Eden to Eternity | Ep. 4

Well, hey everybody, welcome to episode four of From Eden to Eternity, where we are tracing the story of the Bible and seeing how God's story connects to our stories. We've been trying to understand, like, this is the story we've been born into. This is what's been going on since the beginning of time and how our lives fit into it and how we live in light of the story that we are in. And today we're kind of getting to the crux of the biblical story. We've been walking through these first three weeks, the Old Testament story, seeing how God worked through the lives of the nation and the people of Israel. And now we're going to get to what the Bible has been building towards. Since Genesis 3.15, we've been promised there's going to be a hero. There's going to be a deliverer who is going to come and undo what sin has done. And so today we're going to talk about the life of that hero. And Jesus Christ, who was born, and we'll see through his life and see what he came to do, what he came to accomplish. So Derek and Sarah, we've been walking through this story, and, you know, one of the things that we see in so many of our stories is that stories have heroes, right? That something has happened, something's gone wrong, and a hero has to step in to make things right, to fix things. So as you guys think about just stories in general, what makes a good hero? Like, why do we need a hero? What makes us celebrate a hero in their job? Do you want me to go? Oh, yeah. Okay, great. I just think, like, my first thought is like Marvel movies, and the heroes have a very specific look to them or even characteristics. And I think the thing about Jesus that is so just radically different, and I think that the people weren't expecting, is that he was nothing like they expected. You know, I think even when we talked about like the Old Testament kings, like a lot of people expected Saul to be the hero or David to be the hero.

And then as we're going to kind of get into, there's this little baby that arrives on the scene who eventually grows up into a man and kind of changes everything. So I think even in our brains today, is Jesus like a hero for us? I don't know if that's like quite the first word we might associate with him, but he is to the story. It's just not the way that we would expect or even assume a hero to be like. Yeah, that's funny. Marvel came to my mind, too. You know, and I think like in Marvel movies, when I think of heroes, I think of a couple different things. Like number one, like in a Marvel movie, you know, like they all have their like specific thing that makes them so different than everybody else. Like there is a clear difference between like the normal people that are like, help us! We can't do that! To, you know, someone like Thor or Captain America stepping in. But then I also think of other movies where, whether it's something in war or, what is it? Hacksaw Ridge, the one where that kid, he's like the medic and he's saving all of those people. Well, like he was so immensely sacrificial, like he was willing to put himself on the line and that was different than almost anybody else in that circumstance. And it was very heroic, you know, so I kind of think of like both of those things as it relates to Jesus of being selfless and sacrificial, but also being so different than we are. Yeah, that's so good. Like, you know, and I think when I think of heroes and thinking through literature and movies, like I think of heroes as the people who do the right thing no matter what it costs. Kind of what you're saying is like, whether it's sacrificial, no matter what I have to give, no matter where I have to go, no matter what I have to do, I'm going to do this because it is the right thing and it has to be done. And I think we'll see all of these things we've talked about with Jesus, except for

maybe like the Thor and Captain America stuff. He doesn't do any of that stuff. We'll see, like he walks into things, he always does the right thing. He's so different than anybody else, like there's no category for him and he always does the right thing. Like he steps into a situation and he knows this is what needs to be done right here and right now. So we ended in the Old Testament there in the book of Malachi about 400 BC. There's about 400 years that kind of go, that separate the Old and New Testament. We call them 400 years of silence, but there's really like a lot of stuff that happens through that. And so if you guys will indulge me for a moment, let me just kind of set the stage a little bit. Brandon, the history teacher coming out. And we'll talk about like a quick overview of some of these things. So during the course of those 400 years, like a lot of things happen. A lot of empires come and go, but two very significant ones come onto the scene. The first is the Greek empire, like through Alexander the Great conquering the known world. The Greek influence over the known world really grows. It's called Hellenism. And it's basically this idea that they have spread their culture everywhere. Everyone knows the Greek gods. Everyone knows the Greek stories. Everyone knows the Greek language. So it's set up to where the world at this time has kind of a unified culture. They all understand the same sort of language, even if they have their own regional dialects. But the other empire that then surpasses Greece is Rome. And they come onto the scene, and Rome is all about the glory of Rome, right?

