The Messiah’s Secret – Get on Board

Tuesday 24th April 2012 Mothers’ Union Meeting St Anne’s C of E Edgeside M U

A man lived by the river; now and again the river would rise above its banks and flood the man’s garden. On this occasion the flood waters kept on rising, the man’s neighbour came and suggested to him that he should leave his house and go up onto higher ground. The man refused saying, “God will look after me.” Steadily the waters kept on rising, so again the neighbour came to his house and beckoned to the man to get into his boat, but the man refused. The weather grew worse and his neighbour feared for the man’s life, he saw that he had climbed onto the roof, so he called for a helicopter to rescue him. But still the man insisted that God would look after him.
Sadly the house could no longer stand the strain and the walls collapsed and the man drowned. When in heaven he asked God why he hadn’t looked after him. God replied, “I did, I sent your neighbour to you on three occasions: for you to go with him onto higher ground, secondly he came with his boat to pick you up, and thirdly he sent a helicopter to rescue you”. But he did not recognise they were from God.

The Pharisees did not recognise the signs of the times.
“The Pharisees came to him asking for a sign from heaven. “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’. And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today for the sky is red and threatening!’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Matthew 16: 1-4

Signs of the Times in Jesus’ day
The Jewish people were in great expectation of the coming of the Messiah. Luke records the people expressing this expectation, on the occasion when men came to John the Baptist and asked him if he was the Messiah. Luke 3: 15
Another sign is the prophecy of Moses were God would raise up a prophet like himself. Deuteronomy 18: 15-18.
The Pharisees were looking for the Messiah to be a great leader like Moses and give them a sign in using his power to rid them of their Roman invaders.
The Romans had invaded Israel in 64BC so it was nearly 100 years that they had been under occupation. The Romans allowed the conquered nation to continue with their own religious beliefs.
It is quite likely that some of the Jews would try to please influential Roman officials to gain from it. Whilst a few would totally object to the Roman occupation. Others would try to please both Roman and Jewish authorities.
"So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, "What are we to do? For this man (Jesus) performs many signs. If we let him go on thus, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation." John 11: 47, 48.
It is quite possible that Jesus had noticed how Roman culture and spirituality had infiltrated into Jewish society when he called them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation.’

Discerning Signs of the Times Today
Spring Council Saturday 21 April 2012
Guest Speaker Chief Executive of Mothers’ Union Reg Bailey

Reg Bailey, described the founder of the Mothers’ Union Mary Sumner as a lady who prayed, campaigned and enabled the women of her day, to speak with one voice on family issues, based on Christian principals. The Victorian era was not the golden age for the family, poverty, disease and lack of education was prevalent amongst the majority of the population.
These steadfast structures of prayer, campaigning and enabling are the basis of the Mothers' Union today.
Praying in faith for our nation’s family life has been a high priority amongst the members of the M.U. As a mum myself it has been heart breaking to see the decline in Christian family values across the nation. The Lord in answer to all our prayers calls us to act by putting our faith into practice and to get on board, and support the ‘Bye, Buy, Childhood’ campaign.

This campaign came into being, when concerns were raised at a meeting in York among MU members about the commercialisation of children and from the discussions that followed, the name ‘Bye, Buy, Childhood’ was given to the campaign.
The aim of the ‘Bye, buy childhood ‘campaign is for every child to enjoy their childhood without the sexualisation and commercialisation of their young lives

Mothers' Union believes children should be valued as children, not consumers. However, childhood has become a marketing opportunity worth £99 billion in the UK. Marketers target children's natural inexperience, through methods such as celebrity endorsement, in order to reach not only children's pocket money but also the household purse. These commercial pressures encourage materialism which negatively affects children's wellbeing, family life and peer relationships, and can encourage values that Jesus taught against. The use of sexualised content and the imposition of sexuality on children to market and sell goods are particularly concerning. Families can feel overwhelmed by this commercialisation of childhood and unsure how to challenge powerful marketing initiatives.

