Tagged: cross
Did Jesus die on a torture stake?
Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the deity of Christ and His bodily resurrection. These unbiblical views are nothing new; the apostles wrestled with them in the days following the ascension of Jesus, and the church invested much of the fourth century in the Arian controversy, which challenged the Trinitarian view of God.
But one of the more curious doctrines of the Watchtower is the view that Jesus died, not on a cross, but on a “torture stake.”
According to Watchtower publications, “no biblical evidence even intimates that Jesus died on a cross…. Jesus most likely was executed on an upright stake without any crossbeam.”
Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) argue that the Greek word for cross – stauros – in classical Greek means an upright stake. Further, they teach that the cross is a pagan religious symbol adopted in the early centuries of the church after Satan took control of “Christendom.”
Therefore, JWs insist that their members reject the notion of Jesus’ death on a cross. They should not wear crosses as jewelry or display the symbols in their homes or places of worship.
They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb — Revelation 12:11
Previously: A loud voice in heaven — Revelation 12:10
The scripture
Rev. 12:11 – They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not love their lives in the face of death. (HCSB)
They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
Verse 11 reads: “They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not love their lives in the face of death.” There are two ways in which the “brothers” (v. 10) have achieved victory over Satan, according to the voice in heaven. Both of them involve death, a seemingly counterproductive way to win a battle – at least by the world’s standards.
First, the brothers conquer Satan by the blood of the Lamb. Satan’s desire to kill Jesus, or even to prevent his birth, is evident throughout scripture, most recently in Rev. 12:4 as the dragon is poised to devour the male child. Ironically, Jesus comes into the world to die, but on His terms, not Satan’s. There is a specific time and place for the Son of Man to give His life as a ransom for us. And when Jesus declares, “It is finished,” just before His death on the cross, He makes it clear that His purpose in coming to earth has been fulfilled. The apostle Paul summarizes this beautifully in 2 Cor. 5:21: “He [the Father] made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
For believers, the victory and the cross are inextricably bound. The apparent end of a radical rabbi on a hillside outside Jerusalem is thought by His enemies to be a magnificent triumph. Yet the bloody and gruesome death of Jesus of Nazareth is in fact the fulfillment of the Father’s eternal plan of redemption. Jesus may exult, “It is finished,” and be completely vindicated. Just as the high priest declares, “It is finished,” on the Day of Atonement when sacrifices will no longer be accepted, and just as the Roman general booms, “It is finished,” from his perch above the battlefield when he sees the enemy has been routed, Jesus shouts for all the world to hear that salvation has come to a lost and dying world because of His death.
Bread of Heaven: Jesus in the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Part 2)
Download audio file — part 2Unleavened bread is a wonderful picture of Jesus the Messiah. The bread is without leaven, as He is without sin. It also is striped and pierced, as His body was beaten and pierced for our sins (Isa. 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24). In addition, the Feast of Unleavened Bread symbolizes Jesus’ burial. His body was placed in the grave but did not see corruption as He rose on the third day (see Ps. 16:10; Isa. 53:9; Matt. 27:57-60; 28:1-10) and carried our sins away (Ps. 103:12; Heb. 9:26).
Everyone should see Jesus in the Feast of Uneavened Bread because He fulfilled the feast’s Messianic symbols in the bread:
1. Provision (Jesus is the bread of heaven).
2. Propitiation (Jesus is the sacrifice who bore God’s wrath and satisfied His justice; in so doing He brought sinful people back into favor with God).
3. Preservation (Jesus’ body did not suffer decay in the grave).
There are other symbolic markers in this feast:
Jesus referred to Himself as the bread of life (John 6:35) and chose the bread of the Passover to be the symbolic memorial of His broken body (Luke 22:19).
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which means “house of bread.”
The Lord expects believers put aside sin in our lives, as leaven is put aside in the feast (1 Cor. 5:7-8; see also Gal. 5:16-24; Eph. 4:22-24).
The seven days speak of satisfaction or fullness; believers are completely satisfied in Christ.
In summary, Passover and Unleavened Bread together picture the sacrificial, substitionary death of Jesus — the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world — and the burial of His body, which God the Father raised on the third day before it decayed. The resurrection, as we will see next week, is pictured in the Feast of Firstfruits.
Bread of Heaven: Jesus in the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Part 1)
Unleavened bread is a wonderful picture of Jesus the Messiah. The bread is without leaven, as He is without sin. It also is striped and pierced, as His body was beaten and pierced for our sins (Isa. 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24). In addition, the Feast of Unleavened Bread symbolizes Jesus’ burial. His body was placed in the grave but did not see corruption as He rose on the third day (see Psalm 16:10; Isa. 53:9; Matt. 27:57-60, 28:1-10) and carried our sins away (Psalm 103:12; Heb. 9:26).
Everyone should see Jesus in the Feast of Unleavened Bread because He fulfilled the feast’s Messianic symbols in the bread:
1. Provision (Jesus is the bread of life).
2. Propitiation (Jesus is the sacrifice who bore God’s wrath, and in so doing changed God’s wrath into favor with us).
3. Preservation (Jesus’ body did not suffer decay in the grave).
There are other symbolic markers in this feast:
Jesus referred to Himself as the bread of life (John 6:35) and chose the bread of the Passover to be the symbolic memorial of His broken body (Luke 22:19).
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which means “house of bread.”
The Lord expects believers to put aside sin in our lives, as leaven is put aside during this feast (1 Cor. 5:7-8; see also Eph. 4:22-24 and Gal. 5:16-24).
The seven days speak of satisfaction or fullness; believers are completely satisfied in Christ.
In summary, Passover and Unleavened Bread together picture the sacrificial, substitutionary death of Jesus – the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world – and the burial of His body, which God the Father raised on the third day before it decayed. The resurrection, as we’ll see in two weeks, is pictured in the Feast of Firstfruits.
Copyright 2008 by Rob Phillips
OnceDelivered.net 