Like, I'm speaking of heroes like Gladiator. We think of like, this is for the glory of Rome. And their idea is that we want to build an empire that will last forever. So they come through, and they build all this infrastructure across the known world. Like, they build a series of roads that transverse the known world. You know, it's said in that day, all roads lead to Rome. That, you know, you can get anywhere in the empire because of how Rome has set things up. And so, you know, we get to this place where the world is kind of primed for something to happen. Everybody speaks the same language, so everybody can communicate. There's a series of roads that connect the empire, so you can travel anywhere and hear news that's going on. But add on to that, specifically in Judea, we have this time of great national fervor. Like, sometime in like the second century BC, we have the rise of this party called the Maccabees, and they rebel against Rome. They want to restore the place of God in Israel. They want to live in purity. And so we have this movement in Israel that's growing of like, we need to turn back to God. We need to live for God. We need to prepare the way for the Messiah to come.

And we see that in a party we're probably gonna end up talking about today, in the rise of the Pharisees. This Jewish political religious party rises up because they want to turn back to God. They want to follow the law. They want to do it well. Can I ask you a question real quick? Yes, yeah. So like what we've seen in the Old Testament that we've talked about in previous weeks, like you have Jerusalem, like with the temple and all of that. So has Rome come and just conquered all of that? Is that kind of where this frustration and like rising up of people is coming from? Yes, so there is a movement. There's a background movement afoot to just completely throw Rome out of Judea. Like there's a zealot movement that's going on. And there is a lot of frustration with Rome. Like they did a lot in expanding the world but in creating infrastructure, but there's a lot of resentment towards them. Because you think at this point, the nation of Israel has been conquered so many times. Like they were conquered by Assyria and then Babylon. That is what it feels like though, right? And then Greece and then Rome. So they're just at a point where it's like,

we are tired of being responsible to all these other nations. Yeah, so that's a great question because there is this sort of simmering nationalism and resentment in Israel of like, we have got to, not only we got to get back to God, we got to get our country back. We got to get our nation back because things were better when we had men like David and Solomon on the throne instead of Rome telling us what to do. So yeah, I mean, it's a crazy time. We talk about it in years of silence, but there's always a part of me that wishes, like we just need a two, three page summary of what's going on in between old and new testament. Like it's crazy when you think about how God is working through history to prepare everything for Jesus to come on the scene. So in fact, well, let's talk about that because one of the things that the gospels tell us is that Jesus is born in Bethlehem, which is where Micah said he would be born. He's born in Bethlehem because of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire in the days of Caesar Augustus calls for a census and everyone has to go back to their ancestral homeland. And Jesus's parents, Mary and Joseph in particular, is from the house of David and they have to go back to Bethlehem. And so God uses the whims of a Roman emperor

to kind of set this plan in motion. So let's talk a little bit. I know the story of Christmas is a little familiar for most of us, but let's talk about the birth of Jesus for a little bit. And how do you guys see that happening? Like walking through the events, what sticks out to you as you think about Christmas? Well, before we do that, I almost like when I go back and just as you're talking through that world history piece, it's just such a good reminder that like, even though it was 400 years of silence, like the Lord was moving so many things into place. And I, as I'm sitting here listening to you, it's like, man, like I can understand the frustration, like when we feel like the Lord isn't answering our prayers, but sometimes he's just moving things into place that we don't see yet. And I even think about, you know, the infrastructure of Rome, like the whole world was primed to have this gospel be spread. And that's how the gospel was spread, through word of mouth and through these roads. And so it's so cool just to see how the Lord was so intricate in putting all these details together for Jesus to be born at the exact time in Bethlehem, like prophecy foretold. And so, I don't know, I just wanted to say that first because it was even 400 years of slavery in Egypt.

Like it's kind of reflecting, right? same time period, but what was the Lord doing in that 400 years in Egypt, but making things move into place for Moses to come and deliver. And there's so many comparisons and like similarities between Moses and Jesus and kind of the way that God brings them both as deliverers. But yeah, I'm just reminded of the puzzle pieces just being brought into place. And even with the Christmas story, like there's so many things that are just moving and God is shifting people and taking them to Bethlehem. And yeah, there's just so many things that I'm reminded of, of man, God just is so cool and how he works behind the scenes. And when we think that he's silent. Yeah, and it's interesting, cause even I'm trying to think where it is, like the apostle Paul in one of his letters looks at everything and says, hey, God sent his son at just the right time. Like this was perfect. Like even a decade after everything happens, Paul looks at it and is like, huh? What was God doing? That's amazing, so. Well, and speaking of that puzzle piece in the gospel of Luke in chapter one, Brandon, back to your other question of, God sends this angel Gabriel to Mary,

