What if what we celebrate on Easter is a big fat lie????

During last week, followers of Jesus are celebrating what is referred to in church mumbo jumbo talk as Passion Week. Passion Week is a time when followers of Jesus remember Jesus entry into Jerusalem on what we refer to today as Palm Sunday, Jesus arrest, trial and crucifixion on what we refer to as Good Friday, and Jesus resurrection from the dead, which we refer to as Easter Sunday.

On Palm Sunday, we looked at the significance that the city of Jerusalem has had on history. We talked about the reality that, beginning in 2100 B.C., Jerusalem has had a prominent role in God’s activity in history. We then looked at an event from history that occurred in 30 A.D., that once again brought the city of Jerusalem to center stage in history. In this event from history that is recorded for us in a section of an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew, Jesus entered into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey in fulfillment God’s promise to send a rescuer, a deliverer, a Messiah.

However,  the Pharisees and the religious experts responded to Jesus arrival by confronting and opposing Jesus. After this confrontation with the Pharisee’s Jesus and His disciples left Jerusalem to spend the night in the nearby city of Bethany. However, the battle lines for conflict had already been drawn. And over the next four days there would be confrontation and conflict between Jesus and the self righteous religious leaders of the day. 

And on a Thursday evening and Friday morning a little over 2,000 years ago, the conflict and confrontation led us to pause and ponder the image of a cross and the significance that a single cross had on history. Last Friday night, we looked at the significance that a single cross has had on history and talked about the reality that for early followers of Jesus, they would find it strange that people would wear crosses around their necks and that the gatherings of followers of Jesus would be held in buildings with crosses on them.

Early followers of Jesus would find it strange because of what the cross represented, which was crucifixion, one of the most brutal and shameful modes of death ever invented by humanity throughout history. We then looked at an event from history that is recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the book of Mark, which recorded for us the significance that a single cross, that Jesus was crucified on, had on history.

We talked about the reality that Good Friday is about an event from history that occurred in a single city, on a single cross, around a cosmic conflict. A cosmic conflict over the power of selfishness, sin, and death: A conflict that would shape the course of history and eternity: A conflict that would shift our focus in a single city from a single cross to another single powerful image.

Then last Sunday, on Easter, we focused on that third single image and its significance on history. And that image is the image of a single tomb. However, this tomb was not just any tomb. This was not a tomb on the outskirts of the city that was for outsiders.

You see, after Jesus death, Mark, the writer of the account of Jesus life that bears his name, tells us that Joseph of Arimathea did what would have been considered almost unthinkable. Joseph approached the most powerful man in the Roman government, the man who had personally condemned Jesus to death as an enemy of the Roman Empire and asked for his body.

Pilate, after questioning whether or not Jesus had already had died, responded to the courage of Joseph of Arimathea by granting his request. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus then went and retrieved Jesus body from the cross and prepared the body for burial. After making hasty burial preparations due to the late time of day, Jesus was left in the tomb as Joseph of Arimethea’s tomb was sealed and guarded by Roman soldiers. And with that, Joseph of Arimethea, Nicodemus, and the rest of Jesus followers left the tomb firmly believing that Jesus, along with His claim of being the Messiah, was dead.

However, early on Sunday, a woman named Mary came to the tomb to take care of Jesus body, only to find that the tomb was empty. In panic Mary went to the disciples to proclaim her discovery of the empty tomb. Confused and concerned, Peter and John responded to Mary’s report by heading to the tomb to discover what had happened. And as John took in the scene of the empty tomb all that Jesus had been saying to them suddenly clicked. John connected the dots and placed his confident trust in the fact that Jesus had been raised from the dead as their Lord and Leader.

The empty tomb was the evidence that Jesus was God in a bod that came to fulfill God’s promise of rescue from selfishness and rebellion. Later that evening, Jesus would appear to His closest followers. Then, over the next forty days, Jesus appeared to followers of Jesus on several occasions to as many as 500 people at a single time.

Now you might read all of this, and a natural question that arises is “well Dave how do we know that the resurrection is a historical reality and not just mythology or fiction? After all, what if the tomb wasn’t empty? What if what we celebrate on Easter is just one big lie?”

If those questions are running through your mind, I just want to let you know that those are great questions to be asking. And in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of 1 Corinthians, we see a man named Paul, who persecuted early followers of Jesus until he had an encounter with Jesus after He was raised from the dead, address these very questions. So let’s look at how the Apostle Paul answered these questions in 1 Corinthians 15:12:

Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.

In verse 12, Paul confronts some of the members of the church at Corinth who were rejecting the reality of the resurrection of the dead. Some members of the church did not believe that there was a literal resurrection of the dead.  Paul responded to this situation by providing four results that would be the natural result if the message of a resurrected Jesus and an empty tomb was a lie.

First, Paul states that if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Jesus was not really raised from the dead. And if Jesus has not been raised from the dead, Paul explains that his preaching is vain and their faith also is vain. In other words, if Jesus was not raised from the dead; if the tomb was not empty, then the message of the gospel and Christianity in general is devoid of value and meaning. I mean, the whole point of Christianity and the gospel is Jesus life, death, and resurrection, isn’t it?

Paul then reveals a second result that would be the natural result if the message of a resurrected Jesus and an empty tomb was a lie in verse 15:

Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised;

Here we see Paul explain that if Jesus was not raised from the dead, if that single tomb was not empty on that first Easter Sunday, if there is no such thing as resurrection, then they and all the other early church leaders were false witnesses of God. If the tomb was not empty, Paul and other early followers of Jesus would be revealed as liars and twisted manipulators who misrepresented the nature and character of God by saying that He raised Christ from the dead when He really didn’t. They were liars and manipulators because if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Jesus is still dead.

