Heb 2:14-16 - Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself
likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render
powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and might
free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their
lives.

1 John 4:2-3 - By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that
does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the
antichrist,

Heb 2:14 - Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same

Heb 2:17 - Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in allthings,

1. V.14b - "that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death."

Col 2:15 - When *He had disarmed* the rulers and authorities, He made a public
display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

Charles Wesley's Hymn -- "And Can it Be?"

And can it be that I should gain

An int'rest in the Savior's blood?

Died He for me, who caused His pain?

For me, who Him to death pursued?

Amazing love! how can it be

That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Amazing love! how can it be

That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?



'Tis mystery all! The Immortal dies!

Who can explore His strange design?

In vain the firstborn seraph tries

To sound the depths of love Divine!

'Tis mercy all! let earth adore,

Let angel minds inquire no more.

'Tis mercy all! let earth adore,

Let angel minds inquire no more.

2. V. 15 - "...and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives."

Death in Greek is Thanatos (Thanos)

Zoe is used in the NT "of life as a principle, life in the absolute sense, life as God has it, that which the Father has in Himself, and which He gave to the Incarnate Son to have in Himself, John 5:26, and which the Son manifested in the world, 1 John 1:2. From this life man has become alienated in consequence of the Fall" --from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words,

Eph 4:18-19 - being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God
because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their
heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to
sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

Ray Stedman (IVP Commentary on Hebrews)

"Since death is the absence of life, spiritual death is already present in human affairs, appearing as depression, fear, boredom, despair, waste, limitation and defeat. The devil's lie is to convince many that they can avoid such experiences by amassing wealth, maintaining youth by strenuous exercise or expensive treatments, searching for adventure, falling in and out of love, gaining the marks of success, indulging in widespread travel, satisfying every whim, and so forth."

Declaration of Independence

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal,

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,

that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Gal 5:13 - For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom
into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

The pre-amble of the Satanic Church -- founder Antoin LaVay. (Hotel California based)

Nothing is to be gained by denying oneself pleasure. Religious calls for abstinence most often come from faiths that view the physical world and its pleasures as spiritually dangerous. Satanism is a world-affirming, not world-denying, religion.

1 John 2:16 - For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Isa 61:1 - The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;

John 8:31-32 - "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

John 8:36 - "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

Rom 8:2 - For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from
the law of sin and of death.

Phil 1:21 - For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Hebrews 2:11-13 - For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying, "I WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN, IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE." 13 And again, "I WILL PUT MY TRUST IN HIM." And again, "BEHOLD, I AND THE CHILDREN WHOM GOD HAS GIVEN ME."

**1. To be brought to glory means to be united with Christ.**

Heb 2:11 - “For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,”

Charles Spurgeon once said, “There is no joy in this world like union with Christ. The more we can feel it, the happier we are.”

John Piper, “Union with Christ is the center of our salvation and our sanctification and central to all of our deepest joys in this life.

John Murray wrote that “union with Christ is . . . the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation. . . . It is not simply a phase of the application of redemption; it underlies every aspect of redemption”

a. United with Christ in death and resurrection.

Gal 2:20 - "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

b. We are called the Aroma of the knowledge of Christ.

2 Cor 2:15 - For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;

c. Our glory is tied to His glory.

Col 3:3-4

3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

**2. To be brought to glory means to have God as our Father.**

11 - For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father;

Karl Barth,-- “Perhaps you recall how, when Hitler used to speak about God, he called Him ‘the Almighty’. But it is not ‘the Almighty’ who is God; we cannot understand from the standpoint of a supreme concept of power, who God is. And the man who calls ‘the Almighty’ God misses God in the most terrible way.”

God is repeatedly presented as the Father in the Bible.

i. Israel is called “my firstborn son” (Ex.4:22, Is 1:2, Jere. 31:9, Hos. 11:1)

ii. He carries his people as a father carries his son. (Deut.1:31)

iii. He disciplines his people as a father disciplines his son. (Deut.8:5; Heb. 12:7)

iv. He also has compassion as a father has compassion on his sons. (Ps. 103:13; Jer. 3:19; Mal.1:6)

v. Isaiah prays , “You are our Father…” (Is. 63:16)

Michael Reeves in Delighting in the Trinity, “For it is only when we see that God rules his creation as a kind and loving Father that we will be moved to delight in his providence.”