this teenage girl that is there and tells her that the Lord is with her and that you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name him Jesus. And the crazy thing about that is that she was betrothed to this guy named Joseph, right? But not married yet, she had not known a man, she was a virgin and yet because of the Lord, she became pregnant with Jesus and God moving those pieces around, those puzzle pieces to be at the right place at the right time. And what Gabriel said, he will be great and he will be called son of the most high and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end. And so I think what we continue to see is that we're not... Like the Old Testament and the New Testament isn't this just clear break between like, hey, God was doing one thing and then now he's doing another thing. Well, he was doing a new thing in Jesus, but he was continuing the story of his people through Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's so significant. You mentioned Mary being a virgin and all this, like there's this great mystery when you read Genesis three

and you look at this promise of Messiah because when God makes this promise of, your offspring is gonna be at war with the serpent, he's gonna crush his head and strike his heel. He delivers that promise specifically to Eve. Like it is not a promise to Adam and Eve. That's interesting. It is just specifically to Eve and saying, no, it's gonna be your offspring. It's gonna be an offspring of the woman. And so you see like that continuity of what God is gonna do. Like, oh, that's what he meant by that. That's why he only addressed that to her because there's gonna be this supernatural element of how Jesus comes into this world. Like it's really incredible. Like we call them Old and New Testament and you think that there is that great division with them, but really it's just a new completion of the old story. It's like, oh, this is exactly what God has always intended to do. So looking through the Christmas narrative, it's clear, Sarah, I think you hinted at this earlier that Jesus is gonna be a King who's way different than any other. And we see that even in the birth narrative. So can you walk through that a little bit and just how do we see the humility of Jesus even in his birth?

Yeah, well, even as you were talking about just the, like, what would you call it? National fervor that was happening in Israel. It makes so much sense of why they were so desperate for Jesus to be the King that they had always wanted. And so I just love that everything about Jesus, the way he was born, the way he taught, like was so different than what they expected him to be. Even his birth was just in the most humble of circumstances. So they're in Bethlehem, they go there for Joseph and Mary are traveling there for the census. And I mean, it's time for Jesus to be born. And it's that common saying, there was no room for them at the end. And so they just have to figure out a place for Mary to give birth to Jesus and ends up being a barn for the animals, most likely a cave, I think would be more historically accurate. And Jesus is born, you know, with the animals in this really humble circumstance, not only to this humble family, you know, with Mary being who she is, a virgin, like betrothed to this man named Joseph, but just the simple way that he comes into the world, there's no fanfare, like no one notices that he is born because the only people around him are Joseph and Mary and all the animals. But there's a really cool verse that I'm just reminded of as I'm talking through this in Job.

And it talks about how like the animal, it says something about like a cow will keep him close at night. You probably know this better than me. Brandon. It's in Job. Yeah, there's a verse in Job where God hints at something like, hey, will animals gather around your manger? Yes, that's what it is. And it's like, what are you talking about? Right. Yeah. Yeah, and it's just so cool to see like even those small verses in the Old Testament fulfilled in this way. And so, yeah, he's just born in the most humble circumstances. And there's this book that I love. It's kind of like an imagined version of what it would be like when Jesus is stepping off the throne. And I've never thought about that of like, I think sometimes we think like Jesus just appeared as a baby. You know, like he just kind of came into existence. But that's not true. Like he's been there from the beginning existing with God the Father and the Spirit. And so to think that Jesus stepped off his throne to come into this circumstance is wild to me. Like he removes his royal divinity. He keeps his nature of God, but he steps off his throne willingly to come in this circumstance. And it's just wild to think about because like the humility of Jesus is just so much bigger than I think we can even imagine. And yeah, I just... I love that even from the beginning and how he's born sets up the rest of his ministry and how he will live too. Oh, that's good. Yeah, and it's really the Gospel of John that paints that picture for us, right? Because like Matthew and Luke are the only two that talk about really the Christmas story, but John kind of backs up to it cosmically. And he's like, hey, he goes full like Genesis 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and he was with God in the beginning creating all things. Nothing has been created except what was created by him. That John peers back like you're saying and says, like Jesus may be a new character on the scene to us, but he's always been there. He's always been with God. He is the means by which God has moved and worked and created. So Derek, any last thoughts from the

