judea spring of 26 A.D.

Matthew 3:1-6, Mark 1:1-6, Luke 3:1-6 and John 1:6-8

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar [Tiberius Claudius Nero born November 16, 42 BC – Died March 16, 37 AD, age 77], Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, [AD 26-36 Died AD39], Herod [Antipas] being tetrarch of Galilee [BC 4-AD 39 Died AD39], and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, [BC 4-AD 34 Died AD34], and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene [AD 29 – see Note 1]. Annas [AD 6-15, President Sanhedrin AD15-66] and [Joseph, son of Annas, see note 2]and Caiaphas [AD18-37] being the high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

Note 1.  An inscription was found on a temple from the time of Tiberius (the Roman emperor from 14 - 37 AD), which named Lysanias as the Tetrarch of Abila near Damascus, just as Luke has written.

The temple inscription reads:

Huper tes ton kurion Se[baston] soterias kai tou sum[pantos] auton oikou, Numphaios Ae[tou] Lusianiou tetrarchou apele[utheors] ten odon ktisas k.t.l

Translation:

"For the salvation of the August lords and of all their household, Nymphaeus, freedman of Eagle Lysanias tetrarch established this street and other things."

The reference to August lords is a joint title given only to the emperor Tiberius (son of Augustus) and his mother Livia (widow of Augustus). This reference establishes the date of the inscription to between A.D. 14 and 29. The year 14 was the year of Tiberius' accession and the year 29 was the year of Livia's death.

Therefore the 15th year of Tiberius is the year 29 A.D., and it lies within the reign of the August lords. This evidence supports Luke's reference that Lysanias was a tetrarch around the time of John the Baptist (29 A.D.).

Note 2.  Annas, who’s name means "The grace of Jehovah" was the son of Seth and appointed high priest of the Jews in 6 A.D in his 37th year. He was high priest from 6 to 15 A.D. but as long as he lived he was the virtual head of the priestly party in Jerusalem. He was chosen to the high priesthood by Quirinius, the imperial governor of Syria; obliged to give way to Ismael by Valerius Gratus, procurator of Judaea, in the beginning of Tiberius' reign, 14 A.D. Eleazar, the son of Annas, followed Ismael; then Simon; then Joseph Caiaphas, son-in-law of Annas (John 18:13).

In the time of Christ high priests were appointed and removed at the command of the Roman governors. Although removed from office, Annas' power and influence was so great that five of his sons, as well as his son-in-law Caiaphas and his grandson Matthias, also became high priests. Years afterward he lost the high priesthood, but even then he was popularly considered as still in office and was called "high priest"; even after Pentecost his name appears first in the list of priestly leaders:

Acts 4:5-7 "And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. " 

In John 18:19, 22 the high priest is undoubtedly Annas, although in vs. 13 and 24 Caiaphas is mentioned as the high priest. Annas is referred to in connection with the beginning of John the Baptist's ministry, which took place "in the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas" (Luke 3:2 ), as though father and son-in-law were joint holders of the office.

It seems clear that due to his ability and force of character he was virtually high priest, although Caiaphas had the title. When Jesus was arrested, He was first brought before Annas (John 18:13). It was apparently Annas who questioned Him about His disciples and His teaching, and who gave orders to one of the officers standing by to strike Jesus with his hand (18:19-22). After the questioning, he sent Jesus "bound" to Caiaphas.

John 18:19-24 "The high priest then asked Jesus about His disciples and His doctrine. Jesus answered him, "I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing. Why do you ask Me? Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them. Indeed they know what I said." And when He had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, "Do You answer the high priest like that?" Jesus answered him, "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?" Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest." 

He was undoubtedly the ruling voice in the council that condemned Jesus, although nothing is said about his part in the proceedings that followed the preliminary questioning. He was present at the meeting of the Sanhedrin before which Peter and John defended themselves for preaching the Gospel of the Resurrection (Acts 4:6).

Annas is called "high priest," Caiaphas, John, and Alexander are called "of his kindred." He lived to old age, and he had five sons appointed as high priests.

Source: http://www.bible-history.com/HighPriests/NTHIGHPRIESTSAnnas.htm

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, and saying, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias [Isaiah], saying, as it is written in the book of the words of Esaias [Isaiah] the prophet, as it is written in the prophets, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her 
that her hard service has been completed, 
that her sin has been paid for, 
that she has received from the LORD's hand 
double for all her sins.

A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare 
the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.

And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, 
and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken." Isaiah 40: 1-5 (NIV)

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John and he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

 And John was clothed with his raiment of camel's hair, and with a leather girdle of a skin about his loins; and his meat he did eat locusts and wild honey.

And then there went out to him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem and all the whole Judean countryside, and all the region round about Jordan, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.

JESUS TEACHES NICODEMUS

Visit of Nicodemus to Christ by John La Farge, 1880

John 3: 1-21

There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night, and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that you do, except God be with him.”

