“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy: for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” 1 Corinthians 3:16-17
I have heard this passage quoted on probably dozens of occasions to shoo any number of spiritually felonious bug-bears out of the life of believers. It has covered everything from tattoos to smoking, to coffee drinking, caffeine abuse, gluttony, and even alcohol consumption. For some reason, this verse seems to pop up as a catch all for any sort of illicit body treatment amongst believers. Unfortunately, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with our human bodies, nor what we do to them. O, there is reason for that consideration I suppose, but that is not what this scripture is talking about.
In the context, Paul is addressing three modes of interaction that can occur upon the foundation of Christ. There are the first two modes that most people seem to get pretty intuitively. If you build upon the foundation of Christ, as you assist in erecting the “temple” so to speak, or if you build the body of Christ with his approved materials, there will be great reward for that person. This lines up with Jesus parable of the talents. The second mode of consideration is dealing with people who are “saved” who do not use God’s prescribed methods or tools in order to build upon Christ’s foundation. They will still be saved, but they will have nothing to show for their lives. The third consideration is the passage quoted. What it means is that there is a third type of person, and that is the type of person who actually strives to destroy God’s work in the church. They are the type who will be eternally destroyed because they defile God’s people with their damnable heresies. This also lines up with the teaching of our Messiah when he said, “It would be better if a millstone was tied around their neck and they were cast to the bottom of the sea, than they should cause one of these little ones to stumble.”
This passage of scripture is supposed to be a comfort to true believers everywhere, and a severe warning to heretics, God is going to justly deal with the wolves in time. Ultimately we don’t need to get so hung up about them that we forget God is going to bring about justice. “How long O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Revelation 6:10. This is the cry of every martyr. Is it not a comfort that one day their destroyers will be destroyed? The temple destructors will be punished. Belshazzar was weighed, measured, and found wanting for fondling the temple goods in a prideful display of his pomp. So also will those who seek to destroy anything that is built upon the true foundation of Christ, be destroyed of God.
“…He has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature.” –II Peter 1:4
The flesh and the devil will miss no opportunity to prevent this from happening. The former wars against the Spirit,1 and the latter despises the siblings of resurrection for the bruising migraine our elder brother dealt him2. In tandem they do all within their power to resist the divine nature. In his commentary on the term nature, Gr. phusis: φύσις, Spiros Zhodiates3 rightly observes that this does not speak of some mystical spiritual essence as ‘some have interpreted,’ but rather it implies the compendium of God’s attributes.
The term “partakers,” is derived from the word, Gr. koinonos: κοινωνός, this word is completely tied to the idea of fellowship and communion. In fact both of those terms are synonymous with the word koinonia in greek. This knowledge ought to bring to mind the statement; “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.4” Here we see that Jesus’ teaching on communion speaks of far more than just remembering, tied to the idea is the concept of fellowshipping, or partaking, it speaks of utter familial relationship. As a matter of fact this saying scared people off. When Jesus taught the message that his followers must partake of him just as he partook of the Father, many of his disciples followed him no more.5 Two-thousand years later, not very much has changed. So many want only from Christ that which appeals to human nature, rather than moving beyond his forgiveness to allow him to infiltrate and displace their nature with his.
“The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.6” There is a vicious tenacity Jesus expects from his followers. Not vicious in a sinful way, but violent in a righteous way. Those who are content to idly masticate the elements of communion without this “violence” are storing up damnation against themselves.7 There is probably no greater definition of “unworthiness” toward this communion of Christ than disinterest. Such a disposition does not care one whit about Jesus’ desires, and treats the elements as if they were dropped out of a cheap dirty vending machine. Just take two of these and sin again in the morning. (The devil’s orders of course!)
However, if you have run from “evil desire,8” as if the clutches of it were the flaky, charcoal grasp of the devil himself, then hunker down and lock shields with the warrior church,9 and make “every effort,8” to add to your faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. For if these “attributes” be in you and are increasing, then you will be fruitful in your knowledge of Jesus. And you will be a partaker of the divine nature, through fellowship, because of proper communion with your elder brother. It is no wonder Jesus will not recognize dead works of the flesh, and will say unto some…”Depart from me for I never knew you.”
Galatians 5:17
Genesis 3:15
Spiros Zhodiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary 1992 AMG International., Inc. Revised Edition, page 1459
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” -Acts 20:28-30
Possessed of an other-worldly passion for the church, Paul addresses the elders of Ephesus, warning these brothers of two particular dangers. The first one being probably the worst of the two evils…wolves (the first half of this warning the general assembly of believers throughout history has weathered fairly well, albeit not without collateral damage.) Wolves that tear congregations to shreds. They enter in and bring in all sorts of visceral ham-stringing intentions. These are those who intend to destroy, these are those whom I believe God will destroy in kind (I Corinthians 3:17.)