10 Downing Street
MP Sarah Teather Minister of State for Children and Families contacted MU Reg Bailey and asked if he would attend a round table meeting at Downing Street, and give the views of the MU on tackling the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood. The Prime Minister and Sarah Teather, hosted the meeting, seventy people attended.
The out come of the meeting Reg Bailey was asked to produce a report.

The Government asked Reg to look into this issue because they wanted a common sense approach to the concerns of many parents, who feel their children are under increasing pressure to become consumers, and that the world they live in is a more sexualised place than when their parents were growing up. Reg was asked to put forward recommendations to address the high levels of public concern, taking into account particularly the views of parents and the business community.

The report dealt with the real concerns that became apparent through the interviews.
1,000 parents and 600 children from 7 – 19 years of age were interviewed by Reg and his team. Along with children’s organisations and commercial companies.
This 99 billion market effects; values, aspirations and health.

Children interviewed:
Values.
Children are not aware of being exploited. Some children are on-line brand ambassadors they were paid to wear brand names on clothing, and fashion accessories on ‘Facebook Wall.’
A child said that there should be on the TV control another button beside the red one to blank the picture.

Aspirations.
The majority of children when they were asked what they would like to be when they grew up, they wanted to aspire to be famous, a celebrity.
The TV Talent Show ‘Britain’s’ got Talent’ the lyrics of Rihannas song caused hundreds of people to complain.

PM’s wife Mrs Cameron was appalled when she heard her daughter singing Lily Allen’s song from her album ‘It’s not me, its you.’ the words of the chorus shocked her.

Health
In most adverts the teenager in the picture has been hair brushed to have the perfect skin and proportions. Reg pointed out that children are not immune to low self esteem.

Parents interviewed:
80% of parents interviewed were concerned about inappropriate clothing but were afraid of their children being bullied by other children for not wearing the right clothes.
Concerns were raised regarding adverts on street advertisements on Bill Boards, Screens on buildings and in Bus Shelters.
Parents were unsure as to which organisation to complain to.
Music videos are not age rated and some of these videos are pornographic.

The responsibility for parents to make their children aware:
The pictures they take on their mobile phone are not private, they become public property.
Kids are media savvy: for some what they see and hear bounces off them, but for others they take it seriously and are damaged by what they see and hear.

The publication of Reg Bailey's report enables our nation to protect our children from sexulisation and commercialisation of childhood.
On October 11th 2011, a number of the organisations responsible for taking forward these recommendations were invited to provide an update on their actions. Individually they were interviewed by Prime Minister David Cameron and were asked directly for details of their progress on implementing the recommendations and areas where they expect to take further action.

The supermarkets have complied with the recommendations of the report, to either cover with a modesty board the front cover of Lads Mags that are displayed at I metre height or to put them on their top shelves above the eye level of a child.
40% of children's clothing retail sector have now signed up to the guidelines including Argos, Debenhams, George at Asda, John Lewis, M&CO, M&S, Next, Peakcocks, Pumpkin Patch, Sainsbury's, Tesco and TK Maxx.

BT, Virgin, Sky, Talk Talk in their packages give an ‘active choice’ on whether or not the purchaser wants to install parental controls. Parents will quite often leave the setting up of their computer to their children so this choice is left to them.

New code on public advertisements, the Advertising Association announced a voluntary ban on under-16s being employed to act as ambassadors for brand names or in peer-to-peer marketing campaigns.
The outdoor advertising industry also announced a voluntary ban on advertisements near schools for lap-dancing clubs and similar adult services.

Watershed – General Viewing Public. A consensus of opinion coming from the adult population. Ofcom issued new guidance on pre-watershed TV content to ensure programmes aimed at a family audience are always family-friendly and suitable for children.
Reg said that Ofcom has a new parents panel they have put in place a really tuff code.

