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October 1, 2022October 1, 2022

The Four Faces of God – The Face of the Lion in Matthew

The first face we come to in the gospel of Matthew is the face of the Lion, as we mentioned in our introduction to this series, the Lion was the King of the Beasts and represents Jesus as the King of Kings or the King of the Jews. Matthew was writing mainly to a Jewish audience and the question he wanted to answer for his audience was, ‘Was Jesus the King of the Jews?’ or the Messiah that they had been expecting and in numerous ways throughout this book he shows the answer to be a resounding ‘Yes!’

Jesus’ Genealogy in Matthew

The first way we see Jesus represented as the King or Lion in Matthew is because of the genealogy that Matthew represents. There were two different ways of presenting a genealogy in Biblical times, in the gospel of Matthew, Matthew shows the royal genealogy and his purpose is to link Jesus to King David revealing Jesus’ royal connection and therefore His right to be considered King by the Jews.

Royal Visitors at the Nativity

Matthew is the only gospel that tells the story of the Magi visiting Jesus. The Magi were important visitors from the East (Persia to be exact) and they asked Herod where the ‘King of the Jews’ was to be born as they had come to worship Him. This once again puts the focus on Jesus’ Royalty, the fact that he had important international visitors who claimed He was a King.

Focus on the Kingdom of Heaven

The Gospel of Matthew also focusses on the Kingdom of Heaven, mentioning it 53 times, whereas Mark mentions it 17 times and Luke 41 times. Matthew also focuses on the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ as opposed to the other writers who focus on the ‘Kingdom of God’, this was because he was writing to a Jewish audience who considered the name of God sacred and therefore preferred not to use the name of God.

The Royal Discourses

The gospel of Matthew also consists of a number of royal discourses, the sermon on the Mount is perhaps the most well known of these discourses and tells how a citizen of the Kingdom should behave. Other discourses are where Jesus sends out His disciples, or His emissaries, to spread the good news; the parables on the Kingdom of Heaven; and the Olivet discourse in Matthew 23-25 where Jesus talks of the second coming.

The Ascension

In the different gospels we are given different details of the Jesus’ ascension into Heaven after His rising from the dead (or sometimes we aren’t given much detail at all). In the Gospel of Matthew just before Jesus ascends into heaven He gives His disciples the Great Commission, once again this is like a king giving His command until He next sees His servants.

Our Response

What should our response to the face of the lion, or Jesus as the King be? It needs to be one of obedience. When Christ speaks, we obey, He is our King and we are His servants.

In Matthew therefore we see Jesus as the King of the Jews and His royalty is represented in the face of the Lion. In the next few posts we will see Jesus’ face in the other gospels and what it means to us.

October 1, 2022October 1, 2022

The Four Faces of God – An Introduction

In this series we are going to be looking at the four faces of God as discussed in the gospels. The four faces of God are found in Ezekiel 1:10 and Revelation 4:7.

In Ezekiel 1:10 it says:

“Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle.”

And in Revelations 4:7:

“The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.”

So in both these verses we see the lion, the ox, the man and the eagle. Each of these faces represent a different characteristic of Jesus Christ as we will see in the next few posts.

The Lion is known as the king of the beasts, he is a grand creature and considered noble. He depicts Jesus as the King of Kings.

The ox is traditionally a beast of burden, he quietly does the hard work without complaining and is strong for his task. This represents Jesus as the suffering servant who laid down His life for His friends.

The third face is the face of man and represents Jesus as the Son of Man. It is about his humanity, being born on earth and having to grow up to be a man in an earthly body just like ours.

The last face is that of the eagle. The eagle soars high in the sky and belongs to the heavens. We consider the heavens the place where God lives and so the eagle represents to us Jesus the Son of God, it is all about His divinity.

In the next few posts we are going to look at each face specifically and go into more depth about how each gospel represents that face and that aspect of Christ’s character. There was a reason for including four gospels in the Bible and not just one. Some people may wonder why, is it just duplication? Actually there are a lot of important differences between the gospels which help to shape these pictures of the four faces or four characteristics of Christ.