Christmas story as you think about those narratives? Yeah, I think back to what Sarah said, just the humility that Jesus embodied as a baby and stepping from a heavenly throne existing... I mean, before creation, we see Jesus in the Spirit and God the Father all the way back in Genesis, but would step in as a baby in a manger in the Middle East that we would believe it today, and a poor family to be a part of our brokenness, it resonates with me, right? Like, okay, he understands. He's lived this life. And what we'll also see in the Gospels is that one of the things that he also embodied and lived out was that he came to serve and not to be served, right? He didn't come as this king just expecting people to serve him, but he came to serve, and I think that's such a big part of his character and what we're gonna see moving forward. Oh yeah, for sure. So let me back up for a minute before we get into Jesus's ministry for just a second and talk about the fact that the story of Jesus's life is told through four Gospels at the very beginning of our New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And the reason there are four, I think, is that it gives us kind of a broader picture of Jesus's life, but each of the Gospels has a little bit of a different flavor and focus to it. The Gospel of Matthew is written by one of the apostles, Matthew, and he was a Jew, and he was writing to Jewish people. So he's writing... If you read through the Gospel of Matthew, you will read a lot, well, this was done to fulfill this prophecy. Matthew is very keen on, this is how Jesus is bringing about the fulfillment of prophecy, this is how Jesus is bringing the kingdom of God. Mark, the Gospel of Mark, is often said to be... It was written by John Mark, who was a leader in the early church, but was known to be a traveling companion of Peter. So most people think that Mark is the record of Peter's preaching of the Gospel, which makes a lot of sense, because all Mark cares about is what Jesus did. It's like, and then he did this, and then he did this, and then he did this, and you're like, oh, that's Peter. That's exactly who that guy was. So then you get to Luke, who was not an apostle, but was a leader in the early church, but was a traveling companion of

Paul. And Luke tells us from the very beginning what he's out to do. He says, you know, I sat down to write an orderly account that I researched of the Gospel. So he's very concerned about, I wanna get the facts straight. I've investigated this, here's what happened. And then you get to John, and John is the outlier. We were talking about this before we started filming. The first three Gospels are called the Synoptics, because they're very similar to one another. They tell similar stories. Then you get to John, and John's just like, I'm gonna do my own thing. I wanna tell the Gospel the way I want to. And so John was an apostle. He was one of the members of Jesus' inner circle, and he writes the Gospel from this... It's basically a series of sevens. He says, seven I Am statements, seven miracles, and he walks through the... all of these things that Jesus had done and culminating with his death, burial, and resurrection. So we look at each of the Gospels and we get a different picture of this is who Jesus is, this is what he did, and this is what it means, which is particularly what John's concerned about. This is not just what he did, this is what it means to us. So we don't have time to talk through all the life of Jesus. Sure. There's so much, in fact, the end of the Gospel of John says. That's one of my favorite verses, it's so good. Oh my gosh, I'm pulling it up because it's so good. And it's just like kind of mind-blowing when you think about it. So it's literally the last verse in John, it says, Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world

would not have room for the books that would be written. Like that's a wild statement, it's crazy. These are just the highlights. Right. There is so much stuff. So we can't get through everything, but let's talk kind of through the life of Jesus. We get, you know, we talk about 400 years of silence after Jesus is born, there's about 30 years where he just is kind of in the background, and he's about 30 when he starts his ministry proper. So when you guys think about his ministry, what are the things that pop out to you? When you think about what Jesus said and taught and did, what resonates the most with you? Yeah, I think broadly, it talked a lot about the kingdom of God, right? A lot about this kingdom of God concept. He spent a lot of time being almost a contrarian to what that group of Pharisees had been teaching the people at the time, especially the Jewish people, which would have been so close to Jesus's heart, right? Those are his people. More so than what they even realized probably at the time. He invested time in these 12 guys called the disciples and all these other people that were following that we kind of see some tidbits of information about throughout the gospels, but spent a lot of time talking about our relationship with God, our relationship with the Father, prayer,

