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Every once in a while you will hear the objection, “Jesus never claimed to be God.” Answering that, of course, usually means referring to his “I AM” statements in the book of John where He refers to Himself in the same way that God identified Himself to Moses from the burning bush.
So — spoiler alert! — when I pose today’s focus question, “How did Jesus’ accusers hear “Son of Man?,” you know what the answer is.
It is at this point in Matthew where we turn to its three-chapter conclusion. And right away in our reading we’ll hear about Caiaphas, the guy who’s the head dude of the 71-person ruling counsel, the Jewish Supreme Court if you will. And he’ll appear again in the next couple days. So, who was Caiaphas, what’s his motivation?
If you ever do some poking around in annals of well-selling Christian books, you’ll find a curious title called Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. And what’s beautiful about it is that it’s full of poetry that, frankly, reads a lot like Psalms. It’s beautiful stuff, and that’s why it’s been around a long time. But where does that come from?
Today the discourse turns to the end times — eschatology being the four dollar theology word for it. And our focus question today is “How will you really know?”, and here’s what to listen for. As the world starts going to the proverbial heck in a handbasket, there is a whole lotta deception going on…except for Christians. So the question is, “How will you really know truth? What’s real versus fake news?”
Today’s OT and Wisdom segments both speak to justice again and, unlike most days where the focus question is about something we bump into in the text, today’s a bigger picture view, because it’s important to remember. When does Jesus deliver justice? We’ll tackle that very briefly at the end of today.
As we kick off Isaiah today (and spend a good bit of time there in the coming days), we’re going to hear plenty more oracles of judgment. Indeed, the OT in general has plenty of war and ugliness and, yes, prophets calling the people out. The NT, of course, is really clear about the gravity and consequence of sin, but if you or someone you know has wondered if the God of the OT is just a mean old dude, you’re not alone. Today’s focus question — Is the God of the OT mean? — is another where we’ll help you answer that question for yourself and others.