**3. The Father Son relationship is a love relationship.**

John 3:35 - "The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.

John 5:20 - "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing;

John 14:31 - but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me.

1 John 3:1 - See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.

**4. The Father Son relationship naturally glorifies each other.**

12 saying,

"I WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN,

IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE."

Heb 1:3 - And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

John 17:1 - Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You,

**5. The Father Son relationship invites us to put our trust in Him.**

13 And again,

"I WILL PUT MY TRUST IN HIM."

And again, "BEHOLD, I AND THE CHILDREN WHOM GOD HAS GIVEN ME."

James 1:17 - Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

Matt 7:11 - "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

Ps 2:8 - 'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.

John 15:7-8 - "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

Romans 8:15-17

15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"

16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,

17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

**1. We stand humbled before God**

Heb. 2:6 - But one has testified somewhere, saying,
"WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU REMEMBER HIM?
OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HIM?

Ps 8:3-4 - When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; 4 What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?

Ps 90:12 - So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

John 8:31-33 - So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." 33 They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You will become free'?"

Job 42:3-6

3 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?'

"Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand,

Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know."

4 'Hear, now, and I will speak;

I will ask You, and You instruct me.'

5 "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;

But now my eye sees You;

6 Therefore I retract,

And I repent in dust and ashes."

**2. We were created in glory and honor**

Vs7-9 - "YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS;
YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR,
AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;
8 YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET."
For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him.

Gen 2:7 - Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Gen 1:24-28 - Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind"; and it was so. 25 God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.28 God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

**3. Man's sin separated him from that glory.**

8b. - But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.

Isa 14:12-15

12 "How you have fallen from heaven,

O star of the morning, son of the dawn!

You have been cut down to the earth,

You who have weakened the nations!

13 "But you said in your heart,

'I will ascend to heaven;

I will raise my throne above the stars of God,

And I will sit on the mount of assembly

In the recesses of the north.

14 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.'

15 "Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,

To the recesses of the pit.

Rom 8:15 - For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him

1 Cor 6:2-3 - Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels?

1 Cor. 15:12-58

"Resurrection: Foundation of Christianity"


Prof. Korb, a professor at New York University, says of the resurrection.

“The miracle of a bodily resurrection is something I rejected without moving away from its basic idea. What I mean is that we can reach the lowest points of our lives, of going deep into a place that feels like death, and then find our way out again — that’s the story the Resurrection now tells me. And at Easter, this is expressed in community, and at its best, through the compassion of others.”


Matt 16:4 - 4 "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah." And He left them and went away.

1 Cor. 15:3 - 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,


1. If Jesus was not raised from the dead our preaching and our faith is in vain.

1 Cor 15:14-15 - 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.

V. 19-- If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied


2. If Jesus was not raised from the dead we would still be in our sins.

Heb 9:27 - 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, Romans 3:23

For the wages of sin is death….

1 Tim 1:15 - 15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.


3. If Jesus was not raised death would be final.

v. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

Rom 8:11 - 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead.

It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;

43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory;

it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;

44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.


1 Cor 15:52-53 - 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.


Rom 8:16-17 - 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Col 3:3 - 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.


1 Peter 1:3-5 - 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

LUKE 19:28-44 (NASB)

Four Questions:

- What is the historical context/background of this short letter?

- Who are the recipients?

- Why was Haggai written?

- How are the people of God to respond?


What is the historical context/background of this short letter?

Babylon to Post-Exilic Jerusalem

612 – Babylon overthrows Assyria and becomes the main world power

606 – Nebuchadnezzar lays siege to Jerusalem / Captives to Babylon

586 – Nebuchadnezzar squashes rebellion and destroys Temple of Solomon

538 – Medo-Persian alliance overthrows Babylon and allows all exiled captives to return to their homelands.

536 – About 50,000 Jews return to Jerusalem and start rebuilding the Temple

516 – Haggai/Zechariah – Temple construction restarted and completed.


The Immutability of God

“For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6)

Jesus Christ I the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

What caused the stoppage in the work?

1. Opposition from the people in the land.

2. Physical and economic hardship

3. Generational differences

4. Division in leadership


1) What is our primary PURPOSE?

- You are created by God and for God to love God and to serve God.

2) What is our primary TASK?

- To fulfill the Great Commission.


Main application:

Daily faithfulness; not long-term legacy.