and almost this backwards way of living than what the world would teach. Yeah, I think that the kingdom of God stands out to me a lot and especially in that time and in that culture, that would have been exciting. I'm like, okay, he's this king that we finally waited for, but he's talking about a kingdom that is very, very different than what they're expecting because it's a kingdom that's not gonna end. It's not gonna be, he's not gonna be the king of Israel. He's gonna be the king of the world. It's a little different. But when you were talking about him kind of challenging the pharisaical laws, I think that was such an issue because the Pharisees took the laws from the Old Testament that were established by God to like the nth degree. And they added so many things to the law to where it was almost impossible. Well, it was impossible to keep the law. And so Jesus is challenging them saying, even in the Sermon on the Mount, his very first sermon, he's challenging the heart of everything and he's making a difference of, it's not just following the law, it's why and what your motives are in following the law. And eventually we know Jesus is gonna fulfill the law and we're following him instead. And so in the Sermon on the Mount, he talks about, I think the one we're most familiar with

is like murder and adultery. And it's saying like, hey, it's not just murdering. If you actually think of someone with anger in your heart, that's a sin too. And this would have been such a change for them of just, it's not just about what I do, it's about the motives of my heart. And I think all of Jesus' teaching kind of point back to this of like, he came for our hearts and this kingdom is not of this world. It's gonna be a kingdom that never ends. And so I kind of think of those two things with his teaching. It's always repent and be baptized for the kingdom of heaven is near. All right, so you said, what was that? Pharisaical law? Is that correct? I don't know if I said that right. Pharisaical law. So when you say pharisaical law, what do you mean by that? So I mean by there is laws established by the Lord in the Old Testament. And Brandon, I am not good at my Old Testament theology. So you might have to help me out on this. So simply you could think like 10 commandments, the other things that God has instituted. There's a whole book about it.

And so if you want to read it, it's called Leviticus. It's pretty tough to get through. Yeah, there's a lot of crazy stuff. But what I'm saying is the Pharisees have added to these of like, okay, think about the Sabbath day. And so that was set apart for God. And so what was the rule on the Sabbath day established in the Old Testament? Not to work. So what the Pharisees did was add to that saying, you can't even walk a mile on the Sabbath day because that's considered work. And that's not what the Lord established. Like they put so many different parameters and things around these laws that the God actually never said. Yeah, ultimately, talk about this probably in a little bit. The difference between the Pharisees and Jesus was... There are 613 laws in the Old Testament. There's a lot of things to do. The Pharisees looked at that and said, well, that's not enough. We need more laws. Their idea was to build a hedge around the law, so you didn't even come close to breaking it. So they're putting a heavier burden on God's people than what God had originally intended. Yes, yeah. So they look at it and say, we need more laws. And Jesus looks at the 613 laws and says, it's not enough, but it's not that we need more laws, it's that we need different hearts, that our hearts are just not in the right place and we're not doing... We might be doing what the law wants us to do, but we're not becoming who God wants us to become. And that's ultimately what the problem is. Which is actually what the kingdom of God is all about, is living as though God were your king. What does it mean for me to be in allegiance to him in my day-to-day life? So I think three broad ways we can think about how Jesus preaches and brings the kingdom are through his teaching, his parables, and his miracles. So in his teaching, I think... Sarah, you already brought it up, the Sermon on the

Mount, it's Matthew 5-7. This longest continuous body of Jesus' teaching we have, it's all about the kingdom. And he sets up that backwards nature of it at the very beginning. God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. He's setting up, hey, this kingdom doesn't belong to the powerful, it doesn't belong to the rich, it belongs to those who are poor in spirit, is how the NIV puts it. We see it in his parables. So many of his parables begin with the statement, the kingdom of heaven is like. This is what it means to live with God as your king. His miracles are evidence of the coming of the kingdom. The kingdom is coming in power, but it's coming with the power not to overthrow governments, but to make people well and to make things right. So I know that I've set out three very broad parameters. So when you look at his teaching or his parables or his miracles, is there anything in any of those categories that stands out to you? Like any parables, any miracles that you're like, oh, those are... That's what I think of when I think of the story of Jesus. Yeah, I think parables for me, I think that's one of the things about Jesus that makes him so unique is that the way he taught was so much through parables, through story. And sometimes people understood what he meant and sometimes he had to explain it to them, which I'm probably more in that category than... So if anybody watching this feels that way when you're reading scripture, we're in the same boat there. But I think of like even like the story of the prodigal son about the sudden it's far off and then realizes that like, gosh, like I've taken my father's inheritance, I've kind of stiff armed him away, I've gone and done my own thing. And not only that, I've blown it all, but he has this conversation with himself about coming back to the father. And when he is kind of on the way back, his father doesn't meet him with a locked door or closed arms, he meets him with open arms and running towards him. And there, I think Jesus is just so unique in the way that he was able to teach through story. And it just, it makes me laugh a little bit, because even today when we listen to sermons on the weekend, like a lot of times the things that I remember are those stories, right? Those stories and sermons or messages that really resonate with people, because a lot of times we can see ourself in those places. And funny enough, you know, when even in that story, we focus so much on that son who's far off, but he's actually talking to these overly religious Pharisees at the time, where it's actually the second brother who's upset that God is welcoming this kind of runaway brother back home. But for me, it's the parables and the story element of it. Yeah, I guess I'll take the miracles, because we've already talked