Paul’s point is that you can’t have one without the other; either there is a resurrection of the dead for everyone, or there is no resurrection of the dead for anyone, even Jesus Christ as "God-in-a-bod" who was 100% God and 100% human. Paul then reveals a third result that would be the natural result if the message of a resurrected Jesus and an empty tomb was a lie.

Friday we will discover that third reason...

The significance of a single cross on history...

Last week, followers of Jesus celebrated what is referred to in church mumbo jumbo talk as Passion Week. Passion Week celebrates the events from history that occurred the week between Palm Sunday, which we celebrated this past Sunday, and Easter Sunday, which we will celebrate this upcoming Sunday. Passion Week is a time when followers of Jesus remember Jesus entry into Jerusalem on what we refer to today as Palm Sunday, Jesus arrest, trial and crucifixion on what we refer to today as Good Friday, and Jesus resurrection from the dead, which we refer to as Easter Sunday. And during this week from history that we pause to remember and reflect, there are three powerful images that capture our attention. And those images involve a city, a cross, and an empty tomb. So during Passion Week, we spent our time together in a sermon series entitled “A City, A Cross, and a Tomb.”

During this series we are going to spend our time together reflecting on the significance that a single city, a single cross, and a single tomb have had on history. Last week, we looked at the significance that the city of Jerusalem has had on history. We talked about the reality that, beginning in 2100 B.C., Jerusalem has had a prominent role in God’s activity in history. We then looked at an event from history that occurred in 30 A.D., that once again brought the city of Jerusalem to center stage in history. In this event from history that is recorded for us in a section of an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew, Jesus entered into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey in fulfillment God’s promise to send a rescuer, a deliverer, a Messiah.

However, as the Pharisees and the religious experts observed Jesus stirring things up in the city by turning over tables and by miraculously healing those who had no hope of healing; as the Pharisees and the religious experts heard the children of the city of Jerusalem shouting “Save us now you who are the Son of David the Messiah” as they became indignant over wrongdoing that they believed was taking place, these self righteous religious people confronted Jesus. After this confrontation with the Pharisee’s Jesus and His disciples left Jerusalem to spend the night in the nearby city of Bethany.

However, the battle lines for conflict had already been drawn. And over the next four days there would be confrontation and conflict between Jesus and the self righteous religious leaders of the day.  There would be confrontation and conflict that would escalate in its intensity and its impact. Over the week, the Pharisees and other self righteous religious leaders increasingly attacked and questioned Jesus in a way that tried to trap Him. And while there were large crowds following Jesus, during those four days, the crowds became increasingly divided against Jesus.

 

Then on Thursday night, Judas, who was one of the twelve disciples, but who had chosen to reject and betray Jesus, completed His act of betrayal by leading between 300 and 600 Roman soldiers to the garden in order to arrest Jesus. Jesus was then brought, in the middle of the night, to face six trials that would decide His guilt or innocence. You see, for the Jewish religious leaders, there was no time to waste; Jesus needed to be dealt with quickly and quietly.

 After getting nowhere in their questioning of Jesus, the religious leaders, in desperation, asked Jesus to tell the truth as to whether or not He was the Messiah that God had promised to bring the Jewish people back to God and back to prominence in the world. Jesus, being under oath, answered the question truthfully. Jesus explained that not only was He the Messiah; Jesus explained that He was God in a bod. The High Priest responded by rejecting Jesus, which resulted in Jesus being beaten by the crowds who were there to witness the trial.

Having all the evidence that they needed, the religious leaders were able to condemn Jesus. However, the Jewish people were not allowed to exercise capital punishment for a crime. Only the Roman government, who ruled over the Jewish people, could pronounce and carry out a sentence of death. So early Friday morning, after the trial before the Sanhedrin, Jesus was brought before Pilate, the Roman governor. And Pilate, being concerned with maintaining political points and power; and being a people pleaser that feared and focused on the approval of men, made the politically expedient decision to condemn to death a man that had not been found guilty.  

And today we will look at the significance that a single cross has had on history. For early followers of Jesus, they would find it strange that people would wear crosses around their necks. For early followers of Jesus, they would find it strange that the gatherings of followers of Jesus would be held in buildings with crosses on them. Early followers of Jesus would find it strange because of what the cross represented. You see, the cross represented crucifixion. And crucifixion was and is considered one of the most brutal and shameful modes of death ever invented by humanity throughout history.

The Assyrian Empire, who was the dominant military and political power in the world from 744-612 B.C. first originated the concept of crucifixion. The Persian Empire also used crucifixion after conquering the Babylonian Empire in the 5^th Century B.C. During the Greek Empire, Alexander the Great brought crucifixion from the Persian Empire to the eastern Mediterranean countries in the 4th century BC. As a matter of fact Alexander the Great is reputed to have crucified 2,000 survivors from his siege of the Phoenician city of Tyre in the 3rd century BC.

 It was here that the Roman Empire first learned about the concept of crucifixion. And the Roman Empire, which often assimilated aspects of other cultures into their culture, perfected crucifixion for the next 500 years until it was abolished by the Emperor Constantine in the 4th century AD. During the Third Servile War in 73–71 B.C. when Spartacus led a slave rebellion against Rome, over 6,000 slaves were captured and crucified on the main road of the Roman Empire, called the Appian Way, by the order of Crassus. Their bodies remained there is a token of Roman justice to all who would attempt to rebel.

The Emperor Caesar Augustus once made a boast that he had captured and crucified over 30,000 runaway slaves. The Jewish historian Josephus tells of the Romans crucifying people along the walls of the city of Jerusalem during the siege of Jerusalem. Josephus wrote that the "Roman soldiers, out of rage and hatred, nailed those they caught, one after one way, and another after another, to the crosses, by way of jest."

