On Palm Sunday, 2025, Rev. Andrew Thayer, an Episcopal Priest, published an opinion piece in the New York Times in which he claimed Jesus’ triumphant entry was a political protest against Roman tyranny. And that was the reason Pilate had Him Crucified. 

Rev Thayer completely ignores Matthew, Mark, Luke and John’s testimony about Jesus Christ’s person and purpose.  A mistake many opinion leaders have made in the past.  Elle Purnell, who writes for the Federalist, pointed out in an article on Monday that any child she had taught in Sunday School could tell you Jesus died to take away our sins. “He came to take the punishment for our sins so we sinners could be reunited with God by His grace.” 

This interaction between the two writers reminded me there is a legitimate question about Christ’s crucifixion that is seldom addressed.  Why did the Jewish authorities have Jesus Christ Crucified when the Law listed stoning as the method of execution for blasphemy?  Blasphemy was what the Priest’s charge against Jesus Christ.

Leviticus 24:16 says whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the Lord, he shall be put to death.

The obvious reason is that stoning wasn’t God’s plan. BTW, claiming to be God is not blasphemy if you really are God.  The truth is that Jesus Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sin and that required He shed His Blood.
And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. Hebrews 9:22

As for the Jewish Priests I believe they wanted the crucifixion because under the Mosaic Covenant hanging on a tree was a sign of being accursed by God, Deuteronomy 21:23.  They likely believed that would discredit Christ’s claim to be the Messiah.  What they did not know, and should have, is that Jesus was going to suffer the full weight of being accursed by God in our place.  The crucifixion was exactly what God wanted.  Something they should have known that because it was revealed in the O.T.  Prophecies like Isaiah 53 said God was going to lay our sin on Him.  Psalm 22 actually revealed some to the details of crucifixion. 

And we know the Jewish leaders had no qualms about stoning people.  Remember in John 8 they brought a woman guilty of adultery to Jesus Christ for that very purpose.  To be stoned.  And in Acts 7 Luke recorded the actual stoning of Stephen by the Sanhedrin.   

Yes, Jesus Christ was crucified by the Pontius Pilate. Who also said Christ was innocent of any crime. So, Rev. Thayer’s charge of sedition is a complete fantasy.  The truth is Jesus Christ suffered the full fury of God’s judgement of our sin while He hung on that cross.  Jesus Christ, the creator God, became a man just so He could take our place in the court of God’s judgement on sin.  And His death satisfied the penalty God demanded.  Paid it in full.    
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Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Hebrews 2:17
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​This Easter April 20, 2025 many of us will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Many more will not.  And that is a tragedy because those who don’t likely do not know the significance of that event.   Many of them actually deny it happened even though the evidence overwhelming supports that it did.  I doubt most of the deniers will be swayed by anything I write here today, but some might.  If you fall into the category of those who don’t realize the significance of Christ’s resurrection, I pray you will join us. 
 
Jesus Christ set aside the appearances of His true identity as God, the 2nd person of the Trinity.  You likely know the story of His birth to a young virgin girl named Mary.   Jesus Christ became a man for the purpose of reconciling the human race to God (2 Corinthians 5:19-21) by taking away our sin.  Sin being evidence by our indifference to God and behaving in ways counter to His will.  He told everyone who would listen who He was and why He came.  He willingly submitted Himself to the Jewish and Roman authorities and died, suffering the wrath of God for our sin.  You can read all about it in the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  Pay special attention to John. 
 
Here is the thing, Jesus also said He would return to life after having been dead for the same length of time as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish.  And He did just that.  Jesus Christ came back from the dead exactly as He said He would.  The Roman soldiers guarding the tomb in which He had been placed witnessed it.  He stayed around for another 40 days showing Himself to over 600 people verifying He was alive.  And now He offers everlasting life and a place in heaven to everyone who will believe He is the giver of life.  Your eternal destiny depends on it.  Do you want to know for sure you will be in Heaven with God when you die?  Then you need to listen and believe in Jesus Christ. 
 
If you live in Northwest Wisconsin you can join us at Trego Community Church to learn more about the wonderful gift of everlasting life in Jesus Christ.  Friday, April 18 at 7 pm we will hold a memorial service recognizing the death of Christ on the cross.  On Sunday, April 20 at 10:30 am we will celebrate His resurrection.  He died so that we could live forever.  He rose to prove He is the giver of life and that really is worth celebrating. 