The second type of man Paul warns against is more subtle, and probably far more difficult to recognize as they will tend to make a bit more sense (this is the kind of individual I feel we have not dealt with as well.) They are the type who arise from amongst those whom the Holy Spirit had appointed to be shepherds. I am not sure I understand what catalyst causes these shepherds to go A.W.O.L. but I think the resulting damage can almost be similar to the damage caused from a festal wolf. The pain an “ariser” inflicts is more damaging because a trust of love is broken. In our day and age, they do not even have to be ordained. I suspect there are scads of people who ‘congregate,’ with other believers on a weekly basis but have not a bit of desire to forbear other believers in love; rather they come into our churches with nothing but a desire to promote themselves, or the way they see things.
I think much is known by the body about wolves, but less is known and recognized about those who would make, “followers after themselves.” They are more subtle because they appear to say all the right things. My mind, when it reads Paul’s warning here immediately jumps to other portions of the New Testament where Paul says to follow him after he follows Christ. I wonder, art thou being a hypocrite Paul? Hardly! Those who would follow Paul would be following a man who is following the God-Man Jesus Christ. Paul’s concern wanted men to become like Jesus Christ as a result of his ministry. These perverse men are always frustrated people, who drag others down with themselves, always filled with bitterness and with wrath and doubting. Jealousy is their cologne, and pride is their alarm clock.
The word “perverse,” in this context probably reflects more of the idea of twisting, or making crooked. It is not that they are pedophiles or sexually perverse. It means more that they twist scripture to fit their own agendas, often to such a degree as to be hardly perceptible.
Scripture twisters and me-followers are less concerned with people becoming like Christ than they are concerned with people becoming like them. I suspect that these are more like wolf-kin…shepherds with a form of Stockholm Syndrome. Whether they know it or not they have been hostages of the devil, and are starting to appease him. They have completely lost sight of Christ.
We must take heed, that we do not become prisoners ourselves. Take notice of the tears of the Apostle, and let not those tears fall to the ground in vain…
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Proverbs 9:10
If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, then haughtiness or ambivalence towards Him is nothing less than the end of wisdom; a headlong dive into the blackened well of chaos and destruction. An attitude and lifestyle of ambivalence is to be expected in the world for sure, but it’s prevalence in “the church” today is disturbing. We have an abundance of adultery, idolatry, and carnality throughout the body of Christ; this is not completely new, Christians have always struggled with sin, but what is disturbing, is the acceptance and defense of it from within, when anyone points to the clear teaching of scripture on such matters they are ridiculed as a legalist, a Pharisee, or a hypocrite.
Many in “the Church” do not fear the Lord. God is imagined as some mild and tolerant Mr. Rogers-like deity, a milquetoast messiah. He just wants people to say a short prayer, so that they can start living their best life now. And he’s really bummed when people don’t love him back. The idea that we are called to walk a narrow difficult path, and obey the commands of Jesus as our master, seems strange and revolting to them.
The problem is this; many “Christians” have not grasped the fear of the Lord as a concept, let alone a lifestyle. This may be a symptom of unbelief, or the fruit of poor theology, either way it is a festering sore on the Body of Christ. No matter what has caused this terrible cancer, the cure is the same, Faith and Repentance. Faith: believing what Christ has declared and committing your life to him, and Repentance: turning from your sinful path and following Jesus Christ. The proper fear of the Lord will set much right in our own individual lives, and the church as a whole, but apathy and rebellion will only continue our downward spiral.
He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.Psalm 126:5-6
We ought to tarry long on this verse and plumb the depths of it’s meaning. It’s message clearly ties together brokenness and fruitfulness, weeping and reaping. Although it’s terminology is agrarian and not theological, it is the exact same terminology Jesus used in his parables about evangelism. And since interpreting this verse in a strictly agricultural way makes absolutely no sense, I will interpret it using the parable of the sower as a cheat-sheet of sorts.
Jesus referred to the word as “seed” and and evangelism as “sowing seed”, so interpreting it through Christ’s teachings the message would go something like this: ” He who goes out weeping. bearing the word for evangelism, shall come home bringing many people with him.” When you interpret this verse through Christ’s lens you draw a strong and immediate conclusion, a bountiful harvest of souls is the fruit of a weeping evangelist. A fruitful harvest requires a grief-stricken messenger. Unless the man is broken the fruit will be nonexistent or sparse. Leonard Ravenhill put it this way “It takes a broken man to break men.”