Get on Board and take action.
If we see in our local shop that they have not yet complied with the recommendations of the report regarding 'lads mags', we should express our concerns to the appropriate person in the shop and if nothing is done we can complain to the newly set up on line ‘parent port.’
Ofcom joined with six other media regulators (the Advertising Standards Authority, Authority for Television and Video on Demand, the BBC Trust, the British Board of Film Classification, the Press Complaints Commission and the Video Standards Council) to set up and create the ParentPort website which provides a single accessible interface for parents to express their views and concerns about material they feel is unsuitable for children across the media, communications and retail industries. (extract from Sarah Teather's letter to the Department for Education)

Age rating for music videos is under consideration as the industry look for evidence to support this call for the introduction of age rating.

The government has asked to Reg and his team and all of us, to take an active role in working with voluntary groups like; Mumsnet and Netmums to hold business, organisations and Government to account.

God brought Jonah to account

Jonah had been given direction by God to take a message of repentance to the city of Nineveh. But Jonah did not want to go so he boarded a ship going to Tarshish. Due to the violence of the storm the sailors began to off load the cargo. The storm grew worse the sailors cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonah, he owned up to have been disobedient to his God and he volunteered to be cast overboard. When he landed in the water a huge fish swallowed him whole. After three days the fish vomited him out on to dry land. He knew hat he had been resurrected.
The conviction to take the message to the city of Nineveh was uppermost in his heart, so this time he went willingly. The people and King of Nineveh repented when they heard God’s message from Jonah. Jonah Chapters 1-3

God cared about Jesus and in his love for the people of the world, he sent him with a message for us to change our ways and believe in him.
When we take up Jesus' cross and feel the pain of sin, as he felt it, and die to it by saying sorry to God our Father, we enter into the freedom of Jesus' forgiveness. God raises us up into a newness of life.
We continue to take up Jesus' cross day by day as we experience Jesus' love reaching out to others. That is why Reg Bailey of Mothers' Union cares about the children and parents of our nation. Jesus' love touching the hearts of politicians, supermarket executives, company directors and advertising agencies, they have recognised the need to give our children their childhood.

The restraing work of the Holy Spirit.
"And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. The mystery of the lawlessness is already at work; only he who restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming." 2 Thessalonians 2: 6-8
Through Reg and his team along with the Mothers' Union's 4 million members across 83 countries in the world, are slowing down restraining the revealing of the antichrist. Along with other Christians are like salt that restrains the corruption of food, until it ultimately is corrupted. The Holy Spirit's work in the church is about making Christ known until the coming of Jesus whose feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.

The Messiah’s Secret – Resurrection

100 years ago today 15th April 1912 the Titanic sank with the loss of 1500 people. The circumstances that surrounded this tragedy are widely known. Shortly after hitting the iceberg, the passengers were told that the boat was going to sink, some them doubted because they had been told that this boat could not sink.

Thomas doubted Jesus' resurrection.
When Thomas heard from the other disciples that Jesus had been raised from the dead he did not believe them. John records his words, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and placed my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe." Thomas doubted Jesus’ resurrection.
Perhaps Thomas had been taught that after death there followed a long sleep before the general resurrection and judgment on the last day.
Job, Isaiah, the Psalmist and the latter day prophets Hosea and Daniel prophesied a resurrection and judgment on the last day. Job 19: 26, 27.and Daniel 12: 2.
Jesus in conversation with the Jews and the Pharisees said, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. John 6: 39.
It is not surprising that the disciples did not understand when Jesus spoke of his death and later after three days of his resurrection because it was contrary to what they had been taught so they could not grasp it and they were afraid of asking him what being raised from the dead meant. Even on the morning of the resurrection we read that they did not know the scripture that the Messiah must rise from the dead. Luke 18: 34. Mark 9: 52. John 20: 9.

On the evening of the day of the resurrection when Jesus entered the room where some of his disciples and followers were gathered. They very quickly discovered Jesus had been raised from the dead when they saw the print of the nails and the mark of the sword that had pierced his side, along with the scars from the flogging. Jesus stilled their troubled minds and hearts with the words, “Peace be with you." Seeing Jesus and hearing those words the fear of death would leave them. It is the same today one experience is worth a thousand arguments, when a person turns to Jesus in faith the fear of death goes. John 20: 19-31
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” John 5: 24

Jesus breathed on them the Holy Spirit.
John the Baptist prophesied that the Messiah’s baptism would be of the Holy Spirit and fire.
The Holy Spirit’s comforting presence was breathed upon them and Jesus anointed them with his authority to forgive the sins of any, they were forgiven; and if the retained the sins of any, they were retained. This is the refining fire of judgment that Peter enforced when the community of believers came into being at Jerusalem.