​The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul gave us God’s side of what was really taking place when Jesus Christ died on that cross so long ago. 
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.  
​2 Corinthians 5:18-19
 
Everything starts and ends with God, even our redemption.  That is just a fact.  Jesus Christ died on the cross because it was God the Father’s will to redeem mankind.  So, Christ was doing what was needed to reconcile the human race to the Father.  That is, He paid the penalty price for our sin thereby balancing the books.  We owed a debt we could not pay so He paid it for us.   God has also expunged the record, the charges have been dropped, the books have been balanced.  However, there remains one problem.  It takes more than a clean record to get into Heaven.  Matthew 5:20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
 
So, you need to be righteous. Not everyone is as bad as they could be, but no one is righteous.   We’ve all done bad things or failed to do good when we could have.  So, again God stepped up and took care of the things that stand in our way.  But there is one other thing needed – everlasting life.  You cannot get into heaven without it.  That is the other thing Jesus Christ took care of at Easter.   
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16
And with everlasting life we also receive His righteousness.  All that comes by God’s grace through faith!
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.    2 Corinthians 5:21
 
All the Lord requires is that we believe Him.  It is not enough to believe He exists; He wants us to believe what He says.  Take Him at His word and believe that Jesus Christ is the giver of everlasting life and believing He does give it to all who believe Him for it.  

​There are a wide range of definitions people give to God.  The Atheist says he doesn’t exist.  Some Eastern religions deny the personhood of God while most of the polytheistic belief systems make their gods out to be bigger versions of humans with super powers.  Almost all of them define their god as amoral, even the monotheistic religions.  Those that do ascribe a moral sense to their god explain it as an act of their divine will.  It is what they chose to be.  There is one exception to that norm and that is the God of the Bible.  The Bible states that God is a moral being.  He is good and righteous.  His moral attributes are just as much a part of His essential essence as is His eternality, omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence. 
 
The Bible reveals these moral attributes are inherent to His person.  Therefore, there is an absolute moral standard that springs from the nature of God and is not subject to the whims of cultural change.  The Apostle John pointed out one other factor about God’s moral attributes, they have no boundaries.  The God of the Bible is infinite in all aspects of His being.  John wrote in 1 John 1:5 that “the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” 
 
That is why there is a Christmas and Easter to celebrate every year.  God’s perfect sense of right and wrong guided by His perfect love, compassion and mercy cannot give our sin a pass.  He must judge our sin and carry out the sentence justice demands be pronounced which is the death of being separated from Him.  But His love and rightness demand He show us compassion and mercy.  Jesus Christ chose to do the one thing that could satisfy God’s goodness, love, mercy and righteousness so that we could be reconciled to God.  He took on the role of judge & jury, passed sentence on us and then took the penalty for our sin on Himself.  He died the death we owed.  That allowed Him to be Just and the justifier of all who will believe in Jesus Christ for everlasting life.  John 3:14-16 & Romans 3:21-26 
 
If you live in Northwest Wisconsin and are anywhere near Trego, I invite you to come visit with us on Easter Sunday this year.  It’s on April 20th.  Get here at 9 am and join our annual Easter Fellowship Breakfast served by the men of our Church.  The Easter service starts at 10:30 am.  Jesus Christ died for your sin and rose from the dead 3 days later.  His resurrection is proof that He can give you everlasting life.  Living forever in the New Heaven and Earth we call Heaven is guaranteed.    

​I’m sure you’ve heard someone say Christianity is being in a relationship with Jesus Christ.  When I hear that I assume they are using relationship as a synonym for being in fellowship with God.  But there can be no relationship where there is no life.  So, being a Christian must start with the gift of life, the second birth Jesus Christ told Nicodemus he needed in John 3.  So, becoming a Christian starts with believing in Jesus Christ for everlasting life, John 3:16.   only then you can build a relationship with the Lord. 
 
Let’s stick with the word fellowship since it’s the word Luke, Paul and John used to describe the close relationship they shared with each other and God.  In Acts 2:42 Luke described the Apostles fellowship as sharing in meals and prayer.  That suggests fellowship is a friendship in which we share our life experiences with another.  That would Include the bad times as well as the good.  Paul spoke in Philippians 3:10 of knowing the fellowship of His (Christ’) suffering.  Fellowship is more than knowing someone.  The Apostle John actually pointed out specific aspects of being in fellowship with Jesus Christ.  He started with these in 1 John 1:5-7 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.  That means fellowship starts with living (walk) by the same values the Lord holds as true.  
 
The rest of 1 John explains what it means to live by those values.  It includes confessing our sins to God (1John 1:9) Keeping His commandments (1 John 2:3), and loving one another (1 John 4:21).  That is the short list, so you need to read 1 John to find what I left out.  At its most basic level having fellowship with the Lord means learning about Him and opening up yourself to Him.  Sharing with Him stuff about yourself, your expectations and dreams in light of what He has for your future with Him.  Remember, He is God and you are not.  He made you, you didn’t make yourself (Psalm 100:3).  His principles and values take first place. 
 