This is almost the full extent of what we know of Nicodemus. We can conclude he was a man of wealth from the information in John 19:39-40 when he brings 75 pounds of myrrh mixed with aloes to prepare Christ’s body for burial. Myrrh was an expensive spice.

We can also infer from his aiding Joseph of Arimathea in caring for Christ’s body and from his stance against the Pharisees in John 7: 50-51 that he was a follower of Jesus, and from the reaction to his statements this was probably secretly. 

John 7:40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So there was a division among the people over him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” (ESV)

The passage in John 7 also indicates that the events described in John 3 took place well before the Passion month, another indicator that there were two separate cleansings of the Temple.

We really don’t have any information outside of scripture on the man. There was a Nicodemus (or Naqdimon) written about in the Babylonian Talmud, a rich man of Jerusalem who was living in the late 60 ADs during the time of the war with Rome. Some scholars have claimed this was the same Nicodemus, but more likely he was a nephew or other member of the same family. 

This man was of the ben Gurion family, and probably Nicodemus was a member of it as well. The ben Gurions were rich, with a long history as Pharisees, teachers of the law and members of the ruling class. Members of the family carried the name Nicodemus at least as far back as 64 BC with a Nicodemus ben Gurion written about in Josephus’s Antiquities (14:37). We’ve already mentioned that the Nicodemus ben Gurion of the Babylonia Talmud lived in the 60s AD. The Nicodemus, who met with Jesus, fits with this family in social status and time period.

Why did he come to Jesus at night? Perhaps his duties kept him busy during the day, but more likely he came secretly. Jesus was not exactly making friends with the Pharisees and Sanhedrin, both of which Nicodemas was a member. (There was another member of the Sanhedrin, who was a secret follower of Jesus and who Nicodemus apparently had a friendship with, Joseph of Arimathea.)

He shows respect toward Jesus by calling him Rabbi and says the miracles he has done show that God must be with him.

Jesus replies by answering a question never asked. Obviously Jesus knows what is weighing on Nicodemas’ mind. The question is how can I know the Kingdom of God. The answer, and the only answer, is one must be born from above.

Jesus answered and said to him, “Verily, verily, I say to you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say to you, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it lists, and you hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it comes, and whither it goes. So is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

Jesus’ reply rocked Nicodemus back on his heels. He couldn’t understand it for it made no sense.

In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. John 3:3 (NIV)

“Verily, verily, I say to you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3 (KJV)

I show both translations here because the NIV misses some of the emphasis of its import shown by the King James. The NIV says, “I tell you the truth…” The double “Verily, verily” of the KJV means “I tell you the truth of truths.”

Jesus uses the double “verily”; this is the truth of truths, the absolute, “Verily, verily, I say to thee, if any one may not be born from above, he is not able to see the reign of God” (Young Literal Translation).  This is the source of the oft-used phrase, “born again.” We find it confirmed in 1 Peter 1:23: “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” The literal translation of 1 Peter is “being begotten again”, or in modern English, “born again”. (Perhaps it could be interpreted as reconceived as well.)

Nicodemus may have been surprised by this reply. We don’t know that, but we know it confused him. Oh, he took it as meaning born again all right; he just didn’t understand how that was possible because he was thinking of physical birth. He may have been thinking he made a mistake in coming to Jesus. It was ridiculous, re-entering the womb and being reborn? 

Jesus, with another “verily, verily,” strongly reiterates this fact. There is no way around this truth; a person must be born again to see the Kingdom of God.

Nicodemus answered and said to him, “How can these things be?”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you a master of Israel and know not these things? Verily, verily, I say to you, we speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and you receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Jesus gently admonishes Nicodemus for not understanding. Nicodemus is a teacher and a leader, yet he missed it. What kinds of things did he miss? Such things as these among many others:

"The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, " declares the LORD. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Jeremiah 31:31-33

"Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live! Ezekiel 18:30-32

Then Jesus makes reference to an event Nicodemus would have known well when he says, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people. The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived. Numbers 21:6-9

Nicodemus probably did not understand what Jesus was talking about. He couldn’t see the cross for that was in the future. When he came and helped bury Christ’s body that reference to Numbers 21 probably came back to him in total clarity.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believes on him is not condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that does truth comes to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”

Nicodemus may have left that night still confused and in wonder. He probably hit the scrolls and over the course of time came to understand and believe in Jesus as the Messiah. He probably came to understand that no man was capable of following the Law completely and that a study of the men of God in the Old Testament clearly shows their relationship with God was not one of perfection in deed, but in faith in the Lord.

This passage, early on in Christ’s ministry, leaves no doubt that Jesus declared there is but one way to Heaven and that is through belief in Him.

It is also important to take note Jesus came to save the world, not condemn it.