Issued: 05/14/22

“You examine the Scriptures carefully because you suppose that in them you have eternal life. Yet they testify about me.”

John 5:39

PLEASE NOTE:  All bracketed material may be authorial comments, attempts at proper syntax, or minimal rewordings of Scripture for the sake of clarity and continuity.  These emendations will not be italicized.  The “/” will be used to signify “and/or.”

   In differentiating between Yahweh of hosts [later Jesus] and Yahweh the Most High God, lower case letters have been used when discussing the former; upper case letters are reserved for the One and Only Highest God.  Since Jesus was at pains to differentiate himself from God the Father, we have followed his lead here.

   The term neo-Christian will be used to differentiate between false Christians and Jesus’ true followers.

    In 1Thessalonians 5:17, Paul writes about the need for non-stop praying, something that Jesus exhorted the original Apostles to do (Luke 18:1).  The reason is obvious:  Though we all believe that God is in the bag after professing to accept Him, the matter is not that simple or straightforward.  Taking our cues from Jesus himself, whom the Father loved and in whom He was well-pleased (Matthew 3:17), Jesus had to endure the Father’s discipline (Hebrews 12:5-6), which is not the TLC evangelists spout, but scourges to correct behaviors and purify souls (Psalms 39:11; Proverbs 20:30; Hebrews 12:5-10).

   Son that he was, the Father did not extend Jesus special privileges or fringe benefits like people in power lavish on their offspring—Satan’s preferential approach.  The God for Whom every one of His creatures ranks the same could not be represented by a Messiah with a cushy lifestyle while exhorting followers to bite the bullet or, in some cases, the dust.  That Messiah had to endure the torments his followers—though perhaps not to the same extent—would have to share, which had to be bad enough to be both an example and an inspiration to them.  Our God is a believer that leaders should lead by example;¹ and so He saddled Jesus with trials despairing enough to make stones cry (Isaiah 53).  The stakes were too high for it to have been otherwise; and Jesus, who understood what was involved, embraced martyrdom to enable the unfolding of God’s plan and as patent proof of the love he bore for progeny promised and given to him by the Father (Isaiah 8:18; Matthew 26:53-54; John 6:39, 15:13; Hebrews 2:11-13).

   The Synoptic Gospels tell us about Jesus’ public life, but what about his inner one?  Where do we find Jesus confiding to us the doubts and personal turmoil he experienced during his earthly ministry?  How else to relate—and prove—to us that he was tested as all human beings are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15)?  Scripture is not binding unless two or three witnesses corroborate any one issue; one’s own testimony is not enough to establish truth (Matthew 18:16; 2Corinthians 13:1).  The Pharisees challenged Jesus on that point of Mosaic Law (Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 19:15; John 8:13); but Jesus defended himself on ground of miracles he could perform, [as did Paul after him (1Corinthians 2:4-5)], and on the very real fact that the Scriptures did talk about him (John 5:31-36)—specifically in his pre-existence as Yahweh of hosts or symbolically as God’s Messiah.²

   These Scriptural references to Yahweh of hosts/Jesus were discussed at some length in our series On the Divinity of Jesus.  But for our purposes here we want to quote Peter and Paul as to how Jesus dealt with his inner ordeals.  Peter, who was an eyewitness to Jesus’ ministry, wrote that Jesus “never sinned, and he never told a lie; when he was maligned, he did not answer back; when he suffered, he threatened no retaliation, but committed himself to God Who judges justly” (1Peter 2:22-23).  In other words, he allowed others to walk all over him [as per Isaiah 51:23; James 5:6)].  Still there also had to be an independent corroborator elucidating Jesus’ inner conflicts, someone like Paul who never met Jesus in life.  Thus Hebrews 5:7:  Jesus, “in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to Him [the Father] Who was able to save him [Jesus] from death, and having been heard for his [Jesus’] godly fear.”  Paul had no way of knowing this personally; so on grounds of 2Peter 1:20-21, both Paul and the Holy Spirit were the two witnesses confirming the reality of Jesus’ emotional turmoil.