The early church community met in the temple daily at Solomon’s Portico where they shared the word and gave testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. In their homes they broke bread and they shared their food and possessions. Acts 4: 32-35

The Messiah's Secret
Ananias and his wife Sapphira were part of the community they proposed to sell a piece of property like others had done and give the proceeds to the community. However, with his wife’s knowledge Ananias kept some of the proceeds back and brought only a part and laid it at Peter’s feet. Peter knew what they had done and he told Ananias that he had lied not to men but to God. After Ananias heard this he fell down dead at the apostle’s feet. Three hours later, his wife came before Peter; he asked her what they had received for the land and she too lied to him telling him the false amount received from the sale. Sapphira died on the spot

Maybe they had doubts over Jesus’ resurrection and his return and with held a portion of the proceeds to secure their future needs.
Ananias and Sapphira the Adam and Eve of the New Testament and I believe that they will appear before the Great White Throne on the last day, the final judgment by Jesus. Revelation 20: 12.
“For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to those to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.” John 5: 21, 22.

Thomas doubted Jesus’ resurrection and he wanted to see Jesus before he would believe. 8 days later Jesus returned to the room where they were gathered and Thomas placed his finger in the marks of the nails and his hand in his side. He believed and said ‘My Lord and my God.’

Maybe we have doubts about Jesus’ resurrection and of his return.

Jesus the first fruit of the resurrection. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone, but if it dies it bears much fruit.” John 12: 24
The Wheat Seed Below;

Last years wheat seeds that have died off are sown by the farmer in the ploughed field. This reminds us of Jesus dying on the cross, being taken down and lay in a dark and cold tomb.

The seeds are watered by the rain and start to grow sending out roots and green shoots appear.


The seed gives its all to the plant emerging from it, its height, colour and texture. Eventually the ears that contain the seeds begin to appear, one seed produces many seeds.

The new plant reminds us of Jesus in his resurrection producing the new seeds that tell about Jesus. Those new seeds sown by faith into a person’s heart and are watered by the word quickened by Holy Spirit and grows into the likeness of Jesus within us to bear the seeds of the kingdom that are sown into the hearts of others.

Jesus’ return in two stages:
1/ Jesus calls out the church, the body of Christ
2/ Jesus returns to the Mount of Olives and the church comes with him

1/ Paul describes our meeting with Jesus in his first letter to the Thessalonians.
“For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until his coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord he will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4: 15-18

Jesus gave us insight into the resurrection and the churches resurrection when Lazarus was raised from the dead.
Mary and Martha had sent word to Jesus that Lazarus was very poorly, but Jesus did not respond immediately, he stayed a little while longer for two days in the place where he was.
Martha was told that Jesus was on the road approaching Bethany so she went out to meet Jesus and in her distress she cried out, “Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died.” Jesus re-assured her that there will be a resurrection,”Your brother will live again.” Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection at the last day.”
Martha in her response confirms that she was one of the many Jews who held this belief.

Jesus told Martha about the resurrection of the believers in him. “I am the resurrection and the life: he who believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” John 11: 25, 26.

When Jesus arrived at Bethany Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days, after that length of time it was medically impossible for anyone to be resuscitated. Mary, Martha and Jesus went to the tomb, Jesus asked for the stone covering the entrance to be moved. Jesus prayed and then he called out, “Lazarus, come out” and to everyone’s amazement he did, he was resurrected from the dead.

Jesus’ own resurrection, the stone was rolled away and God raised Jesus from the dead, the linen cloths lay on the floor of the tomb. The trappings and sin of this life could not bind him. John 19: 40. 20: 6.
In the power of Jesus’ resurrection we are set free from all that Satan would try to bind us with because Jesus is our Lord and God.