This was a death that was reserved for the worst criminals and for enemies of the Roman Empire. Crucifixion was designed for maximum humiliation and maximum suffering. As a matter of fact, crucifixion was so abhorred by society that it was not even depicted in early Christian art. Historians have discovered that the first depictions of crucifixion only occurred after all those who had ever seen a live crucifixion had died. This is why early followers of Jesus would find it strange that people would wear crosses around their necks. Early Christians did not need a picture of a cross because the image of a cross and what it meant was an all too present reality in their lives.

And it is with this backdrop that we will look at the significance that a single cross has had on history. And that single cross is recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Mark. So let’s jump into this event from history, as Pilate condemned Jesus and handed an innocent man over to be crucified, beginning in Mark 15:15:

Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

At that point, Jesus was stripped of clothing. Jesus hands were tied to a post above His head. The whip that was used in a scourging was made of several pieces of leather with pieces of bone and lead embedded near the ends. Two men, one on each side of the victim, usually did the scourging, which was limited to a maximum of forty stripes.

The whip would be brought down again and again across the shoulders, back, and legs of the person being scourged. At first the heavy thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continued, they cut deeper in the subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles. In many cases, after a flogging, the skin of the back would be left hanging in long ribbons and the entire area would be an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. Mark records what happened next in verses 16-20:

The soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the whole Roman cohort. They dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him; and they began to acclaim Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him. After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him.”?

After scourging Jesus, the Roman soldiers slammed a crown of thorns onto His head and dressed Him in a purple robe in order to mock Him. The soldiers then placed Jesus own garments upon Him and gave Him the large cross beam to carry. This evening, I want us to picture ourselves in the crowd watching as Jesus, after He had been beaten beyond recognition, had the heavy beam of the cross is tied across His shoulders.

As Jesus walked toward the place where He would be crucified, the weight of the heavy wooden beam, together with the shock produced by the loss of blood, causes Him to stumble and fall. Jesus has no way to protect Himself, so the full weight of His body and the wooden beam crash down on His chest and face. The rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated skin and muscles of the shoulders. Jesus tries to rise, but cannot. Mark gives us a glimpse as to what happened next in verse 21-28:

“They pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross. Then they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it. And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. It was the third hour when they crucified Him. The inscription of the charge against Him read, "THE KING OF THE JEWS."  They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left. And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And He was numbered with transgressors."

At the place where He would be crucified, the beam is placed on the ground and Jesus was quickly thrown backward with His shoulders against the wood. The Roman soldier drove a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the most sensitive areas of the wrist and deep into the wood. The beam is then lifted in place at the top of the post. Jesus left foot is then pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each.

As Jesus pushed Himself upward to avoid the stretching torment, He would  place His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again there is the searing agony of the nail through His feet. As Jesus arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward.

Hanging by His arms, Jesus fought to raise Himself in order to get even one short breath. Jesus body spasmed as He is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen. For hours Jesus experienced the limitless pain, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, and searing pain as tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moved up and down against the rough timber.

Then another agony begins as Jesus experiences a deep crushing pain deep in the chest as the area around the heart slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. The compressed heart begins to struggle to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues. Mark reveals how the crowds that traveled past Jesus responded to what was happening to Jesus in verse 29-32:

 Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, "Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!" In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, "He saved others; He cannot save Himself. "Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!" Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him.”?

At this point, Jesus tortured lungs were making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of stimuli to the brain. Jesus gasps, “I thirst.”. Mark records what occurred next in verse 33-37:

“When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" which is translated, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?" When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, "Behold, He is calling for Elijah." Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down." And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last.”?

You watch as, with one last surge of strength, He once again presses His torn feet against the nail, straightens His legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters “It is finished.” And then Jesus dies. And to make doubly sure of death, you watch as a Roman soldier drove his spear in the space between the ribs and into Jesus heart. Immediately there came out blood and water.

This served as proof to the soldiers that Jesus died, not the usual crucifixion death by suffocation, but of heart failure due to shock and constriction of the heart by a buildup of fluid. That is why Jesus died before the two thieves died. That is why Jesus did not have to have His legs broken. You watch as Jesus dies of a broken heart.

So here is a question to consider: Why do we call Good Friday Good Friday? What is so Good about Good Friday? You see, it was in a single city, on a single cross, that a cosmic conflict took place. A cosmic conflict over the power of selfishness, sin, and death: A conflict that would shape the course of history and eternity: A conflict that would shift our focus in a single city from a single cross to another single powerful image.

Tomorrow we will pause to ponder that image and its significance on history…

Stirring things up in a city that has been stirred by conflict...

This week, we have been looking at the significance that a single city has had on history. And that single city is the city of Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem seems to be constantly in the news as a result of the conflict that surrounds this single city. As a matter of fact, the city of Jerusalem has been a city of conflict since it was first inhabited.

The city of Jerusalem has played a significant role when it comes to God’s activity in history since 2100 B.C. Then, in 30 A.D., an event from history occurred that once again brought the city of Jerusalem to center stage in history. Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem on a donkey because Jesus wanted the residents of Jerusalem to clearly understand that He was fulfilling God’s promise to send a rescuer, a deliverer, a Messiah. Jesus wanted the residents of Jerusalem to clearly understand that He was the Messiah and that He had arrived as advertised.

As Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, the crowds that surrounded Jesus as He entered Jerusalem were basically proclaiming “Save us now! We believe that you are the Son of David, the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a Messiah. How blessed are you who have come from the Lord to rescue and deliver us! Save us now!”