   [We admit that this sounds like a broken record, but pay attention to detail.  Had not the Father resurrected Jesus, Jesus’ ministry would have ended.  Jesus did not have the power to return to life:  God had to do that for him (Psalms 16:10; Acts 13:29-31; Romans 8:11); and it was as living, immortal flesh that Jesus entered Heaven (John 20:17,26-27; Acts 1:9-11).  As Jesus was dead for parts of three days³ and he is presently body (Luke 24:36-40; John 20:17,27), He is not the Invisible God Who lives eternally and Who is Spirit (John 4:24; 1Timothy 6:15-16).  They are neither co-substantial nor the same person].

   Also the reference to Jesus’ “godly fear” contradicts the evangelical canard that God is a parental, all-forgiving, amoral, loving machine:  One had better fear Him in terms of carrying out what He has promised to do and not expect the type of wishy-washy interaction human parents practice with their children.  Jesus was the first to encourage taking God at His word:  “Fear Him Who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28), referring to Armageddon, which must be preceded by a second resurrection of all unrighteous beings from Cain till Dooms-Day (Daniel 12:2; John 5:29; Acts 24:15; Revelation 20:5-10).  Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10); not in terms of trembling and quaking before a bully Deity, but in the knowledge that He runs His show His way, according to His rules, and if anybody thinks otherwise, there is no place for him except among the ashes of rebels.

Scripture as Signpost and Trap

   The Book of Psalms is attributed to King David, but whether he authored it is not the point, anymore than whether Matthew, Mark and John wrote their gospels, or Moses the Torah.  What matters is the agreement among them predicated on the repetition of essential doctrinal points by two or three Biblical writers—the golden standard corroborating and reaffirming Scriptural truths.

   On the assumption that King David wrote Psalms, as with everything else in the Bible, ultimate authorship rests with the Holy Spirit (2Peter 1:20-21), Who was/is in the position to know first-hand—as scrutinizer of God’s depths (1Corinthians 2:10)—what God wished to reveal through David.  If for example we take Psalms 110:1, “A declaration of Yahweh [the Most High God] to my [David’s] Lord [Yahweh of hosts/Jesus]: “’Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool,’” we count three testimonials:  Yahweh the Most High’s being quoted verbatim, the Holy Spirit’s inspiring David to speak thusly, and David’s as spokesperson.  Keep in mind that King David was a symbol for Jesus (Psalms 89:19-37; Isaiah 22:22; Jeremiah 33:15; Revelation 3:7); so as spokesperson, King David foreshadowed Jesus’ role as only mediator between God and men (1Timothy 2:5) and giver of wisdom imparted by the Holy Spirit Jesus anoints true believers with (John 15:26, 16:13; 1John 2:27).

   Again, detail.  While Yahweh the Most High is Lord over everything and everyone including Jesus himself (John 14:28), David’s “Lord” is the Yahweh of hosts who was the Most High’s proxy Angel God.  That Jesus is the person alluded to is clear from verses 110:5-6:  He sits at God’s right and he will judge the nations, for the Father judges no one (John 5:22).  This short Psalm consolidates points of doctrine made in Genesis 41:40 [Pharaoh’s sovereignty vis-à-vis Joseph’s stewardship]; in Genesis 48:15-16 and Acts 27:23, where both Jacob and Paul identify Yahweh’s Angel as their guide and master, with Jacob conflating him with the God of Abraham and Isaac, and Paul identifying him as Creator and heir to all things (Colossians 1:15-16); in Mark 16:19; Acts 7:56; 1Peter 3:22, where there is oral and visual confirmation of Jesus sitting at the right hand of God; in Acts  17:31 confirming Jesus’ resurrection and appointed judgeship; and Revelation 14:20, 19:11-18 depicting the trouncing of his enemies.

   No matter what popes, prophets, or wolfish evangelists in designer’s clothing tell you, this is how the Bible operates with a specific purpose in mind:  “Therefore the word of Yahweh will be to them precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little; that they may go, fall backward, be broken, be snared, and be taken”(Isaiah 28:13).  Simply put:  a trap to unmask and ensnare the unenlightened, [i.e., those bereft of Jesus, who is the “light” of men (John 1:3-5)], those fitting the profiles of Isaiah 8:20 and 2Corinthians 4:3-4.  Let us remember that while faith is offered and available to all men, not all will accept or embrace it, even those whose mouths may be full of God but deny Him by words or deeds (Matthew 7:22-23; 2Thessalonians 3:2; Titus 1:16).

