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Jesus Welcomes Doubters Too

By Jeremy Myers
32 Comments

Jesus Welcomes Doubters Too

Jesus faith and doubtWhat does Jesus think about doubt?

It is common in Christian circles today to require faith and certainty before people are allowed to serve. We feel people need to be sure that Jesus was the Messiah, was God in the flesh, died on the cross, and rose again from the dead before we give them an opportunity to follow Jesus into the world.

Until people get this faith and certainty, we often donโ€™t feel they are fully qualified to serve in church. Instead, we recommend they read a book on proofs for the Christian faith, attend a class about the basics of Christianity, or perform some sort of other study so that they can gain the faith and certainty we feel is necessary for followers of Jesus.

It does not appear that Jesus feels the same way.

Throughout His entire ministry He was calling and inviting people to follow Him who knew next to nothing about Him, and were sometimes even antagonistic to who He was and what He stood for. But Jesus knew that if they followed Him, they could learn about Him while they were in the midst of loving and serving others.

One event in the Gospels shows this more than any other.

After Jesus died on the cross, and after He has risen from the dead, and after He has appeared numerous times to His apostles, and after He has eaten with them, talked with them, and let them touch His resurrected body, He appears to them again.

And this time, Matthew 28:16-17 says that some of the apostles bowed to Him, but others did not bow, because they doubted.

Do you see it?

Some of the apostles still doubted.

There is lots of debate in the commentaries and scholarly articles about whether it was really the apostles who doubted or someone else, and whether or not they really doubted, or it was just an inquisitive faith, or maybe they didnโ€™t really doubt Jesus, but they doubted that this person who appeared to them this time was really Jesus, and on and on it goes.

But letโ€™s call a spade a spade.

Some of the apostles doubted.

The Greek word for “doubted” is tricky here and very rare, but letโ€™s not use fancy seminarian hermeneutical tricks to remove the force of the text. Some of the apostles did not bow to Jesus. Why not? Because they doubted.

Does Jesus care that some doubt? Not one bit.

The very next section in Matthew is one of the most important in the Bible. It contains the Great Commission. The greatest task ever given to mankind by God is given to this motley crew of apostles, some of whom believe, and some of whom doubt. He takes all the power and authority that is in heaven and on earth and gives it to them. Yes, all of them. The doubters too. And he says, โ€œGo. Be like Me to the world.โ€

I love this about Jesus.

People who have been with Him for three years. Have seen Him work miracles. Have heard His teachings. Have eaten meals with Him. And after He dies and rises from the dead, while some of them believe, others still doubt.

And Jesus just shrugs His shoulders and says, โ€œItโ€™s good enough. Go. Whether you believe or whether you still have doubts, you can still act like me, and talk like me, and love like me, and serve like me in this world. Go. Be Me in the World.โ€

When some of the disciples doubt, Jesus shrugs His shoulders and invites them to follow Him in loving others anyway.

So do you believe? Do you doubt? Maybe you have some odd mixture of both? Either way is fine with Jesus.

For now, He just wants you to be like Him in this world. To follow Him in loving and serving others.

Faith and Doubt ASBO Jesus

The cross of Jesus is CENTRAL to everything!

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God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: cruciform, crucivision, Discipleship, doubt, Easter, faith, fear, following Jesus, Matthew 28:16-17, resurrection, resurrection of Jesus, Theology of Jesus

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The Two Most Beautiful Words in the Gospels

By Jeremy Myers
10 Comments

The Two Most Beautiful Words in the Gospels

Peter wept bitterlyWhat are the most beautiful words in the Gospels?

These two right here:

…and Peter…

These two words are found in Mark 16:7 and I find them to be the most beautiful and moving words in the Gospels. Every single time I read them, they get my heart beating. They give me shivers and chills. Sometimes I even choke up in tears.

…and Peter…

Why?

We all know what Peter did. He was one of the three closest companions that Jesus had. He was the spokesperson for the twelve apostles. He was the one who promised He would never deny Jesus.

And when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter was the only one who tried to defend Jesus.

When Jesus was escorted away to His trial, Peter was the only apostle who followed. The rest scattered into the night and hid.

…and Peter…

Peter denies ChristYet despite all this zeal for Jesus, it was only Peter who verbally denied Jesus. It was only Peter who cursed Jesus. Not once. Not twice. But three times. (Possibly even six times.)

This is certainly the low point of Peter’s life. He feels abandoned and betrayed. And Peter even betrays and denies Jesus. He probably feels that all is lost, and that whatever happens, He is lost for eternity. He is done for. God will never forgive him.

All of us have felt this way from time to time. Like we have done something or said something so terrible that Jesus could never forgive us.