The necessity of brokenness for fruitfulness should surprise none of us. Jesus mission on earth was to come and be broken in our place, so that we could be saved. The prophet Isaiah described Christ’s ministry this way “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. 1 Jesus mission on earth could never have been completed without his being broken for us; why would we think we could successfully spread his message by any other means?
I have come to the conclusion that we have the concept of success all wrong. Which could be defined as the ability to reach a said goal. In the West we may understand the definition of success, but not the measure of it. Though we may have the concept right, we have the goal wrong. In America our goals are things like home ownership, retirement, or attaining happiness. But our time-line is far too short, and our perspective is far too close, to know what our goals really ought to be, or where true success really lies.
Since it is before God that we will be judged we need to measure ourselves by His standards. His value system is far different form ours because He is far different from us, “For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” 1 God is all good, all powerful, and all knowing. He measures us by our faith, which is seen in how closely we’ve followed his commands. Jesus told us the greatest commandment is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 2 These should be our two primary success gauges; how we respond to God, and how we treat people. If we are failing in these area’s we are failures no matter how much money we have or how high we’ve climbed our career ladder. So we ought to calibrate our gauges well.
Are we loving God with all our heart, or with lip-service? Are we loving him with all our soul, our favorite activities and pastimes focused on him? Are we loving him with all our mind; is our thought life focused on sports, sex, or God? Do we love him with all our strength? How much effort are we putting into establishing His kingdom.
Do we value our spouse and treating them as God commands? Are we raising up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? Are we being faithful employees? Are we helping others practically, and not just saying “God bless you”? These are the standards by which our “success” will be judged, and we ignore them at our own peril.
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Joshua 1:8
His life was a tumultuous tapestry woven with the warp and woof of spiritual low-lights and physical high-lights. His exploits can disgust us, and at the same time, offer hope of eternal salvation. He was a man who sinned hard, but to the degree that he did so…I think he repented even harder. For some reason, this passionate king was given probably more insight toward the hope of resurrection than anyone before him. If he was not given more insight, he certainly saw it with profound clarity.
Post Nathan’s parable to David, we see that God tells David that the son of his sin with Bathsheba will not live. (II Samuel 12 & 13) The depths of David’s sins with Bathsheba then become eclipsed by the gravity of his repentance. For seven days he fasted, roaring on the ground, held down to the earth making mud with his tears, sapping his body of moisture until it was as the drought of summer (Psalm 32:4.) This…is repentance. It was not a show, it was not monastic piety, evidently this man understood the earthy roots of repentance.
When David’s attendants asked why he stopped mourning as soon as the child was announced dead, David responds almost cryptically, “…But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” (II Samuel 12:23)
Is it a coincidence that David gets a glimpse of the idea of resurrection right after a prolonged period of deep repentance? Is it possible that God revealed this to him during all of his roaring? I am not sure it was during this occasion, but David wrote another Psalm where he most certainly saw prophetically the clearest Old Testament prophecy concerning the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
“I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Psalm 16:8-11)
It is here that David is given the knowledge that he will not stay in hell after he dies, and neither will the Holy One see corruption. This is an obvious reference to Jesus being raised from the dead, and is quoted by Paul in Acts 13:35, and confirmed as a prophecy fulfilled by the Christ.
What is the point? The resurrection was clearly prophesied, yet the prophecy is veiled in a Psalm that I imagine would have been difficult to decipher its meaning prior to the Messiah actually accomplishing it. Secondly, there is a synergy between repentance and resurrection. For the moment I am making a tentative connection between resurrection and repentance, we will lock this idea down with steel jaws later on. But just as prophecy is tentative, until the fulfillment of the prophecy locks down the impact of its prediction, so also we will soon begin gleaning the locked down measure of the fullness of Christ’s resurrection power.
A few other passages where David sees Resurrection is:
Psalm 17:15, “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, (more than likely from the grave) with thy likeness.”
Psalm 49:15, “God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: (hades) for he shall receive me.”
The first allusion to the resurrection of Christ comes prior to the first mention in scripture of His death. Right after the fall of Adam and Eve, God tells the serpent how the “seed” of the woman would bruise his head, and that the serpent would bruise his “seed’s” heal. (I have often wondered what the seed of the serpent was exactly, but I would not be surprised if it has something to do with 1Cor 2:8.)