A Short reminder of Psalms’ Intricacies

   Psalms’ complexity lies in the fact that it addresses many issues not necessarily from one speaker’s perspective.  What is at play is something akin to a stream of consciousness, where different speakers slip in and out of the narrative’s flow.  For instance, Psalms 2:1-6 is the Holy Spirit’s prophecy that at end times true Judeo-Christian worship will be suppressed, which is corroborated by Psalms 74:7-8 and Revelation 17:12-17.  Psalms 2:7-9 is God’s quoted testimony as to His “engendering” [i.e., creating] His universal heir, Yahweh of hosts, and Jesus’ ruling style post-resurrection (Colossians 1:15-17; Ephesians 1:17-22; Hebrews 2:7-8—restating Psalms 8:5-6; Revelation 12:5).  Psalms 2:10-12 reverts back to the Holy Spirit exhorting obedience to both Yahweh Father and Yahweh [of hosts] Son.

   Where Jesus is specifically identified, let us begin with Matthew 27:46, which is a restatement of Psalms 22:1:  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Is the speaker David or Jesus?  From Samuel 1 and 2, 1Kings, and 1Chronicles, we do not get the impression that David ever doubted Yahweh’s Presence in his life; and neither did Jesus—except when he was dying on the cross.  Tainted by men’s sins, had he become abominable to and thus felt alienated from God?  Having suffered God’s discipline, had physical exhaustion given way to despair?

   While no clear-cut answer is possible from the written record, Matthew 27:35, which is a restatement of Psalms 22:16-18, definitely points to Jesus on the cross:  “For dogs have surrounded me, a company of evildoers has surrounded me, piercing my hands and my feet.  All my bones can be seen. My enemies look at me and stare.  They divide my clothing among themselves; they cast lots for my clothing!”  Who were the dogs?  Roman soldiers and Pharisaic abettors; the bones that could be seen and counted were those of Jesus’ body; and the clothes being wagered on were his (Matthew 27:35; John 19:23-24).

   Who was given to drink vinegar?  Not David, but Jesus (John 19:28-30).  While John is clearly telling us Jesus had reached the end of his earthly commission and had the duty to fulfill all Scriptures regarding him before expiring, it was during his pre-existence as Yahweh of hosts that Jesus, through David, had attested to that fact:  “They also gave me gall for my food. In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink” (Psalms 69:21)—which is the reason why that declaration is stated in first person singular.  As opposed to, less say, Psalms 110:1 discussed above; or Psalms 18:15, “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness,” by which David proclaimed his faith in resurrecting among the righteous in the immortal flesh he will share with Jesus.⁴  For King David is not in Heaven singing psalms in celestial choirs:  His remains are on earth waiting re-awakening at Jesus’ command (Acts 2:29-32; 1Thessalonians 3:14-17).

   Biblical scholars and detractors will tell us that the Apostles were cherry-picking Scripture to legitimize Jesus’ Messiahship, when in reality this is God’s way of teaching us how Scriptural interpretation works:  Bits and pieces here and there that must be integrated into a meaningful, coherent whole.  In all their New Testament letters, this is the method the Apostles relied on to validate their preaching, as did Paul in Acts 26:22:  “To this day I have had help from God, and so I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place.”  In other words, repeating time and again what had already been said and written down without altering or changing anything (Titus 1:9).  The alleged “cherry-picking” was the Holy Spirit’s way of showing us how God’s divine “puzzle” is pieced together.

In Search of the Inner Jesus in Psalms

   We have become so accustomed to the outward dynamics of Jesus’ ministry that we hardly reflect on the inner ones, by far the most revealing about what Paul called “the breadth and length and height and depth [of] the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:18-19).  While it is by enduring whatever Jesus did that all the faithful reach a modicum of that knowledge, Psalms offer us perspectives by which to make informed opinions.  Though thanks to his blood our sins are remitted, it is by enduring what Jesus did that his love speaks to us; and though the Apostles did not parse such things for lack of empathy or understanding, Psalms did.  Which is a nifty way, we must agree, of injecting a Cartesian slant—Jesus thought, therefore he was—to the reality of Jesus’ pre-existence.

   In the restricted context of our discussion, we cannot do justice to the intricacies of Psalms.  Our brief focus is on Jesus’ internal turmoil, doubts, expectations, or what have you.  How did Jesus pour out his heart to God during his desert prayers?  Alone and misunderstood as he was amongst his generation, how alienated did he feel?  Subjected as he was to God’s discipline [baptism by fire], how despairing was he?  How must he have felt—and we can all relate to this—about seeing his enemies prosper and get away with everything as they beset, conspired against, and prevailed upon him while he relied on God’s support?

