2nd Book

Disciples [∞]

Discussion

Disciples did not understand his teaching [∞] Theologians sometimes just don't pay attention to Jesus. They say that Jesus taught in parables so that the uneducated farmers could understand. Jesus said he taught in parables so that they wouldn't understand. If they could understand and believe before the cross, then Jesus would not have to die. His impending death was the source of his greatest temptations. He did not want to die. Adam could not eat the tree of Life, because if he could live without the cross, the cross would not be necessary to live. But the cross is the culmination of the teaching about the Father.They would live without knowing the Father. Some of the prophets were told to seal up their prophecies. Why? They contained things by which people might believe and be saved. Jesus told his disciples that he taught them so that they would know. However, he still taught them in riddle so that they would not know until after the cross. Take the parable of the sower who sowed seed four times. Jesus explained that he seed was the word of God. They understood it to be his teaching. The riddle is that Jesus is the Word. As the Word of God, he visited Adam by the path, Israel in the rocky place, and in the flesh with the Jews whom he loved so much he would die for them, fruitless. The fourth time was in his resurrection when he was finally fruitful. Jesus could interpret the parable in one layer so that they still did not understand until the Holy Spirit, after the resurrection, reminded them of what he taught.
Disciples forgot his teaching [∞] Not only did the disciples not understand the teaching of Jesus, but they forgot. He taught them on many occasions that he had to die and would be resurrected. Yet when he died, they had forgotten what he said. Even simple teachings: he had fed thousands with bread and fish miraculously, yet they forgot that and were worried about what they would eat. It is difficult to imagine how they could forget so easily, until we realize that we may be thankful for the way he provides, then turn right around and worry about how we will be provided for. We learn a solid doctrine like Jesus said no man has seen the Father, yet the next Sunday debate if it was the Father or Son who walked with Adam in the Garden. We are not too different from them.
Spirit reminded them of his teaching [∞] After the resurrection Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to remind them of what they were taught and to guide them in the truth as they continued to study. They did not depend on getting special knowledge. All of the Old Testament was now pregnant with the New Teaching of Peace; the New Jerusalem. The Spirit guided them as they searched the scriptures and studied to show that they were approved by God. They did not rely on special knowledge to show they were approved by God. The modern fortune teller has no credibility because he does not know the truth of the Word of God. If someone tells you they are a prophet and cannot show you Christ from the OT mystery, then they are not hearing from the Spirit of God, since that is his primary purpose. The Spirit assisted the OT prophets in hiding the mystery, and he helps NT prophets unpack it. Jesus told us not to worry about the future, so why would we need fortune tellers to tell us the future? Paul says that he wishes that we would all prophesy; that we would all understand the mystery. I have heard Christians say they don't need to study doctrine because they know God. Doctrine IS the knowledge of God. Many create false Gods by imagining a god after their own image rather than learn what God has taught.