So we are faced with a prophetic ultimatum. This is chronologically before the time of Job’s conclusion which I discussed in the last post, and from a Christian perspective we know what this means. While we have insight into this prophecy now, for thousands of years, God was content and absolutely patient in waiting for the actual event to unfold before declaring (I will explain later what I mean by this) what it meant. What does this say about the nature of God? It is arresting that the resurrection is mentioned first, and the death of Christ (at the hand of the serpent’s seed) occurs second. It is of interest that this is one of the first major prophecies in the Bible. From the time this prophecy was given no-one could have known it spoke directly of the Resurrection of Christ unless the Holy Spirit had revealed it to them. Though I may be wrong (and if anyone knows please tell me) I do not think there is any revelation on this at all anywhere until the actual event.
The next allusion to the concept of resurrection that I know of (my study will not be exhaustive because I am flawed, I am sure there will be many I miss) is found in Exodus 3:6. This was when God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush and said, “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.” If you know your bible well, you are not scratching your head…
In the gospel of Matthew, in the 22nd chapter, the Sadducee’s think they have the Christ in a corner with their willy question about the woman wedded to seven brothers. According to Alfred Edersheim in his book, “Sketches of Jewish Social Life,” the Sadducee’s were a reactive sect*. Their way of thinking was the result of being anti-Pharisee. Who held to the concept of resurrection, but the Sadducee’s contrarily postulated that, because the Pentateuch never mentioned resurrection, it could not be true. The living Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob evidenced resurrection. This is likely why Jesus quoted from Exodus and not from the Psalms or the Prophets in Matthew 22:32. This tells us a few things as a side-bar: 1) be very careful about filtering all of scripture through one lens of thinking (aka systematic theology, I am not saying don’t use them, just be very cautious.) 2) Don’t raise men (like Moses) on a pedestal above Christ, not even Paul. 3) If Christ were sought sincerely, and He so desired, He could annihilate sectarian beliefs without batting an eye or opening a concordance. 4) This point is a bit mystical maybe, and I will understand if some disagree with me, but it is no irony to me that the mention of the truth of resurrection through God being the God of the living and not the God of the dead is the point which basically dissolved all of the Sadducee’s theology/doctrine/dogma, whatever you want to call it. In one stroke, Jesus made being a Sadducee rather pointless. I suspect that if the Church began walking in the fullness of Christ’s resurrection power, all of our prideful differences and divisions would also dissolve. To look at it more micro-cosmically, when we die to self and Christ’s resurrection is manifest through us as individuals, our tendency to backbite, strive, be bitter, and react to others in an un-spiritual fashion will also dissipate.
Now I am getting a bit ahead of myself. Consider that an allusion and a taste of things to come in this series of posts. Stay tuned for the next blog!
* “Sketches of Jewish Social Life,” -Alfred Edersheim, Hendrickson Publishers – 1994, Seventh Printing, March 2003.
In the midst of ash and accusation, boils and belligerent philosophy, a spark of trouble flew upward, beyond the lowly crags of mountain heights, into the deep blue etherium of divine contemplation. His name was Job, which means “hated, or persecuted.” According to his accusers, he must have done something to offend the Almighty. His suffering dictated that it must be so. It is no wonder that the oldest book of Hebrew lore deals with the deepest questions humans have tried to apprehend. In the midst of extreme suffering, we have all inevitably questioned the point of life. Job’s bitter query did not proceed until after seven days and seven nights of silence amidst the conjoining of dust, ash, rending, and “friends.”
There he sat in silence so long…I am sure the day of visitation was fresh in his mind…being replayed like a video again and again and again. No doubt his silence was one of agonizing mental anguish. Once the silence is broken, Job basically says that the day of his birth ought to be cursed into eternal blackness. (Job 3) His deep pondering begs the question. WHY LIVE??? Why live if suffering is our bread, if misery is our drink?
Once Job finally broke his silence…Eliphaz was quick to speak the abundance of his heart and accusation against Job. He starts off with a few quick words of flattery, probably out of cultural respect, then promptly begins to develop a thread of thought that Job must not be innocent, of course his suffering must be the result of sin because, “Who ever perished, being innocent?” Or, “They that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.” (Job 4:7-8)
Like so many councilors that lack any form of humility, Eliphaz completely ignores the questions Job raises, and displays the true motive behind why he sat seven days and nights on Job’s pile of ash. His motive was to bring accusation against his friend. Job had asked why it was that he did not just die when he was born. Then he would have moved on to the indomitable vault of equalization…the grave. Where the, “Prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.” (Job 3:17-18) Job was concerned with the deeply subterraneous questions of his soul. Eliphaz was concerned with emanating his own religious pomposity via his theology.