…and Peter…

So when Jesus rises from the dead, I find it terribly comforting that when the angel tells the two women who first witness His resurrection to go and tell His disciples that Jesus has risen, the angel emphasizes that they must also tell Peter. He singles Peter out. “Go tell the disciples,” the angel says, “and Peter…”

Yes.

…and Peter…

The resurrection of Jesus is for all of us. It is for the Mother Theresas of the world and the Hitlers.

The resurrection is for John the beloved disciple, and Judas the traitor.

The resurrection is for you, me, …and Peter.

If you ever doubt or wonder about Jesus’ love for you, just remember these two words which tell us so much about our own sin, the heart of Jesus, and the complete forgiveness and love offered to us through His death and resurrection.

…and Peter…

The cross of Jesus is CENTRAL to everything!

Transform your life and theology by focusing on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus:

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God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: crucifixion, cruciform, crucivision, Easter, forgiveness, Judas, Mark 16:7, Peter, resurrection, resurrection of Jesus, Theology of Jesus

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Why Did Jesus Wait Three Days to Rise from the Dead?

By Jeremy Myers
88 Comments

Why Did Jesus Wait Three Days to Rise from the Dead?

Jesus ResurrectionMaybe this is a pointless question, but why did Jesus wait three days to rise from the dead?

I mean, once He died, He had fully paid the penalty for the sins of all mankind. Why couldn’t He just resurrect right there, jump down from the cross, dust himself off, and call it good?

Maybe he needed to be buried in the grave. Fine. But why wait three days for the resurrection? Why not get wrapped in burial clothes, then rise sometime during that first night?

Here are some possible reasons, but honestly, I find none of them satisfactory.

To prove He was dead

I suppose some could argue that He had to stay in the tomb for three days to prove He was dead. There is, after all, the “swoon theory” in which people say Jesus didn’t really die, but just went unconscious. I suppose if Jesus “resurrected” two minutes after dying on the cross, this theory would be much more plausible. But when Jesus is buried in tomb for three days, this theory loses all credibility.

But at the same time, this still doesn’t answer the question. If Jesus wanted to prove He was dead, why not wait seven days? Or thirty? I suppose these longer periods can be disregarded because God did not want Jesus to see decay (Ps 16:10; Acts 2:27). But even in three days the body of Jesus would have started to decay.

To fulfill prophecy

Some say that Jesus had to spend three days in the grave to fulfill prophecy. Which prophecy? The sign of Jonah, who spent three days in the belly of a great fish (cf. Matt 12:39-40). But we must be careful here because the story of Jonah is not really a prophecy. Yes, Jesus prophesied that He would be in the grave for three days, just like Jonah was in the fish for three days, but if Jesus had never said this, then there would be no such thing as a prophecy about spending three days in the grave.

So this answer just kicks the question back a little further: Why three days? Why couldn’t Jesus have connected His death with the creation of the world, and said a prophecy about how “Just as the world was created in six days, and on the sixth day, Adam was raised from the dust of the ground, so also, after six days the Son of Man also will rise from the dust”? Jesus could have taken any number of stories and accounts in the Bible and turned them into a prophecy about how long He would be in the tomb. Why did He pick the story of Jonah? What is special about three days?

To increase faith

Another possible explanation is that Jesus wanted to increase the faith of His followers. By not resurrecting right away, they had to question why they had followed Him, and whether He was truly the Messiah. They had to work through the despair of losing Him, and the questions of what would have happened if they had not followed Him, or if they had defended Him better, or if they had simply been duped.

By waiting three days, Jesus allowed them time to work through some of these issues and questions. But again, this begs the question. If three days does this, why not seven, or twelve, or forty, all of which are also significant biblical numbers.

Could not rise during the Sabbath

It could be argued that resurrection is work, and so Jesus could not rise on the Sabbath, but had to wait until the Sabbath was over. This argument actually has some merit. But Jesus was always doing things on the Sabbath that other Jewish people frowned upon, including healing on the Sabbath. So it seems He could have been raised on the Sabbath also.

Acting as our High Priest

Maybe Jesus was busy “doing stuff” in paradise, hell, and heaven. You know, High Priestly stuff like sprinkling blood on the altar in heaven, defeating sin, death, and the devil, preaching to spirits in prison, that sort of thing (Hebrews 9; 1 Pet 3:19).

I suppose this is possible. It just doesn’t really explain why these things took three days.

It doesn’t matter

Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe it was all just random. Maybe Jesus picked a number out of the air, and selected Jonah as a way of making a prophecy about it to prove that He could predict the future, which would then prove that He was a prophet of God when the prophecy came true. But the number of days in the grave is irrelevant. It just happens to be what Jesus chose.

I just struggle with this because the biblical authors seem to place such an emphasis on three days in the grave.