Anyway, does that sound like your relationship with God?  Are you getting to know Him by reading your Bible?  It is after all God’s word.  It is His revelation of the things He wants you to know.  And He commands us to study it so we understand Him. 
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success (Josuha 1:8). 
Do you talk to Him, pray to Him?  Fellowship requires two-way communication.  How much time do you spend in Prayer?  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. If you have believed in Jesus Christ for everlasting life then you’re indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  He is with you 24/7 so you might as well talk to Him.  And that is what prayer is talking to God. 
 
Bottom line is this.  If you truly want to have a relationship with Jesus Christ then believe what He says.  Read your Bible, all of it.  And pray a lot, like all the time.   

​John 3:14-15 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should] not perish but have eternal life.
In the previous post I asked what if a person who didn’t believe looking at the snake on the pole would save them from snake bite?  If they looked anyway would God cure them?  I said yes.  The reason being belief was not the condition God had stipulated.  The reason the Israelis were having this problem with snakes is because of their unbelief.  They once again were accusing the Lord of having brought them out into the wilderness to let them die.  Even though God been feeding them with Manna and providing them with water the whole time they had been wandering around out there. 
 
This plague of snakes was intended to drive home the point of belief being the only way to live.  Even a doubter would have to recognize the benefit of belief when those who looked lived and those who didn’t died.  That becomes apparent when you look at the account in Numbers 21.  Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. 10 Now the children of Israel moved on and camped in Oboth Numbers 21:9 & 10.  God told them to either look at the snake and live or don’t look and die.  He then had Moses pull up stakes and move on down the road.  It was a take or leave it deal.    
 
John 3:15 & 16 models the offer of everlasting life after the offer of physical life in the Numbers 21 passage.  Only, this offer requires believing Jesus Christ is the source of everlasting life.  We know from the balance of Scripture that Jesus Christ was raised up on a pole, the cross, where He died for our sins satisfying God’s need for justice.  We also know He rose from the dead proving He has the ability to grant everlasting life.  The condition in His offer is to believe He will give you everlasting life.  Looking back on Jesus Christ’s death as historical fact is not the same as believing in Him for everlasting life.  The historical facts are the rationale behind His offer of life.  Those facts give us reason to believe He is the giver of life. 
 
Faith, the other word for belief, faith in His promise is all He requires to receive everlasting life.  There is nothing you must do or add to your faith in order to have that life.  Since nothing else is required the person who believes in Jesus Christ’s promise can know with absolute certainty they will be with Him in Heaven when they die physically.  Or as I like to say it transfer to their new heavenly body. 

​John 3:16 is probably the best-known verse in the Bible.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  And it could also be one of the most misunderstood Bible verses because of the way some preachers have explained what it means to believe in Him.  The Greek word translated as believes is the word pisteuo which simply means believe.  It is a present active participle which describes what is needed to have everlasting life. And that is to believe Jesus Christ for everlasting life.
 
In the two verses before John 3:16 Jesus Christ gave us an illustration to show exactly what He meant by believe.   John 3:14-15 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should] not perish but have eternal life.  Verse 14 refers to an event in Numbers 21:4-9. 

Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” 6 So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.  7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. Numbers 21:4-9
 
Notice that the cure for snake bite in that particular instance was to look at a metallic snake hanging on a pole.  Sounds crazy, right?  Well, it was crazy, but since it was God’s solution it worked.  Pay close attention to v. 9 – anyone who was bitten by a snake just had to look at the snake on the pole to be saved.   Even if they didn’t believe it would work if they still looked they lived!  The only requirement was they look.  If a person also employed traditional methods of treatment, just in case, as long as they looked, they lived.  End of story. 
 
Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, was lifted up on a pole called a cross.  God now says anyone who believes in Him for the cure of everlasting like gets everlasting life.  And just like the serpent in the wilderness situation there is only one condition for everlasting life, believe in Jesus Christ for life.  If you believe you live forever.  Believing is being persuaded something is true.  The thing about belief is it carries the realization that nothing else is needed.  End of story.  

How’s your retirement planning going?  If you are already retired how has your plan worked out?  I hope you’re doing a good job and things are going well for you.  Now, let me ask another question.  How is your post-retirement plan working?   You do have one, right?  After all, retirement will end but post-retirement lasts forever.  It only makes sense to do some investing in things that pay eternal dividends.   
 
OK, post-retirement planning sounds like I’m making light of a very serious matter.  But that is not my intention.  I want to draw attention to a very serious reality.  Each of us will experience a finite period of time on this planet.  I believe the average life time here in the USA stands at 78 years.  After that we will be someplace else forever.  How do you compare 78 years to forever?  Our country was founded about 250 years old or just 3.2 lifetimes ago.  The first European settlers hit these shores 440 years ago in 1585.  A mere 5.6 lifetimes in the past.  Both are time spans that don’t even show up on the scale of forever. 
 