The temptation to give a ringside, blow by blow account is difficult for me to withstand; however, for succinctness sake we must jump forward numerous arguments later, after Job has received jabs, hooks, uppercuts and below-the-belt accusations from his “friends.” In the midst of his suffering and incrimination Job raises one of the single most important questions that suffering must force someone to ask. Keep in mind this is probably the oldest book of the Bible, if not one of the oldest written manuscripts ever. In Job 14:14, he laments, “If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.” God had not yet been fully manifest and in the Son, so total revelation about life and death had not yet occurred to humanity. Job did not know yet that eternal life was knowing the Father, and the one whom he would send.
Eliphaz proves his religious ignorance once again by calling Job’s questions an, “uttering of vain knowledge and a filling of his belly with the east wind.” Why think deeply about your pain Job? Just repent for your ox-dumb pride.
Job then responds to this indictment and receives one more from Bildad. It is at this point in chapter nineteen where Job reaches a crescendo of angst. He points out that his miserable councilors have accused him ten times, and he begins to lament that he has been forsaken by every last person whom he valued. He first laments deeply of God forsaking him, and how God had stripped him of his glory and crown. (Job 19:9) Job was destroyed on every side…troops had been raised against him, his brethren were put far from him, every acquaintance of his had become completely estranged from him. His kinsfolk failed him, and his familiar friends forgot him. Those most intimate with him, his maids and dwellers of his home, now viewed him as an alien and a stranger in their sight. His breath even became strange to his own wife. The word strange in the Hebrew is metonymous with the word for adultery. So it could be said that his very breath was as the breath of an adulterer to his own spouse. This gives us a sense of just how disgusting Job’s suffering was to his kin. His own children also rose up and despised him and spoke against him. All this would be bad enough but the dagger in his back is twisted a little bit more when he says that even his “inward friends” have turned on him as the hand of God touched him.
The Valley of the Shadow of Death by George Inness
It is as if the veil of fellowship had been drawn and stitched. It was woven from the fabric of solitude, and the stitches were the condescending glances of accusation he received. No man is more forsaken in the midst of people than this man. He was so alone that his bones clove to his skin and flesh. This was likely due to malnutrition from prolonged fasting. Eating no longer meant anything to him.
Finally, it is within this broad context that Job laments, “Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh? Oh that my words were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever. For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.”
Was it not Christ our Lord, whom upon the cross asked from the bottom of the deepest well of trepidation ever probed, “My God my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Did not all of Christ’s sheep scatter into hiding? Did not Jesus become as an adulterer to them? Were they not completely ashamed of His suffering? Was Peter not in the valley of the shadow of death?
By now, I hope you have noticed the parallel between Job being forsaken by all, and Christ being forsaken by all, even His Father. These continuities are absolutely staggering. I will let your imagination continue to connect these concepts. It is at this point, of Job’s deep suffering, where deep calls unto deep. Some divine tremendous light has perforated the subterranean expanse of his tragedy, and he concludes the only thing an open mind, a humble heart, and a suffering soul can conclude…there must be, there has to be, I know there will be…a resurrection from the dead! My Savior will stand upon the earth someday and I will stand with him. So it was that He (our Lord), for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. The broadest depths of human suffering when contemplated with a view of God in mind, require resurrection to be true. Were it not, sanity would become pointless…
But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”
Call me naive or simplistic but I cannot for the life of me understand how someone could claim their plot to overthrow the government is based on scripture. Christ makes it clear that if his kingdom were an earthly kingdom his servant’s would be fighting to defend it. I’m not one to believe every single thing the media reports. But if these men were indeed plotting to murder police officers in cold blood then they are far from Christ indeed.
Nothing Jesus or the apostles taught tells us that murdering civil authorities is good or godly in any way at all. We are told that we will be persecuted for our faith at times, and our response to persecution is to turn the other cheek (non-violent resistance). We are not told to overthrow the government in order to avoid persecution, we are told to rejoice in persecution, because our patient endurance in persecution is the most powerful testimony we can share. If we are fighting to avoid persecution here and now, we are displaying a complete lack of faith, we are declaring we don’t really believe in heaven by trying to craft our little christian kingdom here and now.
When Jesus stood before Pilate he gave the crowd’s a choice, did they want Barabbas the political revolutionary or Jesus who was declaring a heavenly kingdom. I am convinced that many self identified Christians today would choose Barabbas again.
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” John 18:36