   Luke 5:16 tell us that “Jesus himself constantly withdrew into the desert and there prayed.”  Since he went alone, possibly to recharge his spiritual reserves after being drained by opponents and uncomprehending disciples, we lack the sort of third-party perspective that Luke 22:41-44 provides.  It is interesting to note that Luke was not one of the Apostles sleeping a ways off in the Garden of Gethsemane; yet only he accounts for the angel comforting Jesus; who, on the evidence of Matthew, Mark and John who were physically present, was not acknowledged by any of them.  Sections of Psalms set out to correct that imbalance by quoting Jesus verbatim—sort of like getting it straight from the horse’s mouth.

   It is a safe bet that the speaker in Psalms 88 is Jesus and not David.  Statements like “cast off among the dead” (88:5); “Your wrath lies heavily on me. You have afflicted me with all your waves” (88:7); and “You have caused friend and neighbor to shun me; my companions are in darkness” (88:18), are references to living beings as if they were dead (Matthew 4:16-17; Luke 9:60); to the sufferings Yahweh the Most High imposed upon His Messiah (Isaiah 53:5,6,10,12); and the severing of emotional bonds between converts and non-converts (Luke 12:51-53).

   The “dead” are living, human beings who have no eternal life in them; and the fleeting existence they enjoy (see Psalms 103:15-16) ends with natural death or Armageddon.  In this sense the world is likened to a “valley of the shadow of death” (Psalms 23:4); or the “empire of death” over which Satan has been empowered to rule (Luke 4:6; John 14:30; 2Corinthians 4:4; Hebrews 2:14).  Thus Jesus, who harbored the Spirit of Life in his body, proclaimed himself spiritually alive among walking corpses.

   But what was worse, [and this is where some of us can relate to this], Jesus felt disconnected from people in terms of faith.  We know that Jesus’ brothers did not believe in him [John 7:5—as had David’s brother (1Samuel 17:28)], although the one called James embraced the Gospel later on (Galatians 1:19).  Though Savior, Jesus labored unheeded and shunned by the Pharisees (Psalms 35:11-26); berated by compatriots (Matthew 11:19-20, 13:57); not fully understood by Apostles (Luke 9:54-56, 24:25); doubted by relatives (John 7:1-8)—his “companions in darkness?”  The most emotionally draining aspect of God’s discipline is the mandate to put allegiance to Him above everything else, whether country, religion, family or peers (Psalms 45:10-11; Matthew 12:49-50, 19:29; Acts 5:29).

   Needless to say, this exacts a tremendous emotional toll on the righteous.  Witness Jeremiah’s complaint:  “How terrible for me, my mother, that you gave birth to me, a man of strife and contention for the whole land! I’ve neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me…I did not sit in the company of merrymakers, nor did I rejoice; under the weight of Your hand I sat alone, for You had filled me with indignation” (Jeremiah 15:10,17).  Which brings to mind Psalms 26:4-5:  “I do not sit with those committed to what is false, nor do I travel with hypocrites. I hate the company of those who practice evil, nor do I sit with the wicked.”  And while we should all know by now that patriarchs, leaders, and prophets of note in the Bible, as was Jeremiah, collectively reflect all aspects of Jesus’ Messiahship, we should focus on Jeremiah’s professed kinship with his mother (15:10), when it is the Scriptural norm in Judaism and even Islam to establish identity through the male parent, as was indeed Jeremiah’s case in Jeremiah 1:1.  Even Matthew’s and Luke’s chronologies, in tracing Jesus through Joseph, are following the Biblical standard of linking male descendants to male ancestors.⁵ 

   Why mother?  Because Jesus was born not of [no “Y” chromosome from her] but through Mary:  Joseph played no role in Jesus’ conception (Matthew 1:25).  The link to Joseph claimed in John 6:42 was the belief of men who had no inkling of Jesus’ true provenance, which Scripture spells out for us in Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:31-35.  God engendered Jesus within the context of time (Psalms 2:7); in His image and of His gender, or at least the gender with which He wished to be identified; hence Jesus as “Son of Man.”  Thus the declaration made in Jeremiah 1:5:  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations [Jeremiah’s purview was Israel and Jerusalem]”; which is reaffirmed by Jesus time and again in Psalms 71:5-6, 119:73, 139:13,15-16. 