But in the end, I have no answer. But that’s okay, because …

The important thing is that Jesus rose

We can all agree here. Maybe questioning why Jesus spent three days in the grave is a pointless question which only theologians ask. The important thing is that Jesus rose from the dead, and for this, we can praise and thank God for all eternity.

It is difficult to know why Jesus spent three days in the grave. But the important thing is that He rose again!

Theologians like to ask these sorts of questions about Scripture, theology, and Jesus, but in the end, what it all comes down to is believing what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, even if we do not understand all the details.

The cross of Jesus is CENTRAL to everything!

Transform your life and theology by focusing on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus:

Fill out the form below to receive several emails from me about the death and resurrection of Jesus.

(Note: If you are a member of RedeemingGod.com, login and then revisit this page to update your membership.)

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: crucifixion, Easter, grave, resurrection, Theology of Jesus

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Free Books by Francis Chan

By Jeremy Myers
15 Comments

Free Books by Francis Chan

Arthur Sido alerted me to the fact that Francis Chan’s books are available for free download today. Thanks, Arthur! And thanks, Francis!

I am not sure how long they will remain free, so go download your copies right away!

UPDATE: The books are no longer free… But if you subscribe to my newsletter, you can get a free ebook, and all future ebooks will be given to newsletter subscribers for free.

Forgotten God
Crazy Love
Erasing Hell

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: Books I'm Reading

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Does Your Passover Meal include Meat Sacrificed to Idols?

By Jeremy Myers
14 Comments

Does Your Passover Meal include Meat Sacrificed to Idols?

Passover Meal

A reader recently sent in this question about whether or not Christians should celebrate Jewish feasts such as Passover.

Some families in my church like to observe the Passover and other Jewish feasts. Is this okay?

I have two responses:

  1. Sure. Why not?
  2. No. I do not recommend it.

(I should have been a politicianโ€ฆ)

It all depends on whether or not your Passover Meal includes meat that has been sacrificed to idols. If you are pretty sure your Passover Meal is โ€œidol meatโ€ free, you still might want to read onโ€ฆ

It is Okay for Christians to Celebrate Passover

My family and I do enjoy a Passover Meal (sometimes called the Seder). We have the horseradish, lettuce, salt water, unleavened bread, boiled eggs, lamb bone (though we use a chicken boneโ€ฆ), and wine (the kids drink grape juice).

Passover WineAnd we do most of the activities also. We put three pieces of Matzoh in a napkin, take out the center one out, break it, hide it, and let the kids find it. We go open the door for Elijah. We tell the story of the first Passover, and we read Scripture. It is a wonderful time, and the family looks forward to it every year.

Of course, we do something else during our Passover meal that you will not find in any Jewish Passover. We not only tell the story of the first Passover, but we also tell the story of the Last Supper with Jesus, and talk about how every element in the Passover meal pictures and represents Jesus Christ and what He did for us.

The Passover meal is full of rich symbolism about Jesus, as are all the Jewish feasts.

So in this sense, I am fine with Christians celebrating Passover and the other Jewish feasts, especially if they take the time and effort to not just celebrate the feast, but to show how it reminds us of Jesus and points to what He did (or will do) for the world.

Now letโ€™s look at the other side of the coin.

It is Not Okay for Christians to Celebrate Passover

The only time I would ever counsel Christians to not celebrate the Passover is when they think they have to, and think that all other Christians must celebrate it also.

And sadly, this sort of thinking is becoming increasingly prominent in some Christian circles and churches.

Passover MealThere are numerous forms this argument takes, but one or more of these points are usually brought up:

  • The Mosaic Law is an eternal covenant, and so we must obey it. The Feasts are part of the Law, therefore, we must observe them. God promises blessing to those who faithfully observe the Law.
  • Jesus observed the Feasts, and since we are to follow the example of Jesus, we must observe the Feasts also.
  • When Jesus observed Passover, He told His disciples to โ€œdo this in remembrance of me.โ€ The โ€œthisโ€ He was referring to was the Passover meal, so we must observe Passover.
  • There is great spiritual truth in Jewish feasts like the Passover meal, and so the only people who would not want to observe them are people who donโ€™t care about spiritual truth.

When I hear these sorts of arguments for observing Passover and other Jewish feasts, alarm bells begin to sound, and a whole host of Scriptures from the New Testament begin the โ€œHoraโ€ (the Jewish circle dance) inside my head.

Theology Against Required Passover Observance

First, people who argue that we must obey the Mosaic Law do not understand what Jesus Christ accomplished in His life, death, and resurrection, do not understand the Gospel of grace, and do not understand the difference between Israel and the Church. Each of these are weighty theological subjects and explaining them would require a much longer post.