Matthew then tells us that as Jesus entered Jerusalem, the entire city was stirred with excitement and questions. “Who is this that you are proclaiming as the Messiah?” people were asking. “This is Jesus the prophet from Galilee, He is the Messiah”, was the crowds response. But it was not simply the crowds that surrounded Jesus as He entered Jerusalem that stirred up the city of Jerusalem. We see Jesus Himself begin to stir things up in verse Matthew 21:12:

 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He said to them, "It is written, 'MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER'; but you are making it a ROBBERS' DEN." And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.

Jesus, after receiving a red carpet welcome from the crowds as He entered into the city of Jerusalem, headed straight to the Temple Mount. After arriving on the Temple Mount, Jesus proceeded to stir things up in the Temple Courtyard by turning over tables and driving out those who were financially exploiting people who came to worship God by charging fraudulent exchange rates on the currency that would be used for worship.

And as Jesus stirred things up in the Temple Courtyard, Jesus quoted from two different sections of two different letters in the Old Testament of the Bible, called the Book of Isaiah and the book of Jeremiah.  First, Jesus quoted from Isaiah 56:7, which referred to the Temple as the house of the Lord and as a place of prayer for people from every nation.

However, as a result of the corruption of the Pharisees, who were the self righteous religious leaders of the day, those from other nations were unable to afford to worship because of the high exchange rates that were being charged to worship. And as a result, Jesus quoted Jeremiah 7:11 to reveal the corruption of the Pharisees that had infected and affected the Temple.

Matthew then explained that as Jesus stirred things up in the Temple, those who were blind and lame came to Jesus to request healing from their illnesses. Jesus responded by healing them, which served as another sign that He was the fulfillment of God’s promise of the Messiah. Now as you might imagine, the Pharisees and the Jewish religious leaders were not too happy about what was happening in the city and in the Temple. Matthew reveals for us how the Pharisees responded to Jesus actions in verse 15-16a:

But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these children are saying?"

As the Pharisees and the religious experts observed Jesus stirring things up in the city by turning over tables and by miraculously healing those who had no hope of healing; as the Pharisees and the religious experts heard the children of the city of Jerusalem shouting “Save us now you who are the Son of David the Messiah” they became indignant. In other words, these self righteous religious people were aroused with anger over the wrongdoing that they believed that they were witnessing.

And in their anger over the wrongdoing that they believed was taking place, these self righteous religious people confronted Jesus. These self righteous religious people basically said to Jesus “Do you understand what they are saying about you! Why are you allowing these children to call you the Messiah! Don’t you know the wrongdoing that you are doing by allowing this to be happening”! We see how Jesus responded to this confrontation in the second half of verse 16-17:

 And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, 'OUT OF THE MOUTH OF INFANTS AND NURSING BABIES YOU HAVE PREPARED PRAISE FOR YOURSELF'?" And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

Jesus responded to being confronted by this group of self righteous religious people by quoting from a section of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Psalms. In Psalm 8:2, the Psalmist proclaims the reality that God’s power is revealed in something as seemingly insignificant as praise. The Psalmist point is that what is significant about this praise is that it builds a wall of power against the enemies of God.

Jesus here quotes Psalm 8:2 to reveal the inherent power and defense that the praise of the Lord provides against the enemies of the Lord, which in this case were the Pharisee’s, who were standing in opposition of Jesus as the Messiah. And with that Jesus ended His confrontation with the Pharisees. After this confrontation with the Pharisee’s Jesus and His disciples left Jerusalem to spend the night in the nearby city of Bethany.

However, the battle lines for conflict had already been drawn. And over the next four days there would be confrontation and conflict between Jesus and the self righteous religious leaders of the day.  There would be confrontation and conflict that would escalate in its intensity and its impact on those in the city of Jerusalem and around the world. 

You see, confrontation and conflict is nothing new for the city of Jerusalem. Confrontation and conflict has surrounded the city of Jerusalem for over 3,000 years. However it was a confrontation that occurred on a Thursday evening and Friday morning a little over 2,000 years ago that would shape the course of history and eternity.

Friday night we will pause to ponder the image of a cross and the significance that a single cross had on history...

Faithfulness in the midst of faithlessness...

This week, we are looking at the significance that a single city has had on history. And that single city is the city of Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem seems to be constantly in the news as a result of the conflict that surrounds this single city. As a matter of fact, the city of Jerusalem has been a city of conflict since it was first inhabited. Archeologists have discovered that the oldest part of the city was settled around 4,000 B.C., making Jerusalem one of the oldest cities in the world. And during its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. 

The city of Jerusalem is so significant when it comes to God’s activity in history, as we first hear about the city of Jerusalem in a section of the very first letter in the Bible called the book of Genesis. In Genesis 14, we read about an event from history that occurred around 2100 B.C. involving a man named Abraham, who was the man from which the Jewish people descended from.  Then, at the apex of his power and prominence, the Jewish nation’s most famous king, a man named King David, desired to honor God by building what would later be known as the temple in Jerusalem in order to house the Ark of the Covenant.

However, the Lord responded to the king’s request by making an amazing promise. A promise that rejected King David’s request to build the Temple; a promise that a son would instead build the Temple; a promise that the Lord would cause one of King David’s future descendants to be the Messiah who would be the one to establish God’s kingdom for all eternity.

After King David’s death in 970 B.C. his son Solomon became the King of the Jewish people. Then in 966 B.C. King Solomon began to build the Temple on Mount Moriah, which we know today as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The first Temple took seven years and 183,300 men to build it. Upon completion the Temple measured nearly 90 feet in length, 30 feet in width and 45 feet in height. Upon completion in 959 B.C. the Jewish people worshipped the Lord there and the glory of the Lord filled the Temple.