We look again at Jesus’ words to Martha from the point of view of Jesus calling out his church from the earth,
“Though he was dead, yet shall he live?” Lazarus died in faith and Jesus called him out and raised him up from the grave. This illustrates that when the dead in Christ hear the call of Jesus, they will be resurrected to meet Jesus in the air.
“And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” Martha and Mary also heard Jesus’ call. Illustrating those who are alive will meet Jesus in the air when he calls out his church.
St. Paul wrote that we come together simultaneously to meet the Lord in the air and we shall be forever with the Lord Jesus. This true account taking place at the tomb is the picture of what takes place when Jesus calls out his church.

Jesus reminds us to watch out for the signs of his coming
Biblical prophesies that are being fulfilled in our life time.
Matthew 24: Jesus prophesied the conflicts between nations; we have had two world wars.
Ezekiel 34: 11-13. Ezekiel prophesied Israel’s to return to their home land. This prophecy was fulfilled approximately nineteen hundred years after their dispersion across the world in 70 AD.

Daniel 7: 24. Daniel prophesied a one world government; in my life time I’ve seen Globalisation taking us towards the world’s dependence on a global economy.
The World Bank was set up after the Second World War for reconstruction and development; it plays a bigger role today.
Globalisation of Industry and commerce; family run businesses like Cadbury’s chocolate and Terry’s of York have been swallowed up by the multinational company Kraft Foods. Another huge multinational company is Nestle; it is the largest food and nutrition company in the world and employs 280,000 people across the world. GlaxoSmithKline is the 3rd largest pharmaceutical company in the world.

The setting up of ‘the Library Group’ in America, 5 world leaders came together in response to the oil crisis in 1974. It is now the G8.
The world is moving towards one world government.

Jesus prophesied the distress of nations Luke 21: 25. Through global climate change every year we hear of severe famine in parts of Africa where the deserts are expanding and natural disasters are on the increase; volcanic eruptions, earthquakes followed by Tsunamis. During the tribulation period the earth will be effected by activity in the universe.

Daniel 12: 4. Daniel prophesied the increase of knowledge; civil wars we hear about them as they happen through mobile phones, we have seen the computer revolution and most recently synthetic biology; scientists have the capability to create some new form of life.

Apostasy Hebrews 6: 6.10: 26-31. in the 1960’s the Age of Aquarius the New Age Spirituality they declared the end of the age of Jesus Christ. More recently we have seen pagan religion recognised in England.

All these things point to the signs were Jesus could call out his church at any time.
Lord Jesus, may you give us the opportunity to sow the seeds of Jesus return today. Amen

Jesus having this expectation in himself of his coming, this expectation is in us, because Christ is in us.
This hope of Jesus’ coming is born in us through Jesus’ own desire to come from heaven and call out his church.
Jesus has given us assurance in his word that we shall meet him one day soon face to face. This is something really wonderful to look forward to, the most special event in the whole of our lives and it’s a shared event with our fellow believers in Christ.

The Messiah’s Secret – The Vineyard 'Christ in You'

Evening Service following the Lectionary Isaiah 5: 1-7. Mark 12: 1-12

Isaiah tells us that the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel and the man of Judah.
God put everything in place for the vineyard on the hill to flourish, a wall and hedge around it, a watchtower was built and a pit dug for the wine press.

The Psalmist also wrote of Israel being the vine.
“Thou didst bring out of Egypt a vine, thou didst drive out the nations and plant it. “ Psalm 80: 8-19
The nation of Israel described as a vine when they left Egypt for the Promised Land where the vine was planted, the nation took root in the land of Canaan.
God tended, cared for and pruned the vine as they made their journey towards the Promised Land.

However, Isaiah prophesied Israel’s vineyard would produce wild grapes this was fulfilled in Jesus’ day. ”And he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded sour grapes.” Isaiah 5: 4.