   The emotional toll of Jesus’ ostracism is evident from Psalms 102:6:-7:  “I resemble a pelican in the wilderness or an owl in a desolate land.  I lie awake, yet I am like a bird isolated on a rooftop.”  Unlike David who had his warriors and cronies, Jesus was veritably alone amidst his generation:  Not anybody, not even the Apostles, fully understood or appreciated who he was.  It was not until his resurrection that the Apostles were infused with the Spirit of knowledge (Mark 16:14; John 20:22) and finally grasped the reality of Jesus.  For three years Jesus never knew the consolation of fully bonding spiritually with his disciples (à la Romans 15:4; 2Corinthians 1:5-6; 1Peter 5:9)—nor the gratitude and recognition for any of his sacrifices.

   When it came to Judas, who Jesus knew would betray him (Psalm 41:9; John 6:70-71), the betrayal stung.  “For it was not an enemy who insulted me, then I could have endured it.  Neither was it he who hated me who raised himself up against me; I would have hidden myself from him.  But it was you, a man like me, my companion, and my familiar friend.  We would share personal thoughts with each other; in God’s temple [the mystical body of Jesus, the human-bricked Church (Ephesians 2:19-22; Hebrews 3:6; 1Peter 2:5)] we would walk together among the crowd” (Psalms 55:12-14).  And then again Psalms 109:2,6-8:  “Set a wicked man over him [by Judas’ own choice (Matthew 26:15-16) in the manner of Romans 6:16]: and let Satan stand at his right hand [as did happen (Lucas 22:3)].  When he is judged, may he be found guilty; may his prayer be regarded as sin.  May his days be few; may another take over his position” [note how Acts 1:16-20 establishes the link with Psalms].

   Then there were the Pharisees bent on destroying him.  “For too long I have had to reside with those who hate peace; when I spoke to them they fought against me without cause (Psalms 120:6-7)…They persecute me wrongfully (Psalms 169:161)…Those who seek my life lay their snares; those who seek to hurt me speak of ruin, and meditate treachery all day long (Matthew 12:14, 26:4; Mark 14:56-59; John 7:1, 11:47-53)…My tears have been my food day and night, while people keep asking me all day long, “’Where is your God?’” (Psalm 42:3)… All your commands are reliable. I am pursued without reason. Help me!” (Psalms 119:86).

   You get the idea:  In all his 33 years, Jesus never for a moment had an easy time of it.  We tend to think that as Son, God treated him with kid’s gloves; but as we have seen, Isaiah 53:10 contradicts that notion.  Paul’s argument in Hebrews 5:7 is rooted in Psalms; down to the sad but terrible truth that by permitting Jesus to be so tormented, God Himself was the cause of his suffering:  “Wretched and close to death from my youth up, I suffer Your terrors; I am desperate. Your wrath has swept over me; Your dread assaults destroy me.  Like waters, they engulf me all day long; they surround me on all sides” (Psalms 88:15-17).  And in his own words, the bitterest pill to swallow:  “Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me” (John 18:11—see Hebrews 2:10).

  This suffering is what the Bible calls “baptism by fire,” or the God-mandated discipline all His legitimate children must endure and submit to willingly (Hebrew 12:5-6).  This doctrinal background had been laid in Leviticus 26:40-45 [especially verse 43: “They will accept the punishment of their iniquity”] and Deuteronomy 4:29-31, 31:16:20 [assurance of punishment but promise of reconciliation]; Psalms 27:9-14 [appeal for protection including hope for redemption]; Isaiah 54:7-8 [fleeting anger followed by compassion]; Jeremiah 30:11-15 [reasons for punishment]; Isaiah 48:10 and Zechariah 13:9 [punishment to purify souls].  All of this synthesized in Micah 7:9:  “I will bear the indignation of Yahweh, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case, and executes judgment for me.  He will bring me forth to the light.  I will see His righteousness.” 