After Solomon's death in 931 B.C. the city of Jerusalem became the capital city of the Southern Kingdom of the Jewish people, which was known as Judea. The Southern Kingdom of Judea would end up being ruled by a succession of twenty kings from 931 B.C. to 586 B.C. These kings led the Jewish people to turn from the Lord to worship false gods instead of the Lord.

Then, in 586 B.C., the Lord fulfilled the promise that He had made to the Jewish people when it came to what would happen if they turned from following the Lord to instead follow false gods. The Lord rejected the Jewish people as He had been rejected. The Lord removed the Jewish people from the Promised Land and destroyed the Temple through the Babylonian Empire. And from 586 to 538 B.C., the Jewish people lived as a conquered people in that nation of Babylon.

Then, in 538 B.C., the Persian Emperor Cyrus, after conquering the Babylonian Empire, began to allow the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. In 535 B.C., the foundation of the Temple was rebuilt as the Jewish people placed their hope in a promise that the Lord had made to King David and the Jewish people hundreds of years earlier. A promise that the Lord would send a rescuer, a deliverer, a Messiah, who would bring the Jewish people back to God and back to a place of prominence in the world.

However, while the Jewish people were building their own houses, they failed to rebuild the rest of the Temple or the walls around the city of Jerusalem. God responded by sending the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to call the Jewish people to rebuild the Temple. In 515 B.C., the rebuilding of the temple was completed on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

As part of the Lord’s message to the Jewish people, the prophet Zechariah wrote a letter to the Jewish people that was preserved and is a part of our Bible’s today. In a letter that bears his name, the prophet Zechariah, in 518 B.C. predicted and proclaimed what the future held for the Jewish people. And in his prediction and proclamation of what the future held for the Jewish people, Zechariah proclaimed the significance that the city of Jerusalem would continue to hold for the Jewish people, and for all humanity. So let’s look at Zechariah’s prediction and proclamation together, beginning in Zechariah 9:9-10:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; And the bow of war will be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations; And His dominion will be from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.

Here we see Zechariah proclaim that there would be a day in the future when God would fulfill His promise to send a rescuer, a deliverer, a Messiah, who would bring the Jewish people back to God and back to prominence in the world. And on that day, this rescuer, this deliverer, this Messiah, who is the One who is right and just, who possesses and provides rescue and salvation, would enter the city of Jerusalem not with arrogant pride and power on a machine of war. Instead, this rescuer, this deliverer, this Messiah who is the One who is right and just, who possesses and provides rescue and salvation, would enter the city in humility on a donkey.

However, the Jewish people failed to remain faithful to the Lord. And from 518 B.C. to 430 B.C. the Lord continued to send prophets to call the Jewish people away from their selfishness and rebellion and back to God. However, the Jewish people continued to selfishly rebel and reject the Lord. Then a little less than 550 years after the prophet Zechariah had made his prediction and proclamation, in 30 A.D., an event from history occurred that once again brought the city of Jerusalem to center stage in history. An event from history that is recorded for us in a section of an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew.

And it is this event from history that launches us into the week of the single most important event that ever occurred in history. So let’s look at this event from history together, beginning in Matthew 21:1-5:

When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. "If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them." This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: "SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, 'BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU, GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY, EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A BEAST OF BURDEN.'"

Matthew brings us into this section of his account of Jesus life by providing for us the context of this event from history that we are going to look at this morning. As Jesus approached the city of Jerusalem on what we know today as Palm Sunday, Jesus sent two of His disciples ahead in order to find a donkey. But the disciples were not just to find any donkey; the disciples were to find a donkey that would be tied up with a colt with her.

In other words this was a specific donkey that Jesus had made arrangements to use for His entry into Jerusalem. That is why Jesus explained to the disciples that if anyone asked them why they were taking the donkey and the colt, they were to reply that 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them.” This explanation, if communicated in the language that we use in our culture today, would be like saying “If anyone asks about why you are taking the donkey and the colt, just tell them that you have been sent by Jesus to pick up the donkey that He had requested”.

Matthew then explains that the reason why Jesus had arranged for the donkey and the colt in advance was so that He would fulfill the very prediction and proclamation that had been made over 500 years earlier by the prophet Zechariah. You see, Jesus wanted the residents of Jerusalem to clearly understand that He was fulfilling God’s promise to send a rescuer, a deliverer, a Messiah. Jesus wanted the residents of Jerusalem to clearly understand that He was the Messiah and that He had arrived as advertised. Matthew then records for us what happened next in verse 6-11:

The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats. Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!" When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, "Who is this?" And the crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee."

This morning, can you imagine what that must have looked like? Can you imagine what that must have sounded like? Can you imagine watching Jesus enter into the city of Jerusalem as the crowds laid down palm branches and their coats so that Jesus would enter the city of Jerusalem on as close to a red carpet as they could make?

Matthew tells us that as Jesus entered in to the city of Jerusalem, the crowds that surrounded Jesus on every side shouted "Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!" By shouting this statement the crowds were quoting from a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Psalms.

In Psalm 118, the Psalmist proclaimed a Psalm of thanksgiving for God’s deliverance of His people. As part of this psalm, in verse 26, the Psalmist pictures the parade of victory that would accompany the arrival of the Messiah as conquering King. The word Hosanna literally means “save now!” So the crowds that surrounded Jesus as He entered Jerusalem were basically proclaiming “Save us now! We believe that you are the Son of David, the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a Messiah. How blessed are you who have come from the Lord to rescue and deliver us! Save us now!”