The Parable of the Vineyard
Jesus described Israel as being tenants of the vineyard they were no longer the beloved vine. Jesus reproached the Pharisees for they neglected justice and the love of God; they were no longer producing good fruit.
Justice.
Jesus the true vine looked for justice; he taught that it was right to do good on the Sabbath Day. He acted on compassionate love very often going the extra mile to heal a sick person.
The Pharisees and Lawyers neglected justice they had taken away the key of knowledge; they added extra laws to the Laws of Moses these laws laid a heavy burden on the people, as they earned their righteousness under law. Luke 11: 42-52.
Love.
Jesus taught that the commandments were fulfilled in love: firstly to love God with all your heart, souls, strength and mind and secondly to love your neighbour as yourself. Loving the Lord with all your heart involves all the love we are capable of; with all the soul means giving the whole of our life to the Lord; with all our strength means doing everything to show love to him and with all our mind involves getting to know God especially through his word, for increased knowledge of him brings increased love.
The Pharisees, Sadducees, Layers and scribes their hearts were hardened, for them it was more important to keep the Sabbath day laws than for a person to be healed.
The towns of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum were also condemned for their failure to repent after they had witnessed great miracles and healing. Luke 10: 13-16

The True Vine
Jesus said that he was the true vine, the root and stem of Jesse, the descendant of King David. Jesus bearing the fruit of God’s kingdom; healing the sick, raising the dead and the poor having the gospel preached to them.
John records Jesus prayer and towards the end of his prayer he spoke of being sanctified by the truth. “They, (his disciples) were not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth.” John 17: 16 -19.

Sanctification – set apart for holy use.
Jesus sanctified himself by the truth of what he taught: The Sermon on the Mount Jesus spoke of plucking out and cutting off the offending member that leads us to sin.
Sanctification applies today in our walk in Christ; we are in the world but not part of it.
“The Word of God is living and active, sharper than a two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4: 12.
We are called to be led by the Holy Spirit abiding in the words Jesus heard from his Father.
The writers of the Gospels remembered Jesus’ words they would be precious to them and a sincere person would want to record them accurately. Luke in particular emphasises to Theophilus that this was a truthful account of the eyewitnesses and ministers of the word that he may know the truth concerning the things of which he had heard from the beginning.

The Tenants of the Vineyard
The owner sent his servant to collect some fruit from the vineyard, but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty handed. Another servant was sent but they wounded him and treated him shamefully. He sent another whom they killed him. Many others were sent some they beat and some they killed.
This is in reference to the prophets that God over many years he sent to convict the leaders and people of their need to turn back to God and repent.

Elijah spoke out against Israel’s King Ahab and Queen Jezebel’s dishonesty. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel desired Naboth’s vineyard, but Naboth would not give or sell his inheritance to them. Jezebel plotted against Naboth, she wrote a letter in King Ahab’s name to the elders and nobles who lived with Naboth in his city, “Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people; and set two base fellows opposite him, and let them bring a charge against him saying, ‘You have cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.” The elders and nobles of Naboth’s city did as Jezebel had requested in the letter. Naboth an innocent man was killed by being stoned to death. As soon as Ahab heard from Jezebel that Naboth was dead, she encouraged him to go and take possession of the vineyard so King Ahab went and took possession of it. 1 Kings 21: 1-16.
Prophet John the Baptist was killed by King Herod for speaking out against his sin; Herod had married his brother Philip’s wife which was against the law.

Jesus the true vine did not unite himself to the sin of the Pharisees, Sadducees, lawyers and scribes.

Finally the owner sent his son, surely he thought that they would respect his son, but they treated him the same.
God sent his Son Jesus, the Messiah, Israel's leaders treated him with contempt.

Jesus prophesied his death, “This is the heir, let us kill him and the inheritance is ours.”

The unseen principalities and powers of darkness were hoping that by killing Jesus the devil had a claim on Israel’s vineyard.
Now it becomes clear as to why Jesus separated himself from the sin of the Pharisees, Sadducees and Lawyers. They were influenced by the inherited sin of their fallen nature.

