Tag: Messiah

• This blog will always direct you directly to your Creator, and God’s Word (What we know as the Bible).
• Directly means directly. No pastors, nor incorporated, so-called, “Christian” churches. Absolutely no human being between you and your Creator.
• The actual Greek and/or Hebrew is [red] and in square brackets [   ].
• Today’s topic:

FOLLOW ME (JESUS):

• A reminder:   Jesus is the Word of God. The good message of John, first chapter:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

Verse 14:  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace [graciousness] and truth.

PART 1:   FOLLOW JESUS:

• When Jesus called His first learners (“religious word” = disciples), He said, “Follow Me [come hither, to the back of Me] [Mat. 4:19]”. Other verses have it as [be in the same way with Me]. Most, if not all, English translations have it as “Follow Me”. A reasonable translation, probably heavily influenced by Mat. 4:19 and the Old Testament. We have records of: Simon Peter, Andrew, Matthew and Philip:   Mat. 4:19, Mat. 9:9, John 1:43.
• Another reminder: We are all learners of the Supreme Authority, Jesus, the Anointed (Anointed to be King).
• We have lots of scriptures of Jesus calling general learners, by saying, “Follow Me”:
• Then another of His disciples [learners] said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow [be in the same way with] Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”      Mat. 8:21-22.

• Then Jesus said to His disciples [learners], “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny [deny utterly] himself, and take up his cross [stake or post (as an instrument of capital punishment)], and follow [be in the same way with] Me.    Mat. 16:24.
• If anyone serves Me, let him follow [be in the same way with/accompany] Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.   John 12:26
• To the young man:   Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect [complete], go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow [be in the same way with] Me.”   Mat. 19:21.
• Jesus said to him (Peter), “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow [be in the same way with/accompany]  Me.”   John 21:22
• Jesus was the God of the Old Testament:

and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed [to be in the same way with/accompanied] them, and that Rock was Christ.                      1 Cor. 10:4.

• A few Old Testament scriptures to mentally chew on:
• But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed [hind part/after] Me fully [to be full of], I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.    Num. 14:24
• ‘Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly [to be full of] followed [hind part/after] Me, 12 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly [to be full of] followed [hind part/after] the Lord.’    Num. 32:11-12
• and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you (Jeroboam); and yet you have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed [walked/after] Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes;    1 Kings 14:8

Jesus did NOT say, “Follow Me (Jesus) through the Judaizers, Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Fourth Philosophy, nor any other human group of His day”. He simply said, “Follow Me”. Remember, Jesus is the Word of God.

Nor is He saying “Follow Me (Jesus)” through any human group today.

You have direct access to your Creator! He is the Word of God.

PART 2:   The Messiah:

• The word “Messiah” is only used twice in the Old Testament. Dan. 9:25-26.
• The ancient Hebrew word means, “Anointed”.
• The name Jesus Christ, in English, is sometimes misused. The word, “Christ” is actually a title, and in ancient Greek means, “Anointed”.
• What we know:
• Jesus was anointed by the Father:

“For truly against Your holy [sacred] Servant [boy] Jesus, whom You anointed [to smear or rub with oil], both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.   Acts 4:27-28

how God anointed [to smear or rub with oil] Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil [traducer], for God was with Him.   Acts 10:38

Traducer:   makes false or malicious statements about (someone) in order to cause humiliation or disgrace.

• What Jesus said He was anointed to do:

“The Spirit of the Lord [Supreme Authority] is upon Me,

Because He has anointed [to smear or rub with oil] Me

To preach the gospel [announce good news] to the poor [beggars];

He has sent Me to heal [cure] the brokenhearted [crushed hearts],

To proclaim [herald] liberty [freedom] to the captives [prisoners of war]

And recovery of sight [restoration of sight] to the blind [opaque],

To set at liberty [freedom] those who are oppressed [crushed];

19 

To proclaim [herald] the acceptable [approved] year of the Lord [Supreme Authority].”   Luke 4:18

• We also know that Jesus was anointed physically for His burial:
• a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table.   Mat. 26:7, and Mark 14:3.
• What we don’t know, for sure, is when the Father anointed Him as King? Should readers have Biblical proof of such an event, please post it in the comments section. I don’t think His baptism proves His anointing as King [Mat. 3:16, Mark 1:10, Luke 3:22, John 1:32].
• We do know that He will return as King:

And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:

KING OF KINGS AND
LORD OF LORDS.

Rev. 19:16

• Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow [bend], of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess [acknowledge] that Jesus Christ [Anointed] is Lord [supreme in authority], to the glory of God the Father.   Phil. 2:9-11
• Sorry to all the anti-monarchists out there. The future is a monarchy, with Jesus as King!  

PART 3:   Antichrist:

• As I’ve said before, several of these topics cross over each other.
• People sometimes get confused about the antichrist. Yes, there is an Antichrist, who will arrive one day, but there are many antichrists around us now. 
• You just don’t recognise them, because you’ve either grown up with them, or become used to them as everyday features of daily life.
• The delegate John wrote in his letter:
• Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.    1 John 2;18
• There were many antichrists in John’s day (about 2000 years ago), and there are many antichrists around us today.
• The Ancient Greek word for “antichrist” means, “an opponent of the Messiah (Jesus)”.
• You don’t have to think too hard to realize that there are many individuals, and organizations that are in opposition to the Messiah (Jesus).
• This will be covered in more detail in a future post, but for now our topic is, “Follow Me (Jesus)”.
• You are all familiar with a very popular social media app./website, which encourages people to follow people [human beings].
• Following someone on ******* means: You are subscribing to their ***** as a follower. Their updates will appear in your Home timeline. That person is able to send you Direct Messages.
• The most-followed accounts (at time of writing, August, 2023): Elon Musk, Barack Obama, Justin Bieber, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Rihanna.
• On the one hand you have your Creator saying, “in English”, “Follow Me (Jesus) [the Word of God]”, on the other hand (in opposition) you have human beings saying, “Follow Me on *******”, hence antichrist.
• Go figure! You choose.

 * * * * *

•  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow [be in the same way with] Me.  John 10:27