Matthew then tells us that as Jesus entered Jerusalem, the entire city was stirred with excitement and questions. “Who is this that you are proclaiming as the Messiah?” people were asking. “This is Jesus the prophet from Galilee, He is the Messiah”, was the crowds response. But this morning, it was not simply the crowds that surrounded Jesus as He entered Jerusalem that stirred up the city of Jerusalem.

Tomorrow, we will see Jesus begin to stir things up…

The city of Jerusalem and its significance when it comes to God’s activity in history...

For followers of Jesus, this week is a time to remember the most significant week in the history of Christianity. This week, followers of Jesus celebrate what separates Christianity from every other religious system. You see, Christianity, unlike every other religious system, at its core is not about theology. Instead Christianity, at its core, is about something that happened in history.  And while theology, or what we believe about God, is important as followers of Jesus, the reason why Christianity exploded in the first century and has had such an impact throughout history is because Christianity, at its core, is all about something that happened in history.

This week, followers of Jesus will celebrate what is referred to in church mumbo jumbo talk as Passion Week. Passion Week celebrates the events from history that occurred the week between Palm Sunday, which we celebrate this Sunday, and Easter Sunday, which we will celebrate next Sunday. Passion Week is a time when followers of Jesus remember Jesus entry into Jerusalem on what we refer to today as Palm Sunday, Jesus arrest, trial and crucifixion on what we refer to today as Good Friday, and Jesus resurrection from the dead, which we refer to as Easter Sunday.

And during this week from history that we pause to remember and reflect, there are three powerful images that capture our attention. And those images involve a city, a cross, and an empty tomb. So for this Passion Week, we are going to spend our time together in a sermon series entitled “A City, A Cross, and a Tomb.” During this series we are going to spend our time together reflecting on the significance that a single city, a single cross, and a single tomb have had on history.

This week, I would like for us to spend our time together talking about the significance that a single city has had on history. And that single city is the city of Jerusalem. For many of us, we are familiar with the city of Jerusalem because the city of Jerusalem seems to be constantly in the news. The city of Jerusalem seems to be constantly in the news as a result of the conflict that surrounds this single city.

As a matter of fact, the city of Jerusalem has been a city of conflict since it was first inhabited. Archeologists have discovered that the oldest part of the city was settled around 4,000 B.C., making Jerusalem one of the oldest cities in the world. And during its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. 

Today, the city of Jerusalem is the center of conflict between the nation of Israel and the Palestinian state, both of whom believe that they should have sole possession of the city. At the center of the fight for Jerusalem is a fight over an area in Jerusalem called the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount is a 37 acre piece of land in Jerusalem that is considered one of the most holy sites to the three monotheistic religions, which are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism, which regards it as the place where God's divine presence is more present than any other place. Among Sunni Muslims, the Temple Mount is widely considered the third holiest site in Islam and is revered as the Noble Sanctuary, the location of Muhammad's journey to Jerusalem and ascent to heaven. The site is also associated with Jewish biblical prophets who are also venerated in Islam.

After the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in 637 CE, Umayyad Caliphs commissioned the construction of the al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock on the site. The Dome was completed in 692 A.D., making it one of the oldest extant Islamic structures in the world. The Al Aqsa Mosque rests on the far southern side of the Mount, facing Mecca. The Dome of the Rock currently sits in the middle, occupying the area where the Holy Temple previously stood. While the Temple Mount itself is not considered a holy site within Christianity, the city of Jerusalem has a very significant place within Christianity.

So this week, I would like for us to see exactly why the city of Jerusalem is so significant when it comes to God’s activity in history. We first hear about the city of Jerusalem in a section of the very first letter in the Bible called the book of Genesis. In Genesis 14, we read about an event from history that occurred around 2100 B.C. involving a man named Abraham, who was the man from which the Jewish people descended from. Outside the city of Jerusalem Abraham was involved in a military battle in which he joined forces with the King of Sodom to defeat an army led by five kings and rescue his nephew Lot. The King of Sodom, along with a priest named Melchizedek, met Abraham and blessed him there.

Then, in Genesis 22, we read about an event from history that occurred in 2054 B.C., where the Lord commanded Abraham to travel to a mountain named Mount Moriah to sacrifice his son Isaac, who had been born to Abraham as a result of a promise that the Lord had made to Abraham. As Abraham was about to kill Isaac, the Lord intervened and supernaturally provided a sacrifice in the place of Isaac. Abraham called that place, "the Lord who provides" since Yahweh provided a sacrifice in place of Isaac.

Then, in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Judges, an event from history is recorded where, in 1734 B.C., after being delivered from slavery at the hands of the nation of Egypt, as the Jewish nation began to take possession of the land that God had promised them, the Jewish people fought against and captured the city of Jerusalem. However, the Jewish people failed to faithfully follow the Lord, but instead chose to rebel against the Lord. As a result the Jewish people were repeatedly conquered by other nations as a sign of the Lord’s judgment against their selfishness and rebellion.

Then, in 1003 B.C., the most famous king to ever led the Jewish people, King David rose to power by conquering Jerusalem. King David established Jerusalem as the capital city of the Jewish people, where he ruled and reigned for thirty three years. As King, King David desired to bring the Ark of the Covenant, which symbolized God’s presence among the Jewish people into the city of Jerusalem in order to establish Jerusalem as the spiritual as well as political center of the Jewish nation. After failing to follow the Lord’s command when it came to how to bring the ark into the city, which resulted in the death of one of King David’s men, King David successfully brought the ark into the city.

Then, at the apex of his power and prominence, King David desired to honor God by building what would later be known as the temple in Jerusalem in order to house the Ark of the Covenant. However, the Lord responded to the king’s request by making an amazing promise. A promise that rejected King David’s request to build the Temple; a promise that a son would instead build the Temple; a promise that the Lord would cause one of King David’s future descendants to be the Messiah who would be the one to establish God’s kingdom for all eternity.