Second, people who argue that Christians must celebrate the Passover seem to forget that the Passover is a Jewish holiday. It is not a Christian holiday. I often hear Christians say, “But Jesus celebrate Passover! Therefore, we should too!” Yes, but Jesus was Jewish.

Jesus celebrated the Passover, not because the Passover is one of God’s sanctioned holidays, but because the Passover is a Jewish holiday and Jesus was Jewish.

I firmly believe that if Jesus had not been Jewish, He would not have celebrated the Jewish holidays. Instead, He would have celebrated whatever holidays were part of the culture He was in, and rather than show how He fulfilled the Jewish holidays, would have shown how He fulfilled these other cultural holidays of whatever culture He was in.

Let’s say Jewish was born in the United States sometime during the last century. Jesus would have celebrated Thanksgiving, Independence Day, President’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr’s Birthday, and other similar holidays. On Thanksgiving, He would have reminded us to give thanks to God for all the blessings we have been given. On July 4, Jesus would have told His disciples about the freedom we have as His followers, and the independence from sin and slavery to the devil. On President’s Day He would have spoken about how our only true Lord and Ruler is Himself, Jesus Christ. On Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, He would have reminded us about the hope and dreams He shared with Martin Luther about equality for all in the Kingdom of God.

You see how this goes? Jesus is about the redemption of all things. He shows us how He is the fulfillment of all hopes and dreams and expectations. Jesus fulfilled the Jewish holidays, yes, but He also fulfills the United States holidays, the German Holidays, the Japanese holidays, the Brazilian holidays, the Russian holidays, etc, etc. (This is some of what I wrote about, by the way, in Christmas Redemption). I could write so much about this, but will refrain for now. (See posts about Hanukkah, Pagan Holidays, Easter, Mithras)

Scripture Against Required Passover Observance

As far as the Scriptures dancing the Hora, some of them include Acts 15:20 where the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem gave instructions for what the Gentile believers should do, and they only gave them three things, none of which included the Jewish feasts. The three things they did include were simply to maintain fellowship between Jews and Gentiles, because these three were especially abhorrent to Jews.

I think of pretty much everything Paul wrote in the book of Galatians.

I think of Colossians 2:16-17 where Paul talks about Holy days, ceremonies, and Sabbaths, and says that we must not condemn others on the basis of whether or not they practice these things, because they were simply a shadow of the reality, which is Jesus Christ. In other words, if we have the real thing, Jesus Christ, why would we want to go back to the shadow? The answer is, we wouldnโ€™t!

I think of 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 where Paul uses the symbolism of Passover to show that the physical meal is not what is important, but the spiritual reality that is in Jesus Christ and our unity together with Him.

I think of the book of Hebrews, where the author is intent to show that Jesus Christ is far superior to anything which was offered under the Mosaic Law, and after we have Jesus, to go back to such things is sheer folly.

There are other Scriptures as well.

My Final Answer

So if you are invited to a Passover meal by a person who thinks the meal is required for followers of Jesus, and that if you do not go, you are a sub-par Christian and are missing out on a blessing of God, I recommend you take a pass.

Otherwise, if it is a Passover meal to remember Jesus Christ, do whatever you want. There is no harm in it, but it is not required either.

Ultimately, I think it comes down to your personal conscience. If you want to observe Passover, go right ahead. If not, thatโ€™s fine too.

But whichever way you decide, make sure you do not judge and condemn those who choose differently.

So What does Passover Have to do with Meat Sacrificed to Idols?

In the end, Passover and the other Jewish Feasts are like an issue that many Christians in the early church struggled with: meat sacrificed to idols (Romans 14). There were two basic approaches to this issue. Some thought it was okay, and others thought it was a sin.

In writing this letter to the Corinthians, Paul pretty much seems to shrug his shoulders and say, โ€œDo whatever you want, but whatever you do, stop judging and condemning one another about it and love each other instead.โ€ (Rom 14:13, 19).

Oh, and by the wayโ€ฆ along with the Passover Meal, my family also decorates and hides Easter eggs, and we give each other jelly beans, chocolate, and other small gifts. This practice certainly isnโ€™t biblical. To the contrary, it has pagan roots. But we think that along with Passover, Jesus has also redeemed the pagan holiday of Easter, which used to be a holiday for Ishtar, a sex goddess.

Redeemed! How I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed! By the blood of the Lamb!

The cross of Jesus is CENTRAL to everything!

Transform your life and theology by focusing on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus:

Fill out the form below to receive several emails from me about the death and resurrection of Jesus.

(Note: If you are a member of RedeemingGod.com, login and then revisit this page to update your membership.)

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: Bible and Theology Questions, cruciform, crucivision, Easter, Jewish feasts, passover, Theology of Jesus

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