So, where do you want to spend forever?  Jesus Christ the only man to ever come back from the grave has said there are only two places that will exist forever.  There is the New Heaven and Earth, commonly referred to as Heaven, and the Lake of Fire – Hell.  No one else has ever returned to tell us different.  Jesus Christ was able to do so because He is the eternal God who chose to also be born into the human race.  The eternal God exists as 3 persons sharing the same existence, the 3 in 1 unity.  Jesus Christ is one of the 3.   
 
There are people who don’t believe that, but their belief doesn’t change reality.  Jesus Christ proved who He is when He rose from the dead.  What belief can change is where you will spend forever!  Because Jesus Christ said whoever believes in Him for everlasting life will receive everlasting life.  A declaration of righteousness comes with that gift of life.  No one can enter the New Heaven and Earth without that declaration of righteousness. 
 
 John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
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John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
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In the conclusion to His revelation about Himself Jesus Christ said the following:
 
Revelation 22:12-13 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
 
He is coming back and He is bringing reward for everyone.  He said He is coming quickly.  I take that to mean He was referring to His return happening suddenly; it will be a short-term event not a drawn-out process.  Though I can’t rule out the Lord was speaking about the length of the delay in returning being short.  I mean a few thousand years compared to the scale of forever is not much time.  I’ve come to the conclusion the reward part doesn’t get the attention it should.  He said reward will be according to each one’s work.  So, it is merit based.  The timing is out of our hands.  The best we can do is to pray it will be soon and the Bible tells us that is a legitimate prayer request. 
 
But we do have a say in how we conduct ourselves in this world.  How and what we work on is our choice.  We obey what God has said or we follow our own desires.  But what He said in V.13 gives us a pretty good reason to consider tamping down our personal desires.  Consider what Christ meant by being the beginning and the end.   He confirms the impossibility of an infinite regression which means that the entire created reality in which we live begins and ends with God.  There is nothing else. 
 
What is an infinite regression?  Let me put it in terms of time because some naturalists have proposed that the universe has always existed in some form or another.  The implication being that time extends into the past to infinity.  One problem is that we live at a particular point in time we call the present.  If there is no beginning point for time then there isn’t a point at which enough time has passed to bring us into the present.  God exists independent of time. He made time when He created the universe.  We live in multi-dimensional plane of X, Y, Z & T.  Sorry I don’t know how to draw that or I would. 
 
The Creator of everything including time is coming back one day.  All of us will give Him an accounting.  Are you ready for that?   

The 2nd chapter of John’s Gospel documents the beginning of Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry.  John recorded the Lord’s first miracle, His first cleansing of the temple and His first prophecy about His death and resurrection.  Jesus Christ also performed many signs that John did not mention, but he did tell us that a number Jews attending the Passover believed in Christ’s name because of them.  
 
John 2:23-25 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. (NKJV)
 
Based on John’s normal use of the word believe we should understand John 2:23 meant those people received everlasting life because of their belief in Jesus Christ.  However, because of V. 24 some people claim this passage indicates there is a way to believe in Christ that does not bring everlasting life.  Their claim is that Jesus did not believe their faith was real.  The word commit (NKJV) in v. 24 is the same Greek word translated as believed in v. 23.  Both are the verb pisteuo, just different tenses.  And it’s clear from the different ways the translators rendered it in the English that the verb tenses used did imply different meanings.   So, we need to check out why.    
 
The Greek word in V. 23 is Episteusan and is an aorist active indicative.  The aorist active represents a past action as an event.  In this case many people had believed in Jesus’ name at a point in time during the Passover.  That completed action fulfills the requirement of believing in Jesus Christ for everlasting life as stated by the Lord in John 3:16, 5:24 and 11:25-26.  
 
The word in V. 24 is Episteuen and is the imperfect active indicative form of pisteuo.  The imperfect tense represents a past action of some duration which has been completed.  It could be a repeated action or one that took time to complete.  So, it is completely legitimate to understand Jesus’ lack of commitment to these new believers was temporary.  He knew they were not ready to face the heat of the Jewish Leaders.  They had much to learn before they would be ready to join as disciples.  As He told Mary at the wedding (John 2:4) “My hour has not yet come.”   Neither had it for these new believers.  Compare this to John 8:31 & 32 where those new believers needed to learn more about Jesus Christ and discipleship.   The people who believed in His name in John 2:22 would in time find the Lord embracing them as brethren. 
 
The fact that believe is never modified by an adverb in John tells us God sees believing as a binary function.  You either believe something or you don’t.  Just as you cannot almost tell the truth you can’t almost believe something God has said.  He cannot lie; He is always truthful.  So you can believe every promise He has made. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  Believe Jesus for life and live forever!
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My apologies for the grammar lesson!