The devil, who knew that Jesus was the Christ, but he did not know God’s plan of redemption through Jesus’ death and resurrection, which secured the victory over the devil’s power over death, sin and causes of sin, resulting in mankind’s fallen nature. Mark 1: 24, 34.

The tenants took the son they had killed and cast him out of the vineyard.
Another prophecy in the parable, Jesus was killed outside Jerusalem’s city walls, the Jews made a sin offering of a red heifer outside the city walls.
This sacrifice was to atone for “death.” its ashes were used for purification rituals and were kept at the gates outside the walls of the city.
“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power over death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to life long bondage. Hebrews 2: 14, 15

Death has no more dominion over us.
The sin that leads to death has been dealt with by Jesus when he bore our sin on the cross and paid the price for it by lying down his innocent life and in his risen life we see the victory over death.
Through God given faith, hearing or reading, the living words of Jesus are received into the heart, the centre of our being. The Holy Spirit dwelling within us acts upon the words and by a miracle we are changed, our hardened hearts are transformed, made new, we know that death has lost its fear in us and that Jesus is our Lord God and Saviour.

The True Vine - Christ in You
Jesus the true vine, the natural make up of the vine, interpreting the way of abiding in Christ.
“If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will and it shall be done for you.” John 15: 7
The branches are totally dependant upon its life’s source from the main stem and roots and we need the care and attention of the vinedresser to help the vine to produce good fruit.
The branch, the Christian is called to walk in the Spirit and bear the fruit of God’s word so it’s us working with the living word Jesus with the help of the Holy Spirit.
A branch is complete, all that is required of it, is to grow and bear the fruit of its own harvest
and it is equal to all the other branches in its composition and description, the abundance of fruit does vary.
A Christian has the potential to be Christ-like using the gifts of the Spirit and is responsible for the working out of our calling in Christ’s body, the church.

The fruit of the vine the grape is widely used to make wine as it has more spirit content when fermented than other fruits.

“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in his love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”
Love is the sap that rises from the root of the vine to the branches. The Holy Spirit fills each believer with the love of God,
The Holy Spirit’s gift of discernment is given freely to the believer, today more than ever we need this gift of discernment to help us stand against the wiles of the devil. Jesus tells us to ask and you shall receive.

In the parable the vineyard is given to another to bear the fruit of it. When we read Luke’s account of this parable, the others are the Gentiles.
The vineyard is comprised of both Jew and Gentile. The cross breaking down the barrier between Jew and Gentile. Ephesians 2: 11-22.

The Messiah’s Secret
At Pentecost was the first time the Apostles proclaimed that Jesus was the Christ. However, the leaders did not repent and bring the nation to accept Jesus as their true vine, the Christ.

Maybe if Jesus had been stoned to death under law the leaders of the ruling council would have considered that Jesus was the risen Christ. But as we know Jesus was killed by crucifixion which was a Roman execution therefore to a Jewish person God had allowed him to be defiled by the Gentiles which was against the law. The high priest Caiaphas was a Sadducee and they did not believe in the resurrection from the dead. These difficulties proved to be a stumbling block for the Jews to respond to the call as a nation to accept Jesus as the Christ and for them as a nation of priests to take the good news of the Christ to the rest of the world.
The Apostles were setting up the kingdom in Jerusalem in expectation of Jesus’ return with the angels and probably were hoping for a change of heart like that of King Ahab who repented of his sin against Naboth when he heard what Jezebel had done. 1 Kings 21: 25-29.

Counterfeit Vineyard of the Antichrist.
Paul in his letter to the church at Thessalonica he wrote informing them that they had not missed the calling out of the church.
They were suffering persecution and were watching and listening for Jesus calling out his church.
Paul re-assures them that the antichrist has not yet been revealed.
“The lawless one revealed by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false.” 1 Thessalonians 2: 8-12.

Battle of Armageddon
“Angels gather clusters of grapes for the wine press, trodden under the severity of God. Revelation 14: 17-20
This is the battle were the powers of darkness will be defeated and where Jesus reigns on the earth with a rod of iron.