Guess Who's Here

For centuries the Hebrew nation waited for the Messiah to come. Finally the timing was right, men throughout the nation were claiming to be the Messiah while Jesus was walking the roads of Judea and the Galilee. Some were even named Jesus by their parents.

Remember, many times they called Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth.

So perhaps that's why even those around him didn't recognize who he was. They knew he healed people, sometimes in ways they had not seen before. This made him a prophet, a healer in their eyes. They knew he spoke with authority, opening up the law and the writings of the prophets in ways they had never known. This made him a teacher, Rabbi, in their eyes.

Even his own disciples had to be coaxed to know and state who he actually was. Not just a great speaker who could draw a huge crowd. (4000 is a huge crowd.) Not just a voice who could calm the elements. Not just a prophet who could read others' needs and thoughts. Not just a rebel who spoke to women, tossed the tables in the temple area, and told the pharisees how bad they were. (Matthew 16)

In the October newsletter from Jewish Jewels Neil and Jamie Lash wrote:
"It is recorded in Jewish sources that 40 years before the destruction of the Temple (approx. 30 AD, the year of Yeshua's death), the sacrifices lost their power, and the gates of the Holiest of Holies opened by themselves. There was a scarlet cord tied to the door of the Temple that would turn white if God accepted the death of the 'Scapegoat' as atonement for the sins of the nation of Israel. IT CEASED TURNING WHITE around the time of Yeshua's death. He had made the final atonement!"

All those signs were pointing to Jesus as the Son of Man, Son of God, the one and only Messiah. And, yet the people didn't get it. They missed the mark. They missed the peace. They missed the way into heaven's gates.

They were so busy with life the way it was and keeping it familiar that they missed the best gift of all, having Jesus walking around their town.

But, the good news is death could not hold him. Oh, it tried and the pharisees tried but death did not win. Jesus is still here. He lives in each us who accept his ticket through heaven's gate. He's here and he's here to stay.