   The Apostles followed suit though in softer terms.  Jesus’ preaching style had been confrontational [Matthew 12:34—do not overlook symbolic use of unclean animal]; if people did not like his doctrine, good-luck and good-bye (John 6:66-67); if he was not Number 1 in peoples’ priorities, so much the worse for them (Matthew 10:37, 19:29; Luke 14:26,33).  The Apostles had a bill of goods to sell in a world that prioritized the very things God and Jesus aimed to do away with, especially at the cost of personal suffering, the very thing human beings try to escape like Dracula the cross.

   Hence the high-minded, ennobling approach:  “Not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope that will never disappoint us.  All of this happens because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with His love…This light (?), temporary nature of our suffering is producing for us an everlasting weight of glory, far beyond any comparison” (Romans 5:3-5; 2Corinthians 4:17).⁶ 

   Or as Peter embellished it:  “Beloved, do not think it strange at the fiery suffering among you that is coming to try you, as if a strange thing were happening to you, but rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed…for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering…For this very reason, you must make every effort to supplement your faith with moral character, your moral character with knowledge, your knowledge with self-control, your self-control with endurance, your endurance with godliness, your godliness with brotherly kindness, and your brotherly kindness with love” (1Peter 4:12-13, 5:9, 1:5-7, in that order).  Peter went as far as incorporating the purifying process of Isaiah’s 48:10 and Zechariah 13:9 in his writing:  “You greatly rejoice in this, even though you have to suffer various kinds of trials for a little while, so that your genuine faith, which is more valuable than gold that perishes when tested by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus, the Messiah, is revealed” (1Peter 1:6-7).

   Now, between us and them, more than two thousand years of bloody Christian history have intervened, so that we know the score.  We do know what Revelation 13:7 meant when prophesying that “the beast was permitted to go to war against the saints and conquer them.  He was given ruling authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation.”  We do know who the beast is and the incalculable toll of human blood it has shed trying to “Christianize” [euthanize?] souls.  What is refreshing about the Old Testament is its total lack of “political correctness.”  There God called a spade a spade and He did not mince His words.  There are no appeals to human high-mindedness but the recognition that men are intrinsically evil and disobedient (Genesis 6:5; Ecclesiastes 9:3; Zechariah 7:11-12), like lepers who see themselves as the Gerber baby and not as the spiritually diseased beings they are (Isaiah 1:5-6).  He will forgive them but only after putting them through hell (Jeremiah 30:10-15), tough in fairness, after repeated warnings to that effect (Psalms 81:11-14; Jeremiah 7:13, 29:19).  To put it prosaically, He is Someone not to be messed around with.

   Jesus understood this and told us so (Matthew 10:28); but his warning being within the New Testament proper, he did not dwell much on it as he did in Psalms.  There his struggles with God, his fears of abandonment, his fears of his enemies, his pleas for God’s protection, and his undying belief that God would eventually redeem him, are heart-wrenching and frightening—if we regard Psalms as another example he left us to imitate him.  We are reminded of Jacob’s fight with the Angel God Yahweh of hosts [the pre-existent Jesus], where the struggle lasted all through the night until day broke—all of which allegorizes the struggles Judeo-Christians must wage [during the period of grace (Isaiah 49:8; Zephaniah 2:2-3; 2Corinthians 6:2)] with God until He grants our deliverance (Genesis 32:24-30).

   There is no reason, at this late date in the Christian saga, to mince words like the Apostles did, though they too knew the score (Hebrews 12:11); and since God is a God of Truth, we should be able to stomach the unvarnished, bitter truth as John was asked to do (Revelation 10:9-10).

   While Paul was quoting Jesus by calling Christian suffering “light” (Matthew 11:30), Jesus’ suffering was grueling and crushing; and as Paul exemplified through the many trials Jesus put him through (Acts 9:15-16; Galatians 6:17), Jesus’ yoke, [referring to the “oxen” imagery discussed elsewhere], was far from “easy.”  It is not that Jesus was equivocating:  Whatever it cost to bring God’s vision about, and to secure the inheritance he longed to share with his beloved family of faith, everything else paled in comparison and all suffering seemed unimportant.  Or as Paul put it, Jesus, “in view of the joy set before him, endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

  Thus Jesus’ prayers on behalf of his beloved, which incorporate all the things we have discussed:

“Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered [see Romans 8:36].  Awake, Lord!  Why do You sleep?  Rouse Yourself!  Do not reject us forever.  Why do You hide Your face and forget our misery and oppression [see Isaiah 54:7-8]?  We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground [see Isaiah 51:23].  Rise up and help us; rescue us because of Your unfailing love… For You, God, tested us; You refined us like silver.  You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs.  You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us to a place of abundance…Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.  Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow [the word of God (Luke 8:11)] will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them [the faithful who made a covenant with God by self sacrifices (Psalm 50:5)]… The righteous will be glad when they are avenged…Then people will say, ‘Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God Who judges the earth’… I will praise You in the great assembly [in the Heavenly Jerusalem].  I will fulfill my vows in the presence of those who worship You [Jesus as High Priest (Psalms 110:4; Hebrews 7)]…All the nations shall worship before You, for the kingdom is Yahweh’s (1Corinthians 15:24-28).”  And He will rule over the nations forevermore. (Psalms 44:22-26, 66:10-12, 126:126:5-6, 58:10-11, 22:22,27-28).

A Personal Anecdote

   During a brush with a Christian denomination we need not identify, the belief was Christians would spend eternity studying God’s word.  This is the sort of foolish notion that some think pleases God.  In point of fact, the righteous please God day and night meditating on His word while living in this world [(Psalms 1:1-2; as Yahweh instructed Joshua to do (Joshua 1:8)]; and if as Paul argued, “as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end” (1Corinthians 13:8), there will come a time when the purpose the Bible serves now will avail naught.  God Himself is prepared to forgive and forget, so that all past sins of the redeemed will no longer concern Him (Isaiah 43:25, 65:17; Hebrews 8:12).  God means to rejoice in and with us (Jeremiah 29:11; 1Corinthians 2:9; Revelation 21:4), not to spend eternity rehashing old themes.  He is content with settling scores in this world by subjecting potential sons and daughters to disciplinary actions.  Once that is accomplished, all forms of peace are His eternal goal.

   Jesus too will rejoice in and with us; but what is more, alongside us, among us, within reach of us [John 14:3; Revelation 14:4—see link to Exodus 23:19].  This is why he is body whereas God is untouchable Deity:  Through Jesus’ interaction with us, God will reach out to and dwell in every immortal heart.

   Whether Jesus’ bodily wounds will still be there as reminders of his sacrifice is a moot point:  After Thomas felt them (John 20:27-28), Scripture does not tell us they disappeared.  But if, as Paul argued, enduring the sufferings of Jesus brings us nearer to an understanding of his loving nature in our lifetimes, that understanding is supplemented and enhanced by Jesus’ confessions in Psalms, which were meant for our edification and consolation.  In the Kingdom to come, Jesus will not be reminding us of what he went through for us.  Bygones must be bygones.

   Hopefully, though, our spiritual evolution in this world will lead us to comprehend the totality of his nature; so that when we are refashioned in his image (1John 3:2), we will not only see his external beauty (Psalms 45:2), of which he was deprived in life for a specific purpose (Isaiah 53:2), but the internal fathomlessness of it as well.  So that when we see him come with his “first-fruits”; whenever he is next to us; when he officiates as High Priest for us before the Father in mutual rejoicing (Isaiah 66:23), we may experience time and again, for all of eternity, the unparalleled joy of having such a loving brother (Hebrews 2:11); and the honor of bonding with such a proven friend (John 15:13-15).

¹ As the powers that be normally do not by “sampling” public opinion.

² See Daniel 9:24-27, prophesying the rebuilding of post-Babylonian-exile Jerusalem; the birth of Jesus; the crucifixion of Jesus; the invalidation of Mosaic sacrificial rites with his death; the Roman destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD; and the symbolic reference to Rome (in the guise of Roman Catholicism) lasting until Satan’s destruction at Armageddon.

³ Death on the cross late Friday afternoon, all of Saturday [the Sabbath when no work can be done], and early Sunday morning (Matthew 27:46-50; Mark 16:9; Luke 23:54-56, 24:1; John 19:42, 20:1).

⁴ Shadow to the substance of Genesis 1:26:  Men to be made in the image of the Divine (i.e., immortal flesh.  See references to “gods” 1Samuel 28:13; Psalms 82:6; John 10:34-36.

⁵ With an important distinction:  Matthew’s lineage was of the flesh; Luke’s established spiritual lineage.

⁶ The rhapsodizing continues, as per this Contemporary English Version:  “These little troubles are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will make all our troubles seem like nothing.”