However, near the end of his rule and reign, King David rebelled against the Lord by calling for a census of the Jewish people. King David had arrogantly come to the place where he was placing his confident trust in the size of his army instead of the Lord. The Lord responded to King David’s rebellion by giving the king a choice in his punishment: three years of famine, three months of attack by his enemies, or three days of pestilence among the Jewish people. King David, not wanting to feel the ruthlessness of man, told the Lord that he wanted to fall into His hands.

As a result of King David’s decision, the Lord sent a pestilence on the Jewish people that resulted in the death of 70,000 men. The Lord sent an angelic messenger to destroy Jerusalem. However, as the angelic messenger stood over the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite, the Lord intervened and stopped him from exercising judgment of the city. As King David, saw the angelic messenger standing between heaven and earth with his sword drawn over Jerusalem the king pleaded to the Lord on behalf of the Jewish people. The Lord responded by commanding King David, through the prophet Gad, to build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan. The king bought the threshing floor from Ornan and built an altar on it and offered a sacrifice to the Lord on the altar.

The Lord responded to King David’s sacrificial offerings by sending fire from heaven that consumed the burnt offering. As a result of his encounter with the Lord, King David declared that this would be the location for the Temple of the Lord. What is so interesting is that the threshing floor of Ornan was located on the same place where Abraham took Isaac to be sacrificed. And that place was Mount Moriah. After King David’s death in 970 B.C. his son Solomon became the King of the Jewish people.

Then in 966 B.C. King Solomon began to build the Temple on Mount Moriah, which we know today as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The first Temple took seven years and 183,300 men to build it. Upon completion the Temple measured nearly 90 feet in length, 30 feet in width and 45 feet in height. Upon completion in 959 B.C. the Jewish people worshipped the Lord there and the glory of the Lord filled the Temple.

However, near the end of his life, Solomon selfishly rebelled against the Lord by worshipping false gods instead of the Lord due to the influence of his pagan wives. And as a result of the selfishness and rebellion of Solomon and the Jewish people, the Lord tore the Jewish people into two kingdoms. After Solomon's death in 931 B.C. the city of Jerusalem became the capital city of the Southern Kingdom of the Jewish people, which was known as Judea. The Southern Kingdom of Judea would end up being ruled by a succession of twenty kings from 931 B.C. to 586 B.C. These kings led the Jewish people to turn from the Lord to worship false gods instead of the Lord.

Then, in 586 B.C., the Lord fulfilled the promise that He had made to the Jewish people when it came to what would happen if they turned from following the Lord to instead follow false gods. The Lord rejected the Jewish people as He had been rejected. The Lord removed the Jewish people from the Promised Land and destroyed the Temple through the Babylonian Empire. And from 586 to 538 B.C., the Jewish people lived as a conquered people in that nation of Babylon.

Then, in 538 B.C., the Persian Emperor Cyrus, after conquering the Babylonian Empire, began to allow the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. In 535 B.C., the foundation of the Temple was rebuilt as the Jewish people placed their hope in a promise that the Lord had made to King David and the Jewish people hundreds of years earlier. A promise that the Lord would send a rescuer, a deliverer, a Messiah, who would bring the Jewish people back to God and back to a place of prominence in the world.

However, while the Jewish people were building their own houses, they failed to rebuild the rest of the Temple or the walls around the city of Jerusalem. God responded by sending the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to call the Jewish people to rebuild the Temple. In 515 B.C., the rebuilding of the temple was completed on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. As part of the Lord’s message to the Jewish people, the prophet Zechariah wrote a letter to the Jewish people that was preserved and is a part of our Bible’s today.

In a letter that bears his name, the prophet Zechariah, in 518 B.C. predicted and proclaimed what the future held for the Jewish people. And in his prediction and proclamation of what the future held for the Jewish people, Zechariah proclaimed the significance that the city of Jerusalem would continue to hold for the Jewish people, and for all humanity.

Tomorrow, we will look at Zechariah’s prediction and proclamation together…

Racism is ridiculous because interracial marriage best illustrates the church as the bride of Christ...

This week we have been looking at an event from history that is recorded for us in a section of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Numbers. Moses, the author of the book of Numbers, brought us into this event from history by revealing for us a conflict that occurred between himself and Miriam and Aaron. Miriam and Aaron became angry and envious of Moses and spoke against him was because of the Cushite woman whom he had married. In other words, Miriam and Aaron decided to challenge Moses leadership and authority in front of the entire nation and attempted to overthrow Moses from his position of leadership and authority so that they could instead be in the position of leadership and authority over the Jewish people.

Moses, being a Hebrew, had married a black person. And as a result of Moses entering into this interracial marriage, Miriam and Aaron felt compelled to challenge Moses leadership and authority. Miriam and Aaron felt compelled to challenge Moses leadership and authority because they believed that they were superior to Moses. They believed that they were superior to Moses because Moses had demonstrated that he was inferior by marrying someone from another race that they believed that they were superior to. Miriam and Aaron’s racism led them to challenge their brother as being inferior as a result of his marriage to someone that they viewed as being from an inferior race.

Moses, in his humility, did not feel the need to defend himself. However, while Moses humility was driving him to not defend himself, as the Lord heard the racism of Miriam and Aaron, He was driven to defend Moses. Out of the blue the voice of the Lord proclaimed to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, "You three come out to the tent of meeting." However, the Lord did not speak to Moses. Notice that the Lord does not call out Moses for violating one of His commands. Notice that the Lord did not address Moses for marrying an African black woman. The Lord did not call out Moses because Moses did not enter into an interreligious marriage which would have violated His commands. Moses did not enter an interreligious marriage; Moses had entered into an interracial marriage.