We hope you enjoy this series and also check out our YouTube series on the topic at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEbglT_rrGI&list=PLoW__SW0VZ7BV-WO7MR5RdsXvhk5sDLBs

May 2, 2022May 9, 2022

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES

This is our last post in the series on the Feasts of Israel and was the last feast in the Jewish religious year held on 15^th to 21^st Tishri, five days after the day of atonement. It is found in Leviticus 23:33-40:

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites: “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord’s Festival of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. For seven days present food offerings to the Lord, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present a food offering to the Lord. It is the closing special assembly; do no regular work. (These are the Lord’s appointed festivals, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for bringing food offerings to the Lord—the burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings required for each day. These offerings are in addition to those for the Lord’s Sabbaths and in addition to your gifts and whatever you have vowed and all the freewill offerings you give to the Lord.) So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the Lord for seven days; the first day is a day of sabbath rest, and the eighth day also is a day of sabbath rest. On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees—from palms, willows and other leafy trees—and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. Celebrate this as a festival to the Lord for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”’ So Moses announced to the Israelites the appointed festivals of the Lord.”

April 29, 2022May 9, 2022

DAY OF ATONEMENT

The Day of Atonement, also known as Yom Kippur, was an annual festival where an animal would be slain for the complete forgiveness of the Israelites and was the day the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies. This was held on the tenth day of Tishri each year and can be found in Leviticus 16:1-34.

The first thing Aaron would do was to take a bull for his own sin offering and then two goats, he would cast lots to decide which goat would live and which would die. The goat that was to die would be sacrificed and then the other goat was the scapegoat who would live but would be sent off into the wilderness as a sign that he was carrying away the sins of Israel.

He was to put incense to burn on the altar of incense so that the incense would conceal the atonement cover above the tablets of the covenant of the law and then Aaron or his descendent could go in and sprinkle the blood of the bull and of the goat on the atonement cover. He was also to take blood and put it on the horns of the altar seven times.

April 27, 2022April 24, 2022

THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS

Today we look at the Feast of Trumpets which was the start of the Festival of Tabernacles season held in the month of Tishri at the end of the harvest season. The prophetic significance of these festivals lies in the future, in Christ’s second coming. The first set of festivals represented Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, Pentecost the coming of the Holy Spirit, and then there was a few months where there were no festivals which relate to the current church period, but then came the feasts around the Festival of Tabernacles which represent Jesus’ second coming, sometime in the future.

The Feast of Trumpets is described in Numbers 29:1-6:

“On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. As an aroma pleasing to the Lord, offer a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram, and seven male lambs, a year old, all without defect. With the bull offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil; with the ram, two-tenths; and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. Include one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you. There are in addition to the monthly and daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and drink offerings as specified. They are food offerings presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma.”

April 25, 2022April 24, 2022

PENTECOST

Pentecost was a festival which stood by itself between the first set of festivals (Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits) and the second set (Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles). Pentecost was held fifty days after the Feast of First Fruits and is described in Leviticus 23:15-22:

“From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. Present the bread with seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings – a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering. The priest is to wave the two lambs before the Lord as a wave offering together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the Lord for the priest. On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.”

April 22, 2022April 24, 2022

FEAST OF FIRST FRUITS

Now let us consider the feast of First Fruits, this was the last of the three feasts held around the time of Passover and began on the 17^th day of Nissan which was during the feast of unleavened bread and fell on a Sunday. The feast is described in Leviticus 23:9-14:

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: “When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb, a year old without defect, together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil – a food offering presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma – and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.”

April 20, 2022April 24, 2022

THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD

On Monday we looked at the festival of the Passover, one day later, on the 15^th of Nissan, began the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days (from the 15^th Nissan to the 21^st Nissan) the Israelites were to have no leaven in their homes. When the Israelites were leaving Egypt at the first Passover they had no time to leaven their bread as they were in such a hurry but this feast has come to mean much more than simply hurrying out of Egypt.

April 18, 2022April 24, 2022

THE FEAST OF PASSOVER

Today we start our series on the Feasts of Israel and their prophetic and applicational meaning. We are going to start by looking at Passover. Passover was the first feast in the Jewish calendar with Passover preparations beginning on the 10^th of Nissan (about March or April) and the actual Passover occurring on the 14^th of Nissan and then the Feast of unleavened Bread began on the 15^th Nissan, the day after Passover.

April 15, 2022April 24, 2022

THE HOLY OF HOLIES, THE ARK OF THE COVENANT AND THE MERCY SEAT

In this last post in this series we are going to be looking at the Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat. It can be found in Exodus 25:10-22:

“Have them make an ark of acacia wood – two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it. Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it. The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed. Then put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law, which I will give you. Make an atonement cover of pure gold – two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. Make on cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover. Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law that I will give you. There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.”