about the teachings, but I love that Jesus just proves his divinity, that he is God through these miracles. And, you know, I think about all the stories we hear or read about in the gospels of him healing sight, like, you know, raising a paralytic man and letting him walk again. And I just see like his kindness and compassion in those people. But then it's also hard, because I know he didn't heal everybody, but I know that all of his miracles were not only to prove who he was, and that he was fully God, but also fully man. But also, like, so many of these miracles are for the benefit of those there. Like, there's a specific verse that he says, like, hey, this was for you to believe that I am who I say I am. And he always did it for the benefit of those in their faith. And I love that about him, because not only is he full of compassion for people that he performed miracles for as far as healing, but also it's like, hey, I did this so you can believe in me. And so even raising Lazarus from the dead, right? I think he's when he says like I'm doing this for the benefit of those who see this will belief in me And so I just think it's so cool We have these three benchmarks of his teaching his parables and his miracles that really kind of encapsulate Who he is and in the ministry that he did Yeah, those are those reminds me of those like if we've ever heard this phrase like was a fully human fully God Like and sometimes that can be confusing like if you hear that like well, what does that what does that really mean? Talked a little bit about this earlier Sarah about him stepping off of his throne But and yet we see like his power. Yeah in those moments And even you know further on down the road. I know we'll get into this our next session of of our Episodes here, but how Jesus laid that down You know to be to be persecuted and to be put on a cross and ultimately to die That's just it blows my mind Yeah, you know I I think I'll go back and talk just a minute about his teaching since we're kind of hitting those three buckets I I Think Jesus is so underrated as a teacher and it seems odd to say since we still talk about what he taught but like through things like the parables He teaches such a wonderful truth that it's like, you know It would be one thing for him to stand up and say this is how much the father loves you

Here are three alliterative points, but he tells a story About two sons who've wandered away and you immediately remember that story and you recognize it and you see yourself in it like, oh That's that's how the father's welcome me. But even in the Sermon on the Mount He does some things that are just incredible and I will just tell you like my own personal experience I don't think there's well, I shouldn't say this way I think one of the most transformative passages in Scripture is Matthew 5 through 7 because if you really dug into it You'd be like, oh, like this is what Jesus is calling me to but One of the things we talk about in the Sermon on the Mount is the Golden Rule like one of Jesus's most famous teachings do to others what you would want them to do for you and It's interesting because other teachers in that day had taught a variation of that They had but they had not gone as far as Jesus went like other teachers had said Hey what you don't want people to do to you don't do that to other people They cast it in the negative like avoid doing things to people that you don't want them to do But Jesus has the audacity to take that and be like, no, no, no, no, no, that's not enough Like a what you actively want them people to do for you Go do that too for them like love them and care for them and see them as yourself And I think like if man if we as believers could even just get that verse, right? I mean, I think it would transform the world. It's very proactive Yeah, you know, it leaves us without excuse of like I'm just gonna sit here do this and do that It's like no like there's more to life than that. Yeah, I guess the only way you do that is if you're like Well, I just want people to leave me alone But yeah, it's very active like you just got to get out there and do what Jesus says to do so So we hear all these things the parables the miracles the teaching and we could wonder well Why would anyone ever be against Jesus? Like why would anyone set themselves against it? But we see through the course of this three-year ministry that he has that he's been doing a lot of good But we see through the course of this three-year ministry that he has that he's slowly Kind of putting the pressure on this opposition that's building up around him. So let's talk about that for a minute What why does that opposition begin to arise? Why would anyone be against Jesus as he's going around doing these things? Yeah, I think he's just breaking the status quo and it's making a lot of people mad. I mean, especially the Pharisees