Instead, the Lord’s anger burned against Miriam and Aaron for their selfishness and rebellion in a way that resulted in the Lord intervening to defend Moses, who was too humble to defend himself.  And in the Lord’s right and just anger over the selfishness and rebellion of Miriam and Aaron, there would be consequences. Consequences that are revealed in Numbers 12:10:

 But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous.

As the presence of the Lord left Miriam and Aaron, Miriam was left with leprosy. To understand the significance of the Lord’s consequences on Miriam, we first need to understand what leprosy is. Leprosy is a slowly progressing, contagious, and incurable skin disease characterized by scabs or crusts and white shining spots appearing to be deeper than the skin. And in the Jewish culture of the day, leprosy left its victims in a place that rendered them unclean.

In other words, a person with leprosy was not allowed to participate in the life of the community of the Jewish people in any way. A person with leprosy was sentenced to a life separated from the community as outsiders and outcasts for the rest of their lives, or until they were healed. The problem was that no one was ever healed of leprosy. In the letters that make up the Bible, the only people who ever recovered from leprosy were those who were miraculously healed by God. By infecting Miriam with leprosy, we see the Lord paint a powerful word picture to Miriam and the rest of the Jewish people.

By infecting Miriam with leprosy, the Lord was basically saying to Miriam “so Miriam you and Aaron think that you are superior to Moses because Moses has married someone from another race who you believe you are superior to. You believe that you are superior and that your brother is inferior because he married someone who has darker skin than you. You believe that you are better than this Cushite woman because you have a lighter skin tone than her? Well, if that is the case, let me really give you a lighter tone of skin. I will give you a lighter tone of skin that will result in you being treated as an outsider and outcast, just as you tried to treat this Cushite woman as an outcast because she had darker skin. I will give you a tone of skin that results in you being treated like you wanted to treat someone who had darker skin.” Moses then reveals how Aaron responded to what had happened to Miriam in verse 11-13:

 Then Aaron said to Moses, "Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not account this sin to us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. "Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother's womb!" Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "O God, heal her, I pray!"

Now do you see the irony here? Aaron, who was the High Priest of the Jewish nation, who, with Miriam viewed themselves as being superior to Moses, had to plead with Moses to intercede on Miriam’s behalf that she would be healed of the leprosy which the Lord had given her. Miriam and Aaron found themselves as being in a position to acknowledge their inferiority to Moses after challenging Moses as being inferior.

Moses responded to Aarons’ request be providing the proof of his amazing humility. Instead of taking a position of arrogant gloating over God defending his leadership, Moses took a position of humbly serving the very person who questioned his leadership. The man who refused to defend himself prayed to God in defense of Miriam by asking to heal Miriam. We see how the Lord responded to Moses request in verse 14-15:

 But the LORD said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again." So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again.

Now to fully understand what is happening here, we first need to define some words and phrases. When the Lord uses the phrase “if her father spit in her face” this phrase referred to an action that would serve as a sign of contempt that one would have toward another. In addition, the phrase “bear her shame” refers to being held in a state of public humiliation.

So the Lord responded to Moses request by basically saying “If an earthly father expresses contempt when their rebellious daughter challenges his authority by disciplining her in a way that publicly humiliates her for a week, how much more should she be publicly humiliated for challenging My authority by viewing My choice of you as being inferior to her choice of herself over you. Since she challenged My authority by viewing you as inferior because you married someone who had darker skin than her, let her be publicly humiliated for a week by being treated as an outsider and an outcast because of her skin color.”

So the Jewish people spent a week unable to move forward because of the racism of Miriam and Aaron. And Miriam spent a week living as an isolated outsider and outcast as a result of her racist belief that she was superior to Moses because he had married a person of a different race. And it is here, in this event from history, that we discover a reason why the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel best addresses the issue of interracial marriage. And that timeless reason is this: The gospel best addresses the issue of interracial marriage because interracial marriage best illustrates the church as the bride of Christ.

The letters that make up the Bible do not condemn interracial marriage. Instead the letters that make up the Bible condemn interreligious marriage. And interracial marriage actually provides the best illustration of the church as the Bride of Christ. You see, as we have discovered throughout this series, the church, the bride of Christ, is comprised of followers of Jesus throughout history that have been rescued from their selfishness and rebellion as a result of God’s gracious activity, regardless of race, not because of their race. The church, as the bride of Christ, is comprised of followers of Jesus who are representatives from every nationality, without distinction to race or ethnicity. The church, the bride of Christ is comprised of followers of Jesus throughout history who are called to find their identity in Jesus and not their race.

And interracial marriage is a beautiful word picture of the unity in diversity that we will experience as a part of the bride of Christ for all eternity. Interracial marriage best illustrates the reality of the church as the body of Christ. Now some of you, right now, in your mind, are going “la la la la, I am not listening to you, my God is not like that, my God is not like that.”

And my response to you is God is exactly like that. That is the reason why this event from history has been preserved and recorded for us in the Bible. The timeless reality is that, regardless of what you have heard before by some misinformed Christian; regardless of what you have heard before by some preacher twisting and contorting some Bible verses out of context; God is not against interracial marriage. What God is against is interreligious marriage.

And that is why racism and its application against interracial marriage is ridiculous. Racism is ridiculous and opposition to interracial marriage is ridiculous and is because interracial marriage best illustrates the church as the bride of Christ. Interracial marriage does not reject the message and teachings of Jesus. Interracial marriage beautifully depicts the message and teachings of Jesus. The message and teaching that red, yellow, black or white, everyone is precious in His sight.