They're like we have you know in their brains like they have Done their best to try to bring Israel back into this religion that they have been following and kind of have you know set the standard for and Jesus comes and just like blows it all up basically and they're just like What is happening and they again? He's just not the person that they expected the Messiah to be and I think that really comes down to the heart of it Is that you know? the people wanted a king to come and overthrow Rome and kind of bring them into a new season as a country and as a Nation and he is talking about this kingdom, but he's saying it's not here yet And so they're really confused and they want him to take over and he's not doing that and then he's also Making these religious leaders angry and I think it's just this whole like pot that just starts to simmer with all of these different Things against him, but ultimately we know that you know God has a plan like it's all for a purpose and I just think of him like as the you know Breaking the status quo of like hey, I'm not who you expect But this is exactly who you need and exactly the person That the world needs, you know Yeah, I mean you you have this guy that is becoming very popular that is openly and publicly Challenging, you know the religious leaders and claiming he's God to forgot about that part, right and You know, I think about a scene that we see in Scripture where you have these friends that are trying to get their friend who's paralyzed to Jesus, and they can't because of the crowd, and ultimately they go up on this guy's roof, and Jesus is in this house, and they rip apart this roof and lower their friend in there. And Jesus ultimately heals this man, but he also tells them that his sins are forgiven. And at that time, there are some Pharisees there that are very much so questioning in their heart, well, who can forgive sins but God himself?

And like Sarah just said, so much of that too is that you have all of this building, this relational turmoil, and yet Jesus is claiming to be God himself, that God is his father, right? That he has this immensely tangible relationship, and can claim that he hears and speaks to him in such a way, and at the same time, that he is the Christ, right? That he is this king that's coming, and in the way that the Pharisees, that these religious leaders were gonna deal with him, was to eliminate him. Yeah, I think all of those things you guys said are kind of simmering together, right? Like we have Jesus out here claiming to be God, we have him kind of undermining us, because even in the Sermon on the Mount, it's like, well, your righteousness has to be greater than the righteousness of the Pharisees and religious leaders. Like, oh, well, thank you for throwing us under the bus. They are personally offended by him, they are religiously offended by him, and all of that starts to just boil over. And as we'll talk about in our next episode, it finally reaches kind of a tipping point as Jesus heads in to celebrate the Passover in about the third year of his ministry. So Derek, I'm gonna give you the last word here, and kind of maybe spring this question on you a little bit.

In the background that we've had since the beginning of the Bible, Genesis 1 and 2 tells us that we are created in the image of God. There's something about us that God has shared his image with us. But in Jesus, we see, like, this is a man who is an image of God. This is exactly what God would do if he were one of us. So as you think about who Jesus is, what does that teach us about who we really are and what it means to be human and created in the image of God? Absolutely, yeah, I think it's in Peter, one of Peter's letters, I think, that he talks about Jesus being the author and perfecter of our faith, right? And that when we as Christians are trying to figure out, like, hey, how should we live, right? How should we think from a heart level? Who do we wanna become? Well, what's so great about having the New Testament, all of scripture, but especially the New Testament, in seeing the person of Jesus as God in the flesh, we get to see exactly how the Lord wants us to live and be and become. And on the opposite side, not even the opposite side, on a different side of the coin, Jesus can empathize with what we go through, experiencing loss, pain, waiting.

Gosh, I mean, he started his ministry at 30, right? And I mean, golly, that's a long time before it's like, okay, hey, we're jumping into this thing. And so when we have those questions in life, when it's like, man, does God really understand? Like, does he understand my pain? Man, does he understand what it's like to have joy? He does, 100%, and we see that through the person of Jesus. That's so good, so encouraging to think about. Well, thank you all for joining us for episode four from Eden to Eternity, talking about the hero, who he was and what he did for us. So next week, next episode, we're gonna get into the middle of how this opposition eventually boils over, what happens when Jesus meets his mission head-on to go to the cross, to pay for our sin, to take on the serpent and end the power of sin once and for all. So I hope you'll continue on with us, and we'll see you next time on From Eden to Eternity.